Chapter five hundred and sixty-five the idea of ??the imperial examination
"Your Majesty clearly concluded that King Zhong made a condition. He said that he was too poor and was willing to ask Your Majesty to give him 40 million taels of silver, so that he would return to Liaozhou and stop attacking Daliang City. I once questioned their credibility. Zhong The king's envoy Zhang Zhen said that after they are willing to return to Liaozhou, they will ask your Majesty to send someone to send the money to Pingcheng." In the following time, Tong Gu went through all the details of the negotiation with Zhang Zhen, including the other party's first request. It was 80 million taels of silver, but he bargained it down to 40 million taels.
Forty million taels, which is equal to the war compensation paid by Daqian to King Zhong. Ordinarily, Emperor Qianwen should not agree to this because of his pride. But thinking that if the Liaozhou army can really retreat, these money can be considered a waste. It’s worth it. Besides, if you say 40 million, it’s 40 million. After you return to Liaozhou, don’t you have the final say on how much you pay?
The money issue is easy to solve. Tang Ao laid a good foundation when he was in Daliang City. Although Dagan is not as wealthy as before, there is still some money in the treasury. What really gives Emperor Qianwen a headache is that Pingcheng and Luancheng cannot The matter of return.
Luancheng is better, not too important. Pingcheng is different. It is an important city specially used to defend the Liaozhou Army. It is not in your own hands. Daliang City is equal to being under the front of the Liaozhou Army at any time. , making people restless day and night. "Tong Aiqing, can Pingcheng be taken back? Even if we add some more money, it's okay."
"Your Majesty, this is very difficult. I have already mentioned this matter to Zhang Zhen, but Zhang Zhen didn't talk about it at all. I'm afraid there is nothing we can do." Tong Gu shook his head, how could he not know the importance of Pingcheng? , but King Zhong has no intention of talking to him, so what can he do?
"Hey, that's all. Pingcheng will be temporarily placed in the hands of King Zhong, and we will keep it for us. One day, I will take it back in person. Well, in this way, Tong Aiqing, you and King Zhong The envoy explained that we agree to the other party's offer of 40 million taels, but only after they all withdraw to Liaozhou and Ningcheng."
"Your Majesty, don't worry, I know what to do." Tong Gu agreed happily. The war finally came to an end in the hands of him, the Minister of Rites. This can be regarded as a great achievement. At least he can make up for the mistakes he made last time. .
...
Xingjun, Guzhou.
Tang Ao, who was wearing a battle armor, was already standing on the city tower, looking into the distance. Where he saw it, he saw a plain with rich water and grass. He couldn't help but said with emotion, "It's very nice here, very suitable for domestication." War horse."
"Yeah, I really don't know why Sang Doubei doesn't know how to use such a treasured land." Han Ce, who was standing aside and also watching this scene, said with an astonishing expression.
"Wrong, it's not that Sang Doubei doesn't know how to take advantage of it, but it's that this place is too close to Beidi. Soldiers can attack at any time. How can we develop when people's hearts are unstable." The corners of Tang Ao's mouth raised slightly. A person whose life safety cannot even be guaranteed. Who dares to invest and develop here?
But now that he is here, everything will change. This will also become Tang Ao's development base and solid backing, and it will also become the place where King Ji keeps his war horses.
"Where is Feng Xun now?" As soon as the words changed, Tang Ao asked about business. After he arrived in Xingjun, he rode around on horseback, looking for the most suitable place to raise horses. He had not been involved in the frontline war. This It's not that Tang Ao doesn't care about the war, it's just that he has great confidence in Feng Xun and the Shanshan Guards led by him.
The Shanshan Guards were trained by Tang Ao himself. He could name all the backbones of the company, platoon, and squad. He knew exactly what kind of strength they had.
"Your Highness, Commander Feng Xun is making very good progress. News came early this morning that they have reached Fengcheng and can close the net at any time." Han Ce said excitedly, and then asked what he thought of,
"Your Highness, we won't annex the entire Guzhou this time, right?"
"What? Isn't it possible?" Tang Ao asked with a smile.
Han Ce shook his head, "It's not impossible, but the number of people we can use now is really limited. Even if the Jizhou land has not been integrated yet, if we really occupy Guzhou now, we will lack officials to manage the place."
Speaking of which, his background is still insufficient. Tang Ao settled in Jizhou on August 28, the 18th year of Hanchang, and now he is only on July 28th, the 19th year of Hanchang. He is full of plans, and there is still more than a month left to complete the year.
In one month, Tang Ao needed to stabilize the morale of the military in Jizhou, develop production, change policies towards the powerful, etc. After completing a series of things, it already took a lot of his energy. In addition, Jizhou has always felt remote.
