My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 377: Promotion of Officials and Titles, and the People's Hearts Can Be Used

Four days later, it was the tenth day of July.

In Hefei city, the streets, lanes and buildings have all changed from their former low-key and tranquil atmosphere. It seems that overnight, they have been enveloped by a warm and tense atmosphere.

Countless merchants and ordinary people who were not well-informed were inevitably involved in various street gossips:

"What's going on? Why are there so many troops moving around in the streets these past two days?"

"You don't know yet? The General of Chariots and Cavalry's shogunate has officially moved here! The big mansion on North Street started to be decorated last night, it's really magnificent! From now on, Hefei will be considered an important city in the world!"

"What's the big deal! In fact, I already knew that the General of Chariots and Cavalry came to Hefei more than two months ago! Otherwise, how could there be so many more troops stationed outside the city? Half a month ago, I saw a very majestic official in Chaohu Town, inspecting the summer tax collection in disguise. Even Chen Gongshi was very respectful to him. As soon as I saw the man's ears, I suspected that it was the General of Chariots and Cavalry!"

As the news spread, everyone started to act in hindsight, saying, "I knew what to do."

Everyone was excited without exception. As a native of Hefei, who wouldn't want to wait for this day to come? If the General of Chariots and Cavalry hadn't moved to Hefei, Hefei would have been just an ordinary county town. Now, it could become a base for supporting the Han Dynasty.

Ordinary people and merchants were like this. The scholars and civil and military officials were naturally eager to follow the generals to make achievements and kill the bandits to serve the country, which showed that people's hearts could be used.

With Yuan Shang about to fall, the fig leaf of the "proxy war" between Liu Bei and Cao Cao can no longer be pulled off.

At this time last year, when Xiahou Yuan attacked Langya County, which was defended by Guan Yu, he initially used the slogan "attack Yuan Tan instead of Liu Bei" to control the scale of the conflict and ensure that it was a "limited war." Even if the conflict escalated later, he still used the slogan "Langya thieves, Taishan thieves."

Times have changed, and more than a year later, these signs are no longer used.

There will soon be only two heroes left in the world, and a bunch of small princes who have no ambition to fight for the world and only want to carve out a small piece of land. The version of the world has been iterated.

In this dual-hero situation, both Cao and Liu knew that they could not keep a low profile, so they decided not to keep a low profile and just act openly.

This is quite similar to a joke said by a professor named Jin in later generations: Hiding one's strength and biding one's time is something you do before you have an aircraft carrier fleet. When you grow up to be as tall as Yao Ming, and when you sit there and others think you are standing and order you to sit down, what's the point of hiding your strength?

……

The next morning, the exterior decoration of the Chariot and Cavalry General's Mansion in the north of Hefei City was finally completed. The ceremonial guards for the military parade, as well as the new armor, swords, and robes issued to the generals and civil officials, were also ready.

Liu Bei's army's efforts in farming, advancing technology and carrying out construction in recent years have not been in vain. It is only natural that they replace the latest equipment for the generals and civil servants, and then give the obsolete equipment to grassroots officers or second-line troops.

Before a big battle, we need to change our equipment to better boost morale.

Of course, the equipment after the replacement has only been updated and strengthened in terms of materials, and there is no obvious change in shape.

This is also to prevent the situation where unfamiliar equipment is used before a battle, which would result in the inability to display martial arts and the need to fine-tune tactics, which would result in a loss of the greater good.

The generals of Guan Yu's faction are now mainly stationed in Xiapi, including Zhuge Jin, Lu Su, and Chen Gong, who gave Guan Yu advice, are also in Xuzhou and cannot personally attend the ceremony of the Fengguanhe oath-taking ceremony. However, the new equipment that should be given to them has been issued in advance and handed over to Zhuge Jin for overall planning. Many of them are produced locally in the arsenal of Guangling County.

In Hefei, the civil officials who participated in the promotion and oath-taking ceremony were headed by Zhuge Liang and Pang Tong, and the military generals were headed by Zhao Yun and Gan Ning.

According to the distinction between civil and military officials, they each wore brand new Shu brocade robes in bright red and dark blue. Some high-ranking officials also had gray-black Shu brocade edging.

Liu Bei himself had been wearing a red and black robe, with the golden and purple seal of the General of Chariots and Cavalry, and two swords hanging from his waist. He sat in the main hall of the shogunate, waiting for the generals to pay their respects.

The ribbon was thirty or four meters long and had to be folded four times at the waist to avoid dragging on the ground.

Today's ceremony is also divided into two parts. The first part is to promote the generals. It is held in the shogunate and middle and lower-level officers do not need to participate.

