In Pingcheng, the sky is dim and bright.
The entire city woke up from its sleep, with the occasional barking of dogs.
The watchman was walking on the road, followed by a big dog, telling him the time as he walked.
"Boom, boom, boom."
A rough knock on the door instantly broke the silence of the mansion. When the servant who was cleaning the front yard heard the sound, he did not dare to delay and hurriedly opened the door.
There were four or five people standing at the door.
The leader pushed the servant aside, walked into the front yard, stuck his head out, and looked around, "Is your master awake?"
The servant knows the distinguished guest in front of him.
The head of the family has repeatedly told him that if this person comes to visit, he must be watched closely and not left alone in the courtyard.
This is the long history of the General's Mansion, the leader Guanglu, the powerful Zu Jue, Zu Gong.
The servant was very helpless and said, "Grandpa, my master hasn't gotten up yet, please wait for a moment."
The servant didn't dare to just walk away. He shouted several times and called another person, asking him to report to the master. He himself stayed beside Zu Jue with a smile, watching his every move.
Zu Jue looked around curiously, sighing with emotion from time to time.
"Has your master also started decorating his own house?"
"Construction is still going on over there? Are you going to build a warehouse or something?"
The servant didn't answer, just smiled stupidly.
After a long time, the man returned to the front yard and asked Zu Jue to follow him to see the owner of his family.
Zu Jue looked around, followed the servant through a long corridor, circled several times, and finally arrived in front of the inner room.
Wei Shou was draped in a felt with some obscene clothes underneath. He looked like he hadn't slept enough. He stood at the door. When he saw Zu Jue coming, he frowned and then stepped aside with a smile. "Please, Grandpa Zu."
.”
Zu Jue curled his lips and quickly walked into the house.
Wei Shang followed him slowly. Until Zu Jue sat down, he was still shaking his coat, and then sat in front of Zu Jue again.
"What are your instructions, grandpa?"
Zu Jue immediately laughed.
"Either Wei Gong has always been magnanimous!"
"oh?"
"It is rare to find someone as magnanimous as you in the world. I still remember when you were in a hurry to leave in Yecheng. When you saw me from a distance, you bowed to me and bowed your head. No matter what proposal I made, you would agree.
It’s flattering to the extreme.”
"At that time, when I came, someone would lead me to the guest room and prepare tea, food, wine and meat."
"Now that Duke Wei is firmly in an important position, my power is not as good as before. Duke Wei immediately changed his face again."
"Even those villains know how to pretend in front of others and then explode behind their backs. Mr. Wei did it in front of me. He is really magnanimous! He is a gentleman!"
Hearing Zu Jue's words, Wei Shou laughed loudly.
"Master Zu, I am such a person, what about you?"
"When you first gained power, you never visited me like this. I invited you over every time, and you also stole a lot of things from my house."
"Master Ancestor, it's not that you no longer have the great love of the general, nor that your power has become low. It's just that now, there are so many talents under the general's command, and they are in charge of the North. You can't be the sole leader."
"Therefore, you don't have to be too angry."
Wei Shou gently picked up the tea and poured him some.
"How can there be any true friends in this government? Everyone takes what he needs. You needed me to support your ideas at that time, and I also needed you to take me out of Yecheng."
"But things are a little different now."
Zu Jue said, "What's the difference?"
Wei Shou's old face was full of smiles, "Since I defected to the general, I have never made any mistakes. On the contrary, many of the government orders in the North have been revised by me, and I have contributed a lot. I no longer need it."
Someone came to protect me."
"But Zujun, you need someone to help you more than before."
"Cui Jishu, Yang Xiuzhi, Bai Jian, Feng Shu, and Yuan Xiubo all want to be with the general and advise him."
"This time to stabilize the Northland, I heard that these people have their own ideas, and most of them are different from my grandfather."
Wei Shou took another sip of hot tea and sighed: "The current government is becoming more and more similar to Yecheng."
