The elite did not migrate south

Chapter 439: Also a Powerful Official

Luoyang.

When the news of Sun Chen's murder reached Luoyang, Cao Mao's face was full of disbelief.

"He's dead now?"

"Doesn't he command tens of thousands of troops? Doesn't he command half of Wu's army?"

Jiao Bo hurriedly explained: "I heard that he was killed at the banquet."

"That's not right. Didn't I inform him in a letter, asking him to be careful about the banquet?"

Cao Mao just felt a headache.

Jiao Bo smiled bitterly. "I heard that this man went to the palace alone for a banquet, and was immediately captured and beheaded by the King of Wu. Then a general went out with the King of Wu's order and pacified his army."

"The King of Wu then issued an order to pardon the crimes of all those under Sun Chen's command, with the exception of his brothers. All others could be pardoned."

"So, all the ministers submitted to the King of Wu."

Cao Mao's expression was extremely complicated.

We are all little emperors supported by powerful officials and held hostage by great generals. Why is it so easy for you?

Sun Chen is a fool even compared to Sima Yan, not to mention Sima Shi.

An Shidu is much better than him. After all, An Shidu is tolerant and will not cause any large-scale escape and panic.

However, the death of this stupid general was a misfortune for the State of Wei.

Cao Mao would never find such an opponent again.

Cao Mao couldn't help but sigh, as a tribute to this great general who had made great contributions to the Wei Dynasty.

"What a shame! It would be great if he could stay in power for another five years."

Jiao Bo almost laughed out loud.

"Your Majesty, he has been in power for less than a year, and he has already killed and forced more than twenty generals to flee. If he had stayed in power for another five years, I'm afraid there would be no one left alive in Wu."

When Sun Chen came to power, Cao Wei was the biggest beneficiary. None of the opponents who had fought against Cao Wei for many years were left. Cao Wei even gained many talents who were proficient in naval warfare, knew how to build ships, and had a deep understanding of the internal affairs of Wu.

These talents were gathered together by Guanqiu Jian, and they could serve as the vanguard in the future attack on the State of Wu.

If possible, Cao Mao would like to posthumously confer a title on Sun Chen.

Cao Mao asked again, "So his brothers all chose to surrender?"

"It's like this. They occupied Xiakou. They originally had an army of nearly 40,000 men, but were defeated by Ding Feng. Now they have less than 30,000 men. They are holed up in Xiakou and have submitted a letter of submission."

"Oh, how many people are there in Dingfeng?"

"Ding Feng has more than 30,000 people"

Cao Mao was silent again. "They had over 40,000 elite troops, but were defeated by Ding Feng's 30,000. Now they're hiding and not daring to leave?"

"Is such that."

"Then these guys are quite like brothers."

As expected of Sun Chen’s younger brother, he has the demeanor of his elder brother.

"I heard that Shu has sent troops. General Yan Yu is leading the troops and is approaching Xiling."

Jiao Bo informed Cao Mao of the news from all over the country.

"I understand."

After Jiao Bo left, Cao Mao looked at the rest of the memorials.

At the beginning of the new year, Dawei has a lot of things to do.

This war was just one of many things happening to Cao Wei, but for Shu and Wu, it was a bet on their national destiny. Even if Cao Wei was defeated in this war, it would not have much impact. But if Wu and Shu were defeated, it would be a fatal blow.

Cao Mao was not that worried.

Even with Sun Chen's full support, if Wang Ji still couldn't defeat Shi Ji, then he would really be unworthy of his reputation as a capable general.

Cao Mao could not provide much help in the war, so he focused his attention on domestic affairs.

The rectification of officials has finally come to an end.

After a year of rectification, Cao Wei's administration had undergone earth-shaking changes, and it could finally be viewed with an open mind.

Administrative efficiency has also been greatly improved.

Cao Mao also had the mind to do other things.

First of all, there is the imperial examination in January.

The first is the county examination.

Cao Mao and Zhong Hui thought that the provincial examination was a qualification test, while the county examination was the real test. The county examination papers were produced by the prefectures, which was difficult to standardize due to travel distances. Those who passed the county examination could serve as minor officials in the county and of course, could also participate in the next round. Then came the county examination, where the examination papers were produced by the prefectures, and those who passed could serve as clerks in the prefecture.

Then comes the provincial examination, which is prepared by the imperial court. Those who pass can become Yuanwailang.

The last is the palace examination, where the emperor sets the papers. Those who pass the examination can serve directly beside the emperor.

This is completely different from the later imperial examinations, mainly because the current situation is also different. The Zhongzheng system is really difficult to maintain the operation of the world, and this method can only be used to relieve the pressure on officials.

As for the test paper, Zhong Hui also gave requirements, including four subjects: classics, mathematics, agriculture, and law, among which classics was the most important.

