Eastern Jin Dynasty: My powerful father

Chapter 369 Step by Step
Wang Meng had no objection to Huan Xi's idea.

Although things are different now, he is no longer the poor boy he was back then, and the Beihai Wang family will surely prosper because of him.

But Wang Meng is not a person who only cares about the family. Otherwise, in the original time and space, Wang Meng would not have told Fu Jian when he passed away, never to let his second son Wang Pi enter the official career.

However, Fu Jian was thinking of his feelings for Wang Meng, so he violated his last wish and conferred an official position on Wang Pi.

In Wang Meng's heart, the rise and fall of his family was important, but it was not as important as the Liang Kingdom he helped Huan Xi create. This foundation contained much of his hard work.

Wang Meng will definitely support anything that is beneficial to the country.

In his early years, he also suffered from a humble background. Because of his experience as a trafficker and a pawn, he was ridiculed by the powerful when he traveled around Yecheng after completing his studies.
Wang Meng is too aware of how difficult it is for students from poor families to get ahead without a good system.

“It’s time to push this forward.”

Wang Meng said with emotion.

The high prestige Huan Xi accumulated through a series of victories in foreign wars will eventually be fed back to Liang's internal affairs.

He worked hard to create a foundation, not to rule the world with the scholar-bureaucrats.

Aman listened quietly, knowing that he was about to witness a major event that could be called a world-changing event, even if this event only showed a small sign now.

Ever since Emperor Wen of Wei Cao Pi accepted Chen Qun's suggestion and adopted the Nine-Rank Official Personnel Law as the system for selecting officials, official positions have been controlled by the gentry, and there has been a strange phenomenon that there are no poor families in the upper ranks and no powerful families in the lower ranks.

The nine-level Zhongzheng system will decline and be marginalized.

Aman couldn't help but ask at this time:
"Father, how can I help my child?"

Wang Meng nodded and said:
"No matter whether the nobles are wise or foolish, all can be officials. It's just a matter of finding a few stupid officials. This is easy."

Huan Xi pointed his finger on his forehead and said with a smile:

If Wang Meng was born in Jiangdong, and he was asked to participate in the product selection, he would only be a low-ranking person because of his background. However, Huan Xi's younger brother Huan Yi, who couldn't tell the difference between grain and wheat, would definitely be above Wang Meng if he participated in the product selection.

“The child shall guard this for his father.”

"You, just keep it secret for me."

Aman puffed up her chest and said seriously:

On the contrary, although Huanxi retained the nine-level Zhongzheng system, Huanxi would not reuse the talents selected by Zhongzheng officials from various places.

Such a system is of course unreasonable.

Over time, the sons of the gentry will surely compete for the place recommended by the prefect and come to Chang'an to accept the assessment.

"In the next few days, I will let Chi Qian spread the news and cause discussion. It would be best for you, sir, to find a few officials for me whose virtues and talents are not suitable for the position."

Huan Xi said to Wang Meng:

A thousand-mile embankment is destroyed by an ant nest. As long as Huan Xi proceeds step by step and exerts persistent efforts, he will one day overthrow the privileges of the gentry.

Huan Xi is not in a hurry to abolish the nine-level Zhongzheng system. Now that the world has not yet been unified, it is not the time to add obstacles and chaos to himself.

He asked the governors of each county to nominate three students to take the exam in Chang'an every year and hire them according to their talents. Even if they were all children of the gentry, Huan Xi would still entrust them with important positions.

At the same time, those who received the assessment in the early stage were basically the children of the gentry, and there was no possibility that the gentry would object to this policy. After all, Huan Xi was only selecting talents, and those who were favored were still the children of the gentry.

Approaching the New Year's Eve of the twelfth year of Yonghe, a joke suddenly broke out in Liang's officialdom. A group of confused cases handled by confused officials became the laughing stock of the people after dinner.

Weiyang Palace, Weiyang Palace.

Huan Xi stared angrily at the few Zhongzheng officials who were silent. Just by looking at their expressions, you could tell that Huan Xi was burning with anger at this moment. He said angrily:
"The Zhongzheng holds the power to select officials. He wants to select scholars for the country. Look, look, what kind of people have been found for me!" As he said that, Huan Xi read the files on the table one by one. It was all these confused officials selected by the Zhongzheng officials who handled the confused cases.

The records in the file made people laugh. The few servants serving in the Weiyang Hall were working hard to hold back their laughter, but the several Zhongzheng officers kneeling in the field couldn't help but laugh.

They all had sweat on their foreheads, wondering what Huan Xi would do to them.

Huan Xi finally put down the last file and said with a sullen face:

"You elect officials like this for me to govern the place for me. Do you want my backyard to be on fire?"

How could these Zhongzheng officials have such courage? They all defended themselves. After all, it is really not their fault. The system is like this. No matter whether they are wise or foolish, powerful people must be ranked at the top. This is an unspoken rule.

Several of them also felt they had been wronged.

"So, I wrongly blamed you?!"

Huan Xi's face became more and more gloomy, and his tone was unkind.

When everyone saw this, they had no choice but to plead guilty and admit that they did not recognize the person, and asked Huan Xi to punish him.

Right or wrong actually doesn't matter, what matters is attitude.

Huan Xi put away his angry look and did not yell at them to kill them. Of course, he could no longer be a Zhongzheng official and would have to be demoted and transferred to another position.

As for those foolish officials, they were all dismissed and investigated.

The next day, Huan Xi summoned the ministers in Weiyang Hall and told them the whole thing. Huan Xi continued:
"Separate officials into different positions, select talented people and appoint them to the best positions. If you get the right people, it will be beneficial to the country, but if you don't have the right people, it will bring trouble to the common people.

"The way to appoint people is to be selfless; to judge officials appropriately is to meet expectations.

"Nowadays, the foolish people are ranked among the nobles of hundreds of miles, which makes the people's opinions boiling. This is the loss of Cheng Huan."

The Marquis of Baili is the county magistrate.

When everyone saw that Huan Xi was taking the blame on themselves, they all spoke out and took their own blame. Wang Meng, who was also the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, asked Huan Xi to be removed from his post.

But how could Huan Xi agree? In the end, he just fined him a salary.

Politics is an art of compromise. Huan Xi deprived aristocratic families of the power to recruit private soldiers. Therefore, he relaxed slightly in controlling official positions, which was also an appeasement to the nobles.

Give a sweet date with a slap, Huan Xi knows this well.

Wang Meng was fined a salary. As a remedy, he proposed to Huan Xi on the spot to reform the selection and employment system.

That is to say, Huan Xi had previously agreed with him to order the governors from various places to recommend talents to the central government. A limit of three people each year would come to Chang'an for assessment in early September. The Ministry of Civil Affairs would preside over and award official positions based on performance.

After Wang Meng finished speaking, he said to Huan Xi:
"In this way, we can stop everyone's mouth."

Huan Xi was not in a hurry to express his position. He looked at everyone and asked:

"What do you think?"

All the ministers praised him for his kindness. After all, Huan Xi had hidden his intentions. In the eyes of everyone, Huan Xi was just selecting the best among the gentry's children and not touching the fundamental interests of the gentry, that is, the ninth-grade Zhongzheng system brought them political privileges.

"I second the proposal!"

Everyone replied in unison.

(End of this chapter)