Chapter 11 The Sunset of the Long River Section 5 The sixth year of the Han Dynasty (202 AD), November. According to the Han Dynasty's "Law of the Upper Calculation",

By the end of September, the county orders (chiefs) should compile the county's household registration, cultivated fields, money valleys, and prison conditions into a book

"Collected Books"), presented to the county. According to the accounting books of each subordinate county, the county governor then compiles the county accounting book and reports it to the imperial court, which in turn evaluates the performance of the local chief executive and rewards and punishes them.

The officials of the Prefecture Assassin History Department are generally composed of Changshi and Zhizhong, while the officials of each county are headed by the county Cheng, and a group of bureaucrats such as Changshi and Ji Cao Pengshi go to Beijing.

In addition to sending the documents to the capital to accept the examination and inquiry of the imperial court, the officials in various places also have to participate in a series of sacrifices and celebrations held by the imperial court at the beginning of the year, so they must rush to the capital before the end of the year.

Because the remote prefecture and county are far away from Beijing, at the beginning of October, the officials were about to leave. In November, officials from various prefectures arrived in Kyoto.

The first to arrive in Chang'an was the official of Qingzhou Plain County. Dahonglu Yuan Yao went out of the city to greet him and received him with the gift of welcoming the princes and kings, which made the officials flattered and grateful.

Along with the officials of the Plains Prefecture who rushed to Kyoto was Taishou Youheng. As early as last year, the imperial court issued an order to recruit You Heng to return to Beijing, but You Heng found a lot of reasons and refused to return to Beijing to take up his post.

This time, the situation in the capital was different, and the servant Kong Rong urged him several times, and You Heng hurriedly returned to Beijing. You Heng was very surprised to see that the standard of welcome etiquette was extremely high.

"When the county planner arrived in Beijing, Da Honglu treated each other with the courtesy of welcoming the princes, and only the Guangwu Emperor Dynasty had ever appeared. Today, county officials in various places enjoy such honors again, and dare not swear to die to serve them. ”

"Your Majesty and Her Royal Highness the eldest princess said that the Han Dynasty can gradually move towards Zhongxing, and the officials of various prefectures and counties have worked hard and made great achievements, so it is not an exaggeration to welcome them with this courtesy." Yuan Yao said with a smile,

"Your Majesty also decreed that in the future, when the county officials enter Beijing, they will all greet each other with this courtesy, and there can be no slightest neglect." You Heng and Yuan Yao were not familiar with each other, so the two were a little polite and walked into the city together.

The city of Chang'an is full of people, and the traffic and horses are endless, and it is very lively. You Heng kept looking around in the carriage,

"How long will it take for Weiyang Palace to be repaired?"

"The reconstruction of Weiyang Palace has just begun, and it is estimated that it will not end until tomorrow or the year after tomorrow." Yuan Yao pointed to the bustling crowd on the avenue and said,

"This year, the imperial court mainly rebuilt the temples of Gaozu and Shizu, and repaired the government offices of various prefectures. Now the foreign dynasties are being relocated, and it is estimated that they will all be moved from Liyang to Chang'an by the end of this month. You Heng frowned slightly, and there was a hint of worry on his face.

His Majesty and the eldest princess have been staying in Liyang Palace, and the officials of the three mansions of Shangshutai, Zhongshujian and Shizhong Temple have been handling official affairs in Liyang Palace.

At this moment, the court is about to come when the wind and rain are coming, but the outer and inner dynasties are separated from Changyang and Liyang, and they are clearly distinguished, does this indicate something?

In Kong Rong's letter, You Heng already knew Yuan Yao's position on the scriptures and the Mingtang system, so the two of them remained silent except for a few insignificant words occasionally.

The group arrived at the county residence. The county residence is a special residence for the county officials, located in the west of Chang'an City near the Zhichengmen Avenue, close to the Weiyang Palace and the government offices, famous

The "North Que Jiadi" is also located here. (Beique refers to the Xuanwu Que in the north of Weiyang Palace.) There are a few imperial relatives and nobles, important ministers and eunuchs' mansions, commonly known as them

"North Que Jiadi". Yuan Yao said goodbye to You Heng and drove away, and his subordinate officials were responsible for arranging their daily lives and schedules.

There were many people who accompanied the officials to Beijing, and some of them were recommended by the county

"Filial piety" or

"Maocai", these people want to serve in the Lang Agency; There were excellent middle-level officials selected by the imperial decree and the county, and these people were recruited by the imperial court; There are also some young scholars with excellent character and learning, these people are sent to Taichang Mansion, and they are arranged to study in Taixue by sacrificial wine.

