Li Shimin and Li You's plan was aimed at the Gate Valve Clan.

The reason why the Gate Valve Clan can have so much influence is that they themselves have a large amount of land and other means of production, and the most important thing is that they have talents in their hands, and most of the scholars in the Tang Dynasty are from the Gate Valve Clan.

Papermaking and printing technology is an important part of the cost of reading, and ordinary people can't afford to buy books, so learning culture starts with talking. Now the printing technology has long been mature, coupled with the maturity of papermaking technology, the cost of reading for the people has been greatly reduced, and the cultural level of the whole people has been improved, and there is a material basis.

A large number of ordinary people have improved their cultural level, and a large number of talents will be produced from among them, which will break the monopoly of the gate valve clan on talents, and their influence will be greatly reduced.

Li Shimin asked Li Chengqian, Wei Chi Baoqi and others to leave first, leaving Li You alone to discuss the next plan.

Li Shimin asked, "Li You, what do you think about the Gate Valve Clan?" ”

Li You asked, "Father, how do you think their influence compares to three years ago?" ”

Li Shimin said: "It has weakened a lot. ”

Li You said with a smile: "The secular influence of the gate lords mainly comes from two aspects, the first is the large amount of land they own and the monopoly on commerce, and the second is the large number of talents they have.

How to weaken them?

First of all, since the increase in grain production, the expansion of industrial scale, and the improvement of commercial status, their monopoly on the means of production and commerce has been broken.

In terms of life, in addition to farming, the people have more choices, and their dependence on the gate valve clan has been greatly reduced, and the influence of the gate valve clan in material life has also been greatly reduced.

As long as the imperial court continues to improve the status of industry and commerce and vigorously develop industry and commerce, the dependence of the imperial court's tax revenue on land will also be greatly reduced. Correspondingly, the material influence of the gate lord clan on the imperial court was also greatly reduced.

Secondly, material is the foundation of culture. The imperial court has sufficient financial resources, and it is necessary to increase investment in education, vigorously develop the construction of educational infrastructure, establish more and better school systems from primary school to university, and expand the scale of students.

Compared with the talents in the hands of the Gate Valve Clan and the talents produced by the many schools in the entire Datang, there is nothing to worry about.

Therefore, for another ten years at most, the influence of the Gate Valve Clan will be reduced to a very small extent.

At that time, the imperial court will implement a new land policy and completely destroy their material base, which can completely disintegrate the gate lord clan class.

Erchen suggested that there was no need to directly and deliberately suppress the gate valve clan, so as to intensify the conflict. Instead, do a good job of the court's own affairs, constantly expand the influence of the court, and let the influence of the gate lord clan gradually die out unconsciously. ”

Li Shimin said: "What you said is right, this is a long-term plan. But how can the existing bureaucracy be changed as quickly as possible? ”

In addition to the army, the children of the gate lord clan now account for a large proportion of the central and local government offices, and their influence is also very large. The decisions made by the imperial court were also greatly constrained by them. As long as it is not in the interests of this part of the people, the implementation of the imperial decree will encounter many obstacles.

Li Shimin has long wanted to replace these people, but he does not have so many talents, ten or twenty years is a bit too long for Li Shimin, and he is eager to change this status quo.

Li You said: "Father, in fact, this matter is not difficult, you see ...... like this"

Li Shimin was overjoyed and said: "Good idea, if we continue like this, it will not take a few years to greatly improve the bureaucratic structure." A new bureaucracy will be established in 10 years. ”

Li Shimin and Li You talked all day, had dinner together in the evening, and talked about late at night. When Li You left the emperor's bed, it was already midnight.

Soon after, the Tang Dynasty promulgated several measures:

First, in all states and prefectures, comprehensive universities are established, and all graduates can serve as officials of the imperial court from the ninth grade, and outstanding graduates can serve as officials under the nine grades. The state establishes a university or senior high school, and the treatment of graduates is the same as the above.

Restrictions on all levels of society will be opened, and anyone can take the university examination and be hired based on merit.

This measure has been welcomed by the students of Guangzhou, after all, the imperial examination is held once every three years, and only a few dozen talents are produced, which cuts off most students from embarking on the road to official careers. With this measure, the door has been opened for students from all over the world to engage in politics.

This alone will produce a large number of literate officials for Datang every year.

Second, in all prefectures, counties, and townships, the number of schools should be increased, and the method of self-construction by each locality and subsidies provided by the government should be adopted to encourage businessmen to invest in running schools.

Third, the status of industry and commerce will be further enhanced, and the children of industrial and commercial workers will no longer be restricted from enrolling in school and entering politics, and their homes, carriages, horses, and clothing will be able to enjoy the specifications of officials from the fifth rank and below.

Fourth, the imperial court issued a new evaluation system for imperial court officials by the Shangshu Province and the Ministry of Officials.

……

Among Li You's suggestions to Li Shimin, there was one item that made him feel the most painful, which was the most effective means to solve the problem of government decrees.

The core of this system is to conscientiously implement the decrees of the imperial court, accounting for eighty percent of the content of evaluating the performance of officials. To put it simply, it is military management.

The new system for evaluating the officials of the imperial court stipulates that as long as the decree issued by the imperial court is issued, officials at all levels must resolutely implement it, just as they obey orders in the army, and as long as it hinders the implementation of the imperial decree, regardless of the official at all levels, they will be immediately dismissed from their posts.

This measure sounds unreasonable, because in the process of enforcing the imperial decrees, due to the different conditions in different places, the imposition of imperial decrees may cause a lot of trouble in the local area, and even cause riots. As a result, officials made slight promises and mechanically carried out the imperial decrees regardless of local conditions.

However, the lesser of two evils is also much less harmful than the imperial court's decrees.

After all, the decrees promulgated by the imperial court were carefully considered and suitable for the general situation of the Tang Dynasty and the situation in most regions.

If the decrees of the imperial court do not conform to the special conditions of a certain region, the new imperial court official evaluation system stipulates that local officials can report the local situation to the higher authorities, but must resolutely implement the imperial decrees until they are approved.

If some officials were able to risk the dismissal of officials or even their heads, in the spirit of patriotism and love for the people, they did violate the decrees of the imperial court according to the actual situation in the locality, properly handled the local contradictions, and avoided major losses for the imperial court. Such an official is a special talent, and it also provides a basis for the imperial court to discover the talents of the pillars.

Of course, such talents are rare, and they are even more valuable.

The implementation of such evaluation standards will offend a large number of officials, which requires a strong person to be responsible for enforcement.

Li Shimin has already had a candidate for Hou Junji.

On his first day as the secretary of the ministry, Hou Junji showed his tough nature.

That was last year, after Hou Junji took over the secretary of the eldest grandson Wuji.

One day last year, the Ministry of Officials.

Hou Junji took office as a new official and came to the Ministry of Officials in a hurry, only to find that except for one Lang Zhong of the Ministry of Officials who was cleaning, the other officials had not come to work.

Hou Junji held back his anger and stood in the lobby, waiting for the arrival of the officials of the ministry.