Volume 3: The Land of Jingchu Chapter 375: The Hall is Full of Blues
When Yuan Shu established Da Zhong, he was able to make Ji Ling break through the gold and jade...
Today's Great Chu not only perfectly covers Da Zhong in terms of population and land, but also exceeds it by more than double. Not to mention that its majesty is much more powerful than Da Zhong, and Chu's officials are much more capable than Yuan Shu's team back then.
If the abilities were digitized, before the Yellow Turban Rebellion, only those with a military strength or command above 95 and holding important positions could be promoted to the Golden and Jade Generals. In peaceful years, it was normal to have only one or two Golden and Jade Generals in the court, and most of them were promoted based on their "command" abilities. It was difficult to be promoted to a high position in the court relying solely on military strength.
However, after the beginning of the chaotic times, the standard gradually dropped to 90, and there were more and more opportunities for pure warriors.
At this time, with the establishment of the Great Chu State, the standard was lowered to 85, and there were also official positions that could be "on tiptoe"!
For a boss with a score of 95 or above, it is good to have one in ten years. But if the score is relaxed to 85, although it is still rare, it will be much more common...
In "Let All Envoys Know", with Bai Tu's "rolling the name", more than ten generals were promoted to gold and jade, and eight counselors were awarded gold seals and purple ribbons!
The number of generals above the gilded level has surpassed 20...
Especially among the military generals, Huang Zhong was ranked outside the top 20 and even the effect of "letting everyone know" was almost over. However, he was promoted to a transcendent state after being awarded the title of " Guerrilla General"!
Normally, people who don’t know about the Battle of Jingzhou have no idea who Huang Zhong is. Before that, he was under Liu Biao’s command, and all the credit went to Liu Pan and the Nanjun gentry. Who knew who Huang Zhong was?
Moreover, because of the incident of "shooting the king in the shoulder", Huang Zhong's subsequent administration of Nanjun was counted as "meritorious service to atone for sin".
The reason why he was specifically mentioned was that Bai Tu took Huang Zhong's ability into consideration, so he only gave him a general with a miscellaneous title, which had nothing to do with the title of nobility.
Not to mention that Wei Yan was before him, even Wen Pin, who claimed to be sick and refused to leave after Bai Tu entered Xiangyang, was forcibly appointed as a general with a miscellaneous title by Bai Tu, ranking before Huang Zhong.
However, it was such an "ordinary person" who actually broke through to the realm of transcendence. How could this not amaze the other princes?
Some people even speculated that Huang Zhong might not be successful in the Chu army and wanted to lobby for it, but... they were just wishful thinking after all.
Since Huang Zhong had already surrendered to Chu, it was impossible for him to rebel again, either out of loyalty to the country or to save his son. Moreover, Huang Zhong was not dissatisfied with the idea of atonement for his crimes with merits, but was very grateful to Bai Tu.
Because after conquering Nanjun, Bai Tu specifically called Lu Bu and others, and then in front of everyone, he wrote off Huang Zhong's merits and demerits, and emphasized that no one was allowed to mention it again...
On the contrary, if Bai Tu did not mention this matter at all, and now directly put Huang Zhong in the front as the great contributor to the pacification of Jing, that would make him even more uneasy!
The lineup of the Chu State after selecting its generals was so great that even Cao Cao and Liu Bei were envious.
Among the generals, Lü Bu, Zhao Yun, Sun Ce and Huang Zhong were promoted to the realm beyond gold and jade. After them, Taishi Ci, Gan Ning, Zhang Liao, Shamoke, Wei Yan, Zhou Yu, Chen Dao, Zhou Tai, Gao Shun, Ling Tong, Ding Feng, Xu Sheng, Han Dang, Cheng Pu, Huang Gai, Dong Xi, Jiang Qin... and one Lü Lingqi. There are old and young, male and female, and they are all gold and jade military talismans!
In comparison, the promotion of counselors is obviously more difficult, mainly because the bonus for generals in troubled times focuses on "military force", while counselors focus on "strategy".
