Super Cultivation System of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 815 Braking with stillness
In the next few days, memorials from neighboring counties were submitted one after another, and the situations described were almost exactly the same as those reported by Qian Li and others.

The originally smooth process of selecting officials for the post was suddenly reversed overnight when more than half of all the recommended people came to ask for leave due to unexpected circumstances. Among them were children and disciples of major families, as well as some young people from small local clans. Except for Qian Li and others and their close confidants, whom they personally trained and cultivated, the vast majority of the rest "voluntarily" withdrew from the list.

"Your Majesty, except for Jizhou, Qingzhou, Youzhou, and the three counties of Jiuquan, Dunhuang, and Zhangye in Liangzhou, the three counties of Shuofang, Wuyuan, and Yunzhong in Bingzhou, the two counties of Bohai and Hejian in Jizhou, and the whole state of Yanzhou, the lists of candidates from other places have been submitted. The situation in various places is very consistent. Most of the candidates have withdrawn voluntarily. Now the most candidates in a county are no more than five, and the least is even no one in some counties."

Xun Yu's face was very solemn. With his intelligence, how could he not see the hidden problem here?
Cui Jun stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, now it seems that after those officials failed to force Your Majesty to execute General Da Meng at that small court meeting, they knew that Your Majesty was determined, so they put pressure on the families in various places and colluded to disrupt the court's plan to recommend talents, trying to make Your Majesty bow his head."

Liu He also thought of this: "I think so too. It seems that these guys really don't learn their lesson. It's only been a few years since what happened to Chen Ji and others, and they have already forgotten it? Humph, am I the king who is coerced by others?"

He looked as if he didn't care, but Xun Yu's expression didn't relax at all.

"It is just that selecting talented people every year is a national priority, even in previous years when the world was stable. Today, the world is in chaos. First, talented people are what the princes must fight for. Second, the court also needs many talented people to guard the four directions, govern the city, and shepherd the people on behalf of the emperor. Over the past few years, the number of officials in the court and local officials has been vacant for at least 30%, and at most more than half. It is all thanks to your majesty's wisdom that we can temporarily stabilize the current situation and make government orders smooth. However, this is not a long-term solution. If the road to recommendation is blocked, the court will be in chaos after a long time."

Liu He disagreed: "So what? Do they want me to surrender to them? Sooner or later, I will kill all these traitors. Then the world may be settled and the world can be calmed."

"Your Majesty, you must not do this!"

Xun Yu and the other three were terrified and objected in unison.

Liu He's eyes suddenly became extremely sharp as he looked at the three people, shocking them so much that they felt a chill all over their bodies.

"Why? When did you three become of one mind with them?"

Xun Yu and the other two were shocked and knelt down at the same time.

"Your Majesty, we, your subjects, will always be of one mind with Your Majesty and will never dare to have the slightest intention of disobeying you."

Liu He looked at them and suddenly laughed: "Haha... My three beloved ministers, please stand up. How could I not trust you? Apart from Yun Chang and the others, you three are the people closest to me. If I don't trust you either, wouldn't that be like slapping myself in the face?"

The three of them then stood up, but cold sweat appeared on their foreheads.

"Tell me the reason."

Liu He was fiddling with several bamboo slips and three paper books on the imperial desk. His tone seemed casual, but the three men did not dare to neglect him.

Xun Yu took the initiative to say: "Your Majesty, now the scholars in the world, especially those in the prefectures and counties that Your Majesty actually controls, 99% of them have inextricable ties with these families. They may be their family members, students, former officials, or retainers and apprentices. At the beginning, Chen Ji and others openly rebelled and committed the crime of treason. Their crimes are notorious and cannot be tolerated by heaven. If Your Majesty punishes them, then naturally no one can say a word of disapproval. However, although the Minister of Agriculture and others today intend to oppose and force Your Majesty, in the final analysis, they have different political views. Even if they have some selfish motives, they will never be punished."

"If Your Majesty were to punish them, it would surely cause the scholars of the world to be upset, and even alienate the court and Your Majesty. In the short term, it would be detrimental to the stability of the court, and in the long term, it would damage Your Majesty's reputation. Therefore, I think that this move against the Minister of Agriculture and others should only be done with wisdom, not force."

Liu He pretended to look down at a book and asked: "How to outsmart them?"

Xun Yu said, "The three of us are descendants of the great families of today. We know that most of the people in our families are proud of being officials and holding high positions. The elders of the family also encourage the younger generations with this. Whether it is the Yuan family, the Yang family, the Wang family, or the Feng family, there is only one way to maintain the prominent family reputation, that is, to have more family members serve as officials in the court. The higher the official position, the more important it is, the more prosperous the family will naturally be. There is no other way."

Liu He also agreed with this: "Yes, I also feel deeply about this. Back then, General He Jin was just a butcher, but once the brother and sister entered the palace, their family became the most prestigious family in Nanyang in a blink of an eye. After He Jin's death, the He family was bullied. Within half a year, the family became deserted, the brothers separated, and their wives and children were separated."

