Three Kingdoms

The third assistant in Guanzhong, the government office of Chang'an.

Autumn has always been the harvest season, and then a large number of gentry children began to hold singing and writing parties, drink and have fun. It seemed that otherwise they would not be able to express their joy.

"Unknowingly, Mid-Autumn Festival is coming soon..." Fei Qian said with a smile, "Shiyuan, do you want to celebrate the festival with me?"

Pang Tong rolled his eyes and ignored Fei Qian.

Mid-Autumn Festival was also called the Festival of Sacrifice in the Han Dynasty. Many people will hold celebrations on this day. This kind of festival that has been preserved from ancient times, as the name suggests, is a ritual for worshiping ancestors, using newly harvested rice and wheat. It is a cultural and traditional festival to commemorate the ancestors and report the autumn achievements to the ancestors. While respecting the ancestors and showing filial piety, it is also to gather the centripetal force of a family. There are sacrifices to ancestors in spring and sacrifices in autumn.

This festival has a long history. In the Book of Rites, it is said that "the month of mid-autumn is the time for ordering sacrifices and sacrifices, observing the whole body, chewing grass, observing the fat and infertility, observing the appearance, comparing the small and large, judging the size." The length is moderate, the five are ready, and God will feast on it." The so-called Ghost Festival or Obon Festival are all imported later. The Bon Festival was grafted onto the original traditional festival during the rise of Buddhism during the Wei and Jin Dynasties.

The name of the Hungry Ghost Festival was proposed by Taoism around this time, and it had two more names than its competitors. Because Taoism originally had the terms official, land official, and water official. Taoism designates July 15th as the birthday of the local official, which is called Zhongyuan. The corresponding birthdays of Tianguan and Shuiguan are also called Shangyuan and Xiayuan. The local officials are in charge of pardoning sins, so on this day, large-scale fasting activities will be held in Taoist temples to forgive the sins of the dead. Believers will naturally participate and pray for their deceased relatives, hoping that they will live a better life in the underworld.

Chinese people have a natural attribute, that is, practicality comes first, just like what Lu Xun said is the doctrine of borrowing. It doesn’t matter whose property it is, it’s mine. What’s mine is still mine.

So copycats and stuff really have a long history!

Therefore, on July 15th, Buddhism, Taoism and our traditional ancestor worship customs gradually merged together. In the late Song Dynasty, everyone basically accepted the name of the festival, "Hungry Ghost Festival", which comes from Taoism. At the same time, the customs of the Buddhist Obon Festival are retained, and at the same time, the oldest family sacrifices cannot be left behind...

In the Han Dynasty, the most important thing on this day was naturally the sacrifice. Although Pang Tong was in Sanfu and he was the only Pang family, there was still a process to go through. So how could Pang Tong and Fei Qian spend it together?

"I mean..." Looking at Pang Tong's expression, Fei Qian knew that he was wrong, so he added, "After the sacrifice, come to my place... A few days ago, Bai Shiqiang sent people to send some small Huaixiang. , very good, it has a unique flavor when added to barbecue..."

"You can have this." Pang Tong nodded immediately. He was eating a lot when he was growing, and he started to drool when he heard the delicious wine. "What else? Do you want me to bring some wine?"

"No, Yuan Zhi and Zijing will also come when the time comes. We will just get together as brothers..." Fei Qian said, "After the Mid-Autumn Festival, Yuan Zhi will go south to Hanzhong. I'm afraid it will take another long time for us to get together again. It has been many years..." Pang Tong is living in Chang'an. He is a guest, unlike those whose families have wineries and cellars in their homes, where they can store some good wines. It is said that they bring some drinks, which are probably some ordinary things on the market. It's not as good as the ones brewed by Feiqian Pingyang.

Pang Tong nodded and said with some emotion: "Well, let's have a few drinks... It would be great if Zijian was here, the five of us would be together..."

These days, transportation is inconvenient, and once separated, it is indeed difficult to get together again.

Liu Dan reported the plan to attack Shuzhong. Although the writing was clear and well-conceived, Fei Qian always felt a little uneasy, so he prepared to send Xu Shu and take some men to Hanzhong to take charge. Even if there is any emergency, it can always be dealt with.

