Zhao Weiwang in the Warring States Period

Page 443

But in any case, the princes can still be regarded as the "insiders" of the Zhou Dynasty after all, so although the "rites and music have collapsed" for so many years, many things are actually inherited from the etiquette of the Zhou Dynasty. Including this somewhat weird relationship between monarch and minister.

According to the enfeoffment system of the Zhou Dynasty, the emperor enfeoffed the princes, so the princes were responsible to the emperor and under the jurisdiction of the emperor.

The feudal lords entrusted the senior officials, so the senior officials should be responsible to the princes and be under the jurisdiction of the princes.

Such layers of encapsulation will eventually form a complete pyramid system.

But it is worth mentioning that in this pyramid, each level is only responsible to the immediate superior of the previous level, not to the indirect superior of the superior of the previous level.

For example, among the three of the Son of Heaven > the princes > the officials, the Son of Heaven can hold the princes accountable, because the Son of Heaven is the prince's direct superior.

However, the Son of Heaven cannot go beyond the feudal lords to ask the Qing doctor. If he wants to hold the Qing doctor accountable, then the princes who are directly superior to the Qing doctor must be held accountable.

To use the words of later generations to describe the enfeoffment system, it is "the vassals of my vassals are not my vassals, and the vassals of my vassals are not my vassals."

So the current situation is the relationship between the monarch Zhao Dan > Xiangbang Zhao Sheng > Zhao Sheng's disciples. Although Zhao Sheng and Zhao Sheng's servants are nominally the courtiers of the monarch Zhao Dan, Zhao Dan wants the disciples to serve him. To make an effort, Zhao Sheng's consent must also be obtained.

It seems difficult to understand, how can such a king not be able to command his subjects' retainers?

But under the enfeoffment system, this is really a reality, both in the East and the West.

After hearing Zhao Dan's words, Zhao Sheng hesitated for a moment, but immediately agreed happily: "Your Majesty has an order, how can I refuse to obey? When I return to the mansion today, I will call those housekeepers and choose good people from among them." Those who use swords will be sent to General Pang Nuan for use tomorrow!"

Zhao Dan also smiled when he heard the words, and praised: "Mr. Pingyuan is indeed the minister of the widow's humerus!"

For Zhao Sheng's answer, Zhao Dan was not surprised.

After all, in the Battle of Handan after the Battle of Changping in history, Zhao Sheng even got his wives on the city wall to help in the battle. Although the situation is very different from the situation in history, Zhao Sheng's character Certainly not much will change.

Besides, Zhao State is now a relatively mature state with a centralized monarchy. The power of the monarch Zhao Dan is actually far superior to that of Zhou Tianzi, so few people would dare to disobey Zhao Dan's wishes, especially if this kind of sound sounds very serious. reasonable request.

So Zhao Dan said again: "Mr. Pingyuan, I also heard that there are many big families in Handan City with many patrons. I think that"

Zhao Dan deliberately paused, but did not finish speaking.

But Zhao Sheng is such a good person, he has already heard the string song and knows the elegant meaning, and immediately said: "Your Majesty, don't worry, I will definitely persuade other people to send the disciples to the army, and I must help the Majesty win this battle!"

Zhao Dan was relieved when he heard this.

After all, Zhao Sheng is now the Xiangbang of the Zhao State and the leader of the aristocratic class of the Zhao State. As long as Zhao Sheng is willing to do this matter, then this matter should be done easily.

So Zhao Dan went on to say: "Since this is the case, let's talk about the second matter. The second matter is actually the food problem."

On Zhao Dan's side, he pointed all the questions at Zhao Sheng again.

Zhao Sheng frowned after listening to what Zhao Dan said, and said after a long time: "Your Majesty, in my opinion, this matter may be troublesome."

Chapter 437 Your Majesty, I Have a Plan

"Trouble?" Zhao Dan couldn't help being puzzled after hearing what Zhao Sheng said: "Where is the trouble?"

