Chapter 144: Three Provinces and Six Departments

Yan Zhong said that he had something to report to Chen Cheng, but he didn't start talking directly, but first said to Liu Qian on the side: "Princess, someone has sent a few juju over recently, do you want to try it?" ”

The so-called "kemari" is a solid ball wrapped in leather on the outside and filled with rice bran, hair, and other things. This sport has been popular since the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, and was first seen in historical books in the "Historical Records - The Biography of Su Qin". In the Song Dynasty, Keju became a common practice, and there was also a professional Keju team in Bianliang City. However, this sport came to an abrupt halt in the Qing Dynasty, and the reason for this is intriguing.

When Liu Qian was in the Luoyang Palace, she also played Keju, and when she heard Yan Zhong say this, her eyes suddenly lit up. She turned her head to look at Chen Cheng, her eyes full of expectation. Chen Cheng smiled: "If you want to play, you can play, but remember to wait to feed the horses." ”

"Yes, I remember!"

Liu Qian stood up, trotted to the bottom of the hall, and then ran happily to the courtyard.

Chen Cheng watched the girl who had grown a little longer run into the courtyard, and then asked, "Is there anything Bo Dao can't say in front of her?" ”

Yan Zhong said with a smile: "Children like to play when they like to play, don't push her too hard." ”

Chen Cheng smiled and said, "You're right. ”

Yan Zhong said again: "If the king is not secret, he will lose his country, and if the minister is not secret, he will lose his body." What I want to say to Junhou is a major matter related to the entire Liangzhou, and the fewer people who know about it, the better. ”

Chen Cheng laughed out loud and said, "That's right." ”

Yan Zhong said: "The princess is still young, even if the prince wants to teach her how to govern the country, now is not the time. ”

Chen Cheng raised his eyebrows and said, "Changshi can be said to be down to business." ”

Yan Zhong stroked his beard, took out a roll of bamboo slips from the cloth bag, and said: "After discussing with the prince and the prince before, I thought about it for a while, and wrote down the money and grain that the princes from all walks of life need to pay tribute, the taxes that need to be paid in various places, and some other things, and ask the prince to take a look. ”

Chen Cheng took the bamboo slip, unfolded it and looked at it for a while, and then calculated it in his heart. He closed the bamboo slip and said, "Is there too little?" ”

Yan Zhong said with a smile: "Henan, Nanyang, don't ask." ”

Chen Cheng tapped on the table with a bamboo slip and said, "I know." ”

Yan Zhong is telling the story of the early years of the Eastern Han Dynasty, when Emperor Guangwu Liu Xiu ordered the inspection of the world's fields, this kind of thing that the emperors of all dynasties wanted to do, and only a few people could do it. In the capacity of Liu Xiu's founding emperor, the officials below also dared to deceive when Qingtian inspected the land, especially in Henan and Nanyang. Henan is an imperial city, and there are many courtiers around the emperor. Nanyang is the emperor's hometown, and there are many imperial relatives. The fields in these two places are just a muddled account, and the officials are unwilling and dare not seriously investigate.

Although Chen Cheng is now elected as the pastor of Liangzhou by Cheng Yi, Yang Qiu and others, who dares to inspect the fields of the princes in various places? Although Lingzhou is not the territory of the princes, there are many soldiers and horses in the hands of the powerful people, and they are not princes but also princes. However, he recognized it so easily, which made Yan Zhong a little surprised.

Yan Zhong asked, "Is that what the prince is going to do?" ”

"Bo Dao, what you said is very reasonable," Chen Cheng spread his hands and said, "If you don't just forget it according to what you said, do you want to transfer troops to defeat Lingzhou?" And then bulldozed all the way to Northland, Wuwei and other counties? I'm afraid that Han Sui is desperate for us to do this. Tsk, Lingzhou handed over 10,000 stone this year, which is already good. Lian County ......... this year Forget it, let's not talk about it. ”

He said to Yan Zhong: "I am going to promote the candidate to be the county magistrate of Lingzhou, and let Xu Chao be the secretary of the household department and concurrently the secretary of the Ministry of Industry." ”

Yan Zhong said with a smile: "Is this going to use the system of three provinces and six ministries?" ”

"Yes," Chen Cheng said: "Our Liangzhou is a thief, and we don't need to use the Han family system in everything, and the three-province and six-ministry system discussed with Bodao before is very good." ”

Now the Han court uses the system of three princes and nine kings handed down from the era of the first emperor, in which the size of each official position and power has changed, but the basic skeleton is still the same. The system of three provinces and six ministries is a set of systems that was only formally established in the Tang Dynasty, and on the whole, it is one step closer to the centralization of power than the system of three princes and nine secretaries.

