The elite did not migrate south

Chapter 433 End of the Year
Inside Wangwu Mountain.

Liu Lu looked at the letter in his hand and pondered for a long time.

Just today, he received another order from the emperor.

Originally, Cao Mao was planning to use Liu Lu to clean up the big families in various places. However, in anger, He Zeng directly snatched Liu Lu's job and started killing people everywhere.

Liu Lu and his gang suddenly became useless.

The provincial governors that Cao Mao has appointed in various places are all extremely ruthless people. Anyone who dares to bully the people will be punished by these provincial governors.

Since Liu Lu did not receive a new appointment, he stayed in the mountains with peace of mind, established good relationships with the leaders in the mountains, established his own prestige, and continued to manage the place.

Just today, he finally received the letter from the emperor.

Cao Mao's letters to Liu Lu were very straightforward. Because Liu Lu's cultural level was not very high and he had just finished learning to read and write, his letters to the emperor were simple and popular.

In a letter, Cao Mao told Liu Lu that his mission had changed.

Cao Mao planned to ask Liu Lu to find some smart and capable people from the mountains, send them to various parts of the country, and set up a government office in each place.

This Dianshifu does not have a real mansion, it is just a name.

These people can do different jobs in different places, they can be yamen runners, merchants, or even farmers, they can do anything.

Their main task was to inquire about news and intelligence from all over the country and inform the emperor of what was happening in all places at any time.

During Cao Cao's time, the School Secretaries had their own residences in various places. They were mainly responsible for arresting people, etc. However, the Directors that Cao Mao wanted to establish would not have their own residences, that is, they would operate in secret. In Cao Mao's idea, the School Secretaries and the Directors should cooperate with each other to achieve the best results.

Cao Mao wanted to hand over the affairs of state to Liu Lu.

This requires a large number of people, and they have to come from the lower classes and are not easily detected. Aren't Liu Lu and this group of people in the mountains born to do this?
Although the quality may not be high, the base number is large enough.

Liu Lu couldn't help scratching his head at this moment.

Your Majesty, are your expectations of yourself a little too high?

This is to serve as your majesty's eyes and ears, to spy on the whole world. Can I accomplish such a thing by myself?

Liu Lu pondered for a long time and decided to find an assistant first.

People like Guo Ze certainly do not meet Liu Lu's criteria for finding someone.

This kind of thing is not something that the children of wealthy families can do. Since the Western Han Dynasty, scholars have had a very low opinion of secret agencies.

They are disgusted by such behavior and even always equate these institutions with "ruling by the eyes", believing that this is the most unwise and cruel way of governing.

Scholars are so elegant that they never feel that wise men like themselves need to be monitored.

The emperor wanted to monitor them, which was a disrespect to the scholars and a lack of trust in them.

Even though they frequently interacted with the ministers of Shu and Wu in private, had constant business dealings, exploited the people, deceived the government officials, and colluded with each other, the emperor could not help but trust them!

This is unvirtuous and unkind behavior!

Liu Lu immediately found Wang Yuan.

At this moment, Wang Yuan and Liu Lu have become very good friends. Of course, only they themselves know how true this friendship is.

Wang Yuan had no reluctance to give up the power in the mountains. He was not Zhang Yan. Even if he were Zhang Yan, he would have been eager to be surrendered by the court. How could he compare to following the emperor's trusted ministers to enjoy a life of luxury in the mountains with more than 10,000 old, weak and sick people?

He is also a man who has seen the world.

If Guo Ze hadn't tricked him, he would still be an official of the Wei Dynasty.

Wang Yuan respectfully let Liu Lu sit in the upper seat, and he sat beside him. "Lord Liu, does His Majesty have any decrees?"

Liu Lu whispered, "There is one thing, but it's something that only you and I should know. If anyone else finds out, we'll both lose our heads."

"So I have to ask you first, are you willing to follow me? If you succeed, your future will be limitless. If you are afraid, then just pretend I have never been here."

Wang Yuan said without hesitation, "I am willing to follow Lord Liu. No matter what happens, I will go through fire and water without hesitation!"

Liu Lu likes to deal with such efficient people.

He immediately told Wang Yuan the emperor's thoughts in a subtle way.

It's not that Liu Lu lowered his guard, but because he simply couldn't do this alone. He needed a capable helper. Wang Yuan was smart and came from a humble background. He was still wanted, so it was naturally most appropriate to ask him to help.

Wang Yuan listened to Liu Lu's story very carefully.

He was overjoyed.

He immediately understood what the emperor wanted to do. This was a good opportunity to get close to the emperor.

If this can be accomplished, the power in the future will be unimaginable.

His eyes practically lit up.

"Mr. Liu, I am willing to help you accomplish this. We can first select some reliable and capable people together and have them go to various places and settle down."

"Then there's the issue of communication. We must prepare fast horses so they can deliver news at any time." "This requires your Majesty's assistance. It's not something we can do on our own."

