Chapter 455: Change of Position
In the quiet study, Zhong Yao personally prepared tea to entertain Wei Ji.

Wei Ji sat opposite, smelling the tea, and said with emotion: "In the whole Guanzhong, there are only a handful of people who can drink this Taihe Mountain spring tea."

This is something that money can't buy. Since the tea market skyrocketed the year before last, the tea categories have been subdivided.

Starting from this year, spring tea can be considered a tribute exclusively sold under the Hundred Households System.

The Jingzhou area dispatched three hundred-household units, all of which were stationed in the Wudang Mountain area to search for tea mountains and build them.

The tea trees in the mountains do not migrate. They set up production teams and build mountain strongholds on the spot. They usually collect herbs, explore minerals, cut wood and open up land to prepare for the expansion of the tea house. When the season comes, they pick and make tea.

Every tea mountain production team is equivalent to a tea house.

There are three hundred households, which means there are fifteen tea houses and mountain strongholds.

With Wei Ji's status, he could not get any spring tea at all.

The entire Shangshu Xingtai currently has no qualifications to refuse, it is just an institution responsible for copying and stamping.

Apart from Liu Ai, the attendant who was in charge of the Shangshu Xingtai and could get some spring tea, the other two Shangshu who took turns on duty were like human printing machines, responsible for transcribing the official documents transferred by the Tosho of the shogunate and then publishing them in the name of the Shangshu Xingtai.

Under the system of the Han Dynasty, the Secretariat did not have the power to discuss politics or propose proposals. It was just a place where decisions were stamped.

It’s just that normally several government offices operate together, and the Secretariat can select one from several related proposals and announce it.

When there is only one public office, it is the unique Bafu. When the official documents of the Bafu are transferred to the Shangshutai, the Shangshutai loses the right to choose and can only publish them immediately or delay the publication.

Cao Cao’s previous Sikong Mansion was a Ba Mansion, and the current Da Sima Mufu is also a Ba Mansion.

The "Ba" in "Bafu" means to dominate alone and to dominate the world.

In this situation, the emperor's court officials were just decorations; what's more, there was no emperor's court official team in Guanzhong now, only two attendants who could represent the late emperor.

Facing Wei Ji's sigh, Zhong Yao remained calm. This was what he earned by leaning forward, not something he gave away early just for the sake of face.

The differences are huge, although the results are the same.

But there is no need to tell Wei Ji about this difference.

After the tea was ready, he pushed a bowl to Wei Ji and asked curiously, "There are two people on duty in the Shangshu Xingtai now, why do we need to collect Huazi fish?"

Wei Ji lifted up the tea bowl and blew on it, then raised his eyebrows and answered, "It is like this. Master Ziyu lived in seclusion in Mount Li to teach, and refused the invitations of Wang Zhongxuan and Cai Zhaoji. His disciples gradually increased from more than a hundred to more than two hundred. Most of them cultivated the land in the mountains, or gathered and hunted to make a living."

Zhong Yao nodded, took a sip of hot tea, savored the taste, motioned Wei Ji to drink tea, and then calmly said: "I have heard about this matter, and I am envious. But the Grand Marshal is busy with major affairs, how could he pay attention to Hua Ziyu's affairs?"

"It was Lu Cui, the military counselor, who thought Hua Xin had violated the order and opened a private school, and the content of the private school was inconsistent with the major policies of the shogunate. Therefore, he suggested that the Grand Marshal recruit this person to avoid difficulties in the shogunate in the future. The Grand Marshal naturally agreed, so he sent a letter to the Executive Office."

Wei Ji also took a sip, squinted his eyes to taste it, and continued: "Hua Ziyu's concubine is the widow of Chen Xiang Luo Jun. There may be some inside stories that we don't know. I sent someone to Mount Li with an imperial edict, but Hua Ziyu refused to accept it. I am afraid that this matter will be hindered by the villain and ruin Hua Ziyu's life. So I hope that Yuan Changgong will write a letter to persuade Hua Ziyu."

"What inside information can Huaziyu know?"

Zhong Yao pondered over a half-cup of tea, and after a moment's reflection, he said, "If Guan Ning and Guan You'an were in Mount Li, I believe Guan You'an would refuse the appointment based on his personality. As for Hua Ziyu, how should I put it? He has a strong desire to serve his country, and I'm afraid he despises the Shangshu Xingtai."

Wei Ji nodded slightly and lowered his voice: "That's right. According to the envoy, this man has made many slanders about this."

