People in the Three Kingdoms: Starting from Preaching

Chapter 296 Earth-shattering
A long time passed, Xuan Xia still lived in peace, and Xu Chen still did his daily work in the Prime Minister's Office day after day.

Today, Xuanxia dominates Youzhou and occupies half of Jizhou. It also has a tributary alliance system outside. This kind of strength is no longer the small thief in the corner, but a hegemon with considerable scale and power.

If Xu Chen is also regarded as a warlord in the world today, then he is the most powerful one now and can completely replace Yuan Shao's momentum in the original history.

Being in charge of such a big plate, naturally there are a lot of things to do. Even though he has Ju Shou and Xun Chen to help him share a considerable part of the affairs on a daily basis, he still feels very busy as the prime minister.

Xu Chen himself knew that a big reason for this was because Xuan Xia’s current bureaucratic system was not sound enough.

Nowadays, most of Xuanxia's power is concentrated in the hands of local governors and county magistrates such as Lu Ping, Huang Long, and Wang Dang.

The so-called six ministries of the imperial court are actually still largely vacant and have no actual functions. The real center of Xuanxia is the individual Xu Chen.

This situation is largely to adapt to the current reality.

Giving local governments sufficient governance authority can improve administrative efficiency and save considerable governance costs.

Local officials were in charge of military, political and judicial affairs, and the court only needed to appoint one official at each level to maintain operations, so it did not have to put in too much effort.

Although this type of management is somewhat extensive and can easily lead to local self-esteem, these are not the main contradictions.

In the face of the grand strategy of concentrating forces to cleanse China and achieve unification, other issues can give way. After the main contradictions are mostly resolved, it will not be too late to split the powers of local officials and let various departments begin vertical and refined management from the center to the local level.

The current extensive and simple management does save money for the court, but the price is that a large number of affairs will be concentrated in Xu Chen's hands. This is the result of taking on central responsibilities alone.

Of course, Xu Chen is young and can handle it, so it is not difficult for him to cope with it. Although he is busy, he is not chaotic.

By the afternoon, he had finished the tasks at hand, breathed a sigh of relief, and rang a bell on the table to signal that he could meet with his subordinates.

As long as it is not an emergency, subordinates who want to meet with him will line up in advance, and then Xu Chen will meet and handle them one by one according to the fixed work rhythm.

The officials below also knew Xu Chen's working habits, and of course they would not come and wait early in the morning, but would gather in the afternoon.

After the bell rang, there was indeed a knock on the door soon after. After Xu Chen allowed him in, Lu Ping stepped in.

"Prime Minister, the first issue of Xuanxia Monthly Newspaper received a good response. According to the opinions collected by the government, most people complained that the circulation was too small, so they could only circulate it among each other."

Xuan Xia's style of doing things was simple and efficient. There was no red tape when Lu Ping came in. He just stood up straight and nodded, then walked to the front of Xu Chen's desk and talked about business as he walked.

Xu Chen just pointed at the seat and asked them to help themselves. After Lu Ping sat down, he smiled and said, "It seems that I am being conservative. If the demand is still insufficient to meet the supply, we can start to increase the number of copies for the next issue."

"Master, you are famous. I think so too." Lu Ping nodded and handed over the thing in his hand: "This is the sample newspaper of the second issue. If you have no problem with it, I can order the newspaper to print and publish it."

Upon hearing this, Xu Chen took the newspaper and just flipped through it roughly.

There were other officials queuing behind Lu Ping, so it was not convenient for him to take a detailed look at it at this time. He planned to wait until today's work was finished before taking a closer look.

After flipping through the newspaper a few times, he was about to put it aside, but at this moment, his hand paused, and the name of a poem in the newspaper caught his attention.

Poem of Sorrow and Angry.
He sat up slightly straighter and looked next to the title of the poem, and sure enough, he saw a familiar name - Cai Yan.

Cai Wenji?
The most talented woman in the Han Dynasty?

Xu Chen was slightly stunned. Although he did not know all the history of the late Han Dynasty and the Three Kingdoms period in detail, he still knew about such a famous woman.

Cai Yan's two representative poems, besides "Eighteen Beats of the Hujia", are "Poem of Grief and Anger". Xu Chen realized something was wrong at first glance.

