Chapter 446: The Door of Convenience
This lasted for three days, until the fifth day of February.

Sima Zhi, who was working in the Xicao Hall, was notified and set off by car, carrying a box of bamboo slips that had been prepared in advance.

He went from the initial urgency, excitement to anxiety, but he felt relieved since yesterday.

When Sima Zhi arrived, it was almost noon.

Black Bear was waiting for him in the lobby on the first floor, lying lazily on his side, holding a wooden boat model in his hand and examining it carefully.

This is a model of a flat-bottomed transport ship without sails. The stern rudder is slightly larger and looks a bit exaggerated. At the same time, it does have three masts. Each mast is like a fishbone antenna, and there are many horizontal branches in pairs on both sides of the mast.

"Your Majesty, Xicao Sima Zhi comes to pay a visit."

Fa Zheng reminded him with a stern face, and Black Bear then sat up straight and put the ship model in his hand on the table.

This was Lu Bu's latest exquisite sculpture, and he was planning to have it made.

The only change was the sail power. If the mast was filled with white geese flapping their wings together... he wanted to try whether these white geese would be exhausted to death, or simply test the limit of their physical strength.

When I came back this time, I thought that the geese would be thin and weak due to the lack of grass and feed in winter. As a result, when the adult geese grow into adulthood, they are in a certain constant state.

As I understand it, collecting the geese into cards during the winter can solve the problem of winter feed shortage.

The results showed that the adult geese and goslings below the mature geese were all weak, which made the mature geese look more majestic in comparison.

Goose sail powered ships might actually be feasible.

But it was just manufactured to try it out and has no long-term significance.

When he sat up straight, Sima Zhi stepped in and bowed deeply: "Your Majesty, I, Sima Zhi, greet you. May your Majesty be blessed."

"sit down."

Black Bear waved his hand, and Gao Jun, who was on duty nearby, moved the square stool next to him. Sima Zhi didn't dare to sit on the whole stool, but only sat on half of it, leaning forward slightly.

Two personal soldiers had already stepped forward and carried the wooden box that Sima Zhi had brought to Black Bear's side. He raised his hand to open the lid and saw that the bamboo slips were piled up inside, occupying two-thirds of the space.

He immediately reached out and took out a scroll to read. The bamboo slips inside had been sorted and arranged in chronological order, with the ones on the top being the early ones.

At this time, another personal soldier brought tea and a bowl of pastry to Sima Zhi. Sima Zhi held the tea bowl with both hands, blew on it, and then placed it in front of him, waiting quietly for consultation.

Kurokuma looked at these official documents regarding recruitment, supplementation, transfer, and dismissal of personnel. In addition to the description of the cause and effect, each document also contained the background information of the parties involved. For some personnel with disputes, there would be attached the evaluation of important officials within the shogunate.

To show solemnity, he would circle any official document that he had no objection to.

Saisō was the shogunate's personnel manager. Most of the personnel information had been reported to him before, and there were basically no special issues.

Sima Zhi's advantage is that he is strict and does not recruit or add staff at will, so most personnel work involves promotions and internal transfers.

If some departments are short of people, then the remaining people will do more work.

Therefore, after such a long period of being away on the expedition, there was not a single new face with a salary of more than 300 koku added to the various departments and ministries that remained in the shogunate.

"You are in the Western Division, and you will also open a secret case within the Western Division. From now on, only the successive Western Division chiefs can review it."

Black Bear took out the bamboo slips related to Gao Rou from the bottom of the box, and glanced at the words on them with lowered eyebrows: "I have ordered Yizhou to increase the scale of paper production, so that paper can be used to record documents in the summer of this year. When the first batch of paper arrives, the Western Cao will re-compile the personnel files of the various departments and offices of the shogunate. A secret case will also be established. Anyone whose name is listed on it will be imprisoned, and his immediate family will be imprisoned for three generations."

As he spoke, Black Bear reached out for a pen and wrote the three words "Pang Shanmin" on Gao Rou's bamboo slip. He then took out a separate bamboo slip and handed it to Dian Wei beside him, saying to Sima Zhi, "Start with these two. Anyone who is imprisoned by name will also be prohibited from imprisoning their grandfather, brothers, sons, nephews, grandsons, and nephews; their wives' brothers are also on the list. Those who have already entered officialdom and have been pardoned will not be implicated."

"Here."

Sima Zhi was alert, and he turned around and took the bamboo slip from Dian Wei. He raised his eyebrows when he saw Pang Shanmin's name on it, and immediately thought of Du Ji and Zhang Ji. As for Gao Rou, as Gao Gan's cousin, this man came to Guanzhong alone to seek an official position, which was really too arrogant.

