Chapter 643: Unprecedented Tang and Song Revolutions
Chapter 643 Unprecedented Changes in the Tang and Song Dynasties
Gao Congjie said that he wanted to think about it, but that was not true. He was just thinking about it. King Jing of Nanping, who loved his tenth son very much, suddenly found that he had lost control of his son.
Judging from the current situation, Gao Baoxu must have received the support of some Nanping generals who were unwilling to give up their power.
This is normal. The cake of the Nanping country is only so big. Once the land is donated, the Gao family will continue to enjoy the wealth and honor, but it is not necessarily the case with the generals who now have military power in Nanping.
It is not an exaggeration to say that Jiangling in Nanping is the first fortress on the Yangtze River, because Jiangling is located at the golden node of the Yangtze River.
The upstream section of the Yangtze River is narrow, the current is turbulent, and there are various underwater reefs, such as Tiger Rock, Ghost Spin, Hell King Liu, etc. Once you hear it, you will know how dangerous it is.
When Emperor Zhaolie Liu Bei launched an army to attack Wu, it was because the Yangtze River section upstream of Jiangling was too dangerous and he never dared to use naval forces to attack Jiangling.
But after the Yangtze River reached Jiangling, it suddenly became extremely open, the water flow slowed down, and the reefs in the river disappeared.
Jiangling City was built at a critical point where the Yangtze River was about to become wider. It could not only intercept the river surface, but also control the upstream and downstream waterways.
A somewhat disgusting metaphor is that Jiangling City is like the sphincter of the Yangtze River. Only by controlling Jiangling can we say we control the Yangtze River.
In such an important place, it is conceivable that once Zhou Guo occupied Jiangling, he would at least clear out all the senior military attachés of the Nanping Navy and replace them with his own people.
Therefore, the person who is most afraid of Gao's surrender is not Gao himself, but the senior generals of Nanping who have enjoyed the great benefits of Jiangling City.
Others thought that Gao Congjie had not yet made a decision, but Gao Congjie had already dragging his sick body to secretly open the small treasury, rewarded his most trusted five hundred soldiers, and made the soldiers never leave him.
At the same time, Gao Congjie secretly summoned his third son, Gao Baorong. Only now did he feel that this somewhat cowardly eldest son was the most reliable. At least he would not get involved with those ambitious military generals.
When the two met, Gao Congjie didn't talk nonsense. He looked at Gao Baorong and asked in a low voice: "Can Emperor Shao really tolerate others? Li Yazi of the former Tang Dynasty was also known as the Holy Emperor, but your grandfather went to Luoyang and almost died.
He was killed."
Gao Congjie was talking about the time when Gao Jixing, King Wuxin of Nanping, went to Luoyang to meet Li Cunxu, but he almost couldn't return to Nanping at that time.
Gao Baorong nodded slowly, "The Emperor Shao is quite impressive. The brothers Li Congdao and Li Congzhao fought with the Emperor when they were quelling the rebellion in Guanzhong. Now, after handing over most of their property, they can still become rich men.
Even though Shi Chonggui lost his moral integrity, he could still save his life.
I'm thinking, if our Gao family really dedicates the land of the three states and sets an example for the world, the treatment cannot be worse than that of Liu Chengyou, the son of Liu Zhiyuan from Hedong."
Gao Congjie nodded. If Gao Baorong was full of assurances, then with Gao Baorong's IQ, he might have been deceived by the illusion.
But now he is hesitating. It seems that his third son is not that stupid. He must have made his own judgment.
Hearing what Gao Baorong said, Gao Congjie also made a basic judgment in his heart. He immediately said to Gao Baorong: "Call your uncle Song Sanlang and father-in-law Liang He to come somewhere, and brother Chong will also be sent here."
Gao Baorong's maternal grandfather, the Song family, and his father-in-law, the Liang family, were both local wealthy families. This was the guarantee that Gao Baorong could always be the prince's son. Chong brother was Gao Baorong's three-year-old only son Gao Jichong, who was also the last lord of Nanping in history.
After hearing his father's words, Gao Baorong's eyes widened in horror, "Sir, Juro, this is definitely not the case!"
Gao Congjie was now more sure that his third son might be a little cowardly, but he was definitely not stupid. Because he had only made some arrangements here, Gao Baorong knew what was going on.
"Juro may not be that good, but I can't trust the people around him, especially the navy commander Li Duan. He has huge benefits in the Flying Tiger Army, and he won't be willing to surrender to the imperial court just like that.
