My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 622: Unite the majority to attack the minority
After Zhuge Liang obtained Liu Bei's full authorization, he was naturally in control of the personnel appointments in Shu and could remove anyone he wanted.

Especially after he had a deep understanding of the recent mentality of those surrendered ministers, Zhuge Liang became more and more aware that the preparations he had envisioned on the way here were a bit too cautious.

Liu Bei's prestige in Shuzhong is now extremely high. His resounding statement in front of 100,000 soldiers from both armies, swearing to launch a northern expedition within three years, has pushed everyone's expectations of Liu Bei to the highest point.

Looking at the current situation, in the next three years, no matter what Liu Bei does, as long as it is not too extreme, most opponents will only choose to wait and see whether Liu Bei will fulfill his promise in three years. No one dares to jump out and oppose now.

Liu Bei's oath had divided the opposition. Everyone was worried that if they jumped out now, they would be the first to be shot. They thought that other opponents might wait and see for three years, and then add insult to injury if Liu Bei broke his promise, and would not immediately follow their will and rush forward.

When everyone thought the same and decided to wait and see, the momentum of the resistance was completely disintegrated. The opponents who were supposed to rush forward had their expectations turned into "the calabash brothers saving their grandfather one by one", and the final result was that no one dared to send.

Liu Bei paid the price of putting a tight ring on himself in exchange for strict discipline in governing Shu.

In early April, Liu Bei formally recommended that Shangshu Ling Zhuge Liang concurrently serve as the governor of Yizhou.

Ten days later, Zhuge Liang arranged the two operations in a legitimate and decisive manner.

First, he announced a thorough investigation of the civil officials who had dissuaded Liu Zhang from contributing to the cause of suppressing the rebellion. The main targets of the investigation were of course Wang Lei and Zheng Du. Wang Lei was already dead, so there was no need to worry about him, but other people who shared his political views should also reflect on themselves.

Zhuge Liang's move was really frightening, especially for Wang Shang and Chen Shi, who had a keen sense of smell. They had basically realized that Zhuge Liang was trying to get close to their faction. So they spread rumors among the people, saying that the Grand Commandant had just conquered Shu, but Zhuge planned to settle old scores with severe punishments, which was not a good policy to calm people's hearts.

In addition to spreading rumors among the people, some Shu noble families also wanted to take the upper-level route. Through some former colleagues who had joined the army earlier and had a good personal relationship with Liu Bei, they sent a message to Zhuge Liang to put the brakes on the plan.

Then, Wang Shang asked Chen Shi to find Fa Zheng, who once had a slight gift-giving relationship with Chen Shi, and gave Fa Zheng a sum of gold and silver, hoping that Fa Zheng would come forward to help intercede.

This is not surprising, because in history, when Liu Bei first entered Shu, he also called Zhuge Liang to take charge of the internal affairs of Yizhou. Zhuge Liang also used strict laws and worked hard to govern, changing the accumulated problems of the previous Liu Zhang era when he was weak and unable to control the country.

During that period of history, those critics in Shu who could not bear the harsh laws also found Fa Zheng to intercede for them.

It's a pity that Fa Zheng in this life still has a lower status than in the same period in history. After all, Liu Bei conquered Yizhou very quickly in this life, and it took only four or five months to complete it, instead of dragging it out for three years.

Moreover, Zhang Song and Pang Tong were still alive in this life, and their contributions and qualifications in conquering Shu were greater than Fa Zheng's.

Therefore, when Fa Zheng found Zhuge Liang, his attitude was much more humble than that of the same period in history. He just advised tactfully based on his sincerity:

"In the past, Emperor Gaozu made three laws and abolished harshness, and the people were grateful for his virtue. Now that my lord has just obtained Yizhou, if you cannot relax the punishment and reduce the law, I am afraid it will be difficult to satisfy the people."

Zhuge Liang could naturally respond to this argument easily: "Xiaozhi only knows one side of the story, but not the other. The Qin law was tyrannical and the people resented it, so Emperor Gaozu won it by being lenient and benevolent.

Today, Liu Zhang is weak and incompetent, and his policies are not virtuous, nor are his punishments strict. Before his orders leave Chengdu, they are criticized by the noble families, and it is almost impossible to carry out any action. We need to intimidate them with the law, and when the law is enforced, they will know kindness; we need to restrict them with titles, and when titles are increased, they will know honor. "

Fa Zheng thought about it carefully and was really convinced by this truth. He realized that he had been looking at the problem one-sidedly before.

Governing newly occupied lands is not just about imitating Liu Bang and Liu Xiu’s leniency. It also depends on whether the previous rulers have established good rules. We should act according to circumstances and make up for what is lacking.

However, Fa Zheng still felt that if Zhuge Liang made random accusations without principles, it would easily cause panic among the people. Even if the law was to be strictly enforced, there should be some rules. And he couldn't "punish without teaching" - before Liu Bei entered Shu, no one knew that "not actively fighting against rebellion" would also be a crime. Ignorance is not a crime, so how could it be retroactive?
Zhuge Liang also said: "Don't worry, Xiaozhi, those who are ignorant are indeed innocent, and we cannot arbitrarily trace back to the past. But I asked people to investigate, not to punish these people severely, at most they will be demoted or transferred. This level of punishment cannot be regarded as punishment without teaching.