Chen Cheng said that he discussed it with Yan Zhong, but in fact, he proposed it, and then Yan Zhong picked up the gaps.

"Although the system of three provinces and six ministries is good, but in this way, will it attract the attention of the imperial court?"

Chen Cheng smiled and said: "We are anti-thieves, when did the imperial court stop looking sideways?" ”

Yan Zhong slapped his forehead and said, "Alas, I forgot about this stubble again, I thought we were orthodox." ”

He laughed at himself a few words and asked, "Except for Xu Chao, who is also the secretary of the household department and the secretary of the Ministry of Industry, have the other official positions been selected?" ”

Chen Cheng said: "Zhongshu Ling has the highest position, so naturally he has to bother Bo Dao, Shang Shuling also asks Bo Dao to take it first, and I am ready to let Yang Qiu do the .......... of the military department."

Yan Zhong interrupted: "Yang Qiu is only afraid that he will not be willing to be the secretary of this military department. ”

Chen Cheng smiled: "I won't deprive him of the territory of the soldiers and horses in his hands, what is he not happy about?" ”

Yan Zhong shook his head, he knew more about these princes in Liangzhou than Chen Cheng. However, Chen Cheng also has his reasoning, "Bodao, do you think I want to annex Yang Qiu's territory, using the means of rising and descending secretly?" ”

Isn't it?

"I now have the two counties of Shuofang and Wuyuan, and I have enough land, so there is no need to use swords for the territory."

"The Shangshu of the Ministry of War is in charge of all the military registrations, ordnance, military orders, as well as ordnance, vehicles, war horses, and other things in Liangzhou," Chen Cheng ignored the surprise on Yan Zhong's face and continued: "Except for the tooth soldiers, who are personally in charge of me, the other armies are all under the Ministry of War. ”

"In that case," Yan Zhong asked, "is the power of the military department too great?" ”

Chen Cheng asked rhetorically, "Is it big?" The six Shangshu are appointed for five years, if it is not suitable, then it will be replaced by another person."

The two looked at each other, then laughed at the same time. As Chen Cheng's territory became bigger and bigger, and there were more and more soldiers and horses, Yan Zhong also began to be a little worried. There are too many things in history that can share hardships and hardships but not prosperity together. He Yan Bodao is a smart person, but he doesn't want to repeat the mistakes of Wen and others.

Through temptation, he now determined one thing, that is, Chen Cheng did not become arrogant because of the previous big victory, and the relationship between the two can be maintained for a long time. Smart people are like that, they always think a lot. I can even see the clues of many things from eating an extra bowl of rice and frowning.

After laughing for a while, Chen Cheng said: "Now not only there are many vacancies in the official positions of the three provinces and six departments, but there is also a lot of shortage of local officials. ”

Yan Zhong twisted his beard and said, "There is a person close in front of you, doesn't the prince remember?" ”

"You mean?"

"Fu Gan Fu Yancai, Junhou has met him before." Yan Zhongdao: "His father is famous in Liangzhou, so he can pick a position among the remaining Shangshu to give him." ”

"What are you doing?" Chen Cheng pondered for a while and said, "The Fu family has a good reputation among the Huns, why don't you appoint it as Shuo Fang Taishou?" ”

"Yes."

After talking for a while, Yan Zhong took out another roll of bamboo slips and handed it to Chen Cheng. After Chen Cheng took it, he didn't look at it first, but asked with a smile, "What is this?" ”

Yan Zhong said: "I sent my nephew Yan Xing to Hanyang before, and this is the distribution of the generals and soldiers and horses under Han Sui that he collected. ”

Chen Cheng let out an "oh" and asked casually, "I heard that Yanming is about to marry Han Wenyue's daughter?" ”

"Yes, the wedding date has been agreed, and the marriage will be completed after the autumn."

