My life is like walking on thin ice

Chapter 433 Shangshu Ling

"What a talent..."

"Great talent..."

...

"Such a great talent, but nobody knew him back then. How different is he from Jia Yi?"

"If this is true, then how could Jia Yi and Jia Changsha be so charming and outstanding..."

The questioning is over.

After leaving behind a reply of tens of thousands of words, Gongsun Hong retreated from the Xuanshi Hall in the same humble manner as when he came.

Gongsun Hong had been gone for a long time, but the next candidate had not yet been summoned by Liu Rong.

The reason was that Gongsun Hong's question made Liu Rong unable to come back to his senses for a long time and fell into a long period of contemplation.

After coming back to his senses, he still couldn't forget to sigh: great talent;

A talent of this level was no match for Jia Yi back then!
At this moment, Liu Rong's curiosity and possessiveness towards the legendary Jia Changsha reached an unprecedented peak.

After sighing in amazement for a long time, Ji An beside him finally spoke, bringing Liu Rong's scattered thoughts back to the present.

Just as he was about to ask Liu Rong whether he wanted to meet the next candidate, he saw that Liu Rong's eyes had already fallen on the imperial desk - the white paper that had just been copied and placed in front of Liu Rong's desk, the ink was not yet dry.

In today's strategic examination, the questions Liu Rong asked Gongsun Hong were actually very difficult.

The difficulty lies in the proposition of "the great evil of the present Han Dynasty", which is too broad and too grand;
It doesn't sound like a tricky question, or an uncommon and unpopular question, and it seems easy to answer.

But in a policy question, in an occasion that concerns a prospective bureaucrat and the impression he makes in the heart of a feudal emperor, this seemingly ordinary but actually extremely grand proposition can easily lead to a bland, mediocre answer.

What big problem does the Han family have now?

Not to mention these well-read and knowledgeable scholars;

Even on the streets of Chang'an, if you randomly pick a little kid still wearing open-crotch pants, he can at least speak a few words properly: the Huns in the north, Zhao Tuo in Lingnan, the princes and vassal kings of Guandong, and so on.

Therefore, the framework of 'three major disadvantages both inside and outside' that Gongsun Hong was able to summarize is actually a very basic standard answer that is not worthy of Liu Rong's admiration at all - not even worthy of Liu Rong raising an eyebrow.

What really opened Liu Rong's eyes was Gongsun Hong's subsequent discussion.

——A strategic examination was never one in which the emperor asked a question and the ministers answered the question based on the facts, and the whole thing ended smoothly.

Question about strategy - the question is about strategy, which is the method and strategy to solve the problem.

It’s like in the future, your boss suddenly asks you: Is the department’s work efficiency a little bit off recently?
At this time, the answer your leader wants you to give is definitely not "yes" or "no";
Instead, you are asked to give the specific reasons for the low work efficiency of the department in recent times from your own perspective.

Who didn't work well?
Who is late and leaves early?
So-and-so forms a clique, so-and-so pretends to obey but actually goes against the rules and so on.

Having answered this, your answer can be considered barely qualified.

If you want extra points, you'd better give specific solutions in the form of suggestions based on these specific problems.

The same principle applies to the discussions between the emperor and his ministers and the questions asked by the emperor today.

Specifically speaking, Liu Rong asked the question about "the great disadvantage of our Han family today";
The actual test question is: Please point out the major problems facing the Han Dynasty today, and give feasible solutions one by one.

At the same time, the format of the entire response, or the style, is limited to: policy essay.

This required Gongsun Hong not only to identify the most urgent issues that needed to be addressed among the numerous problems and bad policies of the Han Dynasty, but also to come up with solutions in a very short time and organize and integrate them into a policy paper.

This not only tests Gongsun Hong's literary level, as well as his language organization and material integration levels - most importantly, it also tests Gongsun Hong's political level.

Can you find the problem accurately?
Can you quickly provide a solution based on the problem?
This is the real core of this policy.

The answer given by Gongsun Hong really opened Liu Rong's eyes.

I wouldn’t say it’s stunning;

At least I feel a little regretful that Gongsun Hong is nearly sixty years old.

——I wish I were younger.

——If only you were younger, you could serve me for a few more years...

"If you were to solve this problem, I'm afraid you wouldn't be able to do it to Gongsun Hong's level, right?"

When Liu Rong spoke slowly, Ji An immediately lowered his head and said "hmm" in a deep voice. He did not feel the slightest bit indignant because of Liu Rong's comparison.

Gongsun Hong's essay was not only amazing to Liu Rong;

Ji An, who was recording the whole time, was also overwhelmed with emotions, and even at this moment, he had not completely calmed down.

The reason for this is that at this moment, on the white paper in front of Liu Rong, every word and sentence was filled with shocking "violent remarks"...

