The elite did not migrate south

Chapter 558 Gap
Luoyang.

The same court meeting was also taking place in Wei.

Cao Mao sat in the upper seat, and the ministers sat below.

Ever since the Three Dukes and Nine Ministers completely lost their power and became honorary titles, court meetings have become very interesting.

The court meeting usually begins with reports from various departments of the Secretariat.

Each department of the Secretariat talked about their recent achievements and future directions.

The current Secretariat is definitely the most powerful department in the world. Each of the six ministers is top-notch, and the entire set of configurations is almost full. It is the most powerful institution under Cao Mao.

Their results are also obvious.

The six ministries have made great achievements during this period.

There is no need to say much about the Ministry of Revenue. The abolition of the military farming system is the largest policy of the Wei Dynasty today.

Public land in various places was rented to the people and was no longer cultivated mainly by the temple. The military farming institutions of the Wei Dynasty were directly cut, which caused great controversy.

Actually, there are a lot of people who oppose it.

The excuses were different. Some said that this was a system that had been in operation since the reign of Emperor Wu, and that any easy changes might shake the foundation of the country, reduce revenue, and lead to the collapse of the treasury.

Some say they are afraid that public land will become private property of certain individuals.

Some said they were worried that without the leadership of the government, the people would not be able to farm effectively and would be prone to neglect.

When Lu Zhi described the reform situation in various places and the decision to abolish many military farming institutions with an expressionless face, the three dukes and nine ministers became a little restless.

The temple was divided into two factions.

The people from the Secretariat are responsible for doing it, while the Three Dukes and Nine Ministers are responsible for keeping an eye on them and finding fault with them.

As soon as Lu Zhi finished speaking, Cui Zan asked with a worried look on his face, "The Shangshutai wants to completely abolish the military farming system this year. Can we still guarantee a good harvest next year? The grain reserves in the national treasury are running low due to the war. If the income and expenditure are not balanced, what will we do?"

"The many departments of the current military farming system have been gradually perfected and formed over decades, and the officials who serve in them have also been carefully selected. If we rashly abolish them now, it will be too late to regret it later!"

Facing Cui Zan's question, Lu Zhi replied bluntly: "The consumption of the various military farm departments themselves is greater than the benefits they create."

"Those officials you carefully selected don't know the difference between grains and the seasons. All they can do is sell off grain, seize farmland, embezzle farm tools, and lie about harvests. Just one military farm in Yanzhou employs hundreds of officials, and there are more people watching over the farmland than working on it! What a disgrace!"

"These departments have become parasites of the Wei Dynasty. They have no real capabilities and are only causing more trouble and burdens!"

"Don't the people know how to farm themselves? These people are holding up farm tools and seeds, and they have to wait for their orders before they can start farming. These people are also very incompetent and know nothing about farming. In the end, a group of ignorant people are commanding a group of veteran farmers who have been farming for decades. This delays farming and ruins everything."

Lu Zhi's eyes were extremely sharp as he stared at the many ministers in front of him.

"They are a complete burden, of no use at all. They are even helping to annex public land. Abolishing them is in line with the general trend, and there shouldn't be any controversy about it!"

After Lu Zhi finished speaking, Cui Zan didn't dare to argue anymore.

Lu Zhidu has labeled these officials who were responsible for the military farming as traitors to the country. If Cui Zan continues to defend himself, he will easily be implicated if there is another thorough investigation.

Cao Mao clearly saw helplessness flash across the faces of some ministers.

Cao Mao knew very well that the military farming institutions had become the main tool for the big families to make money in recent years.

All I can say is that when my grandfather changed the policy, he gave too much power to the military farming institutions. They were responsible for everything, from the preparation of farm tools and grain seeds to farming and harvesting, and there were huge profits in every link.

This cannot be pursued seriously anymore.

Even Cao Mao, the emperor with real power, did not dare to investigate the dirty deeds of the military farming institutions in the past.

He was afraid that all his men would be killed.
As for the past events, since there were no explicit regulations, Cao Mao could pretend to be ignorant. However, in the future, if these people dared to interfere with and obstruct the current new policies under the pretext of military farming, Cao Mao would have to let the dogs go.

Do you see He Zeng, who is sitting on the left and looking around at everyone?
Although the ministers in the temple felt it was a pity, they were smart enough not to obstruct too much at this time. After all, they were not clean. If they jumped out to oppose and something was found out, that would be bad.

Lu Zhi looked at these people and felt disgusted.

The more I look into this military farming issue, the more chilling and outrageous it seems. The profits from the military farming over the years have not even fallen into the hands of the government!

Lu Zhi originally thought that the corruption in the military farms was a matter of taking a little bit at a time from each link and accumulating it over time.

He always thought that the huge cost of military farming was due to the large number of officials.

But when he actually got involved in this matter, he finally understood that the corruption was to deduct a little from each link and give it to the government, and the rest was shared among everyone.

