The four brothers reunited, and that night, the group returned to Dongpingling, the Jinan administrative office.
Dongpingling is less than a hundred miles away from Zhua, which is 40 kilometers in modern units. It will be there by night.
Unexpectedly, the prefect's mansion was very simple. It was just an ordinary house with three entrances and three exits in the east of the city. Compared to the luxurious mansions of other prefects, it simply looked like a thatched house.
But for Liu Bei, living here is not bad. You must know that when he was the Prime Minister of Pingyuan Kingdom, assassins easily broke into his room.
Entering the so-called "Prefect's Mansion", there were indeed almost no guards inside. Except for Hu Zhi who acted as the housekeeper, there was not even a servant.
After asking about the situation, it turned out that after Liu Bei arrived in Jinan, corruption had become rampant in the area. Officials and powerful men colluded with each other to oppress the people, and the land was full of fish and meat.
Liu Bei sent his supervisors to inspect various places. After discovering the situation, he reported to the imperial court and deposed and punished many officials. For a time, Jinan's politics became clear and corruption among officials was eliminated.
However, many of the problems left over from the past have not been resolved. Moreover, when Liu Bei came to Jinan, he brought more than 10,000 homeless victims. These victims lost their homes, land and livelihood in the disaster.
In addition, many people in Jinan have suffered disasters, so Liu Bei has been struggling to support himself, and the situation is not too good.
At the worst time, even the original prefect's mansion was sold by him and converted into money to use to govern the place.
This house was specially given to Liu Bei when he married the daughter of a local wealthy man. Otherwise, Liu Bei would have to live with an ordinary citizen.
Fortunately, the results of the rectification of officialdom were obvious. After deposing a group of officials who engaged in crooked practices, a group of officials with strong work ability and sense of responsibility were vigorously promoted. With the help of Jushou, they could barely survive the early stage.
This year's spring plowing has brought a bumper harvest in Jinan, and the situation has improved a lot.
Moreover, Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty also used the taxes collected from Jingzhou, Yangzhou and Yizhou to subsidize the local area. Liu Bei not only redeemed the governor's palace, but also kept the place in order and had a completely new look. In last year's official inspection, he also received outstanding achievements.
evaluate.
It's just that Liu Bei is used to living in this small house now. Although the prefect's mansion redeemed it, he doesn't like it very much.
Because ordinary people often came to visit his home, Liu Bei was willing to talk to the people, sit on the same table, eat with the Gui, and listen to the opinions of the people. The prefect's mansion made the high-gate compound look majestic, which made the people a little afraid. On the contrary, this kind of small
The house is much closer to the people, and it is easier to get close to the people.
Hearing Liu Bei's experience in Jinan, Chen Mu could only be speechless. For a high-ranking official with two thousand stones to show such virtue, Liu Bei is probably the only one in the world.
Just considering the situation when Liu Bei was Prime Minister of Pingyuan, it can probably be relieved.
After all, this kind of thing is specifically written in the "Three Kingdoms" and cannot be faked. It is just another place to be the Prime Minister. It is no different from when he was the Prime Minister in Pingyuan country five or six years later.
After entering the "Prefect's Mansion", the first thing to do was of course visit Liu Bei's mother and wife.
Liu Bei's mother was less than fifty years old, but her hair was gray.
The devastation of this era on the common people is obvious. Ordinary people who engage in a lot of physical labor are more likely to look older.
In particular, Liu Bei lost his father in his early years, and his mother raised him alone. At the age of more than 40 years old, he had a hunched body like an old lady in her 70s and 80s.
I had long heard that Chen Mu was Liu Bei's sworn brother. Liu Bei could be where he is today because of Chen Mu's contribution. The old lady held his hand and thanked him with tears and snot. At the same time, she told how difficult it was for her to raise Liu Bei.
Telling embarrassing stories from his childhood.
Chen Mu looked at Liu Bei with a smile. It turned out that his eldest brother was so naughty when he was a child. He almost set fire to other people's houses.
