My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 44: Kong Wenju, the Talent of Empty Talk

"I didn't expect Xu County, known as the capital of the Han Dynasty, to be so dirty and messy. There's no place to have fun. Sigh."

Two days after arriving in Xu County and submitting the memorial, Zhuge Jin fell into boredom and was greatly disappointed with the current capital.

Before coming here, he also fantasized about hanging out in restaurants, teahouses, and brothels, drinking wine, tasting delicious food, and meeting all kinds of talented people in literature and martial arts.

When we arrived, we didn't see any other entertainment venues except the tavern that was run by the county residence itself.

There is no need to talk about teahouses. In the Han Dynasty, tea was still a soup made with scallions, ginger, pepper and salt. Teahouses did not exist at all.

As for Qinglou… in this era, only high-ranking officials kept slaves for the enjoyment of their friends, or there was a female battalion in the army responsible for washing clothes.

Some people may wonder: Isn't it said that Guan Zhong invented "Nülu" as early as the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period? He also claimed that there were 700 practitioners.

But the "Nülu" was actually a way for Duke Huan of Qi to earn extra money by using the idle palace maids. Even the business place was directly opened in the palace market. It was the same as the impoverished nobles in the late Han Dynasty who sold their slaves to make back their investment.

It was during this wandering that Zhuge Jin realized firsthand why Mi Zhu wanted so much to curry favor with someone powerful and achieve class advancement.

The noble families of this era, when faced with extremely wealthy people, have the confidence to say “being rich is a big deal”.

Even if you are rich, you still need social status to buy many things.

……

After wandering around for two days, Zhuge Jin, who had not gained any knowledge at all, was very depressed when he returned to the county residence. He talked to Chen Deng about what he had seen in Xu County:
"Brother Yuanlong, you have never been to Xu County before, right? Why are you not surprised by the desolation of this place?

When I was in Guangling, I at least saw shops and guesthouses in the city, but why is it that the business in Xu County is not as prosperous as Guangling, and there is not even a guesthouse. "

Chen Deng joked with ease: "Xu County is not famous for commerce. Among the surrounding counties, Chenliu is the most prosperous because it is adjacent to the Honggou Canal. It's just that there are too many Yingchuan scholars under Cao Cao's command, and they all want to glorify their hometown, so they strongly persuade Cao Cao to make the capital in Yingchuan County.

However, Xu County should have had some restaurants and chapels, but it had only been two months since the capital was moved, and everything was in ruins. The court and county residences were not enough, so Cao Cao requisitioned all the chapels from the people.

We are lucky, after all, we are envoys from the prefectures and can live in the prefecture residence. If a commoner came to Xudu at this time, I am afraid he can only live in the Yizhou prefecture residence. "

Zhuge Jin listened very carefully and gained some common sense.

The Han system required that county residences be set up in the capital for all counties in the country to provide a place for officials who came to the capital to report on their work to live. This was similar to the "Beijing Office of a Certain Province" in later generations, but there were also some differences.

The later resident offices in Beijing were all funded by the provinces themselves, which was a loss-making business. However, the county residences in the Han Dynasty were centrally managed and funded by the Grand Herald, one of the nine ministers of the court.

The Grand Herald was similar to the later Ministry of Rites, in charge of both the reception of tribute envoys from various countries and the reception of envoys from various states and counties.

Three months ago, Xu County did not even have a county residence. Now that it has suddenly been upgraded, Cao Cao must expropriate all private commercial venues as official property.

No wonder Xudu is so depressed. It will probably take several years of construction to restore its prosperity.

In addition, there was another detail in Chen Deng's words that aroused Zhuge Jin's curiosity, so he continued to ask:
"Just now you mentioned 'I'm afraid I can only live in Yizhou County Mansion'. Is the county mansion in Yizhou particularly bad?"

Chen Deng showed an expression of "you know what I mean" and said: "Yizhou hasn't sent anyone to the court for many years. I heard that Cao Cao didn't plan to set up Yizhou and Jiaozhou county seats at the beginning.
Later, it was discovered that the County Residence Prison was even more useless, so it was temporarily changed back to the Yizhou County Residence - I think no one would want to live in a place that was originally intended to be a prison."

Zhuge Jin suddenly realized.

The County Prison is also considered a place of pilgrimage for accounting students in later generations.

People who study accounting in later generations often say: AI will never replace humans, because AI cannot go to jail instead of humans.

The County Prison was the earliest "accounting prison" in China.

Responsible for imprisoning those who committed fraud in various counties of the Han Dynasty.

That is to say, if the officials from various counties who came to Beijing to report taxes were found to have evaded taxes or concealed their household registration, they would be thrown into prison.

The county prison in Luoyang was already a mere decoration during the reigns of Emperors Huan and Ling. Emperor Ling was unable to collect local taxes and had to rely on selling officials to maintain the finances. So Cao Cao was also impulsive at the beginning. In order to maintain his dignity, he requisitioned a residence as the county prison. Later, he found that the normal county residence was not enough, so he changed it to the Yizhou county residence.

