Eliminating the threat of powerful clans?
It's merely a change of form. Moreover, Jia Zhen's current goal isn't simply to curry favor with Lu Ming; he wants to further consolidate his power.
The Jia family is divided into the Rongguo and Ningguo mansions, with the Ningguo mansion being the larger one. The current head of the family passed to Jia Jing, but this fellow has gone to become a Taoist priest.
Then the position of head of the family was passed to his son, Jia Zhen. However, Jia Zhen is a generation lower than Jia Zheng and the others, belonging to the same generation as Jia Lian, Jia Baoyu, Yuan Chun, Ying Chun, Tan Chun, and Lin Daiyu.
This puts Jia Zhen in an awkward position. Although he is the head of the Jia family and can manage hundreds of people, this is only limited to the collateral branches.
He has little power to restrain Jia Zheng and the others, so he needs to find external support.
Without power, one cannot control wealth. People are inherently selfish; it's awkward to hold a position without corresponding power.
"I plan to offer the two younger sisters of the You family to Lu Ming. When he comes to Chang'an, I, as the head of the family, will personally invite him to a banquet. This man is extremely lecherous, and those two You sisters are rare beauties; I guarantee he'll linger there." Jia Zhen stroked his beard, a lewd smile playing on his lips.
This made Jia Zheng extremely surprised and disgusted. "But these two women don't have good reputations! What if Governor Lu finds out and gets angry? We'll have lost more than we gained!"
The subtext was: you're offering two disreputable women to Lu Ming? What do you mean by that? If you're going to offer them, offer the good ones, the clean ones.
These words made Jia Zhen realize something. Faced with his elder's questioning, although he was about the same age as Jia Zheng, he was a generation younger, so he laughed awkwardly a few times, "Brother Zheng, you don't understand. This is a plan to kill off the family line. Those two girls are shrewd and calculating; they won't act until they see a clear benefit. If they can't guarantee a status, they won't let any man get a single advantage. Right now, they're just waiting for the right price. Look at how many men they'd even consider, and how many would be willing to give them a title?"
In reality, You Erjie and You Sanjie were just gold-digging women, quite shrewd.
They entered the Jia family through their half-sisters, who were supposed to be Jia Zhen's wives, hoping to be sold and enter this social circle, aspiring to rise from humble beginnings to greatness.
However, they completely failed to understand that in a powerful family, a marriage alliance would never involve marrying a woman with no background; that was absolutely impossible.
And a beautiful woman without a family background was nothing more than a plaything.
Adding to this, Jia Zhen had rumors spread, ruining the two sisters' reputations, all to prevent them from marrying and thus make them his possessions.
In ancient society, no one would marry an unfaithful, promiscuous woman. This is why Jia Zhen said it was a plan to kill off the family line!
The point was to prevent the women from marrying; with fewer choices, they would have no choice but to submit.
Jia Zheng wasn't stupid. Hearing this, he was speechless. "It's hard to say whether it's true or not, but how can we convince Governor Lu?"
Jia Zhen didn't answer. Instead, he smiled at Jia Zheng. "Brother Zheng, we're family, no need for formalities. Appeasing Governor Lu is good for both of us. I'll be frank: I want your support at the family gathering. I want to reclaim the power of the head of the household!"
"I want to be recommended for the position of Prefect of Chang'an!" Jia Zheng added his own incentive. As the second-in-command, the Prefect held considerable power.
This was not something a mere county magistrate could compare to. With power, even if Jia Zhen was the head of the family, he couldn't force him.
"It's a deal!" Jia Zhen extended his hand.
"Clap!" Jia Zheng clapped his hands in return, "A promise is a promise!"
The two then began to formally plot how to ingratiate themselves with Lu Ming.
This was a consensus: only by befriending Lu Ming could they exchange favors.
It could be understood as a threshold; women were merely a means to reach that threshold.
The real exchange of favors could never be achieved by one or even a few women.
If that were truly the case, then no one would want to have sons; they might as well have daughters, who could marry well and become kings!
Is that realistic?
No, everyone knows that would only lead to playingthings!
A few days later, Liu Qi was indeed appointed by Lu Ming as the governor of Chang'an, and Gan Ning was assigned to lead an army of ten thousand to escort him to his post.
Gan Ning could also be considered the vanguard, leading the charge.
He needed to at least control one of Chang'an's city gates to ensure the entry of Lu Ming's subsequent army, or at least to gain the upper hand in the event of battle.
Once the city gates were wide open, the advantages of a fortified city would vanish completely.
Besides Liu Qi, Lu Ming also brought Xu Shu back and sent him to Chang'an.
Jia Xu, partnering with Zhou Tai, continued to assist in the management of Didao and oversaw affairs in Dunhuang, Zhangye, Jiuquan, and Wuwei prefectures.
This meant Zhou Tai had to lead men to visit these places in rotation, allowing him to recruit reliable people to bolster his team.
The situation in Beidi Prefecture remained dire; simply maintaining its current state was a challenge. After the plague subsided, it was a time for recuperation.
This prefecture bordered the Xiongnu, and with Fa Zheng being a military genius, paired with Jiang Qin, defense was more than adequate.
Liu Qi and Xu Shu went to Chang'an together. Liu Qi was the prefect, while Xu Shu was the deputy governor of Chang'an, a position equivalent to that of a prefect, though they traveled in different carriages, hence the title "deputy governor."
The situation in Chang'an was not complicated; the purpose of this trip was to have the two work together.
Liu Qi was responsible for dealing with the powerful clans and nobles, while Xu Shu was responsible for handling the various social classes. To assist Xu Shu's administration, Lu Ming assigned him the newly recruited Zhang Tang and also sent the trio of Bao Zheng to Chang'an. Their tasks were criminal investigation, local supervision, reporting on the people's livelihood to the prefect, and providing a copy to the governor.
The original local areas were temporarily overseen by Fa Zheng; these duties would be shared later when more people were available.
They were promoted from county magistrates to chief ministers, and their jurisdiction expanded from Xiji City to the entire Sanfu region.
With 5,000 troops stationed there, he was practically an enhanced inspection team. Wherever he went, the administration would be clean and honest. Otherwise, Bao Zheng wouldn't mind using his invented dragon-head guillotine to teach the corrupt officials who preyed on the people a lesson.