When the Eastern Han Dynasty reached its later stages of development, the transportation situation was not only connected in all directions, but also torn apart.
The roads in many areas are even made by people, and there are no regulated roads at all.
During this period, the country's transportation really had big problems. As the central court became increasingly chaotic, the court's maintenance of roads was extremely close to laissez-faire. Once there was a problem with some important roads, officials could not take the route they took office. Been blocked.
Especially in a place like Yizhou, once the road is blocked and no responsible person can be found to repair it, it is normal for outsiders to be blocked and unable to move forward for two or three years if they want to go in.
For example, Xun You in the original timeline was unable to enter Yizhou to serve as the prefect of Shu County because of blocked roads. He was unable to move forward and was stuck in Jingzhou for more than three years.
If this is the case for officials, let alone ordinary people?
Recalling that after Qin Shihuang unified the six kingdoms, he proposed to build ten large roads from the capital to various places. It is obvious that transportation is important to national governance.
At the same time, in the imperial era, there was also the saying of "imperial extreme wall", that is, sending troops from the capital, the place where the army can reach after three months is the limit of the empire's ability to rule. Beyond the distance of three months, the empire will no longer be able to rule. territory.
But this is not absolute for an empire.
Therefore, if the domestic traffic situation is very bad, the Empire Wall will be shortened accordingly, and places that can normally be reached in three months will not be accessible.
If the domestic traffic conditions are excellent and roads extend in all directions, then the scope of the empire's extreme wall will correspondingly increase, and the empire's territory will also expand correspondingly, even to an unbelievable level.
Therefore, the transportation issue is something that Liu Bei attaches great importance to.
In the third year of Jian'an, he began to plan the Han Empire's own Dachi Road construction plan. He also planned to start construction from Luoyang and build some Dachi Roads to the border passes that were difficult to control.
Not to mention his idea of building a north-south Grand Canal in advance in order to cope with the small glacier climate that will come in twenty years.
Therefore, the existence of the Ministry of Industry is of great significance.
After careful consideration, Liu Bei decided to arrange for Yan Wen, who originally served as Guang Luxun, to be the Minister of Industry. He would be in charge of the country's engineering forces and be responsible for adding weight to the rule of the Third Empire of the Han Dynasty.
The final political reform was the cabinet that was transformed from the chancery.
The reason why the name Shangshutai is not used is to prevent Shangshutai from quickly becoming a department that usurps the powers of the Eight Ministries due to its tradition.
Although Liu Bei was familiar with the fact that after the establishment of this department, it gradually grew and expanded and usurped power, but he still did not want the cabinet to become a complete behemoth so quickly.
In his plan, at least for a considerable part of the time, the cabinet will be used by him to train outstanding young officials, and once they grow older, they will be assigned to the eight ministries to manage specific government affairs.
It is equivalent to the emperor personally cultivating his own team of cronies to control power. Therefore, it will not take long for the importance of the cabinet to be realized by people, which will lead to the pursuit of it and inadvertently enhance the actual political status of the cabinet.
In history, departments with such humble and powerful positions were not uncommon, and they often became important departments with real power. The cabinet is not the only one.
Departments similar to the cabinet were born very early in Chinese history. They usually first appeared as confidential departments close to the emperor.
The main reason for its development and growth is that it is close to the emperor. It can easily become a well-known power department through the emperor's authority, and easily obtain some power that does not belong to this department.
But for a centralized emperor who did not appoint a prime minister, the world's government affairs were really quite heavy. Without help, few emperors could have as strong a spirit and vitality as Lao Zhu.
Liu Bei felt that he did not have as strong mental power and vitality as Zhu Yuanzhang, so he decided to set up a cabinet.
He brought all the former subordinates in the general's palace who had not been sent out to help him handle government affairs into the cabinet and became cabinet ministers. He simply changed a brand and ran the entire emperor's secretarial department—— cabinet.
He did not give the cabinet any professional titles such as chief assistant, second assistant, or group assistant. They were all called cabinet members. The only leader within the cabinet was the emperor, and that was it.
As for whether this department will become a super giant with eight powers in the future, Liu Bei cannot provide any guarantee.
But he knows that no matter it is an ancient country or a modern country, no matter in the past, present or future, there is no eternal method that can be solved once and for all. It is pure fantasy to expect that one policy will last for ten thousand years and solve all hidden dangers.
No matter what the policy is, it will definitely fall into chaos in the future, be artificially destroyed, and ultimately end in reform or abolition.
The only way is for people to seek change, progress and development themselves.
Man is the only way to salvation, and man is also the greatest source of destruction. Things in the world are so contradictory. Liu Bei has no choice but to do his best and be the best at the moment.
Choose whatever is best for the present. As for the future, it depends on the development of the times.
Although the Military Department is among the eight ministries, it is the only military department among the eight ministries. It is responsible for the logistics affairs of the army and is also responsible for counting merits for the army. If you want to choose someone who does not understand the military at all, then is inappropriate.
