Ji Han Da Sima

Chapter 654: Personnel Affairs
The third year of Jianxing, March 226 AD.

Wuhan Palace, Shangshutai.

As the Northern Expedition was approaching and Longyou was initially pacified, Huo Jun, the actual military leader of the Han Dynasty, was busy with local affairs.

"My lord, there is military report from Yongzhou!" said the clerk as he presented the memorial to the court.

Huo Jun put down the pen in his hand for the time being and turned to read the memorial submitted by Lu Xun.

After Lu Xun conquered the six counties of Longyou, Yongzhou was controlled by the Han army, but because Ma Chao's reputation was high in the Qiang and Di areas, many remnants of the Liang Kingdom in the western counties such as Longyou and Nan'an rebelled with the local Qiang and Di people in order to avenge Ma Chao, and killed the officials sent by Lu Xun.

In order to eliminate the rebels in Yongzhou and bring Yongzhou under the rule of the Han Dynasty, Lu Xun did not hesitate and directly sent Wei Yan and Jiang Wei to lead 10,000 infantry and cavalry to suppress Longyou.

Because Jiang Wei was familiar with Qiang customs, under his guidance, Wei Yan led his army to defeat the rebels successively in Daxia and Fuhan, and then chased them to Baishi and completely wiped out the rebels.

In this battle, Wei Yan killed thousands of evil Qiang people, subdued more than 3,000 Qiang and Di households, and seized more than 10,000 horses, cattle and other livestock. All the Qiang tribes in the western part of Longyou were able to submit.

The Han Dynasty maintained the old system of Ma Chao and required the Qiang tribes to provide horses and oxen as taxes and pay them to the Han Dynasty on a regular basis every year. More than 3,000 households of Qiang and Di tribes were relocated to Tianshui by Lu Xun.

In addition to the two generals Wei and Jiang's expedition against the evil Qiang in the west, Hanyang Prefect Wang Ping sent people to contact Anding and the various Hu people in the north, and lured more than 2,000 tribes of Xianbei and Xiongnu to move to Lueyang and Qingshui counties in Hanyang County.

Hanyang County was the old Guangwei County. The old Guangwei County was separated from Hanyang County.

Hanyang County in the Eastern Han Dynasty included Tianshui and Guangwei counties in the Cao Wei Dynasty. Later, Cao Cao conquered Longyou and split Hanyang and Longxi counties, resulting in a total of four counties.

Among them, the two counties of Hehuang and Longnan only had one county each, Jincheng and Wudu, during the Eastern Han Dynasty, while Yinping and Xiping were split out from the rest.

The current Han Dynasty collected the six counties in Longyou, which basically followed the county system of the Cao Wei period. Only the Guangwei County, which had an inappropriate name, was restored to Hanyang County.

After carefully reviewing the above content, Huo Jun simply approved the memorial and said, "Let Fei Pushe, the Minister of War, review the achievements of the generals in Longyou and then submit them to the court."

"promise!"

The Ministry of War is one of the six ministries under the Shangshutai.

Before and after Lu Xun stabbed Ma Chao in the back, Huo Jun considered that he had to be responsible for both military affairs and state affairs, which was very troublesome.

After discussing with Zhuge Liang, the two began to work on the structure and personnel appointments of various departments of the Shangshu Tai.

In the past, the Secretariat had a structure of five departments and six secretaries. The Three Gong Department was in charge of the annual performance evaluation of county officials; the Personnel Department was in charge of personnel elections and sacrifices; the Civilian Department was in charge of all matters related to construction and the management of salt ponds and gardens; and the Guest Department was in charge of protecting the emperor and the ethnic minorities in the border areas from paying homage to the emperor.

The Erqianshi Cao was in charge of judicial litigation affairs; the Zhongdu Guan Cao was in charge of public security work such as water, fire, and thieves. Except for the three public officials, who had two Shangshu, the rest were managed by a Shangshu director. Under the six Shangshu, each had six assistant ministers, a total of thirty-six people.

Under the leadership of Huo Jun and Zhuge Liang, the organizational system of the various departments of the Shangshutai was reorganized. The Bingbu Cao was introduced, and the five Caos and six Shangshu were changed to six Caos and six Shangshu.