The second part is the ceremony of swearing in to go to war, and then we will go to the parade ground to face the thousands of troops being reviewed.

After the civil and military officials entered, they saluted quietly and solemnly. Zhuge Liang and Pang Tong made a solemn "heavenly bow", while Zhao Yun and Gan Ning, wearing armor, just made a temporary bow, lowering their heads and cupping their hands, but not bowing.

Afterwards, everyone remained silent, without the relaxed and noisy atmosphere of the past, and just waited for Liu Bei's instructions.

Liu Bei also stood up solemnly, and bowed from a distance towards the emperor in the north. Then he turned around and faced everyone, and slowly and solemnly said the words that Zhuge Liang had prepared for him:
"I have been ordered by the Emperor to serve the country and fight against the invaders, but I have not been able to do so for a long time, which has caused the decline of Your Majesty's teachings. I am worried and anxious.

In this time of national crisis, we should not care about our own honor or disgrace, or official rank or status. All promotions should be granted by the emperor. But Cao Cao has blocked the way of the king and stopped people from speaking out. In the past few years, countless loyal and righteous people have fought against the enemy and sacrificed their lives, but have not been able to be promoted..."

Liu Bei's words had two meanings: since the Yidaizhao incident, the officials who fought against the rebellion had never been promoted by the court in Xudu. In the past three years, out of respect for the emperor, he had never granted an official position privately, nor had he submitted a petition unnecessarily.

However, it will take more than one or two years to defeat the great bandits who are blocking the king's way, so from today on, all civil and military officials below the Shogun's office will resume the practice of reporting to the emperor for their official positions.

In fact, Liu Bei was already very restrained. He never asked for an official position for himself, but only for his subordinates.

As for those princes who did not receive the imperial edict three years ago, their officials were still promoted as usual during these three years.

In other words, from the fifth year of Jian'an to the eighth year of Jian'an, only the top leaders of Yuan Shao and Liu Bei's camps had almost no promotion.

In Liu Biao's camp, some people were promoted before the counterattack on Wancheng and the complete break with Cao Cao. It was only in the year and a half after the capture of Wancheng that there were no more promotions.

As for Liu Zhang, Ma Teng, Zhang Lu and others, they were not affected at all in the past few years because they did not receive the imperial edict at all and could continue to deal with the Xu Du court.

Liu Bei had endured for three and a half years, and he had raised the banner. Now that Yuan Shao was dead, everyone knew that the people in the world were still following the imperial edict, with Liu Bei as the leader. It was also for this righteous cause that he had persisted until today, insisting on not giving his subordinates official titles for three and a half years to show his absolute respect for the emperor.

After going through all these cumbersome formalities, it was finally time for the main part of the drama.

Liu Bei nodded to Wang Lang, who was specially recruited from Fujian, and indicated that he should be responsible for reading the memorial to Emperor Liu Xie.

When Wang Lang was attacked by Sun Ce, he received an imperial edict from the nine ministers of the imperial court. Cao Cao wanted to win over Sun Quan at that time, so he wanted to recruit Wang Lang from a powerful local prince to a powerless but noble official in the capital.

However, in this life, Wang Lang, due to the butterfly effect, felt that he could still struggle and save himself in the local area, so he delayed obeying the imperial edict and finally did not go to Xu Du.

But this did not prevent him from having a noble status and being suitable to help Liu Bei read the memorial, which also made Liu Bei seem fair.

It is just like when Liu Bei's subordinates jointly signed the "Petition to the King of Hanzhong to Advance the Emperor", they asked Ma Chao to sign first because Ma Chao was an outsider and came last. If even an outsider advised Liu Bei to do so, it means that Liu Bei really won the hearts of the people.

Of course, Wang Lang, who is quite politically sensitive, understands this kind of twists and turns and is happy to serve as the white glove.

In preparation for today's occasion, Wang Lang set out from central Fujian and headed north two months ago, which shows that Liu Bei had been preparing for a long time.

"... General Guan Yu of Annan was appointed General Zhendong and Governor of Xuzhou... General Zhuge Jin of Fubo was appointed General Zhengnan and Governor of Yangzhou... Zhuge Liang was appointed Governor of Chariots and Cavalry and concurrently in charge of military and political affairs in the counties of southern Jing...

"... General Zhang Fei was made General of Conquering the Enemy Army and Governor of Jiaozhi... General Zhao Yun was made General of the Auxiliary Army and Governor of Yuzhou..."

"... Gan Ning, the Lieutenant Colonel of the Fu Army, was made the General of Hengjiang and the Governor of Runan... Taishi Ci, the Lieutenant Colonel of the Hu Army, was made the General of Yingyang and the Governor of Bohai..."

