The use of exams to select officials is something Jia Xu never expected, after all, the Han filial piety and honesty recommendation system has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, and even Jia Xu himself cannot escape the shackles of this era.

In today's world, a person in the Han Dynasty will be forgiven even if he commits a great sin, such as killing people and destroying the door, but there must be a premise, that is, filial piety.

As long as you are a filial son, then these things are nothing at all, and in terms of selection officials, it is even more important for those who are publicized as filial piety, and who has a better chance of becoming an official and winning promotion in terms of career promotion.

Jia Xu couldn't escape this shackle, and naturally saw the examiner for the first time, and he was very shocked by such a novel proposal.

"If this law has been practiced for decades, the law of filial piety and honesty of the Han Dynasty will not exist!" After a long time, Jia Xu said slowly, suddenly, he remembered something, looked at the other boxes in the study, and was speechless.

If this box is stored in such a good method, then what will be in the other boxes hidden in Fuquan's study? If it is expected to be good, it should also be a good law for other reforms of maladministration, in this case, it is inevitably too terrible, what kind of people can come up with so many good laws for reform?

Since Jia Xu also recognized this method of opening the examination and obtaining officials, Fuquan naturally had no more pressure, and immediately ordered Jia Xu to leave, and wrote the recital by himself, preparing to propose at the next court meeting to use the method of opening the examination to replace the subordinate officials of the local prisons.

At the same time, he also summoned people to collect evidence of corruption and bribery of the salt and iron supervisors in the subordinate area, and on the other hand, he asked them to visit the families of the disabled veterans who had been taken care of by Fuquan over the years, draw up a list, select those who have meritorious and suitable merits, and prepare to replace the prison officials in various places.

Since Fuquan joined the army, he has been in charge of the army for 14 years, and he has participated in various battles of all sizes, resulting in tens of thousands of disabled people under his command. Except for those who are able to support themselves and return to their hometowns, other disabled workers who cannot work in the fields are given money on the one hand, and land is given to settle in Ba County or Liangzhou, and then the captured Hu daughters and wives are used to ensure that their old age is not depressed.

It can be said that these favors of Fuquan make these people absolutely grateful and loyal to Fuquan, and even if they have no worries about food and clothing, they will not be easily corrupted by the powerful of the world.

To some extent, Fu Quan felt that what he did was similar to the mine supervisors and tax collectors sent by the emperor in the late Ming Dynasty.

It's just that there is a difference between the two, that is, the Ming emperor's soldiers in the guard can not be fully trusted, so they can only rely on the eunuchs and let them recruit the irregular tax collectors of the imperial court themselves, in order to fight against the tax evasion landlord class in various places and make up for the central financial revenue of the Ming Dynasty.

However, Fuquan is different, the Han Dynasty has a complete household and population statistics system, which is the basis for taxation, even if the fiscal deficit is obvious, but the Han army is still trustworthy and dependable. Moreover, with the crossing of Fuquan, the Han army swept Huyi outside and rebelled internally, the combat power is not ordinarily large, and the national strength of the Han Dynasty is also thriving, these are all bargaining chips for Fuquan to dare to oppose the powerful of the world.

In this situation, as long as an edict replaces the prisoners, and then strictly collects heavy taxes and levies salt and iron taxes, even if the local clans who have been drawn blood want to oppose it, they have to weigh the strength of their own families and whether they can resist the destructive blow of the Han army.

Three days later, another court day, just made a big event in the court, these days were constantly boasting Wang Yun, after entering the Chongde Hall with great satisfaction, it soon attracted the attention of many people, and there were many famous people from the world, who came to talk with him cordially.

After some exchanges, Sikong Yang Biao said to Wang Yun with some concern: "Wang Yilang, the hussar is not a good person, and he will not give up if he was frustrated before." Today's court meeting, I'm afraid it's difficult! ”

Hearing this, Wang Yun didn't care and said: "The matter of salt and iron has long been clear, if the imperial court follows the law of Emperor Shizong Xiaowu, An Neng is not afraid of chaos in the world?" ”

"......" Yang Biao couldn't respond, just glanced at Wang Yun lightly, and then returned to his position to stay, Wang Yun's words were quite disrespectful, which made Yang Biao feel very dissatisfied with this person suddenly gaining momentum in his heart, so arrogant.

You must know that his father Yang Ci was one of the benefactors who saved Wang Yun back then, and now Wang Yun's language is so disrespectful, which really makes Yang Biao have a new understanding of this famous man in this state, this person can conspire together, but he can't be in power together, otherwise he will suffer in this life.

Thinking of Wang Yun's confidence in the reason for using salt and iron to compete with the people for profit, Yang Biao felt inappropriate in his heart, knowing that Wang Yun would inevitably suffer a loss because of this matter.

