At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty

He also specially picked the food on the road construction site to cause trouble, and used the soft persimmons to start. He thought it would be seamless and nothing would happen, but when the incident happened, he realized that he had hit the iron plate.

It was the same with Cao Ren.

Although the initiative to investigate and cooperate with the central investigation team at the first time, it can be regarded as having a preliminary impression.

However, more than 30 low-level military officers and quartermasters were found to be involved in the case together. Cao Ren's face was livid because of the number of people involved.

There are more than 30 military officers and quartermasters involved in this corruption case!

Such a high salary can't feed you enough, you still want to embezzle!Also ruin the reputation of my Northwest Corps!

A bunch of bastards!Damn!

Cao Ren really wanted to kill them.

In wartime, Cao Ren would directly order them to be executed in front of the entire army, and use their blood to wash away the shame of the Northwest Corps.

By the end of November, the situation of the road construction and food corruption case was basically clear, and the specific details were almost sorted out.

So Chen Zhen called the prefects of the four counties, Mao Jie, Zhao Xian and Cao Ren for a meeting.

"The specific situation is like this. This case can be regarded as clear. The situation is very bad. There are 120 officials involved in the case, and 37 military personnel involved in the case. Extending from these people, relatives and friends who participated in the investigation Waiting for a total of 910 six people.

They teamed up and colluded with each other to deduct a few pounds from the grain that should have been sent to the road construction site, and then used their respective relationships to hand over these materials to merchants, and transported them to Yongzhou for sale in exchange for money. They treated the road builders harshly. Only give salt water to mix with rice, so as to reduce the rations of the road builders. "

Chen Zhen roughly summed up the results of this case and explained some of the findings.

For example, the reason for some officials to be corrupt is that they do not strictly control the children of the family, and the children of the family wantonly squander the family wealth to buy luxury goods from the Western Regions, spending all the money in the family, so that there is no money for the family's errands, and corruption occurs. Rotten thoughts.

Some officials wanted some luxuries but didn't have enough money to buy them. It was obviously not enough to rely on their salaries, so they thought about these road-building food materials.

Some officials saw that everyone was taking it, and they were unbalanced in their hearts. They thought that it was okay for the road builders to suffer a little and starve, and they couldn't suffer, so they followed suit.

There are also some people who don't want to take it themselves, but see that their colleagues around them are taking it, and worry that if they don't take it, they will not be able to get along in the future, which is not conducive to unity and friendship, so they follow suit.

Of course, the reason of the worst guy was also brought up, and he was heavily criticized by Chen Zhen, saying how did such a morally corrupt bastard get into the work team, and the county government involved, including the county government, would be severely held accountable .

This is not a joke, but from these people, Chen Zhen can sum up several common reasons for official corruption.

And then for these general reasons, what should they do.

In the end, Chen Zhen said that he would send these cases back to Luoyang, let Luoyang Third Division know the results of the review, and ask for instructions on the punishment plan.

Of course, the review didn't end here, it just started.

The investigation conducted by Liangzhou itself is very good and worthy of praise, but other issues also need to be reviewed.

A corruption case has already hurt Liangzhou's officialdom. If other problems are found, what will happen?

Mao Jie didn't know, Zhao Xian didn't know, and of course Cao Ren didn't know either.

They have dealt with a lot of things urgently, but the seriousness of the situation is still beyond their imagination.

It can only be said that this matter was proposed by them on their own initiative and with a high degree of cooperation, so as to grasp a certain degree of initiative, and was not regarded as a target by the central investigation team, otherwise the problem would be more serious.

"No matter what happens in the future, I will firmly support Chen Jun, Chen Jun, if you find someone who is corrupt and perverts the law and damages His Majesty's reputation, Mao will not tolerate it!"

Mao Jie made a statement immediately.

Then Zhao Xian and Cao Ren also made statements.

Who knows what will happen after that?

But at this time, if we want to keep everyone's political future, we must have some hedging means to balance the negative impression of Liangzhou official circles.

The best candidate is Zhuge Liang.

So Mao Jie immediately summoned Zhuge Liang, introduced Zhuge Liang to Chen Zhen, and let Chen Zhen know of Zhuge Liang's existence, and that Zhuge Liang was the first to detect and investigate the corruption case of road construction and grain.

He wanted Chen Zhen to know that there are corrupt officials in Liangzhou, but there are also great talents like Zhuge Liang.

Chen Zhen knew Zhuge Liang.

Chen Zhen was also one of the students in the school outside Xiangyang City.

