Standalone Northern and Southern Dynasties

Chapter 327 Honored Officer
Princess Chenliu put down a piece of brocade and said to Su Ze:

"My dear, do you look down on me?"

Su Ze quickly shook his head and said:
"How could I look down on Your Highness?"

Princess Chenliu raised her head deliberately, but soon she couldn't hold back her laughter and burst out laughing.

Princess Chenliu said:

"These are the weavers who escaped from Chang'an. I found out that they all learned to weave brocade under the Imperial Sister. Seeing that Young Master is always worrying about money, they also want to follow the Imperial Sister's example and set up a special brocade workshop to increase the income of the General's Mansion."

"Royal sister?"

It took Su Ze a long time to react. The imperial sister that Princess Chenliu was referring to should be the wife of Duke Danyang Xiao Baoyin, Princess Nanyang, who was also the daughter of Emperor Xiaowen.

Su Ze had also heard of the story of this Princess "Vegas".

It is said that the brocade woven by Princess Nanyang herself is gorgeous and exquisite, and can be sold at a sky-high price in Luoyang.

Su Ze was more concerned about another thing. He asked doubtfully:
"Have all the Weaver Girls that Princess Nanyang taught personally fled to Xiazhou?"

Princess Chenliu waved her hand to let the Weaver Girl in charge of the demonstration leave, and said with a sigh:

"The situation in Chang'an is very bad. I received a letter from my sister a few days ago saying that Chang'an is already short of food."

Chang'an is short of food?

Su Ze was a little confused.

The most fertile place in the entire Guanxi is the Yongqin area near Chang'an. This is the foundation of the pre-Qin hegemony that whipped the six kingdoms. Even after the disasters of the Two Jin Dynasties and Sixteen Kingdoms, it is still much better than the territory occupied by Su Ze.

This year's locust plague was basically blocked by Su Ze's territory, and Yongzhou was not seriously affected. Even so, will Chang'an also suffer from food shortage?

Princess Chenliu sighed and said:

"Since the Guanxi Rebellion, Yongzhou has not been without war for a year. The Duke of Danyang is from a noble family and is not as concerned about farmland as you are. It is normal for him to be short of food."

Su Ze also sighed. The war's demand for labor had drawn farmers away from the land.

Xiao Baoyin did not establish a wartime logistics system, and he himself did not care about things, so he could not expect the officials under him to pay attention to agriculture and sericulture.

All I can say is that in this land, being a superior is the easiest and the hardest thing.

Power comes from the top, and the rulers of this land can implement their will in every corner of this land. Emperor Yang of Sui dug the Grand Canal, and emperors of successive dynasties built huge palaces, all with just a matter of a word.

However, power comes from above, which means that if you want to be a good leader, you must be omnipotent. Only when the superior focuses on the direction, the people below will work hard. If it is a place that the superior cannot take care of, the people below will act blindly.

Xiao Baoyin himself did not care about farming, so naturally his subordinates did not care either, and the entire agricultural policy of Yongzhou was in a mess.

Agricultural production is a long-term process, with planting in spring and harvesting in autumn. The autumn harvest is also the time when farmers have used up their stored grain. It was at this time that Chang'an's food problem broke out.

Princess Chenliu smiled slyly and said:
"My sister wrote to me, hoping to get some food support from you, my husband."

Su Ze said doubtfully:
"Duke Danyang is the commander-in-chief of the Western Expedition. If he is short of food, why can't he just give me an order? Why does Princess Nanyang write to ask for food?"

Yongzhou was short of food. As Su Ze's nominal superior, Xiao Baoyin could certainly ask for food.

Of course, as the General Pingxi who was the independent commander of all military forces, Su Ze could also refuse.

Princess Chenliu smiled and said:

"If Duke Danyang writes a document to ask for food, will you give it to me?"

"Of course not. Xia, Liang, Hezhou, and Gaoping County are suffering from a locust plague. This general has already sent emergency documents to the court, requesting relief. How can there be food?"

Of course Suze was lying.

Kansai suffered a locust plague, but due to effective disaster relief efforts, not much damage was caused.

However, Su Ze still asked Su Liang to draft a memorial requesting disaster relief and sent it to Luoyang by express horse.

Of course, Su Ze did not expect the court to really provide disaster relief. Su Suan (the envoy who was well versed in human nature) reported from the backyard in Luoyang that there was not enough food in Luoyang and it was impossible to provide disaster relief to Guanxi.

Su Ze cried poor just to ask for policy from the court.

Sure enough, under Su Suan's operation, the court ordered the exemption of rent and taxes that should be paid under Su Ze's rule, and also symbolically gave Su Ze the power to appoint and dismiss honorary officials below the third rank, allowing him to use these honorary officials to collect grain from the people.

In Su Ze's opinion, these disaster relief measures are almost zero.

Anyway, ever since the war broke out in Huazhou, the entire Guanzhong region has not paid any rent or taxes to Luoyang.

But the latter one was a big surprise to Su Ze. The Honorary Officer System was originally an honor system for the soldiers of the prefecture.

In "The Ballad of Mulan", "Twelve turns of honors and rewards of hundreds of thousands", the honors here refer to the fact that Hua Mulan made meritorious services and was awarded an official title.

The honorary officers were divided into twelve levels, from the lowest level Wuqiwei to the highest level Shangzhuguo. In the early days of the establishment of honorary officers in the Northern Wei Dynasty, this was similar to the military merit-conferring system of the pre-Qin Dynasty.

