Chapter 295 Chisel...
Even an "outsider" like Tian Feng couldn't help but show some admiration after hearing what Qiao Yan said.
She said "A forest of phoenix trees grows, attracting phoenixes to roost" so smoothly that one wouldn't sense any resentment in it.
It was not until the test papers of the top three candidates were taken away and prepared to be sent to the court for a second round of judging that everyone learned from Guo Jia, Cheng Yu and others that Qiao Yan's invitation to Liu Ba was not just a casual remark two years ago.
Liu Ba had no intention of taking up an official position for the time being. Shortly after receiving the invitation, he even went south to Jiaozhou with the idea of waiting and seeing. However, Qiao Yan still had someone send a book to him.
This book should be considered a part separated from the emergency prescription book. It is the treatment method for southern miasma diseases in Chiyang Medical College, in case Liu Ba falls ill there during his stay in Jiaozhou.
Although she never mentioned the invitation again, it was precisely because of this concern that Liu Ba did not forget to pay attention to the situation in the Central Plains while he was in Jiaozhou.
Of particular concern is how the Chang'an court handled the repeated disasters in Guanzhong last year.
Shi Xie, the governor of Jiaozhou and Jiaozhi who took him in, said that since he was concerned about the situation in Chang'an, he might as well return home early.
In a place like their south, people with grand ambitions would not stay for long.
Comparing Liu Ba's treatment, the other person who was also taking refuge from disaster with Shi Xie must have been extremely envious.
This person was none other than Xu Jing Xu Wenxiu.
Because of his previous comment in Yangzhou that Sun Ce was "similar to Xiang Yu", he did not dare to stay in Kuaiji County for long. After hearing that Sun Ce had the idea of going south to Kuaiji, he ran directly to Jiaozhou and was received by Shi Xie.
Even though the person who received him was considered a powerful tyrant in Jiaozhou, the courtesy he received here was quite good. After all, Jiaozhou was not the Central Plains, and for Xu Jing, it was not a place for him to spend his twilight years.
But he didn't have a suitable reason to return to the Central Plains.
When Xu Shao and General Xu Zijiang commented on Qiao Yan that "a young phoenix has a clear voice" in the past, Xu Jing had already fallen out with his cousin and was not present, so he had no reason to make friends with the Grand Marshal.
He was forced by Sun Ce all the way from Yangzhou to Jiaozhou, and he fled in a panic. It was clearly not a good thing, and it seemed that he had lost his integrity in his later years.
Watching Liu Ba's back as he left for Chang'an after hearing that there was an exam, Xu Jing sighed with emotion: "Today, the world still depends on the performance of these young people."
Shi Xie asked, "According to Mr. Wenxiu's opinion, how long can the Grand Marshal maintain his wealth and status?"
When Xu Jing looked at Shi Xie's expression when he asked this question, he realized that the other party didn't seem to be joking.
Shi Xie has always respected the scholars in the Central Plains. At this time, he was not comparing the stable situation in Jiaozhou with the ever-changing situation in the north, but he really wanted to hear Xu Jing's thoughts on this.
Xu Jing rarely made any vague comments, but replied: "Before the autumn harvest, Guanzhong will not be in turmoil, and the future of the Grand Marshal is limitless."
Xu Jing felt that there was nothing wrong with what he said.
The signs of a change in the weather were not very obvious in Jiaozhou, but they were quite common in the news coming from the north.
Drought is a foregone conclusion.
To judge the victory or defeat of the two dynasties, the response to natural disasters is undoubtedly a particularly important part.
If Guanzhong could survive such a disaster safely after bearing a population burden far exceeding that of Weijun, then looking at the relationship between Liu Yu and Qiao Yan as monarch and subject, it is natural to conclude that its future is limitless.
For a loyal minister like Qiao Yan who had contributed greatly to the revival of the Han Dynasty, it was not a bad idea to break the rule that only members of the Liu family could be crowned king.
But when he looked at Shi Xie, he found that there was something strange in the other's expression.
"What is the governor thinking about?"
Shi Xie shook his head and suppressed the strange look on his face. "I am thinking about two things. One is when will our Jiaozhou governor stop playing those tricks."
Zhang Jin, the governor of Jiaozhou, was also obsessed with using religion to rule his people. Unfortunately, he was far away from the Central Plains, so no one criticized his actions. Zuo Rong of Xuzhou had surrendered and died, Zhang Lu of Yizhou was used as a tool to build roads, and only Zhang Jin still let his subordinates wear red headscarves and study Taoism with him.