After all, Li Ru's main focus now needs to be on Longyou, and Hanzhong is naturally beyond his reach.

"Zijian, you don't know this kid. He refuses to leave the workshop now..." Fei Qian shook his head and smiled, "If you ask him to go to the third assistant, he will probably not be willing..." Tai Shiming is almost a science major. A typical representative of the steel otaku type, if Fei Qian hadn't sent him a few maids to take care of his daily life, once he got into it, his clothes might have become stiff and worn as armor.

Pang Tong laughed and nodded, "That's right. It makes him unhappy to ask him to come. Forget it, forget it..."

"Yeah, but since it's a festival of sacrifices, there are always some sacrifices." Fei Qian found a few things from the writing on the desk and handed them to Pang Tong. "These people are really brave. ...Is money that important? Is power that important? Are you really so unwilling to follow the path of poverty and integrity?"

Pang Tong took the writing, read it, sneered, and said as if he was used to it: "It's not that I don't want to leave, but I'm used to it and can't change it..."

Fei Qian smiled: "These guys are also very smart... In fact, if you want to do something in it, even an unsmart person can't do it... Make false accounts, make false losses, declare more air wages, and so on." Old grains are blended with new grains, there are all kinds of new tricks..."

Guanzhong Sanfu is naturally several times larger than the Pingyang area in Bingbei, so Fei Qian's original inspection and grain collection queue in Pingyang is not enough. Most of them still need these local snakes and nobles, but these local snakes After the failure of the fight against Feiqian's new land administration, in order to preserve more of the family's interests, these Guanzhong nobles began to use hoes to poach in every possible way.

"If the family really lacks these items to save lives, that's fine," Fei Qian continued, "It's just a matter of survival, so it's not right or wrong, but these guys have food and drink, and a worry-free life, so they want to take advantage of this little bit. It’s so cheap… Where have these people read their books?”

Pang Tong chuckled, threw the writing on the desk, and said, "Actually, that's not necessarily the case..."

Fei Qian turned around and looked over and said, "What do you mean?"

"Because they are not just themselves..." Pang Tong smiled, with a very complicated look in his eyes, "When you become an official, you don't have to associate with your family, you don't have to accept bribes, you don't have to sell anyone's face, and you can be a clean person. As an official, there is no problem with these, but when you become an official, you must do something, and when you want to do something, what should you do when you can't complete it by yourself? You have to borrow the power of others, but the power that can be borrowed There is a price to pay..."

"So this is my fault?" Fei Qian pointed to his nose, a little funny.

Pang Tong laughed, even patted the table, and nodded: "Of course it's because of you! If I don't blame you, who should I blame!"

"You Pang Shiyuan, okay, you said..." Fei Qian couldn't turn around for a moment, "How can you say it's my fault?"

"The pavilion chief and Cao Cao are all human beings. There are so many trivial things in the countryside... Take this Autumn Fu as an example. There is a quota, how much is required, and how many days it takes to complete, right..." Pang Tong provoked Yang. He raised his eyebrows and looked at Fei Qian.

Fei Qian nodded and said that you can continue to perform.

"Over there in Pingyang, there are not many villages, and the fields are relatively concentrated. To collect taxes, land rents, etc., it is enough to make a few trips..." Pang Tong said, "But there are many in Guanzhong, not only It is bigger, and the distance between villages is also further, one in the east and one in the west. And the autumn harvest cannot be arranged at will regardless of the weather. The planting time in spring is almost the same, and the harvest time in autumn is naturally similar... If they all harvest it within a time period, even if they cut it into ten or eight sections, it won’t be enough for these people in the county, so what should we do?”

Pang Tong rolled his dead eyes and continued to mock Fei Qian, "What should I do? I'll write you a line and say that I have difficulties and can't accept it. Or should I give you a grace period and wait for them to slowly accept it one village at a time?"

"Well..." Fei Qian somewhat understood what Pang Tong meant.

"So, if you want people to help..." Pang Tong pointed to the writing on the desk and said, "If you want people to help, but you don't give benefits, who will help? If it were you, would you help? This year, I will help next year. , free help every year?”

Fei Qian frowned and said, "But this is still wrong..."

