I am not Yuan Shu

Chapter 329 He was utterly foolish.

Xu Cheng felt as if his mind had been hit, and then went completely blank with a "buzz".

At that moment, only two words remained in his ears—it was all over.

But he felt he could still be saved, and his strong will to survive prompted him to take the necessary actions as soon as possible.

So he decisively begged Yuan Shu for mercy.

"Your Excellency is wise! Your Excellency is wise! No one asked me to persuade you! I only made this suggestion because I felt that your actions would cause panic among some people in Bingzhou and might damage your reputation. No one paid me to persuade you!"

Yuan Shu picked up a pen and signed his name on an official document in front of him.

"Is that so? Then let me ask you from another angle: during your previous two and a half years in office, which local powerful families did you associate with? How much money did they give you during those two and a half years? Besides your official salary from the imperial court, how much benefit did you receive?"

Xu Cheng was completely stunned.

Not to say……

Are you going to let bygones be bygones for what happened before you came here?
Why are you bringing up old grievances again?

This……

Isn't this appropriate?

So he cautiously inquired, "Didn't you say before that you would forgive and forget everything before your arrival?"

Yuan Shu looked up at his stunned expression and chuckled.

"I have said that I will not hold those who are obedient and do things right. Do you understand? Those who are obedient and do things right are those who listen to me and do things for me, not those who listen to others and act as their lobbyists to persuade me. If you do this, I have reason to believe that when I ask you to do things in the future, you will be outwardly compliant but inwardly disobedient and will not follow my orders. How can such a subordinate be kept?"

Xu Cheng stood there, motionless like a statue, his eyes fixed straight ahead.

Seeing him like this, Yuan Shu couldn't help but sigh.

"Humans are like this, short-sighted, only looking at the immediate benefits. If there is even the slightest loss, they will jump up and shout as if their lives are in danger, completely unable to see that this loss may be exchanged for greater benefits in the future."

Ordinary people can do this, they work one day and eat one day, they stop working and they stop eating, a long-term perspective is actually harmful to them. If they disagree with my opinion, I will not argue with them, but officials like you and those wealthy clans should not do this.

Losing some money in exchange for greater future possibilities is a small investment with a big return for you. Participate fully, and would I ever treat you unfairly? Even if you don't believe me or the great benefits in the future, that's fine too. Just follow my orders.

As you just said, I am the Governor of Bingzhou, wielding the power of life and death over all the people of the province, including officials like you. I can not only dismiss officials below the rank of 600 shi, but also try and execute them. I can dismiss officials below the rank of 1,000 shi, but after submitting a petition to the court, I can still execute them.

Even a prefect with a salary of two thousand shi (a unit of grain measure) is my subordinate and must respectfully address me as "Your Excellency." Dismissing them from their posts would only take half a month. If officials are treated this way, what about those local powerful clans? Do they really think I can't bring myself to do it? Do they really think I'm a soft-hearted and incompetent person?

Yuan Shu's words struck Xu Cheng like a barrage of bullets, completely shattering his defenses.

Under the immense pressure of fear, Xu Cheng finally confessed.

It turns out that no one actually approached him to ask him to act as a mediator; rather, he took the initiative to become the mediator himself.

The reason is simple: he served as county magistrate for two and a half years, received a lot of benefits, and got along quite well with the locals.

After Yuan Shu issued the ban, when he talked to these "friends" about the matter, he heard them say that Yuan Shu's actions would cause them heavy losses. So he felt that no matter what, he should stand up and advise Yuan Shu.

This approach benefits no one but outsiders. Shouldn't we stop this kind of thing that hurts our own people and pleases our enemies?

After he gave this explanation, Yuan Shu was quite helpless. He had thought this guy was a little dim-witted, but it turned out he really was. The other person hadn't even asked him for a favor, and he was already offering to do it to curry favor...

Is this how an official behaves?
You're supposed to be a county magistrate, a Marquis of Baili, and you have no dignity at all? You expect some random powerful family to fawn over you? What kind of county magistrate are you?
Yuan Shu asked Xu Cheng this question, and Xu Cheng revealed that he did this mainly to curry favor with the Wang family of Taiyuan.

Although the clan's ancestral home was not in Jinyang, its influence extended throughout Taiyuan County and even had a great reputation in Bingzhou. Many clan members served as officials in Luoyang. Xu Cheng wanted to curry favor with this clan in order to further secure greater benefits for himself.

Upon hearing this, Yuan Shu couldn't help but roll his eyes.

“Xu Cheng, let me ask you, which has a higher reputation and stronger power, my Runan Yuan family or the Taiyuan Wang family? Why don’t you come to curry favor with me, but instead go to curry favor with a mere local tyrant? Are you blind? What is the Taiyuan Wang family? What they can give you, I can’t give you?”

Upon hearing this, Xu Cheng was taken aback at first, then suddenly looked up at Yuan Shu, as if he had just realized the problem, as if he had just realized that there was some kind of strange connection between the two.

Yup!

The Yuan family of Runan far surpasses the Wang family of Taiyuan in terms of prestige, power, and political status. The Wang family of Taiyuan even needs to rely on the Yuan family of Runan for survival. Under such circumstances, instead of currying favor with Yuan Shu, who comes from the Yuan family, he would go against Yuan Shu's decision for the sake of the Wang family of Taiyuan. This...