Sanlang, I will ask the soldiers around me to take you out of the city through the small gate. I will go to see the male horse Zhaoyuan of Jiuquan County and tell him that I, Gao Congjie, am willing to obey the imperial edict and let the imperial army enter Jiangling. Let's see what his attitude is."
After saying that, Gao Congjie let out a long sigh and looked at Gao Baorong with a little moisture in the corners of his eyes.
"A certain Gao Congjie has been working hard and sleeping since he took over Nanping. He has been carrying the notorious reputation of Gao Laizi for decades, just to preserve the foundation of my Gao family. Unexpectedly, in the end, it was all in vain."
Gao Baorong could only feel sadness in his heart. He knelt down in front of Gao Congjie and cried loudly.
Gao Congjie pulled Gao Baorong up from the ground and said, "My son is prudent and steady. He can keep the Gao family wealthy. Don't ask for too much in the future. If you can become a rich man in Tokyo, it will be enough."
It's just that for a certain family, it's hard to let go of this knot. Sanlang can go to the Jiuquan County Office and ask him to report to the emperor on his behalf. If Gao can be allowed to stay in Jiangling temporarily, it will be a great blessing."
Gao Baorong quickly went out to meet Ma Zhaoyuan, and Ma Zhaoyuan quickly sent Gao Congjie's extravagant request to Kaifeng Mansion in Tokyo.
....
At this time, Zhang Zhao had been optimizing the government affairs. In fact, this era was also in a very important turning period in Chinese history.
Before this, due to the limitation of productivity, the upper classes in China were clearly divided, and the word rich was closely tied to power.
Those who have power will have money, but ordinary people will not have much money in their lives. The two parties are almost in two different worlds in terms of food and clothing.
But by this time, to be precise, it would be ten or twenty years later in the early Northern Song Dynasty, this boundary was almost completely broken.
With the development of productivity, the word wealth has begun to spread downwards to the common people, and the number of common people who have more than enough money at home and even are relatively wealthy is gradually increasing.
The development of productivity has also brought about the prosperity of handicraft industry and commodity economy. The strict market structure in cities has been broken. The phenomenon of small countries and few people in the countryside, with most people never leaving the village in their lives, has also begun to decrease.
At the same time, with the further development of printing technology, knowledge began to spread from wealthy families and even poor families to ordinary people at lower levels.
According to historical records, during the Northern Song Dynasty, some shepherds in Hebei were able to read and write, as evidenced by the cliff carvings discovered in Shijiazhuang City in later generations.
The situation in the south is even more exaggerated. In places such as Jianzhou on Fujian Road, there are only 50 out of 10 farmers and readers.
Therefore, many historians in later generations also call this period the Tang and Song Dynasty changes.
This was a period of great change in Chinese civilization that penetrated the entire class. It was also an important reason why the Song Dynasty, an era of frustration and cowardice, still had many fans in later generations.
If we don't take into account its setbacks and coercion, most people in this era, including small bourgeois and peasant farmers, lived better lives than those in the Han and Tang dynasties.
Of course, this does not exist for sharecroppers, and they will never live well.
Even in later generations, most of the ‘tenants’ who pay high rents in first- and second-tier cities are under great pressure.
The reason why Zhang Zhao could feel the pulse of this era was because the wild boar Luo Shande told Zhang Zhao a peculiar situation from Haozhou.
That is, during the riots in Haozhou, a large number of farmers were instigated by the local wealthy families to oppose the imperial court. They surrounded the hills and mountains of Haozhou to cultivate fields and established strongholds. They were very tenacious.
Gao Yunquan was forced to ask the imperial court for soldiers because of the numerous cottages.
Zhang Zhao did not care whether these Haozhou people were tenacious or not, but was very interested in their skills in encircling mountains and blocking water to create fields.
Because this is the killer weapon for the rapid development of southern China - terraced fields.
The original terraced fields were invented around the Qin and Han Dynasties, but their construction and planting were not large-scale and were quite primitive.
Because the Central Plains was not fully developed at that time, there was no need to waste time and effort on developing terraces in the mountains.
The Hani compatriots in Yunnan should have the most experience in terraced fields in the late Tang and Five Dynasties. They were called Heman at this time and were being ruled by the Dali Kingdom established by Duan Siping, the military governor of Tonghai.
Dali, which is located in Yunnan Province, was able to make a splash in the background, and its terraces played an important role.
