Chinese New Year

Chapter 635 Going to court
After the ceremony was over, the Shaofu sent the seals, carriages and other ceremonial items, even the escorts granted by the court, to Shao Xun's residence - but he did not want the escorts and declined them.

Shao Xun walked into the Taiji Hall to attend the Wangri Court Meeting.

Before joining the ranks, he and Wang Yan expressed their respect for each other.

Wang Yan insisted on letting him take the seat, and at the same time signaled with his eyes, as if to say: You are not Sima Shi, and I am not Sima Fu.

Shao Xun didn't insist in the end.

The 29-year-old general sat above the 61-year-old general.

The hall was solemn for a moment, and everyone cast vague glances over.

It was the first time that Lord Liang attended court as a regent. No one knew what was going on, so they did not dare to speak carelessly.

Wang Yan glanced at his son.

Wang Xuan understood and said, "Your Majesty, since last winter, there has been no heavy rain or snow. And this spring, there has been severe drought for several months. The wheat from the previous year has not grown, and the summer seedlings have not sprouted. There is also a locust plague, which has spread to more than ten counties north and south of the Yellow River. I ask Your Majesty to consider the expenditure of funds, the hard work of farming and weaving, and reduce the festival tributes in the counties affected by the disaster."

After these words were spoken, the first reaction of the court officials was not to look at the emperor, but at the general.

Shao Xun did not object.

When the emperor saw this, he felt very sad.

It's like someone took away something you valued or loved, and that person is still playing with it in front of you. I can't even begin to describe how it feels!
So he decided to assert his presence: "Yes. I wear coarse clothes, eat coarse rice and vegetarian meals, and share the hardships with the common people."

"Your Majesty is wise." Wang Xuan slowly retreated.

Wang Yan took the white pen from the crown on the side of his ear, drew a line on the tablet, and then quietly showed it to Shao Xun.

After reading it, Shao Xun nodded slightly.

Apart from the enthronement ceremony, there was nothing important to do today. Shao Xun could attend the court meeting later or go back to Bianliang directly. It didn't matter.

He stayed mainly to experience the changes brought about by his new identity.

"Your Majesty." As expected, just as Shao Xun saw on the tablet, someone soon came out and said, "Since last year, silk has become cheaper, and money has become less and less, which has caused losses to both the public and private sectors. I request that one million coins be minted in a convenient place in Henan County to support public and private use."

Sima Chi remained silent.

He instinctively wanted to object because the country had no habit of minting coins and was still using old coins from the Han, Wei, Shu and Wu dynasties.

These coins were of different shapes and weights, which was very inconvenient in daily transactions. With silk prices falling for two consecutive years—and possibly even lower this year—there was a shortage of funds, so minting coins was still necessary.

But he still wanted to see Shao Xun's attitude.

Shao Xun did not respond.

Sima Chi just stared at him without saying a word, as if he was sulking.

Wang Yan glanced around.

The people he swept across stepped out one after another and said, "Your Majesty, I would like to mint coins."

Shao Xun finally spoke, kneeling on the table and bowing, "Your Majesty, I think it is time to start minting coins."

Sima Chi looked left and right, and finally closed his eyes and said, "Yes."

"Your Majesty, recording events and words is the duty of historians. In recent years, there have been many problems and things have not been harmonious, so this has been interrupted. I request that historians be sent to collect old events, compile them into books, and send them to the museum seasonally..."

"Your Majesty, the officials are taking too long to judge the prisoners..."

After reporting the first two events, the ministers submitted their reports one after another.

Shao Xun listened quietly at the side.

Most of these things are true, and not all the people in the court are scoundrels.

He inexplicably thought that when dynasties rose and fell, many old bureaucrats were retained and became officials of the new dynasty. These old bureaucrats were quite active for a while, working hard, no longer stupid or evasive, as if they had transformed into talented people who could make a difference in the world.

Ultimately, it depends on the environment.

The founding emperor of the new dynasty could not tolerate any sand in his eyes and was not easily fooled. The past cleverness and tricks were no longer useful. Moreover, the officialdom had undergone a purge, the ecology and the atmosphere had changed, and he had to roll up his sleeves, so he appeared to be full of vigor and vitality.

