Chapter 27 Wang Ji’s Bad Government
What happened at the banquet soon spread within a small circle, and those with interests began to feel uneasy.
Some people who were originally skeptical, after seeing that Luo Cheng clearly stood on the side of Queen Shen Jiang and had been staying in the Tai Shi Liao without being involved in political affairs, began to believe that this new generation of Luo Hou really had an average relationship with the emperor.
As night fell, Luo Cheng was reading bamboo slips in his study.
To him, everything that happened at the banquet and in the past few days was nothing but passing clouds.
Luo Cheng dared to anger Ji Nie because he had his reasons. Even if Ji Nie was angry, he would still have the power he deserved.
Power appears to be top-down, but in essence it is bottom-up, especially in this era when royal power is not very strong.
The source of power of the successive Luo Hous was, first, the trust of successive emperors, and second, the position that the Luo family itself occupied in the system of Bang Zhou.
Even in the eras of King Kang and King Zhao, they were able to hold great power as soon as they ascended the throne because they fully inherited the mantle of King Su and Duke Wen of Luo.
Although the power of the Luo family has been declining over the past hundred years, the status of the Luo family is still special.
More than a hundred years ago, during the time of Duke Wen of Luo, there were six princes who served as regents in the council. Now, only the descendants of Luo are still holding high positions in the royal capital, which is a clear proof.
Luo Cheng did not like the emperor Ji Nie, thinking that he had great ambitions but little talent and had no self-awareness.
It would be better to turn a blind eye to it and stay in the Taishi Liao for a while. When the time is right, I will naturally start to get involved in political affairs.
The royal family now has very complicated feelings towards the Luo family.
For example, Ji Nie did not like Luo Cheng and the previous Luo Hou, but deep down, he knew that these two were loyal ministers who could do things.
Others may have ill intentions, but Luo will not. This kind of trust at the political level has gone beyond the scope of human nature and has reached a point where it is taken for granted.
Besides, Luo Cheng is not idle in the Tai Shi Liao. He can learn about the situation of the royal capital in detail and lay the foundation for his subsequent governance.
Luo Cheng was looking through various records in the Taishi Office and soon discovered that the problems in Haojing were much bigger than he had imagined, and each of them was extremely difficult.
Some of these questions were already recorded in books by Luo Wengong a hundred years ago.
Every generation of Luo Hou would record his or her lifelong experience in governing in books and leave them to future generations.
There are records of Duke Wen of Luo carrying out a series of reforms on the Zhou Dynasty.
But at the same time, he also pointed out that these reforms can only alleviate the problem but cannot completely solve it, and future generations in power should pay special attention to it.
One of the most important policies in Luo Wengong's reforms was to implement feudalism again. This strategy was very successful, and the amount of land that the Xia people could actually control increased significantly.
The Yiluo Rong were severely suppressed.
However, the war against the Western Rong was a failure. By the time of Jine, the power of the Quanrong had grown to the point where the western countries could no longer control it.
As the actual controlled area increases, this problem in the west is more serious than a hundred years ago.
From the time when King Wu conquered Shang to the present day, the Zhou Dynasty has lasted for more than two hundred years.
Hundreds of vassal states were scattered across the vast land, fighting a desperate battle with the barbarians.
They competed with each other for living space, and many jungles were turned into arable land.
The various states of Xia built cities in the vast wilderness, and the barbarians lived in the unruled areas between these cities.
As their living space was constantly squeezed, the power of the barbarians in the central and eastern parts of the country became smaller and smaller, and even the intensity of the fighting between the nations had exceeded that of the war between the Xia and the Yi peoples.
But in Haojing, the situation was the opposite.
As the location of the ancestral temple of Bang Zhou, a lot of land was also developed here, but the power of the Quanrong became increasingly powerful.
During the reign of King Xuan, he appointed a large number of wise ministers, united major vassal states such as Jin, Shen, and Guo, and achieved considerable military success.
However, years of foreign military operations also made the financial situation of the royal family very bad, and the people began to be tired of war.
