Standalone Northern and Southern Dynasties

Chapter 502: Their respective answers

Su Ze looked at Jia Zhi. He didn't expect that this descendant of the Xiliang Jia family was actually an expansionist?
But it's normal to think about it. Liangzhou itself is a frontier area where pioneering spirit is prevalent. Jia Zhi's ability to have such an idea should be influenced by his own growth process.

As a remote frontier of the empire, the Liangzhou region has long been home to a large number of people who want to establish themselves on the frontier.

This is just like the frontier poems of the Tang Dynasty. The frontier customs described by the frontier poets of the prosperous Tang Dynasty were actually advocating expansionism. The moment the slogan of aspiring young people to go to the frontier was shouted, the huge empire began to expand.

But everything has its limits.

Due to the limitations of communication technology, the territories of classical empires were limited.

Not to mention the Western Regions and the grasslands, even the present-day Jingzhou area is still a mixture of Han and barbarians. There are a large number of Liao people in Shu, and Lingnan is dominated by Li people.

As the empire's territory expanded, the cost of soldiers' expeditions also increased. The simplest way was to transport military rations to the Great Wall and to transport rations to Lake Baikal. The cost was definitely different, not to mention the damage to production caused by maintaining a large army. The expenses and benefits of ruling these barbarian regions were enough to cause any powerful empire to collapse.

In fact, the expansion of the Tang Dynasty became increasingly unsustainable after the death of Emperor Taizong, and even fell into a period of contraction during the Wu Zhou Dynasty. After the An-Shi Rebellion, the Tang Dynasty focused its main attention on internal vassal affairs and began to fall into a disadvantage in foreign wars.

Maybe we can learn from Mongolia and set up a few Golden Hordes?
Su Ze put his thoughts aside. Now was not the time to think about such things.

However, he was satisfied with Jia Zhi's answer.

In Su Ze's view, the difference between bureaucrats and politicians lies in whether or not they have a political ideal from beginning to end.

Ordinary bureaucrats do everything for promotion, so for them, they only need to cater to their superiors and fulfill their requirements.

Those who have a little conscience can strike a balance between political achievements and conscience.

Those who have no conscience will do anything to please their superiors.

Even some cruel officials did not do this for their own enjoyment, but to gain more power.

But politicians are different. They also have means, but everything is for the political ideal.

For example, Su Chao had a political ideal of creating a Confucian country. Although this political ideal seemed a bit backward to Su Ze, he had been working hard for it.

Su Cho advocated reducing corvée and taxes to lighten the burden on ordinary people, and advocated using moral education to discipline officials.

Anyway, Su Cho has such a political program and is working hard for it. In Su Ze's opinion, he is a qualified politician.

Jia Zhi was able to face the land issue and come up with a set of solutions that he thought were feasible. In Su Ze's opinion, he was basically qualified.

Su Ze looked at Hulu Guihan again.

Hulu Guihan's answer was also very simple. He said directly:
"My Lord, there is a limited amount of land in the world. Some people occupy more, and naturally some people occupy less. In my opinion, the most important thing when facing the land issue is to equalize the rich and the poor."

Jia Zhi glanced at his classmate and colleague beside him. He didn't expect that he would come up with such an answer sheet.

Su Ze asked:

“Equally wealthy?”

Hulu Guihan said:

"When I was in Youzhou, I realized this. Wherever the equal-field system was implemented, the grain output was higher than that of areas that were not fully implemented."

"After the rebellion in Youzhou was quelled, I distributed land to the large households involved in the rebellion, and the local output increased."

"Everyone has a heart that loves and cares for their descendants. Everyone wants to pass on their ancestral heritage to their descendants. The local areas are deeply rooted. If the aristocratic families that have been removed today are strictly enforced, they will eventually become increasingly exhausted."

Su Ze nodded. The fact that Hulu Guihan could raise the question from this perspective showed that he really incorporated his experience into his political program.

The essence of the Equal Field System is to continuously redistribute land on the premise that land is nationalized.

In the era before Su Ze traveled through time, this policy actually had another name.

But that was an era of highly developed industry, and land was no longer the only means of production.

Redistribution requires people. Who doesn’t want to leave more land to their descendants?
The land itself has both good and bad qualities, and even the land is not regular. When the land is distributed, the area is actually almost the same, making it impossible to calculate accurately.

There is a huge gap between what is written in the law and what is actually enforced.

For many policies, the imperial court had good intentions, but they were implemented incorrectly.

Hulu Guihan had already realized this problem. Even for the newly granted land, there was room for maneuver. However, since everyone could be granted land, these contradictions were not great.

When land becomes scarce in the future, such incidents will occur more and more frequently.

Therefore, the solution proposed by Hulu Guihan was to insist on implementing the Equal Field System and to crack down on and suppress local tyrants.

Su Ze was also very satisfied with Hulu Guihan's answer.

Restraining the powerful is also the answer chosen by many dynasties. In Su Ze's view, the most difficult opponent of an empire, in addition to the corruption that continues to grow within it, is the interest groups that expand wantonly within the empire.

