lcionline Chapter 180: Becoming an Emperor and Founding a Nation
Chapter 180: Becoming an Emperor and Founding a Nation
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In the spring of 1628, Lu Cheng officially proclaimed himself emperor in Yanjing and established the Chinese nation.
Although the ministers below were very dissatisfied with this, they thought that they should stick to tradition and use a single word, like Qin, Han, Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming, or "Dahua", but they were all rejected by Lu Cheng.
As a founding emperor who fought all the way from north to south, Lu Cheng has absolute final say. Others can make suggestions, but whether they listen or not depends on Lu Cheng's mood.
As for the reign title, Lu Cheng also directly named it "Yongchang", which means "longevity and prosperity" because it was given by heaven. As for the fact that this reign title had been used by other emperors in history, even Li Zicheng, Lu Cheng did not care.
What determines the length of a dynasty's fortune is never the country's name or the reign title.
The Later Jin Dynasty had both "the Mandate of Heaven" and "divine wisdom", but wasn't it destroyed by Lu Cheng?
It sounds simple to declare oneself emperor, but the process is quite complicated, and the preparation alone took one or two months.
Although Lu Cheng wanted to keep everything simple, the civil and military officials below did not agree. They argued with reason, quoted classics, and said a lot.
Lu Cheng did not refute this time. After all, it only happened once in a lifetime, and he could tolerate it if the ceremony was more solemn.
As for whether he would have the chance to become emperor again in the future, Lu Cheng himself was not sure.
After a series of tedious procedures, including offering sacrifices to the distant ancestors and offering sacrifices to heaven and heaven, after completing various ceremonies, Lu Cheng finally achieved the goal of wearing the yellow robe and stepped onto the pinnacle of power.
After that, it was natural that he would reward meritorious officials, reward concubines in the harem, formulate various national policies, and so on.
When it came to conferring titles upon his ministers, Lu Cheng referred to the standards of past dynasties and established seven levels of titles, namely duke, marquis, earl, vizier, plus first, second and third class generals, for a total of seven levels of titles.
However, the title was not granted but only preferential treatment. Descendants were allowed to inherit the title, but the title would be downgraded every other generation. Only by making military achievements could the title be retained or further promoted.
Today, Lu Cheng has many generals under his command, but none of them has been conferred the title of Duke, and the highest title is only a marquis.
After all, the war is not over yet, and there will be more wars to be fought in the future. If all the titles are conferred to the highest level in advance, how can we get more rewards when we make contributions in the future?
However, the highest rank of those who followed Lu Cheng out of Liaodong was general, and they had no title before. It was a great honor for them to be named a founding marquis.
Moreover, as long as they continue to make contributions in the future, there is still a lot of room for advancement.
It is worth mentioning that among Ding Baiying’s several disciples, Ding Xiu had been leading cavalry in expeditions to the east and the west, and made great contributions to Lu Cheng’s great cause. He was named the founding marquis of Yongyi.
As the commander of the special operations brigade, Ding Xian has always led his men to fight on the front line. His contributions are no less than those of Ding Xiu, and he was also named Marquis of Loyalty and Bravery.
Ding Chong and Ding Tai were latecomers. They also made many military achievements during the southern expedition and were named the Earl of Zhengnan and the Earl of Pingnan.
Others who were granted the title of nobility included generals from various regions.
Many generals who were granted titles were still leading troops in battle outside, and the imperial edicts conferring titles were also sent directly to the front line.
For a moment, it aroused the fighting spirit of the generals on the front line and accelerated the pace of recovering various places.
While rewarding the ministers, it was natural that rewards would also be given to the harem.
Among the women in the harem, the one who helped Lu Cheng the most in his career was naturally Ding Baiying, and the position of queen naturally belonged to her.
In addition to the Queen, Zhang Yan also assisted Ding Baiying in handling all affairs in the harem properly, allowing Lu Cheng to work hard outside with peace of mind.
Therefore, Zhang Yan was named Imperial Noble Consort, second only to Empress Ding Baiying.
