The Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was extremely rebellious

Chapter 512: Cleansing the Court and Rectifying the Civil Officials
The chief minister of the cabinet, Shen Li, asked for a meeting at this time.

Most of them came for the provincial and palace examinations.

This is actually very important for a dynasty.

Because a dynasty must be governed by officials selected through the imperial examination system.

There's nothing we can do about it.

No one is perfect, no matter how powerful the emperor is, it is impossible for him to control all the affairs of the world by himself.

With such a large territory and so many people as the Ming Dynasty, a large number of officials must be selected to govern.

The imperial examination is a means of selecting officials, so it is very important to the governance of a dynasty.

Before Wanli, he was busy expanding territory and eliminating external risks, so he had no time.

Things are different now. The territory of the Ming Dynasty is already large enough, and the external hidden dangers that could lead to the demise of the Ming Dynasty have almost been eliminated. He also has to consider how to govern the world.

If we want to govern the world well, we must discipline the civil servants in the court and purge those with ulterior motives and those who are corrupt and abuse their power.

The reason why he more than tripled the number of selected officials was to ensure that there would be enough officials to replace them after the purge.

This purge is still a long process. It is impossible to clean out all the civil servants with ulterior motives and corrupt officials in one go. Therefore, each joint examination and palace examination must select enough Jinshi to fill the vacancies left after the purge.

The more civil servants he purged, the more scholars would realize that it would be difficult to gain a foothold in the court by fighting for power or even engaging in corruption and abuse of power. At that time, the scholars' morale would gradually change.

This does not mean that scholars will become noble because of this. The key point is that he allows scholars to see the consequences of fighting for power and even corruption and abuse of power.

Anyone who dares to fight for power or even to commit corruption and abuse of power may be purged at any time. Not only will all the ten years of hard study be in vain, but they may also be convicted or even beheaded.

In this case, any normal person should know that they can no longer fight for power or even engage in corruption and abuse of power. It's not that they don't want to, but that they can't.

Wanli was thinking about how to clean up the court and discipline the civil servants when Shen Li hurried in with a stack of memorials.

When he saw that there was a little kid in Wanli's arms, he was stunned.

Originally, Wanli came to the Imperial Study alone to review memorials, so why did he come here holding the third prince?
He was stunned for a moment before he bowed and said, "Your humble servant greets His Majesty, and Your humble servant greets His Royal Highness the Third Prince."

No Happy New Year this year?

Wanli nodded slightly, then smiled and said, "Zhonghua, Happy New Year."

Uh, I forgot about this.

Shen Li bowed repeatedly and said, "Happy New Year to His Majesty, and Happy New Year to His Highness the Third Prince."

Don't keep saluting while holding the memorials. It looks a bit awkward.

Wanli asked bluntly, "Zhonghua, is there anything important happening during the New Year holidays?"

Something big did happen during the New Year period, and the entire court and even the entire Ming Dynasty are still buzzing about it.

But, you did this yourself.

Shen Li quickly bowed and presented the memorial, then explained, "Your Majesty, there's nothing major in the memorial, but the fact that thousands of candidates were selected for the imperial examination has indeed caused quite a stir in the court."

Those guys must be very unhappy.

Wanli nodded slightly, then said calmly: "What did they say?"

They all say you are messing around.

Shen Li said carefully, "Many officials have expressed dissatisfaction, especially those with large families and wealth."

Humph, you're complaining, huh?

See how I deal with you.

Wanli snorted inwardly, then said calmly: "Don't worry about your complaints. The Imperial Examination and the Palace Examination will be carried out as I say. We want to recruit thousands of scholars at a time, and the number of scholars and juren will also be doubled."

You haven't chosen an examiner yet.

You won't let me decide again this time, will you?

I don’t even know who to choose.

Shen Li nodded and said carefully, "Your Majesty, I dare to say that the imperial examination is about to begin. Isn't it time to decide on the examiners?"

I have thought about this a long time ago.

Wanli nodded slightly and said, "Let Zhang be the chief examiner for this imperial examination, and Yu Ye will be the co-examiner."

what?
You still let Li Tingji be the chief examiner?
Li Tingji had served as an examiner for the imperial examination twice, and had been the chief examiner once.

There is no problem with Zeng Tongheng being the examiner.

The problem is that Zeng Tongheng was a first-rank official, while Li Tingji was only a second-rank official.

Why are you doing it the other way around?

Regardless of rank or seniority, Zeng Tongheng should have been the examiner, and Li Tingji should have been the co-examiner.

Shen Li hesitated for a moment, then carefully reminded, "Your Majesty, Er Zhang's rank seems to be much lower than Yu Ye's, right?"

Well, Li Tingji's rank is indeed a bit low.

Wanli nodded slightly and said, "Then I will promote you to the position of Grand Tutor to Prince Zhang and give him the title of Minister of Rites. After the imperial and palace examinations, I will allow him to join the cabinet to assist in government affairs."

what?
Is Li Tingji going to join the cabinet so soon?
This seems a bit against the rules. Generally, officials who want to join the cabinet have to transfer to several government offices and have more than 20 years of experience.

Li Tingji had only been in the officialdom for fifteen years, and apart from writing articles and printing official newspapers, he had never been involved in anything else. Could he have joined the cabinet and assisted in the administration?