After the brothers Zhuge Jin and Zhuge Liang, as well as the officials of the "New Five Tiger Generals", have been announced, the rest will be easier and can all be "batch processed".

Among the remaining civil servants, most of the county governors were retained in their original positions.

However, because Zhuge Jin, Zhuge Liang, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, and Zhao Yun all resigned from the positions of prefects and were promoted to "state level" or "deputy state level", five positions became vacant.

Lu Su was promoted to the county level last year and was relocated to Langya, so he did not occupy the existing quota. Taishi Ci and Gan Ning were also appointed to the newly occupied and soon-to-be-conquered lands, so they also did not occupy the original quota.

Pang Tong had enough experience and was finally promoted to the county level, becoming the prefect of Jiujiang, filling the vacancy left by Zhao Yun after his promotion.

Gu Yong was appointed as the governor of Jiangxia, filling the vacancy left by Zhuge Liang.

Xu Shu was appointed as the governor of Changsha, filling the vacancy left by Zhang Fei.

Chen Qun was appointed as the prefect of Danyang, filling the vacancy left by Zhuge Jin.

Zhou Yu was appointed governor of Donglai, responsible for assisting in the defense against Yuan Tan and filling in for Taishi Ci after he was transferred to Bohai.

Mi Zhu, the governor of Donghai, was transferred to Xiapi County to replace Guan Yu.

Mi Fang, the governor of Wu County, was transferred back to his hometown in Donghai to replace his brother and guard Donghai County, which had become the rear area.

Mi Fang was not allowed to return to his hometown in Donghai because his brother had no better place to stay and Donghai County was still a frontline war zone until last year, with half of it in the hands of Cao's army. A man like Mi Fang had no talent for a general and was not loyal. Zhuge Jin felt that it was a bit dangerous to let him go to a frontline county to be the governor, so he had been secretly stepping on the brakes. Liu Bei thought Mi Fang was fine.

With Guan Yu defeating Xiahou Yuan and recovering the entire Donghai at the end of last year, Donghai was no longer directly threatened by the enemy because it was flanked by Langya and Xiapi counties. As a county for economic construction in the rear and the Mi family's stronghold, there was no problem in handing it over to Mi Fang.

When Mi Fang's original position as the prefect of Wujun became vacant, Zhuge Jin's classmate Yan Jun was promoted to the position on the spot - there was no secret operation in this appointment, Zhuge Jin did not say hello, and even hinted to his lord not to promote his classmates who had no practical talent too quickly.

But Liu Bei thought Yan Jun was okay, because he had served as a county magistrate for Mi Fang and had managed government affairs in an orderly manner. Liu Bei also wanted to better win over Zhuge Jin, and since there were more prefectural governors in the rear, Yan Jun should be able to handle the civil affairs in peacetime, so he insisted on appointing him.

Since even Yan Jun was made a governor, let alone Bu Zhi, another classmate of Zhuge Jin who performed much better than Yan Jun. Liu Bei appointed Bu Zhi as the governor of Nanhai and Lu Yi as the governor of Hepu, both of whom were in charge of remote areas of Jiaozhou.

In the future, after Zhang Fei has completely cleared the south and withdrawn to the north, he will inevitably let Bu Zhi take over Zhang Fei's position, which means he will directly jump to the "deputy provincial level", and his promotion can be said to be very fast.

After assigning most of the prefects, Liu Bei announced the promotion of most of the mid-level generals.

Zhou Yu and others were originally only lieutenants. Zhou Yu himself was promoted to General of Miscellaneous Titles because of his great contributions in the Battle of Bohai Sea and his contributions in intercepting Xiahou Yuan in the Battle of Donghai last year. He skipped the title of General of the Central Army and was called General of the Tower Ship.

Except for Zhou Yu, all the others who were previously lieutenants can be promoted to at least General of the Central Army this time. After all, the ranks of most of the generals in Liu Bei's camp were underestimated before.

Those who performed particularly well in the Battle of Donghai last year, such as Gao Shun and Tian Yu, or those who had made outstanding contributions in the previous battle to destroy Sun but had not been rewarded, such as Zhang Liao, were directly promoted to Lieutenant General or Assistant General, which were half a level higher than General of the Central Army.

Going further down, the duwei was promoted to colonel, and the military secretary was promoted to duwei, so there is no need to elaborate on them one by one.

After rewarding almost all the civil and military officials who had made obvious contributions in one go, Liu Bei announced some additional financial rewards.

The morale within the Shogun's office was at an unprecedented high, and everyone was ready to make a big move.

Seeing that the people had the will to win, Liu Bei ordered all his generals to line up in the training ground. After reviewing the troops, he would announce the specific plan for the Northern Expedition.

(End of this chapter)