In the official room of the Minister of Civil Affairs.
Zhan Hui and Ren Hengtai both fell silent.
Outside the public house, the footsteps of officials from the Ministry of Personnel carrying books, memorials, and documents could be clearly heard.
Rujun looked at the two of them.
The three of them have been officials in the same dynasty for many years and are very familiar with each other. Although they occasionally have disputes due to different views on government affairs, relatively speaking, they are on the same side most of the time.
Ru Yu could see what Zhan Hui and Ren Hengtai were thinking at a glance.
He chuckled and shook his head helplessly: "It's not easy for the people, it's not easy for the officials. How can anything in the world be so easy..."
After finishing speaking, Ru Yu silently looked at Zhan Hui opposite.
He is the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, the first among the six ministers of the Ming Dynasty, and the leader of civil servants in the world.
Many of the following words should be said by Zhan Hui.
However, Ru Yu didn't see Zhan Hui's intention to speak.
He could only smile bitterly and said: "Your Majesty is not a murderer, but if one day, we...I am afraid that Your Majesty will not be merciful. At that time, how should we deal with ourselves? It is true that every time Brother Yong speaks out, he will
Are you begging for bones, retiring and returning to your hometown?"
As she spoke, Ru Yu turned her head and looked silently at Ren Hengtai, the Minister of Rites.
Guyong is the character of Ren Hengtai.
Ren Hengtai shook his head: "I only know that this year was originally supposed to be in the spring, but it is about to begin now."
Hearing this, Ru Jin's eyes flashed slightly.
Except for the enke in the 25th year of Hongwu, the first few imperial examinations in the Ming Dynasty were all held in the spring, which is why it is called Chunwei.
It stands to reason that this year is the 25th year of Hongwu. It is the normal spring festival every three years since the spring festival in the 24th year of Hongwu.
But this year, spring has been postponed until now, when autumn is about to begin.
Spring weather turns into autumn weather.
Zhan Hui reached out and gently knocked on the table in front of him.
Then, under the gaze of Ru Yu and Ren Hengtai, he finally spoke slowly: "It is difficult to be an official. Now Taisun has become the subordinate of the two people of Ming Dynasty. What will the future of the court be like? Needless to say, we must do a good job in each department."
Doing your part is the long-term solution.”
"Between the two of them..." Ru Yu sighed.
During the sacrifice, outside the ancestral temple, the grandson met the king and received the ceremony.
This elevated the political status of Taisun beyond that of the clan kings, and completely established the future political direction of the Ming Dynasty.
Rujun was probably more courageous than the others because he was in charge of the Ministry of War. He said quietly: "To put it bluntly, your Majesty and the Crown Prince are both now... My Ming Dynasty is still the same Ming Dynasty..."<
/p>
"Be careful what you say!"
Ren Hengtai grabbed Ru Yu's wrist, widened his eyes and warned in a deep voice.
"This is a good thing!" Zhan Hui said with a smile, and then his face gradually became cold: "But it's not a good thing either."
The prince's eleven crowns, coat of arms, the grandson's eleven crowns, coat of arms.
This has once again reiterated and confirmed the original status of the prince and grandson. The candidates for the next and the next monarch of the Ming Dynasty will not be able to change in the general direction as long as there are no drastic fluctuations.
Yes.
This is naturally a good thing for the world, and it is undoubtedly a great good thing for the common people of the country.
The country's inheritance is orderly, and there will be no coups caused by the succession of imperial power or other things that would cause turmoil in the world.
The political situation is overly stable and has almost no impact on the people.
This kind of thing has always been the biggest headache for kings in all dynasties after they get old.
Even if there are no vicious events such as coups and mutinies, it will not be smooth sailing.
The old stubborn group of people will be expelled and new people will take their place.
The change of power will last for several years.
But for people like Zhan Hui and others who have almost reached the end of their official career, it is also a bad thing.
The orderly inheritance of the throne means that they will not make any mistakes in this process.
The change of imperial power has nothing to do with them.
Rujun's presumptuous remarks are not wrong.
Even if His Majesty dies today, the Crown Prince will be able to ascend the throne and proclaim himself emperor tomorrow as a matter of course. No one has any reason to stop or oppose him. Civil servants like them will become transparent people.
No matter which dynasty or generation changes in imperial power, the court does not have to select a few auxiliary ministers.
But that won’t happen now.
Because this matter has nothing to do with them.
