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Seven days later, when the problem of confrontation between the imperial court and the imperial court was intensifying, the emperor Sima Shu suddenly issued a decree through the cabinet, which shocked the whole court at once, and they did not expect the emperor to solve the problem of the imperial reserve.

It turned out that in this holy decree, Sima Shu explicitly abolished the primogeniture inheritance system for the first time, and Sima Shu declared war on the feudal traditional moral system, and he was challenging the entire feudal ethical system. Don't underestimate the primogeniture system, which is the core of the entire feudal ethical system.

It can be imagined how much turmoil Sima Shu's edict caused, it can be said that it was opposed by more than 90% of the ministers of the imperial court, and even Jiang Tong and Du Xi, who had always supported him, joined the ranks of opposition, which shows how ridiculous Sima Shu's proposal seems to others.

In fact, before Yin, there was no system of descendants in China. The collapse of the Yellow Emperor, after his two sons Changyi and Xuanhuan, there is the world in the future. As for the thirty emperors of Emperor Xin, the fourteenth emperor is the younger brother and the younger brother; Those who succeed their fathers with sons are not the sons of brothers, but mostly the sons of younger brothers. In other words, in ancient times, the system of succession by concubines did not become the mainstream.

Since the Western Zhou Dynasty, in order to maintain the patriarchal rule of the ruling class and pass on from generation to generation, the Duke of Zhou established the primogeniture inheritance system. In other words, since the Western Zhou Dynasty, the primogeniture inheritance system has been formally established.

The eldest son has a special status and privileges in terms of inheritance, whether it is a throne, a title, a fief or property, which is mainly inherited by the eldest son of the deceased. First of all. The eldest son excludes the inheritance rights of the concubine (the son born to the wife and concubine of the side room), and "the heir is noble rather than the longest"; Secondly, the eldest son also excludes the inheritance rights of the rest of the sons-in-law, "establishing the heirs to be long rather than virtuous".

In order to maintain this system, successive dynasties enacted relevant laws to impose penalties on those who undermined the primogeniture inheritance system by impersonating their heirs and substantiate their primogenitures. "Tang Lu? The "Household Marriage" stipulates: "Those who violate the law shall be imprisoned for one year." That is, if the wife is over 50 years old and has no children, he shall be appointed as an elder, and the same shall be true for the elder (also for one year)." The laws of the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties also had similar provisions.

Confucianism emphasizes the theory of blood stability. It is advocated that the descendants should be established by virtue rather than by virtue. Throughout the history of China. The primogeniture system is a inheritance principle (system) implemented under polygamy in ancient China, and it is one of the core systems to maintain the patriarchal system.

The primogeniture system has an incomparably far-reaching impact on the specific operation of the Chinese absolute monarchy, which embodies the concept of hierarchy and is similar to the patriarchal system and the wife and concubine system. And under the conditions of polygamy (concubinage). To a certain extent, the contradictions and conflicts in inheritance are avoided.

However, the primogeniture system also has its downsides. Because both the elder system itself and its various perverted forms. Under the premise of "autocratic politics under the isomorphic nature of the family and the state", all of them can only flow a non-intelligent way of choice, which will inevitably lead to a serious disconnect and contradiction between the monarch's power and actual ability.

After all, absolute monarchy is a form of rule by man. In the design of the system, the monarch is endowed with supreme and absolute power that is not restricted by law, and is placed in the position of "prospering the country with a word and losing the state with a word", which requires the monarch to be an all-powerful person who is holy and wise, and perfect and perfect.

However, the system of succession and longevity is precisely to establish a successor and establish a long and "not virtuous", so that there is a serious conflict or asymmetry between the institutionalized power possessed by the monarch and his actual political ability. The fact that young children, idiots, and mediocre people have continued to ascend to the throne throughout history speaks to a large extent to this point.

In October, the second great court meeting, the ministers gathered in the Taiji Hall to oppose the issue of the prince. Sima Shu sat on the dragon chair, concentrating and getting ready to reason with the courtiers.

"Your Majesty, the minister thinks that it is very inappropriate to abolish the primogeniture inheritance system, which will lead to chaos in the succession to the throne, and will inevitably cause a rebellion among the kings again in the future." Wang Yan was the staunchest opponent of the abolition of the primogeniture, and he knew very well how his grandson would be able to ascend to that supreme position without this protective garment.

"Hehe, Aiqing, don't worry, I still have something to say. Your worries are clear to me, but I'm afraid you have misunderstood what I really mean, I don't want to completely abolish the primogeniture, which will also play an important role in the selection of heirs. I just put meritocracy in front of my son-in-law's identity. ”

"But Your Majesty, how can you distinguish between the virtuous and the foolish? It's not as obvious as the difference between the stalks. Wang Yan was obviously not satisfied with Sima Shu's explanation.

"Aiqing is right, it is indeed difficult to distinguish between virtuous and foolish, but it is not impossible to distinguish. I intend to evaluate a prince's ability through academics, ability, and performance, and the level of ability will be linked to the rank of the prince in the future. Sima Shu looked at the expressions of the ministers as he spoke, and only after seeing that everyone was gradually attracted by his words, he slowly relaxed his heart.

