My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 583 Others can’t do it, but Brother Zhuge can have it all

The reason why Zhuge Jin previously thought that he could crush the system of the Eastern Han Dynasty by introducing the "Imperial Examination System".

Of course it is because the time traveler is superstitious about historical knowledge and due to the inertia of thinking, he does not conduct specific analysis on specific issues.

But after being reminded by Zhuge Liang, with his intelligence, he quickly realized where the problem was:

In history, whether it was the reform of the imperial examination system or the reform of the Nine-Rank System, under what circumstances did they occur? In a nutshell, it was "after the country was close to stability."

Of course, some people may argue that when Cao Wei implemented the Nine-Rank System in history, it was clearly a time of chaos.

But in fact, if we look back at the perspective of people at that time, it is not difficult to find that when the Nine-Rank System was implemented, Cao Pi already felt that he was quite stable, because Liu Bei and Sun Quan had already had an internal conflict, and Sun Quan had become the "King of Wu of the Great Wei."

As for after Liu Bei's death, Cao Wei did not take the southern princes seriously. Until Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition, Cao Wei "only knew that there was Liu Bei in Shu, but nothing else."

Therefore, when Cao Wei implemented the Nine-Rank System, it was more like an attempt to establish a system for selecting officials after peace had been restored, to divide up the spoils of power, and to gain the support of the aristocratic families than to create a system for selecting talents for wartime.

It was after the implementation of the Nine-Rank System that Cao Wei sacrificed the enterprising spirit of Cao Cao's era of selecting people on their own merits and became a state of seeking stability and preservation. The nine mines and one mine were often pushed back by the Han Dynasty, especially during the years when Zhuge Liang was fighting in the north, when Sima Yi had to avoid fighting.

As for the famous imperial examination system in history, it became a custom during the Guangye period of Emperor Yang of Sui Dynasty. It was also a system for selecting officials and scholars after "peace in the world", not for use in troubled times.

……

"It was really dark under the lamp just now. Why didn't I think of this? In troubled times, it is easy for a talented person to find opportunities to show his talent from 0 to 1, because there are fierce confrontations and competitions. As long as you have the ability, it is easy to show your talent and be appreciated by others.

Therefore, the reform of the system that defines how a talent can go from 0 to 1 is relatively unimportant, and the subsequent assessment from 1 to N is important. Therefore, the importance of "performance assessment" is more important than the assessment of the entry threshold.

In peacetime, because there is no such immediate and high-intensity confrontation, and it is impossible to directly "test the merits and demerits of the two regimes", the assessment of entry thresholds becomes more and more important. Whether it is the imperial examination or the institutional examination, they are all suitable for that environment."

After figuring this out, Zhuge Jin finally understood everything and realized where the idea he had just casually applied was wrong.

This is like the industries with sufficient market competition in the future. When recruiting people, small companies don’t need to consider academic qualifications. Especially in emerging industries that change quickly, they can even rely on outsourcing to solve part of the work. Then they will find out who in the outsourcing company is really capable and can complete the project, even if they only have a college degree.

However, if it is an industry without sufficient competition and an industry that is difficult to assess in peacetime, such as many positions in the system, then we can only set academic qualifications as the threshold for assessment.

Of course, it does not mean that officials cannot be evaluated, but it is not as easy to evaluate as in business wars and hot wars. If the evaluation is too harsh, it is easy to cause officials to only focus on completing KPIs, only look at short-term interests, and give up the pursuit of long-termism.

No matter what, the wartime state is always the best touchstone to test the true qualities of civil and military talents.

Therefore, Cao Cao and Zhuge Liang in history actually promoted the rule of the Legalists. They did not care much about the initial admission of talents, they only cared about the results of work after the initial admission. It was enough to emphasize the distinction between rewards and punishments and the compliance with laws.

The "Records of the Three Kingdoms. The Book of Shu. The Biography of Zhuge Liang" emphasizes that Zhuge Liang "rewards the greatest good and criticizes the most evil, and no one complains despite his harsh punishments and policies, because he is fair-minded and his advice is clear." This is the reason.

Now, there is another consideration: "Cao Cao destroyed the original official system of the Han Dynasty, and Liu Bei wants to maintain the old system." In this case, it will not be too late to postpone the so-called embryonic ideas of the imperial examination reform for the time being, and implement them after the world is more peaceful, or at least Liu Bei has an absolute advantage.

"I was indeed negligent. What your Highness said is quite in line with physics. The Han Dynasty has always been a country that is a mixture of kingly and hegemonic ways. In times of peace, education is often used, while in times of chaos, the first thing to do is to seek clear laws. What we need now is not a new law for selecting officials, but fair rewards and punishments. What I said is indeed a little far-fetched. It will not be too late to consider it after we succeed in suppressing the rebellion in the future."

Zhuge Jin finally humbly admitted that he was a little radical and inappropriate on this small point.

In order to appear serious, he and his second brother would address each other by their official titles when discussing major policies in front of Liu Bei. Zhuge Liang called him "Situ" and he called Zhuge Liang "Lingjun".

You have to refer to your job title when you are working.

After listening to Zhuge Jin's analysis and summary, Liu Bei finally understood the truth, nodded repeatedly, and made pertinent comments:

"Tzuyu is imaginative and creative, and has achieved great success. However, some things are not suitable for the present. Kongming is pragmatic and cautious, and can take into account both the present and the long-term. They both have their own strengths."

