"Bo Chang, I naturally understand this truth, but I feel that this Dali Temple is set up for the prime minister, so my heart is depressed, since there are only you and me at the moment, please sweep away the doubts in my heart for me."

Chen Deng is not short-sighted.

He knew that in front of the Son of Heaven, every decree would breed a lot of things and change the people's livelihood, but he also understood that the current Dali Temple had become the beheading knife of the Prime Minister's Mansion, which could be hung above the heads of hundreds of officials in Xu Du.

And the Son of Heaven on the holy car has obviously been blinded by Shang Shutai, the Prime Minister's Mansion, the Inner Court, etc.

Almost everything he saw and heard was that the prime minister was willing to let him see and hear, otherwise it was very likely that this son of heaven would not hear anything.

In such a situation, he is in a high position, even if he becomes the secretary of Dali Temple in the future, can he really create a clear and fair state for the people, officials, and the Han Dynasty?

No.

And the most ridiculous thing is that Dali Temple is still in the name of justice.

Zhang Han sat upright, pondered for a long time, and said: "The current situation in the court, with the Prime Minister's Mansion as the criterion, is that the Prime Minister has the troops, power, and the appointment and dismissal of talents. ”

"Scholars are the bridge between the imperial power and the people, in the past hundreds of years, what the Son of Heaven has seen and heard, is that the scholars are willing to let His Majesty see and hear, as for the management of disasters and the balance of internal affairs in various places, they are all under the control of the scholars."

"If you nominate someone, you can recommend them for governance and support them, and you can get a name, but if you want to depose someone, you will tarnish their reputation and make the scholars shameful, and Your Majesty will naturally only know their bad deeds."

"And why does the Han family still have the rise and fall of prosperity? It is among the nobles, there are those who are lustful and powerful, and there are also those who are dedicated to the public and do their best. ”

"Now, this authority is just transferred from the scholar clan to the Prime Minister's Mansion, if the Prime Minister is not my father-in-law Cao Gong, but Yang Biao, Yuan Shao and other scholars and celebrities, and then spread etiquette in the way of Confucianism, will you take it for granted? In this way, you will naturally think that the Son of Heaven is still talented and shallow, so he should not take charge of the whole government, and should be entrusted to the Prime Minister's Mansion and listen to the opinions of the various governments? ”

"Yuanlong, you are blinded by a leaf." Zhang Han shook his head, and after finishing speaking, he reminisced about it again, and said with a smile: "No, you are not blind. ”

"It's that what you have learned since you were a child is that you are all standing among the scholars, and naturally you have an imbalance."

"What you're learning is out of balance?" Chen Deng's eyes lit up, "However, the court and the government offices in various places all value morality, and the original intention is naturally good." ”

After Chen Deng finished speaking, he lowered his head and thought for a moment, and his heart no longer avoided this question, when he was young, he had traveled to the northern border, met many people in remote places, and understood the difficulties of recommending and selecting talents from various states and counties.

The clearest point is that "virtue" and the "talent" advocated by the current prime minister are actually just a tool.

Because in the past, celebrities in the world should continue to respect a person, speak of his morality, and strengthen his reputation before he can be regarded as virtuous, and this scale is actually in the hands of celebrities of the scholar clan.

The most typical is naturally the Xu brothers' "Yuedan Commentary", which is like the rise of the dragon and depreciated like falling into the abyss.

And now it is also the prime minister's mansion, the meritocracy of Cao Gong, who is the main idea, and he uses strategy and talent as the appointment, no matter what his background is, whether he has talent or not is also his final say.

However, talent should actually be confirmed by actual achievements, and those who are not talented will be eliminated sooner or later.

The reputation of virtue can be "bought" and "co-opted" later, and even because of the marriage of the family, many people have grown up with the reputation of "early wisdom" and "talented" since childhood, and they need to cultivate virtue all their lives, in fact, they may not be virtuous people in their hearts, but they cannot do what they want under the fame.

This goes back to what Zhang Han said at the beginning, "A gentleman has no heart for his deeds", and there is no gentleman in his heart.

"Bochang, in this case, I sat on the position of Shaoqing of Dali Temple, but I was just an eagle dog for the prime minister and swept the court, what merit can I have?"

Chen Deng sighed, "In the future, he will be set up as an outcast at any time, and he will be spurned by others, and if he is loyal to his duties, he will offend all the officials in the capital, and his reputation will be notorious, how to deal with himself later." ”

He can already see his dismal end now, if Cao Gong gains power in the court in the future, achieves the great cause of the north, and continues to forge ahead to establish merits, he may be able to do well, but he should also be pointed at and scolded behind his back, and he does not respect the teacher and the family inheritance.

If Cao Gong is defeated and it is difficult to defend the land, he will not be able to keep even a little bit of his name.

