Datang: What's wrong with my fief being a billion points larger?

Chang'an, inside the Taiji Palace.

Li Yuanji was discussing state affairs with Cen Wenben, Wei Ting, Wang Gui, Wei Zheng, Wei Siyan and others.

"You said that many people in the court submitted letters of resignation, and some even left without approval?"

Li Yuanji looked at Cen Wenben and nodded heavily, and he was immediately happy.

Cen Benwen and others were worried about this problem, but he was not that worried. The world is so big that if we leave these big families, there will be no one left to use.

“Since they want to resign, then let’s all agree to it. After all, this king is very open-minded.

As for those who resigned without permission, let the world know that no one in their family will be allowed to enter the government or engage in business within three generations!
Don’t they want to retire? Then let them not leave the local county town within three generations!”

Li Yuanji looked fierce, trying to scare him? He thought he could force him to surrender in this way?

These people are just dreaming. Li Yuanji got through such difficult times, so why is he still worried about these people now?

It just so happened that all these people had left, saving him from having to think about how to get rid of some of the people inside. Now, he doesn't have to worry about it anymore.

When Cen Wenben heard this, he was shocked and relieved.

He was shocked by Li Yuanji's generosity, but relieved because this was the king he was familiar with, who would not be threatened by anyone.

Now they have already torn their relations with those aristocratic families. Rebellions have broken out in many places, and many members of the Five Surnames and Seven Clans have been killed by them. Almost every time a rebellion is quelled, all the aristocratic families involved are not spared and are all beheaded.

Even in other places, especially the clan areas of the Five Surnames and Seven Aristocrats, no matter it was the so-called Cui family, or the Wang family, the Lu family, etc., almost every family sent out several branches to be killed by Li Yuanji.

This time the rebellion organized by the aristocratic families did not cause any waves at all and was completely quelled, and the aristocratic families could be said to have suffered serious damage.

Now these people did not dare to continue their rebellion, because not only did no one support them, they were also afraid of being killed, because Li Yuanji was really going to kill them.

“Your Majesty, if you agree to these people’s resignation, then the number of officials on the list will be less than 30%.

I suggest that officials should be transferred from various prefectures in Lingnan, and students should be selected from colleges and universities and directly arranged to serve in local government.

Only in this way can we alleviate the problem of official shortages in various places, and we can only alleviate it. It is not enough to completely solve the problem of official shortages. "

Li Yuanji nodded. What Cen Wenben said was all true. This was the sequelae of the aristocratic families collectively resigning from their posts and using soft weapons against him. Without officials to govern the places, the world would only be in chaos.

But even so, Li Yuanji never thought of reconciling with those aristocratic families.

At this point, if he backs down or chooses to reconcile, it will only make these aristocratic families more rampant and embolden those people, which is something Li Yuanji does not want to see.

"How long is left until the scheduled date of enthronement?"

"Your Majesty, there is still one month left and all preparations have been completed.

In addition, Xi Junmai and Ning Chun have already started to return and will arrive in Chang'an in half a month."

Cen Wenben was very confused. It seemed that they were talking about the shortage of officials in the local government and the court. How did they jump to the topic of ascending the throne?

Cen Wenben did not ask any more questions. In his opinion, Li Yuanji must have his reasons for doing so, and he only needed to do what he was supposed to do.

Li Yuanji thought for a moment, then looked at Cen Wenben solemnly.

"There are a few things you need to remember and go down to arrange them.

All the yamen runners in various places will be injured soldiers. Their treatment will remain the same as in Lingnan and cannot be changed.

If there are not enough, young and strong people will be selected from the people coming from Lingnan to fill the yamen runners at all levels.

As for what you said, we will mobilize officials from Lingnan and arrange for students from the academy to enter the government, and start implementing it at the same time.

Chongyuan, you must help Jingren complete this matter."

Cen Wenben was taking notes on the side, and Kong Yingda stood up immediately.

"Yes, Your Majesty, I will cooperate with Prime Minister Cen to settle this matter as soon as possible."

Li Yuanji nodded and looked at Cen Wenben again.

"There is one more thing. Be prepared in advance. After I ascend the throne, I will issue an imperial edict. I will hold a grand imperial examination and invite students from all over the world. No matter if they are from aristocratic or poor family, as long as they are not restricted and are not from one of the five surnames or seven noble families, they can participate.

This imperial examination is only for selecting the right talents. I will personally supervise the examination. All the results will be fair, just and open. Whether you can succeed or not depends entirely on your personal ability!"

The Five Surnames and Seven Aristocrats are indeed very powerful and control too many resources, but that does not mean that they can represent the world.