"Your Majesty is wise, that's exactly it."

Xun Yu continued, "The talents recommended by the recommendation system are mostly the sons and students of various large and small families, ordinary farmers, and the sons of merchants. Unless they are very talented and can be taught by a famous teacher and accepted as a disciple, it is almost impossible for them to be recommended. It is also for this reason that the recommendation system is exactly what the aristocratic families want. The more people recommended by the family, the better. They wish that all the hundreds of talents recommended every year would come from their own family. How could a family not want to be an official and take the initiative to let all the children resign?"

"Hmm..." Liu He nodded slightly: "What Wen Ruo said is very insightful. I understand a little bit. Please continue." "As you wish." Xun Yu smacked his lips. Seeing this, Liu He joked: "Wen Ruo has said a lot. His tongue must be tired, so he is protesting. Come, have a drink of water before we talk."

"Thank you, Your Majesty."

Xun Yu took the cup of water handed to him by Liu He with both hands. After drinking the cup of warm water, he felt very refreshed in his throat.

"In summary, I have concluded that the ministers suppressed the list of talents recommended this year just to gamble for a moment and put pressure on Your Majesty. On the surface, their purpose is to let General Dameng be executed, but in fact, they want to suppress those people around Your Majesty who do not have family support, and gradually let their own younger disciples occupy important positions in the court and the army, so as to bring glory to the family and show the family's prestige."

"I naturally understand their intentions and plots. That is why I will never give in on this matter."

Liu He's attitude was extremely firm.

The situation in the court is now very clear. Except for a few such as Qian Li, Huo Qing, Meng Jian, and Shi Tao, the vast majority of the ministers in the court are from wealthy and prominent families. They do not have to rely too much on themselves, the emperor of the Han Dynasty. Relying only on their own reputation and status, they are enough to gain a foothold in the court and even rise to prominence.

However, many generals in the army were just the opposite. Almost none of them came from big families. They were all trained by themselves starting from Langtiao County. From beginning to end, they were only loyal to themselves and had no family background to rely on, nor was there any need to rely on one.

This just happened to violate the taboos of those aristocratic families.

In the past, ninety-nine percent of the officials in the entire world were related to them. They were either their juniors or their students. The higher they climbed, the better it was for these families. It was precisely because of this that many families, big and small, were able to prosper from the early Eastern Han Dynasty to the present.

Once more and more officials in the officialdom have no such connections with them, it means that their power and reputation will be greatly hit.

Especially in recent years, Liu He has relied too much on Guan Yu, Qian Li, Xun Yu and others. Guan Yu and others commanded large troops, Cui Jun and the two Xuns were well-planned and in charge of the government. Let's not talk about it for now, just talking about Qian Li, who was less than 30 years old, but had become a frontier official in the capital with a rank of two thousand stones, and was only half a level away from the powerful position of Nine Ministers.

Moreover, in recent years, after conquering Jizhou and Liangzhou, and establishing the newly built Yunhai County, most of the local officials Liu He relied on were his own people. Xun Chen, Cui Jun, Zhao Jin, Huo Qing, etc., were all prefects of counties in strategic locations.

Even people like Wu Qin and Du Xian, who were generals in the army or county lieutenants a few years ago, are now at least county lieutenants, and they are all under 40 years old. It is only natural for them to hold power in a county if they make meritorious deeds in the future.

Seeing the situation escalating, how can these noble families sit still?
Not to mention them, even Cui Lie was hesitant, so even though he seemed to be in the emperor's favor, he gradually retreated behind the scenes in the court. When Liu He came into conflict with the aristocratic families, he did not respond as actively as before, because he was worried that once the aristocratic families weakened and his two sons died a hundred years later, the Cui family would inevitably end up in decline.

Liu He was very clear about all of this, but the war was urgent and military affairs were busy. In addition, the aristocratic families did not do anything extraordinary, so he was too lazy to care. Now that they took the initiative to attack, there was certainly no need for him to tolerate it.

And Xun Yu's words hit exactly what Liu He wanted.

He asked, "Then according to Wen Ruo's intention, how should I respond?"

Xun Yu said, "I think the best way for Your Majesty to deal with it is to not deal with it."

Liu He's eyes lit up and he remained silent for a long time, pondering the profound meaning of his words.

"No response... No response... What Wen Ruo means is... to use stillness to control movement?"

"Your Majesty is wise, and this is exactly what I mean. Your Majesty neither rebukes them nor punishes them for what they have done, and lets them do whatever they want. The more Your Majesty does this, the more they will think that Your Majesty has concerns and even intends to compromise. In this way, they will become more presumptuous, and when the time is right, they will bring all the pressure to the court and bring up the case of General Da Meng again. When doing things this way, how can there be no mistakes and omissions? Once Your Majesty has a handle in his hand, the situation will naturally be controlled by Your Majesty."

Liu He's eyes became brighter and brighter as he listened...

(End of this chapter)