Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

The election of officials in February every year is anticipated by many officials.

Because every position transfer in the officialdom will give many officials the opportunity to be promoted.

But this February, not many officials are looking forward to it.

Because this year is the year of Si and Hai, it is a year of imperial examination.

The emperor had already decided to examine the officials in Beijing before selecting officials in February of the year of Jisi, dismiss the incompetent officials, and then appoint new officials.

The imperial examination was a custom of the Ming Dynasty. It began during the Chenghua period and later became a regular practice, held in the years of Si and Hai.

During the inspection in Beijing, the Ministry of Personnel, together with the Censorate, inspected officials below the fifth rank in the two capitals. Officials above the fourth rank presented themselves, and the emperor personally made the decision.

This is also the reason why the emperor of the Ming Dynasty still holds the power to dismiss officials, and there is a clear system to protect this power.

It was just that the previous Emperor Wanli was lazy in his duties and delegated the power of the imperial examination to his ministers.

The Donglin Party and the Qi, Chu and Zhejiang Party used the Beijing Inspection to attack each other, which evolved into a fierce party struggle.

Moreover, the imperial examination system was destroyed, and officials who were dismissed during the imperial examination could be reinstated with the recommendation of court ministers.

This led to those who were dismissed in the imperial examinations to try to get reinstated. The party struggles became more and more intense, and each time it affected the government and the country.

Zhu Youjian, feeling the chaos, took back the power of the imperial inspection and personally appointed officials to be in charge of the Ji Si imperial inspection.

This is also the reason why many of the temporary policies he formulated when martial law was lifted were transformed into formal resolutions.

It was because with the sword of the Imperial Examination hanging over their heads, most of the officials did not dare to resist the emperor.
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In accordance with the method of determining functions, institutions and staffing, Zhu Youjian first established the Beijing Inspection Committee.

Yang Jingchen, the Minister of Personnel, was appointed as the director of the Beijing Inspection Committee, and Han Rizhun, the Left Vice Minister of Personnel, Li Ruoxing, the Right Vice Minister of Personnel, as well as Wang Yongguang, the Left Censor-in-Chief, Cheng Jiming, the Right Censor-in-Chief, and Liu Zongzhou, the Associate Censor-in-Chief, were appointed as members to assist in the Beijing Inspection affairs.

The Embroidered Uniform Guard also participated and provided assistance in the name of the Weiwei Temple.

According to the practice of the imperial examination, eight items were examined: old age, illness, inaction, greed, cruelty, careless conduct, impetuousness, and lack of ability, and the corresponding unqualified officials were dismissed.

Zhu Youjian had no objection to the four items of old age, illness, corruption and cruelty. The standards for these items were relatively clear, and any official who was involved could be vetoed with one vote.

However, the standards for the four items of being weak and inactive, being careless in conduct, being frivolous and superficial, and lacking in talent and ability are not so clear.

The officials in charge of the imperial examinations had a great deal of discretion in how to judge them.

In order to facilitate quantitative assessment, Zhu Youjian proposed a four-dimensional assessment based on the four dimensions of "propriety, righteousness, integrity and shame".

All officials, regardless of rank, were required to conduct self-examination, and then the Beijing Inspection Committee would review and give relevant conclusions.

The word "ritual" here mainly refers to etiquette and laws.

Officials who are found to have committed crimes will naturally fail this test.

There are also higher requirements for qualified officials.

Zhu Youjian divided etiquette into four categories according to the object of etiquette: filial piety, brotherly love, respect, and kindness.

Filial piety is towards elders, especially parents and ancestors.

Filial piety refers to peers and whether one can get along well with his brothers.

Respect is for the wife. Do you treat her with respect? Do you disrespect her or even commit domestic violence?

Prostitution was also included in the list. Even though prostitution was not illegal within business areas, it was considered disrespectful to officials' wives.

Kindness is for the younger generation, whether they respect their children's wishes and fulfill their educational responsibilities for their children.

In the future, a compulsory education law will be enacted to require all minors to receive education.

Actions such as foot binding and restricting daughters' education were considered bad habits.

Moreover, when children become adults, their wishes must be respected and they should have the power to make decisions on major matters such as marriage.

It can be said that this is a complete set of etiquette for changing customs and habits. Zhu Youjian asked Liu Zongzhou to join the Beijing Inspection Committee, mainly to judge "etiquette".

After ritual comes righteousness. The original meaning of righteousness is justice. Zhu Youjian added concepts such as loyalty, trustworthiness, benevolence, etc. to make a comprehensive evaluation.

Justice is a simple moral concept, and most people can tell whether something is fair and just.

Loyalty and righteousness mainly refer to whether one is loyal to the emperor and whether there is any disloyal behavior.

Trustworthiness is an examination of integrity, including personal integrity and maintaining the court's credibility. One cannot use the court's credibility to pave the way for oneself.

Benevolence and righteousness are more valued by Confucian officials. What they are mainly evaluated on is whether they are benevolent when governing and whether they care about the people's lives.