"The General's Mansion has become a subordinate and secretary. It does not participate in specific work. It is only responsible for providing decisions to the General, formulating and issuing them, and promoting major events."
"Xingtai does not participate in decision-making. He can only give suggestions and then implement them."
"There is a special Yushitai in Xingtai, which basically only takes orders from the General's Office and is not under the jurisdiction of Xingtai."
"These people want to compete with my grandfather for the position of 'Servant and Secretary of the Central Committee'."
"Grandpa, if your proposal this time is no better than others, I'm afraid the General's Palace Chief Shi will have to give it up."
Wei Shou looked at Zu Jue with a smile, "Grandpa came here early in the morning to ask me to help and support you, right? It's a pity that I am an official in Xingtai and cannot interfere in decision-making."
"Of course, if my grandfather can still get what I need as he did before, I will still be willing to find a way."
Zu Jue laughed.
He suddenly reached out his hand, snatched the tea cup from the other party, and took a few big bites.
"I'm not here to ask you for help, I'm here to give you an order to stand on my side."
"oh?"
"Order?"
"When did Zujun also serve as minister? How could I not know?"
Looking at Wei Shou with a proud face, Zu Jue took out a document from his arms with a smile and covered it on the case.
"What's this?"
"This is the secret message Duke Wei gave to his attendant Gao Yuanhai in the first year of Heqing Dynasty."
Wei Shou trembled all over and snatched the document away, about to tear it into pieces.
But Zu Jue laughed again, "You can tear it up, this is hand-copied, I have a lot more that I can bring to you so you can tear them apart slowly."
Wei Shou held the watch, his hands trembling.
Zu Jue said calmly: "In the first year of the Heqing Dynasty, Gao Yuanhai asked you about how to deal with the Northland. It was you who proposed to withhold the grain and grass shipped to the Northland and framed the matter on Hu Luxian."
"And it seems that 20% of the withheld grain went into your account?"
"How come Mr. Wei is only 20%?"
Wei Shou trembled and murmured: "My general said at that time that regardless of past crimes, I have merit."
"Yes, the general always keeps his word, and he will definitely not care about it. But, I don't know whether Hu Luguang and Hu Lvxian care about it."
"Think about it, with Hu Luxian's personality, if he knew that this matter was related to Wei Gong, he would definitely forgive you very generously, and he would never lead others to fight you. In the future, after his niece marries the general,
, your relatives will also treat you kindly.”
Wei Shou trembled and looked down at the document in front of him.
"You, when were you"
"When you came to seek refuge, I was already prepared. Not just you, but everyone who asked me for help, I have a way to deal with it. Otherwise, how could I dare to recommend you?"
"Wei Jun, I will give you one day."
"I want everyone's support, and my decision must be passed."
"Otherwise, everything I have here will end up in the hands of those who should see it."
Wei Suo's lips trembled, and he slowly looked at Zu Jue.
"Ancestor, this is not the way to govern the world."
"I don't care about that."
"As long as I achieve my goal, that's it! As for the means used, I don't care at all!"
"Do as I say!"
Wei Shou slowly lowered his head, "Wei."
Zu Jue stood up and left. Wei Shou took the document, trembling and wanted to drink tea to calm down, but when he stretched out his hand, it was empty. He looked around blankly.
The tea cup is gone.
At this moment, Zu Jue got on the carriage, holding the tea cup in his hand, looking at it for a moment, and then threw it out of the carriage.
He looked outside again. The city had become lively with people coming and going.
Zu Jue's eyes flashed with pride.
No matter who you are, don't try to compete with yourself for the position of leader.
The carriage drove through the busy alley, attracting the attention of many people.
In another mansion outside the city.
The mansion was quite simple, with only a few old slaves carrying things, and the two of them stood in the courtyard, watching the slaves busy.
One of them is Cui Jishu, and the other is Yang Xiuzhi.
Cui Jishu said with a smile: "Don't be offended. I haven't prepared everything in my house yet. I don't know where to go if I want to invite you in."
"Isn't your son always here? Isn't he prepared?"
