On the 21st of the first lunar month of the eighth year of Xuanhe in the Song Dynasty, when the great changes in the Shangyuan Festival finally spread from Bianliang in Tokyo to the entire Gyeonggi region, and more people learned about it and were amazed, the government and the public in the capital were once again shocked by the news. came out, and this time, thanks to the court's initiative to spread the news, this series of events spread faster than before.
The first thing everyone noticed was naturally that a series of names that were familiar to the people of the Song Dynasty had been included in the list of felons to be executed—Cai Jing, Liang Shicheng, Yang Jian... This naturally attracted everyone's applause and cheers. , shouting His Majesty’s Holy Wisdom.
Then there was the rectification of the names of Sun Tu and his troops who were fighting against the bandits. The emperor had specifically issued an edict to admit that their act of raising troops was a matter of loyalty to the country. Not only did they have no faults, but they also made great contributions. As the main personnel on Qin Wang Qingjun's side this time, a group of generals and officials who came down from Sun Tu have been promoted exceptionally -
Sun Tu, as the leader of the entire incident and the head coach of the entire King Qin army, naturally deserves the first credit. In addition, he had made many military exploits in the north earlier, defeated the Liao Dynasty and the Jin Dynasty, and recaptured the Sixteenth Province of Youyun. In terms of merit, it was unparalleled in the hundred years since the founding of the Song Dynasty. Naturally, he needed a lot of rewards.
Therefore, the emperor announced that Sun Tu would be crowned the King of Yue. However, Sun Tu strongly refused, saying that there had never been a living king with a different surname in the Song Dynasty, so he was demoted to one rank, and was granted the title of Duke of Yue, with the title of three counties. Ten thousand households, its specifications are almost the same as those of the prince. In addition, he was also named Taiwei, one of the three princes, in charge of the Privy Council and the world's military affairs. He truly had the military power of the Song Dynasty in his hands.
These two grants alone were the first of its kind in the Song Dynasty in a hundred years, because since the founding of the country by Taizu, there had never been such a young prince, let alone a military commander who could truly control the Privy Council and the world's military affairs. Breaking centuries-old rules and following the family tradition. Compared with this, the addition of Sun Tu's official titles to the governors of Shandong and Jiangnan is nothing.
Of course, after this series of identities were confirmed, Sun Tu was now considered the most powerful person in the Song Dynasty. Anyone with a discerning eye knew that even the emperor was probably already under the control of the new Sun Taiwei.
Sun Tu's dazzling official status concealed it, but other people's awards were not so eye-catching - Tong Mu, a young man in his early thirties actually directly entered the political hall to participate in politics, and became a part-time official minister; Huang Wenbing, a little-known local official, was actually appointed as the transportation envoy of the imperial transportation department and the minister of the Ministry of household affairs. These two men took all the political power and financial power of the imperial court into their hands at once, becoming the most powerful people in the imperial court besides Sun Tu.
Song Jiang, who was born as a small official and had been a bandit leader for several years, was awarded the title of Grand Tutor and took charge of the military department.
Dong Ping, who was just the governor of a state before, now leaps to the dragon gate and becomes the governor of Youzhou. He is in charge of the military power in the north and will set off to the north soon.
Lu Da and Wu Song, two guys who were regarded by many as warriors, were entrusted with important responsibilities. Before entering the palace, they served as the commanders of the left and right palaces and took charge of the imperial army to protect the safety of the capital.
... There are also too many officials and generals who followed Sun Tu in raising troops and were promoted, which dazzled countless people who had just received the news and could not tell who was who.
. Some people even joked that thanks to Sun Tu and the others, they had killed dozens or hundreds of officials in the court this time, thus vacating many positions. Otherwise, these "meritorious officials" might not be enough.
Of course, for many people, all this is actually a matter of course. Sun Tu’s military operation called Qin Wang Qing Jun Side is just a battle for power between the civil and military forces of the DPRK and China, so then With Sun Tu successfully taking over, he and his subordinates will naturally want to quickly share the fruits of victory.
Even to many scholars or local officials, Sun Tu's move was completely illegal and treasonous. Only now that they are in power and even the emperor is under their control, they can seize various official positions in a legitimate way, but others have no way to do this.
Half a month later, when everyone was still discussing whether Sun Tu's move was similar to what Cao Cao and his like did in the previous dynasty, the imperial court issued another edict that was even more unacceptable to countless civil servants and scholars—from today on, local officials Both the army and the rural soldiers were directly under the jurisdiction of the Privy Council. Local magistrates and other officials were no longer allowed to interfere in military affairs. Military supplies such as military rations were also uniformly distributed by the court, and local yamen were not allowed to interfere.
