I will be the master of Xuande

Chapter 7 Pros and Cons of Officialdom
Jian Yong vomited for a whole stick of incense by the river, Fang wiped his mouth, and sat weakly on the ground.

Liu Bei took out the silk scarf that he carried with him, passed it to Jian Yong, and then patted him on the back comfortingly.

Liu Jian's face was gloomy: "Actually, when I went to Gou's Mountain to pay homage to Teacher Lu to study scriptures, I heard about it a lot along the way in Jizhou, but at that time Xuande and I were walking on the main road, and never took the remote road. I’ve never seen it with my own eyes, but in retrospect, I’m afraid it’s quite a lot.”

Jian Yong wiped his mouth and said, "You big man, what happened?"

Zhang Fei thrust his long sword into the muddy ground, and said angrily, "Beasts eat money, eunuchs are in power, and foreign relatives are dictatorships. How can we give life to the common people?"

Liu Jian didn't quite agree with Zhang Fei's words, but he didn't refute them either.

Although Zhang Fei is young now, he does have an inexplicable respect for the nobles. Perhaps this has something to do with his growth environment. Zhang Fei is always the kind of person who values ​​the nobles and despises his subordinates.

In Zhang Fei's subconscious mind, if the country were all governed by Qingliu celebrities or public nobles, perhaps there would not be so many disadvantages, and all living beings would have more ways of life.

But is this really the case?Indeed, it has to be said that Qingliu scholars are indeed much stronger than eunuchs in terms of integrity.

But where there are people, there are conflicts of interest, and Qingliu also represents an interest group.

Imperial power, scholar power, public nobles, tycoons...every vested interest group, through different means and methods, is trying every means to maintain the vested interests of their own group, so there are party members, foreign relatives, and Eunuchs manage politics, have Hongdu school, etc...

In this era, no one is absolutely clean in the struggle for the interests of the high class, and no one will really put the life and death sufferings of the people in Guizhou first.

But these are not suitable for this time to say...

"No matter what happens to the court, we should take care of ourselves first. What happened tonight must be handled properly. Otherwise, if Gongsun Bogui came to Zhuo County to take up a post, he might not be able to appoint me."

Zhang Fei looked at Liu Jian puzzled: "What do you mean by this, brother? We traveled a long way from Zhuo County for dozens of miles, waiting for the Gongsun County Lord in this wilderness, and lost three servants. After killing the seven Taihang thieves who came here, will Gongsun Zan still hate us because of it?"

Liu Jian rubbed his brows and didn't speak yet.

Brother Liu Bei and Liu Jian are of the same heart, so they naturally understand what he thinks in his heart.

He explained to Zhang Fei: "My dear brother, you have to know that A Jian and I are just classmates with Gongsun Bogui. We have not had any interests in the past many years, and we still ask for each other. But Gongsun Bogui came to Zhuo County. On the first day, we killed someone on the way to meet him. Although the other party was a villain who fled here from Taihang, such trivial matters are not considered political achievements for Gongsun Zan. On the contrary, the barrier to the west is not good, making Taihang The thieves fled to Zhuo County, which caused great trouble for Bo Gui. If this matter got out, it would target the westward defense of the entire Zhuo County. To the county guards, captains, and county lords..."

After all, Zhang Fei was young and didn't know much about politics: "The frontier defense in the west of Zhuo County is not good, so bandits and bandits enter from Taihang. We have discovered a great event for the county magistrate and Gongsun county magistrate. We have made great contributions. How can we still be guilty?"

Liu Bei couldn't help laughing, and didn't know how to explain it for a while.

Liu Jian came to Zhang Fei's side, stretched out his hand and patted his shoulder: "My brother's thinking is too simple, how can there be such a coincidence in this world? The refugees and refugees from the counties north of Taihang crossed the border to Youzhou, and no one else noticed. , happened to be discovered by us once we went out?"

"What do you mean brother?"

"I'm afraid this kind of thing has long been the norm, it's just a secret."

"It's related to the livelihood of the people in Youzhou, why not announce it?!" Zhang Fei was furious when he heard the words.

