Three Kingdoms: I, Yuan Shu, Loyal Officials of the Han Dynasty

Chapter 294 If Lei and Chen were here, how could Xing and Cai have dared to act like heroes?
"The imperial harem is divided into nine ranks. Below the empress, there is one Imperial Noble Consort, two Noble Consorts, and four Consorts."
All positions are limited in number. If the required number of positions has been filled, those who have spent more merit points will be given priority.

The words continued softly as they were spoken.

Standing on the altar, Yuan Shu looked down at the group of noble families below, his expression inscrutable.

From the perspective of the ten great families, an annual competition might be frequent, but it wouldn't be enough for them to recover their strength.

But for the other aristocratic families who were not selected, they would not mind the frequency; in fact, they would rather it be as soon as possible.

After all, once the ten great families have recovered from the financial burdens of the world's great families, how will they continue to compete?

Therefore, even if they were dissatisfied, the ten great families could only swallow their anger, since the Yuan family of the Prince of Han was among them, setting an example for others.

This was exactly what Yuan Shu wanted; he wanted them to be weakened.

Otherwise, if the time interval between the ten major families' battles is too long, and the ten major families have enough time to recover after each battle, how will the other families compete next time?

After winning once, they received support from other powerful families, making the strong stronger and the weak weaker, and the other powerful families would be even less able to defeat them next time.

Once the top ten strongest families are established and their positions are secured, the families will have a lot more room to maneuver.

The so-called battle among the ten great families is likely to become stagnant, rendering this decree ineffective.

Only by holding the event once a year at a high frequency can we ensure that even a leading family like the Yuan family will not be able to maintain it after several consecutive terms.

Ultimately, they will weigh the pros and cons, temporarily abandon the competition for a few sessions to recuperate and rebuild their strength before competing again.

Smaller families that lack the foundation of top-tier aristocratic families can also regroup and build up their strength by giving up the competition for a few years or a decade.

When the powerful families are weakened by the struggle for re-election, they seize the opportunity to take the spot.

As for whether it will exploit the elite families too much?

They've become seasoned韭菜 (a metaphor for easily exploited people), and they can judge for themselves when to jump out and be harvested.

Because only ten companies are selected each year, and if you are not selected, you will lose everything.

Each year, only the most powerful families that are confident of winning the bid will go all out, while those families that are weakened by their re-election or lack sufficient resources and need to accumulate more experience will weigh the pros and cons and choose to lie low and recuperate.

As a result, different figures are active in the annual clan competition.

Good leeks come in batches, and those that have been harvested choose to lie dormant and develop, while the mature ones consciously jump out to compete and get harvested.

Leeks are available every year, but each year is different, thus establishing a complete self-adaptive cycle system for leeks.

The Nine-Rank System for the Imperial Harem, which was promulgated later, was a corresponding and complementary system.

Because the annual competition among the top ten aristocratic families results in the families giving back their wealth to the people and being awarded numerous merits.

If these achievements are held in the hands of aristocratic families and not used, they will accumulate year after year, thus devaluing them.

No matter how many exchangeable items are in the Hall of Merit, they will eventually be used up by these aristocratic families over time.

Therefore, the nine-rank system for the imperial harem, which expended a great deal of merit for the powerful families, came into being.

If one wanted to become a member of the royal family and share the fate of the nation, one had to send someone into the imperial harem.

However, once she entered the harem, she was only a concubine, which obviously had no effect.

To rise to the top, one had to accumulate merits and compete for rank, especially the Imperial Noble Consort who served for seven consecutive years – it was a bottomless pit.

Because no matter which family successfully holds the position for six consecutive years, they will face fierce attacks from all the other families in the final year!
That vacant rear seat will be like a bottomless black hole, attracting generations of aristocratic families, exhausting the merits accumulated over several generations.

In this way, the ranks in the harem were determined by merit, which to some extent eliminated the probability of unfilial descendants and beautiful women ruining the country.

After all, the laws and regulations he establishes today, when passed down to future generations, will be considered as the laws and policies of his ancestors, which cannot be altered.

Although times change and the world changes, what is good governance today may be subject to human intervention in the future, turning into corrupt and harmful policies.

Like the legacy of the Han Dynasty that lasted for four hundred years, it is unknown how many more centuries the peaceful and prosperous world he envisioned could last.

Ultimately, it's about doing your best!

