Chapter 31 Times

When Adou lifted his pen, he unconsciously drew out the appearance of Jiayuguan in his memory.

Zhuge Liang walked in from outside and happened to see the sketch of Jiayuguan drawn by A Dou. After a rough sweep, the inner city, the urn city, the Luocheng City and three three-story, three-eaves, hip-topped high-platform buildings are connected to the moat. With the inner city as the main center, there is the urn city on both sides of the city, and there is also the Luocheng outside the urn city.

"What a heroic pass!" Zhuge Liang took a breath of air. Compared to the Tongguan established by Cao Cao before, the level spent by A Dou is much more exquisite in design.

Jiayuguan was built in the Ming Dynasty, and its design is naturally much stronger than the designs of the Three Kingdoms era. Zhuge Liang was proficient in military tactics and could see at a glance the merits of this Guancheng.

"The Prime Minister is here!" Adou put down the pen in his hand and said at the same time: "Prime Minister, come and see this picture."

Zhuge Liang walked closer, and Adou gestured and explained to Zhuge Liang: "Prime Minister, this is the inner city. The inner city is more than 200, and the inner city is east and west. A urn city is set up for Zi. The gates of the urn city are both southwards. To the west of the West urn city, there is Luocheng. There is a closed gate in the west of the Luocheng wall. Also, around this city, I plan to set up another 60 or 70 marinas..."

When Zhuge Liang heard what Adou said about building Luocheng outside the Xiwencheng, he knew that this Guancheng might be built on the west side. And the enemies in the west of the Han Dynasty were only the countries in the Western Regions.

"Your Majesty, I wonder where you are going to build this city?"

"It is 1,500 miles west of Jincheng, and is located in Jiuquan. It connects Jiuquan to the east, Yumen to the west, Heishan to the back, and Qilian to the south."

Zhuge Liang frowned slightly, thought for a while before speaking, "Your Majesty, I think it is inappropriate to build it according to the drawings marked by Your Majesty."

"What's wrong?" A Dou asked hurriedly.

"I dare to ask Your Majesty, how long will it take if you build a city according to this map?"

"This..." Adou was not very good at construction projects. He thought about it for a while, and finally asked tentatively: "Can it be completed in ten years?"

"Haha, Your Majesty is joking." Zhuge Liang smiled slightly and continued: "Your Majesty, Jiuquan County is far away, and all the utensils and even many materials used to build the city need to be transported from here. The delay on the way is not simple. Moreover, the walls designed by Your Majesty this city are tall and require deep roots. If I devote my country's efforts to recruit hundreds of thousands of civilians to build this city, I will not be able to guarantee that it will be feasible for ten years."

"How can we devote our national strength to build such a pass? That is different from the First Emperor! It is enough to recruit thousands of civil servants, but if there are too many, it will hurt the country's foundation." A Dou said hurriedly. In the Three Kingdoms era, population loss was serious, and young and middle-aged labor was still very precious.

"What Your Majesty said is that if only a few thousand civil servants are recruited, I estimate that it will not be completed in a century!"

"A hundred years?" A Dou was shocked. If he had been the ancestor of Sanfeng for a hundred years, he might have seen the completion of Jiayuguan.

In fact, Zhuge Liang said that it was a little less than a hundred years. In history, Jiayuguan was built in the fifth year of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty, and it was built in a total of 168 years before it was completed. Although the progress of construction was slowed down due to some reasons of civil strife during this period, the level of scientific and technological construction in the Ming Dynasty was much stronger than that of the Three Kingdoms era. At that time, the national strength of the entire Ming Dynasty was far stronger than that of Shu Han, and only occupied the three states, and had a huge advantage in population. In this way, the Ming Dynasty needed to be built in 168 years before it was completed, let alone the Shu Han.

"For such a long time... I won't build it anymore." A Dou said with a little frustration. If it was a peaceful and prosperous era now, A Dou wouldn't mind building a Jiayuguan to resist the harassment of the countries in the Western Regions. However, the Central Plains is still in civil strife, so A Dou could not focus on building Jiayuguan.

"Your Majesty, I think this pass is still to be built. The so-called predecessors planted trees and later became the coolie. If this majestic pass was here, it would protect our western border of the Han Dynasty for two hundred years!"

