When asking, Li Chuanwen looked at Xiao Wenxuan with eyes full of expectation.
Among Zhao Junchen's staff, Li Chuanwen has the highest status, and Niu Fude is the most important, but in terms of potential, it is undoubtedly Xiao Wenxuan.
The reason is simply because Xiao Wenxuan has the highest reputation and is a civil servant. If it were placed in the early and middle Ming Dynasty, scholars with the title of civil servant could already directly serve as lower-level officials in the imperial court. Under Zhao Junchen
, there are only a few staff members who have the reputation of recruiting people.
After Li Chuanwen assisted Zhao Junchen, he also discussed the advantages and disadvantages of the imperial examination system with Zhao Junchen, and found that Zhao Junchen was obviously a top scholar, but he was full of disdain for the imperial examination system, and he deeply hated the prevalence of stereotyped articles.
Absolutely, I think that this kind of thing is useless for governing the country and herdsmen. On the contrary, it imprisons the minds of scholars. It is not an exaggeration to say that it is a waste of life.
However, while Zhao Junchen hated the imperial examination system, he attached great importance to those scholars who had obtained meritorious status. Of course, Zhao Junchen's emphasis was completely different from that of Emperor Deqing, Zhou Shangjing and others.
.
During last year's examination, all factions in the imperial court noticed that Zhao Junchen took the opportunity to recruit many well-known Jinshis into his sect. After joining Zhao Junchen's sect, these Jinshis also received good career arrangements.
The situation is also seen by many as evidence of Zhao Junchen's ambition.
But few people noticed that Zhao Junchen also took the opportunity to absorb a large number of failed candidates, more than three times the number of the former.
In fact, for scholars of this era, Zhao Junchen does not pay attention to whether his calligraphy is neat, whether his articles are beautiful, whether his eight-part essay is proficient - although these things are necessary conditions for scholars to obtain higher fame - in Zhao Junchen's eyes
Here, the ability of a Jinshi is not necessarily stronger than that of a scholar, and the ability of a scholar is not necessarily stronger than that of a scholar. Being able to achieve success in the imperial examination only means that the scholar has stronger reading and writing skills, learning ability, and ability to do things.
Concentration, these things can only be regarded as the basic qualities of a scholar, but what Zhao Junchen really values is precisely these seemingly insignificant basic qualities.
After all, in this era, there are only a handful of people with basic literacy skills.
Zhao Junchen believes that after possessing these basic qualities, as long as scholars are not completely rigid in their thinking, they will have a better chance of mastering truly useful knowledge, and will have a better chance of becoming truly useful talents - this is what Zhao Junchen
The real reason for attaching importance to those scholars who have achieved fame.
Li Chuanwen partially agreed with Zhao Junchen's view, because his own fame was not high.
And the facts have proved that Zhao Junchen’s view is indeed not wrong.
Take the "United Shipping Company" as an example. Within the scope of activities of the "United Shipping Company", every prefecture and county has a confidant of Zhao Junchen - mostly the failed scholars recruited by Zhao Junchen - who is responsible for coordination.
It is precisely because of the existence of these people that Zhao Junchen can firmly control the behemoth "United Shipping Company".
For another example, Zhao Junchen is currently transferring tens of thousands of Shaanxi-Gansu refugees to the jurisdiction of Xuanfu Military Town. This matter is not uncomplicated. The specific operation also requires a large number of talents - most of these people are
It comes from the unsuccessful scholars recruited by Zhao Junchen last year.
In this way, in all aspects and from all walks of life, most of the failed scholars recruited by Zhao Junchen have now become part of Zhao Junchen's various plans. It is precisely because of their assistance and support that Zhao Junchen's power and influence can be
It has made rapid progress in just one year.
Otherwise, no matter how many plans Zhao Junchen has conceived in his mind, he will inevitably be trapped by the lack of talents and be unable to use his skills.
As far as Li Chuanwen knew, the imperial court would soon hold a new rural examination this year. After Zhao Junchen had tasted the sweetness of recruiting a large number of unsuccessful candidates for his own use after last year's general examination, he was now eyeing those who took the provincial examination this year.
After that, he became a failed scholar.
The potential that Xiao Wenxuan possesses is precisely because of Zhao Junchen's completely different thinking - Xiao Wenxuan's success in promoting people is enough to prove his learning ability and concentration on work, but his thinking has not become rigid because of those eight-part essays.
