Three Kingdoms: I am not Liu Bian

Chapter 275 I can no longer tolerate this!
The emperor's concern warmed the hearts of the high-ranking officials present.

Filial piety in this era has become somewhat formulaic, even lacking genuine feelings. It is merely based on human relations and etiquette, and people are only being filial for the sake of reputation and benefit.

Even with genuine feelings, it's impossible to achieve the natural intimacy that Liu Bian displayed.

This is why Empress He was willing to change herself for Liu Bian. She could feel that her son was genuinely filial to her, even though it was against etiquette, it was sincere and affectionate enough.

If even Empress He was like this, then naturally the strict fathers in these families were even less able to resist Liu Bian's loving offensive.

Fatherly love is inherently deep and subtle, often unlike the direct and gentle love of a mother. Sometimes, a father may discipline his child with a stick while simultaneously showing concern for the child, yet still wield the stick without hesitation. This makes it rare for the high-ranking officials present, who are strict fathers, to be so close to their children.

As children grow older and start their own families, they become like the strict fathers they once knew. The gap between the aging father and his children, who have also become fathers, only widens.

Their ability to express their feelings has deteriorated, or rather, they are too embarrassed to express the feelings brewing in their hearts directly. They often look at each other in silence, with everything understood without words. The son understands his father, but cannot express it, until the old father is on his deathbed.

However, such a father-son relationship still had some regrets, but Liu Bian made up for those regrets!

This is also an important reason why Yang Ci was willing to do his best, even abandoning the debate between the Old Text and New Text schools, to help the emperor.

Minister of Works Cui Lie… Minister of Ceremonies Zheng Xuan… Grand Master of Ceremonies Deng Sheng… Commandant of the Guards Fan Ling… Grand Master of the Palace Zhang Wen… How many of the high-ranking officials present could remain unmoved?
Looking at the gentle smile on the emperor's lips, Cao Song, though reluctant to relinquish his power, ultimately uttered no words of objection. He shook his head with a wry smile, choosing to relinquish power and making no attempt to obstruct the handover of affairs after the establishment of the new functional offices.

No matter how nicely it's described, stripping officials of some power is hardly a favor to them.

Despite complaining about the heavy workload and the daily grind of paperwork, this busyness is still quite enjoyable. What man wouldn't be captivated by the power he holds?

The exhilarating feeling of wielding great power and the spiritual satisfaction of realizing one's personal value, coupled with the goal of clearing the name of the Cao family of Qiao County, were the driving forces behind Cao Song's motivation. Otherwise, he would have been unable to withstand such a workload long ago.

Therefore, it would be a lie to say that one doesn't care at all. However, if one is unwilling to say even a few nice words or give a proper and respectable excuse, then that is mistreatment of court officials.

Ordinary emperors would never stoop to such a level as to appease their subjects. So what if they mistreat you? If you don't do it, there are plenty of others who will. Merits are merits, and demerits are demerits. If you disobey the decree, they will still exterminate your entire family and wipe out your three clans.

But Liu Bian didn't mind. He believed in pragmatism. If he could get something done smoothly by saying a few nice words, he wouldn't mind lowering his status. Besides, his concern for his important officials was genuine.

As a subject, he didn't become an official to rebel. The Grand Minister of Agriculture is still one of the Nine Ministers and still in charge of the national treasury. As long as his core position and core power have not been stripped away, that's fine.

Furthermore, what bad intentions could such a benevolent emperor have? He simply doesn't want us to work so hard and is concerned about our health.

Even if the emperor has ulterior motives, so what? The emperor is willing to fight, and they are willing to be hit!
If you're going to hand over power, you should hand over the land in a beautiful and respectable way.

Otherwise, it wouldn't just be hindering the officials in charge of the new government agencies, but rather hindering the emperor who was pushing this matter forward.

This is a slap in the face to the emperor!

By actively cooperating with the handover and transfer of power, the future head of the Maritime Trade Office will have to give him face, and he will be praised by the court and the public for his magnanimity, thus maintaining the emperor's favor towards him.

Otherwise, one would not only make enemies, but also lose face and offend the emperor. A wise person would not do such a thing!

