My older brother is Gao Huan.

Chapter 495 Marrying multiple women and having multiple children

Gao Yu frowned and thought for a moment.

Only a few women were not pregnant, so Cui Zhifan was not suitable...

The Cui family of Boling is also in Dingzhou. The Cui family of Qinghe and the Cui family of Boling are the benchmarks of the aristocratic families in Hebei in this era. If I were to specially summon Cui Zhifan here, who knows what the aristocratic families in Shandong would think.

Gao Huan found it strange, "It's just a small matter, why is Erlang making such a fuss about it?"

"Mainly... I already have enough women in my household."

Where are they plentiful?

Gao Huan's rhetorical question left Gao Yu momentarily speechless.

Some ideas can't be changed overnight.

He believed he already had enough women and children, but in the eyes of a 'native' like Gao Huan, he was nothing.

"You have already laid a great foundation. After you pacify Tianbao, you will be the ruler of the North. How can you maintain such a great foundation if you have no offspring? You married late and missed too much time. Now you should marry more wives and have more children to expand your family."

In ancient times, the mortality rate for infants was quite high, and even if a child was born safely, it didn't guarantee that they would grow up to be an adult.

Having more children is actually to avoid such risks. If the eldest child has an accident, the second child can take over. Because accidents are prone to happen, a sufficient number of children is needed to provide support.

"All right……"

Gao Yu sighed, "Let me think about it some more. The daughter of the Liu family in Pingyuan is not pregnant yet, so I can summon her here."

"You can decide this matter yourself. Just pay more attention to this in the future. Right now, with the false emperor established by Tianbao, we have a formidable enemy at hand. Even if they have open and covert struggles, they won't go too far."

Gao Huan reminded him.

The intensity was indeed not very high.

At least no one was killed, and the whole affair didn't cause a huge uproar.

The situation didn't escalate to the point where Gao Yu had to resort to murder to intimidate everyone and bring the matter to a close.

Intense political struggles are bound to result in heavy casualties, since political struggles are a classic example of a zero-sum game.

The winner takes all.

"We can still give some preferential treatment to Shandong. Let Zunyan find a reason to add an extra imperial examination and the Zhongzheng selection this year. It just so happens that the counties and prefectures in Hebei are still short of a lot of officials."

The Northern Wei Dynasty used a nine-rank system for selecting officials, with the officials in each prefecture and county recommending talented individuals to the imperial court.

These are all time-limited.

Gao Yu initially set a schedule of one imperial examination every three years and one selection of successful candidates every five years.

The imperial examination system was a privilege he left to aristocratic families. The sons of these families could still have a path to officialdom without having to take the imperial examinations, but the time interval between appointments would be much longer.

The imperial examinations were held once every three years.

Once every year or two is too frequent.

Talented people aren't like leeks in a field; you can't just cut one batch and expect others to grow back quickly.

After the basic education in the academy lays a solid foundation, the imperial examination is held to select truly talented individuals.

Moreover, there are only so many official positions available.

If the imperial examinations were held once a year.

Where do all those spots come from for those who pass the exam?
With such frequent occurrences, the end result was that a large number of people were queuing up, waiting to 'become officials,' not to mention that a portion of official positions had to be reserved for the military system.

Gao Yu now adds an imperial examination and a selection of officials.

In reality, it was a disguised way of giving a batch of grassroots official positions to Shandong to fill the vacancies in Hebei.

"That would be acceptable."

Gao Huan nodded repeatedly, "Second Brother is indeed wise. The schools and military academies in Hebei have only just been established and are not yet ready to hold the imperial examinations."

Even knowing that Gao Yu was favoring the Shandong aristocratic families, the Hebei aristocratic families couldn't find fault with him openly.

Politics, you know.

It means achieving one's goals through respectable means within the established rules.

........................

After the court assembly ended.

Sima Ziru and others gathered together.

"Zunye, what should we do now?"

