Chapter 1064 1059 [Should Eastern Rome learn from the Song Dynasty? 】
"Selling cold wares, selling cold wares..."
On the streets of Luoyang, vendors carry burdens and sell goods along the street.
Aksuhe, who followed Li Yanxian back to Luoyang, was strolling around accompanied by Du Jushi.
Du Jushi suddenly shouted: "Weighing two kilograms of cold equipment!"
The hawker immediately quickened his pace and came over. He put down his burden with a smile, took out the twists and put them on the scale: "Look, two kilograms are prosperous on the scale, and I will receive sixteen coins."
Du Jushi did not bring any entourage, so he took out a copper dollar from his pocket and threw it away.
This kind of copper coin was only released in the past two years. It looks similar to a silver dollar, and one piece is worth fifty cents.
It is pressed by a steam engine and is extremely beautifully made. It has a serrated anti-counterfeiting design on the outer edge and two circles of raised dots inside to prevent counterfeiting.
Without steam minting machines, it would be difficult for private citizens to carry out counterfeiting.
This type of copper coins is available in three denominations: 20 coins, 50 coins, and 100 coins. It not only makes small-scale private transactions more convenient, but also alleviates the imperial court's dilemma of being short of copper.
The hawker quickly asked for thirty-four cents to make up for the money. He also tied it up with a hemp rope and handed it over: "My lord, please keep it."
Du Jushi was too lazy to count the copper coins, so he grabbed them and stuffed them into his pocket, then handed out a ball of twists and said, "Try this."
Aksuhe took a bite, nodded and praised: "It's delicious."
Du Jushi himself also chewed on Seseed Twist, and handed two lumps to Aksuhe's entourage. He pointed to the front and said, "That's the stationery street over there. In addition to selling pens, inks, paper and inkstones, it also sells all kinds of books and toys. Further to the west,
It sells ceramics, pottery and porcelain. Go south from Ceramics Street..."
Aksukh looked at it carefully and compared Luoyang with Constantinople.
Totally incomparable!
The previous two Eastern Roman emperors failed to reform the official system and tax system. Coupled with years of war, the economy of Eastern Rome was declining day by day, and the people were becoming increasingly poor due to war taxes.
The prosperous life of ordinary people in Luoyang was unimaginable to the residents of Constantinople.
The two of them continued shopping when suddenly several people came running towards them on horseback, shouting along the way: "Get out of the way, get out of the way!"
Du Jushi turned around and saw the imperial guards galloping on horseback, followed by doctors and assistants on horseback.
Which nobleman in the palace suddenly fell ill?
There are imperial doctors on duty in the imperial city every day, and doctors are generally not called from outside. In this case, famous doctors are usually summoned for consultation.
Du Jushi let Aksukh wander around by himself, and he quickly called a donkey cart and drove to Donghua Gate.
Arriving outside Donghua Gate, Du Jushi handed over his official badge and asked casually: "A doctor came in just now. Which official is sick?"
The guard remained silent.
Du Jushi entered the imperial city of Dongguo City and finally asked in the waiting room.
The cabinet minister Qian Chen fainted and remained unconscious for a long time.
Qian Chen was obese before he came to Ju Ming. Over the years, he became even more obese and developed various related diseases. He fainted once three years ago.
Du Jushi took the imperial carriage to the Hanlin Academy and fished until mid-afternoon, and also had a working meal by the way.
Finally got some definite news in the afternoon.
Qian Chen had woken up, but... his face was paralyzed, and his limbs were also numb.
Du Jushi thought to himself: Mr. Qian Ge is probably going to retire, and he doesn't know who will replace him as a cabinet minister.
At this moment, in the lounge of the side room of the cabinet, Ju Ming and the prince came to visit in person, and many ministers of the cabinet were also gathered outside the room.
The doctor said that there should not be too many people in the room, as being too depressed would be detrimental to the patient's recovery.
"You are so beautiful (Your Majesty), pure (Chen)..." Qian Chen struggled to stand up to pay his respects, his face was stiff when speaking and it was extremely difficult.
Zhu Ming quickly pushed him back to lie down: "Please don't talk too much, please rest peacefully. You will be cured in a few days."
Qian Chen had no choice but to lie back.
Ju Ming comforted him for a while, and asked the doctors to do their best to treat him, leaving the prince to look after Qian Chen on his behalf.
Regarding Qian Chen's problem, Ju Ming reminded him several times that he should eat less greasy food and exercise more to stretch his muscles.
But it’s useless.
Qian Chen is not interested in gold, silver, treasures, antiques, calligraphy and paintings. Apart from being greedy for power, his only hobby is fine wine and delicious food.
Even his chefs were famous chefs invited from various provinces. They spent a lot of money to raise seven or eight chefs who took turns cooking various dishes for him every day.
Ju Ming has not changed his ministers for the time being, maybe Qian Chen can recover.
... The next day, Du Jushi did not accompany Aksuhe shopping, but explained "Zi Zhi Tong Jian" to the envoy.
This book has been translated into multiple languages by scholars from various countries, including Arabic, Persian, Turkic, and Devanagari Sanskrit.
Aksukh was not only a commander, he could also be considered a politician.
He witnessed the entire war between the Ming Dynasty and the Western Liao Dynasty last year. He was shocked at the firearms and tactics at first, but soon turned his attention to the military system, and then to the political system of the Ming Dynasty.
