Chapter 699
The New Constitution of Gengwu
In July and August of the fifth year of the Qiming era of the Han Dynasty, after Liu Xian completed the process of declining the throne three times and formally proclaiming himself emperor, he swiftly launched a new round of reforms. Because this year was the Gengwu year, it is historically known as the Gengwu Reforms.
Liu Xian was thirty-nine years old, the prime of a politician's life. At this age, Cao Cao was still vying for supremacy with Lü Bu in Yanzhou, Liu Bei had only managed to escape Xuchang with the imperial edict, and Sun Quan had already submitted to Cao Pi. Yet Liu Xian had already seized half the country and declared himself emperor. Looking back through history, perhaps only Qin Shi Huang and Emperor Guangwu of Han could rival his achievements.
If anyone else had achieved such success, they would probably have felt complacent and elated, but Liu Xian was not like that. His experiences from childhood had kept him in a perpetual state of vigilance, not directed at any particular person, but at the era itself. He knew that this was an era full of uncertainties, or rather, a time of great strife akin to the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods.
After the collapse of everything in the past, the fates of the Cao Wei and Sima Jin dynasties both illustrate that military achievements are merely temporary. If a completely new political framework cannot be established, even if one eventually unifies the country, it will soon perish due to internal strife. Therefore, while military success is important, without significant political reforms, like those of Wu Qi and Shang Yang that address the core issues, it will ultimately be as fleeting as the Jin dynasty.
Especially after seizing Jing and Yang provinces, which had been ruled by Eastern Wu for decades and were the regions with the deepest roots of the gentry, Liu Xian, despite having annexed them within two years, faced a far greater challenge in governing them than Ba and Shu. Therefore, for more than half a year before declaring himself emperor, he worked with Lu Zhi and others to prepare for reforms.
Lu Zhi and Liu Xian shared the same idea, but privately he did not tell Liu Xian about the reform first, but instead analyzed the difficulties of the reform.
It was late one autumn night in the fourth year of the Qiming era. The war in Huainan was still ongoing. In the newly built Lantai, Liu Xian lit a candle and read Han Feizi with Lu Zhi, discussing the key points of reform throughout history. Lu Zhi said the following:
"Your Highness, since ancient times, nothing has been more difficult than reforming the system. This is because human nature is to consider private interests. Between loyalty and filial piety, most people will definitely choose filial piety over loyalty. Just like Cao Cao usurped the Han throne and Sima Yi usurped the Wei throne, their sons naturally supported their fathers and disobeyed the monarchs. The purpose of enacting laws and regulations is to eliminate private interests and preserve public interests. In other words, it means offending most people in the world."
"But if people prioritize private interests over public interests, and everyone only thinks of themselves, then things will turn out like they are now, just like in the late Spring and Autumn Period, when states were constantly at war with each other, powerful clans were killing each other, and the world was never at peace."
"Why is this so? The reason is actually very simple: because even a monarch has his own selfish desires. If a monarch reforms the laws and systems for his own selfish purposes and demands that everyone in the world be selfless, wouldn't that just be turning everyone into the monarch's private property and prey? Then the emperor would be a tyrant and a despot, and how could the people of the world be willing to accept that?"
"Therefore, people often disregard the monarch's military power and authority, condemning the monarch who implemented reforms as tyrannical rulers, and attacking the ministers who presided over the reforms, calling them sycophants and villains who flattered the monarch. But is this really the case? Even wise ministers like the Duke of Zhou, Ji Dan, were subject to rumors, and even prime ministers like Zhuge Liang had disagreements with Fa Zheng about leniency and severity. Even the rebellions of Mi Fang and Shi Ren may have been forced into rebellion by the strict enforcement of laws and punishments within the country."
"Therefore, Your Majesty, there are two difficulties in reforming the system. One is to persist in the reform, no matter how great the resistance or temptation, even if it incites rebellion, you must always insist on carrying it out and not change the order every day. Otherwise, your subjects will despise the law and the monarch's authority."
"Secondly, one must strive to be selfless and impartial in dealing with matters. If a monarch cannot do this, the people will not be convinced. The ministers will then have an excuse to rebel, and may even unite to openly carry out so-called military remonstrances."
"These two dilemmas may seem simple, but they are actually extremely difficult to achieve. Only a wise and powerful king can accomplish them. I urge my king to reconsider."
