The World of Yellow Sky

The main hall of Chendu is smaller than the main halls of Luoyang and Chang'an, but the design is exactly the same, and they all have the effect of sound amplification.

The emperor himself spoke, and all the officials in the hall stopped talking.

The hat of subjugation has been buckled, and the emperor still speaks well, and whoever will be a bird in his early years at this time may not have any good fruit to eat.

The officials in the hall, whether they were reformers or conservatives, kept silent in a very tacit understanding.

It's okay for the emperor to end the game in person and use the truth to suppress others, but they can also choose to remain silent.

The Son of Heaven could indeed forcefully carry out reforms. After all, the state pastors who held real power supported him, but they were not powerless to resist.

With the support of the prefect, half of the senior officials in the central government are veterans of Sili, Bingzhou, and Liangzhou, but the prefects under the prefect are basically from the south.

It is difficult for them to guarantee any changes after the central government's decrees are implemented in the localities. They will not be responsible for any rebellion or rebellion caused by the government.

Liu Xie looked down at the officials in the hall. These Confucian scholars and literati who used to be full of benevolence, righteousness and morality, once they touched their own interests, they would forget all those proprieties, justice, honor and shame, and even become stupid.

Some people are so foolish as to think that the Ming Court has no intention of going south, the Yellow River defense line is impenetrable, the reform has been very successful, and now the army they have is fully capable of ruling the river with the Ming army.

Simply ridiculous.

Military expansion and reform, construction of military academies, training of generals and academies, reorganization of new troops, building of armaments...

Among the above-mentioned affairs, which one does not require a lot of money and grain to be executed?

Where did the money and food come from? Could it be grown out of thin air from the treasury?

The results of the public trial held by Eagle Wolf Guard in Hebei Province were published in newspapers to show the world, and it also made Liu Xie understand how rich those powerful families are.

The treasury is short of finances, which is not enough to support at all, but the aristocratic family is earning a lot of money, and a new secret treasury is built every year to store money.

Liu Xie had read the newspapers issued by Ming Ting, so he understood how the powerful families in those places deceived the central government and the emperor.

Those aristocratic families occupy the vast land, but rely on local power, evade taxation, and continue to annex land.

They rely on their privileges and need to pay very little tax.

Liu Xie was furious in his heart, but his face remained calm. As the Son of Heaven, he could not allow people to see joy, anger, sorrow, and joy from his face, because any expression would be seen by those who cared, and thus discovered his weakness .

These are the things Qian Shuo once taught him.

Liu Xie's gaze moved a little, and landed on a dark corner in the hall, where Wang Yue, who was wearing an embroidered dress, was standing in the shadows.

Seeing Wang Yue gave Liu Xie some confidence.

Nowadays, many ministers in the court who raised objections cannot be said that they are not loyal ministers. Some of them really just have different political views and do not agree with the reform, and it is undoubtedly the most difficult to persuade such people.

Liu Xie's eyes moved away from Wang Yue, and then moved to Xun Yu's body, but soon looked elsewhere.

The reform was proposed by Xun Yu, and many policies were taught by Xun Yu, but Liu Xie did not involve Xun Yu.

Xun Yu's status and reputation were not enough for him to preside over the reform, and the Xun family in Yingchuan was a conservative, and Liu Xie didn't want Xun Yu to confront his clan.

So this time Liu Xie handed over the reform to Liu Chong and Wang Yun.

"The princes just argued about restricting the power of the embroidered clothes envoy. I think it is indeed possible. The embroidered clothes envoy's power is too great, and it should be restricted a little bit."

Liu Xie spoke slowly, his voice thick and powerful.

He has already passed the period of changing his voice, and he has specially practiced his pronunciation for a long time, in order to ensure the majesty of his emperor.

The debate in the court, as well as the report from the embroidered messenger, let Liu Xie know that the patience of the aristocratic family in the court has indeed reached its limit, and he must make certain concessions to ease the tension.

"The power of the Embroidered Clothes Emissary remains unchanged, but if anyone other than domestic secret agents is arrested, the case must be reported to the Tingwei Mansion, and the Tingwei Mansion will issue an arrest warrant."

"Do you think such restrictions are acceptable?"

Liu Xie did not let other people announce the restrictions on the embroidered clothes messenger, but announced it himself. After all, the embroidered clothes messenger is independent of the outside world.

There was a slight sound in the hall, but it calmed down quickly.

But the originally tense atmosphere in the hall has eased a lot now.

The emperor took the initiative to limit the authority of the embroidered messengers. This is a concession made by the emperor, and it is also very beneficial to them.

At least there is no need to worry about the embroidered clothes envoy breaking into the house suddenly and apprehending them indiscriminately.

After all, when Emperor Ling was in power, the embroidered clothes envoy had done this before.