In addition, the official also brought the local products that the county tribute gave to the Son of Heaven, which was customized and must be given.

The subordinate officials of the Great Honglu Mansion explained the matter clearly, and were about to leave, when You Heng stopped him and asked him to send him to the Imperial Historical Tower.

After returning to Beijing, the minister must first report to the Imperial Historical Observatory and submit a debriefing to the emperor through the Imperial Historical Observatory.

You Heng is also new to Chang'an, and he can't tell the difference between the southeast and the northwest. Originally, he could have asked Yuan Yao to send him to the Yushi Terrace, but Yuan Yao was ranked in Jiuqing, and his level was much higher than him, so he couldn't speak.

You Heng met Chen Hao at the Imperial Historical Observatory. The two met in Jinyang in their early years, talked to each other, and had a good relationship.

Chen Hao pulled him to chat for a while, and introduced him to the Zhishu Imperial Shi Xi Xuan. Xi is in his thirties, his appearance is very ordinary, he looks polite and kind.

What impresses people is his voice and smile. He speaks very slowly, his voice is very gentle, it sounds like a spring breeze, it is very comfortable, and his smile just gives people a feeling of spring breeze.

When they met for the first time, You Heng spoke coldly and didn't give him half a good face. Xi Xian didn't think about it and said a compliment.

Chen Hao was very embarrassed, and when he sent You Heng out, he said unhappily: "You still have to mix in the capital, you can't offend people casually." Are you planning to go to Dunhuang in Hexi to be a Taishou? "Thou sneered,

"Don't speculate for more than half a sentence, I see that he is annoying." Chen Hao glared at You Heng and shook his head helplessly,

"I'm annoyed to see you now. Some time ago, please come back you don't come back. Now that Chang'an is lively, something is going to happen, but you are running faster than a rabbit? What do you want? Do you want to come back and wave the flag? ”

"Exactly." You Heng said bluntly, and said,

"Yiqian, in a while, we will go head-to-head. Do you dare to go toe-to-toe with me in the court? Chen Hao looked him up and down, suddenly laughed, and then his face turned cold, and he gritted his teeth and said, "You are dreaming." I'd rather speak to the wall than argue with you. With that, he turned and left.

You Heng laughed heartily and waved at Chen Hao,

"Big Axe, send me to Master Kong's mansion, I don't know the way."

"If you don't have time, find it yourself." In mid-November, in addition to Youzhou and the northern counties of Bingzhou, most of the county officials in Jizhou, Yanzhou, Qingzhou, Bingzhou, Sili and other places rushed to Chang'an one after another, and began to present the accounting books to the Prime Minister Cai Yong, reporting the specific situation.

In this dynasty, the prime minister was responsible for receiving the account, and in the second year of the emperor's life (second year BC), the prime minister was changed to Situ, and Situ was immediately responsible for the accounting.

When Shang Shutai was in power, the emperor often personally or entrusted Shang Shutai to be responsible for the calculation. After the prime minister is calculated, he wants to make peace

The officials above the "middle two thousand stones" (i.e., the three princes and nine secretaries) reviewed the accounting documents together, and recruited the county officials to inquire in detail.

In order to ensure the accuracy of the facts and figures presented in the plan, we will try our best to prevent the occurrence of fraud and violations.

The "Law of Upper Calculation" characterizes the errors that occur in the accounting statistics as follows:

"Book error" and

There are two kinds of "real errors".

A "clerical error" is a clerical error, and a slight punishment is imposed.

"True error" means falsifying, deceiving the imperial court, and concealing criminal responsibility, and if it is verified, the punishment is extremely severe. The county and state ministers were very cautious about this, carefully proofreading and verifying the accounting books submitted by the counties, and also required the counties to make a separate list of the detailed accounts of some of the items when submitting the accounting books

"牒"), which is submitted as an annex for direct review and review by the county government. All over the county in order to

"Shangji" is going to be busy for a long time. And the Han Dynasty has more than 100 counties, and at the end of the year, the imperial court is also busy, and the subordinates of the Prime Minister's Mansion even work all night.

At present, there are only fifty-two counties under the direct control of the imperial court, but because the Han Dynasty is in a period of war, there are many military and political affairs, and the number of counties is very large, and it is also very difficult for the imperial court to review it.

Comparatively speaking, the review time is also correspondingly longer. In the plans of each county, the imperial court mainly examined the increase and decrease of population, the amount and distribution of land, the collection and expenditure of financial endowments, and the relief of the poor, and other important situations that were directly related to the growth of national strength and social stability.

