The Only Solution: Increase the Bureaucrats' Leisure Time

The only solution was to increase the bureaucrats' leisure time. The position of Minister of Education was regarded as the highest among the Three Excellencies—the Grand Commandant, the Minister of Education, and the Minister of Works. Of course, its prestige had been diminished once when Dong Zhuo infused real military authority into the honorary Grand Commandant post and elevated himself to the newly created role of Grand Tutor. It had been further eclipsed by the introduction of the Duke of State title, which preserved the provincial governors' actual power while granting them equivalent rank. Still, the office of Minister of Education was the evolved form of what had once been called Chancellor during the Western Han. To Gongsun Zan, who had imagined it as something like a senator, the role felt far closer to that of a prime minister or premier.

Minister of Education Wang Yun was the coordinator of all Han officials and the highest-ranking minister charged with assisting the emperor. Yet Wang Yun's life had always been one of being stepped on by others. In his youth he had been crushed beneath the weight of the Partisan Prohibitions. As he grew older, he lived in the shadow of the Palace Gentlemen who had earned merit suppressing the Yellow Turban Rebellion. And after finally rising to Minister of Education, he found himself suppressed once again by Dong Zhuo, who had perfected a military dictatorship. Men who spent their lives smothered without ever fully displaying their talents usually grew into one of two types: those who, like fleas trapped in a jar, convinced themselves their limits were what they were and settled for mediocrity, or those who kept smashing their heads against the ceiling without even knowing where their limits lay. The former might never succeed beyond their abilities, but they could at least preserve their lives. The latter might eventually learn their own boundaries through painful failure, but unfortunately this was an age of chaos.

In such times, a second chance for a failure was harder to seize than plucking stars from the sky. For someone like Wang Yun, already past middle age, that second opportunity was even more elusive.

“What?! The Duke of Yan refused the request?!”

“...This servant apologizes, Lord Minister.”

“The Duke of Yan is a member of the Clean Stream faction, is he not? Even though he did not join the anti-Dong Zhuo alliance, he built fortresses in Pingyuan Commandery and blocked Dong Zhuo’s eastern advance. So why in the world is he refusing to participate in this great enterprise of eliminating Dong Zhuo’s remaining lackeys?!”

Wang Yun could not comprehend what Gongsun Zan was thinking. The man was a disciple of Lu Zhi, who had been classified as part of the Clean Stream faction, and had once been drinking companions with Yuan Shao, the rising star of that same faction. It was true that he had been the one to expose Yuan Shao’s “minor faults” and send him to the execution platform, but the excesses committed by Yuan Shao’s followers through overzealous loyalty were nothing new. Within the Clean Stream faction, it was a response that could be understood to some degree.

He had not participated in the anti-Dong Zhuo alliance, yet if Gongsun Zan were truly on Dong Zhuo’s side, he would have built his fortresses at Laling on the border of Qing Province rather than at Pingyuan on the border of Sili Province. The fact that he had dug in at Pingyuan, on the boundary between Sili and Yan Provinces, looked for all the world like an act of rebellion against Dong Zhuo. Therefore, now—right now—when Dong Zhuo’s forces had scattered, when the remnants had not yet properly regrouped, when they had failed to flee into Bing Province surrounded by deserts and mountains, the only way to end this chaotic age was to move the army immediately and seize them by the scruff of the neck. Wang Yun could not understand why Gongsun Zan failed to see this obvious truth.

“Does he not realize that if we do not move the army at once, we will be unable to finish off the rebel faction holding out at Hangu Pass?”

“Lord Minister! We have received word that Li Jue and Guo Si have occupied Chang’an!”

“Damn it all! Mobilize the army! They cannot have carried off much provisions. Surround the city immediately and starve every last one of them to death!”

“Lord Minister! We ourselves do not have abundant provisions! Moreover, if we mobilize the army during planting season, the people’s hearts will turn heavily against us!”

“I know that! But this is our only chance!”

Chang’an had been the capital of the Central Plains until Wang Mang destroyed the Han. Its status as the center of the realm dated all the way back to the time of the Yellow Emperor. Until Emperor Guangwu toppled Wang Mang’s Xin Dynasty, pacified the chaos, and established Luoyang as the new capital, Chang’an had served as the capital of the Central Plains for more than a thousand years. It was a strategic point so vital that the old saying went, “He who obtains Guanzhong obtains the empire.” The Guanzhong Plain, protected by the Qinling Mountains, the Yellow River, the Wei, and the Jing, was fertile enough to feed an army of a hundred thousand with ease. It was a city shaped like a battering ram, poised to strike eastward along the Yellow River and Wei River toward Luoyang at any moment.

