Chapter 19 Luoyi and Haojing
Xiong Dun released the captured nobles, and together with the defeated troops who had escaped earlier, he also recruited a group of minor nobles from the royal capital.
The organization of the six armies in Luoyi was quickly restored. As the head of Xia officials, the Duke of Qi trained this rebuilt army, hoping to restore its combat effectiveness as soon as possible and make up for the hidden danger of lack of combat power in the royal area.
Almost everyone looked happy. The negative impact of this defeat was gradually disappearing, but Luo Su smelled danger in it.
In a special period when it was not a war, it was actually possible to recruit tens of thousands of full-time soldiers.
This did not mean that the economic situation was good, but rather that there were more nobles without fiefs who hoped to obtain land by serving the emperor.
There were a large number of nobles in Bang Zhou who owned fiefdoms, but there were also many nobles who did not receive fiefdoms, but stayed in the royal capital and developed their own clans.
They served the emperor and served as officials in the royal capital. The emperor distributed the land of the royal capital to them, and the output of the land was used as salary to support these people's clans.
These lands are different from the lands granted to the princes. The ownership is still in the hands of the emperor and cannot be bought and sold. They are just outputs.
Countless small nobles made a living from this, and even Luo Su had a fiefdom within the royal capital.
If many people lost their fiefs in an instant, the entire kingdom would explode in an instant.
There were very few free citizens in this era. No matter which vassal state it was, there was no conscription as in later generations. All the soldiers were from the lowest class of petty nobles and countrymen.
Only by ensuring their interests can the emperor sit securely on the throne.
This was also the case when Ji Wan encountered a landslide on his way back to Luoyi. After the news of the defeat was reported back to Wangji, Luo Su immediately expressed his consolation to the minor nobles in Wangji.
All fiefs will not be taken back, and they will even be asked to send people from their clans to continue serving the emperor, in order to ensure the vassals' loyalty and confidence in the emperor.
In order to thoroughly understand the basic situation of the royal capital today, Luo Su asked Chen Hou for the distribution of the royal capital's land, population, and clans.
This is the latest statistical result obtained by recruiting new troops. Chen Hou is a mediocre person and he has no ability to analyze the information revealed behind these data.
But Luo Su can. Looking at the list, he felt his hands trembling.
The situation was more serious than he had imagined. It had only been seventy years since King Kang moved east to Luoyi, but the land within the royal capital had already been divided into four layers.
According to the patriarchal system, large clans are divided into small clans, and small clans are further divided into small clans. The number of such clans will grow exponentially. Where can we find so much land to distribute in the royal capital?
If no new land could be obtained, fierce conflicts would arise between the small nobles who had no fiefs and the large nobles who had large fiefs.
By then, the entire kingdom will be plunged into the shadow of political struggle, and even the military nobles will resort to direct violence.
"No wonder our ancestors said that the clan system, the feudal system, and the Xia monarch and the Yi people are a trinity. If any one of them is missing, the Zhou people's destiny will gradually collapse."
Luo Su took a deep breath and said, "This kind of continuous division of fiefdoms in the royal capital must not continue. Some of these clans that have been entrenched in the royal capital for many years must also be cleared out."
Luo Su knew with a little thought that there would be great resistance to this matter. If he were to use an example from later generations to describe it, it would probably be equivalent to driving a middle-class person who has settled in Beijing out of Beijing and sending him to the border areas.
Even a god like our ancestor did not have a complete solution to such a thorny problem. He could only choose to distribute the fiefs on a large scale and delay the process as long as possible. However, the situation was different now. Distributing fiefs could not be done as he pleased. He was at a loss for a moment.
Suddenly, the guards outside said that there was a letter from Haojing. Luo Su put down the bamboo slips in his hand and asked the guards to bring the person in.
Then they saw the Grand Guardian, the Xia official, the Marquis of Qi, and a small noble in leather armor hurriedly walking in. When the Marquis of Qi saw Luo Su, he said anxiously: "Grandmaster, there is urgent military information from Haojing."
The Marquis of Qi was the head of the Xiaguan office, in charge of important military affairs of the Zhou state. All military news, in addition to being sent to Luosu, must also be sent to the Xiaguan office.
As soon as he received the information from the messenger, he immediately put down what he was doing and rushed to Luo Su.
Luo Su quickly unfolded the letter handed by the messenger. While waiting for Luo Su to read it, the Duke of Qi said directly: "The princes who were enfeoffed to the west of Haojing jointly wrote a letter saying that the news of King Li's defeat has spread to the Western Rong tribe. The Western Rong tribe believes that the myth of the invincibility of the Bangzhou army has ended.