"But Prime Minister, is this too expensive? It will take a hundred years to build it alone, and it may not be able to be built." A Dou had another sentence in his subconscious mind, that is, the entire Eastern Han Dynasty only lasted for two hundred years. Looking at Chinese history, a dynasty that could last for more than two hundred years is considered a hundred years of life. For A Dou, even if he unified the world and established a dynasty, it is still a question of how long it can last.

Zhuge Liang shook his head slightly: "Your Majesty, the scale of this Guancheng you designed is too large. As long as the city has sufficient food and water resources, no other country in the Western Regions can break through it. It can be said that some of the great things to build this Guancheng in Jiuquan is useless. Therefore, I think it is better to reduce this Guancheng several times and build it more convenient."

"Well, this is a good way. Prime Minister, when I return to Chang'an, I will discuss the details with my dear friends and implement them." Adou said and asked, "By the way, Prime Minister, what's the point of finding me?"

"I have two things. One is that now Chang'an is now settled, and all destruction is prospering. Therefore, I want to ask Your Majesty to transfer the Grand Marshal Zhang Song from Shu to Shizhong Fei Yi, Dong Yun, and Guo Youzhi to Chang'an."

Adou nodded. Now there is a lack of manpower in Chang'an City, and Zhuge Liang is also responsible for coordinating the internal relocation of the Di people, which makes it even less than enough civil servants in Chang'an City. Pang Tong alone is difficult to cover everything. It is already an imminent matter to select new officials.

Zhuge Liang continued: "As for Yizhou, it has been stable for many years. It is enough to have Dong He and Jiang Wan supplemented Xiang Lang and Mi Zhu and other officials. Dong He has been in Shu for many years and has won the hearts of the people. He has also stationed in the barbarians. He and Lu Kai and others can stabilize the southern barbarians; Jiang Wan is a pillar of the country and a weapon of the country, and can bear great responsibilities; Xiang Lang, Mi Zhu and others are old ministers of the late emperor, who are loyal to Your Majesty, and who are in charge of Yizhou can shock the young people."

"The Prime Minister was considerate and I was sure! However, the transfer of the Taiwei to Chang'an was just a solution to the urgent need, not a long-term plan..."

"Your Majesty, there are many sages in Yongzhou. In the past, the great scholars Ma Rong and Zheng Xuan lived in Yongzhou. Therefore, after your Majesty returned to Chang'an, he could make friends with scholars. There were many children of these Confucian scholars in Yongzhou. Your Majesty could order him to recommend one or two to the court as an official." Zhuge Liang said.

"Yeah..." A Dou hesitated for a moment. There was no imperial examination system in the Three Kingdoms era, and the method of seizing scholars still relies on recommendations. So A Dou asked again: "Prime Minister, have you ever thought of other methods of seizing scholars?"

"Other ways to recruit scholars? Well..." Zhuge Liang thought for a moment and said, "In ancient times, there was a man named Mao Sui. He recommended himself as a disciple of Pingyuan Jun Zhao Sheng. This is Mao Sui's self-recommendation... I wonder if this is a method."

"Mao Sui Self-recommendation? How many people can have the courage and courage to recommend themselves in the world? Besides, even if they come to recommend themselves, who can guarantee that they are indeed talented?"

"Yeah, that's not what I thought of." Zhuge Liang shook his head.

Because the Zhou Li was very clear about the social hierarchy, and the ranks of emperors, princes, nobles, and scholars were clearly divided, so before the Qin Dynasty, there were two main methods of selecting scholars. One was to inherit the official titles from one's ancestors; and that was to divide the feudal titles, and the emperor granted the titles of princes, princes granted the titles of nobles, nobles granted the titles of scholars, and one level after another.

In the Han Dynasty, since Liu Bang was born in the market, and many generals around Liu Bang, including Xiao He and Han Xin, among the "Three Masters of the Han Dynasty", were also born in the market, the Han Dynasty emperors began to focus on selecting talents from the people. At this time, it was called the system of recommendation. Talented and virtuous talents were recommended by local governments at all levels, scholars at the state level, and filial and honest people at the county level, so the status of scholars in the Han Dynasty was higher than that of filial and honest people.

