Three Kingdoms: Ancestors of the Han Dynasty

Chapter 342
In the eighth year of Jianxing, Emperor Liu Chan of the Han Dynasty, in December, Gaoping was the first city.

The crescent moon is cold, overlooking the Northwest Fortress, the cold wind howls, beats on the window sill, and blows the snowflakes flying all over the sky outside the window.

Unlike the cold wind outside the house, the house is very warm. Bonfires were lit in several fire pits, and the raging flames lit up the whole house.

Under the orange lamp, Zhuge Liang was watching the content of the conversation between His Majesty the Great Han and his servant Dong Yun by the Han River that was delivered a few days ago, and from time to time he took up a pen to write the main points on the silk scarf.

After a while, Zhuge Liang put his pen down on the table, picked up the hot ginseng tea on the table, and sipped it lightly.A slightly bitter taste of tea stimulated Zhuge Liang's mouth and nose.

Zhuge Liang put down the ginseng tea reluctantly, relishing the sweet and bitter ginseng tea from time to time in his mouth.

This Shangdang ginseng was entrusted by Yang Yi in a letter from Liu Chan, and he obtained it extensively.

At that time, Cao Zhen died of illness in the army, and Zhuge Liang felt a faint uneasiness in his heart. It happened that Yang Yi offered ginseng, which he said had the effect of calming the nerves, so he poured it into tea.

After drinking many times, Zhuge Liang found that his tired body was no longer so tired.After coming and going, Zhuge Liang fell in love with ginseng tea and often carried it with him.

It's a pity that there is no ginseng in Yizhou, and only Shangdang County in Bingzhou in the Central Plains (Note ①), and the quality of the ginseng is not high. The best is Liaodong ginseng.

Zhuge Liang reached out and handed the scarf to Pan Jun, and said, "Chengming (Pan Jun's word), just watch your majesty talk about limiting the land with Xiu Zhao."

Pan Jun looked up at Zhuge Liang, put down his pen on the table, took the scarf curiously, and looked at it carefully.

Zhuge Liang stood up very leisurely, tapped his back, strolled around the hall with ginseng tea, and looked at the officials of the inner government who bowed their heads on the case from time to time.If you see something you are dissatisfied with, point your finger at the official document on the copybook to correct it;

While drinking ginseng tea, there was no water, and he walked to the edge of the fire pit, took the kettle, poured some warm water into the teacup, and continued to soak the ginseng slices.Then he returned to his seat, took an official document, and checked it again.

At this time, Pan Jun had just finished watching the brief conversation between Liu Chan and Dong Yun, and his face showed deep thought.

Zhuge Liang leaned over his desk and wrote the word "read" on the official document. He caught a glimpse of Pan Jun out of the corner of his eye and asked, "What does Cheng Ming think?"

Pan Jun stood up, pointed to the back hall, cupped his hands and said, "Prime Minister, please come in and talk about it."

Zhuge Liang understood what Pan Jun meant. What Tian Zhi talked about with His Majesty was a private matter, which should not be known by ordinary officials.So he stood up, picked up the hot ginseng tea and walked to the back hall.

Pan Jun and Zhuge Liang sat opposite each other, and said in a deep voice, "Jun dare not speak nonsense, but Jun thinks what your Majesty said is not unreasonable. In the former Han Dynasty, Dong Zhongshu went to the Emperor Xiaowu to let the world limit the land, and the Emperor Xiaowu knew about it. It is serious, but I don't know how to do it, I can only rule the powerful with strict laws and cruel officials, so as to slow down the annexation."

"But when the emperor mourned, there was neither great talent nor great strategy, and he was powerless to do anything about it, and eventually lost the world. Therefore, following the ancient system, to restrict private people from occupying land. This is the national policy, that is, our great Han will eventually conquer the world. Only then can it last for thousands of years.”

Pan Jun's words basically showed the Western Han Dynasty's attitude towards limited land. Emperor Xiaowen allowed the people to occupy the land because of the emptiness of the world, and it was passed down to Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty when the powerful and powerful stood side by side.At that time, Dong Zhongshu made a statement on the matter, but Dong Zhongshu only proposed the idea of ​​restricting the people, without specific measures.

The Han Dynasty was the first unified dynasty, and Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was also the first emperor to face the problem of powerful land annexation.Since no corresponding reference measures can be found in history, we can only use cruel officials to crack down on the powerful and delay the situation of land annexation.

