Chapter 700
The New Constitution of Gengwu
It was clear as early as the time of Shang Yang that the foundation of any dynasty's legal system lay in agriculture and warfare. In other words, the wealth and power of a country depended on two things: land and population registration. Only by clarifying the country's land ownership could grain and wealth be collected for taxation. Only by registering the population in various regions could soldiers be conscripted for war. Only in this way could a country have the strength to quell chaos and stabilize its territory.
During the period before and after Liu Xian became emperor, he inevitably discovered that, apart from Yizhou, his stronghold which he had been cultivating for six years, the land and household registers in the newly acquired prefectures and counties were shockingly low.
Taking Jingzhou as an example, after Sima Yan pacified Eastern Wu, in the first year of Taikang (280 AD), Jingzhou had 22 prefectures, 169 counties, 357,548 households, and 2,148,032 people. Twenty years later, due to natural population growth and the court's vigorous investigation, in the first year of Yongkang (300 AD), Jingzhou's accounts showed 618,327 households and 3,724,415 people.
This figure was inherently debatable, as the actual number was certainly much higher due to the existence of aristocratic families and hidden households. However, ten years later, after Liu Xian took over, he combined the household registrations of Jingzhou and Xiangzhou, which was equivalent to the original jurisdiction of Jingzhou, and found that there were only 290,000 households and 1.62 million people.
Although Jingzhou suffered four large-scale wars—the rebellions of Li Chen and Liu Ni, Chen Min, and Zhang Fang, as well as the Han-Jin War—it remained relatively stable thanks to Liu Hong's successful governance. It was far better off than Yizhou, which had endured years of fierce fighting, and even received at least 200,000 refugees from Ba and Shu. However, after registering the population of Yi and Ning provinces, there were still over 2.2 million people listed. This was certainly an inaccurate figure, and further investigation was possible. Yet, Jing and Xiang provinces were actually worse off than Ba and Shu, a truly bizarre situation.
The reason isn't hard to guess. Liu Xian's census in Bashu mainly utilized the Celestial Masters' clan registration system. The list of Celestial Masters' followers was sometimes more accurate than the household registration statistics in the prefectures and counties. However, the situation in Jingxiang was completely different. In previous years, Liu Hong, in order to maintain local stability and prevent further chaos, almost turned a blind eye to the various actions of local scholars who concealed their households and recruited people. This restored order in the prefectures and counties, but greatly reduced the number of households controlled by the government, leading to the current situation.
If Jingzhou is in such a state, then the situation in Jiangzhou, Yangzhou, Guangzhou, and Jiaozhou is even worse. Chen Min and Wang Ji are not as capable as Liu Hong, so the situation there will only be worse.
As a result, although Liu Xian won victory after victory, after several major battles, the treasuries of most prefectures and counties, except for Yizhou, were depleted, and local grain and commodity prices soared. Although the imperial court was piled high with gold and silver treasures seized from various places, gold and silver could not be eaten. Even when they were distributed to county and prefectural officials as salaries, the officials were very dissatisfied, saying that many supplies were already priceless and unavailable.
Therefore, in the past few years, facing this predicament, the Jin court relied mainly on the savings left by Liu Hong or on forcibly conscripting troops to obtain supplies and manpower. This was also a method; Emperor Guangwu Liu Xiu had raised military provisions in this way, allowing his soldiers to burn, kill, loot, and forcibly collect supplies, plundering all the way from Hebei to his hometown of Nanyang, and even forcing the important general Deng Feng to rebel.
However, Liu Xian simply couldn't do such a thing. Firstly, it was morally impermissible, and secondly, the circumstances didn't allow it. Liu Xiu established his kingdom in the populous Hebei region, during the prosperous Former Han Dynasty, which boasted a population of 60 million and had accumulated considerable wealth over a long period of peace. Liu Xian, on the other hand, established his kingdom in the sparsely populated Jiangnan region, after a century of chaos and a population far smaller than that of the Former Han. It was impossible for him to rely on this for a long-term solution. Forcibly engaging in military expansion could, in fact, lead to the total collapse of the nation's livelihood.
