Xiao Ruxun saw the establishment of formal military academies as a symbol that the army would not once again become a political tool in the hands of the civil officials.
In the past, the army was always easily controlled by the civil officials. The reason for suppressing it was no more than a lack of culture and inheritance. But the civil officials had a steady stream of civil officials because of the establishment of the imperial examination system. Although the military officials also had a military examination, the military examination was under the control of the civil officials.
To put it bluntly, the right to vote, the right to advance, and the right to transport and supply were all in the hands of the civil officials. The military office of the five armies, which the nobles pretended to control, was only an empty shell. It no longer had the power to contend with the Ministry of War.
The military office of the five armies and the Ministry of War that Zhu Yuanzhang had set up were thus destroyed. The civil officials completely seized the military power of the nobles and introduced the generals of the frontier to the capital to further weaken the nobles' right to speak. In the end, the nobles completely became pigs raised by the civil officials. Other than making money, they could do nothing.
At the time of the Ming's demise, not one out of a hundred nobles died for the Daming.
They all surrendered to Li Zicheng and the Manchurian Qing in order to be "supported". A group of useless people who did not even have the ability to make a living were actually counting on the enemy's "support".
It could be seen what kind of a group of pigs the Daming had raised.
Xiao Ruxun hated this kind of system very much, so she had repeatedly issued edicts instructing that a gentleman's grace should be severed after five lifetimes. The Great Qin Dynasty didn't have an eternally immutable honor, nor an eternally immutable military merit, only an eternally immutable military spirit.
For this reason, he had the imperial family make an example, stating that from now on, the Daqin would only have four kings. Other than Xiao Ruxun, the three kings represented by the three Xiao brothers were the Chu, Zhao, and Wei kings. Then there was the Crown Prince, the current ruler of the court, who could be titled the Qin Wang. Other than these, there would be no other kings.
All the children of the imperial family had to go to school to learn culture and knowledge. The most outstanding children of the three kings could inherit the title. The rest had to be assigned different official positions according to their achievements. They had to follow the path of an official career like other officials. They could only rely on their own merits to be rewarded. There was also the possibility of being conferred a title again. Other than these, there was no possibility of being conferred a title.
Xiao Ruxun used this method to restrict the development of the royal family, minimizing the impact of the royal family on the finances. He also looked forward to the possibility of turning waste into treasure. At the same time, in the eyes of the outside world, this was the Emperor's improvement on the shortcomings of the previous Ming royal family system.
The Emperor realized what harm the previous Ming Dynasty's royal family system had brought to the previous Ming Dynasty, so he decided not to allow the royal family to leave the capital. He did not allow the royal family to have a fifth king. He did not allow the members of the royal family to just sit around and wait for death. He did not allow the members of the royal family to commit crimes.
The restrictions placed on the royal family could not be said to be small. It was as strict as the Song Dynasty's, and it was even stricter.
Since the royal family had taken such an attitude, the ministers were naturally too embarrassed to ask the emperor for a hereditary title.
As a result, Xiao Ruxun ordered that the descendants of noble families follow the example of the royal family. Only one child could inherit their father's title, and each generation would be demoted by one rank, in accordance with the order of Duke, Marquis, Earl, Count, and Male. If a person was a Duke, after five generations without any meritorious service, he would become a commoner. If a person was a Baron, after one generation without any meritorious service, he would become commoner.
Other than the descendants who inherited the title, the rest of the descendants did not have a title. They could only rely on the shadow of the emperor to become an official. Everything was carried out according to this rule.
As for who the descendant should be, whether it was to establish seniority or to establish virtue, Xiao Ruxun thought for a long time.
The internal affairs of the royal family were controlled by the Emperor, especially the inheritance of the three Princes, which did not affect the country. Xiao Ruxun said to judge based on the child's excellence, so he decided to do so. In any case, the three Princes had no power, so their inheritance did not matter.
More importantly, through this method, Xiao Ruxun strengthened the Emperor's control over the inheritance of the royal family. Through this, he controlled the royal family in the Emperor's hands, making it so that the collateral royal family could never threaten the direct royal family's inheritance of the throne. This was a method.
But between the Emperor and the families of the world, the issue of establishing seniority was directly related to the inheritance of the country's power and family property. It was very important to the country, and also very important to the family.
The system of succession to the eldest son was to establish a status, so that the eldest son of the wife would have the natural right to inheritance. It looked very beautiful, but ever since the Zhou Dynasty's etiquette was broken, the system of succession to the eldest son of the wife was repeatedly mentioned, but it was also repeatedly destroyed. There were not many cases where the eldest son of the wife successfully inherited the family property and the throne.
Even under the system of succession to the eldest son of the wife, it was still unavoidable for the descendants of the large families to compete with each other. The issue of establishing seniority had always troubled people for thousands of years, and no one had ever solved it.
In reality, there was no better way. After reading a large amount of historical materials, Xiao Ruxun understood a principle.
The so-called system of succession to the eldest son of the wife was a rule, a rule set for the sake of accomplishing things. It was an objective fact, a fact that could not be changed.
The eldest son of the wife was an objective existence. It could not be changed by human will, and could not be manipulated. But if one followed the rule of establishing virtue without establishing seniority, it would produce a very vague concept. What was the so-called "virtue"?
Everyone liked being virtuous, but what was being virtuous?
Being virtuous was a vague concept that could be changed by human will. Loving the people like their own children but being indecisive, decisive and farsighted but bloodthirsty and murderous, how could one choose?
The more important the matter, the more clear, clear, and broad criteria were needed to judge it.
Compared to the vague so-called virtue, establishing a legitimate eldest son of the wife was much easier to operate. And if one used virtue as the standard, then as soon as this kind of sign appeared, there would soon be people who would start to take advantage of this loophole, support the abolition of the throne, take advantage of the situation, and create the illusion of virtue to fight for benefits.
Virtue could be disguised, and it could be obtained through the exchange of benefits.
A prince who cherished the world and treated the officials mercilessly, in order to protect the fundamental interests of the country, was willing to attack the officials, and after ascending the throne, purge the blood-sucking officials, such a person naturally had a bad reputation among the officials. Everyone thought that he was bloodthirsty and cruel, and could not be the Emperor.
And the other prince was good at winning over the hearts of the people, and protected the interests of the officials. Would the officials say that he was not good?
The people were illiterate, and they had no right to speak.
Therefore, the "world" would definitely say that the other prince was virtuous, and was the most virtuous person in history. If such words could be said, then after he ascended the throne, the interests of the country would be eaten up by the officials, and the foundation of the country would be damaged.
At this time, if the virtuous were not established, then the prince who protected the interests of the officials would ascend the throne, and the country would be finished. The imperial power would be weakened, and the big government would become a small government, and the world would be lost.
Once it was established that the virtuous were not established, the center of the court would change. Things like suppressing rebellions, pacifying the people, and stabilizing the borders would no longer be important.
The only important thing in the court was who would be the crown prince, and who would inherit the huge family property. Everyone's energy was focused on this, and no one paid attention to the affairs of the country.
In history, the history of such disputes was endless. Once such disputes arose, in the end, the so-called "virtuous" actually did not matter much. The key problem was that the world had formed factions that could not tolerate each other, and the officials had their own standpoints. Right and wrong were no longer important, and interests were the most important.
Everyone was fighting for the final victory, and they had already armed themselves with bayonets, wishing that they could directly kill the other party to prove that they were right.
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