A Millennium Aristocratic Family Starting from the Shang Dynasty

Chapter 343: Talent Selection System: Tacit Understanding between Aristocratic Officials and Family

There are several ways to select talents in Daqian. The earliest one is the academy system, and later came the guest minister system, military merit conferment system, title inheritance, and recommendation system, which is the inspection system.

The school system was established by Zijue back then. Theoretically, everyone in the world could enroll in school.But in fact, there are very few civilians who can enter the academy.

Because the academy is located in Luoyang and the other four capitals, if you want to study, you can only come to Luoyang or the other four capitals. However, there is no official examination in other academy. If you want to become an official, you still have to come to Luoyang to take the examination. Let’s not say whether you can. For admission to the palace, ordinary families cannot afford the food, accommodation and travel expenses alone.

Living in Luoyang is not easy.

Ordinary people have no money to study.You must know that even if the academy provides free study to ordinary people, bamboo slips, brushes, and ink still cost money.

This has resulted in fewer and fewer ordinary people coming to study.

And if you want to enter the academy, you need to pass the exam first. Even if you have an academy teacher to teach you for three months, the chance that ordinary people can pass is too low.

What's more, those nobles, officials and many other nobles do not want ordinary people to occupy the quota.Although I dare not oppose it openly, I will secretly target it everywhere.

The guest system was established by the Jin State, and was then carried forward by the Wei and Qin states.Daqian also learned this system.The guest system is that as long as you think you are talented, you can recommend yourself to nobles, ministers, officials or the emperor.

If you succeed, you will be a guest minister. The guest minister is not a formal official position and can only make suggestions. If the guest minister is really talented, the nobles and officials will recommend him to the monarch for an official position.The most famous among them is Lord Xinling of Wei State, whose name among the three thousand guest officials is spread throughout the world.

Of course, very few people can succeed.

What's more, after the establishment of Daqian, few nobles in the country were willing to recommend guest ministers, and the guest minister system had become in name only.

Needless to say, there is no need to talk about the conferment of military honors and the inheritance of titles.What we want to talk about now is the inspection and promotion system.

The imperial examination system was established after the unification of the world. Wang Luo felt that there were not enough talents to manage the world, and he did not want to continue to implement the Shilu Shiqing system, so he asked the chief officials of various counties and counties to recommend talents every year.

It is difficult to determine the criteria for recommending talents. Some recommend people with high moral character, while others recommend people with outstanding talents.

Recommending talents does not mean that you can become an official just by recommending them. You also need to pass the imperial examination. After passing the examination, you will be awarded official positions according to your talent.

Originally, these measures were to select talents for the country, but after being implemented for a period of time, Wang Ke discovered some problems with the inspection and promotion system.

Not long ago, this year's talents recommended by county guards from various places were sent to Luoyang, and then took the exam in Qianyuan Hall.

Originally this was just an ordinary exam, but when Wang Ke asked these people questions on a whim, he found that these people's talents were not outstanding, and many of them even knew almost nothing about civil and agricultural matters. .

This made Wang Ke very angry, and the reason why this person was recommended was actually due to his high moral character and filial piety.

The furious Wang Ke directly ordered people to arrest the person who recommended him, and then escorted him to Beijing. At the same time, all the people who recommended him were investigated.

Sure enough, among the talents recommended this time, he was not the only one. There were seven or eight people who did not live up to their reputation, accounting for almost one-fifth.

And as the investigation deepened, Wang Ke discovered that almost all of these recommendees were local powerful and famous families.

There are no ordinary people who truly come from the common people, and the lowest ones are all children from poor families.

On the surface, these people seem to have no close relationship with the recommender, but how could their actions be concealed from the investigation of the secret guards.Soon the relationship between these people was clearly discovered by the secret guards.Wang Ke looked at the intricate relationship in front of him and felt his blood rising.

"Okay, okay, that's great."

"You recommend my nephew, I recommend his nephew, and then he recommends your nephew. A perfect closed loop, right?"

"Is the national talent promotion ceremony just for them to recommend these wastes?" Wang Ke was furious.

"Your Majesty, calm down!" Wang Zhe said: "It is difficult to define nepotism and meritocracy. From this incident, we discovered the flaws of the promotion system. It would be better for your Majesty to issue a formal edict to evaluate the promotion system and then reward and punish those who recommend it. "

"Every promotion will be strictly assessed. Those who recommend talented people will be rewarded, and those who recommend unworthy people will be severely punished. In this way, those people will no longer dare to recommend untalented people!"

"Brother Zhe, go see the Prime Minister and tell him what I mean." Wang Ke calmed down and said.

"promise!"

Wang Zhe came to Zuo Prime Minister Li Si, as a veteran of the two dynasties, it can be said that he is already a very popular minister, but the Li family is not a wealthy family. The Li family can prosper because of Li Si's talents.

If Li Si dies and has no successor, he will instantly become an ordinary noble, and there is no guarantee of the long-term prosperity of the family.

Originally, these nobles and officials wanted to support each other and form an alliance through marriage, but Wang Luo broke the idea.This discouraged noble officials from blatantly marrying each other.

So these people found the Chaju system.

Wang Zhe came to the Prime Minister's Mansion and Li Si came to greet him personally.

"Prime Minister Li."

Li Si quickly returned the greeting and said, "Si pays homage to the internal minister."

Wang Zhe accepted it calmly, and then sat down directly.Seeing Wang Zhe's attitude, Li Si was shocked and his face changed slightly. As a person who is well versed in power, he knew what this meant.

The Prime Minister and the Prime Minister are all equals, no superiority or superiority. As the Internal Prime Minister, Wang Zhe has everything to do every day. How could he humiliate him when he has nothing to do?

Li Si suppressed his uneasiness and asked with a smile: "The Prime Minister is busy with everything, and there are countless matters waiting for your decision. How come you have time to come to Si's humble room?"

Wang Zhe said lightly: "Will the world not be able to function without someone? Don't think too highly of yourself. This Prime Minister's Mansion was built under the order of the late emperor. It is second only to the imperial palace. How can it be called a shabby house? ?”

Li Si's expression became more respectful, and he continued to say to Wang Zhe: "Li Si was just blessed by the late emperor, and was able to display some talents, and then was rewarded by His Majesty, so that he had some family assets. Such grace, Si can only live up to it by serving His Majesty. Your Majesty’s grace.”

"Emperor Shengming, can't you see your loyalty? Today Zhe is here to visit the Prime Minister on His Majesty's order." Wang Zhe said lightly.

Li Si breathed a sigh of relief. Now it seemed that His Majesty had no intention of killing him.

He couldn't help but be nervous. Not long ago, Wang Ke was so angry that he ransacked the homes of several officials. You must know that one of them was one of the founding nobles and one of the princes who were granted titles for their merits.

(End of this chapter)