At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty

"No, it's good to sit like this once in a while, it reminds me of the past, when I was young..."

Guo Peng touched the table in front of him, and sighed: "How many years have passed, I have abdicated and became the Supreme Emperor, everything in the past is like a dream, Xiaoxian, you will have such a Do you feel it?"

"I will also feel that so many years have passed. Everything is like a dream. It seems that the dream is still 20 years ago. When I wake up from the dream, I suddenly find that I have reached the age of knowing my destiny."

Mao Jie held up a glass of wine to toast Guo Peng: "It's all thanks to the Supreme Emperor's Tianwei, who swept away the troubled times and allowed the ministers to see the coming of peace and prosperity. The Supreme Emperor, this glass of wine, I respect the Supreme Emperor."

Guo Peng returned the gift with a drink.

"Is it difficult to level the chaotic world? Maybe it is. It is not easy to level the chaotic world, but I think it is nothing compared to leveling the chaotic world and governing the world."

Guo Peng smiled disdainfully.

Mao Jie blinked, but said nothing.

When others say this, it feels like they are bragging and pretending to be coercive, but there is really nothing wrong with Guo Peng saying this, because he is the one who really leveled the world.

In the chaotic times of the former Han Dynasty, the eighteen princes competed for supremacy, warlords, big and small, and bandits roamed everywhere. The world was in chaos. Everyone could be a straw king. If you gather hundreds of people, you dare to call yourself a general.

In the end, it was Guo Peng who brought the world down.

From Tiannan to Haibei, from domestic to foreign countries, he has gone through hundreds of battles without a single defeat, he has expanded countless territories for the empire, and his martial arts prospered far beyond the Qin and Han Dynasties.

When Guo Peng said this, he was telling a fact, a fact that people had to accept.

"The Taishanghuang's martial arts is unprecedented. The heroes of the world are willing to be used by the Taishanghuang. I think that the Taishanghuang can not only bring peace to the world, but also govern the world well."

"Not necessarily."

Guo Peng laughed a few times, and put down the wine glass in his hand: "It's not like no one has ever done such a thing as sweeping the world. The First Emperor, Emperor Han Gaozu, and Emperor Guangwu have all done it, but those who govern the world well are really ever?

Qin ruled the world for more than 400 years and then collapsed. First Han and later Han added up to [-] years, but in the end, the country’s governance became worse and worse. It didn’t take long to level the world and become emperor. for four years.

But governing the world is not enough for a few decades, and even a few hundred years are not enough. It takes too much time and effort to govern the world, but the country becomes more and more chaotic, unable to be governed properly, and finally collapses, so you say , Is it more difficult to conquer the world than rule the world? "

Mao Jie had nothing to say.

Because what Guo Peng said was indeed the truth.

"The ancients said that governing a big country is like cooking small fish. I don't think it's right. How can governing a big country be compared to cooking small fish? Cooking small fish is no more than a matter of three or five people. Governing a big country is more than a matter of three or five people? Cooking small Why do you need dead people? To rule a big country, you need dead people."

Guo Peng raised his head and drank a glass of wine, while Mao Jie shivered unconsciously.

This is also the truth, to govern a big country is to die, not just a little, but a lot!

"The Supreme Emperor has ruled the country for 13 years, it's been hard work."

"It's hard work. When I became the emperor, I was not too young, so I was too tired to hold on. If I continue to hold on, I will die on the throne."

Guo Peng smiled, took a few mouthfuls of food, padded his stomach a little, and looked at Mao Jie.

"Okay, I won't talk about this anymore. It's meaningless to continue talking. It's just some complaints from an old man who stepped down from the throne. Xiaoxian, this time I'm going on a tour, not only to relax, but also to inspect the world.

The emperor is busy with official duties, so he has no time to spare in Luoyang City. I will do this inspection of the world. If I see something bad or should not exist, I will deal with it on behalf of the emperor, whether it is a person or a thing. Whether it's an event, it's all the same. "

Guo Peng said this very lightly.

