Chapter 2156: Shizong Chronicles 24: Old Nobles and New Nobles, the Grand Assembly of the Imperial Princes

The current Governor of Kaifeng was Li Zhaoxian, County Duke of Leping. Setting aside his resume and seniority, his family background alone was enough to qualify him to serve as the chief official of this "second prefecture under heaven."

His father was Li Jilong, his mother Liu Jia, and his maternal grandfather was Emperor Shizu, making him a cousin of the current Son of Heaven... The Li clan could also be counted as a military family of the Great Han. Whether it was Li Chuyun, or Li Jilong and Li Jihe, all were famous generals of their time—especially Li Jilong, a paragon of command, a pillar of the state, and the most outstanding talent the Li clan had ever produced.

However, as the Li Jilong brothers passed away one after another, Li Zhaoxian's generation began to shoulder the family's heavy responsibilities, while also stepping onto the political stage of the Great Han. Yet in Li Zhaoxian's generation, there were no more talents like Li Jilong or Li Jihe, and no one from the fourth generation had emerged either. Thus, while the Lady Li's numbers grew, the momentum of the family's development was in decline.

For many years, it had been Li Zhaoxian who maintained the Lady Li's power and influence in the court and among the officialdom. Even though he had received Li Jilong's education and training from a young age, to be honest, he was merely of middling ability. In governance and handling affairs, he was distinguished only by steadiness and harmony.

But for someone of Li Zhaoxian's status, middling ability was already sufficient—the position of Governor of Kaifeng was proof of that, for it was not a post that ordinary meritorious nobles could hold.

To be fair, if the imperial house and the court harbored suspicions, then a family like the Lady Li—a military lineage with powerful influence and appeal within the army, having produced both generals and chancellors, wielding military and political power, and also being imperial relatives—would pose the greatest threat to imperial authority, far greater than ordinary powerful nobles.

However, as the Great Han Empire had marched forward from the Shizu era, there were families of military lineages and maternal relatives even more illustrious and closer to the throne than the Lady Li—and more than one of them. By the Jianlong era, sixty or seventy years later, this kind of problem was no longer a major one.

This was thanks to Emperor Shizu having lived long enough and reigned long enough. During his rule, with his lofty authority and prestige, he gradually diluted and eliminated this threat, and combined with a series of balancing measures, as well as Emperor Taizong's various policies and regulations that strengthened the institutions, the current situation came to be.

For the powerful nobles of the Great Han Empire today, given the opportunity, they would not hesitate to seize power and encroach upon imperial authority. But no one dared to harbor thoughts of rebellion or usurpation, for that would only invite a united attack from all sides.

For any ruling class, it is very difficult to form a fundamental subversion from within. Of course, if it reached the late period of an empire's rule, that would be another matter; before that, a long process of development and transformation was still needed.

Think carefully—even imperial princes of the royal house could hold important positions in the court and wield real, heavy power, so employing some imperial relatives was even more commonplace. However, whether it was Shizu, Taizong, or even Kangzong, all had deliberately promoted commoner-official bureaucrats and suppressed meritorious nobles in order to maintain balance.

Not to mention Liu Wenji—he was the one who most needed to balance the empire's power and classes. Yet in the end, one would discover that the so-called balance merely cultivated a batch of commoner-origin nobles alongside the aristocratic officials, and there was no essential difference between the two—only the privileges they enjoyed differed, and the form in which they threatened imperial authority was different...

Take Lü Yijian, the current Administrative Assistant of Kaifeng, for example. The position of "Administrative Assistant" established by the Great Han Empire from the central government to the localities was not merely for adjudicating criminal cases and lawsuits; rather, one could adjudicate all matters of the prefectures, offices, and courts within one's jurisdiction—the so-called "Tongpan." One can imagine the authority within the corresponding scope of duties, far heavier than the traditional "Three Upper Assistants."

Of course, with the changes and developments of the times, the position of "Administrative Assistant" was not a universally permanent office. Strictly speaking, like the court dispatching important ministers from time to time to tour and inspect the regions, it was a temporary commission. Therefore, although the Great Han Empire had hundreds of departments and prefectures, the number of Administrative Assistants was not very large—they were only established in special offices or under special circumstances, and Kaifeng Prefecture certainly possessed that specialness.