Beyond Chang’an, following the gorges between the Qinling Mountains, lay Xiliang. Xiliang was a barren wasteland. It was only natural, then, that the remnants of Dong Zhuo’s army, having abandoned Luoyang, would occupy Chang’an and barricade Hangu Pass. Hangu Pass was a heavenly barrier that no general except Xiang Yu had ever properly captured. At this moment, when the remnants had not even regrouped, Wang Yun’s mind could not conceive of any path that crossed Hangu Pass to reunify Yong Province and Xiliang. The ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠only plan that could quell the chaos in Luoyang was to borrow the insufficient military provisions and relief grain from the State of Yan and completely eradicate Dong Zhuo’s remaining forces.

Had he legitimately defeated Dong Zhuo through superior strength, power would have passed to him naturally. Had the emperor remained in Luoyang, he could have borrowed the power of the Imperial Seal—the nationwide brainwashing application. Unfortunately, Wang Yun was nothing more than an old, ordinary warlord who possessed none of those things. Though his reputation stood high among the Clean Stream faction, he was an old man who had failed to truly defeat even Dong Zhuo and had been reduced to acting as Dong Zhuo’s puppet despite holding the highest seat among the Three Excellencies.

When a faction lacking in strength seized power through a coup, its legitimacy was naturally shaky. A government with shaky legitimacy had to fill that void with radical policies. In most cases that meant a massive purge of the previous regime. A purge that was not completed in time would only invite a second coup against itself. Unfortunately for Wang Yun, time was not on his side.

At the Yan Research Institute, there was a scholar in his forties named Sima Hui. His courtesy name was Sujeong and his style name Deokjo. A native of Yuzhou, he had come after hearing rumors about the institute. While the other researchers treated education as a mere side pursuit, Deokjo was the one who delved into it as a specialized field. Of course his own abilities were outstanding—he had devised the technology for mass-producing iron wire—but he was even more respected for his talent as an educator, having produced outstanding pupils such as Sang Geodal and Yun Sa-jam. He was the man who always smiled warmly and declared that everyone was right, pioneering a meta a thousand years ahead of Prime Minister Hwang Hui. Because of this, he had earned the nickname “Hoho Teacher.”

Curiously, while he had no white hair, his eyebrows had turned white early. Like the white hairs that sometimes grew excessively long on the body, his eyebrows had grown past their proper length and drooped all the way to his temples. Even when the little children he held in his arms tugged and pulled at that beard, he would simply chuckle warmly and let them.

“Master Deokjo, who is that little one you’ve brought all the way here?”

“Ah, this child? He is the finest among all my disciples. Hehe…”

“I seem to recall you giving the same evaluation to my daughter.”

“Ah, of course Zilong is also the finest.”

“I hear you are teaching the Fang children as well. How are they?”

“Of course they are all the finest as well.”

“So there is not a single child in the world who is not the finest.”

“Is that not only natural?”

Researcher Deokjo took a piece of malt candy from his robe, placed it in the child’s mouth, and sat the boy on his knee.

“Children are still young and lack knowledge, but each possesses their own form of wisdom. When viewed through each of their eyes, they are all the finest.”

“Everyone is right, everything is correct—truly the theory of both-sides-ism.”

“Hohoho! That statement is indeed correct as well!”

The thousand-years-early Prime Minister Hwang Hui stroked his slightly reddened chin—tugged at by the child—with his thumb, then drew out the memorial he had tucked in his sleeve and spread it on the table.

“Excluding rare cases such as myself, the average number of disciples a typical researcher can teach is about four. When we include scholars not affiliated with the institute who also teach literacy… the total number of people in the State of Yan who can currently learn to read is estimated at around one hundred thousand.”

“Is that not a decent number?”

“When one considers that the population of Yan is approximately twenty million, it is actually a very small figure.”

“...Wait a moment. Even if you combine the populations of You and Ji Provinces, it should only be around ten million. Were there really that many immigrants?”

When I was first appointed Duke of Yan and looked at the census report, Ji Province had roughly six million people and You Province three million. Adding the one million two hundred thousand from the Liaodong dependency that had not been separately recorded in the statistics brought the total to just under eleven million. We had not been able to properly count the endless stream of refugees coming from Qing and Xu Provinces, but the idea that another ten million had been added simply did not add up no matter how I looked at it.

