General Qin

Wang Ben is the Taiwei of the current dynasty and the spokesperson of the military.

Standing up at this time, and insisting on the disadvantages of the matter of giving the title, attracted all the generals to nod again and again.

The Qin army was called the tiger-wolf division by the six kingdoms of Shandong, and it was exaggeratedly decorated with the exaggerated decoration of "Qin people donate armor and apprentices to chase the enemy, hold the head on the left, and hold the captives on the right". All this is because of the incentive effect of the military merit system.

In order to obtain the title, the people of Qin went to the battlefield and fought hard, just to behead and win the title. There were even cases of killing each other in the Qin army to snatch the head, which shows how important the title is in Qin State.

Now that the emperor grants titles widely, it may have an impact on the entire title system.

The military general merit group is the biggest beneficiary class of the military meritorious system of the Qin State. They don't want to have problems with this system that is clearly operating well, and they are afraid that their interests will be damaged, so they naturally want to stand up and protest.

Faced with Wang Ben's remonstrance, the first emperor seemed to have expected it long ago. He said calmly: "If I bestow a rank of rank, will it destroy the entire military merit worship system? What do you think?"

As he spoke, he glanced at Wang Wu.

Wang Wu understood, took a deep breath and stood up.

He chose to stand on the emperor's side, so at this moment he could only bite the bullet and push Wang Ben.

"What the Taiwei said is wrong. The emperor bestowed the title of the head of Guizhou on this occasion, and received the hearts of all the people, which is of great benefit to stabilizing the hometown of the princes. As for the words of destroying the nobility system, it is unavoidable to be alarmist. Let me ask you the meritorious system of the Great Qin Army. The 20th class, even if the first-level title of Qianshou is bestowed, the highest is no more than the rank of doctor, how can it destroy the system of nobility?"

"As for killing the fighting spirit of the soldiers, let me ask the soldiers that they can get the first rank without fighting. They are very happy. They are grateful for the emperor's virtue. They can only fight to the death. How can they reduce the fighting spirit?"

Wang Wu said again: "The emperor bestowed a title, and when a public official is promoted to be a master, he will work harder to win the rank of the hairpin, so that his heirs can enter the school as disciples. When the master is promoted to be a hairpin, he will Thinking of going to the battlefield to make meritorious service, so that he can be exempted from changing his service if he does not change his title. In such a situation, a higher title will only arouse the soldiers' desire to win the title. The so-called killing spirit of the Taiwei , I didn't see it."

The hall fell silent again.

Zhao Tuo let out a sigh of relief, and Wang Wu's words reached a point.

The title bestowed by the emperor is aimed at the head of the world, and those with mid-to-high titles are not included in this range.

There is an upper limit for the bestowal of this title. Although the emperor has not said it yet, generally speaking, it reaches the top at the doctor level.

If it's small, it's up to the fifth-level doctor, and if it's big, it may be as wide as the ninth-level fifth doctor.

No matter how impulsive the first emperor was, it would be impossible for everyone in the world to be promoted together.

Then Zhao Tuo didn't have to do anything, he was directly promoted to Chehou?

If you really want to do that, I believe not many people will object.

Including the eldest son Wang Ben, after all, he can be granted the title of Marquis of Lun directly after he is promoted to a higher level. With this kind of benefit, no matter how dissatisfied he is, he will admit it with a pinch of his nose.

It is precisely because the titles that can be promoted are limited, so even if those bottom-level nobility granters are promoted to another level, there are still more than ten levels of titles on top of their heads that can be promoted. The hairpin can let the children enter the office, and it can also be exempted from the change of service. The doctor has the qualifications to be an official in the county, so he is not afraid that the soldiers will wear down their fighting spirit.

As long as you set enough levels, you can always motivate people to upgrade!

And the title level is high enough, if only one level is given to the lower ranks, the impact on the entire system will not be too great.

From this point of view, what Wang Wu said also has certain logic and reason.

Wang Ben is a master in military warfare, he always likes to do things, he doesn't like to talk, now that Wang Wu is so superior, he really can't find anything to say in a short time.