Cao Mao's idea was to get things done first, find problems during the process, and then improve them.

Cao Mao completely handed over the responsibility of this matter to Zhong Hui and Zheng Mao.

In addition to the imperial examination system, there are also some fundamental issues, such as the military farming system.

At the beginning, my great-grandfather listened to the advice of his ministers and established the military farming system. In theory, the government would lead the people to reclaim arable land, and then the arable land would belong to the government and become public land. The people could work on the arable land and get enough food to survive without having to worry about the arable land being annexed by the powerful. This was a very good system in the late Han Dynasty.

At that time, the annexation of land by powerful people was very frequent, and it was so difficult for the common people to keep their farmland. The government organized them to reclaim the land so that they could survive.

But now, its disadvantages have begun to emerge.

The farmers were not very enthusiastic about farming. After all, the output of the cultivated land had nothing to do with them personally. It all belonged to the government, and they could only get enough food to survive. At the same time, the corruption of the military farming institutions became more and more serious, and the agricultural tools and other items issued by the government fell into their hands.

There was even a situation like before where local areas could not start spring planting without the Shangshu Ling's imperial decree.

Cao Mao wanted to make some changes, but the public land could never be distributed to the people.

This is not to distribute land to the common people, but to distribute land to the big families and powerful people.

From the very beginning, Cao Mao made it clear who he needed to win over to rule the country: soldiers, merchants, and farmers.

Now the soldiers are enjoying good treatment.

After Cao Mao officially ordered the improvement of soldiers' treatment and abolished a series of unfair policies such as military households, the soldiers of the Wei Dynasty had extremely high support for Cao Mao and their morale was also high.

There is no need to say much about the merchants. Just rectifying the administration and cracking down on those big families will make them very happy.

The wealthy families had their own manor economies and did not need markets. However, Cao Mao's repeated attacks forced the wealthy families to participate in the market, and the stable public security gave merchants a chance to breathe.

Occasionally, when Cao Mao walked in Luoyang, he could hear merchants praising him.

Now, of course, we need to help the farmers.

This group, which occupied the largest population in the Wei Dynasty, was also the one that lived the most miserable life.

If public land were distributed to them, the powerful families and the wealthy would rush over like wolves, and in just a few years these farmers would become tenants of the powerful families, domestic slaves of the powerful families, or homeless hooligans.

But how can we improve farmers’ quality of life without dividing up arable land?

An idea suddenly came to Cao Mao's mind.

The current farming model of the Wei Dynasty seems strangely familiar.
The government owns a large amount of public land, and the people cultivate it for the government. Well, is it possible to rent the public land to the people for cultivation without changing the nature of the public land?
Farmers no longer kept enough food to make a living, but instead paid the land tax and kept the rest.

The powerful did not dare to annex public land easily. As long as the imperial army was still there, annexing public land would be considered treason.
Anyway, the farmland in the hands of the people will sooner or later be annexed by the powerful, so it is better to let them annex it first and then rent it to them for cultivation.

Cao Mao had a lot of ideas in his mind.

The government can continue to organize land reclamation, but the reclaimed land can be leased to the people.

Although doing so will reduce Wei's grain income in the short term, from a long-term perspective, the people's enthusiasm for production will increase, and private grain reserves will increase, which will reduce many of the temple's expenses and reduce the impact of military farm corruption on farming. When the population and arable land increase accordingly, the temple's income will certainly increase through land taxes.

After Cao Mao wrote down his ideas, he immediately summoned his eunuchs to make a decision.

In the east hall of Taiji Palace, the eunuchs gathered together, listening to Cao Mao talk about his new ideas, and fell into deep thought.

Cao Mao currently has a large number of eunuchs, and they are all young and outstanding people.

When these people gathered in the East Hall, there was almost not enough space.

The two attendants sat on Cao Mao's left and right respectively.

Zheng Xiaotong and Zhong Hui were both called in at short notice, and knew nothing about these matters before they arrived.

And when they finished listening, the expressions of the two people were completely different.

Zheng Xiaotong agreed immediately and said excitedly: Such a benevolent policy of the emperor will surely be admired by people all over the world.

But Zhong Hui seemed a little embarrassed.

"Your Majesty, I don't think now is the time to handle this matter."

Zhong Hui said, "Your Majesty is benevolent and loves the people of the world. This sentiment touches me deeply. However, the current government has enormous expenses. Just to maintain the troops in various places requires a large amount of food. If the military farming system is changed, income will be greatly reduced in the short term."

"This will affect many things in the court. When the time comes, if the court runs out of food, it will need to levy taxes. The people won't think that distributing farmland will empty the court. They will only complain about the frequent levies. Your Majesty's benevolent rule will become a tyranny in the eyes of the common people."

Zhong Hui's words left Zheng Xiaotong, who was in an excited state, speechless.

(End of this chapter)