Chapter 521: Willful
In April of the fourth year of Jianxing of the Han Dynasty, Li Yan, the governor of Yong'an, the governor of Zhongdu, and the Marquis of Duxiang, was promoted to a former general. At the same time, he moved from Yong'an in Badong County to Jiangzhou, the seat of Ba County.
Chen Dao, the former deputy general of Li Yan, took over Yong'an's defense and was still under Li Yan's command.
In the same month, Li Yan returned to Jincheng to express his gratitude to the saint.
At the same time, Feng Yong, the chief minister of Yuejun, wrote three letters to Jincheng, one to his concubine Amei who stayed at his house, one to Zhang Xingyi in Hanzhong through Jincheng, and the last one. It's for the Prime Minister of the Han Dynasty.
After receiving the letter from Feng Yong, the chief minister of Yuejun, Zhuge Liang thought about it for a long time, and then summoned Xiang Lang, the chief minister of the Prime Minister's Mansion, and Jiang Wan, Yang Yi, Zhang Yi and others to join the army. He also specially invited former general Li Yan.
Feng Yong's letter talks about Yuejun's governance ideas, focusing on the embarrassing situation caused by the uneven distribution of Yi and Han in Yuejun.
In this regard, it is recommended that the Yi people be vigorously educated.
This is nothing at all. Parents and officials, aren’t they just educating the people and encouraging them to do farming?
But the key point is that the enlightenment proposed by Feng Yong uses the newly compiled classics of the imperial court as part of the teaching materials for enlightenment.
So this involves a sensitive issue: the right to interpret knowledge.
The emergence of Nanxiang paper gave the imperial court an opportunity to compete with aristocratic families for the right to interpret knowledge.
But just reediting the classics and annotating the classics is only the first step.
The most important step is to promote the officially annotated classics.
This is the most critical and difficult step.
Places like Nanxiang, which Feng Yong built by himself, could at most teach people the most basic literacy and arithmetic that were not valued by the world. Before the official annotated classics of the imperial court came out, they did not dare to touch these fields. —Of course, there is no need for it for the time being.
Just like this, it is still called a place where demons dance.
As for a place like Shuzhong, where aristocratic families monopolize the right to educate and interpret knowledge, it would be extremely difficult for the imperial court to promote its own standards for official classics.
After all, the centuries-old romance of the aristocratic family is not in vain. A single sentence of "This sentence has been interpreted this way since ancient times" is enough to make the world feel that the aristocratic family's explanation is more authoritative and correct.
Hence, it is a long and difficult process to compete for the right to interpret knowledge from aristocratic families.
Feng Yong's suggestion allowed the Prime Minister of the Han Dynasty to see another way.
The Prime Minister of the Han Dynasty did not understand the saying that the countryside surrounds the city.
But he knew that places where Han and Yi people lived together were also places where aristocratic families were weak. What if official classics were promoted in these places? Will it have any effect?
The Prime Minister of the Han Dynasty thought about it for a long time and was not sure, so he called everyone over to discuss it.
“Prime Minister, during the reign of Emperor Guangwu, the Southern Xiongnu invaded the territory and divided their tribes into the border counties to help the Han Dynasty guard the border. This made the Han Dynasty peaceful on the border. This is a long-term strategy.”
“The Prime Minister pacified Nanzhong, but he did not set up Han officials or station Han troops in the counties of Nanzhong. The Yi people still governed themselves. Not only did the court not spend money and food, but it also benefited from the copper-lacquered cattle and horses. This is also a good policy.”
"Therefore, Yan believes that Feng Changshi's words are really unnecessary. If the Yue Junyi people are willing to submit, they can be taught how to farm mulberry trees. If they are not used to farming mulberry trees, they can still be ordered to defend their own land and obey the rules. Old custom.”
“If we are too oppressive, we are afraid that there will be another rebellion. Jiao Huang and Gong Lu are the examples.”
Li Yan is one year older than Zhuge Liang, but because he eats and drinks well, he looks younger than Zhuge Liang.
At this time, he was sitting in the position of host and guest and spoke slowly.
Li Yan's meaning is very clear, that is, to be gentle, and just want the barbarians not to be in chaos.
As for education and so on, don’t force it.
