Second-hand time travel: Liu Bei, the big-eared bandit

Chapter 235 Acting as Shepherds of Heaven
“Bo’an, the Ministry of Personnel will not discuss this matter, all the officials regard us as enemies, and the inner court will no longer help us... In Luoyang, we are surrounded by enemies. If we bring up the matter of the Agricultural Commandant again, I fear that assassins will take our lives.”

Liu Yan said to Liu Yu at the Guanglu Xun Temple: "The court is no longer a place for discussing politics. Stop submitting memorials. Why don't we submit a joint memorial to be sent to a border prefecture to cultivate land and pacify the people? That way we can achieve some practical results."

"Brother Junlang, are you trying to avoid trouble or are you being pragmatic?"

Liu Yu sighed: "If you are sent to a prefecture or county to serve as governor or prefect, you will worry about the money for palace maintenance every year. How much good governance can you possibly implement?"

"It's both to avoid disaster and to be pragmatic... The matter of Yongle Palace is likely to be a fight between the two palaces... The capital is no longer a place to take charge. Staying here will only get us caught up in the struggle between the two palaces for the crown prince. It's better not to stay in Luoyang."

Liu Yan said, “The governor’s power is weak and the prefect’s jurisdiction is short, so it is indeed difficult to cure the diseases of a province. But if you go out to be a governor and change the governor’s title to a governor, you can govern the people on behalf of Heaven and fulfill your ambitions.”

Liu Yu nodded in understanding. Liu Yan was the head of the imperial clan, and the struggle for the crown prince was indeed a difficult situation for him.

In fact, Liu Yu was also in a difficult position—as the Grand Master of Ceremonies in charge of the Imperial Guards, he would inevitably become the target of public criticism.

Liu Yan added, "Last time, Bo'an requested to leave his post in court. Although the court has not yet discussed it, it will soon dismiss Bo'an and reassign him. Rather than waiting to be attacked and made difficult, it would be better for him to request to govern a border prefecture. It is better than to remain mediocre in Luoyang."

"That's how it is... It's just a pity... a pity."

Liu Yu sighed; this was indeed the only option now.

……

On the first day of the twelfth lunar month, a grand court assembly was held.

Liu Yan publicly proposed changing the title of Inspector to Governor.

"Governors and prefects, in their pursuit of wealth, often exploit the people, leading to widespread rebellion. I urge Your Majesty to select a virtuous and respected minister to govern and stabilize the land."

Liu Yan had mentioned this matter to Liu Hong in the West Garden, but it did not come to fruition at the time.

This time, no one objected.

Because this proposal is actually beneficial to everyone.

By transferring all personnel, financial, and military powers that originally belonged to the central government to the local governments, and having the governors of the provinces govern all affairs within a province, the Han dynasty effectively divided the provinces into smaller courts.

The greater the local power, the greater the influence in the small court. Although the governor wields great power, he is not a local and can only rely on powerful clans in the region.

This time, Liu Hong did not hold back, but instead of directly changing the governor to a provincial governor, he allowed Liu Yu and Liu Yan, two members of the imperial clan, to take up provincial governorships and govern the border provinces to observe the results.

Liu Yu was appointed as the governor of Youzhou to ensure border security.

Liu Yan was appointed as the governor of Jiaozhou to quell the rebellion in Jiaozhou.

Zong Yuan was indeed old, and he had submitted his petition to retire to his hometown three times. This time, he was finally able to leave his post in Youzhou as he wished.

However, the existing governors remain unchanged, and it is still undecided whether to appoint a governor or a provincial governor in the future.

In other words, the current system of governors (刺史) and provincial governors (州牧) will coexist.

At the same time, the powers of the prefectural governors were expanded.

It not only increased the power to appoint and dismiss officials below the rank of Commandant in prefectures and counties, but also allowed governors of various prefectures to cultivate land for famine relief.

The emperor did remember the matter of military farming, but Liu Hong faced too much resistance.

All the officials in the court, local powerful families, palace eunuchs including Zhang Rang, Zhao Zhong, the Empress, and He Jin... now oppose the establishment of the Agricultural Commandant.

Further discussion is useless. If we force it, it will only lead to the assassination of Liu Yu and Liu Yan, two capable members of the imperial clan.

However, no one would object to turning the existing governors of various prefectures into de facto agricultural commanders, because the power structure and the operation of the imperial court had not changed.

Although nominally the governor and the prefect were not in a completely superior-subordinate relationship and the governor still had no power to appoint or dismiss the prefect, the governor gained the power to appoint and dismiss officials under the jurisdiction of the prefecture and county and the power to manage military affairs. From then on, the governor completely transformed from an inspector into a ruler.

However, before Liu Yan could take office as the governor of Jiaozhou, he heard that the rebellion in Jiaozhou had been quelled.

Apart from Jiaozhou, all other prefectures already have governors, and a prefecture with a governor cannot appoint another governor.

Dong Fu, a court attendant, was a geomancer, and the emperor frequently inquired about the qi (vital energy) of the Han Dynasty during this period.

Because of the Empress Dowager's recent condition, Dong Fu also felt that the Emperor was acting strangely and sensed that something bad was about to happen in the inner palace.

If trouble were to strike in the inner palace, it would indeed be very dangerous for a close attendant of the emperor like the Chamberlain to remain in Luoyang, as he could very well be implicated. Dong Fu then told Liu Yan that there was an aura of imperial power in Yizhou.