If it is necessary to go through the training of the Tingwei Mansion and issue an arrest warrant, then the Embroidered Clothes Emissary does not have the power to kill and seize wantonly, and they also have some means to restrain the Tingwei.

Of course, if they knew that there was a thing called Jin Yiwei in the original time and space, they should no longer feel that this is a concession.

Because in theory, when Jin Yiwei needs to arrest a criminal, he must report the case to the Criminal Division and issue a driving sticker.

In fact, this is just a formality, often because the driver's sticker has not yet been issued, and the person has been arrested.

But the officials in the hall naturally didn't know about Jin Yiwei, they just felt relieved.

The atmosphere in the hall eased, Liu Xie glanced at Liu Chong seeing that the time had come.

Liu Chong had already turned around at this time, and he understood Liu Xie's eyes.

"The hypocrisy is staring at the northern land, and it wants to chase after it. Just last night, the embroidered messenger in the Hebei land sent a secret report..."

Liu Chong turned around to face the crowd again and spoke again, but when he talked about the most important issue, he stopped suddenly.

In the main hall, all the courtiers held their breaths, and even Jiu Qing could hardly remain calm.

The atmosphere in the hall became depressed again, and many people who had been lucky before could not help but panic.

The reason why they were lucky was that the Ming army hadn't moved for a long time, not even harassed, which was too abnormal.

But when they heard the movement of the Ming army in the north, they all became nervous.

Although the [-] troops in Yanzhou sounded like a lot, many people had vowed that it would be impossible for them to cross the Yellow River, but when it came to fighting, they didn't really have much confidence in their hearts.

Otherwise, there would not have been a proposal to move the capital in the court before, and it has been discussed for a long time, and even the capital city has been selected.

In fact, many people don't know that the plan to move the capital to the south has already been made.

"The Ming army is shrinking in an all-round way. Newspapers from all over the country no longer report on foreign wars. The number of Ming troops at the ferry on the north bank has increased significantly. Our army's ships north of Qingzhou have also found traces of the Ming army's navy. I am afraid that the Ming army will soon It will attack our army."

"If there is no attack after the autumn harvest this year, it will be next spring..."

Liu Chong still didn't finish his speech this time, but he didn't mean to show off again, because all the officials in the palace showed panic, and the clamor broke out again.

A sneer curled up at the corner of Liu Chong's mouth, but the sneer quickly disappeared from his face.

In fact, the Embroidered Clothes Messenger did not detect any intelligence from the Ming court at all, the so-called secret letters were all lies fabricated by him, in order to make everyone feel terrified and had to support the reform as a means.

After a while, Yuan Shu will send several battle reports from the front to support his remarks.

Of course, all of this was planned in advance, and those battle reports were all forged.

Born in sorrow, die in happiness.

Liu Chong could see very clearly that when the Ming army threatened, the reform did not receive many obstacles at all, and after the Ming army did not move for a long time, many people felt lucky.

He used this move to make everyone feel the horror of war again, so that these aristocratic families had to succumb.

Of course, such a simple intimidation can only scare people for a while, and there is no way to scare them forever.

"The Pseudo-Ming Dynasty is powerful, annexing Hebei, taking all the soldiers in Hebei, and wanting to unify the world."

"Yanzhou and Qingzhou are the main battlefields in the future. Although the Yellow River is dangerous, it is not insurmountable. It is difficult for our army to stop the hypocrites who want to cross the river."

"Most of the local troops in Yanzhou are newly recruited soldiers, lack of training, and scarce weapons. Although the workshops in various places are open day and night, all these need money and food."

Liu Chong faced the group of officials in the hall. Sun Jian and Yuan Shu stood beside him at the previous court meeting. No one dared to disobey the imperial court's decree.

But now he can only be alone.

"Not only must taxes be changed, but land must also be cleared, and the system for selecting officials must also be changed."

Liu Chong raised his voice a little, looked around at the crowd, and finally wanted to see him.

"Selectors..."

Sun Jing suddenly raised her head and looked at Liu Chong who was standing not far away, her expression changed suddenly.

The eyes of the officials in the hall were all focused on Liu Chong in an instant.

It was Taichang Yang Biao, who had always been calm and calm, his expression changed at this time, and he looked at Liu Chong.

It's just that Sun Jing noticed that although Da Honglu Chen Ji's eyes were also looking at Liu Chong, his expression still didn't change much, as if he knew something inside.

Originally there were some noises in the hall, but when Liu Chong's words fell in the hall, the hall suddenly became silent, the needle could be heard, not even the sound of breathing could be heard.

Silence is sometimes more powerful.

Rao Liu Chong boasted that he had seen strong winds and waves, but when everyone's eyes were on him, he still felt a little difficult to breathe, as if the surrounding air had condensed.

Sun Jing lowered her eyebrows, and without looking around, he could guess what the expressions of the people in the hall were like.

