Thousand-year-old family: its rise began with Shang Yang’s reforms

Chapter 426 "Open Conspiracy"

This statement was somewhat disrespectful to the people from the aristocratic families, but - Lu Nian thought about it again and again, and seemed unable to find any reason to refute it.

After all, these children of aristocratic families had indeed done some work before.

He coughed lightly, his expression somewhat serious.

"Can"

Lu Nian sighed and waved his hand. A young man standing nearby came over. The expression on his face looked slow and he was lazy all over, like a dried salted fish.

"Giving up real power and instead continuing to have the power to appoint some unimportant officials is indeed a good thing for you and me."

Lu Nian had been imprisoned in this old residence for so many years that he had long since washed away all the worldly things in his life and no longer complained about his fate.

"However, for some of the younger generations who are truly capable, this may be terrible news."

"Brother Linzhi, I know the purpose of your coming here is to persuade me to accept the emperor's kindness, but is there no young man in the Yang family who is particularly promising?"

"Although my son is young, he is a decent person. He is different from me as a father. He is well-versed in the classics of various schools of thought. Although he is not very talented, he has the style of his ancestors."

"How can I bear to let him be trapped in Fanyang with me?"

Lu Nian's expression changed inexplicably.

In fact, since the second year after he came to Fan Yang, he has figured out many things. It is impossible for the emperor to continue to let these aristocratic families go. The emperor is determined to eradicate these "cancers", and no one can stop him.

He closed his eyes.

"Can you please ask your Majesty for mercy? I am willing to expel this child from the Lu family. Can you recommend this child to serve as an official in the court before I hand over the real power of the Dazhongzheng official?"

The playboys can continue to be playboys, while the talented people can continue to be officials.

Lu Nian knew that he couldn't take care of more, but he wanted to try one last time for his son.

At this time, Yang Xiu's expression became even weirder.

He looked at Lu Nian and said, "Brother Yuanzhi misunderstood His Majesty's intention."

Yang Xiu's way of addressing the emperor had long since changed to "Your Majesty". In fact, Yang had already begun to turn against the emperor long before he came to the Lu family.

Among the major families now, perhaps only the Li and Cui families are still resisting stubbornly, but the strength of the Cui and Li families is not enough to be feared. As long as the Lu family can be persuaded, the Cui and Li families will be forced to agree.

So he traveled thousands of miles to Fan Yang to look for this person.

"His Majesty said that as long as you have the ability to work, you still have to work. It is impossible for you to be idle--"

Yang Xiu wanted to laugh when he thought of Zhang Wan's expression when he said this. How could the emperor at that time be a "killing god"? How could he be an emperor? He looked more like some of the "landlords" in the county, who were skinned and wanted to make them work every day.

"Your Majesty means that from now on, the country will have two systems for selecting officials in parallel."

"The first one is the Nine-Rank System."

"The officials of all ranks are still held by the noble families. What is the purpose of this system? It is to select some unimportant positions. Your Majesty means that any dog ​​can do these things. It is not a bad thing to let some dudes do these things. It can also give these noble children a job to do, so that they will not be messing around with cats and dogs all day and affecting the court."

"The second is the 'examination system' that will be implemented soon."

Examination system?

Lu Nian narrowed his eyes. After all, he was not a fool. He instantly combined the words "test" and "trial" with the emperor's previous actions and instantly understood the whole story.

And Yang Xiu's next words also confirmed his thoughts.

"Didn't Your Majesty establish printing offices in all the prefectures and counties of Dayu before, and spread the printing technique throughout the country, so that everyone in the world would start reading a part of the "Jianwu Grand Canon"?"

"Your Majesty means that in the previous dynasty, people only looked at moral character. People with good moral character were not necessarily capable, and sometimes they did a terrible job. But now, people look at family background. Although most of the children of wealthy families who are recommended to serve as officials have some ability, their character is sometimes... Hmm."

Yang Xiu didn't finish his words, but Lu Nian understood what he meant.

Isn't it just that sometimes the people selected from these aristocratic families have poor morals?

