Song Gexing

Chapter 165 Meritocracy and having both ability and political integrity

Zhao Fang slapped his thigh and said, "Okay! What Wang Qing said is exactly what I want. However, Mingjing Ke does not need to be cancelled. It can be tested at the state level, and those who pass will be used for school education below the county level."

Wang Anshi's eyes lit up: "That's right! Your Highness is smart. This move can reduce the pressure and make up for the shortage of teachers."

The two looked at each other and laughed, feeling like they were close friends. Then Wang Anshi continued to propose improvement plans for the Imperial Academy and the Imperial College, and Zhao Fang agreed to them one by one.

The imperial examination reform was the only one among Wang Anshi's reforms that was not abolished, and it continued into the Southern Song Dynasty. Even the imperial examinations in the Ming and Qing Dynasties were basically the same, except that the examination content changed.

However, the classic meaning and policy theory put forward by Wang Anshi were the key points of the imperial examination and have been inherited by later generations. As for saying that eight-part essays are harmful to people, that is just a matter of style and has nothing to do with the purpose of the assessment.

There were also reforms to the Imperial College and the Imperial College, which were also inherited by later generations. The upper, middle and lower houses were divided into three houses, and assessments were conducted within the Imperial College. Those with excellent results were exempted from participating in the general examination and directly entered the palace examination.

Moreover, Wang Anshi also proposed that Taixue should also cultivate professional talents in martial arts, medicine, law, etc. This was more advanced than the Ming and Qing Dynasties.

There was no martial arts in the Imperial College of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, but there were martial arts examinations, but there were no specialized educational institutions, which was actually very detrimental to the training of generals.

After all, you can't become a general just by mounting your horse and charging. You have to be familiar with military books and strategies. As for you saying that some people can become famous generals without reading them, but there are only a few such people.

The reason why a genius is a genius is that it cannot be copied. Most people must admit that they do not have the talent of a genius, so someone must teach you.

"Your Highness, I want to talk about the last point, which is to hire people only on their talents. For mid-level and lower-level officials, even officials, if they find talents, they should be promoted without sticking to one pattern."

After Wang Anshi finished speaking, he looked at Zhao Fang with burning eyes, feeling a little uneasy. After all, this move was highly suspected of Cao Mengde's meritocracy, but it was spurned by history.

Later generations may think that Cao Cao's meritocracy was a wise decision, but they didn't know that Cao Cao himself didn't dare to continue it even after a few years.

Otherwise, there would not be the nine-level Zhongzheng system created by Chen Qun. This system seems to have been implemented in the era of Cao Pi, but in fact it started in Cao Cao's later years, but it did not form a system.

In fact, it can be inferred from the time that the Nine-Rank Zhongzheng System was announced in the second year after Cao Pi ascended the throne. Without the previous accumulation, how could it be possible to implement a system in such a hurry.

It is even more intuitive to study the ministers of Cao Wei. Except for the early group of people, none of the important ministers appointed by Cao Cao in his later years came from poor families. Old wealthy families and emerging noble families were the mainstream.

Among the 26 heroes who are entitled to Cao Cao's Ancestral Temple, except for the military generals, only Guo Jia came from a poor family, and he was ranked last. The rest were all from aristocratic families.

Therefore, Cao Cao's meritocracy is actually just a propaganda slogan. It is basically a gimmick to fool people. A large number of talented people from poor families who serve as officials in Cao Wei can only serve as officials in the middle and lower levels, and they also have no hope of promotion.

Even Guo Jia just had the name of a poor family, and was not really a poor family, but a common branch of the Guo family, a wealthy family in Yingchuan. Otherwise, it would be impossible for him to have a close relationship with Xun Yu.

If you look at his earliest experience, you will know that he followed Guo Tu to Yuan Shaona. He turned to Cao Cao after he disliked Yuan Shao. Who is Guo Tu? He is the legitimate son of the Guo family, a wealthy family in Yingchuan.

Guo Jia's identity is similar to that of Jia Yun and Jia Rui in Dream of Red Mansions. To say that he is from a poor family, he is indeed not rich, but he is still prosperous with the support of his master's family. There is still a gap between him and a truly poor family. .

The real poor family is when the entire family declines, leaving only the inheritance of education and some conditions for food and clothing, similar to the petty bourgeoisie of later generations.

He is educated but has no resources to help, but Guo Jia is obviously not. He still enjoys the benefits of the owner's family. At least Guo Tu once helped him. "Use people only based on their talents! This is indeed a good idea, but there is a premise that must be added, that is, we must not hire people who are talented but not moral."

Naturally, Zhao Fang would not ignore talents. The social environment is already different. Now it is the Song Dynasty, and there are no aristocratic families like the Han and Tang Dynasties.

The background of the new wealthy family is not as good as those of the previous thousand-year-old family, and the influence is naturally not as good as before, but there are still some things that must be strictly required.

Talent is necessary, but talent without virtue is absolutely unacceptable, because such people are more destructive than creative.

Appointing a mediocre person will certainly not be beneficial to the country or the people, but it will only result in failure to achieve results. However, appointing a talented but unethical person will lead to the destruction of a large number of people.

This is why when appointing officials, the first requirement is personal moral requirements, followed by talent, because if you look at history, the bad things are almost all caused by talented but not moral people who came to power, and the country was in chaos.

Because the people's requirements are actually very simple, they only ask for food and clothing to live and work in peace and contentment, and the mediocrity of officials can't improve their quality of life, but they can destroy their original life if they are talented but not virtuous.

This is actually an important reason why most people have opposed political reforms throughout the ages, because what most people fear is not the immediate poverty, but whether it will be worse in the future after changes.

Therefore, most people are unwilling to change the law unless they have to. To put it bluntly, it is people's fear of the unknown.

As a person of this era, Wang Anshi's consciousness cannot go against the main theme of this era no matter how advanced his consciousness is.

Therefore, after hearing Zhao Fang's words, he solemnly raised his hands and said: "What Your Highness said is true. No matter how much I value talents, I also know that only those with both ability and political integrity can be officials. Otherwise, the world will be in chaos!"

Zhao Fang nodded and said, "That's good. Only virtue and the virtuous can convince others. The teachings of ancient sages can be passed down for thousands of years. There is a reason for this. Otherwise, they would have been lost in the dust of history."

"Your Highness is wise!"

Wang Anshi sighed in admiration, and it could be seen that he was sincere and not flattering.

Of course, Lao Wang was a great scholar of his generation and had a stubborn temper, so he did not need to flatter him, not to mention that this was the era of Song Renzong.

Zhao Fang smiled with satisfaction, looked at him and pondered for a while, and said, "I just want to change the supervisory system and the system of admonishing officials, Wang Qing, would you like to have a look and give some advice?"

Zhao Fang has been thinking about this for a long time. After being rejected by his wives last time, in addition to reforming the proportion of civil and military personnel in the army, he also wrote something.

It was the Ming Dynasty's Metropolitan Procuratorate and the Sixth Section's system of government affairs, but it had not been discussed with anyone. When I met Wang Anshi, a man who liked reform, I couldn't help but discuss the feasibility with him.

Wang Anshi was overjoyed when he heard this and said: "Your Highness, please give me your permission. I would like to see what Your Highness thinks. The former Agricultural Bank of China minister thought it was very good. This should also be a surprise."

Zhao Fang laughed loudly and said, "I'll tell you if it's a surprise or not. Just don't scare Wang Qing."

(End of this chapter)