I served as an admonisher in the Song Dynasty

Chapter 205: Ecology of lower-level officials in the Song Dynasty, all aspects of it!
In the blink of an eye, it’s the twelfth lunar month.

On the first day of the twelfth lunar month, Zhao Zhen issued an edict announcing the change of Yuan Dynasty and designated the next year as the first year of Huangyou.

On the one hand, this move is due to the floods in Hebei and Beijing this year, which makes the year unfavorable and it is appropriate to change the reign name.

On the other hand, it is also because next year will be the year of the Reform in the Song Dynasty. The word "Emperor Bless" is used to wish for good luck and pray for the emperor's favor and good weather.

……

On the third day of the twelfth lunar month, a heavy snowstorm swept the entire city of Bianjing.

It snowed all night.

Stop in the early morning.

In many places, the snow was nearly three feet thick, making it difficult for vehicles and horses to move.

Even the Bian River and Wuzhang River were frozen, causing many ships to be stranded on the ice.

The Forbidden Army soldiers and Kaifeng government officials in the city began to quickly clear the snow after the snow stopped.

Su Zimuyou likes the heavy snow.

As soon as it started to dawn, he got out of bed, crying and going to the yard.

Tang Wanmei had no choice but to put on layers of thick clothes for him, and then told Su Liang: "It's cold and it's easy to catch a cold. Don't let Mu'er run around in the backyard. Just look at the snow in the back hall. .”

"Yeah, no problem." Su Liang got dressed and agreed with a smile.

……

A moment later, in the backyard of Su's house.

Su Zimu wore tiger-head boots and ran wildly in the snow with the red tassel gun custom-made for him by his grandfather Tang Ze.

Su Liang stood behind, holding the snowball and throwing it at Su Zimu.

"Son, Snowball is here!"

"Son, watch the move!"

"Son, my father is here to arrest you!"

……

Su Zimu ran while laughing, his little face turned red from the cold.

Even if you fall.

He also got up quickly, and from time to time he would grab the snow and throw it at Su Liang.

Unfortunately, he was too weak and couldn't even hit it from a distance of two meters.

Just when the father and son were having fun, Tang Wanmei and a black face appeared not far away.

She pointed at Su Liang angrily and said: "Su Jingming, what do you think of our son? What should I do if he gets the cold? Come back soon, you guys!"

Hearing Tang Wanmei's shout, Su Zimu ran and hid under the tree.

Su Liang pretended not to hear it, wrapped a snowball and threw it at Tang Wanmei.

After a missed hit.

Then he smiled and said: "It doesn't matter, it will be stronger if it is frozen!"

Just when Tang Wanmei was about to force Su Zimu back, a voice suddenly came from behind.

"My dear grandson, grandpa is here!"

Then, Tang Wanmei saw Tang Zeye getting into the snow with a wooden red tassel gun in his hand, and waving it in front of Su Zimu in a decent manner.

You know, Tang Ze was once a famous strict teacher in Yangzhou City.

He is unsmiling and very stern, and his mantra in class is: If you don't fight, you can't achieve anything.

There is no student he has ever taught who has not been punished by his ruler.

But since having Su Zimu, he has become an old naughty boy.

But visible to the naked eye.

My complexion is much better, and my whole person looks much younger.

Tang Wanmei didn't know whether to laugh or cry, and said: "Each one is more childish than the other, I don't care, you can make trouble!"

Tang Wanmei dared to reprimand Su Liang and Su Zimu, but facing her own father, she had no choice.

……

After half an hour.

The sun breaks through the clouds, and the ice and snow on the treetops gradually melts.

Su Liang had breakfast.

He slowly rushed to the Yushitai.Although there is still a lot of snow on Nanmen Street, there are still many cars and horses.

Many people have begun to buy new year's goods.

In such bad weather, Su Liang didn't have to go to the Yamen for a day.

But today is different.

In previous years, this time was the most leisurely time for Taiwan's admonishment officials, but this year, it was the busiest time.

Because it started in July this year.

Tang Jie, the imperial censor, was also in charge of the examination courses for officials. Zuo Si of the Yuan Dynasty admonished He Tan, who was also in charge of the official examination courses for the imperial court.

Taiwan's admonishers are also tasked with supervising officials' performance evaluations.

Performance appraisal determines an official's job relocation, official rank promotion and decrease, and salary increase or decrease.

The supervision of examinations is basically carried out at the end of each year.

This is a fat job, but also a busy job.

Taiwanese admonishers need to read a large amount of documents and write comments, which are then submitted to the two governments for review. Finally, the officials will personally read them.

Every judgment is related to the promotion or dismissal of an official, and no one can be careless in the slightest.

At this moment, Su Liang had a stove in his house.

He looked at the five bamboo baskets of local officials' performance appraisal documents in front of the table and murmured: "Let's make a pot of tea first."

Drink tea, go to the toilet, eat snacks, and chat with Tang Jie for a while.

Then he gave a bamboo basket of performance appraisal documents to the censor Li Xinglujie.

Su Liangcai started his day's work.

Su Liang did not force the apportionment, but Lu Jie wanted to remove the word "Li Xing" from his body, so Su Liang asked him to work harder and accumulate more political achievements.

Facing these performance appraisal documents, Su Liang instantly became serious.

The grinding and examination system of the Song Dynasty was very complicated.

There are more than 30 levels of civil service positions, and civil servants are promoted according to the rule of promotion every three years.

Even if some low-level officials never make mistakes, work conscientiously, and work hard for half their lives, it is difficult for them to get an official position in Beijing.

This has also led to fierce competition among lower-level selectors.

Some officials are keen on building bridges and roads to gain official prestige and popularity; some officials are engaged in large-scale commerce and trade just to increase local taxes; some officials are busy building schools, training scholars, and adding political achievements to their personal careers...

Most of them specialize in one area, make a name for themselves, and make political achievements.

This has led to the situation of "malnutrition and even partiality" in many remote state capitals, which is extremely detrimental to the people.

Of course, there are also those who take evil ways.

Some officials spent their own money to buy umbrellas and hired people to write hymns for them.

Some officials dug up and rebuilt the bridges and roads that had been built by their predecessors for less than two years. After they were built and dug again, one road could receive two merits.

Some officials turned a small case into a big one, and turned a small merit into a big one.

As soon as the end of the year comes, some officials search for people to give gifts to, in order to gain opportunities for promotion.

Some officials are busy suppressing bandits and hunting for thieves every day, turning themselves into cruel officials.

Some officials simply gave up their official career and chose to join forces with local wealthy businessmen to make a lot of money.

There are also officials who enter a state of health maintenance after reaching the age of 40. They do not seek merit, but seek no faults, and become a completely lazy official.

Some officials also put their hobbies elsewhere, such as Cuju, theater, polo, singing, carpentry, fishing, etc.

……

These ridiculous things were either reported by superiors or exposed by the common people, and most of them were exposed.

Many of them even became the butt of jokes among the courtiers when chatting.

But this also reflects that there are too many officials in the dynasty, it is difficult to be promoted, and it is even more difficult to be a useful official.

Some officials who are down-to-earth and capable but do not show merit and are not recommended by anyone can only live in a corner throughout their lives, mediocre to the point of becoming official.

This was a huge loss to the court.

And for the people on one side, it is even more harmful.

If the Song Dynasty festered, it must have festered from the bottom, and the clarification of official governance must start with these low-level officials.

At this moment, a new idea came to Su Liang's mind.

(End of this chapter)