Lu Su, who was also well-read in the classics, also joined in the fun: "In the past, Gongsun Yang was recommended by Jing Jian and met Qin Xiaogong for the first time. He talked about the Way of the Five Emperors, but it was not appropriate. When he met him again, he talked about the Way of King Wen. When he met him for the third time, he talked about the Way of Huan and Wen. My lord, you have Ziyu and Kong Ming to assist you, so you can learn the Way of the Five Emperors, the Way of King Wen, and the Way of Huan and Wen. You will surely be able to suppress the rebellion and bring long-term peace to the world."

With just a few words, Lu Su put Zhuge Jin's words on the path to long-term peace and stability, and described Zhuge Liang's suggestions for fine-tuning as a temporary expedient in troubled times, achieving both short-term and long-term goals.

Having said that, everyone is happy and everyone has talked about the problem.

Zhuge Jin also re-examined his true strength in his heart.

It turns out that we should not underestimate the talented people in the world. As time goes by, my visionary contributions as a time traveler who can directly copy answers will definitely become less and less.

But thanks to the fact that I have trained my second brother well over the past decade, even if I can only come up with some lofty and long-term visions and ideas in the future, my second brother can help me improve and implement them.

Liu Bei saw that the conversation had been completely opened, so he continued to push the topic down: "In this case, in the next few years, the reform measures in the official system and talent selection can be considered in the long run. When the situation of suppressing the rebellion becomes clear in the future, it will not be too late to make detailed regulations.

For now, let's discuss whether the other reforms mentioned just now are urgent. Kong Ming, you have no objection to Zi Yu's mention of "reform of official administration and taxation", so do you also think that we should take action in this regard in the next one or two years?

Wouldn't this affect the interests of too many people and cause instability? Zijing, Shiyuan, you can speak freely and don't worry. "

Since ancient times, when the wartime situation has relaxed a little, if one side wants to carry out reforms, it will definitely start from two angles: changing officials or changing money.

Changing officials and selecting talents has been temporarily put on hold, and there is no urgency. So the most important issue left is whether there is an urgency to change the laws on money and taxes.

First solve the problem of whether to do it and whether to do it immediately, so that we can gradually discuss in detail how to do it in the future.

When Liu Bei was deciding the direction, he was so cautious that he specifically asked Lu Su and Pang Tong, and naturally the two had to respond.

Pang Tong was the first to express his thoughts: "I am good at making strange plans, not long-term domestic policies. I think if the Minister of Justice and the Lord have good ideas, we can give it a try. But if it will destroy first and then build, and will hurt our bones, we should be cautious."

Lu Su also said pertinently: "Our army has been in service for many years. At present, the only way to obtain military supplies and food, apart from the old taxation system of the Han Dynasty, is to rely on officials and merchants, commercial taxes, and military farming. In the past few years, officials and merchants have prospered, especially shipbuilding, maritime trade, and salt fields have made a lot of profit, which can maintain military supplies, but it has concealed the urgency of our army's tax reform.

I think that the necessity of reforming finance and taxation in the future is still urgent, but it is still open to discussion. Because there are still four major princes in the world, in addition to our army and Cao thieves, Liu Jingsheng of Jingzhou and Liu Jiyu of Yizhou have not yet completely surrendered to our army.

If our army takes drastic measures, the noble families, powerful families, and wealthy households under our rule will have to pay more taxes and grain, which will cause them to complain. I am worried that this will cause the people of Yizhou and Jingbei to become resentful and wait-and-see, which will be detrimental to the lord's winning over these two states."

What Lu Su said was also very pragmatic. He did not say that we should not find other ways to raise money and grain in the future, but only said that we should do a better job of winning more support for the time being.

In troubled times, many princes were quite courageous in strengthening their control over the people and even the powerful people under their rule who could no longer escape. However, they acted differently towards the wavering forces that needed to be peacefully won over.

Although it may sound a bit morally incorrect, for those who can walk away, it is still necessary to attract them with "leniency and good governance".

Liu Bei listened and nodded slightly. Morally speaking, he did not agree with this kind of thing, but what Lu Su said was very realistic and expedient.

However, the Zhuge brothers had just agreed to this topic, and the affirmative side's opinion was unprecedentedly strong, so Liu Bei would not be directly shaken by Lu Su's pragmatism.

He simply turned to the Zhuge brothers kindly, and especially asked Zhuge Liang, who was good at analyzing details: "Zijing has given you brothers a difficult problem, Kongming, how do you solve it?"

Zhuge Liang waved his feather fan and said slowly, "What Zijing said is also a golden and jade-like theory. It has a good sense of priorities and also sees the power of people's support.

However, the tax reform I envisioned may be just what the people of Yizhou want. Perhaps after the lord implements this method, the burden on the people may not increase, but it will become more efficient. When the time comes, the people of Yizhou will see it and may be more willing to become the people under the lord's rule. "

"Oh? It actually has such an effect? There is a way to reform the tax system in the world that can not only make more money but also not compete with the people for profits, but win the hearts of the people?" Liu Bei was quite surprised when he heard it, and found it hard to imagine for a moment.

According to Lu Su's thinking, all the tax reforms he could imagine involved trade-offs.

Was it that Zhuge Liang was thinking of a way to "have this and more"?
(End of this chapter)