Ji Han Da Sima

Chapter 744: Chen Zhongbiao

Summer goes and autumn comes, and in a blink of an eye it is the winter solstice.

Chang'an is much colder than the south in early winter, and Zhuge Liang had already put on a cloak.

In the Prime Minister's Mansion, Zhuge Liang was bent over his desk, writing the year-end report.

"Prime Minister!"

The attendant came to the door and said, "The Minister of the Imperial Secretariat, Jiang Gongyan, has been ordered to see you."

"Let him in!"

Zhuge Liang put down his brush, rubbed the root of his nose, and said.

"promise!"

After a while, Jiang Wan, breathing out cold air, walked into the hall from outside, bowed and said, "Wan greets the Prime Minister!"

Zhuge Liang motioned for Jiang Wan to take his seat and asked, "What are the current trends in the government and the country?"

Jiang Wan sat at the table, shook his head and said, "Many people say that the Prime Minister is harsh in his administration. Today, when the world is at peace, the Prime Minister wants to lay off officials. This is like abandoning the dog after the rabbit has died. Many people say that the Prime Minister is not as lenient as the Prime Minister."

Zhuge Liang drank the warm water to moisten his dry throat and said, "When the previous emperor passed away, people were not supportive. The prime minister and I rewarded people to appease their hearts. Today, the world is peaceful and people are at ease, but there are too many officials. If we don't dismiss the idle officials, how can we reduce the burden on the people?"

As he spoke, Zhuge Liang's tone became more serious, and he said: "Some officials who have surrendered have taken advantage of the chaos in the country to abuse their power and collect bribes from the people. If we don't enforce strict laws on them now, how can we streamline the bureaucracy and make the government clean and honest?"

"If it weren't for the fear of causing dissent, Liang would have wanted to abolish the provincial governors and only leave the counties to govern the people."

This summer, Man Chong suggested to Zhuge Liang that due to the small population, in order to strengthen central power, abolish the states, save fiscal expenditures, and only retain the counties. That is, abolish the three-level system and restore the traditional two-level system, with the central government directly governing the counties and the counties governing the counties.

Man Chong's suggestion was quite pleasing to Zhuge Liang, but Zhuge Liang took into account that there were too many provincial governors and even more provincial officials. If the provinces were abolished and the counties were retained, there would suddenly be too many extra high-ranking officials and a lack of positions to place them.

Therefore, in order not to touch too many political interest groups, Zhuge Liang did not adopt Man Chong's suggestion to abolish states and establish counties. Instead, he dismissed the officials who were redundant due to excessive appointments. Even so, the number of people involved was not small.

These officials received salaries, but due to limited talents or lack of motivation, they became officials who filled the court. In order to cut redundant officials, Zhuge Liang deliberately let Jiang Wan speak out to test the opinions of the officials of the Han Dynasty, and then slowly promoted the plan.

Jiang Wan hesitated for a moment and said, "Prime Minister, now that you want to lay off officials, I don't know what the rules are? And does this layoff involve local officials?"

Zhuge Liang stood up and fanned himself, thinking and saying, "Gong Yan is the Minister of Personnel. He is now responsible for dismissing officials. The criteria should be talent, morality, and performance. Those who are incompetent and have no achievements should be demoted, and those who are capable and talented should be promoted. Compile a list as soon as possible."

After a pause, Zhuge Liang said: "Not only that, all those who can be dismissed should be dismissed or assigned to local officials."

Jiang Wan frowned slightly and said, "May I ask the Prime Minister, what is the standard for those who can be dismissed?"

Zhuge Liang stopped and said bluntly: "If the court can function after the abolition, then all of them will be abolished; if the court cannot function after the abolition, then no abolition will be made. Those with talent and virtue will be temporarily retained in their posts to see if there are any vacancies."

"From now on, there will be a small tax every year and a big tax every three years. Based on the performance of the three-year assessment, any official whose performance is at the bottom will be retained and dismissed, or dismissed and another good official will be selected to take his place."

Hearing this, Jiang Wan took a deep breath and said, "Prime Minister, selecting redundant officials and dismissing them for large-scale tasks may make people feel uneasy."

