Yuan Shao, the father of Fanghua in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 1430 State Affairs
Yuan Xi had already arrived at the main hall. He sat on the cold throne and looked around, noting that many places in the palace were covered with dust.

This made him quite sad. Although Jicheng was the capital of Jin State, it was the place he spent the least time there in the past few years.

He looked at the civil officials on his left. Ju Shou was sitting in the first seat, but he did not look well. He knew that what he said in his previous memorial was not false, and he must have reached the age.

Some time ago, Ju Su submitted a petition to Yuan Xi in Yecheng, saying that his health was failing and asking Yuan Xi to find a replacement according to his condition.

Yuan Xi was in a dilemma after receiving the letter. Now the State of Jin was divided into two prime ministers, the left and the right. Ju Su was ranked ahead of Zhuge Liang because of his seniority and connections, so his successor should be Zhuge Liang.

However, in the days that followed, Zhuge Liang needed to stay in Yecheng and Chang'an, restore agricultural production in Guanzhong, and maintain the offensive against the State of Wei. Apart from him, no other official had Zhuge Liang's comprehensive military and internal affairs capabilities.

Yuan Xi naturally would not think that Ju Shou was complaining without reason at this time. He must have some health problems. However, most of the officials in Jicheng have been middle-level officials in recent years, and none of them can completely replace Ju Shou's role. Yuan Xi was also in a dilemma about this.

After much deliberation, Yuan Xi issued two edicts. One was to order Lu Su and Zhang Zhao in Nanchang to go north to Jicheng. In Yuan Xi's view, there were many officials from Jiangdong in Jianghuai, and there was no war there now. It would be a waste to have so many counselors. It would be enough to have Lu Xun and Zhang Hong in charge of the local area.

The second was to reinstate Xin Ping, who was teaching at the Jicheng Charity School, and to appoint Yang Xun, who had served as the county magistrate of Huang County for seven or eight years.

This was a well-thought-out decision. Lu Su and Zhang Zhao were both famous figures in the world, but their origins in Jiangdong would cause some thoughts in the minds of officials in the north. So Xin Ping and Yang Xun, who were originally from the Jizhou faction under Yuan Tan, became a buffer to mediate. After all, the two of them were still quite influential among Yuan Shao's old subordinates.

After Ju Su, the successor to the affairs he was responsible for would be selected from among these four people, or the responsibilities would be shared among them. Confusion was inevitable, so during this transition period, Yuan Xi returned to Jicheng to take charge of the overall situation under the pretext of dealing with the Xianbei outside the Great Wall. At the same time, he also tested the abilities of the four people in the process of dealing with the Xianbei.

He was sitting in the hall, and seeing Ju Shou's face, he knew that he was already very weak, but he couldn't ask too many questions because of the official business at hand, so he said to everyone: "You have also heard that several threatening tribes are gradually forming in the northern grasslands."

"I think the previous method of raising Gu was ill-considered. This practice of raising a tiger to cause trouble and sitting on the mountain watching the tigers fight will sooner or later backfire. So I want to hear your views on the future development of the grassland."

The civil officials and military generals all looked at Ju Shou, but found that he had no intention of speaking. They knew that Ju Shou was leaving it to others to perform, and they couldn't help but fall into deep thought.

Logically, at this stage, the civil officials should have made a general statement first, but Yuan Xi's selection of Lu Su and four others some time ago left the officials confused and they were hesitant for a while.

The reason for this was that all the officials knew that Ju Shou was in poor health and had the intention of resigning, and everyone had privately speculated about the next candidate.

After Ju Su, the person with the highest prestige was Yuan Shu's cousin Yuan Yin, who led Yuan Shu's clansmen to surrender and later served as an official in Jicheng. His background, connections, prestige and ability were all obvious to all.

The other one also had the surname Yuan and was born in the Yuan family of Chenjun. Although he was not from the Yuan family of Runan, he also had a good background. His father was Yuan Pang, the prime minister of the Han Dynasty. He had a friendship with Liu Bei and was recommended by Liu Bei as a scholar. Later, he served as an official under Yuan Shu. When Yuan Xi conquered Shouchun, he was also captured.

Later, he was recommended by Yuan Yin and went to work in Shouchun. It has been more than ten years since then. He has made remarkable political achievements and his courage to speak out and make suggestions has won Yuan Xi's appreciation.

Yuan Yin and Yuan Pang's political achievements over the years far surpassed their peers, so everyone thought that the future prime minister would definitely be chosen from these two.

As a result, Yuan Xi transferred Lu Su and four others and appointed them as the deputy governor of Youzhou. Everyone then realized that it was impossible to select the left and right prime ministers from among the Yuan family. No wonder Lu Xun, as the majesty's sworn brother, did not become the prime minister!
But after realizing this, everyone felt relieved, because it showed that Yuan Xi, at least for the time being, had no idea of ​​using the Yuan family to suppress outsiders. This was probably the result of careful consideration after seeing Cao Cao's use of the Cao and Xiahou families, which produced a series of negative effects.

Moreover, Yuan Xi's transfer of so many famous officials to Jicheng also gave Youzhou officials a reassurance, because there were rumors that Yuan Xi might establish the capital in Yecheng, after all, Empress Zhen had followed him there.

This also made the Youzhou officials have some thoughts. After all these efforts, have they been abandoned?

Now that everyone saw Yuan Xi return to Jicheng and transferred so many important officials here, they all felt relieved. It seemed that His Majesty's focus was still on the outside of the Great Wall.

Yuan Xi saw that everyone was thinking hard, but when he looked up, he saw Yuan Pang looking up from time to time with a troubled look on his face, so he said, "Yao Qing, do you have something to report?"

