Water Margin people

"Then according to Mr. Xu's words, do we still need to approve official positions? Yesterday, Jinghu, today Jiangnan, Shuzhong, tomorrow it will be Guanxi? The day after tomorrow, it will be Lingnan? How can there be so many official positions?"

Wu Min couldn't help it.

The faction of imperial examination officials is becoming more and more excessive. The official positions in the imperial court are limited each year, and they are all given to imperial examination officials. What should they do with these gifted officials?

They cannot watch the imperial examination officials grow stronger, and then go against them and continue to take back the number of official positions that should belong to them.

"The imperial examination is the way for the imperial court to select talents. Now the selected talents are not reused. If this continues for a long time, there will eventually be problems!"

Xu Churen did not panic at all. Rumors had spread. Nowadays, many places were dissatisfied with the emperor, and the autumn tax could not be collected. All the emperor could do was to appease him, and if he wanted to appease him, he would give him an official position.

"Your Majesty, these people are using the topic as an excuse to force you into the palace! You must not be lenient with such people!"

Wu Min immediately objected. He could not sit back and watch Xu Churen's group recruit non-commissioned officers and become bigger.

"Master Wu, what are you talking about? The imperial examination is a rule set by Taizu. Those who can get the imperial examination are the best among people. Shouldn't the imperial court hire them?"

Nowadays, Sun Lei from Liangshan is watching with eager eyes. He takes the imperial examination every year. In the Song Dynasty, we only failed once in three years. If we can't win over the hearts of scholars, the thieves will grow stronger in an instant. "

Xu Churen watched Wu Min start to argue.

"So many Jinshi are not all talented people. How can every nerd know how to serve as an official and govern the country? Jinshi in the past years have to go to the Hanlin Academy to practice for several years to see their abilities before promotion."

"The number of court officials is limited. Using a large number of these officials who do not understand government affairs will only cause chaos in the world!"

"As for the imperial examination for thieves, what kind of talent can go to that den of thieves? They are all rebels!"

Wu Min also retorted.

Dazai and Shaozai began to argue, and the officials behind them also took sides.

"Okay, okay! Stop arguing!"

Zhao Huan patted the dragon chair impatiently and said.

"Your Majesty, the favor should not be excessive!"

One of the imperial censors said that the official positions in the imperial court were indeed a carrot and a pit. After the Jinghu Jinshi riot last time, many official positions were awarded. Now that Jiangnan and Shuzhong are in trouble again, they must not reward official positions again.

The two groups started arguing again, and the emperor looked helpless. Almost all the ministers in the court were quarreling, and he couldn't stop it even if he wanted to.

"Li Gang, do you have any plans?"

Zhao Huan looked at Li Gang, who was standing quietly without speaking. Li Gang seemed not to be prepared to participate in this argument.

"Your Majesty, we already have enough officials in the Song Dynasty. Adding more favors will only increase the burden on the people."

Li Gang said, there should be a process for the promotion of officials, and adding titles at will will only make the country more chaotic.

"Then how to quell the unrest in various places?"

Zhao Huan frowned and asked, he didn't want to keep being sealed like this. Being given an official position was a small matter, but salary and rice were big things. He finally got some money from ransacking his house and didn't want to spend it all.

"Your Majesty, you don't need to give all the rewards. You can just select some talented scholars from the local areas to serve as officials. The fact that these people have obtained official positions can be regarded as a sign of your Majesty's sympathy. These people are enough to quell local dissatisfaction!"

Li Gang came up with a compromise. Although he didn't like cliques, he still strongly agreed with the imperial examination. After all, those who could become imperial examination scholars based on their ability were all talented people.

Although the six thieves have been eradicated by the imperial court, the stubborn problems are still deep and the officials in the court are still mainly treacherous and sycophantic. It is beneficial to the imperial court to add some talented and ambitious new officials. In addition, what Xu Churen said just now is that Liangshan is also setting up imperial examinations. This is a great threat to the Song Dynasty. The Song Dynasty built a country based on literature, and a steady stream of talents was the foundation of the Song Dynasty.

"This is feasible!"

Zhao Huan nodded with satisfaction. He was very satisfied with Li Gang's words. He did not need to give too many official positions and could solve the immediate troubles.

Wu Min and Xu Churen saw that the emperor had adopted Li Gang's suggestion and stopped talking. This was a compromise. Although it was still far from the demands of both parties, it was still acceptable.

"Your Majesty, the first batch of grain bought by Qin Hui, the household doctor, has arrived in Tokyo. There are one million and six thousand shi of grain in total! The price is 1,500 shi per shi!"

Hou Meng, the Minister of Household Affairs, said.

"Fifteen hundred coins per stone? So expensive?"

Zhao Huan frowned when he heard this. The price had exceeded his expectations. He thought it was only one thousand yuan and one stone.

"Your Majesty, Liangshan is an enemy after all. It is not easy to buy food from the enemy. However, Liangshan is close to Tokyo, the waterway is smooth, transportation is convenient, the loss is minimal, and it is not too expensive!"

Someone immediately came out of work and said, Qin Hui's trip to Liangshan to buy food had a lot of connections, and many people had a share of the money. Naturally, he wanted to speak for Qin Hui at this time.

"Your Majesty, there is another reason. The Liangshan bandits are jealous of money. We in Tokyo have more money. We use the money to buy their food and feed our troops. When the time comes and our army arrives, the money will still be ours!"

"This is like a false attack on Guo. The money cannot be eaten. It is just temporarily stored with the bandits in Liangshan! This is called fighting the enemy for food."

Seeing that Zhao Huan's brows were still furrowed, everyone began to persuade him by quoting scriptures.

"Forget it, one million shi of grain is only 1.5 million guan! Let Qin Hui buy more, Tokyo needs a lot of grain!"

Zhao Huan's brows finally relaxed. He also figured out that food was the most important thing at the moment. The more expensive it was, the more expensive it was. Anyway, he had just received a huge sum of money.

When Zhong Shidao heard these words, his face was uncertain. He thought it was grain shipped from various places, but he didn't expect that it was the imperial court who sent people to Liangshan to buy grain.

"Buying food from the enemy?"

Zhong Shidao immediately felt that there was a conspiracy in this. Sun Lei was not an idiot, and Liangshan was definitely not a den of grass bandits who knew nothing. How could he sell grain to the enemy.

Li Gang's face also changed slightly. He didn't expect Qin Hui's trip to be so smooth. He had shipped back more than one million shi of grain in just a few days, easing the food shortage in Tokyo, although the price was a bit expensive.

"What on earth is Sun Lei doing?"

Li Gang was also filled with doubts. He knew without thinking that this must be Sun Lei's plan, but he could not imagine why Sun Lei would do this. At this time, the food route to Tokyo was cut off, and Tokyo would be a dead city in a few months.

"Now that everything is settled, I have decided to hold a ceremony to sacrifice to heaven!"

Zhao Huan looked at the officials and said, he was the emperor who was appointed to the throne at the critical moment. Zhao Ji left this mess to him, and he took the throne in a hurry and kept everything simple.

Now that the floods have receded, the enemies have also retreated, the food crisis has been resolved, and the traitorous officials who brought disaster to the country in the previous dynasty have been punished. Now is the time for him to declare his status to the world.

The officials all saluted and promised, and even the censors had nothing to say. Even if the big sacrifice cost a lot, they accepted it.

After the new emperor ascends the throne, a grand ceremony in the main hall is indispensable. Especially now that the world is in chaos, it is even more necessary for the emperor to come out to stabilize people's hearts. (End of chapter)