Chapter 678: The Tang Dynasty with Only Three Million Households

This day.

Su Mingzhe convened all officials in the Hanyuan Hall of the Taiji Palace for a grand court meeting, preparing to implement several national policies he had thought of.

The grand court meeting of the Tang Dynasty was held once a month, either at the beginning or the middle of the month.

This grand court meeting was held on March 15th.

After everyone went to court, they reported to the emperor the affairs of their respective departments.

Su Mingzhe did not express his opinion easily, but pushed it to the three dukes and nine ministers in the court for discussion and handling, expressing his attitude of ruling by doing nothing.

Throughout history, court ministers have liked the emperor to rule the country without doing anything.

Only when the emperor can rule the country with ease, does it represent that the country has entered a prosperous era and that the government is clean and honest.

What the ministers said were quite complicated.

For example, Wei Zheng would talk about the work of the Grand Censor, then report on the affairs of the Crown Prince's Eastern Palace, and then report on the data of the Shaofu.

The fact that Wei Zheng, as the prime minister of the time, was responsible for so many things was due to a strange situation in the early years of Zhenguan.

In the early years of Zhenguan period, Li Shimin ordered Fang Xuanling to reduce redundant staff. There were only more than 600 registered officials in the country, which led to many officials holding multiple positions.

Local government affairs were basically handed over to the local clans.

There are two things to note here.

First of all, Fang Xuanling eliminated redundant staff, and there were only more than 600 registered officials in the country. It was not because these 600 officials could govern the country, but because there were only so many reliable officials who could be used.

The second point is that there were only more than 600 officials in a country. From this, we can imagine that although the Tang Dynasty claimed to have unified the world, in fact, after leaving Chang'an City, the emperor's words needed the cooperation of the aristocratic forces to be implemented.

The reason why these things happened during the Zhenguan period was mainly because the Central Plains had been in turmoil for four hundred years, and the total population of the country was only three million households and more than ten million people.

The population is so small, and it is spread all over the country.

Vast territory and sparse population are the biggest characteristics of the Tang Dynasty at present.

If the court wanted to govern a local area, it could only rely on the local powerful families.

To this end, Yang Guang implemented the imperial examination system, hoping to recruit children from poor families to serve him.

As a result, these children from poor families, who were not ambitious enough themselves, and those who had some talent, flocked to join the local prominent families.

However, those who have great talents lack respect for the court.

The final result was that during the 23 years of Emperor Taizong of Tang's reign, only 205 people were selected through the imperial examination.

It's become a joke.

You should know that in the Ming and Qing dynasties, the minimum number of candidates selected in an imperial examination was three hundred.

In other words, the total number of scholars selected during Emperor Taizong of Tang's 23 years of reign was not as many as the number selected in one imperial examination during the Ming and Qing dynasties.

Under such circumstances, when Su Mingzhe governed the country, he did not think of going against those aristocratic forces.

Wait until all the ministers have finished discussing the matter.

Su Mingzhe then spoke:

"The Crown Prince is handsome and dignified, and is benevolent and filial. The officials of the Eastern Palace, such as Kong Yingda, Yan Shigu, Yu Zhining, Du Zhenglun, and Wei Zheng, have made great contributions. I want to expand the Imperial Academy, gather young children from all over the world to teach them, broaden the people's wisdom, and make every citizen of the Tang Dynasty as good as a dragon..."

The Imperial College was divided into six departments: Guozixue, Taixue, Simenxue, Luxue, Shuxue, and Shuxue.

The differences between these are related to the official titles of the students' parents and grandparents.

Its Zhongzi Academy, Taixue and Simen Academy were respectively aimed at the children of bureaucrats of the third, fifth and seventh ranks and above, and they mainly studied Confucian classics.

Law, calligraphy, and mathematics are aimed at children of the eighth rank and below and common people, and they mainly learn specialized skills.

