Reforming the system, such an important matter of the court was not something that an official like Lu Qian, who had been serving in a foreign post for a long time, could participate in discussing, not to mention that Lu Qian was still dismissed from office.
After being relieved of his post as governor of Xuzhou, whether to stay in Luoyang, be transferred to other posts, or retire and enjoy his retirement was just a matter of a word from the emperor.
Although Lü Qian was so old and no longer had much ambition in his career, he was still a little nervous. He still had to pursue retirement benefits.
Beside Lu Qian, Sima Yi looked at Wei Zhen with a questioning look, and Wei Zhen nodded slightly in response.
Sima Yi understood and immediately said, "Your Majesty, during the Jian'an period, the situation was chaotic, and during the Huangchu period, the government was just beginning to settle down. The court has always focused on maintaining stability in all prefectures and counties."
"Your Majesty just mentioned three people. Wen Pin is guarding the border county in Jiangxia and is loyal to his work. He should not be moved lightly. Du Ji is in Hedong, providing food and clothing for the imperial army, and his contributions are always the best among all the counties in the world."
"And Governor Lu has served the Cao family for forty years and has accumulated great prestige in Qingxu. He is indeed a great help to the court in controlling Qingxu."
"All three have reasons for staying in their positions for so long."
Cao Rui nodded, supported Lu Qian's arm, pointed to the chair on the side of the study and said, "Mr. Lu, please take a seat. I want to talk to you more today."
Sima Yi's words just now were very affirming to Lu Qian. Lu Qian felt a little more at ease and sat down slowly after thanking him.
Cao Rui also returned to his throne: "I know exactly what Sikong said."
"During the Jian'an period, the court acted in this way. It was a wise move to appoint people according to their abilities and deal with the turbulent times."
"During the Huangchu period, the court still followed this practice, which was a necessary move to trust the subjects and stabilize the area."
"But now it's been three years since the Taihe period began, and it's almost four years. The country must be serious no matter what."
Cao Rui looked at the three officials in the study and shook his head slightly, saying, "It's not like the general governor of Guanxi is irreplaceable. A governor, a county governor, a state governor, can't accomplish anything without one of them?"
"If this is really the case, then there is something wrong with the administration, the central government, and the court!"
Hearing this, Lü Qian was about to stand up again, saying, "This is my fault. I didn't know how to give up my position as soon as possible..."
Cao Rui waved his hand to signal Lü Qian to sit down, and interrupted him: "Lü Qian has done nothing wrong, no need to say more. I have always acted uprightly, and I am only talking about the system, not you personally."
"Yes, I understand." Lu Qian hesitated for two moments and replied with a bow.
Cao Rui looked at Sima Yi and Wei Zhen and asked, "Shangshutai, how do you want to solve this matter?"
Sima Yi looked calm and turned to look at Wei Zhen. His eyes seemed to be saying that the Ministry of Personnel was under your charge and you should bring up this matter.
Wei Zhen took a deep breath and said, "Your Majesty, the appointment of officials is a fundamental matter of state. It is related to the use of state power and the structure and stability of court officials."
"I am the Minister of the Left. Today I am only discussing the provincial governors, county governors, and county magistrates. Military affairs are not something I can discuss. They should be discussed by the Privy Council."
Cao Rui nodded: "Okay, Master Wei, go ahead."
Wei Zhen said: "The official system of the Wei Dynasty followed the Han system, and the Han Dynasty had the Three Mutuals System. Therefore, few of the ministers who established their own regimes at the end of the Han Dynasty were able to accomplish anything in their hometowns."
"One is to avoid local people. All states, counties and districts are not allowed to employ local people."
"The second is the avoidance of relatives by marriage. If a person from state A is related by marriage to a person from state B, then the two cannot be governors in state A or state B, and the same applies to counties."
"The third is avoidance of appointment. If a person from state A is the governor of state B, then a person from state B cannot be the governor of state A. The same applies to counties and prefectures."
"Your Majesty," Wei Zhen looked at the emperor, "Since the Jian'an period, Emperor Wu's government has selected officials to serve in local areas in order to stabilize the local areas. This has long broken the restrictions of the Three Mutuals Law, let alone the term limits."
"In my opinion, the first step to rectifying the official system is to re-establish the Three Mutuals Law to show the court's fairness and impartiality."
"Your Majesty, please give me your instructions."
Cao Rui tapped the table lightly with his hand without answering, thinking a lot for a while.
After a moment, Cao Rui asked, "Master Wei asked me one thing, and I want to ask the Shangshutai two things."
When it comes to the Secretariat, it is the common matter of Sima Yi and Wei Zhen, and they both bowed in acknowledgement.
Cao Rui asked: "Yangzhou Governor Jiang Ji and Jiang Zitong are from this province. But among the officials of the Wei Dynasty who handle the affairs of Yangzhou, no one is better than him."
"How do we discuss this matter?"
Sima Yi immediately saluted and responded: "The three mutual laws and term limits can be exempted from border war zones."
"Jiang Ji and Wen Pin can follow this example."
Cao Rui also answered readily: "Yes."
"The second thing is that Yang Ji from the Ministry of Personnel once showed me the list of statistics. Among the ministers at the center of the court and the officials in Luoyang, more than 60% were from Sili, Jizhou, Yanzhou, and Yuzhou."
"Youzhou, Bingzhou, Qingzhou, Xuzhou, Yangzhou, Jingzhou, Liangzhou, Yongzhou, Qinzhou, Yizhou... these ten states combined account for less than 40%."
"If the Three Mutuals Law is implemented, and this cycle continues over time, won't the Wei official system become more and more unbalanced?"
Cao Rui's words forced Sima Yi, Wei Zhen and Lu Qian into silence.
