In the second year of Shaoming Dynasty, on the first day of Yuan Dynasty, among the envoys from various countries, Gao Baorong, the prince of Nanping King, who was the first to come, had stayed for six months, and the others had stayed for almost three or four months. It was time to leave.
Zhang Gao then personally held a banquet to see off the envoys from various countries.
Li Jingda of the Southern Tang Dynasty had a great time playing in Tokyo. During this period, he personally joined a polo team in Tokyo and became the largest financial backer.
As for other moves to buy properties in Kaifeng Prefecture in Tokyo and Luoyang, the capital of China, it can be said that they spend a lot of money.
Everyone in the Zhou Dynasty court praised Li Jingda's demeanor and his move to buy properties in Tokyo and Shendu, thinking that this was Li's preparation for living in Tokyo and Shendu in the Southern Tang Dynasty in the future.
But Zhang Yan deeply suspected that Li Jingda's actions were just Li Jing paralyzing him.
It's not that Zhang Yan thinks Li Jing is very ambitious, but historically speaking, Li Jing still regards the position under the buttocks as extremely important.
Deep down in his heart, Li Jing often misjudges his abilities.
Throughout history, he always thought that he was a wise ruler, but the Zhou state was too powerful, and losing Huainan was bad luck.
Well, it's not that our army doesn't work hard, it's actually that the Communist army has the air of Gundam.
With such a character, Zhang Hao would rather believe that he is willing to go to Hongzhou and live a small life behind closed doors than that he would take the initiative to live in Tokyo, the capital of China, when he still owns half of Huainan.
Therefore, when Zhang Gao raised a glass to see Li Jingda off, he made a double entendre.
"Go back and tell your brother that since you are a descendant of the Great Dynasty, you should know my attitude towards the Great Dynasty clan.
It is not advisable to separate one side of the country. If you truly belong to the country, I can entrust him with the affairs of Jiangnan. If you still want to separate the country, Hongzhou will not be safe."
Li Jingda was so frightened that he broke into cold sweat and dared not speak.
Zhang Zhao was much gentler towards Wu Yue's envoys.
Wu Yue's envoy Pei Jian was a veteran of Qian Liu's era, and the Pei family was also from a wealthy family in Jiangzuo. In addition, Wu Yue had always been submissive, so Zhang Zhao was still unwilling to push too hard.
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“The two Zhejiang provinces have outstanding people and places. During the Great Dynasty, Jiangnan was the center of civilization.
King Wusu (Qian Liu) and King Zhongyi (Qian Yuanguan) are both loyal to the country, and I admire them very much.
Your Lord Yuan You is still young, and you and other important ministers should provide more guidance so that he will not forget the loyalty of his ancestors.
I have given you a secret seal, and I will give it to your king when I return. If you have any questions, you can ask me the secret seal."
Yuan You is the name of Qian Zuo, the king of Wuyue. Zhang Zhao addressed him directly. Basically, he treated Qian Zuo as his younger brother, and it was even more meaningful to give him the secret seal.
Zhang Zhao knew that Wu Yuechen was strong but weak, and Qian Zuo was young. If there was something he couldn't control, with this secret seal, he could rely on Zhang Zhao's power to stabilize his position.
Once Qian Zuo borrowed his power, he would tighten the distinction between the superior and the inferior. In the future, when the Southern Tang Dynasty was gone, Qian Zuo would naturally have no choice but to bring his country home.
This is the historical fact that Qian Yue returned to the Song Dynasty, which gave Zhang Zhao plenty of confidence, but he didn't know yet that Qian Zuo had only a few months to live.
Upon hearing this, Pei Jian knelt down and accepted the reward, then stood up and finished the wine. Pei Jian had a deeper understanding of the military strength of the Central Plains Zhou Dynasty and Zhang Yan's personal ability.
In his view, the Great Zhou Dynasty, under the reign of the sage king, had virtuous officials and brave generals, and was already in a position to dominate the world.
He decided to persuade Qian Zuo when he returned, to simply kill the snake and follow the stick, and quickly establish a situation worthy of being a brother to Emperor Shao Ming.
As for Gao Baorong, Zhang Zhao was even more kind. He held Gao Baorong's hand.
"I heard that King Nanping was ill, so I asked the Imperial Medical Office to select three famous doctors and some valuable medicinal materials. The chief minister can take them to Jiangling.
I am very pleased that Baoying is willing to stay in Tokyo to study, and I will definitely supervise him."
Gao Baorong and his younger brother Gao Baoying also bowed down directly. Among them, Gao Baoying had already caught the eye of Luo Siniang, and the Gao and Luo families had already made an engagement.
Finally, there is Ma Xiguang. You can tell his character just by looking at him. He is round and naive. Although he is not particularly fat, his soft appearance seems to add a bit of weight to him.
"I heard that Brother Xiguang is going to Xuzhou to worship his ancestors. I have informed Xuzhou Zhongwu Army Jiedu Commander Fan Quan to make arrangements. The tombs of the Ma family's ancestors have also been repaired.
Brother Xiguang and I hit it off immediately. March is the birthday of Empress Dowager Ciyou, so Brother Xiguang must be there so that you and I can have a hundred more drinks."
Ma Xiguang prostrated himself on the ground gratefully, sobbing, and Zhang Gao said to him that he really had nothing to say.
Banquets were given every few days, often with treasures, utensils, and delicacies. Ma Xiguang also loved polo, and Zhang Xian even took the time to teach him in person.
