Chapter 615 [First Update]

Just like when he first arrived in the Northern Border, Liu Tan felt relieved to make an example of someone to scare the monkeys, but corresponding troubles also followed. Now there was a lack of a county governor, and he had to choose one.

But now is different from before. Back then, the Northern Border Kingdom belonged to Liu Tan, so he can choose anyone as long as he likes him.

He has to worry about the people he chooses now. If these people are loyal to him, then when Liu Ku begins to take power in Yan State in ten or twenty years, will he be afraid of these people?

Now the State of Yan is short of two county governors. Of course, Liaodong County has not been conquered yet, so there is no need to be anxious.

According to Liu Tan's idea, he originally wanted to choose one from Yan State to use as a makeshift person. It didn't matter if the other party was very powerful, as long as he was obedient.

All he required of the officials of Yan State was obedience. After all, from the very beginning he had no intention of treating Yan State the same way as he treated the Northern Border State. He just wanted to lay some solid foundations and then leave the rest to Liu Ku, so that Liu Ku could sit firmly on the throne of King of Yan.

As a result, Liu Tan rummaged around in Yan State but couldn't find a capable person.

He said to Dou Sibo with great annoyance, "Has the State of Yan really fallen to this point? There isn't even a single person qualified to be a county governor?"

Dou Sibo said blankly, "The Northern Territory is now full of talented people. Why don't you choose a temporary replacement from there?"

Liu Tan frowned. "I'll select someone from the Northern Border Kingdom. When the King of Yan grows up, how will he cope?"

Dou Sibo felt he vaguely understood what the King of the Northern Territory meant. After a moment's hesitation, he said, "Your Highness, even if the King of Yan grows up, it shouldn't have any impact."

Liu Tan was stunned: "Huh?"

Dou Sibo whispered, "Your Majesty will not let the Prince of Yan be like you."

He didn't dare to say directly that in the entire Han Dynasty, the King of the North was the only exception, and the other princes were just decorations who only took money and did not do anything. It seemed that the King of Yan was not favored, so there was basically no possibility that he would take over the King of the North.

If Dou Sibo works hard, he may be able to be the master of Yan State in the future.

However, during the time he had been with the King of the North, he had already made up his mind that even if the King of the North returned to the Northern Kingdom, he would still be filial to him. If he encountered any difficulties in the future, as long as His Majesty the King of the North gave him some guidance, it would be enough for him to benefit greatly.

Liu Tan understood Dou Sibo's meaning a little later. Come to think of it...it was true. He had previously overlooked the fact that he was an oddball among the princes.

Thinking of this, he had no worries and wrote a letter to Huo Guang, specifically asking for an obedient person to come over. As for experience, some grassroots experience would be enough, and he didn't need to be too powerful.

After receiving the letter, Huo Guang heaved a long sigh of relief, feeling deeply that the Northern Border Kingdom would probably provide all-round assistance to the Yan Kingdom in the future.

If he had helped the neighboring country in the past, he would definitely have strived for other benefits, but now... although that place belongs to Yan State, the King of the Northern Territory is now in charge, but strictly speaking, they are still two countries.

Huo Guang went over the entire situation of the Yan State officials in his mind. Judging from Dou Sibo, the Yan State did not need any particularly powerful officials. They just needed some obedient ones.

Then it would be easy to find the right person. There were many suitable people in the Northern Border Kingdom's academy. Since there was no age limit, some people were already quite old when they were admitted, and they probably wouldn't be able to serve as officials for many years after graduating from the academy.

Before this, Huo Guang was thinking about discussing the arrangement of officials with his prince. Those who passed the imperial examinations could be entrusted with important tasks. If someone felt that they were wasting too much time, then let them choose another way out - starting as a low-level official.

But before he could complete this idea, Liu Tan had already gone to the State of Yan. It just so happened that this time he could just ask the prefect of Xinpinggang County to send it over.

Huo Guang also inherited Liu Tan's true teachings in selecting the prefect of Pinggang County - using the direct examination method.

There is also a restriction that those under the age of 30 are not allowed to take the exam.

For a while, everyone was envious of those who were qualified to take the exam. Although Yan State was not doing well now, the King of the North was there. Even if the place with His Majesty the King of the North was not prosperous for a while, it would eventually develop.

Liu Tan's ability to turn decay into magic has been deeply rooted in everyone's mind.

Even if these people study hard, how many of them can eventually become county magistrates?

Now, as long as you pass the exam, you can reach the sky in one step.

The older ones were all very excited and were ready to try.

Everyone was wondering how difficult this exam would be. After all, the exam questions in the academy were often more bizarre than each other, and it was said that they were meant to train their thinking abilities - this was clearly the work of the King of the North.

However, to their surprise, the test questions this time were very standard, and many of them used some of the Northern King's previous policies as examples, allowing them to express their own opinions.