Shi Xie had some complaints about this man for a long time, but he knew that before the Han court had the energy to focus on Jiaozhou, Zhang Jin was a well-deserved governor of Jiaozhou and had enough authority here.
He went on to say: "Another thing is, how will Liu Zichu behave in Chang'an?"
The selection examination of Hongwenguan was not as grand as the imperial examination in later generations. After all, only a few people could participate in this examination at that time.
But when the answer sheets of the top three candidates were posted in front of Hongwenguan, this relatively simple announcement did not affect those who were eagerly waiting for the results. They surrounded the place in three layers at an extremely alarming speed.
"Although we have long guessed that Da Sima's preference for government affairs will definitely affect the questions of this assessment, it is still a bit surprising that the final questions will be like this." Someone muttered in the crowd.
As soon as these words were spoken, they immediately attracted responses from the people around them.
"That's right, that's right. There were so many arithmetic questions in the multiple choice and fill-in-the-blank questions. Are they afraid that we won't be able to figure out the accounts? The abacus in the examination room is a headache. If it weren't for the fact that we were only given one stick of incense to calculate and it was strictly forbidden to answer questions beyond the time limit, I'm afraid that when I was writing the essay questions, I would hear the sound of the abacus."
As soon as he finished speaking, he heard a young man's voice behind him, "If you can't calculate, won't you become a laughing stock like Yuan Benchu? You should calculate more clearly."
As soon as these words were spoken, there was immediate laughter.
Since the Leping Monthly Report was sold to the public until now, most of those who were able to participate in this assessment have read the bound volume in order to figure out what the attitude of the powerful Grand Marshal is.
Therefore, even if some people did not know about Yuan Shao’s debt joke before, they must know it now.
From this perspective, there is really nothing wrong with Qiao Yan's setting.
Since we have taught the enemy a lesson in this matter, we cannot let our own people suffer losses in this matter.
However, it is not easy for those who are accustomed to the practice of selecting filial and honest people in the early years to adapt to such an assessment.
The man immediately complained, "Then these calculations are fine, but why do we need to answer questions related to the Qiang people in Liangzhou? Although we all know that the Western Qiang in Liangzhou is also an important part of the current Chang'an court, but it has always been the Guanxi who has produced generals and the Guandong who has produced ministers, and the policy of governing the Qiang with the Qiang has long been adopted, so why do we have to understand all this?"
The young man's voice came back from behind him: "If that's what you said, why don't you choose the scripture paper? No one is forcing you to be a practical person."
"You..." The man couldn't help but turn around and look at the young man who had criticized him twice. He saw that the other party seemed a little too young, looking like he was not even twenty years old. He also felt that it was unnecessary for him to talk to such a young boy, and it would seem very disgraceful to argue with him, so he just responded with "Who are you?"
This kid said it lightly, saying that he could still choose the scripture paper, but you have to know that most of the people who choose Hongwenguan as a transit point are here for job vacancies in the Chang'an court.
If we recover the east later, there will inevitably be more vacancies, and we will be able to get a powerful official position here.
If he really wanted to show off his literary talent in front of Qiao Yan, he should have followed the example of Ni Heng and Wang Can instead of taking the literary exam here.
Only a few people can complete a satisfactory poem in one go in the examination hall.
This is indeed the kind of naive words that only young people can come up with.
However, the young man had a good temper. Hearing the bad tone of his question, he just replied in a good tone: "I am Fufeng Fazheng."
As he spoke, the young man bowed towards him.
As a result, the person who complained about the special question felt a little guilty. "Oh, Fa Zheng..."
"Fa Zheng? Who is Fa Zheng?" He had just muttered two words when he heard a voice coming from the front row.
He was confused by the interest expressed in that overly excited voice.
While he was thinking whether he had missed some important person in Chang'an City, he stepped aside a little, revealing the gap in front of him. Then he heard the answer to the puzzle in front of him coming out from the noisy voices, "The examiners and the court council have all selected Fa Xiaozhi as the second place in this exam. The papers are posted here. Where is he?"
When they heard the word "second place", the team in front of Fa Zheng made way a little.
Although this selection for the Hongwenguan is not just for three or two people, it is obvious that only the top three papers will be subject to a second decision at the court meeting to ensure that the judgment is not just one party's opinion. The people in the front row who looked at the three papers did not raise any objections, which shows that this is basically the final result.
