Liu Tan thought about it carefully. Apart from the feeling of great satisfaction, he felt nothing else. He suddenly remembered that night when Lu Xuan personally chopped off the head of the Hu Fox King in front of him.
At that time he really felt a little unwell, but he had to admit that this method seemed to be quite effective. At least this time he was not afraid. It was precisely because he did not look nervous or afraid that he successfully calmed down those people.
Otherwise, those county magistrates are not smart people but they have lived twenty or thirty years longer than him. Why would they listen to you as soon as they take office?
Even the emperor might be suppressed when facing his old ministers.
It was not all smooth sailing when Emperor Liu Che first ascended the throne. He had to fight with wits and courage to suppress his ministers bit by bit.
Liu Tan felt that he probably did not have the ability of Liu Che, but the situation he faced was not as complicated as Liu Che's.
Liu Che's father had just passed away, and his mother became the queen mother and began to favor her family members. She also wanted to compete with him for power. He had no son for a long time, which made the princes ready to make a move.
It is really difficult, but it is not the case for Liu Tan.
Liu Tan's biological parents are still alive and can support him. He also has the prince's small treasury in his hands, so what is there to be afraid of?
So Liu Tan chose the simplest way, which was to kill one person. If the others didn't want to lose their lives, they had better cooperate.
After asking that question, Huo Guang just smiled and said nothing more.
Liu Tan was a little puzzled and wanted to ask Huo Guang what he thought.
It was at this time that Sang Qian arrived.
When Liu Tan saw that he only had a piece of paper in his hand, he had a premonition and said to him, "Don't tell me that this is the only person who is qualified."
Sang Qian nodded solemnly and placed the paper on Liu Tan's desk.
Liu Tan took a deep breath and turned to look at Huo Guang: "I knew they were useless, but I didn't expect them to be this useless."
Huo Guang's mouth twitched. To be honest, even if the officials he saw in Chang'an were not all extremely capable, they were at least diligent. He never thought that there would be officials who had no idea about the situation in the land under their jurisdiction.
Liu Tan took the paper and said, "This will lighten my burden."
Fortunately, he set aside a day to prepare for the test, but these people really gave him no worries.
Liu Tan took a look at the test paper and first noticed that the handwriting was well-written, neat and tidy Han Li script. Judging from the handwriting, he felt that the person was a very strict person.
Seeing the name Kou Zhengda, Liu Tan tilted his head, thought for a moment, then turned to ask Huo Guang: "Is this Kou Zhengda the governor of Dunhuang County?"
Huo Guang said with certainty without even looking, "It's him. He's also the most reputable of all the county governors."
Liu Tan understood it clearly, no wonder.
Logically speaking, there were no questions in this test paper that required divergent thinking, and basically there were fixed answers, so there was no need to look closely at it. However, Kou Zhengda still read this test paper carefully from beginning to end.
After reading it, he only had one feeling, that is, it was very rigorous.
Even the data given by Huo Guang were just a rough range, but this guy even counted the decimals. Liu Tan guessed that he just didn't know about decimal points, otherwise he might be able to be accurate to three decimal places.
After Liu Tan finished reading, he looked up at Sang Qian and said, "Give me the rest of the papers. I'll write down the names of those who handed in blank papers."
Sang Qian quickly handed in the test paper. Liu Tan took it and took a look. He was pleased to find that not only were the answers not bad, but a few of them were even quite poetic.
Compared with theirs, Kou Zhengda's calligraphy is just regular.
But then he thought again and felt a little angry. Regardless of whether he was busy eating, drinking and having fun all day, he certainly had plenty of time to study art and cultivate himself.
Liu Tan took a look at all the papers and found that they were all in vain. Many of them were obviously fabricated. They had no idea how much land area was under their jurisdiction. Some people didn't even know how many counties there were in the county. How could they be such officials?
He was so angry that he laughed, and was too lazy to continue watching. He let Sang Qian and Huo Guang do as they pleased, then got up and left.
Sang Qian asked tremblingly, "Is Your Highness angry?"
Huo Guang also stood up, looked at the paper, sneered and said, "Are you angry after reading this?"
Sang Qian: ...
What could he say? He was a little angry, but what did this have to do with him?
Huo Guang seemed to know what he was thinking. As they passed by, he said, "Expand your horizons a little. At this point, don't you realize that Your Highness is here to clarify the situation?"
Sang Qian was stunned for a moment, and only then did he come to his senses. He had previously thought that Liu Tan just didn't like being suppressed, so he wanted to seize power.
Now it seems... who would study those messy things if they took power?
This is a big move!
However, with Sang Qian's political intelligence, he had no idea what to do next, so he decided to turn around and ask his father for help.
Sang Qian is still okay, at least he has his father to help him.
All the other officials, except Kou Zhengda, were terrified when they saw Liu Tan, fearing that they would come in upright and leave sideways if they were not careful.
Liu Tan sat there and asked, "I was in such a hurry yesterday that I didn't get to know you all. I wonder which one is Kou Zhengda, the governor of Dunhuang County?"
The dark and thin county magistrate who had a rather noble character stood up, saluted and said, "Your Majesty is here."
Liu Tan understood. He had felt that this person was different from others yesterday and had some idea in his mind. When he looked today, it was indeed him.
In terms of appearance, this person is the most inconspicuous among all the county governors, and can even be said to be the ugliest one.
Nowadays, appearance is the most important factor for an official, so the position of this county magistrate is not very good.
Yumen Pass is located in Dunhuang County, which means that Dunhuang County is almost always facing threats from the countries in the Western Regions. It also borders the Xiongnu to the north and the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in later generations to the south. The living environment of the entire county is extremely harsh.
Liu Tan said to him in a very pleasant manner, "Sit down."
A young eunuch brought over a sitting scale in a very interesting manner.
Kou Zhengda bowed and thanked him, then sat down, showing a very neither humble nor arrogant attitude.
After he sat down, Liu Tan looked up at the rest of the people and didn't say anything for a long time. Those people felt uneasy and wanted to huddle together to get a sense of security.
While they felt the King of the North needed people to do things, they also worried about what would happen if he got angry and killed another one. He didn't need to kill them all, just one more. If he chose them, wouldn't that be bad luck?
After Liu Tan had admired their cowardly expressions for a while, he said, "The results of yesterday's exam are out. I won't tell you how you did. You can tell me for yourself..."
Before he could finish, someone knelt down and burst into tears, saying, "Your Highness, Your Highness, please spare my life. I am guilty and I will definitely change my ways... I... wuwuwu..."
As soon as this person knelt, the others followed suit, and for a moment the crying was deafening.
Liu Tan: My goodness, if passers-by didn’t know that this was the county government office, they would probably think that a funeral was being held inside, right?
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