The Sale of Offices
Cao Cao turned to look at the direction where a hoarse voice came from.
Unlike his somewhat small build, the burly man leaned against the pillar with a grin.
The man who called him Yuanrang.
Xiahou Dun.
“Mengde, lately you’ve been looking north more often.”
“...Ah, Yuanrang.”
“When Mengde stares silently somewhere, it’s hard to read what’s inside.”
“Is that so?”
“It is, but didn’t you realize how others see you?”
“Everyone is too busy calling me the grandson of a eunuch and the top of the turbid stream that they don’t know what kind of person I am.”
“What about the saying that capable ministers in times of peace and treacherous ones in times of chaos?”
“Since a young man has come, I have to give an evaluation as usual. Since you’re turbid stream, I don’t want to give a good one, but I also don’t want to make enemies of those in power, so this forced criticism is it?”
Cao Cao laughed “ha”.
It was mockery.
“People think that if you smile like that, you’re satisfied with the evaluation.”
“So it’s not funny at all. I haven’t taken on any responsibilities, haven’t observed for a long time, just a rough assessment based on clothing, demeanor, family background I know, or hearsay...”
“That becomes the reputation of the person being evaluated, and on the other hand, it also builds the reputation of the evaluator.”
“The pure stream people say the turbid stream are dirty people who flaunt their wealth, but the pure stream are also people who flaunt ‘another kind of wealth’.”
“‘Another kind of wealth’?”
“Fame. And knowledge of the classics.”
“Aren’t those just fame and knowledge of classics? How are they wealth?”
To the blinking Xiahou Dun, Cao Cao raised the index fingers of both hands and explained.
“Once fame increases, getting an official position isn’t difficult. Fame itself means coming from a family that deserves it. So unless you deliberately avoid it, pure stream people won’t lack wealth.”
“That would be right.”
“After dismissing them as the dirty taste of turbid stream for their greed for wealth, they have to pretend to be noble. Then they compete over ‘who is nobler’.”
Only then did Xiahou Dun smile bitterly.
“Who is more famous, who has recited more classics.”
“...Who can quote the classics more cleverly. Competing over that.”
“But aren’t smart people all similar? They won’t add to the classics by resurrecting sages.”
“So now the dirty fight begins. Greedy fame competition, knowledge competition. Haha! Becoming famous for character evaluation. Earning fame with fame, it’s quite a good business, isn’t it?”
“Tsk... I don’t do such crude business of talking with my mouth.”
Cao Cao widened his eyes as if mocking Xiahou Dun.
“What do you mean? You’ve been envied by those pure stream people for your fame, Yuanrang.”
“Huh? Me?”
“Xiahou Yuanrang, who at just seventeen years old killed someone who insulted his teacher and raised his righteous name! Haven’t you heard?”
“No, killing someone who deserved it... And I haven’t heard. Even now, because of that incident back then, you’ve hidden at your father’s house!”
“A famous Xiahou clan descendant, a worthy descendant of a meritorious minister, who refused official positions and shines with righteous blades in the darkness!”
“Enough, enough! Let’s continue what we were talking about. Why were you looking north?”
“Ah, that...”
Cao Cao trailed off and looked north again. Xiahou Dun muttered.
“Whether it’s a wicked scheme or inspiration for poetry, I can’t tell. Or, if you think about it that way, you also have a reputation for writing poems, Mengde!”
Cao Cao frowned slightly.
“I hope you don’t compare my poems to the scholarship of the pure stream people. And you claim to not know your own fame but pick up mine easily, Yuanrang.”
“You don’t know how much my name spreads in Luoyang after you killed Jian Shuo? It’s on a different level from beating some unruly brat a few years ago.”
“...I was looking north because”
Xiahou Dun grumbled again “look, he’s dodging the question”, but Cao Cao pretended not to hear and continued.
“To raise an army.”
“What?”
“To raise an army. North, Bing Province.”
“Hey, Mengde.”
