Chapter 348: Henchmen, Minions and Ears
"There are quite a few."
Wang Anshi knew that Zhao Xing wanted to get a preliminary understanding, so he would pay attention during the palace examination.
Scholars who passed the imperial examination were also called disciples of the emperor, and the origin of this title originated from the palace examination.
The emperor set the questions on the spot in the palace examination, and the candidates did not have as long to think about the questions as they did in the general examination.
Even the scholars who can participate in the palace examination are selected through the general examination, and the number is only a few hundred.
But the emperor did not have the time to read all the students' answer sheets.
The examination papers of the normal palace examination were reviewed by the same ministers, but the reviewers became the ministers of the court.
After approval by the Prime Minister of the DPRK, a list of the first, second, and third class will be finalized and handed over to the emperor for review.
After the emperor gets the list, he will read the test papers of the first-level students, and the second-level students will only randomly select some to look at.
But this is not absolute. Sometimes the emperor will not even look at it.
In addition, the emperor may take a look at the answer sheets for those recommended by the examiner.
Whether the emperor looked at it or not, it seemed that it had little impact, but in fact it had a great impact on the scholars.
If you can leave a deep impression on the emperor, you will not only be awarded a better official position, but it will also have great benefits in terms of promotion in the future.
After all, there are so many officials in the world, and the emperor can't even recognize all the officials attending the morning court. The benefits of being able to leave an impression can be imagined.
Wang Anshi told Zhao Xing about the scholars he had an impression of, and Zhao Xing asked him to retreat.
"Sanshui, bring over the answer sheets of those people that Academician Wang just mentioned." Zhao Xing ordered.
Most of the officials in the DPRK are veterans and have vested interests.
Except for a few who have emerged from the silt, most of them are opposed to decisions that affect their interests.
The reason why Zhao Xing has refrained from engaging in war since he ascended the throne is firstly because both Liao and Xia are at war, and if the Song Dynasty wants to take advantage of it, it needs internal stability.
Secondly, since he has only just ascended the throne, he also needs stability.
But there is another factor, that is, there are not enough people available.
Even if he replaced some people, he would not have any confidants to take over these positions.
For a person in power, confidants, minions, and ears and eyes are very important.
Yin Hanzhang belongs to the ears and eyes, and Yan Kuan belongs to the minions he trained.
Only confidants are having a hard time.
Zhao Xing also had some confidants, such as Sheng Changbai and Qi Heng, including the later Su Shi brothers and Wang Shao.
But these people are too young, have only recently entered the officialdom, and lack experience.
Now Sheng Changbai and Qi Heng are still studying with Xuexi Hai and Xianggong Yu, and the Su brothers have also been assigned to local posts by him.
When they are in the court, even if he promotes them out of the ordinary, it will take several years before they can hold some important positions in the court.
Moreover, the number of people was too small. He also wanted to tap a few available talents from this imperial examination and slowly train them.
If Wang Shao makes rapid progress and makes great achievements, he can become an official in the court.
No way, this is also the difference in the promotion speed between civilian officials and military attachés.
It is normal for military generals to be promoted to several levels as long as they perform meritorious service, but not for civil servants.
Even if you have political achievements, promotion must be done step by step, and it is not good to go too far.
Although Wang Shao served as a civil servant, he achieved military merit, and occupying Hehuang was considered to open up territory and expand the territory, which was a great achievement.
Although Hehuang is barren, the Song Dynasty has been losing cities since its unification and has never expanded its territory.
The contribution of occupying Hehuang is even more outstanding.
When the time comes, no one will object to letting Wang Shao enter the court and serve as a fourth-rank official.
Sanshui and Kuai transferred the answer sheets of several people mentioned by Wang Anshi and handed them to Zhao Xing.
Zhao Xing did not read the classics, poems and poems, but directly read their respective articles.
I have to say that several people recommended by Wang Anshi are indeed outstanding. Among them, the articles by Wen Yanjing and Wei Ye that attracted the most attention to Zhao Xing were.
What can I say about Wen Yanjing? Judging from his hookup with Ru Lan in the play, his thoughts must be impure.
From the perspective of future generations, many people will think that the two of them are in love.
However, according to ancient ethics, it was obviously against morality for Wen Yanjing, who was also a scholar, to have private contact with a girl and develop feelings for her.
Don't talk about feudal ideas in ancient times. The general environment is like this, and feudalism must be based on feudal ideas.
This is like free love in later generations. When you suddenly hear about blind marriages and mute marriages, most people's first thought will be that it is incredible.
In ancient times, marriage was a matter of parents' order and matchmaker's words, which does not mean that love at first sight is not possible.
But if you like her, you should ask someone to come to you to propose marriage instead of contacting her in private.
Even if Wen Yanjing felt that his low status was not worthy of Ru Lan, and he wanted to go to the Sheng family to propose marriage after being named on the gold list, he should not have more contact with Ru Lan.
After all, if the Sheng family disagrees, his actions will ruin Ru Lan's reputation.
But for Zhao Xing, he doesn't really value morality very much.
In fact, if you look carefully at those capable ministers in history, you will find that many of them actually had some problems with their personal ethics.
In fact, Zhao Xing has always believed that times create heroes.
It is not that there are no treacherous ministers in the Mingjun period, but there is no soil for treacherous ministers to survive.
A loyal minister may not be smart, but a traitorous minister must not be stupid.
They know when and how to behave is in their best interest.
Emperors are wise, and only by making political achievements can they gain greater power and status.
But when they meet a faint emperor, they will also cater to the emperor's wishes.
Some people meet a wise king and become capable ministers and their names will go down in history. But if they meet a weak king, they may not become a weak king.
This sentence is somewhat similar to the sentence describing Cao Cao in the Three Kingdoms: A capable minister in times of trouble, but a traitor in troubled times.
If there was no chaos in the world and the emperor was wise, Cao Cao would definitely be able to become a wise minister.
It doesn't matter what Wen Yanjing's character is, as long as he is smart.
He knows what kind of minister Zhao Xing needs, and he knows what kind of minister he will be.
Zhao Xing remembered that Wen Yanjing seemed to have become the father-in-law in the end. With Wen Yanjing's background, being able to do this step itself proved his ability.
"Let someone check Wei Ye's identity." Zhao Xing said.
Perhaps because of Wen Yanjing’s background, the entry point of the article is about some defects in local rule of law.
The starting point of Wei Ye's article is to strengthen the supervision and inspection of local officials.
Throughout the dynasties, the imperial court had agencies to supervise local areas.
In the Song Dynasty, the local supervisory officials were permanently stationed by the imperial court, while the inspection officials were in charge of officials from the Procuratorate under the Yushitai.
The Procuratorate is also the department with the most officials in Yushitai, and is responsible for irregular local inspections.
This has a big drawback. Local supervisory agencies are stationed in local areas, and over time they can easily become complicit with local officials.
Although the Yushitai will send out inspection officials from time to time, anyone with some connections can get the news in advance.
In addition, the emperor would also send inspection envoys, commonly known as imperial envoys, to inspect local areas from time to time.
But this system is not a rule. Whether the emperor sends people to inspect or not depends on his mood.
Wei Ye's article suggested that the emperor make the inspection system a permanent one.
and listed the benefits of doing so.
In addition, the article also mentioned many measures to supervise officials, which Zhao Xingdu felt benefited a lot.
Wen Yanjing was a known talent, while Wei Ye was an unknown talent, so Zhao Xing naturally valued him more.
(End of chapter)