What stands out is the casualness of a makeshift team.

Anyway, the world was in chaos, and it was impossible for those states and counties that were not actually controlled by Cao Cao to "report" taxes and household registration to Cao Cao.

Chen Deng also knew that Zhuge Jin just wanted to see the world, so after explaining, he also gave him some advice:
"If you want to find a place to visit, I think the only place to visit in the whole Xudu is Yongning Palace. The emperor has just arrived, and Cao Cao only had time to build the Jingfu and Chengguang Palaces at the southernmost entrance.

Beigong Yongning, Yongshi and various gardens and teaching halls are still under construction and outsiders are not allowed to approach. It just so happens that Yizhou County Residence is also nearby, located northwest of Shangshutai. If you want to find a talented person who failed to get an official position for Lord Xuande, you can try your luck there. "

Zhuge Jin quickly wrote it down and expressed his gratitude.

When he was wandering around yesterday, he had already noticed that Xudu was basically a large construction site, but he didn't expect that only two palaces were built. This shows how hasty Cao Cao's move to the capital was.

Since there is nothing to do elsewhere, I will check in at the unfinished palace and visit the place where the scholars gather. If I still haven't found anything, I will stay in the county residence and wait for the summons.

……

On the third day after arriving in Xudu, Zhuge Jin had finally made enough plans. Early in the morning, he took Chen Dao and Chen Deng, went around to the northernmost part of the palace city, climbed the earthen hill of Yongshi Terrace, and admired the construction of the imperial palace.

Because it is still a large construction site, no one will care about you as long as you don't get close to the southernmost palaces that are already in use.

The Qingqi River, a tributary of the Qi River, a tributary of the Yingchuan River, flows just past the western side of the imperial palace, a few miles away from the palace city.

You can see countless boats carrying earth, bricks, and wood arriving at the dock one or two miles west of Yongshi Terrace and unloading. The scene was chaotic, and tens of thousands of corvée people were struggling.

Earth and bricks were loaded and unloaded to the construction site by shouldering or oxcarts. But the huge logs felled from Songshan and Funiushan in the northwest of Xudu and used as beams and pillars for the imperial palace were much more difficult to transport. They could only be rolled on the ground, and then hundreds of corvée laborers worked together to push the huge logs, rolling them little by little to the construction site.

Although Zhuge Jin didn't understand architecture, as a modern man, he at least had some management knowledge and frowned as soon as he saw it.

"The minister who is in charge of the construction of the imperial palace must be a fool who doesn't understand practical skills. It's really wrong for him to go far away and waste the people's energy." Zhuge Jin couldn't help but complain to Chen Deng who was traveling with him.

Chen Deng smiled, signaling him to be more careful with his words: "I dare not say that - the person who is now in charge of the construction of the imperial palace is a good friend of Lord Xuande, Kong Beihai, who was defeated by Yuan Tan three months ago.

After he lost his county and came to the imperial court, Cao Cao, considering that he was a descendant of Confucius and had a deep family background in etiquette, let him temporarily take charge of the examination and construction of the imperial palace regulations.

After hearing this, Zhuge Jin nodded thoughtfully, and thought of a question: "Have you ever been to Luoyang before? Have you seen the imperial palace in Luoyang?"

Chen Deng: "I've seen it from a distance, but never from inside."

Zhuge Jin: "That's just a far-sighted view. Which do you think is taller, the outer walls and gatehouses of the imperial palace now or the ones in Luoyang?"

Chen Deng shook his head: "It is far inferior to Luoyang, but I don't know whether it will be more magnificent in the future."

Zhuge Jin has already grasped the truth through the clues in these answers:

"I understand. Cao Cao also knows that Kong Rong has no talent for practical coordination. But he is the descendant of Confucius, and he has the final say on the etiquette of the world. If Kong Rong agrees to build a less expensive palace, it will not seem like Cao Cao is bullying the emperor."

When Chen Deng heard this, a strange look flashed in his eyes. After thinking about it carefully, he felt that there was some truth in it.

My dear brother Tzuyu is very observant and can really see the big picture from the details.

If Cao Cao had taken the initiative to save money, he would have been criticized by the world. With Kong Rong as a shield, if someone criticized Cao Cao again, he could say: I also want to give Your Majesty the best enjoyment, but Kong Rong said that this is enough and in line with etiquette, so I can't go beyond the etiquette...

However, Chen Deng had friendships with Liu Bei and Kong Rong after all. After understanding this, he couldn't help but say:
"In that case, with your practical talents, why don't you find an opportunity to give Kong Wenju some pointers? After all, he is an old friend of the late Tao Gong, and he also has a close relationship with Xuande Gong."

Zhuge Jin: "We'll talk about it when we have the chance. It's not your place to do things. There's nothing to see in this palace. Let's go to Yizhou County Mansion and talk about it later."

(End of this chapter)