Goose Three Kingdoms

Chapter 634: Human Affairs
On the twelfth day of the first lunar month, Liu Bao led the nobles of various Xiongnu tribes and some Xianbei nobles to the northern mountain of Ganquan.

This place can be regarded as Ganquan North Township, and the messy shrubs have long been cleared away.

The surrounding hillsides are planted with trees and various fruit trees, and the slightly flat areas are also planted with alfalfa by the tireless Taoist soldiers.

At this moment, in the largest valley in Beixiang, only the dark areas of the Yinshan Mountains had any remaining snow.

Led by the tribal chief priest, Liu Bao led the nobles from various tribes to worship the golden man.

This golden man is riding a gilded bronze horse with its front hooves raised and holding a Fang Tian Ji, looking exactly like Tai Shi Wen Gong.

Originally, the Xiongnu people's spring sacrifice to heaven was a gathering of various tribes to discuss the allocation of pastures for the year.

But the grasslands in the Yellow River basin south of Yinshan Mountain have long been divided up by black bears, with willows or red willows as boundaries.

Therefore, in spring, only simple activities such as worshiping the gods and conducting trade remain.

In a winter world, the handicrafts of various Xiongnu tribes could produce some things, mostly bone carvings, fur coats, felt carpets and the like.

What they sold were all kinds of common daily utensils and consumables, and luxury items such as weapons, armor or Shu brocade were given to them in the form of rewards.

Basically, men came to Beixiang to worship the heaven, and women went to Dongxiang to receive rewards from Zhen Mi.

After the sacrifice to heaven, the accompanying Xiongnu nobles would take the young men of their tribe to Chang'an University for half a month to purchase books and the like.

The only trade restrictions were on the heavy crossbow, iron smelting, sericulture, and textile-related skills. The two new technical concepts, the steam engine and the hot air balloon, were widely spread and not banned.

While the Xiongnu nobles were enjoying the scenery of Guanzhong, in the Shangshu Xingtai, three Shangshu and five Shangshu Lang were so tired that their hands were cramping.

Pei Mao really wanted to add some staff to strengthen the Shangshu Xingtai.

However, in order to ensure the authority of the Shangshu Xingtai, only people with experience in the Shangshu Tai were selected to join.

Including him, there are only nine people in the Shangshu Xingtai.

Any transfer of officials with a rank of 300 stones or above requires the issuance of an imperial edict by the Shangshu Xingtai.

Starting from the 16th day of the first lunar month, we have to handle transfer orders for more than 200 people every day.

Almost on the same day, the thirty-eight counties in the three prefectures were dealt with; followed by the outer counties in the capital.

An official needs to be removed from office, promoted, transferred, or imprisoned; he also needs to be replaced.

A change in official position involves two people, and two edicts need to be written and copied into the files.

The Shangshu Xingtai was busy until the end of the month, when it finally returned to normal, with about 20 to 30 imperial edicts issued every day.

There were not enough Huangmen Shilang and Yuzhe to cooperate with Shangshu Xingtai to convey the imperial edict. Fortunately, more than a dozen people were promoted from various counties in the three prefectures to enrich the team of Shilang and Yuzhe, which ensured the delivery of the imperial edict.

Near the end of the month, the draft of the official bulletin for the first half of February was delivered to Black Bear.

The official report was originally only six to eight pages long, but this time it covered a wide range and was as long as fifty-eight pages.

Every change in senior officials with a salary of more than 300 dan or personnel changes in assistant officials with a salary of more than 400 dan are recorded.

Originally, personnel changes reported in the official gazette would simply record the other party’s resume and achievements.

This time, there are only densely packed names.

The replacement of the old with the new must be completed during the spring ploughing season and the cultivation of official fields must not be affected.

It took Black Bear nearly a day to review the draft of the official report, and he deleted some information about key people and positions.

In this performance evaluation, as many as 435 families were sent to jail because of their fathers and brothers’ job positions.

The examination of merit in the three prefectures was strict, that in the capital region was slightly stricter, and that in the four counties of Hexi, the counties of the frontier, and the counties of Yizhou were more lax. The least strict was the examination of merit in the counties of Yizhou, where half of the county officials were transferred from within Yizhou. After one-fifth of them were punished, the rest were promoted to the central government or to other places; vacant positions were also filled from outside.