In this situation, Liu Xian wanted to promote the nobility system, reward the soldiers of the six armies, grant land to the entire army, and implement the privileges of soldiers. However, after Liu Xian's repeated screenings, there were still 310,000 soldiers in the Southern Han Dynasty. If the system were to be implemented nationwide, it would be a heavy blow to the treasury.
Therefore, in order to resolve these difficulties, control land and household registration, and improve the government's revenue and expenditure, Liu Xian needed to carry out in-depth reforms. These reforms required strong military force; only with a solid military system as a foundation could subsequent reforms penetrate into all aspects of society.
An analysis of Shang Yang's implementation of the military meritocracy system reveals a similar pattern. Military meritocracy was only one aspect; its existence was closely linked to another system implemented by Shang Yang: the system of mutual accusation and collective punishment. Shang Yang prohibited fathers, sons, and brothers from living in the same house, forcibly separating households and organizing the people into units of ten or five, implementing a system of mutual denunciation and accusation, with those who did not report wrongdoing being punished equally. In this way, the Qin government's power penetrated into every household, enabling the military meritocracy system to be extended throughout the country.
Therefore, compared to the military merit system, the nobility system appears very similar on the surface, but because it does not affect the entire population, it is actually completely different, or rather, a system full of compromises. Given the deeply entrenched power of the aristocratic families, Liu Xian could no longer implement the system of collective responsibility; the people were unwilling, and the conditions did not permit it.
Liu Xian's advantage lies in the fact that as the commander-in-chief of the entire army, he single-handedly created the entire Han army and had sufficient control over the army. Therefore, he intends to use this as the foundation to create a brand-new military workshop system.
Simply put, armies are usually divided into three categories: the Imperial Guard, the Garrison Army, and the Prefecture and County Army.
The so-called Imperial Guards were the army that protected the capital region and guarded the emperor. The so-called Garrison Troops were the standing army of important military towns. The so-called Prefecture and County Troops were conscripts temporarily recruited by prefecture and county officials from villages and counties.
In short, the century-long history of the evolution of the military system during the late Han Dynasty can be summarized as the strengthening of the Imperial Guards and Garrison Troops, and the gradual abolition of the prefectural and county troops.
This mainly stems from the Cao family's history of usurping power. In order to complete the process of usurping the Han dynasty as much as possible, Cao Cao had to find a way to strengthen his control over the army. He abolished the extensive prefecture and county troops and instead established the Four Expeditions and Four Garrisons system, concentrating a large number of gentry families in the capital or a few important military towns. This naturally made it easier for the Cao and Xiahou families to control the country and also allowed them to suppress other anti-Cao forces.
Of course, if the royal family lacks a strong military and political figure, and a strong military and political figure emerges from outside the royal family, this also makes it easier for outsiders to seize power.
However, from the perspective of grassroots governance and economic expenditure, this was an extremely negative policy. With the rise of the aristocratic class, the connection between local counties and the central government was already fragile. Abolishing the prefectural and county troops completely severed their military ties. Moreover, it greatly increased the economic burden. After all, transporting grain and fodder from the local areas to the capital and key military towns was a considerable expense, and the court also had to find ways to procure horses, armor, and supplies, and purchase them from the capital region and military garrisons to the local areas, which was another loss.
Lu Zhi commented on this, saying, "Throughout history, the imperial court has always wanted to make progress in taxation and finance. It all boils down to four words: increase revenue and reduce expenditure. The previous military garrison system was undoubtedly a big mistake, going against the grain and focusing on increasing revenue and reducing expenditure."
Liu Xian agreed wholeheartedly and asked Lu Zhidao, "In your opinion, what should I do?"
