I studied in modern times

Chapter 749 Matryoshka Doll
After seeing off Lu Huiqing, Zhao Xu had nothing else to do, so he ordered someone to bring a small stool. Then he sat in front of the vegetable garden, watching the butterflies and bees flying around in the garden, picking nectar.

Two different kinds of radish are planted in this vegetable garden.

One is the original radish produced locally in the north.

The rhizome of this radish is small and short, and only the stems and leaves are edible.

The other is the Dengzhou radish that Su Shi presented last year. When mature, its rhizome is about two or three inches long and two fingers wide.

The taste is really good, sweet, crisp and slightly spicy. It is really good for cooking lamb in winter. It is worth it that Su Shi wrote a poem to praise it: "From it, the smell of mutton is so strong."

This year, Zhao Xu planted these two kinds of radishes in a vegetable garden.

The hope is that through artificial pollination, hybridization can be achieved, so that radishes with larger roots can be cultivated.

Eventually, the modern radish was cultivated.

This is the hybrid breeding that we most hope to achieve results in the short term (three to five years).

Now is the season when radish blooms. In the vegetable garden, hundreds of radish plants are blooming with small pink or white-red flowers.

Zhao Xu was watching in a trance when Feng Jing, who was going to the Academy of Scholars to convey the emperor's order, tiptoed up behind him.

Because I know that Zhao Xu prefers to look at the flowers in the vegetable garden in the imperial garden.

So Feng Jing didn't dare to disturb him.

But Zhao Xu had already noticed Feng Jing's footsteps. He did not turn around, but just asked, "Feng Jing, who is on duty at the Academy today?"

"Reporting to everyone, today it is still Master Fan..." Feng Jing answered softly.

"Hmm..." Zhao Xu sighed and said, "Thank you for your hard work, Master Fan!"

Because Xing Shu was responsible for many diplomatic affairs, Fan Chunren had been shuttling between the Academy of Bachelors and the Jiying Hall.

Especially since the first month of this year, there have been more and more negotiations on pardons of criminal charges.

Therefore, Fan Chunren often worked in the Academy even on his days off.

"It seems that the Academy of Bachelors needs to have a bachelor admitted." Zhao Xu said softly.

Feng Jing immediately understood: "That's what everyone is talking about!"

"Mr. Fan is on duty at the Academy of Scholars all year round... I heard that Mrs. Fan has complained many times at home and even complained to Lord Shen..."

"Guo Sheren was always worried about the scholar's health and advised him to go back home to rest..."

Fan Chunren was the son-in-law of Lu Gongzhu. At the same time, his son-in-law Guo Zhongxiao served as the attendant of the Gate of Heavenly Palace and concurrently as the Inspector of the Gate of Heavenly Palace and the co-inspector of the Tongjiansi official affairs beside Zhao Xu.

This is Fan Chunren, the reason why he is always a runner-up in every imperial nomination and has no chance of entering the two governments.

The father-in-law is the prime minister and the son-in-law is the person who is in charge of internal and external secrets of the emperor.

If such a person were in the past, it would be impossible for him to serve as an official in Beijing.

It is necessary to know.

The reason why Zhao Xu was able to keep him was really because he trusted Fan Chunren, and also because he had a good family background, so public opinion would not backlash because of this - Fan Zhongyan's son must be a loyal minister!
"Does anyone have a candidate?" Feng Jing asked cautiously.

Zhao Xu chuckled: "If we talk about writing, it should be the two Su brothers..."

"It's just that Dasu is in Dengzhou, and his qualifications are not enough..."

"Xiao Su has just been appointed as the governor of Chenzhou..."

“None of them are optional!”

This is natural. The Su Shi brothers, two of the Eight Great Masters of Tang and Song Dynasties, are definitely the most suitable candidates to enter the Academy of Scholars in contemporary times.

But a bearded man's mouth can easily cause trouble.

Zhao Xu didn't dare to let him enter the capital, otherwise, who knows what shocking remarks he would make.

It just so happened that Su Shi was having a great time in Dengzhou as well.

Zhao Xu just let him have fun in Dengzhou.

Zhao Xu originally wanted to train Su Che.

Unfortunately, Su Zhe was too naive and was used as a gun.

