"I have always advocated diligence and closeness to the people, but the officials below are so diligent and close to the people? Huh?"
Winter has arrived, and the temperature has dropped, but it is not yet cold. However, in the Chongzheng Palace, facing the sullen Emperor Liu, several ministers present felt chilly, and all of them lowered their heads slightly, making the atmosphere tense.
The reason why Emperor Liu was angry was that he had received some rumors about some political trends in the local area. According to the investigation, there are a large number of state and county officials who like to go down to inspect when they have nothing to do. State officials go to counties and towns, and county officials go down
rural.
This is nothing to criticize. This is an inspection and investigation, and it is also following the emperor's supervision, responding to diligent work and being close to the people, understanding the situation, and listening to public opinion. However, problems arise from this.
When a superior official comes to inspect and provide guidance, the inferior officials must express their feelings, including welcomes, receptions, celebrations, and even offerings again. In the early years, when the festival of feudal towns still existed, one of the major shortcomings was that the officials of the states and counties to which they belonged,
Exploiting and exploiting people in order to welcome contributions was later banned by Emperor Liu's express order, and the trend changed.
The more serious problem is that those who frequently go to the countryside are nominally to understand the sentiments of the people and get close to the people, but many officials confidently enjoy the hospitality and dedication of each village and village.
Once or twice is enough. When this kind of behavior becomes the norm, the burden on ordinary rural people will be great. For example, the magistrate of Anyang County goes to the towns and villages under his jurisdiction every two days to put on a show close to the people, one place at a time, and every day
When you go to a place, you just eat and drink, and at most you collect some local products to contribute, and your life is moist...
When he learned about this situation, Emperor Liu was very angry. In the process of governing the country, he had seen many problems, big and small. However, what made him angry was often these, misinterpreting the meaning of his edict.
, behavior that goes against his original intention.
Emperor Liu was really a suspicious and sensitive person. He couldn't help but think that if he just advocated "diligence and closeness to the people", the "smart" officials below would be able to pull off such tricks. Then the policies and systems of the imperial court would be different.
Do officials really comply?
He couldn't help but raise a question mark in his mind about the governance situation of Dahan Daozhou and the real situation of people's livelihood. Even though he had many eyes and ears, his sight and hearing were never blocked, and there were various sources of information, but he had not seen it with his own eyes, so it was more or less
worried.
As a result, the desire to go on tour became stronger...
"Your Majesty, after all, these situations are in the minority. There are tens of thousands of officials in the world. Of course, there are good and bad alike. It is inevitable that there will be a few scum. Since such problems have been discovered, just prescribe the right medicine and punish them." In the palace, Li Ye spoke.
My uncle was quite open-minded about this and seemed very calm.
In fact, he had seen this kind of thing when he was a local official, especially in remote and poor areas. It was quite common. However, most people would not be as careless as those idiots who were exposed.
Worry about food appearance.
"What my uncle said is true! Most of the officials are still fulfilling their duties. Your Majesty cannot blame the officials of the world for the unbearable behavior of a few people!" Dou Yi also stood up and said bluntly.
Hearing this, Emperor Liu couldn't help but glance at these two people. Dou Yi would agree with Li Ye's opinion. This was a rare situation. In the court, the minister who least respected Li Guojiu was Dou Yi.
After all, Dou Yi had such a bad temper that even Emperor Liu dared to confront him.
However, Emperor Liu also agreed with the two views. If the officials of the Han Dynasty behaved like this, then the empire would have had a big problem.
After thinking about it, Emperor Liu looked around and asked: "Since such problems have been discovered, the court must come up with some punishment methods to reverse such bad political trends!"
The punishment is simple and can be dealt with according to the regulations, but how to reverse this unhealthy trend? It is obviously impossible to directly prohibit officials from inspecting the countryside. It is tantamount to giving up food because of choking, and it is conceivable that it will cause the problem of slacking in administration.
In short, no matter what policies and regulations, there will always be problems. If you solve the old ones, new ones will emerge. This is a normal state.
As the Prime Minister, Wei Renpu spoke: "Your Majesty, you can send people to investigate such officials. Those who have confirmed facts will be removed from their posts. If the circumstances are serious, they will be imprisoned. The imperial court should issue an order to all states to treat such people who pretend to be in power to serve the people.
, those who do things that disturb the people will be severely reprimanded. Officials who have no official duties are not allowed to stay in the countryside, and they are strictly prohibited from accepting donations from the people in the countryside. In addition, in the future, the supervisory department should pay close attention to such situations!"
