Volume 1 Jiangdong Fengyun Chapter 13: The Governor of Pei County
Liu Bei gave in to Lu Bu three times, but Lu Bu was determined to go to Xiaopei!
Instead, Zhang Fei began to like Lu Bu a little...
Of course, Lu Bu would never be able to reconcile with this guy who had called him a "slave of three surnames" in his life.
Zhang Fei was really good at sarcasm. He could easily come up with terms like "a slave of three surnames" and "grandson of eunuch". The only reason he had never been beaten to death in his life was because of his recklessness.
"Well, since Marquis Wen has made up his mind... well, I will submit a petition to the court, recommending Marquis Wen as the governor of Yuzhou! From now on, my life and property will depend on Marquis Wen!" Liu Bei said.
Bai Tu's mouth twitched as he listened to this - as expected, he was the "Mr. of Yuzhou" again. He occupied a small county and dared to claim to be the Mu of Yuzhou. The princes nowadays are really good at boasting.
"Sir, there is no need to recommend my lord. How about... recommending Mr. Bai?" Chen Gong suddenly said. This was also what Chen Gong had agreed with Lu Bu before.
What Lu Bu lacks is the title of governor of a province?
After killing Dong Zhuo, Lu Bu was personally appointed as the "General of Fenwu" by the emperor. More importantly, he was also given the honors of "the same status as the three officials" and "temporary authority".
The three divisions of Yitong, whose treatment and status are comparable to those of the three divisions - Situ, Sima and Sikong.
"Jiajie", "Jia" means "borrow", and "jie" is the staff of power. It represents the power of the emperor and controls over his ministers. Moreover, in the Han Dynasty, "Jiajieyue" and "Jiajie" had the same effect. It was already a representation of the highest power, more powerful than the Shangfang sword in later generations.
In times of peace and prosperity, Lu Bu, who was granted the title of Marquis of Jin and the same title as the three officials of Yisi, would have knocked the heads off these provincial governors and prefects one by one, and they would not dare to fight back - of course, if times were peaceful and prosperity, Lu Bu would probably have been knocked on the heads by Emperor Xian first.
"Ah? This... Mr. Bai is indeed a talented person. I can rest assured that he can entrust me with Xuzhou. However..." Liu Bei said with some embarrassment.
Normally, as a grassroots county magistrate who was dismissed from office due to the Inspector General's fault, he hated judging people by their seniority the most. However... asking him to submit a petition to the court to confer the title of governor on a man who had only been heard of today and who no one even knew outside the governor's office?
Even though this governor was only nominal and actually occupied a county town, Liu Bei felt that he was somewhat disrespecting the imperial court.
Chen Gong smiled and said, "Don't embarrass me, my lord. I can just take over as the 'Prefect of Pei County' first."
Normally, he should be the Prime Minister of Pei State - Pei County was a feudal state, but in this world, feudal states had long been abolished and were all uniformly called "counties".
In fact, Chen Gong also asked for a high price and paid a low price. If he really gave Bai Tu a governor, wouldn't the little emperor be so angry that he would cry? I didn't know that Liu Bei deliberately humiliated him...
Upon hearing this, Liu Bei simply gritted his teeth and said, "In that case, while I am still the governor of Yuzhou, I will hand over Pei County to Mr. Bai. I will submit a petition someday!"
That's right, in theory Liu Bei is still the governor of Yuzhou. Although theoretically the governor does not have the power to appoint a prefect, after Emperor Lingdi abolished the governor and established the prefect, many governors began to exercise the power of governors.
As for the governor of a state, he can take office first and report to the governor later...
Bai Tu was stunned as he listened - is he the prefect?
But I completely forgot that I had complained in my heart before that someone with just a small county town dared to call himself a governor or a provincial governor. But now I have forgotten that a governor doesn’t really govern much... In fact, it’s just a county town!
In terms of status, the prefect, or the "county governor", was already a high-ranking official in the Han Dynasty.
Six years ago, before the Inspector was abolished and the Governor-General was established, the Inspector only had the power of supervision, and the highest level of local official was the Prefect.
During the Han Dynasty, there was no such thing as nine grades of official rank. All official positions, regardless of their size, were equal to their salaries, and the salary was based on the unit of "shi" - that is, "in theory" it was grain.
The rank of a county magistrate is two thousand stones, which is only lower than the three dukes and on the same level as some of the nine ministers!
Of course, they didn’t actually distribute that much food, it was just a reference for official positions…
Moreover, it was a peaceful year, and most of the prefects had to be humble when meeting the Nine Ministers, and they had to be even more cautious in front of the governors with an official salary of 600 stones.
However, in times of chaos, a governor who can truly control a county is much more important than the three dukes and nine ministers who are just in name only.
Bai Tu couldn't believe how he became a prefect when he hadn't done anything yet?
In this situation, I really want to recite a poem: A scholar is selected, but he doesn’t know how to read; a filial and honest person is selected, but his father lives separately; he is poor and pure, and his whiteness is muddy like mud…
[I seem to be scolding myself?] Bai Tu shook his head and drove this self-deprecating poem out of his mind.
Of course, this isn’t really poetry either.
"Mr. Bai, there is no need to refuse. Mr. Gong knows that he is not interested in this. The position of the prefect of Pei County is just a small request of Gong. I hope Mr. Bai will have mercy on the people." Chen Gong successfully imagined the reason why Bai Tu shook his head and tried to persuade him.
A tone of "If the white map is not available, what can we do about the people"...
Bai Tu calmed down at this time and realized that even if he became a prefect, he would still be paid by Lu Bu, or even... Liu Bei would hand him over to Lu Bu and then to himself, so he couldn't really just eat and wait for death, but... he also thought about improving the papermaking technique.
According to the Chengji system that Bai Tu had learned, it seemed that if he really took charge of a county, even if it was just a county town, and didn't care about anything else, he could always use some of the "corvée manpower" himself, right? Could he use it to improve papermaking?
So Bai Tu nodded in agreement: "In that case, I do remember one thing."
After a banquet, Liu Bei appointed Bai Tu as the governor of Pei County. At the same time, he also sent someone to present a petition to the court. In fact, he didn't know whether he could live in Chang'an in time for the little emperor if he was sent there now.
The next morning, Lu Bu and his entourage left Xuzhou City and returned to Xiaopei where their troops were stationed.
Seeing Bai Tu coming back, Lu Lingqi was quite happy. At the same time, she asked with some expectation: "Fake smart guy, have you been exposed?"
"Lingqi! How can you say that?" Lu Bu was not happy, and then said: "Father is back too, didn't you see it?"
White picture: ???
So you're just blaming her for not talking to you first?
Lu Lingqi was still a little afraid of her father, probably one-sixth as afraid of her aunt, so she asked hello honestly and then looked at Bai Tu again.
"Hehe, to be honest, I was exposed... Envoy Liu also discovered my talent and insisted on appointing me as the prefect of Pei County." Bai Tu said deliberately.
Chen Gong was helpless, thinking that Bai Tu was always pretending to be frivolous. He clearly didn't care about the governor, but he still forced him to be his governor. At this time, he was deliberately teasing Lu Lingqi...
Lv Lingqi was also surprised when she heard this. Especially after she looked at Zhang Liao and Chen Gong and found that they also nodded, Lv Lingqi couldn't help but sigh: "In this situation, I want to recite a poem: The scholar doesn't know how to read..."
"Well, that's a ballad, not a poem!"