In late November, the imperial court found out the problem in the plan of Ganling State. There are many discrepancies between the report of the Ganling State and the facts grasped by the imperial court, and there is a big discrepancy between the data provided by Xing Hao, the assassin of Jizhou, in the book, especially in the book

There are obvious falsifications in the number of "job fields," the amount of land that can be cultivated by military households, and the expenses for relief and water conservancy construction.

Taichangqing Xu Shao is Xu Ming's father. Prime Minister Cai Yong asked the Son of Heaven to ask Xu Shao to recuse himself immediately and no longer participate in the review of the plan.

In addition, the case was transferred to the Tingwei Mansion and the officials of the Ganling State were detained for detailed inquiries. At the same time, Liu He, the imperial historian, impeached the minister of Ganling State, saying that he was corrupt and perverted the law in the county, and he was lawless.

I implore the Son of Heaven to immediately issue an order to let Xing Hao, the assassin of Jizhou, rush to Ganling Kingdom and arrest Xu Ming, so that Xu Chao would not collude with his subordinates to destroy the evidence after Xu Chao got the news.

After careful consideration, the eldest princess refuted Liu He's impeachment note, believing that this case could not be concluded until it was thoroughly investigated.

However, in order to facilitate the investigation of the case, the eldest princess still issued an order in the name of the Son of Heaven to let Xing Hao rush to Ganling Kingdom and temporarily detain Xu Ming.

This happened very suddenly, not only Xu Shao was caught off guard, but there was no chance to dredge up the intercession, and even the Great Sima General Li Hong and the Great Si Nong Li Wei and others were also extremely surprised.

Now that Xu Shao is in trouble because of his son, of course he doesn't dare to support Zheng Xuan anymore, so who will the prime minister deal with next?

Yang Biao? At the end of November, the imperial court found the problem again in the review of the plan. The number of county officials reported by Yang Yi, the Taishou of Hongnong County, far exceeded the actual number in the above calculation, and the purpose was to occupy more

"Duty field" to seek personal interests for himself and his subordinates. What is even more serious is that he falsely reported the number of displaced people resettled, and his colleagues embezzled the imperial court's wealth.

In order to properly resettle the displaced people, the imperial court not only required each county to naturalize and settle the displaced people nearby and distribute land, but also required each county to give the displaced people houses to live in, and give them agricultural tools and seeds and other agricultural materials.

The more displaced people are resettled in each county, the more relief money is allocated by the imperial court, and the more rewards the imperial court gives to the county officials.

This year, the army regained Luoyang, and Hongnong County and Henan Yin had to settle a large number of displaced people. According to the usual practice, when encountering such a thing, the county government government has to more or less falsely report the number of people, on the one hand, it can add some money and grain to the county treasury, and on the other hand, it can also seek some benefits for the county officials.

But Yang Yi was too bold and falsely reported too many people, so he quickly found out. The officials of Hongnong County relied on the fact that their boss was Yang Valve's person, and refused to admit it.

Now Yang Biao, the head of the Yang family, is the Taifu, and Yang Qi, the same sect, is Zongzheng, one of the Jiuqing, who is powerful, what are you afraid of?

Chen Gong, the captain of Si Li, immediately gave evidence, and the facts were conclusive, and the officials of Hongnong County were staring at each other and could not be arrogant.

The imperial historian Liu He impeached Yang Yi, the Taishou of Hongnong County, and implored the Son of Heaven to issue an order for Chen Gong, the commander of Sili, to rush to Hongnong County and arrest Yang Yi to the Tingwei Mansion for trial.

The eldest princess was secretly surprised. In the Mingtang system, Yang Yi was on Prime Minister Cai Yong's side, but now Prime Minister Cai Yong, in order to prevent Yang Biao from helping Zheng Xuan, turned his face and denied people and pushed Yang Yi down.

Yang Yi is Yang Biao's fellow sect, and overthrowing Yang Yi is tantamount to warning Yang Biao not to provoke the imperial court, otherwise the imperial court can beat Yang Biao to the ground.

Yang Biao is the head of the Yang family, Yang Yi had an accident, he lost face, and he had to hide at home for the time being, so as not to be ridiculed.

As for Yang Yi, he deceived his superiors and subordinates at the feet of the Son of Heaven, and cheated for personal gain, he was too arrogant, and sooner or later he would cause trouble for Yang Valve, and taking this opportunity to drive him home was a protection for Yang Valve, and it was obviously Yang Qi who supported Cai Yong to do so.