While studying Zizhi Tongjian on his own, he also asked Du Jushi about the Ming Dynasty system, and gradually the topic focused on the Song Dynasty.
Aksuhe was extremely interested in how the Song Dynasty regained military power and used civilian officials to suppress military generals.
The institutional changes in Eastern Rome over the past few hundred years can be briefly summarized as follows:
Initially, the military district system was similar to the border town military household system of the Ming Dynasty, but eventually collapsed due to intensified land annexation.
Then, the battle group system. Recruiting soldiers, mercenaries, and private soldiers evolved into battle groups, and mercenaries accounted for a heavy proportion, which was very similar to the situation of vassal towns in the late Tang Dynasty. There was even something similar to the Ming Dynasty retainers, which was a casual
It naturally occurs with the collapse of the military district system.
Now, the fiefdom system and war groups were defeated by the Seljuqs, Asia Minor fell, and the military leaders became feudal lords, with them as the core to resist foreigners and regain the lost territory.
Relying on the bloody battles of the feudal lords, Eastern Rome survived.
At this time, Eastern Rome had only changed dynasties for a few decades.
The founder of a dynasty was a soldier.
He grew stronger step by step through marriage, became emperor and began to centralize power. The subsequent emperors have been committed to centralizing power. They all married foreign princesses and vigorously promoted foreign officials.
Even when the emperor went to war, he always took the queen with him, fearing that the foreign queen would be plotted against.
Moreover, the fiefdom system in Eastern Rome was different from that in Western Europe.
Although most lords are passing on from father to son, at least in name, they can only be governed by the nobles for life, and the territory cannot be transferred privately or inherited hereditary.
Once the lord died, the emperor had the right to take back the fief - it was up to him whether he could take it back or not.
Aksuhti wrote:
"In the land of Peach Blossom Stone, before the Ming Dynasty was the Song Dynasty, and before the Song Dynasty was the Tang Dynasty."
"The military system in the early and middle Tang Dynasty was similar to the Roman military zone system. The late Tang Dynasty was similar to the Roman regiment system. Between the Tang and Song Dynasty, there was another Five Dynasties period, which was similar to the Roman legion system.
A period of transition for the Asian system.”
"The Song Dynasty in its early days was very similar to today's Rome. There were a large number of military nobles who influenced the rule of the Song emperor."
"The Song emperor promoted civilian officials and established new official positions with real power, gradually weakening the old official positions and successfully disintegrating the old military aristocrats."
"This dynasty has been marrying foreign queens and promoting officials from foreign countries and races, but these are destined to be outsiders. Including myself, I was born a Turkic slave and have no roots in Rome. I cannot change the hereditary fiefdom of military nobles.
Current situation. Therefore, Rome should learn from the Song Dynasty."
"First, reform education and integrate various schools such as philosophy, grammar and rhetoric. Add more ideas of loyalty to the emperor in schools, constantly emphasizing that the emperor is the defender of God and the true ruler and protector of the people. China has a '
The idea of "respecting the king and rejecting the foreigners" is that all people, including nobles and clergy, must be unconditionally loyal to the emperor, and the emperor protects the country and people from foreign aggression."
"Second, rebuild the Roman Royal Guards Corps, strengthen the strength of the central army, and find suitable opportunities to take back the fiefdom..."
"Third, after recovering the fiefdom, use civil servants trained by the central government to govern it. Or, after a great external victory, with the power of victory in the war, send a small number of civil servants to the noble fiefdom, but the prerequisite for this is that the central army is strong enough...
"
If Ju Ming knew Aksukh's political views, he would definitely be dumbfounded.
He wanted to strengthen the Eastern Roman Empire, block attacks from all directions, and curb the expansion of the two major religions of God and the Desert.
But who could have imagined that Aksuhe would suggest that the Eastern Roman Emperor learn from the Iron-Blooded Song Dynasty!
Ju Ming believed that the Crusaders and the Desert Cult were the number one enemies of Eastern Rome.
But what about actually?
For the Eastern Roman emperors, aristocratic lords with clan status and relatives were the number one enemy that could truly threaten their rule.
This is also true. The current Eastern Roman Dynasty will be usurped by the clan in a few decades.
A dynasty founded by seizing power through marriage and the army must first be on guard against its own kind.
Successive generations of emperors refused to marry domestic women as queens, and especially liked to appoint foreign officials. These actions are enough to illustrate the problem.
Aksuhe found "Zizhi Tongjian" a treasure and planned to take it back and translate it into Latin.
He himself was born a Turkic slave, but he advocated the idea of "respecting the king and rejecting the barbarians".
The succession of the Eastern Roman emperors was extremely unstable. From a purely legal point of view, the emperor was not qualified to pass the throne to his descendants. This was a huge break with the status quo.
Aksukh believed that the authority of the Eastern Roman emperors must be deepened through ideological reform and the emperor should be given the concept of hereditary inheritance.
Aksukh continued to write: "If the central government cannot recover the fiefdom, the emperor can compromise with the nobles. That is, the emperor recognizes the hereditary legitimacy of the noble lords, and the noble lords recognize the hereditary legitimacy of the emperor. The emperor can no longer be removed by the nobles jointly, and any coveted
The behavior of the emperor is regarded as rebellion. This idea is difficult for scholars and people to accept, so when it spreads, they must be threatened with alien races and pagans. A stable emperor and nobles can help the people resist alien races and heretics. Promote it more
The cruelty of alien races and pagan religions, bribe some scholars to help advocate..."