The elite did not migrate south

Chapter 736 This is the head of the ministers

Changan.

This was not Cao Mao's first visit to Chang'an. He had been here once before when he pacified the Kingdom of Shu.

This second time I came, Chang'an had changed a bit.

Apart from anything else, the road became much smoother and Cao Mao walked very steadily.

It can be seen that the absence of Jiang Wei is still very important to Yongliang.

The number of officials Cao Mao dealt with in Yongzhou exceeded one hundred.

The highest-ranking official directly involved in the crime was the prefect of Shangjun.

This prefect was also a strange man. In order to get promoted, he would do anything to get promoted. He lied about his political achievements many times, acted out many times, boasted to the upper county, and colluded with officials in the county to forge lies, repeatedly exaggerating the results of his rule.

He was really bold in his claim. He claimed that he had reclaimed thousands of acres and resettled more than a thousand households, and that he had resettled 30,000 to 40,000 Qiang households.

Damn it, Yongzhou might not even be able to gather 40,000 Qiang households!

He really had no bottom line when it came to boasting. The most hateful thing was that his lies were "confirmed" by Zhuge Xu and others, and then he was enthroned and rewarded.

Cao Mao almost couldn't help but send someone to whip Zhuge Xu again.

This person is called Shi Jian.

Shi Jian was born in a poor and humble family, but he loved reading and worked hard. He made friends with many famous scholars. After he became famous, he got the opportunity to become an official.

He had served as Shangshu Lang, Shiyushi, and Shangshu Cheng in the imperial court. During his tenure, he was fair and treated everyone without mercy, which made him more famous. All officials were somewhat afraid of him.

Later, Cao Mao conquered so many areas and there was a shortage of officials in the local areas, so he appointed him as the prefect.

He was originally the definite candidate for the post of governor.

As a result, Cao Mao discovered these fabricated situations only after he arrived. Fortunately, Cao Mao came to see it in person, otherwise, this guy would have become the governor by relying on the reputation of Dazhi Shangjun.

Thinking that after Zhuge Xu was dismissed, someone still recommended this person to be the governor, Cao Mao wanted to laugh.

If you continue to believe what these people say, your surname is no longer Cao!

At this moment, Shi Jian was kneeling in front of Cao Mao with his hands tied behind his back, but his expression was still defiant. He raised his head, looking very dissatisfied.

Cao Mao looked at him calmly and thought for a long time. He had some impression of this person.

Remember, in history, after Shu Jineng rebelled, this person was responsible for suppressing the rebellion. Judging from the content of the memorial alone, he suppressed the rebellion very smoothly.

He reported that he had defeated Shuji Neng and beheaded many people, saying that he only needed a little reinforcement to completely destroy the enemy.

The government was overjoyed and sent people to rescue them, but they were completely wiped out by the tree machine.

He submitted another memorial, saying that Shuji Neng had been severely injured by his attack, and that it would be sufficient to send reinforcements to do the finishing work.

Shuji Neng was also puzzled. He had won time and time again, so why did they still come to him one by one?
Due to this person's lies, the court misjudged the enemy's strength and battlefield situation, and the rescue turned into a gift of life. It was not until several well-known generals were killed in the battle that they realized something was wrong.

An Shi was soon furious when he discovered Shi Jian's outrageous behavior. He immediately ordered the soldiers to take back his official seal and dismiss him from his post.

Later, Anshi felt that he had been too harsh, so he re-employed him. When he attacked Wu, he appointed this guy as the General Zhennan, responsible for covering Du Yu. However, after the battle, when he counted the number of heads beheaded by this auxiliary guy, he found that the number of heads beheaded by Du Yu was more than that of the Wu army.

As a famous iron-fisted emperor in history, Anshi could not forgive this behavior, so he sent soldiers to take back his official seal, dismissed him from his post, and imposed a severe punishment, banning him from holding an official position for life!
Many years passed like this, and Anshi suddenly felt that he had been too harsh in his actions, so he decided to promote him to appease him. He promoted him to the positions of Situ, Sikong, and Taifu, making him the head of all the ministers.

wonderful!

At this moment, this later leader of the ministers was kneeling in front of Cao Mao, shouting that he was not guilty.

"Not guilty?!"

“Not guilty?!!”

Cao Mao couldn't help it at this moment. He stood up and walked quickly to the man.

The accompanying eunuch realized that something was wrong and quickly ordered everyone to leave.

Cao Mao lowered his head, staring intently into Shi Jian's eyes. "I want to ask you, last year in Shangjun, there was a snowstorm. The heavy snow collapsed houses and more than 2,000 people were displaced. How did you report it?"

"How dare you submit a memorial claiming to have benefited the people of Ruisheli?!"

"These disaster victims haven't received any relief yet!"

"I have not ignored them and have provided relief on their behalf."

Shi Jian argued, "There aren't many of these people. The local authorities can handle the problem. Why should we file a petition?"

"The local area can solve it? Why didn't I think of it?"

Cao Mao clapped his hands. "Well, you're a truly good shepherd! You even consider the interests of the court. Now, I ask you again: where are the thousands of acres of fertile land you reclaimed? Where are the people you resettled?"