First of all, what your majesty said is definitely true. The proportion of more than 60% is self-evident, just take the West Pavilion and the East Pavilion as an example. Sima Yi was from Sili, Wei Zhen, Dong Zhao, and Man Chong were all from Yanzhou.
Among the Nine Ministers, Chang Lin and Sima Zhi were from Henei Prefecture, Sili, Gao Rou was from Chenliu, Yanzhou, Cui Lin was from Qinghe, Jizhou, Liang Xi and Cao Ke were from Yuzhou...
This obvious problem of administration was almost ignored by the central government.
The reason may be very simple. Almost all the important officials in the court were born in these places. Who would consider the people of Youbing, Qingxu, and Yongliang?
Even a person as upright and upright as Wei Zhen did not consider his place of origin!
Secondly, there is no way to solve this problem.
Sili, Ji, Yan and Yu provinces are the core foundation of the Wei Dynasty. How can we abandon the foundation and pursue the trivial?
Looking at Sima Yi and Wei Zhen who were speechless, Cao Rui still did not stop: "Why, can't the Shangshutai share my worries?"
If it was an ordinary political matter, Sima Yi and Wei Zhen could still have a discussion with the emperor. According to the emperor's temperament and wisdom, he would not refuse any useful discussion.
But allowing discussion does not mean allowing quibbling.
The problem is here, how to solve it?
As Sikong and Lu Shangshushi, Sima Yi was the de facto top person in charge of the Shangshu Tai.
Seeing that he could not escape, Sima Yi made up his mind, cupped his hands and said: "I have a plan that may help your majesty relieve your worries."
Cao Rui nodded with satisfaction: "I have always believed in Sikong's wisdom, please try to speak."
Sima Yi frowned slightly, cupped his hands and said, "The nearly 70% that Yang Ji and Your Majesty mentioned is the ratio of central government officials and palace officials."
"I just made a rough estimate in my mind, and the proportion of the chief officials of the three levels of state, county, and prefecture in the Great Wei is roughly 60-70%, but I still want to order the Ministry of Personnel to make a serious statistics so as to use it as a basis for action."
Cao Rui nodded: "Yes, we have to follow the data."
"But then what?"
Sima Yi said: "After the data is determined, the Ministry of Personnel will consider the origin when selecting officials. For example, within three years, the officials in these four states can be reduced from more than 60% to 60%, and within ten years, it can be reduced to 50%, and so on."
"But I still want to remind Your Majesty that these four states are the essence of the Great Wei. The proportion can be reduced, but we cannot neglect them based on their place of origin and select incompetent officials."
Cao Rui said: "Sikong's quick wit is still trustworthy. Let's do it this way!"
"I have finished my questions, and the Three Mutual Method has been approved. Master Wei, please continue."
Wei Zhen coughed lightly and said, "What I did not mention just now is the term limit for officials."
"Three years is too short, eight years and ten years are too long. I ask that the term of office for officials in each state, county and prefecture be set at five years."
"If the five years have passed, unless your Majesty personally issues an edict to allow it, the rest of the cases must be transferred and may not be delayed under any pretext."
Cao Rui looked at Lü Qian from the side and said, "Mr. Lü, considering your long career in Qingxu, is five years enough for a post like the governor of Xuzhou or the governor of Donghai?"
Lu Qian thought for a moment, then answered carefully, "Your Majesty, if it was during the Jian'an period, it would not be enough. But according to the state of the country during the Taihe period, a five-year term is sufficient."
"If anyone thinks five years is not enough, then they are either incompetent or vain. There is no other explanation."
Cao Rui nodded: "What do you think, Sikong?"
Sima Yi thought about it and added a patch to Wei Zhen's words: "I think that local officials can do so. But the officials of the central government of the court are dedicated to specific people, and the basis of appointment is not the same as that of the prefectures and counties. The five-year term should not be used."
Cao Rui understood what Sima Yi meant.
Reform must be carried out step by step, and the fire cannot be ignited at once.
If the central government also follows the five-year rule, Sima Yi would no longer be the Recorder of the Secretariat, and Gao Rou would no longer be the Minister of Justice.
How can you swing a knife at yourself?
Cao Rui nodded with satisfaction. If things could be pushed to this point, there would definitely be a big improvement compared to the old system, and the officials of the Wei Dynasty would also flow in a healthy manner.
Turning his gaze to Lü Qian, Cao Rui said, "Since Lü Qing is old and sick, he should retire and recuperate after returning to Luoyang."
"The position of the Grand Secretary has been vacant for a long time, and all the affairs have always been handled by the Grand Secretary, who doesn't have to worry about anything."
"Mr. Lu, you should just be a Shaofu. After all, you are one of the Nine Ministers. Is that enough to reward you for your nearly forty years of service to the Cao family?"
Lu Qian was a little surprised.
As one of the Nine Ministers, Shaofu was responsible for collecting revenues from mountains, seas, land and marshes and managing handicrafts during the Han Dynasty. He was also in charge of clothing, treasures, and delicacies used by the palace. He was the emperor's personal purse.
Although the Wei Dynasty used the Secretariat to usurp the power of the Nine Ministers, and transferred finance to the Ministry of Civil Affairs and manufacturing to the Ministry of Works, the Shaofu was left with only one function: serving the royal family and the palace. This was a far cry from the Shaofu of the Han Dynasty.
But he is one of the Nine Ministers after all!
Moreover, Your Majesty has just made it clear in his words that all the affairs of the Shaofu were previously handled by the Shaofu Cheng, and after Lü Qian takes office, he can just rest and enjoy his retirement.
Such a generous grace was something Lu Qian had never thought of before returning to Luoyang.
Your Majesty is truly generous!
Lü Qian immediately thanked him and said, "Your Majesty, I, Lü Qian, thank you for your grace!" (End of this chapter)