Although he was saved by Zhang Fangping and Su Song in the end, he completely offended the Empress Dowager and could only be sent to Chenzhou to avoid the limelight.

He has no chance of returning to Beijing before the two palaces withdraw their curtains.

As for the contemporary civil officials and literati, there is somewhat of a lack of successors after the two Su brothers.

The right person is either too old or too young.

But the Academy of Bachelors does need one or two more people to share Fan Chunren's work.

Otherwise, Zhao Xu suspected that Fan Chunren would die from overwork.

Zhao Xu also shook his head helplessly: "For now, the only solution is to select people from the Secretariat and the Ministry of Personnel."

"We can follow the example of King Injo removing Song Shou from the Academy of Scholars and select people from the Secretariat and the Ministry of Personnel to serve as the Academy of Scholars... and see what happens next!"

Zhao Xu was talking about what happened in the first year of Qianxing - at that time, three Hanlin scholars, Li Wei, Yan Shu and Li Zi, were all serving as cemetery envoys in the Yongding Mausoleum.

Since there was no one available in the Hanlin Academy, Zhangxian Mingsu ordered Song Shou to work as a temporary worker in the Academy - as the acting director of the Academy and the editor of imperial edicts.

Song Shou only worked for two months before he was dismissed from his post as the governor of Nanjing Yingtian Prefecture because he was too young and had offended Zhangxian Mingsu.

But Song Shou didn’t lose out at all!
Enter the bachelor's college once, even if it is as a temporary worker.

It is also equivalent to having the qualifications of a Hanlin Bachelor, which is considered the fourth level.

The four who are in the head are equivalent to the candidates for prime minister.

Therefore, during the Mingdao period, Song Shou was successfully appointed as the Vice-Chancellor.

Although Feng Jing didn't know about these old events in the court, he was very good at observing people's words and expressions.

After hearing this, he already understood what Zhao Xu meant.

So he shut his mouth and stopped talking.

That night, rumors spread in Bianjing City.

The emperor intended to follow the example of the first year of Qianxing in the reign of Emperor Renmiao and select one or two ministers from the Secretariat and the Ministry of Personnel to temporarily serve in the Academy of Scholars to observe the results.

Suddenly, one stone stirred up a thousand waves!

The hearts of the Zhongshu Sheren of the Zhongshu Province and the Jieshi Zhong of the Menxia Province were in turmoil.

Everyone began to stretch their necks and look towards the imperial city, hoping for a chance to show off in front of Zhao Xu.

This way, Zhao Xu can mention their names when selecting people to join the Academy in the future.

then……

When Zhao Xu was looking for someone to write the imperial edict, the secretaries were more excited than each other.

However, the Censors of the Menxia Province passed it without a second thought.

They don't care at all whether these appointments are reasonable or in line with traditions and regulations.
Zhao Xu took advantage of this opportunity to approve a series of personnel appointments that would have been collectively opposed by Confucian scholars in the past.

On the fourth day of the fourth month, Li Jie, the county lieutenant of Jiyin County, Caozhou, Jingdong Road, was specially ordered to be promoted to the position of Chief Clerk by selecting candidates for trial.

The Chief Clerk of the Imperial Household Department is a Beijing official!

Moreover, he was a powerful official in the capital, and an extremely lucrative one at that - the Chief of Works, who was an official evolved from the Shaofu of the Qin and Han dynasties.

Before the Yuanfeng reform, it was just an empty shell.

However, after the Yuanfeng reform, it took over the functions of the previous Sansi construction project.

Responsible for civil engineering, construction of roads, bridges, boats and vehicles.

The Chief Clerk is the actual executor and planner of specific affairs.

According to the new system of Yuanfeng, one must at least have the qualification of Chengwulang or above to be appointed.

As for Li Jie, whom Zhao Xu appointed, he was not even a Chengwulang or above.

His official rank was not high among those selected, and even the letter of recommendation required for a candidate to be promoted to a Beijing official was not approved (in the Song Dynasty, the first letter of recommendation required for a candidate to be promoted to a Beijing official was called "Pobai").

