Great Zhou Empire: Kill Zhao Kuangyin at the beginning

Chapter 39 Wang Zhuo goes to Luzhou (Special thanks to book friends 2019...4934 for their monthly votes!)

After three days of examination, the results of the first imperial examination of the Kaixi Dynasty were released, and the imperial list was released in the capital on June 18th one month later.

It plans to enroll more than 500 Jinshi, divided into three categories: Jinshi, Jinshi and the third class, and the same Jinshi origin.

The admission rate is about 8%, which is almost double that of the imperial examination during the time of his father, Emperor Shizong.

The martial arts examination was newly opened, and more than 7 martial arts scholars were admitted, with a proportion of about %.

On June 18, after the imperial announcement was released on the wall of the Imperial City of Bianjing, the whole city was in an uproar.

Many aristocrats, officials and wealthy families in the capital have sent housekeepers and servants to wait in front of the imperial list. When they find a new Chinese civil and military scholar, they immediately rush to him and ask for his wife.

There are even wealthy families who fight to win a new scholar as their son-in-law.

Because the civil and military ministers were juxtaposed in the court, the people of the Zhou Dynasty respected the civil servants and military generals equally, and there was no tendency to emphasize civil servants over military officers.

Emperor Chai Zongxun asked Li Tao, the chief examiner, to determine the top three Jinshi. The number one scholar in this subject was Lu Mengzheng, the second place was Liu Yu, and the third place was Zhang Qixian.

Although Lü Mengzheng was young, only sixteen years old, Li Tao pointed out that his article "magnificent and worthy of a prime minister" was the number one scholar and submitted it to Emperor Chai Zongxun, who approved it.

After all the top three Jinshi were admitted, Chai Zongxun gave the Jinshi a "premium banquet" at Jiying Hall and attended the banquet to speak in person.

Chai Zongxun said:

"The Book says: Officials must be appointed only by talented people. The most important thing in a country is the administration of officials.

Only clean and honest administration can ensure that the benevolent government of the court can be carried out smoothly and the officials and the people can be united.

I hope that you can all keep in mind the teachings of the sages in the book, be self-disciplined, and be a good official who can solve problems for the people and enforce the law impartially.

If anyone is corrupt and enriches himself, I will punish them severely! "

When all the scholars saw that although the emperor was young, what he said was concise, concise and powerful, they were frightened in their hearts, so they all bowed and said:

"I will be honest and law-abiding, and live up to His Majesty's holy wishes!"

Chai Zongxun nodded, thinking: "Human nature is all about seeking advantages and avoiding disadvantages. It is just a fantasy to rely entirely on personal moral cultivation to keep officials honest.

However, my "Long Xiang Guard" will soon be able to establish a system, and in time, we can start to crack down on corruption among officials! "

At this time in the Great Zhou Dynasty, the supervision of the official system mainly relied on the system of admonishing officials and censors. However, this system is too crude and cannot be discovered by the admonishers and censors until officials commit serious crimes or intend to commit rebellion.

Moreover, it was easy for officials to protect each other. For example, in August of the sixth year of Xiande, the admonishers Zheng Qi, Yang Hui and others submitted a petition to persuade the emperor to restrict or even get rid of Zhao Kuangyin, but Wang Pu, who was the second prime minister and had colluded with Zhao Kuangyin, stopped him. end.

The "Long Xiang Guard" was modeled after the "Jin Yi Guard" and was only responsible to Emperor Chai Zongxun. Its power and efficiency would naturally be much higher.

The number one scholar in Wu was determined by Chai Zongxun himself. The number one scholar was Hu Yanzan.

Seeing that the young emperor Chai Zongxun took the first imperial examination, not only did the admission rate of literary Jinshi double, but also the number of Wu Jinshi, which greatly increased the number of people in the country to be promoted and serve the imperial court. Through the new policies of water conservancy and "night markets" in the Great Zhou Dynasty, family food and clothing were gradually solved. The people who faced the problem were greatly inspired, and for a time there was a strong trend of encouraging people to learn literature and martial arts.

When Chai Zongxun was busy with his first imperial examination, the Taifu and the Minister of Civil Affairs, Wang Zhu, had just arrived in Luzhou, where the Zhaoyi Jiedu Prefecture was located.

Wang Zhu originally set out from Bianjing on April 4th of the first year of Kaixi. However, he was fond of wine. Whenever he went to a place, he had to taste the most famous local wine before continuing the journey. Therefore, it was originally twelve days. After seventeen days' journey, the group entered Luzhou City on the afternoon of May th.

