The Happy Life of Small Officials in Northern Song Dynasty

(I'm out of town, I hope there will be no mistakes in the automatic transmission. Gao

Huang Peisheng's voice was resonant, and he recited the article clearly and powerfully. He sent it to the ears of all the officials word by word, but the faces of the officials became more and more ugly, and they gradually became as if they were on pins and needles.

In a short while, the six to seven thousand words of the article were all read, and the Wende Hall fell into a dead silence.

Su Jin's article is titled "Criticism of Current Disadvantages", but in fact, the whole article is about reform measures, and according to Su Jin's statement, if the reform is really carried out, it will be an earth-shattering event that will involve complicated personnel and interests. If it is huge, it will definitely have a huge impact; as for whether it is a good impact or a bad impact, it is still under evaluation.

Take the second article as an example, suppressing luck, that is, restricting the ways to become an official and get promoted by luck.Su Jin clearly pointed out that every year, the senior officials of the imperial court have their children serve as officials in the capital. After counting one official with a bachelor's degree or above, after 20 years, 20 brothers and grandchildren of a family have served as officials in the capital.Entering the imperial court one by one in this way not only increased the state's expenditure, but most of these officials and eunuchs did not do business, but concealed and colluded with each other and formed cliques for personal gain. [

What Su Jin meant was to limit the privileges of officials and prevent their children from occupying important positions in the pavilion; a suggestion of .But as everyone knows, if this move is really implemented, it will inevitably touch the interests of serving officials, large and small.

Although the imperial court recently advocated that the children of officials take the scientific examination according to their ability, it was only an advocacy and it was not enforced. In fact, it was just a show for the children of officials to take the scientific examination. He will definitely try his best to be inserted into the yamen as an official, and after a long time, he will be able to accumulate qualifications and be officially appointed as an official.

This big cake has long been a natural benefit for officials since the founding of the Song Dynasty. Now this Su Jin actually proposes to move this benefit. Isn't this just asking for discomfort?

All the people present here are veterans of the imperial court, and all of them have been officials for more than 20 years; Take Yan Shu as an example, except for the youngest Yan Jidao who is still in his infancy, the rest of the seven sons in his family have grown up, and all of them are not worthy of their father.

Although Yan Shu hated his adopted sons for being unworthy, he could not ignore them. Relying on his own status and the emperor's favor, he asked the Holy Majesty to place all his sons in official positions in the Sansi Yamen and important places in the capital; But at any rate, all of them are officials; Yan Shu and four nephews were also appointed as officials through their connections; so when Yan Shu heard Su Jin's policy, the first thing he thought of was that if the emperor listened to Su Jin's words, he would implement this policy. If this is the case, my ten nephews are afraid that they will all be dismissed and go home.

How could Yan Shu allow such a thing to happen? What is the purpose of being loyal to the emperor and loving the country?Isn't it just to share the benefits?If the courtiers hang around with the emperor, they won't get any benefits or privileges, so what's the point of jumping around?

The same is true for Du Yan. Su Jince said in theory that if a bachelor is an official for 20 years, Meng Zuyin's nephew will have 40 officials. Double, at least there are more than [-] people; even Du Yan can't tell the exact number, because he hasn't counted it carefully himself, and the number of people who have an impression is more than [-]; The root of the tooth is itchy, this Su Jin is so vicious that he will never succeed in descendants, he even came up with such a bad idea, this matter must not be allowed to be finalized in the emperor's mind.

Zhao Zhen secretly observed the reactions of the officials. He is a smart man. At least four or five of these ten items directly involve the interests of officials. Although it is beneficial to the court, the reactions of officials cannot be ignored; It is still up to the officials to do it. Without the help of these people, I will become a lonely family.

"My loves, why don't you speak? How about Su Jin's strategy?" Zhao Zhen asked slowly.

None of the ministers opened their mouths, and secretly guessed the emperor's thoughts. Zhao Zhen's behavior of reading this article to everyone alone can guess that the emperor actually held an attitude of admiration for Su Jin's suggestion. When reading it, the emperor said "remarkable" several times, which is definitely not satire, but a real compliment.

Du Yan said in a deep voice: "Your Majesty, Su Jin is the man of Yan Sansi Ju, I would like to hear Yan Sansi's opinion."

Du Yan knew Yan Shu's situation very well. Instead of firing the first shot himself, it would be better for Yan Shu to fire the first shot. He knew that Yan Shu would never agree with Su Jin's suggestion.

"Alright, let's talk about Yan Aiqing." Zhao Zhen smiled.

Yan Shunai got up and saluted, and said: "Since the emperor called his name, the veteran will talk about his opinions; Su Jin's policy is indeed well written, and he can sum up these ten points based on his age and experience, and come up with corresponding strategies. It is impossible; as a candidate, the veteran can write such an article in a short period of time, and the veteran admires him very much, even if the veteran goes to battle, he may not be able to write as well as him."

Zhao Zhen was quite surprised. Although Su Jin belonged to Yan Shu, it was rare for Zhao Zhen to expect Yan Shu to be so open-minded in this matter.