Moreover, I will take a two-pronged approach. Recently, I will arrange for the scholars in Shu to study Situ's manifesto and my "On the Departure of the Army", so that the scholars in Shu will change their previous irresponsibility for the great cause of the world and feel proud to serve the country. In the future, I will also test their determination to see if they have learned it well. "

Zhuge Liang's handling of the matter was well-reasoned and just the right amount of force. Fa Zheng was finally convinced and stopped trying to persuade him.

This two-pronged approach of rallying people's hearts is also consistent with the essence of Zhuge Liang's governance of Shu in history.

Historically, Zhuge Liang was also a strict law enforcer, and he was also very strong in collecting wealth from the aristocratic families in Shu. However, he was still able to convince everyone by "being calm and giving clear advice." An important reason for this was that Zhuge Liang repeatedly emphasized the righteousness of the Northern Expedition, stressing that "I take money not for myself, but for the Han Dynasty."

At the same time, he really set an example by being honest and upright, and was open and frank in the allocation and use of resources. Others were suppressed by the righteous and correct title of the Northern Expedition and could only obey.

Now, Zhuge Liang had to do the same propaganda and education work. And the educational tools at his disposal were even richer than those in the same period of history. Liu Bei swore in public and endorsed Zhuge Liang's propaganda. Zhuge Jin asked Wang Can to write a manifesto, and Zhuge Liang's own "On the Departure of the Army" could all be used.

The atmosphere has been created to this point, it would be a shame if we don’t strike while the iron is hot.

……

After Fa Zheng was persuaded by Zhuge Liang, Zhuge Liang's personnel transfer work was quickly and officially carried out.

In mid-April, Wang Shang was removed from his position as governor of Shu County and appointed as the chief official of the Yizhou governor's office.

Afterwards, Zhuge Liang promoted Huang Quan, a relatively neutral minister among Liu Zhang's surrendered ministers, to be the governor of Shu County to serve as a transition. At the same time, he promoted Yang Hong, the magistrate of Chengdu County, to be the county magistrate of Shu County.

Wang Shang's disciple Chen Shi was terrified and wanted to use his connections to save the situation, but Zhuge Liang found new evidence against him and removed him from his position as the prefect of Qianwei.

Chen Shi had originally imagined that someone would rise up in opposition and put pressure on him. However, he did not expect that his previous attempt to pressure Fa Zheng would have the opposite effect - because after being convinced by Zhuge Liang, Fa Zheng quickly turned his guns around and helped Zhuge Liang to pass on a message to other potential opponents, stating that "this time we will only deal with the Wang Shang family and Chen Shi." After Zhuge Liang drew a clear line and intensity for the attack, everyone evaluated the strength of both sides and knew that they would not get any good results if they resisted, so they decisively chose to let their friend die rather than let the poor die.

As a result, the opposition was divided and disintegrated, and Zhuge Liang successfully united the majority of people. He only took action against the two powerful families, Wang and Chen, and moved their patriarchs to honorary positions.

After Chen Shi was removed, the surrendered officials in Shu immediately began to speculate who Zhuge Liang would appoint as the governor of Qianwei.

But this time, Zhuge Liang was not in a hurry to appoint. Instead, he let the former county magistrate temporarily act as the prefect, and then said that he would select the prefect based on the actual performance of the local government in Qianwei County in the short term.

Naturally, Liu Zhang's old ministers did not believe this, and rumors spread among the people that Zhuge Liang did not even want to leave the governance of Jianwei County to the locals, and would definitely use parachuted officials from Jing and Yang.

However, Zhuge Liang was well aware of all these rumors. A few days later, he chose a suitable occasion and used appropriate words to publicly and clearly state that the future prefect of Jianwei County must be a native of Yizhou and must be selected from among the surrendered officials. The key is to see who has talent and can govern the local area well.

This statement confused the Jiangchen Group for a time, and they felt it was impossible to convince people.

After all, how can we define the performance of domestic affairs with a simple and crude indicator?
Especially according to the original assessment of local officials in the Han Dynasty, whether the local area is stable and peaceful, and whether the public security and people's customs are decent, account for a large proportion in the assessment of officials' performance. As long as the tax collection performance is not too poor or the money and grain gap is too large, then it can basically be justified.

One of the important reasons why the aristocratic families were able to control the local officialdom for a long time was that during the Han Dynasty, the aristocratic families had too much power to decide whether the local public security was good. If they didn't like the new governor, the aristocratic families would keep causing trouble, causing the local area to boil, and the governor's performance was too poor to continue.

If they replace the governor with one who is favored by the powerful, they will behave like good citizens and there will be fewer cases in the local area. Even if there are unexpected cases, they can use private punishment and clan rules to suppress them without having to report to the officials.