Yang Xiu chuckled, "Now, we don't judge by family background or moral character, we judge by 'examination'. How do we do it? The court will tell you directly about the content of the examination. It is to select from the nine parts before the Jianwu Ceremony, which include the words of the ancient sages on politics, Confucianism, Taoism, Legalism, Mohism, etc."

"I passed the exams one level at a time."

"According to your majesty, the prime minister, and the commander, we will temporarily divide this examination system into three levels."

"The first level is the county, the second level is the state, and the third level is the Great Yu court."

"Your Majesty means that if a person can pass the examination from the county to the court, his talent can be confirmed, and such a person can serve as an official in the court of Dayu."

"Whether he will continue to be used or not depends entirely on his subsequent performance."

"There is no limit on the number of people for the first-level counties and towns. For the second-level states and counties, 3,600 people are selected each year. For the third-level court, 360 people are required."

Yang Xiu pointed at the young man who had just walked up to Lu Nian and said, "His Majesty said that because the noble families did make contributions to Dayu in the past, which is undeniable, he would not insist on destroying the noble families - after all, not all the noble families are bad guys."

"So the children of aristocratic families can also participate in this "exam". The people who pass the exam can be used in any way they want, and they don't need to be separated from the aristocratic families."

After saying this, Lu Nian sat there, looking stunned and excited. He had already prepared himself for the emperor to catch them all in one fell swoop and wipe them out completely.

I didn't expect that the emperor still cared so much about our old friendship.

In an instant, he knelt on the ground, looking in the direction of Kyoto with a slightly moved look on his face.

"Your Majesty is so kind--"

After Lu Nian's mood calmed down, Yang Xiucai sighed and said, "Brother Yuanzhi, I was also very surprised when I heard His Majesty say that. After all, this is a completely harmless thing for us."

He said softly, "Originally, we wouldn't let those dudes take up important positions, right?"

"Even though you and I had some absurd behaviors before, the people who arranged it were all knowledgeable people."

"Only talented young men in the family need to work hard. Those playboys are just occupying an idle position and looking for something to do."

"And now, your majesty has not cut off our escape route."

"The descendants will still have protection."

"Are we still afraid of those poor families, or even common people? Can't our talented children pass the exams better than those people?"

Lu Nian laughed loudly, and at this moment he had regained some of the demeanor of the son of a noble family in the past.

"Brother Lin Zhi is right."

"Are we afraid of those people?"

He looked at Yang Xiu solemnly and said, "Please report to His Majesty that Lu agreed with His Majesty's decision!" Yang Xiu then took out a bright yellow decree from his sleeve and looked at Lu Nian with a smile, "His Majesty said that if Brother Yuanzhi agrees, you don't have to be bound in Fanyang, come back to Kyoto with me."

"By then, whether you are appointed as the Grand Chancellor or restored as the Left Prime Minister, it will be fine."

Lu Nian did not accept the order, but asked hesitantly: "The Prime Minister."

Yang Xiu shook his head helplessly: "This is the decree that His Majesty brought out after consulting the Prime Minister."

"The Prime Minister has also agreed to lift your house arrest early."

Only then did Lu Nian heave a sigh of relief and accepted the order with ease.

京都
In the royal study
Chen An and Zhang Wan were sitting together, playing a game of chess.

Zhang Wan had an unconcealable smile on his face. He whispered, "Teacher, this is a really great move. Those noble families should be happy to accept this order, right? Maybe they will even think that I am a benevolent person."

"When they all come to Kyoto, I will tell them that it is all because of the teacher that I will give them a chance to live."

Chen An played chess silently, with a calm tone in his voice.

"People are like this."

"You beat them half to death first, then pretend that you are going to kill them all, and they will start to panic. When they are most scared, you can tell them, forget it, for the sake of our old relationship. Or you can find a random reason, saying that I will let you go anyway and will not kill your whole family. I will just take away some things that you don't care about in the first place, and they will be grateful."

“The same is true for aristocratic families.”

Zhang Wan laughed softly: "Isn't it?"

"If in the past, I wanted to change the official selection system or take back the power from these aristocratic families, they would have wanted to fight to the death with me, but now, they are grateful to me."

