Elegy of Tang Dynasty

Chapter 169 Driving in Reverse Direction

Since the founding of the Tang Dynasty, the actual duties of the three provinces and six ministries have begun to be "empty", with "errands" replacing duties and becoming the executors of actual government affairs.In other words, if a minister of household affairs does not have a position such as "transfer envoy", then he can basically just sit in the yamen of Shangshu Mansion and wait for get off work.

The manifestation of this situation at the top level of the central government is the weakening of the powers of the "Six Ministers".

These positions were often held concurrently by prime ministers, but in fact the daily operations of the six ministries were delegated to the level of minister.

For example, the Right Prime Minister Li Linfu also serves as the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, and the left Prime Minister Zhang Shougui also serves as the Minister of the Ministry of War.

They should be in charge of the affairs of the corresponding departments, but in fact they are not in charge of the affairs. This is the so-called "can inquire about the relevant situations of the department, but are not responsible for daily operations."

The exchange and movement between "sufficiency" and "necessity" is the flexibility of high-level government affairs.

Whether you have responsibility or not often does not lie in the matter itself.The two words "official" and "rules" are used to punish people.

Similar situations have changed from unspoken rules to "explicit rules" in the political arena.

Therefore, Li Linfu appeared in the "Shang Shu Mansion" where the Minister of Civil Affairs is located, instead of in the "Yizheng Hall" where he usually works. This in itself is a very strange thing and worthy of scrutiny!
Sure enough, just as Fang Chongyong walked into the room and before he could sit down, he heard Li Linfu with a kind face say: "I am here to wait for you today."

"The subordinates were flattered and extremely frightened."

Fang Chungyong said with folded hands and a salute, with his head lowered and his attitude so humble that he had no idea what Li Linfu was doing.

But when night owls come into the house, they come for everything.Li Linfu made a special trip to wait for him here, and he was definitely up to no good!
Li Linfu stood up and circled Fang Chongyong several times, seeming very satisfied.

He nodded slightly and said, "I heard that you are engaged, can this marriage be canceled?
Although marriage is an important matter, it is the order of the parents, but I still want to hear your advice. "

Eh?
Fang Chongyong was stunned. The right minister of the Tang Dynasty was in the office study of the Minister of Civil Affairs, asking a young man who had elected an official if he wanted to withdraw from the engagement... This amount of information is quite a lot!

The angle is extremely tricky!

"Although they are not married, they are actually living together; they are childhood sweethearts with a deep affection; they are in harmony with each other, but separation will hurt both of them.

I'm afraid there's no way to back out of this marriage, and my subordinates have disappointed the right minister. "

Fang Chongyong clasped his hands together, bowed and said.

"Well, he is indeed a good man who values ​​love and justice."

Li Linfu sighed inexplicably and continued:

"But it doesn't matter. You can't abandon the wife of a wretched man. She's also someone who has been through this before. I understand.

But you can take a concubine, I don’t mind.It turned out that he had more than 20 daughters, including a dozen concubines who were unmarried.

How about choosing one of them to be your concubine? "

Uh……

Hearing this, Fang Chongyong was speechless. If he hadn't met Li Linfu, he would have thought that the man in front of him was a fake.

However, Fang Yanei now understood Li Linfu's style of doing things.

This person is really not a good-looking person, he is extremely "pragmatic" in his approach!
As long as there is a slight possibility, the Right Prime Minister of the Tang Dynasty will be profitable if he bites his tongue and refuses to let go!
Besides, Wang Yunxiu is now gorgeous and a beautiful woman with outstanding temperament.

It's just that she doesn't have as evil a figure as Anaye. What kind of "wretched wife" is she?

"sit down."

Li Linfu put away his smile and pointed at the cushion in front of Fang Chongyong.

After both parties sat down, Li Linfu put away his amiable smile and said calmly: "I have a family dinner tonight. Come and join me. After the banquet, I have something important to ask you. Do you have any questions?" "

"The subordinate obeys the order."

Fang Zhongyong crossed his hands and said without saying any nonsense.

Li Linfu nodded with satisfaction, knocked on the table and said, "Just put your official certificate here. There are still a lot of things to do, so I won't chat with you. Go ahead."

Seeing that Fang Chongyong hadn't moved yet, he asked in confusion: "Do you have anything else?"

"Back to the right minister, I want to resign, study, and then take the imperial examination. I wonder if it's too late to sign up now?"

Fang Chongyong asked cautiously.

Hearing this, Li Linfu, who had always kept his emotions secret, was shocked and horrified by this stupid question from the governor of the fourth-grade border town!
As for children from official families, even children as young as six or seven would not ask such ignorant questions.

Those who have the channels to directly become officials will not ask, and those who have no channels to directly become officials have studied hard since they were sensible, preparing to pass all the way and take the imperial examination. How can they not even understand the basic rules of the imperial examination.

"You mean, you want to take the imperial examination again after resigning as governor, right?"

Li Linfu was thoughtful. After thinking for a while, he spread out a large piece of paper, took up a pen and wrote a letter of introduction, then folded it and handed it to Fang Chongyong and said:
"It's definitely too late to register for the imperial examination now. The imperial examination will be held immediately after the saint's birthday.

