Hearing Liu Jin's words, Zhu Houzhao rolled his eyes slightly, thought for a while and said to Liu Jin: "Old Liu, you have a lot of ideas, please help me come up with a good examination system."
"Where can I find a good examination system?"
When Liu Jin heard this, he immediately smiled bitterly and said.
This thing will definitely offend many people. Although Zhang Juzheng's examination method allowed the Ming Dynasty to survive for a while, his system was also impeached and criticized. Officials at all levels in the Ming Dynasty wrote memorials to impeach him.
Crush him to death.
Finally, when the new emperor came to power, in order to win the hearts of the world, he directly abolished Zhang Juzheng's entrance examination method, and a series of new policies were also put to nothing.
Therefore, introducing this official evaluation system is definitely something that will offend people, and it will offend all officials in the world.
As an official, he naturally likes to have no restrictions from anyone, but he also likes to restrict the people below him. If there is an examination system or something, it will definitely make them very uncomfortable, and they will no longer be able to do things as coolly as before.
.
At that time, it is inevitable that Liu Jin will be hated to death, and life will definitely not be easy in the future. What's more, Liu Jin is also an official himself, so putting shackles on himself does not seem to be a wise move.
"Old Liu, you must have~"
Zhu Houzhao had a look of disbelief. Old Liu was still very talented and knowledgeable, and he could always come up with some solutions to problems.
"Your Highness, you think highly of me too much."
Liu Jin said with a wry smile.
"Old Liu, to be honest, my father has recently begun to let me participate in some government affairs. In the past, my father only took me to see more and had no intention of letting me participate."
"But recently, he has been asking me for my opinions and opinions on many things, and he wants to let me participate in some government affairs. The imperial examination is a big event, and my father will definitely ask for my opinions and opinions when the time comes."
"So you have to help me."
Zhu Houzhao thought about it and said very seriously.
Maybe it was because Zhu Houzhao was getting older, or maybe Emperor Hongzhi's own health was getting worse, or maybe because of many things in the past few years, Emperor Hongzhi felt that Zhu Houzhao had grown up and matured a lot.
Emperor Hongzhi also began to let Zhu Houzhao participate in government affairs. He would listen to Zhu Houzhao's opinions and views on many matters and teach Zhu Houzhao some experience in governing.
This made Zhu Houzhao also feel pressure. Every major national event was no small matter, and would involve the interests and livelihoods of countless people, and even the lives of countless people.
Although Zhu Houzhao was playful, it did not mean that he did not understand the importance of national affairs.
"Your Highness, there are many examination systems for officials in the past dynasties, and some of them are very complete examination systems. Your Highness can refer to them more and then modify them. Think and make changes based on the actual situation of our Ming Dynasty."
"In general, the official evaluation system should focus on several points."
"The first point is that the assessment system should be combined with the reward and punishment system. Assessment, assessment. If there are no rewards and punishments after the assessment, then the assessment will not be taken seriously."
"Those who excel in the assessment will be promoted and those who fail the assessment should be punished. Only in this way will everyone take it seriously and act in accordance with the assessment system."
"The second point is that assessment should be pragmatic rather than pragmatic. What is pragmatic is that all assessment contents and indicators should be supported by data, with real measurement indicators and reference content, rather than some empty things."
"To give a very simple example, there is a very important thing in current inspections, and that is 'morality'. Morality is a very imaginary thing, and there is no standard to measure and compare it."
"Everyone has a different view of virtue, and the personal virtue of an official has little to do with governing the country. Officials with good moral character may not have the ability to govern the country."
Liu Jin looked at Zhu Houzhao, thought for a while and then spoke slowly.
Of course, the first point does not need to be emphasized too much. The examination system naturally requires a combination of reward and punishment systems, but the second day, regarding 'virtue', has been attached great importance to in all dynasties.
An official's first priority is virtue. This was almost a very important thing in ancient times, even for the emperor. Often when there was a disaster in the country, it was often said that the emperor's virtue was compromised, so God sent disasters as a warning.
But actually this thing is really nonsense.
There is no unified evaluation standard. Some people think that being filial to parents is a sign of virtue, some think that being kind to others is a sign of virtue, and still others think that being trustworthy in doing things is a sign of virtue.
In short, there is no unified standard for this matter. A thousand people have a thousand opinions, and people are all multi-faceted. Some people are very good to their parents, but they are very cunning and cunning when dealing with others.
