Super Cultivation System of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 911 Recruiting Talents in the Empty Hall
The recruitment notice had been posted for several days, but no one had come to apply at the Luoyang Recruitment Hall, which surprised Liu He.

In his expectation, even if Cao Cao was making trouble behind the scenes, his recruitment order would certainly not be as lively as that in Yuzhou, but there should still be some people coming to apply, and it shouldn't be so deserted.

His curiosity aroused, Liu He could no longer sit still, so he left the palace in disguise, ready to find out the truth himself.

After arriving outside the palace, Liu He walked into a restaurant and sat down at a random seat.

After ordering the dishes, the waiter turned around and was about to leave when he was stopped by Liu He.

"What are your orders, sir?"

Liu He asked, "I heard that the imperial court has issued a notice to recruit talented people, so I have come from afar to apply. I wonder where the recruitment office is?"

Unexpectedly, upon hearing what he said, the waiter immediately stared at Liu He as if he was looking at something strange.

"Sir, are you going to apply for the Talent Recruitment List?"

Liu He felt a little uncomfortable when he was staring at him: "Exactly, what's wrong? Is there anything wrong?"

The waiter shook his head quickly, "No, no, sir, you want to go to the Talent Recruitment Hall. After leaving the store, go right, turn left at the second intersection, and walk a few hundred steps, and you will arrive."

Although he said this, Liu He still noticed the unusual meaning in his tone.

"Is this Talent Recruitment Hall still busy these days?"

Upon hearing this, the waiter laughed out loud: "Lively? Haha..."

Afterwards, he quickly realized that he had lost his composure and quickly stopped smiling: "Don't blame me, sir. I just couldn't control myself for a moment and laughed. The Talent Recruitment Hall is not bustling at all. Even the shadow of a person is rarely seen."

Liu He was not angry. Instead, he took out some coins from his arms and stuffed them into the hands of the mistress.

"I am new here, and this is about my future, so please be clear with me."

When the waiter saw the money, his eyes immediately lit up. He secretly hid the money in his sleeve and came in front of Liu He.

"Sir, you don't know. Since the recruitment notice was posted, many outsiders have come to the city. Most of these people are like you, coming for the recruitment notice. For a time, the prices of rooms in the city's restaurants and inns have increased a lot."

Liu He was even more puzzled: "If that's the case, why is the Talent Recruitment Hall so deserted? Where did all the talented people who applied for the job go?"

"Where else can I go?"

The waiter pointed in the direction of the north city and said, "These wise men had just arrived in Luoyang City. Before they could go to the Talent Recruiting Hall, many ministers in the court sent people to invite them back to their palaces. They have disappeared since then... As for what they have been doing, hehe..."

The waiter didn't continue, but Liu He already understood: "I see..."

But he could never have imagined that these few talented people whom he had recruited with great difficulty, before he had the chance to meet them and entrust them with important tasks, would be overtaken by these ministers.

They invited these wise men to their own palaces, naturally in order to turn them into their own disciples, and then the ministers would come forward to recommend these wise men to the court. In this way, they would not be accused of obstructing the court from recruiting talents, and they could expand their own power.

"What a good plan. I issued the recruitment notice with the intention of clarifying the rumors that I looked down on talented people and scholars, and making it clear my attitude towards the aristocratic families. At the same time, I wanted to recruit more talents for my own use and suppress the huge power represented by the aristocratic families in the court. I didn't expect that they would break it so easily."

Since Feng Fang failed to frame Da Meng last time, many noble families saw that their idea of ​​suppressing Liu Heshen's Bingzhou faction of important officials had failed. Since they could not eliminate or suppress them, they seized the opportunity to expand their own strength. Therefore, many noble families changed their previous attitudes and entered the world, recommending as many of their children as possible to the court. For example, the Xun family of Yingchuan originally only had Xun Yu, Xun You, and Xun Chen serving as officials in the court, but now there are three more people, Xun Yan, Xun Yue, and Xun Wei. The Yang family of Hongnong also recommended their legitimate son Yang Xiu, as well as several nephews, nephews, and sons-in-law to serve as officials.

As for the other families, they are all the same.

