Daming: I am the Crown Prince

Chapter 118 The Civil Servant Who Lost
Zhao Mian's sophistry seemed to have little meaning at this time, because many things were destined to happen.

Old Zhu looked down at Zhao Mian with a grim look in his eyes, "You said you didn't ask for a bribe, could it be that the Crown Prince wronged you?"

The dignified minister did not have his usual composure at this moment, and said in fear, "I dare not!"

The murderous intent in Old Zhu's eyes was undisguised. "You call yourself a criminal. It seems that you know the laws of the court! Very well, I will entrust you with an important task, let you take charge of a department, and let you preside over the imperial examination. Is this how you repay me?"

Zhao Mian kowtowed and said, "I deserve to die!"

Old Zhu snorted coldly and said, "Suppress it. Let the Northern Pacification Office preside over the trial! If anyone is dissatisfied, they can go to the trial!"

All the civil and military officials were kneeling on the ground at this moment. No one dared to speak for Zhao Mian. They suddenly felt familiar. The one in front of them was the real Hongwu Emperor.

Even though the emperor seemed to be lacking in energy in the past year, when this supreme ruler on earth became angry, all the officials were extremely trembling with fear, and the fear in their bones instantly overwhelmed them.

Zhao Mian felt weak all over. The Northern Pacification Division was the territory of the Crown Prince and was now in charge of Zhaoyu.

It is hard to avoid being tortured if you enter the prison. The death penalty is inevitable, but you will definitely be tortured before death.

Old Zhu then stared at Liu Sanwu and asked directly, "You have always had a good reputation, and you were once respected as the Third Elder. You are good, but your own son-in-law is corrupt and perverts the law. How can you stand in the court? How can you lead the scholars?"

Liu Sanwu, who is nearly 80 years old, said tremblingly, "I am guilty!"

The furious Hongwu Emperor was terrifying, and almost no one dared to offend his majesty at this time.

But there were some who dared, such as Zhu Yunhuan, the crown prince, who said, "I would like to report to your majesty, Grandfather, that although the offending official Liu Sanwu has committed a serious crime, he can be exiled to the army because of his old age!"

Liu Sanwu couldn't help but tremble even more. This Crown Prince was not much better. He was cruel and ruthless in his bones.

Liu Sanwu and Zhao Mian, the father-in-law and son-in-law, have been disgraced, but the Crown Prince still wants to squeeze out the last bit of value.

Zhao Mian, the Shangshu, must have been executed according to the law, and Liu Sanwu was old after all, so it seemed like a mercy of the Crown Prince that he was not directly executed. However, an old man of nearly 80 years old was exiled to the frontier. Not to mention whether he could endure the bitter cold of the frontier, even whether he could make it was another matter.

As long as he was not killed outright, Zhu Yunhuan, the crown prince, could gain a good reputation for respecting the elderly, especially among the literati.

Old Zhu nodded with satisfaction and said, "What the prince said is very true. Although the offender has committed a serious crime, he is exiled to the army because of his old age."

No matter what the officials were thinking at this time, they were still shouting that the emperor was wise and the crown prince was kind.

Zhu Yunhuan continued, "Zhao Mian and Liu Sanwu's families were confiscated, their property was confiscated, and all the men and women were sent into exile."

Old Zhu looked unhappy and said, "Grandson, is it too heavy?"

Zhu Yunhuan looked very indignant, "Grandfather, I have found out that the Changshu scholar Lu Guanxiao took the exam under false pretenses. Before this, Zhao Mian, Liu Sanwu, Zhan Hui and others all selected him as the top scorer after grading the papers!"

Liu Sanwu, who had not been dragged away yet, could no longer hold on and collapsed to the ground.

And Zhan Hui was not much better off, he knew he was dead!

Zhu Yunhuan's words also caused an uproar in the court. The matter of impersonating someone could be serious or minor. If it was serious, it would not be excessive to execute him directly. If it was minor, it would naturally mean that he would be stripped of his official title.

But this time it was different. The imperial examination had already caused a great uproar. Now a scholar who pretended to be a native of a certain place was selected as the candidate for the imperial examination by the chief examiner and others. This was even more like mud falling into the crotch!

Old Zhu immediately glared at Liu Sanwu, Zhan Hui and others, and then looked at the trembling Ren Hengtai.

The Ministry of Rites, which normally is in charge of the imperial examinations, made such a big mistake. Even if Ren Hengtai was not the chief examiner, it would be reasonable for him to be implicated.

Old Zhu snorted coldly and said, "Well, no wonder this talent selection ceremony has caused dissatisfaction among scholars from both the north and the south!"

Looking at Zhan Hui, Lao Zhu asked directly, "Zhan Hui, what do you want to say?"

Zhan Hui cried and said, "I am guilty and I don't know. I hope Your Majesty will forgive me!"

Zhu was so angry that he laughed and said, "I'm afraid it would be better if our ministers and my court were all from the south! Would you be happy if they were all from Zhejiang? Well, you don't care about the Yanyun area, and you think that even the area north of Kaifeng is a barbarian land and can be abandoned!"

Old Zhu shouted and rebuked, "I have repeatedly ordered you to consider the overall situation and give you a break. You don't think about being loyal to the emperor and serving the country, you only think about you people in eastern Zhejiang and you people in the south, right?!"

All the civil and military officials once again asked His Majesty to calm down, but this time they also began to feel timid.

Zhu Yunhuan stepped forward again and said, "Grandfather, I think the north has just been recovered and the people want to return home. Although the northern scholars are indeed inferior to the southern scholars in terms of knowledge, their essays are not weak. I request that the imperial examinations be divided into two lists, the southern list and the northern list, with six out of ten candidates from the south and four out of ten from the north."

