Three Kingdoms: I am not Liu Bian

Chapter 49 They took two million and I got one million. Should I thank them?
Yingchuan County is full of talented people. Yangdi, the county seat, has the Yingchuan Guo family, who have been studying criminal law for generations.

The Yingchuan Guo family passed down the "Xiao Du Law" from generation to generation and became famous for their ability to judge cases and amend laws. In just the less than two hundred years since the establishment of the Later Han Dynasty, the Yingchuan Guo family produced four court judges in seven generations, and they played an important role in the entire judicial system of the Later Han Dynasty.

Today, Liu Bian decided to visit in person while the army was resting in Yangdi.

The prince's carriage slowly drove to a mansion in the city. Outside the mansion gate was already filled with the wife and children of Guo Hong, the current head of the Yingchuan Guo family, as well as a group of talented people in the family.

Looking at the prince's carriage slowly approaching, Guo Hong became more and more nervous.

Even though the Yingchuan Guo family had produced four chief justices in the six generations before him, and had participated in many consolidations and revisions of Han laws, holding a position like chief justice always meant offending people.

Guo Hong originally embarked on his official career by following the path of the previous heads of the Guo family. He first took charge of criminal law in the counties, then served as a county governor with a salary of two thousand stones, and then entered the central government to become a court judge.

This was almost the unchangeable promotion path for the Yingchuan Guo family. However, Guo Hong was unlucky. Because his father had offended someone, he was falsely accused by his enemies of having close contacts with party members. He was dismissed from his post as the governor of Wuyuan County and imprisoned at home.

It wasn't until last month that he received an imperial edict from the imperial capital, releasing him from confinement. However, due to the rampant Yellow Turban rebellion, he had no time to find a way to rejoin the government. Unexpectedly, the Crown Prince personally visited him.

"I, Guo Hong, greet His Royal Highness the Crown Prince!"

Liu Bian enthusiastically helped Guo Hong to rise to prominence. He felt a sincere fondness for this family that was neither a school of modern literature nor a school of ancient literature, but was purely famous for its criminal law.

Only in this way can we be impartial and be able to use it for his benefit.

"No need for formalities. I'm just a commoner today, but don't you know that some people 'can be farmers in the morning and emperors in the evening'?"

Guo Hong was slightly surprised when he heard this, but he understood the deep meaning of the prince's words, and couldn't help but show joy. He enthusiastically introduced his family to the prince, and then cast his gaze on the young talent of the Guo family behind him.

"I'm ashamed of my poor upbringing. My two sons are knowledgeable in criminal law, but they're only so-so. It's my nephew Guo Tu, Guo Gongze, who has inherited the criminal law tradition from our ancestors."

Liu Bian exclaimed in surprise and looked at the Guo Tu mentioned by Guo Hong.

In his impression, apart from the fact that he urged Yuan Shao to welcome the emperor to Ye, Guo Tu seemed to have been scheming against Yuan Shao's other advisers in history, so much so that his historical evaluation was nothing more than "a treacherous minister."

But according to Guo Hong, Guo Tu was the only genius in the entire Yingchuan Guo family who could be said to have inherited the Guo family's criminal law studies, which inevitably made Liu Bian feel incredible.

However, although Liu Bian was not well versed in the study of criminal law, he did not think that the Yingchuan Guo family, as the representative of criminal law, needed to rely on nonsense to make their children famous. At least Guo Tu had a talent in criminal law that was difficult for others to achieve.

"In this way, the Guo family will have another court official in the future."

Just when Liu Bian was about to follow Guo Hong into the mansion, he caught a glimpse of a young man in the crowd. Apart from being more handsome and fair-skinned than the others, there was nothing special about him.

But Liu Bian couldn't explain why he saw this young man in the crowd at first sight, and he always felt that there was something strange about this person, but he couldn't tell what was so strange.

In other words, Liu Bian felt that he had a good impression of this young man.

For some reason, Cao Cao, the General of the Central Guards, who was traveling with them, also felt that this young man was destined to be with him the moment he caught a glimpse of him in his peripheral vision. He was so scared that he began to doubt his own sexual orientation.

Although he is lustful, he is not into homosexuality!
"What's your name, young man?"

Liu Bian's smile was as warm as a spring breeze, and he looked at the young man gently.