Therefore, in the eyes of Liu Zhang's old ministers, if Zhuge Liang really evaluated the merits of officials according to the old method, wouldn't that be equivalent to returning the power to support the prefect to the local powerful families?
For example, in Jianwei County, even if he removed Chen Shi, if the acting prefect that Zhuge Liang replaced did not get along with the Chen family of Jianwei, then the local security would definitely not be good, and there would be a lot of trouble. How could this acting prefect be promoted to a regular position?

If Zhuge Liang went against his conscience and insisted that the acting governor had done a good job, he would not be able to convince the public, because everyone could see that the local area was indeed not peaceful.

……

Just when Liu Zhang's group of old ministers thought that Zhuge Liang might find it difficult to come up with an assessment plan that would satisfy both parties, Zhuge Liang unexpectedly came up with his plan.

One day in mid-April, Zhuge Liang suddenly summoned the main officials of the three counties of Shu, Guanghan and Qianwei, and announced some of his work priorities for the year.

Zhuge Liang stressed at the meeting: "It has been half a month since I took over the post of governor of Yizhou. I also visited Shujun and several counties in Qianwei. When Liu Zhang ruled Shu, the government orders were not effective, and local civil affairs were mostly left to their own devices. The official facilities such as water conservancy, salt and iron in Shu were dilapidated and dilapidated, which was shocking!

Du'an County in Shu Prefecture was originally a fertile place. Since the pre-Qin Emperor Li Gong, the Chengdu River Weir was built, turning the harm of the Minjiang River into a benefit, benefiting the people for hundreds of years. However, the Dujiang Weir has fallen into disrepair, and the early rice paddies in Pixian and Chengdu counties downstream have suffered greatly. Previously, the promotion of Linyi rice as early rice in Shu in order to have two crops a year was also ineffective due to poor irrigation scheduling.

Therefore, this year's assessment of the chief officer of Shu County and relevant responsible officials will focus on their ability to build water conservancy projects and mobilize the people's manpower. I will personally calculate and divide the manpower and materials required for the construction. Whoever can do more with the same manpower and money is a capable official.

As for the levy of money, grain and manpower, they don't need to worry about it. I will personally take care of it and ensure it is fair."

After Zhuge Liang put forward this assessment condition, Liu Zhang's old ministers were all shocked.

Isn't this the rule of the Legalists? What happened to the Confucian rule that the primary criterion for evaluating the performance of local officials was "the simplicity of the people's customs"? How did it become an evaluation of the efficiency of employing people and spending money, and the way of doing things?
Moreover, Zhuge Liang took away the power of local officials to levy money and grain and collect corvée labor within a year, especially within this year, and Zhuge Liang himself sent a set of officials and a system to handle it separately. This also solved the problem of unfair initial conditions.

Originally, those officials who were supported by local aristocratic families and powerful people could get their work done by conscripting more people for corvée labor and extorting more money and grain. Even if the efficiency was low, your base was large, and it was still possible to surpass them in the final assessment of the project results.

As for those officials who are not supported by local aristocratic families, the powerful families can refuse to cooperate and create obstacles for them, so that they can recruit less manpower and less money. In the end, even if they are used efficiently, they still cannot get things done.

But Zhuge Liang's move was equivalent to "separate revenue and expenditure". You don't have to worry about how to get money or how to transfer people. Zhuge Liang will personally help you coordinate money and people, use the rent and labor system to raise money, and then use the substitute labor system to spend money to hire people. The people and money given to you are the same, it depends on who is more efficient.

Of course, there are definitely disadvantages to selecting people in this way, that is, the people selected may be biased in certain subjects, such as being strong in mathematical calculations or engineering organization. However, their abilities in academic discussion, comforting and educating people will not be assessed.

However, the use of severe punishments in troubled times and the limited implementation of the Legalist policy show that Liu Bei's camp treats surrendered officials equally, which seems to be fine. Moreover, Liu Bei has just established his prestige, and Zhuge Liang also has military power as a backing, so they have the strength to do so.

……

After Zhuge Liang finalized the direction of this year's assessment of the civil servants in Shu County, Fa Zheng and other old ministers of Liu Zhang began to speculate how Zhuge Liang would assess the officials in Qianwei County.

Although the ideas proposed by Zhuge Liang could be directly transplanted, the actual conditions of Qianwei County and Shu County were also very different.

The main reason is that Dujiangyan is located in Shu County, and the benefits of Dujiangyan can benefit Jianwei County, and all the land along the Minjiang River in Jianwei County downstream can benefit from it.

Therefore, there was not much demand for water conservancy repairs in Jianwei County. If Zhuge Liang wanted to assess and select talents based on the efficiency of manpower allocation and money and grain utilization, he had to find some other jobs.

Many of Liu Zhang's old officials felt that this job was difficult to find. Either it was a waste of manpower and not important enough, or, although it was important, it was not large enough to require so much manpower, money and food, and it could not be used to distinguish and select officials' actual administrative capabilities.

However, this kind of thinking is destined to underestimate Zhuge Liang again.

(End of this chapter)