After hearing this, Yuan Pang hesitated for a moment before speaking, "I think that what Your Majesty did earlier was inappropriate!"

Everyone was shocked when they heard this. Yuan Pang was actually a straightforward person similar to Ni Heng and Zhang Zhao. Every time he spoke, he could make everyone tremble with fear. Now that he spoke, it was obviously not an ordinary thing.

Yuan Xi said with great interest: "I am listening."

Yuan Pang said: "Your Majesty's move of having the Queen in charge of Yecheng and Madam Qiao in charge of Shouchun is a mistake of women interfering in government affairs, like a hen crowing at dawn!"

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone in the hall felt dizzy. His Majesty had just returned, and you, Yuan Pang, had caused such a big incident!

After hearing this, Yuan Xi not only did not get angry, but also smiled and said, "I would like to hear the details."

Later, Yuan Xi heard that Yuan Pang was famous for his outspokenness. When he was an official in the Wei Kingdom, he proposed "take those who like it, and don't force those who don't like it" for Cao Cao's military farming policy, without fear of angering Cao Cao. Later, when Liu Bei died, he did not attend the celebration because Liu Bei had recommended him. He was a person who spoke his mind. After hearing this, Yuan Pang began to quote from classics, from Empress Lü's meddling in politics to the chaos of the Dou family, and all the way to Empress He's meddling in politics after the Yellow Turban Rebellion, which led to the disaster of Dong Zhuo. He talked about it in detail, and everyone was so disturbed that they almost forgot that they were discussing the Xianbei.

Some people wondered in their hearts, was it because Yuan Pang lost his position as Prime Minister that he took the risk?
Yuan Xi naturally didn't think so. After listening to the details, he said to the officials, "Yao Qing is outspoken and is a role model for you. I hope that in the future, if you have any ideas in your mind, you can also speak out like him."

When everyone heard this, they quickly leaned forward to respond, wondering whether His Majesty agreed with Yuan Pang's idea or was just pretending.

Yuan Xi said, "Qing Yao, you can learn from history and see the disasters caused by women's incompetence and meddling in government affairs."

"It just so happens that this is something I also want to explain to you, so I will explain it to you today."

"As for the Queen and Madam Qiao, my consideration is that I need someone to represent me when sending them, so I spent some time thinking about the candidates."

"Except for my concubines, no one else is suitable to represent the royal family. If we select a member of the Yuan clan, it would mean we are biased towards the clan. If we select someone from a different clan, we would be suspected of being a clique, which is inappropriate anyway."

"So the solution I came up with was to use the harem to only take care of miscellaneous matters, not money and personnel matters."

"They cannot interfere with the selection and appointment of officials. They must write to me, which in turn prevents the imperial harem's relatives from becoming powerful."

"And you should also know that most of Queen Zhen's family members are engaged in business, and there are very few officials with a salary of more than 800 shi, not to mention the Qiao family. The two ladies are almost the last members of the Qiao family."

The officials were thoughtful after listening to this. It turned out that His Majesty had thought of this at the beginning, so why did he come up with this approach?
Yuan Xi said, "You were all raised by your parents, so you naturally understand that the mother's responsibility for education during the process of growing up is sometimes more than that of the father who is in charge of external affairs."

"My intention in becoming the host is to let the world see that women need to prove themselves through the labor of their own hands and the input of their brains, rather than relying on men to gain privileges."

"I partially agree with Yao Qing's views, but I think it's not that women cannot engage in government affairs, but they should be controlled within a certain range. How to control it is something we need to think about."

"Of course, we must avoid the lessons of the past. Now the two ladies are only in charge of the private treasury, and their expenses are all for official business. Strictly speaking, this is not considered interfering in state affairs. I just gave them a platform to familiarize themselves with political affairs."

"After all, what I have done over the years is to solve a problem. If the emperor is unable to handle government affairs, how long can the country operate normally?"

"If they can't hold out for even a day, it clearly shows that this country is too dependent on the emperor. In my opinion, there are hidden dangers."

"In a truly ideal country, even if the emperor does not interfere in government affairs, the country can still maintain basic operations, and farming, road construction, manufacturing, and trade can all be carried out as usual."

"The most important affairs of a country are sacrifice and military affairs. I also hope that when I am needed in the future, it will only be for these two major affairs of sacrifice and military affairs."

"Everything I do is to make the Jin Dynasty different from before, to get rid of the old and embrace the new, and to create a completely different future path from the past. This requires the joint efforts of us, the monarch and the ministers."

"In this process, letting the harem do things within their capabilities that will not affect the overall situation can also help set an example for women in the world to be self-reliant and strong. What do you think, Yaoqing?"

Yuan Pang pondered for a moment, then bowed and said, "Your Majesty, what you said makes sense. I appreciate your advice."

Yuan Xi nodded, "Of course, if my harem crosses the line, I hope all officials can remind me in time like Yao Qing did."

After hearing this, everyone responded with orders. Yuan Xi nodded and said, "Okay, now I want to hear your ideas on how to completely eradicate the Xianbei threat."

"We must not ignore the signs of danger on the grassland and must extinguish them in time. This is the significance of our guarding the country's borders."

As the sky gradually darkened, Cao Jie was accompanying Cao Xian in the kitchen to cook. Seeing Cao Xian enthusiastically pouring oil and salt into the pot, she couldn't help but ask, "What if His Majesty doesn't come back?"

"When we return to the capital, is it customary to entertain officials?"

Cao Xian said confidently, "No, I trust my intuition."

Before he finished speaking, a maid came in and reported that His Majesty had returned.

(End of this chapter)