“No matter how much the Liaodong Plain is being developed and the plains of Ji Province reclaimed, the population could not have increased by ten million. Have you miscalculated, Master Deokjo?”

“...Your Excellency, you ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠accepted one million Yellow Turbans after the Battle of Laling, did you not? According to Yan’s tactical manuals, the number of casualties would not have been that high.”

“That is true. It was a little over a million, I believe.”

“Those one million Yellow Turbans had families, and you did not block the families they called for, correct?”

“Correct. They were called Yellow Turbans, but they were really just farmers who rose up because they could no longer endure starvation. There was no need to kill them.”

“Then at minimum three to four million people were added. Because they carried the label ‘Yellow Turban,’ they were not separately recorded in the census. That is why they were missing from the report Your Excellency received upon becoming Duke of Yan.”

“...”

“Furthermore, five hundred thousand young men have come from Xu and Qing Provinces seeking refuge from the chaos. Once those young men established some foundation, they called for their families. That adds another one and a half million. On top of that, ten thousand scholars gathered from across the realm, fifty thousand when including ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠their families, and another one hundred thousand when including the artisans who were close to the researchers. That brings the total addition to roughly four million six hundred thousand.”

“Even if you add all that together it is only fifteen million. Where did the remaining five million come from?”

“They were born. Salt is cheap, there is plenty of rice and millet, so no one goes hungry. Taxes are low, so families can afford to raise many children. There are many flower gardens and places to go for leisure, so young people fall in love more often. With more love comes more marriage. Because people possess more, the northern nomads prioritize trade over plunder. Some of those trading nomads have submitted and become citizens of Yan. The census is not yet complete, so it is too early to conclude the population has surpassed twenty million, but among the counties already surveyed there are three million households, totaling eighteen million people.”

Twenty million… twenty million. It was an impossible-sounding figure. Sili Province had only three million people, and provinces famous for being good places to live had merely five or six hundred thousand at most. By population alone, the State of Yan was equivalent to four such “good-to-live-in” provinces combined.

“...Roughly how many of them can read and write? Even a rough estimate is fine.”

“First, the five hundred thousand soldiers of the Yan army, including reserves, can all write at least the commonly used five hundred characters. Of those, the twenty-five thousand who are squad leaders or higher can definitely be considered literate. Among the common people, roughly one in a hundred can read and write. Including them… the total number of literate individuals is approximately eight hundred thousand to one million.”

“One million people can read, yet only one hundred thousand can be taught to read… Is that not far too few?”

“Yes. The majority of those who are literate merely know how to read and lack the depth of learning required to teach others. Most of those who do possess such qualifications are already serving in the military, the research institute, or the local government offices. The reality is that there are not many scholars who have enough free time to teach reading to those talents who cannot yet read documents.”

“Master Deokjo, you were originally from Yuzhou. Is it the same there? Are there not many people teaching literacy in Yuzhou either?”

“...Originally, the ability to teach and learn letters was a privilege. In Yan, thanks to Your Excellency’s creation of salt, the people’s taxes are relatively light. But in most places, learning to read is impossible unless one is the child of a Clean Stream family or a household that can pay a large sum to a Clean Stream scholar.”

“Do people in Yan also pay large sums to learn letters?”

“The institute does not do so, but I cannot vouch for how things operate in distant villages far from Liaodong. That is why I submitted this memorial suggesting the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠need for improvement.”

“Hmm… Very well. You would not have submitted a memorial without a solution in mind.”

I unfolded the memorial on the table and read it line by line.

Whoa… This is quite? Quite… quite an innovative method.

“You are suggesting the creation of apprentice positions in government offices?”

“Yes. For scholars who have not yet been recommended but are still capable of performing their share of work, the establishment of temporary positions where they can become familiar with practical affairs would greatly reduce the officials’ overload. The officials would then be able to use their freed time to teach and enlighten the people.”

“Hmm… If their character is not solid enough to be formally recommended, there is a risk that giving them temporary office might lead to corruption and exploitation. I wonder if that is safe.”

“Would the position of low-level clerk not be appropriate?”

“That level would not be bad. However, it would mean adding two or three people to each county office. We must also consider the budget and personnel issues. Discuss it with Chancellor Mun-yak and refine the proposal. Personally, I think it is quite a usable method.”

In an era where the mere ability to read and write was itself a spec, the scholars would surely welcome the creation of intern positions rather than sitting in their rooms waiting for someone to accept their resumes. I know the low-level clerk position well from personal experience. If you just do your own work properly, you have plenty of personal time. It’s perfect for assigning to interns. Damn right.