Upon hearing this, Liu Xian couldn't help but recall his first conversation with Lu Zhi. At that time, the anti-Zhao coalition had just won the Battle of Huangqiao. Lu Zhi erected a monument for the fallen soldiers and then talked at length with Liu Xian about the so-called way of the sage king, claiming that the reason why the world was not at peace was because it lacked a sage king. The so-called sage king was a peerless monarch who "upheld the righteous path with a sincere heart, possessed the courage to defeat ten thousand enemies, wielded the sword of justice, and whose virtue covered the four seas and whose light shone on hundreds of millions of people."
That was ten years ago. At the time, Liu Xian admired Lu Zhi's style and felt that the two were kindred spirits, but he also thought that the statement was somewhat exaggerated. But now it seems that Lu Zhi's concept of a sage king was not exaggerated at all; it's just that people often underestimated the difficulty of reform.
He knew perfectly well why Lu Zhi said that. He was subtly advising him not to think that reform was easier than fighting a war. This was a matter of life and death for the country. Once it was implemented, there would be no possibility of backing down. Therefore, he had to be extremely careful. If he couldn't do that, it would be better not to reform at all in the first place, at least he could have some peace and quiet for a while.
Therefore, after a moment's deliberation, Liu Xian personally poured Lu Zhi a cup of wine and solemnly declared, "Zidao, I dare not guarantee that I can always remain selfless and become a so-called sage king. But I can guarantee that I will do my utmost to promote the reforms, advance and retreat with you, if you advance, I advance; if you do not retreat, I will not retreat an inch!"
Upon hearing this, Lu Zhi was deeply moved. He gazed at the wine reflected in the candlelight, tears glistening in his eyes. He then downed the wine in one gulp and replied to Liu Xian, word by word, "With Your Highness's trust, Lu Zhi would gladly go through fire and water for you!"
So, over the next ten months, Liu Xian and Lu Zhi repeatedly deliberated on the details of the reforms, and took the opportunity of the rewards bestowed upon him after he became emperor to launch the first real round of reforms.
The first round of reforms focused on the military. Lu Zhi had previously discussed with Liu Xian that relying on the soldiers' self-discipline to ensure the army's combat effectiveness was impossible and contrary to human nature.
Especially in today's climate of valuing literature over martial prowess, people often admire so-called refined scholars who engage in idle talk while despising fierce generals and warriors who charge into battle. Even military officers share this view, to the point that in their leisure time they try to curry favor with the gentry and feign elegance, which is clearly unreasonable.
A monarch should appropriately use systems and rewards to promote military merit, so as to barely achieve a balance between civil and military officials. For example, Emperor Gaozu of Han, Liu Bang, advocated that no one should be enfeoffed as a marquis without military merit, which led to the long-standing martial spirit of the Han Dynasty.
Similarly, although Liu Xian could not reinstate the military merit system of universal conscription at present, it was still very reasonable to use it as a framework to grant soldiers some status and privileges, and to take the opportunity to change the hierarchical system in the army.
Lu Zhi thus introduced the nobility system. Simply put, it separated military positions from titles, keeping positions separate from military merits. After all, many people in the Han army joined Liu Xian's command with their own troops, and Liu Xian would then acknowledge this fact and grant them official positions based on the size of their troops. However, in reality, those holding the same rank might have vastly different levels of military merit.
Therefore, Lu Zhi believed that the opportunity of bestowing titles and rewards could be used to introduce a system that could accurately calculate military merits and grant titles to all soldiers in the army.
He advocated starting the calculation of merits from Liu Xian's uprising in Hedong, dividing past battles into large, medium, small, and large formations according to the size of the enemy and friendly forces. Then, he would record the roles of the generals in each battle, such as commander, general slaying, flag capture, formation breaking, first to scale the walls, strategist, and supervisor, and then evaluate the final gains of the battle. Annihilating more than 40% of the enemy was considered a superior gain, 20% to 40% was a medium gain, and less than 20% was a inferior gain.
By conducting a comprehensive evaluation, the military merits earned by each general in each battle can be determined. These military merits are divided into thirty-six ranks, with each three ranks resulting in an increase of one rank. The military merits earned by each general are then summed up, and finally, based on the total military merits, a rank is awarded to each soldier.
The current Southern Han dynasty's nobility system was divided into twelve ranks, from lowest to highest: Elite Soldiers, Sharp Warriors, Valiant Warriors, Commanders-in-Chief, Cavalry Commanders, Junior Commanders, Protectors, Outer Marquises, Inner Marquises, Township Marquises, County Marquises, and Dukes of Prefectures. Among them, Elite Soldiers, Sharp Warriors, and Valiant Warriors were ranks of soldiers and were not counted in official ranks; Commanders-in-Chief, Cavalry Commanders, and Junior Commanders were ranks of Commanders, corresponding to official ranks of the seventh to ninth grades; Protectors, Outer Marquises, and Inner Marquises were ranks of officers, corresponding to official ranks of the fourth to sixth grades; and Township Marquises, County Marquises, and Dukes of Prefectures were ranks of commanders, corresponding to official ranks of the first to third grades.
