At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty

The two groups split up.

Guo Peng and Guo Chengzhi followed Mao Jie to the front yard of his house.

Mao Jie's mansion covers a large area, but it doesn't look luxurious, there are no expensive and luxurious furniture, plants, exotic animals and so on.

The furnishings in the home are relatively simple, the color is darker, and the majesty and solemnity are displayed everywhere, giving people a feeling that Mao Jie is a serious person.

"I heard people say that you live a simple life, often wear common clothes, eat bran and swallow vegetables, don't eat much meat and high-quality rice, and don't wear gorgeous clothes. Some people even think that your clothes are too simple and don't look like A high-ranking official at the state governor level cannot make people feel your majesty, what do you think?"

Guo Peng and Mao Jie walked in the front yard of his house, talking with a smile while walking.

Mao Jie was secretly looking at Guo Chengzhi, but when he heard this, he smiled and shook his head.

"The prestige of this kind of posturing is just to cover up the incompetence of officials. How can a truly promising person have time to care about his own clothes?"

"Well said, putting on airs and thinking that you are superior to others, this kind of official is the most incompetent."

Guo Peng nodded, looked at Mao Jie whose body was no longer tall and straight, and said with some emotion: "It has been more than [-] years since you followed me in Chuping years. Have you ever felt aggrieved when you were put on the outskirts and never allowed to go to the center?"

This question of political correctness requires no thought at all.

"The Supreme Emperor trusts his ministers, and thinks that he has the ability to pacify the borderlands, appease the border people, and relieve the Supreme Emperor's worries and problems. It is my honor. How can you feel wronged?"

Mao Jie's answer was very politically correct.

Guo Peng couldn't stop laughing.

"Hahahahaha, Xiaoxian, you really deserve to be an old official who has been in the ups and downs of the officialdom for more than 20 years. What you said is impeccable. No one can find anything wrong with your words. No wonder those in the capital People hate you so much that they have nothing to do with you."

Guo Peng stretched out his hand and patted Mao Jie's shoulder: "There are really few people who can compare with you in this impeccable kung fu."

Chapter 1513 One thousand four hundred and fifty three embarrassing state governors

Mao Jie's heart skipped a beat when Guo Peng said a word.

He suddenly panicked.

"Your Majesty, I just want to do my best in my own duty, and I have nothing else to think about."

"Why don't you think about it? You don't want to go to the central court to take power like Chen Gongtai? You dare not say it, but I know it very well. The power of local officials is very restricted for me. I can't do this and that can't do it. It all depends on the face of the central government.

Back then, both Xian Yufu and Gu Yong gave me a form, saying that they had limited real power and that many things could not be done without the cooperation of the central government. Therefore, they were not taken seriously, and it was difficult to gain the respect of lower-level officials, and they would even be contradicted by the county prefect. I implore my authority. "

Guo Peng looked at Mao Jie, smiled and said, "Haven't you thought about it? I heard that the conflict between you and Fufeng County Sheriff has not lasted for a year or two, has it?"

Mao Jie was a little embarrassed.

"The conflict between the minister and the governor of Fufeng County is about state affairs, not personal grievances. He just doesn't want to obey the minister's decree and let go of the restrictions on the market, and has argued with the minister many times."

"Of course I know that what you are doing is for state affairs rather than personal grievances, otherwise I would not intervene? But if you are contradicted by the county guard, don't you feel dissatisfied? Don't you feel resentful?"

Feeling that Guo Peng was inducing him to speak dissatisfied words, Mao Jie was a little scared.

Is this fishing?

After thinking about it, Mao Jie felt that stretching out his head was like a knife and shrinking his head was also a knife. Facing this person, he might as well explain it honestly.

"The emperor, these years, the ministers have indeed been in a bit of a dilemma. The power of the governor seems to be very large, but in fact it is limited everywhere. Without the support of the central government, it is really difficult to make some mandatory requirements for the local county guards, and it is difficult to implement the government orders."

What Mao Jie said was indeed the true feelings of the governors of various states since the early years of Yande.

Except for border areas such as Mozhou, Pingzhou, Yunzhou, and Jiaozhou, which were given authority by Guo Peng due to special military and folk conditions, the powers of state governors in other inland states are really restricted. miserable.

Xia Houdun, Lu Su, Tian Feng, and Man Chong, the state governors of the four frontier states, fully controlled the administrative power, were full of authority, and had a certain degree of oppression and control over their subordinates.

If the subordinates have a quarrel with them, they will write a letter, and as long as there are good reasons, the court will often stand on their side.

Once a war breaks out, they can also fully control all powers except military operations. All strategic materials in the state will be deployed under the orders of the state governor. The state governor will become a pivotal figure and share real power with the state military chief.

