I served as an admonisher in the Song Dynasty

Chapter 340 Strategy for selecting officials! The capable are promoted and the mediocre are demoted. There was no iron rice bowl in the Song Dynasty.

Redundant officials.

It has always been a stubborn disease that plagued the Song Dynasty court.

It was not that Zhao Zhen and the scholar-bureaucrats were ignorant of the dangers of redundant officials, but that it was too difficult to solve this stubborn problem.

The problem of redundant officials cannot be solved simply by cutting officials.

Official selection in the Song Dynasty.

Mainly from the imperial examination and the recruitment of officials, and a few came from the army, official posts and grain regents.

Since Emperor Taizong.

Subjects such as tribute examinations, system examinations, Ci subjects, children's examinations, and clan examinations were continuously improved, and the number of scholars was increasing, resulting in more and more people becoming officials.

present.

now.

With more and more yamen and official positions, more and more officials are receiving salaries but doing nothing, and the consumption of the court is also increasing.

Secondly, the family of royal relatives and founding fathers of the country has grown and spread over several generations. There are many children in the family, and there are more and more people who are qualified to be a family member.

This will cause dissatisfaction among some people whose interests have been harmed.

We must completely solve the problem of redundant officials.

The phenomenon of too many monks and too little food has already appeared.

In addition to decisive courage, it also requires appropriate strategies for selecting officials.

The ministers of the two prefectures and three departments, the chief admonishment officer Tang Jie, Ouyang Xiu, Su Liang, and all members of the Reform Department were all summoned into the hall by Zhao Zhen.

It was the first time in the Song Dynasty that an official personally wrote the reform strategy.

Except for Wang Yaochen and Su Liang, everyone else was stunned.

If the judge wants to succeed.

Two days later, the Chui Gong Hall was built.

Zhao Zhen said with a smile: "My lords, in the past two days, I have written a policy for reforming the administration of officials. Please take a look at it and make some comments."

……

There is a stack of documents placed in front of the imperial case.

Over time.

If there are many officials to be arranged, it is natural to add yamen and official posts.

The Reform Department has discussed it many times, but has never come up with a feasible solution.

There are still many Jinshi in the Academy, Guange, and Imperial College waiting for official positions.

But do it anyway.

In addition to cutting officials, the number of officials must also be reduced from the sources of imperial examinations and civil examinations.

It's like the owner of a restaurant cooks the dishes and then asks his chefs to review them.

Immediately.

The chamberlains on both sides distributed the documents on the imperial case to the ministers.

All the ministers looked at it seriously.

This document is called: Provincial Official Policy. Provincial officials means reducing redundant officials.

soon.

Su Liang finished reading this nearly 2,000-word policy on reforming government affairs.

His face was filled with joy and he was almost jumping with excitement.

In order to prove that he is not a mediocre king, the official made great efforts in writing this article.

Su Liang thought that even if he was asked to write it, it would be difficult for him to write it so comprehensively.

It can be seen from between the lines that the official family is serious about it.

The core of this policy is: the capable are promoted and the mediocre are demoted.

Zhao Zhen proposed——

Local officials will be comprehensively evaluated based on their performance in the 100-day examination in the past two years.

Those with poor rankings will be directly forced to serve, regardless of their age, seniority, or family background.

at the same time.

Road officials from various regions will monitor the situation of local government offices in detail, streamline and merge government offices, and ensure that there are no idle government offices or idle officials in each local state capital. Zhao Zhen’s goal is to reduce the number of officials by 30% within two years.

Subsequently.

Zhao Zhen also mentioned the issue of placement of retired officials.

Officials who become official can be assigned to serve as teachers in county schools, state schools, and government schools.

The latter can also do business.

The imperial court encourages officials to choose their careers freely and will provide certain assistance.

Also.

Zhao Zhen also mentioned the reform of the imperial examination and the selection of scholars through the door.

In the future, the number of candidates for imperial examinations will only decrease, not increase, and the requirements for those who can fill the official position will become higher and higher.

in short.

Reduce the number of officials from the source of recruiting scholars; in the current officialdom, eliminate useless officials.

Drastic measures were taken to completely eradicate the problem of redundant officials in the Song Dynasty.

This time, Zhao Zhen's determination and intensity in cutting off officials were unprecedented.

……

Wen Yanbo, Zhang Fangping and Song Xiang have always opposed the reduction of officials.

They believed that destroying the jobs of officials would shake up the Song Dynasty.

But now this policy was proposed by Zhao Zhen, and the reasons were very sufficient. They could not find a suitable reason to refute it at the moment.

Wang Yaochen, the third envoy, was very happy.

The court's purpose this year is to make money.

And reducing officials is a good way to increase the court's income.

……

When Zhao Zhen saw that all the ministers had finished reading the "Provincial Official Policy", he stood up before the ministers could say anything.

"My lords, it is imperative to cut redundant officials. If anyone feels that it is not appropriate to cut officials at the moment, it is best to bury this feeling in your heart and there is no need to speak today."

"I have made up my mind. I am writing this policy in the hope that all the ministers can overcome all difficulties and help me complete this matter, instead of trying to tear me down!"

Zhao Zhen was the first to show his attitude.

"My lord, I understand." All the ministers raised their hands.

At this moment, Zhao Zhen found the joy of being an emperor.

At the same time, he felt that the entire court and the entire Song Dynasty were in his hands.

Immediately afterwards, the ministers began to discuss.

"Everyone, this policy involves three groups of people, namely, the scholars who participated in the imperial examination, the children of officials with family qualifications, and officials with poor political performance. I suggest that you take your time and start with one group of people. If you offend these people at the same time, The three types of people may cause great turmoil.”

"I agree. I suggest starting with officials with poor political performance. They were laid off due to poor political performance. In fact, they lacked personal ability. This should be the best solution."

"No. Once this policy is implemented, there will definitely be officials who take action against the political achievements of those who passed the Hundred Days Examination. I suggest that the political achievements should be investigated secretly before announcing the elimination system of the imperial court."

"I think we should start with the scholars who took the imperial examination and reduce the number of scholars starting from the provincial examination at the beginning of next year."

"The imperial court should establish new subjects such as martial arts, medicine, and law to cultivate specialized talents. While cutting officials, it also needs to add some useful yamen."

……

Inside the Chui Gong Hall, it was like a vegetable market, and the discussion was very lively.

This time, Zhao Zhen participated in the entire process and took the lead in everything.

After a while.

Ouyang Xiu's loud voice suddenly sounded.

"Officials, I think we are still too conservative. Since we want to reform the imperial examination, how about completely reforming it, abolishing poetry and prose, and only test policy theory?"

As soon as these words came out, the hall suddenly became quiet.

Zhao Zhen looked at Ouyang Xiu and said, "Tell me in detail."

"Policy theory is the best way to test whether an official can be a good official, and poems and poems are more suitable for the positions of pavilions, academic colleges, and Imperial College. Many people who are good at poems and poems do not know how to be an official, so they are left to build There are too many examples of water conservancy, land measurement, and sentencing, all of which are a complete mess..."

After Ouyang Xiu finished explaining his reasons, Wang Anshi suddenly said: "In the official family, I believe that there are problems with the entire imperial examination system. It is better to replace the imperial examination with school education and divide the Imperial College into multiple levels (i.e., the three-level method). , through layer-by-layer examinations to select virtuous people, this method is definitely easier to select talents than the imperial examination."

Zhao Zhen nodded and said, "Write down your thoughts and give them to me tomorrow."

(End of this chapter)