Although Zhuge Liang and others and the aristocratic families in Shu are very anxious, proclaiming the emperor cannot be done in a day or two. It takes three or four months to prepare a complete set of etiquette.
Moreover, it is not enough to just let Liu Bei wear a yellow robe and proclaim himself emperor. A series of things that will happen after Liu Bei becomes emperor must be thought out in advance.
Such as rewards, officialdom, and reforms.
After more than four hundred years in the Han Dynasty, many systems have obviously failed to keep up with the requirements of this era, not to mention that Liu Bei only occupies one-third of the world's territory, which is not the most elite territory. Some things will not be reformed unless they are reformed. methods to adapt to the requirements of this era.
Therefore, after Liu Bei returned to Chengdu, on the one hand, he had to follow etiquette and make three concessions. On the other hand, he often discussed with Zhuge Liang on how to reform the central government and improve the efficiency of the central government.
Liu Bei, although he has the brand of Han clan clan on his body, the value of Han clan clan is really not high these days, especially for someone like Liu Bei who has fallen into a middle-class family and has risen step by step from the bottom to the current Han clan. My clan members have seen quite clearly the turmoil in the Han Dynasty over the past few decades.
The Han Dynasty must carry out reforms, otherwise if it continues like this, it will just linger on.
But how to reform was another major matter. Liu Bei himself was not sure about it and had to discuss it with Zhuge Liang.
As for Zhuge Liang, now is not a time when Prime Minister Zhuge is responsible for everything. There are many talents under Liu Bei's account, and Zhuge Liang has never thought of monopolizing power.
Therefore, Zhuge Liang once again convened a small group meeting to discuss this issue of restructuring.
Regardless of whether it is a military system or an official system, there is always a certain time-traveling bumpkin involved. Therefore, the dream that the time-traveling bumpkin had thought about for a long time and went home to be with his wife was over before it even started.
Zhang Xi indeed returned to Chengdu and home, meeting his wife and children whom he had not seen for another year.
But before Zhang Xi could properly accompany Sun Shangxiang and Xiaoba and educate Xiaoxuan'er and Xiaozheng'er, Zhuge Liang came directly to arrest them for a meeting.
And this meeting was one of those stinky and long meetings that lasted from dawn to dusk. Zhang Xi had to think about the content of the meeting every time he went back after a meeting, and had no time to spend with his wife and children.
However, Zhang Xi couldn't say anything. After all, this meeting was really important. Even a person like Zhang Fei, who didn't have much political acumen, was dragged to the meeting by Zhuge Liang. What reason did Zhang Xi have to complain? !
The first thing to talk about is the military system.
Today's Han Dynasty has no major problems with its military merit system, and there is no need for major changes in the trinity of central, local, and border military systems.
The combat effectiveness of the Han army was very strong, whether in the Early Han or the Later Han. Even in troubled times, it was very normal to press individual foreigners to the ground and rub them.
But whether to use the recruitment system to recruit soldiers or to return to the conscription system of the Pre-Han Dynasty requires careful discussion.
During the Western Han Dynasty, the conscription system was basically adopted, and the sons of good families were recruited into the army. However, after the Eastern Han Dynasty abolished the county and national military system, the conscription system was gradually replaced by the conscription system. By the Eastern Han Dynasty, the conscription system was basically used to recruit soldiers, with the conscription system as a supplement.
In recent years, the world has been in chaos, and after the decline of the Han Dynasty, the heroes have separated themselves from each other, and the disadvantages of the recruitment system have become apparent - as long as you have money and a name that can be said to have passed, you can recruit soldiers, separate one side, and follow Confrontation with the central court.
The recruitment system is a double-edged sword. If you use it well, it can enhance your own strength, but if you use it incorrectly, it can also hurt you.
Therefore, everyone has different opinions on whether to continue to use the recruitment system after Liu Bei becomes emperor.
Some people are opposed to the military recruitment system, especially Liu Ba. He believes that the military recruitment system imposes a serious financial burden on the central government. If the military recruitment system is adopted for a long time, the combat effectiveness of the army may not be guaranteed, but the money spent will definitely be like water.
This made the chief economist of the Liu Bei Group very dissatisfied, and felt that soldiers had to be recruited mainly through the conscription system and supplemented by a small-scale recruitment system.
You can't say that Liu Ba's statement is unreasonable. Even Zhuge Liang also agrees with Liu Ba's rhetoric. After all, Zhuge Liang has been in charge of Chengdu's government affairs for these years and knows very well how much the expenditure on the military recruitment system is.
But the problem is, we are still in troubled times, and we are not in a peaceful era where we can put our swords and guns in the warehouse and let our horses fly to the south. If we abandon the recruitment system and adopt the conscription system, where can we find so many so-called soldiers from good families? !
There are not many races in the world these days. At least half of the people in the world are either living in the mountains and forests, or they are hidden by aristocratic families. Without a sufficient population base, how can you implement a conscription system? !
