I'm the Farmgirl You Can't Mess With

Chapter 1126: Suggestion

“Fief?” Mu Yangling’s eyes widened. “Didn’t Emperor Shizong of the previous dynasty no longer confer vassal lords?”

“The previous dynasty was the previous dynasty, and this dynasty is this dynasty.” Qi Haoran said, “If the previous dynasty had vassal lords guarding the borders, Great Jin and West Xia wouldn’t have the ability to occupy a large portion of our territory.”

Mu Yangling disagreed. “The reason why Great Zhou lost a large portion of its territory was because Emperor Gaozong moved the army inwards. Instead of defending against external enemies, he guarded against the commoners. In addition, Emperor Shizong valued literature over martial arts, causing there to be a lack of military talents in the army. What has this got to do with the vassal lords?”

After Qin Shihuang unified the six states, he abolished the feudal system and changed it to a county system. After the establishment of the Han Dynasty, the feudal system was re-adopted again. However, it was very different from the previous one. This time, it was a combination of feudal and county systems. After a thousand years, although the feudal system had always existed, it had been constantly weakened. It was only when Emperor Shizong of the previous dynasty abolished the vassal system that the princes could enter the Imperial Court as officials but no longer be conferred vassal lands. Before the new emperor took over, the princes had to stay in the capital and not leave the capital.

Mu Yangling did not think that Emperor Shizong was right to restrict the growth of the royal family’s descendants, but he was right to abolish the vassal system.