"...For example, Liang Dong is like a salt plum..."

"Let Sun Wuji, the eldest son of the Duke of Qi, be the Duke of Zhao..."

"Let the Duke of Wu, Wei Chi Gong, be the Duke of E..."

"..."

"The Duke of Yi, Qin Qiong, is the Duke of Hu..."

On the first day of October, during the Central Court Meeting, an official from the Ministry of Rites read out an imperial edict loudly in the court hall. This imperial edict was a bit long, and it took seven or eight minutes to finish.

But no one felt trapped, because this imperial edict was related to the title adjustment of dozens of top nobles.

After the edict was read out, the people whose names were read came out to express their thanks and said, "Thank you, saint, for your grace. I am so grateful for this grace."

Li Shimin said solemnly: "No courtesy to you, you are all the pillars of the country..."

A polite compliment, in summary, we all are the pillars of the country, and we have worked hard to govern the country, and the reward is a compliment to you.

Of course, this is just a rhetorical statement for everyone to hear. The real reasons are known best to those involved, but some well-informed non-parties also have speculations.

After the procedure was completed, the second decree was read out: establishing an imperial examination system from the central to local governments.

The imperial examination is a merit-based selection of officials. It is an important supplement to the national official selection and it is necessary to expand the scale. However, in the past, the imperial examination was only held in Beijing, which was too unfair to candidates from other places.

In order to facilitate candidates from all over the country, a three-level imperial examination system was established, namely county examination - state examination - Beijing examination.

Candidates can participate at home. After passing the county examination, they go to the state, and after passing the state examination, they come to the capital. This saves many candidates from unnecessary travel.

And in order to ensure fairness, the imperial examination will be presided over by the Ministry of Rites, not the Imperial College - because the Imperial College controls the academic and political system.

In order to reduce human interference as much as possible, the paper submission system is cancelled, and everything is based on test scores.

During the imperial examination period, no one is allowed to collude with the examiners in private. Anyone who attempts to interfere with the imperial examinations will be exiled or beheaded. The examiners who practice favoritism will be beheaded and their entire family will be exiled.

As soon as this policy came out, everyone was excited. They never thought that the imperial examination could be done in this way. The county examination, the state examination, and the Beijing examination. Who had this idea?

Secondly, the punishment was so severe that they were often exiled and beheaded.

Thirdly, we are all smart people, so we naturally know what will happen once this system is formed.

In the past, they could rely on their favor and recommendation system to monopolize officialdom and ensure the inheritance of family wealth. However, once the imperial examination system became popular, they would directly take food from them.

Some people with more flexible minds immediately thought of the previous academic and political system. Only then did they realize that this was a chain of events.

Popularize knowledge so that more people can read and write, and then select officials from among these people through the imperial examination.

So who is hurt the most under this system?

The answer is ready to come out, gentry.

This is killing the nobles.

Although there had been signs of this in the academic and political system before, the reform of the imperial examination system was a failure.

"Quiet." As the leader of the officials, Fang Xuanling came out of the queue and shouted.

It took a while before the officials became quiet again.

"Making loud noises in the court hall is disrespectful to the saint. If there is another offender, he will be severely punished." Fang Xuanling warned with a stern face, then bowed to Li Shimin and returned to the queue.

The official of the Ministry of Rites continued reading.

In order to reward the merits of ministers and workers, the original favor system was retained and reformed.

Moreover, one person of the third rank and above can be granted a patronage per year, one person of the fifth rank and above can be granted a favor for three years, one person of the seventh rank and above can be granted a patronage of five years, and one person of the seventh rank and below has a quota of patronage.

Many middle and low-level officials who were originally filled with indignation couldn't help but smile excitedly when they heard this.

According to the original favor system, they were not qualified to favor their children, unless the emperor issued a special decree. If their children wanted to serve, they could only use the recommendation system.

However, there are not too many places in the recommendation system each year, and it is difficult to get your turn with so many people competing for it. After the reform, you will be able to get an Enyin quota immediately.

Thinking of this, they looked towards the front of the team, where all the nobles and nobles of the court were standing. The quota of Enyin did not appear out of thin air, but was allocated from the hands of the nobles.

Originally, the children of powerful people could get into official positions through Enyin, but now the quota is limited, and only one Enyin can be granted every year or three to five years.

At this moment, what they were concerned about was no longer whether they would oppose the imperial examination system, but whether the noble class would object. If they objected, they would decide whether they would stand up to support the imperial court later.

However, they soon discovered that they were overthinking it. The noble class headed by Yu Wenshiji, Changsun Wuji, Li Ji and others not only did not object, but were the first to stand up and support it.

Although this matter is very strange, the middle and lower-level officials can't control it so much, and they also stood up to express their support.

Only some officials with aristocratic backgrounds opposed it, but with neither the numbers nor the right to speak, they were destined to be unable to stop it.

The imperial court announced the adoption of the policy on the spot.

After the morning court ended, the officials with noble backgrounds hurried away to convey the news back quickly, while the ordinary officials gathered in groups to discuss the matter.

