Daming: I can’t kill such a greedy prince-in-law?

Chapter 473: Ouyang Lun is so cruel (Please subscribe!!)

hiss--! !

Uh-huh! ?
When Ouyang Lun said this, the entire Tai Chi Hall fell silent. No, "silent" is not enough to describe it, it must be "silent"!
Zhu Yuanzhang looked at Ouyang Lun with extremely deep eyes, and the expression in his eyes was more complicated than ever before!
All the officials looked at Ouyang Lun as if they had seen a ghost, with a hint of fear in their eyes. Lu Chang, the Minister of Rites, was even trembling.

What on earth does Ouyang Lun want to do?

Just after getting rid of Confucianism, now they are turning around to attack the imperial examination system! ?
Everyone present, including Zhu Yuanzhang and Li Shanchang, had no doubts about Ouyang Lun's ability.

It is precisely because of the recognition of Ouyang Lun's ability and his astonishing record in the past that everyone has to take him seriously.

From the perspective of Zhu Yuanzhang, Li Shanchang, and all the civil and military officials, every reform of Ouyang Lun was beneficial to the Ming Dynasty, but since it was a reform, there would inevitably be losses in interests.

Educational reform has directly eliminated Confucianism.

Who will suffer from the imperial examination reform?

Only Zhu Biao showed a happy expression. He had also worked on several projects with Ouyang Lun. Although he always shouted "666" at the side, he himself also gained a lot.

Imperial examination reform!

This is a very rare section. In all dynasties in the past, there have been capable people who have reformed the system of selecting talents. The hereditary system of the pre-Qin period was the earliest selection system. Its characteristic was the unity of royal power and clan power. The appointment of government officials at all levels was determined by family blood relations. Ordinary people had no possibility of becoming officials at all.

From the Qin and Han Dynasties to the Wei, Jin, and Southern and Northern Dynasties, the recommendation system mainly used the recommendation system and the recruitment system to select talents. The recommendation system was a system for selecting officials by which senior central or local officials recommended scholars or lower-level officials to the central government through examination, while the recruitment system was a system for the emperor, ministers, and county magistrates to select and appoint their subordinates. Although it was slightly better than the hereditary system, it was still circulated among the upper class.

Another one is the Nine-Rank System, which was a selection system during the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties. The imperial court appointed officials to divide local talents into nine ranks according to their virtue, ability and family background. The officials would then be selected by the Ministry of Personnel, who would consider family background and other factors.

It was not until the beginning of the Sui Dynasty that the imperial examination system emerged, which selected talents from all scholars through a series of examinations.

The Ming Dynasty is still selecting talents through imperial examinations.

The imperial examination system is considered by everyone to be the optimal solution. At most, the content, direction, and form of the examination would be changed. If only these were changed, it could not be called imperial examination reform!
Zhu Yuanzhang thought for a moment and was somewhat dissatisfied with the imperial examination system, but he could not think of any other useful solutions, so when he was short of talents, he could only reopen the imperial examination system.

Now Ouyang Lun actually proposed to reform the imperial examination system. Zhu Yuanzhang was shocked and curious at the same time.

"Tell me what you think first."

Zhu Yuanzhang did not veto it, but he did not immediately choose to support it either.

After all, the imperial examination system has been implemented for so many years. Even the Yuan Dynasty held imperial examinations, which is enough to show that this method does have its advantages.

"Your Majesty, the imperial examination system has been in place for many years. I don't need to explain its drawbacks. Your Majesty and the other gentlemen should all be very clear about it."

"When I was dealing with the problems in the four southern provinces, I specially set up a civil service examination system in order to quickly select talents. I was able to quickly recruit many talents. I think the imperial examination system can be aligned with the civil service examination system!"

Ouyang Lun said slowly.

"Refer to the civil service examination reform?" Zhu Yuanzhang was stunned.

Li Shanchang stepped forward and said, "Prince Consort Ouyang, your civil service exam is indeed fast, but if the imperial examination is the same as the civil service exam, then how can we distinguish between officials and civil servants? Wouldn't the world be in chaos?"

Ouyang Lun shook his head slowly, "Master Li, you are in your old trouble again. I haven't even finished what I'm saying yet, but you're the first to question me."

"To put it bluntly, the previous civil service examination for selecting talents was actually a pilot project I conducted. Judging from the current situation, the civil service examination system is more effective than the imperial examination system, and it is fairer!"

"So, today I formally propose the Ming Dynasty civil servant selection system!"

