I, Liu Bian, Sanxing Han Dynasty

Chapter 602: The great victory of the literati?
"Father, have you heard what people outside are saying?" In the Taiwei Mansion, General Zhu Hao of the Imperial Guards asked his father Zhu Jun.

"But who whispered something in your ear?" Zhu Jun asked. He knew that his son's biggest shortcoming was that he always liked to think too highly of others and lacked a sense of defense against them. It's not that being sincere to others is bad, but not everyone deserves to be treated sincerely.

Even though he is already an important official in the court, he still cannot change his habit of trusting others.

Zhu Jun was also helpless.

Zhu Hao was a little embarrassed when he saw his father's blunt words. In fact, Zhu Jun had pointed out this problem to him more than once, but he couldn't turn his face to a gentleman just because of some villains... Therefore, under the premise that his perspective on people did not change, Zhu Hao could only continue to be ignorant of people.

He promised, "Don't worry, father. I will sever ties with that person right away."

After hearing this, Zhu Jun couldn't help but sigh.

After his eldest son died in Jiaozhou, he was extremely caring towards his second son Zhu Hao... Zhu Hao was a good man, but too good, and too easy to trust others. How could he, as an old father, not worry that Zhu Hao would be deceived and used by others in the future?

It would be fine if he was just a powerless person.

Thinking of this, Zhu Jun decided to teach Zhu Hao well while he was still in Luoyang and had some energy.

If he could never be taught... Zhu Jun felt that it would be good for Zhu Hao to be a rich and idle man, so as to avoid following in Zhu Fu's footsteps.

"You didn't even tell me what that person said in your ear, but just because I asked you this, you decided to break up with him... Do you think this is a joke?" Zhu Jun asked.

Zhu Hao said aggrievedly, "I thought Father knew what was said outside, and how could I disobey Father?"

"When did I teach you such a pedantic filial piety? No one is perfect. Is it filial piety for a son to just obey his father without arguing when he sees him make a mistake?" Zhu Jun continued to ask.

Zhu Hao thought for a moment and said, "Now people outside are saying that my father and Sikong Gong have damaged the duty of the Three Dukes' Office to recruit talented people for their own power. He left talented people in the wild but the court could not use them. It's all my fault today..."

"Father, I think there is some truth in this."

As soon as he finished speaking, he heard Zhu Jun sneer and comment: "It is indeed slander..."

Zhu Hao's face froze.

Zhu Jun continued, "Let me ask you, did that person say something like, there are too many officials elected from the three offices in the Three Dukes' Office, which is not conducive to selecting talented people?"

Zhu Hao answered truthfully: "That's what he said... and he also said that most of the officials in the three offices are children of the rich and powerful. Even the most filial and honest officials... are mostly children of wealthy families. If the three offices don't give more opportunities to poor children, I'm afraid that poor families will become more and more difficult."

"I still remember that before my father, none of my ancestors held high positions."

Zhu Jun said, "Do you remember what I taught you before? If you want to feint and lure the enemy during a battle, what should you do?"

Although Zhu Hao had never led troops in actual battle, he had a wealth of theoretical knowledge and immediately replied, "There was no feint attack."

Only a real attack can deceive the enemy.

Seeing that Zhu Hao no longer thought about it after he came up with the answer, and even his eyes became clear, Zhu Jun was speechless for a moment.

After a while, seeing that Zhu Hao had no reaction, he finally couldn't help but explain: "What he said to you was not false, so you think his conclusion is correct, but have you ever thought that what he said to you was not entirely true?"

"Do you know how many of the officials in the Three Dukes' Offices come from noble families?"

"Nowadays, poor children have more opportunities to enter the officialdom than before... Villages are promoting education, and county schools are one of the merits of the 2,000-stone examination, supplemented by the system of examinations. It is true that the starting point of village officials is quite low, and most of them will be like this for their entire lives, but there are always some who can stand out, and village officials may become ministers one day."

"The biggest losers from the reduction in the number of positions available to the government are those hermits living in the countryside who have become famous through the comments of so-called famous scholars. There are certainly talented people among them, but there are also those who are just filling in the numbers."

After hearing this, Zhu Hao realized that he had once again been biased and believed what he heard. He bowed to Zhu Jun and said, "Father, I really understand now."

Zhu Jun also understood it. Zhu Hao did understand this matter, but he would make the same mistake again next time when encountering something else.

He resisted the urge to sigh, and said to Zhu Hao earnestly, "Think twice before you act. If you are unsure about something, it is better to keep your mouth shut."

"Father, I'll remember it!" Zhu Hao promised.

Zhu Jun believed that Zhu Hao would remember his words.

