The economy, politics, and military system in the work

In the military and guard system, military positions at all levels are often held by the offspring of noble families, making it difficult for ordinary citizens to attain even a basic military role, let alone significant command positions. Noble families also leverage this to maintain their status and power. Xu Xing stated: "Using the power of noble families to seize the world, the world returns to the noble families, which is of no benefit to the people." This insight reveals the underlying intricacies, and the division of power among noble families in the new dynasty is a result of this reason. Regardless of the circumstances, the military is firmly controlled by the noble families, and the role of the inner court is primarily to balance the conflicts among the major noble families.

After the inability to maintain the屯田 system, the previous dynasty adopted the systems of land occupation, land assessment, and household adjustment, implementing household adjustments based on the principle of "equal rank and mutual communication." At the same time, it enforced land occupation according to official ranks and the system of favoring relatives. The system of favoring tenants legitimized the control of land and labor by powerful families.

Subsequently, the hereditary military leadership system was implemented, allowing noble families serving as generals to treat soldiers as their private troops, with succession through father to son and brother to brother upon death. This also became a primary source of military strength for these noble families

The decline of the central government allowed the aristocratic families to possess numerous private military units, which formed the foundation of the imperial guard system. In contrast, the military households and gentry families under the inner court constituted the basis of the camp army system. The existence of the camp and guard military system maintained the coexistence of the situation where "the Son of Heaven governs with ease, and the aristocratic families hold power" in the inner court alongside the great aristocratic families

Because the卫军 is often controlled by a coalition of several prominent families, only those strong enough to seize control of the military forces within the prefecture can rise to become a local hegemon

The dominance of aristocratic families and the fragmentation of power among warlords render the chances of a successful peasant uprising nearly zero. This is akin to numerous examples from the Spring and Autumn period, the Warring States period, the Southern and Northern Dynasties, and the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms. The tight control exerted by aristocratic families is unparalleled by any centralized imperial court.

During the reign of Emperor Zhao Wu, the inner court sought to assimilate the various ethnic groups. They ordered the nine most powerful tribes outside of the Han, namely the Miao, Yi, Jie, Shi, Qiang, Rong, Di, Ba, and Tutu, to change their surnames and return to Han governance. Under the strong military threat from the inner court, the royal families of these nine tribes changed their surnames. The surnames of the nine tribes that disappeared during the Zhao Wu period are collectively referred to as the Zhao Wu Nine Surnames, which are: Liu Guan, Ji Mo, Gong Cheng, Guan Qiu, Gong Xi, Nan Rong, Dong Li, Dong Gong, Da Xi, and Chu Shi. At that time, the scholar Xiang Hua Qiu opposed this forced assimilation, stating: 'Not adhering to the customs and practices before www.hetushu.com will not last long.' Xiang Hua Qiu's argument sparked controversy among the populace. The Chancellor Yuan Shi, who was in power at the beginning of the Zhao Wu era, opposed this view, believing that Xiang Hua Qiu was disturbing the public sentiment and hindering the implementation of government orders, and thus should be strictly prohibited. Therefore, he suggested that, except for the official collections and the inner court's historical texts, all poetry, books, arts, crafts, various schools of thought, and historical texts should be burned, with the exception of medical and agricultural texts, which should be submitted to the inner court; he also proposed banning private education. Emperor Zhao Wu accepted Yuan Shi's suggestion and ordered the burning of books. Subsequently, he commanded the Hanlin Academy to reorganize the official collections and the inner court's historical texts for distribution across the regions. This event is known as the 'Zhao Wu Book Burning' incident, which lasted for thirty-eight years. Afterward, he again ordered the Hanlin Academy to reorganize the official collections and the inner court's historical texts for distribution across the regions. This is known as the 'Zhao Wu Book Burning' incident, which lasted for thirty-eight years.

The territory controlled by the Xin Dynasty encompassed no more than five commanderies, and most of these commanderies were secretly controlled by various prominent families. Therefore, this book primarily focuses on the economy as structured by familial clans, where commoners are affiliated with smaller families, and these smaller families are in turn affiliated with larger families. One or several united large family factions control the economy, politics, and military of a prefecture or commandery.

