spend time

Chapter 802: Cleansing

Time is like water, fleeting.

This year is the fifth year of Zhaoping. It is the fifth year of Her Majesty the Empress of Daliang.

The Ministry of Personnel was involved in a major case of selling official positions in the capital. The evidence was irrefutable and the Ministry was condemned by the public. Minister Zhang resigned in disgrace, his official position was confiscated, and his family was exiled.

Several male members of the Zhang family were unwilling to see such a fate, so they gathered their servants and a group of clansmen to attack the palace, but were all beheaded outside the palace gate.

After this heavy blow, Shangshu Zhang fell seriously ill during his exile and died before he reached the place of exile.

When the news reached the capital, the Empress was not moved and issued an order to bury Minister Zhang's body on the spot. As for the rest of the Zhang family, as long as they had a breath left, they had to crawl to the place of exile.

Her Majesty the Empress completely revealed her cold and ruthless iron-blooded hand. All the civil and military officials in the palace were shocked.

After that, there was a purge of the Ministry of Personnel.

All the lackeys of Zhang Shangshu were either dismissed from office or exiled, and those who were seriously corrupt were beheaded. In the end, the Ministry of Personnel was almost empty, with only a few people left.

Immediately afterwards, Her Majesty the Empress issued another imperial decree, ordering Prime Minister Chen to concurrently serve as the Minister of Personnel. Minister Wang was promoted to the Right Vice Minister of Personnel.

Anyone with a discerning eye could see that the Empress had handed over the Ministry of Personnel to Wang Jin. However, Wang Jin was too young and did not have enough experience. So she simply let Prime Minister Chen take on a nominal title, and Wang Jin had to do all the actual work.

"Minister Wang," the Empress, who was sitting on the dragon throne, said with increasing dignity, "You will be the one to select the officials that are vacant in the Ministry of Personnel. Just make a list and present it to me."

This is the Empress' absolute trust in the new Minister of Personnel.

Wang Jin suppressed his excitement and bowed to accept the order.

Before taking up his new post, Wang Jin returned home to talk to his old father who was unwilling to be lonely.

Prime Minister Wang had already received the news. When he saw his son, he was unusually friendly and said, "The departure of Minister Zhang has vacated a good position for you. You are only 24 years old, and you have become the Minister of Personnel. You are much more promising than your father was in his youth."

"If you work hard in the Ministry of Personnel and gain a few years of experience, you might be able to become the Minister of Personnel by the age of 30."

Her Majesty the Empress really kept her word and truly valued and cultivated Wang Jin.

Prime Minister Wang was in a good mood and took out a piece of paper from his sleeve: "This is the list I made for you. Take a look at it and pick out some that suit your taste."

Wang Jin took the paper and looked at it. There were dozens of names on it. The people on this list were all the former prime minister's cronies. However, most of them were serving as officials outside the capital.

Prime Minister Wang had been prime minister for many years and had a lot of experience in employing people. He gave his son some advice: "Minister Zhang has been in charge of the Ministry of Personnel for many years. The corruption is caused by him. The emperor tolerated it for several years, and took advantage of the case of corruption and selling official positions to uproot Minister Zhang and his cronies. Now the Ministry of Personnel is short of people, but it is not appropriate to transfer them from the six ministries."

"It would be most appropriate to select smart and capable officials from the officials who have been sent out to fill the Ministry of Personnel. These officials who have been sent out to serve in other places are not deeply involved with the officials in Beijing. They will be able to quickly form a good atmosphere of official administration when they are under your command in the future."

"You can just trust these people and use them. They are all capable."

Wang Jin was not polite and pushed the list into his sleeve: "I can't make a decision by myself. I have to discuss the appointment with Prime Minister Chen. Tomorrow, I will show the list to Prime Minister Chen first."

A father would never betray his son. In recent years, Wang Jin has been able to gain a firm foothold in the court, and Prime Minister Wang behind him has made great contributions.

The next day, Wang Jin went to the Ministry of Personnel to take up his post. There were only eight or nine people left in the Ministry of Personnel. These officials who had escaped the purge were all as honest as quails.

Who could have thought that the Empress would be so cruel when she did it? Shangshu Zhang had a miserable end, and his former colleagues were demoted, exiled, and even beheaded.

They were really frightened.

Wang Jin was a new official, and he had no intention of winning people's hearts. He glanced at everyone and said in a cold voice, "The corruption of Daliang's administration is rooted in the Ministry of Personnel. The emperor ordered me to be the Minister of Personnel, and I will definitely change the bad atmosphere of the past and make the administration of the Ministry of Personnel clean and honest."

"Since you have been retained, it means you haven't made any serious mistakes in the past. From today on, just listen carefully and do your job."

The officials were trembling with fear and bowed their hands in response: "Just give me orders, my Lord, and I will obey my orders."

Minister Wang then went to the palace to meet the emperor and presented the list prepared by Prime Minister Wang to Her Majesty the Empress first.

After Jiang Shaohua looked at the list, he laughed: "This list was made by your father, right?"

Wang Jin responded calmly, "My father has been the prime minister for decades, and his students are all over Daliang. My father praised the people on this list as capable and useful, so I think they can always be used. I'll leave it to Your Majesty to decide who to use."

Jiang Shaohua smiled slightly: "I have said that the Ministry of Personnel will be in charge of you in the future. How to use people is up to you, Minister Wang. I have looked at the list, you take it back and discuss it with Prime Minister Chen. Just show me the final list."

Jiang Shaohua's trust in Wang Jin certainly didn't go that far, he mainly trusted his prime minister. With Prime Minister Chen keeping an eye on things, there wouldn't be any big trouble.

Wang Jin accepted the order respectfully and went to find Prime Minister Chen with the list.

Prime Minister Chen works hard every day, but he doesn't look old. Instead, he looks energetic and younger. For a man with broad mind and ambition, power is the best medicine for longevity.

Prime Minister Chen looked through the list carefully. There were tens of thousands of officials in the Daliang Dynasty, most of whom Prime Minister Chen had never seen. However, the truly capable officials were ranked top in the annual assessment of the Ministry of Personnel. Prime Minister Chen had a photographic memory and could remember everything he saw, so he pointed out a dozen of them.

Wang Jin took a pen and circled all the names.

Personnel changes in the officialdom are no small matter. When one carrot is pulled out, another carrot must be put in. The transfer of so many officials to Beijing means that there are many vacancies.

The Ministry of Personnel has to select a group of officials from the reserve officials to take up the posts.

The old bad habits of seeking and selling official positions were firmly curbed. Minister Wang suggested to the emperor that all candidates for official posts should be subject to examinations so that talents could be selected from among them.

The emperor agreed and made it a regular practice.

During the examination period, someone went to Wang's house secretly. After seeing the name card, Wang Shilang directly crossed out the person's name from the list of candidate officials.

After the news spread, no one dared to visit the Wang family anymore.

This time, the civil service examination was indeed a first in Daliang. Less than 20% of the examination paper was about classics, history, and literature, and most of the questions were about civil affairs and people's livelihood.

When the exam results came out, they were beyond everyone's expectations. Among the officials who passed the civil service exam, there were as many as eight female officials.

Among these eight people, Lu Qingqing, Cui Yuner and Chen Jinyu's name are also among them.