Emperor Guangwu and other talented people not only allowed the Southern Huns to move south, but even designated a special place for them to live together.
Prime Minister, after you pacified Nanzhong, didn't you still let the powerful families and barbarian kings of Nanzhong rule their old tribes?
This Feng Langjun went a little too far.
Education? Is education that simple? What if rebellion is triggered?
If this was said two years ago, it would be true.
But today is different from the past. The imperial court has money and grain in its hands. It can even touch the sensitive points of aristocratic families quietly and covertly through Maobu and bills issued by the Nanxiang Reserve Bureau.
I don’t have to beg you now. You even have to beg me. Why can’t I have what you have?
That’s probably what it means.
Li Yan may have been away from the center of power for too long, or it may be that the Han Dynasty has changed too quickly in the past few years. It is more likely that due to some unspeakable reasons, it is unnecessary for Feng Langjun to express his stance directly.
When the Prime Minister of the Han Dynasty heard this, he frowned slightly, and then immediately relaxed his brows. The movement was very slight, and only one person noticed it, and that was Yang Yi.
Yang Yi could only be heard saying, "What Li Junhou said makes sense, but Yi has one thing to say."
Li Yan didn’t even look at Yang Yi.
His nature is aloof and arrogant, and now his status is only lower than that of Zhuge Liang. Yang Yi has only joined the army. The two are not on the same level, so there is no need for him to pay attention.
Yang Yi is not big-hearted, so when she saw Li Yan's appearance, she suddenly felt resentful in her heart.
He originally wanted to be more authoritative, but now he said loudly and without hesitation, "Confucius deleted poems and books, wrote the Spring and Autumn Period, wrote the Yi Zhuan, and taught the classics. Why? Isn't it because he wanted to rebuild the Zhou rites?"
"Why do you want to rebuild the Zhou rites? It is precisely because the rites in the Spring and Autumn Period collapsed and almost became a barbarian land. In fact, etiquette is the fundamental difference between Han and barbarians!"
“If a Han enters a barbarian land, speaks barbarian language, and performs barbarian rituals, how can he be considered a Han? Today, the world has been in chaos for decades. How many Han people have fled to barbarian lands to escape the troubled times and become barbarians?”
“On the other hand, if the Yi people enter the Han area, learn the Chinese language, and practice Han rituals, how can they be regarded as the Yi people?”
"Feng Junhou accepted the Yi people from Yue and wanted to change their customs and teach them Han rituals. This is a great achievement of education and should be vigorously promoted. How can it be said that it is unnecessary?"
As soon as these words came out, even the good old man Xiang Lang looked at Yang Yi in surprise. This guy is really bold!
“Is Feng Junhou comparable to Emperor Guangwu? Or is he comparable to the Prime Minister?”
Li Yan sneered.
This question is truly heartbreaking.
Yang Yi's face suddenly turned red and her teeth chattered.
This Li Yan is basically trying to trick him into death!
If he answered yes, he would not only have offended the prime minister on the spot.
Even Feng Yong, who is far away in Yuejun, will jump to his feet after learning what happened today. He would like to rush back to Jincheng and strangle him to death!
More powerful than Emperor Guangwu? Why don't you skyrocket to 90,000 miles?
But if the answer is no, then Emperor Guangwu and the Prime Minister are mainly tolerant, so Feng Yongyong follows the old rules, isn't he just being smart?
Zhuge Liang coughed and finally added, "Gong Yan, what do you think?"
It was Jiang Wan who asked.
The relationship between Jiang Wan and Yang Yi is not good, but not bad either. They both joined the army in the Prime Minister's Office. At this time, seeing him having **** **** with Li Yan, she was a little worried.
Hearing the Prime Minister's question, Wan quickly said, "Returning to the Prime Minister, Wan thinks that what Li Junhou said makes sense..."
Li Yan smiled with satisfaction, while Yang Yi glared.
"However, Feng Langjun is a member of the mountain sect, and he often does amazing things. Well, if he can really educate the barbarians to learn Chinese and learn Han rituals as Yang Canjun said, then Yuejun County will become the second Zhu Tijun?"
Confucianism flourished in Zhuti County, and families with big surnames took pride in studying Han books and practicing Chinese. During the Nanzhong rebellion, all the barbarian kings in Zhuti were unmoved, precisely because people's hearts turned toward the Han Dynasty.