This is a good way to balance the two. It will not allow the southern civil servants to dominate, and will increase the proportion of northerners in the court. However, it also takes into account that the southern scholars have a higher level of reading, so the admission rate is higher. Old Zhu asked, "What is the south? What is the north? What about the northwest? What about the scholars in the southwest and Liaodong?"

Zhu Yunhuan said, "Grandfather, the imperial examination is to gather the best talents in the world. In the marginal and cold places, each prefecture also has provincial and academy examinations, and candidates can become officials."

It is indeed possible to have admissions based on provinces, but it doesn't have to be so rigid.

Zhu Yunhuan continued, "It is not easy for scholars in the cold and harsh border areas to enter school. We can ask the provincial schools in various places to recommend them to enter the Imperial Academy."

Old Zhu smiled and said that this was actually what the Ming Dynasty was doing. The Imperial College was not only for the children of civil and military officials, but also for outstanding students recommended from all over the country. The Imperial College also brought together the seeds of learning from all over the world.

Old Zhu said, "You will take care of this matter. You can discuss with the civil and military officials how to divide the north and south and the proportion of the records."

The two generations of grandparents and grandchildren sang the same tune, and the situation of having only one paper for the entire country was completely ended.

For now, there are the Southern List and the Northern List, and there may even be a Central List, etc.

Zhu Yunhuan did not stop there and continued, "Your Majesty, the six ministers in the court are all from the south, and most of the nine ministers and vice ministers are also from the south. I, your grandson, dare to ask your Majesty to issue an order that from now on, southerners will serve in the north and northerners will serve in the south."

The practice of serving in a different place was not a practice that only existed during the Ming Dynasty; it also existed during the Tang and Song dynasties.

This is also to prevent officials from abusing their hometown relatives to commit favoritism and corruption. Such a policy of regional avoidance of positions and the implementation of a policy of employment in a different place cannot be said to completely solve problems such as corruption, but it can indeed curb some trends.

It was an ordinary imperial examination, an imperial examination where some people hoped to gain fame for their integrity and fairness, but the situation changed in an instant.

For the southern civil service group, this was another huge blow after the Hu Weiyong case. All their previous joy and temptations were not only brought back to reality, but were even worse.

Last year, they seemed to have forced the emperor to fill the two vacant ministerial positions, but now two ministers have been lost at once. Moreover, they have been disgraced and punished as a warning to others.

Originally, I wanted to continue to absorb some fresh blood and further strengthen the power of the civil service group.

But they were quickly beaten up by the emperor and the crown prince, and it would be difficult for the southerners to continue to dominate the court in the future.

Let alone fighting the noble group, the fighting between southerners and northerners and so on may greatly consume the civil service group, not to mention fighting for power and profit with those nobles!
Old Zhu looked at Zhu Yunhuan and said, "You discuss this matter with the other ministers and report it to me after you draft it."

Chang Sheng, who was kneeling on the ground following the crowd, couldn't help laughing. The civil servants' misfortune had nothing to do with him.

He felt something was wrong throughout the whole last year. It seemed like his nephew was always bullied by the civil servants. Many times he wanted to take people to beat up those civil servants.

But look at it now, who among those civil servants dares to show his teeth?
The most important thing is the imperial examination and many subsequent matters that it caused. The emperor almost let the crown prince handle them all!
Old Zhu then asked, "There has been a lot of criticism about the selection of scholars this year. How can we solve it?"

Zhu Yunhuan glanced at the civil and military officials in the court and said calmly, "Sun Chen is willing to personally take charge of this matter and review it again with a group of talented and learned Hanlin scholars. When the list is posted, all tribute scholars will be on the same list, but both northern and southern scholars will be taken into consideration."

Old Zhu seemed dissatisfied and said, "I'm afraid this will be hard to convince people."

Zhu Yunhuan immediately said, "Sun Chen will personally take charge of the trial of the case in Zhaoyu, and post a notice to execute Zhan Hui and Zhao Mian in front of the court to calm the public anger and show the justice of the court!"

Absolute fairness obviously does not exist. Even the fate of Zhao Mian and Zhan Hui was determined by Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Yunhuan before last year.

However, Zhu Yunhuan will not be merciful. He now feels that politics is sometimes quite dirty!

Old Zhu waved his hand and said, "Drag the criminal official away!"

Just as the guards entered the palace, Zhu Yunhuan walked up to Zhan Hui and whispered, "I said, I swear to kill you!"

Zhan Hui suddenly looked up. Even though Zhu Yunhuan was smiling, Zhan Hui felt as if he had fallen into an icy cave. This was what he said when he first met the Crown Prince two years ago!

Watching Zhan Hui and others being dragged away, Zhu Yunhu continued, "Grandfather, this imperial examination was a mess, and many mistakes were made. The Minister of Rites should be fined, and all officials should be rated as low in the evaluation of the Ministry of Personnel, and they will not be allowed to be promoted for three years."

Ren Hengtai and others were about to cry, but they were also thankful. They were only fined and their careers were frustrated, but they were still alive.

After Zhu Yuanzhang's permission, Zhu Yunhu continued, "Not many students from the Imperial College passed the exam this time. I, Sun Chen, would like to ask the imperial consort Mei Yin to take charge of the Imperial College to correct the style of the scholars in the world!"

The civil servants were even more devastated. The Minister of Personnel was gone, and the power to appoint and dismiss civil servants was taken away directly by the emperor.

Now, the Imperial College is directly controlled by the royal family’s relatives.

The civil servants really lost miserably in this imperial examination!
(End of this chapter)