When Zhang Zhao realized that this was a God-given opportunity to promote terraced fields, he immediately ordered his Jinyi guards to interrogate the rebel leaders who were captured and brought to Beijing and were supposed to be executed.
The result was very good feedback. Due to the suppression of Huainan by the Southern Tang Dynasty, mountainous states like Haozhou had no choice but to ask for farmland from the mountains. Based on the experience of the Qin and Han Dynasties, the local people immediately built the terraced fields in a stylish way.
developed.
From the terraced fields, Zhang Zhao also thought of Champa rice. According to the timeline, the Champa rice variety at this time was already mature.
From the actual situation, the yield of Champa rice is not that exaggerated. Those Champa rice with high yield in history are new varieties selected after being introduced.
The real advantages of Champa rice are its drought resistance, early maturity and its ability to work well with terraced fields.
Another important reason why terraces did not develop in the mountainous and hilly areas of Southeast and South China in the past is that it was relatively difficult to irrigate the terraces, and it was impossible to have a large amount of freely available water.
Therefore, local rice species that require special water have no advantage in terms of yield in terraced fields.
But Champa rice is different. It is particularly drought-resistant and is suitable for planting on mountain terraces.
Moreover, it has a short growth cycle and can be harvested in about fifty days at the fastest. With its drought resistance, it can even be used for emergency purposes.
Terraced fields and Champa rice are a perfect match.
After learning about these situations, Zhang Zhao also examined his own advantages. His biggest advantage was knowing the results in advance.
For example, when Song Zhenzong ordered the promotion of Champa rice nationwide, he was actually very worried. He repeated it several times before finally deciding to promote it.
Because he didn't know whether this thing was really drought-resistant, had a short production cycle and was high-yielding. He had never seen a good harvest of rice in Champa with his own eyes, and was afraid that he would be deceived by the officials below.
Another example is terraced fields. By the time they were really promoted, it was already the New China era.
This is partly due to the laziness of politicians in the past dynasties and their ignorance of the benefits brought by terraced fields.
But on the other hand, they don't know that what they do must be correct.
In this era where food is the most important thing for the people, there must be no mistakes in any agricultural improvements.
But Zhang Zhao knew the result clearly, but the city was too far away, and even the Zhou Dynasty's navy was in the construction stage, let alone large ships that could go to sea.
However, the opportunity soon came. Liu Congxiao, who originally occupied Nan (Zhang) and Quanzhou, sent Sima Huang Yuxi to carry sixty kilograms of dipterocarp incense and five golden and jade quilts decorated with Xie Zhi and rhinoceros horns to trek.
Traveled thousands of miles to Kaifeng Mansion in Tokyo to meet Zhang Zhao.
Liu Congxiao was originally a general of Wang Min. After the Southern Tang Dynasty destroyed Wang Min, Liu Congxiao ostensibly obeyed the orders of the Southern Tang Dynasty, but in fact, occupying Quanzhou was like a separatist regime.
Originally, he would not occupy Quan and Nanzhou so quickly, but in this time and space, as soon as the Southern Tang Dynasty conquered Wang Min, Zhang Zhao launched a large army to conquer the Southern Tang Dynasty. How could Li Jing care about Wang Min and other states?
, quickly transfer the troops in Fujian.
So Liu Congxiao and others quickly expanded their forces. After he defeated the Qian Yue army who tried to occupy Quanzhou after the Southern Tang Dynasty retreated, his brother Liu Congyuan also quickly took control of Nanzhou.
The two brothers, headed by Liu Congxiao, formed a stable separatist force.
Liu Congxiao was a very smart person. He knew that Quan and the two southern states were small and had few people, so it was impossible for them to form their own country. Although the Southern Tang Dynasty was a paper tiger, it still had the strength to conquer Quan and the two southern states, so he took the initiative.
Submit a letter to the Southern Tang Dynasty asking for seal.
Li Jing was overjoyed after being beaten up by Zhang Zhao with a black nose and swollen face, and lost all face. He immediately made him the military governor of the Qingyuan Army, the observation envoy of Quan, Nan and other prefectures, and he was granted the title Duke of E.
But Liu Congxiao was very unwilling to submit his vassal status to the Southern Tang Dynasty. He wanted to submit his vassal status to the Central Plains.
Firstly, he must choose a thick hug when hugging his thighs. Secondly, the Central Plains is thousands of miles away from Zhangzhou, so it is much less of a threat to him than the Southern Tang Dynasty, which is closer to Chichi.