Moreover, Empress and Imperial Noble Consort are exclusive titles and only have one person.
In fact, the ancient Chinese harem also had a strict hierarchy.
Starting from the Zhou Dynasty, the king's harem generally included the queen, three wives, nine concubines, twenty-seven ladies, and eighty-one imperial wives, a total of 121 concubines.
But in fact, there have been changes in every dynasty. The concubines in the Ming Dynasty did not follow the so-called system of three wives, nine concubines, twenty-seven ladies, and eighty-one imperial wives.
Lu Cheng didn't want to make his harem so elaborate, so he just set up five levels: empress, imperial concubine, concubine, imperial concubine, and beauty.
There is only one queen and one imperial concubine, but there is no strict limit on the number of others, it all depends on Lu Cheng's preference.
At present, the only person who has been designated as a concubine is Zhou Miaoxuan, who is given the title of Shufei.
Zhou Miaoxuan's sister, Zhou Miaotong, had also just been brought into the palace and was temporarily designated as a concubine.
As for Hailanzhu and Dayuer, they were designated as beauties.
Adding these together, there are only six women in Lu Cheng's harem.
The ministers in the court suggested holding a beauty contest to select beauties from all over the country for Lu Cheng to enrich his harem, but Lu Cheng refused.
It’s not that Lu Cheng doesn’t want more beauties, it’s just that the country has just been founded, the world is not yet stable, and everything is complicated. It’s not the time to enjoy yourself.
Compared with selecting concubines to enrich the harem, Lu Cheng is more inclined to reopen the imperial examination system to select talents and fill the official vacancies in various places as soon as possible.
Therefore, less than a month after Lu Cheng ascended the throne, he ordered the Ministry of Works and the Ministry of Rites to start Chinese newspapers. He then publicized the news of reopening the imperial examination through newspapers and set a date for the examination.
Of course, the imperial examination system also needs to be changed. It certainly cannot be based on the Four Books and Five Classics, poetry, and songs as before.
Before the imperial examination began, Lu Cheng also ordered officials from all regions to count the number of scholars in each state and county, rebuild schools, promote new-style education, and so on.
Of course, the implementation of new-style education is bound to encounter various obstacles and will take some time.
In a word, after the founding of the People's Republic of China, Lu Cheng was still very busy, but he had more and more people working for him, and he could mobilize more forces.
After all, as long as he holds the throne, he has the true legitimacy to command the world.
Due to the corruption, natural disasters, war and chaos in the Ming Dynasty, the population also decreased significantly.
In order to restore the population as quickly as possible and reserve a human resource base for China's great development, Lu Cheng also formulated a new marriage policy and encouraged childbirth.
First, Lu Cheng promulgated a new marriage law, stipulating that women could only marry and have children when they were at least 16 years old.
In ancient times, girls often got married when they were thirteen or fourteen years old, and some even got married when they were eleven or twelve years old.
Such a young woman, still a child herself, with her body not yet fully developed, has to give birth to a child. Naturally, the child she gives birth to cannot be very healthy, and the infant mortality rate is extremely high.
Therefore, Lu Cheng asked the Ministry of Household Affairs to conduct a national census, develop a household registration system, and set a new marriage age.
At the same time, in order to ensure the survival rate of newborns and to extend the average life expectancy of Chinese residents, Lu Cheng gathered a group of doctors, produced a barefoot doctor manual, and promoted it widely across the country. At the same time, he established physician training colleges in various places, placing medical education in a very high position.
Just as the rear was developing rapidly, battle reports came from the front. Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan and other places in the southwest were successively recovered, the northwest also successfully advanced into the Western Regions, and the areas on both sides of the Yangtze River were basically pacified.
By the end of the first year of Yongchang in the Huaxia Empire, the entire China had initially achieved unification.
Immediately afterwards, Lu Cheng formulated a grand strategic policy of three years of recovery, five years of development, and ten years of expansion. The entire Chinese land began to recover and flourish...