I, Liu Bian, Sanxing Han Dynasty

Chapter 54: Material Discussion (please read it~)

When the news came that Liu Yu's rebellion was successful, Emperor Ling was very excited and intended to recall Liu Yu to the court.

Liu Yu's original Zongzheng was replaced by Liu Yan, so Emperor Ling sent someone to ask Liu Yu how the post-war pacification of Youzhou was going and when he could come back? I'll let you be a San Gong, and you'll be free of charge as before.

Even though the three princes are all present now, the power structure and political traditions of the Eastern Han Dynasty make it not that difficult to change the three princes. The simplest thing is that a certain palace is on fire, it doesn't rain in a certain place for several months, or the rain is too heavy...

Liu Bian didn't know how Liu Yu was feeling at that time. Judging from Liu Yu's obvious refusal, he thought Youzhou still needed him.

For this reason, Liu Yu recommended several people to Emperor Ling who he thought were more suitable to be the Three Dukes than him - Zhao Mo, the captain of the city gate, Liu Yan, Zongzheng, Huang Wan, the servant, and Yang Xu, the governor of Nanyang.

Among them, Huang Wan and Yang Xu were both party members who had been imprisoned, and they were both on He Jin's list last year.

Emperor Ling became interested in Yang Xu because of this. There happened to be a vacancy for Tingwei, one of the nine ministers, so he ordered Yang Xu to enter Luoyang.

Liu Bian was not familiar with Yang Xu at first, but Yang Xu was Cai Yong's friend and family member, and he had taken Cai Yong in for more than ten years.

In the process of getting along with Cai Yong, Liu Bian understood that his teacher had a true temperament and would not pretend, otherwise historically he would not have been able to sigh for Dong Zhuo in front of Wang Yun.

When Liu Bian chatted with him, he once mentioned his life in Wudi. Whenever he talked about Yangxu, he would praise him.

When Emperor Ling made his decision, Liu Bian said to him: "My father wants to worship Yang and continue to be a court captain, but I'm afraid he will have to waive the gift money in Xiyuan."

Emperor Ling asked: "Do you know that he is very honest?"

Liu Bian replied: "I heard Master Cai say that the Prime Minister of Nanyang County once offered a live fish to Yang Xu. After Yang Xu accepted it, he hung the fish in the hall. When the Prime Minister presented another fish, Yang Xu took out the fish. He showed him the fish that he had hung before to show his rejection. Later, this incident spread, and he became known as the "Hanging Fish Prefect" in the local area. He was the prefect of Nanyang for several years, and his family assets only included cloth quilts, short clothes, salt, Just a few dendrobiums of wheat."

"This story is quite interesting." Emperor Ling called Zhang Rang and asked him to tell the eunuch who came to announce the edict and receive gifts. If Yang Xu was really poor, he would not accept the gift money.

After finishing his instructions, Emperor Ling asked Liu Bian: "So what if he pretends to be poor?"

Liu Bian thought for a while and replied: "The people of Luoyang are more complicated than Nanyang. If they are hypocrites, they will be exposed one day. And if they can remain poor, even if they don't think so in their hearts, they will be exposed one day." What’s the harm?”

Emperor Ling said: "Then let's wait for the messenger to report back!"

Ten days later, the sent angel eunuch Zuo Zuo came back with a shabby winter coat.

By the way, he complained to Emperor Ling: "Yang Xu not only acted rudely when facing the angel, but also held up a shabby winter coat and made sarcastic remarks, telling him that the only thing he could fund for Xiyuan was this tattered coat."

Normally, Zuo Zuo would naturally turn around and go back to Luoyang when faced with such a person, but the emperor had told Yang Xu in advance that it was okay not to pay.

Zuo Zuo knew that Yang Xu had an impression of poverty among Shi Hou, and was worried that there would be a high risk of being exposed if the false accusation against Yang Xu was exposed, so he only dared to run back before Yang Xu and secretly complained to Emperor Ling, bringing the tattered clothes with him.

