Water Margin people

Chapter 1690 Efficient System

Ruan Xiaoer just smiled bitterly. It was difficult for the emperor to control the situation when it had developed to this point. If he tried to control it by force, he would probably be accused of being heartless and breaking up other people's families and affecting the relationship between relatives.

"You guys should handle your family affairs yourselves!"

Sun Lei knew that he could no longer take care of the matter and that the next matter should be resolved within the family.

"By the way, Erlang, we are planning to have you go to the west for a rotation. Are you willing?"

Sun Lei looked at Wu Song and asked.

"Brother, I'm so willing!"

Wu Song said excitedly.

Sun Lei looked at Lu Zhishen as if he had won a victory.

……

The imperial edict was issued, the cabinet was in the city, and the military power and the three departments were independent.

In addition, the imperial court incorporated clerks into the official system and appointed them uniformly by the imperial court.

For a while, many people were talking about it, some were happy and some were unhappy about this drastic reform.

The happiest people were those educated people. They finally had their day to shine. Clerks were incorporated into the official system, the number of officials increased, and they could also be promoted, which gave them hope.

You have to know that in the past, clerks were appointed by officials themselves. It was almost a society based on relationships and favors, and ordinary people had no chance to get ahead in their lifetime.

And those officials, especially some officials who surrendered from the previous dynasty, felt very disappointed. The salaries of the clerks were paid by themselves using the money of the government office, which was equivalent to spending the government's money to use their own connections.

But now that clerks have been incorporated into the official system and have become low-level officials, this benefit is gone in an instant.

However, no one paid attention to the last paragraph of the imperial edict, which stated that the court would send a large number of trainee officials to the local areas, and these people would go deep into the countryside.

The cabinet was formally established, and Xiao Jiasui and Wen Huanzhang sat on the left and right in the main hall of the cabinet hall.

"Everyone, the cabinet has been established today. There are only eight of us now. We will need time to fill the remaining six. We can discuss this after we have sorted out the list."

Xiao Jiasui looked at everyone and said that the remaining six cabinet members needed to be carefully selected. According to the emperor's requirements, those above the fifth rank were eligible to join the cabinet as cabinet members. In this way, officials above the prefectural level were all among those to be selected.

"Lord, this list is not urgent. His Majesty asked us to deal with these. How should we start?"

Several cabinet members asked hurriedly. They didn't care who the remaining six cabinet members were. They only recommended the people, and the selection was the business of the cabinet elders and the emperor. They just wanted to complete the emperor's task as soon as possible and secure their positions as cabinet members.

They are all smart people and they are well aware of the power of the cabinet. As long as they do a good job, they may be able to sit in the position of cabinet elders in the future by virtue of their status as cabinet members first.

Looking at the ambitious looks of the six cabinet members and the greed in their eyes, Xiao Jiasui and Wen Huanzhang sighed helplessly. It was not a good feeling to have someone eyeing your position.

“Read through these case files and assign officials based on the circumstances of these people.”

Wen Huanzhang pointed to the box full of case files and said, since these people want to fight, let them fight well.

The six cabinet members immediately started looking through the case files, and their speed was much faster than before.

Other officials in the court, on the contrary, acted much slower. They were waiting for the situation in the cabinet to stabilize before they could understand how to handle the affairs at hand.

But to the surprise of the officials, nothing seemed to have changed. The cabinet just had one more department, but everything else remained the same as before.

This made all the officials re-examine the cabinet department, and their eyes soon fell on the six vacant cabinet positions.

"Those above the fifth rank are eligible to join the cabinet!"

This made many people want to compete. The fifth-rank official was unattainable in the eyes of ordinary people, but in the eyes of officials, it was an awkward position of being neither high nor low. If they wanted to move up, they had to become a governor or directly enter the court to participate in politics. But it was not easy to become a governor or to participate in politics. Now there was another way, to make enough political achievements and show one's ability to enter the cabinet. Even if they were not cabinet members, it would be good to enter the cabinet as an assistant.

The court quickly returned to normal and operated more smoothly, which made Sun Lei very satisfied.

"No wonder Jiajing didn't attend court for twenty years. This arrangement saves a lot of trouble!"

Sun Lei lay in the chair and sighed with a smile, saying that the cabinet system was infinitely close to the national system of later generations, and he had optimized it, so it was almost impossible for anything to go wrong.

"Father!"

Several children hugged Sun Lei's legs and acted coquettishly, asking Sun Lei to play with them.

"Come on, let your father take you out for an outing today!"

Sun Lei smiled and picked up his daughter Sun Yao, placed her directly on his neck, then went out with his wife and children.

……

The west.

Jerusalem.

Saladin looked at the broken city gate and finally a smile appeared on his serious face. This was the first time he had smiled in several months.

"Pass the order down, do not kill without reason, God tells us to be merciful!"

Saladin looked at the people around him and spoke.

"My lord, those are pagans, and their hands are filled with our blood!"

Everyone looked at Saladin, not understanding why the Sword of Truth said so. Those Christians were ruthless in killing all of them, the Arabs.

"My lord, blood debt must be repaid with blood!"

Some people gnashed their teeth and said that they all had relatives who had died at the hands of the Christian Crusaders and now was the time for revenge.

"Allah is merciful. If you want to enter heaven, you must be grateful and obey the will of God. If those pagans are willing to pay a ransom, then let them go. This is Allah's mercy and also Allah's charity to the pagans."

Saladin said, looking at everyone.

After hearing Saladin's words, the anger on everyone's faces gradually subsided, and they all put their hands on their chests with a pious look on their faces.

"Go, proclaim the mercy of our Lord and convert the pagans!"

Saladin said to the crowd.

"Yes!"

They rode their horses and led the army into the city.

"Ugh!"

Saladin then sighed helplessly. He did not massacre the city only in order to better control Jerusalem. If he killed all the people in the city, Jerusalem would become a ruin. Now they had no ability to rebuild Jerusalem.

The ruins mean nothing to them, but the holy city definitely needs them.

So Saladin was unwilling to massacre the city. He needed Jerusalem to be handed over to them intact so that they would have the power to fight against Qi.

With the influx of the Arab troops, the Christians in the city surrendered one after another. After knowing that there would be no massacre and they only needed to pay a ransom to leave, those Christians quickly took out all their money and property.

The Christians knew very well that there would be no massacre, but if they did not pay the money they would become slaves and their fate would not be good either. It would be better for them to just pay the money and leave. Anyway, there were Arabs everywhere around them and they could not take the money with them.