In ancient times, there was no Mandarin. Can the emperor understand dialects in court?

China has a vast territory, a large population and different accents. Every village has a dialect, and cities are different? . I believe many people have thought about a question when watching the ancient costume court drama, that is, officials from all directions, do they all speak the same language? If it is not the same, how does the emperor understand it? Is there a unified language, like today's Mandarin, which is easy to understand?

During the period of the Republic of China, linguists Zhou Youguang and Shen Congwen married the Zhang sisters in Anhui. As a brother-in-law, Zhou Youguang said to his wife? I can't understand 20% of Shen Congwen's words? Zhang said that he was better than him, but only 10% didn't understand.

Obviously, Zhou Youguang in Jiangsu, Shen Congwen in Hunan and their wives have communication problems. At that time, Mandarin had been popularized, but they even guessed and thought about it. What's more, in ancient times when there was no Mandarin, how did the emperor understand the long speeches of officials when he went to court? This makes many people wonder. Although the above dialogue is a joke of later generations, there are indeed emperors in history who feel deeply headache. For example, Yongzheng is very worried. He once admitted that every time he went to court, most of the words of other local officials could be understood, but the local accent in Fujian and Guangdong was too serious, so he ordered Fujian and Guangdong officials to start learning Mandarin, sent instructors to teach in the local area, and established Yin Zheng Academy.

So before yongzheng emperor, did emperors rule the language? Pre-Qin period: it was impossible to test before Zhou Dynasty. It is said that the standard language after that is the language in the Book of Songs, which is the so-called elegant speech;

Qin and Han Dynasties: Judging from the contents of Li Si's "Zhuke Shu", classical Chinese has been formed, or maybe it was at that time? Mandarin? At this time, the sound is mainly Luoyang sound;

Sui and Tang Dynasties: At this time, the official language was based on Jinling Yayin and Luoyang Yayin, followed by Chang 'an Sound;

Song and Yuan Dynasties: The Song Dynasty mostly adopted the former dynasty, while the Yuan Dynasty was dominated by Mongols.

Ming and Qing Dynasties: In the Ming Dynasty, the pronunciation was based on the elegant accent of the Central Plains. At that time, the Central Plains accent in Jianghuai area was the purest, and most of the subsequent Putonghua was based on Nanjing dialect. Later, Manchu was used in the Qing Dynasty, but it later evolved into Mandarin, which was dominated by Beijing accent.

From this point of view, it should be easy for the emperor to understand if he knows some accents in various places. These accents are based on relative sounds, not to mention that words are based on words. Litigation is not a problem. If the official's accent is too heavy to understand, it is certainly understandable to write directly.