The Three Gong Cao was changed to the Libu Cao, which was responsible for the performance evaluation of officials in prefectures and counties and controlled their promotions; the Ke Cao and Li Cao were merged into the Libu Cao, which was responsible for education, selection, sacrifices, and diplomatic affairs with the barbarians.

The Civil Affairs Department was changed to the Ministry of Works Department, with the old scope of authority remaining unchanged, and the corresponding organizations such as Chengdu Shujin, Jiaoling Sugar, and the State-run Salt and Iron were placed under the management of the Ministry of Works Department. The 2,000-stone Department was changed to the Ministry of Justice Department, responsible for reviewing criminal cases in prefectures and counties, and managing prefecture and county judges, public security and other matters.

The five old departments related to taxes, land, household registration, and salaries were integrated into the Ministry of Revenue. Then the military officer selection, waterway post stations, border report transmission, and soldiers' pensions were integrated into the Ministry of War.

It may seem strange to set up six ministries in the Secretariat, but in fact, after the Secretariat became the center of national government affairs, it was inevitable to concentrate all central powers in the Secretariat.

For example, Cao Wei had long since reformed the Shangshutai, introducing the Ministry of Personnel, the Ministry of Five Armies, the Ministry of Revenue, and the Ministry of Zuomin. The names may be somewhat different from the six ministries of later generations, but specifically speaking, their powers are not much different from the six ministries.

After the Northern and Southern Dynasties, the Shangshutai evolved into the Shangshu Province. As for the Zhongshu and Menxia ministries, Cao Cao and his son were afraid of the excessive power of the Shangshutai, so they established the Zhongshujian, the predecessor of the Zhongshu Province, and shared the power of the Shangshutai with the Shizhong and Mishulang.

Although the Southern Han Dynasty established a secretariat supervisor, and Wang Can was in charge of it, its purpose was not to divide the power of the Shangshutai, but to be responsible for drafting documents on behalf of the emperor, and managing the assistant ministers and ministers in the palace.

Historically, when Cao Rui entrusted his son to someone else, the people who changed the names of the two people who were in charge of the Zhongshujian were Liu Fang and Sun Zi. When Cao Shuang and Sima Yi were assisting in the administration, because the Zhongshujian had power, the two were both given the title of Shizhong to ensure that they could intervene in the affairs of the Zhongshujian.

Today, Huo Jun and Zhuge Liang took advantage of their free time to adjust the structure under the Shangshu Tai. Compared with Cao Wei, they were actually one step late.

As for the Nanjing Xingtai, Huo Jun will only set up some departments and offices according to their corresponding affairs to ensure that materials from Jiangdong can be concentrated in Nanjing.

After the attendants left, Huo Jun picked up his pen again and reviewed the list of officials' personnel transfers. Because it involved the establishment of six ministries and the performance evaluation after the end of the year, the list of officials reported by the Ministry of Personnel was long, and Huo Jun needed to study it carefully.

"Ok?"

Huo Jun seemed to have discovered something among the criminal department personnel and asked, "Who is Zhuge Fan?"

Wang Xiang, the assistant minister of the Ministry of Personnel, bowed and said, "My lord, Zhuge Fan is a righteous scholar. He is from Langya, Xuzhou, and is a distant relative of the Zhuge family. After our army captured Shouchun, Zhuge Fan came south from Qingzhou to join us."

Huo Jun looked at Wang Xiang and said, "According to the old law, the righteous men who returned to the Han Dynasty should be examined by the Shangshutai, and then appointed as county and prefectural officials based on their talents. Zhuge Fan has just returned to the Han Dynasty, how can he be promoted to the Ministry of Justice?"

Huo Jun frowned slightly and asked, "But because of Zhuge's family, the Ministry of Personnel gave him permission and promoted him over a higher rank?"

The person in charge of the Ministry of Personnel was Ma Liang, the Minister of Personnel, who was a fan of Zhuge Liang. Zhuge Liang might not take care of him because of Zhuge Fan, but Ma Liang would inevitably lend a hand.

Regardless of Zhuge Liang's original intention, the Zhuge family had become a top family in Southern Han, and its influence in the political arena had surpassed that of Huo Jun.

Even if Zhuge Liang did not want to take care of his clansmen, there would be people who would take care of them for various reasons. For example, after Zhuge Dan entered the Han Dynasty, he was taken care of because he was Zhuge Liang's cousin and he was good at both civil and military affairs.