On the contrary, he is full of deviant thoughts and is very willing to learn new things, which undoubtedly perfectly meets Zhao Junchen's criteria for "talent".
It is precisely because of this that Zhao Junchen attaches great importance to Xiao Wenxuan. Over the past year, Xiao Wenxuan has been following Li Chuanwen around, learning and absorbing Li Chuanwen's knowledge and experience, just to reuse Xiao Wenxuan in the future.
Li Chuanwen naturally saw this, and Li Chuanwen was also very satisfied with Xiao Wenxuan's intelligence and character, and regarded Xiao Wenxuan as his successor, so he never missed an opportunity to teach Xiao Wenxuan by words and deeds.
*
At this time, after hearing Li Chuanwen's inquiry, Xiao Wenxuan fell into deep thought.
In fact, Xiao Wenxuan had already thought about this issue after reading Zhao Junchen's letter, so now he was just organizing the language. He didn't think about it for too long and quickly answered: "In my opinion, a house is
Among them, the most important thing is the beams. As long as the beams don’t fall, the house will not completely collapse no matter how much you smash it. Zhao Gechen said that His Highness the Crown Prince, ‘Don’t smash the beams when demolishing the house’. The ‘house’ represents His Highness the Crown Prince’s heir.
position, the so-called 'demolition of the house' means that His Highness the Crown Prince is now further destroying the stability of his position, which is his behavior intensifying the conflict with the feudal clan!
This approach undoubtedly aroused the hostility of all the vassals, and further put him in a situation where he was surrounded by enemies and isolated. He originally had a bad relationship with the powerful officials in the court, and was betrayed by Qingliu some time ago. Now he is in a relationship with the vassal
To use power as an enemy is to make enemies everywhere, I don’t know what to say! In this way, when he is deposed in the future, I am afraid that no one will be willing to speak for him anymore, and everyone will only add insult to injury!"
Li Chuanwen nodded slightly and motioned for Xiao Wenxuan to continue.
In Zhao Junchen's sentence, the word "demolish the house" is easy to understand, but the word "Liang" is the real focus!
After being encouraged, Xiao Wenxuan looked hesitant and said: "As for the most important beam... From the younger generation's point of view, it should be an allusion to the reputation of His Highness the Crown Prince! After all, His Highness the Crown Prince was able to secure his position as Crown Prince in the first place.
position is because of his excellent reputation, but now that his position has been shaken, the only thing he can rely on is his reputation. After all, His Highness the Crown Prince has been strictly self-disciplined over the years, hates evil as much as he hates it, and cannot find any evil in him.
, even though the Qingliu people have now turned their backs on him, except for his joint cooperation with Zhao Gechen, they can't find any fault with him, so the reputation of His Highness the Crown Prince has not been affected too much!
There was also a sentence in Zhao Gechen's secret letter that said that His Highness the Crown Prince 'even if he is to be deposed in the future, he must leave a glimmer of hope for a comeback.' This seemed to hint at his future arrangements for His Highness the Crown Prince, and the Crown Prince
If His Highness wants to make a comeback in the future, he must ensure that His Highness the Crown Prince's reputation remains spotless!
Therefore, Zhao Gechen’s words ‘Don’t smash the beams when tearing down the house’ means that even if His Royal Highness has to offend everyone, he cannot be allowed to do things that will ruin his reputation..."
Speaking of this, Xiao Wenxuan paid attention to the change in Li Chuanwen's expression, but saw Li Chuanwen shaking his head slightly, with a somewhat disappointed expression. He quickly changed his tone and said respectfully: "This junior's superficial knowledge is often lacking. I hope Mr.
Guidance.”
Li Chuanwen nodded lightly, and then asked a seemingly unrelated question again, saying: "For the past year, you have been following me around, expanding Zhao Gechen's influence to various prefectures and counties...
Then have you noticed that whenever I arrive in a county, I tend to pay more attention to the wealthy gentry family there than to my parents and officials in that county?"
Xiao Wenxuan replied: "Of course I have noticed. The younger generation takes this as a matter of course. The parent officials in various prefectures and counties are just floating officials from the court. Most of them can only stay in office for three to five years, and then they are either promoted or demoted.
Or if they are transferred at the same level, they will leave soon. If we just bribe the parents of those prefectures and counties, not to mention that most of them already have a backer, they may not wholeheartedly surrender to Zhao Gechen. Even if they surrender to Zhao Gechen willingly,
Zhao Gechen's influence in the area only lasted for three to five years... On the contrary, those wealthy gentry families have been rooted in the local area for a long time, and the officials usually used by the government are also their people. Not only their influence is more far-reaching, but also more profound.