Liu Bei was embarrassed on the sidelines and hurriedly persuaded everyone to enter the house.
At this time, Liu Bei's wife Li was already waiting inside. She was pretty and pretty.
It is said that the Li family made the betrothal gift first because at a gathering last year, the girl fell in love with the handsome Liu Bei at first sight.
There is no way, Liu Bei is handsome and handsome, so it is normal for him to be popular among girls.
Li is also holding a child in her arms. He was born just last month and his name is Liu Feng. Looking at it like this, I guess nothing will happen to him without Liu Chan in the future.
I met Liu Bei's family and Guan Yu's family. Although Mrs. Hu's appearance was ordinary, she was generous and well-behaved. Standing next to her was a little boy, who must be Guan Ping.
"Guan Ping has met my uncle."
Xiao Guanping is fair and tender. He is seven years old this year, but his figure is similar to that of his father. He is already 1.4 meters tall and has a strong body.
Looking at the three-foot-three-long ring-headed knife he wore on his waist, the corners of Chen Mu's mouth twitched slightly. It seemed that he would no longer be able to beat up elementary school students.
"Good boy, have you studied? How are your grades?"
Chen Mu touched Guan Ping's head and said with a bad taste.
Well, at the age of eighteen, I have already experienced the joy of being an elder. This feeling is really good.
No wonder that before time travel, my relatives and elders had to torture themselves every year. Just worrying about whether they have a partner would make them annoyed to death. It turns out that it is so good to base happiness on the pain of others.
Guan Ping murmured: "I'm studying, and my grades... are acceptable..."
Guan Yu sighed beside him and said: "I have been studying for almost a year, but I can only recognize a dozen characters. It seems that this boy is not good at studying."
Being ruthlessly exposed by his father, Guan Ping had embarrassment written all over his face.
Chen Mu smiled: "It's okay, but you still have to recognize the characters. Even if you want to go to the battlefield as a general in the future, you have to learn the art of war and strategy. You can't just be a reckless man who can only wield a sword and a stick."
Zhang Fei was alert and vaguely felt that his brother seemed to have something in his words and meant something.
After meeting the eldest brother and the second brother's family, the four brothers came to the hall to discuss matters.
The four of them sat down, and Liu Bei calmed down and said, "Fourth brother, now that you have come to Qingzhou to be the governor, do you have any plans?"
Chen Mu nodded: "Three things. The first is to clean up the officialdom in Qingzhou. Corrupt officials will be eliminated. I will write a letter to impeach those who are incompetent. The second is to govern the place. We must first deal with the yellow scarf thieves in Qingzhou.
to make the public security environment in Qingzhou better. The third is people's livelihood issues. These are what I have to do now and are within my authority."
The official rank of the governor is indeed lower than that of the prefect, and this position is a supervisory official with no actual power to intervene in the local area.
But if local officials fail to act or commit any illegal behavior, the governor can write to the court to impeach officials at the prefecture level and below and remove them from their posts.
Many people think that the governor is a subordinate of the governor. In fact, the governor is the governor's subordinate. Although like the governor, the governor is also responsible for supervising local officials.
However, the governor can impeach officials ranging from the prefect to the county magistrate, while the governor can only supervise officials below the county magistrate, such as county captains and county officials.
Originally, in history, Liu Bei became the captain of Anxi County due to his contribution to the Yellow Turban Uprising and the suppression of Zhang Chun's rebellion, but was dismissed by the governor. Then Liu Bei got angry and beat the governor severely and walked away.
This is actually because Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty did not want so many officials with high military merit, because he wanted to sell these official positions, which had nothing to do with the previous Zhang Chun rebellion.
After hearing these three things that Chen Mu wanted to do, Liu Bei shook his head and said: "That's it. What the fourth brother has to do is indeed the duty of the governor. It's just that the officialdom in Qingzhou is very complicated now, and many officials have backgrounds. I'm afraid it's not good.
deal with."