Zhao Tuo glanced at Zhi Su Nei Shi, a white-faced and long-bearded man. He had dealt with Wang Wu when he was promoting noodles before, and thought that this man was quite upright, but he was unexpectedly a master of eloquence.

Now that Wang Wu fought Zhao Hai and Wang Ben back with one against two, Zhao Tuo looked at him with admiration.

But Zhao Tuo couldn't help but sigh secretly when he thought of some things he knew.

Granting the first level of nobility may not be a big problem in a short period of time, and it will not really destroy the military merit system that has been established in Qin for a hundred years.

But this is just the beginning.

Did Emperor Shihuang promise to bestow the title only this time?

Once this example is opened, there will be a second, third, or even countless times...

Even if the first emperor no longer bestows titles, what about his successors?

If this is the case, sooner or later the entire military merit system will collapse completely.

Zhao Tuo was very sure of this.

Because when his later generations read historical novels, he wondered why the military merit system existed for more than 500 years since Qin Xiaogong’s reform was formally established until Cao Cao officially dismembered it in the 20th year of Jian’an (215 BC).

But apart from the Qin Dynasty, there are not many historical novels about the Han Dynasty and the Three Kingdoms. It is clear that the military meritorious title system was also implemented in the four hundred years of the Han Dynasty, and it is also a 20th-class title system!

Later, Zhao Tuo had a rough understanding, and only then did he know that military meritorious titles had become almost insignificant at the end of the Qin Dynasty, and those with no higher ranks were even reduced to living (zī) debt redeemers. They followed the prisoners to build the Qin Mausoleum. When they died, they dug a pit with the prisoners and buried them.

At the beginning of the Han Dynasty, in February of the second year of the Han Dynasty, Liu Bang, the great ancestor of the Han Dynasty, gave all the common people under his rule a first-class title on the grounds of "removing the Qin Sheji and establishing the Han Sheji".

In Zhao Tuo's view, Liu Bang bestowed titles on the people at that time, in addition to trying to win people's hearts from the Chu-Han War, I am afraid that it was also because Qin Shihuang gave him the initiative to bestow titles on the head of Guizhou on a large scale. Lord.

However, after Liu Bang seized the world, he may also realize the disadvantages of indiscriminate titles, and attaches great importance to military merits.

Not only did he promulgate the imperial edict of "recovering the old nobles and farmland houses" in the fifth year of the Han Dynasty, but he also issued repeated orders to promote the implementation of the military meritorious system in order to reward the heroes and soldiers who founded the country. In the household registration and documents of the Han Dynasty, there must be "named county and noble year", that is, the title of a person must be recorded to distinguish identity and status.

Liu Bang's attention made the value of the military merit rise briefly.

But it is limited to this. After Liu Bang died, Prince Liu Ying ascended the throne. At the beginning of his ascension, he issued an edict "Giving a first-class title to the people", rewarding the common people of the world with a first-class title. At the same time, officials were also given a title. , Samurai and others even bestowed nobles to the second and third ranks.

Such a large-scale grant of titles led to a rapid depreciation of titles.

At the beginning of Emperor Hui of the Han Dynasty's accession to the throne, when there were large-scale grants of titles, Lang Guan who was dissatisfied with the conditions for granting titles could be rewarded with 10,000 yuan. It can be seen that the price of a first-level title is more expensive than 10,000 yuan.

But only one year later, he promulgated the edict "People who are guilty of crimes have to buy 30 ranks to avoid capital crimes." At that time, the first rank of titles was worth 2,000 yuan, so if the common people committed a capital crime, they only needed to spend 60,000 yuan to buy 30 ranks. The title can save you from death.

In one year, the price of the title dropped from 10,000 yuan to 2,000 yuan, which shows the rapid depreciation of the title.

Emperor Hui of the Han Dynasty started the idea of ​​bestowing nobles on ascension to the throne, and followed Emperor Wenwen of the Han Dynasty to learn. When he was in power, he issued an edict: "When I first ascended the throne, I am amnesty to the world, and bestowed a rank of nobles on the people."

In the 23 years of his reign, Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty bestowed the Lord of the World twice, which is considered restraint, not too much. However, he also got off to a bad start, accepting Chao Cuo's "Purchasing Millet to Honor the Nobility", that is, selling nobles on a large scale, selling 600 shi millet for the second-level nobility, and 4,000 for the ninth-level nobility and five doctors. stones, and the eighteenth-level master sold it for 12,000 stones.

