Taiheiki

Chapter 190 Dual System

Just as they were talking, a fire rose again on the city wall, and as if in response to the fire on the city wall, a fire also rose on the beach not far away.

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When the first messenger returned to the military camp, Wen Shenglai rushed to the tent: "Governor, Xiangpu City has fallen!"

Wei Cong and Yuan Shao were sitting at a table laden with rice cakes, fried eggs, sausages, and millet porridge with honey. This was their breakfast: "Did Bafa trick us into opening the city gates?"

“Yes!” Wen Sheng replied, “Everything went smoothly. We only killed sixty or seventy people in total. Yuan Tian occupied the West Gate, and by dawn, the entire city had been captured!”

"What about the prince who stayed behind?" Wei Cong asked.

“He committed suicide!” Wen Sheng replied. “When he learned that most of the garrison had surrendered when our army entered the city, he fled into the temple in despair, set it on fire, and then drew his sword and killed himself!”

"How is the temple now?" Wei Cong asked.

"I didn't know that! Shall I call the messenger?"

"No need! Send someone to tell Yuan Tian to put out the fire, execute the rioters, and restore order to the city before I arrive."

"Yes, sir!" Wen Sheng responded and left the tent. Wei Cong picked up his cup again, took a sip of water, and continued eating his breakfast.

"You have quite an appetite!" Yuan Shao laughed.

“My men are all very smart!” Wei Cong picked up a piece of sausage. “Since they are doing a good job, I don’t need to give orders and disrupt their work.”

"Now that we've captured Xiangpu, the campaign against Linyi has been a resounding victory, hasn't it?" Yuan Shao's expression turned serious. "When will we withdraw our troops?"

"It's still early!"

"Still early?" Yuan Shao frowned. "What else do you want to do? Don't forget that the emperor's edict only appointed you as the governor of Jiaozhou and the protector of the Baiyue!"

“The Linyi people are also one of the Baiyue!” Wei Cong said, “Besides, if we retreat like this, it won’t be long before new barbarians establish a kingdom on the Linyi people’s land and become a major threat to Jiaozhou again. Then all my fighting will have been for nothing!”

"Then what do you want to do? Establish new prefectures and counties?" Yuan Shao asked. "The imperial court will definitely not allow it!"

"No, I plan to build provinces!"

"Province?" Yuan Shao repeated the unfamiliar term and asked, "What is that?"

"Simply put, it's overseas territory!"

"Then what's the difference between this and a prefecture or kingdom?"

"Of course there is a difference! Commanderies and kingdoms are part of the Han Dynasty, while provinces are not. They are just territories that I have conquered. Apart from paying tribute to me, they can decide everything on their own. The Han Dynasty does not need to send governors or inspectors to them. It only needs to send a colonel and a small number of troops."

"It sounds a bit like a vassal state!" Yuan Shao scratched his chin.

“Yes, they are somewhat similar, but these provinces belong to me personally!” Wei Cong pointed to himself.

"Private?" Yuan Shao was taken aback. "What do you mean? You want to declare yourself king?"

“No, no!” Wei Cong shook his head: “I will not do that. Let me put it this way! To the Han Dynasty, I am the Governor of Jiaozhou and the Protector of the Baiyue, but to the people south of Jiaozhou, I will be their conqueror and ruler. They will be loyal to me, pay tribute, and undertake military and labor services, and so on. If you must say it, you can think of me as a regional governor of the Han Dynasty, just like Duke Huan of Qi and Duke Wen of Jin!”

Yuan Shao looked incredulous. After a long pause, he sighed, "You've gone mad, really. This is no longer the Spring and Autumn Period. Your appointment as Governor of Jiaozhou and Protector of the Baiyue is only temporary. You should know that once the E'zhai are defeated, the court will likely issue an edict to transfer you back to the capital or reassign you to another region. At that time, how can you be your 'regional governor'?"

"Ten or twenty years ago, that might have been possible! But now—" Wei Cong smiled, "it's impossible!"

"What do you mean?"

"All of you, get out!" Wei Cong said in a deep voice, signaling the guards in the tent to leave, leaving only Meng Gaogong standing behind Wei Cong, like a lifeless iron tower.

“Benchu, now that there’s no one else here, we can be completely frank!” Wei Cong laughed. “I remember you once told me that you hoped to get my help so that you could do some important things in the court! Isn’t that right?”

"That's right, but that doesn't mean you'll become a 'regional governor'!"

“But if, as you say, I am transferred by the court to another place, I will still only be a rank of two thousand shi (a unit of grain measure), at most a little richer, with more retainers and followers, and a few more titles of ‘military expert’ and ‘famous general’. I won’t be much better than other rank two thousand shi. How can I help you, Yuan Shao?” Yuan Shao fell silent for a while before answering, “Then how long do you plan to stay in Jiaozhou?”