In Ma Xiguang's life, even his brother Ma Xifan was not so kind to him.
Moreover, something big happened during his visit this time. After careful comparison by Jinyi's personal guards, he finally found the former residence of Ma Yin, the ancestor of the Ma family, as well as dozens of surviving members of the Ma family.
Ma Yin was from Xuzhou, and he made a living as a carpenter before he started his career. Zhang Gao not only found the Ma family in Xuzhou, but also the grandson of the craftsman who taught Ma Yin the carpenter craft.
Therefore, after the court meeting, Ma Xiguang had to go to Xuzhou to meet the Ma family clan. Although the trip would be delayed for a month or two, Ma Xiguang felt that it did not matter.
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The next day, after the Shangyuan Festival banquet, Zhang Zhao immediately asked Zhongshu Sheng to draft an edict.
Ma Xifan was granted the title of King of Chu, Taiwei of the Inspection School, Zhongshu Ling, Military Envoy of Wu'an and Wuping, Chief of the Governor's Office of Tanzhou, with the power to take charge of various affairs of Tanzhou.
He appointed Qian Zuo as the King of Wuyue, inspected the Taibao School, was the military governor of Zhendong and Zhenhai towns, and took charge of affairs in eastern Zhejiang and western Zhejiang.
He named Gao Congjie the King of Jing, Grand Tutor of the School, Tong Zhongshu Menxia Ping Zhangshi, Jingnan Jiedu Envoy, and Jiangling Prefecture Yin.
Since then, Zhang Zhou finally established vassal relations with the four kingdoms of Southern Tang, Ma Chu, Wu Yue, and Nanping, and gained strong claims over these four kingdoms.
Among all the countries in the world, only Meng, Shu and Southern Han are left who still call themselves emperors.
Five days later, Feng Dao and Zhao Ying returned from the prefectures and counties in Henan. They brought a lot of first-hand information about the grassroots. Two days later, the Jinyi guards in the secret line also returned.
Zhang Gao immediately ordered Liu Tao, the secretary of the bureau, and Li Fang, the governor of the central government, to summon all the secretaries of the central government to analyze and organize the two reports. After forming a tabular form, Zhang Gao finally understood the specific situation of the territory under his rule.
In fact, in Henan, Wubao is everywhere, but it still only exists in the twelve states of Meng, Huai, Zheng, Ru, Xu, Chen, Song, Cao, Dan, Yan, Hua, Chan, and Pu, which are close to Luoyang and Kaifeng. .
Because these twelve states faced the threat of the Khitan people from cutting grass and valleys, they had urgent security needs.
Although there are Wubao in other prefectures and counties, they are purely for self-protection through folk associations and do not form strong personal attachment or personal oppression.
And after the political situation of the court became stable and there were no external threats, Wubao itself was in a state of disintegration.
Moreover, the cultivated land among the people is not as small as Zhang Hao thought. Except for these counties and counties where Wubao is concentrated in large numbers, the farming situation in other counties and counties is still good.
From this, Zhang Yan realized that the old township official system and the newly emerged service system did not evolve independently, but changed with the changes in the central organizational structure.
Corresponding to the township official system is the county system from Qin to Han, Wei and Jin.
This kind of system of prefectures and counties, in the words of Gu Yanwu in the Ming Dynasty, is called Qizanzaixia.
That is to say, in the county system, the independent power of counties is too strong, and the only option for the imperial court to interfere with counties is the county chief.
The thing that is contrary to the county system is the township official system.
This resulted in the central dynasty having to rely on, and even coax to some extent, officials at the three levels of counties, counties, and townships to complete its management of counties, counties, and townships. The local power was obviously too strong.
Although the Jiedushi vassal towns in the Tang Dynasty were different from the counties and counties in terms of performance, their connotations were in the same category as the county and county systems, and even the powerful families of the Han, Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties.
These are all local forces that are too strong, and have even formed a model that can completely form a country on its own.
And corresponding to its exclusiveness below, it is also its exclusiveness above.
That was during the period of the county system. Although the central government could not deeply intervene in the local structure, the driving of local forces was a big problem.
But the benefits of the country are too concentrated at the central level.
This resulted in national wealth being mostly concentrated in the capital and the Guanzhong and Heluo areas where the capital was located.
In the words of later generations, the central government siphoned off everything from the local area, including taxes, talents, etc.
This political structure caused huge influence and destruction in the Han and Tang Dynasties.
An important reason for the outbreak of the Anshi Rebellion was actually that the Li and Tang dynasties cared too much about Guanzhong and sucked blood too much.
Otherwise, An Lushan alone, without the dissatisfaction and resistance of the entire class in Hebei, would not have caused such great harm.
For Zhang Zhao, the township official system, no matter how many benefits it has, is meaningless.
His biggest problem now is to take back local power and prevent the situation of feudal and town separatism from reappearing. In that case, he cannot use the township official system that resulted from a high degree of local centralization.
So what is the upper political structure of the service system?
Of course, it was the emergence of the Song Dynasty, the integration of the Yuan Dynasty, and the finalized provincial system of the Ming and Qing Dynasties.
This system uses the name of Xingzhongshu Province to transfer part of the power to local governments in the form of authorization, but all governance powers belong to the central government, and the provinces are just agents of the central government.
Since the imperial court could always control a part of all administrative, financial, military, and judicial powers, it also distributed a considerable part of the power to the provinces, taking advantage of the situation of the provinces to centralize power to the central government.
This is the future trend, and Zhang Zhao's major reforms at the local level will also be put on the agenda.