"External threats were the Xiongnu in the north and the Baiyue in the south - especially Zhao Tuo of Nanyue;"

"In the past, the public opinion inside and outside the court has always been: the northern barbarians, the Huns, must be punished with thunderous wrath and conquered with a strong army for hundreds of battles in order to eliminate their claws and teeth."

"As for the Baiyue in the south, this has been determined since the time of Emperor Taizu Gao."

"——Zhao Tuo is old; if he dies, Nanyue will surely be in chaos."

"When Zhao Tuo died, Nanyue was in chaos, and the Hundred Yue in Lingnan were leaderless. The Han Dynasty could make the Hundred Yue in Lingnan submit without bloodshed..."

Having said this, Ji An couldn't help but take a deep breath and once again cast his gaze towards the imperial desk in front of Liu Rong.

——Waging war against the Xiongnu in the north and pursuing peaceful unification with the Baiyue in the south has been the consistent principle of the Han Dynasty’s court over the past few decades.

The reason for this is that the Huns in the north "are not of our race, and their hearts must be different."

To use the conclusion of later historians: nomadic peoples forget morality when they see small profits, cherish their lives when they plan for big things, and subvert the moral principles and human relations;

They eat raw meat and drink blood, have loose hair and wear clothes with the left side of their clothes on. They are truly an unconquered land and an unconquered people.

Since they are "unconquered people in an unconquered land", and they are savages who fear power but not virtue, who fear the strong but not pity the weak, then of course they must be beaten up first and made to submit;

After defeating them, we can then consider whether to enlighten them, enlighten their wisdom, or even level the wheels...

The Baiyue people in Lingnan were incorporated into the Chinese cultural circle hundreds and thousands of years ago.

Gou Jian, the King of Yue during the Spring and Autumn Period, is still regarded as the "ancestor" by the people of the Yue in southern Lingnan even today;
The Minyue royal family, the Zou clan, are directly descendants of King Gou Jian of Yue!
Such a region and group, which had regarded themselves as "Chinese nobility" hundreds of years ago, naturally could not be treated in the same way as the Huns.

Furthermore, the integration of the Lingnan region with Chinese civilization, or the process of the Lingnan region unilaterally honoring and disgracing Chinese civilization, entered a period of rapid development about eighty years ago.

Qin generals Ren Xiong and Zhao Tuo led the Qin army to cross the Five Ridges, control Lingnan, and truly incorporate Lingnan into the territory of Chinese civilization.

Later, when Qin II died, Zhao Tuo destroyed the roads and cut off the ravines. After establishing his own regime, he did not slow down the process of "educating" the people in Lingnan at all.

Advanced farming methods!
How to make cloth and clothes~
Even literature, culture, and bureaucratic system were promoted throughout Lingnan by Zhao Tuo with all his efforts.

To this day, the land of Lingnan - especially the Nanyue Kingdom under the rule of Zhao Tuo, whether the army, bureaucracy, nobles, or people, are no different from the people of China.

Although in some aspects, it is still backward compared to the current Han Dynasty, it is ultimately a "backward Chinese agricultural civilization" rather than a completely different nomadic civilization or other foreign civilization.

To put it bluntly, the problems in the Lingnan region cannot be considered purely external problems.

At least the previous emperors of the Han Dynasty, including Liu Rong, hoped to treat it as an internal issue and solve the Nanyue issue internally by politically characterizing it as "Zhao Tuo's separatist regime." How to solve it internally?

In the long run, it will naturally have a subtle and silent influence, making the Lingnan region's centripetal force towards Chinese culture increasingly stronger, and eventually find a suitable opportunity to transform the "foreign vassal" into a "prince" through peaceful means.

To put it simply, it is just as Ji An said just now: outlast Zhao Tuo.

Once Zhao Tuo dies, Nanyue will be in chaos;

If Nanyue is in chaos, then Minyue and Dongyue will naturally not be able to remain stable as before.

No matter if the three parties were attacking each other or there was internal turmoil, the Han family could act quickly and recover the Lingnan region in the name of "suppressing the rebellion on behalf of the suzerain state".

In order to achieve this goal, the successive emperors of the Han Dynasty also made a lot of efforts.

——For example, up to now, the crown princes of the three kingdoms of Nanyue, Minyue and Dongyue have all tacitly been kept as hostages in Chang'an.

Most of them came to Chang'an in their childhood and lived in separate residences arranged by the Zongzheng Yamen, receiving a pure Chinese cultural education. They grew up in the political and economic center of Chinese culture and were influenced by the strongest Chinese culture.

During this period, they will have teachers, classmates, and friends who are of Confucian origin;
He will have a confidante carefully selected by the court and tailor-made for him, as well as the children conceived by her.