Although Yang Qi and Yang Yi are of the same clan, their relationship has always been bad. In addition, Yang Biao, the head of the family, has also pressed him everywhere, and for decades, he feels very cowardly.

This time, it happened to kill two birds with one stone, and both problems were solved. When the court is stable in the future, and the court needs Yang Valve's contribution, it will not be a problem for him to be ranked as the third duke.

The eldest princess became uneasy, and she had a strong sense of foreboding. After carefully consulting the opinions of Xiao Lan, Chen Qun, Liu Fang and other ministers, she finally decided to issue an order to detain Yang Yi, the Taishou of Hongnong County.

In a period of more than half a month, the imperial court successively found out that there were serious violations of the law in the upper plans of the two counties, and there were different degrees of higher calculations in the nine counties

"False facts". For a time, the atmosphere in Chang'an City was tense, and the officials of the counties were panicked, worried that they would be found out of the problem, and they were also imprisoned in the palace prison.

In December, an even more sensational news came out of Chang'an. The upper plan of the Yanzhou Thorn History Department and the upper plan of Jiyin County have all found out the problem.

Yanzhou Thorn Shi Ding Li and Jiyin County Taishou Zhu Wei were corrupt and bent the law in the two matters of resettlement of displaced people and relief for the poor, and they were embarrassed.

The two not only joined forces to deceive the imperial court and defraud wealth, but also teamed up with some wealthy men in Yanzhou to buy and sell land privately and make huge profits.

Yanzhou Thorn Shi Ding Li is a disciple of the former Taiwei Zhu Jun and a fellow disciple of Li Wei, the great Sinong. Zhu Wei of Jiyin County is the son of Zhu Jun, the former Taiwei Taiwei, the brother-in-law of Li Wei, the younger brother of Zhu Mu, the eldest princess, and the elder brother of Shi Zhu Xiaolan, the head of the eldest princess's mansion.

Prime Minister Cai Yong hurriedly played the eldest princess, and asked Dasi Nong Li Wei to avoid it and no longer participate in the review of the plan.

Please ask Zhongshu Zuo to order Zhu Mu and Shi Zhu Xiaolan, the head of the Eldest Princess's Mansion, to recuse themselves, stop handling government affairs for the time being, and fully cooperate with the investigation of the Tingwei Mansion.

Liu He, the imperial historian, impeached Ding Li, the assassin of Yanzhou, and Zhu Wei, the Taishou of Jiyin County, and implored the Son of Heaven to issue an order to immediately send envoys to Yanzhou to arrest Ding Li and Zhu Wei, escort them back to Chang'an, and hand them over to Tingwei for trial.

When the eldest princess saw the recital, she suddenly felt cold, and she was speechless for a long time. Her sense of foreboding was verified, and the storm was already blowing in her face, and she couldn't stop it.

For the first time, she felt the powerful power of Xiangquan and the Achilles heel of imperial power. There are pros and cons to any power, and although the imperial power and the relative power check each other, they also complement each other's strengths and weaknesses.

When the two sides reach a balance point, the court will be stable. At present, the checks and balances of power in the court are not the checks and balances of imperial power and relative power, but the three-legged balance of imperial power, prime minister power and military power, which is a deformed official system and a product of a special situation.

Its existence makes it possible for the power in the court to restrain each other, but it cannot complement each other's strengths and weaknesses. There is only restraint and no complementarity in power, and its balance is an illusion.

When the external forces invade, the illusion is shattered, and all that remains is that the three kill each other, and there is no possibility of retreat.

Whoever retreats will be killed by the other two, and the remaining two will continue to fight until the only one remains.

Today's court has fallen into such a dead end, and the way to rescue it is to drive out the external forces of the invasion, that is, to adopt the five-room Mingtang system in the construction of Sanyong, so that this storm can stop immediately and minimize the loss.

The eldest princess ordered Prime Minister Cai Yong and General Sima Li Hong to immediately rush to Liyang Palace to discuss matters. In Chang'an, after hearing the news, Li Hong, the general of the Great Sima, immediately sent Fu Gan to rush to the Dasi Nong Mansion to meet with Li Wei and inquire about the specific situation.