Liu Yan, originally intending to avoid trouble, had someone accuse Xi Jian, the governor of Yizhou, of accumulating wealth and engaging in corrupt practices. This wasn't a false accusation; in those days, if one only considered accusations of accumulating wealth and being greedy, then all accusations against officials were infallible…

Based on this, Liu Yan requested the court to appoint him as the governor of Yizhou.

Therefore, Liu Hong appointed Liu Yan as military supervisor and governor of Yizhou, and enfeoffed him as Marquis of Yangcheng. He ordered Liu Yan to go to Yizhou to arrest Xi Jian and rectify the administration.

At the same time, Liu Yan appointed Dong Fu as the Commandant of the Shu Commandery, and Zhao Wei, the magistrate of Taicang, also resigned his post and followed Liu Yan to Yizhou—all because they were worried about being implicated in the palace turmoil.

……

For Liu Bei, the increased authority of the governors should be considered good news.

But to be honest, Liu Bei didn't like this good news.

This is because it would mean that the country would inevitably become a situation of regional warlordism.

Once power is given away, it cannot be taken back.

Originally, only Liu Bei could be considered a true governor of a province, but now every province is the same, and Liu Yan and Liu Yu are the real governors.

This is equivalent to enhancing the power of the governors of other provinces, but it will not bring about any substantial change on Liu Bei's side.

Especially for a military governor like Ding Yuan, who was originally only limited by provisions and military rank, his strength will inevitably rise rapidly.

However, when Sun Qian and Mi Fang returned to Pingyuan, they brought Taishi Ci back with them.

This was indeed good news for Liu Bei.

But Taishi Ci didn't come to take up an official post; he came to admit his mistakes. After admitting his mistakes, he returned to Donglai. He wanted to send his mother away so that she wouldn't suffer any more harm.

Having offended Kong Rong and Kong Zan, Taishi Ci had to consider the lives of his family members.

Taishi Ci admitted his mistake because he had actually witnessed Liu Bei's benevolent policies in Pingyuan and heard the people of Pingyuan praising the magistrate's benevolence and righteousness. He was very glad that he had made some amends.

Liu Bei only needed to resend the memorial, so there was no major problem.

However, upon learning that Kong Zan and Qin Zhou had joined forces to impeach him, Liu Bei naturally decided to respond to their grievances with honesty.

He's not exactly a pushover; if someone tries to frame him, he'll definitely get revenge.

There's no need for any framing or slander. Liu Bei is prepared to personally lead his army to Beihai and Donglai—to quell the remnants of the Yellow Turban Rebellion in Beihai, protect the great Confucian scholar Zheng Xuan, and incidentally quell the pirates in Donglai… There are plenty of excuses for sending troops.

Of course, the purpose of sending troops was not to fight, but mainly to let the brothers supervise the various counties, to completely control Qingzhou, to seize the land from the local tyrants, and to cause trouble for Kong Zan and Qin Zhou was just a side effect.

Before setting out with his troops, Liu Bei promoted his brothers to higher ranks.

Having the power to appoint and dismiss officials is something we should still use. Although there's no real change, it will at least elevate the brothers' titles and make them sound more prestigious.

Guan Yu was appointed as the Commandant of the Central Army, still leading more than two thousand men in the Central Army.

Zhang Fei was a Martial Valiant Commandant, leading the Vanguard Battalion, which consisted of eight hundred armored soldiers, half infantry and half cavalry. All their armor was painted red, and they were known as the "Martial Vanguard Battalion".

Zhao Yun served as Commandant of the Army, in charge of six hundred elite cavalry guards, all of whom wore black armor and were known as the "Black Armor Cavalry".

All the other generals were promoted. Zhang He, Bai Yao, Zhang Rao and other commanders of separate divisions were all promoted to commandants and were assigned to various counties in Qingzhou.

Currently, Qingzhou only has six commanderies, which means that all the commandant positions in each commandery in Qingzhou have been filled by Liu Bei. Liu Bei did this on purpose, without dividing the province into east and west, and instead appointing a commandant in each commandery, thus filling all the vacancies.

Guan Yu was stationed in Qi, Zhang Fei in Jinan, and Zhang Rao in Le'an. They divided their troops into different prefectures and had their brothers take over the affairs of the prefectures. Since the prefect was not present, in order to prevent the Yellow Turbans from rising again, the affairs of the prefectures were temporarily managed by the commandants to set up their own structure first.

Upon arriving at Pingshou in Beihai, Liu Bei accused Qin Zhou, the Chancellor of Beihai, of fleeing in fear of battle.

Qin Zhou was indeed not in Beihai at the moment, but in Donglai, so the charge must be confirmed.

Subsequently, Liu Bei appointed Zhang He, who was temporarily appointed as the Commandant of Beihai, to oversee the fight against powerful local warlords in Beihai. He also had the local strongman Sun Qian issue a proclamation to reassure the people. Afterward, Liu Bei continued to lead his army to Donglai.

This is the last prefecture, and Liu Bei is accompanied by Zhao Yun.

Originally, Liu Bei had no intention of fighting a war, nor did he think that Kong Zan, the governor of Donglai, would dare to oppose him.

But to their surprise, a large group of Yellow Turban rebels actually appeared outside Huang County in Donglai.

(End of this chapter)