In this book, it can often be observed that a territory typically possesses an army of thirty to fifty thousand soldiers. Based on this calculation, it is evident that under the control of aristocratic families, various regions are rife with militarism and heavy taxation. In prosperous years, the surplus grain held by common households sharply decreases, yet prices do not rise; in years of disaster, the supply is insufficient and prices soar. Therefore, an ordinary person may barely survive in prosperous years, face hunger in disaster years, or even die of starvation; if two consecutive years of disaster occur, they may resort to cannibalism.

The origins of the Puji pirates. Before the old dynasty was invaded by the Hulantu people, the internal court's power was also strong, and beyond the Central Plains, there were other continental nations. Overseas trade was flourishing, and the islanders of the East China Sea primarily relied on overseas trade for their livelihood, although some resorted to piracy. However, due to the invasion by the Tutu and various other reasons, overseas trade was prohibited, leading to a rise in smuggling activities involving various families, and naturally, piracy became even more rampant.

The new dynasty overthrew the old dynasty, leading to a reshuffling of the power of the aristocratic families. Those families that were unwilling or unable to align themselves with the new dynasty and possessed strong smuggling forces chose to pursue the path of piracy.

In this book, the military is divided into two types: the Camp Army and the Guard Army. The Camp Army system adopts a conscription model, with soldiers being semi-professional, resulting in a stronger combat capability. However, the substantial military expenses can only be supported by prominent families, so the Camp Army in a given area is often controlled by a single family. This family, leveraging the Camp Army under its control, further expands its influence, thereby becoming a dominant power in the region. The Guard Army system, on the other hand, employs a conscription model, with its manpower sourced from the populace controlled by various families. Consequently, the Guard Army in a given area is often jointly controlled by multiple families. Additionally, each family possesses a small number of private soldiers and clan soldiers.

The system of屯田 (Tuntian) promoted the significant development of the gentry class. The former Emperor Yuan accepted the advice of the then Grand Minister Gongliang Dai, who stated, "The state has no annual reserves, and the people lack a sense of security." Thus, the屯田 system was implemented. Tenant farmers were recruited specifically for agricultural work to control a large amount of land and labor. However, many displaced persons returning to their hometowns were incorporated by local powerful landlords into their retinues. "Those who returned had no means to establish their own livelihoods, and various generals competed to recruit them as retinues." The local governments could not compete with the powerful landlords; through the屯田 system, the gentry and powerful landlords extensively annexed land and monopolized labor. However, many displaced persons returning to their hometowns were incorporated by local powerful landlords into their retinues. "Those who returned had no means to establish their own livelihoods, and various generals competed to recruit them as retinues." The local governments could not compete with the powerful landlords; through the屯田 system, the gentry and powerful landlords extensively annexed land and monopolized labor.

Only in a few key locations where trade is convenient, such as Yongyang, Wanling, and the cities of the Four Capitals, do the wealthy families slightly alleviate their exploitation of the attached populace due to the substantial income from commercial taxes. The powerful families occupying these areas possess considerable strength, with the influence of Wanling Prefecture barely able to withstand the incursions from a single county in Qingzhou.

In the following six hundred years, various non-Han ethnic groups continuously revolted in resistance, leading to repeated setbacks for the internal court's power. The impact of the "Three Hu" from the north particularly brought the old dynasty to the brink of collapse, forcing the weakened imperial authority to rely on the support of powerful ministers and aristocratic families. Naturally, this resulted in a situation where "kings and horses shared the world." As a political reward, the rulers of the old dynasty consistently issued various measures favorable to these groups, thereby creating political conditions for their further development. Through the political rewards granted by the rulers, the aristocratic families extended their influence into various domains through these privileges. When the rulers implemented corresponding preventive measures, they were always able to leverage their established advantages to suppress the emergence of greater forces. This led to the expansion into a triad of scholar families, bureaucratic families, and powerful clans.

At the beginning of the Xin Dynasty, the coexistence of aristocratic families and the inner court remained unchanged, and the military system adopted was still based on the garrison army structure. In the twelfth year of the Xin Dynasty, the Hulan people launched another large-scale invasion to the south, resulting in severe damage to the garrison army system in the northern five commanderies and thirteen towns, significantly weakening the power of the inner court. Other aristocratic families in various commanderies took the opportunity to expand their private troops and garrison forces, seizing military authority within the commanderies. In less than ten years, the southern commanderies effectively became independent, and the inner court was powerless to impose any constraints.

Hypotheses on the Origins of Aristocratic Clans