I did it all for the Han Dynasty!

Chapter 406 "Shu Examination"

"No, no, it's not..."

Yuan Shang was surprised that Yuan Shao would ask him such a question, and quickly shook his head in denial.

Yuan Shang's intentions had been so obvious that there was no room for maneuver now. He could only keep explaining, "It wasn't directed at my brother, but I felt this matter was too strange, and it involved warhorses..."

But this attempt to cover up the truth only made Yuan Shang's intentions more obvious.

Fortunately, Yuan Shao did not intend to reprimand Yuan Shang at this time. Instead, he sighed with some emotion, "It is absolutely unacceptable for brothers to quarrel with each other."

“Back then, Yuan Gonglu was completely ignorant of the big picture, which led to the split of the Yuan family and the chaos that has ensued in the world today.”

"If we do not learn from this, the Yuan family may face great calamity in the future."

"Especially now that Liu Miao is still in the south, you brothers should be more considerate of each other. As the elder brother, he should cherish you; and as the younger brother, you should respect him, understand?"

Having escaped unscathed, Yuan Shang lowered his head and said, "Yes, sir!"

Yuan Shao gestured for Yuan Shang to leave, while he kept Shen Pei and Guo Tu behind to reaffirm the upcoming southern campaign against Liu Miao...

After leaving Yuan Shao's palace, Yuan Shang did not return to his own Wude Hall, but went to Shen Pei's residence to wait.

It wasn't until midnight that Shen Pei returned to his residence, and when he saw Yuan Shang, it was as if he had expected it.

"Public trial!"

Yuan Shang held Shen Pei in high esteem and even treated him with the respect due to a teacher.

However, Yuan Shang soon anxiously asked Shen Pei, "What exactly happened today? I finally managed to gather all the evidence, so why is Your Majesty pretending to be ignorant?"

Shen Pei showed no restraint in front of Yuan Shang.

She removed her formal attire, revealing only a simple dark robe, and faced Yuan Shang, recounting everything Yuan Tan had done.

"No one can touch Yuan Tan now."

"If we touch him, the North might split apart in an instant."

"Does Your Highness understand what I'm saying?"

This was the first time Yuan Shang had heard of this matter, but he quickly realized what it meant and his eyes widened immediately: "So the matter of smuggling state assets, colluding with Liu Miao, and selling warhorses is just going to be forgotten?"

"..."

Shen Pei didn't know how to answer.

Could he possibly tell Yuan Shang what "state-owned assets" were? Were those warhorses, those smuggled goods, and those hidden commercial taxes, in Yuan Shao's eyes, actually all Yuan family property?
To others, Yuan Tan's actions may indeed be shameful! They may indeed be treasonous!
However, in Yuan Shao's eyes, this might just be Yuan Tan stealing some money from his family to make a private investment.

This investment, however, has now brought the Yuan family back Guanzhong, an elite heavily armored infantry force, and an heir supported by half of the powerful clans of Hebei...

From this perspective, this deal might be quite worthwhile!
The world is ruled by the family.

I am the state!

Everything within the territory of Great Zhao belongs to the Emperor! And to the Yuan family!
But after Shen Pei understood Yuan Shao's attitude, he felt something was off and his heart ached.

Therefore, Shen Pei simply avoided answering Yuan Shang's question.

"There's absolutely no point in dwelling on this now."

"Right now, His Majesty needs Yuan Tan to charge ahead and hold off Liu Miao's heavily armored cavalry."

"Liu Miao's cavalry force was not large to begin with. If we can hold off his heavy cavalry in a decisive battle on the plains, Your Majesty will be the ultimate winner! Therefore, Your Majesty will be lenient towards Yuan Tan until the outcome of the battle is decided."

Yuan Shang panicked completely after hearing Shen Pei's words!

"Yuan Tan has defeated Liu Miao? What will I do then?"

Shen Pei's heart was once again pierced with pain!
If Yuan Tan truly defeats Liu Miao, then the position of crown prince will certainly fall to Yuan Tan.

