Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

Zhang Gen sat silently in the "Human Officials Division" yamen, watching the chaotic situation here. Sometimes he didn't like it and wanted to help.

Zhu Guoxiang's official reform was still in the exploratory stage. In particular, increasing the salary of subordinate staff is a bit unrealistic in Zhang Gen's opinion, but it seems that it can be tried.

Mid-level and senior officials in the Song Dynasty needed to take exams, which were similar to the civil servant exams in later generations.

There has been a quota limit from the beginning. Those who have been established are called officials with official names, while those who are waiting to be admitted are called officials who are keeping vacancies, posting books, studying, private names, department names, etc.

Since Wang Anshi's reform, officials with official establishments have been paid wages.

Initially, only officials in key departments could receive wages. Yuanfeng's restructuring expanded the scope of officials who could receive wages. Now, Zhu Guoxiang has expanded the scale of "paid officials" again.

The finances may not be able to bear it!

Due to the reduction of exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes, although the official tax remains unchanged and although subordinate officials still earn gray income, this year's autumn grain collection went very smoothly.

One month after the autumn harvest, 80% of the tax amount had been completed, and Zhu Guoxiang began to preside over the examination.

Officials in various states and counties purge redundant officials according to government orders. Those who are eliminated can take the exam locally, and those who pass will gather in Hanzhong and Zhu Guoxiang will preside over the re-examination.

Officials who are proud of their talents can also voluntarily resign and directly participate in the re-examination process. Civilians can also sign up to participate on their own.

Qualified people will be sent to the newly occupied territories as senior officials. Among them, a very small number of outstanding ones were able to skip the subordinate level and be immediately granted official positions.

On the day of the exam, dozens of spectators came to watch.

The Song Dynasty also had to examine officials, but they were all conducted locally. It never happened that the examinations were conducted together. This was very similar to the imperial examination.

However, the scope of the examination clearly stated that it did not include Confucian classics.

There were about four hundred officials sitting in the Gongyuan examination room anxiously, and observers took the initiative to serve as examiners.

"The subordinate officials paying tribute to the courtyard are the most embarrassing thing in the world." Liu Huiyuan said sarcastically.

Xu Fuyan said: "I took the exam before, and I take the exam now, but the exam location is different."

Liu Yao said: "It seems that even in Hanzhong, there are not many scholars who are thieves. The Zhu thieves want to select the outstanding ones from the subordinate staff for official positions. This is an unusual and temporary measure and will not form a system."

The test questions were announced on the spot:

An official was walking and reciting: "The first question is, A stole B's money, and he got the stolen goods as well. B did not send A to the official, and ordered his servants C and D to kill five members of A's family and throw their bodies into the river, but the bodies were not found. Basis "Song Xingtong", please try writing the verdict!"

The first three questions were all about judiciary, followed by two questions each on official document writing, arithmetic, water conservancy, and famine relief. The last question actually asked officials to write policy papers.

Zhang Gen stood up and inspected the examination room, quietly observing the answering situation.

The standard answer to the first question is: Killing more than three people in a family, which is not a capital crime, is one of the ten heinous crimes. According to the law, all the members of the family must be beheaded, regardless of the crime, and no fine of copper is allowed to atone for the crime. His wife was exiled two thousand miles. However, since there are no bones left, an autopsy cannot be used as evidence, and the case must be submitted to the emperor for personal judgment, or for review by an official appointed by the emperor.

Zhang Gen went around in a circle. For such a simple question, nearly half of the officials answered incorrectly. These guys probably have never read "Song Xingtong".

"Sure enough, we still need to rely on scholars to govern the people." Zhang Gen shook his head and sighed.

Dozens of political observers followed Zhang Gen's example and made the "candidates" nervous and there was no possibility of cheating.

Everyone walked around for a while, all suppressing laughter. Some of the answers were too outrageous.

At noon, meals are arranged uniformly and brought directly to the examination room.

At around two o'clock in the afternoon, an old official handed in his paper in advance.

"Wait, don't leave." Zhu Guoxiang started marking the papers on the spot.

All the previous questions were answered extremely well.

The content of the policy discussion is to discuss the policy mistakes of Song Huizong.

This old official's literary talent is average, even simple and vulgar, and he doesn't talk much.

He just listed various data, the income of households in the first, second, third, fourth and fifth grades, the income of the people in the city and the income of the people in the countryside, and then compared the tax amount of the court, the corruption of officials, and the losses during transportation. Then it was concluded that by continuing to collect taxes like this, the third-class households would no longer be able to make ends meet, and the fourth- and fifth-class households would have to borrow usury to make a living.

"Xue Fang?" Zhu Guoxiang looked at the name on the test paper.

The old official hurriedly came forward and bowed: "This is my humble duty."

Zhu Guoxiang said: "Briefly introduce yourself."

Xue Fang said: "My name is Xue Fang. I have no words. I am fifty-two years old this year. Three generations of my ancestors have been officials in Xicheng. I have been working as a household record clerk in Xicheng for seventeen years. I recently resigned from my job and came to Hanzhong to take the exam. a future.”

Zhu Guoxiang said: "When Bazhou is defeated and the fighting stops for a while, you can become the governor of Bazhou."

Xue Fang was stunned for a moment, thinking that she heard wrongly, and just stood there stupidly.

"Why, do you think the official is too young?" Zhu Guoxiang asked with a smile.

Xue Fang suddenly knelt down and kowtowed, shouting: "My husband is my reborn parent, and my life will be given to my husband from now on. I, I... I... will devote my whole life to death!"

As he spoke, he burst into tears.

Zhu Guoxiang asked: "Are there any grandchildren at home? Those in their teens."