The truth is, I heard that you dropped out of Chongwen School for unknown reasons before entering Chongwen Hall, so now you are not even qualified to register.

But this matter is easy to handle.

You take this letter to the Minister of Rites and he will find a way to get you into the Imperial College.

And after you enter the Imperial College, you go directly to the Imperial College Jijiu to go through the graduation procedures and get the qualifications to participate in the imperial examination. There is no need to make any extra complications. "

Is it so casual?

Judging from Li Linfu's understatement, he obviously didn't take the imperial examination seriously.Fang Chongyong was greatly shocked when he received this letter of introduction, the ink of which was not even dry yet!

It turns out that the real rich and powerful can complete the entire process from admission to the Imperial College to graduation in one day, and obtain the qualifications for the imperial examination.

For ordinary poor families, they must first study in a local school and obtain a recommendation from the school to participate in the state examination.Every year in the imperial examination, a state will have 2-4 student quotas depending on the level. After the state examination, they will be recommended to participate in the scientific examination held in Chang'an and other places.

Note, this is only a qualification to take the exam!
Those who graduated from the Imperial College are automatically qualified to take the scientific examination. This in itself is an extremely unequal regional discrimination.

From institutions such as Chongwen Hall and Hongwen Hall, not only can graduates directly participate in the Jinshi program, but the emperor often opens "junior colleges" to specifically select talents from these graduates.

Similar to Fang Chongyong's previous life, he recruited students at a designated location.Of course, the official career prospects of these people are still not as good as those of Jinshi.

But compared with the real powerful people, these people are all younger brothers!
It only takes a day for real powerful people to complete the process, and they don't even need to study in institutions like the Imperial College!
What's even more weird is that Li Linfu didn't ask Fang Chongyong why he was not a good fourth-grade official and wanted to go back and take the imperial examination!
Fang Chongyong felt that this might be the extraordinary quality of the Right Prime Minister of the Tang Dynasty.

After getting what he wanted, Fang Chongyong handed his official identity certificate to Li Linfu, thanked him humbly and left.

Looking at his leaving figure, Li Linfu smiled mysteriously, took the official identity certificate and read it again and again, then put it in the corresponding cabinet and filed it away.These trivial tasks should not be done by him, but I don't understand why he has to send officials from the Ministry of Civil Affairs to come here to handle this "little thing" in person.

"Fang Chongyong is such a wonderful person. It was not in vain that I spent ten days thinking about this combination of official positions.

If you don't want to be an official, you will have to take the imperial examination later. You should discuss this matter with the saint.

The son of Fang Quanzhong and the son-in-law of Wang Zhongsi, he was the former governor of Shazhou and governor of Ganzhou, and joined the army in the prefecture of Liangzhou. In the past five years, all actual evaluations have been above or above.If such a former official failed the imperial examination, wouldn't the imperial examination be child's play? "

Li Linfu said to himself, then fell into deep thought.

There were many things that he didn't feel right about at first, and the more he thought about them, the more he felt something was wrong.

In fact, in Li Linfu's view, Fang Chongyong's nonsense was not only not frivolous, but also had extremely serious political significance.The right minister of the Tang Dynasty thought that maybe Fang Yanei, a young and successful man, did not realize the seriousness of the problem.

If Fang Chongyong did it deliberately, then this person definitely had ulterior motives, and even had a murderous intention!
Although it is well-proclaimed to the outside world, the main purpose of the imperial examination itself is not to select talents, but to urge the children of officials to make progress, put pressure on them to compete, and provide a way for scholars who have no chance to become officials through their family background or whose family background has fallen into decline. Good way to go.

Forming the "catfish effect".

In this case, no matter what the actual situation is, at least when publicizing it to the outside world, the content of the imperial examination must have the most basic persuasiveness to prove that "only those who pass the imperial examination are qualified to be an official." If you fail to pass the imperial examination, you will not be allowed to do so. Officer, that's because your "ability" is not enough!
In fact, civil servants like Zhang Jiuling, who were former officials, believed in their hearts that all officials should be able to pass the imperial examination, so as to eliminate the injustice caused by family status.

Therefore, the ability to take the imperial examination is, to a certain extent, the ability to be an official!
This is no longer an idea, but a clear rule that most officials in the imperial court admit, or do not admit and dare not speak out!
Whether it is central or local, it has received the widest recognition.The reason why the imperial examination scholars looked down upon officials with a good background was from this!

But now things have changed.A reckless "idiot" appeared within the normal rules!A big idiot who "drove in the opposite direction" appeared!
If a person has been an official for four or five years, his evaluation and official reputation will be quite good, beating most officials of the same level in an instant, and he will be promoted during the rotation.

This fool suddenly had a seizure and did not want to continue to be an official. Instead, he wanted to come back and take the imperial examination, but he failed in the end!