Pulling his wandering thoughts back, Yuan Shu waited for the discussions about the "Ten Great Families" and the "Nine Ranks of the Imperial Harem" to subside before continuing to speak.

"Next, I will announce the third decree!"
Today, Lingyan Pavilion is erected.

Since I put forward this idea, I have consulted with many wise men and, after their improvement, it is now made public!

Above the twenty ranks of nobility, the five grades of duke, marquis, earl, viscount, and baron are now designated as feudal lords. Those who have made outstanding contributions can be granted titles. If they also possess a star position, they are granted the title of star lord.

Every promotion here is predetermined, and all the people of the country share in this favor.

As long as one accumulates enough merit to reach the corresponding noble rank, even if one was previously just a commoner, one can enjoy the corresponding noble rank benefits.

Above this, the Lingyan List was established, listing the 108 Heavenly Stars and Earthly Fiends, and the 365 positive numbers of the Zhou Tian constellations!
The required merit for these star positions is not fixed; selection is made annually based on the highest merits, with rankings determined accordingly.

Yuan Shu spoke slowly, revealing that this was the result of a collaborative discussion among Yan Xiang and others after he had put forward his idea.

After all, the highest rank of nobility in the twentieth rank is currently Marquis Che, and it would be obviously contradictory to directly rank them as Duke, Marquis, Earl, Viscount, or Baron.

However, these five ranks could be changed to five ranks of feudal lords, and placed above marquises.

Secondly, the Han state is newly established, and the Lingyan Pavilion system has only been initially implemented. Not to mention the fifth-rank feudal lords, there has not even been anyone who has reached the maximum level of the twentieth rank.

The star ranking system does not consider merit but only ranking. If the two are not distinguished, a lot of people will skip the intermediate process and reach the highest star ranking when they are only a dozen or so rank.

Therefore, the wise men discussed and perfected the King of Han's brilliant ideas, separating the two.

The level 20 nobility titles and the level 5 feudal lord titles are customized, with different amounts of merit required. Once the required merit is reached, one can come to Lingyan Pavilion to claim the title.

There are no restrictions on star positions, and the ranking competition is held once a year.

In this way, even if someone is not yet at the tenth rank in the early stages of starting a business, they may still be able to reach the 365th star rank this year, which greatly motivates people's fighting spirit.

At the same time, it will not prevent everyone from continuing to accumulate merits and advance to the rank of Nobleman, Level 20, Fifth Grade.

It can be said to be perfectly self-consistent.

When Yuan Shu saw the final plan that Yan Xiang and his group had come up with after their discussion, he was quite satisfied.

As expected of the seven-person dream team including Kongming, Pang Tong, Jia Xu, and Zhou Yu.

Even if you come up with some ideas that are ahead of their time, once they understand the operating principles, they can fill in the gaps and provide you with a perfect solution.

On the altar, after Yuan Shu explained the Lingyan Pavilion system to everyone, everyone looked up at him expectantly.

Watching this scene, Yuan Shu felt as if he were seeing a group of children who had worked hard for a semester and were waiting for their final exam results and rankings.

He chuckled softly and slowly announced:

"Tiankui Star, Yan Xiang, has long resided in the central government, managing key affairs, governing, serving as a key minister, and holding the first position among the stars!"

The Heavenly Star, Ji Ling, is unparalleled in the world, conquering the south and north, resisting the feudal lords in the east, attacking Ying and Chen, and ranking second among the stars!
Tianji Star, Guo Jia, though separated by a thousand miles, possesses wisdom that pacifies the world. His nature, both cunning and divine, is as unfathomable as the shadows. He is the third most powerful star!

When it was mentioned that Guo Jia was ranked third, Yuan Shu laughed.

There's nothing I can do; it's my own fault for exaggerating Guo Jia's abilities so much in the early stages.

Including his own initial transformation and all sorts of ingenious schemes and tricks, he had initially attributed everything to Yuan Ying's chief strategist, Fengxiao.

Although the conspiracy theories circulating in Luoyang are gradually being debunked, Yuan Shu will not admit it!

