Cultivation of chastity

Chapter 491 The Beginning of the Prologue
"Let Jinshi and Mingjing, who have just been assessed, serve as observers to monitor local officials?" Li Shimin pondered.

Although the imperial examination system was first created in the Sui Dynasty, since it was implemented in the Tang Dynasty, basically there are only 3000 candidates who come to take the exam every year. Normally, it is about one or two thousand a year. About 30 people.

At the same time, will these people who have successfully passed the examination to Mingjing or Jinshi be appointed and dismissed as officials immediately?I'm afraid it's not a dream.

Even if Zhuangyuan Lang went to the Ministry of Officials to inquire like this, he would be called by the staff of the Ministry of Officials to send guards to send him out.

Because in the Tang Dynasty, there were no Jinshi or No. [-] scholars who could become officials after high school. That was the treatment of Jinshi in Song and Ming Dynasties.

Generally speaking, the vast majority of people need to stay in Chang'an for three to five or seven years. When the official department finds out that there is a vacancy, they will let you fill it. There is a special term for this called "Shouxuan".

During this period, there are only three things you need to do. After these three things are done well, the official position will be obtained soon!

The first thing to do is to find an unmarried girl from a high-ranking noble family to marry. The five families are the most popular. If you marry one, you will save 30 years of struggle.

Of course, even if the aristocrats like to choose young unmarried new scholars to marry, but if they want to be selected, they need not only talent but also good looks, and of course the most important thing is to be young.

Therefore, in the Tang Dynasty, many jinshi first married in their thirties. Even if there were maids around them, they always kept their position as regular wives. Wife, prepare for the future.

The second thing is that those who have passed the age, whose appearance is not up to standard, or who are looked down upon by the aristocratic family.

Just hanging out with Yuan Zhen and Bai Juyi, reciting poems and writing novels, the most important thing in the end is to make your name known.

In today's words, it can be regarded as a forum blogger, an Internet celebrity expert, with a reputation, it is easier to get an official position.

Of course, the most common thing is to continue the exam, "Bo Xue Hong Ci" or "Book Judgment Excellence", anyway, these are subjects that can be understood individually, but they are completely incomprehensible when combined.

It is probably the advanced version of Jinshi elite. After you pass the exam successfully, you will be valued by the emperor and authentic officials, and become a great ninth-rank school scholar. The most important thing is to have a salary.

In ancient times, no matter whether you were a Jinshi or a Mingjing test, it didn't mean that you could be an official if you were an official. Even the lowest-level ninth-rank officials had to work slowly.

Therefore, if Mingjing or Jinshi can be directly awarded official positions after being tested, they will not say they are willing, at least they will not object.

Li Tai looked at Li Shimin and said, "The grassroots bureaucrats go up to the imperial court and go down to the common people, which is the foundation of our Great Tang Dynasty.

Therefore, if one of them acts evil, it will easily cause a civil uprising and have a bad influence on our court officials.

But at the same time, there are thousands of differences from place to place. If officials are said to be incompetent, they can easily be hijacked by the local government and become clay sculptures and wood carvings.

So I think it is necessary to arrange someone who can supervise the local officials, but not supervise the local officials to watch them.

I think that someone who has just been admitted to the court and is full of enthusiasm is very suitable for this! "

"Please, King Wei, explain it in detail!" Fang Xuanling saw that Li Shimin did not raise any rebuttals, but understood that Li Shimin's heart was moved.

The reason why Li Shimin was moved was not necessarily that Li Shimin thought Li Tai's proposal was so good, but that after Li Shimin discovered Li Tai's incredible influence on the grassroots, he still wanted to instinctively check and balance Li Tai. Realized.

This is the emperor's instinct to grasp his own power. If it were any emperor, seeing Li Tai's great prestige among the grassroots bureaucrats, he might have to think about how to check and balance the king of Wei.

If it was Zhu Yuanzhang, as long as this son is not Zhu Biao, he can basically go back and write a suicide note, and the whole family will go down to accompany you if his life is miserable.

Therefore, seeing Li Tai's self-conscious proposal to let these Jinshi or Mingjing supervise low-level officials, Fang Xuanling is relatively supportive.

Especially for many candidates who have been admitted to the Mingjing or Jinshi exams, because they don't understand the rules and handling methods of the court, many of them need to be allowed to keep the election.

Now that King Wei has created a meaningful position, Fang Xuanling is quite happy to be honest.

