I have lived forever since the end of Qin Dynasty

Chapter 282 The situation in the Han Dynasty and various contradictions
While Chen Luo was talking to the Chehous beside him in the main hall, he did not forget to scan the hall with his peripheral vision to observe the Chehous.

The situation in the Han Dynasty today has undergone many changes and is very different from that of ten years ago.

Especially after the death of Xiao He, it was an important node. After that, the water in the court and the local area gradually became muddy, and conflicts in various aspects surfaced.

Since the death of Xiao He, the difference between the first generation of Chehou and the second generation of Chehou has become more and more obvious.

The person who inherited the title of Marquis Feng was Xiao He's eldest son.

Compared with his father, the prime minister, Xiao Lu was average in talent and lacked ability. He always struggled with trivial details for several days and failed to make progress. However, he had no big ambitions. He held a sinecure position in Chang'an and could not achieve anything. Achievements, but also no mistakes.

It's just that such a Marquis of Fou obviously cannot become the leader of the second generation of Chehous.

Those young people are full of confidence and feel that they are standing at a higher starting point and can achieve achievements that surpass those of their parents.

Xiao Lu, who was fishing in comfort, seemed like an alien.

Chen Luo did not encourage or attack those second-generation Chehous who were arrogant and arrogant.

After all, it is always good to have ambition to do something. If you only think about feeding the common people and competing for wealth, these second generations will be really useless.

It's just that it's difficult to build a foundation, but it's even harder to hold on to it. It's even more difficult to carry forward the legacy left by our ancestors.

The second generation of Chehou could pass the feudal state to his descendants completely, and Chen Luo felt that they had done a good job.

There are only a few people who can really become the ministers of the great Han Dynasty.

The boy from the Zhou family that I had specially observed didn't seem to have anything special at the moment, but compared to his domineering brother, he was still a lot wiser.

These ambitious second-generation Chehous will take over some of the power of the court from their fathers in the coming years.

Of course, absolute inheritance is impossible.

Today's Han Dynasty has not yet become corrupted to that point, nor has it become an absolute clan politics.

Therefore, without true talent and practical knowledge, it is absolutely impossible to enter the upper echelons, nor to enter the army or serve under the imperial officers.

After all, one of them is in the military and the other is in charge of criminal law. If you mess around, people will really die.

As for financial and economic positions, stuffing a few people into them will not affect the overall situation at all.

What's more, the current basic national policy of the Han Dynasty is to recuperate and recuperate, taxation is light, and reforms will not be carried out. There is nothing worthy of excessive attention. Even if they are greedy, they don't have much room.

The youngest among the first-generation Chehous are himself and Han Xin, but they are all close to their forties. Some of the first-generation Chehous who stayed in Chang'an have died of illness, some have begun to plan to resign and spend their remaining years in national security, and some still want to I want to use my remaining energy to move up, and I also want to leave a bit more legacy for future generations.

In such an environment, it was inevitable that the second generation Chehous would begin the transition of power and put forward their own ideas on the court.

Chen Luo just observed the situation in the palace.

The distribution area of ​​the second-generation Chehou was mainly around the new Marquis of Wu. They gathered around Xiao Lu, a fisherman who looked hopeless, and discussed matters with him as the center.

Even if he looked from a distance, he could still detect the reluctance in Xiao Lu's eyes. How could the second generation Chehou not notice it?
But they have no other backbone. For the time being, they can only focus on Xiao Lu, the most noble person in the ranking. Otherwise, they will not be able to find anyone to convince them, and they will become scattered.

Factions without leaders and beliefs are not worth fearing.

The second-generation Chehous still have a long way to go if they want to gain momentum.

The contradictions that arose during the transfer of power between the first generation Chehou and the second generation Chehou were relatively minor conflicts under the current situation of the Han Dynasty and would not lead to conflicts on the surface.

The contradiction that Chen Luo really paid attention to and was wary of was the split within the various Chehous.

After the establishment of the Han Dynasty, the Chehous made two different choices: serving in the central government or serving in the local government.

The Chehous who served in the central government mainly held positions of high authority. From wartime to governance, their status would not change much, and their status would be reduced too much.

Those Chehous who moved to the country were mainly because the number of official positions in the central government was greatly reduced compared with the original positions in the army. They felt that their status had plummeted and it was difficult to balance their psychology.

