Late Yuan Dynasty: I am the true emperor

Chapter 64: Another Great Sage (Please Read)

After hearing Lu Jin's words, Li Shanchang analyzed the hidden information and immediately felt that Lu Jin should not be underestimated.

Faced with Lu Jin's questioning, he thought for a while before replying.

"The commander-in-chief has many clever plans, and he must have already planned the attack on Dingyuan. Why would he need Li to surrender the city?
"Besides, although my brother Li Xu is unwilling to be loyal to the tyrannical Yuan Dynasty, this matter involves his life and property. Without knowing the Marshal's personality and governance, how could he easily surrender? Therefore, my brother only asked me to come and inspect it first, and did not say anything for me to convey."

"Oh? So your coming here to surrender is fake? Is it true that you come to my house to be a spy?" Upon hearing this, Lu Jin suddenly narrowed his eyes and looked at Li Shanchang, putting pressure on him.

Li Shanchang was shocked and thought to himself that he was in trouble, but he was not particularly panicked. A rebel leader like Lu Jin, who was so young, would inevitably be a little conceited. He just had to go along with his praise.

So he said immediately.

"Otherwise, since my brother asked me to come and inspect, it means that he trusts my judgment. If I have chosen the Marshal, I will naturally have the right to decide whether the Li family will join us."

Hearing this, Lu Jin smiled and said playfully, "So, do you think I can accomplish this?"

Li Shanchang was slightly relieved when he saw this. As expected, people all like to hear good words. However, he did not say whether Lu Jin could succeed, but said.

"The commander-in-chief has won victory after victory, and he was able to subdue enemy generals. The more he fought, the more soldiers he had, and the more generals he had, and he had a thousand clever strategies, and he took down three cities in a row. There is no doubt about his martial arts skills.

"In terms of civil administration, the general was kind to the people, provided relief through work, and personally improved the loom, caring about production. He also proposed the slogan of establishing rules and regulations to help the people. It can be seen that the evil of the violent Yuan Dynasty lies in its leniency.

"He can see through the evils of the previous dynasty, which can be called wise; he did not claim to be king when he seized the prefecture, but built walls and trained soldiers instead, which can be called intelligence; he lived in the government office when he had a royal palace, which can be called thrifty; he managed all affairs without forgetting the people's livelihood, which can be called diligence; he explored the strength of the city before attacking it, which can be called strategy; he did not get discouraged when he knew that the enemy was strong, which can be called courage; he captured a powerful enemy and made important use of him, which can be called trustworthiness.

"The commander-in-chief is wise and brave, full of wisdom and strategies, brave and resourceful, neither arrogant in victory nor discouraged in defeat, and unparalleled in benevolence and righteousness. Even if you look at the world, you can still be the best among all the heroes.

"If I abandon the commander-in-chief and join someone else in front of such a great leader, wouldn't it make me look shortsighted?"

Although Li Shanchang's impassioned speech was suspected of flattery, it cannot be said that it was all lies.

At present, the performance of Lu Jin that he had seen was already better than Liu Futong, Zhima Li and the like. Pirates like Dongfang Guozhen of Zhejiang were not within his consideration. As for Xu Shouhui and Peng Yingyu's troops in the south? He, Li Shanchang, was also a serious Confucian scholar and hated cults.

Looking around the world, among these major rebel forces, Lu Jin is indeed the one with the most potential.

"Ha ha ha ha."

Upon hearing this, Lu Jin burst into laughter. He didn't expect that a historical figure like Li Shanchang would also be a flatterer.

However, no matter how many holes there are, flattery never wears out. Who doesn't like to hear nice words?

Lu Jin immediately grabbed Li Shanchang's arm and said, "You are a man of great talent if you can clearly discern these things. So, Mr. Baishi really wants to serve me?"

Li Shanchang immediately bowed and said, "A wise bird chooses a tree to roost in, and a wise minister serves his master. If you don't abandon me, I will share your worries."

"Hahahaha, I am glad to have another great sage today. My mansion does not lack military commanders for the time being, but there are very few civil officials with your vision. I wonder if you are willing to come to my mansion to be a clerk and take charge of the civil affairs?"

Li Shanchang was overjoyed when he heard this. It didn't matter what he was called, whether he was the scribe, the seal keeper, the clerk, or the secretary. The key point was the sentence 'in charge of civil affairs'. This meant the number one civil official under his command. Although the Marshal's Mansion was not big yet, it had a promising future!
How can I not be happy when I get the position of head of civil servants?

Li Shanchang bowed deeply and said, "I dare not ask for it, but it is my wish."

Lu Jin hurriedly helped him up and led him to the back hall, calling to the guards, "Come here, find a seat for the gentleman and serve tea."

"Yes."

"Since the Marshal has already spied on Dingyuan, do you have any plans to attack Dingyuan in the near future? If you want to attack Dingyuan, I can write a letter to you, and when the Marshal's troops are at the gates of the city, you can help him break the city."

After Li Shanchang sat down in the hall and took a sip of tea, he immediately asked impatiently.

Since Lu Jin trusted him so much and gave him a high-ranking official position right away, Li Shanchang certainly had to show his usefulness. Apart from anything else, he, as the chief secretary, gave Lu Jin a city as soon as he entered the position.

Lu Jin shook his head upon hearing this, "The matter of Dingyuan is not urgent. I cannot spare the troops to attack Dingyuan recently."

Li Shanchang suddenly became curious, "Is the Marshal concentrating his forces to guard against Kang Maocai in Hezhou?"

"Preparation?"