As for Lü Yijian, he was just over forty at the time, with a considerable reputation and outstanding ability. But when officials throughout the court mentioned him, the first thing that came to mind was his uncle—the famous minister and chancellor of the "Kaibao–Yongxi" era, Lü Mengzheng.

Of course, although Lü Mengzheng had many descendants, in terms of achievement, reputation, and power, it was Lü Yijian who in fact became Lü Mengzheng's political heir. And had it not been for the relationship of sharing the surname Lü, as well as Lü Mengzheng's guidance and assistance while he was alive and in court, even with the best natural talent, Lü Yijian would have found it exceedingly difficult to reach his current political position.

The Great Han Empire entering the Jianlong era—perhaps even much earlier—was no longer an era in which humble families, commoners, and grassroots figures could rise freely. Even though every year a number of humble families and commoner officials still entered officialdom through the imperial examinations and clerical channels and were appointed to office, this group was small compared to the hundreds of millions of subjects. At the same time, it was hard to say whether behind these commoners there were any "extraordinary" backgrounds and connections involved.

And those commoner bureaucrats and humble-origin generals once used by Emperor Shizu to counterbalance the meritorious noble class had, over the long years, long since become a new kind of "powerful noble," forming a new relationship of inheritance.

After all, in an empire where officialdom was paramount, entering office meant becoming noble, and once noble, one's identity transformed and one's class ascended. Expecting the powerful nobles of the ruling class to live in harmony with the exploited common masses was in itself an extremely contradictory thing.

Those who could achieve it were worthy of being praised as "officials of integrity and virtue," but this was merely the self-awareness of a portion of the ruling class. And whether it was Emperor Shizu or Emperor Taizong, their so-called balancing merely cultivated a batch of "new nobles" within the ruling class, bringing no fundamental change to the class contradictions of the entire empire.

Of course, the educational and examination systems perfected by Shizu and Taizong guaranteed commoners a basic channel and opportunity for upward mobility—that in itself was their progressiveness.

On the other hand, the group of meritorious nobles and distinguished families who held the core discourse power of the empire maintained their inheritance basically through blood ties—this was stipulated by the system of ranks and stipends, and was also the basic characteristic of the origin and inheritance of meritorious nobles.

In comparison, the "new nobles" were far broader in their political inheritance. Blood and kinship remained very important considerations, but they were not limited to these—teacher-student, schoolmate, colleague, comrade, and even fellow townsman relationships could all become the veins through which a political faction was passed down and developed.

In breadth and inclusiveness, this portion of "new nobles" was clearly superior to the traditional meritorious nobles, for the overall talent pool was vastly different. This was also the fundamental reason they could contend with the meritorious old nobles, and over a relatively long time span, between the old nobles and the "new nobles," it was bound to be a process of one rising as the other fell...

These issues concerning the empire's ruling class and some deep-seated class contradictions—as emperor, Liu Wenji had clearly perceived them, and this was commendable. And the solution or mitigation method Liu Wenji adopted was the attempt and development of the two-tier civil service school system at the central and local levels, which likewise carried that flavor of reconciliation.

After the imperial carriage arrived at the Eastern Capital, Emperor Liu Wenji first issued a gracious decree, posthumously honoring the former chief minister and finance minister Xiang Minzhong, generously rewarding his descendants, and granting his two sons official positions as sixth-rank honorary officials. The old chancellor Xiang Minzhong had passed away from illness in his residence within Kaifeng city in the fourth month of summer that year.

When news of his death first arrived, Liu Wenji had already expressed regret and sent people to offer condolences. This time was merely adding further rewards on top of the previous consolation gifts. Besides the material benefits, Xiang Minzhong was also posthumously conferred the title of Director of State Affairs.

In fact, for Liu Wenji, the matter of Xiang Minzhong could be said to be merely a diversion to change his mood upon arriving at Kaifeng. After handling the small loose ends of that matter, he would welcome a major event—one of great significance in the history of the Great Han Empire.

In the Kaifeng city of late midsummer, not only had the hottest season of the year arrived, but also a group of guests from all corners of the world—the enfeoffed kings of the Great Han Empire, distributed across the realm and beyond.

