Three Kingdoms: I don’t want to fall in love in troubled times

Chapter 48 The so-called capable ministers who govern the world
No matter what era, the prerequisite for exercising rule is to understand the situation.

If you want to collect taxes, you must first count the population and property, and compile households to align the people; if you want to administer government, you must first examine the human geography and inquire about customs.

This is why when Emperor Gaozu invaded Xianyang, Xiao He first wanted to rescue and collect archives such as maps, laws, and household registrations kept by the Qin Dynasty. These things no one cared about were the "operating system" for the entire world.

With the help of the books and classics kept by Xiao He, Gaozu was able to have a clear understanding of the country's geography, population, folk customs, needs and objections of the people during the Chu-Han struggle for hegemony, and maximize his war potential.

Today's plan is one of the regular methods used by the Han Dynasty court in Luoyang to understand the situation in various places. It is also the main basis for the Shangshutai to evaluate the performance of state and county officials.

For example, the above plan is to update the database once a year to perform regular maintenance on the system.

It is precisely because of this importance that the Sangongcao department was specially set up in Shangshutai for this purpose.

Generally speaking, their work involves not only collecting and sorting out massive amounts of data, checking authenticity, but also assessing and judging officials' performance on this basis, which involves all aspects, except for experienced technocrats like Hua Xin. Incapable.

Soon after Huanjie entered the officialdom, he encountered a problem of this level. He felt that there were so many things to deal with that he had no way of starting.

Xu Jiashu's words "Wrap me up" fell in his ears. It was like the voice of a living fairy, coming to the rescue!
If he hadn't just met and wanted to maintain his scholarly demeanor, Huan Boxu would have hugged his thigh tightly and not let go. In order to express his inner admiration, Huan Jie hurriedly added a few more pieces of charcoal to the stove to prevent it from freezing. Got this Dr. Xu.

"Then I'll ask someone to bring the account books now?"

He asked with half hope and half shyness on his face.

The account books of the two states were all engraved on bamboo slips. Even a cursory look at them was a lot of physical work. Huan Jie felt a little guilty for being helped so much when they first met.

sorry
"Who wants to see the account books?" Xu Jiashu frowned and asked in confusion: "Why do you need to see the account books for assessment?"

He really couldn't understand why a person with the power of a minister would treat himself as a hard-working clerk - the plan itself was of course important, but the assessment was not necessarily so.

Huan Jie was dumbfounded, "Don't you need it?"

"do you need?"

"Don't you need it?"

Huan Jie murmured to himself and began to doubt his life.

"What Zuo Cheng, the minister, is anxious to get is the assessment results." Xu Jiashu sat by the fire and rubbed his hands while explaining to Huan Jie: "Then Boxu will give him the assessment results."

"How to give?"

Huan Jie hurriedly sat aside, pretending to be all ears.

"For example, those who built water conservancy projects or those who resisted foreigners were rated as superior, and those who lost battles or people who fled famine were rated as lower. It doesn't matter, as long as Boxu thinks it's reasonable."

Xu Jiashu casually mentioned a standard as an example, and then emphasized: "There is only one thing that is most important - don't let others know your assessment standards!"

"why?"

Huan Jie looked puzzled.

"It's very simple," Xu Jiashu smiled mysteriously, "If people don't know what you are doing, they don't know what you did wrong."

!!!

Suddenly enlightened, simply enlightened.Listening to your words is worth ten years of reading!

"But..." Huan Jie quickly thought of something wrong, "What if Zuo Cheng wants to personally check the account books sent by the prefecture and county?"

"How could you let this happen?" Xu Jiashu was shocked, with an expression on his face as if he had seen a ghost, "Zuo Cheng should only look at the things presented by the people below, and should not look at anything else himself! "

"I mean, what if he goes to see it in person?"

Huan Jie scratched his head. After all, it was his first time doing such a thing, so his confidence was somewhat lacking.

"Then he'll find something bad."

Xu Jiashu's tone was very regretful. "what?"

"the truth."

!!!

Shocking and enlightening!It’s simply mind-blowing!
"Wait for me." Huanjie trotted all the way, quickly brought a stack of paper, and sat opposite Xu Jiashu like a primary school student. "Zimao continues, I will write it down."

"Ahem." Xu Jiashu cleared his throat and showed his master's style: "Is there anything else Bo Xu wants to know?"

For those who didn’t know, they thought he was teaching some incredible dragon-slaying skills.

"Well" Huan Jie pondered for a moment, "Zuo Cheng has an easy time, but what if the states and counties rated as inferior are not convinced?"

The Shangji officials were not only present at the end of the year, but were also tasked with transmitting information between Luoyang and the local area. It was entirely possible for the prefectures and counties that were assessed as inferior to launch a defense.

"Bo Xu," Xu Jiashu asked earnestly, "Do you have any grudge against these prefects?"

Huan Jie shook his head, "No."

"Then are you planning to engage in malpractice for personal gain?"

Huan Jie shook his head harder, "Of course I didn't plan to."

Snapped!
Xu Jiashu clapped his hands suddenly, "Then it's over. Since you set the assessment based on your own standards and have no selfish motives, why should others be dissatisfied and have to provide evidence when speaking!"

Yeah, that makes sense.

If you have to look for it, there is evidence - take out the accounting books from previous years and compare them, maybe you can prove the progress in governance. Unfortunately, Nangong suffered a military disaster before, and many classics and materials were burned. Now There is no proof of death
Huan Jie expressed his regret (bushi).

"Then what should other Cao's ministers do if they think it's inappropriate?" He asked again: "Especially the Libu Cao, all of them are extremely difficult to deal with."

"Libu Cao? Are they cool?"

"In charge of the selection of officials and sacrifices," Huan Jie replied seriously: "Although I don't know what pulling means, it is indeed very powerful. They have always valued the assessment results of the winter classes every year."

It turned out to be the Heavenly Official from the Ministry of Civil Affairs, who was disturbing me.

"Bo Xu, let me ask you something," Xu Jiashu's thoughts were running very fast. "If the people under the good ministers are not able to make a living, but the mediocre ministers do not pick up the lost things, what should the official Cao Cao, who is responsible for selecting officials, do?"

"how come."

Huan Jie was about to argue, but was stunned.

This sounds ridiculous, but it is a true portrayal of many aspects of the current man.

There are major disasters every year, and there are disasters every year. The border states and counties are harassed by aliens, and the hinterland of the Central Plains is not much better. At the beginning, the Yellow Turban Rebellion spread across eleven states, and it turned out to be Jizhou, Yuzhou and Qingzhou, three densely populated areas. The situation in the state is the most serious.

Could it be that the governors in these places are all traitors and sycophants who enrich their own pockets and have no intention of serving the country?
Unreasonable.

Seeing that he had nothing to say, Xu Jiashu continued slowly: "Good ministers may not necessarily have good political performance, and mediocre ministers may not necessarily have poor political performance. The official Cao said that they value the assessment results, but it is just to facilitate them to pass the responsibility to the third male Cao."

Is it really so?

Huan Jie suddenly realized that what he thought was an extremely solemn examination was actually just a false formality. Both Zuo Cheng and his colleagues were just perfunctory.

"But isn't it the duty of the Chancellor to manage the country?"

he asked reluctantly.

"It's domination"

Xu Jiashu corrected him, "The duty of Shangshutai is only to rule the country."

(End of this chapter)