Standalone Northern and Southern Dynasties

Chapter 498: Civil and Military Affairs
A group of riders arrived at Pubanjin. As the sun set in the west, the leading rider said:

"It's late today, let's go to the post station to stay overnight."

The knights nodded, and they soon arrived at the post station in front of the Pubanzu wooden bridge.

Post stations are a legacy of the Qin Dynasty.

The First Emperor built the Great Highway and ordered each county to set up post stations near the highway and dispatched county clerks and guard posts to serve officials and envoys traveling back and forth at the post stations.

For example, Liu Bang once served as a Tingzhang in Qin, which was a low-level clerk similar to a Yicheng.

However, the Qin and Han systems were destroyed during years of war, and the Northern Wei Dynasty only set up post stations in important places, and the transmission of information required experienced messengers.

No country is without a system for transmitting messages. Although Su Ze possesses the "quantum communication" technology that comes with the system, it is impossible for everything to be handled through the system, and Su Ze, as a "terminal", cannot handle it.

Local official document exchanges and personnel transfers still require a post station system.

Since last year, the So Zhengshitang has been committed to building a post station system.

On the main roads, the Council of Government stipulated that a post station should be set up every fifty miles. Each county must have a large post station that could provide rest for traveling envoys, and the work at the post stations was broken down into government corvée, which required wealthy families nearby to be recruited to participate.

Nowadays, large and small post stations have been built, but the chaos caused by them has also increased.

There is no way. The establishment of any system will be accompanied by various detours.

When any system is first implemented, it is relatively simple and has a clear purpose.

However, as soon as the policy is implemented, "smart people" will quickly find loopholes.

For example, the corvée system of this post station soon became an evil law used by local officials and gentry to exploit the people.

If they disliked someone, they would force that family to do forced labor at the post station, and within a few months, that family would go bankrupt.

The post station was an official facility that not only provided rest for traveling officials and messengers, but also fed the war horses and even provided meals for passing dignitaries.

If the hospitality was not good enough, these ordinary people would definitely be punished, and they would have no choice but to spend all their money to provide for the passing officials and envoys.

This matter was soon discovered by the Government Affairs Hall, and an inspector who traveled to various places sent a secret letter to Su Ze, explaining the problems in the post station system.

Su Ze also attached great importance to this, and he re-established the system of post stations.

First of all, the corvée labor at the post station was no longer the responsibility of one household, but was borne by a neighborhood, that is, five households, and had to be replaced every year.

The Government Affairs Hall also established strict grade standards. Unless it was an urgent document or a local official taking office, the post station would not provide meals. It was only responsible for the food and fodder for the official horses.

Urgent official documents, military intelligence, and important officials taking office were recorded separately when passing through the post stations, and the required expenses were allocated by the Government Affairs Hall.

After this set of reforms, the order at the post station improved a lot.

This group of riders came to report the situation of the Battle of Yubi to Yongle City. They were tasked with delivering the highest level of military intelligence, so as soon as they entered the post station, they were arranged to stay in the best rooms.

The postmaster's family brought hot water, wine and food. The envoy Wang Han, who was in the lead, had just started eating when he heard a commotion outside the door.

"Sir, it's not that I don't want to give the county magistrate face, but someone has already moved into the upper room, how can we ask them to move out?"

A sharp voice sounded:
"Our county chief was urgently transferred to Hexi County by the ministers! If you delay important matters, can you bear the consequences? Who are those people living in the upper room? Could it be that you, the postmaster, allowed people who do not follow the rules to live there?"

Everything was an overreaction. After the usage rules of the post station were clarified, the originally bustling post station became deserted.

There is no benefit for ordinary messengers to arrive at the post station, so they naturally lose interest in staying overnight. It is better to complete the mission as soon as possible.

Some postmasters also thought of ways to make use of these empty post stations, which was to rent rooms to passing merchants to make money.

However, government officials at all levels turned a blind eye to this matter. The arranged merchants also knew the rules, and once they met a real noble, they would obediently give up their rooms.

The clerk beside the county magistrate was also used to being arrogant.

When Wang Hanshi's men heard the argument outside, they clenched their fists. They were about to go out to argue, but were stopped by Wang Hanshi.

"Our horses are still in the stables. These people can't have missed them. They are deliberately trying to cause trouble. We should not intervene."

The subordinate's face changed, and he obeyed Wang Hanshi's orders and stayed in the room obediently.

But if you don't cause trouble for others, someone will naturally cause trouble for you. The clerk suddenly kicked open the door with several yamen runners, and Wang Hanshi's men drew their swords and glared at them.

The clerk who kicked the door open glanced at Envoy Wang Han and said triumphantly:

"Our county lord is the Yubi County Magistrate personally appointed by the gentlemen. He is about to go to Yubi to take up his post. You should vacate the room quickly!"

The soldiers were deflated. If it was any other civil servant, they could just ignore him. But since he was the magistrate of Yubi County, they were soldiers in Yubi and would see him every day. If they really offended the Marquis Baili, they would probably have a hard time.

However, Envoy Wang Han was relatively calm. Although he was a military man, he was from the Wang family of Taiyuan and was also a relative of Wang Sizheng.

