My younger brother Lü Fengxian

Chapter 244 Picking up a Chen Gong

Bingzhou is just sparsely populated, not a small place.

The Hetao region is not a place with barren land. It is just that because it is a border area and is often invaded by foreign races, the war preparation task is very heavy and it is difficult to develop.

If Lu Yi could eliminate the threat from the northern tribes and absorb a large number of people, Bingzhou would be a very good place for separatism. It would not be an exaggeration to say that it is a Feng Shui treasure land.

In the later Eastern Jin Dynasty and the Southern and Northern Dynasties in history, Bingzhou produced many separatist regimes and powerful officials.

Erzhu Rong, Gao Huan, Li Yuan and others all started their careers in Bingzhou.

Especially Li Yuan, with the help of his second son, finally founded the Tang Dynasty which lasted for hundreds of years and became another synonym for China after the Han Dynasty.

Today, Pingcheng's population is declining, but Hebei is full of refugees. It is convenient for Lu Yi to absorb these refugees who are not from his hometown into Pingcheng, making them his own people and serving his own forces. However, Liu Hong and the court cannot gain any benefit from these people who do not exist in the first place.

This huge convenience is easy to find in the densely populated Central Plains where aristocratic families are deeply rooted!

"Well, let's do it, my friend. The appointment of Pingcheng Mayor will be announced in the next few days."

"According to convention, my friend can save some money on the ransom because of his military merits..."

Before Zhao Zhong finished speaking, Lu Yi interrupted him.

"Eunuch Zhao has misunderstood. The redemption money is a court law. How can it be wasted just because of me?"

"Besides, if I don't follow the rules, it will also cause a lot of trouble for Eunuch Zhao. Even if I have military merits, I am willing to pay them year after year like others, year after year..."

"Oh?"

Zhao Zhong looked at Lu Yi with a sincere expression and couldn't help but smile with appreciation.

"My friend, you are a smart man. This may seem like a waste of money, but it can save you a lot of trouble. Not only will the court's annual assessment requirements be greatly reduced, but it will also be easier to get promotion opportunities in the future."

"Besides, if you are willing to go with the flow, you can also avoid being envied and attacked by some colleagues who have paid money."

"After all, what people worry about is not the lack of wealth but the inequality of distribution..."

"What Eunuch Zhao taught is..."

Lu Yi pretended to be taught, but he had his own plans in mind.

Does it cost money?

Of course it costs money!
It's not just this time that costs money.

In the future, no matter what level Lu Yi reaches, he will have to spend money.

Moreover, the higher the official rank, the more money he has to spend.

The greater the authority and the larger the territory under his jurisdiction, the faster he will spend money!

Lu Yi has the advantage of foresight.

He understood that the Han regime would collapse completely within a few years.

Especially after the Yellow Turban Rebellion began, Liu Hong made a series of stupid moves in the face of the fierce Yellow Turbans. He even issued an edict that local prefectures, counties and towns could recruit soldiers to assist the court in protecting the territory and the people and fighting against the Yellow Turbans.

Although this decree played a huge role in the downfall of Zhang Jue and his three brothers.

However, after one Zhang Jiao died, countless new Zhang Jiaos emerged.

Moreover, these Zhang Jues were all officials, aristocrats, and powerful people recognized by the imperial court, and they were rebelling in accordance with the imperial order.

By then, the former governor of a province, prefect of a county, county magistrate, or even a small clerk in a village would in fact become a separatist prince.

There is only a difference in the size of the forces and the disparity in the military strength.

Liu Bei’s words summed it up very well.

When the Yellow Turbans are defeated, it will be the time for the princes to establish their own regimes!

As long as Lu Yi pays tribute to Liu Hong for a few years, he will easily become one of these princes.

This kind of thing is like a person who, as long as he pays a few years of rent, can directly modify the property title and change the name of the original owner who paid a mortgage for 30 years to his own.

Such a good thing is hard to find even with a lantern.

Moreover, you can still spend money now, but when the princes split up in the future, you can only fight with human lives, or even your own life, which is not cost-effective.

Naturally, Lu Yi would not be so foolish as to be stingy with such a small amount of money.

"What about the rest?"

After Zhao Zhong wrote down Lu Yi's needs, he turned and looked at the other three people.

Naturally, Lu Yi had already made plans for the three of them and immediately informed Zhao Zhong of the specific requirements.

After some discussion, Lu Bu was promoted to the position of colonel because he was originally a registered military commander of the court and Lu Yi spent a considerable amount of money. He took over Huang Yi's class and became the person in charge of the entire Yanmen County Great Wall Pass.

Lu Yi's elder brother-in-law Zhang Xun also shared some of Lu Yi's credit as a local supporter. He successfully took over the position of Dong Zhuo, who had met Lu Yi once a few days ago, from the position of Jiuyuan County Magistrate and became the Governor of Bingzhou.

Although he was a provincial governor, his actual power was incomparable to that of the governor who would control all military and political power of a state a few years later.