Once these interest groups are formed, they will expand themselves wantonly and multiply like cancer cells.

For example, the feudal lord groups in the Tang Dynasty and the landlords and gentry in the Ming Dynasty.

They themselves are part of the empire, and can even be said to be the elite of the empire. However, for their own interests, they will encroach on imperial power and seize the power and taxes that the court should have. They will oppress ordinary people or turn them into their slaves and servants, further hollowing out the cornerstone of national taxation.

To suppress mergers is to combat the breeding ground for the formation of interest groups.

Su Ze said with satisfaction:
"Since you all have your own ideas, just do it according to your own ideas in the future."

Jia Zhi and Hulu Guihan both looked at Su Ze in surprise. They had mustered up the courage to express their ideas and thought that Su Ze would comment on their ideas, but Su Ze did not evaluate whether they were right or wrong. Instead, he encouraged them to put their ideas into practice when they became officials in the future.

Jia Zhi and Hulu Guihan both bowed respectfully to Su Ze, who then gave them some words of encouragement and let them take up their posts.
-
Yuwen Tai has been a little irritable recently.

Since Gao Huan entered Liaodong, Yuwen Tai's life has become much more difficult than before.

This time, Yuwen Tai personally went out of Shanhaiguan to sweep the area, but encountered an ambush set by Gao Huan. His horse was shot in the buttocks. If it were not for his troops who risked their lives to escort him, and if Yuwen Tai himself had not been so skilled in archery and shot and killed the pursuers in battle, he would not have been able to bring the team back to Shanhaiguan.

After returning to Shanhaiguan, Yuwen Tai's nephew Yuwen Hu immediately put on armor and went to meet them.

Seeing his nephew, Yuwen Tai smiled with relief.

Su Ze really kept his word. Originally, Yuwen Tai's sister-in-law and nephew were held hostage in Yecheng by Erzhu Rong. No one knew what means Su Ze used, but he managed to rescue them safely.

Perhaps it was the powerful Xuan Jingsi who took action.

Yuwen Tai's sister-in-law was sent to Yongle City, and he kept his twelve-year-old nephew by his side as a personal guard.

This is how it was during the war. When Yuwen Tai was in his teens, he followed his father and brother to take office. Yuwen Hu, as the next generation of the Yuwen family, naturally did the same.

However, Yuwen Tai was reluctant to take his nephew out of Shanhaiguan to fight, so he just let him stay inside the pass.

"Uncle, it is too dangerous to go out to fight. Why do you keep going out to fight? The Duke only asked you to guard Shanhaiguan."

Yuwen Hu's doubts were also the doubts of many people. They did not understand why Yuwen Tai went to war again and again. Wouldn't it be enough to just occupy Shanhaiguan and hold it?

Yuwen Tai took off his helmet and said to his nephew:

"I went into battle to better defend the pass, but I can't defend it just by stubbornly defending it."

Yuwen Tai was very clear about the situation in his rear.

Youzhou experienced the Liu Lingzhu Rebellion, and spring plowing in many counties was delayed, and food support was needed from other places.

The situation in Dingzhou was not much better, as it had just experienced war.

Food is in short supply in these two states, and support for Shanhaiguan is limited. Although there is no possibility of food shortage, it is certainly impossible to recruit more soldiers.

Another thing is the war horses. The replenishment speed is getting slower and slower, and Yuwen Tai also understands that he is not the strategic focus, so he can only rely on himself.

In comparison, Gao Huan's situation was very good.

The Khitans had accumulated wealth for several decades and had some assets. They also traded with the grasslands and had no shortage of war horses.

Gao Huan had no shortage of either soldiers or war horses. If he were really allowed to develop well, Shanhaiguan would definitely not be able to handle it.

That's why Yuwen Tai kept attacking in order to weaken the strength of the Khitans.

After all, the Khitans were not a whole; their so-called eight tribes were actually more like a tribal alliance.

Under Yuwen Tai's attack, some tribes chose to surrender, while others chose to remain neutral.

After all, there were tribes within the Khitan who disagreed with using military force against the Central Plains. If they were not beaten hard and Gao Huan was allowed to integrate the Khitans, Liaodong would become a major threat in the future.

Yuwen Tai then said to his nephew:
"Have the envoys to Goguryeo returned?"

The enemy of your enemy is your ally.

Goguryeo, the future overlord of Liaodong, was in the midst of palace strife at this time. When the Khitan rose to power, it had many enemies with Goguryeo.

However, as one of the few old forces in Liaodong, Yuwen Tai also sent envoys to try to contact Goguryeo to deal with the Khitans together.

In addition to Goguryeo, there were other forces on the Korean island, and Yuwen Tai also sent envoys to contact them, hoping to organize a coalition force to cross the Yajiang River and attack Liaodong.

Looking at the situation outside the Great Wall, Yuwen Tai was not discouraged. Meeting an opponent like Gao Huan, he naturally became more courageous as the battle went on.

(End of this chapter)