Eastern Jin Dynasty: My powerful father

Chapter 400 Before Dispatching (V)

A postmaster from Puban arrived at the post station on the outskirts of Dali County, Fengyi County, exhausted.

The post station chiefs were officials who managed the post stations in various counties. Usually, they would only go out in person when the matter was extremely urgent and could not afford to make mistakes. Therefore, being proficient in riding was a necessary skill for them.

Before the Puban postmaster even entered the door, he shouted loudly outside the post station:

"Old Huang! Urgent military information! Come out quickly."

Hearing the shout, the postmen in the house escorted the Dali Postmaster, who was replaced by Huang La'er, out of the house.

Although he is called an old man, Huang Yichen is actually in his prime, only in his early forties, but he looks like he is in his fifties.

Dali County is adjacent to Puban, and the postmasters of the two places often travel between the two places, so they are familiar with each other.

But at this time, the good friends met again and there was no time to reminisce about the past. The Postmaster of Puban took out a secret letter from his bosom and handed it to the Postmaster of Huang. He said solemnly:
"Pingzhou Governor Shen has ordered that we, the postmasters, must escort them. We must change people and horses along the way, and we are not allowed to delay for a moment."

Puban is more than eighty miles away from Dali County. Before arriving at the post station on the outskirts of Dali County, he had changed three horses at three post stations along the way.

Due to Shen Jin's order, the postmasters had to escort them personally. Therefore, along the way, the postmaster of Puban had to change horses and could not hand over to Huang La'er until he arrived here.

The reason why Shen Jin made such an arrangement was that compared with the recruitment of postmen, the appointment of postmasters was much stricter and required careful review before approval. Therefore, in Shen Jin's view, it would be much more reliable to entrust such important military intelligence to the postmasters for escort rather than the postmen.

Old Huang looked at the almost exhausted Postmaster of Puban, and without any hesitation, he took the secret letter and ran straight to the stable without saying goodbye to everyone. He took the best post horse and hurriedly set off, heading southwest for Xiagui County.

Dali County and Xiagui County are one hundred miles apart. According to Huan Xi's scale of a post station every twenty miles, Huang Laoer could change four post horses along the way until he met the postmaster of Xiagui County.

Huan Xi chose to set up a post station every twenty miles because when a horse carries a person, it must rest for a while to recover its strength after running more than twenty miles.

In order to speed up the transmission of information, a post station every twenty miles can be used to achieve seamless connection and full-speed transmission.

Not long after Huang Laoer left, the magistrate of Dali County had already heard the news. Since Dali County was the seat of Fengyi County, the magistrate found the governor of Fengyi County who lived in the same city as him and said worriedly:
"Looking at the situation, I'm afraid the border is in danger and Yan and Yu have already sent troops."

Seeing his sad face, Governor Fengyi couldn't help but smile and said:

"Mr. Liang has his own plans for this battle. We are in Guanxi. Even if we can't eat all day, it has nothing to do with the overall situation. Why are you worrying about nothing?

"Could it be that defeated generals like Fu Jian and Murong Ke can still gain an advantage when fighting against Liang Gong?

"Let's take a step back and say that even if the situation on the front line is unfavorable, they can't break into Guanxi. You can rest assured, brother."

This is true. Even if Huan Xi lost Hedong County, as long as he could defend Gaowang City, he could still keep Guanzhong peaceful and prevent Yan and Yu from counterattacking Guanzhong.

The danger of Gaowang City has long been known to the world.

At that time, Fu Jian assembled a large army, while Huan Xi's main force was still in Hexi. However, facing such a strong city, Fu Jian could not conquer it after a long siege, so he had to return home in frustration. From then on, he gave up his ambition to rule Guanzhong, and only then did he try to seize Dai. In the eyes of Fengyi Taishou, as long as Gaowangcheng and Tongguan were still there, Guanzhong was absolutely safe and there would be no enemy.

Upon hearing this, the magistrate of Dali County relaxed his brows, but still said unwillingly:

"With the great war approaching, I only regret that I cannot serve in the army and kill the enemy for Lord Liang."

The prefect Feng Yi glanced at him. He knew that this man was a weak scholar who had never made any military achievements. The only reason he could become a county magistrate was that he came from a noble family and entered the official career through the Ninth-Rank System.

The prefect of Fengyi was a native of Hanzhong County in Liangzhou. He was born in the military and was the son of a general. He had followed Huan Xi in battle for many years and was now stationed in Fengyi County. Once the enemy chose to take the risk of bypassing Gaowang City and attacking Puban directly, he would lead the provincial and county soldiers of Fengyi County to rush to the rescue.

Seeing that Governor Fengyi did not respond, the magistrate of Dali County had to change the subject and asked Governor Fengyi whether he had already decided on three candidates.

Governor Feng Yi suddenly realized that this was the real reason why he came to see him today.

Huan Xi once issued a decree requiring governors from all over the country to recommend talents for him. Each governor had to recommend three people every year. They would go to Chang'an in the autumn to take examinations from the Ministry of Revenue. Those with excellent results could become officials, and the best among them would be entrusted with important positions.

As soon as this decree was issued, it attracted many ambitious sons of the gentry to flock to it. Everyone knew that Lord Liang was dissatisfied with the original nine-rank official system, believing that this system could not distinguish between the good and the bad.

Naturally, if you continue to follow the Nine-Rank System, your future will be limited, as it is only for mediocre people.

Unfortunately, Huan Xi's examination for selecting officials had limited vacancies.

Under Huan Xi's control, there were five states, namely Yong, Liang, Qin, Liang and Bing. Yongzhou had eight counties, including the newly incorporated Shangluo County, Liangzhou had eight counties, Qinzhou had six counties, Liangzhou had eight counties, and Bingzhou had one county. In addition, there was Hongnong County, which was nominally under the control of Sizhou but actually controlled by Liang State. There were only 32 counties in total.

Each county nominated three people, for a total of ninety-six people. Huan Xi also gave three nomination quotas to Yinchuan Chanyu Tai's left assistant Suo Xia, three nomination quotas to right assistant Che Yin, and three nomination quotas each to Guzang Chanyu Tai's left assistant Zhao Ju and right assistant Niu Yi, asking the Chanyu Tai to recommend outstanding talents from the Hetao and Hexi tribes for him.

Therefore, this year the local governments will recommend 108 talents to the central government.

Countless people are eyeing these 108 places, which can be described as too many people and too little meat.

The magistrate of Dali County came from a noble family, so he naturally shouldered the trust of the elders of the family. Although the prefects could recommend talents every year, who wouldn't want their own young talents to enter the official career earlier?

The prefect of Fengyi understood the intention of the magistrate of Dali County, but he could do nothing to help because the quotas had already been allocated to the wealthy families in Fengyi County. In exchange for benefits, he would receive the full cooperation of the wealthy families who had obtained the recommended quotas during his term of office.

This was also the purpose of Huan Xi asking the governors of various places to recommend talents.

Although the magistrate of Dali County also came from a famous family, due to the regulations on serving as an official in a different place, he was not a native of Fengyi County and could not provide convenience to the Fengyi prefect in his administration, so naturally the quota would not be reserved for him.

"I'm sure you understand Lord Liang's intentions. Instead of coming to me, you should send a letter home and ask them to think of a solution for the local governor."

Governor Feng Yi said frankly.

(End of this chapter)