They gathered dozens of tribes, formed an alliance, and suddenly attacked the western vassal states. The vassal states were caught off guard and were defeated. By the time the letter came, more than a dozen vassal states had been conquered.
The princes fled to the royal capital of Haojing with members of their royal family, defeated troops and their own people, and temporarily lived in the cities of the royal capital.
Now the princes of Zhenxi, including Marquis Cheng, Marquis Mao, Marquis Tai, and Marquis Bi, are leading their troops to resist, preventing the Quanrong from directly breaking into the royal capital and destroying the ancestral temples of our ancestors.
It is said that they have contacted Bao Hou, who has always been on good terms with the major tribes of the Quan Rong, hoping to get the Quan Rong to withdraw their troops."
Luo Su had also finished reading the intelligence sent to him by this time. He did not know much about military affairs, but he was very good at maintaining the balance of power. However, most of Bang Zhou's diplomacy was now formulated by him personally.
I was very surprised by what happened in the west, and I said to myself: "Why would the Quanrong suddenly launch a large-scale attack? I know that there are frictions between the two sides from time to time, but with the Qiang as an ally, would the Quanrong be crazy to start a large-scale war with our Bangzhou?"
Qiang and Jiang have the same origin. The Qiang people have always been Bang Zhou's most important ally to the west of Haojing, and an important helper in resisting the Quanrong. How could such a balanced distribution of power be suddenly broken?
As for the myth of the invincible army of Bang Zhou, it is just hearsay. Since moving the capital to Luoyi, and with the help of the Qiang people, Bang Zhou has focused its main energy on the development of the central and eastern parts, and its power projection in Haojing has always been insufficient.
He ordered the guards to take the messenger away to rest. Without outsiders present, the two of them sat cross-legged casually, thinking about the strange news from Haojing City. Luo Su shook the bamboo slips in his hand and frowned, saying, "Uncle, this matter reveals a sense of weirdness no matter how you look at it.
Just as the western princes said, the strength of the Quanrong has grown extremely rapidly in recent years, but it has not suddenly grown to the point where it cannot be stopped by the coalition forces of various countries.
It is impossible that among the Quanrong there would emerge an unrivaled general like Xiong Dun, who could defeat a larger force with a smaller one and at the same time defeat the western princes and the Qiang tribes.
Do I have to pull the army that has just been rebuilt in Luoyi over to quell the rebellion?
It's just ridiculous."
The Duke of Qi was a man who had experienced many battles, and he found the news even more strange.
I have been thinking about it along the way, but I still can't figure it out.
But after hearing what Luo Su said, it was as if a flash of inspiration suddenly shot into his mind, "Leading the army to Haojing and re-deploying a huge military force in Haojing, could it be that the Western princes themselves created this matter?"
When Luo Su heard the Duke of Qi's mumbling, he immediately remembered that the two of them had said before that the princes in the west often exaggerated the threat posed by the Quanrong to Haojing and tried their best to make the emperor move west.
The main purpose was to hope that the emperor would reinvest his strength in Haojing and thereby restore its former central political status.
It is very likely that the princes in the west took advantage of the emperor's defeat, used their military power to gain power, and tried to see if they could bring the emperor to Haojing.
Luo Su knew about the demands of the western princes, but he would not allow this to happen. The emperor had to stay in the Central Plains for at least the next thirty years.
"Uncle, your guess is still very likely, otherwise this matter cannot be explained."
Luo Su said angrily: "I hope this is just our guess. If the Western princes deliberately condone the Quanrong's rebellion, they are really worthy of death. Anyone who shakes the country should die.
But if it is really them, making such a move is a dangerous political signal.
It seems that the decline of Haojing has reached a point that they can no longer tolerate.
If we ignore the people's sentiments in Gaojing, a more dangerous turmoil than this may not be far away.
Ensuring stability in the west is of utmost priority. Haojing is the important place for the rise of the Zhou Dynasty, and there must be no mistakes.
In the past, King Su once told King Kang that he wanted to implement the dual capital system, and to grant a large number of vassal states with the surname Ji in the narrow strip of land between Haojing and Luoyi, so as to completely make this land the kingdom.
Then by connecting the two capitals, the Mandate of Zhou would become longer, but in the end it was not implemented.
Now it seems that the time has come to revive the plan.
With the development of the east, Luoyi has prospered to the extreme. Rebuilding Haojing now can also lay a solid foundation for the future development of the western border."
The Duke of Qi was one of the leaders of the eastern princes and naturally opposed the emperor's westward migration.
But Qi was an ally of Zhou after all, so he didn't say much, but just frowned and said: "In recent years, the enfeoffment of princes has gradually become a custom.