Xiahou Dun came close to Cao Cao, extending his turtle-like neck to meet his gaze.
“I’ve always thought you were crazy, but I didn’t know you were this firmly crazy.”
Cao Cao smiled bashfully.
“I’m not rebelling.”
“Does the emperor decide that? The emperor decides! If I pluck my nose hair and throw it towards the palace, if the emperor says it’s rebellion, it’s rebellion!”
“The emperor won’t think it’s rebellion.”
Xiahou Dun’s eyes narrowed.
“Even if there’s something to believe? Did the emperor whisper something?”
“There is a rebel in Bing Province.”
“A rebel? In Bing Province?”
“If I insist on going to Luoyang to demand a formal order to kill him, the emperor might instead accuse me of being a rebel, but a neutral way to handle it is to find a suitable excuse and treat it as ‘unfortunately died in Bing Province’—”
“That would be convenient.”
“It’s because the one who approved that scheme is the emperor.”
Cao Cao closed his eyes.
It was the reason Emperor Ling had been stubborn that Cao Cao had been pondering for the past few days.
“The emperor fell for that scheme, so arresting him would damage his authority. The emperor doesn’t want to suffer even that much loss.”
“The emperor already knows he’s a rebel, so why hesitate to arrest him because of that?”
Ha Yu, Tian Yan, Zhang Min would be released safely if they paid money as per the emperor’s will.
But Duan Jiong and Wang Fu would slowly be implicated like Zhang Xiu.
Cao Cao seemed to see that.
“...This time after going to Bing Province, I handled it appropriately. I borrowed some money from my father too.”
“What did you do?”
“We talked with people from the Xiongnu side.”
“You brought in the Hu?”
“I can’t dirty my hands. It’s not the way the emperor wants either.”
Xiahou Dun stared at Cao Cao as if seeing a madman, then started scratching his head.
“Ah, so, using the Xiongnu people as an excuse to catch the rebel? You plan to ally with Xiongnu soldiers in the process?”
“They’ll become my backup force if needed.”
“Hey, Aman. What, what are you planning to do? If needed? If needed, you’ll sweep Luoyang with that?”
“I won’t go that far. In my opinion...”
A rebellion seems likely. A large-scale rebellion, within a few years.
While hesitating whether to tell Xiahou Dun this prediction, Xiahou Dun’s expression changed.
With a serious face, he asked Cao Cao in a low voice.
“Mengde, is this related to the order the emperor issued recently?”
“What?”
“Giving offices for money.”
Selling official positions.
It is said that he personally announced the price for each office.
Probably gathering funds to raise new armies like fining Ha Yu, Tian Yan, Zhang Min.
Cao Cao’s impression of it was,
“It might be better than some guy with high fame eating offices for free.”
“What do you mean by that.”
“I said it earlier. How credible is a character evaluation from someone who hasn’t taken on responsibilities or observed for a long time. But ‘buying an office with a lot of money’ means at least they have the means to earn that money.”
“You have to speak plainly. ‘The means to earn money without regard for methods’.”
“The pure stream also don’t care about methods to raise their fame and lower others’.”
Xiahou Dun waved his hand.
“Well, let’s say that. But up until now, the people who have built fame and become officials through recommendation have all been pure stream, right?”
“Mostly yes.”
“But the emperor will evaluate only by the means to earn money? Then now...”
“...Only turbid stream can rise to official positions, meaning that.”
“Less hassle of fining the pure stream with gold bars.”
Xiahou Dun’s words were sharp.
The policy Emperor Ling unfolded was essentially no different from applying the Partisan Prohibitions continuously to all pure stream people.
Pure stream people who scrape together wealth to obtain offices, aren’t they good prey for other ‘competing pure stream’ people.
There might be pure stream people who don’t fit the bill temperamentally.
How loyal, how scholarly... Declaring they won’t be selected as officials by that.
Emperor Ling’s policy was truly ‘no good’.