King of Chu Liu Shu, King of Yue Liu Han, King of Raole Liu Xin, King of Jiujiang Liu Xuan, King of Andong Liu Wenyuan, King of Anxi Liu Wenze, King of Kangju Liu Wenqian, King of Beiting Liu Wengong, King of Linhai Liu Wenhai, King of Northern Qi Liu Wenhan (King of Qi Liu Yun died in the third year of Duan'gong), King of Northern Lu Liu Wenjun (eldest son of King of Lu Liu Ai, who died in the first year of Jianlong), King of Southern Liang Liu Wenwan, King of Western Yong Liu Kan (son of the former King of Yong Liu Chun), King of Gouwu Liu Wenyu—together with King of Yan Liu Zhao and King of Xuchang Liu Yao, sixteen in total, had already gathered in Kaifeng city.

There was also King of Annam Liu Jidan, who, being young (under fifteen) and unable to handle great affairs, had his elder brother Liu Jiyuan sent by the Queen Dowager as his representative to travel north and participate in this assembly. In fact, the real situation was that the upper echelons of the Annam royal house were embroiled in fierce struggles, and the Queen Dowager Liu E dared not leave, nor did she dare let her most important card, "King of Annam Liu Jidan," leave Jiaozhou...

These sixteen kings basically matched Emperor Shizu's original conception of enfeoffing his sons and nephews and dividing the realm, and they were representatives of the great and small states that partitioned the central and eastern world. To say that these people gathered together could overturn the entire world would not be an exaggeration.

The last time all the kings sat together and the great and small branches of the clan gathered was during the Taizong period, and the discussion of state affairs together could be traced back to the first year of Yongxi, when Taizong had just succeeded to the throne—and that was already twenty-eight years ago.

For a nation and for individuals, twenty-eight years was enough to produce earth-shaking changes. From the current composition of the imperial princes, one could clearly see that Emperor Shizu's sons had gradually withdrawn from the stage of history—the old had aged, the dead had died, and the few remaining younger ones, aside from bearing the title of "Imperial Uncle," had no advantage even in age compared to some imperial nephews, let alone in national development.

And besides the passage of time and change of faces, the most fundamental change over the twenty-eight years was roughly the change in the relationship between the imperial house and the feudal states. The dilution and estrangement of the relationship between the central government and the enfeoffed states, and between the imperial clan at large and the various collateral kings, was inevitable. The decline of the court's control over the various states was an extremely obvious trend, accompanied by the gradual strengthening of each state's power—this was one of the main causes of these changes.

By the third year of Jianlong, if one spoke of national strength among the various states, the foremost was undoubtedly Anxi, followed by Andong. This was understandable, for only these two eastern and western states had received almost unrestricted blood-transfusion support from the empire in the early period.

After Anxi and Andong came Kangju, Beiting, and Raole in close succession. Judging from this unofficial ranking, the world was still in an era of continental power. Even though for the Great Han Empire the age of great navigation had already begun, the overseas enfeoffed states still had a considerable gap in strength compared to the land-based ones.

Of course, this gap was not only caused by the intensity of central support and the development of recent decades, but also related to the level of civilization development in those regions beforehand. Among the southern enfeoffed states, or the maritime enfeoffed states, only three—Annam, Linyi, and Linhai—could barely keep pace with the northern land-based states in the development of national power and strength.

Yet even among these three states, which had basically taken control of the Indochinese Peninsula, in terms of hard power, only Raole could truly compare. And even as the weakest of the northern states, if Raole truly went all out, "a hundred thousand bowmen" might be an exaggeration, but organizing fifty thousand cavalry would be more than sufficient.

Meanwhile, over the past twenty-odd years, the war-torn states of Linyi and Linhai, when facing the Zhenla and Pagan states, had never deployed more than thirty thousand troops even in their largest operations. At the same time, Zhenla and Pagan still stood in their way to this day—though increasingly weakened, it was hard to guarantee when they could be completely destroyed and annexed.

Zhenla was nearly shattered by the alternating assaults of Liu Wenyan and Liu Gong, and Pagan had been compressed into the mountainous regions of northern Burma, teetering under Liu Wenhai's united-front operations. In fact, what truly limited the two states from completing their annexation was no longer merely a military problem, but political, economic, transportation, ethnic, religious, and demographic problems.

This time, the gathering of all the kings in the capital was also an action Liu Wenji had been brewing for a long time before putting it into motion. He summoned all the kings, following the example of Emperor Taizong in his day, to hold an assembly of the imperial princes, bringing out his long-planned "New Feudal Vassal System" to jointly construct a brand-new feudal vassal system for the Great Han Empire.

In fact, this wind had been blowing for many years, traceable as far back as the Kaibao era, but there had never been a truly profound and thorough change. Liu Wenji merely wanted to go a step further on the basis of the "Yongxi Oath."