In theory, meritorious officials only enjoy the treatment of officials. They can be granted more land, have tax and labor service exemptions, and can have their wives and children granted titles. If they want to enter the civil service, they need to be recommended and assessed before they can become officials.

In the early Northern Wei Dynasty, officials with honors were still very valuable. At that time, the imperial court was newly established and people were needed everywhere. People could be appointed as officials directly after being awarded honors.

However, with the development of the times and the political reform of the aristocratic families during the reign of Emperor Xiaowen, honorary officials are now worthless and are almost everywhere.

Of course, this was not the most common time. By the time of the Northern Zhou and Northern Qi dynasties, there were "numerous Shangzhuguo and Wuqiwei everywhere", which made historians who studied that period of history very confused. Why did the official position of a person found on a random tombstone have such an exaggerated epitaph?
For example, when Su Ze was in the Imperial Guards, the court would often "award honorary officials" to the Imperial Guards, which meant promoting all the Imperial Guards to the first rank of honorary officials.

At that time, no one in the imperial guards cared about it at all, because honorary officials had no salary, and Luoyang did not grant land, titles to wives and children, etc. The lower-level imperial guards could not even afford to get married, so who would want this thing?

However, Luoyang's honorary officials are not valuable because Luoyang's honorary official system has expanded too much. If everyone in a department is a manager, it means that everyone is a soldier.

What's more, the honorary officials in Luoyang were decoupled from the equal-field system. No matter how high your honorary official rank was, you would still be granted land in the imperial guards.

When Su Ze was promoting the Fubing system, he also wanted to combine it with the honorary officer system to provide a step for promotion for soldiers at the grassroots level who had made meritorious contributions.

But after consulting Su Liang, Su Ze realized that even when the world was in such chaos, the granting of honorary titles was still in the hands of the court, and required the signature of the Shangshu of the Ministry of Personnel in the Secretariat before the honorary titles could be granted.

Originally, Su Ze was about to start a new system and establish his own system of military merit and honors, but this time, taking advantage of the locust plague, Su Shun successfully bribed Li Shengui, the new favorite of Empress Dowager Hu, and actually made the honorary official matter happen.

The court allowed Su Ze to grant honorary titles below the third rank, namely the third rank Flying Cavalry Captain, the second rank Cloud Cavalry Captain, and the first rank Military Cavalry Captain. He was even allowed to grant these honorary titles to civilians who had not made any military achievements, allowing him to use the honorary titles to raise funds for grain.

In other words, it means letting Su Ze sell official positions and titles.

Of course, Su Ze would not sell official positions and titles, but this three-level honor system was enough for Su Ze to establish a military merit system.

The Northern Dynasties' system of honorary officials had been in place for a hundred years and was also sung in "The Ballad of Mulan", so the common people knew something about it.

There are many honorable officials in Luoyang, but not many honorable officials in Guanxi. Honorable officials are still attractive to Su Ze’s army.

There was no way. The accumulated popularity of the Northern Wei Dynasty and the honorary officials recognized by the court would always be easier for the public to accept than the military merit system that Su Ze had devised himself.

As long as Su Ze does not formally rebel, he will definitely still be a member of the imperial court's list!

Su Ze immediately asked Su Ming (a military judge who strictly enforced the law) to compile a list of meritorious service and awarded the first batch of honorary officers in the army. Of course, in order to avoid indiscriminate awards, the first batch were only first-class military cavalry lieutenants.

According to the order of the General's Office, once promoted to Wuqiwei, he can be granted an additional ten acres of land, one cow, one person's tax exemption, and one person's exemption from government corvée. After retirement, he will be given priority to serve as one of the three leaders, and can be granted an official position after passing the assessment.

For ordinary soldiers, this is already a very good benefit!
Princess Chenliu said:

"But the imperial sister wrote to ask you to give me some food. I have already negotiated with the imperial sister, and she will send a batch of weaver girls over."

My goodness, when it comes to taking advantage of others, women are better.

Poor Princess Nanyang was already in such a difficult situation, but she was still exploited by her own wife and had to send the trained Weaver Girl to Xiazhou.

These days, fine brocade is as valuable as gold, and a skilled weaver is like a money printing machine.

Not to mention trade, these fine brocades can be used to reward soldiers and can also make soldiers fight for them.

Not to mention that a skilled weaver, if unmarried, can be married to an officer, making her a good wife that everyone would compete for.

Princess Nanyang is famous and her brocade weaving skills are unrivaled in the world. The weavers she trains will only become more popular.

"Isn't this not good?"

Princess Chenliu held her belly and said:

"My sister is doing this for the people, what's wrong with that? My dear, are you reluctant to give up the food?"

"Of course not. In that case, let me take care of it, my lady. You are in charge of the general's inner treasury anyway."

Princess Chenliu smiled. There was naturally food in the general's mansion's treasury, but telling Su Ze about it was a natural way of showing respect to him as the head of the family.

"Don't worry, my dear. I will ask my sister to send a group of weaver girls over first to see their craftsmanship and then decide how much food to send."

"In addition, we can select some women with clean backgrounds and send them to the Imperial Sister for training."

Su Ze looked at his wife. You women are the darkest ones!

Clean background? Then you can summon a group of ordinary [Vega] series followers to see if you can improve the attributes?
(End of this chapter)