The Bingzhou Governor could only be regarded as a supervisory official, a position of low rank but high power. Not only was his salary far lower than that of a county magistrate with a salary of two thousand stones, but he also did not have the power to control both military and political affairs of the county magistrate. In terms of official rank, he was a subordinate of the county magistrate, but because he was directly responsible to the court, he had enormous power.

The governor had the right to impeach all county governors in Bingzhou.

And similar to the censors in the Western Han Dynasty, as long as they could bring down the prime minister, they could be immediately promoted to the position of prime minister.

Generally speaking, as long as the governor can successfully impeach the county magistrate, he can immediately inherit the position of county magistrate and be promoted from the original 600-shi official to the 2,000-shi official.

Moreover, even if one fails to successfully exercise the power of impeachment while in office, he can still be promoted to county magistrate as long as he has served for nine years.

But although it is impeachment, it cannot be impeached at will.

In the Han Dynasty, there was a crime of false accusation. If one was not careful, the person being reported might be fine, but the reporter himself would be punished for the crime he reported.

The previous Bingzhou governor, Dong Zhuo, worked diligently for several years but never succeeded in impeaching any county governor, so he had to rely on Zhao Zhong's connections and spend a lot of money to successfully get the position of county governor.

Zhang Xun, like Dong Zhuo, was not from a prominent family. If he had not been lucky enough to have won the Battle of Pingcheng and had not had the help of Lu Yi's golden bullet, and most importantly the existence of Xiyuan, it would have been very difficult for Zhang Xun to advance from being the magistrate of a small county to becoming the governor of a state in one step.

As for the position of Jiuyuan County Magistrate that became vacant after Zhang Xun's promotion, it naturally fell to Cheng Lian, who was Lu Yi's close confidant and was now mainly responsible for protecting Luwu's hometown.

He is just a county magistrate. Even without the credit that Lu Yi gave him, he could easily do the job by spending some money.

There is a hole for each carrot. If Lu Yi does not fill the vacant hole quickly, the court will quickly arrange for someone else to occupy it.

If he met a law-abiding, die-hard Huang Han loyalist who came to his base to take office, Lu Yi would have to restrain his illegal behavior to avoid being discovered and causing trouble.

If Lu Yi had not been from Jiuyuan and could not serve as an official in his hometown, he would not have chosen to go to Pingcheng.

Moreover, strictly speaking, Lu Yi and Zhang Xun were related by marriage, and according to standard court practice, neither of them could serve in the other's counties.

However, today's aristocratic families are so intertwined that a large number of them are unwilling to serve as officials in completely unfamiliar places. After all, if they go to other places, it will be difficult to make money without the support of their families. There is only so much money, and if they make too much, they will easily suffer retribution. But if they serve as officials in the territories of a few families or relatives and old friends, there will be no such risk.

After all, we are all family, so why don’t we just sit down and discuss it?
The imperial court could only turn a blind eye and cling to the fig leaf of not being able to serve as an official in one's native place.

However, there are countermeasures from the top and policies from the bottom. Since the court does not allow people from their hometowns to serve as officials, then you can come to my place to serve as an official, and I will arrange for my sons and nephews to take power in your place. The aristocratic families can easily exploit this loophole and make this decree a joke.

However, Lu Yi is also one of the beneficiaries, so he will not point out this problem. Finally, as the strongest fighter under Lu Yi, Gao Shun, the commander of the Xianzhen Camp, will naturally follow Lu Yi's steps and go to Pingcheng to take up his post. Lu Yi temporarily arranges a post for him as a county lieutenant in charge of military affairs and arresting thieves, and then finds other official positions that can better play his role and make other arrangements after a while.

The same is true for Lu Yi, Lu Bu, Zhang Xun, Cheng Lian and others.

As long as Lu Yi can firmly grasp the monopoly of Bingzhou's horse smuggling trade in his hands, money will not be a problem for him.

As long as Xiyuan exists, what kind of official position can't be bought with money?
The position of Pingcheng Chief was just a starting point. As Lu Yi came from a family of filial and honest officials, there were no possible obstacles in his path to promotion. As long as the money was in place, he could make rapid progress and there would be no problem with promotion.

However, Lu Yi is only interested in stability and does not blindly pursue promotion. The prerequisite for his promotion must be that the existing power has been fully managed by him and he has a successor he can rely on. Only then will he consider seeking a larger platform to further develop his power.

After all, strength is the foundation and force is the reliance.

When the chaos comes, as long as we have soldiers and food, what kind of territory can’t we conquer?
What kind of official title cannot be independent?
After I enter the pass, the great scholar of freedom will debate the scriptures for me!
"Well... we have recorded the positions you requested. If there are no problems, come back in three days and pay the usual fee, and you can start your duties immediately!"

After Zhao Zhong stopped writing, he looked up and said to Lu Yi and others.

"In that case, we will not disturb Eunuch Zhao from his work..."

Seeing that things had some twists and turns but were finally successfully accomplished and all his goals had been achieved, Lu Yi took Lu Bu and others, declined Zhao Zhong's farewell, and left West Garden.