"But..." Yan Shu changed the subject, shattering Zhao Zhen's surprise: "However, Su Jin is too young after all, and he doesn't know much about the government affairs of the Song Dynasty court and the details of the people. The representative point of view is correct, but there are many mistakes in this policy theory, or it is not called a mistake, it can be taken for granted, and there are many speculations, so it cannot be used as a correct method.”

Zhao Zhen said in a low voice: "What Yan Aiqing means is that the article is good, you just read it and never accept it, right?"

Yan Shu thought for a while and said, "It can't be fully adopted, or it can be partially adopted. If one of the ten items can be adopted by the imperial court, it will be the glory of Su Jin."

Zhao Zhen pondered and said: "Then, in your opinion, what is the best place for Su Jin?" [

Yan Shu said: "The old minister has something to do with Su Jin, so he should avoid suspicion. It's better for the emperor to decide on this matter."

Zhao Zhen thought for a while and said, "Okay, you step back, what advice does Privy Councilor Du have?"

Du Yan was happy in his heart, it was rare that he and Yan Shu could stand on the same front, and the person they met was Su Jin. It can be seen that under the benefits, even Su Jin would eventually be abandoned by Yan Shu; since Yan Shu expressed his attitude that Su Jin was Nonsense, of course I want to refute it fiercely.

"I think that Su Jin's strategy is wrong. What he said seems reasonable, but it must not be adopted. In the Spring and Autumn Period, Zhao Kuo's words were convincing, and finally cheated Zhao Guo's 40 soldiers. This is just empty talk. hazard."

Zhao Zhen said with a smile: "Du Shumi's words are serious. I just think his article is well written, but I didn't say to follow his words. You just said how well this policy is written?"

Du Yan scratched his head and blushed. The emperor clearly meant to ask everyone to comment on the content, but now he changed his words and said no, which made him a little embarrassed, but who called him the emperor? Right now, he and Yan Shu are constantly at odds with him , I am afraid that the emperor's heart will definitely not hurt, it is better to say a few words of pandering to get over it.

Thinking of this, Du Yan cupped his hands and said: "Aside from whether the content is correct or not, I think it is not easy for Su Jin to come up with ten self-righteous shortcomings in a short period of time, and to cite examples from the classics to prove it. As for the dozens of empty articles just now, it is obvious that the grade is not a little bit higher, and I think the ranking can be higher."

Du Yan can be regarded as selling a favor, knowing that Su Jin's strategy won Zhao Zhen's heart, even if he tried his best to belittle Su Jin, he would never depose Su Jin; The [-]th place doesn't make much difference.

Zhao Zhen made a mistake. He shouldn't have shown any special concern for Su Jin's article. These ten suggestions are like sharp swords piercing the court's weakness. , for the sake of face, he would never admit that there are so many disadvantages. Wouldn't it appear that all the ministers present are incompetent?

Zhao Zhen asked a few more people, and everyone's opinions were consistent with Du Yan and Yan Shu's. They strongly opposed the content, but praised Su Jin's attitude towards the country and the rhetoric of the article as evidence; it was like someone asking others Whether this pearl is precious or not, others talk about how exquisite the pearl box is, and the attitude towards the pearl itself can be seen.

Zhao Zhen's heart is cold. It seems that some things are not taken for granted. He has been standing on a high place and watching the two factions scramble, while he acts as the coordinator and balancer. But as everyone knows, the two factions also have common interests. If their interests are not met, they will let go of their grievances, point the finger at themselves, and start to fight against each other.

Zhao Zhen knew that he couldn't act too hastily, but he didn't want to admit defeat. After dismissing everyone, he decided to use his ranking to explain his attitude implicitly; Zhao Zhen stayed up all night, read all the candidates' answer sheets, and finally decided on the ranking.

In the early morning of May 230th, three gold lists were posted on the notice board in front of the imperial palace. Eleven of the 11 high school candidates in the provincial examination were dismissed from the list of Jinshi, and the remaining 220 were high school Jinshi.

As soon as the gold list came out, the common people flocked to the square in front of the palace. Wei Songhe ranked No. 150 and 65th in the second class, and his results were quite good.

But what people care about is not these second-class and third-class figures. Although they have obtained enviable official status since then, and will soon become officials of various government offices in various states and government offices, their future is as bright and bright, but compared with them, one The three names on the top gold list are the focus of everyone's attention.

In anticipation, the list of Yijia came late, people swarmed up, stretched their necks and kicked their legs to look at the list, and there was an uproar; Yijia No.3 candidate: Wang Anshi, No.2 No.1: Han Jiang, No. [-] champion: Su Jin!

Su Jin Sanyuan and No. [-]!The real Grand Sanyuan Quanzhong, this is the second Sanyuan and the first in this dynasty. The Sanyuan of Song Xiang Lianzhong in the second year of Tiansheng was because his younger brother Song Qi gave up the position of the champion, which is not worthy of the name, and this Sujin Sanyuan And the degree is the real deal.

The people rushed to tell each other that Su Jin, who was quite famous in the capital, became the focus of public opinion again, and people in the streets and alleys talked about him happily.Insiders kept breaking the news about Su Jin's family background, age, appearance and all kinds of sexual desires. When people learned that Su Jin was just the son of a Luzhou merchant, and that he had only studied in Yingtian Academy for two months, I have to keep shouting loudly.