Guide to Traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty.

Chapter 360 0355 [Government III]

Zhang Gen sat silently in the yamen of the "Personnel Department", watching the chaos here, and sometimes he felt uncomfortable and wanted to help.

Zhu Guoxiang's bureaucratic reform is still in the exploratory stage.In particular, the increase of subordinate staff's quota is somewhat unrealistic in Zhang Gen's opinion, but it seems that he can try it.

Middle and high-level officials in the Song Dynasty needed an exam, which was similar to the exam for civil servants in later generations.

From the very beginning, there was a quota limit. Those who had an establishment were called official officials, and those who were waiting to be included were called shouque, posting letters, studying, private names, department names, and so on.

Since Wang Anshi's reform, the officials who have a staff have started to pay their salaries.

At first, only officials in key departments could receive salaries. Yuanfeng's restructuring expanded the scope of officials who received salaries. Now Zhu Guoxiang has expanded the scale of "salary officials" again.

Finances may be unbearable!

Due to the reduction of exorbitant and miscellaneous taxes, although the official tax remains unchanged and the subordinate staff still earn gray income, this year's autumn grain collection is very smooth.

One month after the autumn harvest, 80% of the tax amount had been completed, and Zhu Guoxiang began to preside over the examination.

Officials in various prefectures and counties will eliminate redundant officials according to government orders.Those who are eliminated can take the local test, and those who pass the test gather in Hanzhong, and Zhu Guoxiang will preside over the retest.

Officials who are proud of their talents and learning can also resign voluntarily and directly participate in the re-examination process.Non-governmental scholars can also sign up to participate by themselves.

Qualified people will be sent to the newly occupied land as senior officials.Among them, a very small number of outstanding ones can skip the subordinate staff class and be granted official positions immediately.

On the day of the exam, dozens of political observers came to the scene to watch.

In the Song Dynasty, officials were also tested, but they were all conducted locally. It really didn’t happen that they were tested together. This is very similar to the imperial examination.

However, the scope of the examination clearly stated that Confucian classics were not included.

About 400 officials sat in the examination room of the Gongyuan anxiously, and the observers of politics took the initiative to serve as guest examiners.

"It's a big joke for subordinate officials to pay tribute to the court." Liu Huiyuan sarcastically said.

Xu Fuyan said: "I took the exam before, and I also take the exam now. It's just that the place of the exam is different."

Liu Yan said: "It seems that even in Hanzhong, there are not many scholars who follow the thieves. The Zhu thieves want to select outstanding people from among the subordinates to be appointed officials. This is not legal, it is only a temporary measure, and it will not form a system."

The test questions were announced on the spot:

A subordinate official read while walking: "The first question, A stole B's money, and the stolen goods were obtained. B did not turn over A to see the official, but ordered servants C and D to kill A's family of five and throw their bodies in the river. The body was not found. According to "Song Xingtong", please try to write the verdict!"

The first three questions are all about judiciary, and the next one is about official document writing, arithmetic, water conservancy, and famine relief. The last question is actually for officials to write policy theory.

Zhang Gen stood up and inspected the examination room, quietly observing the answering situation.

The standard answer to the first question is: Killing a family with more than three people is not a capital crime.The wife was exiled for two thousand miles.However, there are no bones left, and the autopsy cannot be used as evidence. It must be reported to the emperor for a personal ruling, or the emperor will appoint a judge for review.

Zhang Gen turned around, and nearly half of the officials gave wrong answers to such a simple question. These guys probably have never read "Song Xingtong".

"Sure enough, it is still up to scholars to govern the people." Zhang Gen shook his head and sighed.

Dozens of political observers followed Zhang Gen's example and went around, which made the "candidates" nervous, and there was no possibility of cheating at all.

Everyone walked around for a while, all of them were holding back their laughter, and some of the answers were too outrageous.

At noon, meals are arranged uniformly and brought directly to the examination room.

At about two o'clock in the afternoon, an old official handed in the papers ahead of schedule.

"Wait, don't leave." Zhu Guoxiang started grading papers on the spot.

All the previous questions were answered very well.

The content of policy theory is to discuss the faults of Song Huizong's administration.

This old official's literary talent is average, it can even be said to be simple and vulgar, and he doesn't talk about great principles.

He just listed all kinds of data, one, two, three, four, five households, the income of the people in the city, and the income of the people in the countryside, and then compared the tax amount of the court, the corruption of officials, and the loss during transportation.Then it is concluded that if taxes continue to be collected in this way, the third-class households will not be able to make ends meet, and the fourth- and fifth-class households will have to borrow usury to make a living.

"Xue Fang?" Zhu Guoxiang looked at the name on the test paper.

The old official hastily stepped forward and bowed: "The humble position is here."

Zhu Guoxiang said, "Introduce yourself briefly."

Xue Fang said: "My name is Xue Fang. I have no characters. I am 52 years old. My grandparents and grandchildren have been officials of Xicheng for three generations. I have been working as a post office for Xicheng household cases in Xiayang for [-] years. I recently resigned from my job and came to Hanzhong to take an exam to make a career. .”

Zhu Guoxiang said: "When Bazhou is defeated and the war stops for a while, you will be the magistrate of Bazhou."

Xue Fang was stunned for a moment, thinking that she had heard wrongly, and just stood there stupidly.

"Why, do you think the official is too young?" Zhu Guoxiang asked with a smile.

Xue Fang knelt down and kowtowed loudly, and shouted: "My husband is my reincarnated parent, and my old life will be given to him from now on. I, I... I... I will do my best, and I will die!"

During the conversation, there were already tears.