In today's court, children of aristocratic families and their disciples occupy more than 70% of official positions, and less than 30% are children of ordinary families recommended from all over the country, as well as confidants promoted by Liu He, Qian Li and others.

Liu He had long intended to weaken the power of the aristocratic families, so that more resources from the world could be concentrated in the court, and more power from the court could be concentrated in himself, the emperor.

As he had been a top student in the history department in his previous life, he naturally knew that in this feudal era, consolidating and strengthening central power was most beneficial to the country. The more people and forces in the court that separated the imperial power from the emperor, the more unstable the country would be.

Looking at the entire 200-year period of the Eastern Han Dynasty, in the middle and late periods, the emperor's own power was not enough to deal with powerful ministers, so he began to rely on his relatives by marriage, and then relied on eunuchs to deal with his relatives by marriage, and then relied on warlords to deal with eunuchs, which led to the gradual weakening of the court's authority and the gradual alienation of the local areas.

In today's court, eunuchs have no power, not to mention relatives by marriage. Only the aristocratic families are left in power. Liu He himself has been directly or indirectly oppressed by the aristocratic families in the court many times. Since he has suffered greatly from them, Liu He naturally wants to weaken them so as to achieve the goal of further balancing and controlling the imperial power.

"Although my military power was at its peak, my reputation among scholars is not even as good as that of a second-rate family. I originally thought that this time I was competing with Cao Cao for the hearts of the people, but I didn't expect that the main battlefield would be in Luoyang City. Cao Cao's rumors made many scholars suspicious of the court. After arriving in the capital, they naturally wanted to find a backer. In this way, they indirectly helped the aristocratic family. What a mistake, what a mistake..."

Liu He sighed in his heart. Although he was annoyed, he did not feel disappointed. Instead, he ignited a burning fighting spirit.

He picked up the wine that the waiter had just brought and drank it all. Then he wiped his mouth and said, "Want to play with me? Humph, then I will play with you to the end..."

After returning to the palace, he immediately summoned Xun Yu and Qian Li to discuss countermeasures.

Although Xun Yu was from a top aristocratic family, the Yingchuan Xun family, and was a representative figure in the Luoyang court, he was loyal to the Han Dynasty and had Qian Li by his side to restrain him. Therefore, Liu He had no intention of avoiding him in these matters.

The two of them were quite talkative, and made many suggestions, such as promoting important officials of the aristocratic families in the court, demoting them in secret, and promoting their own confidants to occupy important positions. Another example was issuing an imperial decree that all the talented people who came to the capital to apply for the military service must first register at the Talent Recruitment Hall. In addition, the Talent Recruitment Hall held an examination every ten days, and selected the emperor's close officials as the chief examiners.

There were many suggestions, all of which were good ideas, but after listening to them, Liu He still looked worried.

Qian Li was a little puzzled. Xun Yu looked at Liu He's expression and seemed to have guessed something.

"Your Majesty, are you worried about how to truly win the hearts of the scholars?"

Liu He nodded and said, "Wen Ruo is right. What you two said are all good strategies, but they can only solve the urgent problem temporarily. Among the scholars, farmers, merchants and artisans, I have not yet won the hearts of the scholars, which is a great regret. After these wise men came to Luoyang City, they were willing to visit the various big families first, instead of registering with the court first, which shows their intentions. I want to win the hearts of the scholars back from the hands of the aristocratic families, but I have no countermeasures."

Xun Yu also frowned: "The aristocratic families are the leaders of the world's scholars. This has been going on for hundreds of years and has become a rule. It cannot be changed in just a few years. Your Majesty does not need to be anxious."

"I know this too. Tell me, what is the most important and what do scholars in the world care about the most?"

"This..." Qian Li couldn't answer for a moment. Xun Yu rolled his eyes and made a conclusion.

"The so-called scholar is a person who reads books. Official positions, land, and houses are nothing but floating clouds. If a scholar wants to maintain his reputation and family for a long time, the only way is to pass on his family through books. The Yang family of Hongnong is known as the top scholar family in the world. The collection of books in their home is no less than 100,000 volumes. Even my humble family cannot match it."

Liu He was a little surprised at first by his answer, but soon he felt it made a lot of sense.

"Reading...books...hmm...let me think about it carefully..."

(End of this chapter)