Among them, there were 300 students in the Imperial College, 500 in the Imperial Academy, 1,300 in the Four Schools, 50 in the Law School, and 30 in the Calligraphy and Mathematics Schools.

Just look at the number of students at each level in the Imperial College, and you will know who controls the Tang Dynasty.

As soon as Su Mingzhe spoke of expanding the Imperial College, all the ministers present blinked and submitted memorials, asking the emperor to reconsider.

"My mind is made up."

Su Mingzhe did not give everyone a chance to refuse, and directly issued a clear order:

"Kong Yingda, Xuanfu (Confucius) taught everyone without distinction and taught students in accordance with their aptitude. He accepted 3,000 disciples and 72 wise men. As the chief priest of the Imperial Academy, you should learn from Xuanfu and not stick to the Five Constant Virtues. There are distinctions between noble families and poor families. From now on, the expansion of the three disciplines of law, calligraphy, and mathematics will be handed over to you, with Wei Zheng and Sima Caizhang as your assistants. The Imperial Academy, Imperial College, and Four-Door Academy will be handed over to Yan Shigu, with Yu Zhining and Du Zhenglun as their assistants."

When the ministers heard the emperor's order, they immediately knew that this was the result of the emperor's careful consideration.

Many people turned their eyes to Kong Yingda and Yan Shigu.

Kong Yingda was a kind-hearted elder who was willing to offend the emperor for the sake of knowledge. When he saw Crown Prince Li Chengqian making a mistake, he still held Li Chengqian's neck and asked him to admit his mistake and correct it.

Now, Su Mingzhe has even brought up Confucius. If Kong Yingda still wants to trace his ancestral roots, he must hold his nose, accept this order, and teach children from poor families.

Wei Zheng and Sima Caizhang were also people who cared about their reputation.

After Su Mingzhe brought out the name of Confucius, if he didn't want to be given a bad posthumous name after his death, he must have done his best to assist Kong Yingda in getting this done.

Yan Shigu was a staunch supporter of the Nine-Rank System and particularly disliked children from poor families.

He was once demoted because he hated children from poor families, but he remained stubborn.

Su Mingzhe did not expect that Yan Shigu would correct his behavior with just one order from him. He simply let him continue to use his remaining energy to teach the children of officials.

He also asked Yu Zhining and Du Zhenglun, two nerds who had become stupid because of reading too much and were only interested in fame and empty talk, to assist him.

Anyone with a discerning eye in the court could see what Su Mingzhe was trying to do.

The Left Prime Minister, also known as Shangshu Zuo Pushe Fang Xuanling, knew that the matter was of great importance, so he hurried to attend, bowed and said:
"Your Majesty's love for the people is witnessed by the whole world. However, now that spring plowing is approaching, please postpone discussing the expansion of the Imperial College." Fang Xuanling did not say whether he supported it or not, he only said that it was the spring plowing period and the people could not be mobilized to serve.

In ancient times, the spring ploughing period was the busy farming season.

During the busy farming season, the country should not go to war, nor should it mobilize people for forced labor, otherwise it would be inconsiderate to the people.

This is common sense.

After hearing the reasons given by Fang Xuanling, other ministers followed suit.

Su Mingzhe saw that the person who first spoke out to resist him was Fang Xuanling, the head of all officials. Although he was puzzled, he wondered why his trusted minister did not support him.

However, seeing that everyone agreed, Su Mingzhe could only frown and nod:

"The expansion can be postponed until the slack season. However, everything is planned in advance, otherwise it will fail. Plan before you speak, you won't stumble; plan before you act, you won't be in trouble; plan before you act, you won't feel guilty; plan before you go, you won't be poor. When you go back, you should think carefully about the pros and cons of this matter."

Seeing everyone's boycott, Su Mingzhe was no longer in the mood to talk about anything else.

After the court meeting, Su Mingzhe called the Crown Prince Li Chengqian who was in charge of government affairs and prepared to go to the East Palace to see his grandson.

Su Mingzhe missed her quite a lot after not seeing her for a few days.