"From now on, all officials in the Ming Dynasty will be collectively referred to as civil servants. However, they are specifically divided into selected students, civil servants who have passed the national examinations, civil servants who have passed the provincial examinations, civil servants in public institutions, and temporary employees. Selected students are the most outstanding civil servants, similar to the Jinshi in the imperial examinations. Civil servants who have passed the national examinations and provincial examinations are similar to Juren. Civil servants in public institutions are the employees of various state-owned enterprises today. As for temporary employees, they are special talents, and the future development and welfare benefits of different civil servants will be different!"

“Of course, the registration qualifications, exam difficulty, and competition intensity will also be different.”

"In addition, some changes need to be made to the examination format. In addition to a written test, there must also be a physical test and an interview, and the ranking will be determined based on the comprehensive scores of various assessments!"

"The content of the exam will also have to change. It can't just be the Four Books and Five Classics. We need to add professional knowledge and administrative knowledge. In particular, Confucianism will be greatly reduced, and more content will be added in terms of law, astronomy, geography, etc."

"This is my general idea about the selection system for civil servants in the Ming Dynasty. After the specific content is known, I will compile a detailed memorial and submit it to you."

After Ouyang Lun finished speaking, the scene remained quiet for a while.

Inside the Taiji Hall, all the civil and military officials were shocked by what Ouyang Lun described!

Be nice!

What Ouyang Lun is doing is not a reform of the imperial examination system, but more like an eradication of Confucianism!

What is the biggest advantage of Confucianism? Isn't it because Confucianism is very suitable for the imperial examination? In the past imperial examinations, the most tested subjects were Confucianism, and it is precisely because of this that Confucianism is highly sought after.

Ouyang Lun had just conquered all branches of Confucianism, and now he was about to completely destroy the foundation of Confucianism.

How is this different from killing someone and then grinding the body into ashes?
ruthless!
So cruel!

It is entirely conceivable that once Ouyang Lun's so-called imperial examination reform was implemented, Confucianism would really have no way out.

Inside the hall, some officials who came from Confucian backgrounds or were close to Confucianism were so nervous that the hairs on their bodies stood up.

Swish--

Civil and military officials turned their attention to Zhu Yuanzhang.

At this time, the decision of Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang was crucial. As long as Zhu Yuanzhang nodded, the outcome of Confucianism completely withdrawing from the main stage of history would be determined. Zhu Yuanzhang naturally felt the gazes of the officials.

He listened to every word Ouyang Lun had just said. Zhu Yuanzhang was delighted, surprised, and of course worried about the "Ming Civil Service System" proposed by Ouyang Lun.

What surprised him was that Ouyang Lun was actually able to come up with a system for selecting officials that seemed more complete and reasonable than the imperial examination system. What delighted him was that this system had a sense of being open to all and recruiting talents, and was no longer limited to scholars studying Confucianism!
What worries Zhu Yuanzhang is that this "Ming Civil Service System" does not seem to strengthen the imperial power. He is sure that the implementation of this new system will be beneficial to the development of the Ming Dynasty and the selection of talents, but he cannot be sure whether these talents are loyal to the Ming Dynasty and the Zhu family!
Although Confucianism has various problems, it still has the idea of ​​loyalty to the emperor. The "Ming Civil Service System" is more like a cold system, which makes Zhu Yuanzhang somewhat uncomfortable and even a little awkward.

"Lü Chang, Song Lian."

"I'm here, old minister." Lu Chang and Song Lian stood up.

"One of you is the Minister of Rites, in charge of the imperial examinations, and the other is the Minister of Personnel, in charge of the appointment of officials." Zhu Yuanzhang looked at the two and asked in a deep voice, "Tell me, is the new system that Ouyang Lun just proposed good or bad?"

"what"

"This"

Faced with Zhu Yuanzhang's sudden questioning, Lu Chang and Song Lian seemed a little flustered.

"What? What? I'm asking you questions, answer them quickly!" Zhu Yuanzhang said unhappily, "Lü Chang, you speak first!"

"Yes!" Lu Chang bowed, thought for a moment, and then said, "Your Majesty, as the Minister of Rites, I have also presided over the imperial examinations. The imperial examinations have been passed down through the dynasties, and countless students have been looking forward to being on the list and serving the court. If the imperial examinations are suddenly cancelled, I am worried that it will chill the hearts of scholars all over the world."

At this point, Lu Chang's attitude has become very clear, and he obviously does not support it.

Zhu Yuanzhang did not comment, but looked at Song Lian and asked: "Song Lian, you have been the Minister of Rites, and now you are the Minister of Personnel, and you are also the Prince's teacher. What do you think?"

