Han officials

Chapter 98: A Word of Awakening [13]

"Father, I wish to accept the invitation from Lord Wei!"

The next day, Li Shiwu in Xiangping.

Li Xin spoke to Li Min, the head of the Li family, with a serious face.

Hearing this, Li Min's eyes became complicated.

Even though he felt that his son was just an average talent, he still had to become an official.

In comparison, Wei Zhe is indeed the best choice.

Thinking of this, Li Min sighed: "Alas, then let it be!"

Li Xin was immediately delighted when he heard this, thinking that he could finally set up his own business.

However, Li Min, who had been traveling as an official for many years, shook his head with a wry smile.

"Fool, this man is not only targeting you, he's also targeting an old man like me."

As soon as these words came out, Li Xin was stunned.

However, he was indeed unquestionable in his filial piety, and he immediately said with guilt, "My child is dull and doesn't realize the deeper meaning behind this. I will go and return the engagement letter right away."

However, as soon as he turned around, he was stopped by Li Min.

Looking at her son's stubborn eyes, Li Min was at a loss whether to laugh or cry.

After all, this tactic is reasonable, otherwise why would Wei Zhe recruit the descendants of the Xiangping Li family?

Besides, isn’t it time to cash in on the personal connections that the Xiangping Li family has in their hometown?
So Li Min had no choice but to teach the child some knowledge beyond the classics, so that the child would not become a real gentleman.

But Li Min still thought things were simple.

He thought that Wei Zhe appointed his son as the agricultural official just to collect more grain taxes.

Unexpectedly, Wei Zhe actually wanted Li Xin to be an "agricultural clerk".

The next day, evening.

When Li Xin came back and told his father about his family's mission, Li Min frowned immediately.

"Abolish the plow? Promote the harrow?"

This...isn't this right?
Everyone is just pretending, are you really going to persuade farmers?
It’s hard to say about other matters, but Li Min knows too well the difficulty of this matter.

Because when Cui Shi was the governor of Liaodong, Li Min was recruited as a county official because of his well-known surname in the county.

That’s right, what Li Xin is doing now is exactly what his father did back then.

However, even with the wealth of the Cui family in Zhuo County, Cui Shi was unable to obtain so many iron plows, and the project ended up in vain.

So Li Min knows better than anyone how difficult it is to accomplish this!
Li Min immediately looked puzzled and asked, "Where did he get so many plows?"

"The Lord of the Mansion hasn't said it explicitly, but judging from his expression, he seems to be fearless!"

After hearing what his son said, Li Min was a little unsure for a moment.

"...Could it be that the Zhuxu Guan family is so wealthy?"

There was no other way. Apart from living off her, Li Min couldn't think of any other way Wei Zhe could solve the problem.

But even if the Zhuxu Guan family was as rich as a country, it was impossible for them to have so much iron and blacksmiths?

It’s not about how much money there is, but that if you have too much of this kind of military equipment, it will easily attract people’s attention.

For example, the Prime Minister of Beihai might be secretly wondering whether Zhuxu Guan was planning to rebel.
In order to prevent the problem from happening, the Prime Minister of Beihai might have to take the initiative.

This is actually a tacit understanding between local clans and county officials.

Once this limit is exceeded, it is easy to be cracked down by the government.

Li Min was puzzled for a moment.

But even though she didn't understand, Li Min still didn't dare to take Wei Zhe's past achievements lightly.

As soon as he thought of this, he immediately gave orders in a deep voice and prepared to hold a banquet to entertain relatives and friends.

After all, this kind of project is no longer something that his stupid son can promote.

Whether it is eliminating the plow or promoting the harrow, it is equivalent to agricultural reform for Liaodong.

Once reform is carried out, it will inevitably encounter resistance.

This is how the world is. Sometimes, even if people know that something is a good thing, there will still be people who resist it.

When interests are involved, it cannot be achieved simply by killing people.

This is also the reason why Wei Zhe recruited Li Xin.

Governing a big country is like cooking a small fish!
It needs to be stir-fried over high heat or simmered over low heat.

Only when the gentle fire and the martial fire complement each other can the temperature be just right. This is the way to govern a country.

……

Let’s not talk about how loving Li Min is to her son.

Except for Li Xin, everyone else at the prefectural office was also very busy.

After capturing the county Gongcao Zhongxu, Wei Zhe carried out a purge of the prefectural government.

Therefore, those who remain now are all very discerning.

Of course, Wei Zhe still transferred some troops from various military farms in Lelang, which can be regarded as basic operations.

For example, Meng Ning, the clerk of the Ministry of Works, Ping Hong, the clerk of the Ministry of Revenue, Yu Rong, the clerk of the Ministry of Warehouses, and Gong Jing, the clerk of the Ministry of Threats, were all former subordinates of Wei Zhe.

As for Yin Jia, the official in charge of checking the population and household registration, he was once a leader of the Yellow Turbans.

However, Wei Zhe had already helped Fang re-register his household registration, and he became a Lelang citizen.

Wei Zhe also specially transferred Wang Jun to serve as the Gongcao and concurrently in charge of the Shuicaoyuan.

After all, with the reputation of the Lelang Wang family, they can still hold this position.

Wei Zhe's actions also made many people who were secretly observing him breathe a sigh of relief.

After all, no matter how cruel Wei Zhe's attitude towards the powerful was, at least he never treated his own people badly.

"Lord, the iron ore has been found, and we can begin work anytime." On the banks of the Liangshui River, Chief Clerk Meng Ning stood behind Wei Zhe and reported, "However, based on past experience, the amount of stone required will likely be enormous, and ordinary small mines may not be able to supply it."

Meng Ning did not mention transferring the goods through Lelang because that was not very realistic.

