Xuande

Chapter 18 Two Qualified Businessmen
Under the procuratorate system, the most orthodox ranks of advancement for scholars are to promote filial piety and honesty, and to be talented.

Maocai, a part of the prosecution system, was originally called Xiucai, but in order to avoid the name taboo of Liu Xiu, it was changed to Maocai. To put it simply, it is the advanced version of Xiaolian.

Unlike Xiaolian, who was almost exclusively promoted by prefects and ministers of the county, Maocai was mostly promoted by princes, generals, Guanglu, Sili, and governors of various states, which means that Maocai had a higher political level.

Once selected as a talent, the political starting point and political future are better than Xiaolian, and it is easier to break the political ceiling, and the possibility of becoming a high-ranking official in the future will be much greater than Xiaolian.

In comparison, Maocai is comparable to the pitifully few Shujishi in the imperial examinations of the Ming Dynasty in later generations. The unwritten rule of the Ming Dynasty was that only Shujishi could be ministers of the cabinet, so Shujishi was also called phase storage.

Moreover, Maocai is more difficult to recommend than Xiaolian, and there are many people who are recommended, but the number of successful recommendation is less than one-tenth of Xiaolian's. Of course, rare things are more expensive.

This is really difficult.

With regard to the matter of promoting Maocai, Lu Zhi simply said that he was not sure, and did not give Liu Bei any ambiguous statements to make him have illusions.

"It's not impossible to ask acquaintances from the Luoyang court to help. As a teacher, I know a lot of people who are qualified to recommend Maocai at the central government, but the number of people who recommend Maocai is too limited. The political context behind each person is also complex.

Everyone has children who want to become officials through more advanced Maocai, and they all want to be high-ranking officials, but there are only so many Maocai places, and almost all of them are controlled by the Fanyue family, and there are very few who can be diverted to outsiders . "

When Lu Zhi said that he was not sure, it was tantamount to being unable to do it. This shows how deep Maocai's water is, and even a big boss like Lu Zhi can't grasp it.

So Lu Zhi suggested that Liu Bei take the road of filial piety and integrity.

Compared with Maocai, who has little maneuverability, Xiaolian is much more maneuverable. The so-called "Ju Xiaolian's father lives apart", it can be seen that Ju Xiaolian, a system for selecting talents for the country, has been adopted in this era. How bad is it.

But to go this way, you have to rely on the help of Han Rong, the prefect of Zhuojun County. Only he has the qualifications to elect the people of this county as Xiaolian.

The rule for recommending Xiaolian is that every 20 people in a county can recommend one Xiaolian to the central government every year, and Zhuo County has a large population of about 70, so it can recommend three Xiaolians to the central government every year.

There are only three people in this precious place every year, and the families with certain strength in the entire Zhuo County are vying for it. In order to take into account the forces of all parties and his own situation, Han Rong will make a decision after careful consideration.

And there are too many actionable parts.

There are very few people from Youzhou who have great reputation and interpersonal relationships in the central government. As a frontier, Youzhou people have never been valued by people in Hebei and the Central Plains. Lu Zhi has braved regional discrimination all the way to his current position. , it is not easy.

So the Lu family is quite prestigious in Youzhou, not to mention in Zhuo County and Zhuo County.

At that time, Lu Zhi made it very clear that he could still contribute a little bit in this matter. With the influence of the Lu family in the local area, the prefect himself still wanted to give the Lu family a little face.

Of course, it mainly depends on whether Liu Bei can seize the opportunity.

A little bit of strength?

Liu Bei smiled wryly.

"The teacher has always been an upright person, and the disciple is incompetent, but he wants the teacher to do such a thing for the disciple. The disciple really feels guilty..."

Lu Zhi just shook his head and smiled.

"You are a talented person. You can see your talent in governing the country, marching and fighting, and being a teacher. In time, you will be a pillar of the country. Instead of letting those who are unfaithful and unfilial become filial and honest, it is better to let the pillars of the country take their place. , why not?"

A pillar of the country?
When Lu Zhi said these words, Liu Bei had a trace of doubt in his heart.

He didn't know how he was defined as a pillar of the country.

It is true that in his heart he definitely hoped that this glorious man and the entire nation would prosper and avoid all kinds of suffering and depravity in the future, but with his innocent and innocent body, could he really do these things?
Liu Bei didn't know.

But what he knows is that for ordinary people, there is a huge gap between being an official and not being an official.

The process of meeting Han Rong was indeed very easy and smooth.

Han Rong's own background of the ancient literature school, the background of the Lu family in this county, and the help of Lu Zhi himself, with a three-pronged approach, Han Rong decided without much hesitation to give Liu Bei the three filial piety places when he became an adult. One of them was handed over to Liu Bei.