Xue Fang said: "I have two grandchildren, one is seventeen and the other is fourteen."

Zhu Guoxiang said: "Choose a smart person to come to my shogunate to obey orders and do things. When you go to Bazhou, your top priority is to govern the people, and you can no longer behave like a subordinate official."

Xue Fang was so excited that she shouted: "Long live, long live, long live!"

Xue Fang knelt down, which had attracted the attention of many people. At this moment, the three shouts of long live made many people change their expressions, and many people also cast envious looks.

Although I don't know what kind of errand Xue Fang received, it is definitely not trivial.

Zhu Guoxiang called the officials: "Give Mr. Xue a seat."

Xue Fang, who was over 50 years old, just sat next to Zhu Guoxiang, ushering in the highlight moment of her life.

The goal of the three generations of his ancestors and grandchildren was nothing more than to become a high-ranking official. The title of chief bookkeeper and county captain was already their extravagant hope. But he didn't expect that after spending most of his life doing nothing, he would suddenly be promoted to the magistrate, and his grandson would be able to be one of Zhu Xianggong's sidekicks.

Xue Fang sat straight on the chair, her old face exuding an inexplicable brilliance, and her tears couldn't stop flowing down her wrinkles.

From now on, whatever Mr. Zhu asked him to do, he would do it to the death. Even if the officers and soldiers came to kill him, he would risk his life.

With a role model, the second person will soon hand in the paper.

The second test paper was much inferior. Zhu Guoxiang asked about the situation and there was no official position arranged for the time being.

Zhu Guoxiang personally graded all the papers. It took him several days to mark hundreds of answer papers and classify them into five grades according to their scores.

In the first class, there is only one person appointed as the magistrate.

The second class, with a total of six people, was appointed as county magistrate.

The third class, with a total of twenty-two people, was appointed as the chief register.

The fourth class, with a total of sixty-seven people, was appointed as senior officials.

The fifth class, which is the remaining part, can only be ordinary officials.

Li Bao's troops went south from Micang Road without many civilians around them. Everyone who participated in the exam this time was thrown into the territory established by Li Bao.

All the answer sheets of candidates above the chief register were posted by Zhu Guoxiang for public notice.

Many scholars who came to Hanzhong to observe the wind direction became agitated when they saw the answer sheets.

Xue Fang's answer sheet is too unique and difficult to evaluate.

However, the answer papers written by the county magistrates and chief clerks were mediocre, and the Han Zhong scholars felt that they were not as good as themselves.

If you take the exam yourself, you will at least be a master bookkeeper!

One after another, dozens of scholars ran to Zhu Guoxiang's mansion to ask for an audience. They didn't care whether they were thieves or not. They wanted to become officials first anyway. It was too difficult to pass the Jinshi exam in the Song Dynasty.

Zhu Guoxiang ignored these people for half a month and finally announced an additional try.

The participants in this exam were all serious scholars, and their quality was obviously much better than that of the subordinate candidates. But there are also weak links, such as "rescuing famine" and other practical work. The answers of scholars are generally not as good as those of subordinate officials.

Based on the examination results, Zhu Guoxiang appointed one more prefecture magistrate, seven county magistrates and fifteen chief registrars.

When the answer sheet was posted again, more scholars were itchy, but they were worried about the identity of the rebels and could not make a decision. They kept comforting themselves that they could wait and see.

Observers are freer and have been allowed to wander around the city.

Since Zhang Gen and Taixue's property was not confiscated and confiscated, they often went to restaurants to have banquets.

Xu Fuyan and others specially drank wine. The guy shook his head and sighed: "Although the officials selected in the two examinations are mixed, good and bad, they can barely be used as state and county officials. Zhu Thief is different from Fang La. He has officials and officials available. Moreover, by getting rid of redundant officials, redundant expenses and accumulated abuses, I am afraid that the government can be managed better than the Song Dynasty. Fang La suddenly gained power, and there are not many serious officials, so naturally it will not last long. Alas, it is difficult to eradicate the red thieves!"

Fu Xingzhong remained silent, and the two exams further strengthened his determination to surrender to the thieves.

Although the Fu family has been an official for generations, it has already declined compared to its heyday. His family rose rapidly by betting on the new dynasty and produced three queens in a row. Now it seems that they are really going to bet again.

Moreover, Fu Xingzhong is more courageous than Gao Jingshan and is not afraid of harming the family at all.

Anyway, the emperor didn't dare to do anything to the Fu family. At most, he would be demoted, and the Fu family currently didn't have many important members. His father holds the title of one of the founding fathers of the Republic of China, but he is also a serious scholar. He is only a general judge at present, and he has been severely suppressed by the traitors in the DPRK.

Now that you have been suppressed, are you still afraid of being demoted again?

After a long drink, this historical official of the Southern Song Dynasty went to see Zhu Guoxiang in private.

"Well done, Zhengmin, please come and have a drink with me." Zhu Guoxiang warmly welcomed him.

Although the Fu family has declined and even its title has been reduced to baron, after all, one family and three queens were extremely special in the Northern Song Dynasty.

Even if Fu Xingzhong is no longer capable, Zhu Guoxiang will still give him a high position, which is of great political significance.

While pushing the cup and changing the cup, Zhu Guoxiang began to test his talents and found that this man was indeed a master of governing the people and was by no means an ordinary Jinshi official.

Zhu Guoxiang asked: "This winter, I plan to dredge the mountain and river weirs, which will double the food supply in Hanzhong. Is Zhengmin willing to take on this important task and be fully responsible for the construction of the mountain and river weirs?"

Fu Xingzhong immediately stood up and bowed: "How dare you disobey me!"