If the reform of taxation and land clearing is to cut flesh from the aristocratic family, then changing the official selection system is directly trying to cut open the clam for pearls, grab food from the tiger's mouth, and rashly change the official selection system, it is very likely that the world's aristocratic families will be pushed to the bottom. its opposite.

Everyone in the hall was waiting, and all eyes were on Liu Chong.

The Ming Court selects talents through examinations, which is called the "examination system".

No matter where you are from, you have the opportunity to enter the school. Those with good grades will be promoted and those with low grades will be degraded.

Those with good academic performance can enjoy free education and even receive monetary rewards called "scholarships".

Mengxue is also a county school, and a small part of the county school scholarships are given to the students themselves, and most of them are given to their families.

When you go to the county school, it is divided into half and half, and when you go to the national school, most of the money is given to the students themselves, and a small part is given to their families.

At the level of Guoxue, those with excellent grades can even obtain flat tax land quotas for their families like officials.

However, the method of selecting scholars in the Han court has not changed for hundreds of years. The sudden change this time makes people think that the emperor wants to follow the example of the Ming court and implement the "examination system" to select scholars from among the small people in Guizhou. .

However, those paper making technologies that can be written and stored for a long time have been monopolized by the Taiping Road. The protection of the Ming Court for the paper workshop is even more strict than that of the counterweight catapult workshop. They have no way to steal it. Technology makes it their own.

The papermaking technology of the Ming court is constantly improving. Although the Han court has also invested in the research of papermaking, it has not been able to break through the bottleneck. Although it has also produced paper that is convenient for writing, storage and cost are still a big problem. There has never been a solution.

Leaving aside the issue of money and food for building a school, let’s talk about the issue of teaching and supplementary materials. Is it possible that all of them use heavy and expensive bamboo slips?

"Everyone, Shaoan, don't be hasty about the reform. Changing the official selection system is one of the reforms, but the reform does not mean that it cannot be changed once it is settled. The official selection system is the foundation of the country. If you want to reform, you must be careful and careful." Be careful."

Liu Chong took a deep breath, calmed down, and spoke with difficulty against the pressure.

"It is said to change the law of selecting officials, but it does not mean to abolish the law of prosecution, but to implement another new law of selecting officials."

After hearing the news that the law of probation would not be abolished, everyone's expressions eased a little, but they were still not completely relaxed.

"The theme of this meeting is the new method of selecting officials - the Nine Ranks of Officials."

"Nine-rank official law?"

Sun Jing narrowed her eyes slightly. This name reminded him of Ming Ting's nine-rank classification method.

However, the nine-rank classification method of the Ming court divides official positions into nine ranks and eighteen ranks, not a method for selecting scholars.

Hearing the name, the atmosphere in the hall became dull again. After all, this system is really similar to the name of Ming Court's Nine-Rank Grading Method, and it's hard not to associate it with it.

He glanced at Liu Chong, then at Dahonghe, Chen Ji, and Chen Qun standing among the crowd, and suddenly realized.

Zhongzheng's evaluation results were submitted to the Situ Mansion for review and approval, and then sent to the Ministry of Officials as the basis for selecting officials.

Under Liu Chong's instruction, Chen Qun walked out of the queue, saluted the emperor first, and then spoke slowly.

"The law of procuring and judging is still going on, and the implementation of the nine-rank official personnel law is just to select more talents to solve the current predicament."

"The law of the nine ranks of officials, that is: the establishment of the nine ranks, all because of Zhongzheng. The test will be recorded in the world, and then the appointment will be made."

"Yizhou, Liangzhou, Bingzhou, Youzhou, Jizhou, and Sili all fell into the hands of thieves, so that the people were displaced and had to go far away."

"The brain drain, the current situation is complicated, and it is difficult to select all talents only by inspection, so I want to add the Ninth Rank Official Personnel Law to select talents."

"Jiuge's use is all because of Zhongzheng."

"The so-called nine grids are to divide talents into nine grades, and determine the grades with reference to family background and career status."

"The so-called Zhongzheng is the person in charge of criticizing people in a certain area, that is, the Zhongzheng official."

"Zhongzheng is elected, and each state selects a senior Zhongzheng. The upper Zhongzheng officials are all of high morality and reputation, and the upper Zhongzheng officials appoint the lower Zhongzheng."

"There is a Zhongzheng official in the prefecture, who is in charge of the evaluation of figures in several counties in the prefecture, and each county has another Zhongzheng official."

"Zhongzheng officials are selected by Situ, who is among the three princes of the imperial court, and they are selected from people who are both highly respected and serving in the court. Among them, the small Zhongzheng officials in the county can be elected by the big Zhongzheng officials in the prefecture, but they still need to be appointed by Situ."

During Chen Qun's speech, there was no noise in the hall, no one asked questions, they were all listening quietly.

When the voice fell to the ground, the hall was still silent, and everyone was lost in thought.

Sun Jing also said nothing, he was also thinking about the law of the ninth-rank officials.