Brother Song Taizu

Chapter 226 The decisive battle between Zhao Guangmei and the civil servants
After the New Deal reform, in fact, very few new Jinshi were directly awarded official positions. To become an official, you should first become a clerk. This was a very important part of Zhao Guangmei's reform of officialdom.

However, Lu Mengzheng is different. Although he was officially born during the imperial examination this year, he was actually a member of Zhao Guangmei long before that, and at least he was extremely famous in Kaifeng. Of course, because of this Even though he has just entered the official career, he has clear political opponents and has even become the target of public criticism. It is difficult to get along in the entire civil service system.

So taking this opportunity, Zhao Guangmei also intentionally gave him a hand and asked him to leave the capital and go to Chanzhou to develop. In a few years, his development will be better and his wings will be a little fuller, so that he can be established after returning to the capital.

After all, no cat or dog can offend him, so Zhao Guangmei will stand up for him, right?

After Lu Mengzheng arrived, Zhao Kuangyin said a few words of effort and let him do it. With Zhao Guangmei supporting him behind the matter, he naturally didn't need to worry too much.

Zhao Guangmei greeted Lu Mengzheng to come out together, and said: "For the disaster relief in Chanzhou, we will not set a budget limit for you. If you need it, you can directly get an interest-free loan from the bank first, and then get the note from the household department." Go and repay the loan. This way you will handle the fewest yamen, and you will be able to use the money more smoothly. Changping warehouses in various places can also be used by you. You can use them first and then settle them. For the settlement of accounts afterwards, you can go and settle the accounts with Xue Juzheng in person. Don't go through it. Other hands.”

"Yes, thank you for your concern, Your Highness. If it weren't for Your Highness, I would have been unable to move forward in this court. Since Your Highness has given me such an opportunity, I will definitely handle this mission well."

"Okay, there's no need to talk about these nonsense. If it weren't for me, you wouldn't be in such a difficult situation."

This was actually a very helpless matter. Zhao Guangmei's foundation was in a trading company, and he was not in the same system as the imperial court. He had money bags and guns at his fingertips. Coupled with the status of the King of Qin, the civil servants of the Manchu Dynasty had nothing to do with him.

But similarly, when Zhao Guangmei really inserted her own people into the civil service system, there was naturally a lot of resistance.

The current political situation of the Song Dynasty is like this: Zhao Pu's family are all former members of Zhao Kuangyin's Guide Mansion. They are all private individuals who are deeply trusted by Zhao Kuangyin. After the establishment of the Zhao Song Dynasty, they gradually became more powerful. Most of their positions were in the Privy Council, Important positions such as transportation envoy and punishment department.

As a military general, Zhao Kuangyin actually had very limited contact with the civil servants of the DPRK and China in the Later Zhou Dynasty. He did not understand most of them at all. Therefore, after the beginning of the Song Dynasty, he relied heavily on Zhao Pu and the staff of the Guide Mansion to control the civil servants. There are many, but their locations are all extremely important. In fact, they have expanded a lot in scale over the years.

Not to mention Zhao Guangmei, his line is basically composed of the Forbidden Army and the Military General. Last year, three divisions were swallowed up. The original Salt and Iron Division was basically disbanded, and the Household Branch Division was basically subordinated, but it fell out of this fixed circle. Outside the country, it is powerless, especially in local governments, prefectures, and counties. Like Zhao Pu, it has almost no foundation.

On the contrary, Zhao Guangyi's family received the support of civil servants from the Hanlin and Jinshi families. Most of these people were classmates, classmates, etc., mentioning them one by one, especially according to the previous tradition of civil servants serving in the Hanlin, everyone really knew each other.

To put it bluntly, at other times in the past dynasties, these civil servants still needed to rely on factors such as being in the same year and from the same hometown to distinguish themselves and fight against differences. However, the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms were so special that generals began to seek unity through marriage and sworn sworn alliances. Could it be that civil servants just Don't you want to stick together?

In particular, the civil servants of the Five Dynasties were actually the first pure civil servants in history.

There were no real civil servants before the Tang Dynasty. They were almost all from aristocrats, aristocratic families, and the landlord class with military merit. Although there was an imperial examination in the Tang Dynasty, no one paid much attention to it. Moreover, a selection test for poetry could make Du Fu fail the exam. In fact, it doesn't matter if you don't take the exam. It is true that few serious people pass the imperial examination and become officials.

The Five Dynasties was the beginning of the formation of a system of these real civil servants.

A new class must be united even by instinct, so it can be said that there is almost no intrigue between civil servants and civil servants. Everyone is prosperous and suffers, and they are twisted into a rope from the hands of generals and military landlords. Grab the cake.

