The Happy Life of Small Officials in Northern Song Dynasty

Wende Palace in the afternoon was silent, sandalwood pieces were quietly burning in the incense burner, two court ladies were slowly fanning behind Zhao Zhen, and cicadas were chirping from the tall trees outside the hall, but there was no sound at all. Zhao Zhen was not disturbed.

The test papers piled up like a mountain on the case files, Zhao Zhen read them one by one in person, wrote down comments, and handed them over to Yan Shu, Du Yan, Zhang Dexiang, Chen Zhizhong, Xia Song, Fu Bi and others who accompanied him.

After reading dozens of policy theories, Zhao Zhen straightened up slightly, reached out and tapped his back lightly, and rubbed his eyes.

"Your Majesty, rest for a while and read again, don't be too tired." Xia Song said slowly.

"It's okay, I'm not afraid of being tired, but I'm not satisfied with the superficial writing of these strategies; this year's exams seem to be not as good as the previous ones, so I'm a little disappointed." [

Zhao Zhen sighed slightly and stretched out his hand to pick up the next test paper. It was a beautiful and upright cursive font. After a quick glance, he actually modified the traces of the painting, which looked neat and clean.

"Government of all dynasties has had its disadvantages for a long time. If the disadvantages are not cured, disasters and chaos will inevitably arise. What? It can make changes and make the people tireless."

After reading the opening paragraph, Zhao Zhen was immediately refreshed. He opened his words straight to the point with force and force, never sloppy, veiled, and the words are sharp and concise, which is completely different from the previous articles.

""Yi" said: If you are poor, you will change and you will be able to understand. If you are poor, you will find a way to change the world. , 80 years ago, the discipline system, the sun cuts the moon and invades, the officials are blocked, the people are trapped outside, the barbarians are arrogant, and the bandits and robbers are rampant. It is necessary to save them. However, if you want to correct the end, you must correct the root; If you want to clear its flow, you must clarify its source. Only dare to follow the way of the previous emperors, seek the strength of the ancestors of the present, and adopt the rules of those who can do it. May your majesty follow the heart of the world and do this. There are several legal systems and regulations. If it revives again, the patriarch of the sect will grow, and the world will be blessed."

"Good turn!" Zhao Zhen slapped the case and praised: "Poorness leads to change, change leads to success, and generality leads to long-term. This sentence is most appropriate here, but it depends on whether the actual suggestions later can hit the nail on the head. Don't let it go." It's better to be flamboyant."

The ministers stretched their necks and looked up, wondering whose article the emperor was so happy to read, it seemed that this article was better than the dozens of articles he had read before.

"In my mind, there are ten disadvantages in today's world. One is: the dismissal is unclear. The minister reads the "Book" and says: "Three years of performance appraisal, three examinations of dethrone's seclusion." However, the Yao and Shun dynasties had at least nine years of official establishment. Once you move, you must seek achievements, and the world will become great. After a hundred generations, you will look up to be the emperor. In the dynasty of my ancestors, all the civil and military officials were all tested. Only those who can be promoted will not be inferior; those who are called are old. Do not relocate. Therefore, everyone is self-motivated in order to achieve performance. Nowadays, the civil resources are relocated every three years, and the military posts are relocated every five years. I mean yeah!"

"That makes sense!" Zhao Zhen nodded slightly. The promotion of officials in the Song Dynasty followed the rule of civil servants moving every three years and military officials every five years. The time in office was too short, so they all passed by, not seeking merit but seeking success. The local contribution is not great, and some corrupt and fraudulent people just leave after making a fortune. Anyway, they don’t stay here for a long time.

Zhao Zhen breathed a sigh of relief and continued to look down: "If there is a sage in the bureaucrats who is better than everyone, he manages a county and a county, and leads a bureau of affairs. If you are frustrated, if you are not, you will laugh. If there is a slight mistake, it will be squeezed. Therefore, those who are unworthy eat a corpse, but they can do nothing. Although they are stupid, dark and obscene, people can't bear it.... But once every three years Those who move and sit in the prime minister of the Qing Dynasty are all in the past. Who is willing to promote the benefits of the public for your majesty, save lives and people's diseases, eliminate the disadvantages of political affairs, and rehabilitate the discipline! Rescue will lead to resentment from the people."

"The villain will succeed if the evil is not eliminated, and the king will lose if the evil is not repaired. The virtuous and the unworthy are confused, please rely on luck, the changes are endless, the Chinese and foreign are harsh, everything is ruined, life and people are suffering for a long time, and robbers are gradually rising. Thank you, Your Majesty. Those who are worried are not officials who lose their integrity and cause danger! If you are in the Beijing Baisi, the golden valley is vast, and the powerful children grow up to occupy it, and you have nothing to eat, and you have to wait for a year or two. Power. Would you be willing to respect your duties so that the fundamental land of the ancestors will fall day by day. Therefore, in a lawsuit in Beijing, if there is one member of the court, there will be more people competing for it. If he is an official of the Beijing Dynasty, he will have a private residence waiting for the court. When he is over the age, he often At the beginning of the job, it is time to grind and study, and once you work hard, the example will be changed. This is the reason why everyone follows, and there is no longer a reason to work hard."