After Liu Congxiao's envoy Huang Yuxi also brought the imperial edict of the Southern Tang Dynasty canonizing Liu Congxiao, Zhang Zhao knew that Liu Congxiao was a wonderful person.
Because according to current legal principles, Li Jing is only the king of the Southern Tang Dynasty who was conferred by Zhang Zhao. How could he have the qualifications to confer the title of Duke of E? This is an obvious transgression. Zhang Zhao can definitely use this as a reason to raise troops to attack
Southern Tang Dynasty.
But for now, Zhang Zhao doesn't want to beat Li Jing, he wants to deal with Meng Shu first.
Because Li Jing is just a fat person, Meng Shu can barely be considered a strong person.
Therefore, although Zhang Zhao did not agree to Liu Congxiao's request for canonization from the imperial court and the purchase of properties in Kaifeng Prefecture in Tokyo and Luoyang, the sacred capital, he gave Huang Yuxi a generous gift and named him Yinqing Guanglu Doctor.
This expresses Zhang Zhao's willingness to accept Liu Congxiao's surrender, but the time is not yet ripe at the moment.
It's just that Zhang Zhao still needs to use the navy troops who refuse to take refuge and stay with them.
Nanzhou (Zhangzhou) and Quanzhou have always been important cities in China's maritime trade, and Fujianese are one of the main forces of Chinese going to sea.
So Zhang Zhao ordered Huang Yuxi to rush back to the Qingyuan Army immediately, and told him to stay and follow suit. If he could send a large ship south to Champa as soon as possible to transport Zhang Zhao 20,000 shi of rice seeds from Champa, then Zhang Zhao would accept his surrender.
On the first day of August, after Zhang Zhao held the imperial meeting, he ordered Zhang Xichong and Zhang Yuan, the censor of the Yushitai, to select the censors to supervise each province.
Starting from the first day of August, the imperial court will send supervisory censors to each province to urge them to start land equalization operations. The inspectors of each province and the Guanfeng Qianhu sent to each province by the royal guards will also assist in supervision.
At the same time, the Zhongshu Provincial Branch Office and the Ministry of Household Affairs are also selecting branch angels and transfer angels to go to various provinces to urge various regions to start the asset identification work for taxpayers, farmers, industrial and commercial people under the new two tax laws.
According to Zhang Zhao's requirements, officials must also declare in order to pay taxes.
This seems to be a very difficult thing for the gentry to pay for themselves in the past dynasties.
A ruthless man like Emperor Yongzheng of the Qing Dynasty was exposed because of this. My fourth master, who died suddenly, was expected to be struck to death by lightning or have his head chopped off by Lu Siniang.
But in Zhang Zhao's case, this was a matter of an edict, because this was the Five Dynasties, an era when warriors could draw their swords and kill people without even a disagreement.
What kind of civil servant or country squire dares to say that he does not pay for his food? Does he still need his head?
They have long been accustomed to paying grain and taxes, and at this time, the civil servant group has not grown enough to control everything in the country, so they are not resistance at all.
As for the warriors, they really don't want to pay for the food. Unfortunately, Zhang Zhao is the biggest warrior leader now, and the way to solve the problem among warriors is very simple, that is, each relies on the sword in his hand.
No one can beat Zhang Zhao now. Zhang Zhao said that if their farms, shops and other properties also have to pay taxes, then they will obediently pay taxes.
Of course, this tax payment is just a situation. Regardless of whether you are civil or military, if you have an official title, even if you pay taxes, you won't be able to pay much. Don't be too casual about tax evasion and tax evasion.
But Zhang Zhao doesn't care. What he wants is to make the officials and gentry have the habit of paying their taxes. As for how much tax they have stolen, once the country is generally calm, there will be plenty of means to slowly repair them.
Equalizing land and setting taxes are two major events. After Zhang Zhao completed the arrangement, he did another thing that shocked everyone.
Zhang Shengren pardoned the two rebel leaders on the grounds that they had presented the method of building terraces.
Not only did they pardon them, they were also appointed as doctors of agriculture, and ordered the Ministry of Household Affairs and the Ministry of Industry to cooperate with them to perfect the terrace construction method and then promote it to the whole world.
This is a serious crime of rebellion! Can you avoid death by showing some method of building terraces? You can also be a doctor of agriculture. Although it is not an official, it is still a status!