As the emotional impact of the emperor's favor subsided, people's attention shifted from the emperor's weakening of the Nine Ministers' power to a further review of the "Detailed Explanation of the Structure of the Maritime Trade Office".

Minister Liu Tao frowned slightly. He had just noticed that in addition to "market", the Maritime Trade Office also had the authority of "ship". He looked at Jia Xu and asked, "This Maritime Trade Office... no, the Maritime Science Department is in charge of maritime affairs. It shouldn't just be that the Maritime Science Department is responsible for sea transportation, right?"

If the Maritime Transport Office was only responsible for inland waterway transport, then there would be no need to distinguish between the Canal Transport Department and the Maritime Transport Department, or even to have a separate Maritime Transport Office.

Jia Xu bowed to Liu Tao and said, "Your Majesty, the affairs under Haike's jurisdiction include maritime transport, but foreign trade is Haike's main business."

It is hard to imagine that the Han Dynasty already had a well-established "Maritime Silk Road". In fact, during the Later Han Dynasty, this Maritime Silk Road had become the preferred trade route for many merchants after they encountered obstacles on the land Silk Road.

During the Western Zhou Dynasty, the Baiyue people living on the coast of the South China Sea established a trade network based on ceramics and expanded their influence to the coast and overseas islands through waterways.

During the Spring and Autumn Period, the State of Qi opened up a trade route along the coast in Jiaodong, which led directly to the Liaodong Peninsula, the Korean Peninsula, the Japanese archipelago, and even to other islands and landmasses in Southeast Asia.

Six hundred years ago, the states of Wu and Qi fought their first near-shore naval battle in the Yellow Sea. During the late Qin Dynasty, the Southern Yue state was even capable of building 30-ton wooden warships, establishing ports in Panyu and Xuwen to trade lacquerware, silk fabrics, pottery, and bronzes for pearls, rhinoceros horns, tortoiseshell, fruit, and silk cloth, reaping profits far exceeding ten thousandfold!
The official envoy fleets and private merchant fleets of the Han Dynasty sailed to the countries of Duyuan, Yilumo, Chenli, and Fugandulu in East Asia (these four countries were located in what is now the Malay Peninsula and the coast of Myanmar), Pizong (Singapore and Sumatra, Indonesia), Yetiao (Java), as well as Yichengbu (Sri Lanka) and Huangzhi (southeast coast of India) in South Asia.

This region was a frequently visited maritime area, and the Han Dynasty's maritime reach even included the Kushan Empire (Afghanistan, Pakistan) and the Parthian Empire (Iran) in Central Asia.

Many private merchants organized fleets for maritime trade, reaching the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf, and even arriving in the Roman Empire known as "Da Qin." They sold large quantities of silk, which was more valuable than gold, to Roman nobles, exchanging it for rhinoceros horns, ivory, spices, and exotic animals such as peacocks, parrots, and elephants, as well as "liuli" (glass) artifacts, which were the most luxurious items. Their gains were more than ten thousand times greater!
During their maritime trade, these merchants also bought back an item and sold it as a luxury item to the nobles of the Han Dynasty, which was called "urn people" by the people of the time.

In his book "Records of Strange Things", Yang Fu wrote: "The urn-shaped people have very white teeth and eyes, and their faces and bodies are strangely black like lacquer, all of which are shiny." Well... that is, black "niggers".

The vast majority were people from South Asia, with a small number being black people who sailed to the Egyptian province of the Roman Empire, or goods brought by Roman merchants from other places to trade with Han merchants.

However, these "Nige" people, who were presented as tribute and goods from foreign lands, might not have held a higher status in the Han Dynasty than poultry and livestock.

After all, the Han Dynasty didn't have cotton as a crop at that time. Cough cough, no, although the urn slaves were strong, the noble lords who could buy urn slaves as servants were definitely not short of money for a few more servants. No matter how capable they were, it was just a matter of buying a few more servants. Besides, they couldn't communicate with each other.

The noble lords were simply buying these urn slaves out of novelty and on impulse. However, the Han Dynasty was not very tolerant of foreigners, which meant that once the novelty wore off, the urn slaves were often ostracized and killed by other servants.