Liu Jian analyzed: "Since Xia Xiaowei lost to Xianbei, you and Bing have been short of major generals these years, and the defense force on the border is not enough. How can there be spare power to block the Taihang bandits? The Taihang Mountains can overlook Yuyang , Shanggu, Guangyang, and Zhuojun counties, how many corvees would be enough? It is impossible for Fang Bo and the local government lords to report to the imperial court... But local bandit affairs are also related to the achievements of government offices at all levels. You can't tell the outside world, you can only suppress it, if this matter is exposed by us, how will Gongsun Zan behave in front of Fang Bo and Fu Jun? We are causing trouble for Gongsun Zan."

The Hengshan, Yunzhong, and Wutai Mountains in the west of the Taihang Mountains radiate more than [-] counties including Zhuojun, Guangyang, and Zhongshan. It also involved important places such as Jicheng, Lunu, Laishui, and Yi County, but no one has made a statement in recent years, from the county guards to the county magistrates.

There is no doubt that it is to suppress things.

In the current Han Dynasty, it is normal for Xiyuan to sell officials. In the Han Dynasty, it was costly for real-time officials with more than [-] shi to be officials. In order to speed up the liquidity of selling officials, the Emperor Han made great evaluation of the local government. Strictly, if there is a slight misconduct, he will be dismissed immediately, and then the vacancy will be sold again.

Especially for the gimmicks aimed at local thieves, the emperor can roll a bunch of them at once, and there is nothing wrong with it.

Under such circumstances, in order to keep their official positions, these local officials will naturally cover up and cover up the unresolvable misdeeds in the territory, at least until the money for buying the officials is earned back, and no one is allowed to uncover the scars.

This is basically what everyone in the official circles in the Bianjun area has tacitly agreed with each other.

"Then just keep quiet about tonight's matter?" Zhang Fei gritted his teeth, unwilling.

Liu Bei pondered for a moment, then sighed: "For the time being, I can't make a sound, and I'll bury the body first, pretending not to notice, and welcome Bogui as I want in the future!"

Zhang Fei pursed his lips tightly and said nothing.

Liu Bei didn't forget to turn his head and ask Liu Jian: "Deran, what do you think?"

Liu Bei's performance just now made Liu Jian feel that he really has a bit of a master's attitude, whether it is temperament or momentum, it is quite like that.

Just as he was about to nod his head, Jian Yong suddenly heard a 'huh'.

"Deran, what do you think this is?"

But seeing Jian Yong squatting in front of the corpse of a servant of his own family, his expression was astonished.

Liu Jian praised Jian Yong for his adaptability is really strong enough.

Seeing these incomplete corpses just now was so disgusting that he couldn't help vomiting.

Just after a while, you dare to seriously study and figure it out?
"What did brother Xianhe see?"

Following Liu Jian's inquiry, Jian Yong pulled out a slender bone arrow cluster from the corpse with his hands.

That’s right, it’s a cluster of bone arrows—although they are small in size, they are well-crafted, and the two ends are rounded in the middle, which is easy to handle. Leave the bone arrow cluster on the corpse.

Jian Yong looked up and down the bone arrow cluster back and forth in his hand, and then handed it to Liu Jian.

After Liu Jian saw the cluster of bone arrows, his expression suddenly became solemn.

He didn't speak, and handed the arrow cluster to Liu Bei again.

As if it had been discussed in advance, Liu Bei's expression changed exactly the same as Liu Jian's in an instant.

Finally, the bone arrows fell on Zhang Fei's hand.

Zhang Fei is young, and the city is not deep. After seeing this thing, he said without hesitation: "We Han people didn't use this thing hundreds of years ago! As far as I know, people who use bones to make arrows look at the whole Northland." , only Xianbei..."

As soon as these words were said, the ten servants present immediately panicked.

Xianbei!

Well done, how could there be Xianbei in the border of Zhuojun?This is impossible!
There was a deathly silence in the arena.

Finally, an older and more experienced servant of the Zhang family asked: "Four young lords, did you misread it? This is Zhuo County, not Shanggu Yuyang. How could Xianbei sneak here?" ?”

This servant is right. Although Zhuo County belongs to the border of Youzhou, it is the hinterland of Youzhou. Compared with Shanggu County and Yuyang County in the north, it is closer to Jizhou, while the eastern and central Xianbei in the north of Youzhou is mainly Wandering in the Horqin Sandy Land, Chifeng area, and even Xilin Gol further north are also their territory.

