Second-hand time travel: Liu Bei, the big-eared bandit

Chapter 76 Officials Who Sell Official Positions
Back in Zhuo County, Liu Bei once again became a gang leader.

However, this gang leader has now completely whitewashed his image.

Even if someone has only served as an official for a day before resigning, they are still considered an official, having broken through the barriers of social class, which makes many things more convenient for them.

With Jian Yong in charge of the county, Liu Bei had good relations with powerful clans and wealthy families, supported by Zou Jing and Liu Wei, and had his own private army—he was indeed the local tyrant of Zhuo County.

However, some problems arose in the county at this time.

Prefect Liu Wei has also been busy during this time.

After acquiring some servants, he immediately recruited people from various clans within the prefecture to serve as prefectural officials, thus rebuilding the prefectural administration.

Moreover, all these county officials were paid to work – Liu Wei openly sold the positions of the prefect's subordinates.

Liu Wei was short of money; his position as prefect needed to be renewed at the end of the year, so naturally he needed to raise funds.

For this reason, he wrote hundreds of appointments during this period, from the various officials under his jurisdiction all the way down to the village elders and clerks, and almost broke his arm in the process.

The powerful families in the prefecture were much more willing to spend money to buy their way into the position of prefectural official than to spend money to buy a government post.

This is because serving in the local prefecture is completely different from serving as an official in another region.

Moreover, Liu Wei was different from Emperor Liu Hong; Liu Wei only accepted money once, which was quite reasonable.

The emperor sells his official positions, so the prefect can sell his subordinates, and the officials will continue to sell their lower-level clerks... Even the clerks can sell their meager power.

Everyone needs money.

Liu Bei and Jian Yong were powerless to stop this situation—opposing it would be tantamount to going against all the powerful clans in the prefecture, which would incur public wrath.

Of course, Liu Bei did not intend to stop it.

Because of Liu Wei's sale of his subordinates, he came to understand Emperor Liu Hong.

Liu Wei and Emperor Liu Hong used the same methods to seek relief after ascending to the throne... because they were in the same situation, both being isolated and possessing nothing but their official seals.

The emperor at that time was merely a puppet, manipulated by his maternal relatives.

Aside from the eunuchs, Liu Hong's only bargaining chips were the title of emperor and the imperial seal; the only thing he could sell was his official position.

They started by selling secretly and gradually transitioned to selling openly, demonstrating a high level of integrity in their business.

Selling official positions certainly has its drawbacks, but at least it allows the emperor to quickly acquire manpower to escape the predicament of being a puppet ruler—regardless of whether the people buying the positions are reliable or not, at least he has money to spend and people to use.

The imperial court could not stop the emperor from selling official positions, because powerful clans were the customers for these positions. Anyone who blocked this would be making an enemy of all the powerful clans in the land, and would also be branded as disloyal to the emperor.

The partisans and the Qingliu faction were naturally dissatisfied because this was encroaching on the positions they had reserved for recommending their own faction members. That's why the emperor wanted to implement the partisan purge and reserve official positions for those willing to pay money. The partisans wouldn't listen to the emperor, and occupying the positions would only make them oppose imperial power.

If the imperial relatives wanted to continue controlling the emperor and obstruct these things, then powerful families would join forces with eunuchs to kill the imperial relatives first... and this was indeed the case.

Emperor Liu Hong was no ordinary man, nor was Prefect Liu Wei.

They may be greedy, short-sighted, mean-spirited, or licentious, but they will keep quiet and play the innocent when they need to protect themselves, and they will act immediately when they need to save themselves.

As for the future devastating floods...

Only after gaining real power and influence can one be qualified to face the flood...

Emperor Liu Hong was doing business and renovations in the West Garden, wasn't it all to create a safe and comfortable environment for himself? The imperial court was far more dangerous than a flood.

Liu Wei is now also doing business and renovations. His villa has been ruined and looks like a haunted house. He won't feel safe until it's rebuilt.

Neither is easy.

Fortunately, Liu Bei has at least maintained a good relationship with Liu Wei on the surface. He has never threatened or coerced Liu Wei, but has instead consistently helped Liu Wei with his affairs, and in a rather sophisticated manner. The situation in Zhuojun is currently peaceful.