By the time the Song Dynasty was founded, these people were actually quite established. Their roots were actually in local states and counties. However, even though Zhao Guangmei was already so ruthless, it was almost certain that they would still be able to survive. Born again.

After all, it is impossible for him to kill all the grassroots officials. Although many magistrates and county magistrates were killed in this wave, in fact, most of them will be replaced by their people. If the imperial examination is not reformed, there will be a steady stream of people in the future. New class Jinshi will automatically become their people.

This is a new class that is rising and is still on the rise. It is not just as simple as joining the party and opposing those who are different.

Therefore, it would be difficult for Zhao Guangmei to reach out to this system. For example, although Lu Mengzheng was admitted to the Jinshi this year, he knew very well that he was criticized and excluded in the Hanlin Academy. Even in the eyes of those Jinshi, Lu Mengzheng These are not enemies but traitors.

The so-called New Confucianism he wants to promote is actually cutting off the roots of those old scholars.

If Zhao Guangmei doesn't help him, he will be bullied to death by those old officials.

Then Zhao Guangmei said: "The flood in Chanzhou is a big disaster, but it is definitely a good thing for you to go to Chanzhou. I have money, and I am the only one in the court who has money. Other prefects have also suffered more or less." It’s a disaster, but if they want to make money, it will never be as convenient as you, you know what I mean.”

"This is natural. His Highness is taking care of Wei Chen. Wei Chen is naturally very sensitive."

Other officials want to provide disaster relief. Although the relief grains in the Changping warehouse can be distributed, in addition to grains, if you want money, you must go through the procedures to report it layer by layer, and then approve it layer by layer, and then distribute it layer by layer.

Even if Xue Juzheng does not embarrass them, it will take at least half a month to go through a set of appropriation procedures, and there will inevitably be a lot of supervision, so the efficiency will not be high.

Who could have the ability of Lu Mengzheng to directly withdraw an interest-free loan from a money bank?
As a result, not only Chanzhou but also other prefects on both sides of the Yellow River will borrow money from him.

"Cao Bin, I will send it to you. Taking advantage of the flood, in the prefectures on both sides of the river, those who should be removed from their posts will be removed, and those who should be beheaded will be beheaded. Whether they are officials or officials, only those who come down or die , so that there are enough positions available to place our own people. In this imperial examination, many of our own people should have won the honors, right?"

Lu Mengzheng nodded and said: "There are only four Jinshi people, but there are 21 people in Mingjing, and there are a hundred and six people in Mingshuang, but..." "But the talents of Mingshu are not the same, right? The three divisions are also It’s impossible to absorb so many calculating talents, right?”

"Yes, but it is a common practice that talents are not taken seriously. Of the eight subjects in the imperial examination, only the Jinshi subjects are the true heroes. The rest can only be regarded as inferior."

Zhao Guangmei smiled and said: "It will be fine next year. Next year's imperial examination will greatly expand the enrollment, and in addition to Jinshi, we must pay more attention to talents in the three subjects of Mingshu, Minglu, and Mingshi. As for Jinshi, one subject, Either the massive enrollment expansion will make it worthless, at least to expand the quota to 300 people, or it will be canceled altogether. I have already expressed my anger with my elder brother about this. I originally wanted to do this this year, but unfortunately the resistance is too great. After all, it is It didn’t work.”

Lu Mengzheng smiled bitterly when he heard this, but Zhao Guangmei said, "I believe that Your Highness will definitely be able to implement this matter next year."

To put it bluntly, Zhao Guangmei wanted to turn the imperial examination into a real civil service examination, especially the two subjects of Mingshu and Minglu. These are real practical studies. After completing the studies, there is no problem in joining various yamen and at least becoming a subordinate official. , and after a few years, these people will be promoted to become officials.

Such reforms are naturally beneficial to the New Confucian school. To put it bluntly, the New Confucian school has far more people than traditional Confucian students, and has gradually developed its own program. Those who study law, arithmetic, and physics technology Of course, they will also learn New Confucianism, which seems to have deviated from the traditional Confucius and Mencius.

In fact, if you really want to be a subordinate official, it will be easier for these New Confucian schools to achieve results, and those who were originally high-ranking Jinshi... may simply disappear in the future.

This is to cut off the roots of civil servants.

Why do all the dynasties in history place the highest priority on Jinshi?In fact, it's a very simple truth. If you don't have the first place in literature, you don't have the second place in martial arts. There are no standard answers to the things that the Jinshi Examination examines, such as poetry, policy, and theory. There is no concept of full marks, especially since the Song Dynasty has not yet begun. When it comes to Zhu Neo-Confucianism and Eight-legged Essay, the candidates' talents are compared.