For Zhuge Liang who was about the same age, although Chen Zhen had never had any in-depth contacts with Zhuge Liang, he had some conversations with Zhuge Liang. As one of the few scholars who did not commit mental violence against Zhuge Liang, he still knew Zhuge Liang quite well.

Before hearing that Zhuge Liang went to Liangzhou to be an official, he didn't remember it for a while, but now he suddenly remembered that when he saw Zhuge Liang, he was also quite sighed.

"Kong Ming, stay safe."

"Xiaoxian, you too, don't come here unharmed."

Mao Jie was quite surprised that the two people showed an old friend's attitude when they first met.

Later, Mao Jie learned that although Zhuge Liang was from Xuzhou, he had lived in Jingzhou for a long time, and his wife was also from a wealthy family in Jingzhou.

Doesn't this mean that if Zhuge Liang takes off, he will have the resources of Xuzhou and Jingzhou at the same time?

The people of Xuzhou will support him because of his birth, and the people of Jingzhou will support him because of his wife's birth. Zhuge Liang will have the support of scholars from these two states.

At present, it has become a trend that the traditional forces in the three prefectures of Qing, Yan and Hebei have been hit, and scholars from disadvantaged areas have been supported and promoted.

In the foreseeable future, this trend will not change significantly.

Mao Jie has already seen this point.

Although Mao Jie was unhappy, he somewhat complained in his heart that Guo Peng didn't show affection, but in the power field, if there is too much of such a thing as affection, it will harm people.

Chapter 1062 One thousand and seventy-two Zhongda, I admire people like you very much

There is no doubt that the power of Cheng Yu and Tian Feng is declining, and the traditionally strong political forces in the three prefectures of Qingyan and Hebei are being suppressed.

And Zhang Zhao and Xu Jing are becoming representative figures of the newly rising forces.

The emperor was dissatisfied with the powerful political groups in the three prefectures of Qing, Yan and Hebei, and decided to suppress them and help the weak groups.

As a native of Yanzhou and a scholar in a traditionally powerful area, although Mao Jie was a little unhappy, he did not have the same fierce sectarian views as Cheng Yu and Tian Feng.

In terms of political stance, he is more inclined to pragmatism and has a long-term vision.

He has long realized that a political group cannot always be strong.

When the power of a political group develops to the point where even the emperor is embarrassed, the emperor will inevitably take action to suppress it.

The better you develop and the stronger you are, the closer you are to your end.

Unless this emperor is too useless.

Any insightful and crisis-conscious emperor would not allow a political group to grow too strong.

As a member of this political group, Mao Jie has seen this trend and believes that this trend is irreversible, at least for a long period of time.

Therefore, Mao Jie saw the infinite possibilities in Zhuge Liang.

Therefore, Mao Jie doesn't mind investing, not for himself, but also to leave possibilities for future generations.

If you have political capital, you can guarantee your bottom no matter what, and you won’t fall too hard, but it is different for future generations. The political legacy you leave behind may not be enough for them to eat.

They had to open up a new path in order to keep the Mao family business.

In the foreseeable future, scholars from other regions will rise slowly and gradually suppress the traditional powerful groups in Qing, Yan and Hebei.

And through this anti-corruption campaign, Mao Jie felt more and more that the choice he had made before was correct.

Maintaining a good superior-subordinate relationship with Zhuge Liang, so that Zhuge Liang has a chance to be promoted, how could this not leave a chance for his future self?

Afterwards, Zhuge Liang had a discussion with Chen Zhen. When talking about the process of Zhuge Liang's discovery of this major corruption case, Zhuge Liang praised Mao Jie for his help.

So Chen Zhen also believed that Mao Jie played an indelible and important role in the smooth resolution of this major case.

Mao Jie was secretly happy about this.

Later, Mao Jie even arranged Zhuge Liang as a special envoy to assist Chen Zhen to go to the army station in Yumenguan area to conduct an in-depth investigation, to conduct a strict investigation of corruption within the army, and to give Zhuge Liang room to play.

Then, Mao Jie called Sima Yi to Guzang County.

"Zhongda, this matter is thanks to you. If you hadn't informed me in advance so that I would have been prepared, this time, the entire officialdom in Liangzhou might be completely cleaned up."

Mao Jie personally poured a cup of tea for Sima Yi - he likes this very expensive tea very much, but he has no place to buy it himself, and Cao Cao gave him these teas.

Sima Yi took the cup of tea with both hands, took a sip, and felt the fragrance in his mouth.

