The elite did not migrate south

Chapter 811 From Hometown
At this moment, the configuration of the Shangshu Tai has finally taken shape.

In Cao Mao's list, only Xun Xu had not yet taken office.

After the young generation's counterattack, the government suddenly became much more lively.

The most lively meeting was Cao Mao's eunuch meeting.

These eunuchs gathered in the Taiji Hall and put forward various ideas on future national policies.

The scholars of the Han Dynasty were not lacking in courage, and the scholars of the Wei Dynasty went a step further. Their ideas were indeed very radical, which brought great shock to Guanqiu Jian, who participated in the eunuch meeting for the first time.

The path of the Great Wei is becoming increasingly clear. Through reforms in many aspects, it has already forged its own path, which is very different from the Later Han Dynasty.

The eunuchs gathered here to discuss only those few things.

How to increase the income of the temple, how to increase the population, how to improve the living standards of the people, and how to strengthen military strength.

Looking at the ministers around him who were thinking wildly and drooling, Guanqiu Jian's eyes were full of surprise.

His leisurely and contented state was broken by these people.

The fate of the Wei Dynasty is in the hands of these people?
Led by Zhong Hui, these people seemed very anxious and eager to do more.

Just in terms of increasing income, Guanqiu Jian heard a lot of crazy ideas.

These include but are not limited to "allowing private coinage to the public", "taking inventory of merchants' property and requiring those with more than 20,000 coins to pay half of it", "selling public land" and other outrageous ideas.

Fortunately, these are just everyone's thoughts and things have not reached that stage yet.

However, Cao Mao was extremely indulgent towards his own ministers.

Guanqiu Jian had never seen such a meeting of eunuchs.

You must know that during the reign of Emperor Ming, Guanqiu Jian was considered a close eunuch of Emperor Ming and often participated in decision-making with Emperor Ming.

But the decisions made back then were completely different from what this group of people are doing today.

Formal decisions made by the eunuchs usually involve everyone sitting down calmly, with the Minister of the Interior proposing the content of the decision, and everyone speaking up to supplement it, before the emperor makes the final decision.

But what is happening now is like a gathering of crazy people, shouting and yelling, even interrupting each other, arguing until their faces are red.

Guanqiu Jian wanted to speak several times, but seeing that Cao Mao, who was sitting in the upper seat, had no intention of stopping him, he could only bite the bullet and watch them continue the negotiation.

Cao Mao sat in the upper seat. No matter how outrageous the ideas his eunuchs came up with, he would not feel angry, but just listened with a smile.

The reason why he wanted to have as many powerful factions in the temple was to make it more vibrant.

In the past, the decision-making by the eunuchs was just a competition for interests, weighing pros and cons, ceding and plundering.

Why did the eunuchs in the past sit together and chat so harmoniously?

They all gathered together to cut the meat, and the distribution had been made before arriving here, so of course they would be harmonious.

And now, at least these people's ideas are not based on the interests of themselves or their clans.

that's enough.

Anyway, unreliable ideas will not be adopted.

The discussion was very intense.

But they can indeed come up with good decisions.

For example, Zhong Hui believed that investment in the Charity House should continue to increase, and asked the Secretariat to promote various new inventions to all parts of the country as soon as possible, even if it meant losing money.

In addition, for those newly produced fertilizers, Zhong Hui also proposed the idea of adding production lines.

King Dongping is trying to increase his production efficiency through other means.

In order to improve the living standards of the people, Zhang Hua proposed a policy of maintaining interest rates.

It probably means that the government spends money to implement national welfare, gives the people a minimum guarantee, provides different relief and protection to different types of people, and improves their living standards.

This policy, which seems to transcend time, was actually recorded in the Zhou Li and is a very ancient benevolent policy.

This policy is called Interest Guarantee and Six Benefits.

One is to be kind to children, two is to care for the elderly, three is to help the poor, four is to provide relief to the needy, five is to be lenient to the sick, and six is to ensure the safety of the rich.

These are the six means of support in ancient times. The first is to care for children, the second is to support the elderly, the third is for the widowed, the widowed, and the lonely, the fourth is the poor, the fifth is the disabled, and the sixth is the rich.

As for why the rich are also included in the relief, it is not actually relief, but rather a statement that the state cannot rob the rich of their money and wants to allow them to live in peace.

The Han Dynasty also advocated these six kinds of support. Therefore, it was common to see emperors of the Han Dynasty proactively ordering the distribution of cloth and grain to be donated to children, the elderly, the poor, the disabled, etc. This practice was nationwide.

Of course, this kind of six-support system was not as large as that in later generations. It was an infrequent behavior, providing relief and protection from time to time, not every year.

And it will vary depending on the emperor.

If you meet Emperor Wen, you can often get relief. If you meet Emperor Wu in his later years, it would be considered a great favor if he doesn't ask you to donate money.