He didn't even come from a formal imperial examination system - let alone become a Jinshi, he didn't even pass the Fajie exam!
He is an official of grace!
But in the Song Dynasty, if an official who was granted imperial favor could not even pass the examination, he would be laughed at - according to the system of the Song Dynasty, the examination for incumbent officials was different from that for common people.

They have a special examination channel - locked-hall examination.

The admission rate of the locked-hall examination is terrifyingly high!

According to the regulations, the prefecture and county lock-up offices will select three out of ten candidates, if there are less than ten candidates, two will be selected, and if there are less than five candidates, one will be selected.

From this regulation, we can see that in most states and counties, the number of people who could take part in the lock-hall examination was usually less than ten.

The Suoting Examination not only had a high admission rate, but was also very lenient. After the Renmiao era, officials who took the Suoting Examination no longer needed to be assessed and recommended by local officials, and there was no longer any penalty for failure.

At the same time, if you don’t pass the exam this time, you can still continue to work hard next time.

Under such circumstances, the candidate named Li Jie still failed to pass the lock-in test.

From this we can tell that his level of understanding of the scriptures must be very poor!
If he didn't have a good father, he would never be able to become an official in his life!
In fact, according to general rules, the life of such a second-generation official who was blessed with imperial favor would probably be ruined - just like Yan Jidao.

The same was true for Li Jie. He knew early on that he was not cut out for study, so like Yan Jidao, he found things he liked to do.

The difference is that Yan Jidao likes poems about beautiful women.

And this Li Jie fell in love with civil engineering and technology.

Modern people may not know who Li Jie is?
But all modern university monks studying in the departments of civil engineering, archaeology and architecture must have read or at least heard of his work - "Yingzaofashi"!
Of course Zhao Xu was familiar with Li Jie.

Because in Zhao Xu's previous life, Li Jie was one of Zhao Xu's favorite technical officials.

From Shaosheng to Yuanfu, all new construction projects, palaces, and gardens inside and outside Bianliang were handed over to Li Jie.

After waking up in Qingning Palace, Zhao Xu naturally thought of Li Jie and wanted to use him.

But his official position is too low!

It was so low that Zhao Xu could never find a suitable opportunity or reason to promote him.

A small county lieutenant who is good at selecting people and is not even the best among the selected people.

If the emperor suddenly paid attention to him, he might even promote him above his level.

Others will surely wonder – why?

Then check this guy's following background and preferences.

If one thing goes wrong, there will be a big disturbance.

Is a civil servant worthy of the emperor's favor?
He must be beaten to death!
There are plenty of excuses and reasons!

Apart from other things, if the labels of "a cunning and treacherous person" and "a flatterer and a sycophant" were put on him, Li Jie would be criticized and condemned.

They didn't even need to bother.

By focusing on the issue of Li Jie's father, he can be put into a separate category - Li Jie's father is Li Nangong, who has a very bad reputation in the Song Dynasty!

In terms of reputation, Deng Wan is better than Li Nangong!

Because, in his early years, Li Nangong was impeached by the censor for abusing his own sister!
The reason was that all his daughters were married off as soon as they reached marriageable age.

But his younger sister is still unmarried at the age of 30!

Based on this, the censor concluded that Lord Li Nan clearly wanted to keep his sister at home in order to embezzle the part of the family property that belonged to her!

How can such a person be a scholar-official?
He's not even a human being!

As a result, Li Nangong was severely punished by Zhao Xu's father and was sent to the children's table.

To date, Li Nangong’s reputation in the Song Dynasty is very bad.

With such a father, Li Jie was able to successfully become an official through imperial favor and even got a job in the Ministry of Personnel, all thanks to the help of his father's good friend Fan Ziqi.

But now, Fan Ziqi is just a transport envoy.

This is all I can do to help Li Jie.

Under such circumstances, if Zhao Xu rashly promoted Li Jie, there would be an uproar!
If things go wrong, Fan Ziqi, the person who helped Li Jie get a job, will also have to bear the brunt of the consequences.

Because of this concern, Zhao Xu never promoted Li Jie.

Now, the time is finally ripe.

Under the guise of using the Academy of Bachelors to select Hanlin scholars, Zhao Xu quietly implemented his own personnel arrangements without alarming public opinion.

