Volume 3: The Land of Jingchu Chapter 257 Popularity
After Bai Tu led everyone to "dream", taking advantage of the trend of "labor is the most glorious", the trend of encouraging women to work in workshops during the slack season began in Jinling and spread to Yangzhou... but it was limited to the area controlled by the General's Mansion.
Of course, the most important thing is that when women work in a workshop, their commission can be at most half of that of men!
One day's wages, calculated in terms of linen or silk, was equivalent to the wages of several days of weaving at home. Even if one did not know how to add, subtract, multiply or divide, anyone could still figure it out.
At the same time, the second-rate guys who harass women at work, including harassment by employers, have also become the focus of the Ministry of Justice. Once caught, they will be sent directly to the county town for trial!
Once it is discovered that the county is obstructing, the annual performance of the county magistrate and county magistrate will be directly reduced to Grade C, and the head of the county criminal court will be suspended and held accountable.
Confidence and benefits have led more and more people to move away from the "men farming and women weaving" model.
Correspondingly, in the Central Plains, Jingchu, Guanzhong, Hebei, Bashu and other places... various smear campaigns against Baitu have also been following the trend and are ongoing.
In their mouths, Bai Tu was a man who spent all his time hanging out with actors and actresses, and wasted money and food on sending the navy out to sea in order to find the elixir of immortality. They even accused the General's Mansion of forcing women of good families into prostitution and buying and selling women into workshops, which were called workshops but were actually places of filth and corruption. Some even said that Bai Tu arranged the women he had been hanging out with to become high-ranking staff members...
Always...almost meets all the flags and characteristics of the last emperor.
Less than a month had passed since the monthly meeting, and all kinds of smears had already come to life.
However, for things like this, no matter how much publicity is given, not everyone will believe it.
Moreover, propaganda by forces such as Jingzhou Prefecture and the Prime Minister's Office is actually not as effective as the instigation of local gentry. However... most of the gentry, unless they have already "all-in" some other princes, are unwilling to offend others even if they are not optimistic about the white map.
So basically everyone has their own opinion, which definitely has an impact on Baitu's reputation. It is not as flawless as in the jurisdiction of the General's Mansion, but it is not infamous in other areas because of some rumors.
After all, Bai Tu is not the governor of Yangzhou who took office alone with "only" his adoptive father five years ago. Now Bai Tu's "face" is very thick - Kong Rong is one layer, Guan Ning Bing Yuan is another layer, Wang Su is another layer, and "killing one person is like killing my father" is another layer...
There are layers on the left and right, so it is not easy for others to attack!
This is actually a common method. There are even some unconventional troupes under the General's Mansion that perform plays such as "Aman's private school grades are not ideal". Bai Tu has always condemned this kind of behavior...
Moreover, even though the princes from all sides described their enemies as if they would die on the spot in the next second, no one really came to defeat Bai Tu, this paper tiger.
On the contrary, more and more gentry moved to Huainan - as for rumors, they had even less influence on the gentry's judgment.
On the one hand, between the Central Plains and Huainan, it is not easy for Cao Cao and Liu Bei to get stuck too much. After all, they are members of the "Bai Cao Liu Alliance". If they are too distant, others will think too much. As for... why there have always been more migrations to the south and fewer migrations to the Central Plains, Cao Cao and Liu Bei should reflect on themselves!
On the other hand... in Jiangdong, the local gentry was too strong. On the contrary, in Huainan, which had just suffered a disaster, a large amount of unregistered land was taken over by the General's Mansion after the aristocratic families fled, so the influence of the local gentry was greatly weakened.
Many non-Yangzhou nobles who were optimistic about the General's Mansion also moved their branches here, settled in Huainan, and sought official positions in the General's Mansion.
Even the old fox Chen Gui in Xuzhou arranged his second son Chen Ying to live in Guangling County...
The Chen family's base camp was originally in Guangling County. However, after Guangling was incorporated into the jurisdiction of the General's Mansion, a large part of the Chen family's direct descendants began to move north to Xiapi County and gather strength towards Xuzhou.
Bai Tu was not sure whether the Chen family was really influenced by Liu Bei or wanted to concentrate their strength and prepare to "sacrifice" Liu Bei as a gift for his promotion to Cao Cao...
Logically speaking, Chen Gui and Chen Deng are both die-hard fans of Cao Cao. However, as a great leader, Liu Bei is more charming than Bai Tu's aunt in various Three Kingdoms games. He has maintained his foothold in Xuzhou for so many years. It is not impossible that he can brainwash Chen father and son back to his camp!
If Chen and his son really have any ideas, it should be their best opportunity now that Liu Bei lacks a "backbone" in Xudu and Xuzhou.
As for Chen Ying coming to Guangling...
Bai Tu did not have any doubts. If Chen Deng had come in person, Bai Tu might have considered whether this old and young fox pair was trying to cause trouble, but... Chen Ying obviously did not have the "cunning" of the Chen family. He was just an average person, an honest child who still had a psychological trauma when he saw Sun Quan, and was very grateful to Bai Tu for that.
After he took power over the Chen family who stayed in Guangling, in order to show goodwill to the General's Mansion, he made the decrees of the General's Mansion smoother in Guangling.
Therefore, Bai Tu also appointed him as the Guangling County Magistrate. Judging from the way he was trained, he seemed likely to be appointed as the prefect in the future...
Of course, if that day really comes, Bai Tu will definitely not forget to appoint Sun Quan as the county magistrate to make up for Chen Ying’s lack of ability - considering their ages, when Chen Ying is old enough to be a prefect, it should be no problem for Sun Quan to be a county magistrate!