The power and status of those Chehous who served in the country might not be much different from those of Chehous who served in the central government at first.

As time went on, everything became different.

In the past ten years, Chehou, who has served in the central government, has had the opportunity to show his face in front of Liu Bang basically every ten days and a half. He can also learn about the latest policies promulgated by the imperial court at the first time, and find out the legal benefits for himself and the feudal government. country’s terms.

The local Chehou found that the gap between himself and his former colleagues was getting wider and wider. Most people must feel aggrieved.

You were still my subordinate back then, why are you still on top of me and taking care of me now?
It is tolerable, what is unbearable.

They also have to fight for their own interests!
Therefore, the local Chehous began to strengthen their ties with each other. If a Chehou spoke out, unless he was a Marquis of Ten Thousand Households at the level of Chen Luo or Han Xin, it would not attract the attention of the superiors. However, dozens of Chehous jointly submitted a letter. , expressing opinions, the degree of attention it arouses is completely different.

In Chen Luo's impression, the first time the local Chehous jointly submitted a letter was in the 11th year of the Han Dynasty.

That year, there was a severe drought in Qi, and there was also a locust plague, but the counties and counties did not deal with it in time. So a dozen Chehous in Qi jointly submitted a letter, requesting the court to send food and grass for relief, and punish officials who failed to act.

After Liu Bang received those volumes of silk books, he directly sent Zhou Bo and Xia Houying to investigate. He also wrote an edict in his own handwriting to appease the Chehous.

Crying children have milk to drink.

This incident of Qi Hou Che's petition was an example to other Che Hous, letting them know that they could reap the benefits of doing so.

After all, in addition to Qi, there are also internal connections among the Guoche princes in the Zhao and Sanhe areas. Seeing that there are indeed benefits, they naturally understand that jointly writing a letter and advancing and retreating together can ensure the maximization of their interests.

As a result, the Chehous, who had originally had increasingly fewer contacts, began to split into many factions due to different interests and political opinions.

Chen Luo did notice a lot by observing the positions of the Chehous in the palace just now.

Even if the Marquis of Qi Diche randomly broke into the gathering place of the Marquis of Zhao Diche, it was more likely that they were going to meet friends to reminisce about old times. The positions where most people stood were in line with the regional characteristics.

If we call them "parties", then I have at least discovered that there are Zhao Party, Qi Party, Sanhe Party and Jing Party.

Why did the Chu Party and Changsha Party not appear? The main reason was that the Chehous who were enfeoffed in these two places were inseparable from the local princes and kings. They cared more about the opinions and attitudes of Xiang Yu and Wu Rui than gaining the support of the court.The emergence of these parties may have good intentions.

They first jointly reported floods and locust plagues, and later jointly dealt with the resettlement of local refugees. They also supported the development of wasteland and the construction of towns.

From these perspectives, the local Chehou group formed a group and played a positive role in the initial stage.

They worked hard to resettle the population and develop wasteland in various places to restore the Han's national strength faster.

But Chen Luo will not ignore the negative consequences they may bring just because of these benefits.

The Chehous grouped together at the local level and gradually tended to become powerful.

Although they are unlikely to become a dominating warlord, with the pressure of princes, kings and county guards above them, as their momentum increases, it is inevitable that these local princes will unite with the princes to coerce the will of the court and influence the policies issued.

The initial suggestions put forward by Chehou in these places were basically to strive for their own interests within a reasonable range, and also to rescue the people who were affected by the disaster or in exile. Even if they enriched their own pockets, part of the relief distributed would still have a positive effect. effect.

In the past year, the local Chehous have begun to make some unreasonable demands. For example, not long ago, seven Chehous in Sanhe District jointly requested that county officials' right to measure their fields be revoked.

Chen Luo directly stated in the morning meeting that this proposal was extremely unreasonable and expressed his opposition. Liu Bang adopted his opinion and vetoed the proposal.

Compared with Chehou, local officials themselves are in a weaker position. If they lose the legitimate provisions of the law, their actions will be hindered everywhere.

What's more, anyone with a discerning eye can see that county officials cannot clear Zhang Chehou's land. They have to send officials from Chang'an to do this. They only come once every five or ten years. During this period, Chehou can annex the land. No one dares to think about how many fields there are.