Later, Zhang Zhao went a step further and ordered the people of the world, regardless of their status or country, as long as they contributed improved seeds, new farm tools, and new farming methods, according to their merits, they would be awarded the title of earl.
This is the first new channel for knighthood in thousands of years besides military merit, bloodline and political achievements.
Later, Zhang Zhao also announced that those who received a knighthood and a doctorate in agriculture for their agricultural studies could receive a reward ranging from fifty guan to fifty qian from the royal family every year.
Moreover, this soon had an effect. Under the leadership of the county magistrate, the people of Jingshan County, Yingzhou, walked thousands of miles to Tokyo to present the rice-planting weapon-the rice horse.
The so-called rice horse is like a crescent-shaped boat. People can sit on the rice horse to plant rice instead of bending down to the ground, which greatly improves efficiency and saves time.
Zhang Zhao asked officials from the Ministry of Household Affairs and the Ministry of Industry to test it and found that it indeed had a great promotion effect on rice transplanting.
Zhang Zhao immediately promoted the county magistrate of Jingshan to the governor of Ying, and gave each of the Yingzhou people who came to Beijing 20 crowns. Five people who were good at farming were selected as doctors of agriculture to enjoy the royal annuity reward, and further exempted the entire county of Jingshan from this autumn.
Tax.
As soon as the news came out, everyone was shocked. At the end of August, people from the Southern Tang Dynasty came from Haizhou to Huai'an Prefecture (Chuzhou) in the Jianghuai Province of the Zhou Dynasty to present high-yielding yellow rice seeds to the governor of Huai'an Prefecture of Zhangzhou.
Zhang Zhao immediately issued an order to Li Jing, ordering him to quickly investigate the situation, and ordered the Jinyi guards from Jianghuai Province to go and investigate.
The so-called Huangrang rice is a kind of local rice species that loves water very much, has strong ability to resist flooding, and at the same time, the yield is not lower than that of Champa rice.
This kind of yellow rice has the characteristics of loving water and resisting floods, so it is most suitable for reclaiming a large number of swamps in the south. It plays an extremely important role in turning miasma-filled swamps into fertile farmland.
As for Li Jing, a fool, it wasn't because Zhang Zhao had such a virtuous policy, he didn't even know about it.
After the governor of Haizhou in the Southern Tang Dynasty went to check, he learned that the yellow rice donated by this family was not only resistant to flooding, but also had a yield of three and a half stones per mu, far exceeding the two and a half stones of ordinary rice varieties.
At this time, one stone weighs one hundred and twenty kilograms, three and a half stones weighs 420 kilograms, and two and a half stones weighs only three hundred kilograms.
Faced with this data, the Southern Tang Dynasty was frightened. They wanted to conceal it and not report it. As a result, the Jinyi guards knew the details and brought some people and rice seeds to Huai'an.
Zhang Zhao rolled his eyes and realized that this was a good opportunity to beat Li Jing. He immediately sent Wang Jiu, a doctor in the Ministry of Rites, as an angel, to Jiangning City to scold Li Jing.
Wang Jiu is famous for not being afraid of trouble. He was the one who held Gaochang Uighur Jieli and Pijia's sleeve tightly.
This time he came as an angel and simply scolded Li Jing bloody in front of all the civil and military officials of the Southern Tang Dynasty.
The harsh and harsh words made Li Jing break his guard several times and tried to evade him. However, Wang Jiu still held on to his sleeves, causing Southern Tang Dynasty to use force and lose face. It also severely damaged Li Jing's prestige.
As for the people of the Southern Tang Dynasty who donated rice seeds, Zhang Zhao did not break his promise and immediately promoted him to the title of Haizhou Bo, fulfilling his highest promise.
As a result, everyone in the world who thought they had some skills began to run to Tokyo to compete with those who presented auspiciousness in previous years.
As for Gao Cong's wish that Ma Zhaoyuan sent to report, Zhang Zhao summoned Zhang Xichong, Guo Tiance and other civil and military officials to discuss it, and they all felt that it was barely acceptable.
Then Zhang Zhao would have no problem, because he knew that Gao Congjie could live for half a year, even if he was in good health.
So Zhang Zhao sent an envoy to inform Gao Congjie, and at the same time he personally led three thousand elite troops from the Youyu Lin Guard and went south from Kaifeng Prefecture in Tokyo overnight.
He had to personally make arrangements for an important town like Jiangling, and he also needed to find a way to deal with the Xidong barbarians in Ma Chu.