Chapter 128 Shuke Loophole
"Chiang Changshi, why is there no regulation in Shu that prohibits local wealthy families from having private soldiers?"
Ma Di held Shu Ke while reading, and at the same time he gave Jiang Wan advice and looked for loopholes in it.
Although Shuke was personally designated by the Prime Minister, Ma Su did not believe that there were no loopholes in it. After he took a closer look, he saw many hidden dangers.
Among them, the prohibition of wealthy families holding private soldiers was not included at all.
Should private soldiers be delegated to wealthy families? How did Boss Cao have his house stolen by Lu Bu's more than a thousand cavalry? It was the 20,000 soldiers and horses collected by the Yanzhou nobles who sent private troops.
Once the local powerful families hold the army, the deterrent effect of the imperial power will not be so strong.
So Ma Su was very puzzled about this. Why did the Prime Minister, a person who pursues perfection so much, fall short of this?
Jiang Wan was an old revolutionary and knew a lot about this. When he saw Ma Su asking this question, he fell silent.
"You Chang, I suggest you not to get involved in this matter. This is something that even the Prime Minister has to give in to." Jiang Wan was silent for a long time, and finally shook his head and said meaningfully.
These meaningful words made Ma Su feel alive.
Obviously, this is a topic that cannot be touched in Chengdu now, which is exactly in line with Lao Ma's thoughts on the future.
"Chang Shi, you know me, how can I be free?" Ma Su spread his hands and directly showed his cards to the honest man Jiang Wan.
"If Chang Shi doesn't tell me, I will have to ask the Prime Minister."
"No, don't go and cause trouble to the Prime Minister." Jiang Wan was startled and immediately stretched out his hand to stop him.
"The Prime Minister has enough work already, don't cause any more trouble for him."
Under Jiang Wan's helpless explanation, Ma Su also learned something.
Shu is different from other places. Central control has not been strong in this place for many years. When the late emperor entered Sichuan, he discovered that the powerful people in Shu had a frightening number of private soldiers.
When the late emperor led the army to attack Chengdu, the reason why Liu Zhang was able to hold on tightly was because the private soldiers of these aristocratic families had the greatest contribution.
After taking control of Sichuan, the late emperor had the idea of prohibiting aristocratic families from holding private soldiers. However, this idea was immediately opposed by all the local factions throughout Shuzhong, and the opposition was very loud.
It is said that the foundation of the late emperor was not stable, and Chengdu was captured only after people surrendered, so the weight of the local faction was not low from the beginning. In the end, neither the prime minister nor the late emperor dared to ban private soldiers.
Therefore, this area became the biggest loophole in Shuke, and it remained so until the demise of Shuhan. When Liu Chan's country was overthrown, he didn't even dare to mention defending the city. This was inseparable from the fact that Chengdu's wealthy families had many private soldiers.
But from Ma Su's perspective, this is obviously a good breakthrough.
Private soldiers, private soldiers, this thing should not exist in theory. If you don't find a way to deal with it, I'm afraid it will become a threat at any time in the future.
Have you forgotten Boss Cao’s lessons learned?
"No, I have to talk to the Prime Minister!"
"What are you talking about? I'm going to kill you!" Jiang Wan almost got anxious, grabbed Ma Su and said with a dark expression.
"Don't talk nonsense about this nonsense. Even the Prime Minister has been helpless. These big people in Shu are not the little shrimps you met in Longyou. They are real people!"
Jiang Wan had heard a lot about Ma Su's deeds in Longyou. I have to say that Ma Su's land equalization method is indeed good, returning wasteland and land illegally occupied by large families to tenant farmers for cultivation.
This not only increases taxes, but also increases the scope of corvee work, and can also be a very effective attack on aristocratic families.
But these things can only be promoted in Longyou, not in Shuzhong. Back then, the late emperor had an army of 100,000, and he did not dare to ban private soldiers from aristocratic families when he was in charge of two states, let alone now.
Just do it in Longyou, don't take it too seriously.
Jiang Wan was still very optimistic about Ma Su. After all, there were too few talented people in the Shu Han Dynasty who were both civil and military. But Jiang Wan was too worried about Ma Su's character of hating evil and not knowing fear at all.
Ma Su's character is more like Sun Ce. If he didn't know how to restrain himself, he would probably end up like Sun Ce.
Shu Han cannot lose another Ma Su, otherwise the prime minister will really die of exhaustion.
"Gong Yan, this is a big deal. If we don't make changes, trouble will happen sooner or later!" Ma Su said with a firm attitude and awe-inspiring righteousness.
"It would be okay if I didn't know. Now that I know, how can I, as a minister of the Han Dynasty, watch such a huge hidden danger be left to future generations?"
"We cannot let him become a historical problem, we must change it now!"
After saying that, Ma Su broke away from Jiang Wan and strode towards the Prime Minister's Mansion. Seeing this, Jiang Wan was extremely anxious and quickly followed him.
But in the end, Ma Su didn't have time to tell the prime minister about it, because as soon as he entered the prime minister's house, he heard the prime minister discussing military affairs with several generals.
Seeing Ma Su coming in, the prime minister immediately waved his feather fan at him.
"You Chang, you came just in time, come and see the battle report of Soochow."
The battle report from Soochow came by chance, so Ma Su could only put down his obsession with the law and read the battle report first. Jiang Wan was relieved, at least Ma Di wouldn't cause trouble.
Without any surprise, Soochow won another victory in the self-defense counterattack. When Zhou Yi pretended to surrender and carefully set up an ambush, Cao Wei general Cao Xiu was fooled and was defeated by the Wu army at Shiting.
Lu Xun led an army of 100,000 to pursue him northward, all the way to the gates of Hefei. But for some reason, they did not take the opportunity to besiege Hefei when they had sufficient food and morale, but quickly withdrew.
After reading this battle report, not to mention Ma Su, even Chen Shi realized that something was wrong.
"It seems that the Prime Minister's estimate is correct. Sun Quan of Soochow is indeed a little dishonest."
Chen Shi nodded, looked at the battle report and sighed.
"If this were not the case, he would definitely take advantage of the situation and attack Hefei instead of withdrawing his troops out of fear of failure."
"In this case, we should make preparations to attack Wu, and we cannot let him pretend to be emperor." Wu Ban nodded, raised his hands and said to Zhuge Liang,
"The Prime Minister invites me to send five thousand soldiers and horses. I am willing to be the vanguard!"
"Prime Minister, I can also be a pioneer in defeating Wu!"
Before Wu Ban finished speaking, Ma Di also stood up and spoke loudly.
Zhuge Liang: "???"
Why does this scene seem so familiar?
"General Youchang, if you want to kill a chicken with a sledgehammer, let me do it." Wu Ban was also a little surprised and looked at Ma Su to persuade him.
Your current status, Ma Su, is not low. People in Shu compare you with Wei Yan and Zhao Yun.
How can a general of this level serve as a vanguard?
"This matter has nothing to do with the slaughter of cattle. This is a major matter of defeating Wu. I should go to fight first and break the vigor of Soochow."
Ma Di said confidently, then looked at Zhuge Liang and patted his chest to assure him,
"Prime Minister, I would like to issue a military order..."
"Okay, then let's leave the vanguard to Wu Ban."
"ah?"