There is no doubt that no matter how much change Liu Min plans to make and how strong his determination is, Anxi's affairs have not reached the point where he has made his own decisions.
Although you can talk to yourself, the consequences may also be serious. Therefore, regarding the reform of Anxi, Liu Min personally drafted a detailed charter and reported it to the court. He rode five hundred miles, riding fast, rain or shine, and arrived in Luoyang.
It's late June.
It was raining heavily and there were thunder gods in the sky, but the atmosphere in the Guangzheng Palace was unexpectedly relaxed. The main reason was that the laughter of the Crown Prince Liu Yang seemed cheerful, which was extremely rare for His Royal Highness, who was always reserved. The ministers present were naturally relaxed.
Quite a few.
"Recently, I have rarely received some good news. Qian Ruoshui, Yao Yigong, and Wang Ji are all rare capable ministers and officials!" Liu Yangchang said.
How can I put it, in the past few months, the political arena of the Han Dynasty has not been stable, with troubles everywhere, and peace is rare. Needless to say, the central government, from the prince to the court officials, all live in the shadow of the old emperor, moody
Temper makes people walk on thin ice.
Locally, the northwest officialdom has undergone another major purge, especially in Hexi and Longyou districts. Half of the officials have been replaced, including many high-ranking officials above the state capital. There are more than 200 people who need to lose their heads, which has affected
It spread, and many officials in Guannai Road were also dismissed.
A group of "reformers" led by Wang Yucheng were happy, but the political affairs of Helong were neglected, and the administration of many places even fell into temporary chaos and paralysis.
Seeing that the situation was escalating and the sequelae of the purge became more and more prominent, Prince Liu Yang could not sit still and went to the old emperor in person to report in detail the situation and situation of Helong's reforms.
There was a conversation between the emperor and the prince. Translated, it goes like this:
Prince: Your Majesty, do you think this is enough?
Emperor: Do you think that’s enough?
Prince: Enough!
Emperor: Why? Too much is not enough?
Prince: The local government is in danger, and the powerful are repeated!
Then, there was no clear edict, but the rectification of the northwest officialdom was actually stopped. According to inspection, the censor did not conduct large-scale investigations and impeachments, nor did he continue to make large-scale changes in officials. The major issues gradually became smaller and then disappeared.
Compared with the past, the rectification of the northwest officialdom lasted shorter and was not large in scale. It was basically limited to Helong Road, but the impact was not small at all, and even more profound.
Killing is only one aspect. What is more important is the warning from the prince, which is repeated by force. It is said that the bureaucrats of the Han Dynasty have their own ugly side, but from the perspective of maintaining the Han Empire and consolidating the Liu family, they are also the pillars.
Ordinary existence. The nobles need bureaucrats to balance, the powerful need bureaucrats to restrain, and the people need bureaucrats to govern.
Although there is no absolute boundary between the first two, and there are even many cases of collusion and collusion, at least under the current political situation, the Han bureaucrats, especially the common people bureaucrats, have great positive significance for the Liu family.
Government needs to fight corruption and promote integrity, and the ruling class needs to purify itself to maintain vitality and ensure combat effectiveness. It even needs to use the heads and blood of corrupt officials to ease conflicts and appease people's grievances.
However, everything must have a degree. In the current northwest, the imperial court needs to pay attention to the principle of overcorrection. The officialdom has been purged, the military and political officials have been tortured enough, and the authority of the imperial court has been established, but what about political rule?
In fact, it keeps slipping.
After all, if the bureaucrats have too much time to take care of themselves, how can they find the time and energy to control the powerful and powerful people in Guizhou? The officialdom in northwest China has been reorganized several times in the past thirty years.
After several reorganizations, in some places, there has been a trend of political power falling away. With the help of the court's reorganization, some powerful families and clans have resurrected and stolen local governance power.
At the same time, in order to rule the northwest, the military and political system had absorbed many clan and tribal forces. Although the court's rectification was an indiscriminate attack, those people also suffered heavy losses, but while they slipped through the net, they took the opportunity to expand their influence and grow stronger. Ganzhou Yang
Shi, is the best example.
All in all, Liu Yang's advice struck a chord with Emperor Liu's psychology. If Liu Yang had used commonplace reasons such as political turmoil and unstable public sentiment to dissuade him, he would probably only have earned a rebuke from the old emperor.
