Goose Three Kingdoms

Chapter 613 Five Equal Divisions
This time the hot air balloon takes off, it is bound to crash.

Rather than waiting for this experimental model to crash accidentally, it would be better to destroy it in public.

When the hot air balloon was about to be launched, the accompanying officials began to pack their bags and load them onto the truck.

Before noon, the cavalry team that was searching for Lu Bu on the north bank returned with Lu Bu.

Black Bear didn't want to waste a moment, so he boarded the steam tank and headed for Shanglin Garden.

Outside the camp, many celebrities watched the team go south.

Du Ji stood behind a few people, recalling the banquet. Although Da Sima did not take the initiative to talk to him, he observed him several times.

If this was an intentional move, it might mean that his chance to enter officialdom was about to come.

With examples like Liu Ye and Cui Zhouping, and next spring being the agreed year for performance appraisal, there are bound to be drastic personnel changes.

If you don't do your job well and get bad evaluations, you will be demoted or dismissed.

What I fear most is that my colleagues, superiors, or subordinates break the law. It would be fine if I knew about it but didn't report it, but if I was unaware and was implicated and demoted or dismissed from office, that would be really unfair.

This is the worry of lower-level officials, and middle and upper-level officials are even more afraid of mass confinement that causes widespread killings.

When pacifying Hedong and Taiyuan counties, there was a shortage of officials, so the emperor had to ask many people to recommend others, forming a relationship between recommenders and recommended students.

If the recommended disciples commit a crime, the recommender will be implicated; if the recommender commits a crime, the disciples will also be implicated.

This is also the logic of the political struggles during the Han Dynasty. There was no such thing as catching the big and letting go of the small. Everything was swept away in one go.

However, Du Ji had a premonition that he should not be so eager to enter the officialdom.

Just like burning wood, Cui Zhouping's flames were raging but also went out quickly.

I have no intention of bargaining, nor do I want to wait and see how the situation changes.

I simply think it would be better to leave later. It would be best if I could work for three to five years and then retire when I’m old and return to my hometown to enjoy my retirement.

The negative example is Liu Ye, who is so young and talented in both civil and military affairs, and must be severely suppressed.

There is a lot of work to do, and many people will be picky and keep finding hard and tiring work for Liu Ye, leaving him with no energy or opportunity to manage his own party.

In the convoy heading south, Black Bear had a rare moment of free time. He held a roll of atlas and studied it carefully.

This is a list of the chief officials and deputy chief officials of the various ministries of the shogunate and the chief officials of the Kinai and Kinki counties. Those with an official rank of 400 koku or above will be listed on it.

The new division plan of Kinai and Kinki was intended to enhance the status of the core counties and eliminate the inherent influence of the three auxiliary counties and six counties.

Jinei refers to the three prefectures in Guanzhong, where the three prefecture commanders were in charge of conscription, garrison, and public security in each county. In fact, they were only responsible for population statistics and public security.

Even public security was the responsibility of the hundred households distributed throughout the place.

The ten counties near the capital include Hongnong, Hedong, Taiyuan, Xihe, Shang, Anding, Tianshui, Longxi, Hanzhong, and Nanxiang, which border the Three Auxiliary Prefectures or have close ties with them.

Next year's performance appraisal will require securing control of these thirteen counties.

Of the chief officials of these thirteen counties with an official rank of more than 400 dan, one-fifth were dismissed, one-fifth were punished, one-fifth were retained, one-fifth were transferred among themselves, and the remaining one-fifth were promoted to the central government.

Those who were promoted were either added to the various departments of the shogunate or sent to the Taichang Temple. They could also be transferred to Ma Teng's shogunate of the General of the Northern Frontier. Zhong Yao's office of the Inspector of the Imperial Capital was also an independent government, and there were also staffing positions available to fill it.

If these structures are insufficient, one or two ministerial institutions will be restored as appropriate to accommodate redundant staff.

Two-fifths of the people were laid off and punished... Such a huge gap could not be filled by the various departments of the shogunate, so they could only select people from the hundred-household system.

