Thief Emperor

Chapter 492: Pragmatism First
Among the twelve people chosen by Li Yun, Yao Zhong from Wuzhou and Xu Shen from Changzhou were among them.

It is worth mentioning that most of these twelve people were born under Li Yun's rule. Except for Xu and Yao, the remaining ten people, four were from Yuezhou, two were from Jinling Prefecture, and one was from Wujun. Among the remaining three, one was Li Yun's fellow townsman and was born in Xuanzhou.

The remaining two are from other states and counties.

Although this ratio is a bit exaggerated, it is not surprising if you think about it carefully.

In recent years, the place where Li Yun has spent the longest time is Yuezhou, and he has also done the most work in Yuezhou. Yuezhou is the only place where the four words "equal distribution of land and exemption of taxes" have been truly implemented.

The people of Yuezhou can actually see all of this.

Therefore, when Li Yun posted notices in the prefectures and counties under his rule, these scholars from Yuezhou responded to Li Yun much more actively than those from other states.

Li Yun first met these four people from Yuezhou, and he met them together.

The oldest of these four people was only thirty-three or thirty-four years old, and the youngest was in his early twenties. After Li Yuan saw Li Yun, they all bowed respectfully.

"Greetings, my lord!"

Hearing this address, Li Yun was startled, then he smiled at the four people and said, "Sit down and talk."

In this era, "adult" refers to parents, elders, or important people of high status, and is not used to refer to officials.

But Li Yun had been the chief official of Yuezhou, so it made sense for them to call him "sir".

Obviously, on the way to see Li Yun, these four people probably discussed how to address him.

If the purpose was to get close to him, he should naturally address him by his old official title in Yuezhou to show closeness. However, Li Yun was only Sima in Yuezhou at that time and had never been the Governor of Yuezhou. So it was not appropriate to call him Sima at this moment.

Calling him Lord Fu seems a bit awkward.

After all, these people from Yuezhou sincerely want to join Li Yun and serve under him.

After much thought, I came up with the idea of ​​calling him "Sir", which is both reasonable and intimate.

After the four people sat down, Li Yun looked at them and said softly, "Zhang Mi, He Huaizhang, Qian Ping, Lu Yuan."

The four people stood up quickly and bowed their heads, saying, "Here we are."

Li Yun pressed his hands, motioning the four people to sit down, and then asked, "Did you come from Yuezhou together?"

"Yes."

Lu Yuan, the oldest, bowed his head and replied, "After Yuezhou posted the adults' notice, many scholars in Yuezhou wanted to come. We, a group of more than 40 people, came to Jinling together."

He took a deep breath, looked up at Li Yun and said, "Except for our group, there should be two to three hundred scholars from Yuezhou. After being examined by Jinling officials, more than forty of them stayed to take the seven subjects of your Excellency."

Hearing this, Li Yun was also somewhat touched, and couldn't help but sigh: "I have been in Yuezhou for only a little over a year, and I haven't done much. I didn't expect that Yuezhou still remembers me."

He Huaizhang was also nearly thirty years old. He stood up, bowed to Li Yun and said, "Before you came to Yuezhou, Yuezhou was in chaos caused by Qiu Dian. The people were living in misery and suffering."

"It has been a year since you arrived in Yuezhou, and Yuezhou has completely recovered. To this day, it is becoming more prosperous. The people of Yuezhou all remember your kindness."

Li Yun smiled dumbly: "When I was in Yuezhou, I was only the state Sima."

The other two also stood up and said, "Before Envoy Du arrived in Yuezhou, you had already governed Yuezhou in an orderly manner. We, the people of Yuezhou, have seen it all."

He paused and continued, "The people of Yuezhou are also very grateful for the merits of Envoy Du."

Li Yun nodded slightly and said, "Is Yuezhou okay now?"

"After Envoy Du left, Envoy Zhuo took charge of Yuezhou. Later, Envoy Zhuo also left Yuezhou, and Envoy Cao, who was promoted from a county below, became the governor."

"Several governors have done their job well, and Yuezhou is now thriving."

As the saying goes, if something is good at the top, it will be very bad at the bottom.

If Li Yun did not control his subordinates strictly, the states and counties would have been rotten by now. However, he managed the states and counties very strictly, and the Jiangdong Group was still very young, so relatively speaking, the entire official class was still very healthy.

Li Yun nodded with satisfaction, then looked at the four people and got down to business.

"I have read your answers, and they are generally good. I rate you as Grade A. I have four vacancies in the counties that I can assign to you."

"Lujiang County in Luzhou, Haiyan County in Wujun, Dongyang County in Wuzhou, and... Qingyang County in Xuanzhou."

"Each of you will act as the county magistrate in your capacity as county magistrate."

Li Yun looked at the expressions of the four people and continued, "It will be for one year. After one year, if you do well, you will be transferred to the county magistrate. If you do a good job."

"I can promote you directly to the state."

"You can choose from four counties."

The oldest, Lu Yuan, thought for a moment, then stood up and bowed his head and said, "Sir, I want to go to Qingyang County."