"Brother Zhongyuan, is this matter true or false?" Fu Gan was anxious,

"The general asked me to ask you, please tell the truth, are Brother Jingming (Ding Li) and Brother Zhongping (Zhu Wei) corrupt the law?" Li Wei's face was gloomy and he was silent for a long time, when suddenly he smashed his fist on the desk and said angrily: "No, they didn't bend the law for bribes, they didn't take a single money from home." But now the fact is that what they did break the law, and all the evidence shows that they did corrupt the law. Fu Gan was stunned for a moment, but he didn't understand,

"Brother Zhong Yuan, what do you mean by that? Why can't I understand? Since Brother Jingming (Ding Li) and Brother Zhongping (Zhu Wei) have not filled their pockets and are innocent, how can there be the fact of corruption and perversion of the law? Li Wei smiled bitterly and shook his head again and again.

"The final interpretation of any policy lies in the imperial court, if the state and county government understands wrongly, or the imperial court deliberately makes you misunderstood, then even if you have a hundred mouths, you will not be able to return your innocence." In the Xintian system, the imperial court had a detailed regulation on various types of land, which were listed separately after the sealing of fields (i.e., the total number of acres of land).

"Yiju roads, mountains, rivers and forests, groups of unreclaimed fields, reclaimable and non-reclaimable fields and fixed reclaimed fields." Herein lies the problem

"The group cannot be cultivated" and

"Reclaimable but not reclaimable". Although the uncultivated land is not suitable for farming, it may be rich in ores, can be planted with trees such as mulberry and fruit trees, can be used to raise livestock, and the burden of land is calculated according to the amount of ordinary fertile land.

Therefore, even if the initial investment is relatively large, the return is far greater than that of farming, so the wealthy will generally take the initiative to buy or rent these land.

Reclaimable but non-reclaimable land generally refers to uncultivated land and inferior quality. When these two types of land are granted, they are generally doubled, doubled, or even tripled or five times given to farmers, but because Yanzhou is basically a rich township at present, there are few people on land, so no one wants these lands.

In order to increase taxes, the imperial court issued an order to all states and counties that these two types of land could be sold, and gave a reference price.

There are many wealthy people in Yanzhou, and the price was very cheap when they first sold these lands, so many people bought them.

They invested a lot of money in the land, and the return was very high. Everyone tasted the sweetness and wanted to buy it again, and of course the price was rising.

The return on land is high, the price has risen, and the amount of land is still limited, so some people sell, and some people buy.

However, the imperial court believed that some of these lands were later turned into reclaimable land, and the nature of the land had changed, and it was land that was strictly forbidden to be bought and sold, and the state and county governments were still indulging and instigating, and even personally participating in the sale and sale, which was a serious violation of the law by knowing the law.

This is the origin of the crime of Ding Li, Zhu Wei, and some wealthy men in Yanzhou buying and selling land privately and making huge profits from it.

Fu Gan understood. If this matter is indeed contrary to the law according to the "Tian Law", unless the imperial court reconstructs the "Tian Law" according to the special circumstances that occurred in Yanzhou, or explains some provisions of the "Tian Law", Ding Li and Zhu Wei's charges can be regarded as a backlash.

"Then the court said, what happened to the two brothers deliberately squeezing the court's wealth in the two things of resettlement of displaced people and relief of the poor?" Fu Gan asked.

"To resettle displaced people, it is natural to provide relief. To help the poor, we must also give relief. But these two alms are not the same. Li Wei sighed,

"Emperor Xiaowen once proposed, 'When Fang Chun is peaceful, he will help the lonely and poor people', and this sentence later became the Great Han Law, that is, 'Xingchun'. Every spring, the state and county officials have to give relief to the poor peasant households, but the relief of the poor is only a benevolent government of the local officials, and it is a political achievement of the local officials, and the number is limited. The resettlement of displaced people is different, as long as they are displaced people, they must be helped, and they can be given at any time, which is a thankless task. ”

"Yanzhou has only been stable for two years, and there are many poor people, relying on 'Xingchun' to help the poor, so they took the opportunity of the rebels entering Yanzhou this year to falsely report the number of displaced people to the imperial court, and obtained a large amount of relief money and grain, so the crime of deliberately squeezing the wealth of the imperial court has fallen." Fu Gan was dumbfounded.

Although the two brothers did not take a single piece of money from their own family, it was an ironclad matter to break the law.

"This is the power of the prime minister, this is the power of the prime minister." Li Wei's expression was cold, and he said hatefully,

"A law, which he interprets to the left, can make you live, and to the right, can make you die."

"Brother Zhongyuan, is there a way to save me?" Li Wei sneered,

"Now that the bow is drawn, there is no turning back. If you want to save Jingming and Zhongping, you have to fight to the end. You are Sima Yi's brother-in-law, do you think he can be trusted? ”

"Zhongda? What are you looking for him? Fu Gan asked in surprise. Jump to