As soon as Lu Yi left, Zhao Zhong arranged for the eunuch beside him to go out and close the door of the duty room and no longer work that day.

"Ugh……"

After pretending to be a dog for a long time, Zhang Rang saw that there was no one else in the duty room, so he sighed and walked out from behind the screen.

"I thought I had found the descendant of the previous emperor, but in the end it was all in vain."

“It’s really frustrating!”

When Zhao Zhong saw Zhang Rang coming out, he couldn't help but complain in disappointment.

"It seems that God did not bless the late emperor..."

"This is God's will, and it cannot be forced..."

"However, since this matter has been concluded, we must not be careless about the ending..."

Zhang Rang shook his head and calmed down.

As he spoke, murderous intent suddenly flashed across Zhang Ran's face.

"Brother Zhang, don't worry. I have already controlled the eunuch from before. I will send him down to serve the late emperor tonight..."

Zhao Zhong naturally understood what Zhang Rang was referring to, and replied with a murderous look on his face.

"So good..."

……

Three days later, Lu Yi went to Xiyuan with a carriage loaded with tens of millions of money.

Half a day later, when the eunuchs arranged by Zhao Zhong finished the inventory, the huge sum of tens of millions was exchanged for several letters of appointment.

"Such a large amount of wealth is something that even several generations of the Zhang family could not have accumulated, but now it has only been exchanged for a few pieces of light paper..."

Zhang Xun was born into a merchant family. When he saw such a huge sum of money being spent in half a day, he couldn't help but look reluctant when he walked out of Xiyuan.

"Money is just a thing outside of our body. We cannot bring it with us when we are born and we cannot take it with us when we die. There is no need to do this, my brother..."

"As long as I have brothers like you around, why would I be afraid of returning to poverty in the future?"

Lu Yi smiled and patted his shoulder.

"that is……"

Lu Bu also laughed.

"Think about it, we were just commoners more than a year ago, and my Lu family was even poorer, with only two horses stolen from the Hu people. But now, in the blink of an eye, my Lu family has a magnificent fortress, and we have all become officials in charge of power... Could Brother Zhang Xun and my brothers have imagined such a change when we first met?"

"Of course it's unexpected..."

Zhang Xun couldn't help but sigh when he heard this.

Looking back, more than a year ago, Lu Yi and others came to the house with a large force to demand accountability.

At that time, he thought that he would inevitably be humiliated by Lu Yi and others.

As a result, more than a year later, Lu Yi not only failed to become his brother-in-law.

Moreover, he led the Zhang family to continue expanding.

The profits and development that Zhang Family had gained from following Lu Yi for more than a year were even greater than what Zhang Family had gained from running the business on its own in the past 100 years after the transformation.

And, much more!
This cannot help but make one sigh at the fickleness of fate.

After Lu Yi was appointed by the court and received the seal and official position representing power, he was unwilling to stay in Luoyang for long.

After once again saying goodbye to Lu Zhi and Gongsun Zan, with whom he had established a close relationship, he set out on his return journey.

However, he had one more thing to do before returning.

He came to Luoyang this time for two main purposes.

One of the goals of seeking an official position has now been achieved, so the remaining one should also be put on the agenda.

"I remember Chen Gong seemed to be from Dongjun. It seems that we have to change the route a little bit..."

Lu Yi, who had just stepped out of Lu Zhi's mansion, thought for a while and wanted to go to Dongjun to subdue Chen Gong, who was still a commoner.

Although Chen Gong was shown to be a little slow in thinking in history, he was always slow to react, which led to failure at the critical moment.

However, we also need to analyze who are the people compared with Chen Gong.

Neither Cao Cao nor Liu Bei was a stupid person, especially Cao Cao, who had many wise counselors under him.

Not only are Xun Yu, Guo Jia, and Cheng Yu top strategists, but Cao Cao's own talent is also enough to stand out from the crowd.

Therefore, it was not that Chen Gong was too slow and stupid, but that his opponent was too strong...

Therefore, Lu Yi still had high expectations for this person.

Just as he was thinking about it, the door of a mansion not far from Lu Zhi's mansion suddenly opened, and a young man who looked like a scholar was driven out by several men who looked like servants. They pushed and shoved him, and made sarcastic remarks at the same time.

"What kind of status does my master have? How can a commoner like you meet him?"

The young scholar was so angry that his face turned red. He pointed at a few servants and trembled for a long time. Then he uttered a cruel word and was about to escape.

"Cao Cao!"

"For the humiliation you suffered today, I, Chen Gong, will repay you handsomely in the future!"

Originally, he was unwilling to live in poverty and wanted to go to Beijing to find connections to get an official position, but his first stop was to fail in front of the home of Cao Cao, who was usually known for his respect for the wise and humble. Today was a great disgrace to him.

Unexpectedly, the light in front of him suddenly dimmed, and a tall and handsome young man with several equally tall and burly strong men were looking him up and down with excitement. Chen Gong couldn't help but feel his anus tighten when he saw the scorching gaze. He was worried that he would be dragged into the alley by the strangers in front of him and do something illegal...

(End of this chapter)