Zhang Han smiled: "How can this be? ”

"There are some words, I only say here, thousands of miles of rivers and mountains and thousands of miles of dust, once a son of heaven and a courtier."

Zhang Han's face was very calm, not like he was talking wildly, not like he was joking, and not like he was rude and vulgar.

On the contrary, it is saying that he has average ambitions, but this is Cao's ambition.

Speaking of this, Chen Deng was already a little deep, and the whole person dimmed and fell into deep thought.

Zhang Han smiled and said: "There is a person this year, who has just come to serve in Xu Du from Jiangdong, who is a person who was called a dragon with Guan Ning and Bingyuan back then, and a person with the same name as Lu Zhi, Guan Ning, and Zheng Xuan. ”

Chen Deng raised his head suddenly and said, "Huaziyu?!" ”

"Yes, today's Yushi Zhongcheng, although the Yushitai has declined due to some events, Hua Ziyu is temporarily in this position."

Zhang Han glanced at him, and said solemnly: "It will definitely be unlimited in the future, do you know why?" ”

"Why?"

"Because he is dedicated to the public, in the name of integrity, and in the name of loyalty."

"Sooner or later, I will be entrusted with a heavy responsibility, Yuanlong, I advise you to also figure it out, and your position used to be mine, the word eagle and dog, I Zhang Bochang has already put it on, what does it have to do with you?"

Wear a fart, Chen Deng said in his heart, you are all famous in Xu Du, and I don't know if you are operating properly or secretly pushing it.

But he also understood Zhang Han's words, he had to choose the right position, with the scholar clan or with the prime minister, after all, this is a lifelong fight.

There will always be one side that will be fought.

"Virtue" and "talent", these two kinds of recommendation can only exist in the government.

Zhang Han had already said it clearly enough, and he almost put the bloody words in front of him, but that sentence could not be said by the prime minister, and it could not even be someone related to the prime minister.

But it also shows that although the prime minister does not have this heart and action, the people under his command have also begun to plan for him.

"I'll think about it."

"Will you come to the fireside banquet in the evening?" Zhang Han raised his eyebrows and asked, "After this banquet, I will leave Xu Du and return to the camp in the south of Linshan. ”

Chen Deng: "......"

"Don't worry, everything you eat is cooked, and you will never eat something fishy, who would eat that in a normal person?"

Chen Deng: "I'll go." ”

……

That night, Chen Deng returned to the hearth to drink and talk, but Zhang Han had already left.

It was accompanied by Jia Xu, Xi Zhicai and Guo Jia were present, Yang Xiu invited him to drink at the table, and Xun You was on the side to comment a few words from time to time.

Dian Wei sat at the door, and Chen Deng almost talked about it all night, making him dizzy, and when he fell, his mind was still echoing with the prime minister's person who descended from the sky, saving the Han from fire and water.

It is said that when he woke up the next day, he actually believed it for a moment, and then rode to Dali Temple in high spirits and in good spirits.

After taking office, he immediately dealt with 16 cases of officials embezzling ink, all of which were fought on the basis of reason, even if someone pulled Zhang Han out, he was also not afraid, Chen Deng could count at least ten of Zhang Han's merits, and various contributions to people's livelihood, water conservancy, and farming.

It makes people speechless when they confront each other.

So, within three days, according to whether the circumstances were serious or not, 20 officials were tried and investigated, three were dismissed, six were demoted, and the remaining 11 were confiscated and confiscated into the state treasury.

In just three days, he got the equivalent of ten thousand gold, and filled it into the treasury, so that Liu Xie and Cao Cao were happy, which can be described as immediate, just mentioned Chen Deng, and because of his prestige in Guangling, it was transmitted back to Xudu, how strong its momentum was, so that many officials of the older generation could not compete with it.

For a while, Chen Deng's name resounded throughout Xudu, and people privately said that the third eagle dog of the Prime Minister's Mansion had arrived, but they didn't expect it to be Xiapi Chen.

Now Hongnong Yang and Xiapi Chen are all trying their best to sweep the court for Cao Cao, and those who were twisted into a rope with the scholars at that time are now all out of luck, and the secret sentinel of the school office found in the continuous investigation that those families and eunuchs who secretly contacted Jizhou at the beginning quietly broke off this route and no longer contacted.

Only those people who were chosen by the prime minister are still communicating.

After a period of time, Chen Deng's three fires had almost burned, and the price was that the officials in the capital had become too quiet under the heavy ceremony, and there were fewer impeachments and proclamations every morning, all of which were speeches and speeches from all over the country, and government decrees were discussed.

It can be said that the unprecedented clarity made Cao Cao feel a lot quieter, at least he never received a report about Zhang Han again.

Yang Xiu walked through the courtyard of the Prime Minister's Mansion and walked quickly into the main hall, Cao Cao was eating, and he naturally beckoned smoothly when he saw him.