What's more, Emperor Wenwen of the Han Dynasty sold empty titles. There was no land reward at all, they were all honorary titles, and only one person could be exempted from hard labor if he bought a ninth-level five doctor, and one person could be exempted from death if he bought an eighteenth-level elder.

Emperor Wenwen of the Han Dynasty sold the title at a high price, and the title rights were few, so naturally no one bought it.

If no one buys it, the price will drop, leading to another large-scale depreciation of military merits, let alone cherish them.

No one cherishes it, and the emperor doesn't pay attention to it.

When Emperor Han Jing succeeded to the throne, he reigned for 16 years and bestowed the titles of the people of the world eight times.

Therefore, as long as the era of Emperor Jing of the Han Dynasty is over, basically every adult man in the world will have an eighth-level public service title.

As a result of this, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty came to power and wanted to fight back against the Huns. When he was about to boost morale with military merits, he found that the system had collapsed, and military merits had been devalued to the extreme.

Emperor Wu of the Han had a change of mind and came up with a system of martial arts nobility, trying to motivate soldiers, but this thing changed the soup without changing the medicine, and did not attract the attention of the people. Everyone knew what the Han family's military nobility was.

Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty had no choice. Seeing that the system of military merits could not be saved, he established the "Reward Order for Those Who Strike the Huns" based on the original spirit of the military merits. struggle.

This is why it was extremely difficult in the Qin Dynasty to be a marquis, but when Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty defeated the Xiongnu, it was everywhere because of meritorious deeds.

It was purely that the former Emperor Han played with this system to collapse. Emperor Wu of the Han had no choice but to use the powerful Marquis to motivate people.

And at this time, since the military meritorious rank is completely rotten, the Han emperor behind him will continue to rot.

The emperor ascended the throne and bestowed a title. Establish a prince and give him a title. The emperor's Canadian dollar suit, bestowed a noble. The emperor changed the yuan and bestowed the title. If there is auspiciousness, I will bestow it on you. There are natural disasters, congratulations...

The number of honors bestowed is astounding.

For example, during the 27 years of Han Xuan Emperor Liu Xun's reign, he conferred 14 titles to the people of the world.

However, there are too many titles bestowed, and it is impossible for every man in the world to be a high-ranking title of more than ten ranks, so the emperor of the Han family has a new rule, that is, the highest title bestowed cannot exceed eight ranks.

This differentiates into high-level officials and low-level civilians.

As a high-ranking official, he can make meritorious service, or be given an official rank, and continue to rise.

As for ordinary common people, the people who receive the reward can only reach the eighth-level public vehicle cap. The series will be transferred to brothers and nephews.

In this way, the so-called "eight-level system of the people's rank" in the Han Dynasty was formed.

The reason why the Han emperors of all dynasties were willing to grant titles to the world was probably the most precious military merit title in the Qin Dynasty. By this time, it had completely become an empty honor, with nothing but a title.

The rulers don't need to pay much. As long as they issue an imperial edict and give the people an empty honorary title, they can show their generosity and kindness, achieve the goal of celebrating with the whole world and buying people's hearts. Why not do it?

Of course, in addition to giving some empty titles, smart rulers often give cattle and wine, rent reductions, and other benefits when bestowing titles, so that the common people in Guizhou are grateful for them.

The last time the Han Dynasty bestowed a title on the world, it was Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty who made Cao Cao's daughter the queen, thereby highlighting Cao Cao's status.

Later, when Cao Cao came to power and dismembered the twentieth-class military merit system, in addition to retaining and reforming the marquis, he felt that the eight-level civilian nobility system was also quite good, and it was very useful to buy people's hearts, so he kept it.

The eight-level system of civil ranks lasted until the middle of the Tang Dynasty, and it became a cheap embellishment for festive celebrations in successive dynasties.

This is the final fate of the military merit system established by Qin Xiaogong and Shang Yang.

Zhao Tuo sighed inwardly.

He knows the final outcome of the military merit system, and he has climbed up from this system level by level. It can be said that he is the direct beneficiary of the military merit system, so he naturally has some feelings for this system.