In other words, Yuan Shang will end up with nothing, which also means that Shen Pei will inevitably face Yuan Tan's purging in the future.

Shen Pei had just harbored some resentment towards Yuan Shao, feeling that Yuan Shao was far too indifferent to the country and the people for the sake of the Yuan family. But now that it was his turn, Shen Pei dared not say that he could be completely selfless from beginning to end.

If Yuan Tan wins and Yuan Shang loses his position, he and many other Hebei scholars who previously supported Yuan Shang will be suppressed by Yuan Tan.

From a personal perspective, Shen Pei should have prevented Yuan Tan from winning.

However, if Yuan Tan were to fail, he would certainly suffer the consequences and die, but the entire Hebei region would then have to face an invincible Liu Miao!

At that time, I'm afraid even the Northern Zhao state might not be able to be preserved!
Extremely rare.

Even Shen Pei, who was praised by the world as "naturally upright and honest, and whose words and deeds always admired the integrity of the ancients," was somewhat confused at this moment: "There are many things going on in the world. Who is right and who is wrong?"

------

Chengdu.

Liu Miao also received news that Yuan Tan had blocked the passes and stopped trade.

"Our brother-in-law is really no peace and quiet at all."

Pang Tong, standing beside him, said nonchalantly, "Isn't this something that could have been predicted long ago? Didn't Your Majesty expect this day to come?"

Liu Miao certainly knew this day would come!
The reason is very simple.

What Yuan Tan was after wasn't the money from smuggling; what he was after was the throne of the Northern Zhao under Yuan Shao's control!

It was only a matter of time before Yuan Tan blocked the passes! Liu Miao thought that Yuan Tan would be a little greedy and wait until the eve of the all-out war between Han and Zhao to do such a thing, but obviously, Yuan Tan did not hold out until then.

"Yuan Tan, I ultimately overestimated him."

Liu Miao was able to guess why Yuan Tan had done this several months in advance.

It's nothing more than being unable to bear the pangs of conscience!
The sooner the passes are sealed off and trade is cut off, the sooner Yuan Tan will feel better.

If Liu Miao were to do this, he would probably seize the opportunity, launch a major attack, and take a bite out of both the buyer and seller, making a killing! Then he would blockade the passes!
This kind of behavior—having already accomplished half of something, then suddenly pulling up one's pants to cover one's ears—is just too reminiscent of the hypocritical arrogance of a privileged young master!

"Yuan Tan's sealing off of the passes indicates that he must have received some information."

"Actually, there's no need for him to do that. Now almost everyone in the world knows that Yuan Shao will head south after the autumn harvest this year... If Yuan Shao were more cautious, he might wait until winter to fight our army, taking advantage of the cold weather in the Central Plains to weaken our army's fighting strength."

Although Liu Miao did not know the specifics of Yuan Shao's plan, he could guess it pretty accurately.

"In that case, I should return now."

However, there are still many things to be done in Sichuan.

In particular, fundamental changes such as the equal-field system and the three-chief system required the addition of a large number of grassroots officials as administrative forces. Even though Liu Miao had promoted many officials from humble backgrounds and commoner families during his time in Shu, it was still a drop in the ocean compared to the vast territory and large population of Shu.

"It seems I need to start doing this ahead of schedule."

Ultimately, the reason is that the selection system for officials in the Han Dynasty is still in a state of chaos.

The recommendation system is no longer keeping pace with the development of the Han Dynasty and is mismatched with the current national conditions.

In the past, the recommendation system relied on filial piety and classical studies.

However, nowadays, officials in various regions clearly favor those with talent and learning when it comes to the recommendation system.

But what exactly constitutes talent and what constitutes incompetence depends entirely on the personal preferences of the local officials.

This is certainly feasible in the early stages of a makeshift team.

Ultimately, however, there still needs to be a system to standardize and regulate it.

This is also the reason why Liu Miao summoned Pang Tong and others today.

"I intend to hold an imperial examination in Shu (Sichuan)."

"Let's set a precedent for the Han Dynasty!"

(End of this chapter)