Chapter 422 The minister obeys orders
In the distant Shang and Zhou dynasties, there was no mature talent selection mechanism.
Since the slave-owning aristocrats controlled the political power, officials at all levels practiced "Shiqing Shilu", that is, relying on blood relationships, the descendants of the slave-owning aristocrats would serve as officials for generations and occupy a dominant position. If a ruler wants to find talented people to assist him, a more direct and effective way is to do everything possible to find them on the spot. Therefore, there are many stories handed down about wise kings visiting talented people, such as Yi Yin.
Yi Yin's rise fully illustrates the correctness of one sentence - a cook who doesn't want to be the prime minister is not a good slave...
Yi Yin was born in the late Xia Dynasty. According to legend, he was born in Yishui and took Yi as his surname.
"Yin" is the official name, that is, the prime minister. He was originally a domestic slave of King Youshen in the late Xia Dynasty and served as the king's personal chef. However, this man was so talented that he actually understood the way of governing the country from his cooking skills. It coincides with the principles of the sages Yao and Shun...
He saw that Xia Jie was approaching his end, and he had long wanted to display his ambitions.
Shang Tang somehow learned that Yi Yin was a talented person, so he tried a trick to save the country and decided to marry the daughter of the You Xin family as his concubine. In fact, it turned out that he was not interested in drinking, but only for Yi Yin'er! And Yi Yin also volunteered to be a dowry minister and accompanied him to the merchants. He carried a tripod on his back to cook for the soup. He used cooking and five flavors as a guide to analyze the general trend of the world and the way to govern. He gained Tang's high trust and exempted him from his slave status. He was appointed "Yin", that is, the right prime minister, and became Shang Tang's side. The most powerful minister in power helped Shang Tang finally destroy Xia, established the Shang Dynasty, and became the founding father who assisted Shang Tang in conquering the world.
"Governing a big country is like cooking small dishes" refers to this person.
Of course, there is another celebrity who has a similar experience to Yi Yin, but is even more famous, named Jiang Shang...
Gradually, with the development of social economy and culture and changes in class relations, the original "Shiqingshilu system" lost its due foundation, and three new systems for selecting scholars emerged: "military merit" and "nurturing scholars". ” and “Guest system”. The so-called "military merit" means gaining salary and conferring titles based on merit. Among them, the military merit system of the Qin State has the most far-reaching influence. The military merit system of the Qin State has two outstanding points. No matter the class, it’s OK Secondly, the clan aristocrats could no longer obtain high-ranking officials, generous salaries and titles based on blood ties as in the past, which resulted in the characteristic of the Warring States Period that "prime ministers must start from the state department, and powerful generals must be sent from the army."
The so-called "nurturing scholars" are high-ranking nobles who use their power to cultivate guests from all over the world in order to serve them. The most famous ones are the four princes of the Warring States Period, among whom the three thousand guests, Mengchangjun, are the most famous...
From the Qin Dynasty to the Han Dynasty, a variety of talent selection methods appeared in parallel. There were actually four methods for selecting officials: "paying money", "appointing children", "examination and promotion", and "conscripting".
Beginning with the Cao Wei Dynasty, Cao Pi accepted the suggestion of Chen Qun, the Minister of Civil Affairs, and implemented the "Nine-Rank Officials Law", that is, the "Nine-Rank Zhongzheng System".
In prefectures and counties, there are officials, both large and small, who are responsible for evaluating local scholars according to their family background and moral ability, and collecting public opinion. They are divided into nine grades from top to bottom for the imperial court to appoint officials according to their grades.
The nine-grade Zhongzheng system is the development of the "inspection and examination system". It transfers the power of selecting officials from the local to the central government. The nine-grade system is an innovation in the classification of talents, and the selection criteria tend to be more thorough. In the Wei and Jin Dynasties, the The strengthening of rule to After the Eastern Jin Dynasty, this system was riddled with drawbacks. The Zhongzheng was given too much weight and criticism was random. The noble families controlled the Zhongzheng and controlled the elections. This ultimately led to the situation that "high-ranking and powerful families have the honor of being in the world, and the common people with the surname Han have no way to advance."
The nine-level Zhongzheng system has become a tool for powerful families to rule the country...
In a sense, the imperial examination system is actually a perfect employment system, which completely breaks the hereditary blood relationship and the monopoly of the family. "Being a farmer in the morning and ascending to the emperor's hall in the evening", most capable students from poor families entered the upper class of society, mastered political resources, and had the opportunity to display their talents.
The imperial examination system was conducive to fairness and justice to a certain extent, breaking the monopoly of political resources by aristocratic families, and curbing the development of the power of aristocratic families.
But its most significant role is to expand the source of officials and consolidate the foundation of feudal rule...