The system of hundred households cannot be emptied out all at once, so this year's Hehuang Battle is another screening channel. The meritorious men who participated in the war in various counties will be awarded military titles, and then after the performance evaluation is completed next year, when there are vacant military positions, these people will be used to fill the vacancies.

The impact of this matter is too long-term, so after Fa Zheng helps me complete this matter, he will be sent out.

After Fa Zheng, who will replace him?
Zhuge Jin is not suitable for promotion and cannot form any inherent promotion path for the secretariat.

An outsider must be found to replace the Secretary-General. Otherwise, the Secretary-Superintendent will be promoted to Secretary-General, and then the Secretary-Superintendent will be elected from within the secretaries... This will cause the secretariat to expand and be difficult to control.

The Secretariat was expanded from the Chief Clerk Huangge. The first Chief Clerk was Yang Fu, and the current one is Fa Zheng. The successor must not be from Guanlong.

The scholars in Hedong and Taiyuan had original sin, and the scholars in Youzhou were similar. They belonged to the conquered areas. Directly promoting someone from these areas to be the Secretary-General would cause internal slander.

So we need to see whose voice of dissatisfaction is the loudest.

Black Bear pondered, staring at the strings of official titles, names, places of origin and ages on the scroll with lowered brows.

Before this, he had to use a pen to circle the names on the list and determine the priority based on the number of circles.

But now, personal privacy and private space are getting smaller and smaller.

Circles to mark priorities will only cause unnecessary trouble.

There are only a few suitable candidates, and which controversial figure will replace Fa Zheng will depend on the results of next year's evaluation.

At night, the team arrived at the Sijin Duwei Prefecture and settled in the camp for the night. The kang in the barracks had been ignited two days in advance, and the accumulated moisture was dried out.

It was only at this time that Black Bear made time to meet Zhao Yun. Zhang Fei arrived right after Zhao Yun... This shows that Zhao Yun was an emergency, and it may also mean that the matter here for Zhao Yun is very important.

Zhao Yun was a little reserved. He had taken off his armor, changed into a light robe, and came wearing clogs.

Even if Black Bear invited him, he would not sit on the kang... Although the kang is very large, occupying one-third of the room area, many people sit cross-legged on the kang to work.

Zhao Yun sat on a round stool in front of the kang and talked about the difficulties encountered in Liaodong.

It would have been fine if Gongsun Kang and his brothers had forced their tribesmen and civilians to migrate, but they also burned all the boats that they could not take with them. This was more or less excessive.

The shipbuilding and naval talents were basically taken away by the Gongsun Kang brothers.

These talents were naturally assigned to Xuan Liang, who was in charge of Pingyang Third Shipyard; many of them also took up technical management positions in various small forest farms.

Even if Liu Bei came to invite them personally, these people might not be willing to go back.

Although the winter in Taiyuan is cold, it is no big deal for these immigrants compared to Liaodong.

After hearing about the difficulties and urgency of shipbuilding in Liaodong, Black Bear couldn't help but think of Liu Jing and his hundreds of followers.

If Liu Qi could sponsor and loan out some more manpower, making up 500 people, it would not only solve Liu Bei's urgent need for shipbuilding, but also eliminate the hidden danger of Liu Jing.

Keeping Liu Jing, supporting Liu Jing...is essentially a disguised signal to the outside world.

As for the origin of their own bloodline, black bears really don't care much.

If there was no Taoyuan land card, he would have actively changed his surname to Liu and wanted to revive the Yan and Han dynasties.

The Liu brand name is not that helpful to him now, but the historical burden is particularly heavy.

Throw away this burden, travel light, be practical, and don't be burdened by false reputation or personal relationships. This is the true essence of a great man.

After this idea came up, Black Bear said, "General Zilong doesn't know that the shipbuilding plan in Guanzhong is very heavy. When Gan Xingba was stationed in Hongnong, he detected and recorded the changes of the river water in four seasons. He wanted to dig through the Dizhu of Shan County to connect the Guanzhong and Guandong water transport. Therefore, it is difficult to borrow the craftsmen from Guanzhong."