He is not good to his parents, but he is also a very friendly person outside.
In short, it is difficult to judge virtue, and there is no unified standard. Everyone has their own opinions and understandings.
"Pragmatic or pragmatic?"
"Very weak virtue?"
After hearing Liu Jin's words, Zhu Houzhao also pondered slightly. Although he didn't like Yang Tinghe's class, he knew the importance of virtue. Every emperor should attach great importance to virtue. All dynasties have attached great importance to this thing.
But when it came to Liu Jin, he actually said that morality was very empty.
"Then what is pragmatism?"
Zhu Houzhao thought for a while and asked.
"Pragmatic refers to some specific things, such as the population and population of a place. This thing is more practical, how much the population and population of a place have increased."
"Another example is cultivated fields. This is a relatively real thing that can be measured intuitively. There is also taxation. How much tax a place collects can also be seen and known intuitively."
"In addition, there are roads, bridges, schools, social security, etc. that have been built. These are also pragmatic and can be reflected intuitively using data. They are also things that can directly see the effectiveness of an official's governance."
Liu Jin thought for a while and replied, in later generations, it would be GDP, employment rate and so on. In the Ming Dynasty, it was unrealistic to talk about these things. Population growth, tax growth, social security, land reclamation, etc.
It is more realistic and can directly reflect the level of governance.
"This can be calculated very intuitively."
Zhu Houzhao also nodded slightly after hearing this.
"In terms of population, the population of Ming Dynasty is rarely counted. This is actually the inaction of our officials in Ming Dynasty. Logically speaking, this population should be counted every year, how many people died, how many new people were added, and the age of the population.
The ratio of men to women and so on should be recorded clearly in detail."
"By conducting statistics every year, we will naturally be able to accurately know the population of various places in the Ming Dynasty, and the imperial court will be able to make targeted decisions when formulating various population policies."
"To put it simply, if there is a famine in a certain place and there are one million people in that place, we can know how much food and money should be allocated to provide disaster relief."
"For another example, we can also decide how many people to move from this place to overseas or to the Western Regions, Hezhong, Liaodong and other regions based on the amount of cultivated land in this place."
Liu Jin smiled and continued.
"Keep talking."
Zhu Houzhao nodded and motioned for Liu Jin to continue.
"The third point is that the examination system must be differentiated, and a targeted assessment system should be formulated according to the official's duties and division of labor. To put it simply, the assessment content of a local chief envoy is the same as that of a local tax yamen.
Officials are definitely different, and the standards are also different."
"Of course, the tax department officials mainly assess the tax collection situation. Is the tax collected this year more than last year? How much more, or how much less?"
"The assessment content of a local chief envoy is naturally related to the local population, cultivated land, public security, taxation, infrastructure, etc."
"There are also the civil servants and the five sense organs, the local government and the central government, the frontier and the inland, etc. The situation in each place is different, so the standards will naturally be different."
"The assessment system should be tailored to local conditions and be differentiated and formulated based on positions, departments, responsibilities, places, etc."
Liu Jin thought for a while and continued.
The assessment system has been a very difficult thing since ancient times, especially the assessment of officials. It is even more difficult, but it is definitely not possible without assessment. There must be assessment, otherwise it will be like the officials of the Ming Dynasty in the past.
It's the same, you can't do anything well, and you're best at doing bad things.
"It's so complicated~"
After hearing Liu Jin's words, Zhu Houzhao suddenly said a little discouraged.
I originally thought about copying some things from Liu Jin and showing them to Emperor Hongzhi, but now it seems that it is really not an easy task.
"Of course, this examination system is an extremely complex project, and the knowledge involved is huge."
Liu Jin nodded solemnly and said, even in later generations, there is still no good way to solve this problem, whether it is in ancient or modern times, at home and abroad.
The Western system in later generations is always touted, but in fact, the shortcomings of the Western system are constantly emerging. To put it simply, under this electoral system, if you want to get votes, you must cater to the public and make various promises.
Welfare and such.
In fact, everyone knows that many things cannot continue, but the leaders who come to power are unable to change them. For example, the problem of national fiscal deficit. Brazil in later generations is the most typical example. The country has gone bankrupt, but everyone who takes office has not
ways to change this situation.
The same is true for the assessment of officials. Regardless of whether it is ancient or modern, it is difficult to achieve perfection. We can only try to do it better.