Han officials

Chapter 72 The Cultural Desert Has Been Resolved

Guo Yuan was not too surprised after receiving Wei Zhe's letter of employment.

Although his family background is ordinary, he is from a famous school.

As Zheng Xuan's most senior disciple, Guo Yuan had actually received many offers a long time ago.

It’s not that Guo Yuan didn’t want to be an official. In this respect, he was different from Guan Ning.

In the early days, Guo Yuan was unable to serve as an official because his teacher Zheng Xuan was also on the party imprisonment list.

After the Party Ban was lifted two years ago, the Beihai State had intended to recruit Guo Yuan as a literary official.

But General Fubo Ma Yuan once said:

In today's world, not only does the king choose his ministers, but the ministers also choose their king!

It is good to serve in this county, but Guo Yuan also needs to consider whether the master is worthy of his service.

After all, once you accept the invitation from your sponsor, the relationship between them will be like that between a ruler and his subjects.

But the current Beihai Prime Minister Jia Po was just a mediocre person, so Guo Yuan refused.

Just like his teacher Zheng Xuan refused the invitation of General He Jin, it was for the same reason.

Therefore, Guo Yuan’s current dilemma is that he doesn’t know whether this is the best time to take up an official position.

After all, a Marquis of Xiping Township with a rank of 300 dan was only considered average among the recruits Guo Yuan received.

However, after listening to his disciple's confusion, Zheng Xuan only said one sentence:

"Putting aside other considerations, let me ask my honest opinion: is Duke Wei worthy of your service?"

Guo Yuan fell silent upon hearing this, and Zheng Xuan did not urge him.

After a moment of deep thought, Guo Yuan raised his head and said solemnly, "I've heard that Xiping Xianghou resettled tens of thousands of refugees in just one year of governing Daifang. He's now developing water conservancy projects in Lelang and encouraging agriculture, saving countless lives. His civility can bring order to the region and ensure the people live in peace; his military prowess can also defend against foreign enemies and expand the territory. He's truly a hero of our time!"

Hearing him say this, Zheng Xuan immediately laughed.

"In that case, what is there to hesitate about?"

Zheng Xuan looked at the disciple with a loving expression and taught him:

"If one is determined to uphold justice, diligent in his work, and devoted to his country, what difference does it make if he enters the government sooner or later?"

Hearing this, Guo Yuan, having understood, immediately bowed to Zheng Xuan and said, "I will be glad to learn from you!"

A teacher is someone who teaches, imparts knowledge, and resolves doubts.

From this we can see that the reason why Zheng Xuan's lectures could be held on such a large scale was not just because of his fame.

……

The third year of Zhongping, the fifth month, the day of Renchen.

At noon, the sky was dark and the sun was eclipsed.

Although Wei Zhe did not believe in the interaction between heaven and man, he still ordered the county officials to make noises to drive away the heavenly dog according to custom.

It was also on this day that Wei Zhe finally welcomed the three talented people he had recruited.

When Wei Zhe saw Guo Yuan, Sun Shao, and Shi Yi in the hall, he smiled happily and said:

"All the wise men have arrived. This is a good omen. No wonder the Tengu left so quickly!"

Upon hearing this, Sun Shao and Shi Yi were immediately moved.

"It is my great honor to be loved by you!"

To be honest, even though both of them believed that their talents were not inferior to others, no one appreciated them.

Now that they were suddenly recruited by Wei Zhe, they were actually somewhat flattered.

After all, Wei Zhe's reputation was not accumulated in vain, so the effect of treating people with respect and courtesy will naturally be very different.

In comparison, Guo Yuan is much calmer.

Seeing this, Wei Zhe did not treat them differently and entertained the three of them equally.

It was not until the next day that Wei Zhe assigned specific tasks to the three people.

Speaking of which, Wei Zhe, the Marquis of Xiping Township, had a fief of only 800 households, so naturally he didn't need three people to take care of it.

Besides, Xiping Township is under the jurisdiction of Goguryeo County, Xuanshou Commandery, so Wei Zhe would not let the three of them leave.

The reason why he recruited three people in the name of Xiping Township Marquis Mansion was nothing more than borrowing a name.

Moreover, it is difficult to define the ownership of many of the projects that Wei Zhe is promoting now.

For example, the ship settlement in Haiming, the craftsman shop in Niujiao Island, the merchant caravans of the Three Kingdoms of Korea, etc.

"Changxu, you will be in charge of the shipyard and the craftsmen's office. If you need anything, you can come to me!"

Sun Shao naturally accepted the order respectfully, his eyes determined, fearing to disappoint Wei Zhe's expectations. As for Shi Yi, Wei Zhe gave him another task.

"Zi Yu, I'll leave the caravan and fleet to you to coordinate!"

Now that Wei Muhua and Guan Xiu are away, the rear really needs a steward to coordinate.

Shi Yi didn't expect that Wei Zhe would entrust her with such important financial power, and her face turned red with emotion.

In a word: A gentleman will die for his friend.

Now, let alone serving, he would probably agree even if his life was given to Wei Zhe.

However, although Shi Yi's loyalty was extremely high, Wei Zhe did not ask him to change his surname.

