Han officials

Chapter 54: Governing a large country is like cooking a small fish

It is said that in the Han Dynasty, it was politically correct for local officials to crack down on powerful people.

Some county governors even executed the powerful and cunning criminals in the county as soon as they took office to establish their prestige.

Especially those officials who were not from the aristocratic families, they were not afraid of being labeled as cruel officials. In order to crack down on the powerful, they even fabricated charges just to achieve political achievements.

Under such circumstances, it is inevitable that strong resistance from the powerful will arise.

Things like "expelling the chief secretary" and "public outrage" mostly happened in this context, and some prefects were even killed by "bandits".

So over time, there were different opinions on how to govern the local court.

Generally speaking, if local officials use rough methods and cause trouble, don't blame the court for being indifferent.

In addition, as long as the place is not in chaos, the prefect will basically not be punished.

This is also the legal basis for Wei Zhe to act so recklessly!

However, before taking any action, he still had to set up the administrative framework of the prefectural government.

For example, Zhong Hu was appointed as the "Chief Clerk of the Army", with a rank of six hundred stones, a bronze seal and a black ribbon.

This position is the same as the county military official, both of whom are in charge of military affairs, but this official position only exists in border counties.

Bing Yuanze was appointed by Wei Zhe as the chief academic officer of the county school, in charge of the education of the county.

At this point, Wei Zhe finally felt that he had treated Bing Yuan, a famous scholar, unfairly.

In addition, Wang Cen, who was poached from the county government by Wei Zhe, returned home in glory this time.

Compared with the previous position of Shuzuo, the position of County Household Caoyuan can definitely be considered a promotion.

Even though Wang Cen's rank remained unchanged, still a 100-stone official with a bronze seal and a yellow ribbon, his old friends congratulated him one after another.

For a moment, countless people envied Wang Cen's situation, and only regretted that it was not them who led the way for Wei Zhe.

Of course, Wei Zhe only assigned his own people to take charge of a few key departments.

Other than that, there wasn't much action.

It is difficult for people from poor families to become officials, and this is actually one of the reasons.

If Wei Zhe had not accumulated some team members in Daifang County, he would have been in a dilemma of having no one to use.

……

The next day, when Wei Zhe on the city wall saw Gongsun Zhao escorting the five inspectors away, he couldn't help but sigh.

"Alas~ Another year has passed!"

The second year of Zhongping was coming to an end, and the third year of Zhongping was about to begin. Wei Zhe's mood suddenly became complicated.

Yuan Jun was puzzled when he saw this, but he didn't say anything smart.

In fact, he has basically avoided speaking these days.

After all, his family is also a powerful family in Fang County, so it is really inconvenient to say more about some things.

Seeing him like this, Wei Zhe guessed something and immediately shook his head with a smile.

"Ziliang, you're just overthinking it!" Seeing Yuan Jun's embarrassed expression, Wei Zhe chuckled and said, "It's not like I haven't gotten to know your family. You can be called a defender of the land, but you can't say you're abusing the people."

This is also related to the industry of Dai Fangyuanshi. They don’t value land too much.

At this point, Wei Zhe pointed to the forts and manors outside the city and sneered, "And these people? They are called powerful, but in reality they are traitors. Killing them is not a pity!"

You should know that during the reign of Emperor Wu of the Western Han Dynasty, Lelang County was very proactive and enterprising.

But hundreds of years passed, and Lelang County became more and more chaotic.

Apparently, there was too much rotten flesh on the land, and it was time to cut some flesh and detoxify.

Seeing that Wei Zhe said so, Yuan Jun no longer avoided it.

He couldn't help but look worried and said, "My Lord, the county is different from the prefecture. I'm afraid these people will take risks!"

Yuan Jun was not belittling himself, but the powerful people at the county level were indeed much more powerful than those in the county.

Whether it is the hidden population or the various resources at their disposal, they are not comparable to the latter.

If they are really pushed to the limit, rebellion is not impossible.