From the Han to the Wei, many welfare systems were dismantled. This system of protecting the people almost completely disappeared. It wasn't until the Northern Wei, when the country began to assimilate to the Han Dynasty, that the welfare system was re-established, providing for the elderly over 70 years old and implementing poverty relief. The Northern Zhou inherited the Northern Wei's poverty relief system, and the Northern Qi inherited the poverty eradication system. They truly achieved physical eradication.

After many things were agreed upon and the decision was made, the ministers left one after another.

Guanqiu Jian still couldn't come to his senses.

Until Cao Mao took the initiative to speak, "Grand Marshal, isn't this different from the past?"

Looking at the smiling Cao Mao in front of him, Guanqiu Jian sighed, "It's indeed different."

It’s hard to describe Guanqiu Jian, but after watching this kind of decision-making meeting for a long time, he actually found it quite interesting.

Cao Mao stroked his chin and continued, "In just eleven years, such changes have already taken place. In another ten years, the Great Wei will surely be a prosperous era."

Cao Mao's eyes were full of anticipation.

Guanqiu Jian agreed with this.

Not to mention anything else, based on the foundation of great unification, as long as we can rule stably for more than ten years, it will surely be a prosperous era.

"I do not intend to send out any more troops to attack. In the coming days, I will focus on developing domestic affairs. However, I really want to establish connections with distant countries, especially Persia, which is at its peak."

"Persia?"

Guanqiu Jian was a little confused, as he had never heard of this title.

Cao Mao frowned slightly. "Zhuge Xu should have almost reached the Yuezhi territory, right?"

“I don’t know how many years it will take to go back and forth.”

Kushan, Lan's city.

Zhuge Xu raised his head and looked at the city in the distance.

Zhuge Xu looked particularly haggard at this moment. His face was almost covered by a thick beard, and coupled with his thinness, it was almost impossible to recognize his original appearance.

The same was true for most of the people who accompanied them, and the casualties were severe.

By the time the group arrived here, more than a hundred people had already fallen on the road.

Zhuge Xu suppressed the deep fatigue in his heart and gazed at the tall city in the distance.

The climate here is pretty good, not too cold, nor too hot, and the roads are very flat. The road leading to the royal city is even paved with stones, and you can see the carvings on it.

Seeing this road, Zhuge Xu shook his head secretly.

I heard that these were the masterpieces of the former Kushan King Potiao.

This king, who was very similar to Sun Quan, began to build projects like crazy in his later years. He built a very long road paved with the finest stones and decorated it with fences on both sides. He also wanted to build four roads at the four city gates, extending from Lan City to various territories.

But before he could implement this idea, he died of illness.

Actually, his death from illness saved many people.

After the death of this king who had both great merits and demerits, the Kushans' lives became worse and worse. Now, they were not far from their demise, and the countdown to their demise had already begun. At one point, they even became a vassal of the enemy.

But this exquisite road is still here, and the city wall in the distance is still so tall. It’s just that the thin people on both sides, with their ribs exposed, are somewhat inconsistent with this exquisite road and the tall city.

These locals looked at the cavalry that suddenly appeared in horror. Even though there were local officials standing by, they were still afraid, and they were even more afraid of their local officials.

As early as after leaving Shazhou, the Kushan officials met with Zhuge Xu, reported along the way, and personally brought Zhuge Xu to pay homage to their king.

These officials were very close to Zhuge Xu, and were not at all distant or wary as Zhuge Xu had imagined.

Some officials even took the initiative to salute him and excitedly asked about the situation in the Central Plains.

The person in charge of translation said: These Yuezhi people have always believed that Zhuge Xu and others are from their hometown.

In fact, the Yuezhi people used to live in Zhangye, Dunhuang and other places. It is not really a problem to say that they are fellow villagers. Later, they were defeated by the Xiongnu and fled to Shazhou, which is the Western Regions.

Later, they were defeated by the Wusun people and fled all the way to Daxia, where they expanded and attacked the locals. Finally, one of them established the Kushan Empire.
However, the historians of the Wei Dynasty always believed that the Yuezhi people were part of the Qiang tribe and called them Qiang Lu.

Zhuge Xu didn't know what to say for a moment as these people regarded him as a fellow villager, but considering that it was beneficial to the current situation, he accepted it for the time being.

He even called in a few entourages from Dunhuang and told the officials that these people were from your hometown.

They were treated with great courtesy along the way.

The Yuezhi people have always respected the Central Plains dynasty. King Bodiao even sent envoys thousands of miles to pay tribute and seek enthronement.

In their eyes, the country from their homeland is powerful and mysterious.

However, the appearance of the Yuezhi people was different from that of the local people. The local people generally had dark skin, while these Yuezhi people who ran all the way from Liangzhou looked somewhat similar to the people in the Central Plains, but they were not dark-skinned.

And now they have finally arrived at the Yuezhi royal city.

(End of this chapter)