Red Mansion: Seizing Jiangdong, starting with pirates

Chapter 75, Using Silver to Replace Officials

The first question Fang Yong asked was extremely explosive.

He wanted to reduce the proportion of the Four Books and Five Classics in the imperial examinations and instead focus more on assessing the actual abilities of the test takers.

As soon as these words were spoken, they were immediately opposed by the other three people except Ma Laohei.

Jia Yucun said: "General, please do not act rashly. The Four Books and Five Classics are deeply rooted in the hearts of scholars all over the world and are extremely noble. The general's ambition is to select truly talented people to assist in the great cause, but this matter can be identified after the selection. There is no need to change the content of the imperial examination."

Wu Yuan also said: "What Shi Fei said is very true. In today's world, students all take the Four Books and Five Classics as their teachings, and respect Confucius and Mencius as sages. If the general changes it rashly, even if it is convenient for a while, it will surely attract criticism from scholars all over the world, which is very detrimental to the general's great cause. I hope the general will think carefully before acting!"

"If you don't want to change it, you have to wait until the general's foundation is solid, invite great scholars to endorse it, establish a new scripture as a doctrine, and make gradual progress. Only then can you achieve success. Even if you fail, it will not damage the general's reputation."

Xue Da Lame said: "Since ancient times, disputes over the meaning of scriptures have been great disputes and should not be taken lightly."

Listening to what these three people said, Fang Yong's heart sank.

He realized that he had taken too big a step.

My own confidant reacted so strongly, what should I do if it were someone else?

Even the first step is so difficult, let alone the two steps I prepared later, "popularizing education" and "enhancing the status of businessmen".

It seems that we cannot rush into this matter now. We have to wait until we become stronger before trying to make changes.

However, just when Fang Yong was about to give up this idea, Xue Dacui suddenly said:
"If the general insists on making changes, I do have a compromise plan that will both select practical talents and avoid the anger of scholars. I wonder if it is feasible."

Fang Yong heard this and asked quickly: "What is the method?"

Xue Da Lame said:
"Huaizhou Wenxilou is the largest restaurant in Huaizhou. Its Huaiyang cuisine is second to none in the entire south."

"However, many merchants from the north are not used to Wenxilou's cuisine. The owner of Wenxilou once added northern cuisine to his restaurant, but it attracted a lot of criticism from southerners. Northerners also didn't like it, so he had no choice but to change it back."

"It's strange to say that later, the son of the owner of Wenxilou came back from the capital and founded Yanbeilou next to Wenxilou. He invited famous chefs from the north to cook, which immediately attracted the attention of northern merchants and eventually developed into the second largest restaurant in Huaizhou City."

"Nowadays, many people think that Wenxi Building and Yanbei Building are rivals, but little do they know that they are actually one family's business!"

After the story of Xue Dacui was told, Fang Yong, Wu Yuan and Jia Yucun all fell into deep thought.

Ma Laohei scratched his head, so that's how it is.

Wenxilou and Yanbeilou are one and the same. He always said that the food in Wenxilou was not tasty and Yanbeilou should be the number one restaurant in Huaizhou.

It turns out they are from the same family. How disgusting!

On the other side, Fang Yong thought about what Xue Dacui said, and after thinking for a while, he said:
"In this case, I will set up a separate department to select talents with practical work."

Jia Yucun reminded:

"Although this method can reduce the resistance of other candidates, when appointing them, we still need to weigh the proportion of the two. It is best to appoint these candidates a level lower than that of ordinary candidates. Otherwise, it will be difficult to appease the dissatisfaction."

Fang Yong frowned.

Wu Yuan on the side was silent for a long time, and said: "I have a way to solve this situation."

Fang Yong hurriedly said, "Military Advisor, please speak quickly."

Wu Yuan said: "I will give you money but not official positions."

"Give him money but not an official position?" Fang Yong pondered, but couldn't figure it out, so he asked, "Why?"

Jia Yucun and Xue Dacui also looked over.

Ma Laohei was in deep thought.

He was thinking that after the meeting he must go to Yanbei Building to ask the owner there whether Yanbei Building and Wenxi Building were the same company.

Wu Yuan explained: "When a general finds a useful talent, he should only give him a salary, but not an official position. He should first let him take charge of affairs temporarily, and then give him an official position after he has made achievements or made contributions. In this way, no one will dare to criticize him."

Fang Yong's eyes lit up. This is a good idea!

It can both shut up the mouths of those who hate you and select practical talents, which can be said to kill two birds with one stone.

After hearing this, Jia Yucun and Xue Dacui also expressed their agreement.

Fang Yongsui said: "Let's follow the military advisor's plan!"

The few of them then discussed some details and basically finalized the matter.

Soon, Fang Yong ordered people to post notices in the area under his control.

"I, General Fang Yong of Huaiyin Army, could not bear the suffering of the common people, so I was inspired by the will of heaven to found Huaiyin Army to wipe out the evils in the world and bring peace to the people. Now that the war has ended, I have established the Lianghuai General Affairs Office. I hope to follow the teachings of the ancient sages and hold imperial examinations to promote talents..."

This is the imperial examination announcement.

In addition, there is a smaller list below the imperial examination list.

He wrote: "Thinking of the importance of talent, there are many vacancies under my command. If you have talent but are not familiar with the classics, you can take the practical examination. If you pass, you will be given a salary and temporarily manage the general affairs."

After the results of the imperial examination were published, it immediately caused an uproar.

Many scholars have discussed this.

After nearly a year of Fang Yong's rule, many people's views of Fang Yong have changed greatly.

At the beginning, most of the scholars just thought that Fang Yong was a bandit and would never achieve anything great.

But as Fang Yong conquered cities little by little, defeated the imperial court time and time again, and stabilized the situation, the attitudes of some scholars also changed.

Especially after Fang Yong proved his destiny by doubling the food supply, more and more scholars thought that joining Fang Yong might be a good choice.

Especially those scholars who had failed repeatedly in the imperial examinations of Daxi had become disappointed with the imperial examinations of Daxi, but now the appearance of Fang Yong gave them hope.

In this situation, many people chose to sign up.

As for the practical examination.

Although there were a few people discussing it, it did not attract widespread attention.

In the eyes of many scholars, the so-called practical learning examination is nothing more than the screening of petty officials.

This situation is not uncommon.

This was often the case in the imperial court. Those minor officials below the ninth rank did not usually need to be familiar with the classics. They only needed to have a skill to take the position. This was normal.

For example, in the system of managing granaries, there is a rat extermination officer. There is no rank, and the only requirement is to be good at rat extermination. Such an "official" has almost no hope of promotion, and no one cares about him.

In this way, time passes.

The examination hall in Huaizhou was cleaned out and temporarily expanded to ensure that it could accommodate all the students taking the exam.

There was only one test site for this exam, which was Huaizhou. The chief examiner was Jia Yucun and the deputy examiner was Wu Yuan.

In fact, Fang Yong had originally arranged for Wu Yuan to be the chief examiner, but Wu Yuan was worried that he had no achievements and would have difficulty convincing the public, so he let Jia Yucun be the chief examiner.

It can only be said that the dethronement from the Golden Palace became a hurdle that Wu Yuan would find difficult to overcome in his life.

In addition, the deputy examiner for the practical examination was Xue Dacuizi, and there was no chief examiner.

After Xue Dacci's selection, Fang Yonghui will personally serve as the chief examiner to conduct further assessments.

So, after a period of time, before the exam started, the envoy of Daxi arrived first.

Gao Jing, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, came as an envoy, carrying the imperial edict and wearing a dragon robe.

(End of this chapter)