Song Lian glanced at Ouyang Lun quietly, then took a deep breath, and then slowly said: "Your Majesty, when Prince Consort Ouyang first tried the civil servant assessment, I have always paid attention to it. The new system can select talents more comprehensively, and the assessment and election based on specific positions are still fresh in my memory. In addition, the new system is more comprehensive, which is indeed a good idea."

"It's just that this old minister and Minister Lu have the same concerns. How can we appease the scholars of the world by replacing the imperial examination with a new system?"

"After all, if this matter is not handled properly, it is likely to cause even greater chaos, and people like those in Confucianism will definitely take the opportunity to cause trouble."

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded slowly after hearing this, and then looked at Ouyang Lun, "You also heard what the two ministers said just now. Do you have any solutions to the problems they raised?"

"Your Majesty, I am not trying to replace the imperial examination with the new system. The imperial examination in our Ming Dynasty is only held every three years. Our Ming Dynasty is developing rapidly now, and the talent shortage is increasing year by year. This alone is no longer suitable for the needs of the Ming Dynasty!"

"The reason why I proposed the reform of the imperial examination at this time is because talent selection is inseparable from education. Now that education reform has entered full practice, the future Ming Dynasty will have a new education system with elementary schools in every village, middle schools in every county, and universities in every province. Students who have received new education are no longer suitable for the imperial examination, so a new talent selection system is needed, and the civil servant assessment system came into being!"

"As for the questions raised by the two ministers, I think we can proceed in three steps. The first step is to establish and improve the civil service examination while running the imperial examination in parallel. The second step is to determine the final time point for the imperial examination after the civil service examination is improved and hold the last imperial examination. The third step is to completely withdraw the imperial examination and fully implement the civil servant examination!"

"As for the two ministers' concerns about whether scholars in the world will accept the issue, I think there is no need to worry at all. First of all, the civil service examination is more reasonable and more likely to succeed than the imperial examination. Secondly, we have given scholars enough time to make the transition."

"If Your Majesty feels that there are risks and does not want to carry out the imperial examination reform, that is fine. I will go back and study the new policy carefully and try to come up with a better policy as soon as possible. However, during the time I am thinking, I probably won't be able to do other things, nor will I be able to attend the morning court every day. I hope Your Majesty will understand."

After hearing Ouyang Lun's last sentence, Zhu Yuanzhang almost agreed, but after thinking about it for a while, he realized something was wrong.

This kid is threatening me!
If I don't agree, you're going to go back to seclusion? What seclusion? If I really agree, this guy will probably never come to the morning court again. You're thinking when you ask.

That won't work.

Zhu Yuanzhang thought about it again and felt that what Ouyang Lun had just said was not unreasonable. Anyway, he did not say that the imperial examination system should be replaced immediately. If there was a problem, he could just stop it immediately. If it succeeded, it would also be an achievement of him, Zhu Yuanzhang.

It’s a win-win situation anyway!

After thinking about it this way, Zhu Yuanzhang made a decision in his heart.

"Ahem! After listening to what Ouyang Lun said, I feel that the imperial examination system does have many drawbacks and should indeed be changed!"

"However." Zhu Yuanzhang said halfway, and looked at Ouyang Lun with a serious face, "Ouyang Lun, I also have a question for you."

"Your Majesty, please speak."

"How can you ensure that the talents who have come out of your new education model and new selection system are loyal to the Ming Dynasty and me?" Zhu Yuanzhang said this very bluntly, with scrutiny in his eyes.

Talents are indeed needed, but if they are not loyal to the emperor and the court, it is better for them to die.

When Ouyang Lun heard Zhu Yuanzhang's question, he was also stunned, and then his back felt a little cold.

I rely on!

How could this be overlooked?

However, Ouyang Lun quickly thought of a way to deal with it, and his smile returned to his face. "Your Majesty, I have a brilliant plan. Please allow me to keep you in suspense here, but I can guarantee that the talents selected through the new education and new examinations will definitely be the most patriotic and loyal talents!"

After hearing what Ouyang Lun said, Zhu Yuanzhang became more and more curious, but he still refrained from asking, and nodded, "In that case, I will leave the matter of the imperial examination reform to you!"

"It's still the same old rule. The prince is with you!"

"This time, Lu Chang and Song Lian will be responsible for assisting."

"I obey your order!"

Seeing Zhu Yuanzhang nod in agreement, Li Shanchang and other Huaixi Party officials looked unhappy, and those officials related to Confucianism looked even uglier. Their future prospects could be said to be becoming increasingly bleak.

The morning court continued, but all the officials were thinking about the new examination system and had no time to care about anything else.
(End of this chapter)