But what is talent?It requires family nurturing, and it has a class nature. Children from ordinary families cannot afford to play this way, and the involution is unlimited. Of course, it is indeed better at selecting talents.

However, Mingshu, Mingshi, Mingjing, and Minglu are different. As we all know, for true academic masters, points will be deducted only for writing essays.

In other words, it is easy to get full marks in these subjects, so how can you rate one, two, three or four?If there are too many people with perfect scores, how can we select the best candidates?

Without the role of selecting talents, these subjects will naturally decline over time. It's okay now. When the Jinshi is completely dominant in the future, everything will really be inferior. Only after studying well, the so-called imperial examination and Jinshi can almost be equated. , people only pay attention to Jinshi, and are too lazy to do anything else. It will be difficult to recover by then.

If Zhao Guangmei's reform can succeed, it will naturally be different. In the past, the imperial examination was for officials, and the number of places was limited, so it was natural to give priority to Jinshi. But now it is no longer for officials. The channel between officials has been opened. If you want to be an official, you have to rely on your political achievements. Okay, you guys from a scholarly family are certainly excellent, but even if you are in the top [-], I may admit a thousand people in total.

Most of the students of New Confucianism are the sons of businessmen. This is to break the class attribute of scholars, farmers, businessmen, and merchants. You must know that the so-called Confucianism actually boils down to one sentence: the king, the minister, the father, the son, the son.

Whoever does what, everyone has their own social attributes and must play their own social attributes well. Once a person is not reconciled to his own social attributes, then the rituals and music will collapse.

To put it bluntly, it is to maintain the solidification of class.

This theory naturally excludes merchants, because merchants naturally want to break down classes. Everything is destined by God, so what kind of business should I do?
The main body of New Confucianism is merchants and various subjects in the civil economy. In fact, it also rejects traditional Confucianism at its core.

This person, when farming in the village, will naturally regard steadiness as a virtue. He will work when the sun rises and rest when the sun sets. It is best if everything never changes. Anyone who does not cultivate the land well, think about it, and cause trouble is an unstable element, even if Even if you sing a duet, some people will say that you are not doing your job properly.

But as long as this person has entered the city, I have never heard of anyone who thinks that being a down-to-earth worker is a virtue. People naturally want to move around. It is impossible for people in the city to settle down and only work in a fixed factory all their lives. Most people can't stand having a regular, honest job.

The citizen class naturally emphasizes mobility. Even if they are trying to trick people, the boss of a factory will tell his employees: work hard, and if you make money, you will get a salary increase, and if you expand, you will be promoted to manager.

How miserable would this shopkeeper be if he didn't even draw cakes for his employees and let his fellow workers act like cows and horses, teaching them Confucianism and telling them not to have any inappropriate thoughts?

Everyone is ideologically opposed to each other, and Zhao Guangmei has always known that this is the kind of contradiction that is absolutely impossible to reconcile. Even if he does not guide it, the old and new Confucianism will definitely embark on such a path of collapse of etiquette and music.

Moreover, the old Confucianism is indeed correct. Traditional Confucianism is indeed the most suitable for farming civilization. The cultural system of rural society is at least much stronger than the Western magic culture. It is just that it will inevitably be eliminated as society enters civil society. Can it still be used in the village?

So in fact, at this time, really smart people can actually see that next year's scientific examination is the last general attack launched by the citizen class represented by Zhao Guangmei against the landlord class represented by the traditional civil servants!

If this thing is done and goes smoothly, the traditional civil servants and landlords will no longer be able to make trouble. As the saying goes that a cornered beast still fights, those civil servants and landlords will naturally fight to the death, especially in this matter Zhao Guangmei still has You can't end up on your own.

Lu Mengzheng was his vanguard general.

"Within one year, I want you to recruit a team of civil servants for me, so that when the imperial examination takes place next year, I can place you at the middle level in various yamen, and next year's newcomers can be trusted to be handed over to you. Otherwise, do you believe that the newcomers next year will be bullied to death like you and never have a chance to succeed? Those civil servants will not sit still and wait for death. This year, next year, and these two years, they will do their best to stop everything you want to do. Things, at this time, you must not be arrogant. You must try your best to promote your own people who can be promoted. You must use cronyism and let as many of our New Confucian students as possible enter the official career through you. Do you understand? At this time, What I fear most is that you think of yourself as a gentleman."

Lu Mengzhengze said quickly: "I understand, Your Highness, you have already made it so clear. If I still can't understand, wouldn't I be a fool? Please rest assured, Your Highness, in one year, I will not only make Chanzhou regain its Now that we are prosperous, we must cultivate a New Deal team for His Highness that is capable of fighting and resisting and can be put to great use."

(End of this chapter)