When Zheng Kaicheng heard what Li Zhi said, he raised his hands and asked: "Your Majesty, what is the civil service examination?"
Li Zhi replied: "The civil service examination is a method of selecting civil servants from the private sector through examinations."
When Zheng Kaicheng heard Li Zhi's words, he thought for a while and said nothing.
The selection of qualified civil servants is a need that exists in all countries around the world. The quality of civil servants directly determines the administrative efficiency of a country's government. Therefore, in later generations, various countries generally implemented a civil servant selection system with the civil service examination as the core.
The United Kingdom established a system for selecting national civil servants through public examinations in 1870, which has been in practice for more than a hundred years. The British civil service examination includes "forensics", "document drafting", "group discussion" and "meeting practice", etc.
What is tested is the comprehensive ability of civil servants.
The United States also implements civil service examinations. The United States passed the Civil Service Act in 1883 and established a Civil Service Commission in accordance with the law to fully implement the system of selecting outstanding talents as civil servants through examinations. Before Li Zhi traveled through time, the number of civil servants selected through examinations in the United States had exceeded that of civil servants.
of 85.
In later generations of China, civil servants were also selected through examinations.
As a time traveler, Li Zhi introduced the civil service examination system in one town and seven provinces, especially in Tianjin and Shandong, which was also a matter of course.
In fact, one town and seven provinces also have the basis for the civil service examination.
First of all, the literacy rate in Tianjin, Shandong and Liaodong is very high. In recent years, with Li Zhi’s encouragement and support, many workers and farmers have taken the initiative to learn culture. Li Zhi has widely set up literacy night schools in various places. In Shandong, the literacy rate has gone from extremely low to
The literacy rate has risen to 25%. In more than 20 prefectures and counties in Tianjin, the literacy rate has reached 40%.
In other words, Li Zhi had more than four million literate people in Tianjin and Shandong. These more than four million workers, farmers and intellectuals who could read and read newspapers were the basis for Li Zhi to select civil servants.
Zheng Kaicheng thought for a while and asked: "Your Majesty, is this civil service examination the same as the imperial examination?"
Li Zhi shook his head and said: "It's different, it's very different."
"First of all, the civil service examination selects not only officials, but also grassroots civil servants. The imperial examination in the Ming Dynasty only selected officials, and civil servants were considered to be low-ranking positions and were filled by people with bad backgrounds. Moreover, officials were floating officials, and civil servants were
But it is an impenetrable household, so the officials’ desires cannot be controlled at all.”
"And our civil service examination selects officials and clerks at the same time. It ensures that all clerks are qualified talents."
Hong Chengchou stroked his beard and said: "Your Majesty is wise. With this change, we will wipe out the long-standing malpractice of the imperial examinations in the Ming Dynasty for more than 200 years and rectify the origins of the treacherous and subordinate officials!"
Li Zhi smiled and said: "What's more important is that our exam not only tests knowledge and ability, but also uses 60% of the score to test the candidate's level of public morality."
Zheng Kaicheng's eyes lit up and he said: "In that case, the most common test in the civil service examination is public morality?"
Li Zhi nodded and said: "Yes! Officials who are not very capable but have an upright character can rely on other capable people to do the right things. But for a person without public morality, all his abilities will become a means of doing evil. The greater the ability, the more capable he is.
The greater the harm. In government departments, we would rather have an upright person than a cunning and capable person!"
"So this civil service examination actually tests public morality. We must collect all the most public-minded people in society into the government as our solid administrative foundation."
Zheng Kaicheng and Hong Chengchou cupped their hands and said, "Your Majesty is wise!"
In a small courtyard in Tianjin Acropolis, Zeng Zuoze and Feng Zishan, both wearing Tianjin fine cloth round collars, were sitting in the living room, reading today's "Tianjin Daily" with great interest.
Zeng Zuoze read the news about the civil service examination again, his face showing unbearable excitement.
"Brother Feng, our opportunity has come."
Feng Zishan laughed and said: "I never thought that literati like us who have no chance to go to primary school or middle school would also have the opportunity to be admitted to the prince's civil service."
Zeng Zuoze and Feng Zishan are both intellectuals. We say they are intellectuals rather than Confucian scholars because they have not read the books of Confucian sages for nearly ten years.
Both of them were originally Tongsheng. Their status as Tongsheng did not count as fame, and they were not qualified to be teachers in private schools, so they were of no use in the first place. After Li Zhi took control of Tianjin, Confucianism was discarded by Li Zhi like worn shoes, and both of them also
There is no longer any thought of becoming a scholar. They no longer read Confucian classics, but go to the market to find jobs to make a living.
Nowadays, both of them are working as accountants for others. Zeng Zuoze worked as an accountant for a restaurant. Feng Zishan is in a slightly better situation, working as an accountant at a private cement factory.
In a prosperous place like Tianjin, the income from accounting work is very high. Both of them have about five taels of monthly income, which is enough to support their wives and children. However, as employees of the "private economy", their incomes are compared to those of the prince.
As far as directly employed soldiers, workers and officials are concerned, the situation is still far behind.
Take the prince's Tiger Army soldiers as an example. Now their monthly income has increased to five taels, and three meals a day include meat. More importantly, the prince's soldiers will be divided into fields in Liaodong based on their merits. The income from this field is higher than the monthly income of the soldiers.
The money is much higher. Basically, as long as you are directly hired by the prince, you will not be able to escape your lifetime of fame and fortune.
Therefore, in one town and seven provinces, everyone sharpened their heads and wanted to become workers, soldiers and officials directly employed by the prince.
However, Zeng and Feng failed several times to apply for jobs as factory craftsmen because of their lack of experience. They had families, and it was impossible for them to leave their jobs and go to middle school for three years, nor to work as officials, so they were never able to squeeze into the ranks of the prince.
.
But this civil service examination gave them a chance.
Feng Zishan smiled and said: "Brother, this civil service examination tests public ethics and law. Are you proficient in it?"
Zeng Zuoze laughed heartily and said, "Brother Feng, to be honest, I have read these two books distributed for free by the prince dozens of times over the years, and I can really recite them backwards."
Feng Zishan said: "I think this exam is not just about memorizing it to get a high score, but also about learning and applying it. The newspaper said, especially in the public ethics subject, the exam questions are derived from textbooks, but they are also
It's completely higher than the textbook. You really need to be truly convinced and practice your sense of public morality to get high marks."
Zeng Zuoze smiled and said: "Brother Feng, of course Yudi knows this. But Yudi has been reading newspapers every day for these years and has been influenced by it. He has been influenced by the culture of public ethics and is confident that he can get a good score."
Feng Zishan slapped his thigh and said, "It's true. There is a 'mock exam question' in the supplement of this newspaper. Let's do it and see how many points we can get."
Zeng Zuoze was full of confidence and said: "Okay, I want to find a job in the court and become a judge who makes decisions for the people in the future. I will do this simulation question to see if I have read the newspapers in vain in the past ten years?"