Logistics is also a military subject and is an indispensable part of the military. Letting people who do not understand military affairs serve as ministers of the military ministry is a trap for their own army.
Therefore, Liu Bei appointed Yan Zhong, who was well versed in military affairs and had experience in military operations, as Minister of the Military Ministry.
Later, Liu Bei also set the rules. Although the Minister of the Military Department served in the imperial court and was one of the eight ministers, he had to be selected from the military system for promotion. The Minister of the Military Department must have a military background and be familiar with the process of soldiers marching and fighting. Otherwise, he cannot be appointed as Minister of the Military Department.
Finally, there is the academic department. Liu Bei believes that Zheng Xuan is the most suitable for this educational position.
In particular, Zheng Xuan now holds the position of offering sacrifices to the Imperial Academy and is in charge of the educational affairs of the Imperial Academy. With his qualifications and experience, there will definitely be no problem in becoming the Minister of the Academy.
But Zheng Xuan had no idea about this at first.
He felt that Taixue had done a good job in offering wine, and could still spare some time to do the things he liked. If he served as the Minister of Academic Affairs, the management of official universities across the country would cost him half his life.
He cried bitterly to Liu Bei with a smile, saying that he was originally called back to the court to serve as an official after leaving office. He was old and lacked energy. If he accepted such an intense job, he might be killed on the spot.
"Your Majesty, I still want to live a few more years, and I hope your Majesty will be considerate."
After the little old man said these words, Liu Bei had no choice but to ask Zheng Xuan to take on this responsibility first, and then replace him when a more suitable candidate was found, in exchange for Zheng Xuan's approval.
So Zheng Xuan helped Liu Bei temporarily assume the responsibility of the Minister of Academic Affairs.
Liu Bei did not touch other departments such as Yushitai and Zhongshutai, which were seamlessly integrated into the Third Empire of the Han Dynasty intact and continued to become important central departments.
Large-scale political changes are actually about the same.
In terms of military affairs, Liu Bei chose Xun You, who was serving as the governor of Yizhou, as the candidate for the Privy Council Chief Privy Envoy.
Xun You's ability in military tactics is very good. In past battles, he often planned battle strategies for Liu Bei before the battle. He stayed with Liu Bei during the battle and assisted Liu Bei in commanding on the battlefield.
He often goes to the front line in person, observes the situation carefully, has an active mind, and can quickly draw correct conclusions. On the battlefield, he is completely different from his honest and dull appearance.
So Liu Bei decided to send Xun You back to Luoyang to serve as privy envoy.
As for the post of governor of Yizhou held by Xun You, Liu Bei planned to transfer Zuo Fengyi and Han Hao to take over.
With Han Hao's decisiveness and tenacity in implementing imperial policies, as well as his strong ability to withstand pressure, Liu Bei believed that Han Hao was definitely qualified for the position of governor of Yizhou, which would face huge challenges.
Moreover, Liu Bei transferred Xun You back from Yizhou and had the idea of promoting Xun You to take over the Xun family - this will be discussed later, it is not important at the moment.
The Military Training Academy is also a very important institution. Whether the officers of the Military Training Academy can train effectively or not will affect the strength of the army of the Third Han Empire to a considerable extent. Therefore, Liu Bei is also cautious in selecting candidates.
After choosing and choosing, Liu Bei suddenly thought of Gao Shun.
At the beginning, he sent the first batch of Gao Shun to the crisis-ridden Runan to cooperate with Xun Yu, hoping that they would make a name for themselves in Runan County and set an example for other counties.
Then Gao Shun really made a name for himself in Runan County.
He trained a 3,000-strong Runan battalion in Runan County. Based on his actual experience in training and the "Military Training Code" distributed by Liu Bei, he wrote many letters to Liu Bei about training and leading troops. The "Military Training Manual" made some suggestions for improvement.
It is worth mentioning that a considerable part of the improvement suggestions put forward by Gao Shun were adopted by Liu Bei, and a large-scale enhancement was made to the "Military Training Code".
In terms of specific achievements, Gao Shun had not made any outstanding achievements for a time. He had been leading the new 24th Army to be stationed in the Runan area and became Xu Huang's subordinate. However, during more than three months of purge operations, He has made many achievements.
The areas of Yingchuan County, Runan County, Pei State, and Chen State that he was responsible for guarding had many ancient literary school family forces, which were more difficult to deal with. During Liu Bei's purge operation, the resistance in this area was relatively strong.
However, Gao Shun led the 24th Army to deal with the rebellion in this area cleanly, and was meticulous in combat. The battlefield style was extremely rigorous, and he fought whatever he was told, without disturbing the people at all, and there was no negative news spread outside the battlefield. out.
Whatever task Xu Huang assigned, Gao Shun could complete it quickly and well, which made Xu Huang very happy.
After that, Xu Huang specially wrote a performance to Liu Bei, praising Gao Shun, praising Gao Shun's ability, and praising him as a talent who truly has the style of Zhou Yafu.
Liu Bei found it funny. He wondered if it was Gao Shun's background as a general that gave Xu Huang such a praising attitude. In the past, he had never seen Xu Huang praise a general like this.