“Forever!” Wei Cong smiled. “This might not be a bad thing for the Han Dynasty. After all, if I stay in Jiaozhou, I won’t go to Luoyang!”

Yuan Shao keenly discerned the underlying meaning in Wei Cong's words. He snorted coldly, "This is merely your side of the story. Besides, all land under heaven belongs to the king, and all soldiers under his command are his subjects. Even Jiaozhou is one of the thirteen provinces of the Han Dynasty. How can a subject arbitrarily decide its fate?"

"Benchu, why are you in such a hurry? When have I ever denied that I am a subject of the Emperor of Han? Jiaozhou is Han territory!" Wei Cong laughed.

“I know what you mean, like Duke Huan of Qi and Duke Wen of Jin, who were nominally ministers of the Zhou emperor, but in reality had long since established their own kingdoms and were acting like tyrants!” Yuan Shao sneered. “But how is that any different from the King of Linyi? If he could really conquer Panyu and occupy Jiaozhou, he would definitely have to submit to the Han Dynasty and pay tribute!”

"Good question, Benchu!" Wei Cong clapped his hands and laughed, "Indeed, but can that King of Linyi conquer Panyu? No, right? He is now my prisoner, his life and death in my hands. His capital has opened its gates to me, and all the preparations he made for his ambition have fallen into my hands. Perhaps you, Benchu, will say that the only difference between me and that prisoner is a single victory or defeat. But how big is the gap between Emperor Gao and Xiang Yu? A sword at the Feast at Hongmen, a strong wind during the Battle of Pengcheng? An extra troop of ambushers at the West Gate during the siege of Xingyang? A better crossbowman during the standoff at Honggou? Really, the gap between us and that half-grown child in the Southern Palace of Luoyang isn't that big. Didn't Emperor Gao himself say that he conquered the world with a three-foot sword? A single victory can turn the supreme ruler into a prisoner!"

"Mengde, you've really gone mad! You actually say that the gap between yourself and the Emperor isn't that big?" Yuan Shao remained silent for a long time before finally saying in a low voice, "Aren't you afraid that I'll report what you've said to the court? Or are you going to have him kill me later?" He pointed to Meng Gaogong, who was standing behind Wei Cong.

"Kill you?" Wei Cong laughed upon hearing this. "How could that be? Why would I kill you? What I just said was that you and I aren't that different from the Emperor, because you and I are the same kind of people!"

"The same kind of person?" Yuan Shao's handsome eyebrows shot up immediately. "How could that be? My Yuan family has been receiving the Han's bounty for generations, how could we be like you—"

"Enough!" Wei Cong raised his right hand, interrupting Yuan Shao: "I have never denied your loyalty to the Han Dynasty. I mean your loyalty to the Han Dynasty is the same as my loyalty to the Han Dynasty. What we are loyal to is the country, not the person on the throne. Otherwise, why didn't you obediently obey the Emperor's decree to ban partisans, but instead secretly harbored wanted partisans?"

"That's because the emperor was misled by the treacherous eunuchs around him; otherwise, how could he have issued such an edict to persecute loyal and virtuous officials?"

"Is that so?" Wei Cong sneered. "Then let me ask you, when the Liang family controlled the court and held immense power, coercing the late emperor, were it the scholars or the eunuchs who risked their lives to eliminate the Liang family for the late emperor?"

"This—" Yuan Shao was immediately stumped by Wei Cong's question. He knew what Wei Cong meant, but he couldn't lie through his teeth, so he could only whisper, "It's a eunuch!"

"Very well, then let me ask you, if you were the late emperor, would you consider eunuchs or scholars to be loyal ministers?"

“That’s not how it works. Even if the eunuchs had the merit of destroying the Liang clan, the late emperor rewarded them with favors. How can we generalize like that?” Yuan Shao retorted.

"Benchu, let's be honest, being an official in the Han Dynasty doesn't really make you a loyal minister. Take me for example, I first served as the Commandant of the Expeditionary Army, and later became the Governor of Jiaozhou and the Protector of the Baiyue. Although I did some things for the court and the emperor, I actually benefited more for myself."
"Your Yuan family of Runan is the same. If I remember correctly, your family's rise to prominence began with your ancestor Yuan Liang, who started with the *Meng Shi Yi* (a commentary on the *Book of Changes*). During the reign of Emperor Ping of Han, he served as a courtier to the Crown Prince. From then on, your family held official positions for generations. By the time of your fourth-generation ancestor, Yuan Gong'an, he had become one of the Three Dukes. From then on, every generation produced someone who held one of the Three Dukes, and your family became one of the most prominent aristocratic families in the land, a family of great wealth and influence. Tell me, isn't being an official in the Han Dynasty a very advantageous thing?"

Upon hearing this, Yuan Shao's face darkened: "Are you saying that our Yuan family ancestors were so eager for personal gain that they forgot about public affairs?"