Mao Jie paused the hand holding the vegetables with his chopsticks, his heart skipped a beat, and his heart beat suddenly accelerated.

What this means is...

If he thinks that someone is not competent enough or not doing a good enough job, will he be excused in one sentence?

He pretended to be fearless and looked at Guo Peng calmly.

"Your Majesty is exhausted, and the Supreme Emperor replaces His Majesty to inspect the world. If this action can be continued to future generations, it must be a great thing for me, Wei."

"That's natural. It would be the best if every emperor could be the Supreme Emperor honestly like me."

Guo Peng smiled and took a piece of meat to his mouth, chewed it for a while, and swallowed it.

After looking at Guo Chengzhi who was eating, and then at Mao Jie, Guo Peng spoke slowly.

"Xiaoxian, there is a lot of debate in the imperial court about your loosening the boundaries of fangshi in Chang'an City and Yongzhou counties, allowing peddlers to open shops and stalls in the city and on both sides of the main road, so as to expand the scope of peddlers' activities. It's still intense."

Mao Jie's heart suddenly thumped.

"The emperor, my minister..."

"This matter was already the focus of the court's controversy before I abdicated, but I kept it on hold and pushed this matter down. First, I don't think you should be the kind of person who forgets righteousness for small gains. , both, I want to see how well you do it.”

Guo Peng picked up his glass and took a sip of wine: "Now it seems that what you do is still effective. Among all the states in the country, commercial taxes account for more than [-]% of the tax revenue, only the Western Regions, Liangzhou, and your Yongzhou .

The Western Regions and Liangzhou are easy to explain. There are few people, the land is not fertile, and there are limits to the development of agriculture. It is difficult to compare with the Central Plains. , but your business tax here has reached [-]% of the total tax. "

Guo Peng put down his wine glass and looked at Mao Jie.

"No wonder those people in the imperial court suspect that you have colluded with some merchants, suspect that you are taking bribes and providing them with convenience."

"The Supreme Emperor, I have absolutely never had any private contact with any businessmen. I have only official contacts with them, and there is no personal relationship."

"I believe it."

Guo Peng nodded: "If I don't believe you, do you think you still have a chance to be governor of Yongzhou?"

Mao Jie was taken aback for a moment, thinking that what Guo Peng said was indeed reasonable.

If Guo Peng had any doubts, he would not be able to continue to be an official at all.

So what does he mean?

chapter 1515 one thousand four hundred and fifty

Guo Peng had no intention of embarrassing Mao Jie, but he had to clarify something with Mao Jie.

There are some things that Mao Jie cannot misunderstand, otherwise there will be big problems in the future.

"Xiao Xian, I'm not here to inquire about sin, I'm just here to ask you why you dare to do this?"

Guo Pengrao looked at Mao Jie with interest: "As far as I know, there are some rules in the officialdom of the former Han Dynasty in the officialdom of our Wei State. , I feel that doing something wrong is more terrible than not doing something, isn't that true?"

Mao Jie lowered his head and hesitated for a moment.

"Yes."

"Except for the four frontier states, most state governors are as honest as little lambs. Xiao Gui Cao Sui all followed their predecessors and made themselves extremely weak. They would rather not do anything than fight with other central and local governments. Discord among officials.

After Han Hao and Mi Zhu were taken down by me, the situation became even more serious. Some governors wished to lock themselves in the governor's mansion without going out of the door. They didn't even want any power and left it all to the central government and counties. Do it, why don't you do it? "

Guo Peng stared at Mao Jie: "You should know that if you do such a thing as the governor of a state, you can easily become the target of central officials. They will take you as a target and attack you fiercely. Fall, vow not to give up.

The governor is already the limit of the local officials. If you go further, there is no other place to go except to the central government. Therefore, the governors are cautious. Except for a few people, most people are absolutely unwilling to ruin their future for a short time. And you, don't you think so? "

What Guo Peng said was so naked that Mao Jie couldn't avoid it even if he wanted to.

