Standalone Northern and Southern Dynasties

Chapter 335: Stairs to Heaven
Hou Jing's ceremonial procession was very majestic. He rode on the white horse given by Su Ze. His armor reflected the light and his red cloak fluttered in the wind. His face was wrinkled because of the sunlight, and from a distance he looked like a monkey riding a horse.

But no one on both sides of the road laughed at him. Instead, they cheered for him.

Even some scholars dressed in scholar's clothes, although they looked down on Hou Jing's background and his nouveau riche behavior, their eyes were full of envy.

On the way north, Hou Jing had seen too many looks like this.

The more these people were jealous of him, the more proud Hou Jing became. What he liked most was to see others wanting to kill him but being helpless against it.

This year, Hou Jing was guarding Liangzhou. After the former governor of Yizhou, Xiao Wei, of Southern Liang was defeated, Xiao Yan replaced him. The current governor of Yizhou is Xiao Yan's eighth son, the fourteen-year-old Prince of Wuling, Xiao Ji.

Since Xiao Ji was not yet an adult, Xiao Yan naturally had civil and military officials to assist him. Before he went to the fiefdom, he also gave Xiao Ji many instructions, asking him to guard the gates carefully in Yizhou and not to provoke border conflicts lightly.

After Xiao Ji took office in Yizhou, he indeed kept his father's teachings in mind.

This also made Hou Jing very bored. Since the enemy did not come to attack him, Hou Jing took the initiative to attack. Every now and then, he personally led a small group of troops to attack Yizhou from the mountain paths in Shuzhong, and from time to time robbed some people and money and food.

It was also because of this that Hou Jing gained a great reputation in Liangzhou. Although the spoils he obtained each time were not large, over the course of a year they accumulated to a great extent, and he was able to bring back a thousand households of craftsmen.

Among them, there are hundreds of weavers in Shuzhong. Since the Shu Han Dynasty, Shu brocade has been a specialty of Shuzhong. Zhuge Liang established official weaving workshops in Shuzhong and set up official institutions to train weavers and produce Shu brocade on a large scale.

Therefore, these weavers captured by Hou Jing were very meaningful to Su Ze. These weavers were also sent to Yongle City and handed over to Princess Chenliu to study the weaving of Shu brocade.

However, Hou Jing also had some things that were not going well for him.

Liangzhou Governor Yang Kan, as the head of the civil servants left in Liangzhou by Su Ze, has had increasing conflicts with Hou Jing in recent months.

There's no way, the two people's backgrounds and personalities are just too different.

Yang Kan was born into the Yang family of Taishan, a prominent family that has been passed down since the Han Dynasty. Yang Kan has a calm demeanor and likes to plan before taking action.

Hou Jing was born into a military family of the Six Garrisons. He didn't even have his grandfather's name. He preferred to use strange and risky tactics in battle and was fond of improvisation.

When Hou Jing went out to fight, Yang Kan was cleaning up his mess behind the scenes. It would be weird if there was no conflict.

This time, Hou Jing returned to Yongle City to report on his work, but Yang Kan stayed in Liangzhou and only asked Hou Jing to bring the examination materials of Liangzhou.

Although Hou Jing came from a humble background and only started learning to read and write after joining Su Ze's army, beneath his crude appearance he had a deep understanding of human nature.

In fact, he had already understood Su Ze's intention. The General's Mansion probably would not send troops to Southern Liang in the next few years. He was transferred back to prepare for the battle in the third year of Xiaochang.

Therefore, when faced with rumors spread by those scholars who were sarcastic about him, saying that Hou Jing should be punished by General Su because he had provoked a border conflict, Hou Jing treated it as a joke. In their view, these children of noble families were all stupid because of reading too many books and had no idea what General Su really wanted.

Hou Jing rode on his horse, looking at the onlookers, and thinking about the days when he was still grazing in the Six Garrisons a few years ago. He felt that people's fate is really unpredictable.

Thinking of the news he had received a few days ago that Gao Huan, who had been his military commander in the Six Garrisons, was now rebelling in Hedong, Hou Jing felt that in the face of the tide of the times, choice is far more important than personal effort.

Hou Jing became more determined in his decision and clung to General Su's thigh tightly, thinking that General Su was the only support for a "rough warrior" like him in the troubled times.

After Hou Jing's team arrived, the three people in the tavern had no interest in drinking anymore. After leaving their contact information, they returned home one after another.

The next day, Dugu Xin had his door knocked by the personal soldiers who delivered the message. It turned out to be an order from the General's Mansion, which required Dugu Xin to be appointed as the Inspector General to assist the General's Office in completing the examination of officials in the six states and two counties.

Gu Xin changed into formal clothes, straightened his clothes, and followed the messenger into Baizhang Tower.

Along the way, Dugu Xin met Wei Xiaokuan and Wang Sizheng, who were also accompanied by his personal soldiers and nodded to Dugu Xin from a distance.

The group arrived at the main hall of Baizhang Tower. Su Ze, wearing the Pingxi General's court robes and a Diaochan crown on his head, sat in the middle. The general's trusted officials in the shogunate sat on both sides. The young scholars standing outside the hall waiting actually felt like they were attending court in a trance.

Wang Sizheng and Wei Xiaokuan looked at each other. They didn't expect that in just a few years, the Pingxi General's Mansion had become such a great place.

To put it simply, it took a makeshift team several years to get the product ready for listing!
Wei Xiaokuan was thinking about whether he should talk to his uncles and ask them to increase investment in General Su and have the family send some capable sons to help.

