Travel through the Qing Dynasty and become emperor

Chapter 456
Seeing that it was the end of the year, when a gust of north wind blew, it also brought the cold air of winter. The green trees on both sides of Chang'an Avenue changed color overnight, just as the so-called westerly wind withered the trees overnight.

During this period of time, not only did the city of Beijing not become desolate due to the cold, but it was now the busiest time of the year. There was still some time before the Chinese New Year, but the city of Beijing had already become lively ahead of time.The reason is that this is the time of the year when officials from all over the world come to Beijing to report on their work.

The gates of the Ministry of Personnel of the Empire are overcrowded all day long. After arriving in Beijing, the officials from all over the border must first go to the Ministry of Personnel to accept a one-year performance assessment. The assessment items are mainly divided into five parts: morality, ability, diligence, performance, and integrity. , the main assessment of the political integrity of officials, and the moral cultivation of officials; ability, the main assessment of the ability of officials to handle tasks; diligence, the main assessment of the degree of diligence of officials; This item is jointly carried out by the Ministry of Personnel and the Suzheng Office.

This evaluation system for officials was organized by the Ministry of Personnel personally instructed by Guan Xuqing after the World War. It has achieved remarkable results since it was implemented for a year. Many officials with both ability and political integrity were selected from officials from all over the country to serve in various ministries of the empire. To a large extent, it made up for the gap in the age group of officials, and at the same time eliminated many corrupt, dirty, and mediocre officials who fished in troubled waters in officialdom.However, this system is still in its infancy, and many aspects are still immature. In order to get good grades in the assessment, many officials will not hesitate to ask the people for Wanmin umbrellas and Wanmin flags, or forge people's eulogy certificates, and even try their best Running up and down in the officialdom, get a good official reputation from colleagues and subordinates.All of a sudden, the personnel department became the fattest vacancy in the empire. Even an ordinary shift worker was given gifts by foreign officials. Lin Xu, the head of the personnel department, hated this, and repeatedly punished the personnel working in the personnel department. There are still many people who are constantly being dragged into the water in the face of money and beauty.The reason why Wang Zhixin was not found in the assessment at the beginning was because he had been in official circles in Beijing for many years and was well versed in the ways of officialdom. The connections are extremely well-connected, and there is a little bit of turbulence, and the situation is resolved before it even happens.

During this period of time, there were so many officials visiting Lin Xu every day. People wanted to express their hard work in front of the Minister of Personnel before the assessment, but no one came empty-handed. Sometimes someone gave naked gold, silver and jewelry, but Lin Xu flatly refused, and even recorded the list of bribed officials and handed it over to the Suzheng Office for handling.Later, the officials racked their brains and dared not send money, so they changed it to send calligraphy and paintings of celebrities, or famous products from their hometown. What's more, an official surnamed Li in Zhejiang was a classmate of Lin Xu, and this official never gave money. , Second, don’t give anything away, and invite Lin Xu to the painting boat on the Yongding River in Jingdong with the affection of classmates. The two chatted while drinking. Yi, also found a few Qinhuai singers to play with their colorful clothes and poses in front of Lin Xu.When the two of them were drunk, the official surnamed Li coaxed and persuaded Lin Xu to have a good time with these singers tonight.Seeing that the momentum was wrong, Lin Xu walked away in a huff.Fortunately, this was the case, otherwise the official surnamed Li had already sent someone to prepare a camera. Once Lin Xu surrendered, he would immediately take pictures of his obscene scenes as a threat.

In short, in order to get good grades in the assessment, the officials who know they have a guilty conscience will do everything they can.Later, Lin Xu simply set a few rules for himself and his subordinates during the assessment period.First, no outsiders.Before and after the assessment, the staff of the personnel department were not allowed to meet with officials from other places who came to Beijing to report on their work, even if they were relatives or friends.Otherwise, it will be punished as cheating.Second, no alcohol is allowed during office hours.Although wine is a good thing, it can relieve worries and dispel sorrows, but how many people throughout the ages have lost their wisdom for the rest of their lives in order to covet this little thing in the glass, especially the evaluation of officials is an extremely serious matter, and it is absolutely not allowed Alcohol mishaps happen.Third, implement the wife pick-up system.It is stipulated that every official must be picked up by his wife who is in the house, and he must be strictly controlled by his wife.It turned out that during the assessment period, after the people in the personnel department left their posts, even though it was inconvenient for the foreign officials to meet with them alone, they saw the right time and sent someone to invite him directly to a certain restaurant, and sent a few Jiangnan beauties to accompany them to sing along. Spend a good night together, and finally these beauties will tell him who sent him. From the beginning to the end, the briber can get things done without showing his face.In this regard, Lin Xu racked his brains and finally came up with this last resort.

