I'm really not King Jing of Zhongshan

Chapter 375 The imperial examination is on the agenda

"Chao Cuo..."

"Chao Cuo..."

···
"Why didn't you die on the battlefield?"

"If he died on the battlefield, I would be happy to give him a grand funeral;"

"Why, I returned to Chang'an alive..."

Watching Zhou Yafu and others leave, the young emperor who stayed alone in Xuanshi Hall couldn't help but slander secretly.

For Chao Cuo, Liu Sheng's personal emotions are really very complicated.

Firstly, Chao Cuo was Liu Sheng's father, the teacher of Emperor Xian Xiaojing;

Although the first emperor himself only recognized Chao Cuo as his teacher, during the chaos between Wu and Chu, he almost killed Chao Cuo, who was wearing a court uniform, at the waist of the East City and abandoned it, but no matter what, he was also the teacher of the former emperor.

He was the teacher of the first emperor, and in theory he was Liu Sheng's ancestor and master.

This is also the reason why Liu Sheng has always been worried about Chao Cuo's incident of instructing people to destroy the Taimiao in those years, but he has never been able to kill him.

——Killing Chao Cuo will firstly make Liu Sheng suffer the stigma of 'killing the master', and secondly, it will make Liu Sheng tainted with the stigma of 'narrow-minded'.

After all, although the late emperor tried his best to suppress what happened back then, for the officials and elites who are active in the court today, what happened back then is simply clear at a glance.

It doesn't even need Liu Sheng to kill himself, as long as Chao Cuo dies, no matter what the reason for his death, there will definitely be a public opinion that "Your Majesty is worried about what happened back then, which led to Chao Cuo's untimely death".

What's more, that incident back then, no matter how you put it, it can be regarded as a slight stain on the late emperor;

If the shanggang was launched, it would be no problem to say that the ancestors disrespected their ancestors, sat by and watched, or even ordered Chao Cuo to destroy their ancestors' temples.

In this way, it will be difficult for Liu Sheng who is caught in the middle.

Killing Chao Cuo was tantamount to Liu Sheng admitting that he was brooding over what happened back then, and it was even tantamount to admitting that there was such a thing back then.

Now that the emperor admits that there is such a thing, someone will definitely investigate further: Where did Chao Cuo have the guts back then?

oh~~~
It is the courage given by the late emperor...
In this way, Liu Sheng's act of killing Chao Cuo is tantamount to exposing the late emperor's black material, and destroying his own legal basis and source of legal order for no reason.

But if he didn't kill him, it would mean that Liu Sheng, like the late emperor, was indifferent to the destruction of his ancestor's temple.

Although this will only be known to senior court officials, the most important thing for the still young emperor is the thoughts of these court ministers.

If you let them know that Liu Sheng is a paper tiger who only knows how to bluff, but dare not even destroy the thieves who destroyed the temple of his ancestors, then Liu Sheng will be crowned and kissed in the future. old sin...

In fact, this is precisely one of the few dilemmas left by the late emperor Liu Qi, left by Liu Sheng.

And the best result of this matter is actually Chao Cuo's body shrouded in horse leather, died in battle, and died for the country;
Then Liu Sheng cried twice, "The country has lost its pillars". No matter how good things are, people will only remember Chao Cuo as a hero, not a thief who damaged the walls of the Taimiao.

——The feelings of the Chinese people are very simple.

When a person is willing to sacrifice his life for the country, especially on the battlefield, most of the mistakes committed by this person can be forgiven by the Chinese people.

Liu Shengyuan was planning exactly this.

Accepting Chao Cuo's self-recommendation, placing Chao Cuo at the third-level position of Yushi Dafu, and the foreign side as the two-thousand-stone-level border guard, Liu Sheng wanted to get such a result.

But Chao Cuo survived the battlefield, and even returned to Chang'an alive...

"Whoo~"

"Only in this battle, Chao Cuo has seen blood."

"If there is a next time, if it is not sure, let him build martial arts, and even make him a marquis and a minister..."

For Chao Cuo's military talent, Liu Sheng naturally dismissed it - Chao Cuo was not a military talent, and he never had the energy to join the army.

However, the probability of military talent is mediocre, but it does not affect Chao Cuo, who is also a member of this fierce era that advocates martial arts.

——Chao Cuo is a master of swordsmanship.

If there is a suitable opportunity, Chao Cuobao may not really have a chance, relying on his strong personal force, to set up enough martial arts to be a marquis.

Not too many: five hundred or three hundred households;
Even if it is a hundred or fifty households, as long as Chao Cuo gets a Lord of Chehou, all the obstacles between Chao Cuo and the Han Prime Minister will disappear in smoke.

Chao Cuo became the prime minister, and it will happen naturally.

And this is something Liu Sheng never wants to see...

"Permit him to commit crimes and make meritorious deeds?"

"If you die in battle, you will be buried generously;"

"If you establish a military honor..."