From the current point of view, the authoritarian governors of the four frontier states will need to be maintained for a while, otherwise it will not be enough to suppress the signs of resistance that appear from time to time in the four frontier states.

This is not the case at all in the interior states.

Basically, the governor of the state seems to have a lot of power, just like the four frontier states, but they are all interfered and robbed by the local agencies set up by the central government. The central agency always intervenes in matters that nominally fall within the purview of the governor.

The central departments no longer accept the leadership of Shangshutai. Although Shangshutai still exists, it has no head office and exists in name only. The departments of Shangshutai directly accept the leadership of the emperor, and then set up many local branches.

The Ministry of Finance has settings, the Ministry of War has settings, the Ministry of Punishment has settings, and the Ministry of Officials has settings...

The local branches of the central department took over the imperial power, and the branch officials were extremely powerful at the local level. The higher the position of the local officials, the more constraints they received.

The lower the position, on the contrary, because of the need to do specific things, there are fewer constraints-they directly obey the orders of the central government, without any constraints.

The prefectural governor is the official position with the highest authority and the highest status in the local area.

Three years after Yande, the governor of the state wanted to do things. Without the support of the central government, it would be difficult to effectively restrict the local counties and counties, and the things he could do were relatively limited.

Often when the governor of the state promulgates an administrative order, there are very few people who respond, or they all respond but act very slowly. They wait for the attitude of the central government, and the central government acquiesces before they follow it.

There are many violators of yang and yin.

This kind of power structure often makes some state governors with stronger personalities very distressed.

They tried their best to dance in chains, barely maintain their decency, survived under the attack of the local branches of the central department, and more or less wanted to do something.

However, some state governors with weaker personalities saw clearly the needs of the emperor and the expansion of imperial power, so they voluntarily gave up struggling and became ostentatious and rubber stamps.

The central government will not interfere or participate in the things that the central government can intervene, let it be free, and discuss everything with the central government.

If you say yes, I'll do it again. Let's communicate in advance and reach a consensus, so as to save time from disagreements with the central government, and there will be no good fruit for us to eat when we quarrel.

Therefore, in some states, the local affairs within the purview of the central department are basically carried out directly from the central government to the counties and counties, bypassing the state level, and the state governor is as if it does not exist in this process.

Their power is only left to the corners and corners that the central department cannot control, which is very embarrassing.

Especially after the Nine Years and Ten Years of Yande, the powerful rebellion of the whole country, the central government's control over the localities was further strengthened, and this strengthening trend was concentrated in taxation.

A large number of tax collectors scattered to consolidate the place, cleared the land, liquidated the powerful, directly grasped the local taxation policy, and controlled the lifeline of the local administration.

Around ten years in Yande, because of Guo Peng's policy of clearing the land, a major rebellion broke out, which led to a major cleansing and reorganization of the powers in the world, and the power of the central government became stronger.

As a result, some state governors who were relatively weak in themselves were nicknamed Mr. Dot Pen by some good people because of further loss of power.

It means that if there is nothing to do, you can use your pen and dot something on the paper, but in fact you can’t make any decisions. It looks decent, but it’s really insignificant.

Some state governors with strong personalities who were unwilling to be restricted tried to argue with Guo Peng, asking for authority to be granted like the four frontier states, to deter local counties and counties, so as to facilitate administration.

But Guo Peng never paid attention to it and did not respond.

Some authority was given to the leaders of border states and counties because those places were indeed in crisis, and they needed authority to control their subordinates and concentrate their efforts on major tasks, so that they could build up the local area faster, digest and assimilate it, and make it truly the territory of the Wei Empire.

In a crisis-ridden area, there is a basis and necessity for a political strongman to exist.

Your inland states and counties have long been cleared of the crisis by me. There are no enemies, no foreign invasions, and everything is peaceful. What kind of authority do you want?

Is it convenient for you to build a small personal dynasty by giving you authority?

I am a centralized emperor, I am a dictator of an absolute monarchy, I am addicted to power!

I set up local branches of the central government offices everywhere to infringe on local power and strengthen the power of the central government. You ask me if I did something wrong by asking for power?

Honestly dance for me on chains!

Therefore, the chief executives of the inland states and counties often danced with iron chains, and they had to dance wonderfully and beautifully, but they were miserable under the oppression of Guo.

Since the middle and late Eastern Han Dynasty, Guo Peng completely destroyed the centrifuge tendency that had been continuously generated due to inconvenient transportation and backward information transmission in the local area, and rebuilt a strong central deterrent with Luoyang as the core.

The well-connected transportation network and post stations all over the country made it impossible for local separatism to survive.

The so-called two evils are the lesser of the two evils. This will of course restrict the local government and slow down its development. The central and local forces will argue with each other, hinder each other, and interfere with local administration.