After seeing his grandson in the East Palace, Su Mingzhe lectured Li Chengqian again:

"Qian'er, you are the crown prince, and you spend the whole day riding and shooting arrows, especially in the inner palace. How ridiculous! If you are energetic, you can help me deal with some memorials in the Taiji Hall..."

"My son obeys the order!"

Li Chengqian felt that he was being scolded for no apparent reason.

Because Li Shimin conquered the world on horseback, he taught his children to learn archery, horse riding and shooting.

Li Chengqian learned bow and arrows, and horse riding and hunting, all just to please his father.

Now, Su Mingzhe stopped Li Chengqian from riding a horse and shooting arrows.

Li Chengqian naturally felt extremely aggrieved.

Su Mingzhe also knew that his conversation was incoherent and would easily cause his eldest son to rebel, so he had no choice but to explain to him:

"Qian'er, we can gain the world right away, but we cannot rule it right away. As the old saying goes, 'Those who forget war will be in danger', but there is also a second saying, 'Those who love war will perish'. You are the next emperor of the Tang Dynasty. Following the example of the Han Dynasty, you should respect the policy of recuperation..."

Teaching my son is the most difficult thing.

Especially teaching the prince.

Su Mingzhe didn't want to speak too harshly so as not to cause panic to the prince, but he also didn't want to speak too lightly so as not to make him ignore it.

After some earnest instructions, Su Mingzhe and Li Chengqian came to the entrance of Taiji Hall again:
"Well, go and deal with the memorials. If you don't understand anything, go and ask the Duke of Liang (Fang Xuanling)."

"My son, I obey."

After receiving the order, Li Chengqian went to the imperial study next to Hanyuan Hall to deal with memorials.

Su Mingzhe had nothing to do, so he started walking around the palace casually, thinking about how he should compete with the ministers in wits and courage and make them support him wholeheartedly.

In the early days of the Tang Dynasty, the country was unified very early.

However, due to the sparse population, with only three million households and more than ten million people in total, the central government can only rely on local prominent families if it wants to control the local areas.

These local prominent families and aristocratic families, relying on their power in the local area, will support a certain force in rebellion once they are in a bad mood.

This is also the main reason why local unrest has not been quelled even after the Tang Dynasty was founded 300 years ago.

After much thought, Su Mingzhe finally came to the conclusion that the breakthrough point should be in population.

In fact, according to the map of the Tang Dynasty, the population is definitely more than 10 million.

However, a large number of the population were controlled by local powerful families and did not go to the government to register at all.

Therefore, if Su Mingzhe wants a population, he can only choose to encourage childbirth.

Only by encouraging childbirth, when the population grows, the number of talents will naturally increase.

After figuring all this out, Su Mingzhe felt relaxed. He was about to go back to Taiji Palace to call Fang Xuanling to discuss national policy with him, when he suddenly realized that he had walked around and ended up in a secluded, elegant, and unfamiliar place.

"Ananda, where is this place?"

As an emperor, Su Mingzhe would ask if he didn't understand.

Zhang Ananda, who was standing at a distance and serving, heard the emperor asking, and hurried over and answered:

"Your Majesty, this is the Ye Ting Palace."

Su Mingzhe frowned when he heard this:
"Ye Ting Palace?"

The Ye Ting Palace was where palace maids, eunuchs, and children of convicted officials lived and worked.

Su Mingzhe was a little surprised as to how he ended up here.

However, he immediately remembered that he was walking from east to west when he was returning to Taiji Hall with Li Chengqian.

After Li Chengqian entered the Taiji Hall, he continued to walk west.

The Ye Ting Palace is located to the west of the Taiji Palace.

Didn't I just walk here?

Su Mingzhe figured it out and was about to turn around and leave, but suddenly he heard a clear and loud singing voice coming from a house not far away.

Zhang Ananda saw that the emperor was tempted by the song and quickly reminded him:
"Your Majesty, that is Daiji's residence."

(End of this chapter)