These three people have gained reputations in front of the emperor and court officials, so naturally they have much more prospects than them. It is always better to establish a good relationship with them than to question their abilities and make enemies with them.
However, they saw Fa Zheng's face which looked too young.
The young man took two steps at a time and walked through the gap in the crowd to the three test papers lined up.
Although he could see at a glance that each test paper had comments written by different people, Fa Zheng still subconsciously looked at the first test paper.
After reading the essay question on the first paper word by word, Fa Zheng's original doubts suddenly disappeared without a trace, leaving only a burst of surprise in his eyes.
It’s not unfair at all to lose to someone who is more in line with the times!
He quickly turned around to look at the crowd and asked, "Excuse me, where is Lingling Liu Zichu?"
Since they are taking the test together, perhaps they should be considered classmates. If classmates have their own abilities, it would be a good opportunity for them to communicate with each other.
Unfortunately, he asked the crowd twice but did not get a response from Liu Ba.
After being invited away by the attendant who was supposed to pick him up as the person who had passed the assessment, Fa Zheng learned that Liu Ba had also been invited away by the Grand Marshal at the same time the assessment results were announced.
"The formulation of monetary and economic policies in the midst of the disaster is urgent, and it is indeed no wonder that Sima is so anxious." Fa Zheng thought to himself, but he didn't think there was anything wrong with it.
He was not too surprised that after he handed in the answer sheet that was more inclined towards tactical strategies, he did not go to the place where the Hongwenguan selection personnel should theoretically go, but went directly to the Grand Marshal's Mansion, and then was assigned to work under Guo Jia.
Since there is still a month's probation period, Fa Zheng will certainly not be directly assigned to access many military secrets. Instead, he will first follow Guo Jia to carry out the manpower allocation and rectification work of the Chang'an garrison during the disaster phase.
And Liu Ba was already standing in front of Qiao Yan.
What surprised him was that Qiao Yan didn't seem to want to reminisce about the failed invitation, nor did he ask about his experience in Jiaozhou. Instead, he asked him an overly straightforward question, "In your opinion, if the drought lasts for a year, how much rice and grain do you need to allocate to you to control the circulation of the market in order to stabilize the grain price in Chang'an to a relatively stable state? If it lasts for two years, how about this answer?"
Liu Ba weighed the pros and cons in his mind and replied: "I can't give a direct answer to the Grand Marshal about this question. At least I need to know how many states you plan to take this year and next year. This will determine how much food you will have for the march plan in addition to disaster relief, and how many disaster victims will flow into Guanzhong from other states."
"But I can give you a definite answer. If Da Sima is willing to give me enough trust, I will do my best to implement the plan in the previous answer sheet."
Qiao Yan looked at the other person's calm and confident face and couldn't help but smile: "I told Mr. Yuan Fang before that with you and Fa Xiaozhi coming to this assessment, it should be called a forest of phoenix trees, attracting phoenixes to roost. Unfortunately, this phoenix tree forest is a little short of water at the moment. I hope these phoenixes don't despise the lack of sweet springs here."
She handed a memorial to Liu Ba and said, "I have petitioned His Majesty to appoint you as the Minister of Price Control under the Grand Minister of Agriculture. I think you are very clear about the duties of this position."
Liu Ba did not respond directly, but asked: "So, who is the current Junshu Ling?"
What surprised Liu Ba even more was that Qiao Yan pointed at himself.
She replied: "You can assume that I am the one who has the power to distribute the goods, but if you need to change the distribution strategy, you can report it to me."
Equalizing transportation and stabilizing prices were economic strategies proposed by Sang Hongyang during the Yuanding period of the Western Han Dynasty. They were designed to adjust to the need for counties and kingdoms to transport their local specialty products to the capital. They have been used until today and have become two important official positions under the Grand Minister of Agriculture.
The task of Junshu was to confirm which items needed to be sent to the capital and which did not, to participate in the allocation between regions, and to transport them to neighboring areas where there was demand and high prices for sale, in order to increase fiscal revenue and currency circulation.
Qiao Yan was not wrong when he jokingly called himself the current Junshu Order of the Chang'an court.
In her early years, after she conquered Liangzhou, she sold the cattle and sheep of the Qiang people in Liangzhou to Bingzhou during the New Year, which was actually an act of equal distribution.
And what is stabilization? The government purchases and sells materials to stabilize market prices.