In the long run, only by uniting these wealthy gentry families can Zhao Gechen's influence truly penetrate."
Li Chuanwen nodded again, but once again asked a seemingly unrelated question: "I remember that you are from Handan, and your teacher is the local scholar Tang Zecheng.
Up to now, one-third of them can be regarded as his disciples and disciples, right? Moreover, this great scholar of the Tang Dynasty had quite good deeds in his daily life. For example, whenever the government posted official documents, he would arrange for his disciples and disciples to appear and speak out for him.
Those illiterate people explain the contents of the official document in detail, right?"
Xiao Wenxuan seemed to have thought of something, and replied thoughtfully: "That's exactly it... Moreover, Teacher Tang has a rich family. He owns more than 8,000 acres of fertile land in Handan and has hundreds of tenants."
Seeing that Xiao Wenxuan seemed to be enlightened, Li Chuanwen smiled and said: "When you were in your hometown, as a scholar, you were naturally highly respected. If the people nearby had something they didn't understand, they would often ask you for advice.
Right?
However, after all, you are just an ordinary scholar. If the things that the common people ask you involve the imperial policy and the conduct of officials, even if Handan is not far from the capital, it is still inconvenient to transmit the news, and you yourself are no better than ordinary people.
More, but compared to ordinary people, you can still know more information because you met teachers, classmates, and friends when you were studying, and your teachers, classmates, and friends also have their teachers, classmates,
Friends, in this way, when communicating with each other, you will naturally be able to know a lot of information that ordinary people do not know, such as whether the court's policies are good or bad, and whether a certain court official is clean or corrupt. In the end, you will also know
These messages are passed on to ordinary people, right?"
Xiao Wenxuan's expression gradually became serious, and he nodded again and added: "In addition to scholars, the people who speak with the most weight among the people are also the squires, and the common people ask them for news... But most of the time
, both are the same thing.”
Li Chuanwen stroked his hand and said: "These things may seem ordinary, but in fact they contain the most profound interest relationship between the government and the opposition!
That is, the great scholars from all over the country were all from the gentry family, and they had the closest relationship with the imperial court. They were also brothers and sisters. They had the initial information transmission, and they also had the right to interpret. They would inform their own people of the information they had.
His disciples, disciples, and grandsons spread the news to ordinary people. As for ordinary people, not only are most of them illiterate, but they also have no chance to leave their hometown in their lives. The people they usually come into contact with are only people who are in a similar situation to themselves. They are just
They passively accepted the information fed to them by the squires and scholars, and they believed it without any doubt!"
Hearing Li Chuanwen say this, Xiao Wenxuan's expression became more serious, as if he saw a butcher slaughtering cattle and sheep.
Li Chuanwen continued with an indifferent expression: "So, most of the time, the truth of a matter is not important. How the squires explain the matter is the most important! At the same time, if the court's policy cannot
Obtaining the approval of the squire family will definitely make it impossible to implement it; if an official is not liked by the squire family, his reputation will be ruined and will be criticized by thousands of people!
What is this? This is what the people want! If any official cannot see through this truth, he will definitely not be able to achieve great achievements!
Hey, His Highness the Crown Prince had an excellent reputation at the beginning, why? Because the Qingliu people supported him, and the Qingliu people were all great Confucians, and their clan friends were all Jin gentry, so they had control over the dissemination and interpretation of the news! You just said that His Highness the Crown Prince was influenced by the Qingliu people
After his betrayal, his reputation has not been greatly affected. That's just because the impact of this incident has not been completely fermented. In half a year, after the Qingliu people have unified their caliber with the gentry clans everywhere, you can take a look at the reputation of His Highness the Crown Prince.
, is definitely another story!
Not only His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, but also taking Zhao Gechen as an example, why was he initially considered a corrupt official and a jester? Was it because Zhao Gechen controlled the household department at the time but was unwilling to give benefits to the gentry? To this day, Zhao Gechen’s reputation
Why the reversal? Not only because when His Majesty was purging Shilin some time ago, Zhao Cabinet secretly assisted, but also because after the establishment of the "United Shipping Company", it took into account the interests of the gentry from all over the country! Let's take Zhou Shangjing, the chief minister of the cabinet, as an example. Look at his corruption ratio.