“If people have a choice, how can they fight hard?”

"Originally, they could easily control power, but now they have to compete with those poor families and ordinary people. How can they think that nothing has changed?"

Zhang Wan sighed.

"But in the end, this examination system can still be implemented."

"This is definitely a good thing for Dayu, and it is definitely a good thing for the world."

Chen An shrugged his shoulders without commenting: "It is indeed a good thing. After all, from now on, being able to be an official means at least having some ability."

"As long as the subjects do not change and the exams do not become a means of screening personal preferences, then Dayu can indeed prosper for a long time."

Zhang Wan understood what Chen An meant and immediately curled his lips.

"I know what the teacher wants to say. I will try my best to leave ancestral precepts to restrain future emperors, but——"

He sighed again: "This kind of thing is not something we can decide now."

"If any of our descendants fail to live up to expectations, let them be."

"After all, there is still the Chen family, right? At least there is a bloodline left, which is already a good thing for the Zhang family."

Chen An was speechless. He threw the chess piece onto the board.

"I was wondering why you were so kind today, playing chess with me for two or three hours. It turns out you were waiting for me here."

He looked around and said, "Why is this scene the same as the one recorded in the "Book of Han" in Zhushen Tower, when the Han emperor and Chen agreed to meet? Your Majesty has already made preparations, right?"

Zhang Wan chuckled.

"Teacher, Chen has already promised Ying and Liu, so it's no big deal to promise Zhang. It's the same if you drive one sheep or let two sheep go, right?"

"It's just a matter of convenience for Chen."

Chen An held his forehead with his hand helplessly and sighed: "Okay, okay, I promise you, don't act like this, it makes people feel that it's better not to have this pair of eyes."

Zhang Wan finally returned to normal, and looked happy.

"My request is not as complicated as that of the Han emperor back then. I just want to preserve the Zhang family's bloodline. If you think Dayu is hopeless, then don't save it."

"My ancestor has already done this. As long as future emperors have a little bit of brains and pay a little more attention to the imperial examinations, there will basically be no problems. If he changes the subjects of the examination to what he likes, then he deserves it."

"Dayu deserves to be destroyed."

"There's no hope. Just wait to die."

"I won't cause any trouble to the teacher."

Chen An sneered: "Your Majesty is quite open-minded."

He looked at the wind and rain outside the hall and said, "This is an open conspiracy. The noble families can no longer refuse it. There is no turning back."

"Let's do as your majesty wishes."

The sixteenth year of Jianwu.

The emperor issued an edict to establish a new system for selecting officials, called the "Imperial Examination System."

In the imperial examination system, the subjects tested were the nine subjects of the "Jianwu Da Dian" that was printed and spread all over the country that year, three subjects for counties and townships, three subjects for prefectures and counties, and finally three subjects for Dayu examination.

The difficulty increases gradually.

Most of the tests in county and township examinations are basic content that needs to be memorized, and only a few require understanding and free expression. There are not many parts that require free expression, so as long as you can memorize it, it will be fine.

Among the three subjects of the prefecture and county examinations, the basic content that needs to be memorized is much less. Most of them need to be extended and developed on their own. Some even need to refer to the content of the code to make judgments, and some even touch on the policies of governing the country.

The final imperial examination in the Dayu court was the most complicated and difficult.

The imperial examination in Dayu was set by the emperor and was entirely about testing one's ability to govern a country and politics. It involved the most political science content and it was difficult to pass this exam without great talent.

But – there are benefits too.

After passing the county and township examinations, one can serve as a minor official in the county and township; after passing the state and county examinations, one can serve as a minor official in the state and county, or as an official of the seventh rank or below in the county and township; after passing the Dayu examination, the top three can stay in the court, four to ten can stay in the capital, eleven to one hundred can stay in the state and county as officials of the fourth rank or below, one hundred and one to two hundred can stay in the state and county as officials of the fifth rank or below, and the rest can serve as officials of the sixth rank or below.

All those who passed the Dayu imperial examination could be called "disciples of the emperor."

You can call the emperor your "teacher".

The news caused a sensation around the world.

(End of this chapter)