During the reign of Emperor Ling of Han, the Pingzhengling was changed to Zhongzhengling and moved to the Neishi, where it was controlled by the eunuchs around him. In most cases, it was only responsible for knowing the prices and was no longer responsible for handling specific regulatory matters.
But Liu Ba could understand what Qiao Yan meant in his previous question.
She asked Liu Ba how much grain was needed to stabilize prices in Chang'an City. It was obvious that she wanted to return the power that had been taken away from the price stabilization order to this position.
In a strict sense, equalization of transport and price stabilization are tied together. If a qualified price stabilization order meets an unreliable equalization order, and the Grand Minister of Agriculture above cannot play a role of balance and coordination, no matter how capable Liu Ba is, he has to resign voluntarily.
Fortunately, the number of prefectures and counties under the jurisdiction of the Chang'an court is limited, and the small amount of equal distribution and allocation is done by the Grand Marshal himself. Liu Ba has a clear idea of the role he needs to play and his future work environment.
He bowed to Qiao Yan and said, "I abandoned you and fled to Jiaozhou in my early years. I was blind. Thank you for not abandoning me and for entrusting me with a high position and important responsibilities. I will serve you wholeheartedly to repay your kindness."
Liu Ba soon realized that traveling north from Jiaozhou to Chang'an, participating in such an assessment, and sending himself to work under Qiao Yan was probably the most correct decision he had ever made.
Because the officialdom ecology he was in was quite different from what he had once seen in Jingzhou and what he had imagined on the way here.
The position of Grand Minister of Agriculture is held by Qiao Yan's absolute confidant Cheng Yu.
The inner court official was Qin Yu, who worked as a clerk in the imperial court when she was in Bingzhou.
Ji Tianling is a field that excels in farming.
The person who was transferred from the commander of the military farms to the commander of the grain administration and was in charge of raising military expenses was Guo Yuan, who was recruited by Qiao Yan from among Zheng Xuan's disciples.
In short, from the Grand Minister of Agriculture to his subordinates, they are all elites who talk less and do more.
Therefore, Liu Ba found that there was no need to play guessing games or get stuck on any aspects when getting along with his colleagues.
Also, because of the financial accumulation in the first and second years of Jian'an, the amount of grain stored in the Chang'an treasury was a considerable amount, which even made Liu Ba a little suspicious whether anyone placed in the position of Pingzhengling could achieve this goal with the capital of the granary.
Of course, he wouldn't say such a thing.
He knew very well that Qiao Yan chose to put him in this position so that he could achieve the purpose of regulation accurately with the least expenditure, which required a strong ability of real-time calculation and market observation.
At the same time, Qiao Yan’s question, “If the drought lasts for two years,” was probably not a casual remark, but a hope that he could complete this task with a long-term plan.
From this perspective, his job is not that easy.
There were only three other things that troubled him.
One is that it is said that the goal of the Grand Minister of Agriculture is to serve the prince and the court until he is eighty years old and then consider retirement, and the goal of the Chief Minister of the Interior is to live longer than his own son, Xu Shu, the current prefect of Hanzhong.
As a result, the entire organization formed by the Grand Minister of Agriculture and his assistants was filled with an atmosphere of excessive health preservation from top to bottom, which made Liu Ba often feel as if he was heading down a strange path.
The second thing was that Fa Zheng and Fa Xiao Zhi, who participated in the same assessment with him, seemed to be particularly interested in him as the winner of the first place, and often asked him questions.
Liu Ba prefers dealing with money and goods, which makes him incompatible with a military-minded person like Fa Zheng. He even suspected that Fa was trying to get the knowledge from him and then get back at him in some internal assessment of officials.
But how could he know that Fa Zheng simply had nothing to do during his internship and felt it necessary to get along well with his colleagues in the same period.
The third thing is indeed a serious matter.
Qiao Yan used a metaphor to say that Chang'an was like a sycamore forest lacking water...
Liu Ba looked up at the sky and couldn't help but sigh.
This is a fact.
Even though the construction of water conservancy projects in Guanzhong began two years ago and another round of renovations was carried out this year, all that could be changed was the current flow of water on the ground, but not the weather.
The regulatory role that these water storage projects can play will never allow this place to reach the same state as last year.
It was already halfway through April and not a drop of rain had fallen. Even the slowest-witted person should have realized that something was wrong. Moreover, the Grand Marshal in charge of the central government was asking his subordinates to convey these measures to prevent and control drought and locust plagues every day.