But to be honest, Zhao Dan also heard something else from Zhao Sheng's words.

Zhao Sheng was talking about trouble, but he didn't say it couldn't be solved.

So this thing seems to be fixable?

Zhao Dan looked at Zhao Sheng expectantly, hoping to hear a solution from Zhao Sheng.

Zhao Sheng sighed, and said: "Your Majesty, to be honest, besides the official warehouses in the city, many big families actually have a lot of food in their stores. It's just that if you want these big families to take out the food, that's not right. What an easy thing."

After listening to Zhao Sheng's explanation, Zhao Dan quickly understood.

These days, the importance of food is unquestionable. Even big families store a lot of food in their warehouses.

Like these aristocratic families in Handan City, they usually own a lot of land near Handan City, and their food is far better than ordinary people.

It seems that Handan has been besieged for two months now, but those great nobles and their servants have never received the official rations issued by the Zhao State, because their own food is better than others in terms of taste and quality. Official ones are better.

When Zhao Sheng said this, he smiled at Zhao Dan embarrassedly, and said, "The king is actually the same in my minister's family."

Zhao Dan nodded clearly, but didn't say anything about it.

After all, it is not illegal for nobles like Zhao Sheng to do so. Who doesn't store food these days?

Moreover, these nobles borne the food consumption by themselves during the defense of Handan, which relieved some of Zhao Dan's burden.

Zhao Dan said: "So Mr. Pingyuan meant to ask the widow to borrow food from these great nobles?"

Zhao Sheng smiled wryly and said, "I'm afraid they won't borrow it, my lord."

Zhao Dan snorted, feeling that this matter was a bit tricky.

Forcibly collecting food is definitely not acceptable. These nobles are citizens of Zhao State just like ordinary people, and many nobles hold various official positions in Zhao State. If Zhao Dan really ordered the army to forcibly take food from the homes of nobles, then Zhao Guo is about to fry the pot.

It's as if you work in a company, and when the company is in trouble, the boss directly sends someone to take away your bank card, and then transfers the money in the bank card to the company to fill the account.

Zhao Dan thought for a while, and said a little irritably, "The widow can buy it with money, right?"

Zhao Sheng smiled wryly and said, "Your Majesty, the price of grain is more expensive than gold and even if you have money, no one will sell grain now that the city has been besieged for two months."

Although many nobles may have confidence in Zhao's final victory, after all, they don't know how long the defense of Handan will last. If they donate the food, they will end up besieging the city for too long and have nothing to eat. Isn't this stupid?

Zhao Dan was a little speechless at the moment: "This will not work, that will not work, what should I do?"

Zhao Sheng hurriedly said: "Your Majesty, I still have some grain in my house, so I will go back and order someone to count it and transport the grain in the house to the official warehouse."

When Zhao Dan heard this, there was a smile on the corner of his mouth, but the smile didn't last too long.

Although Zhao Sheng can be regarded as a man with a big family and a big business, the food storage at home must be very considerable, but the problem is that no matter how impressive it is, the food storage of a family, there are hundreds of thousands of mouths in the city, and the food for a family may not be enough for a day. .

There was a moment of silence in the room.

Zhao Dan turned his head quickly, thinking about what method he wanted to use to get it done.

You can't grab it, you can't buy it, so what should I do?

Perhaps because he was too immersed in this question, Zhao Dan didn't notice that Zhao Sheng was sizing him up secretly.

The expression on Zhao Guoxiangbang's face fluctuated, and he seemed quite hesitant.

After a long while, Zhao Shengcai finally made up his mind and said, "Your Majesty, I actually have a way."

Zhao Dan's eyes lit up when he heard the words, and he hurriedly said, "Mr. Pingyuan, hurry up and tell me!"

Zhao Shengdao: "Actually, if Your Majesty is willing, you can exchange the land for food."

"Land?" Zhao Dan was stunned for a moment, and there was a slight strange look in his eyes: "What land?"