dognovel Chapter 898 Imperial Examination System
Chapter 898 Imperial Examination System
The grand first court meeting finally ended in a complicated and indescribable atmosphere.
Civil and military officials, with different thoughts in their minds, left the Xuanzheng Hall one after another.
Some people were in high spirits, stroking the certificate of nobility they had just been awarded in their arms, with excitement unconcealed on their faces, and talking in low voices with familiar colleagues, their words were full of longing for the future.
There were also people with furrowed brows and heavy steps, repeatedly chewing over the three fires of "legislative amendment", "province" and "tax clearance", their hearts filled with worries about the future.
The butt determines the head. If your standpoint is different, the thoughts in your heart will not hurt.
But no matter what they think, the old order has been completely broken and a new chapter in Daqing has begun.
Time is like Emperor Taizong of Song's donkey cart, it never stops once it starts running.
With the arrival of winter, the still young Daqing Empire ushered in the new year.
Li Che can finally use his own reign title: Tianxing!
The cold winter has officially enveloped the imperial capital. This winter is dry and cold, but not a single snowflake has fallen yet.
This was quite uncomfortable for Li Che, who had stayed outside the Great Wall for several years. It seemed as if something was missing.
The cold in the south was indeed a magical attack, a chill that penetrated the bones.
Fortunately, although this cold is uncomfortable, it will not kill people.
However, Li Che still asked people to ensure the supply of coal. The cold could not directly freeze people to death, but it could make people sick.
In this day and age, even a common cold is like passing through the gates of hell.
Naturally, he could not have a rest during this period. The excitement of rewarding meritorious officials had not yet completely subsided, and the huge state machinery needed his full support.
Under the command of Yang Zhongsi and Wang Sanchun, the anti-rebellion army continued to press southwards with the momentum of a great victory, chasing the remnants of the false emperor Li Ming all the way.
Another army, led by Li Lin and He Conglong, began to prepare for the attack on the easy-to-defend and difficult-to-attack Shu area, trying to open the door to the land of abundance.
However, as the weather grew colder, large-scale military operations became difficult to launch, and the North-South Front temporarily entered a stalemate phase.
In the imperial capital, Li Che held a formal coronation ceremony, although it was solemn and complicated.
He offered sacrifices to heaven, earth and ancestral temples, announcing to the world that he had legitimately taken over the legal system of Daqing.
At the same time, he also ordered that Emperor Qing's coffin be moved back from Fengtian outside the Great Wall and buried in the imperial mausoleum with imperial rites.
After going through this entire set of orthodox procedures, even though the budget was cut again and again, the money and food spent still made Li Che feel painful.
Despite repeated advocacy of frugality, the Ministry of Rites' procedures are there and not a penny can be spent less than what is needed.
Sacrifice may seem useless, but it has been regarded as a top priority by the Chinese people for thousands of years, which shows its importance.
This also made him realize more deeply how difficult it is to govern a huge empire.
There are many rules and face-saving projects that even the emperor cannot easily shake, and every step involves complex political significance.
However, these are still big issues and will be over once they are resolved.
What really made Li Che feel overwhelmed was the endless trivial government affairs.
He originally thought that by establishing a cabinet system and distributing specific affairs, he would be able to stay aloof and focus on major policies.
But reality dealt him a heavy blow.
There are endless things happening every day in the imperial capital alone. After all, this is a huge city with a population of over one million.
For example, this winter was dry, and a fire broke out in a private residence in the city due to illegal brewing of wine, which caused improper operation and burned down half of the shacks on the street.
Fortunately, the Jinyiwei patrolling the city put out the fire in time, preventing greater casualties.
The matter was reported up the chain of command, and no one could make a decision, and it eventually ended up on Li Che's desk.
Li Che originally thought it was a trivial matter, but after listening to the relevant officials explain the whole story, he was suddenly confused.
He had to call his ministers together to discuss how to deal with the situation.
Daqing law already stipulates that people can brew and drink their own liquor, but if they want to sell it, they need official permission.
However, the law was not strictly enforced, leading to the proliferation of underground bootleg distilleries, posing a huge safety hazard.
Li Che couldn't just ban it out of hand.
He knew very well that for the lower-class people living in poverty, cheap privately brewed liquor was one of their few spiritual comforts.
Almost every family drinks a little wine, but not every family has the energy to brew their own wine.
The drinks in those restaurants are too expensive for poor people.
In the end, he could only take a compromise:
On the one hand, the relevant departments were ordered to increase inspections and crack down on illegal brewing workshops that sell without a license and pose safety hazards.
On the other hand, he instructed to promote Fengguo's mature liquor distillation technology, so that some compliant workshops could produce cheaper liquor and enter the market to meet the needs of the people.
There are many small things like this that seem insignificant but are related to the stability of people's livelihood.
From price stabilization to canal dredging, from refugee resettlement to prison litigation mediation...
Li Che found himself trapped in a huge administrative quagmire, sitting in the Yangxin Palace for entire days, reviewing memorials that seemed to have no end.
Often when I look up, it is already dark outside the window.
He had been trapped in the palace by these complicated government affairs and had not set foot out of the palace for two whole months.
Just like this, on a seemingly ordinary winter day, Li Che was still working on a mountain of paperwork in the Yangxin Palace.
