At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty

And their protests and opposition posed the least threat and pressure to the empire.

Because I usually don't take much responsibility, when I protest, I feel relatively weak and easy to bully.

Therefore, Guo Peng secretly cut the benefits of most of the officials at the state and county levels who were robbed of their powers. Only a few special groups such as the police group were not cut, which really saved the empire a lot of money.

Of course they were dissatisfied, but they had no choice but to go one way—sharp their heads to express themselves, and squeeze toward the center.

Generally speaking, the financial expenditure of an empire has three major purposes - raising soldiers to maintain stability, raising officials and administration, and raising the royal family.

Among them, only the cost of raising an official can be a little sloppy, and the other two items must not be moved.

If you want to maintain high pressure on officials, you will have to pay huge administrative costs and increase the cost of maintaining officials in a disguised form. For an empire, this cost is very heavy and not very necessary.

At the moment of building water conservancy and road projects, and at the moment of promoting economic development and local construction, the financial expenditure of the Wei Empire is close to saturation, and any slight change must be carefully judged and calculated.

Not to mention that Guo Jin will send several of her younger brothers overseas, and will continue to give them blood transfusions for several years to help them gain a firm foothold and establish a foundation.

Once such an official evaluation plan is implemented, it will inevitably increase administrative costs indefinitely, and the national treasury will be overwhelmed all at once.

Completion of this matter seems to be very good, but in fact it will overwhelm the empire's finances, and this situation cannot be maintained for too long, even with the import of silver and gold from Japan.

Empire can't do it.

Therefore, Guo Chengzhi's idea is destined not to be realized.

It is difficult to be a family, but it is even more difficult to be a family. Guo Chengzhi does not understand now, but when he becomes an emperor in the future, he will understand the pain of being in short supply. Regardless of the fact that the emperor is rich in the world, if he really wants to do things, no money is enough.

So Guo Peng patted him on the shoulder.

"Now you will think that doing one thing is very simple, and you can only see good results. When you look at it in the future, you will find that there are all problems here. Chengzhi, governing the country is not that simple. You have to Learn more."

Guo Chengzhi was a little disappointed.

He failed to solve the problem, failed to share Guo Peng's worries, which made him feel that his studies were still not in place.

But he didn't know that some things couldn't be solved no matter how much he studied.

Mature politicians, such as Guo and Zhuge Liang, are well aware that this kind of matter is difficult to solve, and it is a different matter whether to solve it or not.

Zhuge Liang understood very well the difficulty of solving this kind of problem. He said this to express to Guo Peng that he had fully grasped the fundamentals of governing.

He is a mature politician.

He is no longer immature.

Guo Peng was very happy. Although he couldn't solve the bureaucrats, he got a mature Zhuge Liang who would bring extremely important help to the Wei Empire.

"Kong Ming, you have grown up."

"It all depends on the trust and expectation of the Supreme Emperor."

"This is due to your own excellence. It has nothing to do with me. I never imagined that you could grow to this level. So, do you have any unfinished business in the Beiting Protectorate's Mansion?" Confession?"

Zhuge Liang's heart began to beat faster.

"There are still some things that have not been completed and need to be explained."

"Okay, I will send someone back to pass the news to the emperor, and then arrange a successor for you. You will hand over the position with him, and then you can go back to Luoyang. The emperor needs your presence. Kong Ming, don't forget my respect your expectations."

Guo Peng walked up to Zhuge Liang and patted him on the shoulder.

Zhuge Liang was stunned for a moment, then rectified his appearance, straightened his clothes, and paid respects to Guo Peng very seriously.

"I, Zhuge Liang, never dare to forget."

When other people said this, it might be a scene, and most of them were perfunctory.

Zhuge Liang said this because he really wanted to say it, and since he said it, he would really do it.

So Guo Peng smiled and patted Zhuge Liang on the shoulder.

"There are so many departments in the imperial court, which department do you think you are most suitable for?"

"This……"

Zhuge Liang felt that Guo Peng had treated him too favorably. Could it be possible to make choices based on his thoughts?

"The Supreme Emperor, I think that if there is a vacancy, I will go there. I have heard about the shortage of positions in the central government office, and I dare not bother the Supreme Emperor to make an exception for my minister."

Zhuge Liang is very modest and cautious.

Chapter 1537 One thousand four hundred and fifty seven precious treasures that the Wei Empire desperately needed

Guo Peng was naturally happy that Zhuge Liang was so modest and cautious.

But the situation is not that simple.

For special talents, the court naturally has special treatment.