Wang Sizheng had the same idea. The Wang family of Taiyuan was also a big family. Bingzhou and Xiazhou were only separated by the Yellow River, so he could also pull some people from his family over.

Dugu Xin was in a much more relaxed state of mind. He saw Hou Jing sitting in the ranks of military officers again. Hou Jing, who was two years older than him, also wore the Diao Chan crown, which symbolized his military officer status.

Just combined with his appearance, Dugu Xin was reminded of the idiom "a monkey in a human costume".

But no one present dared to laugh at Hou Jing. His rank was only below Yu Jin, and he looked imposing sitting in the hall.

Dugu Xin felt a little disappointed. When he was in the Six Garrisons, his status was higher than Hou Jing. When Su Ze led his troops back to Luoyang, he also wanted to recruit him, but Dugu Xin refused.

However, Dugu Xin was a man of great character after all, so he suppressed his regret and looked at the empty hall. He knew very well that there would be many more people filling the hall, and the seats here were far from being full.

The people sitting at the top now may gradually fall behind as General Su moves up, and those who sit lower in the seat may gradually move to a more central position.

For example, Han Xin, who joined Liu Bang's army the latest in the early Han Dynasty, was ranked higher than the veteran generals who started their careers by following Liu Bang.

Including the three of them, there were about fifteen young scholars standing outside the hall. Dugu Xin took note of their appearances and then listened to the four-six parallel prose recited by Su Chao in the hall.

The words "awe-inspiring heroic spirit and bright loyalty" and "defending the land and pacifying the people, pacifying the border and quelling the rebellion" are all praising Su Ze's martial virtue and summarizing his work in the second year of Xiaochang.

The most important part of this article is at the end.

"Ministers assist and the government officials assist, and government orders are issued through the government hall." (Government orders are issued through the government hall, and the appointment of officials is also through the government hall.)
This clarified the status of the newly established Government Affairs Hall. From now on, all political orders from the Shogunate, except for military orders issued by the Shogun's office, must be issued through the Government Affairs Hall.

Next, Su Ze personally announced the list of members of the Government Affairs Hall.

Su Cho was the chief secretary of the shogunate, and naturally took on the role of "leader of government affairs".

Those who originally participated in the decision-making, the military advisor Su Liang, and the judicial assistant Feng Shu, also participated in the work of the Government Affairs Hall according to their original division of labor, and were promoted to "Sanzhi Zhengshi", abbreviated as "Sanzhi".

In addition, Gao Hui, the acting General Pingxi, and Yu Jin, the prefect of Gaoping County, were also given the title of "Sanzhi" and participated in the decision-making of the Government Affairs Hall.

The Government Affairs Hall is, after all, a government affairs department, but nowadays the military and politics are inseparable.

So on the basis of these civil officials, Hou Jing, Murong Shaozong, Yang Zongjia, Li Cunzhen, Yang Kan, Li Shizhe, Gao Ren and others were either military generals or in local positions. They did not participate in the decision-making of the Government Affairs Hall, but they could listen in and speak during discussions on major issues. They were given the title of "Sanzhi Jiwu", abbreviated as "Sanji".

As for how this government hall connects with other internal and external agencies of the shogunate and how power is exercised, these details will naturally not be explored in depth in such a place.

Su Ze stood up and bowed to the group of ministers and councilors represented by Su Cho. Then Su Cho led everyone to bow to him in return. This marked the establishment of the system.

Su Ze's regent team naturally used the structure of the later Tang and Song Dynasty Political Affairs Hall.

But there is a slight difference.

In the Tang Dynasty, prime ministers were appointed based on their military merits, so the Zhengshi Hall was a combination of civil and military affairs. If a powerful prime minister, such as Zhangsun Wuji or Li Linfu, was encountered, the Zhengshi Hall would become a real prime minister.

In the Song Dynasty, the Political Affairs Hall was split up and the affairs of military generals were handed over to the Privy Council. Although the Privy Council was also called the Privy Prime Minister, neither side had full power. Therefore, under the Northern Song Dynasty system, even Wang Anshi could not be called a true prime minister and the emperor could dismiss him directly if he wanted.

It was not until the Southern Song Dynasty, when the two courts could be held concurrently, that a true prime minister like Jia Sidao emerged.

In the early days of the establishment of the system, Su Ze learned his lesson and could limit the government service hall to the civil service system. However, when encountering major events, civil and military officials needed to discuss together. In addition, as he was the authoritative General Pingxi, the situation in which laymen of civil officials commanded military generals as in the Northern Song Dynasty would naturally not occur.

So when Su Ze proposed the idea to the Su brothers, the two brothers were also amazed by this ingenious structure. No matter how you look at it, this system is more advanced than the current decision-making team of the Northern Wei and Southern Liang. Could it be that General Su is really gifted by God?
In addition to officials, there must be clerks. Su Ze summoned a group of clerks to follow him. These clerks were responsible for the delivery of documents and the supervision of the work of passing orders.

With the addition of these summoned officials and followers, Su Ze can ensure that he can control this organization.

In this way, a core decision-making circle has been formed, the young officials outside the hall also have burning eyes, the long steps to heaven have been paved, and everyone knows the way to climb up.

This is probably the power of the system. Only when the upward path is clear, and you can be promoted if you do well, and you can reach a certain level according to the steps, just like in a game, the system of killing monsters to gain experience and upgrade is clear, will everyone have a goal to move forward.

Next, an attendant came out of the main hall and began to announce that Dugu Xin and his party were allowed in.

(End of this chapter)