After Zhao Tuo glanced at Wang Wu, he looked again at Shi Huangdi who was on the emperor's couch.

Even after the Qin State unified the world, the system of military meritorious service, which requires continuous fighting, is no longer suitable for the needs of the empire. There are various problems in the system fit, and it needs to be changed.

Zhao Tuo has always wanted to reform the military meritorious ranks, but no matter what, he is not playing like an emperor.

Directly bestow the title of Guizhou head in the world.

We must know that the ultimate collapse of the military merit system lies in the ruler's wanton bestowal of nobles. Although the large-scale bestowal of nobles in the Han Dynasty began with Liu Bang, the bestowment of nobles by the whole world began with Liu Ying.

But maybe they are learning from Qin Shihuang?

This emperor through the ages is the one who caused the destruction of the military merit system!

Today, the first emperor wanted to bestow the first rank of titles on the head of Guizhou in the whole world. Perhaps it would not do much harm in a short period of time, but after starting this bad start, the latecomers learned from it. It is only a matter of time before the system collapses.

Thinking of this, Zhao Tuo suddenly narrowed his eyes.

The emperor was often called a tyrant in later generations, but almost no one called him a fatuous lord.

People who can unify the world, can't they see the harm of this bestowal on the people?

Or, did he do it on purpose?

Do you want to attack the military merit system?

Or is it used to test the military group?

Or maybe his thinking was too complicated, and the emperor was simply doing great things to win the hearts of the people?

Zhao Tuo stared closely at the first emperor.

Suddenly a little uncertain.

Because today's Emperor Shihuang has always been very calm, even if Zhao Hai and Wang Ben stood up to oppose him one after another, he did not show too much emotion, but just watched Wang Wu stand up to defend him.

Moreover, what Wang Wu said about the role of buying people's hearts and stabilizing the hometown of the princes was also what he said himself, and the first emperor never expressed his position.

The emperor who had learned Han Fei's method, as long as he thought about it, was a master of power and tactics, and few people could guess his thoughts.

Even Zhao Tuo couldn't figure out the real meaning of the emperor after a while of wild thinking.

And at this time, after Wang Wu's impassioned, he temporarily resisted Taiwei Wang Ben's attack. Many ministers did not speak for the time being. Unlike Zhao Tuo, they had known the result of this order in advance. Under the limitations of the times, they had to think carefully and weigh it.

At this moment, no one made a sound.

The First Emperor on the emperor's couch smiled faintly, and turned to look at Zhao Tuo.

This is the military commander in the court today.

"Both the Lord Lieutenant and the Taiwei have something to say, I wonder if Marquis Marquis has any ideas?"

"Historical Records: The Chronicle of Qin Shihuang": When it is the age, it is bestowed with a rank of nobility.

Although there are only six short words in the history books, judging from the development and evolution of the entire military merit system, this matter is actually very important. The first emperor gave the first title to the head of the world, which can be called the source of collapse.

Military merit is too important to Qin, and the protagonist also relies on this system to get up, so he doesn't want to skip this important event. It seems that most Qin and Han texts don't have too much description on the title system, and they still feel that it is necessary to spend more ink , let some book friends know about this, it will be useful.

Although the scope of the conferment of nobles was not included in the history books, according to the other three large-scale conferrals of the Qin Dynasty, they were all given to the head of Guizhou, and in the Han Dynasty, they were all given to the people. The title of Qianshou.

In addition, archaeological evidence has been unearthed on this matter: a group of excavated inscriptions were unearthed in Zhaobeihu Village on the west side of Qinshihuang's Mausoleum, which are the "epitaphs" of the laborers who died in the construction of the emperor's mausoleum. Many of them are aborigines from the six countries of Shandong. They have all reached the level of superior creation and non-renewal, and it can be inferred that the titles of these survivors of the six countries were basically rewarded by the Qin Dynasty after the unification of the Qin Dynasty, which is consistent with the records in the handed down documents.

Regarding the information about military merit, mainly refer to Zhu Shaohou's "Research on the Military Merit System", which is the most systematic and authoritative academic research work on the military merit system in China. Interested readers can read it.