But to be honest, why doesn't Mao Jie want to become a throw-away assassin who doesn't leave the door and doesn't make a second step?

The state of Wei is centralized, with a high intensity of centralization. Many powers belong to local officials, especially the governor of the state. On the surface, they belong to local officials, but no matter in which aspect, the central organization must show its sense of existence.

They invaded local power, and some powers that belonged to the local government in the previous dynasty were directly transferred to the central government.

Under such circumstances, the treatment and power of local officials are even worse than that of central officials.

On the surface, the central one thousand stone and the local one thousand stone have the same salary and the same treatment, but when it comes to the welfare of officials, the two are as completely different as the lake and the sea.

Many hidden benefits of central officials are beyond the reach of local officials. A small official of five or six hundred shi in the central government is far more comfortable than a county magistrate of [-] shi in the local area.

Local officials are restricted by central agencies, often do a lot of dirty work, the income is not high enough, and they still face the supervision and infringement of the central government at all times.

This naturally leads to the trend of local officials cutting their heads and wanting to enter Luoyang to become central officials. Local officials have a particularly strong yearning for the central government. As long as possible, they will definitely try their best to squeeze towards the central government.

Moreover, the number of central officials has indeed been continuously expanding in recent years. The central government needs a large number of manpower for the centralization and use of power. Therefore, it is a general trend to concentrate outstanding local talents to the central government.

Under this general trend, grassroots officials are more likely to enter the central government than senior officials.

Because the continuous expansion of the empire is mainly small officials who work at the grassroots level, rather than high-ranking officials.

There are always only so many high-ranking officials, one radish and one hole, and one missing can make up for one.

To make up for it depends on qualifications, political achievements, whether there are mistakes made, and whether there is someone in the center to help.

Mao Jie was from Chenliu County, Yanzhou, and was a member of the Qingyan Group, a powerful political group in the Wei Empire earlier. Today, the Qingyan Group has long since declined and is unsustainable.

Mao Jie belonged to the scholar-officials of the old era, and even realized that the [remnants of the old era] in the prosperous period of the imperial examination system were very at odds with those officials who relied on the imperial examinations to compete for posts.

There was a problem with the Ministry of War before, Dong Zhao fell from the horse, and Chen Gong came to power. Even if Guo Peng still misses the old man, he has already used up the last bit of political energy of the Qingyan Group.

By the time Mao Jie realized that he was in an embarrassing situation, it was too late.

The central government may not welcome another scholar official from the old era to appear in the central government.

The old emperor, who was also a scholar, has retired, and the new emperor is an emperor with new ideas educated by the school. He is completely out of the same frame as the scholars.

Mao Jie communicated with Chen Gong several times, and Chen Gong repeatedly mentioned his dissatisfaction in the court and the vague covetousness of his subordinates around him, which made Mao Jie very disturbed.

He felt more and more that with the continuous prosperity of the imperial examination system and the selection of more and more officials, he, a remnant of the old era, may face more and more difficulties in the future.

If he keeps a low profile like others, his official career will probably end at the position of governor of Yongzhou.

So after thinking about it, he felt that the only way to make a risky move was to let the new emperor see his determination to carry out economic reforms and his ability to boost the economy, so as to create conditions for himself to enter the central government as a minister——

He aimed at the Minister of Finance.

Wang Can was also born as a scholar in the old days. He became a favorite of Guo Peng by virtue of his proficiency in mathematics. He was once the chief assistant of the cabinet, and later became the minister of the Ministry of Finance.

There are also political achievements and problems. Generally speaking, his career is relatively mediocre, with no bright spots.

When Guo Peng was strong in handling government affairs, Guo Peng's ability was enough to turn Wang Can into a rubber stamp and answering voice, doing things according to his wishes.

At that time, Wang Can's ability was not needed.

