Chapter 439 Official Status

Chapter 439 Official Status

Chapter 439 Official Status
On New Year's Eve, a banquet was about to end in Shao Mansion outside Xuchang City.

Most of the participants were teenagers who were under the age of twenty, or more precisely, they were student soldiers who were between fifteen and twenty years old and had just started their careers.

Some "seniors" who had graduated many years ago also participated. Everyone sat together. They were quite reserved at first, but after drinking more, the distance between them immediately shortened.

Jin Zheng was drunk and in high spirits. He ripped open his clothes, pointed at the scar on his body, and said with a thick tongue: "If this scar is a little crooked, I will die. I don't know who stabbed me. This one should be the wound in the battle of Zhamadi. The armor blade fell off and someone shot an arrow. Uh--"

Jin Zheng burped and cursed, "I don't know which grandson shot his grandfather with an arrow. He didn't feel any pain at the time, but after the battle, he found that it hurt like hell."

Everyone burst into laughter, and then looked at Jin Zheng with admiration.

"Jin San, you went crazy as soon as Master Shao left. You'll die if you don't say a few words!" Lu Rong said unhappily.

"Lu Heigou, what are you barking about?" Jin Zheng slammed the table and said angrily.

Veins popped out on Lu Rong's forehead and he glared angrily.

As members of the same batch of student soldiers and both from Donghai, Lu Rong was injured by Shi Le's troops in the Battle of Dongwuyang, which ruined his bright future. Now he is holed up in Ye County as the county magistrate, feeling gloomy. When he heard Jin San's constant bragging, he couldn't stand it and reprimanded him.

Jin San was drunk, but he also had a bad temper, so he directly retorted, which made Lu Rong break down.

Now few people dare to call him "Lu Black Dog", but Jin San shouted it in front of all his juniors, which was really unbearable.

However, after a year of experience in the officialdom, he was no longer the rookie he once was. After suppressing his anger, he said calmly: "Jin San, I heard that when you were competing for the post of the Left Camp Supervisor, you and Wang Que'er..."

"Bang!" Jin San stood up suddenly, a fierce look in his eyes. Just as he was about to go forward to teach Lu Rong a lesson, he was suddenly kicked in the knee.

Jin San was furious. He turned around and was about to take action, but immediately backed off.

Shao Xun came back from the toilet and changed his clothes. He saw Jin San being arrogant and got angry. He slapped him on the ear and neck and said, "Go back to your seat."

"Yes." Jin San smiled awkwardly. His anger had completely disappeared and he sat back dejectedly.

"You guys!" Shao Xun smiled bitterly and said, "Back in the days when I was in Pan Garden, I raised you all, taught you skills and knowledge, not to let you bully others."

Jin San lowered his head in shame.

Lu Rong's expression changed for a moment, and he stood up and said, "Master Shao's teachings are engraved in my mind. I was wrong today."

Shao Xun looked at Jin Zheng again.

Jin Zheng cursed Lu Heigou inwardly, then stood up and said, "I got drunk and caused trouble today, I hope Master Shao will punish me."

Shao Xun looked at Jin Zheng and said nothing.

Jin Zheng felt a little uncomfortable and didn't know what the problem was.

Shao Xun sighed and said, "Just sit down and listen."

Jin Zheng sat down in panic.

Shao Xun drank a lot of wine when he met with his students today. He was drunk and was not so cautious when he spoke: "Do you know what are the ways to become an official?"

Everyone stopped and looked at each other.

Shao Xun did not wait for their reply and continued, "There are probably six or seven ways, but none of them is based on military merit. Besides, being an official also depends on appearance, demeanor, family background, etc., which is even more difficult."

"The Silver Spear Army fought in the battlefield and made great achievements. I made all kinds of efforts, but I could only let a small number of people become officials, and they were all small officials of the eighth or ninth rank. Is it easy?"

