Why did the emperor rebel?

Chapter 934 Qingliu's Future

It should be said that the emperor must have had a plan for reforming the officialdom.

Many ministers present had expected this point, but what they didn't expect was that the regulations proposed by the emperor were so radical.

Let me first talk about the restrictions on the power of admonishment and admonishment in science and Taoism. Although the system of Mingzuo and Mizuo sounds easy, in fact, it undoubtedly shakes the long-standing practice of combining admonition and impeachment in the officialdom.

Undoubtedly, the spread of these two imperial edicts to the outer court, even though they have been agreed in a small area, will still cause an uproar.

In addition to this, the three measures that the emperor just proposed are also very serious, and they are usually enough to cause shocks in the court.

Although it is temporary to expand the number of posts in Ke Dao, it is also a great reward.

As for the re-appraisal of the ranks of the six subjects and thirteen courses, although it is not a major event, it also belongs to the category of the revised system.

If it is said that these two items belong to the category of grace and will not cause too much disturbance, then the third item will really completely change the situation in the court.

This involves the entire officialdom circulation, and even issues of various backgrounds and statuses!
Due to various reasons, Qingliu Kedao has a very high status in the court, and belongs to the background that is second only to the minister of the dragon. It has strict restrictions and a bright future. Of course, the competition is also fierce.

Although the two are called together, in fact, because of serving Jingyan and being closely related to the cabinet, Qingliu's status has always been higher than that of Ke Dao.

The so-called Qingliu, in a broad sense, refers to officials who were born in imperial examinations, and in a narrow sense, it refers specifically to officials with Hanlin experience.

Generally speaking, after the palace examination, the top three of the first class will be directly selected as editors of the Imperial Academy, and after the rest of the exams, the outstanding ones will be selected as Shujishi, and they will be admitted to the Imperial Academy to give lectures on politics. When the museum is disbanded, depending on its achievements, the first batch is awarded to the official position of the Hanlin, the second to the censor or other officials of the ministry, and the third to the local official.

Moreover, with Qingliu qualifications, no matter whether it is in the ministry or in the local area, they can be promoted as appropriate.

With the Jingyan system, Qingliu means Jane in the Sacred Heart, with the Shujishi system, Qingliu means the best personal connections, with the cabinet, Qingliu means the smoothest future and backing.

These three together created Qingliu's special status in the court.

However, since the Son of Heaven came to the throne, this situation has obviously changed. First of all, the Sacred Heart and Grace, the scriptures and readings. At that time, the emperor once ordered that Hanlin officials should not be allowed to serve on the lectures and readings of the scriptures, and the rest of the unofficials were not allowed to serve the lectures.

Afterwards, following Wang Ao's entry into the cabinet, Chen Xun was transferred to be Minister of the Ministry of Industry, Gao Gu was transferred to Nanjing due to faults, and Xiao Yi was appointed as a Hanlin Bachelor. Over the past two years, the cabinet has been separated from the cabinet from the surface to the essence.

If there is any weak connection, then it is that the cabinet ministers also take turns to serve and read the scriptures.

However, since the crown prince left the cabinet, only Wang Ao, who is also in charge of the affairs of the Imperial Academy, still served the Jingyan among the cabinet ministers, and the rest of the cabinet ministers took turns to give lectures to the prince. , the weak connection between the two is thus severed.

Coincidentally, according to the usual practice, the officials of the Prince's Mansion and the officials of the Imperial Academy were supposed to serve concurrently with each other. However, this time when the Crown Prince left the cabinet, the emperor directly abolished this practice, making them not concurrently serve as each other.

As a result, the Hanlin Academy lost its favor and the cabinet, leaving only a group of seniors with top grades in the scientific examinations.

However, without the bonuses of the first two, what's the use of this thing?

It is true that those who can enter the Hanlin Academy, there is no shortage of top three figures in the first class, and the last few are the top few in the second class.

But the problem is that these Shujishi themselves have no official positions!
No matter how good the grades are, no matter how good the qualifications are, they must be able to be honored to be useful!
Now, the embarrassing situation that Qingliu is facing is that the qualifications of Qingliu that they are so proud of have become difficult to fulfill.

From this point of view, the group of concubines who have just been elected to the Imperial Academy should be the worst, and they didn't catch up at any good time.

As for the so-called imperial censor mentioned by the emperor just now...

All the ministers present were a little hesitant, even Wang Wen, who had always been in step with the emperor, hesitated this time and tried to speak.

"Your Majesty, the imperial court has never mentioned a job test. If this matter is implemented, I am afraid that it will need to be discussed by the imperial court!"

Connecting the emperor's various actions towards Qingliu in the past two years, in fact, the emperor's intentions are already very obvious.