"Indeed, we were too hasty this time." After calming down, Sima Ziru thought carefully and told everyone his thoughts, "The Prime Minister's words are nothing more than a delaying tactic."

"However... the traitor Erzhu Rong has occupied Luoyang, Bingzhou is still in his hands, and the Yellow River is a natural barrier. Although Jianzhou and Jinzhou seem to be within easy reach at the moment, it is almost impossible to take Luoyang in a short time! If the Prime Minister can stall for time this time, we can bring it up again in three to five years."

"Besides, the Prime Minister and the Emperor are currently both residing in Luoyang. Ye City, though not the capital, is more like the capital than the capital itself, just like the Prime Minister isn't..."

Sima Ziru stopped abruptly halfway through her sentence.

What he wanted to say was simply that Gao Yu was not the emperor, but was better than the emperor.

But some things are best kept to yourself and not said out loud.

"Hmph, that Yang Yuanli is utterly despicable. He keeps claiming to be acting for the people, but who doesn't know what he's really after..."

“Be careful with your words. The Chamberlain is honest and upright, and is deeply loved by the people of Yanzhou.”

Sima Ziru spoke up and rebuked.

With so many people present, a real mixed bag, how could you say such things carelessly?
Besides...

Yang Dun's reputation wasn't something he boasted about; he was genuinely honest and loved the people. If Gao Yu found out about such a reputation, he would surely be severely punished for slandering it.

"In short, there's no need for you to rush this matter. Just observe and see how things develop. If the war against the false emperor goes poorly, the Prime Minister won't continue to oppose us. If the war goes smoothly..."

Sima Ziru chuckled lightly, “Luoyang is closer to Hebei.”

As long as Gao Yu's army can cross the Yellow River, reach the gates of Luoyang, or even take Luoyang back.

If Luoyang becomes a battlefield, then the powerful families and clans surrounding Luoyang would have fled long ago. Even if a few stubborn ones stayed, their property could be confiscated under the pretext of "supporting" the traitor Erzhu Rong.

The victors should ruthlessly plunder everything from the losers!
As the capital, Luoyang would quickly eliminate the old powers, allowing them to seize territory ahead of time.

"The Left Minister's insight is indeed brilliant!"

"Then we'll just wait and see."

Gao Yu has already shown his attitude, so there is really no need for them to confront him head-on.

As the rule-maker, Gao Yu should indeed take the lead in abiding by the rules. After all, if he doesn't even abide by the rules he set, how can he expect others to?

but……

This really angered Gao Yu.

Gao Yu truly has the ability to break the rules, overturn everything, and start over.

question?

When you go to fight with the swords of warriors, they won't reason with you.

The most common approach of martial artists is to say, "I know a little about fighting and can solve problems by killing people, so why bother with words?"
They should even be thankful.

Gao Yu is not the kind of traditional military leader; he is willing to play by the rules of politics.

If it were replaced by a warlord like Dong Zhuo or the original Erzhu Rong...

Stop whining and complaining, just chop him up with a knife and that's it.

Two more days passed.

Another convoy of carriages arrived outside Ye City. Although not as grand as Gao Yu's entourage, it was still quite large.

A handsome young man rode a tall horse ahead, leading the way.

Upon seeing the people who had come to pick up the carriage, the young man immediately spurred his horse and quickly left the convoy.

"Brother!"

Gao Yue looked at Gao Yu and Gao Huan with great joy.

Seeing that there were other people present, he quickly changed his address, "Greetings to the Prime Minister, greetings to the Minister of State!"

Gao Yu nodded. "Get up and come with me to greet your elder sister."

When the carriage came to a slow stop, Gao Yu and Gao Huan quickly stepped forward.

As the curtain was lifted.

Gao Loujin, who was like a 'birth mother' to the two brothers, came out from inside.

"Eldest brother, second brother."

"Sister!!"

(End of this chapter)