In addition, King Xuan was incompetent in his later years. As the emperor, he took the lead in trampling on the patriarchal system, forcibly interfering with the succession of the thrones of the princes, and even led troops to attack a vassal state with the surname Ji, which made the princes dissatisfied with him.
He also killed ministers indiscriminately, causing loyal ministers to abandon him.
Finally, he lost the support of the princes and suffered a great defeat at Qianmu, and the military strength of Wang Ji was almost completely destroyed.
The Quanrong, which had been only temporarily suppressed before, became rampant again and began to migrate towards the royal capital.
More and more Quanrong tribes gathered between the cities of various vassal states.
The Rong people gathered around the city, which was a very dangerous signal.
Ji Nie relied on Guo Shifu's rule to make money, and perhaps he had the idea of suppressing the princes within the capital, but this was unwise.
He had no prestige among the nobles, and the people of the country were full of anger towards him.
Without the support of these two, the royal capital's military strength would be depleted, and any small incident could lead to irreversible consequences.
Now Jine can still sit safely in the palace, and it is entirely because of Bangzhou’s complete system that protects him.
Even if his power is eroded, he is still the Son of Heaven.
The feudal system, patriarchal system, and ritual and music system of more than two hundred years have made the emperor's majesty deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.
Although King Xuan became senile in his later years, he did not cause irreversible consequences and could be considered a ruler who revived the country. However, Ji Nie was completely different.
Under the protection of the system, he can still be considered safe.
So his first choice should be to strengthen the system and seek opportunities to weaken the power of others.
Instead of what Ji Nie is doing now, favoring Bao Si, alienating Queen Shen Jiang, and even wanting to depose the queen, make Bao Si the queen, and make Bao Si's son the crown prince.
This is once again a blatant trampling of the Zhou system. Will the person who started this have no descendants?
"You really don't know how to live or die!"
Luo Cheng's clear support for Queen Shen Jiang and Crown Prince Yi was to tell the whole world that the patriarchal system of Bang Zhou still existed and the Luo family still existed.
In the minds of everyone in Bang Zhou, successive Luo Hous were defenders of the patriarchal system and Zhou rituals.
But the Luo Hou of all generations knew clearly that the clan system and Zhou rituals were tools to maintain the emperor's rule.
If the eldest son is very bad and wants to be replaced, this is a very reasonable request. After all, the ancestors of the Luo family have been troubled by incompetent kings for so many years.
But you can't be so blatant.
When King Su established the system, he actually left a secret door.
The system gives many reasons why people cannot inherit, the most common of which is not having an obvious disability.
His ancestor, Duke Wen of Luo, was the second legitimate son. Because the eldest legitimate son had a leg disability, he inherited the title of Marquis of Luo.
The same logic applied when Duke Wen of Luo hinted to Marquis Nanshen to change his heir.
If you are really dissatisfied with the heir, even if you do something secretly, no one will know whether it is accidental or intentional.
However, King Xuan and Ji Nei did not understand this principle, or did not care about it and did not understand the importance of the patriarchal system.
One was a high-profile interference, while the other was known to the whole court before it even started. The method was too rough.
At this stage of the situation, Queen Shen Jiang had already become alert.
As the descendant of King Su, Luo Cheng must stand firmly on the side of the clan law at this time and must firmly safeguard the legitimate status of the prince.
Moreover, the State of Shen, backed by Queen Shen Jiang, was one of the most powerful vassal states around the royal capital of Haojing.
Luo Cheng also disliked Shen Hou, but politicians never decided the country's strategy based on their personal preferences.
Ji Nie, an emperor with an unstable foundation, dared to challenge the clan law and offend a powerful military lord who was right next to his bed.
Luo Cheng could only say "good death".
“The problems are much more serious than those during the time of our ancestor Duke Wen, and it is unrealistic to expect to solve them all.
But slowly recuperating can still alleviate some of the pain. If I can stop Bang Zhou from getting worse, I will have done my best."
Luo Cheng is very self-aware and knows that he can only be a paperhanger.
He has strong ability in governing the country. As long as he follows the procedures, these problems in Bang Zhou will at least not expand.
As for the future, we will have to rely on the wisdom of future generations.