This issue triggered a "big discussion" among military generals and officials responsible for government affairs.
Even Zhang Fei participated.
Although Zhang Fei is not very familiar with actual government affairs, Zhang Fei knows that if the conscription system is adopted, at least half of his soldiers should go home to farm. How can this be done? !
After arguing and arguing for several days, the two sides finally reached an agreement - at this stage, the recruitment system should be the main one, with the conscription system as a supplement. After the world is unified and the Han Dynasty is revived, the issue of the military system will be discussed again.
As for one of the military systems, the issue of rebuilding the central and northern armies was also solved.
The central army of the imperial court has not been rebuilt for a long time since Emperor Huan and Emperor Ling. Even during the period of Emperor Ling, because the combat effectiveness of the Central Forbidden Army was not good enough, they had to add the Eighth School Lieutenant of Xiyuan to strengthen the defense of the imperial city. This is also Cao Cao, The position where Yuan Shao and others started.
In these years of war, what the imperial court calls the Central Forbidden Army is more realistically called Cao Wei's Central Forbidden Army. The Han Dynasty has not had any northern and southern armies for a long time.
But now, this issue does not need to be discussed at all. It is imperative to restore the North and South armies.
After all, the new emperor of the Han Dynasty is Liu Bei, who is a decisive and decisive prince. Even when he was not the emperor, he had white soldiers and other personal guards. After becoming the emperor, wouldn't it be a matter of course to rebuild the northern and southern armies? !
Therefore, in terms of the military system, except for some debates on whether to adopt the conscription system or the recruitment system, the other military systems have basically not changed, and the trinity of central, local, and border military systems is still adopted.
The Central Army was under the direct control of the emperor, and the northern and southern armies were re-established. They not only protected the capital and the emperor, but were also the country's elite troops and could be ordered to go into battle at any time.
At the local level, county soldiers are the main force, and the recruitment system is still adopted for the time being. However, a clear upper limit plan will be made for the recruitment of soldiers by states and counties, limiting the power of officers and soldiers of state and county chiefs, and avoiding the situation where local officials become powerful.
As for the border, the local governors and chief historians should first report to the central government based on the actual situation, and the central government will order the formation of various border front armies to resist foreign invaders. If special military operations are encountered, such as taking the initiative to attack foreigners, etc., they must also be organized by The central government decides whether to send additional central imperial troops there, and the border county chief cannot make the decision without authorization.
Of course, if it is just a small-scale battle if the military strength of the border county army allows, the governor of the border county can decide the battle plan based on the actual situation. At least in this regard, the governor of the border county has more autonomy than the local governors in the interior.
The issue of the military system has almost been discussed, and now it is the turn of the official system.
This problem is even more troublesome than the military system.
At least the military system of the Han Dynasty was not greatly damaged. The only problem that held it back was the financial burden on the central and local governments.
But the official system of the Han Dynasty has so many things going on.
Up to now, the biggest problem of the Han Dynasty's official system is that the central administrative efficiency is quite low. As a result, many things can only be fought and fought among each other, but cannot be implemented.
The Han Dynasty first adopted the three-gong-nine-qing system to govern the country.
However, the entire high-level official system of the Han Dynasty has experienced too many changes. Some emperors, relatives, and even princes and ministers have changed the system of three public officials and nine ministers who performed their respective duties completely beyond recognition.
Nowadays, the officials below have encountered problems, and there have even been situations where they don't know which department to approach to deal with them.
In addition, during the periods of Emperor Huan and Emperor Ling, party strife was serious, with relatives and civil servant groups fighting each other, and sometimes a group of eunuchs would be included in the process. They were thinking about fighting for power and profit all day long, and the administrative efficiency was naturally not much higher.
Administrative efficiency is low, the official system is chaotic, official corruption is common, the emperor takes the lead in corruption, coupled with serious land annexation, local officials and aristocratic families oppress the people. The Yellow Turban Uprising seems very logical.
Seeing helplessly how the Han Dynasty was heading towards troubled times step by step, Zhuge Liang and others definitely did not want the Han Dynasty that they and others worked hard to help to continue on the same path as Emperor Huan and Emperor Ling.
Therefore, this official position must be changed.
But let me tell Zhang Xi, if we cannot vigorously develop productivity, solve the problem of land annexation, and cannot completely separate the farmers from the bondage of the land and provide better resettlement, no matter how we change the official system, it will actually end up being replaced. The soup does not change the dressing.
But if you say such nonsense at this time, you are just causing trouble for yourself. With the current productivity and production relations, there is really no way to do what Zhang Xi said.
Just one thing - these days, no matter which regime you are in, you need to rely on agricultural taxes to support the government. When you can completely abolish agricultural taxes and maintain national stability, that will be the time to completely solve the land annexation problem.
This kind of thing is still more than 1,700 years away from this era.
Therefore, it is better to change the official system. At least it will make the central administration more efficient and delay the outbreak of the land annexation problem as much as possible.
(End of chapter)