At least you should bring some gifts, or at least give some key information.

Now Hebei has consciously concealed information and adjusted internal personnel, so some things are not as clear as before.

Black Bear pointed at the pastry in front of Sima Zhi and said, "Pastry is a specialty of Liangzhou. Shuzhong can make maltose. This is sweet pastry mixed with maltose."

"Thank you for your gift."

Sima Zhi picked up the bowl and scooped out the crisps with a wooden spoon. Even the crisps that were intact had now fallen apart.

After Sima Zhi finished eating the pastry and rinsed his mouth with tea, he heard Black Bear ask, "What do the shogunate think about the rank and salary law?"

"Your Majesty, the various departments of the shogunate have no objection. What I am worried about is the scholars in Chang'an."

"Then there is no need to worry."

Black Bear's face was expressionless. "Most people in Chang'an Academy are unproductive. How many years have they been able to fill their stomachs? What else? For example, do you have any objections to certain regulations?"

"There are a few, but military merit is a part of the official career, which has caused a lot of slander."

Sima Zhi replied cautiously, "If we refer to the system of titles and salaries, men in the future will be registered as officials at the age of 17, trained in the county for one year, and then be sent to the garrison at the age of 18. The first-class meritorious service of beheading will be awarded to the duke, and the middle-ranking sergeant will be retired and return home to serve as a doushi official. After accumulating merit for two years and passing the examination, he will be promoted once he is a county magistrate. When he is over 40 years old, how many years can he still serve the country?"

The ideal situation is for administrative performance to be renewed every two years, but many people cannot meet this condition.

Therefore, many people have to accumulate merits before they can reach the level of county magistrate at the age of fifty.

Black Bear smiled after hearing this: "Zihua has lived through poverty for a long time, so it's better for him to be a little older as the county magistrate. If you want to be promoted quickly, you should either kill enemies and make meritorious service while guarding the border counties, or actively study to make progress while serving as a guard. It's rare for a non-commissioned officer to become the head of a county after retirement; the position of county magistrate is reserved for lieutenants."

"I see that what they are discussing is the retirement of non-commissioned officers, and what they are complaining about is that their children and grandchildren have difficulty getting good and important positions."

"Forty or fifty-year-old county officials, this is a reasonable phenomenon and is what should happen in a peaceful world."

Black Bear said this, and seeing Sima Zhi lower his head, he asked, "Any other objections?"

"Yes, I think the biggest objection is that meritorious service is difficult to inherit. Not to mention demotion, a 50% demotion is also acceptable. Otherwise, how can meritorious officials who have gone through life and death but cannot benefit their children rest in peace? It's not that I have this idea, but many officials in the shogunate have such words."

Sima Zhi knelt down and said, "Your Majesty has chosen me from among the common people. I beg Your Majesty to see my true colors."

"Zihua, people shouldn't be so ungrateful."

"I don't believe that the sons of nobles and county officials lack opportunities to make meritorious deeds, or do they disdain to make meritorious deeds and only want to inherit the nobility and salary? If so, how is it different from the pre-Qin and Han dynasties? Our descendants will not be able to escape the chaotic times we are facing. For a little selfish desire, are our descendants going to be like this? Will they never be able to escape this hell?"

Black Bear spoke in a gentle tone, with a hint of helplessness: "How can we take all the benefits of the balance of yin and yang? There are heroes among the poor, and there are heroes among slaves and servants. We should open the door wide so that heroes from all over the world, regardless of their background, can have a path to meritorious service, be awarded a title, and enter the government."

As he spoke, he turned his head and looked south in the direction of Chang'an: "If we shut the gates tightly and keep them out of Chang'an, they will not be willing to live out their lives in seclusion, and will naturally wait for an opportunity to cause chaos and attack Chang'an. By then, the streets will be trampled to the ground, and the treasury will be burned to ashes... Is this hereditary nobility what everyone wants?"

Sima Zhi said nothing. After a moment he nodded and sighed secretly.

But is there any way to stop it?
All we can do is protect the shogunate and live and die together.

Seeing that he was in trouble, Black Bear offered him a cup of tea to drink, while Dian Wei stepped forward and stretched out his arms to lead Sima Zhi to leave.

After taking over Shuzhong, if Shuzhong does not rebel, the probability of other places inside the country causing chaos first will be greatly reduced.

The only hidden danger comes from the outside, which is indeed difficult to control remotely.

(End of this chapter)