They could not leave until their father was seriously ill and dying and needed them to return to the country to inherit the throne.

But their descendants cannot leave.

Their confidantes and children would stay in Chang'an, waiting for their husbands and fathers, who had become the kings of Nanyue/Minyue/Dongyue, to come to Chang'an to see them.

Obviously, after ascending the throne, most of them did not dare to come to Chang'an.

Therefore, their offspring who remain in Chang'an will become their new territory controlled by the Chang'an court.

——Send your prince here quickly!

——Otherwise, I will confer the title of Crown Prince of the King of Yue on this son of yours who was left in Chang'an!

It's not just this scene - no matter what happens in the future when this King of Yue offends the court in Chang'an, the Han Dynasty can use this child as a threat.

When the time comes, this child can even become the Han Dynasty's behind-the-scenes remote control and control a puppet king of the Yue State.

Liu Rong always thought that this method was very clever.

At least under the current conditions, there is basically no more cost-effective way to solve the Lingnan problem.

But Gongsun Hong's question today gave a "radical statement".

——The first step: assassinate Zhao Tuo!

And it was not an ambush, assassination or poisoning in the popular sense, but a more covert means, in which Zhao Tuo was artificially caused to die 'naturally'.

For example, death from illness.

The second step was to send envoys to South Vietnam;

The envoys tried every possible means to anger the people of Nanyue.

When things can't be done, let the messenger commit suicide!

The third step is to send troops to the border in the name of "South Vietnamese Slaughter Angel"!

But they were in no hurry to attack, and only deployed troops on the border to exert pressure.

When Min Yue and Dong Yue could no longer hold back and wanted to take advantage of the situation to attack South Vietnam, they would advance by sea and by train, and wipe out the armed forces of the three countries, Min Yue and Dong Yue, in the relatively flat and highly developed territory of South Vietnam!
Finally, let’s characterize the three: South Vietnam is the slaughtering angel, Min Yue and East Vietnam have ulterior motives and are trying to resist the heavenly soldiers!
With this combination of punches, the justification for the action, the cost-effectiveness, the time and cycle - everything is arranged in a comprehensive manner!

After Nanyue was recovered, the old Qin system was restored and counties were established in Lingnan.

If necessary, we can symbolically give these three royal families a few humiliating titles of Marquis and place them under house arrest in Chang'an...

What does Liu Rong think of this plan?
It doesn’t sound very ethical;
But Liu Rong likes it very much!
Morality or immorality, when it comes to national interests and major issues of right and wrong, is not as important as walking together!

Moreover, this set of plans are almost entirely open and aboveboard conspiracies. They will be implemented in a mighty manner, allowing the Han Dynasty to completely crush the Lingnan land at the lowest cost!

At least in Liu Rong's opinion, this has nothing to do with "sinister and cunning".

Gongsun Hong was so "violent" and "tough" towards Nanyue, so it was impossible for him to be lenient towards the Xiongnu in the north and the Korean Peninsula in the northeast.

——Gongsun Hong pursued the extermination policy of "kill one person if you meet one, kill a tribe if you meet one" in response to the Huns in the north.

In Gongsun Hong's view, only by killing these savages on the grassland and scaring them - or even killing them all - could they completely submit and no longer pose a threat to the Han Dynasty.

The situation on the Korean Peninsula is even more exaggerated.

Gongsun Hong said directly: People?
Where are the people on the Korean Peninsula?

Wasn't it that the kingdom of Korea, which was granted by the Zhou Dynasty, was taken over by Wei Man?

We, the Han Dynasty, should send a large army to the border, and under the pretext of "annihilating Wei Man", conquer the entire Korean Peninsula!

Never mind whether the place is cold or useful or not - there is no useless land.

"Whoo~"

"As expected, he is the radical who has dealt with the Ram in recent years..."

"hehe;"

"Ah……"

In a moment, Liu Rong had an idea in his mind.

——The most outstanding people in this imperial examination, perhaps a dozen or twenty in number, are qualified to be accepted into the Shangshutai by Liu Rong for personal training.

But Liu Rong already had a candidate for the position of Shangshu Ling.

Liu Rong had already made his decision after only meeting Gongsun Hong and before even summoning the second person.

Liu Rong even counted on his fingers to calculate Gongsun Hong's age.

"First appoint him as Shangshu Ling, and by the way, raise him to a rank of 2,000-stone."

"After a year or so, he will be promoted to the rank of Nine Ministers..."

"——Da Nong?"

"It's still Taipu..."

...

"When Dou Ying became prime minister, Han Anguo became imperial censor, and the next one was Gongsun Hong."

"Um……"

"When Dou Ying retires, forget Han Anguo - let Gongsun Hong be the prime minister!"

"Otherwise, if we continue to delay this, we might end up dying again..."