Even though Xianbei has thousands of miles of desert as its depth, if it wants to plunder Youzhou, it must first pass through Shanggu, Yuyang, Youbeiping, and Liaodong vassal states... But these places are not easy to cross the border.

Shanggu County has Juyongguan and Sanggan River as barriers, Yuyang County is surrounded by Baihe and Yanshan Mountains in the north, and Youbeiping and Liaoxi have Lulongsai as a natural barrier (that is, Xifengkou). The terrain is abrupt, with high cliffs facing each other.

Xia Yu, Tian Yan and others lost to Tan Shihuai because they traveled thousands of miles and went too deep into the territory. But for Xianbei, the huge depth of the Han Dynasty was not a natural barrier?

Xianbei may be able to plunder the soldiers and civilians in the border county of Youzhou, but if they can break into Zhuojun, it is impossible in the concept of the Han people.

Everyone didn't believe that Xianbei could come to Zhuojun, but at this time, Liu Bei expressed his amazing opinion.

"What if these Xianbei people were not a large force that entered Youzhou from outside the Great Wall? They were scouts who followed the Taihang Mountain thieves and sneaked into the territory?"

This sentence can be regarded as completely subverting the three views of everyone in the field.

is it possible?
"The thieves in the Taihang Mountains colluded with Xianbei?" Jian Yong looked at Liu Bei in surprise: "Xuande meant that the Taihang rogues we killed just now were with the Xianbei people? The hinterland of Youzhou introduced by the Taihang boundary?"

Liu Bei nodded solemnly: "I'm just guessing. In the past at Goushi Mountain, we also learned some "Bingzhou Topography" superficially. Just imagine that if you don't go to Yuyang and Shanggu, the only way for Xianbei's small scouts to sneak into the country. It's just that you enter the Taihang Mountains through the Sumu Mountain Pass in Daijun... It's just that the Taihang Mountains stretch for thousands of miles. Even local Han people may get lost in the mountains, let alone Xianbei. If there are no Han people to lead the way, Xianbei people will never That's it!"

Jian Yong bit his lips tightly: "Xuande, this is just your own guess."

Liu Bei said earnestly: "But if this guess comes true, it will be a big deal! We can't hide this matter, and we have to report it to Gongsun County Lord, and ask him to transfer it to Fang Bo!"

Liu Beizhi's words were powerful and forceful. Although the evidence was not sufficient, it resonated with more than a dozen people present to a certain extent.

Liu Jian was not moved by Liu Bei's words, but he thought of another thing through Liu Bei's words.

At present, these low-level hungry people who fled to Taihang, under the leadership of the leaders of various tribes in the mountains, gradually evolved into various forces of the Black Mountain Army in the future, and the predecessor of the Black Mountain Army was the Yellow Turban, which means that the Taihang bandits will join the Yellow Turban Army sooner or later.

Since Zhang Jiao decided to rebel against the big man, he should be preparing now.

Hebei is the main place where the Yellow Turbans raised their troops, and the foundation of Zhang Jiao's rebellion was guided by religion, with the poor people at the bottom as the backbone, against the imperial power, scholars, foreign relatives, aristocratic families, wealthy families and other forces that have important resources... ...If he is Zhang Jiao, if he wants to succeed in the rebellion, then Xianbei, who is in an antagonistic relationship with these enemies, is naturally the one he wants to win over.

Putting these things together, the Taihang Rogues and Xianbei Bone Arrows seen today make sense.

Just as Liu Jian was smoothing his mind, Liu Bei was expressing his opinions impassionedly.

What Liu Bei meant was to let everyone bring the rogues, bone arrows, and the corpses of their own servants, and when Gongsun Zan came, he would tell Gongsun Zan everything.

In this way, on the one hand, the people of Zhuo County can be protected from being harmed by Xianbei and Taihang thieves; No, the three Gongsun Zan will reuse them because of this.

Zhang Fei, Jian Yong and others listened to Liu Bei's impassioned speech, and their hearts were greatly moved. At this time, Liu Bei was quite a leader in their eyes. The feeling was that as long as they obeyed Liu Bei and believed what Liu Bei said, everything would be fine. no problem.

Zhang Fei was very excited. He looked at Liu Jian and said excitedly, "Brother, what do you think of what A Bei said? Let's do what A Bei said!"

Unexpectedly, Liu Jian said, "I disagree!"

(End of this chapter)