In the original system, Qingliu was selected from the first and second grades of the imperial examination. Through the banquet lectures and first getting acquainted in front of the emperor, and then separated when the museum was dismissed, the outstanding ones stayed in the Imperial Academy, where they became editors and editors. From then on, he continued to serve the emperor and became the emperor's confidant minister after a long time.

During this process, if they are released, they usually go to the yamen in the capital to gain real power. If they are promoted all the way and become a bachelor of servants, they have the opportunity to be directly transferred to the cabinet to become a bachelor.

This is the best way to go. If the grades are not good enough, then they can be transferred to the Ministry or Science Road. Through strong contacts and the emperor's favor, they can go smoothly.

Qingliu has been doing this for so many years. Although the complete transfer process has only been formed in the past few years, it is actually very mature.

However, the emperor's current actions are undoubtedly to break this path.

If Shu Jishi can't serve Jing Yan, then he will lose the opportunity to show his presence in front of the emperor, and the cabinet will no longer select officials with pure Qingliu qualifications, then Qingliu will lose the biggest channel for promotion.

Under such circumstances, no one can tell where Qingliu's future path will be.

Now, the Son of Heaven has given the answer.

Kodao!

It has to be said that Chen Xun and his group of students should be the last batch of officials who can enjoy the benefits of Qingliu's qualifications.

There are actually not many people who are still in the Imperial Academy now. First, when Chen Xun left Beijing, under Gao Gu's manipulation, many of the core forces were demoted from Beijing, and then because of the military settlement, they were again exiled. The Metropolitan Procuratorate gathered a wave of wool.

In addition, after the crown prince left the cabinet, Zhan Shifu stuffed a few people in. Up to now, with the help of Chen Xun and Du Ning, the original pillars of Qingliu have all hurried out of the quagmire of the Imperial Academy. .

The rest who are still in the Hanlin Academy are either old scholars with brilliant heads and poor scriptures, or the lucky scholars who have just been selected.

From this point of view, it is hard to say whether the Son of Heaven had the idea of ​​reforming the system first, or whether he took advantage of the trend and proposed this charter after basically eliminating all these people.

If it is said that what the emperor said can be carried out, then from then on, the way of officials' circulation in the imperial court will undergo tremendous changes.

After Qingliu, the circulation path will be to first enter the museum to be a good scholar, and after three years, the museum will be disbanded, and the "job test" of the circulation department will be passed, and after half a year, the official evaluation will be conducted.

When the two major promotion paths of the cabinet and Zhan Shifu are cut off, the starting point of these good scholars will be greatly lowered, and they will become the same starting line as the officials who are directly selected as censors.

At that time, the most precious ones will probably become the qualifications to observe politics in the six ministries, followed by Jinshi who are awarded science and education, then Shujishi, and finally Jinshi who are directly sent to other places.

This kind of change is not insignificant. Although it has no direct interest relationship with the people present, it is related to the status of officials in the court and the promotion process in the future. It is said that the interests of many officials are involved. Too much.

Even if you don't mention the future, just say that after this measure is implemented, Qingliu's gold content will inevitably be greatly reduced. This is not a good thing for many officials in the court who rely on Qingliu's seniority for promotion.

Because of this, it can be seen that the emperor is also very cautious in this matter, using the word "discussion".

Hearing Wang Wen's reminder, the Son of Heaven reacted calmly, said.

"Don't worry, you gentlemen, I will issue a court discussion on this matter later, but before that, I want to hear your opinions."

After the words fell, the ministers present could not help but breathe a sigh of relief.

It is good that the Son of Heaven has this awareness. What they are afraid of is that the Son of Heaven will act arbitrarily and decide the matter directly. When it is spread to the outer court, the public opinion turmoil caused will inevitably let them clean up the mess.

It's not difficult to just express your position.

There was a moment of silence in the hall, but what people didn't expect was that it was Chen Xun who spoke first.

"Your Majesty, I think that although there is no precedent for this move, it is not impossible to give it a try. It's just that the nobles are all those who have achieved excellent results in the palace examination. If after the examination, they are still only awarded the post of censor, isn't it a bit awkward?" fair?"

"In my humble opinion, since the Shu Jishi has been observing politics in the Imperial Academy for three years, then the trial censor may be put in the period of observing politics and included in the final selection assessment. At the time, you can directly teach the head of the imperial censor or give it to Shizhong as appropriate."

It has to be said that Chen Xun has learned to be smart now. In the general direction, he will never fight against the emperor. Of course, under this premise, he obviously still wants to try his best to win some benefits for Qingliu.

Now seeing that Qingliu's status could not be kept, but officials from Qingliu's background could be promoted in rank, so if they fought for it, they might still be able to retain it.

