Chapter 211 - Discussing official business (2) (1/2)
Chapter 211 Discussing official business (2)
Translated by Gamer @ endlessfantasytranslations.com
The recruitment of Lu Jin is of extreme importance to prevent embarra.s.sment. To obtain the support of the citizens, it is important to gain the support of the local celebrity. This is because the citizens will feel closer to the lord when they see that their local celebrity is supporting the lord. For example, Sun Ce managed to obtain the support of Qiao Mao, who was known for his practice in Confucianism. His support for Sun Ce allowed Sun Ce to obtain a lot of people.
Liu Kai has volunteered to solicit Lu Jun as the Liu and Lu family had long history together. Although Lu Kang was made governor, their family relations.h.i.+p was still close. When Lu Kang died, the Lu family started to decline but the Liu family secretly helped them. On the other hand, Sun Ce and the Lu family only have deep hatred. Nearly half of the Lu family perished in the hands of Sun Ce. Now the Lu Bu’s Army have made the Sun Ce’s Army suffer. In a sense, the enemy’s enemy is a friend! When Wan Cheng was under Sun Ce’s rule, the Lu family could only hide themselves but now it is different because Wan Cheng now belongs to Lu Bu!
If they were to ask Lu Jun to take up an official position, they believed that Lu Jun will accept. Liu Mang took Liu Kai to the side and asked Liu Kai to bring him along when he goes and visit the Lu family. He wants to see Lu Xun and Lu Ji. Right now, those two should be in their teens.
“Milord, this problem is solved but we are far from finished!” Although the Lu family’s recruitment was mostly secure, the n.o.ble families in Lujiang are still mostly dead. Even if the other n.o.bles from other states wanted to become a Lujiang official, it would still take a lot of time. However, Lujiang has an urgent need of people.
“N?” Lu Bu wrinkled his eyebrows again. Chen Deng stood aside. If this was in Xuzhou, Chen Deng could have used his family name to recruit talented people. Unfortunately, this is Wan Cheng. Even Guangling is far away and would also be blocked by Cao Cao.
“Where would the others come from!?” This became a problem. Even though Lujiang is now in the hands of Lu Bu, Lu Bu does not know the locals and would not know who is capable of managing the land.
“Why go through so much trouble?!” Liu Mang could not understand. Lu Bu was lacking government officials? Since when do people worry about lacking government officials in China? “Father-in-law! We do not need to search for talents! We can let them come to us!”
“Come to us?!” Chen Gong and Lu Bu looked at Liu Mang. What do you mean ask them to find us? Let the n.o.bles take initiative to find us? What a joke! Lu Bu was so notorious, who would be willing to serve him?
“There is also no need to search for n.o.bles!” Liu Mang said. “Not all the talented people are n.o.bles! We can also find some in the wilderness!”
“The wilderness? The poor?!” Chen Gong finally understood but shook his head. “The wandering people don’t have virtue!”
“No virtue!?” Liu Mang laughed at that statement. Since when did the n.o.bles have virtue? Look at the Wan Cheng n.o.bles! For their own personal benefit, they rebelled against Lu Bu and almost caused the fall of Wan Cheng. Are these guys n.o.ble!? Chen Deng’s father who plotted against Lu Bu. Is he virtuous? Even Liu Kai and his son joined up with Lu Bu for their own personal benefit. However, Liu Mang did not say it because they were all in the same team.
“Now the land is uncertain. There are many talented people. The question is whether or not they are competent and is not for military advisors to find fault with! Most of the people in front of the military advisors are also from the wilderness!” Liu Mang choked Chen Gong with this sentence. It was his vengeance against the old man who always purposefully or accidentally hara.s.sed Liu Mang. In the hall right now, aside from Chen Deng, everyone was from the wilderness. It was the same with Gao Shun and Zhang Liao who followed Lu Bu from Bingzhou. n.o.body said powerful families are the only one who could have soldiers! Zang Ba was from a small family, and the other new additions like Huang Zhong, Gan Ning, and Xu Sheng, was also born from the wilderness. Gan Ning was even a thief. Even then, all these people were important in the Lu Bu’s Army.
Liu Mang’s words made the crowd comfortable. This is because they know that their birthplace is not an issue. They were valued for their skill and strength.
“Put up a recruitment order!” Liu Mang continued. “Dispatch soldiers throughout the entire lands of the Han to post recruitment notice. ‘We, the Lu Bu’s Army, do not care about your birthplace and the salary is adjusted according to rank. We are not afraid of the high demands, we are just afraid that you are not capable!’ “
“A recruitment order?!” Chen Gong was shocked. He could imagine the consequence of this move.
“This cannot be done Milord!” The first to object was the Liu family’s Liu Kai. He did not want to offend Liu Mang but he does not think this is a good plan. Recruitment orders? Without caring about birthplace? Anyone with talent could become an officer?
It should be known that those with official positions rarely come from poor and humble families unless they have extremely big talents. Why is that? This is because the country selects officials from examinations. Although that was the premise, it was true that the n.o.bles have power over the examination. A family who had someone who could handle work was more likely to become an official. Besides that the starting point of becoming an officer was also higher. For example, Cao Cao was very studious and became a government official at 20 years old. He was then immediately made district captain. He managed to obtain that position at 20 because his family was also an aristocratic family and had distant family ties to Empress Song.
With such a big family, it would be more difficult if Cao Cao did not want to be an official.
Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu also does not need to be mentioned. Their two families have lasted for generations and, excluding the royal family, are the world’s largest family. They were like the Morgan family in America. Yuan Shu became a governer and Yuan Shao a military officer in the west of Yuan.
(TN: Or you could not mention it at all and save me the headache.)
(TN2: Morgan was an American financial and banking family. So says Wikipedia.)
On the other hand, Lu Bu did not have such luck. Without any family to help him out, he could only climb step by step with dangerous methods. If he was a bit careless, he would get killed. While Cao Cao and Yuan Shao have proper family backing, Lu Bu has his ‘Slave of three surnames’ nickname which made his reputation worse.
Now Liu Mang wants to allow anybody to become a government official. What is he trying to do? Is he trying to discard the n.o.ble’s privilege and examination system! The reason why the n.o.bles could survive for so many generations is because they are able to become officials. The only ones that can eliminate n.o.bility aside from war are n.o.bles. It does not matter how many generations or what kind of person the individual is. All the n.o.bles had a chance of becoming government officials.
If Liu Mang abolished this system, then the n.o.bles may not necessarily become officials and their family may die off after one generation.