For a moment, everyone was a little confused and didn't know how to write it.

Many people think that His Royal Highness the King of the North likes those who dare to speak and think, so they are very bold in answering questions, and even dare to express in a tactful way that some of the King of the North’s political measures are too radical.

All of a sudden, everyone felt that they were so unique and would definitely be valued by His Majesty the King of the North.

However, the one who selected the people this time was Huo Guang. What he hated most were those people whose heads were full of unrealistic ideas, and he threw all such people aside.

Finally, the few who answered the questions most conventionally were selected, and then a person who did not express too many of his own ideas on the policy, but only wrote about what he would do, was selected and asked to report to His Royal Highness the King of the North.

When this candidate was announced, everyone was very surprised. When he was in the academy, this person was always ridiculed for only knowing how to study hard. He never expressed his opinions on the teachers' ideas and people thought that people like him had no future.

How come he could become a county magistrate?

The man himself was also very apprehensive, so Huo Guang said bluntly: "Yan State is in chaos now. Your Highness doesn't need people with unrealistic ideas. Your Highness only needs people who are obedient and know what needs to be done and how to do it. Do you dare to say that you are more capable than Your Highness?"

Everyone: ...

Not only did he not dare, he also felt in his heart that he was no match for His Royal Highness the King of the North.

For a moment, everyone was beating their chests and stamping their feet, feeling so dumbfounded. Why didn't they think about the situation in Yan State?

But no matter how much they regretted it, it was of no use. The candidate had already been selected and was packed up and given to Liu Tan as quickly as possible.

Huo Guang has always been reliable in doing things, and he reported the entire process directly in the letter.

Liu Tan was deeply satisfied with Huo Guang's work and thought that this was the best candidate.

As for the question about the two choices for tribute scholars mentioned by Huo Guang, Liu Tan thought about it and remembered that it seemed to be the same in the Ming Dynasty. If you fail to pass the Jinshi examination, you can directly apply for an official position, but you need to start from a low-level official, and the upper limit of promotion is also lower than that of Jinshi. However, many people also made this choice, and you had to queue up to become an official.

Liu Tan thought Huo Guang's idea was good, so he asked him to make a detailed plan.

Then, at the end, Huo Guang asked a soul-searching question: "Where did your Highness spend New Year's Eve this year?"

Liu Tan's first reaction was naturally to live in the Northern Territory, but he soon realized that he might really... not be able to go back.

There are too many things going on in Yan State, especially he has to guard against the attack of Wuhuan. Now Wuhuan seems to be very quiet, but you have to know that it is only one Wuhuan family, Bo Xi, who occupied Liaodong County.

Recently, he also learned that Wuhuan was not actually a complete country, but was just a unified name given by the Han Dynasty to the people of that ethnic group. In fact, they had always been in a state of division.

The Bo Xi clan had several friendly clans, but also several clans with which they had less friendly relations.

If it were in the past, Liu Tan would definitely choose to make friends with those clans to jointly deal with the Bo Xi clan, but now he has also figured it out. Foreigners with different ideas are not worth making friends with. Only those who receive the same education can be treated as one of the Han people.

Why did Liu Che accept Lu Xuan so readily? It was because Lu Xuan allowed the Wusun people to receive Han education.

The people of this land never base their views on nation on blood ties, but on ideas.

If you agree with our mainstream thinking, then you are one of us; otherwise, you are not.

The Wuhuan people are destined not to be our friends, so we might as well just deal with them together.

Therefore, Liu Tan is destined not to return to the Northern Border this year, let alone Chang'an.

After much deliberation, he wrote a letter to Huo Guang, asking him to send someone to bring the Prince of Yan over.

Although everyone knows that the King of the Northern Territory is now temporarily acting as the agent of Yan State, it is not a good idea for the King of Yan to be away from Yan State for a long time.

Moreover, Liu Tan estimated that his next focus would be the State of Yan, and the Northern Border State could be left to Huo Guang to develop step by step. If he came up with something else, it would be more likely to cause problems.

Thinking about it, he felt it was a bit boring before, but now he feels that the peaceful days are quite good. No war means no money is spent. If the spending continues for a while, no matter how much money he can make, he will not be able to bear the consumption of the 100,000 troops.

After receiving Liu Tan's order, Huo Guang quickly brought Liu Ku over.

The real King of Yan finally moved into the Yan Palace.

However, after Liu Ku came, the issue of Liu Tan's residence became very difficult to resolve.

Now, the entire Yan State has been made obedient by Liu Tan, especially the governors of Liaoxi and Guangyang counties, who have taken the lead in being Liu Tan's loyal followers. Moreover, these two people have indeed gained benefits, which has led to the other governors realizing what's going on - following the King of the Northern Territory may not bring much benefit, but if the other party leaks some of the money, it will be enough for them to eat. However, there will be no benefit in going against the King of the Northern Territory.