"Besides, there are often not so many official positions left for you. Have you ever grown turnips? A turnip is a pit, and a civil servant is also a pit."

"Most of the tens of thousands of official positions in the world are official positions. Even scholars may not be able to wait for a real vacancy immediately, let alone you."

"It is extremely difficult, even almost impossible, for you to become an official."

"Are you sad? Why can some people spend their days outing and having fun, enjoying the romance, yet have a successful career as an official?"

"Are you angry? Why can some people get promoted step by step while talking about philosophy and drinking all day long?"

"Don't the royal family know that this is not the way to go? Why do they still try their best to win over and appease them?"

"Because they have education, land, and troops. Although many of their sons are useless, many of them are capable. They have their own troops, who can make weapons and raise horses. They are well versed in history and the present, and know how to govern the place, rather than just messing around."

"Tell me, can we do without them?"

After Shao Xun finished speaking, he picked up the wine bottle and drank it all.

The students sat in silence, thinking quietly.

Who doesn’t want to be an official? Who doesn’t want to be rich? Who doesn’t want to bring honor to their family?
Master Shao pointed out the naked reality, causing everyone to feel an unspeakable emotion surge in their hearts.

If you kill enemies and make merit on the battlefield, you can only get some money as a reward.

This is because Master Shao loved his soldiers like his own sons and never withheld rewards. He also established a salary-land system for junior officers, where a team leader could receive 50 acres of salary-land income.

Since the establishment of the pension field, more than 7,000 soldiers have received pensions - they used to receive 20 hu per year, but from next year they can receive 24 hu.

Such favorable conditions allowed the Silver Spear Army soldiers, who had never had a good life, to burst out with powerful fighting power, destroying the enemy's front and sharp edges and repeatedly defeating the enemy army.

But now he told everyone that your room for advancement was extremely narrow, and you had to compete with scholars for limited official positions, and the competitiveness was very small. This was still a chaotic era, and some people at the bottom could be promoted based on their military exploits, but behind these lucky ones were dozens or even hundreds of times more military men who had military exploits but no way to be promoted.

If it is a peaceful and prosperous era, people at the bottom will have even smaller opportunities because the system will not protect your interests.

If you want to get ahead, there may be only one way: let the court clearly state in black and white what kind of official position you can hold based on your military achievements.

"Have you figured it out?" Shao Xun looked at everyone and asked after finishing his drink.

"Master Shao, the official system is the foundation of the court. It's not easy to change, right?" asked Mao Bang, a Zhonglang official in the shogunate.

Shao Xun did not answer, but just looked at everyone.

"Don't think about it." Lu Rong shook his head and said, "After serving as an official in Ye County for a year, I have come to understand that the court is too dependent on the gentry and it is impossible to change it."

Only after having been in the officialdom can one have a deep understanding.

Lu Rong understood that it was Master Shao who helped him get the position of county magistrate.

First of all, not everyone can become a Taixue student. Once he became one, he became qualified to be an official.

Secondly, it is unlikely that most of the students could become officials based solely on their qualifications as students, and it is even more difficult for a vacancy like the county magistrate to fall to someone without a good family background.

Finally, if Master Shao no longer takes care of him, the position of county magistrate will be the end of his life and he will not be able to get promoted.

"If the court won't agree, then we'll force the emperor to agree." Jin Zheng was hot-tempered and said directly, "If that doesn't work, then we'll establish a new court and a new official system."

"Can you govern this place?" Mao Bang turned his head and looked at Jin Zheng and asked.

"Mao Er, who are you speaking for?" Jin Zheng said angrily.

"I'm telling the truth." Mao Bang said, "Things in this world are extremely complicated. You can't do whatever you want."

"Mao Er, do you think that being a Zhonglang means you have a noble family background?" Jin Zheng sneered, "Do the scholars look up to you? I heard that you have a lot of contacts with the children of the Yingchuan noble families. Why, do you think you are also a scholar?"