Lu Jin raised his eyebrows, but since Li Shanchang had just arrived, he would not reveal any military secrets. He just said, "Well, it's not appropriate to send troops to Dingyuan at this time." Li Shanchang saw Lu Jin's reaction and immediately understood. On guard? It seems not. I'm afraid that this general has come up with some tricks to devour Kang Maocai's troops. Kang Maocai is more likely to be on guard against Lu Jin.

However, he had just arrived. Although Lu Jin made him the chief secretary, he did not completely trust him. He could not reveal all the important military matters to the man as soon as they met. Li Shanchang also understood this and did not ask any more questions.

It seems that if we want to completely win Lu Jin's trust, we have to wait until Dingyuan is taken over. This cannot be rushed.

However, since Lu Jin had appointed him as the chief secretary, although he did not allow him to participate in military affairs, he would not let him sit idle either. He immediately asked Li Shanchang for advice.

"Mr. Baishi, the Marshal's Office now has more and more prefectures and counties under its jurisdiction, and I have to continue to conquer cities and territories. It may be difficult to manage with this makeshift team.

"Although the establishment of a system is not urgent, it should be considered in advance. I don't want to repeat the mistakes of the Yuan Dynasty. The roads, prefectures and counties of the former Song Dynasty also had the problem of redundant officials and redundant personnel. If I establish a system, I wonder if you have any suggestions?"

Upon hearing this, Li Shanchang immediately perked up. Establishing a system for a country is a big deal, and it would be a great achievement if done well, so he must be cautious.

So he said immediately.

"General, I'm reporting to you that most dynasties have inherited the systems of the previous dynasty, but have only slightly added to and subtracted from them based on the shortcomings of the previous system. The provincial prefectures, counties, and cities of the Yuan Dynasty are actually not bad. The mistakes are that the levels of counties and cities are unclear, and the scope of the province is too large."

Li Shanchang immediately analyzed the shortcomings of the Yuan Dynasty system to Lu Jin.

From the three-level system of county and prefecture central authorities in the Qin Dynasty to the four-level system of central authorities, provincial governors (jiedushi), provincial governors, and county magistrates in the Han and Tang Dynasties, it gradually evolved through the dynasties. In fact, the rulers also found that the four-level system was the most appropriate.

Of course, Li Shanchang did not understand modern management, but he could learn a thing or two from history.

Modern management theory believes that one person's energy can only manage thirty people at most. In other words, if the emperor directly manages more than thirty counties, he will not be able to manage them all.

Therefore, the Han Dynasty inherited the Qin system and also used counties, but it also created the Inspector to help the emperor supervise the county governors in various places. The Inspector was not a permanent position at the time, but a temporary appointment. He had a low rank but great power.

In the later stage of development, it became a custom, with an additional level of governor above the county magistrate.

However, it is still inappropriate to say that the Han and Tang dynasties had a four-level rule. The Inspectors of the Han Dynasty and the Prefects of the Tang Dynasty were only supervisory agencies that helped the emperor supervise the counties, but they had no administrative functions. It was not until the Song Dynasty that there was another progress.

At the beginning of the Song Dynasty, the Tang system was inherited and the world was divided into thirteen circuits. However, during the reign of Emperor Taizong of Song, Zhao II, the circuits were directly changed to roads, and the Shuaisi, Xiansi and Caosi were formally established at the road level to be in charge of military power, judicial power and financial power.

For the first time, the administrative system at the provincial level was formally established, and the separation of powers was implemented at the provincial level, so as to avoid the situation where the military governors of the Tang Dynasty held all the power and were difficult to control.

The Yuan Dynasty was different. First of all, the provinces were too large. Take the Henan Jiangbei Province where Lu Jin and others were located. It was as large as the territory of four provinces in later generations.

Secondly, the hierarchical systems in different places are actually different. Some have provinces, prefectures, states, and counties, while others have provinces, states, and counties, which actually have an extra level of administrative units.
Of course, Lu Jin was more fond of the provincial system of the Ming Dynasty, in which three offices were set up at the provincial level: the Provincial Administration Commission, the Censorate, and the Military Commandery, which were in charge of civil affairs, judicial affairs, and military power.

This kind of separation of powers is good, but it also has its disadvantages.

Historically, the Ming Dynasty had left and right provincial governors, and under the governors were many councilors.

It is equivalent to having a bunch of parliamentarians under the provincial government to help the governor handle government affairs.

But Lu Jin felt that there should be a little more progress. The duties should be subdivided and divided into several departments according to profession, so that those in charge of agriculture would only be in charge of agriculture, and those in charge of education would only be in charge of education.

In fact, the change was not that big. It just turned the provincial senators of the Ming Dynasty into powerful officials in charge of various departments.

The first is to continue to decentralize power, and the second is to let professionals do professional matters, which is more suitable for industrial development.

The two men expressed their own opinions. Li Shanchang was well-versed in classics and history, and was able to help Lu Jin analyze the gains and losses of past dynasties. Lu Jin was knowledgeable and often put forward very novel ideas, which made Li Shanchang dare not underestimate him and discussed the feasibility of the system with Lu Jin.

The two chatted from the back hall to dinner, and from dinner to dark. They had a great time and both felt they had gained something. They even stayed overnight in the government office after dark and talked with Lu Jin all night long, from the system to Lu Jin's background and family education.

So Lu Jin took out the newly compiled "Gongshuzi" and discussed it with Li Shanchang, which broadened Li Shanchang's horizons.

While the two were talking all night, Qin Li in Chao County had finally made arrangements and was ready to launch a coup to seize the city. However, Liao Yongan, who had planned everything, knew nothing at this time.

Jin Chaoxing had already sneaked into the city as planned, and he was discussing with Liao Yongjian when to capture the city.
There is one more chapter



(End of this chapter)