Hanyuan Palace, nearly 1,000 officials from all over the Tang Dynasty gathered together, collectively visited the new emperor and the queen mother of the Tang Dynasty, Cui Xiaofu sat on the dragon couch, she looked dignified and atmospheric, holding the three-year-old new emperor Li Miao in her hand, he was still in a sweet sleep, with a melodious bell, this magnificent hall once again slowly opened the prelude to the dynasty, nearly 1,000 officials, scattered officials, princes and nobles in the right Prime Minister Cui Yuan and the left Prime Minister Pei Jun led by the bottom, slowly kneeling down to the new emperor and the Queen Mother, and paying homage.

"The book of the minister ordered Cui Yuan... Pei Jun, the servant of the minister... The Ministry of Punishment is still the book Chu Xingshui...", the voice is muffled, the more backward it is, the more indistinguishable, and gradually converges into a passionate and surging sound, echoing in the Hanyuan Hall for a long time, "Long live the emperor, long live the queen mother, long live the queen mother......"

After the thousands of people finished saluting, the hall was silent, "Everyone Aiqing is free of courtesy!" Cui Xiaofu's voice was not loud, but it was clear and decisive, and immediately attracted another overwhelming response, "Empress Dowager Xie Chitose!" ”

Hundreds of officials returned to their positions, and the officials above the third rank sat down one after another, leaving only Li Li, the eunuch of the palace, in front of the white jade steps, he was the biological father of the new emperor, and he had just been the eunuch of the palace for three months. Please read out the personnel changes from the Ministry of Officials. ”

According to the usual custom, only the change of cabinet members is announced in the great court, and it is the same today, Cui Yu, the left attendant of the ministry, left the court and came to the white jade steps, he took out a fold, and the clear voice immediately spread throughout the entire Hanyuan Palace. “...... Lu Qi, specially appointed as the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, with the book of the door under the Ping Zhang, can there be any objections among the hundred officials? ”

"Appointing Lu Qi as the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, and the same Zhongshu Sect Pingzhang, can there be any objections among the hundred officials?"

There was silence in the hall, and everyone still clearly remembered that the last time the court was on October 3 last year, and Zhang Potian was appointed by the Ministry of Rites by the third reading at that court meeting, but only a few months later, it was still in the same hall. The new Ministry of Rites Shangshu was born again, which made people have to feel the cruelty and ruthlessness of the power struggle, Zhang Huan, who was sitting in the cluster of magistrates, secretly looked at Zhang Potian in the corner of the main hall, and saw that his eyes were calm. There was no expression on his face, as if the Ministry of Rites Shangshu had nothing to do with him, Zhang Huan couldn't help but sigh secretly, Zhang Potian's heart was dead, and the hope of reviving the Zhang family became even slimmer. At this time, Zhang Potian glanced back at Zhang Huan, nodded to him with a smile, and then turned his face away and ignored him again.

Lu Qi had been in office for more than two months as the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, and today is just a final procedure, which is the last step of the Hedong Incident, and it has been completed, and the distribution of power that occurred in the late autumn of last year has officially come to an end.

However, careful officials have noticed subtle changes in today's court meeting. It was supposed to be read by Cui Yuan, who was also the secretary of the ministry and the right minister, but today it was read out by the servant of the ministry, which seemed to have no special objections, but the officials who were a little more active thought of it at the same time. Since even such a major matter as the change of cabinet members is only announced by the servants of the ministry, then the decision to enter the officialdom of seventy-seven children of the family will be announced by Cui Yuan after a while, doesn't this mean that the latter is more important than the former?

Or maybe Cui Yuan deliberately raised it to a high level, maybe there is something hidden in it. The hearts of the people were filled with suspicion. No one understands what Cui Yuan's intentions are in doing this?

At the moment, one of the two giants of this political deal. Cui Yuan, the right minister, is quietly sitting in the first place on the right, the third reading is just a routine procedure, what he really cares about is the new system for the children of the family to enter the officialdom and the candidate for the waiter of the Ministry of Rites.

"Appointing Lu Qi as the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, and the same Zhongshu Sect Pingzhang, can there be any objections among the hundred officials?"

Cui Yu finished reading the third reading, waited for a while, and saw that no one objected, so he handed the fold to Cui Xiaofu, Cui Xiaofu flipped it over and nodded: "The third reading has been completed, and there is no objection, so the mourning family officially appointed Lu Aiqing as the secretary of the Ministry of Rites." ”

Lu Qi immediately walked out of the court, he was originally a stabbing history of Shaanxi County, with a hawkish nose and hanging eyes, and an extremely ugly appearance, but his ability was quite strong, this time he was suggested by Pei Jun as the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, and he had no objections.