However, Liu Bei did appreciate Gao Shun's military abilities very much.
Especially in the aspect of military training, Gao Shun's talent is particularly outstanding.
Among the entire group of his subordinates and generals, there were many people who were good at fighting and many who were better at fighting than Gao Shun. Therefore, Gao Shun's status in the army was actually not high. He could only be regarded as a rising star at most.
But among the many generals, there are not many who can calm down and polish the army.
Most military generals are out of character and like the battlefield. They pursue military exploits and personal glory. They cannot settle down and are not suitable for work in the military training academy.
Only Gao Shun, who comes from a scholarly family, has a calm personality and does not pursue wealth and glory, is very suitable for this job.
So Liu Bei issued an order to remove Gao Shun from the post of Zhonglang General of the 24th Army and was replaced by the post of Training Envoy of the Military Training Institute of Zhongerqianshi.
Nominally, the entire Han army group is under the restraint and management of Gao Shun when there is no war. Gao Shun has the right to issue orders for military training to any army, and also has the right to issue orders to any general. The same recruitment order.
This is a very important authority.
Gao Shun himself was shocked when he received the appointment. His lips trembled, and the hand holding the appointment edict kept shaking. He couldn't react at all for a while.
When Liu Bei made this decision, many officials were surprised. They felt that Liu Bei actually chose such an unknown young general to hold such an important position, which was really a bit eccentric.
But Liu Bei Qiangang was arbitrary and decided on the appointment without listening to anyone's opinions.
Finally, there are the Praetorian Guards.
Because Liu Bei did not intend to use two positions worth two thousand stones to guard the palace, he decided to only set up one imperial guard to protect the safety of the imperial city and the emperor himself.
The Imperial Guards were expanded from the Tiger Guards. They gathered the last selected soldiers and expanded them to 5,000 people. They were stationed in the imperial city and took turns to protect Liu Bei himself.
The Imperial Guard has two Zhonglang generals, one on the left and one on the right. One is Xu Chu and the other is Dian Wei. That's all.
The reform and transfer of the entire central organization was almost completed under Liu Bei's careful planning.
In addition to the reform of central institutions, Liu Bei also announced certain reforms at the local level.
For example, the land of Sanfu was restructured into Yongzhou, and the land of Sanhe and Hongnong County were reorganized into Silizhou.
Liu Bei's explanation for this was that he wanted to solve the problem of regional discrimination at the official level.
It is difficult to change people's ideas in a short period of time, but there should be a unified voice at the official level. Officials should treat the Han prefectures and counties equally, and in particular, some local prefectures and counties should not be given too special status at the official level.
It is necessary to develop according to local conditions, but too much political tilt and reliance on a certain region will have a great negative impact on the unity of the entire country.
The special national conditions since the founding of the Second Empire were not found in the Third Empire. Emperor Ma Ma, who suppressed the world forcefully, had enough ability to take responsibility for this situation. Therefore, Liu Bei issued an edict to reorganize the land of Sanhe and Sanfu, and set up separate governors and governors. Governance.
He will appoint Yin Da, the former governor of Hongnong County, as the governor of Yongzhou, and Cao Cao, the former governor of Henan Province, as the governor of Sili Prefecture.
Then, he ordered the administrative level of the Jiaozhi area to be officially upgraded to the state level, and officially appointed Zhu Fu, the current governor of Jiaozhi, as the first governor of Jiaozhou in the Han Dynasty.
The proposal for Jiaozhi to become Jiaozhou was put forward as early as Emperor Huan's period, but it was not approved at that time. Liu Bei believed that the Jiaozhi area would become an important base for him to expand overseas in the future, so he decided to officially elevate the status of the Jiaozhou area.
In this way, the pattern of the thirteen administrative districts of the Han Dynasty officially became the political pattern of the fourteen states in the Third Empire of the Han Dynasty.
This series of political and regional changes were promulgated in one day, which was September 23, the fifth year of Jian'an. Although Liu Bei had held meetings, held seminars and briefings with his subordinates in the past three months, , but after all, the number of attendees was a minority.
Most of the middle and low-level officials had limited knowledge of this. They only learned from some leaked news that the new emperor Liu Bei was going to carry out large-scale reforms for the entire Han Dynasty.
The reforms that he was unable to carry out during his time as a general, but now that he is the emperor, he must carry out reforms in one fell swoop.
Especially at this critical moment when the opposition was demonstrated by force and rule established, Liu Bei announced this set of reform plans, which had a very significant impact on the entire Luoyang court.
Not to mention those who didn't know about this beforehand, even those who had many meetings with Liu Bei beforehand and learned about it were deeply shocked by it.
They were quite shocked when they learned that Liu Bei had designed a complete set of reform plans for the Third Empire of the Han Dynasty. Although they learned that they would gain more important status and power in the new system than before, this comprehensive The changes are still shocking.
Therefore, the rumors are more credible.
This is not a change of emperor, this is a change of dynasty.
(End of chapter)