But strong stems and weak branches are better than weak stems and strong branches.

Although local officials can't carry out their work with their hands tied, they can't resist the central government's orders, and they can't build a small personal dynasty.

Guo, who thoroughly implements his ideas, will not have any sympathy for these bureaucrats.

As for whether such regulations and systems will collapse in the future, Guo also really believes that it will.

There will always be less diligent and smart emperors who will corrupt this system based on the emperor's personal authority, diligence and intelligence, leading to the failure of centralization.

The emperor's laziness and ignorance, the corruption of tax administration, the corruption of officials, etc., all of these will lead to the collapse of centralization. In the later period of the empire, there will always be a political situation where central control fails and local freedom is laissez-faire.

But even if it can only be maintained for three or four generations, it is good and meaningful if it can be maintained for a hundred years or so.

So seeing Mao Jie's bitter expression, he only felt very happy.

If the local bureaucrats have less power, it proves that the central emperor has more power. Isn't that great?

Now Guo Jin has understood the benefits of doing so, and is starting to continuously increase the authority of the central government office and strengthen the strength of the local branch of the central government office.

Guo Peng will not interfere with such a process.

"This is also in consideration of what happened in the troubled times of the former Han Dynasty. We all know that one or two of them were raised by a county or a state, and then developed into a big force. This is something that must be investigated. I I also know that it is difficult for you to do this, but in order to restore the stability of the world, I have to do this..."

Guo Peng babbled a lot of Mao Jie's ears, but the core content was just one sentence - I know there is a problem, but I will definitely not change it.

Well, if you don’t change it, don’t change it. Anyway, we have nothing to do.

As long as you don't always do some big cleanings and keep our lives safe, that's enough.

Mao Jie no longer struggled.

All the way to the main hall, Mao Jie had already prepared a sumptuous banquet, but there were only three of them participating in the banquet.

"Why, neither your wife nor my wife are here?"

"The minister ordered his wife to take the empress and four nobles to eat the small stove prepared by the lady in the backyard. The lady also prepared a lot of things, all of which are women's affairs. The emperor and the ministers should not participate in it."

Mao Jie smiled very interestingly.

"That's it... whatever."

Guo Peng nodded. Anyway, if they talk together, it's definitely not just the family's fault. It's not good for Mrs. Mao to listen.

Mao Jie invites Guo Peng to take the seat, and he sits in the accompanying seat.

Guo Peng didn't refuse either, and took the upper seat, letting Guo Chengzhi sit under Mao Jie.

Mao Jie carefully looked at Guo Chengzhi, his mind was full of thoughts.

Chapter 1514 Dead people are needed to rule a big country in one thousand and 450

Mao Jie secretly guessed that if he guessed correctly, Guo Peng brought Guo Chengzhi by his side, obviously because he wanted Guo Chengzhi to inherit Guo Jin's position and become the third emperor.

His status as the eldest son is his best reliance, and it is also the most important reliance for him to become the emperor.

Both Guo Peng and Guo Jin are the eldest sons. As long as Guo Chengzhi succeeds, it will be the best protection for the eldest son inheritance system.

Although everyone accepts the eldest son succession system, the position of the throne represents too much power, and this position is too eye-catching. If the eldest son honestly does nothing, the possibility of inheriting the throne is really slim.

Because there are always accidents, there are always people who like to make troubles want to make troubles, and they even don't hesitate to turn over the table. If the eldest son has no other advantages besides this status, he really can't cover this status.

But the current situation is different from the previous one.

Guo Peng seems to pay special attention to this point. From the very beginning, he did not give the other sons other than the eldest son Guo Jin a chance. Before he became emperor, he established Guo Jin's status as the heir. throne.

But right now, it seems that he is going to start cultivating the third generation, so that the third generation can establish its status early so that the future will be smooth and transitional.

Moreover, I heard that besides Guo Chengzhi's son, Guo Jin's other sons are only three years old. Apart from Guo Chengzhi, there is almost no one to choose at the moment.

Although Guo Jin has other sons, they are too young. If they want to establish a crown prince, they have no choice now.

Guo Peng became emperor at the age of 37, stayed in power for 13 years, and abdicated at the age of 50.

Guo Jin became emperor at the age of 34. If he learns from Guo Peng, then ideally, when he abdicates, except for Guo Chengzhi, other sons will not even be crowned as adults.

Guo Chengzhi's luck is really not so good.

At present, there is no news that Guo Jin plans to canonize the crown prince, but the news that the Supreme Emperor took his eldest grandson to go out on a parade is enough to make people believe in Guo Peng's expectations for Guo Chengzhi.

The attitude of the founder of the empire towards the eldest grandson can almost determine Guo Jin's candidate for the crown prince.

This wave...

You must leave a good impression on the future emperor.