He walked quickly to the front of the steps, knelt down and thanked him, "Thank you deeply for the grace of the Queen Mother!" ”

"Aiqing is exempt!" Cui Xiaofu waved his hand, and glanced at the supervisor in the palace again, Li Li understood, and said loudly again: "The third reading of the Ministry of Rites has passed, and now I ask the right minister to announce other matters." ”

Cui Yuan slowly stood up and walked out of the court, he glanced at everyone and smiled slightly: "Ministers, if you have children in the family, please raise your hand." ”

Most of the people in the interior of the main hall raised their hands, and Cui Yuan nodded, "Very good, please put it down." ”

Seeing that everyone put their hands down, he took out the booklet from his arms, coughed lightly and said: "My Tang Dynasty has been adhering to the tradition since the founding of the country, and has given shade officials to the descendants of ministers to comfort them for the hard work of serving the country all their lives, which is really a great move of the emperor's grace, but it is a pity that the number of people in the shadow is scarce, and the second is that there is an upper limit on the promotion of ranks, so that many talented children of official eunuchs cannot be reused. Supplemented by the imperial court and local officials. ”

As soon as he finished speaking, there was already a sound of theft in the main hall, the door shade was originally a special welfare system set up by the imperial court to take care of the families of the imperial relatives and important ministers, but in order to prevent it from impacting the basic national policy of the imperial examination, many restrictions were specially made, such as only officials above the fifth rank can enjoy this benefit; For example, the official character awarded should not be too high, the children of the first-grade officials have the shade of the seventh grade, and the children of the fifth-grade officials have to be the shade of the eighth grade, and the officials who enter the official position with the shadow of the door will not be able to do it in the end; Another example is the number of people, the immediate family members of the emperor and empress, a family with two children, and the first, second, and third rank official families can only shade one of the designated two children; And the five-grade official family can only shade one person. And this person must also be a good place designated above.

Today, Cui Yuan wants to reform this system, that is, it is very likely to relax the restrictions in these three aspects, and this matter is related to the vital interests of every official present, so how can they not care

But Pei Jun sneered slightly, although Cui Yuan did not discuss this matter with him in advance, he could guess that the purpose and specific measures of Cui Yuan's reform were nothing more than compression at both ends and release in the middle, the two ends refer to the low-level officials below the fourth rank and the honorary officials above the first and second grades, one has no strength, and the other is the prominent and virtual officials of the Li Tang royal family. It is very likely that they will be disqualified or reduce the number of doormen, and the essence of this proposal is actually to open the channel for the children of the family to enter the officialdom in the name of reforming the door.

Sure enough, I saw Cui Yuan open the booklet and read: "This door shade reform is limited to the officials from the fourth rank and above, and the loose officials, knighted officials and officials below the fourth grade are all implemented according to the original method." The voice has turned into a buzzing sound, the voice is noisy, covering up Cui Yuan's words, there are nearly a thousand people in the main hall, most of them are five-grade officials, scattered officials, princes and other virtual officials. There are only two or three hundred officials above the fourth grade, such as squires, young qing, qingjian, and shangshu, as well as local assassins, long histories, governors, etc., and most of them are important figures in major families, that is to say, this reform of yin officials is tailor-made for the children of these families to become officials.

Cui Yuan did not stop reading because of the noise in the court, he read unhurriedly, his reform did break the restrictions of many shadow officials, such as the third to fourth rank officials can shade five sons to two sons. Even the eldest son of the third rank official can be shaded up to the sixth grade, which is unimaginable in the previous earth gate shade system.

After Cui Yuan finished reading, he was not in a hurry to submit it to the cabinet for a vote, but asked Cui Yu, the servant of the ministry, to directly read out the list of seventy-seven children of the family for the first time. The first place is Wei Qing, the son of Wei Ge, who was appointed as the host and guest of the Ministry of Rites, and the second is Wang Yan, the eldest son of Wang Ang, who was appointed as the doorman of the Criminal Department, all of which are from the upper limit of the six grades.

Then. Many people understand it. This new system will definitely be voted on by the cabinet, and even if Bae Jun opposes it, it will be useless. Unless he relinquishes his son's position as the guest and guest officer.

After Cui Yu finished reading a long list of lists, he said aloud: "The new law of this door shade will be discussed and approved by the cabinet during the recess, can the ministers have any objections now?" ”

At this time, the originally noisy hall suddenly became silent, many officials felt that the number of people appointed by the children of the family was too large, which would affect the political opportunities of the children of the poor family, and they wanted to bring it up but were afraid of offending Cui Yuan and their superiors, many people invariably looked at Pei Jun, the left minister, hoping that he could stand up and uphold justice, but Pei Jun just smiled and did not say anything, and he had no intention of speaking against it at all, no wonder, this matter also involved the vital interests of many of his henchmen, even if he did not agree in his heart, it was not easy to open his mouth to oppose it, At most, some amendments will be proposed during the Cabinet consultations.