How come Cai Wenji is in Xuanxia?
This doubt soon disappeared because he suddenly came to his senses.

He suddenly thought of the allied forces' attack on the Xiongnu and Xianbei to save the Han people, and Cai Wenji must have been among them, because these two representative works were written after Cai Wenji was captured by the Xiongnu.

After figuring it out, Xu Chen slowly calmed down. Although he felt some sympathy for Cai Wenji, a tragic talented woman in history, he did not have any special reaction to it.

Xu Chen has seen a lot of historical figures now, so he won't be surprised. He was just a little surprised just now. Lu Ping was sharp-eyed and noticed that Xu Chen's reaction to this poem was wrong. He asked tentatively: "Does the leader also think this poem is good?"

Xu Chen was stunned for a moment and subconsciously said "um, oh".

Lu Ping nodded, then sighed, looking somewhat helpless and sad.

“This poem is very elegant, but that’s not the point. What’s important is that this poem perfectly shows the real situation of the Han court today.

Chang'an was in turmoil and the common people had little place to stand. The situation was appalling. I, your subordinates, felt despair just by reading the descriptions in poems and could not even imagine what the real situation would be like.

We need to alert the masses. If Xuan Xia's cause fails, there will no longer be any pure land in this world.

Of course, we also want to let the masses see the incompetence of the Han court. The Han court is the primary culprit for the current situation in the world!"

Looking at Lu Ping's indignant look, Xu Chen also sighed in his heart. Cai Wenji's poem is full of sympathy for the tragic experiences of ordinary people, which is bound to resonate with people.

The people of the Han Dynasty are now suffering from unimaginable disasters. Xu Chen also wants to immediately lead his troops to sweep the world and save all living beings, but he knows that there is no time to rush.

Once you take the wrong path and fail, not only will your career be difficult to advance, but the existing situation will easily collapse.

I am not some mighty warrior who can conquer the world, so it is better to take steady steps.

The atmosphere in the office was a little gloomy for a moment. Lu Ping shook his head to dispel his emotions, and then mentioned something else, but handed another manuscript to Xu Chen: "I have another matter that needs your judgment, and it happens to be related to the author of this poem."

"Well, what's the matter?" Xu Chen took the manuscript.

Lu Ping added, "Nowadays, I am temporarily reviewing all the manuscripts submitted to the newspaper. I saw that Cai Yan was extremely talented, so I asked her to write a manuscript. She responded very quickly and sent me a new manuscript. However, the content of the manuscript is a little difficult to evaluate, so I can't make a decision at the moment."

Hearing this, Xu Chen became interested: "Let me take a look."

The office immediately fell silent. Xu Chen raised his eyebrows and picked up the paper to read it, while Lu Ping waited quietly on the side with a strange look on his face.

As time passed, Xu Chen's expression gradually became as strange as Lu Ping's. This manuscript really should not be underestimated.

Cai Wenji's writing style is of course excellent, but this is secondary. What is important is the content of the article.

However, it was on this piece of paper that she made a earth-shaking voice for the first time in the era.

"I want the liberation of women all over the world. Marriage should be decided by themselves. If parents force their children to marry without punishment, then equality for all should not exist!"

This voice was so clear-cut and shocking that it was likely to shake the foundation of Xuanxia.

Xu Chen couldn't help but take a deep breath. Although he knew that the progress of thought would reach this point sooner or later, it still came too fast.

He soon realized why Lu Ping was in such a dilemma, because once this article was published in the newspaper, the impact would be unimaginable.

This is not only a question of women's liberation, but also a challenge to the concept of absolute authoritarianism of parents in the entire society. It is closely related to all the people of Xuanxia.

This even concerns the correctness of the natural religion teachings that were the foundation of Xuanxia. If reality conflicts with the teachings, should the court compromise with reality or insist on maintaining the sanctity of the teachings?

Newspapers are the forefront of Xuan Xia's ideological direction. If this manuscript is published, then Xuan Xia may have to face a social ideological change.

Xu Chen put down the manuscript but did not speak. The office fell into a long silence.

Lu Ping coughed and asked tentatively: "Master, should we publish this manuscript or not?"

"Publish." Xu Chen glanced at him, then calmly pointed at the second issue of the sample newspaper: "And it will be published in this issue of the newspaper."

(End of this chapter)