There are fewer Zhao Gechen? Or is the party weaker than Zhao Gechen? But why is his reputation among the people not bad? Is it because Zhou Shangjing's influence on the Jin gentry is no less than that of Qingliu?
All in all, you just said that His Highness the Crown Prince must maintain his reputation, otherwise he will lose the chance of a comeback in the future. This statement is not wrong, but it does not understand the essence of the matter, and the essence is... the power of the vassal.
It is too huge, spread all over the north and south of the imperial territory, and is also closely connected with the gentry clans in various places. However, when His Royal Highness is the enemy of the feudal clan, he must be careful. He can give the feudal clan a heavy blow, but he must not
Involving those wealthy gentry families!"
Xiao Wenxuan pondered for a moment and then said: "So, it doesn't matter if His Highness the Crown Prince has offended the feudal clan. Our dynasty has an ancestral system and the feudal clan cannot interfere in politics; it doesn't matter if His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has a bad relationship with the powerful ministers. The powerful ministers are all very practical.
People, as long as His Highness the Crown Prince does not become enemies with them in the future, they will not embarrass His Highness the Crown Prince again; it does not matter if His Highness the Crown Prince is betrayed by Qingliu, as long as His Highness the Crown Prince is friendly with the gentry in various places, the gentry in various places will in turn influence the Qingliu people.
Attitude! These things are like the doors, windows and furniture of a house. If they are smashed, they will be smashed. The house can still be lived in!
Only the wealthy gentry families in various places must not be offended now, otherwise His Highness the Crown Prince's reputation will be completely eroded. No matter how good he is, scholars and people will regard him as an enemy... At the same time, those who are from the wealthy gentry families
The court officials will also be completely hostile to His Highness the Crown Prince, because their interests have been harmed, and there will be no room for easing the relationship in the future!
On the contrary, if you take the opportunity to make friends with the wealthy gentry families in various places, now is an opportunity for His Highness the Crown Prince! The feudal clans occupy the most fertile fields in various places. If His Royal Highness the Crown Prince can defeat the feudal clan forces, he can distribute the feudal clan's land to various places.
With one or two Jin gentry, His Highness the Crown Prince's reputation will reach a higher level! Then, the support of Jin gentry from all over the country will also affect the attitude of the court officials. At that time, His Highness the Crown Prince will not only have extremely high prestige, but also have a huge number of fans.
It’s not difficult to make a comeback!”
Seeing that Xiao Wenxuan finally understood this truth, Li Chuanwen nodded happily and said: "You understood it quickly, and you can teach me."
Then, Li Chuanwen's expression became equally serious, and he added: "However, you are wrong in one thing. It is not that His Highness the Crown Prince distributed the land of the feudal clan to the gentry in various places, but that Zhao Cabinet Minister and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince jointly distributed the land of the feudal clan to the Jin gentry in various places.
The land of the clan was distributed among the Jin gentry in various places...
Remember! We are Zhao Gechen’s staff. Although Zhao Gechen and His Highness the Prince have temporarily joined forces, we must temporarily provide advice to His Highness the Prince. However, no matter when and where, we must not forget Zhao Gechen’s interests...
Therefore, we don’t have to fully understand the principles I just talked about after meeting His Highness the Crown Prince. Otherwise, whether His Highness the Crown Prince can accept this point of view is irrelevant. Even if he accepts this point of view, he may not be willing to allow Zhao Cabinet to participate.
in."
When Xiao Wenxuan nodded to express his acceptance, Li Chuanwen seemed to have thought of something again, and said: "Speaking of Zhao Gechen, I remember that when Zhao Gechen and I were discussing the current situation, he once said this, which can be said to be a golden rule, 'The imperial power does not decline.
In the countryside, the power of the gentry is no different from the imperial power in the countryside, and the imperial power is just the expanded power of the gentry. Hey, when I heard this sentence, I immediately trembled with fright. I just felt that Zhao Cabinet Minister was disrespectful... But afterwards
Thinking back on it carefully, I feel that this sentence is quite reasonable... Therefore, if we want to ensure that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince can make a comeback in the future, we must not forget His Majesty, and we must give him a share."
In the middle of the conversation, Li Chuanwen had a strange expression and almost called Emperor Deqing "the biggest Jin gentry".
In fact, Emperor Deqing's scrupulous miserly style really looked like a country gentry.
At this moment, the carriage the two of them were riding in gradually stopped.