"My son, he has many important things to do, so how can he care about me?"
Yang Xiuzhi glanced at him and said, "Mr. Cui is indeed from a famous family, and his family tradition is indeed excellent."
Cui Jishu laughed again, "Sometimes, I can't tell whether Yang Jun is praising someone or scolding someone."
Yang Xiuzhi looked around and asked, "How is the matter?"
"Is there hope?"
Cui Jishu shook his head gently, "I'm afraid it won't be easy."
He looked at Yang Xiuzhi in confusion, "I don't understand. I heard that the general occupied the north, and Zu Jue contributed a lot."
"Why are you all so anxious to bring him down?"
Yang Xiuzhi snorted coldly, "You have just arrived. You will know after you get along with him for a long time."
"Let's not worry about moral matters for now."
"That's one thing. This guy will do whatever it takes to achieve his goal."
"When Gao Yuanhai and others came before, Zu Jue even wanted to kill them all to avoid future trouble."
"And the world has not yet been peaceful. Gao Yuanhai surrendered. He himself can't say how many crimes he committed. He was just eating, drinking and having fun. How can he be killed because of these?"
"Then what's the point of the law?"
"All those who are unpleasant and morally defective are to be dragged out and killed? Once and for all?"
"Even the laws of Qin state do not require the execution of an entire family just for eating, drinking and having fun."
"Zu Jue's cruelty has reached this point. Not only Gao Yuanhai, but also Gao Ji, Xu Dun, and even Gao Ning, the brother of King Pengcheng, and other governors who have defected to various places, he wants to kill them all.
This is called avoiding future troubles and preventing them from colluding again."
"He didn't consider the consequences of doing this at all. The government opposed him doing this, so he wanted to accomplish it through assassination."
"The day after Gao Yuanhai was brought, a fire broke out in the cell. If the sergeants had not done their job properly, Gao Yuanhai and others would have died in prison."
"We have no evidence to indicate that this is what Zu Jue did, but we all know it in our hearts."
"Cui Gong, we all hope that your proposal can be used by the general. In the future, you can serve as the chief historian and lead everyone to make plans."
While the two were talking, the servant hurriedly came over and saluted them, "Master, the study has been tidied up."
"Okay, prepare some wine and tea for us."
"only."
Cui Jishu followed Yang Xiuzhi into the study.
The study room was filled with books. Yang Xiuzhi was a little stunned when he saw them, and the two of them sat down slowly.
Cui Jishu had just arrived. Without the support of the elders, he would not have dared to come up and fight Zu Jue.
Cui Jishu said solemnly with a straight face: "I can understand your thoughts, but this time, I'm afraid the general will still listen to Zu Jue's words."
"Why?"
Yang Xiuzhi frowned, "The current situation in Qidi is already very clear."
"Then what else can the little emperor do? It's worse than the emperor who was beaten by you."
"With just half of Bingzhou, how can they support tens of thousands of elites? There is no way!"
"Let me put it this way, with Jinyang's reserves, we can feed these elites for just two years. By the third year, we won't need to do anything. Those people will take the initiative to capture the emperor and bring him to us."
"Let's talk about the situation in the south. Although the south is rich, it doesn't have any capable generals, let alone anyone who can organize them."
"Lou Rui is fine, but who is Lou Rui? As long as you give him money, he will even dare to sell his grandfather's spiritual throne! Sheji??"
"In the current situation, there is no need to think too much about local matters. Ten governors are completely enough."
"On the contrary, the Zhou people are here. The Zhou people should not be underestimated."
Cui Jishu listened to Yang Xiu's analysis and did not interrupt him.
After the other party finished speaking, he slowly said: "I went to see the general last night."
"The general doesn't care that much about what I'm telling you."
"I think he is still more inclined to focus on domestic internal affairs."
"In fact, this is understandable. Compared with the Zhou people, the army under the general is still far behind. The Zhou people's main force will definitely be aimed at us next time. I want to delay the Zhou people's attack, and Zu
Jue wants to have the strength to fight the Zhou people head-on as soon as possible."