Hearing this, Wei Zhe hesitated for a moment before saying, "Then let's mine from Xuanchu!"

You should know that Fushun City in later generations was also known as the "Coal Capital".

The Fushun area is now under the jurisdiction of Houcheng County, Xuanshou County, and there are many coal mines in the Wei family mines.

However, in the early years, the Wei family mined coal not for fuel, but to obtain the black jade and sell it.

The so-called "black jade" is actually "jet essence", which is considered a rare item nowadays.

When he heard Wei Zhe say this, the clerk Meng Ning immediately showed a look of joy.

"The Xiaoliao River flows through Houcheng County and merges into the Daliang River, so it's just right for transporting water."

In addition, there are many tributaries around the Anshan Iron Mine, and there is no shortage of navigable waterways.

Xiangping City has the right time, place and people, so it doesn't take much effort for coal and iron to converge here.

When he heard this, Wei Zhe nodded slightly.

"In that case, send a message to Funajima, demanding their cooperation with the smelting."

After the clerk Meng Ning left in a hurry, Wei Zhe on the shore pondered for a long time and finally made a decision.

"Wu Zhong, go to Xianbei..."

The former brave general of the Xianbei tribe has now become Wei Zhe's loyal retainer. After hearing Wei Zhe's instructions, he immediately mounted his horse and galloped away without hesitation.

Wei Zhe's order just now was actually very simple, which was to let the 28 cities of the Huibei invade Goguryeo and capture them alive.

There is no need to send out a large army, just invade Goguryeo in groups of three or four and capture people.

In this way, the Xianbei people could make a small fortune, and Wei Zhe could also obtain the much-needed manpower.

After all, serfs are much more useful than settlers, and at worst they can be used for mining.

Thinking of this, Wei Zhe immediately ordered: "Boyuan, go to Dongming County and help me tell Gongsun Zhao a message..."

Although Wei Zhe did not think much of the Three Han States, they had a population of millions after all.

And after the baptism of war, a group of brave soldiers were trained.

Of course, these people have good individual combat effectiveness, but when there are too many of them, they are no match for them.

But this is exactly what Wei Zhe wants, as it can be used to make the best use of the resource.

It is better to let these people harass Goguryeo and make money with their own abilities than to stay in the Three Kingdoms of Korea and become a landmine.

What's more, this would gradually reduce the Goguryeo people's range of activities and disrupt their normal production.

After Zhong Hu understood Wei Zhe's meaning, he bowed and left.

However, after the two left, Xi Zhicai couldn't help but look worried:

"Mingsong, aren't we being too hasty?"

After all, Goguryeo is still alive and well, so the consequences of provoking it are hard to say.

Upon hearing this, Wei Zhe sighed softly, "It's a bit anxious, but waiting is better than getting nothing."

If Goguryeo was really preparing to invade again, Wei Zhe would be more than happy to see it.

Anyway, he currently has no ability to send troops to attack Goguryeo, so it would be the same even if the other party came to him.

To put it simply in one sentence: one gains while the other loses!
While continuously bleeding Goguryeo, they also continuously strengthened their own strength.

In this way, Wei Zhe will have more room to act.

Of course, there is also some of Wei Zhe's bad taste in this.

After all, Goguryeo had plundered Han territory and abducted Han people many times in the past.

Since Heaven didn't care about him, he would let the Goguryeo people experience the feeling of being beaten to death.

As for the captured Goguryeo people, whether they were used as serfs to farm, miners to mine, or to build bridges and roads, or to develop water conservancy projects, they were all top-quality cattle and horses!

After hearing what Wei Zhe said, Xi Zhicai was a little amused, but after thinking about it, he agreed with it.

The Book of Rites says:
Therefore, when a gentleman governs others, he governs them in the same way they would govern themselves.

Using the Hu people's tactics to deal with the Hu people is an action that the saints obviously approve of.

Thinking of this, Xi Zhicai couldn't help but say, "Mingsir, how about setting up a net on all sides?"

After all, Goguryeo was almost half-surrounded by the Huimok, Lelang County, Liaodong County, and Xuanshou County.

If all the Han areas were to harvest grass and grain at the same time, Goguryeo would probably be overwhelmed.

Hearing him say this, Wei Zhe's eyes suddenly lit up, and the more he thought about it, the more it made sense.

Yes, why should he limit himself to Liaodong County? The entire Liaodong is a chessboard!

Even though the prefect of Xuanchu County was not the emperor's man and had no friendship with Wei Zhe, the six counties of Xuanchu had long been infiltrated by the Wei family, so it was not a problem to sideline this person.

Moreover, given the style of Xuanchu Prefect Bian Yi, he probably would not confront Wei Zhe.

In this way, he could take the opportunity of encircling and suppressing Goguryeo to integrate the four counties and one vassal state of Liaodong.

Since we missed the excuse to attack Zhang Chun's rebellious army, it would be nice to have Goguryeo to take over.

Thinking of this, Wei Zhe found that his vision was still a bit narrow.

Why should the good things that benefit the people's livelihood, such as eliminating plows and promoting harrow carts, be limited to Liaodong County?

With his current abilities, he could fully implement it in the four Liaodong counties and one vassal state. This way, the effect would undoubtedly be much greater than if it were implemented only in Liaodong County.

Although his political achievements will inevitably be attributed to others, does he still need to care about these?
The stronger the Han Chinese roots in Liaodong, the greater the benefit for him.

Upon thinking this, Wei Zhe immediately said decisively: "Return to the palace and summon Guo Yuan, Shi Yi, Sun Shao and other officials to discuss the matter."

After all, according to the Liaodong chess game, the prefectural government is obviously not as useful as the marquisate...

(End of this chapter)