Zhu Guoxiang asked: "Are there any grandchildren in the family? The teenage ones."

Xue Fang said: "There are two grandchildren, one seventeen and one fourteen."

Zhu Guoxiang said: "Choose someone who is smart and smart, and go to my shogunate to listen to the orders. When you go to Bazhou, you need to govern the people, and you can no longer act like a subordinate."

Xue Fang shouted excitedly: "Long live, long live, long live!"

Xue Fang's kneeling has attracted many people's attention.At this moment, shouting long live three times made many people's faces change, and many people cast envious eyes.

Although I don't know what kind of errand Xue Fang received, it must be a big deal.

Zhu Guoxiang called the subordinate officials: "Give Mr. Xue a seat."

Xue Fang, who is over fifty years old, just sat next to Zhu Guoxiang, ushering in the highlight moment of her life.

The goal of the three generations of his grandparents was nothing more than to be a top-ranking official, and the chief secretary and county lieutenant were their extravagant hopes.But he didn't realize that he had been doing nothing for most of his life, and suddenly he was promoted to magistrate, and his grandson could still be Zhu Xianggong's sidekick.

Xue Fang sat upright on the top chair, her old face exuded an inexplicable brilliance, and tears could not stop flowing down the wrinkles.

From now on, whatever Zhu Xianggong asks him to do, he will do it with all his might. Even if officers and soldiers kill him, he will risk his life.

With one role model, soon there will be a second person handing in the paper.

The second test paper was much inferior. Zhu Guoxiang inquired about the situation and did not arrange an official position for the time being.

Zhu Guoxiang checked all the papers himself, and it took a few days to complete the approval of hundreds of answer papers and divide them into five grades according to the results.

The first class, only one person, was appointed as the magistrate.

The second class, a total of six people, was appointed as the county magistrate.

The third class, with a total of 22 people, was appointed as the master book.

The fourth class, with a total of 67 people, was appointed as senior officials.

The fifth class is the rest, who can only be ordinary officials.

Li Bao's troops marched south from Micang Road, and they didn't bring many civilians with them.Those who took part in the exam this time were all thrown to the territory laid down by Li Bao.

Zhu Guoxiang posted all the answer sheets of the candidates above the master register for publicity.

Many scholars who came to Hanzhong to observe the direction of the wind became agitated when they saw the answers.

Xue Fang's answer sheet is too unique to be evaluated.

But the answers to the county magistrates and master books were so-so, and the scholars in Hanzhong felt that they were not as good as themselves.

If you take the exam by yourself, at least you will be a master!

One after another, dozens of scholars ran to Zhu Guoxiang's mansion to ask for an audience.They didn't care whether they were thieves or not. Anyway, they should be officials first, and it was too difficult to get a Jinshi in the Song Dynasty.

Zhu Guoxiang left these people alone for half a month, and finally announced an additional test.

In this exam, the participants are all serious scholars, and their quality is obviously much better than that of subordinate officials.But there are also weak links, such as practical work such as "relief from famine", the answers of scholars are generally not as good as those of subordinate officials.

According to the test results, Zhu Guoxiang appointed another magistrate, seven county magistrates, and fifteen chief registrars.

When the answer sheet was posted again, more scholars were itchy and unbearable, but they were scruples about their status as traitors, so they could not make a decision for a long time, and kept comforting themselves that they could wait and see.

The spectators are more free and have been allowed to wander around the city at will.

Since Zhang Gen and Taixue persuaded students to retire, their belongings were not confiscated and confiscated, and they often went to restaurants for banquets.

Xu Fuyan and the others were drinking together, the guy shook his head and sighed: "Although the officials selected in the two exams are mixed, they are barely suitable for prefectural and county officials. Zhu Thief is different from Fang La. He has both officials and officials to use. Moreover, the abolition of redundant officials and accumulated disadvantages is probably better than that of the Song Dynasty. Fang La suddenly gained power, and there were few serious officials, so it will not last long. Alas, the Zhu thief is hard to wipe out!"

Fu Xingzhong remained silent, and the two exams made him more determined to vote for the thief.

Although the Fu family has been an official for generations, it has long since declined compared to its heyday.His family rose rapidly by betting on the new dynasty and produced three queens in a row. Now it seems that they really have to bet again.

Moreover, Fu Xingzhong is more courageous than Gao Jingshan, and he is not afraid of implicating the family at all.

Anyway, the emperor didn't dare to do anything to the Fu family, at most he would be relegated, and the Fu family has no senior members at present.His father bears the title of the founder of the country, and was born as a serious Jinshi. He has only passed the sentence so far, and he has been severely suppressed by the treacherous party in the court.

Now that he has been suppressed, are he afraid of being relegated again?
After drinking a lot of wine, the historical Southern Song Dynasty minister went to see Zhu Guoxiang in private.

"It's good for Zhengmin to come and drink with me." Zhu Guoxiang warmly received him.

Although the Fu family has declined, and even the title has been reduced to a baron, but after all, a family with three queens is a very special existence in the Northern Song Dynasty.

Even if Fu Xingzhong has no ability, Zhu Guoxiang will give him a high position, which has great political significance.

While pushing cups and changing cups, Zhu Guoxiang began to test and teach his talents, and found that this man was actually a master of governing the people, and he was by no means an ordinary Jinshi official.

Zhu Guoxiang asked: "This winter, I plan to dredge the mountains and rivers, which will double the grain in Hanzhong. Will Zhengmin be willing to take on this important task and take full responsibility for the repair of the mountains and rivers?"

Fu Xingzhong immediately stood up and bowed, "Dare not to obey!"

(End of this chapter)