But,
“Mengde, merchants often complain about ‘selling at a loss’, but there are no merchants who sell at a real loss.”
“I know.”
“You’ll do business that makes a profit.”
“Right.”
“How much will the official who rises... plunder the people?”
“There’s going to be chaos?”
“People say whether you die this way or that, you pick up the sword first.”
“So you need to borrow the power of the Xiongnu soldiers, Yuanrang.”
It wasn’t just the people’s rebellion that was scary.
“Pure stream people whose promotion is completely blocked will criticize the emperor, and the emperor will come out more aggressively, then...”
“Damn, there will be those who want to replace the emperor.”
“Those guys don’t directly criticize the emperor. Instead, they’ll try to cut off the emperor’s limbs.”
The emperor’s limbs, the eunuchs.
Internal conflict between eunuchs and pure stream.
In the process... the ‘eunuch’s family’ might also be attacked by the pure stream.
“If the emperor or someone gets assassinated. It will be internal strife right away. So we need to prepare from now on, Yuanrang.”
“Not only the Cao family, but our Xiahou clan who have intermarried with your family for generations also need to prepare.”
At the moment Xiahou Dun said that,
Cao Cao smiled smirkingly.
Seeing that smile, Xiahou Dun felt an ominous premonition prick his nape.
“Hey, you were waiting for me to say this, weren’t you?”
“Of course. Yuanrang, come visit Bing Province a bit. The Xiongnu friends alone are worrying. Even if the Xiongnu friends do well, you have to go tell who the ‘creditor’ is.”
***
“What kind of trick is this, Lü Bu!”
Completely forgetting to call his name, Zhang Xiu was shouting angrily.
“Insurrection! Rebellion!”
Only a few warriors remained beside Zhang Xiu, looking at each other with uneasy eyes.
Most of them were a group that had no interest in Bing Province’s affairs, like Lü Bu who usually despised, and only knew how to fawn on superiors.
No decisiveness, no ability.
On the other hand, beside Lü Bu were Wei Xu, Song Xian, Hou Cheng, and elite cavalry who had survived together for nearly ten years.
Some had completely fallen to Lü Bu through last year’s expedition against Tanshihuai, so they had firmly decided to follow Lü Bu’s orders over Zhang Xiu’s.
“Rebellion?”
Lü Bu repeated the words Zhang Xiu spat, then shook his head.
“The rebel is you, Zhonglangjiang, no, Zhang Xiu!”
“What, what?”
“It’s already known in Luoyang that you colluded with Tanshihuai and leaked military secrets! An order to arrest you has come down to this Bing Province army!”
Of course, what Lü Bu said was just what Liu Bao had instructed. But the effect was there.
“U, don’t make such ridiculous sounds! Then an army should come from Jing Province to arrest me, how can this border army...!”
“The Jing Province army, our ‘brothers’ have become nameless corpses in the grasslands and deserts because of your tricks!”
At the moment Lü Bu shouted that, murderous intent appeared on the soldiers’ faces.
No matter how comforted by Tengri faith or Lü Bu’s heroic tales, the despair and fear at that time were hard to forget.
If Lü Bu’s words are true, doesn’t that mean all the responsibility for those deaths lies with that Zhang Xiu?
“You just want to regain the position of Zhonglangjiang protecting the Xiongnu! You have sacrificed countless lives to the invaders!”
“It’s slander! Slander! I will not leave even a fragment of your flesh for slandering loyal ministers, Lü Bu! I will report to the Bing Province governor!”
“Surround and isolate them so no one escapes!”
Lü Bu gave such orders to his subordinates.
Whether Zhonglangjiang Zhang Yang or Ding Yuan would cooperate with Lü Bu was not yet known.
But... We couldn’t maintain the standoff for long. If we just watch without arresting, suspicious people will come out.
So, we have no choice but to hope the matter ends quickly in the Gongliu where we newly enthroned the new chanyu.
“Liu Bao, hurry up.”