Tiantang Splendid

Chapter 5215 Establishing States and Kingdoms
This time, the "feudal system" and "establishment of vassal states" were all located overseas or in the northern border regions, which were either uninhabited or barren and small. The form was more important than the substance. For the princes, it was a good opportunity to go to their own fiefdoms and pursue freedom and luxury. However, the official positions within the various fiefdoms were not within the scope of the elite princes' pursuit of official positions.

Simply send your sons into the army to fight and conquer other countries, and as you accumulate merits, titles or official positions will naturally follow.

But who knew that the navy would suddenly pull off a "democratic election" in Japan?
Without firing a single shot, the vast country of Wa (Japan) legitimately and legally submitted to the Tang Dynasty, becoming an overseas territory. Its people were overjoyed, welcoming the royal army with food and drink. The emperor's appointed ruler only needed to go and declare himself king to steadily govern the country...

Such methods even garnered the support of the vast majority of civil officials in the court.

It is conceivable that more overseas territories would be incorporated into the Tang Dynasty's territory and become vassal states through this method.

Without a large army to conquer and destroy a country, the army would have no merit to speak of, thus cutting off the avenues for nobles and aristocratic families to seize titles and official positions.

Since things had come to this, the only option left was to rely on personal connections to try and obtain a government post in a fiefdom.

Fortunately, the imperial examination system was implemented within the territory of the Tang Dynasty, and overseas vassal states were not included...

However, since the founding of the Tang Dynasty, there have been countless top-level forces such as founding heroes, meritorious officials of the Zhenguan era, and powerful clans, resulting in an even more terrifying number of second-generation descendants. So many descendants want to seek official positions in fiefdoms, but there are only a few fiefdoms and a limited number of official positions, so how can they possibly take care of both?

Furthermore, if all these second-generation descendants were crammed into the fiefdoms in one go, the current princes and future rulers would not agree!
Even the most unambitious and pleasure-seeking ruler hopes that his fiefdom will have a few capable officials to help govern the country well, so that he can collect more taxes and live a happy and luxurious life, rather than having a group of brave and useless second-generation descendants make the fiefdom a mess...

As a result, the number of officials available for operation has been drastically reduced, and the difficulty of operation has increased dramatically.

Apart from a few ministers who held real power in the court, the rest of the officials were simply unable to operate...

……

Looking at his two sons, Liu Ji was immediately overwhelmed with worry.

Originally, he defied the emperor's wishes and secretly allied with Li Ji, hoping to extend his influence into the Zhenguan meritorious officials' group and thus affect the army. However, Fang Jun orchestrated a "popular election" in Japan, completely extinguishing the ambitions of the Zhenguan meritorious officials, and the so-called alliance naturally came to nothing.

These past two days, I've been receiving invitations, banquets, and favors from all sides because of the selection of officials for the fiefdom. I'm feeling irritable and extremely annoyed. And now my own son has come to join in the fun. How can I not be angry?

Before his two sons could explain, he reprimanded them, saying, "As the chief minister, I certainly wield immense power, second only to the emperor. Yet, countless eyes are secretly watching me, waiting to find fault with me so they can impeach me and overthrow me. You, as my sons, not only fail to avoid suspicion and share my burdens, but you also meddle in such matters of state. This is utterly outrageous!"

The two brothers were extremely embarrassed and stood to one side with their heads down.

Fortunately, although Liu Ji was extremely self-disciplined, he was not as strict and unsmiling as traditional Confucian scholars when it came to his son. After giving him a reprimand, he pointed to the chair next to him and said, "Sit down and talk."

"Here."

The two sons obediently took their seats.

Liu Ji said, "Tell me, whose favor did you accept, and whose official position are you trying to secure for them?"

The two brothers exchanged a glance. The younger brother, Liu Hongye, looked pleading. Although the elder brother, Liu Guangzong, was unwilling, he had no choice but to speak first...

“My father always taught us to be upright and know when to advance and retreat. Knowing that my father was in a difficult position, how could I dare to accept favors from others indiscriminately? There is no such thing.”

"Oh?" Liu Ji asked curiously, "Then what is it for?"

He felt both comforted and disappointed about his two sons. He was comforted that they were both well-behaved and obedient, unlike the spoiled and troublesome children of other families. Of course, he was also disappointed that they were of average talent and dull-witted, unlikely to achieve great things.

Liu Guangzong said, “These days, the court and the public are all clamoring about the selection of officials in the fiefdoms. His Majesty has been watching coldly and has not issued an edict to stop it. This shows that the selection of officials in the fiefdoms can indeed be done... In that case, why doesn’t Father do something for Erlang?”

"Ok?"

Liu Ji's eyes widened, his expression serious: "I'm not even dead yet, and you're already eager to take over the family business, and you can't even tolerate your own brothers and want to expel them overseas?"

Pfft!
Liu Guangzong knelt down, looking completely innocent: "How could your son dare to have such a rebellious thought? Even if Father really did... well, I wouldn't expel my second brother! The family business and title left by Father will naturally be inherited by me, the eldest son, but I will never mistreat my second brother. Except for the title, everything else can be shared with my second brother!"

Liu Hongye, who had also knelt down beside him, helplessly covered his face...

"Oh! You actually thought about it?"

Liu Ji flew into a rage: "You unfilial son! My father is perfectly fine and you're already eyeing the family fortune and titles, even planning how to divide the family property?! Today I'll kill you, you beast!"

