Ji Han Da Sima

Chapter 772 The End of an Era

Zhuge Liang recommended a successor to Liu Chan and said that he would retire after the government was initially established. In fact, Zhuge Liang had already planned for the political landscape after he left office.

Among Jiang Wan, Gu Yong and Sima Zhi, Zhuge Liang was more optimistic about Jiang Wan and Gu Yong. Therefore, when recommending them, he emphasized that Jiang and Gu had the talent to be prime ministers, and established the pattern of respecting Jiang and Gu equally in the Secretariat in advance.

As for why Sima Zhi was not favored, it was not because he had a close relationship with Huo Jun, but because Sima Zhi was too old, older than Zhuge Liang. After Zhuge Liang left office, he could not replace him with an older ruler.

After Gu and Jiang, Zhuge Liang recommended Fei Yi, Du Shu and Teng Yin for various reasons. This was because of their talents and he also considered balancing the political landscape.

In the Southern Han Dynasty, the majority of civil and military officials were from Jiangjing and Xuyang. In order to consolidate the basic base, it was naturally necessary to have a ruler from the local area come to power, or a ruler with deep ties to the local area come to power.

Fei Yi was from Jiangxia County, so there was no need to elaborate on his identity. The reason why he caught Zhuge Liang's attention was that during his tenure as a transport envoy, Fei Yi showed outstanding talents, completed the plan designed by Huo Jun, and provided batches of money and grain to Chang'an.

Although Teng Yin was from Beihai, he grew up in Yangzhou. His father Teng Zhou and uncle Teng Dan were both outstanding talents and held important positions during the Southern Han Dynasty. Unfortunately, they both died in middle age.

Thanks to the foundation laid by his father, and Teng Yin's outstanding appearance and talent, he was valued by Zhuge Liang early on. He was first recommended as a filial and incorrupt official, then entered the Secretariat as an official, and then became a prefect.

During his tenure, Teng Yin was good at judging difficult cases and was devoted to reasoning, which earned him the love of the people. Although Teng Yin was in the local area, he did not forget the government and the people, and often submitted memorials to the central government to report local people's sentiments to Zhuge Liang.

Later, because of his outstanding appearance, Teng Yin was favored by Huo Jun's second daughter Huo Wen. After several twists and turns, Bu Lianshi took into consideration the fact that Teng Yin had no father or mother, and finally betrothed Huo Wen to Teng Yin.

Soon after the marriage, Teng Yin, who was supported by the political resources of the Huo family, quickly took off. Xu Sheng, the governor of Qizhou, submitted a petition to resign due to illness. With the recommendation of many bigwigs, Teng Yin was promoted from the prefect of Zhongjun to the governor of Qizhou.

During the expedition against Liaodong, he was quickly transferred to the Secretariat for his contributions in supplying food and building ships, taking over Ma Su's position and serving as the Minister of War concurrently with the position of Shizhong.

Because the Minister of War Zhao Ang was old and ill, he handed over most of the affairs of the ministry to Teng Yin, seemingly intending to train Teng Yin.

Compared with Fei Yi and Teng Yin, Du Shu was more unknown. However, because he was valued by Zhuge Liang, he was responsible for Zhuge Liang's clerical work and was fortunate enough to marry his daughter to a man from the Huo family.

The reason why he was recommended by Zhuge Liang this time was mostly because he was upright, self-disciplined, and well-versed in laws, making him very suitable for working in the Ministry of Justice.

AD 239, the fifteenth year of Jianxing, spring.

After arranging the relevant matters, Zhuge Liang submitted a letter of resignation to Liu Chan, citing his leg disability as an excuse, and requested Liu Chan to allow him to retire and appoint another capable person to govern.

Liu Chan naturally refused, and issued an edict to allow Zhuge Liang to wear a sword and shoes when entering the palace, and not to have to bow when entering the court. He also allowed Zhuge Liang to ride in a carriage into the palace.

Zhuge Liang submitted a second petition requesting retirement, saying that his hair was graying, his body was plagued by illness, and he was eating less and less, and he hoped to be allowed to retire.

Liu Chan personally visited Zhuge Liang at his residence and asked him to stay and assist him for a few more years. Zhuge Liang refused Liu Chan's request on the grounds of poor health and hoped to be allowed to leave the court.

Liu Chan allowed Zhuge Liang to recuperate temporarily and ordered the imperial physician to take care of Zhuge Liang, with all the medicine coming from the palace.

After resting for more than a month, Zhuge Liang said that his health was deteriorating and he was overwhelmed by paperwork, so he was unable to govern the country. He asked Liu Chan to allow him to return home.

Liu Chan had no choice but to agree to Zhuge Liang's request and ordered his messenger to ask Zhuge Liang who could be the successor. Zhuge Liang's answer was basically the same as last year's, that Jiang Wan and Gu Yong could be the next in line.

After careful consideration, Liu Chan decided to let Jiang Wan take the position and succeed him as prime minister because Jiang Wan was more to his liking.

In March, Liu Chan allowed Zhuge Liang to retire and appointed him as prime minister. He also recognized Zhuge Liang's achievements in governing the country and granted him an additional 1,500 households.

