While Fusu met Meng Tian, ​​Han Fei also met Chen Ping at his home.

After several months of recovery, Chen Ping finally could see the flesh color on his face again, and it was no longer a rough, weather-beaten face.

However, his face was very stunned at this moment, as if he was ashamed of being cultivated by the organization.

"This turmoil was caused by my failure in doing things, and I really feel sorry for everyone."

The fundamental reason why Ying Zheng will clean up Liusha is that he discovered Liusha's dishonesty, and the person responsible for covering up these facts is Chen Ping, so if he is to be held accountable, he will definitely be the first to take the blame, and he will take the big blame.

Of course, Yu Li calculated this way, but Yu Qing couldn't act rogue like this.

The whole quicksand was involved in the matter, and the commotion was spread throughout the counties in the North. It was simply impossible to expect him to clean up the whole situation - not to mention that he had just come back and was ordered to do so in a critical situation.

However, facing Han Fei, Chen Ping could only take the blame and had no reason to shirk.

Shifting the blame cannot be done at any time. Otherwise, not only will you not be able to absolve yourself of responsibility, but you will be saddled with even greater responsibilities.

What's more, Liusha is not an officialdom. Although there are distinctions between upper and lower classes, there is not a strong political atmosphere on the whole, so there is no need to strictly follow the rules of the officialdom.

Chen Ping is a good person and naturally knows how to measure things.

Han Fei indeed had no intention of holding anyone accountable.

Because almost everyone here in Quicksand did nothing wrong, which ultimately led to this result, it can only be said that manpower is sometimes poor.

Just like a person who is hit by an earthquake, even if he does his best to take the most appropriate emergency measures, whether he can survive often still depends on God's will.

"There is no need to say such things." Han Fei smiled and poured himself and Chen Ping a cup of tea each, then sat down and said, "From the moment the emperor decided to patrol the north, we were destined to be attacked by this knife. The difference is the same.

It’s just a matter of degree.”

"Now that the knife has fallen, it's a little heavier than I hoped, but it's not the worst. I think...it's not bad."

"What do you think?"

Chen Ping thought for a while and then replied, "It is true that we have not been injured, but our influence in the central court has been severely reduced, and the officials in the North also need to be re-organized, which may slow down our progress greatly.

"

"Time...this issue is somewhat sensitive."

Time is a problem that can cause headaches for everyone, because it is a powerful force that is completely independent of human will.

Once it is missed, it is missed, and no one can make up for it.

If due to this turmoil, Quicksand misses the best planned opportunity, no one can say how serious the subsequent negative impact will be.

Han Fei smiled when he heard this and didn't seem to care much about it, "I think it's okay."

"It's nothing more than the loss of a batch of supplies...but the things have not left the Northland after all. They are gone now and will come back in the future."

In order to cope with the pursuit of Luowang and Black Ice Platform, Liusha discarded a lot of materials that were not particularly sensitive.

For the imperial court, this batch of materials had no source and no destination, so they naturally became "trophies" and were collected and stored in the treasury.

However, even if it is put into the treasury, it will be put into the treasury of the local government here in the North. Because they are all materials that are needed and in short supply in the North, Ying Zheng has no reason to transfer them and distribute them separately - of course, he has the power to do so, but he is just too lazy to bother.

For Ying Zheng, this thing is not something he can appreciate.

Because the empire is very wealthy.

The destruction of the Six Kingdoms of Shandong by force brought an incredible amount of wealth to the empire. Even though the empire has maintained a highly militaristic policy in the past two decades and even launched countless large-scale projects, this wealth has still not been exhausted.

, has always supported the operation of the imperial court.

The empire has many problems now, but the finances, which are the easiest and most likely to cause problems, are still in good condition - this is not only because the wealth "legacy" of the six countries is sufficient, but also because the operation of the imperial court is relatively efficient and clean.

Both the central court and local governments are relatively efficient and clean... Although the central court's control over local governments is decreasing day by day, this has not been greatly affected.

Of course, this is not because the moral standards of imperial officials are very high, but is caused by the combined effect of many factors.

For one thing, the empire itself exploited the people severely enough, leaving little room for official corruption.

Even if you are a ruthless person who can scrape the sparks out of the land, you can't really do it, you have to make a profit.

Secondly, as mentioned before, officials’ demand for corruption, or in other words, their demand for money, is not particularly large.

In addition, those who can become officials are basically not from poor backgrounds and generally have considerable wealth, which further reduces the possibility of corruption.