Isn't this incredibly foolish?
This... this is absolutely stupid!
Why didn't he realize this?

But then he thought about it again and realized that he felt wronged and that he couldn't be blamed for the incident.

The Yuan family of Runan was simply too prestigious, and he subconsciously felt that he was not worthy of this family, so he didn't even dare to flatter them.

Although the Wang family of Taiyuan was weak, they were still within his reach and influence.

Therefore, it is clear that for him, pleasing the Wang family of Taiyuan is more profitable, while pleasing the Yuan family of Runan is a privilege in itself.

But since things had already come to this point, there was no use in regretting it. Xu Cheng kowtowed and begged Yuan Shu for forgiveness, hoping that Yuan Shu could spare him this time.

Yuan Shu originally wanted to kill Xu Cheng as a warning to others, but after thinking about it, he suddenly realized that there were probably quite a few people in Bingzhou who thought like Xu Cheng.

The Yuan family of Runan was a powerful and influential family with immense political influence. To the people of the world, they were an unapproachable and privileged family, and even currying favor with them was a privilege.

To put it bluntly—

Not everyone is qualified to be Yuan's dog.

So it's obvious that many people wanted to advance their careers but didn't even have the qualifications to curry favor with the Yuan family, so they naturally gave up and chose other, less desirable targets to curry favor with in order to obtain tangible benefits that they could actually hold onto.

Yuan Shu recruited students and immersed himself in the community, which indeed promoted a group of talents and earned him a reputation for valuing talent. However, for most people, Yuan Shu was also a high-and-mighty prince, and they wanted to curry favor with him, fawn over him, and act as his lackeys, but they didn't even have the right to do so.

Originally, these people were very willing to curry favor with the Yuan family and gain their favor, but they gave up because they had no way to do so and instead turned to other forces.

When these forces clash with Yuan Shikai's interests, these people are forced to follow other forces due to political factors, unable to follow Yuan Shikai as they truly want to, thus becoming the unfortunate scapegoats who are defeated by Yuan Shikai.

Yuan Shu immediately sensed this structural contradiction.

This is not a problem of one or two individuals; it is a problem of the entire system. There is an almost insurmountable gap between the highest authorities and the grassroots, and this is not what the highest authorities necessarily want.

Xu Cheng was indeed a fool, but the contradictory mentality he displayed was a true reflection of many things throughout history. That's why the imperial examination system came about, the system of anonymous grading came about, and the legend of "rising from a peasant in the morning to a high-ranking official in the evening" came about.

With a touch of emotion, Yuan Shu asked Xu Cheng to tell him about the scale of the ironware trading business run by many local powerful families, including the Wang family of Taiyuan.

Xu Cheng told Yuan Shu everything he knew about their trade with the tribes of the northern grasslands, thus giving Yuan Shu a lot of important information.

Therefore, Yuan Shu did not choose to kill Xu Cheng, but merely dismissed him from his post.

"Considering your good attitude in admitting your mistake and that this is your first offense with me, I will spare your life. However, you will lose your position and go back to your hometown to reflect on your actions!"

With a wave of his hand, Yuan Shu used his power to dismiss Xu Cheng from his post. He then wrote a memorial to the court explaining that Xu Cheng had acted as a local power broker and disobeyed the orders of the governor. He stated that he would dismiss Xu Cheng and recommended his subordinate Wang Lang to take over the position of magistrate of Jinyang County.

Although this was a memorial to be sent to the central government, and the appointment of a county magistrate with a salary of one thousand shi (a unit of grain measure) required the central government's approval, Yuan Shuyou had the authority to act expediently.

So after getting rid of Xu Cheng, Yuan Shu immediately sent Wang Lang to take over the position of county magistrate.

Thus, Wang Lang arrived at the Jinyang County government office with a feeling of being inexplicably promoted, and began to perform his duties with Yuan Shu's order in hand.

Although the official court appointment has not yet arrived, no one would think that Wang Lang is incapable of the position, after all, he has the powerful figure of Yuan Shu behind him.

The news that Yuan Shuge had removed Xu Cheng from his position as county magistrate and replaced him with one of his own quickly spread throughout Jinyang and then further throughout Taiyuan Prefecture, causing a series of chain reactions.

First was Zang Min, the prefect of Taiyuan Commandery, who directly conveyed the official documents to the magistrates and county heads of the various counties within the commandery, ensuring that they fully understood the intent behind Yuan Shu's policies and his determination to implement them.

Zang Min stated that as the prefect, he had decided to resolutely implement the decrees issued by Yuan Shu and would never disobey them. He added that his subordinates should also be well aware of what to do.

Don't risk losing your job for petty gains. We've all worked hard to get this far, so don't ruin your own future!

If the official explanation was so clear, then the local forces naturally understood as well.

Xu Cheng was dismissed from his post because he was dissatisfied with Yuan Shu's policies. The dismissal was swift; he was immediately removed and replaced by one of his own men as the magistrate of Jinyang County.

What does this show?

This demonstrates that Yuan Shu's will was extremely firm and unyielding, and that he was decisive and capable of dismissing people without hesitation.

Who would dare to provoke him?
(End of this chapter)