The main additions were Ba County, Guanghan County and Shu County. Hanzhong belonged to the Jinjing area and was basically out of the management of Yizhou Prefecture.

With such a large-scale cleansing, Black Bear does not dare to relax and has already begun mobilizing the Five Color Knights.

Although mobilizing the Five Color Knights to quell the rebellion was a bit slow, it was far less fast than if he led his personal soldiers from the central army, and even less efficient than if he rode there himself.

But this attitude is important.

On February 2, many young people who stayed at Chang'an University had returned home to participate in the spring ploughing, and the scholars who stayed at Chang'an University also prepared farming tools to plough the fields near the university town.

In the office of the Inspector of the Imperial Guards, the chief clerk Yang Guang received a thick stack of "Di Bao" early in the morning. He flipped through it as he walked, and his steps stopped unconsciously.

After finishing reading, Yang Guang's face turned slightly pale, and he came to the study where Zhong Yao lived.

Zhong Yao's wife, Jia, lived here, but Zhong Yao and she lived in a separate room and both slept in the front yard of the office area.

In the study, Zhong Yao did not bother to wash up, and casually flipped through the list in the official newspaper, then smiled and said, "This winter, the Grand Marshal did not lead troops to fight, but he fought inside."

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Zhong Yao disliked the confusing information above and threw it on the table casually: "Don't worry, Grand Marshal's doing this will only benefit us, not harm us. Otherwise, with the passage of time, the old and the new will be mixed together, and if such a thunderbolt and raging thing happens again, it will inevitably affect innocent people. Now it's good, the distinction is clear, and the meritorious people will naturally feel at ease."

The office of the Inspector of the Sili Army was basically not involved, and more than a dozen county magistrates were selected from various counties in Sizhou and sent to the office of the Inspector of the Sili Army.

Based on Zhong Yao's understanding of Hei Xiong, before the next round of performance evaluations, if there were no problems in his office, he would naturally send a group of his subordinates out to serve as county magistrates based on their qualifications.

It is impossible to give him fruit first, we have to see how he performs.

As long as there is a group of people, even seven or eight subordinates who are sent to be county magistrates, the influence and status of his Sili Xiaowei's office will change, and he will have a fixed number of places to enter the officialdom.

This quota did not bring any direct benefit to Zhong Yao, but every official who started his official career under him was his disciple and former official, and the foundation for the future of his family and descendants.

There is an examination every three years, and every year a fixed group of students and former officials enter the official career... This is already a qualitative leap.

Looking at the others, only the Minister of Rites Wei Duan can grab a few spots; others, such as the General Ma Teng who also has his own government, may not get this opportunity.

It is very likely that before the next performance evaluation, the Zhenbei General's shogunate will be disbanded, Ma Teng will be recruited into the court, appointed as a minister, the court organization will be restored, and a ministerial office will be opened.

As long as the pseudo-dynasty exists, the Jian'an court has its meaning of existence.

Therefore, the pseudo-dynasty cannot be destroyed quickly. Only by keeping the pseudo-dynasty can the Grand Marshal have ample time to calmly adjust and replace the county officials.

As long as the Jian'an court existed, the Sili Xiaowei Office had legitimacy and necessity to exist.

For some reason, Zhong Yao was not really looking forward to the army leaving Guandong.

As for the current dividends under the shogunate's rule, he and Wei Duan are the only ones who can reap a big bite on behalf of Dongzhou and Xizhou respectively... This is an advantage that no one else can match!
Therefore, the most important thing next is not to offend Da Sima, and try to make yourself happy and live longer.

If he died early, it would be a loss for his family and also for Sima Da.

As for leading officials from Guandong to request the Grand Marshal to send troops to Guandong...this kind of thing really cannot be refused.

He had to consider the feelings of the scholars in his hometown to some extent. If he didn't make a statement, bandits would really wipe out his entire Zhong family.

Zhong Yao's reaction was indifferent, but all the scholars who stayed in the university town, regardless of their eastern or western origin, were excited by this drastic personnel adjustment.

The more violent the storm, the bigger the waves, the wider the path for them to become officials!

At least, the chances of giving it a try are great!

(End of this chapter)