, Poverty, bitter cold, real talents will not come here to look for opportunities.
Over time, Jizhou seems to have become a forgotten corner of people, making it rare for officials here to be transferred. It’s not that they don’t want to leave, but that they don’t know where to go, and there will be no one to rotate them. When officials are here
As long as a person stays in Jiuzhi for a long time, he will naturally have a personal network of his own and have his own interests and power.
Let me ask, how many of these officials can be truly trusted, and how many of them have real abilities?
Tang Ao knows very well the importance of officials when it comes to change. If they don't pay attention to it and don't cooperate, the so-called reform is just empty talk. Under his leadership, most of the local officials have been pulled out of their posts, and they have been involved in various
They were convicted in the face of sufficient evidence, and some were directly questioned and executed. This caused many official vacancies in various places. Tang Ao had brought some people from Daliang City before, and used Zeng Tong to go to Daliang City to pay homage to the Empress Dowager.
However, because the reputation is not good, it is still a drop in the bucket. Even now, there are still many gaps among Jizhou officials. Where can the suitable talents be sent to Guzhou to manage it?
Han Ce told the truth, which also made Tang Ao feel the urgent need for talents. The idea that he had always had in his mind became more active, "Mr. Han, since we have limited talents, then
Let’s not mention the occupation of Guzhou, but now that it’s here, of course we can’t enter Baoshan and return empty-handed. We need to have a good talk with General Sang, and if necessary, fight a battle to wake him up.
Wake up and ask him to open a trade route for us. Also, since there is a lack of talent, can we adopt other methods to make changes?"
Han Ce agreed with what Tang Ao said about opening a safe trade route in Guzhou. Jizhou's development cannot rest on its laurels, let alone be self-sufficient in one place. What it needs is to build what it has created.
Send it out, bring in what you need, and learn from each other's strengths. Only in this way will you develop faster.
In order to achieve the fact that there is a safe trade route and can trade with the barbarians and the Bahan tribe, it is best to move Sang Doubei, but it is necessary to fight a war to let them know how powerful they are.
When a matter cannot be solved politically, force is the only solution. Han Ce does not object to this. He also nodded in agreement, but he was the last one Tang Ao said. He was very interested in using other methods to change the problem of lack of talents, "Your Highness, I don't know how to solve the problem of insufficient officials?"
Tang Ao did not answer immediately, but took a deep breath first, and then said a sentence that was completely inconsistent with the social structure at that time, "How about changing the recommendation system to an assessment system?"
This was the prototype of the imperial examination. In history, Wu Zetian wanted to gain power, but was deeply aware of the power of the powerful, so she finally came up with an imperial examination system, which gave poor students a way to advance, thus breaking the monopoly of the powerful and allowing students from poorer families to advance. She had many talents at her disposal and eventually became the only female emperor in history.
The current Daqian has not experienced the era of empress, and it also adopts the recommendation system. But if a person is powerful, there are countless people he knows, and the talents around him are even more limited. Although people like Zeng Tong, Han Ce and Tang Ao Student Ning Feng and others have tried their best to recommend talents, but there are still not enough, which makes Tang Ao think of using the talents according to their talents through the imperial examination.
Naturally, what Tang Ao used was not entirely copied from the ancients. For example, if he could write good articles and poems, would he really be a great talent?
Even if he is truly talented, is such a person really suitable to be an official and capable of benefiting the people?
There are so many people in later generations who are called beasts, but sometimes what they say is really nonsense. Even if such people have read books all their lives, they have only read the books into the stomach of dogs. They are really in the society. There is no benefit. If you really get a scientific examination, it is hard to say whether such a person will be a blessing to the people if he becomes an official.
In order to avoid the appearance of people with knowledge but no ability, with IQ but no EQ occupying official positions to mislead the country and the people, Tang Ao adopted another method of selecting officials, that is, they first go through the initial assessment. Regardless of their background, once If they pass the assessment, they will be assigned various official positions and let them go to the lower levels for training. They can be as big as managing a township or as small as managing a village. Only those who have made political achievements will be reused. On the contrary, they are just people who know Huhu every day, shaking their heads. , then they should go to college to be a teacher and teach and educate people. That is the stage suitable for them to learn, and they can also gain people's respect.
Without treating Han Ce as an outsider, Tang Ao spoke out these thoughts that had been buried in his heart in advance. Han Ce was stunned for a while, and then he fell into silence and deep thought. All this time , officials are all recommended, which is also the main reason why the status of the powerful has always been unshakable. Think about it, new officials are recommended by them. After these people have power, they can disobey them and work for them. For welfare?