"I don't think that in the future, if the officials of the two places have made great achievements and good deeds, they will be given special orders; great deeds and great deeds will not be promoted in time. The specific situation is long and short, and I will describe it in my spare time today. , this is one of them."

Zhao Zhen held his breath and read it all the way. The article listed ten current problems with reason and evidence, and proposed solutions to them one by one.

One is to clearly depose officials, that is, to strictly enforce the promotion and promotion system of officials.

The second is to suppress luck, that is, to limit the channels for flukes to become officials and get promoted.

The third is the fine tribute, that is, the strict tribute system.

Four choose the chief.In view of the fact that there are ten incompetent officials at the prefecture and county levels, it is suggested that the imperial court send capable people to check local political achievements, reward capable officials, and dismiss incompetent ones; Avoid redundancy.

Five are all public land.The public land is the job land, which is one of the fixed incomes of local officials, but the distribution is often uneven.It is suggested that the imperial court balance the income of local officials; those who work in the field should be given to them according to their ranks, so that they can have enough income to support themselves.Then, they can be supervised to be honest and honest; those who break the law can also be punished or removed from their posts.In fact, it is a disguised act of high salary and honesty.

The sixth is to focus on agriculture and mulberry, that is, to pay attention to production undertakings such as agriculture and mulberry.It is suggested that the imperial court issue an imperial edict to require the people in the local government to pay attention to the interests of poor farmland, build water conservancy, and promote agricultural benefits, and formulate a system of rewarding the people and evaluating officials for long-term implementation.

The seventh is to repair military equipment, that is, to rectify military equipment.It is suggested that strong men be recruited in the area near the capital to serve as guards of the capital to assist the regular army.These guards spend about three seasons a year on farming, and one season on coaching and combating. The implementation of this system can save the cost of supplies.If this kind of system in the capital is successful, it will be imitated and implemented by other regions. [

The eight graces and trusts refer to the extensive implementation of the court's favorable policies and faith.If someone in charge of the yamen delays or violates the implementation of the amnesty, he must be dealt with severely according to law.In addition, it is necessary to send envoys to all walks of life to inspect whether the various preferential policies that should be implemented are implemented.In this way, there is no phenomenon of blocking the emperor's grace.

Nine important orders, that is, court orders must be taken seriously and carefully issued.The law is to show the trust of the people, but now it is changed soon after it is promulgated. Therefore, the court must discuss which regulations can be implemented for a long time, delete complicated and redundant clauses, rule for the emperor to make orders and national laws, and promulgate them.In this way, the order of the court will not be changed frequently.

Ten is to reduce corvee.Now the household registration has been reduced, but the supply from the people to the government has become more burdensome.Counties with small household registrations should be reduced to towns, and the envoys and state offices of the state army should be combined into one courtyard; Those who should undertake public service will all be sent back to the countryside.In this way, the people will no longer worry about heavy troubles.

Zhao Zhen was dizzy after reading these ten articles. They were all things he thought in his heart, but he couldn't find a good way to solve them. Now they are all included in this article, so Zhao Zhen is extremely shocked.

"It's amazing, it's amazing, there is such a knowledgeable person among the students, I want to see who this is?"

Ouyang Xiu and the others looked at each other, it was rare for Zhao Zhen to lose his composure, but I don't know what was written on it, the exciting emperor was so excited.

Zhao Zhen lifted the note with the test paper's name on it, and the word "Luzhou Sujin" at the signature place jumped into his eyes. Zhao Zhen clapped his hands and laughed and said, "My boy, it really is him. Dear friends, listen to today's question with me." Kesu Huiyuan's high theory is amazing, really amazing."

All the ministers were astonished and shocked, the emperor usually calmed down his anger and kept his expression on his face, but today he even said four things in a row. I don't know what shocking words there are in Su Jin's article.

Zhao Zhen stretched out his hand to summon the servant and said, "Huang Peisheng, come and read this article to all the ministers and workers. I will share the wonderful article with all of you adults. In Su Jin's mind, what are the shortcomings of our Great Song Dynasty? What needs to change."

Huang Peisheng bowed to promise, took the test paper and held it in his hand, and began to read aloud; Zhao Zhen sighed slightly, leaned back in his chair, closed his eyes slightly, and quietly watched the reactions of the ministers.