Li Yan and Yang Yi did not expect that there would be a twist in Jiang Wan's words, so their expressions immediately changed.
When it comes to knowing Zhuge Liang's thoughts, apart from Ma Su who went to Hanzhong to be the prefect, the next one must be Jiang Wan.
At that time, the prime minister was extremely angry. From then on, Li Yan was not favored by the prime minister because of his selfishness.
Now that he is promoted to the position of former general, it seems to be a high promotion, but transferring him from Yong'an to Jiangzhou is not an easy move.
Yong'an is the place where Li Yan accepted his will, and it is also the place where the late emperor personally handed over his elite soldiers to him, which is of extraordinary significance.
But Jiangzhou is different.
When the late emperor invaded Dongwu, General Zhao was in charge of Jiangzhou.
The subtlety of this is beyond the comprehension of ordinary people.
In other words, the prime minister has now begun to be wary of Li Yan.
After hearing Jiang Wan's words, the Han Prime Minister lowered his eyes to prevent others from seeing the cold light flashing in his eyes.
At the same time, I am also a little disappointed with Li Yan. Zhengfang, Zhengfang, I thought that you were just a little too selfish and could still tolerate each other for the sake of the country. I didn't expect that you have reached the point where you are so careless about official business.
If the court is short of money and food, or is unable to travel south, letting the barbarians stay on their own land and follow their old customs is a way to temporarily maintain peace.
But why is the imperial court now able to conduct a large-scale census of the people in the fields? You really don’t know why?
Since you dare to attack the population and land, which is the lifeline of a big family, why should you be afraid of attacking another lifeblood?
As the prime minister of the Han Dynasty, Zhuge Liang was very aware of the current situation in Nanzhong, and he even deliberately indulged in this situation.
Now that Nanzhong is preparing to open a large estate, where will the required labor come from?
You can’t drive the Han people to Nanzhong, right?
Who wants to go? Who is willing to go from the prosperous Shu land to the legendary plague-ridden land?
So naturally it is most convenient to find the local Yi people.
As long as the Yi people did not learn Chinese, did not observe Han rituals, and were not under the direct management of the government, they would still be a potential source of labor.
Aristocratic families and powerful people just need a reasonable excuse to turn them into laborers.
But in the view of the Prime Minister of the Han Dynasty, it is true that the imperial court needs to weaken the barbarians in Nanzhong, but at the same time, it is impossible to allow the local power in Nanzhong to expand again.
The current approach is just to better control Nanzhong. The ultimate goal is to one day allow the court to directly manage Nanzhong instead of relying on the powerful Nanzhong families and the barbarians of the Yi kings.
Nanzhong can only be the Nanzhong of the imperial court, not other people’s Nanzhong.
But it was obvious that Li Yan was determined to oppose Feng Yong's suggestion.
He could only be heard scolding Jiang Wan, "Confucianism has been established in Zhuti County since the Pre-Han Dynasty, and it has been hundreds of years since then. The establishment of counties in Yue and Jun also started in the Pre-Han Dynasty, and it has been hundreds of years since now, but now the Yi Chaos is still common, how can the two be confused?”
Li Yan opposed this because he was very satisfied with the current situation in Nanzhong and even wanted to keep it forever.
As to whether he was incidentally helping the family to maintain another lifeline, the knowledge monopoly, or whether he was helping intentionally, no one knew.
“Everyone’s considerations are reasonable, and what Feng Changshi said in his letter is unclear, and we don’t know what his specific plans are, which makes it really difficult to draw a conclusion. Why doesn’t the Prime Minister send someone to Yuejun to ask in detail?”
The good old man Xiang Lang saw that the situation was a little too angry, so he quickly jumped out to mediate.
“It’s true what Xiang Changshi said.”
Zhang Yi had been watching with cold eyes, but finally said something.
So the issue was put aside for the time being.
Compared with the letter that almost caused a quarrel in the Prime Minister's Mansion, the things explained in the letter to my concubine Amei were much easier to handle.
After reading the letter from the master, Amei thought for a while, and then asked someone to call the butler over: "Uncle Zhao, how many ducks are there in our farm now?"
“One hundred and twenty-three.”
Uncle Zhao is very qualified as a housekeeper.