After hearing Wei Renpu's suggestion, Emperor Liu agreed after just a moment's thought, and said directly: "Just do what Wei Qing wants!"
After saying that, he sighed softly. It was difficult to come up with better measures.
"Your Majesty, Privy Councilor Li Chuyun wants to see you!" While Emperor Liu was sighing, a general came in to report.
"Is there a military report coming to Beijing?" Emperor Liu immediately cheered up and waved his hand: "Announcement!"
Soon, Li Chuyun walked into the palace, holding a military report in his hand. Li Chuyun bowed and presented it, saying: "Your Majesty, Northwest Military Report, Yang Ye has captured Xiazhou!"
Hearing such good news, Emperor Liu was also overjoyed, and his depressed mood improved a bit. He took the military report from Yantuo and asked Li Chuyun to explain the situation to the ministers present.
Three full months have passed since Yang Ye was ordered to take up his post in the northwest. Counting the time spent on the journey, as well as the necessary time for early deployment of troops and horses and logistics preparation, it has been almost two months since Yang Ye was stationed.
After such a long time, Yang Ye was stable in Yanzhou, but the officials in the court seemed to have less patience, and various voices came out.
In the eyes of many people, the army was only outnumbered and weak. The imperial court prepared tens of thousands of troops and encircled them from three directions: Yan, Yan, and Feng. How could it take so long? Even when the Hexi Ping was fought, it was not like this.
Procrastination.
Of course, knowing the extent of Emperor Liu's favor towards Yang Ye, no one was stupid enough to directly criticize Yang Ye, but many people still came forward to express their opinions on the use of troops and progress.
Although this is true on the surface, there are even more criticisms secretly. Some people think that Yang Ye is over-rated, and some think that Yang Ye is conservative and timid. People who make these voices include civil servants who are not familiar with military strategy and have not experienced battles.
Many generals.
In the eyes of some military officials, I can do whatever I want, and I will never be like Yang Ye, who is procrastinating...
It can be seen that it is by no means an easy task to be a commander-in-chief and take charge of military affairs. In addition to solving military problems, the political pressure from behind is also huge.
Yang Ye was lucky enough to have an emperor whom he completely trusted and fully supported him, allowing him to withstand all the pressure from behind.
According to military reports from the northwest, on October 9, the Han army had entered Xiazhou City and Li Guangrui surrendered.
On the second day of October, the Han army attacked in three directions. Cui Han led 5,000 troops from the west to leave Yanzhou, and Tian Renlang led 3,000 to the north to leave Fengzhou. This was purely a partial response. The main force was led by Yang Ye himself. Starting from Yanzhou, go straight out of the Great Wall.
From beginning to end, there was only one battle. At Anping Village on the border of Cheyenne, Li Guangrui sent 2,000 troops to defend the enemy, intending to delay the attack. In the end, he failed to resist for a day, and the price he paid was 100 casualties. Zero seven people.
After that, they marched singing loudly all the way without encountering any resistance along the way. Faced with the menacing attack of tens of thousands of Han troops, how could the troops who were already dispersed internally and externally under the political offensive of the Han Dynasty and panicked, how could they resist?
When the people's hearts were scattered, it was difficult to lead the troops. Therefore, they marched all the way and were invincible. Those who surrendered followed. There were even many officials and civilian tribes who took the initiative to welcome them and presented them with supplies to reward the troops.
So, on the 8th, the Han army, under the command of Yang Ye, successfully arrived at Xiazhou City. In this process, Li Guangrui had no countermeasures. Leading the army to attack was an approach that had no chance of winning, which meant that Xiazhou was strong. It can barely provide him with some confidence.
However, it turned out that all his previous response efforts were in vain. When the Han army came to the city, someone secretly reported the situation in the city, and there were many people who were willing to take action to welcome the king's army into the city.
In the city, more than half of the people in the city directly suggested surrender to Li Guangrui due to the overwhelming strength of the Han army and the difficult military and civil affairs. The remaining half, only a handful of people, were willing to follow Li Guangrui and fight to the death.
Externally, the country is suppressed by strong troops, but internally, people are divided. Even if half of the people support him, Li Guangrui is willing to take advantage of it, but the reality is cruel.
Therefore, under internal and external pressure, Li Guangrui, who felt deeply powerless, still did not dare to risk everything and chose to surrender.