For the noble class, the old god is there, as if everything has nothing to do with them.

The calmer they appear, the more speculation there is. However, with limited information, we can only attribute everything to the rumored meeting that took place in February.

What happened at that meeting, and why were the nobles so willing to cut their flesh?

As months passed, everyone became more and more curious about the mysterious meeting.

What happened in the morning spread quickly throughout the capital, and the effect was like the explosion of a nuclear bomb.

There is never a shortage of smart people in this world, and soon someone guessed the 'truth': the clan chronicles completely angered the saints, and they started to take action against the nobles. The academic and political system was the first step, and the imperial examination system was the ultimate killer.

Once these two systems are passed, the gentry will no longer be able to rely on their monopoly knowledge to control the path to becoming an official. They will have to compete for limited quotas with the mud-legged people they look down upon.

The melon-eating crowd became excited. What everyone liked to see most was for a once-high-ranking figure to fall into a mud pit.

Here I have to mention the influence of "Wang Yue Tan". With sales of more than 100,000 copies, it can influence hundreds of thousands or even millions of people.

These people are almost all people who have read books, or at least have relationships with people who read books. To put it simply, these people often have a certain right to speak.

The two articles written by Chen Jingke in "Wang Yue Tan" in which he praised the gentry became more influential as time went by. After being processed by storytellers, many different versions were produced.

In his article, he described the luxury of the nobles and used fictional stories such as "thousands of carp whiskers cooked in soup" and "chicken feet and hearts stir-fried".

Now it has appeared among the people, it must be three-month-old carp whiskers, two-month-old rooster heart meat. I don’t know who made it up, and some ginseng is used as firewood for cooking.

Stories like this are often widely circulated, and everyone will be envious at first. After hearing too many stories, the hatred level will increase directly.

Under such circumstances, one can imagine the attitude of the people towards the academic and political system and the imperial examination system.

Especially the poor and wealthy families at the grassroots level are eager to beat gongs and drums to express their celebration.

Originally, they still had doubts about their attitude towards the academic and political system. After all, what if they established a school? Their first-mover advantage has already formed a monopoly, and one school alone cannot change the overall situation.

But things are different now. The introduction of the imperial examination system provided an opportunity for both parties to compete on the same stage to some extent.

Although the gentry still had the first-mover advantage, at least the poor families also had the opportunity to rise to power. Moreover, ordinary scholars from poor families had a numerical advantage, and one day the road to the imperial examination would be unimpeded.

The nobles can naturally see this as well.

Wang Xiuqi, Zheng Song, and Cui Qian gathered together again, but the room was quiet and no one spoke.

After a long time, Lu Xiucai said: "I went to see Fang Xuanling, but he turned me away again. My aunt has been ill for half a year and has not recovered, and she still doesn't see outsiders."

Cui Gan said expressionlessly: "Wei Zheng also refused to see me."

Wang Xiuqi sarcastically said: "This time he was named Zheng Guogong and became a first-class Duke. I'm afraid he has forgotten to sell us."

Lu Xiu said: "Have you ever thought that maybe he was from there from the beginning?"

Everyone was silent for a while.

Zheng Song said in a dry voice: "The worse news is that the nobles have sent their family elites to various places to cooperate with the imperial court in implementing the new policy."

Everyone was silent again, and the thing they feared most finally happened.

Although the nobles and nobles in the DPRK previously acquiesced to the court's actions, they did not give much support. They mainly relied on the power of the court and local wealthy families to promote it.

But now the nobles have gone out in person and mobilized to support the imperial court.

The combined efforts of the imperial court, nobles, and wealthy local families were too powerful. The prestige and relationship network that the nobles relied on for their survival had no power to fight back in the face of this solid power.

When the wall fell, everyone pushed it down, and when the drum was broken, thousands of people beat it. The powerful people they had won through their in-laws before also betrayed collectively this time, such as Fang Xuanling, Cheng Yaojin, etc.

Li Jin frowned and asked: "The nobles will suffer the most from this reform of the Enyin system. Why didn't they oppose it? Instead, they helped the court implement the new policy?"

"I know that the problem must lie in that imperial meeting, but what happened in that meeting? Haven't you heard the news yet?"

Cui Yun hesitated for a moment and said: "I got some information, but I can't tell whether it is true or false."

Everyone immediately sat up straight and looked at him.

They all spoke, but Cui Yun didn't hide anything and said: "It is said to be related to Shifeng Governor."

Lu Xiu said in surprise: "Are you talking about the rumors of Shifengshishi that spread in the eleventh year of Zhenguan?"

Cui Yun nodded and said, "I'm afraid that's not a rumor."

Wang Xiuqi questioned: "Didn't he be dissuaded that time? Did he have this idea again?"

Zheng Song also said: "He is not a fool. It is impossible not to see the negative consequences of sealing him as governor. How could he do such an unwise thing?"

Cui Yun did not argue and said: "I don't want to believe it either, but apart from this possibility, is there anything else that can make you give up your own interests and help the imperial court implement the new policy?"

Everyone was speechless.
To be continued...