Corresponding to this is the cruelty among the Eight Laws: not caring about the interests of the people at all when governing the country and turning a blind eye to the deaths and injuries of the people.

Cruelty and violence are usually associated with greed and lust, and in many cases it is greed and lust that leads to cruelty and violence.

Therefore, when the imperial court conducted inspections, corruption and cruelty were often dealt with together.

Zhu Youjian could veto such officials and directly dismiss them without considering their reasons.

If corruption and cruelty lead to serious consequences such as civil unrest, the Procuratorate General will bring prosecution and the Supreme Court will try the case.

Officials who are not corrupt or cruel should also be subject to integrity investigation.

The aspect of integrity mainly refers to whether taxes are paid and property is declared in accordance with the law.

After nearly a year of pushing officials to declare their assets, Zhu Youjian finally took strong measures and eliminated all officials who had not declared their assets in this imperial inspection.

The ministers had anticipated this, because when the emperor gave out rewards before the New Year, he treated officials who did not declare their assets differently.

None of them received any rewards or land certificates.

So much so that after the rewards were given, those officials not only did not dare to express dissatisfaction, but were instead anxious.

Because they all guessed that they were most likely to be eliminated during the Beijing inspection.

As a result, those who had previously resisted declaring their family assets began to report to the Independent Commission Against Corruption after the new year.

When faced with high-value gifts during the Chinese New Year, many officials began to actively refuse them.

This action of theirs brought them an opportunity to save themselves. The officials who applied a few years later were not eliminated in this imperial examination.

This made them feel fortunate and happy that they could keep their official positions.

Because all officials now know that the emperor has adopted the old rules before the Wanli period, and those who are dismissed from office during the imperial examination will never be reinstated.

Unless they are willing to go overseas and serve as officials overseas.

Those vassal states that lack talents may employ them.
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As the director of the Independent Commission Against Corruption, Zhou Yanru was in charge of the "integrity" aspect of this Beijing inspection, which made him extremely proud of his previous promotion of property declaration.

Because of this, he gained the trust of the emperor and was promoted to the position of Censor-in-Chief, becoming one of the most powerful people in the Censorate.

His predecessor, Geng Ruqi, was not in such a good situation. Because he could not bear to be ruthless, he had to be sent out.

"Geng Ruqi will hardly become a minister in the imperial court if he doesn't seize the opportunity."

"No matter how well he does, he can only be a local official."

Lamenting this matter in his heart, Zhou Yanru thought about the emperor's instructions and felt a little worried.

Because the emperor had put forward higher requirements for the ICAC, he asked it to take advantage of the Beijing inspection to conduct in-depth investigations on the property declaration issue and randomly check some officials.

In particular, it is necessary to investigate whether they have violated the court's policy of limiting land and rent, and whether they have complied with the court's resolutions and paid taxes according to regulations.

This would obviously offend many officials, so much so that when Zhou Yanru first heard it, he wanted to back off.

But thinking about the power he had gained and the officials who resented him, Zhou Yanru knew that he could not retreat and could only continue along this path.

So he sighed and handed the matter over to Han Yilian, director of the Anti-Corruption Bureau, and let this man take the lead.

Han Yiliang became famous in the capital because of his case against Han Yu's gift money years ago. Everyone regarded him as an iron-faced censor, and he even spared the family of his own teacher.

He was also one of the specific executors in this imperial inspection, and his main responsibility was to investigate the aspect of "corruption" which was the opposite of "integrity".

According to the emperor's request, those who are old, sick, greedy and cruel can veto.

Retirement due to old age is a normal responsibility of officials in the Ministry of Personnel.

According to the retirement age previously reiterated by the emperor, anyone over sixty who was not retained in office by special order of the emperor would be dismissed.

Officials in the Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of Justice usually need to pay attention to the age of officials and impeach old officials who refuse to retire and cling to power.

Therefore, most elderly officials would voluntarily retire to avoid being impeached by officials in the Ministry of Personnel or being charged with dishonorable crimes during the imperial examination.

Most people who are ill will voluntarily retire and go home to rest for a few years.

They also didn't want to be eliminated in the imperial examination and never have the chance to be reinstated.

Those who need to be eliminated in the name of "illness" are those who spend too much time recuperating but are reluctant to leave.

During the Wanli period, some people who were dismissed from office during the Beijing inspection were reinstated, which gave some people a sense of luck.

This time the purpose is to re-establish authority and make those old and sick officials resign voluntarily in the future.

It can be said that the standards for old age, illness, greed and cruelty are relatively clear, and these people are the first to be eliminated.

The standards for the four categories of being weak and inactive, being careless in conduct, being impetuous and shallow, and being incapable of talent and ability are not so clear.

Therefore, the emperor proposed the four dimensions of "propriety, righteousness, integrity and shame", and defined the last item "shame" as self-criticism and criticizing others.

Everyone must conduct self-evaluation as a reference during the imperial examination.

At the same time, you should also list three officials that you admire or despise, and their deeds.

Those who are praised more are likely to be promoted, while those who are criticized more will be subject to separate trials.