As soon as he revealed his identity to the city gate guard, a moment later he saw a hundred people walking quickly from the city tower down the street stairs and approaching Wang Zhu and his party.

The leader wearing the official uniform of Jiedu Envoy was Li Jun, who was about fifty years old. Behind him was his son, 22-year-old Li Shoujie. Wang Zhu met Li Jun several times when he was in Taizu and Shizong. As for his son, this was the first time he met him.

Wang Zhu took a look at Li Shoujie and saw that he was of medium height, well-proportioned body shape, fair and tender complexion, and average-to-upper-class appearance, not quite like a general.

Before Li Jun walked down the stone stairs, he bowed his hands to Wang Zhu with a smile on his face and said:
"Master, I have been waiting here for several days! Today I finally have the angel master to arrive!"

Wang Zhu returned the greeting and said with a smile: "Li Jiedu, you and I have said goodbye in a hurry. It has been nearly three years, and Li Jiedu's demeanor is even better than before!
This time His Majesty sent the imperial army to collect orphans from all over the Zhou Dynasty. Envoy Li Jiedu provided money and food. He was prudent in following the order and his contribution is not small.

His Majesty’s special ministers are here to commend you! "

Li Jun and his party quickly walked up to Wang Zhu, saluted respectfully to Wang Zhu again, and introduced the people around him to him.

Li Jun waved his hand towards his son Li Shoujie, who was saluting Wang Zhugong, and said with a smile:

"Taifu, this is Quanzi Li Shoujie. I also hope that Taifu can help Quanzi more in the future. If Taifu Er can help Quanzi, it will be Quanzi's blessing after several lifetimes of cultivation!"

Li Shoujie saluted Wang Zhuzhi very respectfully and said, "My nephew, I pay my respects to the uncle!
Shibo came all the way from the capital to attend to his nephew's affairs, regardless of his hard work. The nephew was extremely ashamed! "

Wang Zhu smiled mysteriously and said:
"Li Jiedushi, I am here this time because I have a great mission to support you, and your Majesty personally ordered me to do this.

With such a happy event coming, has Li Jiedushi prepared enough wine in Luzhou? "

Li Jun was overjoyed and said: "The Grand Tutor is here, how can I not prepare some fine wine to welcome you?
Since Xianguan received the imperial edict seven days ago, he has sent many people to live in all the prefectures of Zhaoyi Jiedu Prefecture to collect all kinds of fine wines for the Taifu. "

Wang Zhu was also overjoyed and felt the wine bug on his head. He immediately boarded several carriages waiting at the city gate with Li Jun, and the group drove to the Zhaoyi Jiedushi Palace in Luzhou City.

About three quarters of an hour later, he arrived at the gate of Jiedushi's mansion. Wang Zhu was welcomed by almost everyone in the mansion and walked into the mansion.

Li Jun and Wang Zhu were ministers in the same palace when they were in Taizu, and they knew Wang Zhu's good wine very well.

If you don’t feed the alcohol bug in your body first, then you can’t talk about anything! So when he entered the mansion, he took the king with him and went straight to the banquet in the main hall.

Wang Zhu was not polite. He saw that there were more than a dozen kinds of local wines from Luzhou Prefecture placed on the banquet. He took the big bowl on the table and drank bowl after bowl, looking at the delicacies on the table as if they were nothing.

A total of six tables were opened in the palace. Li Jun, Li Shoujie and several senior officials from Jiedushi's government accompanied the king, while mid-level officials from the government accompanied the king's entourage.

Li Jun is an old acquaintance of Wang Zhu and knows his temperament, so he naturally doesn't take it seriously. He smiles and raises his glass to invite Wang Zhu to drink from time to time.

After Wang Zhu drank 20 or 30 bowls of fine wine, with a cheerful expression on his face, Li Jun began to ask Wang Zhu sideways about the meaning behind his visit with the imperial edict.

After all, if we talk about the contribution of the Jiedushi envoys from various places in collecting orphans for the Forbidden Army, Wei Wang Fu Yanqing presented a lot of good food for the return journey, and there were more than 300 chariots and horses. He was the leader among the real Jiedushi envoys. It is unreasonable to say that, as the imperial edict stated, Li Shouzhi came to Beijing to commend his merits.

Wang Zhu just smiled and said nothing.

After drinking more than ten bowls of fine wine, Wang Zhu finally spoke:

“The wine from Luzhou is soft in the mouth and has a long lasting power but not dryness. It’s such a good wine!

Li Jiedushi, I am tired from traveling today, and now I just want to go to bed and lie down.

You just need to know that what I have brought this time is excellent news that will make your Li family prosperous! "

(End of this chapter)