Chapter 479 No choice
As the autumn grain harvest was completed, young people from Sanfu and nearby areas such as Hexi, Hedong, and Shangjun gathered in Chang'an again.

Notices were posted at various gates of the university town. Kou Feng and Zhou Buyi stood in front of the notices and looked up.

Zhou Buzhi was still young, and he was shot in the calf when the fleet heading north was attacked.

Although I managed to escape, my left leg is slightly lame, but it doesn't affect my daily walking speed very much.

But if you enter the officialdom or join the army, the journey will be very difficult.

To become an official elsewhere, one must have a complete appearance. You are not required to have a handsome face and a tall and strong figure, but at least you must be of average appearance and have healthy body functions.

As for those who wanted to enter the officialdom in Guanzhong, unless they were recommended by important figures, they could only join the army first and then pursue a career in officialdom.

Kou Feng looked up at the recruitment notice for this autumn. This time the quota was 5,000, which was much higher than the previous 3,000.

He lowered his head and whispered to Zhou Buyi, "This year's harvest is good, so we expanded the recruitment. My uncle sent me a letter, repeatedly advising me that there are many benefits to joining the Qinghua Guard."

Zhou Buzhi gritted his teeth and his eyes became firm.

He was thirteen years old, his body began to develop and grow, and he had reached the minimum recruitment standard of Qinghuawei.

Since he is young and the screening is not strict, there is a great chance that he can sneak in.

Then the two of them turned around and walked towards the dormitory, greeting the protons on the road going up and down Jingnan.

Joining the Qinghua Guard and becoming an official was somewhat unsafe for many young men from high-class families.

So far, the first batch of recruited Qinghuawei are still in closed camp training... This is too hard for these active young people.

No one knows whether the Qinghua Guards were trained to be elite guards or to be the backbone of military officers.

If it is the former, there will inevitably be injuries during the training process, and even if you survive, you will be covered with scars and hidden injuries.

But if they are to be trained as backbone military officers, there are already more than 9,000 people in the first three batches. Is everyone suitable to be a military officer?
In order to recruit the Qinghua Guards for this autumn, Guo Tai, the Grand Priest of Taiping Dao, also arrived in Chang'an.

There is no guarantee that he will test every new guard, but he must give them a look.

Guo Tai also just stayed in the fortress outside the north gate of Chang'an. He didn't like Chang'an University Town, nor did he like Chang'an City.

Inside the fortress, Guo Tai was checking the list of priests responsible for the selection of various places, when suddenly a majestic Taoist priest with a broadsword on his back came quickly and said, "Grand priest, here is the king's order."

"Oh?"

Guo Tai stood up, put down the bamboo slips of the list, shook his sleeves, and quickly walked out to receive the silk book.

This is a kind of silk with special woven pattern, which has extremely strong anti-counterfeiting function and is only used for communication between Black Bear and the chief priests of Taiping Dao.

Moreover, his communications with the Taiheidao organization were carried out through handwritten orders, without going through the various departments of the shogunate.

Guo Tai spread out the silk book, read the words up and down, and said to the Taoist priests around him: "Go to Zhongnan Mountain immediately and bring out Liu Fu's son. Your Majesty needs a few people who are good at metal surgery."

The two Taoists immediately stepped out of the line and bowed their heads in agreement: "Yes, we two will go together."

"Alright, here's the proof."

Guo Tai handed the silk book in his hand to the other party, saying that Liu Fu's son was an important hostage and had been raised in Zhongnan Mountain.

People were also busy, following the Taoist priests there to study medicinal herbs.

Ganquanzhong Township, the building.

Huan Jie played chess with Xu Si as if nothing had happened. The two of them sat under the gourd vine rack.

Xu Si couldn't help but say, "Liu Zichu was not seen alive or dead, and you two are old friends, but you are so indifferent. How can you still be in the mood to play chess with me?"

Huan Jie grabbed the chess piece and stroked it, then asked with a smile: "Given the character of the Grand Marshal, can I persuade him? If I cannot persuade him, can I persuade him if I ask Kong Wenju to do it?"

Seeing Xu Si remained silent, Huan Jie smiled and said, "I can't save Zichu with my own strength. If that's the case, why should I waste my time?"

As they were both from Jingzhou, Huan Jie still had some trust in Xu Si, so he lowered his voice and said, "If I ask for help everywhere, it will only hurt more people."

"Aren't you afraid of bringing disaster upon yourself by slandering me like this?"

Xu Si glanced around, but Huan Jie was calm: "The current situation reminds me of the pond in my hometown. When the sun was high in the sky, the water was clear and no debris or fish or shrimp could be seen. It's not dead water, so why are there no fish? Because they are hiding in the mud. If they are startled, the fish will swim in the schools, and the mud will float up, and it will become a pool of sewage in the blink of an eye."

"The water in the pond is not clean, so why should I be the evil person?"

Huan Jie laughed softly again, his smile mocking himself: "At least here it looks like a pool of clear water, and there is little stench. It's a pity for my hometown, which is covered by dark clouds and has no sunlight!"

Xu Si was silent and made his move quietly. After a few moves, he asked, "Are we just going to leave it alone?"