The above is a matter of assessment. After the assessment, the officials of the feudal borders will go to the palace to report directly to the emperor. The emperor will make a ruling based on the officials' report. The emperor's ruling and the assessment results of the personnel department are added together. It is the final evaluation results of the officials in the past year. Finally, they are sorted according to the grades from high to low. The top five will be promoted, and the imperial court will issue a national order to reward them. The bottom five will be downgraded and fined. The circumstances are serious. Those who were dismissed from office were investigated and dealt with.

The officials were already very troubled by the assessment by the Ministry of Personnel, and they were even more frightened when they reported their integrity to the emperor in person. They all knew that the emperor did not rub sand in his eyes, and it was impossible to give the emperor gifts and beauties. Take the knife.When you report on your duties, if you blindly talk about your achievements, the emperor will say that you are bragging, but if you talk too much about your shortcomings, it may cause the emperor's displeasure.The most difficult thing is to decide between the priorities.And this emperor is not easy to be fooled, the secrecy system is not blown out, sometimes an important matter is mixed with water, the emperor will know that you are cheating, and he can tell you the truth of the matter face to face Come out, speechless.Later, the officials gradually realized that before they came to report on their duties, the emperor already had a relatively comprehensive understanding of their political achievements.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs has always been responsible for the preparation and organization of the aforementioned posts. The original Ministry of Rites was abolished because it was no longer suitable for the establishment of a new institution.

"Whose turn is it next?" Guan Xuqing raised his head and asked Wang Shang.

"Back to the emperor, the next one is the governor of Singapore, Yuan Shikai."

Guan Xuqing raised his eyebrows: "Xuan Jin."

"Yuan Shikai goes to the palace to see you!" Wang Shang shouted.

Yuan Shikai wore a full-body official uniform, and under the leadership of the court officials, went to the Kowloon Danxi, "My minister Yuan Shikai kowtowed to my emperor, long live, long live, long live!"

"Get up."

"Thank you, Your Majesty." Yuan Shikai stood on the side of his head with his hands down, with an extremely respectful expression.

Guan Xuqing sized up Yuan Shikai. He hadn't seen him for a year. Yuan Shikai was fatter than before, and his forehead was shiny with oil. He looked very good, but although his eyes were not big, they were still radiant.

Next, Yuan Shikai made a statement to the emperor about the governance of Singapore in the past year, mainly including Singapore's people's governance, government officials, economic development, trade, military port construction, and Malacca's defense. The person who made this statement was seamless and leak-free, and analyzed the existing problems very thoroughly. Even Guan Xuqing found it difficult to find faults in this statement. It seems that Yuan Shikai must have made careful preparations in advance. preparation.

Guan Xuqing nodded and said: "Weiting, it seems that you really put your heart into it. If the officials of the empire are as conscientious and sincere as you are, I will have less trouble."

Yuan Shikai said respectfully: "It is the duty of a courtier to contribute to the country and share the worries of the emperor, and it is duty-bound to comfort the pavilion."

"I know that since you took office as the governor of Singapore, you have a very good official reputation and are quite loved by the local people. The Ministry of Personnel is also often praised by the people. It seems that I did not misunderstand you. Singapore is the gateway between Asia and the world. The southern part of the empire is exported to the Strait of Malacca, so I told you at the beginning that the governance of Singapore does not require much economic results, the most important thing is to maintain the stability there. If there are any difficulties, even if you tell me, I will give priority Consider your report."

"Thank you, Your Majesty, for your kindness." Yuan Shikai lowered his head, his eyes could not stop rolling, and he said after a long while: "Qi Zou, Your Majesty, everything else is fine, but His Majesty has repeatedly told you to build the Strait of Malacca into Asia's first defense." The project, but the money from the court is still a drop in the bucket, and the project has been postponed again and again, and I am also a little embarrassed about it."

"Has the money been transferred?" Guan Xuqing asked Finance Minister Li Zhen.

"Returning to the emperor, it was allocated at the end of last year, and 1000 million yuan is not a lot." Li Zhen replied.

"Oh, why did Weiting say that the money is too little? I asked you to make a proper plan and pay enough money. Could it be that you didn't do it?" Guan Xuqing deliberately emphasized his tone.

Li Zhen's heart trembled, and he hurriedly said: "Back to the emperor, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Military Affairs, and the Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources planned together, and sent people to the Strait of Malacca to conduct on-the-spot investigations and measurements. At most, it is 720 million yuan, but considering the importance of this project, it should be enough to raise the money to 1000 million yuan."

Yuan Shikai said angrily: "Master Li's words are wrong. You keep saying that you have done detailed calculations, but you are more on paper. As soon as the project starts, all kinds of countless manpower and material resources are spent. In order to ensure the quality of the project, we I rented a batch of large machinery from Germany, invited design experts from the United States, and the stones are also high-quality stones shipped from the mountains of Vietnam, why don’t you count these things in the money?”

"My lord Yuan, the imperial court has issued a decree that this project will be shared by the imperial court and your Governor-General's Office in Singapore. Moreover, the imperial court already has ample funds. The expenses you mentioned were not in the original plan at all. This is necessary." Li Zhen argued hard.

(End of this chapter)