With such great contributions, Wang Sizheng will definitely be promoted this time and join the ranks of middle and senior officials. How could he be afraid of such a mere county magistrate?

The purpose of the government hall's urgent appointment of Yubi County Magistrate was to relieve Wang Sizheng of his worries and take over Yubi's civil affairs. His position was definitely below Wang Sizheng's. However, the other party's attitude was so arrogant that he obviously couldn't destroy his prestige.

Envoy Wang took out the personal letter and said:
"This is Sanmao's military intelligence. Do you want to check it?"

This time, the clerk didn't dare to speak.

According to the regulations of the shogunate, a golden pheasant feather was affixed to the letter to indicate urgent military information.

However, emergency military intelligence is also divided into levels. The three-feather military intelligence is the highest level and most urgent military intelligence. In theory, this belief can be used to mobilize troops from states and counties for escort.

No matter how arrogant this clerk was, he would not dare to reveal such military intelligence.

Only when the other party retreated did Wang Han breathe a sigh of relief.

Although this was just a trivial matter, it also showed the signs of the struggle between civil and military officials.

During the normal period of founding a country, the status of military generals is often higher than that of civil officials.

No matter how talented and ambitious a founding monarch is, he will only have time to sort out civil affairs after establishing the country.

But Su Ze was too evil. The framework he built in Guanzhong was too advanced, so that the institutionalized civil service team could sometimes suppress the military generals.

Especially under the Chongwen Pavilion system, grassroots civil servants had an additional "classmate" bond, and they naturally formed interest groups.

Civil officials need political achievements and stability, while military generals who need military merit and pursue expansion naturally do not get along well.

The signs of a struggle between civil and military officials thus emerged.

Although in Su Ze's army, the boundary between civil and military officials was not clear. For example, Wang Sizheng was a lecturer in Chongwen Pavilion and later served as a civil servant. However, he made contributions in the Battle of Yubi and is now regarded as a military general.

In fact, to be precise, they are not military generals. These military generals who founded the country will be granted titles of nobility in the future. They should be considered as meritorious officials.

The difference between civil servants and nobles does not lie in whether you have studied or not, but in how you are promoted.

Nobles can only be promoted based on their military merits, and the purpose of the military merit group they formed is to earn more military merits.

Civil servants are a separate system, and their promotions depend on their superiors’ assessments and political achievements.

As long as the descendants of the Taiyuan Wang family like Wang Han entered the military merit system, they would naturally safeguard the interests of the military.

This has nothing to do with his own background.

Similarly, if a military general retires and becomes a civil official, he will also be on the side of the civil officials.
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The butt determines the head. Although the struggle between civil and military officials had just begun to show signs in Guanzhong, it had already reached a fairly intense level in the areas controlled by Erzhu Rong.

Erzhu Rong's situation was similar to that of Dong Zhuo.

After the Heyin Incident, Erzhu Rong, like Dong Zhuo, hoped to intimidate those aristocratic families with force, and promoted the aristocratic children who remained in Luoyang and recruited them into officialdom.

Just like how Dong Zhuo, after he deposed and enthroned the emperor, also tried to win over ministers like Wang Yun.

The result was the same as for Dong Zhuo. These aristocrats looked down on him as a "vulgar warrior".

Originally, when Erzhu Rong conquered Hebei in one battle, these aristocratic families had surrendered. But soon Chen Qianzhi launched a northern expedition, Luoyang changed hands, and a large number of aristocratic families and nobles fled.

Under such circumstances, Erzhu Rong's attitude changed 180 degrees. He further believed that these civil servants were unreliable and became increasingly alienated from Luoyang.

Erzhu Rong appointed local officials and also began to appoint "du du", a position that combined military and political power. The person was in charge of the military and political affairs of a region and his status was above the original civil administration system.

For example, those "Erzhus" were all appointed as governors of large states. Of course, this was just a nominal position, but a large number of military officers were also appointed to this position.

Erzhu Rong replaced the Luoyang court with his own Ba Fu. Even the government decrees were not stamped by Luoyang. He directly appointed "governors" at all levels in the name of Ba Fu. The Luoyang court lost its last bit of decorative function.

Xi Yi, who was in charge of guarding Luoyang and was now nominally the head of the civil servants, naturally moved to the side of the civil servants in Luoyang.

Liu Gui walked into the Ministry of Personnel. It was still morning and Xi Yi was ready to go home after work.

Liu Gui put down the document and said:

"Mr. Xi, these require the seal of the Ministry of Personnel."

Xi Yi said casually:
"Mr. Liu, please use the seal yourself. No one will look at the seal of the Ministry of Personnel anyway."

Liu Gui was a little embarrassed. The resentment in Xi Yi's tone was already revealed, but as a civil servant, Liu Gui could not refute it.

Xi Yi added:
"Your Majesty wants to listen to the "Pozhen Music" today. Lord Liu, will you come with me to the palace?"

Liu Gui shook his head and said, "I am very busy with my duties. Thank you Mr. Xi for inviting me."

Xi Yi nodded, and after returning home and finishing his meal, he brought his own orchestra into the palace.

(End of this chapter)