He continued to look through the complicated information, thinking about countermeasures while reading, "First of all, we must get rid of this useless Guo Shifu. At such a critical time, such a mediocre person is not qualified to stay in a high position."
The power of the princes in the capital of Haojing has far exceeded that of Duke Wen's time. The power of the royal family has been greatly usurped, and there is even a trend of undermining the emperor. "
The reforms carried out by Duke Wen greatly eased this process.
But more than a hundred years later, this problem reappeared, and the royal family's economic foundation in Haojing was almost hollowed out.
It is necessary to suppress the princes within the capital, but there must be limits to the suppression.
Without decisive power, we cannot break the bottom line of the princes in the capital.
Guo Shifu did not have the ability to grasp this, so he was not the noble that Luo Cheng needed to unite.
At that time, Duke Wen took advantage of the Xiong Dun Rebellion and brought in the power of the princes outside the capital when the princes within the capital were weak, so that he had enough strength to carry out reforms.
The political power in the royal area is now also unbalanced. King Huang and King Xuan have both seen this problem, but their solutions were wrong.
Although the royal power has declined to this extent, the emperor is still stronger than any princes in the world and more powerful than any noble family in the royal capital.
Kings Huang and Xuan therefore chose to suppress the nobles directly with violent means, which resulted in them joining forces and resisting together.
In Luo Cheng's opinion, all kings have to face a very realistic problem.
That is, once the emperor forces everyone to the opposite side, he himself becomes the weaker party.
Since the establishment of the Zhou Dynasty, although the emperor had the strongest power, it was not as strong as the coalition of princes.
This reality was not caused by the feudal system, but the feudal system had to be implemented because of this reality.
Through a series of institutional designs, King Su made the emperor a transcendent existence. As long as the king sat on the throne, he could always maintain his powerful influence.
But there are always monarchs who like to fight themselves.
King Huang and the later King Xuan, through a series of operations, successfully pushed all the princes and ministers to the opposite side of themselves.
This is extremely stupid behavior.
"Ji Nie's mother's family is from Qi, and his wife's family is from Shen. These are all forces outside the capital that can be relied on.
However, there was still no Jin State, the most important Ji-surnamed country in the Central Plains, which could not lack its own interests within the royal capital.
This is not conducive to uniting the power of the clan.”
Luo Cheng shook his head helplessly. All monarchs wanted to be arbitrary and always felt that relying on others meant sharing power.
Some succeeded and gained greater power, while others failed and died or their countries were destroyed. King Huang was a typical example of this.
He did not want to rely on the power of the princes outside the capital to attack the princes inside the capital, but wanted to do it himself.
In the end, he was pushed out of power by a riot secretly led by the princes of Jinai.
King Xuan understood this principle in his early years, so he enjoyed temporary prosperity.
Later on, he wanted to kick out the princes who helped him seize power, and thus he was defeated.
The monarch of Shen State did want to use his daughter's status as queen to gain greater benefits, but in Luo Cheng's opinion, this was a very reasonable behavior.
Since the State of Shen paid a price, it should get corresponding benefits.
The Zhou Dynasty was originally conquered by the princes of the world. The princes did not dare to usurp the throne and claim to be kings, nor did they have the power to overthrow the rule of the royal family of the Ji clan.
They want to gain benefits under the system, and the emperor should be happy because he is the biggest beneficiary of this system after all.
As long as the emperor sits firmly on the Diaoyutai, uses high positions to grant those princes outside the capital who were once prominent, and balances the nobles within the capital, it is very easy for him to hold power.
Moreover, Shen Hou was the northwestern barrier of the royal capital, and was fully responsible for communication with some tribes of the Quanrong. Maintaining good relations with the State of Shen was very important to the safety of the royal capital.
King Xuan saw this, so he chose the legitimate daughter of Marquis Shen as the queen for Ji Nie, but Ji Nie actually wanted to sabotage it.
"First, we must conquer our common enemy, the Quanrong. This is the righteous cause of the Zhou Dynasty.
Stabilize the Marquis of Shen, unite with the Marquis of Shen and the Marquis of Qi to fight against the nobles in the capital. The territory of the Marquis of Qi is far away, so the Marquis of Qi must fight against the Marquis of Shen, and unite with the Marquis of Jin to ensure the stability of the situation and avoid fighting. This is not enough..."