In this world, there are still small aristocratic families and students from poor families. Now his signal is very clear. The Five Surnames and Seven Families are no longer what they used to be. No one will really be willing to follow them to die.

Now that the Five Surnames and Seven Aristocrats and some other big families have left, it is a perfect time for them to enter. With so many fewer people competing with them, what else can this be but an opportunity?
What he has to do now is to stabilize the world as soon as possible. As long as the world is stable, great talents will naturally emerge. Li Yuanji is not in a hurry at all because there is no need to rush.

Li Yuanji will take this imperial examination as a benchmark, because this imperial examination will be the most important way to enter the officialdom in the Tang Dynasty in the future. It will also become the hope of everyone in the world. No matter if you are from an aristocratic family, a poor family, or a commoner, everyone will have a chance.

Cen Wenben and others were shocked when they heard this. The imperial examination system had already existed during the early Sui Dynasty, but it was not perfected under Yang Guang. It could be said that it had not yet been implemented on a large scale. Now that Li Yuanji was holding the imperial examination on such a large scale, everyone knew that this imperial examination would inevitably become an important way to enter officialdom in the future.

As for opposition, no one thought about it. Even if some of them came from big families, they had already left the family and could be said to be one person supporting an entire family.

As for the others, their families are very small or even poor. In addition, given the policies Li Yuanji is implementing now, what else do they have to object to?

Not only did they not object, but they were all very happy because after this imperial examination, they would be able to select many people to enter the officialdom and fill the shortage of officials in the court and local areas.

"Your Majesty, I agree."

Several people agreed without any hesitation.

After this matter was settled, Kong Yingda immediately stood up. "Your Majesty, I have something to ask you. I would like to ask Your Majesty to open academies in various parts of the Tang Dynasty and complete the division of various places in the Tang Dynasty as soon as possible, and set up prefectural and state schools.

In this way, after a few years, the imperial examination system implemented by the king will surely reach its peak. Students from all over the world will not only meet the needs of the court and the local areas, but also cultivate more talents for the king. I hope the king will approve it. "

Kong Yingda's words were both righteous and selfish.

Li Yuanji saw this point very clearly. He had to promote the academy. Since the imperial examination system was to be implemented, it could not only be in form, but had to be thoroughly established.

In order to fully form it, the academy system will be indispensable, and it must be established in all parts of the Tang Dynasty.

The reason why Kong Yingda was so active was simply that the mainstream of the academy was still based on Confucian knowledge and thought. The promotion of the academy would also push Confucianism to its peak again. As a descendant of Confucius, Kong Yingda's reputation would reach its peak once he completed his studies.

But Li Yuanji did not object to this kind of selfishness. Everyone has selfishness, and he could understand it. As long as it was done and completed based on his general direction, he could accept a little selfishness.

"Chongyuan said it very well. The academy must be promoted throughout the Tang Dynasty. Jingren, you and Chongyuan should work together to formulate the plan, and then give the memorial to this king.

The work of demarcating prefectures should also be completed as soon as possible, with priority given to establishing prefectural schools. The establishment of state schools should be slowed down for the time being. The Ministry of Education should work out a plan as soon as possible for the establishment of prefectural colleges.

In addition, Jingren, you have to pay special attention. Not only colleges, but also factories should be established in various prefectures and states. In addition to retaining some of the original factories in Lingnan, factories should be developed in all parts of the Tang Dynasty.

In particular, departments such as the Firearms Bureau, Ironware Bureau, and Shipping Bureau must be expanded as quickly as possible to meet demand as soon as possible.

At the same time, the promotion of cars and trains should also be put on the agenda, and the construction of roads and railways should be gradually carried out.

You all need to work hard on these things and come up with a plan as soon as possible, starting from Chang'an, and lay out these as soon as possible."

As Li Yuanji arranged all these matters and Cen Wenben and others were put in place, officials from all over the country began to fill the positions in an orderly manner. Although there was still a large shortage of staff, at least the redistribution of land, local resettlement and governance, and the areas that had been stopped, began to restart one after another.

In Chang'an City, everyone was starting to prepare for Li Yuanji's enthronement.

One month passed quickly.

In 635 AD, Li Yuanji officially ascended the throne in Chang'an and proclaimed himself emperor, changing the reign title to Kaiping. Therefore, 635 AD was the first year of Kaiping, and the day he proclaimed himself emperor was the first day of the first lunar month of the first year of Kaiping.

On the day of his accession to the throne, Li Yuanji canonized Yang Qingwan as the Empress of Tang, Wei Gui as the Imperial Concubine, and Wu Mei and Wu Shun as concubines.

The eldest son, Li Chengye, was named Crown Prince.