Even if the prince passed away today, tomorrow the grandson can ascend the throne and proclaim himself emperor without any hindrance.
Then what was the use of these civil servants in the Ming Dynasty?
What use are they in the court?
Ru Yu snorted: "What does it matter whether it's good or not? Zhang Ergong and others are unable to move at all now. Your Majesty and the Grand Sun want to promote meritorious ministers, and there is nothing to find fault with. You and I can be regarded as Ming Jing
So what if you were born in the Eight-part Imperial Examination?"
"Xing Chen..." Ren Hengtai hummed: "I don't even have an excuse to say that Zhang Ergong and the others are Xing Chen."
Zhan Hui shook his head, added tea for the two of them, and then continued: "Wei Fan and others stood up to remonstrate at that time, which shows what the people below are thinking. Right now... we can only stabilize the court, otherwise if something goes wrong
If you make a mistake, I still have to carry it."
"Carry it?"
Rujun squinted his eyes outside and snorted dissatisfiedly: "How much have we done for them! The various reforms in the past two years can be called Hongwu's New Deal, no less than the previous Wen Zhenggong's New Deal and the Prince's New Deal!"
Fan Wenzheng, Wang Anshi.
That was the representative and leader of the reformists in the former Song Dynasty.
However, their reforms all ended in failure.
"New Deal... usher in the new and get rid of the old..." Zhan Hui muttered worriedly.
Ru Yun, however, lost her temper. It seemed that there were really too many things in the past two years that they had to deal with.
Ru Yu continued to say dissatisfiedly: "With the new political reform, there are so many people and so many things. Is there really no complaint in the world? To shock them by killing them? How many people can your Majesty kill? How many people below are really doing things sincerely?"<
/p>
When she got excited, Ru Yu stood up angrily.
Staring deeply at Zhan Hui and Ren Hengtai.
I saw him waving his robe heavily.
"I see, there is no end to the corrupt officials in this world!"
"The number of people who can obey His Majesty's will and comply with the reform policy can be counted on one hand."
"Just say that river..."
Ru Yu waved her arms and raised her hands and pointed angrily.
Bang!
There was a loud noise in the official room of the Minister of Civil Affairs.
The officials walking outside quickly lowered their heads, hugged the documents in their arms tightly, and quickened their pace to leave here this morning.
And in the public housing.
Zhan Hui's eyes were already angry and he glared at Rujun: "Liangyu! Do you dare to say these words? You are arrogant!"
Ru Yu opened her mouth, her lips and teeth trembling slightly, but she still had a unwilling expression.
Ren Hengtai, who was sitting next to him, shook his head bitterly and stretched out his hand to pull him to sit down.
"Don't talk about other things. I think it doesn't matter if a craftsman like Zhang Ergong is promoted to a craftsman official or a master craftsman." Ren Hengtai had a smile on his face, but it was uglier than not smiling at all: "After all, they are all
They are doing things that are beneficial to the country, and they are indeed meritorious, so there is nothing wrong with them being promoted."
Ru Yu curled her lips, stretched out her hand to stroke the beard on her chin, and raised her eyebrows: "Then what do you want to do now? If you can bear the burden put down by His Majesty and others, can you also withstand the complaints and actions of the people below?
Something?"
"I see, sooner or later, we will all die together! We have already written the memorial of begging for bones. When the time comes, we will retire and return to our hometown together, and we will have a peaceful ending."
Opposite the tea table.
Zhan Hui, who is the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel and the Censor of Zuodu, has been gently turning the cup in his hand, quietly watching the words of the two colleagues in front of him who have known each other for many years.
After Ru Yu finally vented the depression accumulated in her heart.
Zhan Hui smiled slightly, and then laughed out loud.
Wait until Ru Yu looked at him in confusion.
Zhan Hui then said: "Now, I think we should pay more attention to the assessment and appointment of officials in Jiaozhi Road."
Ru Yu curled her lips: "What's the point of concern? Jiaozhi Road is a newly conquered area. Everything must be simple, simple..."
Having said this, Ru Jin suddenly closed her mouth and her eyes gradually widened.
Zhan Hui snorted: "In addition to Gao Yangzhi, the number one scholar in the two rankings of Jinshi in the 25th year of Hongwu, there are also some remaining Xinxue Jinshi who directly took office. Others include Juren who were recruited to go south.
, there must be an assessment before selecting officials and taking office."