Zuo Zuo had originally thought well and specifically chose a time when Liu Bian was away, but he never thought that the emperor would instead ask Yang Xu if he had already set off...

It was impossible for Emperor Ling not to be angry, but when he thought about the story of Yang Xu that Liu Bian told him, such an incorruptible man, even the emperor dared to secretly ridicule him, could just be used as a court lieutenant, responsible for pacifying prisons. He also didn't want Liu Bian to suddenly ask Yang Xu one day. Is it possible that he would have to answer "Yang Xu secretly mocked me for betraying my official position with a piece of rags"?

And when Yang Xu drove his dilapidated carriage to Luoyang, he officially took up his duties at Tingwei Mansion. The first major case he faced was the current Hedong Governor Gai Xun's impeachment of the former Hedong Governor for corruption and bending the law, which caused the original thieves who had settled in Baibo Valley to be exploited and revolted again.

Gai Xun submitted clear evidence. He obtained many rosters and tax and rent records from a Baibo thief named Yang Feng, proving that the original thief in Baibo Valley had been registered as a household and had paid taxes and rents that exceeded the regulations of the court. In addition, there were witnesses including county officials.

But neither in the current household registration of Hedong County nor in the household registration reported by the Hedong Shangji official last year, such a group of people does not exist.

There are only two possibilities for the truth. Someone forged tax records, or the former Hedong governor embezzled money from the treasury.

But facing the former Hedong governor who had been brought to Luoyang for trial, no one would believe the first possibility.

However, Yang Xu still resisted Emperor Ling's order to punish him immediately, and confirmed the evidence of the former prefect's crime according to the procedures before he was sentenced to confiscation of property and death.

This incident set off a heated discussion in Luoyang City.

It was a typical example of the government forcing the people to rebel. People even ignored the origin of Bai Bo's thief Huang Turban. The most important thing was that the former Hedong governor's official position was bought.

Instead of being appointed by the imperial court first and then paying the money, people like Taiwei Cui Lie and Sikong Cao Song paid money to seek official positions and passed the qualification review for selling them.

Under this kind of material discussion, Gai Xun's memorial requesting to appease the Baibo thieves and reorganize their households into common people was quickly passed in the court meeting.

However, not everyone among the Baibo thieves was willing to accept the recruitment. In the end, the two sides split. The leader of the Baibo thieves, Guo Tai, led the bandit general Han Siam with 50,000 to 60,000 young men and continued to unite with the Huns to penetrate deep into Xihe County and Taiyuan County.

The remaining Baibo bandits, led by three generals, Yang Feng, Li Le, and Hu Cai, returned to Hedong and surrendered to Gai Xun.

The discussion in Luoyang did not stop because of this, but gradually evolved into a criticism of Xiyuan for selling his official position.

These criticisms could not reach the ears of Emperor Ling, so Emperor Ling naturally did not care.

Although Liu Bian, who was in the palace, could not clearly feel the public opinion from the outside world, the clear government-forced rebellion in Hedong made him more suspicious. This kind of thing happened in the places where Jingzhou and Youzhou rebelled last year.

But immediately, the choice of Guo Tai, the leader of the Baibo bandits, reminded Liu Bian that careerists also exist.

He asked Lu Zhi: "Nowadays, local county governors have too much power. Inland county governors govern both the people and the army. At present, the governor does not seem to be enough to supervise. And when there is local chaos, there are many county governors who are incapable of running the army. , unable to quell the thieves. During this period of time, I have been thinking about whether I can restore the captaincy of the inner county. Like the county magistrates, they must avoid their place of origin."

After the unification, Emperor Guangwu learned the lessons of using the knights and officials from various places to build elite armies, and demobilized the army on a large scale. At the same time, he removed the county captains who were responsible for training and managing knights and officials. Only border counties could retain them. .

(End of this chapter)