Li Yun looked at him and said with a smile: "That's my hometown, think it through."

“The students have thought it through.”

Lu Yuan took a deep breath, feeling quite excited. The people of Yuezhou, especially the four of them who had applied for seven subjects, had guessed that Li Yun would select and appoint officials, but they had never thought that Li Yun would directly let them be county magistrates!
This was something that none of them had dared to even think about before!

However, since I have this rare opportunity, I naturally need to show off in front of the "Lord". So the best opportunity is to govern Qingyang and take charge of the Lord's hometown!

In this way, if there are any political achievements, the boss will definitely not miss them.

Li Yun glanced at him and said with a smile: "Okay, then you go to Qingyang."

He Huaizhang stood up and bowed his head and said, "Students go to Haiyan!"

"Students go to Lujiang."

"Students go to Dongyang."

In a blink of an eye, all four positions were assigned. Li Yun chatted with these Yuezhou people for a long time before having them taken out of Li Garden.

In the following few days, Du Qian and others divided the scholars who participated in this literary gathering into three grades: A, B and C. The scholars of grade A would be appointed as county magistrates or acting county magistrates, or stay in Jinling Prefecture and serve as officials in the government office.

The second class were appointed according to the county magistrate's appointment, or according to their respective subjects, and were left in Jinling City to await assignment.

As for the lowest grade, Class C, they can return to their hometowns, or stay in Jinling City... to be used as clerks.

At this time, Li Yun finally met the best practical candidate among the seven subjects, Yao Zhong from Wuzhou.

When Yao Zhong was brought to Li Yun's study, he bowed to Li Yun respectfully, and his tone was very respectful: "Yao Zhong of Wuzhou, I pay my respects to the Lord!"

Li Yun put down the brush in his hand, looked at him, and said lightly: "Sit down and talk."

Yao Zhong was already forty years old, with a tuft of slightly gray hair on his head, but in front of Li Yun, he still behaved like a disciple and was very respectful.

Li Yun glanced at him and said with a smile: "I heard that you tore up my notice in the guild hall and drove away dozens of candidates."

Yao Zhong looked calm, lowered his head and said, "My Lord, those are just mediocre people. If they stay, they will only waste your time."

Li Yun looked at him and smiled silently.

"You gave a good answer to the practical question, with many ideas that really suit my taste."

Li Yun stood up, walked around with his hands behind his back, and said, "I'm going to nominate you as the leader of this literary gathering."

Yao Zhong showed a look of joy, and bowed to Li Yun. After bowing, he seemed to remember something, and lowered his head and said, "Sir, I heard that many of my peers were appointed to other places and became county magistrates. I wonder what my job is?"

"You are the leader, so you are naturally different from them."

Li Yun stretched and said, "There is a Hezhou next to Chuzhou, and it is still short of a governor. I want you to be the governor of Hezhou."

Yao Zhong's heart skipped a beat. He looked up at Li Yun, then lowered his head and gritted his teeth: "Sir, I...I want to stay in Jinling."

Li Yun was startled and asked, "What job do you want to do in Jinling?"

"I heard, I heard that Lord Du is extremely busy every day. I want to stay in Jinling and help Lord Du..."

Li frowned and asked, "Where did you hear that?"

"My Lord, Lord Du summoned us to the government office a few days ago. I had nothing to do and heard this while chatting with the officials in the government office."

Li Yun thought about it, then smiled dumbly: "You... are quite smart."

He looked at Yao Zhong and asked, "With your personality and age, you should be able to get a job, but why are you still a white-collar worker?"

Yao Zhong bowed and sighed, "Sir, in the Great Zhou, one must have a good family background and connections to succeed. Other skills are useless."

"I, I am just a little clever, not a big talent."

Li Yun looked at him seriously, touched his chin, and said, "You can stay in Jinling, but there is one thing I must tell you. If you choose to stay in Jinling, I can't give you the title."

Seeing Yao Zhong's stunned expression, Li Yun said calmly: "The champion of this subject must go out to be a governor, that would be good."

Yao Zhong understood. He stood there and thought carefully for a long time. Finally, he gritted his teeth and bowed his head and said, "Sir, I... I don't want this leader anymore!"

"it is good."

Li Yun smiled and said, "If you are really willing to leave, then you can stay in Jinling. However, I am not sure whether you can help Du Shijun. I will write you a note later. You can see Du Shijun with this note."

"If you can convince him, stay with him and help."

Yao Zhong took a deep breath, bowed his head and said, "I, thank you, Lord!"

Li Yun didn't waste any words. He wrote him a note that allowed him to pass through the Jinling government office, and asked Zhou Bi to send him out.

Afterwards, Xu Shen from Changzhou, who wrote the best essay in the subject of rites, was brought into Li Garden.

The next day, this young man named Xu was selected as the leader of this literary gathering and was appointed as the governor of Hezhou.

For a time, the news shocked the entire Jiangdong.

(End of this chapter)