But Li Tai said: "After the candidates have successfully passed the examination, they generally need to be selected, and they will not be assigned positions until there are official vacancies.

But it is also possible to arrange them to go to the local area, and they will be paid according to the ninth rank as the wind-observing envoys. When they meet officials with the same rank below the seventh rank, there is no need to salute, and they are responsible for the records of the local county annals.

At the same time, he needs to write an ethics policy based on the local conditions every year, and submit it to the Ministry of Officials together with the county annals he has accumulated every year. After three years, he will arrange specific official positions according to the ethics policy they wrote.

In addition, if there is a vacancy in the local officials below the seventh rank during this process, then the Guanfengshi who has lived in the local area for more than half a year has the priority to make up for it! "

"What King Wei means is that these people don't manage specific affairs?!" Fang Xuanling couldn't help being puzzled when he heard Li Tai's words.

Li Tai nodded when he heard Fang Xuanling's words, "I don't think that these officials who have just passed the imperial examination and entered their official career really know more about people's livelihood and officialdom than the officials of the imperial court.

But I believe that they definitely have a lot of ambitions in their hearts, so when their blood is not cold, it is ok to send them to the grassroots to write county chronicles.

In particular, they have the right to directly report the local situation to the Ministry of Officials. For local officials, even if there is corruption and violation of the law, they will never be too presumptuous.

These wind watchers who have been delegated to the local prefectures and counties are asked to record the county annals. This in itself is the supervision of officials, and it is also the training of these wind watchers themselves.

At least the Ministry of Officials can use the articles they send up, and when assigning positions to them in the future, they can be placed in positions that are relatively more suitable for them.

Of course, if the local officials are implicated because of corruption and bribery, as long as the watchman does not participate, then after the punishment in the future, the watchman can quickly replace him! "

To tell the truth, in Li Tai's view, it is difficult for officials to be too presumptuous. The reason is very simple, that is, if these officials do not have the cooperation of aristocratic families at the grassroots level, even if they become officials, they are nothing more than clay sculptures and wood carvings.

And with the cooperation of the grass-roots aristocratic family, the extra wind watcher is just one more person who records the county annals.

It may not be a bad thing that Guanfeng Envoy has been polished by the grassroots earlier. If the candidate who has passed the exam can really solve the problem, then it seems that there is nothing wrong with letting this candidate take the top position.

In Li Tai's concept, these observers are also guards, and this has not changed.

But it would be a waste of their talents and backgrounds to leave these people in Chang'an Shouxuan. It would be better to let them go to other places, and let them not say what to do, but just let them record the county annals and let them see See what the ground floor looks like.

Then ask them to submit a report every year. For example, the report you submit has always praised the county magistrate, but it turns out that he has been corrupt and accepting bribes, then you are naturally finished.

Of course, if you are really capable, if you can bring down the county magistrate by relying on your own ability, then there is no problem for you to fill his position. After all, such a capable person just wants to become a seventh-rank county magistrate. easy to say.

Normally, as long as these students monitor the corruption of officials in counties and counties, it will be more or less effective.

And if they are stronger, they can get the evidence of their corruption and successfully send it to the court, and they can basically become a seventh-rank official.

Because Li Tai plans to set up an organization dedicated to tax inspections for aristocratic families in the future, he needs these capable officials.

As for now, it can only be regarded as preparation for the future.

After all, talents are not created overnight, but need to be cultivated slowly in waves. Now they have been polished and polished for three years, and they will be ready to be used by then.

As for Li Tai's proposal, after discussion, he decided to try it after this year's exam.

To be honest, Li Tai felt that this proposal should be arranged smoothly.

Because the gap between the number of imperial examinations in the Tang Dynasty and the number of imperial examinations in the Song Dynasty is completely different. After all, even if the other subjects are counted, it is a question of whether there are 300 officials in the Tang Dynasty who have passed the imperial examination every year.

This group of people must give priority to those counties that are relatively wealthy, especially those that have just changed officials and need to be supervised.

Of course, according to the practice of officials in the Tang Dynasty, if you don't want to be an official, you can resign.

Like many areas in Jiannan Road, even the vast majority of people who were officials in the past felt that they were going to suffer, and many people resigned.

Under such circumstances, basically only those who have been relegated will pass.

The Song Dynasty also inherited this very well. For example, a certain scholar was relegated all the way and traveled to the south all the way.

With this incident coming to an end, it can be regarded as the end of the last relatively large internal affairs of this year.