Zhuge Liang took over Huo Jun's position and ruled for nearly ten years after leaving office in the 15th year of Jianxing. During these ten years, Southern Han under Zhuge Liang's governance had great changes and the national strength increased rapidly. In terms of military, Zhuge Liang sat at the center and assisted Huo Jun to destroy the Xianbei in the north and stabilize the northern border; he appointed Huang Quan as a general to recover Liaodong and establish Pingzhou; he appointed Lü Dai as a general to conquer Jiaonan in the south and restore Rinan County.

Politically, Zhuge Liang took control of the government and streamlined the number of officials. He governed nearly 200 counties with 700 central officials. He reformed the selection of officials, changing the system of recommendation to the imperial examination system to prevent aristocratic families from dominating the local areas.

In finance, Zhuge Liang attached equal importance to agriculture and commerce. He improved the tax law, abolished the head tax of the Han Dynasty and replaced it with a household tax, and made salt, iron, sugar, and Sichuan brocade state-owned. He reformed the official business, and the government no longer contracted all the contents of the four items, but the prefectures and counties were responsible for production, and the rest was sold by merchants.

Not only that, due to the excessive issuance of Wuzhu coins, the Northern Wei Dynasty was in a deep financial crisis, and the Central Plains degenerated into barter. In order to solve the currency problem, Zhuge Liang directly abolished the old coins and minted new Jianxing coins to help the recovery of commerce.

In terms of population, from 14,289,123 at the beginning of the founding of the country, after Zhuge Liang's ten-year governance, the population increased by more than 3 million, and now stands at 17,458,615.

Among the money in the treasury, Zhuge Liang left more than 700,000 pieces of Shu brocade and nearly 100 million dan of surplus grain for his successor, which was enough to support the Southern Han in a large-scale war.

If his successors implemented Zhuge Liang's policies, the Southern Han Dynasty would surely usher in a more prosperous and peaceful era than the two Han dynasties.

Upon hearing that Zhuge Liang had left office, officials in the government and the public lamented and felt deeply saddened by the loss of a wise minister. It reminded us of the death of King Wucheng a few years ago.

At the same time, officials in the court and the country began to worry about who would succeed Zhuge Liang, whether it would be Liu Chan who would rule the country, or Lu Xun who would assist, or Pan Jun, or Gu Yong.

It did not last long, and Liu Chan issued an edict to appoint Jiang Wan as the left prime minister, Gu Yong as the right prime minister, and Sima Zhi as the minister of the Chancellery as the prefect of Jingzhao, forming a new three-person regent group.

Fei Yi was appointed Shangshu Zuo Pushe, Teng Yin was appointed Shangshu You Pushe, and Du Shu was appointed Yushi Zhongcheng. The latter three were ready to take over at any time.

When the news came out, Pan Jun sighed that he would not be able to join the Shangshutai. But he felt a little relieved because his cousin was elected as the prime minister.

Compared to Pan Jun's reluctant relief, Lu Xun slapped his knees and sighed, disappointed that he was not the prime minister. Liu Chan seemed to have anticipated Lu Xun's disappointment, and in order to appease Lu Xun, he specially sent an envoy to give him food.

At the mansion of Chen Canggong, Lu Xun opened the food box, but saw only a few cold dishes in the box, and no chopsticks were provided, which made Lu Xun stunned.

"The food is cold, and I don't have chopsticks to eat!"

Seeing such an obvious hint from Liu Chan, Lu Xun could not help but sigh and said, "Mr. Huo died of illness, and Mr. Ge left the court. Why didn't you allow me to assist in the administration?"

Lu Xun thought that he was one of the five regents. Now Huo Jun, Zhang Fei, and Xu Shu had passed away one after another. According to seniority, he should be the prime minister after Zhuge Liang left the court. Now that he was not appointed as prime minister, Liu Chan wanted him to retire, which Lu Xun was unwilling to accept.

Of course, Liu Chan did not want Lu Xun to retire, but Lu Xun's actions in recent years caused Liu Chan and Zhuge Liang to be wary.

In recent years, as the number one in the military, Lu Xun has been getting close to the princes. In order to prevent Lu Xun from doing anything wrong, Liu Chan resorted to this desperate measure, forcing Lu Xun to return home and leaving him with dignity to avoid unrest.

Fortunately, Lu Xun was not a fool, and after receiving Liu Chan's signal, he also asked Liu Chan to resign and return home. Liu Chan was unwilling to treat Lu Xun badly, so he granted him the title of Grand Tutor and increased his fiefdom by 1,000 households.

Lu Xun was disappointed and didn't want to see anyone, so he hurried back to his fiefdom Chencang.

Before returning to Yangdu, Zhuge Liang first went to Huiling to pay tribute to Liu Bei to fulfill his old wish, and then went to Wuchengwang Mausoleum to pay tribute to Huo Jun and expressed his thoughts at the tomb.

In the fourth month of summer in the fifteenth year of Jianxing, with Zhuge Liang leaving Chang'an, an era dominated by Huo and Ge will finally come to an end.

(End of this chapter)