That's about it.

As he sits here today, it is understandable that many people are eager to perform in order to advance themselves or maintain their current status.

It’s just—isn’t this too hurtful?

Shao Xun glanced at the emperor and sat leisurely.

******
After the court meeting was over, Shao Xun and Wang Yan walked out side by side.

Some shameless court officials came forward to salute, and Shao Xun responded one by one.

"How was your day?" Wang Yan looked at Shao Xun and asked with a smile.

"I feel quite a bit." Shao Xun said with a smile.

Wang Yan also laughed and said, "After we get to the country, we need to set up post stations between Luoyang and Bianyang, preferably one every thirty miles, and use fast horses to deliver official letters."

"I will ask someone to handle this matter." Shao Xun said.

"Why not stay in Luoyang or Xuchang?" Wang Yan asked after hesitating for a moment.

"Quiet." Shao Xun only replied with this sentence and left the palace. Cao Cao left Xuchang and went to Yecheng to build the Bafu in order to get rid of the control of the Yingchuan gentry.

Gao Huan left Yecheng and established his capital in Jinyang in order to better conduct the war.

Shao Xun left Xuchang and went to Bianliang to build his own government. His main purpose was to connect the north and south of the Yellow River and to manage his own territory.

Cao, Gao and Shao actually have something in common, their ideas and thoughts are similar, and they not only love other people's wives.

Wang Yan also vaguely guessed something.

Among the ten counties of Liang State, Chen County was cleaned up very thoroughly. The He family was exterminated, and most of the Xie family and other clans moved south. Not many people stayed and could not make a difference. Now the only noble family that can be called famous is the Yuan family, who is also a relative of the Shao family. The Wang family is a new noble, but its foundation is very poor, and it is not as good as the Xie family and other clans that have already moved south.

The Liang State had been through many wars. After Wang Ping's army of begging soldiers arrived, they continued to cause trouble, and many nobles and powerful families crossed the river to the east of the Yangtze River.

The Xiongnu plundered Henan, and Liang became a battlefield twice.

When Yu Chen was the internal historian of Liang, he surveyed the land and household registration. Some people caused rebellion, but they were quickly eliminated and by now they had been almost completely cleared up.

As for Nandun and Xincai, they were places where Shao Xun resettled a large number of refugees. The largest local aristocratic family, the Ying family, was severely suppressed and most of them moved south to Jingxiang.

The four counties of Puyang, Wei, Ji and Dunqiu were the places where the Jin and the Huns had been fighting each other for many years. Not to mention the ordinary people, even the nobles and powerful people could not stand the constant warnings, grain collection and labor service, and even being attacked without reason. Those who could leave left, leaving the place in vain.

The only two counties with relatively strong aristocratic families were Runan and Chenliu, but they were far weaker than they were a decade ago.

Shao Xun moved his garrison to Bianliang, probably with the intention of suppressing and cleaning up the Chenliu clans nearby, taking their land and farmhands, and supporting the small families to compete with the aristocratic families, while he would act as a referee and reap the benefits. When the time was right, he would survey the land and household registration and establish a truly stable rule.

His ambition is really big!

Wang Yan didn't know what he felt. The two years of drought and locusts were the peak of Shao Xun's gathering of refugees, which laid the foundation for his current career. In fact, he had already taken over many of the ten counties of Liang State, and now he was just putting these "familiar places" together.

Liang State is the result, not the process.

In addition, Shao Taibai's vision was truly sharp, and he was completely aiming for the fundamentals of the gentry: land and troops.

Many people subconsciously equate them when they hear the word "aristocratic family", which is a big mistake.

The gentry whose land and troops were reduced became lame gentry.

A noble family without land and troops is just a dog of the royal family.

Shao Xun promoted small families, and even if these evolved into new aristocrats, they were destined to be far from the strength of the current aristocrats.

Whenever he thought of this, Wang Yan felt very conflicted.

