Chapter 159: Participating in the Imperial Court for the First Time
Although the whole world celebrates the emperor's proclaiming ceremony, life still has to go by. You can't live the ceremony every day. If you don't cultivate the land and don't weave, then what will you eat and wear?
At the beginning of a new day, Li Nian was attending the first official court meeting of the First Emperor after he proclaimed himself emperor in Zhangtai Palace.
Nowadays, the Great Qin Dynasty Meeting has also established a system. In the past, Ying Zheng’s daily meeting with ministers was a special occasion. At that time, the world had just been unified and there were too many matters that needed to be dealt with decisively.
Always calling people to court meetings can help the team work together to negotiate certain matters more comprehensively, but it will also affect the efficiency of ministers and administrative officers.
Meetings are held every day, in the morning and at noon, and after noon and in the afternoon, are you still doing anything?
Moreover, there is a shortage of officials in the world, and there are many things to deal with. The important ministers of the Qin Dynasty often have to support several people. They are already very busy, and they are asked to come to court every day...
So The general dynasty was divided into: the ceremonial dynasty, and the permanent dynasty, which truly discussed political affairs and made decisions about the world's government affairs.
The main purpose of the Great Dynasty is to demonstrate the emperor's majesty and accept the worship of ministers. Because of its large scale and ceremonial nature, it cannot be held regularly. It is only held at three times a year: the day of the establishment of the Qin State; The first day of December when the First Emperor proclaimed himself emperor, and the emperor’s birthday.
The Chang Dynasty is held on the first, eighth, fifteenth and 22nd of each month, summoning civil and military officials to report on major events in the world and promulgate political orders that can affect the world.
Of course, if there is an emergency, there is no need to abide by this set of rules. The emperor has the right to summon ministers to discuss matters and decide on world affairs at any time.
According to this system, yesterday was supposed to be the day when the great dynasty would be held. However, because yesterday was also the ceremony for proclaiming the emperor, it was postponed to today as the first dynasty after the First Emperor proclaimed himself emperor.
The court meeting officially began. First, the prince Fusu led the princes and clan members of the Qin Dynasty to pay homage to Ying Zheng, and then Wang Wan led the officials to pay homage. In fact, the ceremony of proclaiming the emperor officially ended at this point.
Because yesterday was the ceremony for proclaiming the emperor, although he is also the emperor, today is actually the first day that Ying Zheng, as the emperor of Qin, exercises the power of the emperor to rule the world.
After the worship, Li Nian sat down with other ministers. For him, this was his first time to attend the Great Qin Dynasty Meeting. It was quite novel. This was the highest-level meeting of an empire that he had personally witnessed and participated in.
According to the rules of the dynasty, there is no need to discuss political affairs today. The ministers paid homage to the emperor, and the emperor gave rewards and banquets, and enjoyed themselves with the ministers and the people.
But because the proclaiming of the emperor ceremony was delayed for several days, and the celebrations were held yesterday, today not only became the first great dynasty in the Qin Dynasty, but also the first regular dynasty in the Great Qin Dynasty, and the Chang Dynasty was the It is necessary to discuss political affairs and make decisions on world government affairs.
Compared with the original history, the time when the First Emperor proclaimed himself emperor and restructured the system was two months later, but it was still too hasty and many things were not fully prepared. The First Emperor and the officials of Qin still had to deal with some unfinished matters. Check for leaks, fill in the gaps, and make corrections.
At this time, important officials from the Ministry of War, headed by Wang Jian and Wei Liao, were reporting to the First Emperor on the reform of the Qin Army, including but not limited to the modification of the Qin Army's military system and calculation of military merit. The current The military service system is modified, how many military regions must be divided, and how many troops must be stationed in each place...
Qin’s original military service system was a compulsory conscription system. Young men who reached the age of seventeen would automatically become Qin soldiers. Army Reserve.
When he was seventeen years old, he first served as a "guardian". For one month every year, his task was to build roads, build city walls, and transport supplies in local counties.
After the age of 20, he began to serve as a "regular soldier" for a period of two years. In the first year, he served in the county and participated in military training. Generally, local troops in counties and counties are composed of such sergeants.
In the second year, based on personal ability and military type, they will be recruited by the country to serve as guards or garrison soldiers for one year, either in counties or counties, or in Kyoto or the border.
But in actual operation, not only young and strong men can be soldiers, but also women and underage children if necessary.
Some people in later generations said that the status of women in the Qin Dynasty was high, which was indeed good, but it also depends on what the women in the Qin Dynasty paid.
Men are drafted to the battlefield. They are the main labor force in the family, and sometimes they have to go to the battlefield to fight with men. Can we not give them a higher status? This model was very beneficial to the Qin Dynasty before it wanted to unify the world. After all, all the people could become soldiers. If the army was not enough, one could be raised at any time, but it would no longer be so useful to the entire world and had to be modified.
Great Qin is no longer the Qin State, one of the seven kingdoms. What must be considered is no longer how to conquer the six kingdoms and unify the world, but how to govern the world well, and The situation in various parts of the Six Kingdoms is different from that of the Qin State in the past, so more consideration must be given.
After listening to the speeches of Wang Jian, Wei Liao and others, Ying Zheng looked at Li Nian and asked, "Li Nian, what do you think?"
Seeing Ying Zheng asking Li Nian, many All the ministers' eyes fell on him, especially those who were extremely interested in Li Nian such as Wei Liao.
Wei Liao originally wanted to chat with Li Nian, but never got the chance. Now he would like to see what this person can say.
Li Nian stood up and said: "I think what Wang Shangshu and Wei Shilang said is very good, but I think some more things can be added to it."
Ying Zhengdao: "Speak!"< br>
Li Nian said again: "I think that reading and literacy can be passed on to the army as a kind of merit. For example, which general's subordinates If a soldier is more literate, merit will be recorded for him. If a soldier is more literate, merit will be recorded for him. "
In fact, soldiers were allowed to read and write in ancient times, which is different from the subconscious impression of modern people. In ancient times, generals may be literate, but lower-level officers usually have nothing to do with literacy. This is recorded in the unearthed Han bamboo slips.
As far as Li Nian knew, literacy was not prohibited in the Qin army, but not prohibiting it did not mean that it was encouraged. Most Qin soldiers were still illiterate.
Hearing what Li Nian said, Wang Jian said with great interest: "Do you mean to encourage the generals to let their soldiers read and write?"
Other ministers also had different ideas. Li Si thought It depends on whether the soldiers know how to read, and they can just obey the orders and fight honestly. However, it is not easy to obey after being literate and knowledgeable.
Chun Yuyue showed joy on his face. Although Su Xu said that Li Nian did not like their Confucianism, he was willing to advise the soldiers to become literate, which was in line with the Confucian philosophy of teaching without distinction.
Li Nian nodded and said: "Exactly!"
Wang Jian then deliberately asked: "If all the soldiers are literate, will they still obey the general's orders and enforce the prohibitions? And the soldiers are literate and understand the art of war. What if they also want to be generals?"
Li Nian replied Said: "There is no conflict between soldiers' literacy and listening to the general's orders. On the contrary, reading After learning how to read and write, you will know better why you fight, why you fight, and what you gain from fighting, so that you will be less afraid of life and death, and you will be able to obey orders and develop stronger fighting power. "
Ying Zheng has already thought of what Li Nian said. The saying "enlighten the people's wisdom and provide education" must also be implemented in the soldiers.
Wei Liao asked: "How can we make the soldiers know why they are fighting and why they are fighting?"
Wei Liao appreciated Li Nian's words because what Li Nian said was also true. in line with his thoughts.
(End of this chapter)