Chen Cheng smiled: "Bodao, you recommended Yancai, why didn't you expect to recommend Yanming?" If you don't want to avoid kissing! ”

Yan Zhong said: "He said that he was going to participate in the selection of tooth soldiers. ”

Chen Cheng raised his eyebrows and said, "That's to start as a small soldier, or should I appoint him as the squire of the military department?" If you don't like the Ministry of War, you can go to the Criminal Department and the Ministry of Engineering. Yan Ming helped you deal with things in Lingzhou, and he did a good job, I also heard about it, let him go to Ya Bing to start as a small soldier, it's too condescending. ”

In Chen Cheng's planning, the tooth soldiers were divided into three ranks: apprentice, sergeant, and samurai/knight. Samurai were generally assigned to trap camps, and knights were transferred to the Flying Bear Hussars.

Yan Zhong said with a smile: "Everyone has their own ambitions, he likes to lead soldiers to fight, so it's good for him to go to the tooth soldiers to have some training." ”

"In that case, then I won't persuade him. Well, when he gets married, I'll give him a big gift. ”

When Yan Zhong walked out of the backyard, Yan Xing immediately greeted him, "Uncle, is the prince angry?" ”

Yan Zhong shook his head and said, "The prince said that he could appoint you as a squire in the military department, or go to the criminal department and the ministry of works. ”

As soon as Yan Xing showed a surprised expression on his face, Yan Zhong said again: "But I refused. ”

“.......... Why? ”

"I said you wanted to go to the Tooth Soldier selection."

“..........”

Yan Zhong said: "The prince admires you very much, and if you do it well in the future, you will definitely have a great future." ”

"But .......", Yan Xing couldn't laugh or cry, he knew what was going on with the three-province and six-ministry system that Yan Zhong and Chen Cheng had made. There is a squire in the military department to do it, what kind of tooth soldier selection do you go to participate?

"That's it, the selection of tooth soldiers will start in a few days, remember to report."

"I ........"

Looking at Yan Zhong's distant back, Yan Xing's hand stopped in mid-air, and it took a long time to put it down.

At dusk, torches had already lit in Yan Zhong's mansion, and the maids and servants in the lobby shuttled back and forth, bringing up plates of exquisite food. The local officials and Haoqiang in Lingzhou crowded the lobby, Chen Cheng persuaded round after round of wine with a smile, and when everyone was red-faced, Chen Cheng walked down and sat down in the middle of Xu Chao and the candidate.

"County Magistrate Xu, I am going to appoint you as the secretary of the household department and the secretary of the Ministry of Industry, I don't know what you think?"

Appointments to important official positions like this must first be finalized in private before they are announced. Although Chen Cheng has watched a lot of news broadcasts, he is no stranger to some unspoken rules in politics.

Yan Zhong had already released rumors that Chen Cheng would promulgate a new official system after the autumn harvest. Xu Chao and Yan Zhong are in the same city, and they are old acquaintances, how could they not have heard of it? Before entering the door, Yan Zhong had already sent someone to inform him of the news. Not only did he know that he would sit in the position of the head of the household, but he also knew that the candidate would take over as the magistrate of Lingzhou...... No, Lingzhou has a large number of household registrations and has been promoted to Shangxian, so the candidate will become the first county magistrate of Lingzhou.

After hearing the news, Xu Chao's first thought was "This is a strategy to divide the local heroes." In fact, his guess can't be said to be wrong. However, even if he guessed what Chen Cheng and Yan Zhong wanted to do, would he be able to turn down the appointment?

Let's not talk about whether the candidate will resent him because of this, if he sits on it, the power in his hands and the population of the land he can govern will expand more than ten times at once! Even if it was for the sake of glorifying the lintel, could he still refuse?

Therefore, at the moment when Chen Cheng just finished speaking, Xu Chao fell to the ground and said in a deep voice: "I am willing to die for the Lord!" ”