"How do you manage to pay so much tax every year?!"

Shi Jian pursed his lips and said, "The national treasury needs a lot of grain. I just raised some taxes."

"bump!!!"

Cao Mao kicked Shi Jian to the ground. He fell to the ground, still shouting: "Your Majesty! I am innocent!!"

Several eunuchs also knelt down hurriedly, "Your Majesty! Please do not violate etiquette for the sake of a criminal!"

They were really afraid that the emperor would just draw his sword and kill this guy.

No matter how many crimes a minister committed, or how violent and irritable the emperor was, it has never been heard that he would personally go out and kill people. If this were recorded in history books, the emperor's reputation would be completely ruined, and so would their reputation.

Cao Mao pointed at the man in front of him and said to the eunuchs, "Take this fellow to Shangjun. Summon the officials. Summon all the officials in the village. Read out his crimes and execute him in public!"

Shi Jian, who was still shouting that he was innocent, was brought out. Cao Mao took a deep breath and suppressed the anger in his heart.

He has been improving the living conditions of the people in various places, but there are still such bastards who discredit him. For the sake of his own political achievements, he madly exploits the people and ignores their lives. He doesn't even know how the people of Shangjun view the government in recent years!

The loss of public support alone is more than he can repay with his life!

Guo Ze looked at the furious emperor and sighed again.

"Your Majesty, this is why none of the ministers are willing to allow you to travel to other places."

"When they first learned you were coming to Yongzhou, local officials wrote to me repeatedly, hoping I could persuade Your Majesty. They said such a trip would incur significant expenses and delay local affairs. It would be a tyranny like the First Emperor's."

"I know, however, that these people do not want Your Majesty to come because most of their cases cannot withstand a thorough investigation."

"As long as we investigate thoroughly, we will definitely be exposed!"

Cao Mao frowned, then pulled Guo Ze to sit down again.

"Zishou, I'm here to rectify Yongzhou. I'll have to deal with Zhuge Xu's matter again after I return!"

"I feel that the Qiang and Hu people in these two states are no longer a big problem."

Cao Mao was full of anger during this trip. The only thing that made him feel relieved was the issue of education. Among these Qiang and Hu people, there were actually not many tribes that needed to be educated. For example, if Li Te's family didn't say it, you couldn't tell that they were part of the Qiang and Hu people in the past.

Even if Cao Mao was not there, they could all participate in the Xiaolian program.

The Xiongnu were similar. As for Liu Xian and Liu Yuan, was there any need for them to be educated again?
They are more like the orthodox Han Dynasty than the Western Jin Dynasty! !

After all, Liu Yuan would not forgive anyone who lied about military intelligence and caused the death of soldiers.

The reforms of Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei Dynasty in history have now become the reforms of the Great Wei Dynasty. After all, we are all Wei, so there is no problem in using it.

The pressure Cao Mao faced when implementing his policy was less than that faced by Emperor Xiaowen.

There are quite a few talented people among Tuoba Liwei's descendants.

Cao Mao felt that there was no need to ask Guo Ze to continue to appease the people, and the local authorities should continue to carry out the education work.

"Zishou, I intend to appoint you as the Governor of Yongzhou."

Guo Ze was shocked and said, "Your Majesty, I have little talent. How can I take on such an important task?"

"Zhuge Xu has the talent to govern a region, but he can't be a qualified provincial governor. Why is that? Because he forgot his responsibilities and, out of friendship, didn't pursue those who made mistakes. He failed to serve as my eyes and ears!"

"But Zishou is different. He is upright and will not be deceived by treacherous villains. This is the governor I need!"

"In the past, I always chose governors with administrative talent. Now, it seems that it is still necessary to choose people with integrity. An official with bad morals can cause far more damage than the achievements he makes!"

After hearing Cao Mao's words, Guo Ze no longer objected.

"Your Majesty, I will definitely take care of everything here!"

Cao Mao then instructed Guo Ze on many things to pay attention to.

The two talked for a long time before Cao Mao smiled and said, "Zishou, please send someone to inform the Governor of Liang Province that I need to go to Wuwei and other places to check on the situation."

Guo Ze was about to say something when he saw Cao Mao's faint smile.

"Your Majesty, do you want to scare them?"

"I can't leave Luoyang too far, nor can I leave for too long. Although I have Wang Chang and others, Zhong Hui is too troublesome."

"Just this morning, a messenger arrived to inform us that Zhong Hui had caused a disturbance in the Secretariat and had a major conflict with Wang Chang."

Guo Ze nodded and said, "I'll arrange it right away."

Cao Mao wanted to visit all parts of the world, but Luoyang today really couldn't do without the emperor.

Guo Ze suddenly asked, "Your Majesty, why did Zhong Hui quarrel with the prince?"

“It’s because of the new policy that Zhong Hui came up with.”

"Zhong Hui wants to implement a system of descending titles. From the royal family to various titles, each succession will be reduced by one level."

Guo Ze hurriedly asked, "I seem to have heard of this before?"

"Yes, there have been such remarks before, discussed between Sima Shi and Sima Zhao, but none of them were as extreme as what Zhong Hui is saying now."

(End of this chapter)