How can I bow my head and serve the powerful officials?

When Emperor Jian heard about this, he laughed so hard that he almost fell forward and backward. He finally coughed twice and stopped.

"Those ministers are afraid that fangs will come out of his mouth."

The birth of every policy decree would involve the interests of the bureaucrats. They were unsure of what Xie Chengze wanted to do, how much he wanted to gain from it, and how much he intended to squeeze out of it, so naturally they dared not act rashly.

So it would be better for him to go to court honestly and give Xie Chengze a lot of work so that he has no time to take care of other things.

But how could Xie Chengze give up such a great opportunity?

It's like someone brings a pillow to someone when they are sleepy. Since Emperor Jian is insane, he will take the opportunity to promote the imperial examinations in science and engineering. This will not only speed up the progress of this project, but also tell Emperor Jian: If you let me be the regent again, I will do more things.

He was like a teacher who deliberately delayed the class. He patiently listened to all the ministers' requests until they were so hungry that they could not hold back a single word. Then he lazily said, "This king wants to promote the science and engineering imperial examinations, focusing on arithmetic and other subjects, and implement them in parallel with the existing imperial examinations. He will add honors such as the top scholar in science and engineering, the second place, and the third place. He will also open an Imperial College in the capital, where the children of officials can study."

"What do you think, my dear ministers?"

The ministers' originally tense nerves suddenly relaxed.

what the hell.

It turned out that he only promoted arithmetic imperial examinations and established the Imperial College?

For ministers, one more imperial examination rank means one more room for maneuver, just like one more official position in the court means one more official in their own family.

Compared to other laws and policies that may harm interests, this one is obviously trivial.

However, some people are unwilling to implement it.

They obviously saw further ahead. There were not many people in Jian'an who were proficient in arithmetic. The Second Prince opened the Imperial Academy, obviously wanting to train arithmetic teachers, and then send them to various places to teach. For the officials with few children, this was tantamount to sending their carefully cultivated children to a remote place to suffer, and they might never return to Beijing...

Since you can neither be an official nor marry, who would be willing to be the scapegoat?

Therefore, many ministers opposed it, especially those from the Hanlin Academy. They were already the only dominant force, and suddenly there was an Imperial College to steal their limelight, so naturally they were unwilling to do so.

After the noise, there were only a handful of people left to support it.

They were all not optimistic about this decision, and they were more concerned about who would become the future emperor than the science and engineering imperial examinations.

After the court session that day, Xie Chengze left from the main gate of the Golden Palace. Surrounding him were Shen Yuan, Xie Zimiao and Xie Shoujun. Even Sheng, the envoy of the Salt and Iron Bureau who never took sides, came up to chat with him.

Such an obvious signal not only hurt the eyes of the Cao family, but also made the ministers think more actively.

Originally they thought that the second prince had become decadent, but now it seems that is not the case.

Not to mention that the Third Prince who has the support of the Imperial Merchants and the First Prince who possesses great military power are closer to the Second Prince. Just talking about Shen Yuan alone, he was released from the Sky Prison and is now reinstated. He has a number of forces under his command that cannot be underestimated and can be used by the Second Prince.

Although he seems to be alone, he is actually fully grown.

If he had the support of the Salt and Iron Bureau, even if the Crown Prince had the support of the Cao family, it would be difficult for him to suppress the Second Prince.

At that moment, some ministers secretly delivered letters, using the excuse of talking about the imperial examination to gather information. Under the guidance of Shen Yuan, Xie Chengze began to win over loyal officials in the court and get them to support him in promoting the imperial examination in science and engineering.

Sheng Shihuai was not willing to be outdone, and secretly asked Xie Chengze to win over treacherous ministers. He did not want to step in and expose his relationship with these people, so he verbally taught Xie Chengze how to exploit the weaknesses of human nature and convince those ministers to become his people.

"If the water is too clear, there will be no fish. Your Highness, don't worry too much."

Sensing some signs of resistance from Xie Chengze, Sheng Shihuai consoled him with a smile, "This is how the court is. Turbidity lasts longer, darkness is more stable, and it is easier to control if you have a handle. If it is too clear, the country will fall sooner."

"Why would being too clear make one die faster?" Xie Chengze didn't understand.

Sheng Shihuai smiled slightly and said, "If the court were full of honest officials, the emperor would be exhausted to death."

Xie Chengze:?

Xie Chengze was silent for a moment, and actually felt that it made sense.

"Your Highness, what is your definition of a loyal minister?" Sheng Shihuai sat beside him, holding a teacup in his hand, and asked him with a smile.

"Integrity, self-control, honesty, and not doing bad things?" Xie Chengze cited a few words that were difficult to describe specifically.

"So, Your Highness, do you want to possess all of these things, or is it enough to possess two of them?"

"Hmm..." Xie Chengze pondered for a moment, "Let's combine them into one."

"There are too many people like this." Sheng Shihuai took a sip of tea, "Catch any civilian on the street, they are all honest and self-disciplined, they dare not lie to Your Highness, and they will not do anything evil."

Xie Chengze was embarrassed for a moment, "But they have no education and cannot be officials."

"So, Your Highness means that only those who are honest and capable of doing practical things can be considered loyal ministers?" Sheng Shihuai smiled, "That's too harsh. Honesty means poverty, and poverty means no risk. Even Your Highness needs to use power to grab money to open up Tianfu and Bingguo, let alone the ministers?"

"To be self-righteous is against human nature. Even the current emperor would..." Sheng Shihuai glanced at Xie Chengze, "using the imperial power to favor others, let alone the ministers?"

He was referring to the fact that Emperor Jian forced his minister's wife to marry him and that he overly doted on Xie Chengze.

Xie Chengze curled the corner of his mouth.

This is indeed Emperor Jian’s flaw.

Sheng Shihuai patiently taught, "No matter how clean a person is, he will become dirty once he has real power. This is human nature. There are very few people who can resist temptation. Besides, it is easier to control people who are not clean. As an emperor, you should control your ministers instead of being led by them."

"Furthermore, the court needs capable people, but capable people are often more greedy. They are unwilling to be inferior to others, so they are more likely to form cliques for personal gain. But if Your Highness has the other party's handle, you can get rid of them at any time."

"They are the parasites of the court, but they are also the fat ones raised by the court. Once their abilities are squeezed out, they can be eliminated as soon as possible. When Your Highness raided their houses, weren't you very happy? If the other party is too ostentatious, you can also get rid of them early. So Your Highness doesn't have to feel dirty when using them. It's just to squeeze out the last bit of value from the dirty things."

Xie Chengze felt that he was right.

But because the other party was a villain, he didn't want to admit that Sheng Shihuai was right.

So he told Shen Yuan about this.

Shen Yuan glanced at him and said, "He is right. The court cannot be clean. The laws of Jian'an are loose and lax, and the emperor is lenient and fair. Unless your majesty is strict in ruling and officials and people in various places supervise strictly, there will be fewer corrupt officials. But this will also easily lead to the emergence of tyrannical officials."

So unless a new system is found, maintaining the status quo is the wisest option.

but……

Shen Yuan crossed his arms, feeling unhappy.

Sheng Shihuai seemed to be really teaching Xie Chengze how to control his subjects, and he even helped Xie Chengze win over several ministers who held high positions in the court.

If you want Xie Chengze to be a puppet emperor, why bother teaching him so much?

What is he planning...