Daming: The most ruthless tyrant in history

Chapter 959: Extracting pus and squeezing sores (6)

Passing on a sense of urgency is something Zhu Youxiao has been stepping up in recent years. The sense of crisis must be conveyed, the tension of the situation must be conveyed... Anyone who has a conscience and wants to worry about the country and the people in the world will not slack off in their respective positions, and this is prevalent in all areas.

In many fields such as military, politics, economy, culture, science and technology, military industry, shipbuilding, and navigation, all of them must know what situation the Ming Dynasty is in. Only by letting the best among them always know what the Ming Dynasty is facing, can infinite possibilities emerge.

This is called uniting the majority and attacking the minority!

Zhu Youxiao never denied that among the majority he had gathered, a group of people would become corrupt, degenerate, lose their fighting spirit and ideals every year. However, as long as the latecomers could be promoted and reused in time, this system could continue to move forward relatively efficiently.

The emperor is a lonely man, but he cannot be truly lonely.

The nature of the two is different.

Zhu Youxiao explored such a path based on the actual national conditions of the Ming Dynasty, so as to break the shackles and burdens that had been piled up in the past, so that the Ming Dynasty could unload its burdens bit by bit and go into battle lightly under continuous reform.

Ok Hee Palace.

Minister of Personnel Cui Jingrong stood with his hands hanging down, waiting nervously for the emperor to speak. He came before the emperor today to submit a proposal regarding the personnel system. If possible, he was unwilling to submit this proposal.

However, starting from the third year of the Tianqi reign, batches of corrupt officials were arrested through various major cases by the Integrity Commission, the Censorate, the Procuratorate and other authorities, as well as the Imperial Households and Guards. The lightest punishment was dismissal from office and expropriation of their titles, but this was only a very small minority. Most of them had their homes confiscated and were executed, which created a strange spectacle in the Ming officialdom.

There are many people who want to be officials, but there are also many vacant positions.

"I don't know how long the emperor will stay in the Western Garden."

Seeing that the emperor was hesitant to speak, Cui Jingrong thought of something in his mind, 'The emperor has held fewer and fewer court meetings in recent years, and has replaced them with various forms of court meetings. Even important officials in the cabinet and six ministries cannot easily meet the emperor without an imperial decree.'

“This proposal is good overall.”

A voice suddenly rang out, and Cui Jingrong's heart tightened. He lowered his head and listened. Zhu Youxiao, who was holding the memorial, saw Cui Jingrong like this and laughed silently.

Are you so terrible?

“But there are a few things that need to be changed.”

Zhu Youxiao collected his thoughts and continued, "Regarding the civil service law, I feel that it is not perfect enough. The Ministry of Personnel should combine the cases investigated by various departments in the past, further organize and improve the civil service law, and list all matters involving corruption, abuse of power, etc. in a concise manner."

"I still think the selection criteria are too broad and should be further improved. We can't just say that when there is a vacancy, someone recommends someone and the Ministry of Personnel will take that person into consideration. The length of time in the original position, political achievements, and official reputation can all be ignored. This is not good."

"I think the establishment of the Qingli Division in each province can be proposed at the same time through this reform of the selection system. This will make it easier for the central government to effectively manage the local areas, instead of just knowing where there are vacancies, but knowing very little about the actual situation, as in the past."

"In addition, I think there should be an age limit for the reappointment of officials who have resigned or retired. At what age, they no longer need to serve in local positions. At a certain age, they no longer need to serve in the central government. The officialdom is not a place to retire. It is a place where you need to do things and solve problems. You are obviously not qualified for the job, but you can ignore this objective fact because of your past reputation?"

"besides……"

As Zhu Youxiao spoke one thing after another, Cui Jingrong became more and more uneasy. This was not asking him to reform the personnel system at all; it was clearly blocking the path to promotion for many people.

Cui Jingrong has been in the position of Minister of Personnel for several years. What the emperor said were all about taking ruthless actions in terms of opportunism, secretly serving, and promotion beyond one's level.

Cui Jingrong knew that if he dared to change this part of the proposal according to what the emperor said, there would be countless people who would openly or secretly scold him in the future. "Your Majesty, if you really want to improve it like this, I'm afraid that the vacancies in the central government and the local areas will be difficult to fill quickly." Thinking of this, Cui Jingrong gritted his teeth and said.

"Especially in recent years..."

But when he said this, Cui Jingrong shut up.

Zhu Youxiao looked at Cui Jingrong. How could he not understand what Cui Jingrong meant? It was he who put a tight rein on the officialdom, but on the other hand, the rectification of officialdom continued to take effect. If this was really the case, batches of officials would be arrested and killed, but the vacant positions could not be filled in time.

“It’s just been a difficult few years.”

Zhu Youxiao collected his thoughts and looked at Cui Jingrong and said, "This year's regular provincial examination will be held, and next year's joint and palace examinations will also be held as scheduled. The vacancies can be resolved in the future. You should follow my instructions first."

Zhu Youxiao must keep a close eye on the reform of the personnel system.

He wants to deal with some people at the source. Some people have just entered the officialdom for a short time, or have been in the officialdom for a long time, but can be promoted above their level just because they are attached to someone. Factional struggles in the officialdom are impossible to eliminate, let alone ban. As long as there is power, there will be struggles.

But Zhu Youxiao wanted to establish new rules. Anyone who wanted to rise and fall in officialdom had to abide by the rules of the game. In the past Ming Dynasty officialdom, the power of civil officials was too strong. The rules of the game were tampered with and defined by them. This was simply ridiculous.

This is also why, throughout the Ming Dynasty, once some parties came to power, they were able to quickly bring together more people. The reason was that the rules of the game were controlled by them.

This is not good.

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very bad.

"Okay, that's it."

Seeing that Cui Jingrong wanted to say something, Zhu Youxiao waved his hand and said, "Take it down and perfect it first, and then present it to the emperor."

"My minister retire."

Cui Jingrong said with complicated thoughts.

Looking at Cui Jingrong's departing back, Zhu Youxiao revealed a smile. Cui Jingrong, the Minister of Personnel, had no idea that he, the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, wanted to indirectly promote the reform of the imperial examination system in response to the reform of the selection system. As long as the rectification of officialdom continued to take effect, there would be more and more vacancies in the officialdom of the Ming Dynasty. When it reached a critical point, Zhu Youxiao would propose Huang Liji's proposal of dividing the subjects and setting up provincial academies. In the future, the real official selection must involve the participation of the provincial academies, and then abolish the corresponding privileges granted by the academy examinations, prefectural examinations, and county examinations.

Zhu Youxiao certainly knew that doing so would cause dissatisfaction among many scholars, and even protests. But if the provincial, metropolitan, and palace examinations were gradually changed from being held every three years to being held every two years, or even once a year, would such dissatisfaction still exist? If you want privileges, you can, but you should first pass the examination and enter the officialdom.

Is the favor I bestowed not great enough?

Maximize your precious time.

If I still can't pass the exam.

Then don’t blame me, look for the reasons within yourselves.

Zhu Youxiao could foresee that if he could really shorten the duration of the imperial examinations, all the dissatisfaction would disappear. After all, in this land, the imperial examinations for thousands of years had closely tied education and officialdom together, and what Zhu Youxiao wanted to do was to untie this narrow bond between education and officialdom, so that education could be used to cultivate more talents in other fields.

(End of this chapter)