Zhuge Liang disagreed and said, "The elite soldiers are stationed in Chang'an, and the Central Plains counties are at peace. The people all want peace. Even if someone with ulterior motives causes chaos, how can it endanger the court?"

"And if we don't lay off officials now, how can we save money and food to prepare for emergencies?"

Zhuge Liang had experienced a lot and understood very well what the court needed at the moment. If the problem of redundant officials is not solved at the time of founding the country and the examination system is not formulated, it will inevitably become a problem in the future.

Jiang Wan frowned and thought, then said, "In that case, Wan is willing to follow the Prime Minister's orders."

"Ok!"

Zhuge Liang nodded in approval and said, "The first month of next year is the New Year. As the Prime Minister of the Han Dynasty, I need to report on the government affairs of this year. Now the population and household registration of each state and county have been reported, but the list of officials to be dismissed has not been prepared. Lao Gongyan will first draw up a list of central officials to be dismissed, and then check the officials of the states and counties with the officials, and then prepare a report."

"promise!"

Jiang Wan looked solemn, bowed his hands, and said, "Please live up to the Prime Minister's expectations, cut redundant officials, and implement the law."

Zhuge Liang wanted to sit back on the couch, but seeing Jiang Wan stayed, he asked, "Gong Yan, do you have anything else to say?"

Jiang Wan pondered for a moment and said, "Prime Minister, the system of selecting officials has been changed for many years, and officials who are filial and honest have mostly been selected through examinations. Now that the country is under pacification, many of the great families in the Central Plains have objections. They believe that since our Han Dynasty inherited the Han Dynasty, the system of selecting officials should follow the Han system and should not adopt any other method."

Hearing this, Zhuge Liang's expression sank slightly, and he said, "The filial and honest have no virtue, and the talented have no talent. Nowadays, we select officials by examination, and all we get are capable officials. How can we return to the old system? The Later Han Dynasty rose from the rivers and lakes, and it is different from the Two Han Dynasties. This is a new dynasty, and it has new policies." "Who said the above?" Zhuge Liang asked.

Jiang Wan hesitated for a moment and said, "It came from the mouth of a central government official, and the specific name is unknown. When Wan was inspecting the Shangshutai yesterday, he heard officials gathered to criticize it."

Zhuge Liang sneered and said sarcastically: "If Liang and the Prime Minister lived in a peaceful time, I am afraid they would only be promoted to county officials. Those who cause chaos in China are these officials!"

Although Zhuge Liang was a descendant of an aristocratic family, he really looked down on the great families in the Central Plains. In Zhuge Liang's eyes, the chaos in the Eastern Han Dynasty had a lot to do with the children of the great families who controlled the government.

Zhuge Liang would not let Southern Han follow the old path of the Han Dynasty. Not only would he not restore the system of recommendation of officials of the Han Dynasty, but Zhuge Liang would promote a new system of recommendation of officials, use examinations to select officials, try to avoid the emergence of former students and officials, and make the old system of recommendation of officials disappear in Southern Han.

As he spoke, Zhuge Liang instructed Jiang Wan, saying, "Gong Yan, find out who this person is and then dismiss him."

"promise!"

Not to mention Zhuge Liang's implementation of the new system and the elimination of redundant officials. As time passed, the news of the demise of Cao Wei spread by word of mouth and finally reached Hainan Island.

Hainan Island, Dan'er County, Zhulu County (now Haikou City).

Zhuge Fan had been banished to Hainan Island by Huo Jun as the prefect for more than three years. During these three years, because the species were different from those in the Central Plains, barbarians were all over the mountainous islands. Zhuge Fan fell in love with lychees and coconuts and showed them off almost every year.

In addition to eating lychees every year, Zhuge Fan often went to the island to pacify the barbarians or establish relations with them in order to achieve political achievements as soon as possible.

Thanks to Zhuge Fan's efforts, the barbarians of the 18 caves on the island gradually established contact with the Han. In order to strengthen the contact with the barbarians, Zhuge Fan transported supplies from Panyu to do business with the barbarians on the island. With frequent exchanges, the newly established Zhulu County gradually became populated and became the trade center of the barbarians on Hainan Island.

Of course, the barbarians on the island would not act according to the Han people's order. For money, food, and goods, the barbarians on the island, who already had conflicts, killed each other, and the county magistrate Zhuge Fan was unable to control them.