The recommendation system lacks objective selection criteria. Although there is a system of joint positioning, local officials gradually showed favoritism and untrue recommendations in the later period. Moreover, the phenomenon of going through the back door was serious. Many officials who were elected did not have much ability.

The nine-grade Zhongzheng system founded by Chen Qun has been a few years. Judging from the information reported by Wei State at present, the effect of the nine-grade Zhongzheng system is much better than the inspection system. The nine-grade Zhongzheng system is divided into nine-grade recruitment by specific central officials based on their background, morality, etc. The nine-grade Zhongzheng system focuses on origin, which also makes officials gradually move closer to the children of aristocratic families. By the time of the Jin Dynasty, there was a phenomenon of "the top-grade has no poor families, and the lower-grade has no power"; however, this phenomenon was not very obvious in the late Han Dynasty and the Three Kingdoms era.

The imperial examination system was implemented in the third year of Kaihuang in the Sui Dynasty. By the time of A Dou, it had been 1,400 years. The entire system of the imperial examination system had been very perfect. Due to the baptism of Cheng and Zhu Neo-Confucianism and the emperor's own promotion, the folk writing style was prevalent, and the examination of fame became the only way to become an official. In the Ming and Qing dynasties, it was a commoner who was illiterate among the people and had a very good understanding of the entire imperial examination system.

The inspection system has buried many people's talents, and has many limitations and injustice. Since Chen Qun proposed that the Nine-rank Zhongzheng system shocked the world, Adou has prepared to reform the entire official system, including the positions, appointments, selection and other mechanisms of officials.

Seeing Zhuge Liang, he could not think of other ways to select officials. Adou asked carefully: "Prime Minister, have you ever thought about enrolling a vocational school and taking the imperial examination to take it. This is called the imperial examination..."

"Ah..." The expression on Zhuge Liang's face suddenly solidified. Slowly, a terrifying expression appeared in Zhuge Liang's eyes. Then Zhuge Liang suddenly said, "Your Majesty, who said this to Your Majesty? This is the way to destroy the country. Those who say this to Your Majesty should be killed!"

This time, Adou became cold and successfully implemented the imperial examination system for hundreds of years in later generations. How could he get to Zhuge Liang become a way to destroy the country!

"I dare to ask Your Majesty, what is the foundation of today?"

"Of course it's the people!" Adou replied without thinking.

"Your Majesty is a bad idea. How much can a mere market citizen achieve? The foundation of this world is the aristocratic family!"

"Aristocratic family?" A trace of doubt appeared on A Dou's face, but a huge wave was stirred up in his heart. The country was based on the people, and water could carry a boat or overturn it. The words of these sages kept flashing through A Dou's mind, but it was completely different from what Zhuge Liang, the most wise man in the Three Kingdoms said.

"Your Majesty, I am not looking down on the people, nor have I ignored them. But now, eight or ninety-nine of my Chinese officials are from aristocratic families, and most of the people are rampant. If these aristocratic families are gone, who will govern the country?" Zhuge Liang said here, and then he paused and continued: "The people alone cannot achieve great things. Chen Sheng and Wu Guang at the end of the Qin Dynasty were powerful and were eventually destroyed by Qin, but they finally benefited from Xiang Yu and other princes. When the Yellow Turban Rebellion, the Central Plains were shocked, and several states of the Han Dynasty fell, but they were not pacified by the children of aristocratic families such as Huangfu Song. The final beneficiaries were nothing more than Dong Zhuo, Yuan Shao, Cao Cao, and these people were either powerful or from aristocratic families."

Adou nodded thoughtfully. Although the peasant uprisings were huge, the ones who benefited in the end were indeed the children of aristocratic families. Even the executioners who retreated to the Han court were also the children of aristocratic families.

"The people are very good at controlling. If you have enough food and clothing and have land to live, you will be comfortable and not cause trouble. The children of aristocratic families are different. They don't have to worry about food and clothing, nor do they have to worry about living. What they want is just two things: fame and power. Officials have both fame and power, so the children of aristocratic families compete to become officials. If Your Majesty practices the imperial examination method, it is equivalent to cutting off the children of those aristocratic families. Aristocratic families in the world will inevitably rise up and reverse. At that time, wouldn't the country be in danger!" Zhuge Liang continued.