"It is the duty of the lower officials to do things for the emperor, and the lower officials only do what they can."

Sima Yi looked very humble.

"Hahaha, don't talk about duty or non-duty, we are all His Majesty's courtiers, and it is our duty to be loyal to His Majesty."

Mao Jie laughed, rolled his eyes, and said, "Zhongda, I heard that you had a good relationship with Zhuge Kongming when you were in the capital. Is there such a thing?"

"..."

Sima Yi seemed to realize something, pursed his lips, and nodded: "Yes, Kong Ming and I are good friends. When I first joined the cabinet, Kong Ming gave me a lot of help. I will always keep these things in mind, thank you very much he."

"Zhuge Kongming was the first to discover this matter, right? Of course, he didn't intend to tell me at this time. He seemed to think that I had something to do with it, but you told me about it..."

Mao Jie smiled and did not continue, but Sima Yi already understood the meaning of the words.

It seems that Mao Jie has already figured out everything that needs to be understood.

That's right, seniors who have been up and down for almost 20 years, how could they not understand this little thought?

However, this is not considered a betrayal, it is nothing at all, Zhuge Liang did not suffer any loss because of this matter, instead he was praised, right?

Sima Yi decided so.

"Your envoy is right. It was Kong Ming who first discovered this matter. Afterwards, Kong Ming told me about this matter. I know everything about the whole process."

"Afterwards, Zhuge Kongming didn't intend to tell me about it. He planned to report it directly to Luoyang, but you told me about it. You went to Cao Zixiao before you came to me. Thinking about it, you too Are you worried?"

Mao Jie took a sip of tea.

"Because the Xiaguan has an old relationship with the Cao family. The Cao family has contributed to Sima's official career, but he has no old relationship with the envoy. The Xiaguan is worried that the envoy will not trust the Xiaguan and has doubts about the Xiaguan, so he dare not Tell the envoy directly about this."

Sima Yi explained a little bit.

Mao Jie agreed with this explanation, and asked: "In this matter, you did nothing wrong, and Zhuge Kongming is not wrong, but if Zhuge Kongming knows about this matter, it should not be something you want to see. Arrived at the situation?"

Sima Yi looked at Mao Jie, then lowered his head again.

"Kong Ming was not damaged by this matter."

"It's true that it didn't suffer any damage, but it also made a profit because of it, but..."

Mao Jie put down the teacup in his hand, and his tone became serious: "If Zhuge Kongming didn't have an elder brother who is serving as the right servant of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, if his elder brother didn't have such a good and close relationship with the Minister of Officials, I would not be so polite to Zhuge Kongming.

A county magistrate in his district actually wanted to report the local situation directly to the Luoyang Third Division. Even if it was reasonable and legal, it was still a big taboo in the officialdom. The official career will also end here. "

Sima Yi's heart tightened.

But Mao Jie's words still didn't stop.

"If I hadn't taken into account that Zhuge Kongming has such a deep background, thought of his elder brother and Zhang Zibu, and thought that Zhuge Kongming came from the cabinet like you, maybe Jane is in the heart of the emperor, I would not have followed the trend like this Give him a hand.

If I hadn't known about this kind of thing first and dealt with it in advance, what would I have faced if I was stabbed to Luoyang by him? Zhongda, you should know that if Zhuge Kongming really let him do it, the whole capital would be unavoidable. Bloody. "

Mao Jie stared at Sima Yi, and Sima Yi's breathing was a little short.

"The lower official... also knows Kong Ming's identity, so he insisted on notifying the envoy in advance, in order to avoid such a thing from happening, and at the same time protect Kong Ming."

Sima Yi firmly insisted that he thought so, and absolutely had no other thoughts.

Mao Jie stared at him for a while, then suddenly smiled.

"Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!"

Mao Jie laughed for a while, making Sima Yi a little dazed.

"My lord..."

"Zhongda, I admire people like you very much. You are very smart, and I admire smart people very much."

Mao Jie walked up to Sima Yi with a smile, and patted Sima Yi on the shoulder: "If your identity and background are not as good as others, you must learn to take advantage of any opportunities that can be used. Otherwise, how can you go up? If you are an official, you can't get in." Then retreat."

Mao Jie's smile was a bit deep, and Sima Yi also understood.

"The teaching of the king, the next official understands."

"Just understand, Zhongda, I heard that your family has eight brothers?"

Mao Jie picked up the tea bowl and blew on the steaming tea, with a calm face.