This can be regarded as completely freeing the army from the shackles of civilian power. When this edict was spread throughout the world, it naturally triggered a period of opposition and discussion. However, with the strong orders from the imperial court and the strong support of the military generals, even the most powerful and authoritative local officials before could not do so this time. I can only accept the fact that I can no longer interfere in military affairs.
And this move also virtually resolved a possible turmoil. Just when Sun Tu was fully controlling the power of the DPRK and taking the lead in taking the army completely into his own hands, many local officials in the southwest of Huaihe and other places were conspiring to join forces, thinking of once again raising troops to serve the king and take Sun Tu, who was only a military general. Zhang Mu's traitor will be dealt with.
Not to mention whether the soldiers and horses under their command have this ability, if they can successfully connect and quickly raise troops, the Song Dynasty will inevitably be turbulent again, and the war may last for several years. However, with the issuance of this imperial edict, their entire plan completely disappeared.
Several state officials in Huainan also tried hard to seize military power from their subordinate generals. But as a result, as soon as they made any move, the generals took advantage of them. Their yamen was surrounded by the garrison in the city, and all the officials and their cronies were arrested...
If it had been before, the generals who had been oppressed for many years would not have dared to resist like this. But now, with Sun Tu as an example in front of them and the imperial edict as a basis, many generals who already held grudges would naturally no longer be willing to be humiliated or even killed, so they simply led their troops into those yamen. …
As a result, a military disaster was eliminated, and Sun Tu's previous statement that the Song Dynasty soldiers should strive for self-reliance has officially come true. The generals group, which had been suppressed for hundreds of years, finally rose to prominence today and became a force that could compete with the civil servants in both the capital and the local area. It even now seems to have overshadowed the other party.
When the news spread back to Tokyo one after another, Sun Tu also burst out laughing: "Okay! He
They finally still have some blood, and I gave them such a chance in vain. Now that the power of the civil servant group has been suppressed to its lowest point, it is time to make the next plan! "
So, after entering April, an edict that was unacceptable to civil servants and scholars all over the world was issued, and this time the wording was more severe than before - starting from this year, official documents between the DPRK and China will no longer be used. Parallel prose and ancient prose, but oral composition, and in the future, when seeking officials in the imperial court, the imperial examination articles will only test practical matters, regardless of poetry!
The issuance of this edict was like a violent storm blowing through the Song Dynasty, which shocked almost every scholar. What kind of behavior is this? Isn't this going to cut off their path to advancement
It is said that the poor are rich in literature and military, but in fact, when it comes to taking the imperial examination, children from poor families actually don't have much chance. More than 80% of those who can really pass the Jinshi examination and enter the officialdom are those from rich families or aristocratic families. It can be said that these scholarly children with more noble backgrounds almost monopolized the entire officialdom and the right to speak in the entire era.
But Sun Tu now wants to root out this advantage of theirs. In fact, with the current level of affluence in the Song Dynasty, the children of ordinary people can read some books. However, when they want to go further, they find that a big gap appears in front of them - ancient Chinese.
This kind of literary style that spans thousands of years of history and incorporates countless allusions and cultures is not something that an ordinary person who can recognize a few words can understand. But no matter whether it is a so-called classic or a poem, it is based on it. This requires every aspiring scholar to spend ten or even decades to understand the content first, and then have his own opinion.
In Sun Tu's opinion, this was clearly a despicable way to divide ordinary people into classes and exclude ordinary people from official careers. The so-called ancient parallel prose may have had its advantages at the beginning. For example, thousands of years ago, before paper was invented or popular, these extremely compressed texts could save the need for carriers such as bamboo and wood. But now, there is no shortage of paper in the Song Dynasty, so why should we continue to guard these old antiques? In the final analysis, those who have the right to speak are still selfish, trying to use this method to protect their own interests, so that their children and grandchildren can take the shortcut of official career more easily than others.
Since he was destined to be at odds with this conservative literati force, Sun Tu naturally wanted to do everything he could to completely eradicate their advantage. And this edict from top to bottom to abandon ancient parallel prose was the beginning of his change of everything.
Of course he knows that this is not an easy task, and he will inevitably encounter various obstacles during the implementation process, and some people will even keep jumping out to rebel. But Sun Tu was fearless. He had completely separated the civil and military forces, so how could he still be afraid that they would make some extraordinary moves
This was a tougher and longer battle than any previous battle, but Sun Tu was already prepared. He is patient and more confident. He will spend a few years fighting against the conservative scholars in these places. After suppressing them all, he will be able to take the final step.
Now, the arrow has left the string, and the door to a new era has been completely opened...