This somewhat chaotic year has finally passed, and not long after the 18th Lantern Festival in Zhenguan, Baili Xuanju finally returned from Goguryeo.

He brought back a piece of news that made Tang look forward to or not, but Li Shimin must be looking forward to it. Goguryeo did not listen to the edict!

For Li Shimin, he had been looking forward to this news for too long.

As soon as Li Shimin heard the news, he happily recruited Li Tai, Fang Xuanling, Du Ruhui, Cui Shiren, Liu Ji, Li Shiji and others to discuss together.

Originally, he wanted to call Li Jing over too, but after the winter, Li Jing fell ill, and he was seriously ill, so Li Shimin didn't force Li Jing.

To be honest, even Sun Simiao can't do anything about Li Jing's illness.

Because Li Jing's body is full of chronic diseases, which are injuries from leading soldiers in battle when he was young.

At most, Sun Simiao just prescribed a prescription to make Li Jing more comfortable, but he hoped to prolong Li Jing's life and Sun Simiao said that even he himself did not have this ability!

So Li Jing was not called to discuss matters this time. Li Shimin still felt that he would talk to Li Jing after Li Jing's injuries improved.

So he gave Li Jing a reward of five hundred silks, and asked Li Jing to cultivate well at home.

At this time, facing the request to crusade against Goguryeo, Li Tai said,

"According to our previous planning, it is best for us to declare war on Goguryeo in May.

In this way, the spring plowing of Goguryeo has passed, allowing Goguryeo to minimize the grain this year.

In this way, our war advantage can last from this year to next year's autumn harvest. In other words, we have a two-year advantage! "

"Could it be that the king of Wei intends to fight a protracted war with Goguryeo!" Cui Renshi was a little worried when he heard Li Tai's words.

"The weather in the north of Youzhou is really freezing in winter, making it uninhabitable. If so, how can the soldiers endure it!"

"Igloo, padded clothes, charcoal fire..." Li Tai looked at Master Cui Ren and replied calmly, "Please rest assured Cui Shizhong in terms of material savings, as long as there is a need, I will definitely have everything ready!"

Everyone listened to Li Tai's promise, but they didn't say anything to refute it.

Because they watched Li Tai build an agricultural system from scratch, and they knew exactly what kind of abilities King Wei could show in this system.

And Li Tai continued: "If you don't count the victory, you count the defeat first. The soldiers are brave, and the soldiers use their lives. It is naturally the best to attack Goguryeo directly.

But if it has not been captured and becomes a stalemate and protracted war, the goal will change from siege to plundering Goguryeo's population and consuming Goguryeo's war potential.

The war that lasted for two years, even if Goguryeo cannot be defeated, it is best to prepare for the next war by exhausting Goguryeo's war potential! "

"Don't underestimate our soldiers of the Tang Dynasty!" Li Shimin looked at Li Tai and said confidently, "If you have arranged this to this extent, and we still can't defeat Goguryeo, then how can we be worthy of the people of the Tang Dynasty!"

Li Tai looked at Li Shimin, and understood that he didn't need to worry about things on the battlefield. He had to say that even if he wasn't a military god, he was at least a ten-level general. It really made Li Tai feel at ease. The logistics are arranged.

"In terms of strategy, we need to fight three wars with Goguryeo." Li Tai pointed to the map and said,
"All the way is to break through Goguryeo's Great Wall defense line from the north of Youzhou, which should be our main force.

The second war is the navy that we have raised for so many years, and we need to wipe out the navy of Goguryeo.

At least block them in water ports, only in this way can we guarantee the safety of our sea transportation lines.

As for the third battle, this is to let the navy lead the partial army directly into the heart of the capital of Koguryo. If it can be captured, it will be a battle.

As far as I am concerned, the second war with the Goguryeo Navy must be won.

Otherwise, it is not impossible to transport food by land to supply our Datang army, but the cost is too high. The food that could have lasted for two to three years may only last for one year! "

"If so, then we need to make a bait for Goguryeo to bite!" Fang Xuanling said calmly,
"I remember that the king of Wei has been collecting Goguryeo specialties. Then when the war time is approaching, he will buy grain instead, and it is a lot of grain!"

"Then, reveal the location of the stored grain to the navy of Goguryeo!" Du Ruhui added tacitly at this time.

Fang Xuanling and Du Ruhui looked at each other and smiled tacitly.

Really, very much like two old foxes.

(End of this chapter)