Liu Wei would not interfere with Liu Bei's practice of keeping loyal followers and private armies, nor would he revoke Liu Bei's authority to recruit volunteers and sell unclaimed land.

He didn't sell any of the officials in Zhuo County; he left them all to Jian Yong to handle himself. After all, Liu Bei and Jian Yong had indeed helped him when he was in trouble, and this was his way of repaying them.

Liu Bei would not interfere with Liu Wei's scheme to sell his subordinates for money, and would even protect Liu Wei's safety and help him solve some problems.

Everyone tacitly agreed to live in peace and focused on their own economic development.

……

Qian Zhao had already rebuilt the military camp. After Liu Bei returned, he completely separated Zou Jing's main force from his own private troops.

Based on the principle of voluntariness, the soldiers could choose to serve as Liu Bei's retainers or as soldiers of the Protector of Wuhuan.

About five hundred soldiers chose Liu Bei because they could eat meat.

The other three hundred or so people entered Qian Zhao's military camp. Some of these people were pursuing the social status of regular soldiers, some wanted to climb up to Zou Jing, a high-ranking official, and some couldn't stand Liu Bei's many prohibitions. These were all very normal choices.

Currently, Liu Bei's private army has split into two groups.

One is the Imperial Guard, which currently has 180 men, all of whom are elite armored soldiers. It is led by Liu Bei himself, with Guan Yu and Zhang Fei serving as commanders of the Imperial Guard.

The personal guard consisted mostly of mounted infantry, with only about thirty true cavalrymen, who mostly followed Liu Bei on his missions.

The other unit was a mixed force of over three hundred men, led by Duan Jiong, stationed near the abandoned Great Wall north of the river bend. They were there to drive out the Hu people and train their troops, while also having over two hundred auxiliary soldiers to build houses and cultivate land.

In addition, there are forty underworld soldiers who have been dispatched to various prefectures in Sili. Zhang Baiqi has been sent to act as spies, gathering intelligence and investigating the whereabouts of Zhang Sheng's wife.

This was the wish of Zhang Baiqi and the underworld soldiers, not only for Duan Jiong's promise, but also for these underworld soldiers themselves—if they could rescue Duan Jiong's clanswoman, they could fulfill their own redemption.

For them, life and death are commonplace; they only wish to die willingly.

With five hundred private soldiers and two hundred armored warriors at his disposal, before the world descended into chaos, he was undoubtedly a prime candidate for rebellion...

But this is Zhuojun. Liu Bei has the authority to help the governor recruit volunteers to bolster the county's troops, so it's normal for him to manage to gather two thousand men.

Liu Bei wanted to protect the entire Juma River area and develop the river bend into a base for his rear.

Therefore, we must quickly develop the economy to earn money to recruit and support the army.

Everything Liu Bei did before was for the sake of economic foundation.

The market at Xinting on the Juma River attracted Su Shuang's newly built horse farm, real estate in the river bend, settlement of Taihang Mountain people, and the reopening of the Wuhuan trade market... and Liu Bei and Qian Zhao's two armies protected this area.

These things are all interconnected, of course.

Wang Men contacted Liu Bei, saying that Zhang Chun had agreed to hand over the Yuyang horse market to Zou Jing, and hoped that Liu Bei could facilitate the handover.

Liu Bei had no intention of going to Wuzhong. Instead, he sent a letter to Zou Jing, inviting him to Zhuo County to discuss the matter.

If the border trade is to be reopened, the Protectorate of the Wuhuan Commandery should no longer be located in Wuzhong. It would be best to move it to a different place, such as Zhuoxian, which has a better transportation environment, or Jixian, the capital of Youzhou. Zou Jing should come and choose for himself.

Upon receiving the news, Zou Jing rushed over on horseback without stopping, changing horses six times along the way—this was a huge political achievement for him, and he was truly eager to get there.

The handover went smoothly, and Wangmen remained Zhang Chun's agent, clearly handing over the trade routes, horse farms, black markets, and related people and Wuhuan tribes.

Afterwards, Liu Bei treated Wang Men to a meal, and this time Liu Bei only asked Wang Men one question.

"Brother Wang, did Prime Minister Zhang make the handover so quickly because he received guidance from Lord Yuan?"

(End of this chapter)