Mao Bang blushed and secretly regretted talking to Jin Zheng, such a rough man.

"Mao Er——" Jin Zheng didn't let him go, but was interrupted by Shao Xun.

"That's enough!" Shao Xun slammed the table and said, "You didn't listen to what I said just now. The Silver Spear Army has only 24 units and more than 14,000 soldiers. Don't you think of the people of the world? You only know how to fight among yourselves. If you continue to fight, there will be no chance for you to turn the tables."

"Master Shao, I..." Jin Zheng said hesitantly.

"Master Shao, we will listen to you." Mao Bang said with a bow.

Shao Xun nodded, stood up and said, "The affairs of the world are all about moderation. It is definitely not good for scholars to control the path to officialdom, but as Mao Er said, it is not good to leave them alone. You don't have to be stubborn. In the past ten years, Liang County Wuxue has provided me with four or five hundred students who want to pursue a career in literature, but most of them are only qualified to be clerks in the shogunate, clerks in the army, servants in the government office, and clerks in the county. There are not many who are talented enough to be chief officials in counties. Moreover, they lack connections in the local area and are only suitable to serve as officials in Chenjun, Nandun, Xincai, and Xiangcheng. If they go to Yingchuan, can things be done well? I think it will be extremely difficult."

In this era when fortresses and manors are everywhere, it is really difficult to be an official without connections.

Places with more self-cultivating farmers are better, which is also the main reason why Shao Xun mentioned that the student soldiers could only go to the four counties of Xiangcheng to serve as officials.

In short, scholars have too many advantages when serving as local officials. The knowledge they possess is only a part of it; their connections and networks may be more important, especially for old families that have been entrenched in the local area for more than a hundred years.

Shao Xun now only relies on the four counties of Xiangcheng and more than 20 counties of Luonan to suppress the other many counties and kingdoms controlled by scholars, which is a typical case of the small bullying the big.

To put it bluntly, if there had not been the external pressure brought by Liu Han, he would not have been able to make the scholars compromise so easily.

It was because the Huns were too uncivilized, and coupled with the regional differences, that the Henan gentry, after waiting and watching for a long time, decided to "tolerate each other for the sake of the country" and cooperate with Shao Xun.

This was the nature of his separatist regime, and marrying Yu Wenjun was the result of this nature.

He has always been very aware of this.

The first-mover advantage of the gentry was too great, having accumulated over one or two hundred years. Moreover, since the turbulent times, the number of self-cultivating farmers has been decreasing, and the absolute power of the gentry has indeed declined, but their relative power has actually increased, showing an upward trend.

If Shao Xun does not want to become the "leader" pushed forward by the gentry, he must find a way to expand his base.

Any more power he can gain for his base is good, as it means his bargaining power will be improved.

"Relying solely on students who have pursued a literary career to manage the place for me is a difficult road and may not work." Shao Xun looked at the students and continued, "We still have to combine civil and military skills, but you must first unite and not have internal rifts that will make outsiders laugh at you. When it comes to the official system, wait patiently. When the time is right, I will petition the court to establish honorary officials, the highest of which will be 'Shangzhuguo', equivalent to a second-rank official."

"All the meritorious soldiers of the Silver Spear, the Palace Soldiers, and the Tuntian Army can be promoted. Whether there are any positions or not will be discussed later. First, I will ask for a set of official status for you so that you will not be looked down upon by others."

Having said that, he looked at Mao Bang.

Mao Bang understood and asked, "Master Shao, what if the court disagrees?"

Shao Xun smiled but said nothing.

The students looked at each other, and the atmosphere became a little awkward for a moment.

It's a struggle for interests, a life-and-death struggle, there's nothing much to say.

Master Shao is working for everyone's benefit and striving for advantages. Just unite around him and work for him!

"Don't spread what I said today." After seeing everyone's expressions, Shao Xun laughed and said, "Come on, let's continue the feast."

(End of this chapter)