The Shangshu Xingtai is a very good idea. Although Wei Ji, as the Shangshu, is dissatisfied with his current lack of power and unclear status, he believes that the situation will change.

As long as he works hard in the Shangshu Xingtai, Wei Ji believes that he will not be treated unfairly.

The Grand Marshal still has a bottom line. People like Wang Yi are all alive and well, and Ma Teng, Yang Qiu and Duan Wei have all been put into use one after another.

This made Wei Ji see a bright future. As for the establishment of a system of officials such as being a king, an emperor, or a duke, although it could establish and share the current results of the war, it would lower the transcendent status of Guanzhong and make him a traitor like all the other parties. As long as the Grand Marshal always used the Jian'an era name and reorganized the Shangshu Xingtai with several people who had served as Shangshu, he would always be the legitimate heir to the late emperor's will.

Even though the Emperor of Huainan had been passed down for three generations, in his own eyes, he was always a false emperor and a usurper.

By guarding the Grand Marshal's Mansion, our side will always be the orthodox one of the Jian'an court.

As for Hua Xin, Wei Ji also felt that this person wanted a high starting point. He could not start again as a county governor with a salary of two thousand stones. He must at least step into the core of the shogunate.

Therefore, the position of Shangshu in Shangshu Xingtai was not attractive to Hua Xin.

Seeing Zhong Yao reveal the truth, Wei Ji continued, "This man is waiting for a good price. Perhaps he thinks that the Grand Marshal wants to be promoted to a higher position, so he behaves like this. I'm afraid he will become like Du Ji, and become a laughing stock."

Zhong Yao drank the hot tea in the cup and refilled it, frowning: "He doesn't know the character of the Grand Marshal, and thinks he is Dong Zhuo or Cao Cao. Don't worry, I will explain it to him. If he still does this, then punish him according to the law. Establishing official schools and banning private schools is the first major policy of the Grand Marshal since he entered Guanzhong. How can it be abandoned because of Hua Ziyu?"

If you want to give a lecture, you can go to Chang'an University and find a place to give a public lecture. There will be plenty of students to listen.

You can even bring your own student team to Chang'an University to give them lectures, but you cannot speak privately, you must speak publicly.

In the past, people would live in seclusion at home, give lectures to the children of their fellow villagers, and establish and strengthen the leadership and subordinate relationship between their family and the fellow villagers. This is now a way to death.

Was the purpose of bringing Cai Zhaoji back from the Xiongnu just to revive Cai studies?
Was the purpose of allocating funds and manpower to Cai Zhaoji simply to sort out Han and Xiongnu classics and to recompile Han and Hu music?

Definitely not. It is very likely that Cai Yong’s daughter has already started to be responsible for recompiling the Book of Han.

In the Book of Han dominated by Cai Yong’s daughter, what would be the identities and images of Dong Zhuo and Cai Yong?
It is impossible to completely whitewash it, but the right to define the truth about the chaos at the end of the Han Dynasty has shifted from Guandong to Guanzhong and Guanlong, that is, the hands of the people in Guanxi.

In the eyes of the people of Guanxi, the root cause of the chaos at the end of the Han Dynasty was the unbridled party struggles.

Everyone is not a good person, but there are obviously victims, and that is the people of Xizhou.

When the newly compiled Book of the Later Han is completed in the future, the root cause of the chaos at the end of the Han Dynasty will be attributed to factional strife. What is the origin and source of the factional strife?
Therefore, banning private schools and cracking down on regional factions is the right thing to do.

In this situation, let alone Hua Xin, even if Zheng Xuan were resurrected, he would have to go to Chang'an to give public lectures!

Zhong Yao, on the other hand, saw things more clearly and took it lightly.

He has no children, and at his age now, he can let go of these thoughts.

Wei Ji also didn't care. Basically, all his fellow villagers in Hedong were demoted to slaves or sent to the death squad.

Things like private schools have nothing to do with the Wei family.

As long as they behaved honestly and maintained a good relationship with Cai Zhaoji, the Wei family would have been invincible.

Position is very important, and Wei Ji does not want anyone to continue to provoke and anger the Grand Marshal.

His sudden appearance can be understood as the Han Dynasty's destiny is not over, or as a counterattack by the royal family's power.

Only he could accomplish the task of demoting the entire clan of the scholars in the two counties into slavery.

They were worried that Hua Xin would cause trouble and implicate a large number of scholars.

Wouldn't it be unfair if I were implicated by my relatives?

Seeing Zhong Yao's promise, Wei Ji felt relieved.

(End of this chapter)