Fortunately, although Li Yan, the governor of Guanghai, was demoted to a barbarian land, he still had the basic principles of doing things. At the request of Zhuge Fan, Li Yan led a thousand soldiers to Hainan Island. Under the guidance of the local barbarians, he slaughtered the tribes that often did evil to the Han people, as a warning to others.

With Li Yan's intimidation, Zhuge Fan and the barbarians swore an oath to prohibit unprovoked killings, otherwise the Han army would send troops to stop them, and all the barbarians would obey him.

After gaining the approval of the barbarians, Zhuge Fan used the barbarians to reinforce the city walls of Zhulu County and repair the county governor's office.

Considering that there was only one Zhulu County in Dan'er County, and the population in the county was only two or three hundred households. In order to develop Zhulu County, Zhuge Fan began to teach the barbarians how to farm and absorbed the weak tribes on the island. Within two years, the population in the county gradually reached more than 700 households.

Although most of the 700 households in the county were barbarians and the taxes they paid were pitifully low, Zhuge Fan had finally made some achievements. Moreover, through trade and commerce, Dan'er County received a small amount of commercial taxes.

Because of Zhuge Fan's outstanding political achievements, Li Yan personally wrote a letter to commend him and encouraged him to continue working hard.

In order to return to Wuhan as soon as possible and make contributions to Cao Wei, Zhuge Fan planned to build a second county town in the seventh year of Jianxing to produce sea salt and develop agriculture.

However, when Zhuge Fan was about to make great plans in Hainan Island, Li Yan suddenly wrote to tell him the "good news". Under the joint northern expedition of Grand Marshal Huo Jun and Prime Minister Zhuge Liang, Cao Wei monarch Cao Rui changed his surname to Liu Rui, offered Yecheng and surrendered. Now Wei was officially destroyed and the capital would be moved to Chang'an.

Not only that, in order to celebrate the demise of Cao Wei, Jiaozhou Governor Lu Dai rewarded some money and food in the name of the court.

That night, Zhuge Fan couldn't fall asleep for a long time. He stood on the beach, feeling the sea breeze until dawn.

From that day on, Zhuge Fan was unable to do his best, was confused about the future, and even more worried about his uncertain future.

The plan to build a second county town was interrupted by the demise of Cao Wei, which disrupted Zhuge Fan's work for two or three months.

During these two or three months, Zhuge Fan stood by the sea, sometimes thinking of jumping into the sea to die for his country. But thinking that the monarch Cao Rui had changed his surname to Liu Rui, Zhuge Fan gave up the idea of ​​dying for his country.

During those peaceful days, Zhuge Fan thought a lot. He missed his hometown and his relatives, and also hoped that he could achieve great things.

When Zhuge Fan decided to work for the Han Dynasty, he suddenly discovered that he was an undercover agent of Cao Wei. If he was betrayed by Cao Rui, he would be liquidated by the Han Dynasty.

Feeling worried, Zhuge Fan fell into panic again. He didn't know how to face his undercover identity.

Sometimes he hoped to forget his undercover identity and be able to concentrate on his work, but every time he saw a ship docking, he was afraid that it was a soldier coming to arrest him.

In fact, Cao Rui was so busy traveling around because of the destruction of the country that he forgot about Zhuge Fan. He occasionally thought of Zhuge Fan, but forgot about him. It was because of Cao Rui's forgetfulness that Zhuge Fan fell into a dilemma.

After a month of worry, Zhuge Fan plucked up his courage and, in the name of the prefect of Dan'er County, submitted a memorial to the court in Chang'an, titled "Chen Zhongbiao".

In the table, Zhuge Fan explained the origin of his identity and confessed all the details. In it, he admitted his mistakes with tear-jerking words and expressed his willingness to serve the Han Dynasty. Zhuge Fan listed his political achievements since entering Hainan Island and his plans for Hainan Island.

He begged the court to give him a chance to realize his ambitions and do his best for the Han Dynasty. If the Han Dynasty held him accountable for his undercover work, Zhuge Fan would be convinced and only hoped that a good official could be selected to serve as the governor of Dan'er County.

(End of this chapter)