Chapter 186 Please ban private soldiers
The court in the Shu Han Dynasty usually held meetings once a week, which was basically a boring process. It is not an important matter to Liu Chan or the officials.
After all, the Prime Minister's Office is responsible for all matters, big and small, and Liu Chan is basically doing nothing.
And even if someone raised any issues in the court, Liu Chan would not be able to deal with them. In the end, we still have to go through the process and send it to the Prime Minister's Mansion for Zhuge Liang to make a decision.
So the so-called court is basically the process of maintaining royal authority.
This day was still the same for Liu Chan, so boring that it gave people a headache.
But just when Liu Chan and the civil and military officials thought that this week's court was about to end according to the procedures, someone suddenly stood up.
"Your Majesty, I have something important to say!" Ma Su stood up from the side and saluted Liu Chan in front of all the civil and military officials.
This turn of events stunned all the officials present, and then they realized that Ma Di was stunned again.
"Protector Qiang Colonel Ma Su?"
"Isn't he Dong Cao of the Prime Minister's Mansion? Why did he suddenly stand up?"
"I don't know. Is there something big going on?"
Ma Su suddenly stood up, not only the officials were stunned, but even Liu Chan was caught off guard. However, when he saw clearly that it was Ma Su, Liu Chan immediately regained his composure.
"What's the matter with Lieutenant Ma?" Liu Chan pondered for a while, then asked when he saw that Zhuge Liang didn't express anything.
"I request your Majesty to issue an order to strictly prohibit the wealthy families in Sichuan from raising private soldiers! Strictly investigate the excess of slaves!" Ma Di's words were astonishing, and his words were like a stone, stirring up thousands of waves.
All of a sudden, the expressions of all the officials from various factions in the court changed drastically, especially the expressions of the local faction darkened instantly.
This thing is like a slide that cannot be touched in Shuzhong. Even Liu Bei didn't dare to mention it casually back then, let alone now.
At this time, even Zhuge Liang looked strange and turned to look at Jiang Wan.
Gong Yan, what's going on? Didn’t I ask you to call me Ma Su’s government affairs officer? How did you teach me this?
Jiang Wan was stunned for a moment, and was also confused when he saw Zhuge Liang's eyes looking over.
Obviously, no one expected Ma Su to mention this matter at this time.
However, Ma Su didn't give anyone a chance to react at this moment and started talking in front of everyone.
"Your Majesty! It has been ten years since the Prime Minister has been in charge of Shu. In the middle of Shu, the roads are no longer picked up and thieves have disappeared. Yizhou is peaceful and there are no bandits. The imperial troops alone are more than enough to pacify the place."
"But today's wealthy and powerful families in Sichuan often have more than a hundred houses and thousands of private soldiers and slaves. This is a move that is harmful to no one, whether it is the court or the country."
"In the past, the late emperor was busy with the Northern Expedition and had no time to take care of this matter. As a result, there were loopholes in Han law, and the people have been affected by this for a long time."
"So I boldly mentioned that I am reporting to His Majesty that Han law strictly prohibits anyone from holding private soldiers, and this matter will be strictly investigated. I am deeply grateful!"
Ma Su's words almost made the local faction's expression darken, and the eyes he looked at Ma Su were full of hostility. However, the leaders of the local faction remained calm and looked at Zhuge Liang from the corner of their eyes.
What Ma Su said is not actually the most important, the focus is what Zhuge Liang thought.
It is very important whether this is a test by the Jingzhou faction or a new round of attacks by the court on the local faction.
"What do you think, Prime Minister?" Liu Chan couldn't handle such a big matter, so he pondered for a while and looked at Zhuge Liang again.
"Your Majesty! This matter is important and we should not make a hasty decision! I thought we should consider it in the long term!" Zhuge Liang did not get a response from Jiang Wan, but he was an elder statesman after all, so he immediately responded in a good-natured manner.
"The big thing today is still the Northern Expedition to the Central Plains and returning to the old capital. Nothing else is as important as this."
Zhuge Liang opened his mouth to express his position, and several local leaders secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
It seems that this is not an action led by Zhuge Liang to attack their local faction, but it should be Ma Di's own suggestion.
I have always heard that the Colonel Protecting Qiang likes to cause trouble, and now it seems that this is indeed the case.
Several local leaders, including Qiao Zhou Du Wei, all looked at each other and saw the fear in each other's eyes. Obviously, all of these people have heard about this Ma Su.
With Zhuge Liang's statement, Ma Su's proposal was temporarily shelved. However, Ma Di was not satisfied, but the purpose of shocking the local factions had been achieved, and the next step was to persuade Zhuge Liang.
After being disturbed by Ma Su, almost no one in the court was distracted anymore, and almost everyone started thinking. Everyone sensed something was wrong, and those with some foresight felt that something big was going to happen in the future.
After the court meeting ended, all the ministers immediately left the court, and Ma Di was also called back to the Prime Minister's Mansion by Zhuge Liang.
"You Chang, You Chang, what are you doing?" As soon as he returned to the Prime Minister's Mansion, Jiang Wan grabbed Ma Su with a dark expression and said angrily.
"Chang Shi, do you remember what you said before? The matter of private soldiers cannot be delayed any longer." Ma Su looked very serious, saluted and apologized to Jiang Wan, and then said.
"I had a drink with Guan Xing, the servant, a few days ago, and I met Mr. Qiaofu at Guan Mansion on his return to Chengdu. He has dozens of chariots and hundreds of private soldiers, and his elite training is comparable to that of the soldiers of the Northern Army."
"This is just the private soldiers of the Qiao family. Only God knows how many private soldiers the entire Shu family has. If it is not restricted and dealt with now, it will definitely become a big trouble in the future!"
Ma Su's words are not groundless. In fact, many such things have happened in history.
For example, in history, when Sima Yi launched the Gaopingling Incident, his biggest asset was three thousand dead soldiers. These dead soldiers are basically slaves and private soldiers supported by his political allies, and they are enough to launch a coup.
When Deng Ai arrived in Chengdu, there were still thousands of Chengdu defenders, so it was not certain that he would die while sitting in a fortified city. But Qiao Zhou and other local factions insisted on surrendering. At this time, the private soldiers in their hands became the biggest weapon.
You must know that the Northern Expedition has not yet reached the most critical moment, so the troops Zhuge Liang leads are not all. If Chang'an is attacked in the future and the Shu Han Dynasty needs all the strength of the Northern Expedition, who knows what these half-hearted wealthy people will do.
So Ma Su's attitude is very clear, today I will risk my life to fight your local party.
But Ma Su couldn't convince Jiang Wan. He held his forehead with a headache and said after a long time.
"You Chang, you have been on duty at the Prime Minister's Mansion for so long and you still don't understand? Now is the time to unite everyone for the Northern Expedition. How can we big men still have the ability to handle this?"
"What if you force the local powerful clans to rebel and they cause chaos in Shu? How can we conquer the Central Plains?"
"Youchang, you have to put the overall situation first!"
"Jiang Changshi, I understand this, but this matter is not as simple as you think." Ma Su's attitude was still firm and he bowed deeply to Jiang Wan.
"This matter was done by me alone and does not require the Prime Minister's support. If it really comes to an irreversible moment, I can cut off my head to appease the anger of the public!"