Ren Hengtai patted Ru Yun on the shoulder and whispered: "I have personally watched this matter. I chose Jiaozhi Road to punish me, to be an inspector, to take the Ming Dynasty law test, and to take the Ming Dynasty law test. To be the chief executive officer, and to take arithmetic, agriculture, etc.. Choose
Qinghua Metropolitan Governor's Mansion, Jiaozhi Dadu Commandery Envoy, additional military art test."
Rujun's eyes shrank involuntarily.
Zhan Hui looked at him with a smile and said faintly: "Now you understand why I said this. The two-ranked imperial examination scholar is no longer the way for scholars in our court to reach the sky and enter the officialdom in one step.
Jiaozhi Road is a newly conquered area, and everything is based on stabilizing the situation. But even so, when Taisun was in charge of Jiaozhi, he still had to add this official selection and assessment system, which is evident.
Now that Taisun has returned to the capital, he has been crowned with ten crowns, and he has served under the Ming Dynasty. Liangyu thinks, will Taisun bring what Jiaozhidao did back to the Central Plains?"
Ru Yu's face gradually turned pale, and after a long time, her throat twitched a few times.
"Is there no other way?"
At this moment, the minister in charge of the Ministry of War of the Ming Dynasty felt a sense of powerlessness all over his body.
Not for yourself.
Just for the future of civil servants in this world.
Zhan Hui looked sideways at Ru Yu: "There is a way, do you dare? Are you willing?"
Rujun shook her head.
There are many ways, but he neither dares nor is willing.
"Just wait, wait for the day to come, wait for what the future will be like."
Zhan Huiyou spoke quietly, reached out to pick up the tea lid, and covered the teacup in front of him.
Ren Hengtai took a look, stood up, and pulled Ru Yu.
"Brother Zishan, the two of us are leaving."
Zishan is Zhan Hui’s word.
Zhan Hui nodded silently.
Watching Ru Yu and Ren Hengtai leave, their eyes flickered moment by moment.
No one knows what tomorrow will be like, or whether the day they envisioned will come.
However, the contradiction between civil servants and imperial power has clearly created a gap.
When will there be a complete breakup?
Even Zhan Hui, who has been in charge of the civil service for many years and can be called a heavenly official, would not have thought of it.
…………
"The honeymoon period is over."
In the small study room of the East Palace, Zhu Yunxi said silently. Then he raised his head and looked at Zhu Gaochi and Zhu Shangbing in front of him.
Today, the small study room in the East Palace has basically become a gathering place for the three of them.
However, after the wedding on August 15th, this gathering place will be replaced by the Taisun Mansion outside Xi'an Gate and next to Qingxi Jiuqu.
There were no classes in the main hall today, so Zhu Shangbing rarely came over. At this time, he kept turning his head to find the good things in the small study and bring them back later.
Zhu Gaochi also looked around and said: "When the Ministry of Industry built Taisun's Mansion, did they build such a small study? It would be best not only to have a fire wall, but also a fire channel, otherwise when winter comes this year,
But you can’t treat others well.”
Listening to Xiaopang's words, Zhu Yunxi couldn't help but roll his eyes. Ever since the last time he mentioned it intentionally or unintentionally, and wanted to get him into the court, this guy has deliberately avoided these things.
With a slight cough, Zhu Yunxi said in a deep voice: "Don't pretend you don't understand."
Zhu Gaochi was stunned for a moment, then turned his head and looked at Zhu Yunxi: "I really don't understand, what is the honeymoon period you are talking about? I looked back on ancient books, and no book mentioned what month the honeymoon is.
. Is it March or April, when flowers bloom?"
Zhu Yunxi sighed: "I'm afraid the harmony between us and the civil servants is coming to an end."
"We?" Zhu Gaochi frowned and was silent for a moment before continuing: "Pan Geng moved to Yin, Guan Zhong sought Qi, Li Kui's reform, Shang Yang's reform, Hanwu's reform, Wang Mang's reform, Western Wei's reform, Kaiyuan's reform, Qingli's New Deal
, Yuanfeng's restructuring, Xining's New Deal.
Over the past thousand years in the Central Plains, the above-mentioned reforms and restructuring have not been fully described. They are so vast. Can we see that there is a time of harmony? Reform and restructuring, can there be peace in all directions? Looking at the past and present, we have never seen anything go smoothly. Why is Taisun so good today?