Cui Jishu took Yang Xiuzhi's hand and said seriously: "Yang Jun, don't be anxious."
"I knew Zu Jue in the past, and I know what kind of person he is."
"He must be more anxious than us, and once he is anxious, he will do many things that make the general unhappy."
"In the future, sooner or later, there will still be a chance to dismount him."
Yang Xiuzhi let out a long sigh and said no more.
The two talked about other things.
What happened in the next few days proved that Cui Jishu's judgment was correct. Many ministers in the government suddenly changed their tune and chose to support Zu Jue's strategy, scrambling to be the first.
The general also formally summoned everyone and read out his order.
Establish military offices and generals in each state, and increase the number of troops.
Establish corresponding official assessments in each state, called the imperial examination.
This means that the future decision-making direction of the temple will be based on the two aspects of local military and official promotion.
The decision-maker for these two major events is Zu Jue, which means that from now on, the Chancellor will be responsible for Zu Jue and obey his orders.
The reactions of the ministers varied.
Only King Pengcheng remained as calm as ever. As long as he did things, no matter whether Zu Jue's decision-making or Cui Jishu's decision-making, he felt that there was no big problem.
Equalizing land and cooperating with the military government was the reason why the Puppet Zhou Dynasty grew rapidly.
Zu Jue immediately left some ministers behind and held a second discussion.
The first thing is the quota of generals in each state.
The Puppet Zhou Dynasty had twenty-four military mansions. The Puppet Zhou Dynasty established twenty-four generals to manage each military mansion. It also established twelve generals, each of whom was in charge of two military mansions. There were also
One Zhuguo general will be in charge of two Zhuguo generals. In this way, Otsuka Zai will be in charge of all Zhuguo generals.
But Zu Jue obviously didn’t want to follow suit directly.
He set up a general in charge of each military mansion, with a total of ten generals in charge. Then, these ten generals in charge must obey the command of the general.
This is to delete the middle layers. After all, the generals of Da Qi are different from the generals of Puppet Zhou. It is equivalent to the military government directly obeying the orders of the 'emperor'.
These military offices recruited soldiers locally and incorporated them into military households, but they had no connection with the local governor's office.
The governors in Daqi often bear the title of general.
Only when the governor holds the title of general can the military and political affairs be fully controlled, but under the military government system, the two are separated.
The affairs of the military government require huge investment. It may take a long, long time to formally train the Tenth Army.
Compared with military matters, imperial examination matters are much easier to handle. There are too many experiences and precedents, and the costs are not that huge.
Zu Jue wanted to imitate the systems of the Southern Kingdom and the Northern Kingdom, both of which had assessments. The difference was that the Southern Kingdom had no status requirements, while the Northern Kingdom also required recommendation. Zhongzheng recommended outstanding talents to participate in the examination. The Northern Dynasty was like a combination of the Zhongzheng system and the imperial examination.
Zu Jue, while keeping in line with the Southern Kingdom, also applied some characteristics of the Northern Territory.
The Zhongzheng assessment in various places must be changed. In the past, officials from the three departments of Zhongshu, Jishu, and Kaogonglang respectively assessed talents, tributes, and integrity. Nowadays, unified subjects across the country are to be established, and the origin of candidates will no longer be restricted.
No recommendation is required, and there is no limit on the number of participants. Instead, a selection method is adopted, and only those who pass the first few announcements can participate in the final assessment.
The General's Mansion and the Xingtai became busy again. This time, the happiest people were the generals. There were ten vacancies. Almost all the generals were in charge, so there was no need to worry about having no room to use them.
The imperial examination made the ambitious lower-class scholars extremely happy. In the past, only those who were recommended could participate in the formal examination, and those who passed the examination would become officials.
Now after modification, everyone is the same. There is no special recommendation or direct participation in the final examination. They must be selected first, participate in multiple assessments, and then determine the ranking and award.
Chapter completed!