After all, ancient surnames were either official titles or ancestral names, all of which had origins, so that future generations would not forget their ancestors.

Unreasonably analyzing characters and teaching people to change their surnames based on modern people's perspectives is really a way of forgetting one's roots and slandering one's ancestors.

For example, the surname "Shi" is actually a very ancient surname in China, and it is very rare even in the Han Dynasty.

One theory is that this surname originated from the surname Xun, which came from the Di State in the early Western Zhou Dynasty. It was a surname that was changed from the name of a country.

However, some great scholars believe that this surname originated from the ancient clan order.

During the time of the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors, China was also a region of numerous tribes. These tribes had clan elders known as "Shishu" (clan elders) who were specifically in charge of surnames. This internal clan title later evolved into the title for elders in charge of ancestral halls and other structures, as well as ancient officials. Some of their descendants adopted their official titles as their surnames.

However, during the pre-Qin period, the surname "Shishu" was simplified to a single surname, and then it evolved into the surname "Shi".

Kong Rong said: "The word shi" is "min" (people) and can be changed to "shi". This is a bit far-fetched.

However, this is quite consistent with Kong Rong's character of being ambitious but incompetent, and it is no wonder that he failed to unify Qingzhou in the end.

……

Compared with Shi Yi and Sun Shao, the task Wei Zhe assigned to Guo Yuan was much more complicated.

"Zini, farming is the foundation of border counties. I'll be sorry to trouble you with this matter in the future!"

After briefly introducing Lelang's farming system to Guo Yuan, Wei Zhe added, "These civilian and military farming systems are just initial initiatives of ours. There are still many deficiencies and areas for improvement. Feel free to report any ideas you have!"

After Guo Yuan gained a general understanding of the military farming situation in Lelang County, his reaction was exactly the same as Xi Zhicai's.

The more Guo Yuan thought about it, the more he couldn't help but applaud. He immediately said with emotion: "Your Excellency is a man of great talent. I can only do my best to fill in the gaps and do my best to help you!"

However, he understood why Wei Zhe wanted to deal with the military farming affairs separately.

After all, according to Wei Zhe's design, the complexity of military farming affairs really requires a dedicated person to handle them, and it is not something that a local clerk can do.

The military and civilian settlements were just established not long ago, and many problems have not yet been exposed.

However, as Wei Zhe recruited more and more refugees and the scale of military farming became larger and larger, problems such as corruption, overstaffing, and slackness were inevitable.

In this case, clear assessment methods, specific management regulations, internal supervision of military farms, etc., all need to be implemented step by step by Guo Yuan.

However, although the task was arduous, Guo Yuan was full of confidence and felt more and more that he had come to the right place.

If he can make the treasury and granary well-stocked and the people live in peace, then he will have achieved his goal!

With such a mood, Guo Yuan quickly devoted himself to the affairs of military farming.

So Wei Zhe quietly formed another team in the name of the Marquis' Mansion, and ran parallel to the county government in the governance of Lelang County.

……

Not to mention how many changes Guo Yuan's arrival brought to Lelang's military farming business.

Among the county school, Bing Yuan was the first to feel Guo Yuan's impact.

After Guo Yuan came to Lelang, he learned that Wei Zhe was promoting education and attached great importance to the county school, and he immediately became more respectful of him. So he copied a copy of "Commentary on Zhou Li", "Commentary on Yili" and "Commentary on Liji" (also known as "Commentary on the Three Rituals") annotated by his teacher Zheng Xuan, and sent it to the Lelang County School. He even went to the county school to give lectures during his days off.

In fact, only Zheng Xuan's disciples could do this.

Although Zheng Xuan had studied ancient classics with the Confucian scholar Ma Rong in his early years, he later traveled and studied for more than ten years, analyzing academic disciplines, tracing the origins, searching for theories of various schools, and carefully examining the similarities and differences. He had already integrated hundreds of schools of thought, annotated various classics, and broke the boundaries between modern and ancient texts, achieving the integration and unification of Confucian classics and forming his own school of thought.

Therefore, although Zheng Xuan was taught by the ancient classics, he did not follow the traditional methods of learning and family rules in the classics. Instead, he used his profound knowledge to annotate the ancient classics.

However, what is interesting is that although Bing Yuan lived next to Gaomi County and was close to Zheng Xuan's lecture hall, he did not become a disciple of Zheng Xuan, who was so close to him. Instead, he left his hometown and traveled thousands of miles to study in Chenliu, Yingchuan, Runan and Nanyang, and studied under great Confucian scholars of ancient Chinese literature such as Chen Shi, Fan Pang, Lu Zhi and Jia Biao.

It can be said that in terms of attainments in Confucian classics, Bing Yuan was more profound than Guan Ning and Hua Xin.

However, it can be seen from his experience that Bing Yuan, at a young age, was very opinionated and did not agree with Zheng Xuan's academic views.

In this way, Bing Yuan thought Guo Yuan's behavior was tantamount to provocation.

As a result, in Lelang County, a cultural desert, several unprecedented debates took place.

For a time, not only the literati in Lelang County, but even many Confucian scholars from the neighboring Liaodong County came to watch the fun.

After all, Lelang County has never been so culturally rich...

(End of this chapter)