This is also the main reason why the slave trade did not flourish in the Han Dynasty.

The Han Dynasty rarely sent official fleets to trade outside of diplomatic missions between the two countries. The benefits of this maritime Silk Road were mostly obtained by private merchants. As a result, when Han envoys led their delegations to sea, they had to recruit merchants familiar with the geography and experienced sailors from the private sector before they could set sail.

Liu Bian was not only envious of the profits from overseas trade, but also had the intention of using it to cultivate stable and mature naval aviation technology for the Han Dynasty.

During the Little Ice Age, without advanced technology, the resources produced internally were insufficient to cope with natural disasters, and external plunder was necessary.

The wealth gained from overseas trade and colonial plunder may not be inferior to the wealth gained from wars waged against the Xianbei and the Western Regions.

Even if they couldn't plunder wealth, introducing overseas crops such as chili peppers, kapok, and taro, as well as advanced technologies like sugar-making methods, would still have been beneficial for the Han Dynasty to survive the Little Ice Age.

At worst, if one is poor, one can erect a stone tablet; if one is rich, one can leave a mark for posterity. This can be considered as securing some more direct territorial evidence for future generations.

"The Maritime Trade Office involves far too many interests. The reason why the Ever-Normal Granaries were sometimes abolished and sometimes established between the two Han dynasties was due to corruption and financial problems." Grand Commandant Yuan Pang put down the detailed explanation of the structure in his hand, slowly raised his head to look at Jia Xu, his eyes slightly questioning, and said, "Leaving aside finances, the Left and Right Chancellors are not enough to have a supervisory and restraining effect. Collusion between superiors and subordinates to commit corruption may still occur. With Jia Xu's wisdom, surely you have considered this aspect?"

In fact, Yuan Pang had a vague idea of ​​what Jia Xu wanted to do, but since Jia Xu had not explained it in detail in this framework, he simply took the liberty of bringing up the topic.

"Grand Commandant, you are wise. Although I am only a Palace Attendant, I am trusted by the Emperor and have been appointed as an Imperial Censor. I will certainly send people to secretly investigate." Jia Xu smiled, but there was a hint of sinister intent in his smile. He said, "Once it is done, it will be found out. I ask the country and the gentlemen to trust the abilities of me and the Imperial Censor."

"If you're still worried, there's our Court of Justice," Guo Tu said, following Jia Xu's words.

The Court of Justice has not yet appointed a Court of Justice. The Emperor seems quite satisfied with the efficiency of the Court of Justice's affairs being handled by the Chief, Left, and Right Court of Justice Supervisors, and shows no intention of appointing a Court of Justice even though the position has been vacant for several months.

Those with discerning eyes could generally understand the emperor's thoughts. Guo Tu was too young. Although his methods were shrewd and ruthless enough, his lack of experience was his fatal flaw. Therefore, the emperor simply let Guo Tu act as the chief supervisor of the Court of Justice, managing all affairs of the Court of Justice.

“At the end of each year, the Court of Justice, the Censorate, and the Ministry of Agriculture conduct a joint investigation. The results are then submitted to the Ministry of Personnel for review. The investigation is considered complete only when all four parties jointly sign to verify that the results are correct.”

Guo Tu was very satisfied with the review method he and his old colleagues from the Court of Imperial Sacrifices had come up with. On the surface, the Ministry of Agriculture would conduct the data review as professionals. If there were any problems, the Censorate would write a memorial to impeach them on the spot, the Court of Justice would arrest the people involved on the spot, the Embroidered-Robe Envoy would supervise them secretly, and finally the Ministry of Personnel would supervise the supervisors of the three departments.

Liu Bian also held a positive attitude towards this oversight process. It was impossible for it to be perfect, but if someone could escape the oversight of these five government agencies, or simultaneously control these five agencies to engage in corruption, then he felt that under such preconditions, corruption might not even be a big deal.

Furthermore, Liu Bian never believed that corruption could be completely eradicated.

Ninety percent goes to the national treasury, and one-tenth goes into private pockets; I accept it.

Eighty percent goes to the national treasury, and twenty percent goes into private pockets; I accept that.

If anyone tries to profit further, I will no longer tolerate it.

(End of this chapter)