"I am Guo Jia, a commoner, and I am honored to meet His Royal Highness the Crown Prince." Looking at Guo Jia, who was of the same age as him, Liu Bian suddenly had an idea.

Guo Hong, who was standing by, saw that the prince seemed to pay much attention to Guo Jia. Although he was puzzled, he introduced Guo Jia's identity to Liu Bian.

"Guo Jia is also a descendant of the Yingchuan Guo family. However, his parents died of illness, leaving him alone and poor since childhood. So, I brought him in to raise him. However..." Guo Hong suddenly rubbed his head as he spoke, "This boy is indeed gifted, but he doesn't excel at criminal law. Instead, he has always loved the art of war and has a passion for military strategy. This leaves me feeling rather helpless."

"I don't know why, but I feel like we're destined to be together." Liu Bian nodded, looked at Guo Jia, and pulled out a business card from his sleeve. "The Imperial Academy only teaches the Five Classics. Since you're passionate about military strategy, with my business card, you can enter the Hongdu School to study military strategy, but you must also learn the Five Classics and the Xiao Du Lu."

Guo Jia's eyes widened. He couldn't understand why such a noble man as His Royal Highness the Crown Prince would suddenly pay attention to him and even provide him with the opportunity to learn more profound military strategies. He couldn't help but ask cautiously, "Why does His Royal Highness care about mere people like this?"

Liu Bian smiled without saying anything, waved his hand and said, "I don't know why, but I always feel that you will be a great talent who will amaze the world in the future."

After saying this, ignoring the puzzled looks of others, Liu Bian and Guo Hong entered Guo's mansion together.

"Gongyuan, I recently had a question about Han Dynasty law. The Yingchuan Guo family is well-known for their criminal law. I wonder if they could help me solve this problem?"

Guo Hong would naturally answer the questions from the current Han Dynasty rulers actively and happily.

See? The Crown Prince who is the Regent has to ask the Yingchuan Guo family about criminal matters. Don’t think that my generation is unlucky because we encountered the Party Imprisonment and didn’t become the Chief Justice, so you guys can trample on our Yingchuan Guo family.

"Please speak, Your Highness, and I will do my best."

Guo Hong did not finish his words. After being implicated in the Party and Faction Persecution, his temperament became more calm during his imprisonment, but he still responded to the prince with the word "try your best".

After all, the prince had shown such goodwill to Yingchuan Guo in front of the palace gate, so he naturally had to reciprocate, otherwise the prince's words "In the morning I am a farmer, and in the evening I ascend to the emperor's palace" would become empty words that could never be realized.

"I have read all the laws of the Han Dynasty, but they do not mention the occupation of unowned land."

Guo Hong looked at the prince with a serious expression, and for a moment he did not understand what the prince meant.

"wasteland?"

Guo Hong was puzzled for a moment. The Han Dynasty encouraged the people to reclaim wasteland on their own. Not only did the reclaimed wasteland have tax exemptions for several years, but the government would also send clerks to measure the land and issue land deeds as proof.

But then, Guo Hong thought of the many wealthy families and common people in Yingchuan County who were slaughtered by the Yellow Turban bandits, and he immediately had a guess in his mind.

"Is the place your highness is talking about the lord's funeral?"

Liu Bian nodded, and seeing Liu Bian nod, Guo Hong couldn't help but smile bitterly.

The price of "ascending the emperor's hall at dusk" is indeed not small.

According to the law, the land for the funeral should belong to the state. However, the local officials colluded with the wealthy families, and the government reported that the land had become wasteland. Then they sold the land for the funeral, which had nominally become wasteland, to the local wealthy families. In this way, this land became a "black land" that did not exist in the records of the county government.

Naturally, "black land" does not have to pay land tax, and this method has long become an unwritten rule between local counties and wealthy families.

Previously, Liu Bian learned from the report of the Embroidered Uniform Envoy of Runan County that the Yuan family of Runan bought 30 hectares of land from a local wealthy businessman who died suddenly of an illness, and earned 3 million coins. The county magistrate Zhao Qian received 1 million coins, the county government kept 1 million coins for itself, and another 1 million coins was handed over to the national treasury. The matter was then forgotten and no one paid any more attention to it.

But in Liu Bian's view, it was simply treason!
Lonely money!
They took two million and I got one million. Should I thank them?
(End of this chapter)