Xie Shufang, Su Dingfang, Liu Rengui, Xi Junmai, Wei Yunqi, Feng Ang, Cen Wenben, Wang Xuance, Ning Chun, Wei Ting, as well as Liu San, Duan Shilin, Zheng Yangping, Liu Mingsheng and others were conferred the title of Duke.

Yu Minghe, Xue Wanche, Feng Li, Songtsen Gampo, Tan Dian, Li Xiang, Lin Quan, Yang Jianhe, Yuwen Bao, Wei Ting, Feng Zhiqian, Wang Gui, Wei Zheng, Kong Yingda, Wei Siyan, Yang Cheng and others were conferred the title of marquis.

Among them, eighteen people from the Firearms Bureau, Ironware Bureau, and Navigation Bureau were conferred the title of marquis.

After the ceremony was completed, Li Yuanji summoned all the ministers to the Taiji Palace.

"See Your Majesty."

"Everyone is safe."

Li Yuanji sat on the dragon throne, looked at the excited people below, and spoke slowly.

"Today I will hold a military review outside the palace. Please follow me."

A group of people marched towards the palace gate in a mighty procession. Among this group of people were people from many small countries in the surrounding areas. However, these small countries had all become one of the prefectures of the Tang Dynasty. These people were all officials of the Tang Dynasty, not envoys, and there was no such thing as tribute.

Outside the palace gate, the army was well-organized, yet murderous, and they passed through the palace gate one by one in formation. Everyone felt extremely proud of the military might they saw.

At the side, there was a special person holding a newly developed loudspeaker and introducing that the armies being inspected were all equipped with firearms, and each of them had different records of destroying countries.

When the military parade was over, the people watching outside the palace knelt down and saluted Li Yuanji, wishing him and the Tang Dynasty longevity. At the same time, they took out the statue of Li Yuanji that had been carved long ago, and with the help of a large number of young and strong people, they slowly stood it up outside the palace gate.

Almost all of these people migrated from Lingnan. After they migrated here, Li Yuanji gave them extremely generous treatment and almost all of them were settled in and around Chang'an. As for the people originally from Chang'an, they migrated outward.

Li Yuanji showed great mercy to the people who were willing to follow him.

These people have such a high status in Chang'an City that the officials under them cannot afford to offend them. If any official dares to do things as they did before, these people will teach them a lesson. It is almost as if everyone is supervising the officials in Chang'an in their work.

Ever since these people entered Chang'an, the public security in Chang'an has been very good. No one dared to make trouble in front of these people, because no matter who made trouble, they would be caught and beaten.

Li Yuanji was deeply moved when he saw this scene. These were not arranged by him. He knew that it should be Cen Wenben and others who gave the guidance. But he could achieve this because the people really supported him.

Finally, a statue of Li Yuanji also appeared in Chang'an City, standing outside the palace just like the one in Haikang.

After becoming emperor, Li Yuanji focused on the governance of the Tang Dynasty. At the same time, the first real imperial examination in the Tang Dynasty was officially launched.

When the imperial edict was reported in the newspapers, the whole country was in an uproar, and students from all over the country began to take the preliminary examinations in the places designated by the court.

The preliminary examination was planned throughout by the Ministry of Education and supervised by the Censorate. The examination papers were delivered by the Embroidered Uniform Guards, and the examination papers were marked with the supervision of the Embroidered Uniform Guards, which completely established the fairness of the preliminary examination.

After the preliminary examination, those who passed the examination began to set off for Chang'an to prepare for the real examination.

At the same time as the imperial examination began, spring ploughing began simultaneously. In order to ensure spring ploughing, Li Yuanji directly dispatched 150,000 troops to assist the people in spring ploughing in various places. At the same time, military settlements were carried out and hybrid rice, corn and other crops were fully promoted. Cotton and other crops began to be gradually planted in the north.

In Chang'an, the construction of railways and roads also began to be put on the agenda. The first thing to start was the construction of the railway leading to the surrounding areas.

In order to ensure the construction of the railway, Li Yuanji specially exchanged the railway construction essentials, but they were only essentials because they were expensive and he did not have enough contribution points.

At the same time, business exchanges between the Tang Dynasty and the prefectures that were originally Li Yuanji's fiefdoms began to run normally, and ships on the sea continued to transport supplies needed from various places. Especially in Luzhou Prefecture, Songzhou Prefecture, and Nanzhou Prefecture, which were Li Yuanji's grain storage areas, they had the most ships coming and going.

All parts of the country were recovering in an orderly manner. However, the Five Surnames and Seven Families, as well as those aristocratic families, especially those who resigned from their posts without permission, who were watching this scene, began to panic.

These people were unwilling to withdraw and took the initiative to contact Li Yuanji to request to enter again. (End of this chapter)