"Prime Minister, everything has been busy recently, there is a lot of news, and General Zhonglang has sent back the battle report and military information from Guangling," Yang Xiu bowed and bowed, his tone was calm, much better than his appearance a year ago, and the words that showed his talent were not to say a word, and to pass the word was to pass the word.

Cao Cao looked at him a lot more pleasing to the eye, and put down the bowl with a happy smile, "Say, what's the news?" ”

"After Sun Ce returned to Jiangdong, there was a lot of chaos in various places, and General Zhonglang took the opportunity to send a spy post into Jiangdong to act in a discordant manner, during which he inquired about the news and got a piece of news that made us sit back and relax."

Yang Xiu didn't sell too much guanzi, he was afraid that Cao Cao would be angry in a hurry, so he hurriedly said: "Yes, there are Shixie in the southeast of the Jiangdong, Huang Zu in the west, and Xu Gong and others in the territory are not convinced, and the Sun family's governance of the territory is too brutal and unpopular." ”

"It's the same as the evaluation of the original sacrificial wine."

Yang Xiu glanced at Guo Jia who was beside him, and then turned around and arched his hand: "Sun Ce has no merit to enter the territory of my Xuzhou, so he will definitely be brutal and brutal in order to suppress the dissatisfied people in Jiangdong, so there will be trouble, and he will die sooner or later, not counting the master." ”

"Well," Cao Cao nodded slightly, gave Guo Jia an approving look, and asked, "But is there anything else?" ”

"There is another thing, Lujiang Shucheng sent a message, the people who fled before the Lu family returned to Lujiang, and the family is grateful to Bo Chang for looking for the order to return, and Tuo Zhonglang will send it to make friends."

"In addition, Jingzhou Liu first, and then buy Xuzhou war horses, to promote the business road between Sun Qian, Mi Zhu two gentlemen, this road Zhonglang will already know, when passing according to the number of taxes per city catty, the prince said that he will pay the number of money, Zhonglang will send a letter to the meaning of the letter, please the prime minister recently to the Holy Driver Ming to increase military resources, reward the soldiers, so that this tax can be directly sent from the treasury to the barracks."

"Hmm......" Yang Xiu paused when he said this, because he saw that when Cao Cao listened to these news, he almost always had a bored expression, and he didn't have much interest.

Therefore, after thinking for a long time, Yang Xiu took out a letter written on fine steamed paper from his sleeve, with a beautiful font written on it, which was quite elegant and refreshing.

He handed his hands in front of Cao Cao and said: "Jizhou has replied, it is said that it is General Yuan's true feelings, and he wants to renew his marriage and family relationship with his father, and he has talked about many things that are young, and there are many questions of knowledge, which seem ordinary, but it feels unusual." ”

Cao Cao took it and looked at it for a long time, and laughed heartily, "Yuan Shao is a suspicious person, and he will never reveal too much purpose in his letters, such a letter, even if it is intercepted, is just a letter to discuss the old love with old friends." ”

"However, it is not difficult to see that he is trying to win over Yang Gong with this, and two famous men are mentioned in this letter, one is Qinghe Fuzhu, and the other is Qinghe Cui Yan, these two gentlemen are under his command, which shows that Yuan Shao has the intention of showing off."

"There is another sentence here, Xu Duhai is clear and bright in the plain plain, not the surrounding leakage of the four mountains, Yuzhou has ever had this sky ......" Cao Cao read these words, and said: "This is an irony that my Xu Dujun is a person of intrigue, not as good as Jizhou celebrities and scholars." ”

"If this letter is circulated, it will make the officials in Xudu yearn for it, and the next time they will abandon me and go to Jizhou."

Cao Cao shook his head and said: "But when they really went, they knew that they were not really people of insight, and they couldn't even enter the gate of Yuan Shaowei County at this time." ”

"And the person who can enter the courtyard gate and talk about strategy is actually a virtuous person, and such a person can live anywhere and even be reused."

"Dezu," Cao Cao called slowly, "you have done a good job, please ask Yang Gong to continue to exchange letters with Jizhou." ”

"Prime Minister, don't you really think there's a problem with this letter?" Yang Xiu's eyes suddenly asked solemnly.

Cao Cao smiled and said nothing, and glanced at Guo Jia, and at this moment Guo Jia immediately said: "Dezu doesn't have to worry, just continue to communicate, and you can talk about old things at will." ”

"Okay," Yang Xiu bowed his hand, and immediately turned around and left after telling the news, although he had doubts in his heart, he couldn't figure it out for a while at the moment.

So he planned to listen to Zhang Han's persuasion, and if he didn't understand it for the time being, he went to Nanlin Mountain to hunt and discuss with him.

(End of chapter)