"I didn't mean that!" Wei Cong laughed. "As the saying goes, a strong wind reveals the strength of the grass, and turmoil reveals the loyalty of the minister! In the eyes of the late emperor, all the scholars talk a good game, but when the Liang family was in power, there were hardly any people who disobeyed Liang Ji and instead joined his ranks to obtain high-ranking positions. There were just as many sycophantic scholars as there were."

Only the eunuchs were willing to risk their lives, risking the extermination of their entire families, to fight and die alongside the Liang clan. If you were in the late emperor's position, who would be the truly loyal minister: the eunuchs or the scholars?

This time, Yuan Shao finally ran out of words. After a long pause, he said in a low voice, "Have you ever said these words to anyone else?"

"No, I was the first person to tell this to, and I'm afraid I won't tell anyone else in the future!"

"Alright!" Yuan Shao sighed. "That's for the best. If what you just said were to get out, it would be horrifying. Not to mention anything else, the scholars of the world would not forgive you. Even if you hold a large army, the feeling of being condemned by thousands of people is not pleasant!"

“Benchu ​​still doesn’t understand what I mean!” Wei Cong laughed. “I’m not saying that scholars are not loyal ministers, but that whether someone is a loyal minister should not be decided by the emperor alone. Or rather, the affairs of the Han Dynasty should not be determined by the emperor’s right or wrong. The world belongs to all the people, not just the emperor alone.”

Yuan Shao was taken aback and asked urgently, "This, how is this possible?"

“Why is it impossible?” Wei Cong laughed. “Wasn’t it the same during the reigns of Emperor Gaozu, Empress Lü, Emperor Wen, and Emperor Jing? The people lived in peace and prosperity, the population multiplied, the court did nothing yet accomplished everything, and the government granaries had enough money and rice to last for decades. Wasn’t that period the best time after the Three Dynasties?”

"Emperor Gao, Empress Lü, Emperor Wen, Emperor Jing?" Yuan Shao muttered to himself, his eyes suddenly lighting up.

In the history of ancient Chinese politics, there is a consensus that the Han Dynasty was the most outstanding period in terms of governance. Among the Han Dynasty, the most outstanding period was that of Emperor Gaozu, Empress Lü, Emperor Wen, and Emperor Jing, who implemented the Huang-Lao political philosophy of "governing by non-action". No later prosperous era could compare with it. Even Emperor Taizong of Tang, Li Shimin, believed that he was still inferior to Emperor Wen of Han in terms of governance.

This consensus had already begun to take shape at that time: among the more than twenty emperors of the Former and Later Han dynasties, the period during which the people enjoyed the greatest peace and prosperity was that of Emperor Gaozu, Empress Lü, Emperor Wen, and Emperor Jing.

The reigns of Emperor Gaozu, Empress Lü, Emperor Wen, and Emperor Jing shared a common characteristic: although the Han Empire already had an emperor, its power structure was not a unitary system, but a dual or even pluralistic system, namely, a dual politics of emperor and feudal lords.

In February of the fifth year of the Han Dynasty (202 BC), upon the joint recommendation of Han Xin and other feudal lords and ministers, Liu Bang, the King of Han, ascended the throne in Dingtao, becoming Emperor Gaozu of Han. However, contrary to later generations' expectations, the Han emperors and their ministers initially sought to emulate not the recent Qin Empire, but the Zhou Dynasty. The reason is simple: Liu Bang and his followers could not foresee the future. They did not know about the unified Chinese empires that would follow for over two thousand years. All they knew was that after the Zhou overthrew the Shang, they established rites and laws to enfeoff their sons and meritorious officials, enjoying eight hundred years of rule; while the Qin, after conquering the six states, did not enfeoff its sons and meritorious officials, becoming a tyrant, and ultimately perished after only two generations.

Therefore, after Liu Bang ascended the throne, he "enfeoffed princes and made oaths with meritorious officials by splitting tallies, writing them in red ink and iron contracts, storing them in golden cabinets and stone chambers in the ancestral temple for thousands of generations." Although he later personally eliminated the princes of different surnames, such as Han Xin and Peng Yue, whom he had enfeoffed, and made an oath with meritorious officials by sacrificing a white horse, "No one without the surname Liu shall be a king, and no one without merit shall be a marquis!", he did not destroy the enfeoffment system of the emperor and princes. It was just that the princes became kings of the same surname and marquises of merit.

These feudal lords, all sharing the same surname, possessed independent armies, financial and judicial powers within their fiefdoms, wielding absolute control over them. They were both supporters of the Han emperor, preventing his usurpation by his relatives and meritorious officials, and potential enemies. This complex relationship persisted until after the Rebellion of the Seven States, when it gradually broke down. The actual rulers of the feudal states became the prime ministers, and the feudal lords became figureheads, receiving only stipends and lacking real power.

(End of this chapter)