The two of them immediately began to discuss the feasibility of this matter. The specific implementation would certainly not be easy. They decided to start from the Sili area, then accumulate experience and slowly expand to other places.

"If that's the case, then there's no need for the cottage to exist."

"While we could use the mountain's name to send them to various places, have them spy on the government, and conceal the truth, His Majesty might not agree. This is a government directly under His Majesty, and we can't limit ourselves to that. If we want to fully handle this important matter, we can send the people from the mountain back to their original places in batches, and ask the government to forgive their mistakes. It would be best if we let Lord Guo lead them down the mountain and surrender."

"We will lead the rest of the people to take care of this matter."

Liu Lu shook his head and said, "Don't be in a hurry to dismiss the people. First, arrange the affairs of the Dianshi Mansion, and then dismiss them."

"We can start taking care of this important matter today."

The two made their decision and immediately began to act.

They first started selecting people. Liu Lu had been dealing with them for a long time and knew who could be used and who could not. After the two of them carefully selected people, they quickly found a group of people.

Then, Liu Lu met these people separately and told them what had happened together with Wang Yuan.

When they learned that they had official identities and would work for the emperor in the future, these people were incredulous.

Liu Lu then began to train them.

Liu Lu himself did not understand these things, so Cao Mao appointed an old man from the School Affairs Office to teach them how to do these things.

The second year of Zhengyuan, the end of the year.

The temple was not too busy at the moment. After all, the autumn harvest and other matters were over, and there was really nothing good to do in winter.

The busiest department was the Youbei Mansion of the Censorate.

Xun Xu had long since left the imperial court. He was now traveling back and forth across the north with his men, busy with disaster relief efforts.

The Empress Dowager's advice to the Emperor to live frugally and cut down on palace expenses caused a sensation in Luoyang.

When everyone heard this, they couldn't help but praise the Queen Mother, saying that she was a benevolent queen and worthy of being the mother of the emperor.

Later, Cao Mao took the lead in doing this. He reduced the number of eunuchs and palace maids, and greatly reduced his expenses on food, clothing, housing and transportation.

Reduce unnecessary pomp and circumstance.

He convened a court meeting again and spoke about this matter in public. He called on officials all over the world to be diligent, frugal and simple and to set an example.

Soon, the custom of wearing tattered clothes became popular among nobles everywhere. The wealthy families deliberately made their clothes tattered and then wore them at banquets to show that they were more frugal than anyone else.

The other ministers also began to compete with each other to see who was dressed worst.

Some people even use wheat rice to entertain guests at banquets to show their thriftiness.

The ministers then changed to donkey carts.

For a time, the whole Luoyang was filled with smoke and miasma.

Cao Mao was not surprised at all.

After all, he is a minister of the Great Wei, so it is only natural for such a situation to happen.

During the Sima Yan era, people were competing to see who was more luxurious. Now, they are competing to see who is poorer.
They don't know how to restrain themselves, and tend to overdo whatever they do.

Although Luoyang has become a dilapidated city, at least the atmosphere in Luoyang is becoming solemn at a speed visible to the naked eye. The excessive arrogance of the Wei Dynasty is being tightened little by little, and the scholars on the streets are no longer as unruly as before.

Officials no longer dared to drive their cars recklessly into other vehicles.

The soldiers patrolled the city in an orderly manner.

In an instant, Luoyang regained the solemn look of a man.

But Cao Mao had no time to go out and see all this. Now, he was thinking about the major events of the next year with Zhong Hui.

This was also the first imperial examination in the Wei Dynasty.

In the first month of the year, the provincial examination will begin. This provincial examination is completely different from the provincial examinations in later generations. It does not require an exam. The three elders in the village will recommend moral scholars to participate in the next examination. It is considered a reference qualification examination.

Don't even mention that such a recommendation would eliminate people from poor families and common people. The imperial examinations in the Wei Dynasty were not originally held for poor families and common people.

The Wei Dynasty was not the Tang and Song Dynasties, nor the Ming and Qing Dynasties, and did not have so many talented people from humble backgrounds.

Reading and recognizing characters is good, but if you want to master advanced knowledge, such as classics, you need to find a teacher. Ordinary people don’t have this thing at home and have no way to get in touch with it.

Every teacher who teaches these comes from a prominent family. Even if they were not originally from a prominent family, they will become one after mastering the classics. By becoming their apprentice, they become their disciple, and thus have a relationship with the prominent family.

You know, even if a poor boy was admitted to the Imperial College, he was not eligible to take the Five Classics exam. He could only return to his hometown after completing his studies and work as an educational official.

Today's imperial examinations are just to select capable people from the big families and weed out the good-for-nothings.

If we want to select a large number of talents from poor families, we have to wait until knowledge is no longer monopolized and there is a sufficient reserve of talents from poor families.

(End of this chapter)