Jiuxi

Chapter 995

January, the third year of Yongning in the Great Qi Dynasty.

With the end of the Beijing Lantern Festival, this New Year festival enjoyed by both the emperor and the people finally came to an end.

At the beginning of the new year, the court also ushered in a new atmosphere.

On the recommendation of Qin Wang Lu Chen, Liu Yuan, who was formerly temporarily serving as the governor of Lingzhou, returned to Beijing and was promoted to the position of Zuo Zhongcheng.

The former governor of Dingzhou, Ding Hui, returned to Beijing to take over as the left vice minister of the Ministry of Personnel, the former prefect of Guangling, Zhan Hui, was promoted to governor of Dingzhou, and the former chief secretary of the Dingzhou Military Governor's Office, Huang Xianfeng, was promoted to governor of Weizhou.

Wang Heng was promoted to Governor of Qingzhou, and Gao Ruli was promoted to Governor of Lingzhou.

At the same time, with the request of Lu Chen and the approval of Empress Dowager Ning, the court formally established a separate new policy office, the Reform Department, which was fully responsible for the planning and coordination of various new policies, as well as the supervision and assessment of the implementation process. The specific implementation was the responsibility of the two prime ministers and various ministries of the court.

The Innovation Department is headed by Lu Chen, and the daily work is handled by Li Liangyu. In addition, a large number of young talents who have been trained in Jiangbei over the past year have joined, such as Cui Hao, Wang Han, Wei Xiyun and others.

They came from different backgrounds and had different personalities, but they all completed the tasks assigned by Lu Chen very well in the past year, especially Cui Hao, who had proposed fifteen strategies to benefit the people. With the cooperation of Wang Han, he managed Qingzhou prosperously and was increasingly recognized and valued by Lu Chen.

Under Lu Chen's leadership, the Innovation Department quickly came up with a plan for the first phase of the new policy.

The first thing is that a special examination will be held this spring. Anyone who has made achievements in the three states of Jiangnan and Jiangbei, and anyone who is recommended by the government in the hometowns of Jiangbei, can rush to Heluo to take part in the special examination. This is called promoting talents in an unconventional way.

The second is to clean up the bureaucracy and amend the bloated official system of the court over the years. The Censorate will establish a supervision system in each state, prefecture, and county. Even the lowest-ranking elected censors will have the right to report directly to the central government.

The third is that the imperial court will set the level of land tax across the country, that is, to establish different collection levels based on the number and quality of land owned by farmers.

This is an extremely clear household classification system. The imperial court divided households into seven categories: top-top, upper-middle, middle-top, middle-middle, lower-top, lower-middle, and lower-lowest. The top households needed to pay the highest amount of land tax, and the rest of them paid less in order. The lowest households could be exempted at their discretion.

Originally, this new policy was extremely difficult to implement. Just counting the existing land properties was a big hassle. However, thanks to the implementation of the Jingjie Law in Jiangnan for several years, the wealthy families in Jiangbei had lost their temper due to Lu Chen's torture. In addition, the survey and statistics of land in various places had been completed in the past year. Therefore, even though many court officials believed that there were some problems with the household status system, it could still be implemented forcefully.

This item alone would greatly enrich the national treasury.

The fourth article is to set up an Agricultural Affairs Bureau under the Ministry of Households, which is specifically responsible for cultivating good varieties, improving farming tools, and researching composting technology and crop rotation methods. Instead of just shouting slogans to encourage farming and sericulture as before, it is unable to provide practical and effective help to the people.

The Department of Agriculture also cooperated with the Department of Water Conservancy newly established in the Ministry of Works to conduct on-site inspections and construction of water conservancy projects. The Ministry of Works was no longer only responsible for repairing palaces for the emperor and building official residences for officials. They needed to do something practical for the people, otherwise they would be impeached and dismissed from office, or in serious cases, beheaded.