Third, the imperial bureaucracy was actually far less mature and complex than that of later generations.

This greatly increased the difficulty for the central court to effectively manage local governments, but correspondingly, it made the bureaucratic system simpler.

With fewer officials, there will be fewer layers of peeling off, which will naturally reduce the intensity of corruption and increase efficiency.

In addition to this, there are some other reasons which will not be discussed in detail.

Of course, being efficient doesn't always mean a good thing.

Just like scribbling on a book of exercises, the efficiency of doing the exercises will naturally increase quickly, but the only point is that it is a waste of paper.

The opposite is the movement of Tao, and the weak is the use of Tao. All things in the world are nothing more than this.

Back to the topic.

Because Ying Zheng looked down upon and didn't care, this batch of supplies was still in the hands of the local officials in the counties in the North.

Of course, it is impossible for Quicksand to immediately retrieve these supplies from the Northland officials who have just experienced a major earthquake in the officialdom, but as long as things are in the Northland, they will return to their hands sooner or later - whether through more covert or more radical methods

means.

Of course, as time goes by, these supplies will be gradually consumed.

But this is not a big problem.

Take it from the people, use it for the people... Generally speaking, it is not a loss.

"As for the changes in the officialdom..." Han Fei took a sip of hot tea and narrowed his eyes slightly, as if he had taken a sip of fine wine, "It doesn't matter."

Chen Ping's brows couldn't help but jump twice.

Can such a big change in the officialdom really be considered ‘inconsequential’?

It is true that with the strength of Quicksand, it will not take long for it to regain its previous influence on the northern government, but how long it will take is uncertain.

More importantly, time is a troublesome issue.

Han Fei said calmly, "The demise of the Six Kingdoms of Shandong has made me understand one thing - loyalty has nothing to do with morality and integrity for most people."

"When South Korea fell, except for a few people such as Zhang Xiangguo who died abroad, basically no one cared."

"Of course, I don't agree with the meaningless behavior of martyrdom for the country - although I almost went down this road myself."

"The officials of South Korea don't care about the demise of South Korea, and the people of South Korea don't care about the demise of South Korea... Surrender when it's time to surrender, go into exile when it's time to surrender, surrender when it's time to submit, let everything take its course."

Han Fei spoke with emotion.

Chen Ping sat at the bottom with a little confusion in his eyes.

This... suddenly came to mind, making me sad for spring and autumn?

Han Fei ignored his look and continued, "Of course, many people later talked about the name 'Korea' that no longer exists."

"But they are all just for their own purposes...or interests."

"The nobles who fled into seclusion hoped to use the name of South Korea to make a comeback after the decline of the empire."

"The Korean people who have become subjects of the empire hope to return to the rule of the Korean court, because the oppression of the empire makes them more and more breathless."

"They don't care about South Korea, they just need this...'start'."

"Of course." At this point, Han Fei smiled, "I'm not condemning them. South Korea is indeed not worth anyone's concern."

"What I want to say is that neither the common people nor the bureaucrats and aristocrats will miss it, let alone be loyal to a regime that they deeply hate."

"South Korea in the past was such a regime, and today's empire... is even worse."

"The attitude of these newly appointed officials toward the empire is destined to be no different from that of the former Korean subjects."

"Before the incident, they might have slowed us down a little, but when the time comes, these obstacles will disappear in an instant."

What Han Fei meant was that the empire was in complete chaos.

In other words, it was the time when the empire began to rebel against thieves everywhere.

And his words, or this long series of words, are euphemistically expressing one thing - once the empire's rule is about to collapse, these new officials will fall into quicksand just like the old officials.

The empire, which had been founded for ten years, had never established a sufficiently stable and reliable national identity.

This resulted in no loyalty at all among the subjects of the empire.

They don't care about the empire's demise, and are even happy to see it succeed... Of course, if the new regime is worse than the empire, they will miss the empire just like Korean subjects miss Korea, but that is essentially not nostalgia for the empire, but for the current regime.

dissatisfaction.

And this kind of dissatisfaction generally does not surface early.

Once the empire's rule collapses, the officials in the North will not immediately consider how to maintain the empire's rule, but instead consider their own interests.

If the empire has the ability to regain control of the situation, they will maintain their 'loyalty'; otherwise, they will fall to the new 'power'.

In short, they help whoever wins. They stand still and don't help anyone until the winner is determined.

But they won't wait and see forever - it's not that they don't want to, it's that they can't.
To be continued...