Chapter 17
The Ancestral System of the Song Dynasty, Zhao Kuangyin's Confusion!

In the Great Song Kaiping Plane, outside the Chui Gong Palace.

“I understand the swelling of civil officials, but what is this system restriction? Are you saying that our Great Song Dynasty's system is problematic?”

Zhao Kuangyin raised an eyebrow, looking puzzled.

After all, the policy of the Great Song Dynasty to treat the scholar-officials well was his own decision. It's not unreasonable for the civil officials to swell up due to it.

But if it's said to be a systemic restriction, wouldn't that mean that the ancestral system he established had flaws?

“Second brother, how could the ancestral system you established have problems? From my perspective, it must be some later emperor who changed the national policy and established new systems, leading to these so-called systemic restrictions!”

Zhao Guangyi explained with a smile.

To be honest, Zhao Guangyi greatly admired the ancestral system established by Zhao Kuangyin, especially those policies aimed at weakening the power of military generals and treating scholar-officials well. He truly admired them!

There was no other way. The chaos of the late Tang Dynasty with the feudal lords seizing territories was too disorderly, leaving a deep psychological shadow on him. If he didn't seize power from the military generals, the emperor would never rest easy!

Upon hearing this, Zhao Kuangyin smiled, nodded in agreement, and praised:

“Third brother is right, it must be some blind descendant who set these rules!”

“These scoundrels, they don't spend their time properly governing the country and striving to reclaim the Sixteen Prefectures of Yan Yun, but instead keep thinking about changing the ancestral policies. If I knew which unworthy descendant did it, I'd beat him to death with a stick!”

As the words fell, the rolling golden characters in the sky resounded with deafening Daoist reverberations:

【So-called systemic restrictions refer to the institutional crisis within a dynasty. It's different from the superficial problems of civil officials and military generals. It's hidden within a dynasty, festering along with its development, and is the most difficult crisis to detect and change!】

Zhao Kuangyin glanced at it and quickly nodded in agreement:

“Right! I agree with that. Just like the Equal Field System and the Fubing System of the Great Tang Dynasty, once they collapse, the dynasty's demise isn't far off!”

【A system often brings great benefits to a dynasty when it first appears, but as time progresses, the problems with the system become more and more serious. Throughout the life of a dynasty, there's no unchanging system, and no perfect law that's flawless and can be applied forever!】

【Therefore, today we're reviewing the institutional problems within the Great Song Dynasty, specifically the ancestral system established during the reign of Emperor Taizu of Song, Zhao Kuangyin!】

Seeing the words on the Golden Plaque, Zhao Kuangyin's face darkened, and he stood there stunned.

He was still agreeing with the statement about the system having problems, but he didn't expect, not at all, that the boomerang would come back so quickly and land on him?

It even specifically mentioned Emperor Taizu of Song, Zhao Kuangyin, and the ancestral system he established. It was so direct, was it not?

“Second brother, this...”

Zhao Kuangyin snorted coldly, “Third brother, there's no need to say more. I'll see for myself what problems exist in my ancestral system today!”

In the Great Ming Hongwu Plane, outside the Fengtian Palace.

Zhu Yuanzhang, who was also looking at the Golden Plaque, experienced the same initial joy followed by anger!

“Nonsense! It’s utter gibberish! How could the ancestral system be wrong? Do you want to allow those animals to revise our ancestral system?”

Zhu Yuanzhang was devastated!

When the Golden Plaque was reviewing the systemic restrictions, Zhu Yuanzhang specially took out the “Imperial Ming Ancestral Instructions” hoping to use the Heavenly Dao Golden Plaque to make a good impression in front of his sons and teach those princes who were about to be enfeoffed a lesson!

But as soon as he had someone deliver the Imperial Ming Ancestral Instructions, he heard the Golden Plaque say that the ancestral system had problems. How could he endure this?

“Father, the Golden Plaque is right. There are no unchanging systems in this world. Although the ancestral system is good, it can't be fixed and unchanging, can it?”