But it's Guo Jin's turn. Whether Guo Jin still has the strong economic ability of Guo Peng is a question mark. Whether Guo Jin needs a strong economic assistant is hard to say.

Mao Jie was keenly aware of this, and felt that with his rich ability to handle local government affairs and logistics, coupled with his ability to engage in economics, he should be able to enter Guo Jin's field of vision.

This was his last desperate effort.

"The Supreme Emperor, my minister, I haven't thought about resigning from my old age and returning to my hometown, and spend my old age peacefully, my minister, I still want to enter Luoyang, at least, to take charge of a part of the government."

After thinking about it, Mao Jie felt that it was better to be honest and say what he wanted to say.

In front of Guo Peng, he didn't think he could hide anything.

Guo Peng pursed his lips and was silent for a while.

"Break the boundaries of the square and the city and loosen the ties of the merchants. You are not the first to do this. I remember the first one to do this. It was the governor of Dunhuang at that time, and now the guardian of Beiting, Zhuge Liang."

"Yes, it is him. When he was the governor of Dunhuang, I was the governor of Liangzhou. I was very surprised when I heard that he was doing such a thing in Dunhuang, so I went to find out."

Mao Jie admitted all this: "His thinking is very clear, saying that no matter how Liangzhou develops agriculture, it can't develop in the Central Plains. In order not to be hungry and to live a good life, it is necessary to develop commerce. More people engaging in business is the breaking point."

"Emphasizing agriculture and suppressing business is the basic national policy set by me personally. I don't think there is a need to change it in 20 or 100 years, not to mention 200 years or [-] years. You are blatantly doing it against my request. No wonder It will be criticized by so many people."

Guo Peng looked at Mao Jie with a sullen face: "You think we produce a lot of grain now, so much food is rich every year that it can fill the warehouse, and there are granaries everywhere, so you think we will never have to worry about famine again. ?

Xiaoxian, I might as well tell you that the situation is far less optimistic than you think. The accumulation of Yande’s 13 years of painstaking efforts, in case of a large-scale shortage or failure of harvest, is only enough to feed 8000 million people in the entire Wei Kingdom for two years. "

Mao Jie didn't know how to express his emotions for a while.

"Your Majesty, I think that these grains..."

"This is Wei's foundation, and it is our last reliance. Unless it is absolutely necessary, this batch of food must not be moved. Don't think that if there is no fear of famine now, there will be no future, and there will be again in the future!

You think I don't know the benefits of growing a business?But let me ask you, what do you want so much money for?Don't you still buy something?You have more and more money, but less and less food, so why do you need so much money?Money is used to buy things, what about things?They all grow out of the ground! "

Guo Peng's serious face made Mao Jie think that he had done something wrong and was about to be punished by Guo Peng, and his face turned pale with fright.

"Supreme Emperor, minister... minister..."

"Of course, I'm not saying that it must be wrong for you to do so."

Guo Peng waved his hand, panting and pulled Mao Jie back from hell to the ground.

"what?"

"Ah, what? I mean, it makes sense to open up the boundaries of towns and cities in some special places and allow large-scale private business."

Guo Peng picked up another piece of meat with his chopsticks and put it in his mouth, chewing on it: "Zhuge Liang is right. No matter how much agriculture is developed in Liangzhou, it can't be developed in the Central Plains. There is a limit to the development of agriculture. There is also a limit to the number of people to support.

I don’t want to go any other way. Liangzhou has reached the limit of supporting 300 million people, and it is impossible to have more people. The same is true in the Western Regions. If you don’t use the special location to do some business, you can’t support people, and you don’t even have food. Be sure to eat well.

They are all citizens of Wei State, so why should the states and counties in the Central Plains have enough to eat, but the people in the Western Regions in Liangzhou will be hungry, don’t you think?They will definitely think this way, if this problem is not resolved, there will be civil uprisings in the Western Regions and Liangzhou in the future. "