Three Kingdoms: I am not Liu Bian

Chapter 29 Fake axe!
Lu Zhi was just expressing his gratitude for the prince's favor towards him.

Although the fortunate ministers include those who are temporarily favored by the king and are highly favored, the prerequisite is that they lack qualifications.

Nowadays, if you lack qualifications, no matter how capable you are, you will inevitably be criticized and labeled as "lucky in".

At Lu Zhi's age, with all his experience and reputation, apart from being favored by the prince, he had nothing to do with being promoted by luck.

After a long time, Liu Bian finally finished the tea in the bowl, took a handkerchief from Gao Wang and wiped the oil stains from the corners of his mouth.

Before the Ming Dynasty, tea was not fried tea, but a snack to satisfy your appetite. Tea leaves mixed with vegetables, meat strips, and some salt would make a delicious bowl of tea-cooked food. This is why drinking tea was often called "eating tea" before the Ming Dynasty.

Feeling the fullness in his stomach, Liu Bian slowly exhaled and sat up straight again.

"Master Lu, this matter is not over yet."

Liu Bian's words were incoherent, but Lu Zhi understood what he meant, and his evaluation of the prince improved again.

I was originally worried that the prince was too young and would become complacent and think that big things could be settled after successfully promoting the denial of the "Theory of Correspondence between Heaven and Man" in the court. I was planning to persuade the prince, but I didn't expect that the prince had already thought of this.

"Your Highness is quite right. People like Gai Sheng in the court are afraid to speak out because of the power of Your Highness and the Three Dukes. Even if there is no opposition in the court, there are still many scholars in various places who study the teachings of Dong and Meng."

The Dong-Meng school of thought refers to the knowledge of Dong Zhongshu and Mencius.

Dong Zhongshu and Mencius had very similar views on the relationship between heaven and man, and were often classified as the same school by scholars in the Later Han Dynasty.

I believe that as long as the news from today's court meeting spreads, many scholars who believe in Dong Meng's teachings will emerge from all over the country.

However, standing opposite them was the crown prince who held supreme power, the three dukes and nine ministers who controlled the public opinion circle, and the families behind them. No matter what, those scholars of Dong and Meng's school could not defeat those in power.

But if there are mistakes in the disaster relief work and the disaster-stricken areas are still full of starving people, the scholars of Dong and Meng's school will use this to criticize the government for disrespecting God and incurring God's wrath.

"Master Lu, are you still able to continue?" Liu Bian looked at Lu Zhi with a burning gaze.

The difficulty of disaster relief lies not in the government.

Given the abilities of the Three Dukes and the officials of the Secretariat, coming up with a proper disaster relief plan would be no problem. The Han Dynasty had faced countless natural and man-made disasters over its four hundred years, and even a simple set of rules could have solved most problems.

But just like the reforms of previous dynasties, enacting new laws is not difficult, but implementing them at the local level is difficult.

The same is true for the decrees issued by the Secretariat.

If the local authorities could implement whatever the government thought without compromise, the world would have been a pure land long ago. Why would there be so much trouble and so many starving people?

However, corruption is rampant among the local county governors nowadays. The taxes they pay are getting less and less every year, and they put all the money into their own pockets.

However, part of the reason was that his father was the emperor, and selling official positions and titles forced many officials who could have been more restrained to become corrupt in order to get the money to buy official positions.

Liu Hong's selling of official positions and titles was not the traditional selling of official positions and titles. In the past, the selling of official positions and titles mostly involved selling powerless official positions and the lowest-level titles to lowly merchants at high prices.

But under the rules set by Liu Hong, you have to pay to buy an official position, and you also have to pay for normal promotions and transfers!
Liu Hong would even deliberately promote officials to higher positions or send officials from the court to other posts, forcing his subjects to pay money to buy new positions.

Sima Zhi, who had a good reputation, was forced by Liu Hong to take the position of Julu prefect. Sima Zhi said he had no money, and Liu Hong said he could pay him back slowly after taking office.

But where does this money come from? Only corruption.

Sima Zhi was unwilling to be corrupt, so he committed suicide by taking poison in Mengjin to advise Liu Hong.

It has to be said that as an emperor, Liu Bian felt fortunate that he could excrete normally.

In fact, Liu Bian was not unable to understand the thoughts of corrupt officials. How many people become officials for the sake of the people?