Zhu Biao explained.

“You're being foolish! Biao'er, you're foolish! You don't know how cunning and difficult the civil officials and military generals below are. Our ancestral system might not make the country prosperous and strong, but it can definitely ensure your safety!”

Zhu Yuanzhang waved the Imperial Ming Ancestral Instructions in his hand and cried out in despair.

Because he was born a peasant, Zhu Yuanzhang had a feudalistic patriarchal educational mindset deep down. Whatever his parents decreed, their children must accept completely without any objection!

Most importantly, Zhu Yuanzhang genuinely believed that his Imperial Ming Ancestral Instructions were effective. After all, it was a summary of his many years of fighting, falling, rolling, facing countless swords and spears, cold eyes, and defeating countless heroes and feudal lords!

The content of the Imperial Ming Ancestral Instructions was indeed comprehensive. It not only included how to govern the country and manage the people, but even dictated how much food the emperor and the feudal princes should eat every day, what they should eat, what they should use, how many servants they should have, what they should use and wear when travelling, etc. It was a complete encyclopedia for emperors and princes of the Ming Dynasty!

Seeing Zhu Yuanzhang's excited appearance, Zhu Biao sighed in his heart.

“Father, how about this, let's first see what the Golden Plaque has to say, and then discuss the issue of the ancestral system. What do you think?”

“Alright! Today I will see how this Heavenly Dao fellow explains it!”

Zhu Yuanzhang snorted coldly, looked at his sons, the princes, who were trying to suppress their laughter, and with a thud, slammed the Imperial Ming Ancestral Instructions down on the wooden table, coldly snorted:

“What are you laughing at? All of you, open your eyes wide and watch carefully!”

“Your son obeys!”

【Since Emperor Taizu of Song, Zhao Kuangyin, ascended the throne, in order to solve many of the problems left over from the chaotic late Tang Dynasty, he established a series of systems for the Great Song Dynasty, which are known as the ancestral system!】

【First, in terms of the military, the power of the imperial guards' generals was stripped away, and they were divided into three parts. The Secretariat was established, having the power to mobilize troops but not the power to command them. The “Three Departments” were established, having the power to command troops but not the power to mobilize them. They mutually restrained each other and did not have jurisdiction over one another.】

【In the central government and local regions, the elite troops of the entire country were concentrated in the capital, strengthening the central army's strength, bolstering the strong and weakening the weak, reducing the strength and number of troops stationed in the provinces. On this basis, the size of the central imperial guards in the Northern Song Dynasty continued to expand, reaching a staggering 800,000 by the Qingli era.】

【Regarding generals, Emperor Taizu first used the "Wine Offering to Release Military Power" to strip the military power from many of the founding generals, and then appointed civil officials as heads of the Secretariat, adopting the policy of valuing civil officials and suppressing military officials, suppressing the status of military generals, promoting and heavily using civil officials, and frequently transferring military leaders to prevent military officials from monopolizing power.】

【In local regions, the court dispatched officials to serve as local prefects in various states, setting up Transportation Departments at each level to ensure that all the revenues of the country were returned to the court. The "Rotation Garrison System" was adopted, incorporating elite troops from local areas into the central imperial guards and regularly rotating the deployment of local troops.】

【States were appointed with a Vice-Prefect, the same rank as the Prefect, to mutually restrain each other.】

【Power was dispersed among the chancellors in the central government. The Three Departments were established to manage finances, separate from the chancellor. The post of Assistant Chancellor was added as the deputy chancellor, dividing the chancellor's administrative power, and there was also the Secretariat, which handled military affairs, significantly impacting the chancellor's power.】

【Civil rule was strongly advocated, the scale of the imperial examinations was expanded, the status of civil officials and scholar-officials was raised, and even a law was established in the Great Song Dynasty that the emperor could not kill scholar-officials. The status of scholar-officials was truly impressive!】

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