Of course, in the later period of the imperial examination system, the content and form of the imperial examination system seriously restricted the candidates, causing many people to not pay attention to practical knowledge and restricting their thoughts, which became a cancer that hindered the development of science, technology and society.
In the current Tang Dynasty, the biggest hidden danger does not come from the frontier areas, but from the powerful families within. Over the past dynasties, whenever the world was in chaos and the imperial power was unstable, these aristocratic families would jump out to safeguard their own interests, ranging from abolishing one king to establishing another, or working together to change dynasties, plunging the Central Plains into a state of eternal destruction... …
It was precisely because he was familiar with the trend of history that Fang Jun knew that His Majesty Li Er would definitely put the imperial examination on the table and use it as a tool to offset and compete with the powerful families. It was also for this reason that Fang Jun showed his movable type printing skills, burned a fire for His Majesty Li Er, gave him a sharp knife, and also sought achievements as capital to bargain with His Majesty Li Er regarding the marriage. .
But who would have imagined that His Majesty Li Er accepted the gift with a smile, and when he turned around, he sold Fang Jun carelessly...
Be the examiner of the imperial examination?
If placed in the Ming and Qing dynasties, this position would be a top contender! Because this means that all the students in this imperial examination will theoretically become the "students" of the examiner, snatching a large number of high-quality troops in the government's clique and fraud. As long as one or two of these students become successful in the future, it will be enough to satisfy the examiner.
But now is the Tang Dynasty...
Not to mention that the terms "same year", "seat master", etc. have not yet been invented, and factions based on region and year have not yet appeared. There is no benefit at all from being the examiner. Just those aristocratic families who hate the imperial examination to their bones will regard this examiner as The examiner sees it as a thorn in the side!
Nowadays, the outside world is still talking about the issue of movable type printing, which makes the family members want to behead Fang Jun alive. If he takes over this thankless job of examiner again, he is afraid that when he comes home at night, an assassin will come to him and want to cut him alive. head...
Only a fool would do this!
Fang Jun immediately shook his head like a rattle: "How can a humble minister be qualified for such an important task if he has little talent, little knowledge, and low moral character? Your Majesty, please choose another wise man to preside over the imperial examination. Otherwise, if your Majesty's death is caused by the incompetence of the humble minister, The great cause of eternal life has been damaged, and the death of the humble ministers cannot be spared.”
His tone was sonorous, his will was firm, and his expression was resolute. There seemed to be no possibility of changing his mind at all.
Whoever wants to do this bad job can do it, but we won’t do it anyway!
His Majesty Li Er was really angry. He squinted his eyes and gritted his teeth: "Are you serious about not doing this?"
Fang Jun shook his head firmly: "It's not that I won't do it, it's that I can't do it."
"Haha!" His Majesty Li Er laughed angrily: "Is there anything you, Fang Jun, think you can't do? When you first recommended yourself for the position of chief military officer of Canghaidao March, wasn't it so arrogant that there was nothing in this world? Is it difficult to live with you? This mighty Tang Dynasty would be incapable of functioning without you.”
Hearing this, Fang Jun was so angry that he wanted to curse!
You say you are a wise king after all, why are you always thinking about threatening your ministers?
If we don't work as the examiner, the Canghaidao Marching Chief will be ruined again?
This is simply unreasonable!
If the tiger doesn't show off its power, do you really think it's a sick cat?
Fang Jun was angry in his heart. He straightened up immediately, looked at His Majesty Li Er with stern eyes, and said with emotion: "You asked me to die, but I had to die! Since Your Majesty has to ask me to be the examiner, I dare not violate your order." , then Wei Chen has only one way to go! Wei Chen...just follow your orders!"
The last sentence was made out of sadness and anger. After saying it, the straight back bent down...
His Majesty Li Er was made furious by the first half of his words. Why do you want to play the trick of criticizing me and refuse to obey my orders even to the death? But even though he was angry, he was also a little relieved in his heart. They all said that this guy was slippery and cunning, but little did he know that he also had such a tough temper!
Unexpectedly, the last sentence made His Majesty Li Er stunned and could not recover for a while.
Did you agree to co-author it?
Did you agree to be neither humble nor arrogant? Where's the iron-bone clank you promised? What about the tough critic?
But it turned out that he was just a sycophant who was greedy for life and afraid of death, and wanted to get promoted and get rich. As long as he got benefits, all his principles were gone...
His Majesty Li Er was furious. As the saying goes, as great as the hope is, there will be great disappointment. He rolled up his sleeves, rushed to Fang Jun in one stride, and kicked Fang Jun hard with his foot.
"Coward, fearful person, villain, sycophant...Mother, you coward, why don't you be tougher for a while? If you toughen up a bit longer, I really appreciate your strong points, and I really don't need you to be the examiner... ...You worthless thing, I will kick you to death..." (End of Chapter)