It only adds to the worries?"
Zhu Yunxi said quietly: "Any innovation will inevitably cause turmoil. In the past two years, I just moved here and there, and my grandfather was pressing on me, so it seemed calm.
But what happens in the future? There is no room for negotiation on innovation. Will Zhan Hui and the others still support it as always? If the imperial court cannot unify the idea of innovation, what will happen to the world? In the end, it is the people who will experience the turmoil of the imperial court."
After finishing speaking, Zhu Yunxi's eyes flickered.
In fact, when he mentioned the common people at this time, it was just an excuse.
The real reason is that the turmoil in the court will delay all of your plans. Once the court is unstable, no one will have the energy to focus on other places.
The complicated and chaotic situation in the court will attract everyone's attention, and they will be exhausted to deal with the endless political struggles that arise one after another.
Then will be the real disaster.
Zhu Gaochi snorted and stared at Zhu Yunxi faintly: "At this time, brother Xi still has such a compassionate heart? The matter of Zhang Ergong and other craftsmen and officials is just an introduction. You, me and them all feel that
Clearly, the official selection and assessment system on Jiaozhi Road is the point of conflict."
Zhu Yunxi nodded silently.
He also knows that the official selection system is the real root cause.
No matter what kind of innovation, in Zhu Yunxi's view, it is a new interest group competing for the power held by the old interest group.
It can also be said that these are all internal battles.
No one will be spared from the changes in the elective officer system.
The system of promoting filial piety and incorruptibility laid the foundation for the emergence of powerful families in the world, and created the emergence of the family such as the fourth and third princes of the Han Dynasty, Yuan Benchu. The subsequent nine-level Zhongzheng system further consolidated the interests of the powerful families and gave birth to the century-old storm of the Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties.<
/p>
Therefore, during the Sui and Tang dynasties, the imperial examinations were vigorously carried out, and the battles between the imperial power and the clans in the court continued.
Finally, the official selection system with the imperial examination as its core was completely victorious in the former Song Dynasty. The ancient phrase "family clan" completely disappeared in the Central Plains, and the scholar-bureaucrat class emerged. In today's Ming Dynasty, the gentry and landlord class with the scholar-official class as the core, and the emperor
Together we control the world.
The emperor was the largest landowner in the Central Plains, while the scholar-bureaucrats and gentry landlords were the small landowners and tenants of the big landlords.
Now, the official selection and assessment system he implemented in Jiaozhi Road has directly impacted the official selection system with Confucian imperial examination as its core, and will also impact the interests of people in the entire system.
Jiaozhi Dao’s official selection and assessment system and its reasons, Zhang Ergong and others were promoted as white craftsmen, which was the breaking point.
From then on, anyone in the world can be an official as long as they have skills, and they can be an official as long as they can pass the examination. So what about the Confucian imperial examination?
Zhu Yunxi said in a deep voice: "In fact, they have a choice, but they may not be willing to change their thinking that has been accumulated for hundreds of years."
Zhu Gaochi showed a trace of curiosity and confusion.
In his opinion, this is a non-negotiable matter. How come Brother Xiu has a choice?
"Actually, I don't have the intention or courage to push everything aside and start a new fire to make food. That is what will lead to chaos in the world." Zhu Yunxi's eyes flickered: "The imperial examination is still the basis for selecting officials in the Ming Dynasty, but it is not
It’s just a matter of exhausting the articles of sages. Compared with the people of the world, they have natural advantages. So, how come they don’t have the opportunity to choose?”
The imperial examination system did hinder Zhu Yunxi's political reform plan to a certain extent.
But now it is obviously unrealistic to completely deny it.
His initial hope was to change the officialdom, which was dominated by Confucian sages and sages, and to have more technical officials who could benefit the people and promote the development of the Ming Dynasty.
Zhu Gaochi rolled his eyes and said softly: "So, what are you going to do next?"
"What are you going to do?" Zhu Yunxi muttered, then turned his eyes to Zhu Shangbing, who was still looking at the small study room to see if there was anything good, and then shouted loudly: "Brother Bing, I have been practicing a lot lately, and it's up to you to take care of things later.
!"
Zhu Shangbing trembled with guilty conscience, out of breath and his heart beat wildly. He turned his head and glared at Zhu Yunxi with a face full of grief and anger.
"I'm practicing, I'm practicing." Then he changed his gaze: "What am I resisting?"