Seeing Xiong Wuliang's strange expression, Qu Yuan also realized that his smile was a little too bright, so he quickly restrained his smile.
When he heard the news that "Qu Yanghou was attacked by local powerful men", Qu Yuan was filled with deep joy after a brief moment of fear!
Qu Yuan also knew Xiong Wuliang's temper very well——
It was okay if I didn't know about the erosion at the grassroots level before. Once I knew about it, I couldn't easily swallow the bad breath.
But if he wants to uproot all these greedy officials, Xiong Wuliang will definitely take action.
Doesn't this make him angry to death?
Qu Yanghou was suffocating in his heart, Qu Yuan's opportunity had come!
"These clans monopolize places and accept bribes... they are extremely abominable!" Qu Yuan said seriously: "If you want to be prosperous and strong for a long time, you must get rid of official corruption!"
Xiong Wuliang glanced at Qu Yuan, always feeling that Qu Yuan had evil intentions.
"Do you have any idea?" Xiong Wuliang asked.
Qu Yuan stroked his beard and smiled, with a hint of contentment on his face: "I have two strategies, one to treat the symptoms and the other to treat the root cause... I don't know where to start, my lord?"
"Let's talk about treating the symptoms first!" Xiong Wuliang waved his hand.
Qu Yuan smiled slightly: "To treat the symptoms, the only way to stop the boil is to strengthen management, encourage businessmen to report, confiscate the extortion proceeds of corrupt officials, and impose additional fines."
"At the same time, if you want to get rid of the monopoly of the local wealthy families on the administration, you must train the lower-level officials yourself. The Lord can take in the orphans of the soldiers and teach them how to read and digit. It does not require much knowledge, as long as they have learned dozens of With a hundred words, being a low-level official shouldn’t be a problem.”
Xiong Wuliang's eyes lit up, and he thought it was you!
This 'treating the symptoms' strategy alone is enough to make Xiong Wuliang applaud.
Confiscating the extorted money and adding fines will not overly stimulate the wealthy families and cause them to fully resist - but it can also effectively curb the grassroots officials' wanton wealth accumulation in a short period of time.
And cultivating orphans of soldiers to serve as minor officials can fundamentally avoid dependence on big families.
It can also relieve soldiers from worries and encourage them to fight the enemy more bravely on the battlefield.
Of course, teaching these orphaned soldiers to read and digitize is not a small expense - teaching venues, recruiting teachers... all cost money, and it costs a lot.
But for the unscrupulous boy, this money can be saved - there is Huang Xie in our house who has nothing serious to do and takes Xiao Hei and Xiao Bai to class every day. It is said that if two children have to be educated, two hundred children have to be educated...
At this moment, Huang Xie in the mansion suddenly sneezed——
Huh? what happened?
Do you feel like someone is trying to treat me like a donkey?
…
"May I ask what is the best way to 'cure the root cause'?" Xiong Wuliang looked at Qu Yuan expectantly.
Qu Yuan thought for a moment and suddenly changed the topic: "My lord, do you know which country has the weakest local clan power in today's world?"
Xiong Wuliang was startled.
Qu Yuan slowly uttered two words, asked and answered: "Qin State."
Qin?
Qu Yuan explained in a deep voice: "Shang Yang's reforms in the Qin State said - 'If a citizen has more than two males who are not different from each other, their wealth will be doubled'; 'It is forbidden for fathers and sons to live in the same house'... which effectively controlled the influence of local clans. develop."
"Although the Chu State is large, the power that the upper levels can use does not exceed 30%... In the final analysis, the power of the local wealthy families and nobles is too strong!"
At this moment, Xiong Wuliang already understood what Qu Yuan wanted to say.
Sure enough, Qu Yuan said loudly: "To cure the root cause, the only way to remove the firepower is to implement reforms and strengthen the weak and weak branches!"
"My lord, although you can't reform the entire Chu State now...but in your princely state, you can implement new laws that reform official administration, abolish slaves, and reward farming and war!" Qu Yuan said.
Since the last time Xiong Wuliang mentioned the theory of 'butt determines head' to Qu Yuan, Qu Yuan never persuaded Xiong Wuliang to reform.
Now that the old things were brought up again, Xiong Wuliang subconsciously wanted to resist, but found that he had no reason to resist at all...
In the past, Qu Yuan mentioned the strong cadres and weak branches, and invited Xiong Wuliang to strive to implement reforms in the entire Chu country - the strong ones were the king of Chu, and the weak ones were the feudal lords like himself.
But now, among the strong branches and weak branches in Quyang Hou Kingdom, the one who is strong is himself, and the one who is weak is others!
Xiong Wuliang fell into a brief silence.
Qu Yuan struck while the iron was hot: "Please ask the Lord to entrust his ministers with important responsibilities. Xu Chen will preside over the reform plan. Qu Yuan will definitely follow it to the death!"
…
A few days later.
Xiong Wuliang named Qu Yuan, the former great Sima of the Chu State, as Quyang Yin; Zhao Hua and Hu Cong were his deputy Yins.
The three of them gathered in Quyang County.
This personnel change attracted everyone's attention, but they didn't pay much attention to it.
In the past, except for Hu Cong, who was the actual magistrate of Ping'a County, Qu Yuan and Zhao Hua had been working for Xiong Wuliang for free and had no formal official status at all.
Now that Xiong Wuliang has been promoted to a marquis, it is also appropriate to start rewarding meritorious officials.
Qu Yuan's first political order after taking office as Quyang Yin was the "Academy Order"!
A huge notice was posted at the city gate. Some people who could read it shook their heads and explained to everyone——
"Yin You ordered from Quyang to undertake the construction of the 'Quyang Academy' from now on, and teach literacy and hyphenation... Boys between the ages of eight and fifteen can sign up for the election. All the food and clothing for the academy students will be borne by the Marquis Mansion."
The farmers who were watching were in an uproar.
Teach reading? for free?
An old farmer immediately tightened the hand of the child next to him and said excitedly: "Hurry up and sign up! You will definitely be chosen!"
"Let's go and spread this news back to the village!"
"My lord is so compassionate!"
…
At the registration desk of the academy, Qu Yuan stroked his beard with his hand and couldn't help but nodded secretly when he saw the excitement in front of him.
If the Chu State wants to centralize power and eliminate its dependence on local powerful families, it must cultivate its own grassroots officials who can be used.
Within three to five years of establishing an academy, there will be a large number of officials available who are literate in writing and familiar with the "Laws of Chu". Moreover, since they were trained by Marquis Quyang, they must be very loyal to Xiong Wuliang.
If the scale of the academy becomes larger and larger - even comparable to the 'Jixia Academy' in Qi... then Marquis Quyang will have a large number of loyal subordinates, and if these students have outstanding abilities and can enter the court as officials, then 'Quyang Academy' can even influence the political situation of Chu State to a great extent.
When the time comes, it will not be up to the unambitious Xiong Wuliang to decide whether he will be the King of Chu or not!
Qu Yuan thought about this and couldn't help but reveal a sinister smile...
"Don't crowd, come one by one!" Huang Xie shouted pitifully as his small body was submerged in the sea of people.
The popularity of the academy exceeded everyone's expectations.
People are not fools.
If there is a literate person in the family, it will be like smoke rising from the ancestor's grave!
In this era, as long as you can recognize a few words, you are a rare talent - at least you can be a low-level official. For ordinary people, this is already a huge benefit.
Even if you can't be a high official, you can still earn more by being a bookkeeper than working hard in the fields!
Xiong Wuliang hurried over and saw the huge crowd of people in front of him. Everyone was dumbfounded——
…