"This is the case for ordinary officials. Officials with more than [-] shi are transferred to Luoyang, and there will still be some special treatment and arrangements. Those who have made outstanding achievements will also have preferential treatment. Those who actively ask to go to the desolate frontier to become an official will be given priority. promoted."

"Can you do that?"

Zhuge Liang was a little surprised.

"Of course, everyone in the world knows that Luoyang is good, so they all go to Luoyang. Don't you need officials in the bitter cold border? Everyone likes the prosperous place and hates the bitter cold place. Of course, the court must treat them differently.

Officials like you who are willing to go to the bitter cold area to govern the local area and make political achievements are the first line of priority for promotion, and there are important positions with good remuneration. They are closely selected by you, and then it will be the turn of others. "

"The minister has never heard of it..."

"Well, I plan to tell the emperor right away, and then ask the emperor to announce this rule to the public. This rule has always existed, but it has not been officially announced to the public, so some people don't know it. It's not their fault."

Guo Peng smiled slightly.

Zhuge Liang's heart was suddenly filled with strange emotions.

This is real?

It is indeed true.

But Zhuge Liang was thin-skinned and always embarrassed to choose the position he wanted, so in the end he refused to say that Guo Peng could only let Guo Jin make up his own mind.

Who should move and who should be kept, that is something Guo Jin should consider.

After talking about these things, Guo Peng and Zhuge Liang talked about the war between Parthia and the Roman Empire.

What surprised him was that Zhuge Liang also understood this matter.

"I often go to various cities to inspect, inspect the market, watch the business situation, and adjust the policy randomly. About two months ago, the minister found that the number of Anxi merchants who traded and traded has dropped significantly. This is not the case in previous years. normal.

So I arranged for an interpreter to contact those Anxi merchants who were still doing business, and learned that there was a war between Anxi and Loumo. , or even not coming at all. "

Guo Chengzhi, who was listening on the sidelines, was surprised.

Guo Peng went all the way to arrange what the bureaucrats in the west of the empire were doing to prepare for this incident. Even if other bureaucrats didn't know whether to pay attention to this matter, Zhuge Liang actually paid attention to it and understood it.

Sure enough, this person is very unusual.

Guo Chengzhi had such an idea.

Guo Peng also felt a little surprised, but he was not surprised. With Zhuge Liang's meticulous style, it is not difficult to know such a thing and make a prediction.

"After learning about this matter, I continued to collect information, and prepared to write a memorial to His Majesty to let His Majesty know about this matter and make preparations early. I never thought that the Supreme Emperor already knew about it, so Your Majesty..."

"Well, the emperor also knew it. I should have known it earlier than you. I also know that the capital of the Anxi Kingdom has been conquered by the Lomo people. The Emperor Anxi was injured and fled. The Anxi Kingdom is in danger, so what you are worried about is happening. .”

Guo Peng's words made Zhuge Liang frown and worried.

"As a result, the three prefectures of the Western Regions, as well as Liangzhou and Yongzhou, will have problems. Supreme Emperor, you...should have a countermeasure?"

Zhuge Liang was very worried at first, but suddenly thought that since Guo Peng already knew about this matter, it was impossible not to react to it, and if he could speak out, it meant that he already had a countermeasure.

Guo Peng nodded.

"It's not really a countermeasure. It's just a matter of making up for it, which can reduce the loss, but the loss will definitely be there. So Kong Ming, if you go back this time, you might be criticized by some courtiers."

"Chen... the Supreme Emperor, do you think there is something wrong with Chen's strategy?"

Zhuge Liang hesitated for a moment, then asked such a question, "Do you think this will bring greater danger to the three prefectures of the Western Regions and the two prefectures of Yongliang and Liangzhou?"

Guo Peng picked up the tea bowl and took a sip of tea, then shook his head.

"Kong Ming, I've never given up eating because of choking. If I don't agree with this matter, you and Mao Jie, it is impossible to do such a thing in Yongliang and the Western Regions. If you can do it, it is in itself That means I agree."

Zhuge Liang was not puzzled by this, of course it was true.

"Forget it in Yongzhou. There are millions of people living in Liangzhou and the Western Regions. No matter how hard they work to cultivate the land, they can't live a better life than the people in the Central Plains. They belong to the Wei people. I don't want to see them live forever. Hard days.

Farming can’t make them full, so let them do business. You can’t let them starve because of the national policy of emphasizing agriculture and suppressing business. The national policy is a national policy, but Wei is a big country, and the difference between the east and the north and the south is so big that it is shocking. Tongue-smacking, cannot be generalized.