Zhuge Liang was concerned about many factors and did not want to grant him too high an official title. However, considering that Zhuge Dan led his troops to surrender and under the persuasion of his subordinates, he finally granted him the title of General of Miscellaneous Title and appointed him Marquis of Duting.

Like Zhuge Dan, although Zhuge Fan was a distant relative, it was inevitable that some people would secretly help him.

Wang Xiang shook his head and said, "After Zhuge Fan entered the Han Dynasty, he was supposed to be a county official. However, in order to seek a higher position, he submitted a petition to Lord Ge. Lord Ge read the petition and invited Zhuge Fan to discuss the issue. Zhuge Fan is proficient in speech, good at criminal law, and has a good demeanor."

"In order to avoid suspicion, Lord Ge wanted to recommend Zhuge Fan as the county magistrate. However, Zhuge Fan was good at socializing and had close relationships with Zhuge Ke and Zhuge Dan. Later, he was introduced to Ma Pushe. After many twists and turns, Lord Ge finally allowed Zhuge Fan to serve in the Ministry of Justice."

As he spoke, Wang Xiang asked doubtfully, "Do you think Zhuge Fan's appointment is inappropriate?"

Huo Jun stood up from the couch, frowned and said: "The Prime Minister promotes people based on their talents, so I have no doubts. But what Zhuge Fan did made me feel that it was a little inappropriate!"

"What's wrong?" Wang Xiang asked.

Huo Jun paced and chanted, and asked, "Has Xiu Zheng ever met Zhuge Fan? Is he from Langya? Or does he behave strangely?"

Wang Xiang of Langya once took refuge in the mountains of Lujiang River. Later, Huo Jun governed the Jianghuai River and recommended Wang Xiang as a filial and honest official. Wang Xiang, who was recommended as a filial and honest official, was highly regarded by Zhuge Liang. After serving as a Tailang for one year, he was appointed as the magistrate of Wu County.

During his years in Wu County, he had made outstanding achievements and was appreciated by Bu Zhi, who then promoted him to Wuhan. Zhuge Liang promoted Wang Xiang to be the governor of Guiyang. During his tenure as governor, he made great contributions to pacifying the barbarians and governing the people, and was promoted again and transferred to the Shangshutai as a minister.

When Huo Jun adjusted the organizational structure of the Secretariat, he transferred Wang Xiang to the Ministry of Personnel as the Minister of Personnel to assist Ma Liang in managing the affairs.

Wang Xiang pondered for a moment and said, "Although Zhuge Fan is from the Langya Zhuge clan, according to him, due to the war at the end of the Han Dynasty, his family moved to Linzi, Qingzhou when he was young, so he only has vague memories of Langya."

After a pause, Wang Xiang said, "When Zhuge Dan met him, he compared the family tree and discussed the relationship between them. Zhuge Fan is the nephew of Mr. Ge and is of the same generation as Zhuge Ke. Since entering the Han Dynasty, Zhuge Fan has made friends with many scholars and his reputation has risen rapidly in the capital!"

As he spoke, Wang Xiang seemed to sense Huo Jun's doubts and asked, "Mingsir, do you suspect that Zhuge Fan's identity is fake?"

"Just a little curious!" Huo Jun said vaguely.

The reason why Huo Jun suddenly doubted Zhuge Fan's identity was simply because he felt that Zhuge Fan's name was a bit strange, and it was only one surname different from the great spy Yin Fan in history.

Of course, just having the same name doesn't mean anything, especially since Huo Jun was suspicious because Zhuge Fan went south after Cao Rui ascended the throne.

Since Cao Rui ascended the throne, Huo Jun kept recalling the already blurred historical memories. After a few days of recollection, he finally remembered Cao Rui's style of operation.

Cao Rui inherited Cao Cao's style. He was good at politics and understood military affairs, so his methods were not very fair. In the confrontation with the Eastern Wu, Cao Rui's most famous operation was to use dead spies to infiltrate the Eastern Wu in order to cause political turmoil.

At a time when the Han and Wei dynasties were confronting each other from north to south, it was unknown whether Cao Rui would send out spies to destroy the political atmosphere of Southern Han in order to reverse the situation, as he had done in history!

Huo Jun stopped pacing and said, "Don't worry, you can investigate Zhuge Fan in detail on my behalf to see if there is anything suspicious. Withhold his appointment for the time being and let me think twice!"

"promise!"

(End of this chapter)