Xu Kuangheng brushed his long beard in his hand, made a thoughtful gesture, and then smiled at Li Yuan: "Marshal, is this the reason why you drove the forbidden army to the East City Gate to assemble?" ”

Li Yuan joked: "Yes and no." First, these dogs are powerful things, Ben Shuai is really out of sight and out of mind, as for the second, since he knows that King Zheng and his party are coming from Dongting, they will definitely pass through the east gate, and they will just bring his personal guards together! Did Mr. think that Ben Shuai was trying to meet King Zheng at the east gate? Unless Ben Shuai is crazy ......"

Xu Kuangheng sighed: "I'm afraid that all the civil and military people think like this!" The wisdom of the handsome man is really very comparable! ”

As soon as he mentioned this group of outsiders, Li Yuan suddenly straightened his face and said, "Hmph, how are these officials handled?" Ben Shuai really doesn't believe that they don't know! His Royal Highness King Zheng, Your Majesty's son and son have worked for thousands of miles, how could the imperial court not report such a major event in advance? ”

Xu Kuangheng hurriedly replied: "What the big marshal said is very true! I have already asked the official in charge of the joint communication in the government office, and the imperial court has sent someone to send a document seven days ago, detailing the matter of King Zheng Laojun, and ordering me Wuping to do a good job in reception, but for some reason, this order was withheld by several officials! ”

Li Yuan said coldly: "I don't know why? What else could be the reason, huh? It's nothing more than using power for personal gain, but I don't know where Mr. found such a bold and reckless person with evil intentions! Since they want to trap Ben Shuai in injustice, then don't blame Ben Shuai for being ruthless! ”

Xu Kuangheng smacked his tongue and glared, and said in a trembling voice: "The handsome man is angry!" It's all in Xiahutu, I didn't see these villains who are different from the outside, but at that time, the handsome had just built a festival, and the town of Wuping was the first time to return to the imperial court, and it was when Vientiane was renewed, but there was no one, so I had to choose some Langzhou officials to use it first......"

"The Point Guard Is Here"

Li Yuan frowned and said, "Are these people all Liu Yan's officials in the past?" How many people are involved? ”

Xu Kuangheng didn't dare to raise his head, and replied softly: "Dashuai, I'm afraid there must be more than ten people...... The derelict East Gate guard, who was also the old department of Langzhou, had followed the order of the marshal at this time and hung his head to show the public! ”

The memory suddenly returned to a few months ago, when Li Yuan received the imperial court edict and finally established the festival, he was happy in his heart, but he quickly realized that it was almost impossible to really take charge of the military and political power of a place, and it was almost impossible to do everything by himself, and he could not go to the official office to twist the abacus while commanding the war, so he asked Xu Kuangheng, who was the chief historian, to select talents from the state government to enrich the official offices.

You must know that Langzhou has just experienced the war, and it is impossible to suddenly imitate the Tang system in a short period of time and organize a large-scale opening of science and technology, so Xu Kuangheng can only use the traditional inspection to identify talents, that is, the local governor will inspect and select talents in the jurisdiction and recommend them to the Jiedu Embassy Office, and then appoint officials after probation and assessment.

Although this seems convenient, the problem is behind, where are there local governors in Lang and Li Prefectures under Wuping's rule at that time? The officials appointed by Liu Yan have long since died and fled, and the officials are almost paralyzed where the war spreads, and in the end, this place has been ruled by the Chu State for decades, but all the scholars who have some fame and talent, most of them have either been officials under Liu Yan, or they have seen through the world and avoided the people with the idea of retreating, how much trust do they have in this Southern Tang Dynasty court that has just arrived and is completely unfamiliar?

The most important thing is that for the ancient system of inspection, the world has left a stereotype of cronyism in their hearts, especially the common people are even more scornful of this, when Xu Kuangheng went down to the state and county, he was not familiar with the place, and occasionally waited for one or two "talents" who came to apply, but all of them were wine bags and rice bags recommended by the local clans, and the household registration was doubled, not to mention the blood relatives at least within three generations......

But the official office can't be unmanned, Xu Kuangheng had no choice but to get the power and choose some of the old officials in Langzhou who captured and surrendered, and use them first, and then replace them when they settle down in the future, after all, these people were able to be officials in Chu in the past, and they can't say how big their ability is, at least they can write, and they also have some experience in governing the state capital.

And the consequences can be imagined, most of these people recruited are speculators, how can they be loyal to Li Yuan and the Southern Tang Dynasty behind him, it will be chaotic after a long time, but it is only an expedient move. This is also similar to Li Yuan's practice when he reorganized the army, among the 30,000 Langzhou soldiers recruited, although the generals and colonels were scattered, almost all of them were retained in the army in the end, in order to appease the people.

However, governing the army and governing the government are different in the end, and those who are in charge of the army will submit to the army and have sufficient money and food, and they will naturally be stable over time. For example, Chen Li and a group of old Langzhou generals such as Chen Li in Linyuan City before, Li Yuan took advantage of the situation to clean up this time, but when he saw the bloody heads of the five former commanders, the officers and men in the army did not react much.

Governing the government is another way of thinking, and it is not like in the army, where you can kill a few people. The so-called officials protect each other, the tree has deep roots, to deal with these old oilers who have been working in the officialdom of Chu State for many years, if they really want to be uprooted, according to the scale of the old officials in Wuping and Shanglangzhou, I am afraid that with a wave of the butcher's knife, the official office will be empty again......

"Dashuai, have these dozen or so officials involved also been dealt with together?" Seeing that Li Yuan was twisting his eyebrows and thinking, Xu Kuangheng asked cautiously.

Li Yuan naturally wanted to behead these officials who ate inside and out, but he still forcibly suppressed the anger in his heart, and asked instead: "Sir, it should be too late for the imperial court's tribute this year!" ”

Suddenly jumped to this topic, Xu Kuangheng almost didn't react, was stunned and immediately replied: "November can be recorded, but it can only catch up with next year!" Could it be that the marshal wants to restore the tribute in Wuping? But the talents selected by the tribute are all going to Jinling, how can the imperial court leave it to us? ”

(Note: Among the surrounding countries of the Five Dynasties, the cultural atmosphere of the Southern Tang Dynasty was the strongest, and it was also the most important for the imperial examination, just as the "Xiangzu Notes" volume 5 said: "In the Five Dynasties, the Central Plains was in turmoil, and the literature was released, but the cultural relics of the Southern Tang Dynasty were in the states.") The predecessor of the Southern Tang Dynasty was Yang Wu, and he also attached great importance to scholars and imperial examinations. Before 942, there were two departments of Ming Jing and Law, and then the Jinshi Department was restored)

Li Yuan shook his head and showed a mysterious smile: "Ben Shuai naturally won't send talents to the banks of the Qinhuai River to drink Fengyue in vain. Sir, get ready for the next few months, and start registering as usual in November......"

Xu Kuangheng heard it in a fog, and said suspiciously: "Dashuai, do you really want to resume the tribute?" ”

Li Yuan nodded firmly: "Exactly!" But this tribute does not have to be reported to the imperial court, it is presided over by my Wuping Jiedu Embassy Office! ”