Li You looked up and saw Princess Guide, and cursed inwardly that she really had a habit of thinking blindly when things happened. The ready-made answers were in her mouth, so there was no need to waste her brain first.
"The rank will not change, it will still be the fifth rank. You can rest assured that you are a meritorious minister, and the fifth rank is a reward for meritorious service. The imperial court will not demote you to the sixth or seventh rank." Guide Qiantai gave it to Li You.
Get reassurance.
Li You was overjoyed when he heard this. He transferred from a local official to a capital official, which is called Xingzhi. Even if his rank remains unchanged, it is equivalent to a promotion. In the officialdom, a fifth-grade Beijing official is roughly equivalent to a fourth-grade local official. In this way, there is no need to give up the rank.
of worries.
Then Li You had a new doubt: there should be no official of the fifth rank in the capital.
According to the official position structure of the country, the fifth and sixth grade officials in the capital are very scarce, and there are even more vacancies at the fifth grade.
Li You guessed that it was probably because the main business officers Langzhong and Yuanwailang among the six departments gathered in large numbers at this level, so they had to be staggered with the Ke Dao officers.
Of course Princess Guide understands Li You's doubts, "If necessary, rank is never a problem, it's just a matter of name. The Imperial Procuratorate has about second-grade censors for the capital, about third-grade deputy censors, and about fourth-grade censors.
Qiandu Censor. Then you can temporarily set up a new right deputy Qiandu Censor, or the same right Qiandu Censor, or call him the right deputy Qiandu Censor, and set it as the fifth rank. Is there any difficulty?"
Li You was almost overwhelmed by the sudden happiness. Most of the science and technology officials are seventh-grade, and there are very few high-grade ones. If he can be directly promoted to the fifth-grade science and technology, although the grade remains unchanged, the rank will rise by one.
The big steps laid a solid foundation for promotion again.
Maybe there are still people who don’t understand the significance of Ke Dao Guan to Li You.
In the officialdom of the country, promotion is not something that can be achieved by just treating guests and giving gifts and building connections as people imagine. There is a whole set of explicit and implicit rules, based on basic hard conditions such as birth, qualifications, connections, seniority, etc.
The conditions are not enough. You can only work at one level for the rest of your life. There is no point in trying to build relationships for many years.
To put it simply, if Li You was not in a war or abnormal period, Li You would have been an eighth-grade miscellaneous official without taking the imperial examination. But he achieved his current status in the civil service system by virtue of luck, qualifications and connections.
, but once you reach the level of fourth-grade prefect, the limit will be reached.
Although there is no explicit rule for civil servants of the fourth grade and above, they generally come from the pure stream of Jinshi. Especially for officials in the capital, it is more stringent. Today, Su Song's Taoist priest Wang LaoTou is only a special case. But even LaoTou Wang also has Gong Yuan.
No matter how worthless his fame is, it is still a "yuan". It is the same "yuan" as the number one scholar, Hui Yuan, and Jieyuan. This is why the imperial court relaxed the restrictions on him slightly.
If Li You can find an opportunity to wear the title of Kedao and assume the status of Qingliu, it will be equivalent to breaking the shackles of rank. From now on, for him, except for the positions of bachelor, minister, and Hanlin, there will be basically no restrictions. Even in terms of
The promotion channels are slightly better than those of the top three Jinshi who cannot enter the Qingliu official.
But the problem is that it is too difficult for people from the turbid stream to enter the clear stream without going through the imperial examination. Since the civil service system of the Orthodox Dynasty gradually matured, only a handful of people have succeeded.
Even in the Chenghua Dynasty where the demonic trend was at its peak, when the emperor forcibly awarded many ministerial officials without normal circulation, he directly granted many titles to the six ministers and ministers of the temple, but he could not directly grant the title of Taoist officials.
Thinking of the difficulty, Li You calmed down from his excitement and couldn't help but ask: "Is this possible?"
Princess Guide answered ambiguously: "I just said that I have this opportunity, and I didn't say that it will definitely work. But you have the same qualifications as the minister and the governor. This condition is very outstanding, and there are some other factors, so it is also
It’s not impossible.”
After turning over and over again, he still couldn't get the word right... Li You analyzed it in his mind again.
With His Highness Chitose's majestic personality, if there is really no chance, he will not sell favors in front of him with empty words. Only people with a narrow mind will act like this.
So the current situation should be certain, but there may be surprises. Since it's good to have a chance, it's good to have a chance, Li You became excited again.
Princess Guide reminded: "It's been a long time, why don't you leave? If you don't leave, the palace door will be locked."
Ah! Li You almost forgot about this matter. He couldn't care about anything else for a moment. He cupped his hands and said goodbye to the eldest princess and Lin's consort, and hurriedly walked towards the palace gate.
Under the vigilant eyes of the guards, Master Li was panting, and he narrowly escaped from the palace door in an instant before it was locked. He stood outside the palace door and was blown by the evening breeze for a few times before he regained his breath.
His attendants had already waited until dusk and quickly picked up the elder man in his sedan chair and drove back to the Tongzhi branch.
Sitting in the sedan chair, Li You suddenly woke up. When he was talking to Guide Chitose in the palace, he was seduced by the sudden plump bait, which made him fascinated, intoxicated and unable to extricate himself. But he forgot to inquire about the biggest key point——
Why did the imperial court set up the right deputy Qiandu censor?
In addition, Li You noticed another detail. Guide Chitose said that he would establish a "right" deputy censor of Qiandu. This official name is also worth pondering.