In Emperor Liu's view, the imperial court was intensifying its efforts to regulate officials and crack down on corruption and violence. Only the bureaucrats were in trouble, and only the rentier class was disturbed. People's hearts, first of all, the definition of the word "people" needed to be carefully considered.
Ordinary ordinary people, as long as the bureaucrats do not do evil, they can be as stable as Mount Tai without even having to do anything. The relationship between the bureaucrats and the ordinary people has always been domination and exploitation. The purpose of regulating Helong is because local officials are too
You act wantonly, your exploitation is too ruthless, and your appearance is too ugly. The common people can only applaud you, so why complain?
Therefore, it is impossible to impress the old emperor with such rhetoric. However, when the prince repeatedly talks about local governance, clans, and powerful people, the old emperor, who is still not confused about major matters, naturally has to take it seriously.
In the eyes of the old emperor, corrupt officials are abominable and hateful, but not terrible. They are toilet paper that can be used to wipe one's butt at any time. But if the investigation of corrupt officials leads to the deprivation of local governance power, the problem will be more serious.
Therefore, it is reasonable to stop in time. At the same time, so many officials have been captured, the bad governance in the northwest has been changed, and the original intention of the court has been realized. Next, it is time to enter a new cycle,
Start by appeasing the northwest officialdom
In fact, the malpractices in the officialdom of the northwest were repeatedly banned, and even led to the fall of governance. Looking at the root cause, it was found that the fault lay with the old emperor.
Without him, the old emperor became more anxious as he got older. Whenever something happened, he liked to launch campaigns, make connections, expand the area of attack, and carry out large-scale cleansing. How could there not be problems if he did this?
Cao Che's actions can certainly solve the short-term disadvantages, but the sequelae cannot be eliminated by the old emperor's wishes. Under the current restrictions on information and transportation, administrative efficiency is already low, and special efforts are still being carried out in the northwest.
, isn’t this an opportunity for local tyrants to rise up?
In comparison, Prince Liu Yang's steady and progressive approach is more suitable for today's big men. The approach is different, but the ultimate goal can be achieved. At the same time, it is more in line with the principle of "governing a big country is like cooking small dishes".
The politics of the Han Dynasty should be more rational and should not be left to the whims of the old emperor. The political rules of the Han Dynasty were originally set by Emperor Liu, but now, many of the rules have been broken by himself. This is very important for the Han Dynasty. The political ecology is very unfavorable.
It has to be said that the old emperor is no longer suitable to continue to rule this empire. The various problems caused by the old emperor have deeply affected the empire and affected all aspects of the entire empire. In fact, the prince's efforts to repair the leaks have already begun.
Compared with the He and Long purges, there is the commonplace tax reform issue. Although it is no longer as dramatic, the impact on the empire is obviously more far-reaching.
It has been three years since the tax reform was carried out. By this year, it has been fully launched across the country. At the same time, various problems have begun to break out. The most significant problems are two points. One is that resistance from local governments still exists. He did not dare to confront the imperial court, but there were endless devious tricks.
Take the land clearing as an example. The imperial court issued several edicts asking all prefectures to summarize and report the results of land clearing. However, so far, only Gyeonggi, Henan, Yulin, and Jiangnan have done so.
The rest of Daozhou either has not been completed, or the reported data is untrue and looks fake. The most egregious one is Helong. It has not started for three years. I wonder if this is the reason for the "Western Expedition"
Whether it be reprimand or punishment, there is always something to say at the local level. Of course, this problem is common, but it will be solved one day, and data that will satisfy the court will eventually be obtained.
In comparison, the second issue is much more troublesome, and that is the issue of tax reform officials. Any reform or any policy cannot be implemented without the executor. However, the quality of the executor is People have different understandings of policies, and when they get to a certain place, it is inevitable that there will be demons dancing around. What annoys the higher-ups the most are the ones who violate policies and deliberately misinterpret them.
Since the beginning of this year, whether it is from supervisory agencies or local reports, impeachments about the "irregularities" of tax reform bureaucrats have been flying to the political hall like snowflakes.
Of course, there are criticisms of the reformists and there are many falsehoods. Likewise, there are many people and many issues that are real and make people angry.
The three people "Qian, Yao, and Wang" mentioned by Prince Liu Yang are three local officials with outstanding political achievements, good official reputation, and remarkable achievements in tax reform.