"What's more, since the chaos in the world, the aristocratic families have been children of powerful men and have the spirit of cultivating scholars. Hum... Is this scholar? Huh..."

Zhuge Liang did not continue to say anything, but sneered, but Adou next to him understood what Zhuge Liang meant.

The families and powerful families like to raise scholars, just like the diners raised during the Warring States Period. In this era when the imperial power was not as concentrated as in later generations, these raised scholars only had their own lords, but no emperor. It is precisely for this reason that Sun Jian, a small prefect of Changsha, dared to privately hide jade seals, and Cheng Pu, Huang Gai and others under Sun Jian knew that Sun Jian was rebellious, would follow Sun Jian wholeheartedly. People like Cheng Pu, Huang Gai, even Guo Jia, Jia Xu, Tian Feng and even Zhuge Liang were considered "scholars". In their eyes, there was only their own lords, and no emperor. What they were loyal to was their own lords, not the emperor.

The imperial power is not concentrated, even if Adou is an emperor, he cannot defeat the aristocratic families in the world!

Adou swallowed slightly. Zhuge Liang was indeed Zhuge Liang. In just a moment, he could come up with so many things.

Then Adou immediately thought that during the reign of Emperor Wen of Sui, there were many aristocratic families, but why did Emperor Wen of Sui dare to implement the imperial examination system?

Suddenly, Adou thought of a question, that is, military power!

The Han Dynasty prefect was the head of a county and held military and political power. These prefects had military power in their hands, such as Sun Jian, a small prefect of Changsha, or Yuan Shu, a Nanyang prefect, who had tens of thousands of troops in their hands. If they had soldiers, they had strength and could despise the imperial power. All the powerful ministers in history held military power in their hands!

Emperor Wen of Sui was a descendant of the Xianbei people and had the blood of the Xianbei people. Since the Northern Wei Dynasty, the Eastern Wei, Western Wei, Northern Qi, Northern Zhou, and even the Great Sui Dynasty have used the military system of the Northern Wei, that is, the military system of the Xianbei people at that time, that is, the military system of the palace soldiers!

The characteristics of the government military system are the unity of soldiers and farmers. The government soldiers usually train farmers for farming land, and join the army to fight during wars. Even the horses and weapons used to participate in the exhibition are self-produced. At that time, Mulan's father was a government military. Under this system, the court would gather soldiers when there was a war, and they would go back to farm after the war. In this process, the generals led the troops were only responsible for leading the troops to fight, and other things such as training had nothing to do with the generals who led the troops. After the war, once the soldiers were disbanded, the generals still had no military power. Before the soldiers gathered together, they did not know where the soldiers they brought came from, let alone the matter of cultivating trust. Under the government military system, the generals had no military power and did not have the ability to rebel.

"Oh..." Adou sighed slightly. If you want to implement the imperial examination system, you must do two things first. One is to strengthen centralization and make the imperial power more powerful. The other is to weaken the local military power. Even if the government system is not implemented, the local aristocratic officials cannot have the ability to rebel with them. As long as you do these two things, you can do whatever you want, without taking into account the children of those aristocratic families.

"Eat rice bite by bite, and the road must be taken step by step. Things that have slowly appeared in the next generation for hundreds of years are suddenly imposed on this era, even if it is advanced, it is impossible. After all, each era has its limitations..." After thinking through this, Adou felt much more relaxed in his heart.

Zhuge Liang next to him looked at the light flashing in Adou's eyes, and finally it suddenly became bright. Zhuge Liang knew that Adou must have thought of something, or had opened up some places.

"Your Majesty, the imperial examination system you mentioned is actually not unfeasible..." Zhuge Liang said.

"Oh? I knew the Prime Minister must have a way, let's hear it!"

"Your Majesty, the ancients said that there is no first in literature and no second in martial arts. Anyone who practices martial arts and literati often has a hard time to distinguish between verbal disputes. Just like the various schools of thought in the Warring States Period, each had their own opinions and had their own reasons, it was difficult to tell who was the first. But those who practice martial arts were different. If you want to make the first, you can fight. Therefore, the imperial examination system mentioned by Your Majesty can start with the generals!"

"Start with the general?"
Chapter completed!