Chen Mu smiled and said: "I'm new here and I don't know the situation here. Of course I won't attack the officialdom so quickly. I'll wait until I figure out the way to the officialdom in Qingzhou."
"It turns out that the fourth brother has already had his own considerations. It seems that I have thought too much."
Liu Bei praised them and then said: "But the Qingzhou Yellow Turban Bandits...these people are gathering in the mountains and forests and scattered in various places. If they gather together, even as many as millions, it will not be solved overnight."
Chen Mu nodded and said: "So the top priority now is to understand the specific details of the Qingzhou Yellow Turban. Firstly, to establish prestige. Secondly, these are laborers and cannot be ignored."
Guan Yu on the side interjected: "Fourth brother wants to know where the Yellow Turban Thief is?"
"Let's start with Jinan."
Chen Mu muttered: "You have to eat one bite at a time, and you have to take one step at a time."
Liu Guan and Zhang looked at each other and laughed.
When Chen Mu saw them laughing, he guessed the reason in his heart and said with a smile: "Is it possible that the Jinan Yellow Turbans have been eliminated by the brothers?"
Zhang Fei said happily: "Under Jushou's advice, my eldest brother fought several battles, defeated the Yellow Turbans in Jinan, and surrendered tens of thousands of people. Now they have all been captured to cultivate the fields. Now there are no Yellow Turban thieves in Jinan."
Chen Mu said happily: "That's good. Since there are no more Yellow Turban thieves in Jinan, let's talk about the Yellow Turban thieves in other places."
Liu, Guan, and Zhang told him about the distribution of the Yellow Turbans in Qingzhou.
How did Cao Cao start his family back then? It wasn't because he surrendered millions of Qingzhou Yellow Turbans and farmed the fields to become rich. This was the basis for the Battle of Guandu.
Otherwise, with his strength in occupying Yanzhou, it would be almost impossible to compete with Yuan Shao's power in Hebei for so long.
Now that Chen Mu has arrived in Qingzhou, these millions of laborers cannot be enemies.
You must know that Qingzhou is Shandong in later generations, a major agricultural province with quite good natural conditions for crops. If you can take power in Qingzhou and cultivate large-scale farming, it will not be a problem to feed millions of people.
After explaining the situation of the Yellow Turbans in Qingzhou, Liu Bei said: "Fourth brother has always had strategies and plans of his own. Since we want to conquer the Yellow Turbans first, if you want to do anything for me, just ask."
Chen Mu thought for a moment and said, "It will be November soon, so it should be getting cold."
"Yes, the weather has indeed gotten colder recently."
Liu Bei nodded.
Chen Mu's eyes flashed. The economic effect of floor heating was booming in Luoyang, but he didn't know how it would be in Qingzhou.
In ancient times, this was good. There was nothing. As long as we invented and created new things and provided new things to the rich, we could quickly get rid of the rich's money.
The significance of the economy lies in the circulation of currency. For those rich, money buried in the ground is no different from scrap copper.
Revitalizing the market is equivalent to revitalizing the economy. Only when the market and economy are prosperous can the country become strong and prosperous.
certainly.
The premise of all this is that productivity reaches the standard.
The reason why the Song Dynasty was able to develop commerce and have a population of more than 100 million at its peak was because of improved agricultural tools, repair of water conservancy, and Champa rice imported from Vietnam to provide enough food and ensure sufficient productivity.
The yield per mu in the Han Dynasty was extremely low, and it was impossible to bring the economy to a prosperous level. It was impossible to fill the stomach, let alone promote the economy.
Therefore, if Chen Mu wants to open up the situation, he must first obtain enough farmland in Qingzhou so that the labor force can farm.
The second step is to consider the problem of labor force. Otherwise, even if millions of Qingzhou Yellow Turban thieves are defeated, there will be no land for them to cultivate, and they will still be unable to farm, and they will end up with nothing.
That night, the four brothers rested together and talked about many things before falling asleep.