Lu Zhi resolutely said, "Reversal is the movement of the Way. The Wei and Jin dynasties gained the world by separating soldiers from farmers, and lost the world by the same reason. Therefore, our dynasty should change course and reintegrate soldiers into farmers."
Thus, following the establishment of the nobility system, the imperial court introduced a new military ward system. Liu Xian planned to dismantle and break up the various armies, and then widely establish military wards in the existing prefectures and counties, directly using counties as units, and equally deploying most of the troops, except for the imperial guards and the newly formed refugee army, in each county. The areas where these soldiers lived were simply called military wards.
Regardless of whether it was a prefecture or a county, a typical county's military garrison would have only a hundred to two hundred soldiers. They were managed by the local county commandant, who would grant them land and help them settle down in the area, even to start families and build careers.
In the past, during the Han Dynasty, counties were divided into townships, townships into pavilions, and pavilions into villages. Now, most of these basic administrative units have fallen into disuse and chaos. This opportunity to grant land to meritorious officials provides a perfect chance for soldiers to penetrate into the villages and communities. Given their privilege of tax exemption for those with local household registration, they are easily accepted by the locals. This allows the court to establish a foothold in the local areas, opening the first line of defense in grassroots governance and disseminating the court's policies.
Based on the concept of integrating soldiers with farmers, the military workshops changed the responsibility for supplying Han soldiers' food, clothing and other necessities from the military garrisons to the county government's military workshops. The military workshops were responsible for coordinating local sharing of the burden. Although the county government still had to supply soldiers with rations, the expenditure was greatly reduced because the loss of rations caused by the county government transporting them to the military garrisons was reduced. In fact, at the beginning of the conscription, the soldiers could even take some rations from the military workshops themselves and transport them to the front line, which was another expense saved.
Of course, the savings didn't stop there. It should be noted that the nobility system granted Han soldiers not only privileges but also obligations. While ordinary Han soldiers enjoyed privileges such as land grants, tax exemptions, and even hereditary privileges, they also had the obligation to provide some of their own weapons.
Ordinary elite soldiers only needed to provide themselves with a ring-pommel sword and a longbow and arrows; the court would manufacture the rest of their armor, shields, and crossbows, distributing them to various military workshops for safekeeping and maintenance. Once a soldier reached the rank of Valiant Warrior, the court would also arrange for them to be provided with horses, which the warriors could then arrange for to be grazed by local households. During busy farming seasons, the horses could be used for plowing, and during the off-season, they could be used for mounted archery and combat. In this way, the long-standing problem of horse administration was effectively solved.
It is also worth noting that after the Han soldiers were stationed in the county military garrisons, in addition to assembling for wartime preparations and saving expenses, they could also conduct monthly inspections, patrol day and night to maintain order in the villages and counties, and even directly recruit soldiers from the villages and counties. This can be described as killing two birds with one stone.
However, as the saying goes, everything has its advantages and disadvantages. With the implementation of such a powerful system, the political power of military officers will also increase accordingly. Previously, a captain only needed to select a city in the prefecture as a military stronghold and order the county captains to bring their troops to train and assemble there. His influence was often limited to that city. After the implementation of the military camp system, the captain would have to patrol the entire prefecture from time to time, thus managing all the townships and counties within the prefecture, and his power would greatly increase.
At the beginning of the imperial reforms, military garrisons were bound to rely on the court. However, if this continued, they might become indistinguishable from local scholars and become independent of the court. Therefore, in order to prevent these problems from arising in advance, Liu Xian and Lu Zhi, after comparing various ancient books, planned to fully implement the rotational garrison system.
After all, we are still in a chaotic world, and the role of military strongholds in times of war is irreplaceable. Their greatest advantage is their ability to quickly mobilize troops. However, with the military camp system dispersing soldiers to villages and counties, the number of troops that can be mobilized at any time is reduced. In order to train troops for battle, it is also necessary to concentrate a large number of soldiers.