The vast majority of people become officials for power and money, but their bottom lines vary depending on how much they value reputation. Honest officials who don't touch a penny of money are rare, while corrupt officials who embezzle public funds are everywhere. It's impossible for Liu Bian to only employ honest officials and not corrupt officials.

Therefore, Liu Bian allowed officials to make some money within the rules, but he also had red lines that must not be crossed!
One was embezzling military funds, and the other was embezzling disaster relief grain.

Anyone who dares to touch military supplies and disaster relief grain will be undermining the foundation of the Han Dynasty.

Liu Bian would tear off the head of anyone who dared to undermine the foundation of the Han Dynasty!

"Ah."

"Although Lian Po is old, he still eats a dou of rice and ten jin of meat." Lu Zhi naturally understood what the prince wanted to do, so he said to Liu Bian with a smile, "I am still strong and can drink a stone of wine without getting drunk!"

Liu Bian clapped his hands and laughed: "Master Lu is very powerful, how can Lian Po compare to you!"

"Awang."

Liu Bian called out softly, and Gao Wang immediately ordered the eunuch to bring out several items that Liu Bian had already prepared. When Lu Zhi's eyes came into contact with those items, his eyes were full of shock.

An eight-foot piece of bamboo with a yak tail tied on top as a knot!

It is shaped like an axe and decorated with gold, making it a yame!

"Jie...Jieyue!"

Even Lu Zhi was a man of character, and he couldn't help but feel shocked. He thought that the prince would let him hold the imperial seal to intimidate the four directions, but he never thought that the prince would also give him the yellow axe.

"Jie" represents the emperor's personal presence, and "Yue" represents the power of life and death.

The fake jiyue meant that the emperor granted his ministers the power to represent the emperor in inspecting the four directions. During wartime, there was no need to ask for instructions or report. Anyone below the rank of 2,000 stones could be executed first and reported later.

In the Han Dynasty, there was actually no difference in power between the fake jieyue and the fake jieyue. The fake jieyue even occasionally restricted the fake jieyue, but the honor and gift were real.

"Appoint Lu Zhi, the Shangshu, Shizhong, and Taifu of the Crown Prince, as the General of the Northern Army and Governor of Jizhou, and Commander of the Changshui Cavalry. He is granted the authority of the imperial seal and axe. Officials below the rank of 2,000 stone can execute first and report later!"

Listening to the imperial edict read out by Zhong Yao on behalf of the crown prince, Lu Zhi's eyes were red. At the age of 44, he was no longer a young man, and the passion in his heart was no longer as hot as when he was young.

But when he finished listening to the contents of the imperial edict, Lu Zhi felt as if he had become twenty years younger.

The Governor of Jizhou was a true two thousand stone official with a silver seal and a blue ribbon, but he was able to supervise the county magistrates who were also true two thousand stone officials, could decide cases, govern the people, and had the power to recommend outstanding talents.

The post of General of the Central Army of the North had never been established before, but the post of General of the Central Army was an official position equivalent to the rank of two thousand stones, and from its literal meaning, it should be similar to the General of the Northern Expedition, but the official rank and power were inferior.

In addition, the prince also loaned him the Changshui Cavalry.

The Changshui Commander was none other than Liu Bei, with whom he had a teacher-student relationship.

With such trust, how could Lu Zhi not be excited?

Even the Golden Terrace of King Zhao of Yan in the past is nothing compared to the heavy trust of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince!
The emperor's heart is more precious than gold!
"I will live up to your highness's high expectations. If I fail, please chop off my head!"

　There was almost no difference between the fake Jieyue and the fake Jie in the Han Dynasty. In fact, Jieyue and Jie both represented imperial power at that time, and there was no practical difference. Even in the Three Kingdoms period, on Wuzhangyuan, Sima Yi asked Cao Rui for a fight. Cao Rui sent Xin Ping to stop Sima Yi and not allow him to leave the camp to fight Zhuge Liang.

　　At that time, Xin Ping was a pretender to be the emperor, while Sima Yi was a pretender to be the emperor and the axe. Xin Ping, who was a pretender to be the emperor, directly restricted Sima Yi, who was a pretender to be the emperor and the axe.

　　In fact, it was not until the Jin Dynasty that the fake Jie and fake Jieyue were completely separated, and later the fake Huangyue was derived.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)