Luo Cheng began to think about the introduction of new political forces and the exchange of interests.
He didn't care much about the princes outside the capital gaining power within the royal capital. The Luo family always considered issues in terms of dozens or hundreds of years.
After such a long period of time, without the support of a large clan, the ruling power of the princes outside the capital will eventually be lost.
The position of one of the three highest officials in the Luo family, which had been passed down for seven consecutive generations, was lost during the Luo family's reign as time passed.
"Um?"
Looking at the information on the bamboo slips, Luo Ben's originally calm face gradually became serious. The bamboo slips recorded the natural disasters that had occurred between Feng and Hao in recent years.
From the records, it seemed as if God no longer favored Bang Zhou. Since Ji Nie ascended the throne, many natural disasters occurred in Haojing one after another.
"Natural disaster!"
Countless serious natural disasters occurred within a dozen years. The most serious one was the earthquake in the second year of Jinie. This earthquake caused the diversion of Jing River, Wei River and Luo River, and eventually caused the three rivers in Fenghao to dry up.
"When a country is about to fall, there must be evildoers."
Due to Ji Zhao's existence, the Luo family completely believed in destiny. Now Luo Cheng's heart was overshadowed.
Putting down this bamboo slip, Luo Cheng picked up another bamboo slip related to the disaster, searched it, and found the content he expected.
These disasters made much of the land between Feng and Hao unsuitable for survival, and even many nobles and officials moved eastward with their families.
“Trouble!”
Luo Cheng's face didn't look very good, and his fingers couldn't help but pinch the bamboo slips tightly. He knew that he might have encountered a big problem that could not be solved.
Geographical changes caused by natural disasters!
This is the top priority in the book on governance that King Su left for the Luo family, and each generation of heirs will study it in depth.
It is mentioned in the book on governance that as long as the problem is caused by human behavior, there is a solution.
If you think a problem cannot be solved, it is either because you lack the ability or your identity limits you.
Duke Lowen used his decades of experience in governing to explain this passage.
The situation created by King Li was a man-made disaster, including the occupation of the royal capital by dukes and nobles, and the growing strength of the princes outside the capital, which gradually became alienated from the emperor. These were all man-made disasters.
He listed the methods he used to solve the problems, and also listed the problems that he could not solve due to his status as a noble.
These valuable governance experiences can quickly improve the level of Luo's heirs.
But equally, if a problem is not caused by human behavior, then it is a big problem.
Farming is the foundation of the dynasty. In this book on governance, King Su mentioned a point that few people would pay attention to.
He believed that a qualified ruler should always pay attention to changes in temperature and rainfall, river diversions, changes in mountain ranges, and other factors that affect grain output in fields.
These changes cannot be controlled by human power; they are the will of heaven. The dynasties on earth must obey the changes in heaven's will and find the most suitable place for survival.
Now Luo Cheng feels that he is facing this serious problem.
The princes, ministers and officials migrated because their fiefs were no longer sufficient for their survival, so they would rather migrate.
In this era when the land is full of thorn bushes, forests, jackals, tigers and leopards, it is very painful to leave the cultivated land and rebuild the city in the wilderness.
Haojing is located at the confluence of Jingshui and Weishui. If these two rivers are cut off, the entire Fenghao area will be destroyed.
Without water, food production will decrease and the population cannot be maintained. With insufficient population, military strength will be further reduced. Who will resist the Rong people who are pouring in?
Luo Cheng was a little unable to remain calm. He started pacing around the room, bamboo slips in his hand.
…
In the late Western Zhou Dynasty, a series of natural disasters dealt a severe blow to the economic production of the Weihe Plain. The power of the royal capital declined significantly, and the lives of the lower-class Zhou people were difficult. In the midst of the prosperity, the Zhou royal family's rule over the Fenghao royal capital was already shaky. ——"Those Things in the Western Zhou Dynasty"
I am looking forward to the next chapter of Bao Si, the scapegoat. This should be the first female character described more in the whole book.
(End of this chapter)
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