Chapter 11 3. Become a cutting-edge political figure

Graduated Tai students are generally assigned work by the state and used according to their talents. Many poor children from various counties have to return to their villages to engage in teaching work after their studies, or they are recruited as officials in the local government, and they gradually embark on official careers. The children of the ministers have a more convenient channel. They can be directly enlisted as Lang, that is, interns in the palace or in various institutions of the imperial court, and then officially assigned by the imperial court to work in government departments according to the internship situation.

After Cao Cao became an adult at the age of 20, he was promoted to Xiaolian in his hometown Peiguo. Filial piety and honesty are two subjects for the selection of officials in the Han Dynasty. Filial piety refers to filial sons.The two are collectively called Xiaolian. In addition to graduating from Taixue and entering an official career, being elected as Xiaolian by the local government is also an important way to enter an official career.The number of places is really limited. The Eastern Han Dynasty stipulated that counties and countries should be used as units. People with a population of more than 200,000 can only recommend one person as Xiaolian every year, and those with a population of less than 200,000 can recommend one person every two years.

There were less than one hundred and ten counties in the Eastern Han Dynasty. According to this standard, only a few dozen people can become Xiaolian every year.Like Tai students, these people were first conferred as Lang Guan, and practiced with the emperor or other departments of the imperial court for a period of time, and then they could work in the local government or the central government. Cao Cao was elected as Xiaolian, and his family background undoubtedly played an important role. Without his father who held an important position in the court, it is basically impossible for Cao Cao to be elected as Xiaolian.It's not that he's not good enough, but that this kind of one-in-200,000 election is similar to winning the lottery. Strength doesn't matter, what matters is luck.

After being promoted as Xiaolian, Cao Cao was hired as Lang Guan, that is, an intern of the imperial court, according to the usual practice. During this period, he was mainly familiar with the administrative operation procedures and etiquette of the imperial court, and waited for the official assignment of work. Lang Guan turned into an official official, with a general rank between four hundred and six hundred stones, and most of them served as county magistrates or county heads.When the internship of Langguan is about to end, the internship department will issue a personal appraisal, and then the Shangshutai will arrange the appointment.

At this time, Luoyang Commander Sima Fang was promoted to Henan Yin, and Cao Cao was particularly eager to get the position of Luoyang Commander.Although the Luoyang order is at the county magistrate level, it is unmatched by any other county-level chief executive, and occupies an important position in the imperial authority.The rank of the Luoyang order is also higher than that of ordinary county magistrates, at 1,000 shi, while other county magistrates are only 600 shi, and county magistrates are 400 shi.The county magistrate and the county magistrate are both county-level chief executives. Those with more than 10,000 households in the county are called county magistrates, and those with less than 10,000 households are called county magistrates.

To obtain the Luoyang order, two people are very important. One is Henan Yin Sima Fang, the former Luoyang order and the current Luoyang order's boss, and the other is the director of the personnel department of the court secretariat (selected by Shang Shutai) who is in charge of officials under two thousand shi. Minister of the Ministry) Liang Hu.Sima Fang, Sima Yi's father, was a native of Wen County, Hanoi County, Sili Xiaowei Department, and was also from a noble family.He is not very talkative, maybe he looks down on Cao Cao's background, maybe he heard that Cao Cao's academic performance is not very good, in short, he is unwilling to recommend Cao Cao as Luoyang order.However, due to the influence of the Cao family, Cao Cao was reluctantly recommended as the northern captain of Luoyang under the Luoyang Order, with a rank of four hundred stones.

In this way, Cao Cao did not get the post of Luoyang Order, and was appointed as a lower-ranking Luoyang Northern Captain under the jurisdiction of Luoyang Order. In general counties, under the county magistrate or county magistrate, there is a post of captain, responsible for local public security, which is equivalent to the director of the public security bureau.Luoyang has a large population and an important position. There are two captains in the east, west, south and north.Luoyang Beibei Wei is the director of the Public Security Bureau of the northern Luoyang area. According to Mr. Yi Zhongtian, he is a deputy county level.

Cao Cao was quite dissatisfied with this appointment. Many years later, when Cao Cao saw Sima Fang again, he was already the king of Wei. Sima Fang's sons Sima Yi and Sima Lang were both officials under Cao Cao.Cao Cao has a lingering nostalgia complex, and this time he asked his old boss to host a banquet as he did with Zong Shilin.Cao Cao said: "If it were changed to the present, would you still recommend me to be a captain in the north of Luoyang?" Sima Fang replied: "When you recommended the king, you are only suitable to be a captain." Cao Cao then laughed. Although Cao Cao only got the post of Deputy County Public Security Bureau Chief, he was not discouraged, but worked hard to make some achievements in this post in order to attract the attention of the outside world.

As soon as he took office, he renovated the four doors of the government office, and made a lot of five-color sticks, which were hung at each door. As mentioned earlier, the administrative law enforcement system in the Eastern Han Dynasty was relatively chaotic, especially the law enforcement link, which had a lot of room for expansion and contraction. A deputy county-level public security bureau chief also held the power of life and death in his hands. Cao Cao's behavior is clearly intended to attract the attention of all parties.Of course, he also has other choices, such as working slowly in this position, through diligent work, building a good relationship with the people in the jurisdiction, doing some good people and good deeds, gradually improving his reputation, getting recognition from above, and waiting for opportunities for promotion .

It takes patience and it takes time.But what Cao Cao needs is to prove to the world as soon as possible that he is a capable minister in governing the world and a hero in troubled times. He is eager to build achievements, not in the long future, but in front of him. Coincidentally, Cao Cao waited for this opportunity.During a night patrol, Cao Cao led his men to encounter a group of uninvited guests who violated the night-time ban and Cao Cao caught them. The leader was the uncle Jian Shuo, a very popular eunuch. No matter who the opponent was, Cao Cao immediately ordered a big stick to serve him, and quietly told his subordinates: Just beat him to death!After a violent beating, Jian Shuo's uncle died.

This is an astonishing move made by Cao Cao just a few months after he took office.In the eyes of ordinary people, this incident is too violent. After all, the other party is not an ordinary person. With such a deep hatred, can Jian Shuo forgive you? However, after thinking and judging, Cao Cao saw that the situation may not be beneficial to the eunuchs in power. This matter will not cause too much crisis, so it is worth a try.For Lingdi, who is already in charge, balancing the relationship among eunuchs, party members, and relatives is already a lot of brains. Uncle had indeed violated the night-time ban. Cao Cao even thought about it, it's best to get dismissed and investigate because of this matter, and throw away this insignificant four hundred shi official, and there may be more gains.But this incident passed silently, and there was no news of revenge from Jian Shuo, but the news of Cao Cao killing the powerful with a club spread instantly in the capital. . Cao Cao became famous, and those who had never heard of him before knew that there was a young Director Cao in Luoyang City.For this result, Cao Cao was quite satisfied. However, there was one person whose opinion was just the opposite.