Today's Feng Mansion is not a family that could not even raise a hundred chickens before. Not only does the village have a place dedicated to raising pigs, but there is also a place dedicated to raising ducks and chickens.
After all, there have been a lot of people in the house in the past two years, and the master's reputation is relatively high. As long as the master comes back to the house, people come to visit almost every day, and the food for the reception alone is not a small amount.
“How many are laying eggs?”
“I don’t have an accurate estimate. Most of these ducks lay their eggs at night. I can only give a rough estimate on weekdays, which is around seventy.”
“Too few.” Amei frowned, “If we go out to buy hatching eggs, how many can we buy?”
"I'm afraid it's difficult. This year, many people have learned the secret recipe from our house. The duck and chicken eggs are in very short supply. Before the Lord left the house, many people came to our house to ask. "
Butler Zhao was very worried about his master's prodigal behavior. In his opinion, secret recipes like this were something that could be passed down from generation to generation. It was understandable that he was forced to give them out to several families.
But now, I heard that many wealthy families in Jincheng have learned this, which made Butler Zhao feel distressed for a long time.
“Not to mention other families, Guanfu can always get some, right?”
Amei frowned and sighed, "My lady has a letter, it's for Guan Junhou. Please ask Uncle Zhao to go to Guan Mansion in person. I just happened to send a message to Guan Junhou, saying that the Lord wants to Transport some eggs to Yuejun and see if he can help."
Uncle Zhao trembled when he heard this, "I heard that Yuejun is nearly a thousand miles away from Jincheng. How many bumps will it be on the way?"
There is a way to store duck eggs at home, which is to bury them with bran. You only need to check them twice a month to pick out the bad ones. Most of them can be stored for two to three months without going bad.
So there is no need to worry about the smell on the road, but how far is it from Jincheng to Yuejun? And I heard that the road is either mountains or water. How can it be so easy to transport?
"That's why we have to charge more. Even if half of it is bad, we can keep half." Amei sighed again, "Don't be afraid of spending money."
“This is nonsense!”
When Guan Xing received the news from Feng Yong, he felt a toothache immediately. He knew that this guy was rich, but he didn't regard money as money when he was going through such trouble, right?
How willful is it to transport fresh duck eggs from Jincheng to Yuejuan?
If I had known better, I would have ordered more betrothal gifts!
Just seeing a letter from Sanniang, Guan Xing had no choice but to do as he was told.
The willful Feng Tibi didn’t care whether the people in Jincheng would have a headache or feel distressed because of his letter.
At this time, he was standing on the edge of the field ridge, stepping **** the field ridge, and even jumped a few times. It felt that it was indeed quite strong, and then he nodded with satisfaction.
This field bank is much higher and wider than the common ones, and it is also specially tamped.
Gaoding has been in chaos for nearly ten years, and it is not that they only focus on destruction and ignore production. After all, the barbarians are also human beings, and they also need to eat, and they also need money and food to support their soldiers.
Even a barbarian would scatter some millet somewhere to be harvested, let alone Yuejun, who had established a county for hundreds of years?
There is a lot of farmland in the Sunshui Plain around Qiongdu. It was originally a grain-producing area in Gaoding. Although it was abandoned for a year last year, it can be cultivated directly with a little tidying up.
So this is one of the reasons why the Yi leader is willing to cooperate with Feng Yong to open up wasteland.
Because most of the people around Qiongdu are experienced officials, or those who know how to farm.
It is impossible to grow early rice in Qiongdu this season, but for Feng Yong, who has a lot of manual labor on his hands, it is still possible to quickly sort out two plots of land for him to experiment.
Feng Yong carefully selected a piece of land and had it transformed according to his wishes.
High field banks were built around it, and several vertical and horizontal ditches were dug in the field. Each ditch was two feet wide and one and a half feet deep.
Then a water pit four feet deep and one foot in size was dug at the water inlet of the paddy field.
From this point of view, a certain long history was not deceiving the barbarian children to help him catch loaches all day long. At least he had created this weird-looking paddy field.
The rice seedlings were planted in the paddy field. After a few days, they stood up straight again and began to turn green.
Feng Yong walked around the rice field and found that there was indeed nothing missing. Then he shouted to the servant behind him, "Okay, you can put it in."
(End of this chapter)