Especially for a border county like Lelang, the worst that could happen is that they could flee to the borderland and seek refuge with the Hu people. Hearing this, Wei Zhe nodded.

"Don't worry, I still have some patience. Let's wait and see!"

He was not a fool, nor was he so arrogant as to think that he could solve the four hundred years of problems accumulated by the Han Dynasty in one fell swoop.

The reason why Wei Zhe took such a drastic action was actually to exert extreme pressure.

In the repeated pulling and tug-of-war, the local people's maximum tolerance limit was tested.

Of course, in this process, it is inevitable to copy a few powerful companies as a token of appreciation.

He has the confidence to overturn the table and then put it back up, it just depends on whether the powerful person on the other side dares to take the gamble!

……

At the same time, people in Lelang County were secretly paying attention to Wei Zhe's actions.

Since he took office, the powerful people in the group have actually made many attempts to test him.

He has tried almost everything, including beautiful girls, fine horses, precious swords and golden armor.

There were even powerful people who were willing to send their daughters to Wei Zhe as concubines. They used every possible means, which made Guan Yan very angry.

However, Wei Zhe took it calmly and ignored it all.

When the news of the five governors inspecting the county spread, people from all over Lelang County immediately realized that this was another "cruel official". For a time, countless people were greeting Wei Zhe's ancestors.

As for the county officials below, they were all terrified, fearing that they would become tools used by Wei Zhe to make an example of others.

For a time, the county inspection had not yet begun, but Lelang County was already bustling.

There were many county officials who died from falling while drinking, drowning in the toilet, or sudden illness, as if they were all in a hurry to have an accident.

When Wei Zhe heard the news, he shook his head speechlessly.

There really is nothing new under the sun.

Two thousand years have passed, and some people's methods haven't changed.

However, the situation was still tense, so Wei Zhe simply let them do what they wanted.

In comparison, the matter concerning his father-in-law is the most urgent matter.

Late at night, deep inside the prefectural mansion.

After a profound and simple exchange, the storm in bed finally subsided.

Guan Yan was lying on Wei Zhe's chest with a satisfied look on her face, smiling foolishly. The happiness in her eyes even made Wei Zhe feel a little guilty.

But Guan Yan is indeed worthy of joy.

You should know that after Wei Zhe was promoted to the prefect of Lelang, every family in Beihai County envied Zhuxu Guan, and Guan Yan's former close friends were even more envious.

After all, they never had the chance to have such an outstanding man in the past.

All the Beihai nobles who knew about Wei Zhe's experience could not help but sigh at Guan's good luck and Guan Yue's good vision.

You know, Guan gained both fame and fortune this time.

In addition to becoming the son-in-law of a prefect, he also made a fortune in the fur industry. He opened up many markets in Qingxu counties by selling high-quality fox fur and bear skins from Haidong.

In the past, the Guan family might have only had some status in Beihai County, but now even in the entire Qingzhou, the Guan family has become somewhat influential.

There is no way, the supply channel is in Wei Zhe's hands, and no one can compete with Guan.

Such a low investment and high return thing was something that even the noble families in Qingzhou couldn't help but envy when they heard about it.

After all, every family has several daughters, and no one thinks they are worse than Guan.

Guan Yue, the father-in-law, may have felt a little pressure, so in order to increase his daughter's weight in Wei Zhe's heart, he actually took the initiative to write a letter to Wei Zhe...
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Sorry, there were some mistakes in the previous part, please correct them.

It was my negligence. In the 38th year of Emperor Guangwu's Jianwu reign ( AD), he ordered the abolition of the position of county magistrate in border counties and replaced the duties of county magistrate with chief secretary.

So in fact there is no such official position as Lelang County Magistrate.

In addition, the county lieutenant is the county commander. Lelang County originally had positions such as the Eastern Commander, the Southern Commander, and the Central Commander, but they were later cancelled as the territory gradually shrank.

(End of this chapter)