At this moment, a low voice came from the lower left corner of the main hall, "Queen Mother Chitose, the minister is resolutely opposed to this new door shade system!" ”

The hall was in an uproar, everyone looked at this brave man together, only to see a young official walking out of the court class with his hands raised, Cui Yuan saw him, and couldn't help but sneer secretly, the person who came was Zhang Huan, which was in his expectation, he turned his eyes and quickly looked at Pei Jun, but saw Pei Jun's eyes slightly closed, as if the person who came had nothing to do with him.

The sound of stealing sounded in the hall again, and those who knew it secretly admired Zhang Huandi's courage, and those who didn't know him hurriedly inquired about the person next to him, and when he learned that this person was Pei Jun's new son-in-law, his face immediately showed a look of sudden realization, and then he smiled meaningfully.

Zhang Huan strode to the front of the jade steps and bowed to Cui Xiaofu, "Please allow the Queen Mother to explain the different opinions." ”

Cui Xiaofu nodded, she didn't pay attention to the eyes of Li Li, the eunuch of the palace, and smiled slightly: "Governor Zhang, please speak?" ”

Zhang Huan turned around, he didn't look for Cui Yuan, and asked Cui Yu directly: "May I ask Cui Shilang, how many vacancies can be vacated in my Tang Dynasty and the imperial court in a year?" ”

Although the other party asked aggressively, Cui Yu was not annoyed, and only smiled gently: "About a hundred positions." ”

"More than 100 of them, very good!" Zhang Huan said coldly: "Then let's put it simply, even if there are one hundred and twenty vacancies, now Cui Shilang has used up seventy-seven, and there are forty-three left, and there are five-rank officials and non-ministerial officials, so at least twenty will be used!" There are also officials who are recommended to join the office, so Cui Shilang will calculate it for me, how many will there be left? ”

Speaking of this, Zhang Huan pointed violently to the outside of the main hall and said sharply: "But does Cui Shilang know that at this moment, there are more than 100,000 scholars who have studied hard for ten years in the examination room, is this door shade system fair to them today?" Is it because they don't come from famous families? Is it because they don't have a father who is an official in the court? ”

There was silence in the hall, as if everyone's breathing had stopped, only to hear intermittent coughing sounds from time to time in the hall, Cui Yuan stared at Zhang Huan tightly, his face was cloudy, and Pei Jun still had his eyes slightly closed, and there was no expression on his face.

Cui Yu's face was red and white, and he said after a while: "Zhang Dudu is a little alarmist, more than 100,000 people should take the exam, but according to the convention, there are only 100 people at most, and the officials will select the officials, at least half of them will be brushed off, so that in the end there are only more than 50 people, although the number of people in the door shade is a little more this time, but because it is the first time, there will not be so many in the future, so the officials can first give the extra jinshi this time to the position of alternate and scattered officials, and then fill the officials together when there is a vacancy next year, In this way, the problem that Zhang Dudu was worried about was solved. ”

"Solved the problem?" Zhang Huan shook his head, he let out a long sigh and said to the hundred officials: "Cui Xiangguo, Pei Xiangguo, all the scholars, the ministers, my Tang Dynasty has established the national policy of taking the imperial examination since Emperor Taizong, after more than 100 years, whether it is Japan, Silla or the Hu people of the Western Regions can participate in the imperial examination, it is this kind of broad-minded and fair system that makes my Tang Dynasty so talented that there are many talents, and there have been the rule of Zhenguan and the prosperity of the Kaiyuan Dynasty, but today, it is necessary to redefine the door shadow system, so that those who are only born in famous families, But people who don't have half of their talents squeeze out high positions, and turn away countless talented and handsome people who are only from poor backgrounds, in the long run, this will definitely destroy the foundation of my Datang Dynasty, which is the reason why I resolutely oppose the new door shadow system. ”

After speaking, Zhang Huan turned to Cui Xiaofu and saluted again: "The minister implores the Queen Mother to issue an order to reject this proposal, and there is no need to submit it to the cabinet for discussion!" ”

"Zhang Dudu's speech is too arbitrary, and if he doesn't like it, he wants to ask the Queen Mother to deny Xiangguo's case, and treat the court officials like mustard?" A person walked out of the court, burly and with a cold tone, but it was Wei Ge, the secretary of the military department.

Zhang Huan saw Wei Ge come out, he quickly glanced at Pei Jun, only to see his eyes slightly open, and an elusive smile flashed in his eyes, Zhang Huan smiled, and then stepped forward and asked Wei Ge lightly: "May I ask Wei Shangshu, where did Zhang Huan say wrong?" ”