"It's wrong, but the collection in various places is right, the number of official documents is right, and the food and grass collected for you is right," Pang Tong said slowly, "The only thing wrong is the ordinary people, but these people can't do anything. Firstly, they don’t know whether the number assigned to them is correct. Secondly, even if they know that the number is wrong, they have no place to ask, no time to ask, and no capital to ask. Therefore, for ordinary people, No, it’s also right…”

"So, you mean that these corruptions are considered administrative costs?" Fei Qian frowned and said.

"Administrative cost? What do you mean? Oh, I understand, almost..." Pang Tong shook his head and said, "Sometimes I feel that you are too serious. That was the case when you got married..."

Fei Qian was silent for a while and said: "But... this is still wrong..."

Pang Tong became interested, rolled his eyelids, stared at Fei Qian and said, "Then tell me, what do you think is right? Arrest all these people and kill them all?"

Fei Qian laughed dumbly. This was obviously impossible. They were all cut off. Who would do the work and expect ordinary people in the Han Dynasty who couldn't tell whether they had ten fingers or eight fingers?

"I didn't think carefully about what you said just now..." Fei Qian said slowly, "I feel a little confused after seeing all this corruption..."

When he was in Pingyang, Fei Qian also encountered such a situation, but at that time Fei Qian simply abandoned these people and used veterans and some children plus concentrated baggage trucks to complete most of the tasks. The expropriation work, coupled with the fact that in the early days of Pingyang, most of them were farming, basically it was within the scope of Fei Qian's own direct jurisdiction, so this issue has not been studied in detail.

In Guanzhong, this problem was magnified and became very big, so it attracted Fei Qian's attention.

"Let's do this," Fei Qian knocked on the table, pointed at the writing, and said, "Find the one with the most corruption, investigate it, and kill it. Firstly, it will make the people angry, and secondly, it can also establish our reputation as an honest person. , the third time is to warn others not to cross the red line."

Pang Tong laughed and said, stroking his hands: "That's right! This is the right solution!"

Fei Qian sighed, but shook his head and said: "This is a plan, but it only treats the symptoms rather than the root cause. I can guess that these people will try like crazy near the red line in an attempt to find the best solution. balance point."

"Oh?" Pang Tong opened his eyes wide and said, "Do you think you have a better way?"

Fei Qian smiled and said, "Yes, reading."

"What?" Pang Tong

"Read." Fei Qian knocked on the table lightly and said, "I will let Mr. Farmer tell them that knowledge changes their destiny."

Pang Tong swallowed his saliva and said, "Are you serious?"

"There is a word called class solidification... Well, let me explain, to put it simply, the sons and grandsons of farmers will always be farmers, and the sons and grandsons of officials will always be officials..." Fei Qian said, "If this is the case If a situation arises that cannot be changed, what will happen to this dynasty?"

Pang Tong hesitated and said, "Rebellion?"

Fei Qian nodded and said: "Yes, it will definitely lead to rebellion in the end. Because people have desires, they always just want more, more, and then when they can't suppress it, there will be a bang... That's what happened to Chen Sheng and Wu Guang , Of course, if there were no Chen Sheng and Wu Guang, there would still be Wu Sheng and Chen Guang... Maybe the examples given are not very appropriate, but anyway they are almost the same..."

Chinese people are all very smart, and the smarter the people, the more ambitious they are. When these ambitious people find that they cannot be promoted, they will gradually gather together to figure it out. Don’t be too concerned about such things in history. many.

"What do you mean, it's almost the same, that one is much worse!" Pang Tong said dissatisfied, frowning, "But I also understand what you mean, but if you do this, it is not a matter between one family and two families..."

"Haha, are you scared?" Fei Qian laughed loudly, "First treat the symptoms, then use the root causes, take your time..."

Pang Tong rolled his eyelids and said dissatisfied: "Just talking big words."

"Not really," Fei Qian said, "The main problem is manpower. Think about it, a place like Guanzhong Sanfu is like this. If it were enlarged, wouldn't it be even more chaotic?"

Pang Tong was stunned and said, "You want to bring the same thing from Pingyang?"

Fei Qian nodded, showed a sly smile and said: "Educating all people is a matter of national importance, who is against it?"