What the temple gets is not the main share, but the leftovers from others. This is simply unbelievable!
Lu Zhi immediately changed his mild attitude and directly wrote a letter to abolish the military farming system in all places, even the border settlements on the frontier would not be left.

The Ministry of Revenue's policy was quickly passed and no one questioned it.

Then several officials from the Ministry of Rites talked about their work. The Minister of Rites was not in the imperial court, but was in Yongliang, but the work they had to do was no less than that of the Ministry of Revenue.

Qiang, Xiongnu, Xianbei.

They have to solve all three major problems.

Pei Xiu himself was in Yongliang, personally handling the affairs of the Qiang and Hu people.

After Shi Bao's baptism, Yongliang's affairs were actually much easier to handle.

Pei Xiu cooperated with Zhuge Xu and, under coercion or semi-coercion, split up the Qiang people's tribal organization.

They completely disrupted the Qiang people and settled them in many counties according to their regions. They registered them as citizens and gave them houses, farmland, etc.

Of course, there were some disturbances. One leader wanted to lead his people to flee, but was immediately discovered. The Wei Dynasty had almost no rivals in Yongliang.

The Great Wei was not the Later Han. The Qiang rebellion could trouble the Later Han, but it could not trouble the Great Wei.

Without the support of local people, they can't do anything.

Pei Xiu was decisive and ruthless in his actions. His main policy was "those who obey me will prosper." A total of 230,000 Qiang and Hu people were settled in more than ten counties in three states. After they were dispersed in this way, each county could only be allocated dozens of households.

As for the original leaders, Zhuge Xu asked for official titles for them and let them ride in carriages to Luoyang.

This incident attracted the attention of the whole world.

The last person who did something similar was the First Emperor!
After he destroyed the other country, he forcibly relocated and dispersed the nobles in the other country in an attempt to weaken the forces that wanted to restore the country. Later, Liu Bang also implemented a similar policy.

But Cao Mao's approach was obviously different from all of them. Strictly speaking, he was following the example of Cao Cao and Sima Yi and relocating the Hu people inland.

But Cao Mao's migration was different from both of theirs.

They just let the Hu people graze in the Central Plains, let them continue to maintain their own organizational form, and live outside the governance of the temple. But Cao Mao's migration really turned the Hu people into residents of the city, and broke up their organization. From then on, you are a citizen of the Wei Dynasty with a Wei household registration, no different from anyone else!

The Xiongnu also implemented the same policy.

The ministers said nothing about this policy.

The main reason is that these matters have no conflict of interest with them, and they don't care at all whether the emperor's behavior towards the Hu people is unjust or immoral.

They have always only cared about whether their own interests would be harmed.

After the Ministry of Rites, the Ministry of Works, the Ministry of Personnel, and even the Ministry of Justice also talked about their achievements in recent days.

In the past, Cao Mao always thought that court meetings could no longer be held, but recently he changed his mind and decided to summon ministers to discuss matters from time to time.

The Secretariat also needs supervision and questioning from external officials, and the Three Dukes and Nine Ministers do not just find fault with them. Some of their accusations are actually very reasonable.

The Shangshutai is very united, so it is inevitable that there will be some behavior of protecting one's own family members, and these old ministers are just right to balance it out.

The young and old ministers in the temple have very different ideas and ways of doing things, so it is best to let them reconcile.

The court meeting took more than an hour to make many things clear.

After the court meeting ended, Cao Mao was the first to leave, and some ministers immediately followed him.

The person following him was He Zeng from the Censorate.

Seeing He Zeng leaving with the emperor, the ministers looked at each other with panic and fear in their eyes. Was this guy going to bite people again?
"His Majesty."

He Zeng's face was filled with fawning smiles. He followed Cao Mao with his head bowed and nods, completely lacking the integrity of a scholar-official.

"Mr. He, I remember that the Censorate has been quite peaceful these days, with nothing major happening. Why do you look a little uneasy?"

He Zeng quickly replied, "Your Majesty, I have something important to report."

"I've heard that recently, the great families across the country have been mobilizing all their resources to relocate their children to Shuzhong. There's a lot of arable land and property left vacant there, and the Ministry of Personnel is already in tatters."

He Zeng narrowed his eyes, "Do you need me to help fix this?"

Cao Mao laughed. After these days of rectification, the administrative situation has become increasingly better. The Censorate has nothing to do. He Zeng is obviously afraid.

He was afraid that he would be abandoned once he was no longer useful and would be used as a scapegoat for the ministers.

Cao Mao glanced at him and said, "Mr. He, I am by no means a heartless person. The Censorate has no major issues. Isn't this a good thing? This is enough to show your political achievements and talents."

"For small matters like this, you can handle them yourself. There's no need to ask me."

"only!!"

(End of this chapter)