The elite did not migrate south

Chapter 423 The most important thing
"Great!! As expected of Anshi!!"

"What Anshi reported is more important than anything else!"

Cao Mao took the initiative to speak.

Guanqiu Jian gently stroked his beard and nodded along with Cao Mao.

Zhong Hui's eyes were a little complicated. Although he didn't nod, he didn't refute it either.

When Sima Yan heard what Cao Mao said, his face turned red.

If he had known that Zhong Hui and Guanqiu Jian were here today, he would not have come at all.

He came happily to report his achievements, and met these two big guys.

The first thing Zhong Hui and Guanqiu Jian talked about was conquering Shu and Wu, destroying the states and unifying the country. At the very least, it was about examinations and imperial examinations. But when it came to him, it became about the students attending classes.

Sima Yan himself felt a little embarrassed.

I shouldn't have come today!
Cao Mao's praise made him feel even more embarrassed.

"Your Majesty, I only do small things and dare not compare myself with the ministers."

Cao Mao said seriously, "How can this be considered a trivial matter? The students in the Imperial Academy will eventually pass the Five Classics and become officials of the Wei Dynasty. Normally, these people are just there to register and are unwilling to go."

"After what happened with Wang Rong and He Zeng, they started causing trouble everywhere."

"They are not well versed in their studies and have no desire to serve the king. If all the candidates for the position are like this, how can they govern the country?"

"An Shi is now allowing them to return to the Imperial College. Isn't this a great achievement for the country?"

After hearing Cao Mao's words, Sima Yan finally felt more confident. He slowly raised his head, cleared his throat, and said, "This is all thanks to Mr. Zhong's contribution!"

"After he and I arrived at the Imperial College, we established many rules and regulations and demanded their implementation. We expelled those scholars who had been absent for a long time, severely punished those who caused trouble after their leave of absence, recruited new students to replace them, and publicly exposed several students who had misbehaved. Soon, a large number of students returned to the Imperial College."

"The teachers that Mr. Zhong found were all talented and hardworking people. They helped to revive the atmosphere of the Imperial College and restore it to its original state."

Sima Yan stammered as he spoke about what Zhong Yu had done in the Imperial Academy.

Cao Mao said happily, "You have done a great job. You can continue."

"Letting the students of the Imperial Academy return to study the classics is the first step. The next step is to have them participate in next year's imperial examinations. The Five Classics examinations will eventually be replaced by the imperial examinations."

Cao Mao gave many more instructions, but Sima Yan couldn't remember so much, so he took out paper and pen and began to record them carefully.

Sima Yan was the last person to come to Taiji Hall and the first to leave Taiji Hall.

As Sima Yan left with the pages filled with records, Zhong Hui couldn't help but comment, "General Wei's son may not have talent, but he won't go against his will."

Zhong Hui did not say clearly whether it was because he had good character or because he was incapable of doing things that were contrary to his will.

Guanqiu Jian then spoke up, "Your Majesty, these people from the Sima family have committed countless evil deeds. The downfall of the world all started with them."

"Back then, Sima Yi swore an oath by the Luo River, corrupting the morals of the world. Sima Shi pressured the scholars of the world, forcing them to be afraid to speak and drink alcohol. Sima Zhao seemed loyal and virtuous, but in fact he just didn't have time to commit evil."

"Your Majesty should not trust these people too much. There were many people who followed Sima Yi to commit evil. These members of the Sima clan should all be punished together."

"Your Majesty, if you want to punish the most immoral people in the world, how can you not punish the most immoral people?!"

When Zhong Hui heard Guanqiu Jian's words, he was stunned, then his face turned stern and he didn't say a word.

Cao Mao said seriously, "The matter of Duke Xuanwen will naturally be resolved when the world is unified."

"As for those who committed evil, I have already sent General Wei to clean up the mess."

"In the past month, more than thirty members of the Sima clan have been executed for their past actions."

"The rest of the people are all at home, studying peacefully and improving their talents."

Guanqiu Jian wanted to settle accounts with the Sima family. All his good friends died at the hands of the Sima family. Now that he has won a great victory, even if he can keep Sima Yan, Sima Zhao and others for his own use, those crimes cannot be treated as if they never happened.

If it were not for the consideration of Cao Mao's legitimacy, the matter of Sima Shi's dethronement and enthronement would have to be discussed in detail.

In fact, Cao Mao did not fail to liquidate the Sima family.

Except for a few people such as Sima Zhao, Sima Jun, Sima Wang, and Sima Yan, the rest of the Sima family were stripped of their official titles and imprisoned in Wen County, just like the Cao Wei royal family who were kept in captivity by the emperor.

In the past, Cao Mao would directly execute or exile people with a bad reputation in the name of Sima Zhao.

But he really couldn't start a massacre now. If he wanted to completely wipe out the Sima family, Cao Mao would have to get rid of his trusted ministers first.

However, as Guanqiu Jian said, the source of the world's moral loss must be addressed, and people all over the world must be made aware of the consequences of breaking their oaths.