However, the Grand Secretary of the Cabinet was nominated by His Majesty, so qualifications and experience were irrelevant. As long as His Majesty thought he was capable, then it was fine.

Shen Li was stunned for a moment, then nodded repeatedly and said, "I understand."

Wanli nodded slightly, and then said solemnly: "Er Zhang can both enter the cabinet, and your followers should have no problem taking over the six ministries, five temples, the Censorate and other government offices.

The officials in the court should also be carefully examined. Many officials have not thought about doing their duties well. I don’t know where their minds are going. This trend cannot be allowed to continue.”

What he said was still cryptic.

This inspection actually means the "Kaocheng Law" and the Beijing Examination. Regardless of whether the current "Kaocheng Law" or the previous Beijing Examination is used, a large number of officials in the court may be purged.

Shen Li understood that the Emperor meant to start purging the Zhejiang Party and the Qingliu in the court.

The question is, how to clean up so many officials in the court? It will definitely not work if we just do it randomly.

If they wash it in a disorderly manner, there will be chaos in the court.

He thought about it carefully, then said cautiously, "Your Majesty, I dare to ask if this inspection is still conducted by the cabinet?"

This "Performance Evaluation Method" is actually a bit unreliable.

Because the performance evaluation also needs to be conducted by officials, it is impossible for the chief minister of the cabinet to examine all the officials in the court by himself.

There will be something fishy about something that has been examined by others.

The "Kaocheng Law" has been implemented for a long time, and the officials in the court have long come up with countermeasures. Therefore, the "Kaocheng Law" can no longer be used to identify problems with officials.

Wanli shook his head slightly and said, "I am here in person this time. You will issue letters to all government offices in the two capitals. Officials of the fourth rank and above will submit their own memorials. Those below the fourth rank will be evaluated by the cabinet."

This was actually the same method used in the previous imperial examinations, except that the examination of officials below the fourth rank was now presided over by the cabinet instead of the Ministry of Personnel and the Censorate.

You don't mean to dismiss all the Zhejiang Party and Qingliu officials above the fourth rank at once, do you?

Shen Li thought about it carefully after hearing this, and then he reminded her: "Your Majesty, I dare to say that this investigation should not be rushed."

I naturally know this.

Wanli nodded slightly and said, "Don't worry, I know what I'm doing. I'll use the method of boiling a frog in warm water to slowly deal with them and try not to let them struggle to their death."

That's good.

Shen Li repeatedly bowed and said, "Your Majesty is wise."

Wanli nodded slightly, then waved his hand and said, "Alright, go ask Er Zhang and Yu Ye to prepare well. They can handle the examination. I will set the questions for the palace examination."

Shen Li quickly bowed and took his leave.

Seeing that the Prime Minister had already left, little Zhu Changxun asked curiously, "Father, what does it mean to submit a memorial to the emperor?"

You don’t even know this?

It seems like I need to teach you about the laws of the Ming Dynasty.

Wanli patiently explained, “This method of submitting a memorial to the emperor was used in the imperial examinations in the past. Officials of the fourth rank and above in the two capitals would submit a memorial to the emperor, stating that they had not done well in recent years and requesting that the emperor remove them.

However, in the past, submitting a self-representation memorial was just a joke. After reading the memorial, the emperor would try to persuade the officials to stay, but would not actually remove them.

Does this mean you're serious this time?

Upon hearing this, Xiao Zhu Changxun nodded slowly and asked, "Father, do these officials really confess their shortcomings in their self-reflection memorials?"

This is of course impossible.

Wanli shook his head slightly and said, "These officials are very smart. They won't admit their mistakes. They only point out some minor faults."

What’s the point of letting these guys submit a petition to explain themselves?

Upon hearing this, Xiao Zhu Changxun thought about it carefully and said, still somewhat puzzled, "Father, since they only brought up trivial issues in their memorials, why did you dismiss them?"

Who says that insignificant problems cannot be cured?
Wanli shook his head, then patiently explained: "Officials are evaluated based on their administration, politics, finance, and years of service.

The self-explanation memorials only focus on these points. Ordinary officials will certainly not say that they have problems with their ethics, nor will they say that they are greedy for money. They usually focus on the Zhenghe Year.

This politics is about political achievements. If they want to talk about political achievements, they will focus on how much they have done. As for problems, they are all minor problems caused by being too busy.

If they continue to play along like this, I can turn small problems into big ones that will get them dismissed and investigated.

As for age, most officials are too lazy to talk about their political achievements and will just say that they are too old to hold official positions.

I can let these officials retire, give them some rewards, and let them go home to enjoy their retirement."

Oh, so that’s how you play it.

Upon hearing this, Xiao Zhu Changxun slowly nodded and said, "I understand. No matter what they pick on, we can find fault with whoever we want to remove."

You don't understand yet.

Wanli patiently taught: "Zhonghua is right. We can't rush into this kind of thing. We can only take it slowly and replace them one by one. This way, we won't cause chaos in the court."

Do we have to come one by one?
Upon hearing this, Xiao Zhu Changxun couldn't help but fall into deep thought.

He really doesn't understand this kind of thing.

(End of this chapter)