In fact, he had thought about this before, and his conclusion was that in troubled times, it was inevitable that the family business would suffer losses, but as long as most of it was preserved and no serious damage was done, it would be acceptable. Even if half of the family business was lost, it would not be completely unacceptable.

But although I accepted it intellectually, I still felt a little unwilling emotionally.

We can only take it one step at a time as to where to go next.

Shao Xun didn't want to take shortcuts, but what could he do?

******
Liang Fen, who was tilling the land in the west of Luoyang City, soon learned what had happened in the capital. It was Fu Xuan, the former chief priest of the West Pavilion of the Longxiang General's Mansion, the Minister of Agriculture of Runan State, and the current chief priest of the East Pavilion of the General's Mansion, who told him.

"The positions in the general's office have been almost decided." Fu Xuan said, "Wang Yifu, the commander of the left army, appointed Wen Qiao from Taiyuan as the military advisor and retained Bian Dun from Jiyin. The two of them will assist Wang Yan together. Lu Zidao, the commander of the right army, appointed Fan Yang Zuying as the military advisor and retained Lu Qiuchong, the former military advisor and chief priest of Yanzhou."

The two military advisors were in charge of government affairs. They each recruited a confidant, and each retained an old friend of Liang Gong - Shao Xun, who was originally the military commander of the Yanzhou government.

"Pei Shao, the military governor of Yanzhou, was appointed as the left chief secretary, and Yu Zimei of Yingchuan was appointed as the right chief secretary."

"Chen Yougen and Yang Chen are still the left and right Sima."

"Liang Gong's brother-in-law, Yancheng Magistrate Yuan Neng, and Liang Gong's student, Longxiang Assistant Zhonglang Zheng Long, were both chief clerks."

"Yang Yu of Yan State and Jing Chan of Dunqiu were both supervisors of the Record Office."

"Cao Yin is the official in the government, Mi Zhi, Liu Anzhi, Yu Liang, Mao Bang and others are the military officers, and Shao Guang, the captain of the Duyang Tuntian, is the supervisor..."

Fu Xuan counted them one by one, and Liang Fen listened to them one by one.

After listening to the end, I felt that it was not much different from what I thought, the only difference is that the proportion of Hebei people has become higher. It is obvious that Mr. Liang took Henan as his base and tried to make Hebei his base as well.

"Mr. Liang is going to leave Beijing in the next few days, right?" Liang Fen asked.

"It will only take about ten days." Fu Xuan replied, "The palace is still under construction in Bianliang. For the next year, the officials of the shogunate will probably have to work in the county town."

At this point, Fu Xuan sighed and asked cautiously, "Why don't you take up a government post? There are few scholars in Guanxi, and without a leader, it's even more difficult to establish a powerful force."

Among the scholars from all over the country, the scholars from Xizhou were probably the group that supported Shao Xun the most and cared the least about the issue of one's origin.

Since the Han Dynasty, the land of Guanxi has been a mixture of Hu and Han people, and the customs are quite different. In addition, most of their family foundations fell to the Xiongnu, and most of their clansmen also began to cooperate with the Xiongnu. The children who stayed in Guandong suddenly became embarrassed.

Land, soldiers, money, he has everything he wants. What else can he do if he doesn't support Lord Liang?
Fu Xuan hoped that Liang Fen could come out and become the leader of the Guanxi scholars, leading them to share a piece of the pie in the troubled times - a snake cannot survive without a head.

Liang Fen waved her hand and refused.

Fu Xuan frowned and suddenly said, "Mingsir, I saw the Queen outside the Fashili Temple a few days ago. When I went forward to pay my respects, I saw bruises on the corners of the Queen's mouth. There are also rumors in the palace that the Emperor wants to depose the Queen and sentence her to death..."

Liang Fen had a calm expression and said nothing, but she had quietly clenched her fists.

After achieving his goal, Fu Xuan said no more, only said: "Yu Zimei is going to Bianliang to be the prime minister, and the Duke of Liang is looking for a candidate for the Sili Xiaowei."

After saying that, Fu Xuan said goodbye.

(End of this chapter)