Especially after the 100,000-strong army moved into the newly built city, the imperial court sent a commendation. Well, this was not surprising to everyone. On weekdays, even if Liu Tan did nothing, his whole family would write letters to praise him for not causing any trouble recently.

What made everyone jealous the most was that the names of the Liaoxi County Magistrate and the Guangyang County Magistrate actually reached the heaven!

What does this mean? It means that if they are lucky and capable, they may be transferred to Chang'an in the future.

Officials from the Northern Territory were transferred there in this way. As for the main officials there, it was said that it was because the emperor loved his son and did not want to transfer those people away, so he asked them to assist the King of the Northern Territory.

So all of a sudden, most of the county governors acted smart and started to flatter Liu Tan. At first, they did the same as before, directly giving him money and treasures as a tribute.

In the end, they were all returned by the King of the North. Liu Tan did not say anything lofty to them. He was very simple from beginning to end: I don’t like them. Anything I pick from my warehouse is better than these.

For this purpose, Liu Tan even specially ordered people to replace the furnishings in the Yan Kingdom Palace, so that everyone could see many imperial items, and they knew where these things came from.

Everyone immediately stopped their activities, but the governor of Yuyang County was smarter.

He would not look down upon the treasures given to the King of the North, and it was also impossible to give him money, but they could give money to the army as military expenses.

They had also heard that the King of the North was also worried about military expenses. It was said that the money that the capital sent to the King of the North was enough to fill four warehouses, but now two warehouses were empty before the army was dispatched.

It is hard to say whether the remaining two warehouses can hold out until the end of the war.

Or basically impossible.

According to past experience in the Han Dynasty, the generals should have started asking the court for military funds at this time.

We cannot wait until there is really no military funds to ask for it, because generally speaking, even if a memorial is submitted, it may not be possible to actually get the military funds. It is not easy to get the court to pay money unless all the ministers in the court think that the money should be paid.

But it seems that the King of the North is reluctant to ask his father for help, and is thinking about letting these troops do something that can generate economic benefits.

The prefect of Yuyang County sent a large amount of money directly under the banner of supporting the army, claiming that it was military expenses for the army, so that the army could drive away Wu Heng and bring them peace.

Liu Tan couldn't help laughing after hearing this. This time he asked someone to accept it and, by the way, asked someone to publicize the righteous act of the Yuyang County Magistrate.

All this dealings were above board. When the prefect of Yuyang County heard that the people were saying that he had a conscience and was a good official, he couldn't help but feel very happy, knowing that he had found the right way.

The governors of other counties were originally keeping an eye on Liu Tan, wanting to see how they could make the King of the North happy.

After discovering that the prefect of Yuyang County had done this secretly, they could not help but call him cunning and began to send money to the army.

In a short while, the army's military funds were replenished again. Liu Tan did not hesitate to write letters to praise them one by one, and also asked someone to publicize them.

What a good deal it is to exchange some false reputation for real money.

As for Liu Ku's problem, he simply let Liu Ku live in the main hall, while he went to the side hall.

Anyway, his current position in Yan State is equivalent to that of regent, and he cannot usurp the throne.

Moreover, even if it is a side hall, it is still a side hall of the main hall, so it does not constitute an insult to his status.

These are all small things. Besides, apart from the Chinese New Year, Liu Tan estimated that he would not be able to stay in Jicheng for long.

The governor of Ji County had been waiting for Liu Tan to return, and finally found an opportunity to ask, "Your Highness, I have been to the new city of Liaoxi County before. It is so well built."

Liu Tan looked up at Liu Ku while watching him play with his toys and said, "Just say what you want to say."

The Jijun prefect immediately said with an apologetic smile, "Your Highness, Jicheng is the royal city after all. If it is not as good as a county seat, it will be embarrassing for His Highness the Prince of Yan if this gets out."

He had also realized in the past few days that Prince Yan might not be favored by the Emperor, but the King of the North still cared about his brother very much, even if it was just superficial.

Liu Tan immediately understood what he meant and looked at him with a half-smile, asking, "Why? You want a new city too?"

The governor of Ji County nodded frantically: "Yes."

Who wouldn't want a new city? The Jijun prefect even knew that His Royal Highness the King of the Northern Territory had even had a prefecture mansion designed. While his prefecture mansion was not bad, the architecture of the Northern Territory was famous throughout the Han Dynasty, even the emperor praised it highly. Of course, he was envious.

Liu Tan's face darkened. "I haven't even held you accountable yet, and you're already taking action? Don't you see what you've done to Jicheng? The original Liaoxi County capital may not have been as good as Jicheng, but the gap between the rich and the poor wasn't that big. Even if a new city was built, everyone would have the money to move in. Look at what Jicheng looks like now. Even if a new city is built, can you guarantee that the people have the financial resources to move in? Can you guarantee that the wealthy won't buy up houses and land?"