And this wind had long since blown to the various states in the past years. Everyone more or less knew what the central government led by Liu Wenji intended, but precisely because of this, the kings were somewhat difficult to handle.

Take King of Chu Liu Shu, for example. At sixty-five, he had not changed his old ways at all. As the person with the highest status among the living imperial clan after the King of Zhao, he naturally put on the airs of an Imperial Uncle. After waiting two days in Kaifeng, he began complaining to people that the emperor did not respect them—how could he keep elders and honored guests waiting this long?

Before Liu Wenji's arrival, King of Xuchang Liu Yao, who was mainly responsible for receiving the kings, was nearly at his wit's end dealing with this group of enfeoffed kings—they were truly too difficult to manage. The elderly King of Chu Liu Shu, who played the elder card and acted shamelessly, could be tolerated, but Liu Wenyuan of Andong was a notorious troublemaker. With these two kings present, plus the insinuations and sarcasm of the others, finding peace was no easy task.

However, all the noise subsided considerably once the imperial carriage arrived. After all, this was the emperor of the Great Han Empire, and the authority of the central emperor was still quite valuable in this era.

In the final analysis, the various states still had requests to make of the mother country, the Great Han. Otherwise, when summoned by the court, they could easily have made excuses to decline, and would not have traveled in full formation to the capital. The reason they came, besides the deterrence of the central government, was that the tone of this assembly had already been set—this was a heavyweight meeting that would determine the internal structure of the empire and the imperial house for the next several decades or even a century. For the sake of the family and the state, they had to make the trip.

In response to King of Chu Liu Shu's accusation of "disrespecting elders," Emperor Liu Wenji gave him face by personally bowing and apologizing before all the kings and ministers. His attitude was very sincere, though the slight smile at the corner of his mouth was somewhat annoying, and the whole process made Liu Shu extremely uncomfortable...

Before the meeting formally began, there was naturally a series of preparatory procedures. An imperial banquet was a must, and Liu Wenji also needed to warm up the atmosphere and make an appearance in his capacity as emperor. Then came separate audiences with each king, exchanging communications with them, listening to their reports, and probing their attitudes. Many of them he was not familiar with—some he did not even know at all.

After that came a grand and solemn ceremony of sacrificing to heaven, earth, and ancestors. The altar on the outskirts of Kaifeng, which had served as Emperor Shizu's place of worship in his early years, had long since been prepared by the Kaifeng Prefecture.

After the suburban sacrifice, a solemn worship ceremony was also held at the Zhaolie Temple in the Eastern Capital, to comfort all the heroic spirits of the predecessors who had sacrificed themselves in the founding of the empire, the establishment of its foundations, and the creation and defense of its territory. (The Hall of Meritorious Officials in the Western Capital and the Zhaolie Temple in the Eastern Capital—these two were almost the civil and military temples of the Great Han Empire.)

Then came another imperial banquet. Dragging on for several days before and after, the kings were thoroughly exhausted, and only then did Liu Wenji hold a "closed-door meeting" with them in the Chongyuan Hall of the Kaifeng imperial palace.

Originally, Liu Wenji had invited King of Zhao Liu Fang to participate, for he was the elder of the imperial clan and the hope of all the kings. However, Liu Fang refused. In his words, this was an assembly of the feudal vassals, and his line had long since been passed to Liu Wengong—for father and son to sit together at a meeting of this nature would be inappropriate.

This "Chongyuan Conference" lasted continuously for three days. The specific proceedings did not leak out at the time, and later generations could only find some records in the "Diary of Activity and Repose," the "Veritable Records of Shizong," the "National History," and various family biographies related to the kings.

The attendants and guards stationed around the hall could clearly hear the fierce arguments coming from within the Chongyuan Hall—the scene must have been quite heated. But the results that emerged from the arguments opened a brand-new "era of feudal vassalage" for the Great Han Empire, laying the foundation for the structure of the Eastern world for the next hundred or even several hundred years.

Liu Wenji and the kings surnamed Liu swore an oath, and on the basis of the "Yongxi Talks," drafted a new set of "Great Han Feudal Vassal Regulations." The changes were considerable, but the first item remained the same: the line of Emperor Taizong was the eternal and unchanging inheritor of the Great Han Empire's throne—though, of course, by the time of Liu Wenji, he himself had to be added to it.