In this way, the merits of all the soldiers in the Southern Han army were immediately clear. Then, the court granted different preferential treatment based on their ranks.
A newly recruited soldier automatically receives the title of elite soldier. After the court records this, he will be granted thirty mu of fertile land, ten mu of which will be exempt from rent and tax, and one household will be exempt from corvée labor. Elite soldiers will receive sixty mu, and two households will be exempted; brave soldiers will receive one hundred mu (one qing), and three households will be exempted.
Then the grants increase progressively: the title of Yuanrong doubles, granting two qing of land and exempting five households; the title of Qidu triples, granting three qing and exempting seven households; the title of Shuzhang triples, granting four qing and exempting nine households. The title of Canhu doubles again, granting ten qing of land and exempting twelve households; the title of Waihou triples, granting fifteen qing and exempting fifteen households; the title of Neihou triples, granting twenty qing and exempting eighteen households. The title of Xianghou doubles again, granting thirty qing of land and exempting twenty-four households; the title of Xianhou triples, granting forty qing and exempting thirty-two households; and the title of Jungong triples, granting fifty qing and exempting forty households.
Of course, these are just the most basic privileges. In addition, nobles can also enjoy the privilege of family inheritance and the right to offset crimes committed by their descendants. That is, if a noble's descendants join the army, they can be directly promoted to a rank of five and employed. If a noble breaks the law, as long as it is not a serious crime such as treason or murder, they can use their military merit to offset their crime.
However, to prevent the abuse of titles like those granted based on military merit, Liu Xian stipulated that when descendants inherited a title, the rank would be reduced by two grades. After all, the blessings of a virtuous person would end after five generations. Even a duke, if his descendants remained unambitious and, despite having many privileges, still sought to live off their ancestors' achievements and become parasites on the state, would be demoted to lowly soldiers after five generations.
Based on this system and principle, Liu Xian announced the list of those to be awarded within the country.
The first batch of ten generals were granted the title of Duke of a Commandery. Their names are as follows:
Li Ju, the General Who Conquers the North and Governor of Yuzhou, was enfeoffed as the Duke of Bazhou.
He Pan, who held the titles of Grand Commandant, Governor of Yangzhou, and General Who Conquers the East, was enfeoffed as Duke of Huainan.
Du Tao, the Commandant of the Capital Region and General of the Left, was enfeoffed as the Duke of Xiangnan Commandery;
Yang Nandi, the Governor of Yizhou and General Who Conquers the West, was enfeoffed as the Duke of Hanzhong.
Wang Dun, the governor of Jiangzhou, was enfeoffed as the Duke of Wuchang.
Zu Ti, the governor of Yongzhou, was enfeoffed as the Duke of Xingyang.
Zhang Gui, the governor of Liangzhou, was enfeoffed as the Duke of Wuwei.
Yan Ding, the Chief Clerk of the Western Expedition, was enfeoffed as the Duke of Shiping.
Jia Pi, the governor of Qin Prefecture, was enfeoffed as the Duke of Anding.
General Jianwu Guo Mo was enfeoffed as Duke of Yidu.
Liu Shen was posthumously granted the title of Duke of Beidi, and Lai Zhong was posthumously granted the title of Duke of Guanghan.
It's not hard to see that half of them were genuine, meritorious veterans, while the other half were newly surrendered vassal states of the Jin court. However, Liu Xian treated them as former meritorious officials by valuing the armies and prefectures they brought with them, thus appeasing and winning them over—a tacitly accepted rule. There was only one exception: Guo Mo.
Guo Mo had never served as a commander-in-chief, nor had he ever led an army independently. However, as Liu Xian's top general, he had fought in every battle since Liu Xian raised his army, from Hedong to the conquest of Shu, from the pacification of Shu to the southern regions, and then to the eastern expedition to Jiangnan the year before last. Considering his merits, he had actually earned the full thirty-six military honors. When Liu Xian learned of this, he was both amused and exasperated. Although he felt that Guo Mo was not a capable commander, in order to maintain fairness, he still granted him the title of Duke.