Therefore, Liu Xian advocated that one-third of the soldiers from each military garrison should be selected annually from each prefecture to undergo rotational training in the prefecture capital. The governors of each prefecture could then draw upon these troops at any time as an emergency force for the court to defend against enemies.
Throughout the country, soldiers from various prefectures and counties also had to take turns guarding the capital.
The Southern Han Dynasty currently controls eight provinces: Ning, Yi, Jing, Xiang, Jiao, Guang, Jiang, and Yang. It also has two pre-existing provinces, Yu and Si, which, though lacking territory, are effectively home to armies. Jing Province, as the current capital region, is normally required to provide 30,000 permanent troops to protect Yi'an. However, this does not mean that the armies of the remaining nine provinces can act independently. Liu Xian divided the nine provinces into three circuits, with each circuit sending 30,000 troops to the capital annually for three-year periods, serving as part of the imperial guard system for auxiliary defense and training. Thus, Jing Province has 60,000 permanent troops, serving both as a garrison force protecting the emperor and as a mobile force for central support to other regions.
There is a problem with the implementation of this system. The three prefectures of Jiao, Guang, and Ning are too far from the imperial court. Sending them to Yi'an for rotational garrison duty would take about two or three months a year, and for places like Jiao, it could take up to four months.
However, Liu Xian still decided to push it forward, mainly for three reasons.
Firstly, Yi'an is not like Luoyang; at least it is located in the Jiangnan region. As long as we focus on managing the roads for these troops to enter the capital and make preparations in advance, allowing them to rotate through the city, the costs can still be afforded.
Secondly, long marches are an important part of military training, and the fact that soldiers from the borderlands can travel thousands of miles across mountains and rivers is a form of excellent training. If these troops are to be rotated to serve in the capital, their training after arriving in Beijing can be appropriately reduced, and their treatment can be improved as compensation, which would generally maintain fairness.
The core of the rotational garrison system was to establish a connection between the emperor and the local authorities. It allowed the troops in every prefecture and county to personally experience the prosperity of the capital region and the emperor's trust, thereby fostering a sense of honor and making it a source of pride to protect the emperor. In this way, a sense of identity would be established throughout the country, making soldiers feel they belonged to the Han Dynasty, rather than simply recognizing and obeying their local officials. Therefore, it could not be abandoned because of the remoteness of the regions; on the contrary, it was precisely because the regions were thousands of miles apart that it was even more important to persist.
Thus, by combining the nobility system as the foundation, the military service system as the core, and the rotational garrison system as a supplement, the military system portion of the Gengwu Reforms was formed. This was the part that Liu Xian first promoted, and also the part that took the longest to prepare.
Beginning in October of the fourth year of the Qiming era, various prefectures and counties began calculating and reporting past military achievements, which were then tallied by the imperial court. This process continued until March of the fifth year of the Qiming era. Similarly, the court instructed various prefectures and counties to construct military camps and prepare land for meritorious service in preparation for the arrival of the first batch of soldiers, and to explain the court's policies to the assigned soldiers. Following the issuance of three formal edicts by the court in August, the four prefectures of Jing, Yi, Xiang, and Jiang took the lead in implementing these measures.
Strictly speaking, while the new military system increased the soldiers' benefits, it was also clear to discerning people that while the burden on the court was reduced, the responsibilities of officers and soldiers increased accordingly. Fortunately, Liu Xian's prestige in the army was supreme, so the resistance to implementing the reforms was naturally minimal; at least no one dared to openly oppose it.
This can only be considered a good start, but going back to the beginning, the new military system is only a part of the reform and opening up. Even if it succeeds, it cannot represent the success of the entire reform and opening up. If we want to fundamentally reverse the situation and make the country prosperous, we must face the most important issues of household registration and land ownership. These are not issues that Liu Xian can avoid by taking shortcuts.
In mid-September of that year, Liu Xian officially issued an edict to initiate the first round of land registration and inventory after becoming emperor, initially implemented in Jing and Xiang provinces. (End of Chapter)