The fifth article was to adjust the duties of the Imperial Medical Service and set up a new Medical Bureau, which would mainly rely on government channels to establish clinics and drug stores throughout all counties and prefectures, while also recruiting a large number of apprentices and writing simple and effective health regulations.

Xue Huaiyi, who had been aloof from worldly affairs all his life, entered the officialdom when he was old and became the first chief of the Medical Bureau.

There were eight new policies in the first phase, in addition to the three items of establishing schools, setting commercial taxes, and encouraging commerce.

Lu Chen knew very well that haste makes waste. He had not thought that he could achieve the breakthrough in one go. Therefore, after carefully summarizing some lessons learned from his previous life, with the assistance of Xu Zuo, Gao Huan, Chen Xun, Liu Yuan and others, he first targeted the problems that the country needed to solve most, and then added a few policies of boiling the frog in warm water.

Increasing the number of special examinations and cleaning up the bureaucracy are complementary means. The former allows officials to recognize the court's determination for the new policy, while the latter specifically dismisses and punishes some officials, while giving others the opportunity to make amends, thus avoiding a situation of large-scale inertial confrontation.

Lu Chen especially reminded Liu Yuan of this point. There needs to be a scale when impeaching officials. Although the current situation where too clear water will attract no fish is helpless, it has to be done step by step.

The implementation of the new policy is not something that can be done overnight, and it is even more impossible for Lu Chen to accomplish it alone. Therefore, it is foreseeable that there will be a lot of mud and sand in the process.

As time entered March, the new policy was rolled out in a stumbling manner, and the Qin Palace also welcomed the third generation.

Li Bingxue successfully gave birth to a baby boy, and both mother and child are safe.

Officials in Beijing came to congratulate one after another, and the palace naturally gave them generous rewards.

In Taipingfang, Xicheng District, there is an exquisite and elegant mansion.

"When the concubine of the King of Qin gave birth to a son, what gift did you give?"

The owner of this house, the Minister of Rites Kong Yingdong, looked at the middle-aged man opposite with a smile.

The Minister of Justice Yin Bo, who had a square face and looked intimidating without even getting angry, raised his eyebrows and said calmly, "My family is poor and I can't afford a generous gift, so I simply won't bother the prince. What about you? Now that the two new policies of increasing the number of special examinations and establishing schools are handled by the Ministry of Rites, you, Minister Kong, are becoming more and more powerful, so I think you won't miss this opportunity to show your goodwill."

"Brother Dacheng, why do you have to be so sarcastic? Although our Kong family is not too poor, how can we compare with the Lu family? Even if I take out a few thousand taels of silver, I'm afraid the King of Qin will not take it seriously. He might even let Liu Bingyuan impeach me. In order to avoid these troubles, I had to make a painting and send it to the King of Qin's palace."

Kong Yingdong said meaningfully: "Guess what? The painting was returned intact, and the chief secretary of the palace came to thank him personally, saying that the King of Qin had ordered that he would accept the gift and would not accept any other gifts."

Yin Bo said: "This is also normal. That Concubine Li is only the first one. It is said that there are five more women who are about to give birth in the Qin Palace. If we accept gifts every time, I am afraid that the officials in the capital will not be able to survive this year."

Kong Yingdong smiled and said with emotion: "Having many children and grandchildren is such a blessing." Yin Bo snorted coldly.

"Brother Dacheng, don't worry."

Kong Yingdong sighed and said slowly: "To be fair, these eight new policies are beneficial to the country and the people. If they can be implemented smoothly, the results will be seen within two years."

"I have no objection to the new policy."

Yin Bo raised his voice slightly and said sternly, "I just can't stand this prince's behavior! Since he was the first to initiate the new policy, he should take the responsibility, instead of the current situation where all the fame and credit go to him, while the resentment is directed to the two prime ministers and the officials!"

Kong Yingdong remained silent.