In Chen Luo's view, the local Chehous who wrote a special letter because of this matter began to expand in greed because of their grouping, and they wanted to form a group to obtain some unreasonable benefits that they had not dared to think of before.

Chen Luo objected decisively this time, and Liu Bang also adopted his opinion, because the two of them were beings that the Marquis Che could not afford to offend in those places.

In addition, in his opinion, this time was just a test for them to test their tone.

If another ten years pass, he will no longer be the prime minister, and the emperor will be replaced by Liu Ying.

The Chehous in those places used more tactful words and louder momentum, and sent them to Chang'an, where they were piled with documents.

If the prime minister still dares to raise objections, does the emperor still have the courage to directly veto it?
Chen Luo rubbed his eyebrows. He had no ability to predict and could not guess the future results, but he could see that this was a hidden danger that might erupt in the future, and he must solve it as soon as possible.

Conflicts that may arise from the inheritance of power between the first generation Chehou and the second generation Chehou.

Because of the conflict with the unbalanced development of the central government, local government officials formed a group to coerce the will of the central government.

In addition, in recent reports from Mohist disciples, they found that corruption among local officials in the Han Dynasty has begun to increase again.

This issue particularly attracted Chen Luo's attention.

You must know that in the past ten years, I basically showed no mercy to corrupt officials. It didn't matter which faction the other party belonged to or whose patronage they had. As long as they got the key evidence, they would directly send their own censors to impeach and impeach them. If it doesn’t work, just come forward in person.

Therefore, whenever a censor enters the palace in the early morning, everyone will start to guess who is going to be unlucky.

According to the previous level of supervision, the benefits of corruption are out of proportion to the costs, and there are not many officials who dare to take risks.

It's just that now that Chen Luo is no longer the imperial censor and has no power to directly supervise the officials, it seems that some people's evil thoughts cannot be suppressed.

Zhang Cang did not dare to impeach those corrupt officials unscrupulously. Some of them had a high background. Even if there was Chen Luo behind them, they were not Chen Luo after all.

Therefore, after he took office, he was generally reported, and he implemented a "one-sided approach", missing some officials and not arresting them until he had the opportunity to attack them again.

In this case, those officials who are greedy for ink will have a chance to think about it, and some officials who were originally wavering will also be slightly moved when they see their colleagues who are greedy for ink.

After all, officials in this era have no belief in serving the people. When they serve as officials, they all call themselves "parent officials" and the people are their sons.

So should parents treat their sons respectfully, or should sons treat their parents respectfully?

From this we can see the fundamental difference.

It is true that Chen Luo has seen those who pray for the people, those who work hard and those who sacrifice their lives to seek justice, but such officials are only a minority after all, and the proportion is far less than that of later generations.

I have not found a fundamental solution to this problem.

Those beliefs that transcended the times could not spread in this land that had just entered the feudal system, and papermaking had not yet been developed. Those mind-blowing ideas were difficult to spread, not to mention that the literacy rate of the entire Han Dynasty might not even be one thousandth. .

Where should we start talking about spreading those advanced ideas?
Just because a problem is difficult to eradicate does not mean that it should be left unchecked and allowed to worsen.

Chen Luo felt that if the official group of the Han Dynasty degenerated more slowly, the momentum of restoring national power would not be interrupted, and the lives of the people in the world would be easier.

At least for the current generation, this is a good thing.

but……

"It's difficult." He rubbed his tense brows tiredly and sighed softly.

After becoming the prime minister, he realized how heavy the burden was on his shoulders.

The country is like a precision instrument. If one inconspicuous part is destroyed, it may cause problems everywhere, eventually leading to damage.

Chen Luo felt that Cao Shen, who chose "Xiao rules and Cao followed" in history, did not do nothing, nor did he just think that the laws formulated by Xiao He had been perfected to the point that they could not be modified.

But he was in awe and trembling with fear towards the world.

He would be afraid that his random changes would lead to disasters for the people; he would be afraid that he would have an accident while changing the laws, die or leave office, leaving behind inappropriate half-finished laws, which would harm the people and his successors.

This is what I think every time I read the documents in front of the papers.

At this time, Liu Le would not come forward to disturb him, and Chen Zhi and Chen Lu would not approach the study. That was a lesson they learned through deep memory many times.

(End of this chapter)