"We can borrow people from Jingxiang. Craftsmen are easy to find, but the hardest to find are officers and soldiers who are good at naval warfare. We have some people now. I wonder if Lord Xuande is willing to accept them?"

"Please give me your instructions, Grand Sima."

"It's Liu Wengong, the crown prince of the pseudo dynasty."

Black Bear turned his head to look at Fa Zheng who was standing beside him. Fa Zheng coughed twice and told the story: "After the Grand Marshal sent Liu Wengong back, Liu Wengong returned to Jiangdong and realized that his father was controlled by a powerful official. Initially, it was not the intention of the King of Huainan to become emperor. It was actually forced by the people of Jianghuai. After the defeat in Jingzhou, the generals in Jiangbei led their people to surrender to the Grand Marshal. The King of Huainan was trapped both internally and externally, and the power fell into the hands of others. His son Liu Wengong had no choice but to flee, otherwise both father and son would die in the future."

Zhao Yun's eyes widened: "How dare you, a traitor?"

Black Bear smiled and said, "Is there anything they dare not do? They can coerce the King of Huainan to become emperor, and then murder the King of Huainan to replace him with another emperor. I think it should be no problem for them to do so."

Zhao Yun was really surprised. Liu Fu had a reputation for being a virtuous man and had the support of the scholars from Lianghuai and Liangpei. By doing this, weren't the people of Jiangdong afraid that the scholars from Huai and Si would leave Jiangdong?
But considering that Cao Cao was blocking the north, was it possible for Cao Cao to enter Jianye and once again become the de facto controlling official of the pseudo-dynasty?

Under the pressure of survival, the big families in Jiangdong were unwilling to bear the bad reputation. Was it possible that they invited Cao Cao to govern the country?

Aren’t you afraid that Cao Cao will implement Qingzhou’s policy in Jiangdong?
There is also a possibility that Cao Cao would govern the north and, following the example of Guanzhong, establish a Shangshu Xingtai in Qingxu.

Under various pressures, any combination of distorted cognition is possible.

If Liu Fu really died suddenly of illness in the near future, then his son Liu Jing could be considered a rare treasure.

But Liaodong had not even assimilated the Dongyi nations, let alone a complete navy, so how could it possibly cross the Bohai Sea?

Then, Zhao Yun realized that Liu Jing definitely did not have just a few hundred people.

If Liu Fuzhen dies of illness in a short period of time, the Pseudo-Dynasty navy stationed in Langya Port will most likely leave the Pseudo-Dynasty!

This navy was originally formed by the old army of Jiangdong, mixing scholars from Lianghuai, Liangpei, and immigrants, including many from Xuzhou.

The sense of belonging to the pseudo-dynasty mainly comes from Liu Fu’s personal charm, rather than the pseudo-dynasty country.

Seeing the black bear looking at him with a smile, Zhao Yun cupped his hands and said, "This matter is not for an outsider to decide. I beg the Grand Marshal to give me more time."

"Well, this matter depends on Lord Xuande. Liu Wengong is a rising star in the royal family. I didn't want to harm him. I also knew that his father's claim to the throne was not his original intention, so I let him go. Now I just want to find him a place to stay and a place to use his martial arts."

Black Bear hesitated for a moment, then said, "I will send a message to Jingzhou to make preparations. If Lord Xuande agrees, I will send someone to escort Liu Wengong."

"I understand. I will set off back to Liaodong tomorrow."

"Well, I'll give General Zilong a pass later so that he can change horses along the way."

As Black Bear spoke, he turned his head and looked at Wei Kang. Wei Kang changed a page of watermarked official paper and began to write the relevant documents.

Black Bear added: "Liaodong is remote, and it is inconvenient for me to communicate with Lord Xuande. After Zilong returns, you can ask Lord Xuande to send someone to Guanzhong to manage the Liaodong Trading House to facilitate trade and communication."

"Yes."

(End of this chapter)