···
"Hi;"

"If he really wants to establish a military honor, then it is his destiny to live a prime minister's addiction."

"Who made me commit such a bitch..."

Thinking so, Liu Sheng laughed at himself, sighed and shook his head.

Back then, if Liu Sheng hadn't made a move, Chao Cuo would have died without a doubt.

On that day, the first emperor even set up a farewell banquet for Chao Cuo!

But at that time, Shen Tujia, the old prime minister who was not mad because of Liu Sheng's butterfly, agreed with Liu Sheng that Chao Cuo at that time must not die, and once he died, it would definitely encourage Liu Bi and Liu Wu. The Wu Chu rebels led by the arrogance;

Liu Sheng still clearly remembers that at that time, he answered the late emperor's original words: If you destroy my ancestor's ancestral hall, Chao Cuo must die!

But in the face of national crisis, Chao Cuo must not die now.

At that time, a certain young emperor who was still just "Gongzi Sheng" simply thought that the matter of killing Chao Cuo should be discussed after the chaos between Wu and Chu was settled.

But what Liu Sheng never expected at that time, or what he didn't want to think about at the time, was that at that time, perhaps he or the late emperor, was the only time when he could justifiably kill Chao Cuo...

"Hi~"

"Maybe it's not worth dying."

"Let's do it first;"

"Let's do it first..."

Having said that, Liu Sheng endured all reluctance in his heart, and temporarily put aside the matter of Chao Cuo;
After a while, he naturally 'floated' to the couch and lay down again.

"Mr. Chaozhong, what is your general opinion on Zhou Yafu's proposal?"

With a word of indifference, a figure appeared between the curtains on the back of the imperial couch—it was undoubtedly Zhou Ren, Marquis of Rufen who was now written as Langzhongling and pronounced as Xiuyi Commander.

As for Liu Sheng's question, it is the most controversial and divisive question in the court today regarding the invasion of the Huns...

"Report to His Majesty."

"Regarding that year, the first emperor withdrew nearly half of his troops to the north wall to guard against the princes and vassals.

"——During the time of the late emperor, Liu She obeyed the late emperor's order, and never complained about this matter."

"But now, Liu She seems to be ignorant of His Majesty's intentions, so he is a little hesitant and does not know what position to take."

"And Zuo Xiang Wei Wan, in private, seems to think that the late emperor's arrangement is slightly inappropriate, but he has not shared his views with others."

"Perhaps it is because of Wei Wan, who thought of the kindness of the late emperor and the teacher-student friendship with His Majesty..."

···
"Among the Nine Ministers, Tingwei Zhao Yu, Fengchang Dou Pengzu, Zongzheng Liu Piqiang, and Wei Weizhi did not doubt and did not say a word. The eunuch Yuan An seemed to be watching."

"Daxing Gongsun Huanxie originally wanted to support the late emperor, but then he realized that he was also a 'hu man', so he began to struggle."

"—Because Gongsun Huanxie supports the late emperor, he will be suspected of 'opening his eyes for the barbarian', and if he opposes the late emperor, he will be suspected of failing the late emperor's kindness."

"The only one who clearly stated that 'this matter should be changed' is Uncle Naishi Tian..."

Hearing the report brought back by Zhou Ren, Liu Sheng let out a long and leisurely sigh, turned his back and adjusted a more comfortable posture.

What Liu Sheng just asked and Zhou Ren just answered about "this matter" is actually the fact that the Huns went south this time, and they were able to fight all the way from outside the side wall to Xiaoguan, and even broke Xiaoguan. And the core reason for entering the customs.

——In the first three years of Emperor Xiaojing, the clan princes headed by Liu Bi, King Wu, and Liu Wu, King Chu brazenly rebelled in Kanto!

Although it took only three months for the Chang'an court to put down the rebellion, and there was only a brief record in the history books that "Wu Chu rebelled in the third year of Xiaojing, Taiwei Zhou Yafu put down the rebellion in March", but this time This rebellion had a great influence and impact on the political ecology of the Han Dynasty and even the Chang'an Central Committee.

In that year, I don’t know how many officials sent by the court to the local county and country, because of the crimes of "following the thief" or "failing to persuade the emperor to keep his duty", those who were killed were killed, and those who were exiled were exiled;

And in this era when anyone who wants to be an official has to be recommended by officials with two thousand shi and above, the package of county officials in Kanto who were dismounted due to the Wu-Chu Rebellion also brought a large number of county and state two thousand shi, and even The courtiers and senior officials dismounted.

So, the problem arises.

——Whether Kanto is the clan vassal states or the counties and counties directly under the jurisdiction of Chang'an, due to the political turmoil caused by the Wu-Chu Rebellion, most of the middle and high-level officials have been lost;
More than half of the original county and county leadership groups fell, and the new leadership group could not be organized for a while. In desperation, the late emperor could only take the simplest and rude measures: use the army to maintain the law and order in the Kanto region, and take precautions. The princes and vassals rebelled again.