The previous king's three sons were previously conferred the title of marquis, which could be said to be due to their noble bloodline and the grace bestowed by the emperor's ascension to the throne. What reasons did the other princes of the Ji clan have to use?
If the fiefdoms are divided without reason, not to mention the princes of different surnames, even the royal family will have problems. Since ancient times, people have been more worried about inequality than poverty. We must act with caution."
Luo Su naturally knew this. Suddenly, he seemed to remember something and turned around to collect the clan population in the royal capital. He couldn't help but smile and said with some joy: "The name of the enfeoffment has been found. The key is how to get these people out."
The Duke of Qi took the bamboo slips from Luo Su's hand and read them. He immediately understood what Luo Su meant and asked, "Are you planning to enfeoff these nobles in the royal capital? If it is these people, there will indeed be much less resistance."
Having found solutions to both problems at the same time, Luo Su said with a somewhat relaxed look: "These nobles in the royal capital are all nobles who have stayed in the royal capital since the time of King Kang.
Although they do not have a country to back them up like us princes, they have complex networks and a large population in the royal capital, and it would be very beneficial to Bang Zhou to transfer them out.
These people have served the emperor for many years and have made enough contributions to shut up some princes. Many of them are nominally ministers of the emperor and their status is noble enough.
When our ancestors formulated the clan system, they stated that the three dukes of the emperor were regarded as dukes and marquises, the ministers of the emperor were regarded as earls, and the officials of the emperor were regarded as sons and men.
In accordance with this system, we enfeoffed all the nobles with large clans, nobles who had lost power but owned large fiefs, and small nobles who were unable to obtain fiefs within the royal capital.
It can not only solve the land problem within the capital, but also solve the problem between the two capitals."
The Duke of Qi quickly pointed out a problem with this method: "Will the great nobles agree to move out of the royal capital?
Especially those families that have been nobles for generations. Even you were unable to expel Yuji and the other two from King Li's side.
If King Li had not suffered a great defeat this time, they would probably have stayed safely by King Li's side.
The lands granted within the royal domain were not hereditary, but everyone knew that they were in fact hereditary.
I even heard that the royal government is now trying to allow the nobles to trade the land in their fiefdoms at a reasonable price.
If you use the land outside the capital to exchange for the land inside the capital in their hands, they will definitely object.
After all, Wangji is their territory, unless we transfer troops from our country, but you know, we can't do that."
Luo Su smiled slightly and said, "Uncle, I have naturally considered what you are worried about.
In fact, although Luo State was a state outside the capital, since the ancestor King Su, successive Luo Marquis had basically served in the royal capital. It was just that their ancestral temple was not here, so they could be regarded as ministers of the royal capital.
According to my understanding, the royal family was not a monolithic entity. Some noble families were gradually marginalized within the royal family and wanted to be relocated.
If it were a hundred years ago, Wangji would naturally be the most prosperous and fertile place in the world, and no one would be willing to leave here.
However, after so many years, with the progress of Xia Jun's extermination of the people, the lives of many princes are no longer so difficult, and the ministers in the royal capital are all jealous.
As for those ministers who were unwilling to be sent out, according to the clan system and the feudal system, they had to be granted fiefs layer by layer.
It is not in accordance with Zhou Li for the elder clan to grant land to the younger clan.
I am the chief clan leader of the Ji clan. It is normal for me to uphold justice for the smaller clans within the capital, right?
As long as I can stabilize those military nobles, I will first enfeoff those small clans that cannot get fiefs to weaken the strength of the big clans.
If you still don't know what's best for you, you'll have to ask if my blade is sharp."
After hearing what Luo Su said, the Duke of Qi thought it was reasonable, so he smiled and said, "Since you have a good plan, I won't ask any more questions, but how should we deal with the matter in Haojing City now?"
Whether it is relocating the royal court or revitalizing Haojing, both are long-term national policies. What lies before the two now is the war in the west.
I collected my scattered thoughts. I didn't know the specific situation of this incident in the West, and there was actually no other way.
The only option was to send someone over there, so he said, "I'd better trouble my uncle to go west for this matter.
Lead an army of troops, and I will ask the Regency Council to issue an order to entrust the entire military and political affairs of the west to you, my uncle, and you will have full authority to act.
When we arrive, we will focus on appeasing them first. As for those defeated princes, if there are too many of them, we will deal with the most egregious one first, and put the rest aside for the time being while we investigate.
As for the Qiang tribe, my uncle knows more about it than I do, so you can make your own decision. This time, I have to take a good look at what the situation is like in the west."
When the Duke of Qi arrived, he anticipated that he would most likely have to go west, so he agreed directly: "Leave this matter to me. I will send a messenger back if there are any new discoveries."
(End of this chapter)
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