If military generals are mainly divided into "command type" and "military type", then civil officials are divided into "strategy type" and "internal governance type". Although there are people who are proficient in both, or even those who are both civil and military, most of them have their emphasis.
And because Bai Tu started the game in Yangzhou, most of his advisers were inclined towards "internal governance", and Bai Tu indeed paid more attention to this aspect, so the impact of the chaotic times was weaker. However, even so, he now has more than ten important ministers with gold seals and purple ribbons!
Lu Su, Lu Kang, Chen Gong, Jia Xu, Pang Tong, Huang Chengyan, Wang Lang, Gu Yong, Yi Ji, Zhou Yu, Lu Meng...
Among them, Zhou Yu is the youngest and strongest, and he is also a "double gold". Moreover...if you are in Chang'an, you can also see Hua Xin being promoted to gold and jade. If you are in Yizhou, you can also see Guan Ning and Lu Xun being promoted to gold seals and purple ribbons. If you are at the port of Qingzhou, you can see Lu Meng, who is in his twenties, who is also a "double gold"!
Up to this point, the enthronement of Bai Tu was still continuing, with more than a hundred people on the list. However, the effect of "making it known to everyone" had gradually faded.
After all, the official rank conferred later was not high enough. Unless it was pushed forward forcefully, the "all-people-knowing" policy could not be maintained. If it were not for the effect of establishing a country, it would not be necessary to broadcast it live to the whole world if he was conferred a general with a miscellaneous title...
There were basically not many people after Huang Zhong, and at first only the Chu area had "signal".
In addition to taking this opportunity to observe the atmosphere of the Chu court, those who were interested also noticed the major changes in the Chu official system.
The six-department system before the General's Office had actually attracted the attention of many princes. At the beginning, most of them did not take it seriously - after all, how could a new official system mature easily without polishing and adjustment?
The changes are too big. Aren’t you afraid that it will become a makeshift group just for self-entertainment?
As the General's Mansion grew stronger, this six-department system came into the sight of other princes, but... it was too difficult to imitate.
In addition to the six ministries and one academy that were already known, the position of "Grand Secretary" was heard for the first time by many people even in Jinling, but those who were awarded the title did not look surprised.
Theoretically, the Grand Secretaries of the Palace and Cabinet had no real power. They were just the "secretaries" of the King of Chu, similar to the position of the Grand Secretaries in the early Ming Dynasty. The five people who entered the cabinet at that time were Lu Bu, Lu Su, Lu Kang, Jia Xu, and Huang Jun (Cheng Yan).
Lu Bu entered the cabinet to advise on military affairs, while Huang Chengyan entered the cabinet to appease the Jingzhou gentry . Otherwise, without a single Jingzhou person, the Jingzhou gentry would probably go crazy. Lu Kang and Lu Su were both pillars of the General's Mansion. Although Huang Chengyan had less experience, he had made contributions in planning the Battle of Xiangfan and was also labeled as a "Jingzhou person"...
As for Jia Xu... he is indispensable both for plotting against evil and for guarding against evil.
Jia Xu had not even been given the title of marquis yet. Bai Tu called out the names of more than twenty people before calling his name. But the surprising thing was... someone who was ranked so far back was actually given the title of "Grand Secretary".
The reason why he is ranked at the back is not because Jia Xu made any mistakes.
If we only talk about achievements, Jia Xu's contribution is obviously insufficient compared with the others. When offering Wancheng, Jia Xu's performance was not positive. After joining the General's Mansion, he only served as a military advisor to the Northern Army. Moreover, in the Northern Army, his contribution was second only to Zhao Yun, Zhang Xiu, and even Lu Meng. In the later period of the expedition against Jing, he was transferred back to Jinling. So in terms of merit, he is indeed not at the forefront.
The main reason was that Jia Xu was too indifferent to "merit". For example, during the Battle of Nanyang, when Jia Xu was about to reap the merits, he withdrew from the front line in the name of his daughter's marriage. His lazy behavior even made Yu Fan impeach him in public...
Jia Xu was not dissatisfied with being ranked at the back, and he was even suspected of "hiding" the credit. Instead, he felt helpless about the attraction of the title of Grand Secretary.