This is not only for the country, but also for future generations.

Evil will be punished!!
Cao Mao had other things to do, so Zhong Hui and Guanqiu Jian decided to find a place to discuss strategy.

The two men left the palace. Zhong Hui looked at the eunuchs rushing in and out and couldn't help but sigh. "Within a year, the Wei Dynasty has become completely different."

"Officials in Luoyang have become extremely busy and no longer have the leisure time they once had. The Shangshutai is handling matters very quickly. An imperial edict sent today will not be delayed until tomorrow."

"The six ministries of the Shangshu have clear divisions of labor and each has its own responsibilities. Although there are some loopholes, they are constantly being improved."

"The government affairs of the court have been in chaos for many years, but now things are finally getting better."

The Wei Dynasty had the most bloated administrative system among the Three Kingdoms, probably because it had experienced the most emperors and powerful ministers, and each person who came to power would form his own team and change the administrative system.

This resulted in too many officials in the core temple of the Wei Dynasty, and there were useless people everywhere. The powers of each other were superimposed, and it all depended on the ability of the person in the position.

For example, the Minister of Personnel and the Minister of Rites both had the power to select and promote officials, and whoever had the most influence over them had the greater influence. There were also the Minister of Agriculture and the Minister of Finance, and sometimes even the internal officials would intervene.
It is cumbersome, complex, bloated, extremely inefficient and costly.

Within just one year, the imperial court had changed. The six ministers were in charge of execution, with clear division of labor. The honorary status of the three dukes and nine ministers was further strengthened. In many cases, they could only put forward opinions and supervise the progress of things. The specific implementation still had to be done by the Secretariat.

The Secretariat drafted the plan, the Internal Ministers made the decision, the Shangshu executed it, and the Three Dukes and Nine Ministers participated.

Based on this idea, the court dismissed a large number of useless officials. For example, there were nearly a hundred people in the Sili Xiaowei Mansion, and Cao Mao dismissed half of them, well, in the physical sense.

More than twenty people were frightened and resigned from their posts, and now there are only less than thirty people left.

The bloated bureaucratic system suddenly became light, costs were greatly reduced, and after the government affairs became clear, income and expenditure became clear.

Zhong Hui likes the current temple very much, it is clean and light.

Everyone has his or her own job. Without those who draw a salary without working, those who just idle away their time, and those who are good-for-nothings, they are either killed or voluntarily return home. Now the temple feels like a real temple.

Looking around, most of them were people that Zhong Hui could take seriously, and none of them were too bad.

With the current configuration of the Wei Dynasty's government, not counting local officials and generals, it can still beat the Shu and Wu countries, which are short of young talents.

This is already roughly the size of the early days of Cao Pi's reign. It may not be as big as Emperor Wu's team, but it is definitely enough to crush Shu and Wu.

Zhong Hui's face was full of pride.

He said, "Your Majesty, it is worthwhile for you to employ cruel officials."

"To streamline and reform the government within a year is impossible without using cruel officials. If we proceed steadily, it will probably take five or six years to achieve the current situation."

He looked at Guanqiu Jian standing aside and said, "Therefore, if the ministers advise you to get rid of He Zeng, I hope you will not agree."

"Once the situation at the temple has stabilized, I will personally send him away, but now is not the time."

Guanqiu Jian then understood why Zhong Hui said this to him.

He began to speak: "Relying on cruel officials is not the right way to govern the world, but having villains in office is more harmful. We should choose the lesser of two evils."

Zhong Hui clapped his hands happily.

"You are absolutely right!"

Zhong Hui brought Guanqiu Jian to the Secretariat.

The bigwigs in the Secretariat probably didn't expect Guanqiu Jian to arrive suddenly, and no one came to greet him. Zhong Hui and Guanqiu Jian saw several secretaries gathered together, with their backs to the crowd, silent.

Zhong Hui led Guanqiu Jian and walked towards their ranks with a swagger.

"What happened?"

Several ministers were startled. They turned around and breathed a sigh of relief when they saw that it was Zhong Hui.

"This year's autumn harvest statistics are out."

The one who spoke was the newly appointed Minister of Revenue, Lu Zhi.

Seeing the complicated expressions of several Shangshu, Zhong Hui immediately frowned.

The situation this year is really not good.

In the second year of Zhengyuan, Hebei and Qingzhou rebelled, Liangzhou and Huainan each experienced a war, and disasters occurred frequently in Bingzhou and Youzhou.

Most local officials resigned, a large number of officials were dismissed or executed, the government was reorganized, and the treatment of soldiers was improved.
It is very normal that this year's autumn harvest has been affected.

Is it because it has dropped too much?

Zhong Hui asked seriously, "How much has it dropped? Will it affect next year?"

Several ministers pursed their lips and remained silent. Lu Zhi replied, "Compared to last year, it has increased by more than two times."

"Ti um???"

"What did you say?!"

(End of this chapter)