But what was more unexpected was that Han Rong made another request.

Marriage.

Han Rong said that his daughter was beautiful, well-educated, twenty-eight years old, and it was time to choose a good husband. Liu Bei happened to be single and had no marriage.

The subtext couldn't be more obvious.

Ask me to help give the most valuable political resources at hand, you can't just promise some benefits, right?

I can't call you as a subordinate official, and I can't delay your future, but there's nothing wrong with taking a ride, right?

Betrothing my daughter to you with the dignity of my two thousand stone eunuch, does it not insult your status as a great Confucian disciple?
Han Rong watched Liu Bei eagerly and made a request for a deal.

Regarding this, Liu Bei, who was 17 years old at the time, thought about it for a while, then nodded and agreed, and immediately got up and called his father-in-law, which made the prefect Han laugh out loud, and felt that Liu Bei had a bright future.

The marriage was decided by two qualified businessmen.

Before leaving home, Liu Bei was just a little local tyrant and street fighter who was underestimated by others.

After returning home, he is already a disciple of Confucianism, the son-in-law of the prefect, and the future Xiaolian. In the eyes of the upper class, he seems to be a rising star.

The huge difference in status should not make Liu Bei realize that he has really changed his fate against the sky.

The speed of making a fortune after changing fate against the sky is not the same as the speed of making a fortune before.

At that time, it happened that Gongsun Zan was also arranged by his father-in-law to be the county magistrate of Zhuo County because of some merits, which was a great thing for Liu Bei.

Relying on Gongsun Zan's status as county magistrate and Han Rong's status as prefect, as well as the Lu family's trust in him, it is only natural that Liu Bei's family business and power continue to expand, and Su Shuang's eager eyes are also a matter of course.

His fate has indeed changed dramatically since then.

Once you become Xiaolian and pass the re-examination of the Luoyang central government's public office, which is already in vain, you can successfully embark on an official career, become an official, and embark on a completely different life from then on.

After being promoted to be filial and honest, those with tough paths took the central route, first became Lang officials, and then moved to Shangshu, Shi Yushi, Shizhong, Zhonglang Jiang and other officials, step by step to the position of Sangong Jiuqing.

If the road is not hard enough, you have to go to the local area to experience and wait for the opportunity. Generally, you will become the magistrate, chief, and prime minister of each county in the local area, and then move to the prefect and governor, and gradually become a local official.

Lu Zhi is very popular with Liu Hong, the current emperor, and has always been placed in the Shangshutai, the de facto authority of the central government, as a minister, handling actual government affairs for Liu Hong.

The rank of this position does not seem high, but the actual power is great. Relying on Lu Zhi's prestige and power, Liu Bei felt that it should not be difficult for him to stay in the central government to gain fame and seniority.

However, considering that this year has been Guanghe for three years, and there are only four years left before the famous Yellow Turban Rebellion, so whether to run your own power in the central government or go to the local area, because you are carrying the identity of a Han family clan , so Liu Bei is still considering it.

But in the final analysis, in this era when there are so many clansmen in the Han Dynasty, these fringe clan children who are far away from the current royal family for an unknown number of generations will never prosper because of their status as clan clansmen. The identity of the family clan.

The causal relationship between the two is reversed.

So in the final analysis, strength is the most important thing, which is also an important reason why Liu Bei runs the family business and takes in refugees.

So Liu Bei made two-handed preparations. If there is a family business in the local area, the future of the central government cannot be abandoned.

Although it is said that today, Luoyang emperor is more and more like Luoyang prefect, but the 400-year-old prestige of the big Han is still there.

In fact, everyone no longer respected the emperor Luoyang, but no one dared to throw away the flag of the Han Dynasty for a while.

That's why Gongsun Zan, a guy who was promoted as a filial piety but failed to follow the central route, expressed deep envy and jealousy towards Liu Bei's ability to go to Luoyang to become an official, and he had a more complicated attitude towards Liu Bei.

But the fact is here, Gongsun Zan can't change the fact no matter what, he can only look at Liu Bei with envy, and feel extremely longing for Liu Bei's life in Luoyang that Liu Bei is about to start.

After drinking and eating meat, Gongsun Zan took Liu Bei by the hand and sent him out of the mansion. After drinking, Gongsun Zan spoke his mind.

"If Xuande is famous in Luoyang in the future, don't forget to fight side by side in blood."

With a slightly drunk face, Liu Bei hugged Gongsun Zan fiercely.

"Never forget each other!"

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PS: Ask for tickets at the third watch~~~

(End of this chapter)