"This is Zichu's own choice. You and I are not from the royal family, so it is difficult for us to understand his thoughts." Huan Jie was a little annoyed by the question, so he simply said, "Just focus on fighting with me, and don't disturb my army's morale."

"it is good."

Xu Si responded and then said, "The position of Chief Historian of the Shogunate is vacant now. Who do you think can take on this important task?"

"The Grand Marshal is a man of great power and diligence. It won't matter if the position of the Chief Clerk remains vacant for a few months."

Huan Jie answered slowly, looking at the chessboard in front of him: "If we want to find a suitable candidate, I feel that Yi Jibo, the governor of Nanxiang County, is more suitable. He can not only win over the people in Guandong, but also bring peace to Jingxiang. But you and I are not as far-sighted as the Grand Marshal, so I am afraid there are other candidates."

"Ijibo?"

After hearing this, Xu Si raised his hand and stroked his beard, thinking deeply: "Yi Jibo is lenient and loves the people, and is very much loved by the officials and people of Nanxiang. If we attack Yi Jibo now, Nanxiang will not be very stable."

"This scabies disease, what's the point of talking about it?"

Huan Jie made his move and said to Xu Si, "I heard that the Grand Marshal intends to conquer the Xianbei in the east in order to eradicate the hidden dangers in the border counties. If this is accomplished, Liu Xuande of Youzhou can unite with the Xianbei and Xiongnu servants. With such a powerful dragon looming over the Yuan family's head, the Yuan family will be attacked from three sides. How can they survive for long?"

Xu Si was silent, staring at Huan Jie: "Sir, do you mean that there are many changes in this battle?"

"Everything is changing, so the Grand Marshal will never attack lightly. In order to protect the flank, it is almost inevitable to recruit Yi Jibo into the shogunate and send a trusted person to lead Nanxiang."

Huan Jie finished speaking, looking at Xu Si's black pieces that were about to form a piece, and smiled: "The black and white are clearly distinguished on the chessboard, so it's easy to recognize."

Xu Si fell silent. Seeing Huan Jie raising his hand to collect the chess pieces from the chessboard, he did not stop him. He then put the black piece into the box and spoke dully, "The Grand Marshal and Liu Fubo are like brothers. I think what the Grand Marshal said that day makes sense. You and I might as well go to Fenglingdu together, so that we can understand the state of mind of the people in Hebei and Guandong."

Everyone knew what was there, and the people of Jingzhou were generally aware of it.

But people from Jingzhou came to Guanzhong via the Wugu Pass, not through Tongguan.

Huan Jie closed the lid of the chess box, his expression drooped, and his eyelids half covered: "We should go and take a look, but after seeing it, what can you and I change? The four counties in the south of the Yangtze River have already seen through the affairs of Shuzhong. How can they just sit there and wait to be slaughtered?"

As he spoke, Huan Jie looked up at the sky and sighed deeply.

Does Liu Ba really care about Sima's origin and bloodline?

I really don't care at all. For a lonely man like Da Sima, even if he has yellow hair and blue eyes, I can barely accept it.

The royal family of the Han Dynasty is a bloodline identity as well as a ruling tradition.

Deep down, Huan Jie believed that there was no problem with the bloodline of the Grand Marshal, and only the royal family could have such a talented descendant.

But the key point is that the Grand Marshal himself does not recognize the rules of the Han Dynasty and wants to start a new one.

This is the exact look of Emperor Gaozu. If I could defeat him, I would really like to capture Sima, cut him into pieces, and grind his bones until they turn into ashes.

It was based on this conclusion that Huan Jie sentenced Liu Ba to death.

Liu Ba is now beyond the reach of even gods.

Shizhong Liu Ai and some other officials from royal families were able to live and work well in Guanzhong.

This shows that the royal family has begun to split. Even if Liu Ba, the backbone of the hostile forces, is not killed, he must be severely tortured until Liu Ba is seriously injured and can no longer do his work.

As for the bad reputation brought by killing Liu Ba...I am afraid it will only strengthen the cohesion of officials in Guanzhong.

The world is so small, and there are only so many seats at the table for dinner.

Only by getting rid of the outdated system of the Han Dynasty could the new dynasty's leaders sit firmly in their high positions.

Liu Ba's death would also make the centrists in the four counties of Jiangnan face reality and increase the cohesion of the southeastern court.

And all this was something that Huan Jie could not stop at all.

At most, he can only influence the close relatives of the clan. With such a major difference in interests, many villagers will not listen to him.

This is not about borrowing money, or not paying it back, but about destroying your capital, making you fall from a life of plenty to become a slave.

For many people, this is no different from death.

What happened in Shuzhong will never happen again in other regions.

What can Huan Jie do?
He couldn't even borrow 50 million from his fellow villagers. How could he have the face to persuade them to lay down their swords and honestly accept the allocation from the shogunate?
Also, for many people, the shogunate had a strong military force, so taking away 70% of the family wealth was not unacceptable.

But it can be distributed among clans and neighbors, which is difficult to accept.

In the long run, no matter how much the shogunate took, it would only be fur and branches.

But if you share it with your neighbors and relatives, they are all real competitors!
(End of this chapter)