Therefore, Kong Ming, adapting measures to local conditions is the most suitable development method for a big country like Wei. The Central Plains is suitable for growing local grain, so grow local grain. "

Guo Peng looked at Zhuge Liang.

Zhuge Liang nodded slightly, the more he thought about it, the more he felt that it was so.

"But the problem remains."

"Of course there are problems. It is impossible to have only good things but no bad things. The bad thing about this thing is that we rely too much on foreign countries and need to rely on them to buy our products. Once they have problems themselves, we will also have problems. .”

Guo Peng shook his head: "This is inevitable and will exist for a long time. It is an unavoidable danger in the development of business. If there are no measures to deal with this problem, don't even think about developing business safely. Kong Ming, you have to remember."

"I remember."

Zhuge Liang nodded reflexively, and then he was a little puzzled, wondering why Guo Peng asked him to remember such a thing.

He himself will firmly remember this matter and will not forget it.

Later, Guo Peng asked Zhuge Liang to do all the things that Mao Jie needed to do in Yongzhou and Lu Qian in Liangzhou, restrict the development of private commerce, strictly control the scale, withdraw funds, and then wait for the support of the central government.

Regarding this matter, Guo Peng actually felt a little helpless.

Officials in the Wei Empire, who were dealing with the shock of the economic depression for the first time, were still quite naive.

They are generally not good at dealing with economic crises other than the crisis of small farmers, and they are very uncomfortable with crises in the purely commodity economy.

Of course, this cannot be blamed on them. The economy is a very complicated thing, which requires a very extensive intelligence network and high-speed information transmission, and the concept is relatively abstract, so it is not so easy to understand.

It is difficult for a person whose brain is not fast enough to understand the principles of economics.

In contrast, agriculture, where the predecessors have left a wealth of experience, is much easier to do, and dealing with agricultural crises is also the old profession of Chinese bureaucrats.

Although it cannot be said that it is always successful, and it will cause peasant uprisings and other things, but it can always be formulated, and books on agriculture are emerging one after another.

In the end, the pinnacle of the small-scale peasant economy was achieved—intensive farming, and the cultivation of the land was researched into flowers, and the research was carried out to the extreme.

In contrast, there are very few books on ancient economics dealing with business.

Except for a few well-known business geniuses such as Guan Zhong who proposed research on some economic issues, most of the time, the Chinese were more willing to study agriculture than commerce.

Of course, this is forced by reality, limited by the limitation of productivity, and the development of business cannot be unlimited, but this is a difficult thing to grasp. How to find a balance between restrictions and no restrictions is very difficult.

Therefore, the ancestors simply chose a comfortable one-size-fits-all-emphasis on agriculture and restraint on business.

Long-term productivity constraints and land mergers have gradually dogmatically emphasized agriculture and suppressed commerce, which has prevented the Chinese from opening their horizons in time to keep up with the first wave of globalization.

In the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties, the Chinese defeated the first wave of Western colonists and drove them away, but they failed to really notice the threat from the sea and open their hearts to face it directly.

The introduction of high-yielding crops, the improvement of productivity, and the explosive growth of population should have allowed China to accumulate enough raw capital facing the sea, jump out of the vicious circle of intensive farming, absorb European technology, catch up, and start the era of great navigation.

The Manchu Qing government, which could replace the Ming government and have the right to rule, did not change the rigid Ming government's ruling methods. Limited by its own limitations and rigid Confucianism, it was unable and unwilling to do so.

In order to gain the ruling power as soon as possible and stabilize their ruling position, while vigorously suppressing the resistance of the landlords and gentry in the south of the Yangtze River, they also reached a compromise with more landlords and gentry.

Snake Tunxiang's way of building the country made their rule always trembling like facing an enemy, and they were extremely nervous. Except for Emperor Yongzheng, almost no emperors dared to make any innovations.

This makes the Chinese lose a precious window period to keep up with the West and avoid sinking.

Wei Empire can't break through the limitation of productivity right now, but Guo Peng thinks this is an opportunity.

It is an opportunity for officials and the public, and people from all levels of the Wei Empire to feel a crisis other than the agricultural crisis.

Not only to feel and face it, but also to record it and pass it on to future generations, so that future generations will know how the Wei Empire responded to this extremely special economic crisis.

The empire has not only an agricultural crisis, but also a commercial crisis.

As long as business and economy are developed, various economic problems will be encountered, and these problems should be studied and answered just like agricultural problems, so that future generations can learn from the experience of the predecessors.

Imperial officials and common people not only need to be familiar with the agricultural crisis, but also the commercial crisis, so as to conduct research and study, and the first batch of real economists in China will be born.

This is a valuable asset that the Wei Empire desperately needs.