At this time, Han Yilian was reviewing a much-criticized official, Li Ruolin, the reviewer of the Hanlin Academy.

Han Yiliang looked at Li Ruolin's materials and asked:

"Li reviewed himself in all four dimensions of propriety, righteousness, integrity and shame, and he gave himself excellent evaluations."

"But other officials in the Hanlin Academy have different opinions on this."

"I have been ordered to investigate. I hope Li will answer truthfully."

Li Ruolin did not expect that she would be summoned to the Anti-Corruption Bureau. She said calmly:

"Censor Han, please feel free to inquire."

"I am upright and I am not afraid of my own shadow."

Han Yilian said "Oh" without any comment.

Instead, he reminded Li Ruolin:
"Li Jiantao once served as a attendant to the emperor, and his native place was Shanglinyuanjian in Shuntian Prefecture, so he belonged to the inner court."

"So this interrogation will be supervised by the Royal Guards."

"Does Li have any objection?"

Of course Li Ruolin didn't dare to object. After he signed and confirmed, the interrogation officially began.

Han Yiliang asked:

"Among the criticisms of officials, Li Jiantao was mentioned many times. Is it true that a shrine to Wei Zhongxian was built in the Shanglinyuan Aboriginal Education Office?"

"Is this true?"

Li Ruolin did not deny it and responded to Han Yiliang:

"The affairs of the Aboriginal Education Bureau's ancestral temple are presided over by Zhang Yongzuo, the Supervisor of Shanglin Garden."

"The matter has already been decided in the previous trial of the rebellion case."

"I was assigned the sixth rank, and was dismissed from my concurrent post as a palace attendant, but was stripped of my official duties and allowed to remain in office."

"Censor Han should have seen it in my resume. Do you have any different opinions on Han Xueshi's judgment?"

The trial of the rebellion case was presided over by Han Yu.

The gift money case that Han Yilian had previously brought up was to expose the fact that Han Yu’s relatives and friends had accepted gift money in order to exonerate some eunuch party members.

This caused Han Yu to lose his reputation in the court and the country, and the emperor asked him to re-determine the list.

Now that Li Ruolin brought up this matter, it was obviously an attempt to instigate others to believe that Han Yiliang was dissatisfied with Han Yu continuing to preside over the trial of the rebellion case.

Han Yilian frowned and was very dissatisfied with Li Ruolin's provocation.

But he did not dwell on this matter, staring at Li Ruolin and asking:

"Who is the main culprit of the Shanglinyuan Jiansheng Temple? It will be judged by Han Xueshi and others."

"The reason I summoned you is because more than one person mentioned that you embezzled money from the construction of the ancestral temple and took advantage of the opportunity to make a lot of money."

"Moreover, the court's request for donations to the mausoleum to atone for sins was not fully followed."

"What do you have to say about this? What words of defense do you have?"

As he spoke, he showed Li Ruolin a series of critical documents and the Investigation Bureau's investigation into the relevant situation.

He was asked to give an explanation for the corruption he had committed.

When Li Ruolin saw these documents, her face suddenly fell.

Because he could totally guess who wrote these critical documents.

After all, he had offended quite a few people, and some people had collected negative information about him.

Why don't those people write him to death while they have the opportunity to criticize them during this imperial inspection?
All the things that he did in the past to deceive his superiors and hide them from his subordinates were exposed this time.

No matter how good his writing and eloquence are, he can't justify such a thing.

So he then shouted "I want to see His Majesty" without saying anything else -

He hoped that the emperor would give him a chance to be forgiven because his origin belonged to the inner court.

Han Yilian had seen many such officials who resisted stubbornly, and he was not moved at all.

After signing with the Jinyiwei supervisor, Li Ruolin was taken away.

There are still many officials to be investigated, many of whom have committed the same crime as Li Ruolin.

He embezzled money while building a temple for Wei Zhongxian and took the opportunity to amass wealth.

They thought that the emperor would not pursue the matter any further after Wei Zhongxian fell, but unexpectedly, many people were reported during this Beijing inspection.

There was a similar case at the local level, that is, Li Yangchong, the governor of Shanxi. After Wu Shangmo reported it, the emperor purged the entire Shanxi officialdom.

Their misfortune was naturally inseparable from the promotion of the Donglin Party.

Many Donglin Party members were still dissatisfied because the emperor demoted or even retained the eunuch party's accomplices.

Therefore, the criticisms raised during this imperial inspection were used by these people to expose the crimes of the remaining eunuch party members.

Most of the remaining eunuchs who had previously been attached to Wei Zhongxian had flaws in their conduct, so many of those who had been retained were removed this time.

In order to prevent this trend from spreading, Zhu Youjian had to issue an order, according to the ancient saying "three people walking together must have one who can be my teacher", stipulating that each person can only praise and criticize three people, including superiors, peers and subordinates, and put restrictions on criticism -

This should prevent some officials from mistaking criticism documents for accusations and accusing a large number of officials based on rumors. (End of this chapter)