However, this idea was opposed by Chen Yi.

"Your Majesty, I think it's inappropriate to give Shizhong and the thirteen censors a total of nineteen important positions in all six subjects, especially after His Majesty changed their ranks, their powers will be even more important."

"Although Shujishi has excellent academic performance and has been in the Imperial Academy for three years, he has never been in contact with the imperial court. He is directly awarded such an important position. He ranks above all imperial officials. I am afraid that it will be difficult to convince the public."

Just kidding, don't say that the emperor just raised the ranks of Du Shizhong and Zhang Dao Yushi, even at the original ranks, these two official positions are also a model of low rank and weight.

All the six departments are in charge of the affairs, and they are in charge of the government affairs of the six departments. The thirteen departments are in charge of the censor, and each of them can intervene in the supervision affairs of a province.

Just relying on a few novices who have just finished observing politics in the Imperial Academy?Go dreaming!
However, although Chen Yi's remarks were against the granting of Duge Shizhong and the head of the censor, they did not object to the issue of the examination and the promotion of the ranks of the Shujishi.

After he finished speaking, Yu Shiyue from the cabinet also spoke in a deep voice.

"Your Majesty, I agree with Chen Shangshu's statement that the half-year trial can be included in the three-year period of the Shu Jishi's observation of politics, and it can be used as the basis for the evaluation of the final disbandment."

"However, it's okay to say that the six subjects are all in Beijing, but the thirteen censors need to go out of Beijing to inspect and check the people's conditions. If they only have a half-year trial, it may not be effective."

"Therefore, in my opinion, it may be more appropriate to extend the trial period to one year!"

Following closely behind, Wang Ao also said.

"Your Majesty, what Yu Cifu said is justified. It is difficult to achieve results in half a year. I think that only one year can be used to see whether the talents of the nobles are really enough."

Seeing this situation, Zhu Qiyu glanced down, but couldn't help but lament that this group of people are all cunning.

These ministers each expressed their opinions, and they seemed to have no opinion on the charter, and only made suggestions on the details.

However, if this was the case, then, at the very beginning, they would not have been silent, and they would not have spoken until Wang Wen spoke.

This shows that they don't really agree with Zhu Qiyu's idea, they just don't want to confront him head-on.

Now, Zhu Qiyu has expressed that he wants to go down to the court for discussion.

Then, there is no need for them to object at this moment. When it comes to the court, those who object will naturally be caught in a large number.

When the time comes, it will be easier to play by ear.

However, how can Zhu Qiyu be so easy to fool?
Seeing these ministers playing tricks on him, he didn't point it out, but smiled.

"Since all the ministers think that the job test is feasible, then after returning today, they will each write a memorial and hand it over, explaining their own opinions in detail, and then I will bring it to the court meeting and discuss it with all the officials. Specific regulations!"

Ah this...

The elders looked at each other in blank dismay, feeling a sense of being cheated.

They obviously just don't want to offend the emperor now, so why is it that the emperor tacitly thinks that the job trial is feasible for no reason?
He also wrote a memorial and handed it up. If the memorial is written and brought to the court, how can they just sit and watch it?

As soon as he looked up, seeing the emperor's eyes that seemed to be smiling but not smiling, the faces of the elders coincidentally showed a wry smile.

Well, this is considered a steal but a loss.

Originally, he wanted to bring disaster to the east, but he didn't expect that he and others became the means for the emperor to deal with the court.

Helplessly sighed, at this time, they couldn't say anything else, so they could only cup their hands and said.

"I will obey your orders!"

Seeing this situation, Zhu Qiyu nodded in satisfaction and said.

"Since this is the case, I have to work hard, gentlemen. Today's discussion is almost done. Apart from what I just said, the first assistant and the second assistant need to work harder. I have another imperial edict here that needs to be drafted."

Seeing this, Wang Ao and Yu Shiyue did not dare to neglect, and immediately stepped forward to receive the order, saying.

"Please order, Your Majesty."

So, Zhu Qiyu smiled and said.

"There is a shortage of manpower in the imperial court, and there is also a shortage of manpower around me. After the two gentlemen returned, they immediately drafted an edict ordering Song Wenyi, the eunuch in charge of Liaodong, to return to Beijing to report on his duties. Nothing else matters. Let's call it a day!"

Song Wenyi?
Everyone present was slightly taken aback. They might not be familiar with the eunuchs in the inner palace.

However, the guarding eunuch in Liaodong...

Several ministers couldn't help turning their eyes to Wang Ao who was at the side.

At the same time, they also simultaneously remembered the news that Cheng Jing was going to be transferred from the capital, so if this happened...

(End of this chapter)