Twenty-two more generals were granted the title of county marquis; their names are as follows:
Huangfu Chong, the Prefect of Ningzhou, was enfeoffed as the Marquis of Lintao County;
Liu Kun, the governor of Yizhou, was enfeoffed as the Marquis of Jiangyang County;
Xi Jian, the governor of Xiangzhou, was enfeoffed as the Marquis of Linxiang County;
Guo Song, the governor of Jiaozhou, was enfeoffed as the Marquis of Nanye County;
General Gongsun Gong of Zhonglei was enfeoffed as Marquis of Liangquan County;
Zhang Guang, the military governor of Xiangyang, was appointed Marquis of Zigui County.
Zhuge Yan, the governor of Xiakou, was enfeoffed as the Marquis of Wuxing County.
Zhou Qi, the Protector of the Southern Barbarians, was appointed Marquis of Yangshang County.
General Du Hong, commander of the warship fleet, was appointed Marquis of Longchuan County;
General Mao Bao, who had accumulated merit, was appointed Marquis of Zizhong County;
General Wei Jun of Anhan was enfeoffed as Marquis of Nanzheng County;
General Yangwu, Suo Lin, was enfeoffed as Marquis of Huannan County;
Li Feng, Minister of War, was enfeoffed as Marquis of Xinye County;
Liu Fan, a court attendant, was enfeoffed as the Marquis of Anlu County;
Wang Zhen, a military advisor in the Northern Expedition, was enfeoffed as the Marquis of Chaling County.
Lu Zhifeng, Secretary of the Imperial Secretariat, was enfeoffed as Marquis of Yong'an County;
Fan Ben, a court attendant, was enfeoffed as the Marquis of Jiangyuan County;
General Guo Fang was enfeoffed as Marquis of Hanfeng County;
Zhang Qifeng, the governor of Baling, was enfeoffed as the Marquis of Wuyang County;
Huangfu Dan, the military commander of Jiangzhou, was enfeoffed as the Marquis of Pengze County;
Wen Shuo, the Imperial Guard General, was enfeoffed as the Marquis of Didao County;
Lü Shou, the Prefect of Yongchang, was enfeoffed as the Marquis of Buwei County;
He posthumously conferred the title of Marquis of Dianchi County upon Li Yi, the former Prefect of Ningzhou, and the title of Marquis of Xiangyang County upon Zhuge Jing, the former Attendant-in-Ordinary.
Compared to the strong political undertones of the list of dukes, the rewards for county marquises were undoubtedly much more substantial. Aside from a few individuals who had joined with troops and possessed considerable political prestige, most were people with real military achievements. Many trusted generals who had long followed Liu Xian, such as Meng Tao, Huan Yi, and Fu Chang, as well as relatives of the emperor like Yang Jiantou who had joined him, failed to be granted the title of county marquis due to insufficient military merit, despite their long service.
The only exception among them was Lü Shou, the Prefect of Yongchang. He steadfastly guarded the southernmost tip of Ningzhou for decades, receiving almost no news from the imperial court. He remained steadfast on the frontier, sealing the county's tax revenue in the treasury, awaiting the court's arrival. Liu Xian was deeply moved, believing that although he had no military achievements in restoring the Han dynasty, his dedication to guarding the frontier was unparalleled. Therefore, he made an exception and promoted him to the rank of County Marquis.
As for Lu Zhi's title, Lu Zhi felt that he had no real military achievements, at most he was in charge of logistics. After the eastern expedition last year, Liu Xian enfeoffed him as a county marquis, which he wanted to decline, and this time he asked to decline again. But Liu Xian rejected it with the story of Xiao He, saying to Lu Zhi: "In the expeditions to Jingxiang and Huainan, Zidao had the merit of making decisions, how can you say that he had no merit? Since Zidao is going to preside over the reform and system, how can he win the support of the people without a title? In the future, we will have to rely on Zidao more!" So he still granted him the title.
After the title of County Marquis, Liu Xian enfeoffed 48 more Township Marquises, bringing the total number of Marquises inside and outside the capital to 228. The remaining lower-ranking titles will not be detailed here.
It is evident that after the introduction of the nobility system, officers' positions and ranks were completely separated, leading to confusion within the military where some officers held high ranks but low positions, and vice versa. However, this confusion was only temporary. In the long run, the country could deploy troops more easily, as the court could review past military achievements to determine the suitability of officers, and local authorities could similarly promote military merit, ensuring that soldiers enjoyed the highest honors and preventing them from becoming complacent.
From this perspective alone, the Gengwu Reforms merely involved profit sharing and did not present the various troubles mentioned by Lu Zhi. However, the nobility system was only the prelude to reform; Liu Xian used it as a starting point, and the subsequent series of reforms constituted the main body of the Gengwu Reforms. (End of Chapter)