Before the Wu-Chu Rebellion, the ratio of the strength of the Han army to the population of the common people had already reached extremely high.

Counting more than 20 northern frontier troops, plus about 5000 county soldiers in each county, as well as standing field troops directly under Chang'an Central such as Thorny Gate, Bashang, Xiliu, and Feihu, the strength of the Han army reached Nearly 50!
反观人口，却只有2000多不到3000万，军/民比例，便达到了令人咂舌的1：40到1:60。

There is one pawn in every forty to sixty people, which does not sound like an exaggeration.

But considering that half of those forty to sixty men were women, it became 'one out of every twenty to thirty men is making pawns'.

If the old and the young are removed, the ratio of men of the right age in the Han Dynasty, that is, men of middle age, is likely to reach a terrifying 1:10 or less!

For every ten men of prime age, one is—not once, but is currently serving in the army!
Such a high ratio will naturally lead to a very common problem in the feudal era: the military-civilian support ratio.

For every ten men of prime age, one is in the army;

And those who can contribute taxes and support the army are basically young and strong laborers.

This means that this ratio of ten to ten is not only "one out of every ten people of the right age is in the army", but also means that in the Han family at that time, on average, there were only one army soldier in the army. Ten people contribute taxes and support.

This is really scary.

Because the support cost of a soldier is based on two stones of rice per month and one hundred yuan of money, and the maintenance cost of ordnance is about one thousand yuan per year, which is two thousand yuan.

And the [-] yuan is divided among ten people, which is [-] yuan per person.

In other words: In order to support the army of the Han family, every middle-aged man in the Han family needs to spend four shi of grain every year.

It may not sound like much;
But we must know that the agricultural tax of the Han Dynasty today is only [-] shi. According to the [-] acres of land under the jurisdiction of the common people and the average yield of [-] shi per mu, the agricultural tax that a farmer has to pay every year is only [-] shi of grain.

Of course, there was no "military tax" in the Han Dynasty, and peasant households did not need to pay the four shi grains for the soldiers separately.

This means that in the past, at least [-]% of the agricultural tax revenue of the Han Dynasty had to be spent on the maintenance and support of the army.

——You must know that the [-] yuan only counts the cost of military rations and ordnance maintenance, and does not include the meat, money and salaries of the border guards, as well as the consumption of various supplies by the troops during wartime!
Combining the above reasons, the Wu-Chu rebellion was quelled, but the Guandong needed a strong force to garrison. The late emperor was unable to recruit a standing army on the existing basis, and could only transfer back a part of the northern border wall for border defense. The army, to maintain the local law and order in the Kanto region, and guard against the princes and vassals by the way.

To be precise: nearly 20% of the [-] frontier troops were transferred back to Kanto by the late emperor...
"Liu She is a person who knows how to read words and expressions best. If I don't express my attitude, he will always sit on the wall."

"Wei Wan~"

"An honest person, plus being a 'gentleman', thinking of the kindness of the late emperor, and the friendship between me and my mentor, there is a high probability that I will not express my opinion."

"—Unless I make an extremely absurd mistake, Wei Wan is unlikely to stand up."

···
"Zhao Yu and Yuan An are smart people, they know what to say, but they don't want to be the first ones;"

"Dou Pengzu, Liu Biqiang, a foreign relative, a clan relative, would not say anything suspected of opposing or criticizing the late emperor."

"—But they didn't stand up to support the late emperor, which is enough to explain the problem."

"As for Zhi Buyi and Gongsun Huanxie, the former has always cherished feathers, and I'm afraid they don't want to get involved in this muddy water at all."

"And the latter don't care about what is right and what is wrong, but only care about how to do it, which is in their best interest..."

···
"Whoo~"

"That's six;"

"Counting the only upright person, Uncle Tian, ​​and the vacant Shaofu, what is left is Qing?"

As soon as Liu Sheng said this, Zhou Ren cupped his hands without hesitation: "The late emperor once said: In government affairs, ministers have the privilege of not expressing their opinions."

"Your Majesty dares to grant you this privilege..."

Hearing this, Liu Sheng thought about it for a while, and then he smacked his mouth out of nowhere, as acquiescing to Zhou Ren's request.

——As the first embroidered clothes instigator of the Han Dynasty, and possibly even the first spy chief in Huaxia, and even in human history, Zhou Ren should indeed enjoy the privilege of "only investigating the objective truth and not expressing subjective opinions".

Zhou Renneng took the initiative to ask for this privilege, and Liu Shengzi was also happy about it.

"I understand."

"You don't have to worry about this matter anymore."

"After going down, find out the reaction of the court minister to the exam."

···
"It's been a while since I let go of the exam~"

"The spring plowing is just around the corner. If you want to start the exam this year, no later than Xia Wuyue, you should make a charter."

"—Examination, it's time to put it on the agenda..."

(End of this chapter)