Huai En came to inform that the two cabinet ministers Huo Duanxiao and Zhuge Zhe jointly requested an audience.
Li Che, who was buried in a pile of reports, felt his heart tighten subconsciously and immediately put down the red pen in his hand.
These two core cabinet ministers came at the same time. Could it be that there was a change in the war situation on the front line, or that there was another difficult problem somewhere?
"Announce it quickly!" Li Che said in a deep voice, rubbing his swollen temples.
The two cabinet ministers walked quickly into the Yangxin Palace and, after paying their respects, did not show much panic on their faces.
Huo Duanxiao spoke first, but he reported on ordinary government affairs: the issuance of salaries for civil and military officials this month.
Li Che felt relieved after hearing this.
Although Daqing is now in a state of disrepair and needs money everywhere.
However, thanks to the many conquests and "trades" with Korea, Japan, and Luzon in Southeast Asia in previous years, a huge amount of gold and silver wealth has been accumulated, which is more than enough to support the current salary expenses of the court.
He asked a few simple questions and then nodded in approval of their plan.
However, just when Li Che thought the matter was over, Zhuge Zhe frowned slightly and raised a deeper question:
"Your Majesty, the issue of salaries can still be resolved, but the more pressing issue right now is that following the investigation of the aristocratic families, there is a huge shortage of officials in the prefectures and counties across the country!"
"The abilities and loyalty of many former officials from the surrendered areas need to be examined, and we dare not rashly reuse them."
"And the number of officials from Feng State is limited, and it's already stretched to the limit."
"If this continues, it will be difficult to pass government orders, and local governance will be worrying!"
Zhuge Zhe's words pointed out a key bottleneck in Daqing.
It doesn't mean that the conquered territory is the land of Daqing, which can automatically generate taxes and grain.
The land needs people to manage it, but there are far too few reliable and capable people.
After listening to this, Li Che was silent for a moment.
Obviously, he had thought about this difficult problem for a long time.
Talent is scarce, which is indeed much more difficult than paying salaries.
Suddenly, as if he remembered something, he looked up and instructed Huai En who was standing beside him, "Huai En, go and get the book covered with yellow silk on the top shelf of my desk."
"Yes." Huai En responded.
He walked quickly to the bookshelf next to the dragon throne, took out a book that was not very thick but carefully wrapped in bright yellow satin, and presented it to Li Che with both hands.
Li Che took the booklet, but did not open it himself. Instead, he handed it directly to Zhuge Zhe and Huo Duanxiao in front of him.
"Ziyuan, Zhengze, take a look at this."
Zhuge Zhe took it respectfully with both hands, exchanged a glance with Huo Duanxiao, and then gently untied the yellow silk, revealing the plain cover of the booklet.
When his eyes fell on the three large characters written in thick ink on the homepage, his whole body was suddenly shocked and his pupils shrank slightly.
On the title page of the booklet, it was clearly written - Imperial Examination System!
The two men's eyes became more solemn. They had followed Li Che for many years, so naturally they had heard Li Che talk about the idea of 'recruiting talents through the imperial examination'.
But that was just an idea after all. Fengguo's population resources were not enough to do this, so it was never put into practice.
And now, Your Majesty, are you finally ready to push forward this national policy?
The two of them immediately became alert and read on word by word.
The imperial examination system was initiated by the Sui Dynasty and inherited and improved by the Tang Dynasty.
It has lasted for more than 1,300 years in Chinese history and constituted the core channel for the empire to select elites.
This is a fairly complete system. For Li Che, there is no need to rack his brains to use it, he can just use it.
The starting point of the imperial examination was the "Tongshi", which was held in prefectures, counties, and all candidates, regardless of age, were called "Tongsheng".
Only those who pass the test can become "students", commonly known as scholars.
This meant that they had left their civilian status and entered the reserve force of the scholar-official class, enjoying privileges such as exemption from military service and not having to kneel when meeting officials.
The next "provincial examination" is the first major hurdle on the road to the imperial examination, held every three years in the provincial capital.
The scholars gathered together and the competition was extremely fierce. Those who passed the exam were called "juren".
Becoming a Juren was a qualitative leap for scholars. Not only did they qualify to become an official, but they also obtained a pass to the next stage of the exam.
The successful candidates from all over the country would then rush to the capital to take part in the "joint examination" hosted by the Ministry of Rites.
This was a national-level examination, similar in level to the college entrance examination in later generations. Those who passed the examination were honored as "Gongshi", which means talents contributed to the emperor.
If they could pass the imperial examination, it meant that the students were on the edge of power.
The last stage of the entire imperial examination system was the "Palace Examination" presided over by the emperor himself.
All tribute scholars will receive the emperor's final assessment here. In principle, they will no longer be eliminated, but will be re-ranked according to their scores and divided into three grades of Jinshi.
The top three in the imperial examination, namely the number one, the number two and the number three, are listed as the first class, which is considered to be the Jinshi degree; the second class has several people, which are considered to be Jinshi graduates; the third class also has several people, which are considered to be Tong Jinshi graduates.
Once their names were on the imperial examination list, they would officially become "disciples of the emperor" and would enter the officialdom and become a member of the imperial ruling class.