The most interesting thing is that before this, Zhao Xu had already changed Han Gonglian, a technical bureaucrat, from a technical official to a civil servant with the recommendation and recommendation of Su Song.

Han Gonglian was specially appointed as temporary Chengwulang and Langzhong of the Ministry of Works, and was temporarily in charge of the Yuanyou Hunyunyi affairs.

In this way, a dual engineer-technocratic combination was formed, with Han Gonglian in the Ministry of Works and Li Jie in the Ministry of Construction.

As long as they cooperate well, they can free the Ministry of Works and the General Administration of Works from red tape and turn them into real functional units.

At the very least, a culture of respecting technology and technocracy can be formed within these two departments.

Of course, this kind of thing can only be done quietly.

Therefore, Zhao Xu set up an ambush early on.

Not only in the lyrics appointing Su Song as the prime minister, it was particularly emphasized that Su Song had the authority to be in charge of the Ministry of Works and the Hanlin Academy of Astronomy.

As early as the eighth year of Yuanfeng, Wang Cun was transferred from the Minister of Punishments to the Minister of Works.

And since then, this guy has remained in office.

The purpose of keeping Wang Cun was the same as that of keeping Han Zhongyan and Zeng Xiaokuan in the court.

Just choose him to be a puppet so that he can be easily controlled.

After two years of beatings, Wang Cun now has almost realized his situation and started to learn from Han Zhongyan how to lie down.

In addition to the Sai people, Zhao Xu also wanted to re-employ some of the "loyal ministers" who were driven out of the court before and after he ascended the throne.

These 'loyal ministers' generally have a very bad reputation!

But they are really loyal!
In the hands of Zhao Xu's father, they are the sharp sword and edge of imperial power!
So, these people offended a lot of people.

Therefore, before and after Zhao Xu was appointed as the crown prince, Wang Gui, Cai Que and others took the opportunity to join forces and send these people away for various reasons.

Now, Zhao Xu is almost in power.

Naturally, the purpose is to recall these loyal ministers of the previous emperor back to the court.

However, considering that these people have a very bad reputation.

Therefore, Zhao Xu could only act carefully.

Now taking advantage of the opportunity, Zhao Xu issued the order without hesitation.

On the fifth day of the fourth month, an imperial edict was issued.

Yang Ji, the Imperial Court Official and the Governor of Huangzhou, was appointed as the Capital Water Supervisor.

Yang Ji, one of the three most cruel officials in Yuanfeng according to the old party!

He was also a technical bureaucrat who had served as the Capital Water Conservancy Supervisor for a long time, presided over the construction of water conservancy projects in the Song Dynasty and achieved many results.

Next, on the sixth day of the fourth month, Ding Hai.

Zhao Xu continued to issue imperial edicts to recall Cui Taifu, the governor of Luzhou, and appointed him as the assistant minister of the Ministry of Justice and the minister of the Dali Temple!

This appointment frightened countless people inside and outside the government.

Because, compared to Yang Ji.

Cui Taifu is the true embodiment of the emperor's lackey and hawk.

why?
Because Cui Taifu was a scholar-official, and when he was in the court, he had worked closely with Shi Deyi's Investigation Department to fabricate charges, crack down on dissidents, and train people in prison.

So, Zhao Xu's father was just seriously ill and could not get up.

The ministers of the capital joined forces to send the then Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice to Luzhou.

However, Zhao Xu also knew that if he recalled Yang Ji, others might be able to tolerate it.

But recalling Cui Taifu would trigger a backlash.

but……

If he only recalled Yang Ji and not Cui Taifu.

Then the court officials would strongly oppose his recall of Yang Ji.

Now, he recalled Cui Taifu and Yang Ji together.

Then the court officials might not oppose him recalling Yang Ji, but would only oppose him recalling Cui Taifu.

This is the window theory - what should I do if I want to open a window? Tell others that I want to tear down the roof.

Then they will agree to let me open the window.

At the same time, with Yang Ji and Cui Taifu attracting fire in the front, no one would care about Li Jie's affairs.

This is called nesting dolls!
So, after doing these things, Zhao Xu quietly waited in the palace for the prime minister and elders to come and talk to him.

(End of this chapter)