So does this prove that even if a person fails to pass the imperial examination, he is very likely to have the ability to be an official?
Even this person who failed to pass the imperial examination may become a very good official!
Then this counterexample will expose the window paper that many officials' children at that level, especially those from Enyin background, secretly reviled: In fact, the content of the imperial examination has nothing to do with the ability to be an official!

Those who pass the exam do not necessarily mean that they have the ability to be an official; and those who are truly capable of being an official may not necessarily pass the exam!
Therefore, the imperial examination system of the imperial court is simply nonsense, excluding real talents, and selecting only some trash who can only take exams. It should have been abolished long ago!
If we get to that point, the credibility of the imperial examination will be gone!

This is a serious consequence that even the central government cannot bear.

A typical example of being bitten by someone!
Many times, when the window paper is punctured, it is when quantitative changes lead to qualitative changes.In comparison, whether Fang Chongyong can become a Jinshi is insignificant.

An average of 27 people are admitted to the Jinshi Department every year. Is it a big problem if one more person makes up the number?
Not a big problem at all!

Li Linfu knew very well that the current Li Longji just wanted to enjoy peace and security, and did not want to reform the imperial examination system at all. As long as the old system could not be used for big things, this Chang'an saint did not want to bother!
Although Li Linfu was scolded behind his back for being "jealous of talents and talents," in fact, he was one of the few imperial officials who emphasized "ruling the country according to law."

The reason why he wrote a "letter of introduction" to Fang Chongyong was not because he was used to breaking the rules.

On the contrary, Li Linfu was determined to help Fang Chongyong become a Jinshi. Not only was he not breaking the rules, but he was trying to save the "correctness of the imperial examination" that was in danger and was about to be ruined by Fang Yanei!
"Did he do it intentionally, or... was it an unintentional mistake?"

Li Linfu sat in front of the desk in the official office, and was suddenly a little unsure of what Fang Chongyong was thinking in his heart.

He is also a person who is used to "tricking people and harming me".

The right prime minister of the Tang Dynasty forgot to leave for a while, so that the people waiting for the election of officials outside did not dare to come in!

The queue of people queuing up to elect officials outside the Ministry of Civil Affairs was getting longer and longer. These people couldn't help but complain noisily, which caused chaos outside the Yamen of Shangshu Mansion.

……

There is a small building that serves as a "fixed sentry" to the north of Xingqing Palace. Standing on the small building, you can have a clear view of the northern half of Yongjiafang (the other half has become part of Xingqing Palace).

On this day, after a good sleep, and because he gained a huge fortune from confiscating the property of the Xing family, Emperor Li Longji of the Tang Dynasty was in a good mood. He was standing boredly on the small building looking into the distance.

Suddenly, he saw a familiar figure, so he turned around and asked Gao Lishi: "Lishi, is that Zheng Shuqing, Yin of Jingzhao Prefecture?"

Brother Ji knew very well who Lao Zheng was. Giving him the word "dog official" was appropriate and recognized by both the government and the public.

Although the Yin of Jingzhao Prefecture is in charge of the trivial affairs of Chang'an, since he is a dog official, he will definitely not be diligent in his duties.Therefore, it seems strange that Zheng Shuqing traveled through most of Chang'an and came to Yongjiafang.

"There is a bullock cart following behind him. Is he trying to give a gift?"

Gao Lishi looked at it and felt surprised.Zheng Shuqing first called the door, and then was led in by a servant. It was Fang Youde's old house.

"He is looking for Fang Quanzhong."

Gao Lishi said calmly.

"Eh? Where is Quanzhong now?"

Li Longji slapped his forehead. He seemed to remember that Fang Youde was sent far away by him, but he couldn't remember where.

The territory of the Tang Dynasty was more than ten thousand miles long. Where could we not place officials?

"He serves as the Lingnan economic envoy."

Gao Lishi reminded in a low voice.

"Oh oh oh, my birthday is coming soon. Go and tell Ge Nu and ask him to issue an edict to call Fang Quanzhong to Chang'an to congratulate me on my birthday.

I haven’t seen him for several years and I really miss him. "

Li Longji said with emotion.As this person gets older, he often remembers things from long ago.Li Longji has recently remembered many past events before he ascended the throne, and many of his old friends from those days are no longer here.

The clothes are not as good as new, the people are not as good as before, nothing more than that.

"There are a lot of them. I'll take care of them now."

Gao Lishi accepted the order and was about to leave, but Li Longji grabbed his sleeve.

“In that house, Fang Chongyong, Fang Quanzhong’s son, should be back.

Send someone to quietly investigate and find out what is the connection between Zheng Shuqing and Fang Chongyong.The gift he gave, what it was, why he gave it, and why.

If you find out, just report it to me. Don't let them know that I am checking them. "

Hearing this, Gao Lishi was slightly startled, crossed his hands and saluted and asked: "Sage, it is common for officials to give gifts..."

"I just want to know how capable Fang Quanzhong's son is. I don't have any other meaning."

Li Longji waved his hand calmly and explained.

To be able to send a gift from a third-grade Jingzhao Prefecture Yin to a court, he must have an unusual ability.Brother Ji really wants to know now, what is this ability?
　Votes, votes!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)