"In the future, the prince will be awarded the title of marquis after birth, and when he grows up to the age of fifteen and successfully graduates from the secondary and junior schools, he will be awarded the title of prince after obtaining the graduation certificate of the senior school before the age of twenty, and if he can make some contributions to the court or the people before the age of twenty-five, he will be awarded the title of prince."

"Your Majesty means that in the future, all princes will have to go to school?"

"Yes, all princes and princesses must go to school after the age of five, except for the princess, the princes' studies are all linked to their future titles, and if they want to live a better life in the future, the princes must work hard to learn knowledge. In addition, in order to prevent someone from cheating, once it is discovered that not only the prince himself is deprived of all inheritance rights, but the participants will be dealt with as the crime of treason. ”

"Shhh The ministers present all gasped, and those who were still a little cautious had to weigh it at this moment. However, everyone showed a strong interest in the hierarchical promotion system proposed by Sima Shu, and if it was really done according to what Sima Shu said, it would not only completely prevent some low-ability people from inheriting the throne, but also further improve the quality of the descendants of the imperial family.

This is a trick that Sima Shu came up with after referring to the training system of the princes of previous dynasties, and Sima Shu attached great importance to the education of the princes after learning the lessons of history. In his opinion, as a prince, he must not be illiterate, not to mention proficient in scripture and history, strategy, poetry, songs, calligraphy and painting, good at riding and shooting, at least he must accept a complete culture like ordinary people.

Sima Shu planned to take this opportunity to improve and formalize the imperial education system. After such a toss by him, compared with the previous dynasties, the princes of this dynasty have earlier enrollment age, longer study time, stricter rules, more courses, and a wider range, and at the same time, the princes have to participate in military training like ordinary people.

"Your Majesty, how can the princes ensure the safety of entering the hall?" Another minister raised a key question.

"Hehe, aren't all your children in the school, after such a long time, isn't there nothing wrong? Of course, the identity of the prince is more special, but it is not a big problem, in the future, we will conquer Siyi, the country is strong enough, and which force will dare to offend us and fight my son's idea?! ”

"May I ask Your Majesty, if the prince does not rise to the prince for some reason, does it mean that he has lost the right to inherit the throne? Does the opposite mean that it is possible to inherit the throne in the future? ”

Yang Xuanzhi stared at Sima Shu with a light in his eyes and asked, he had been listening to it for a long time, and finally figured out what the emperor meant by proposing the prince promotion system, if it was linked to Sima Shu's previous proposal to abolish the primogeniture inheritance system, he quickly figured out that this prince promotion system was not an heir selection system?

When Yang Xuanzhi asked, Wang Yan and other ministers who insisted on the succession system also panicked. Sima Shu looked at the eyes that reflected various emotions such as excitement, expectation, worry, and anger, he stabilized his mind and replied firmly: "Yes, you can also understand it like this, but ......"

Originally, Wang Yan was about to give another admonition after Sima Shu's affirmation, but he was forcibly stopped by Sima Shu's 'but'. He also wanted to hear how the emperor solved the problem of the identity of the concubine, and he believed that Sima Shu would never dare to openly and completely abolish the concubine system, which would only attract more people's criticism.

"However, there is some truth to this son-in-law inheritance system, so I intend to transform the status of the son-in-law into a kind of inheritance priority."

"Your Majesty, what is the priority of succession?"

"The so-called inheritance priority means that under equal conditions, the son-in-law will naturally occupy a certain advantage. That is to say, when the talents and abilities of the two princes are similar, the prince will have the right of first succession! ”

"Oh, I see!"

After Sima Shu finished speaking, there was silence in the hall, and everyone was thinking about the pros and cons. In Yang Xuanzhi's opinion, although he did not put his grandson in the position of heir, it was not bad to be able to win a fair competition, and the only thing that made him slightly dissatisfied was the priority inheritance of the prince. However, as a traditional scholar, he is not willing to completely abolish the primogeniture system, so it is not bad to have such a situation that is acceptable to both parties.

Wang Yan is also unwilling, although it seems that under pressure, Emperor Sima Shu took out a preferential inheritance right for the prince and blocked the mouths of some traditional scholars, but the prince promotion system gave other princes the opportunity to inherit the throne. In this way, in order to inherit the throne, the princes and extreme supporters can only do everything possible to improve their self-esteem, otherwise even if they are the eldest son, there is no guarantee that they will inherit the throne in the future.

Sima Shu's proposal for the promotion of princes did not satisfy all the ministers, but also satisfied some of them. In short, the problem of Lichu was overned by Sima Shu's strong request, but he also knew that this was just suppressing the contradiction for a while.

When the princes grow up, this competition will be more fierce and cruel, but Sima Shu has no choice, as a father, of course he doesn't want this kind of thing to happen, but as an emperor he has to do it. Because he knew that the wolf king who was chosen without a fight would not be able to lead the entire wolf pack to glory. (To be continued......)