The situation is now becoming more intuitive.
"The Wei River has become shallower." Qiao Yan stood by the river with a gloomy expression.
It is not yet the time of severe drought, nor is it the summer season when water vapor evaporation is most active, so the extent of this shallowing that can be observed is still limited.
But in the separately excavated reservoir, the changes in the water level need to be measured and reported to her every day by a dedicated person, and she will never miss it.
Even though the weather is getting warmer, theoretically, some of the melted snow from the glaciers on the Niaoshu Tongxue Mountain in the upper reaches of the Wei River should be replenished into the Wei River. However, there was no rain or snow last winter to replenish the glaciers. This year, the melted snow is less than in previous years, and the Wei River's tributaries have also lost two seasons of rain, so the water level is bound to drop.
When she thought about the persistently worsening weather conditions she had to deal with and the millions of lives she was responsible for, she felt that the burden on her shoulders was extremely heavy.
Survival is the top priority for everyone.
The April issue of Leping Monthly, at the instruction of Qiao Yan, gave up promoting the assessment of the Hongwenguan, the official career of Fa Zheng and Liu Ba, and the implementation of the anonymous examination system. Instead, it introduced the well irrigation and drainage projects, especially the implementation of well irrigation in the riverside beach area, with quite detailed text and pictures.
The depth of well irrigation under various circumstances has been clearly defined as much as possible.
At the same time, the heads of counties and prefectures coordinated the reconstruction of wells and canals.
What was later shown in newspapers was a diagram of a lever-operated impact drilling device, used to inform the public of how to dig deep.
It’s really not Qiao Yan’s fault for not having people dig these deep wells in advance.
It was also mentioned on the last page of the monthly report that before the spring plowing, in addition to renovating a part of the land, almost all the labor of the Guanzhong Water Conservancy Project was used on the "Qinling Mountain Piedmont Underground Reservoir."
When the Seventy-two Valleys on the northern slope of the Qinling Mountains enter the Guanzhong Plain from the mountainous area, considerable vertical seepage is formed, becoming a natural underground reservoir.
Even during the dry season, this underground reservoir has considerable water storage capacity.
Exploring the terrain and choosing a suitable location to sink a deep well is the last life-saving talisman reserved for the Guanzhong area.
The underground reservoir has been dug, and the next step is to work -
We hope that the people of the three states will cooperate with the heads of the counties and prefectures to thoroughly implement the well irrigation project before the ability to regulate surface rivers is weakened to a certain extent, so as to be prepared for any eventuality and delay the launch of the Qinling groundwater diversion project as much as possible.
At least in the first year of the drought, Qiao Yan had no intention of using this life-saving talisman unless it was really necessary.
But not using and not having are two completely different things.
Not everyone who received the newspaper could recognize the words, but they could all make out the clearly printed pictures on the newspaper, which marked the location of a huge underground lake, giving them confidence that they would be safe from the drought.
When the pulleys for well-drilling entered villages one after another, the fear of drought became the motivation to help start the well-drilling work!
It's not just that.
They were also informed of good news on page 3 of the monthly report.
The deep plowing and returning straw to the fields that they carried out in accordance with the previous monthly magazine to prevent locusts from hatching are actually beneficial to dryland cultivation, and the ability to resist drought when it comes is stronger than that of ordinary fields.
Although a reduction in production is inevitable this year, it seems that the reduction will not be to the point of total loss.
"I said we should obey the Grand Marshal's orders!" After hearing the township chief's further interpretation of the information in the monthly report, someone immediately sighed with joy.
He touched a newspaper in his hand and looked at the orderly scene of canals irrigating fields. When he thought about what kind of situation he might face without these artificially imposed regulatory measures, he couldn't help but want to show off the monthly report in his hand.
However, while listening to the arrangement of the order of digging wells, he whispered to his wife: "You say, isn't the Grand Marshal afraid that such a good thing will spread to other states and help our enemies?"
This question was also asked to Qiao Yan by Zhao Ji, who had already started preparing for the May issue.
"Let's not talk about whether other places have taken such detailed measures as ours, which even take underground reservoirs into consideration. Let's just talk about using well irrigation and drainage to fight drought..."
Qiao Yan's eyes were slightly startled, and he sighed, "Zhao Ji, I hope they can calculate all of this."
"In this world, people just want to survive, but why is it so difficult?"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