It's fine if everyone just knows it in their hearts. If we openly admit that Guo Jia didn't exist, wouldn't that confirm that we are the mastermind who has been hiding for decades and causing chaos in the Han Dynasty?
So, for all those brilliant decisions made in the early stages, Fengxiao still has to be dragged out and continue to bear the blame. And what does Fengxiao, far away in Youzhou, living a life of hardship, think when he hears he's been ranked third in the star system?
They're probably furious and cursing their lord for being cunning, right? After all, they've occupied this star position for nothing, yet they're far away in Youzhou, unable to spend a single penny in Shouchun, and can't enjoy the corresponding benefits at all. It's just saving money for their lord.

Amidst everyone's anticipation, Yuan Shu continued to announce the rankings, with the next two players attracting widespread attention.

"Tianxian Star, Yuan Yao, leads a prominent family, liberates the population, serves the country, the people, and promotes peace, and is the fourth star in the zodiac."

Tianyong Star, Yuan Ce, charged into battle, offered land, rendered meritorious service, established virtue, and built an unparalleled legacy; he is ranked fifth among the stars.

The two of them spearheaded the struggle for the crown prince position. All the major aristocratic families contributed land and people, and each family received a share of the spoils. And how many aristocratic families were there in the two states?
It's fair to say that everyone expected them to be among the top stars this year.

However, given the momentum of the Jiangdong aristocratic families offering land, Yuan Ce was almost certain to be superior to Yuan Yao.

Unfortunately, Yuan Yao's camp was too shameless. Realizing they couldn't win, they turned the perfectly good struggle for the crown prince position into a struggle for the empress's throne.

As a result, the Jiangdong aristocratic families were busy fighting for the title of the top ten aristocratic families, each of them wishing they could use every bit of merit to improve their own family ranking.

In the later stages of the battle, they were all fighting like madmen, and who had the mind to care who Yuan Ce was?
Anyway, if she enters the palace and gives birth to a prince, who will support Yuan Ce?
As a result, Yuan Ce received significantly less support, and the Jiangdong aristocratic families invested less and less in his achievements.

On the other hand, the powerful families in Huainan, Runan and other places no longer had land, so they could not compete with the Jiangdong families for the top ten families.

As Yuan Yao was Yuan Shu's eldest son, there was no one more worthy of investment than him.

Thus, in the later stages of the struggle for the heir apparent, Yuan Yao's share of the spoils continued steadily, while Yuan Ce gradually found himself unable to keep up, ultimately allowing Yuan Yao to successfully overtake him.

Upon learning of this ranking, Sun Ce remained expressionless, showing neither joy nor sorrow, as if he cared nothing about it.

On the other hand, Yuan Yao was beaming with joy, looking as smug as if he would soon be made heir apparent.

Yuan Yin, standing to the side, chuckled and said to Liu Ye:
"So, what do you think? Tell me, does my plan work or not?"

Liu Ye: "."

Where can you even begin to reason with this? The schemes of petty people, with no bottom line or limits, often prove to be the most effective.

"Tianxiong Star, Sun Quan!"
Deepen into enemy territory and annihilate 100,000 enemy soldiers!
Tianmeng Star, Cai Mao!

Debu spread throughout the four directions, and the entire province surrendered.

Tianwei Star, Xing Daorong!
His power and prestige shook Jing and Xiang, and people led their troops to surrender.

Upon reading this, Yuan Shu almost uttered these names with a bitter smile, as he was utterly helpless.

Although Sun Quan was placed under house arrest, the official characterization of the incident was that he was ordered to infiltrate the enemy camp in order to destroy Liu Biao in one fell swoop.

This was also so that in the future, if someone betrayed and defected to the enemy, the other lords would be wary and would not dare to accept them again.

However, this move enabled Sun Quan to penetrate deep behind enemy lines and annihilate 100,000 enemy troops!

In Yuan's camp, besides himself, the King of Han, who else has the record of annihilating 100,000 enemies?

It can be said that this was the greatest achievement in the Battle of Xiangyang, and it would be unreasonable for Sun Quan not to be ranked higher in this achievement.

Anyway, he's under house arrest, so he's just a figurehead occupying a spot without consuming any resources.

Later, the brothers Xing Daorong and Cai Mao were similar to Sun Quan.

They were able to break through Liu Biao's defenses and advance from the three counties of Jingnan to the walls of Xiangyang.

Xing Daorong repeatedly shifted his allegiance, causing the deaths of 70,000 Jingzhou soldiers, before finally surrendering with his entire army, bringing with him tens of thousands of surrendered soldiers. His achievements were truly immense.

