Chapter 6 Section 5 Official Rules

First of all, to suppress a powerful family like Liu Yan, the army must be used, but the local government does not have a standing army to call.Since the Qin Dynasty abolished the garrisons in counties and counties, the Western Han Dynasty and the New Dynasty also did not set up garrisons locally.If the local governor is determined to eradicate such powerful clans, there is also a workaround, that is to recruit trained young men and temporarily form an army.However, for sending troops like this, you must first ask the imperial court for instructions and obtain the consent of the imperial court, and then the imperial court will send envoys to come to the accord with tiger amulets before you can act.If the imperial court did not give the tiger talisman and the local governor sent troops without authorization, it would be a crime of engaging in military affairs and he would be punished with death.

Obviously, very few local governors are willing to trouble the court, let alone send troops without authorization, thus paying for their own lives.Therefore, unless it is absolutely necessary, we will never choose to suppress by force.What's more, a powerful family like Liu Yan not only overshadows the sky in the local area, but also often has people behind him in the court. All kinds of relationships are intertwined. Once he angered a certain dignitary, he might be the one who will be unlucky in the end. What is even more ironic is that the local governors are not always in a state of active attack. In front of the powerful clan, they do not have the authority they should have. .You must know that there are many cold-blooded assassins and professional killers among the retainers supported by the powerful clan. It's all just a knife thing.

It is precisely because of the above concerns that local officials at all levels generally calm down, acquiescing to the special status of the powerful clan and aristocratic clans, and live in peace with each other.As for the public anger and grievances caused by the powerful clan, as long as Chang'an has not been disturbed, then the gourd monk judges the gourd case regardless of the right and wrong. You have to ponder the mentality of these local officials.They are like a listed company, they don't care about the real performance at all, as long as the report they submit is good enough.The reports of these officials were called "plan books" at that time. They were filled out by themselves. Rent, tax, prison, elections, etc. in the jurisdiction.And the imperial court's evaluation of their political performance is mainly based on this plan.Therefore, even if the people in the jurisdiction are in dire straits and thieves swarm up, according to the plan, it will still be peace and prosperity with singing and dancing, and the grain will be plentiful.The county bullied its county, and the county bullied the imperial court, which became a political scene at that time.

As long as you move your pen and write a colorful plan, you can be promoted in your official career and make a fortune. Just ask, which official will really go out of his way to eliminate harm for the people and benefit one side?The folk proverb said: "It is better to fight with strength than to play skillfully." It is the general aspiration of these officials. Having said that, for the wealthy family, no matter what, officials are officials after all, representing the face of the court, unless they are really cornered, they will not really assassinate a court official.They are not fools, species are easy to become extinct, but can you finish killing corrupt officials?Kill one, and the court will send another one, and then kill and send again, until you are fucking exhausted.

Now that the local governor has tolerated the powerful family, of course the strong family also reciprocated tactfully and paid respects to the chiefs in various ways.As a result, an official often finds that there are many familiar gold and jade on his case, and a few strange beauties on his bed.No matter where the heroes come from, they are all accepted with a smile. From then on, what belongs to the rich family belongs to the government, and what belongs to the government belongs to the rich family. This kind of collusion between wealthy families and the government began as early as the early Western Han Dynasty, and intensified in the last years of the Western Han Dynasty. By the time of the New Dynasty, this kind of transaction had become open to the public.

How can it get worse?Speaking of it, I have to thank the new emperor Wang Mang for his unprecedented feat-from the princes to the small officials, all salaries and salaries will be stopped. Wang Mang is a naive old man. He overestimated the ideological consciousness of the people under him.What he couldn't understand was that all these officials were strictly selected, either they were born in filial piety, filial sons and honest officials, needless to say about their character; Either after the rich and powerful, the roots are in full bloom, and they lack everything, but they are not short of money.But these people, how could they shamelessly degenerate into corruption, bribery, and looting once the power is in their hands?

You don't know, the stomach is easy to be full, but the desire is hard to fill.Even if the salary is high, it is still unreliable, let alone the salary is so low that there is no such thing.The result is not difficult to imagine, and the annals of history already have a clear text: "Officials in the world do not want to be paid, and for profit, they disturb the prefectures and counties, take bribes as the city, and invade and fish the people. When countless people dive headlong into the eyes of money without hesitation, there are always some people looking up at the starry sky with strong ambitions.In the huge country, after all, there are still a few maverick and cruel officials who will attack decisively and rectify the wealthy family.And two of them were transferred to Nanyang a few years later, and they wanted to try Liu Yan.

In short, we can see that at the local level, the power of the central government has declined, replaced by powerful clans backed by violence and financial resources.A few years later, powerful clans fought for supremacy, and Wang Mang's seemingly incomparably powerful central government quickly became vulnerable to this kind of attack. "Yi" says: "When you walk on frost, it is as hard as ice." It is true.