Faced with this situation, he could only wait and see.

The encroachment of the so-called "power of the three dukes to recruit officials" inevitably caused some discussion, among which Zhu Jun and Lu Kang were the targets.

To outsiders, of course, the two men, in order to take charge of the "Shangshu affairs", even abandoned the ethics of scholars and set aside the "laws of ancestors", although the laws of ancestors have long ceased to be the golden rule.

"If you really feel that you are talented but not appreciated, then go and take part in the examination. Don't think that the position of a village official is low. If you can't even clean your own house, how can you clean up the world?" Lu Yi did not tolerate those who maliciously slandered Lu Kang in private. In his opinion, these people were not worth anything... Even if they had some reputation among the people, it was just a false name.

"If you feel that it is too slow to enter the government as a county official and it is difficult to realize your ambitions, even if you cannot become a student of the Imperial Academy, you can still go to the Imperial Academy to discuss the classics. The more you discuss, the clearer your knowledge will be!"

As Lu Yi spoke, he looked around. His words were not without loopholes, but no one dared to come up and argue with him.

After a little thought, Lu Yi understood that this was because his great-grandfather Lu Kang was still the Sikong, but the number of vacancies he had available to recruit officials on his own was less, not gone... Some people secretly slandered Zhu Jun and Lu Kang, and who knows how much they hoped to be recruited by the two!

After thinking this through, Lu Yi raised his head a little higher.

If someone really dared to come up and argue with him, even if they had different opinions, he would look up to the other person. But now?

——A bunch of rats!
At the same time, Dong Zhuo, who was ill, also learned the news. He patted the bed and said to Dong Min: "I only regret that I got sick at the wrong time, otherwise I would be happy to bear this infamy!"

The changes in the political situation obviously did not end there.

In December of the eighth year of Guangxi, the position of the general, which had reappeared in the Han regime since the first year of Zhongping and had existed for fourteen years, was finally abolished again.

Also revoked was the title of General of Cavalry.

He Miao and Dong Chong took up the newly established position of Sanqi by the emperor.

Sanqi and Shizhong were similar in that they were close ministers to the emperor, but the foreign relatives were already close to the emperor, and the literati were only happy because both foreign relatives had lost the power to establish their own governments and recruit officials.

At this time, some idealistic scholars suddenly discovered that what they had sought in their early years, to avoid external relatives and eunuchs interfering in politics, was actually accomplished in an almost natural way at this time.

So, I don’t know when and who started it, but the literati began a collective carnival after the situation in which relatives of the emperor and eunuchs took turns to take the stage since the time of Emperor He of Han disappeared.

The whole Luoyang was filled with a cheerful atmosphere. Combined with Luoyang's night market and the increasingly lively neighborhoods, common people also joined in during the winter farming off-season, and the atmosphere spread to all prefectures and counties across the country.

What? He Miao is still in charge of the affairs of the Minister of State as a Sanqi? How can it be the same?

They both are in charge of the affairs of the Shangshu, so why should the Sanqi be compared with the Three Dukes?

Moreover, that was He Miao, a general who had served for so many years and had never behaved in a domineering manner - he was a wise minister!
As for other noises, no one cared about them long ago in the face of such a great victory.

……

And this atmosphere also spread to the palace.

Cai Yan hesitated for several times before finally asking, "My husband, I have gained a lot of insights from watching you govern the country in recent years. When you went to Kaifeng County before, you even asked me to govern the country on your behalf... But I still don't understand what's going on now."

"During the reign of Emperor Guangwu, the court was divided into two parts, the inner and outer courts, and the inner court governed the outer court. During the reign of Emperor He, although there were problems with eunuchs and relatives of the emperor's wife, the inner court still governed the outer court. But now I see that my husband intends to move the Secretariat to the outer court, and I don't know why."

Liu Bian smiled and explained to Cai Yan: "In the past, the inner court was in opposition to the outer court. Today, the Shangshutai has not yet completely become the outer court, and the checks and balances I am waiting for have not yet truly grown up."

Are the scholar-officials the only ones in power now?
Being the only dominant power is true, but being the only one is false.

In other words, the dominance of the scholar-officials has always been a reality. Even if the imperial relatives and eunuchs rose to power with the help of the imperial power, they would ultimately have to use the scholar-officials if they wanted to extend their power.

But the scholars and officials were never of one mind.

Even after the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty, when the relationship between the emperor and his ministers was like that of enemies, the literati were not of one mind.

Cai Yan was always smart. After being influenced by Liu Bian, she quickly followed Liu Bian's train of thought and said, "My husband, are you referring to the test?"

"The one who understands me is Zhao Ji."

