After Zhao Hanzhang took power, she didn’t hold morning court every day—generally once every three days. At special times she would separately summon ministers to the palace to discuss matters, and at those times the emperor also needed to be present.
At other times, the young emperor only needed to follow Zhao Hanzhang in the hall attending to government, reviewing documents.
But regardless of which type, he had to arrive before the hour of chen.
Before the weather turned cold, the young emperor had to recite lessons before going to the great hall to work, to handle the afternoon tutor’s inspection. After the weather turned cold, coursework lessened a bit, but… it was really hard to get up, especially now when daylight came relatively late.
The young emperor wore heavy clothing and a heavy crown, braving the cold wind as he walked to the great hall. The Forbidden Army came in to report: “Your Majesty, the Great General has arrived.”
The young emperor perked up his ears and indeed heard the sound of people greeting Zhao Hanzhang outside. So he stood up properly. A palace servant checked the time and rang the small bell at the hall’s side.
The hundred officials outside immediately quieted. Someone announced the emperor’s arrival. Outside became immediately silent, and the hundred officials all knelt down to pay respects.
Except for Zhao Hanzhang, all officials knelt.
The young emperor had the hundred officials rise, then bowed his head slightly toward Zhao Hanzhang in greeting before sitting on the dragon throne to begin today’s work as a mascot.
As soon as he sat down, Zhao Hanzhang announced several decrees: “Revise the female household system. Beginning from the first year of Jianxing, women also have inheritance rights and can be household heads.”
The hundred officials were already mentally prepared and raised no objections.
Zhao Hanzhang continued: “Encourage marriage and childbearing. Announce to the entire nation: all women fifteen years and older, men seventeen years and older, may marry. Women who haven’t married by twenty-eight and men who haven’t married by thirty will be fined double poll tax.”
She also said: “County yamens in all localities have responsibility for nurturing the people. Therefore, announce to all prefectures and counties, ordering them to make matches for unmarried men and women, encourage childbearing. For those who give birth, regardless of gender: one child, one dou of grain and one thousand bricks as reward; two children, two dou of grain and three thousand bricks; and those who give birth to three children are exempted from women’s corvée, rewarded five dou of grain and five thousand bricks; those who give birth to five children or more are rewarded eighty thousand bricks and exempted from three years of labor service.”
Besides Ji Yuan and others who had participated in discussions, the ministers all trembled physically, then excitedly responded: “The Great General is wise!”
With this announcement, they didn’t believe people wouldn’t marry and have children!
There was more. Zhao Hanzhang ordered all localities’ county yamens to establish official medical services. All women giving birth could engage midwives and physicians from official medical services—childbirth was free.
“It’s now the first month. Spring breezes are coming. Order all prefectures and counties to prepare well, promptly distributing seeds, agricultural tools, livestock, and draft animals to the common people. County magistrates should fulfill their responsibility of encouraging agriculture and sericulture. Order the Bureau of Agriculture to go to the countryside to assist the people,” Zhao Hanzhang said. “For all refugees, as long as they’re willing to register as households, distribute farmland and exempt them from that year’s poll tax and tribute.”
The hundred officials respectfully acknowledged.
It could be said that these two years’ policies were: encourage agriculture, encourage marriage, encourage childbearing.
To this end, Zhao Hanzhang even sent out censors from the Censorate to patrol the realm, ensuring that what the court gave could smoothly reach the common people’s hands.
The Ministry of War and stationed troops in all localities all had to deploy some forces to suppress bandits, finding all the bandits and refugees hiding in the mountains. Those who should farm would farm, those who should serve sentences would serve sentences.
Oh right, now Zhao Hanzhang especially liked reforming criminals through labor. Except for those sentenced to death who awaited review in prison, all others were pulled off to repair city walls, repair roads, repair water channels, build houses for the common people, and so on…
Some were also pulled off to mine. Anyway, it was quite arduous.
She lacked people, so she absolutely wouldn’t waste any labor.
Reportedly after this regulation came out, robbery, theft, and similar incidents all decreased.
The decrees were transmitted to all localities at extreme speed. Arriving simultaneously were several case examples. For instance, Chancellor Ming Yu and Vice Chancellor Ji Yuan, because they were past thirty and unmarried, were ordered by the Great General to find suitable women to marry. Having failed to find anyone afterward, they were fined double poll tax. Also, because as national chancellors they couldn’t set an example, they were fined double again.
The case example notice was posted together with the regulation announcement. Functionaries specifically stood in front of the announcement wall to read aloud for the common people. Students from schools also received assignments to recite daily in every corner of the county town, sometimes even going to the countryside. Combined with village chiefs transmitting downward, the entire nation’s people all learned of this case example.
So the common saying for urging marriage became: “Do you think you’re a national chancellor? Can you afford double poll tax?”
Because of this amusing case example, all the nation’s people’s interest in county yamen announcement walls reached its highest point. Right at this time, another new announcement was posted.
Zhao Hanzhang ordered: four families form one neighbor, five neighbors form one security group, five security groups form one li, with chiefs appointed. In towns they’re called wards, in the countryside they’re called villages. Villages, wards, neighbors, and li mutually supervise each other.
This changed the policy since the Wei and Jin periods of relying on local magnates and fortified settlements to govern localities, because without establishing the three-chief system, localities were mostly self-governing, and commoners mostly attached themselves to aristocratic clans and powerful families.
For example, before Zhao Hanzhang, the Xiping Zhao clan’s fortified settlement was equivalent to an independent city. The Xiping county magistrate found it very difficult to govern into the Zhao clan’s fortified settlement. Even Xiping’s common people mostly attached to the Zhao family and weren’t controlled by the Xiping county yamen.
After Zhao Hanzhang came to power, Xiping County and the Zhao clan’s fortified settlement shared interests to a certain degree, so they could merge into one.
Now, she designated all settlements outside cities as villages, ordering village chiefs to be jointly selected with the people under li chiefs to govern. Within this, four families formed a neighbor, five neighbors formed a security group. Security chiefs were responsible to village elders, village elders were responsible to li chiefs, and li chiefs were responsible to county magistrates.
In case of major matters, county magistrates could summon village elders and li chiefs for consultation. Neighbors mutually supervised each other, and security chiefs also bore responsibility. This directly severed the attachment relationship between commoners and local magnates.
Her announcement directly removed local magnates, having local county yamens replace local magnates to become the pillars upon which all people relied.
From now on, her decrees would be transmitted from county yamens to villages, rather than still having to go through local magnates before reaching villages.
Of course, this was all under ideal conditions.
But the realm’s great chaos had just stabilized. Many villages were rebuilt, people were all new, even magnates had been replaced wave after wave, weakened again and again. At this time, changing policies and quickly filling the gaps was also easiest to implement.
Of course, few people in the realm could comprehend all this. Everyone just felt this way was much more convenient.
County magistrates discovered they’d found people who could execute decrees downward. Common people discovered they not only found people to whom they could voice problems but also knew whom to seek when issues arose—they had a target.
Once the decree went out, each newly established village began selecting security chiefs and village elders. Li chiefs needn’t be thought about—those were mostly appointed by yamens after selecting prestigious people from the locality. It had little to do with them.
In a small village in Xuzhou, everyone crowded into one household’s courtyard. The small courtyard couldn’t fit everyone, so people climbed onto the courtyard walls to sit. An old man said: “Dashan, in our village you’re the most knowledgeable and most upright. I think you should be village elder.”