The official titles at all levels of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, from the second-rank Du Censor, the third-rank Deputy Censor to the fourth-rank Qian Du Censor, are divided into left and right. But left and right are not used randomly, and there are rules.
Zuo is respected, and those with the prefix "Zuo" can be regarded as the superior officials of the Ducha Yuan, just like those who sit in the six departments as ministers and ministers. The highest leader of the Du Cha Yuan is naturally Zuo Du Yushi.
The prefix “right” prefixed to the imperial censor at all levels is often used as a nominal official title for overseas missions such as governor and governor. It symbolizes his status as an imperial envoy and indicates his official rank, but it does not really serve as a governor.
Work in the hospital.
For example, the former governor of Fengyang, Mr. Yang Fuyang, was honored as Futai, but his actual official title was Youdu Censor. Only under the name of Youdu Censor, could there be such important positions as admiral of military affairs, governor of Fengyang and other places?
dispatch.
If you want to set up the right deputy Qiandu censor, just the word "right" can reveal certain information. But Mr. Li just now was so excited that he ignored this point and did not ask further questions.
In retrospect, it can be judged that 90% of the time, the title of right deputy to the imperial censor of Qiandu is also an additional title, and it must come with a mission. However, this crucial mission content was ignored by Princess Guide...
Li You thought, she probably did it on purpose, otherwise how could she not tell such an important situation?
But what kind of mission is it? Because it may be related to his family's future, Master Li was as curious as a cat scratching his head.
Judging from His Majesty Chitose's question about whether he would like to go to the capital or stay in Yangzhou, this assignment is probably in the capital. And judging from the sentence "it may not be easy to do", this assignment is a very difficult matter.
There are very difficult things in the capital... Li You can't analyze it anymore because he doesn't have enough information. He doesn't know the current situation in the capital, so he has no way of knowing what difficult matters there are.
The emperor will stay in Yangzhou for about four days, and he needs to find time to go to Qiantose Royal Highness to ask for details. Even if he asks, he will probably have to leave it to fate. The establishment of a fifth-rank Taoist official in the capital is quite eye-catching, and Li You knows that he will fight for it.
He can't fight for it, he can only wait and see if others give him the chance.
While Princess Guide and Lord Li were chatting cordially, in the main hall of the palace, Emperor Jinghe was also chatting with his companion Duan Zhien with a tired look on his face.
The main topic is what happened on the royal boat today. Eunuch Duan was afraid that the emperor would not be able to see clearly, so he took the initiative to explain it.
"Li You's overall idea was to concentrate all his efforts and attack one point that was inferior to the rest. The point that was attacked was Editor Li. Probably because among the accompanying ministers, only Li Deng had little experience in officialdom and was not as sophisticated as the others.
In fact, he was indeed caught out by Li You again and again, and he cannot blame Li You entirely for bringing about his own humiliation."
"Li You's technique has about three stages. First, he bluffs to scare others away from speaking easily. Then he makes premeditated moves step by step. After saying a few words, he changes the subject. He never leaves others time to think and refute.
Always keep the words in your own hands, and finally bring out the righteousness of fighting for the teacher and the perfect ending."
The emperor did not follow Eunuch Duan's thinking, but raised a question: "Li You was not convinced because he was not an imperial scholar and did not join the cabinet. It reminds me that the Tang Dynasty was not Lizhou County and not Taiwan Province. Why didn't our court follow suit?"
?The ancestors decided that those who were not members of the Hanlin Academy would not be admitted to the cabinet. As a result, the Imperial Academy’s reputation for purity could not be improved. Isn’t it too much to rise to the top just by wandering around in the Ci Lin? Without experience of being close to the people, how can a prime minister govern?”
Duan Zhien responded: "There are six administrative departments in this dynasty, all of which are officials of the Jiuqing Hall. Therefore, the greatest function of the cabinet is not to govern, but to coordinate. Except for Sandingjia, there are as many as two shuji scholars admitted to the Hanlin Academy in each department.
Ten, or at least a dozen or so, are all chosen as prime ministers. They must attract the attention of the whole court, and it can be said that there is a lot of pressure under internal and external pressure."
"Those who can be killed under this pressure are the true prime ministers. Those who cannot be killed, like Li Denggao who was beaten to the point of being unable to be promoted today, are just scraps. Our ancestors used this elimination method to select
It’s a suitable person.”
Emperor Jinghe nodded with great understanding and said: "Looking at Li You today, he is truly outstanding."
Duan Zhien said with a smile: "A local official who is not even a magistrate in his job is talking about important affairs of the court. How can he know his intentions?"
"I just want to be promoted to a high position." Emperor Jinghe said indifferently.
A small eunuch held a document and reported to the emperor: "Your Majesty, please report from the capital!"
Emperor Jinghe took the document, read it and said to Duan Zhien: "The Queen Mother has already started."
It is said that when Li You returned to the Tongzhi branch, he saw that Master Zhuang had not fallen asleep and was still waiting. He asked, "What's the important thing?"
Master Zhuang handed today's newspaper to Li You, "There is a big change in the temple. You must read it."
Li You frowned and unfolded the newspaper. He read it a few times under the candlelight. He was immediately shocked. It was really a big change! There were only two main contents in the newspaper:
First, the Empress Dowager Cisheng re-established the Supervisor of Ceremonies!
The second is that the Empress Dowager Cisheng intends to include honorable ministers in the court meeting and add several honorable ministers to the existing nine ministers!