When it came to Emperor Ai of the Han Dynasty, Shi Dan proposed a relatively feasible strategy, but at that time the big man was already terminally ill and hopeless.

Zhuge Liang nodded slightly, tapped on the table with his hand, and asked, "I wonder what Cheng Ming thought Shi Jiehou (Shi Dan) would do?"

Hearing this, Pan Jun frowned and pondered, stroked his beard and said, "If you remember correctly, the Marquis of Master's Day said that the marquis, officials, and people in the Guannei should not exceed 200 hectares of land. The king's servants and maidservants are 30 people, and the princes [-] people, princesses, [-] people in Guanneihou, officials, and people. After three years, the offender will not be an official."

Shidan's policy is to set an upper limit. The land of Guanneihou, officials, and people cannot exceed 200 hectares. For servants, it is 30 people for princes, [-] people for princes and princesses, and [-] people for Guanneihou, officials, and people.If it exceeds, it will be directly confiscated by the government.

As he spoke, Pan Jun shook his head and said, "Marquis Shi Jie can punish you, but you can't accept the upper limit of famous land that you have set."

Holding warm ginseng tea, Zhuge Liang murmured and said, "Liang thinks that different grades should be set. There should be distinctions between kings, marquises, officials, officials, soldiers, and civilians. They should not be generalized. Different upper limits should be set. To distinguish between high and low status."

Pan Jun blinked his eyes and said in a low voice: "What Prime Minister Shang said is not unreasonable, but there are differences in officials, and the gap is huge. I don't know how to decide?"

Zhuge Liang looked at Pan Jun, and said tentatively, "Why don't you limit yourself to the amount of salary?"

Pan Jun chuckled, and said: "Maybe it can be done, but I have heard that Cao Rui, who is against the Wei Dynasty, wants to improve the official rank and make the official rank nine."

Zhuge Liang pondered for a while, shook his head, and said: "Liang also heard about it, but the Nine Grades system is still insufficient at this time, and it may provoke people's tongues. First, the official salary will be temporarily used to divide the officials into the field."

After a pause, Zhuge Liang stroked his beard and said, "As for the soldiers and civilians, Liang thought it would be better to limit the number of acres of land with the [-]th rank system for soldiers."

Pan Jun nodded slightly, approvingly said: "What the Prime Minister said is also Jun's thinking. Soldiers and civilians are limited by their titles, and officials are limited by their salaries."

Speaking of this, Pan Jun paused for a while, and said: "It's just that if you are a general, and the title conflicts with the official, how to judge it? How about taking both the title and the official, and the higher one is the limit?"

Zhuge Liang took a sip of the ginseng tea and said, "From what Chengming said, there are distinctions between nobles and officials, and the highest one is the limit."

Putting down the ginseng tea, Zhuge Liang looked at Pan Jun and said in a low voice: "It is not a big deal for officials and nobles to limit the land. The problem lies in what His Majesty said in his letter, how should the people limit it so as not to harm the accumulation of national strength? And the powerful gentry occupy it Tian, ​​how to do it?"

"These two questions are an important matter to limit the land. There are many Yizhou scholars in the inner government, so Liang dare not discuss with them. Only Jun and Liang in the army have the ability to solve this question."

What Zhuge Liang said is true. If the big Han can have great talents in governing the country today, apart from Zhang Yi who has died of illness, only Jiang Wan and Pan Jun can rely on him. The current Fei Yi, Dong Yun, and Lu Yi are still slightly behind.

Pan Jun was Jiang Wan's cousin, and at the age of weak crown, he studied with Song Zhong, a great Confucian in the Eastern Han Dynasty. Wang Can, the seventh son of Jian'an, was very surprised when he saw him.Pan Jun became an official very early, and under the appointment of Liu Biao, he served as Jiangxia Officer and Xiangxiang Commander; when Old Liu was in charge of Jingzhou Governor, Pan Jun was in charge of the government, and his position was second only to Bie Jia.

He is upright, unafraid of authority, and knows very well about military affairs. After returning to Shu, he was appointed by Zhuge Liang as the Inner Palace Secretary, in charge of judicial matters.During the Northern Expedition, after Liu Yan's death, Zhuge Liang appointed him as the Central Military Adviser. He often accompanied Zhuge Liang and was inseparable.

Pan Jun pondered for a while, and said: "This matter depends on the country and the intention of the Prime Minister!"
-
① "Shuowen Jiezi": "Ginseng, ginseng, medicinal herbs, come from Shangdang."

(End of this chapter)