Bai Tu, this is for his own good...
The vast majority of people from aristocratic families are not as lucky as Chen Ying to have such a high starting point.
He does not have the influence of the Chen family on Guangling, nor is he like Chen Ying who can use the excuse of thanking Bai Tu for saving him to go in and out of the General's Mansion many times (and ignore the Sun Mansion).
People with outstanding talents naturally don't worry about being buried. Not to mention those from noble families, even those from humble backgrounds are often given special appointments, such as Lingling Jiang Wan, who has been the focus of recent publicity...
After passing the examination for selecting talented people, he was favored by Bai Tu and was promoted directly to the Ministry of Personnel!
As for some children of noble families who are not very talented, it is more difficult for them - under the rule of the general and the Marquis of Chu, the country is indeed prosperous and there are many opportunities, but... to get these opportunities, one must have strong abilities or strong connections.
It is said that mutual recommendations between aristocratic families is an inherent routine in all places. However, the aristocratic families under Bai Tu's rule are mostly from Jiangdong. The xenophobia dictates that only "outsiders" who are truly from large aristocratic families, or have good relations with some important aides under Bai Tu can get direct recommendations to Bai Tu. As for the others... you have to work hard on your own!
And today Bai Tu is going to meet a relative again...
Moreover, this family's "connection" is very strong, as it was Lu Bu who personally recommended it to Bai Tu.
"Godfather, how come you have time today to have lunch together?" Bai Tu asked curiously.
"Hard Drive, do you have time after dinner?" Lu Bu asked directly.
"Usually after lunch, I will practice the Nine Transformations of the Black Bird that my adoptive father taught me for an hour. However... if my adoptive father has something to do, he will naturally have time!" Bai Tu acted as if he was practicing hard every day.
Lü Bu did not specifically expose him, but said: "A close friend of mine in Bingzhou came to Huainan with his family not long ago. He was too embarrassed to speak up, but he was repeatedly humiliated at the Naxian Hall, so he came to Jinling to find me. You can meet him later!"
When someone recommends someone, no matter if it's true or not, at least praise the person being recommended, and try to show that it's not because of a relationship. Lu Bu directly told Bai Tu that he was an old friend of his...
ability?
In Lu Bu's words - generally speaking, when in Bingzhou, suppressing the rebellious Xiongnu tribes should not be a problem...
However, although he was not directly rejected from the Shouchun Naxian Hall, his performance was mediocre. At least the appointment he got did not satisfy his adoptive father's old friend.
Since Lu Bu has already said so, he naturally cannot avoid seeing Bai Tu. Not to mention that he can still fight against the Huns, even if he can only be beaten by the Huns, he has to see him!
But at this moment, a guard suddenly reported that Jiang Wan, the chief clerk of the Ministry of Personnel, wanted to see him...
Lu Bu also knew that he would come to see him during lunch, so he must have something important to tell him, so he said, "If there is anything wrong with the hard drive, deal with it first. Uncle Ya's matter is not urgent."
Uncle Ya is not Lu Bu’s uncle, but the one with the courtesy name “Uncle Ya”.
"Then I'll go see what Gong Yan wants. Godfather, Lingqi, you guys continue eating. You don't have to wait for me." Bai Tu said, and he stood up and left the dining table to go to the main hall.
Gongyan is naturally Jiang Wan's courtesy name.
At this time, Lu Bu looked at Lu Lingqi who was still eating, frowned and said, "Aren't you the head of the guard? Why is Gao Di going alone?"
Lu Lingqi was so angry that she put down her chopsticks, glared at Lu Bu, and followed him.
It would be boring for Lu Bu to eat alone, so in the end... Jiang Wan also met Lu Bu in the hall.
"Greetings, my lord, and greetings to the Privy Councilor." Jiang Wan saluted.
Jiang Wan was a talented person discovered by the Jinling Naxian Hall and recommended to Bai Tu - the standards of the Naxian Hall were higher than those of the Selection Examination.
After all, the selection test is held on schedule. If you don’t have outstanding abilities, just wait patiently for the selection test!
Even if one "makes it through the siege" in the selection test, he will only be assigned to a local minor official position, and promotion can only be achieved by performing well in the quarterly assessment of the Ministry of Personnel...
The talented people discovered by the Naxian Hall would even be sent directly to Jinling for personal interviews by Bai Tu.
It was after Jiang Wan came to Jinling and recommended himself through the Naxian Hall that he was spotted by Bai Tu at first sight. He went straight from being a commoner to serving in the Six Departments of the General's Mansion!
Bai Tu was not bragging. Before he even met Jiang Wan, he had already discovered his talent...
That’s right, you can recognize him by his name—one of the four prime ministers of Shu Han, Zhuge Liang’s successor, and the second prime minister of Shu Han!
Although among the four ministers of Shu Han, the last three and the first one, Zhuge Liang, are inevitably suspected of "forced equality", but none of them is in vain when it comes to internal affairs.
Just one thing will make it clear - including Zhuge Liang who was born in Nanyang, the four prime ministers of Shu Han were all from Jingzhou!
If the most difficult part of the internal governance of the Eastern Wu was the game between the aristocratic families and the new nobles and the royal family, then the difficulty of the internal governance of the Shu Han was the game between the external Jingzhou faction and the native Bashu faction of Yizhou...
However... in comparison, Shu Han can be called "harmonious", at least it was not as ugly as the "Dispute between the Two Palaces", and four consecutive prime ministers were from Jingzhou. In the overall situation, it can be said that the local factions were always suppressed!
Although it was all thanks to the foundation laid by Zhuge Liang, the methods of the last three should not be underestimated.