After capturing Xiangyang, Cai Mao used his influence to bring all the counties of Jingzhou to surrender, and the region was pacified with a single proclamation.

Afterwards, the two of them made various contributions, including but not limited to accepting the surrender of other military generals in Jingzhou, such as Gan Ning; controlling the floods in Xiangyang and bringing peace to the people; and assisting in recruiting talents such as Pang Tong and Kongming.

In order to compete for the title of one of the top ten aristocratic families, the Cai family even made a huge sacrifice, offering up 300,000 mu of fertile land.

It should be noted that the two largest territories that the Han Kingdom has conquered so far are Jiangdong and Jingzhou.

At that time, Jiangdong was basically fought by Yuan Shu himself. Some surrendered, which were each a prefecture under the jurisdiction of their respective governors, with each governor having several thousand to ten thousand troops.

Compared to the achievements of these three individuals who commanded entire provinces and hundreds of thousands of people, there's really nothing to argue about.

However, their advantage is only this year.

When the army marched north and conquered the nine provinces, countless talented individuals displayed their unique abilities and made numerous contributions.

Cai Mao and Xing Daorong, on the other hand, have no further merits to gain, and their rankings will likely drop soon, fading into obscurity.

With that in mind, Yuan Shu continued to read about Zhang Xiu, who had nearly killed Cao Cao in Nanyang and beheaded Dian Wei and Cao Ang; and Lu Xun, who had pacified Lu and accepted the surrender of "Li Dian".

There was also Xiahou Dun, the General Who Guards the North, who governed the people of Yingchuan and defended the front line against Cao Cao's army year after year, making it as solid as a rock!

And Taishi Ci, Chen Dao, Xu Sheng, and others.

After all, the Han state was newly established, and those who arrived early were able to make contributions early. Unless they were people like Xing Daorong and Cai Mao who joined the group with merits, the others, such as Kongming, were newcomers and had not yet had a chance to make their mark.

The 108 star positions were announced one by one, and the remaining star positions were posted in the Lingyan Pavilion, so there was no need for the King of Han to read them aloud.

As the names of the meritorious officials were read out one by one, Yuan Shu was quite moved.

Looking back on my journey, how many heroes have died on the battlefield, their bones buried in foreign lands?

Hearing those familiar names, the generals returning to their posts, the veterans of Yuan Camp in the audience were deeply moved, their eyes brimming with tears.

Someone once said, "It's a pity. I still vividly remember the scene when I followed Generals Lei Bu and Chen Lan to see through Xi Zhicai's trick and launch an attack. I still remember it to this day."

Without the two generals, where would I be today?
It is a pity that Generals Lei Bu and Chen Lan, despite their extraordinary talents, died young.

Otherwise, this Heavenly Star position would surely be among the top.

Some of the new recruits in Yuan's camp were puzzled and hurriedly asked the veteran for clarification.

The veteran, a close confidant of Generals Lei and Chen, often lamented that since the deaths of the two generals, it had become much harder for him to earn merit.

He then hurriedly recounted how he had followed Generals Lei and Chen to conquer fourteen cities in a few days and uncover Xi Zhicai's ambush.

Upon hearing this, everyone sighed in regret!

"Heaven is jealous of talent, causing such a great general to die young!"
Otherwise, he would surely be among the Heavenly Spirits!

"Talented people emerge in every generation of the Han Dynasty, and new people replace the old ones!"

If Lei and Chen were here, how could Xing and Cai have dared to act like heroes?

Some elderly people, relying on their age, said: "I have also heard that there was a man named Liu Xun under the command of the King of Han, who was his trusted and beloved general, but unfortunately he was ambushed and killed."

Enraged, the King of Han breached the city walls, and the entire army, dressed in mourning, attacked the city day and night without ceasing. This shows that he must have been a famous general, otherwise why would the King of Han be so heartbroken?

Unfortunately, he underestimated his opponent in his first battle and was caught off guard. He didn't have time to dodge and thus failed to achieve any great deeds, and his career was cut short.

Otherwise, they might also have a place among the Heavenly Stars today.

Everyone who heard this sighed and said:
"Liu Gong's strategy astonished the world, and he died in battle to repay his king."

He died before achieving his goal, leaving heroes to weep with sorrow.

On the altar, their discussions could be faintly heard.
Yuan Shu: "???" (Scratching his head in bewilderment!)

(End of this chapter)