After a moment, he whispered, "What can we do? Xue Xiang and Xu Xiang didn't stand up, and the King of Qin relied on Liu Bingyuan, the old mad dog, to bite the officials. In less than three months, Liu Bingyuan and his censors impeached and dismissed 76 officials from the central government to the prefectures. The saint and the two ministers said nothing and allowed the King of Qin to promote his confidants and place them in various important government offices. Brother Dacheng, I know even without you saying it that the King of Qin is trying to win the hearts of the people by implementing the new policy."

Yin Bo frowned and asked, "Are we just going to watch like this?"

"What can I do?"

Kong Yingdong turned to look at the young man who had been silent, and asked, "What do you think?"

The young man said slowly, "My Lords, more and more people have seen the ambition of the King of Qin. As far as I know, there are many young officials who are still loyal to him, but they are powerless to shake the power of the King of Qin, and no one can unite them. The Saint and the two Prime Ministers are not unaware of the King of Qin's plan, but they are in a position where they cannot express their opinions. Once they express their opinions, the situation will deteriorate instantly, because the military power is always in the hands of the King of Qin."

Kong Yingdong shook his head and said, "I believe that the Saint and Prime Minister Xue have their own difficulties, but Prime Minister Xu may not think so. Without his tacit consent or even support in the past three months, how could Liu Bingyuan mobilize the power of the Censorate so easily, and the King of Qin could not have interfered in the government so smoothly."

"I dare not make irresponsible comments on Prime Minister Xu."

The young man bowed his head slightly, and then said: "My Lords, I believe that no matter how powerful the King of Qin is, there will always be a group of loyal officials who are willing to give everything for the saint, including their lives, as long as they can get rid of the King of Qin, who is a traitor to the country."

Kong Yingdong and Yin Bo were both surprised.

Although their worries were gradually becoming a reality, they did not dare to speak out loudly, unlike this young man who was sharp and direct.

"Don't worry, my lords. I won't act rashly."

The young man looked calm and said calmly: "In my opinion, now is a good opportunity to delay the King of Qin's attempt to cultivate a large number of confidants in the court."

Kong Yingdong was moved and said, "Tell me in detail."

"This matter still depends on Lord Kong to take care of it."

"You mean Enko this time?"

"Yes."

The young man looked up at him and said slowly, "The purpose of the King of Qin's additional special examination is to win over the hearts of the people, or more precisely, the hearts of the literati. Those famous scholars in Jiangbei want to ascend to high positions through this special examination. It can be predicted that they will only recognize the King of Qin instead of the court. Lord Kong, as long as you can select as many scholars from Jiangnan as possible in this special examination and make those people from Jiangbei return home empty-handed, the King of Qin's plan will be defeated without any attack."

"This……"

Kong Yingdong and Yin Bo looked at each other, hesitant for a moment.

The young man said solemnly: "Master Kong, the King of Qin does not want to bear the name of usurper, so he uses these means. Since he wants to act within the rules of the court, can't Master Kong find enough reasons to decide the result of this imperial examination?"

Yin Bo's eyes lit up and he nodded, "That makes sense."

Kong Yingdong also understood at this time. As the Minister of Rites and the chief examiner of this special examination, it would be easy for him to make someone pass the exam.
As for the reasons... For a well-educated man like him, there are sufficient reasons for any article he chooses, and quoting from classics is his forte.

With this in mind, Kong Yingdong said leisurely: "Okay, but in order to avoid the King of Qin's anger, I will still reserve some places for the scholars from Jiangbei."

The young man continued to remind him, "Master Kong, you might as well take proper care of those noble children who have been repeatedly tormented by the King of Qin."

Kong Yingdong naturally understood the deep meaning. He couldn't help laughing, raised his hand and nodded at the young man, and said with emotion: "Ruogu, you are worthy of being a young talent trained by Prime Minister Xue himself."

The young man bowed his head and said, "Your Excellency is too kind. I am only serving the Saint."

He was the eldest son of the current Left Prime Minister Xue Nanting and the Director of the Imperial College Xue Ruogu.

(End of this chapter)