With the implementation of the Imperial College examination and the county examination, the imperial examination is gradually replacing the public selection. It is okay for students to have a master-disciple relationship, but the relationship between the sponsor and the nominated will become less and less. Although the imperial examination will also derive something like "seat teacher", it is only seen that the former official is mourning for the sponsor.

At a time when aristocratic families had not yet truly taken shape, those who were about to join the scholar-official family were the children of poor families who had fought their way through the single-plank bridge of being a rural official, which was crossed by thousands of troops.

These children from poor families started out as rural officials who were looked down upon by the wealthy families. Although they had a natural disadvantage in terms of educational resources, they also had more grassroots experience.

Cai Yan saw that Liu Bian had high hopes for those who participated in the examination, and immediately reminded them: "If you intend to use them, you must be careful in the evaluation of officials."

After saying this, Cai Yan suddenly realized that there was no need for her to say more, because Liu Bian must have already considered this issue.

Liu Bian smiled and cupped his hands, saying, "Thank you, Queen, for your advice."

Seeing this, Cai Yan imitated the manner of a scholar and bowed in return, saying, "It's just a common greeting, why bother thanking me?"

Then the couple smiled at each other.

Compared with the literati, the lower limit of the external relatives and eunuchs is still too low, and using them to check and balance the literati has always been a double-edged sword.

Moreover, even without them, there are ways to check and balance... Not to mention Emperor Guangwu who regained the empire, when Emperors Ming and Zhang ruled the empire, relatives by marriage and eunuchs were not yet a force to be reckoned with, but didn't they also have the Ming and Zhang reigns?
Liu Bian had no plans to abolish the two for the time being, in case they might be used in the future. After all, history has long proved that these two methods are really effective, but don't ask how effective they are.

……

At the same time, faced with such a big change, the Shangshu and Shangshulang, who were accustomed to the original Shangshutai system, were somewhat uncomfortable.

However, facing Xun Yu, who had been in the Secretariat for a long time, and Jia Xu, who had just been transferred from the post of Imperial Secretary, there was no trouble in the Secretariat.

In fact, Kong Rong still had some ideas in his mind.

Although the Li Cao, which was changed from the Ke Cao, where he worked, was in charge of ancestral sacrifices, although the ancestral sacrifices seemed very respectable, everything was customary and lacked real power. Moreover, the Taichang who reported to it was Cai Yong, not to mention the Qiang and Hu people's congratulations.

In the reforms led by Xun Yu, there was too little work done by the Ministry of Rites.

In the past, Kong Jun could happily share the pressure of government affairs with other Caos at times like this, but now, he only has four Shangshulang under his command.

Although Kong Rong has been overshadowed by Xun Yu since he entered the Secretariat, he has to admit Xun Yu's talent, but facing the current situation of the Rites Department, he is not afraid to compete with Xun Yu.

only……

"What's the matter, Minister Kong?"

Kong Jun looked at Jia Xu who was having a great conversation with Xun Yu… Kong Jun had always been a little afraid of Jia Xu, who was in charge of the School Affairs Department, because he was afraid that one day Jia Xu would produce evidence of him and He Yong, Wu Qiong and others criticizing the government.

Although He Yong came back, he had already paid a price in Youfufeng, but Kong Rong had not.

Looking at the smile on Jia Xu's face, Kong Jun always felt that there was a sharp knife hidden in Jia Xu's smile.

The words that he had prepared could not be said at all, and finally he could only say: "It is the twelfth month of the lunar calendar, and it is the time to bid farewell to the old and usher in the new. This year is different from previous years. I want to ask, do you want to take this opportunity to celebrate?"

Xun Yu thought for a moment and replied, "Of course it's fine. I see that the customs among the people are very festive."

Jia Xu only echoed Xun Yu after he finished speaking.

But when Kong Rong looked at Jia Xu, he always felt that Jia Xu saw through him.

After Kong Jun left, Jia Xu suddenly sighed and said to Xun Yu: "Wen Ruo, do you believe that Minister Kong did not come here for what he just said?"

Is he so scary?

Jia Xu felt helpless.

This was not the first time that Kong Rong had behaved like this in the Shangshu Taizhong, and he would definitely not be the last.

Xun Yu knew Kong Jun quite well, and actually had roughly guessed what Kong Jun was thinking. Facing Jia Xu, he was hesitating whether to tell a white lie. Before he made a decision, he suddenly heard Jia Xu say -

"Wen Ruo, your hesitation has betrayed you."

Xun Yu had no choice but to comfort him, saying, "When the officials in the Shangshutai understand Wenhe's character, they will change their attitude."

After hearing this, Jia Xu thought to himself: That may not be the case.

(End of this chapter)