He turned and grabbed the copper paperweight from the desk, intending to give his eldest son a whack.

"Father, calm down!"

The second son, Liu Hongye, quickly crawled forward to stop his enraged father and explained, "My elder brother has always been filial and respectful to his elders, and is praised by everyone. He has never intended to disrespect our father!"

Liu Ji was still furious: "Then you two bastards, tell me, what exactly do you want to do today?"

Liu Guangzong said, “Father, you are wise. I will inherit your title and family business in the future, and I will certainly take care of my second brother… But as the saying goes, ‘familiarity breeds contempt,’ even if the two brothers live together in the house, and they are harmonious and respectful to each other, it is inevitable that some of the other family members will have some unpleasantness. In the end, we will still have to divide the family property…”

"Heh, I'm not dead yet, and you're already thinking about splitting up the family?"

Liu Guangzong: "..."

This old father is usually a very reasonable person, and it's easy to communicate with him. Why is he being so unreasonable today?

Just because I don't say these things doesn't mean they don't exist.

Liu Hongye hurriedly said, "It was my request for my elder brother to speak to Father! This is what I think: since we will have to divide the family sooner or later, why not plan ahead instead of waiting until things get out of hand? In Chang'an, even with Father's protection, I am only a seventh-rank official. If I can work my way up to a fiefdom, I can at least be promoted a few ranks. Then, my elder brother will be in Chang'an to take care of the family business, and I will have a place outside. We brothers can be of one mind inside and outside, and help each other. Wouldn't that be better? Of course, we can't compare to the Fang family, which has two dukes, but we are not much worse than others."

Upon hearing this, Liu Ji's anger subsided. He tossed aside the copper paperweight and waved his hand, saying, "Get up, all of you, and speak properly."

"Here."

The father and his two sons sat down again.

Looking at his two sons, Liu Ji felt ashamed and sighed, "It is your father who has delayed you. In order to prevent others from gossiping and damaging my reputation, I have kept you suppressed. Otherwise, with your abilities, although it is difficult for you brothers to become the head of a department, it would be easy for you to assist the head of the department. Why have you been stuck in the sixth or seventh rank?"

“Father, there’s no need for that! It is precisely because of your protection that we brothers are never suppressed by anyone, and even the officials in the government treat us with great respect. We live such a carefree and comfortable life.”

"We just felt that we should plan ahead and make some arrangements."

Liu Ji thought about it and felt that his two sons' ideas were not without merit.

Even the closest brothers are still two separate families. How can they not quarrel when they spend their days arguing over family property, titles, and money?

It's a good thing to separate early.

“In that case, I will swallow my pride and go before His Majesty to ask my second son for a fiefdom.”

Even so, he sighed and lamented.

He has already declined many requests in recent days, but after refusing others, he still has to work on getting a fiefdom official position. If word gets out, what will become of his reputation?
But faced with the brotherly affection and mutual support between his two sons, he really couldn't bear to give up this opportunity.

It's a pity that his two sons were not talented enough to pass the imperial examinations; otherwise, why would he, the old father, have to swallow his pride and scheme for them?

"However, don't rush. Although the national policy of feudalism has been established, the various systems of the feudal states are still under analysis. It will take some time before the specific policies are introduced. Don't leak any information in advance, or you'll face many setbacks."

"Here!"

Liu Hongye was somewhat excited and loudly agreed.

……

The following morning, Liu Ji had just arrived at the official residence of the Secretariat when he was summoned by an eunuch to the Imperial Study to meet the Emperor.

Inside the imperial study, Li Ji, Li Xiaogong, Ma Zhou, and others were all present...

After Liu Ji bowed and took his seat, Li Chengqian got straight to the point: "Regarding the feudal system, my mind is made up, and there is no need for further discussion. However, the question of where each of you princes will be enfeoffed, and the various policies implemented in your fiefdoms, needs to be discussed with you all."

The ministers exchanged glances, somewhat surprised.

It wasn't really important where the princes were enfeoffed. Since they were enfeoffed overseas, there were no particularly wealthy places. They were mostly barren islands and remote, impoverished areas with few people. There was no risk of them becoming too powerful or turning against their masters, so the threat was greatly reduced.

Since that's the case, then it's entirely up to Your Majesty's wishes.

However, the various policies implemented within the fiefdom were a major matter, and Fang Jun summoned his ministers to discuss them while he was away from the capital and had not yet returned…

The meaning behind it is profound and difficult to understand.

The ministers were also quite troubled by the delicate relationship between His Majesty and Fang Jun.

If one were to say that His Majesty is distant from Fang Jun, one could always sense His Majesty's almost unreserved trust in Fang Jun; yet, if one were to say that His Majesty relies on Fang Jun, one could always perceive His Majesty's wariness and struggle towards Fang Jun...

Seeing that everyone's eyes were on him, Liu Ji said, "The Duke of Zhou ruled the world and established seventy-one states, fifty-three of which were ruled by people of the Ji clan. This marked the beginning of 'feudalism,' and the meaning of 'feudalism' is 'establishing states and enfeoffing lords.' The lords were highly autonomous within their fiefdoms, and their power was almost no different from that of the Zhou king. This is not suitable for the present situation. Therefore, I suggest that we follow the system of the Western Han Dynasty."