To tell the truth, whether the salt and iron official camp is competing with the people for profit and making the people have no money, in fact, Yang Biao and Wang Yun have a conclusion in their hearts, but they don't say it or confirm it. Of course, in their hearts, it is best not to be confirmed, and the imperial court will never take back the salt and iron, and let them all be private, after all, with the blessing of the Han Dynasty's population base of nearly 60 million, the profit from the necessities of life in salt and iron is too great.

When Fu Quan and several cronies and court officials entered the Chongde Palace, the originally noisy hall was suddenly quiet.

Looking at those people's inexplicable teasing eyes on him, Fu Quan didn't care, of course he knew what these people were thinking, but if he thought that if he won a move, he would be able to take advantage, it would be wishful thinking, and he would make you cry later!

"Your Majesty has arrived at ......"

With a sharp shout from the temple people, the Han Emperor Liu Chong and the Empress Dowager Song entered the main hall under the guidance of Huben and Yulin.

"The ministers will knock on Your Majesty and the Queen Mother."

With a bang, the eyes of all the ministers in the hall were dark, and then they knelt down in unison, and then they took their places, and with Liu Chong's order, they began today's court meeting.

At first, Fuquan was very quiet, and did not play, only let other court officials speak, until the other court officials were dealt with, Fuquan did not come out of the ranks, and said loudly: "Your Majesty, the minister heard that the supervision of salt ponds and iron mines in the world is unfavorable, the prisoners are very corrupt, and the country is damaged. ”

As soon as these words came out, all the officials of the Manchu Dynasty were shocked, but no one could speak, that is, Wang Yun, who had originally pretended to have taken back the salt and iron, and ate Fuquan to death, was also dumbfounded and at a loss, only those Hanmen scholars who could not insert the interests of salt and iron at all, their eyes were happy, and they silently watched the high-ranking officials of the world clan deflated.

In fact, those high-ranking officials from the powerful family originally wanted to refute and stop Fuquan immediately, but they did not allow Fuquan's vein, whether he did it intentionally or unintentionally, no one knew whether Fuquan had a backhand.

After all, there is no way to stop the imperial court from changing the salt and iron prisoners, because they know that as long as Fuquan grasps the handle of the prisoner's corruption and investigates it strictly, there must be human and material evidence, and there is no refutable evidence at all, and they can't oppose it at all, so the salt and iron interest chain they originally operated will be completely destroyed.

Of course, although they could do it again and continue to pull the new prisoners of the Fuquan faction into the water and re-establish the chain of interests, it was undoubtedly very time-consuming. Moreover, judging from their understanding of Fu Quan, since Fu Quan thought of the key to controlling salt and iron now, he would definitely not choose someone who could be easily bribed by them to be the prisoner.

No, soon with the conversation between Liu Chong and Fu Quan, what they thought in their hearts immediately became a reality.

Emperor Liu Chong, who was sitting at the top, replied: "Qing Yan Yan is very greedy for ink, is there any evidence? ”

"Back to Your Majesty, there is."

"Bring it on!"

With Liu Chong's eyes, Lu Qiang, the regular attendant of the center, quickly stepped down, took the evidence of corruption written in Fuquan's hand by several prisoners in the Sili area, and handed it to Liu Chong.

Looking through the evidence in his hand, Liu Chong's eyes gradually became ugly, and the officials of the court, seeing such a scene, were also quiet, because they knew that the replacement of the prisoner was unstoppable, but they didn't expect Fu Quan to prepare so thoroughly, and they didn't give them room to refute at all.

In fact, it is precisely like this, although Liu Chong is young, he still has a certain understanding of the national conditions of the Han Dynasty, but when he saw that several supervisors in the Sili area had become rich in just a few years after supervising the salt and iron taxes, he was very uneasy.

For example, in Hedong County, the main place of salt production in the Han Dynasty, there was a county official who supervised the salt pond in Hedong, and his family did not have much savings.

As a result, in just two years, this little official actually bought a mansion, and was able to buy hundreds of acres of fertile land in Hedong County, which is greasy, everyone can see that Liu Chong is not familiar with many government affairs, and he can guess how the little official has accumulated so much wealth in such a short period of time, and he can only do things on the salt pond.

At that moment, Liu Chong was angry and ordered: "Hussar General Quan listens to the order!" ”

"The minister is here!"

"Edict! Order the hussar general Quan, supervise the salt and iron supervisors in the world, and severely punish and replace all those who are corrupt. ”

"No!" Fu Quan saluted in response, and then continued: "Your Majesty, there are many salt and iron lands in the world, and there are countless supervisors, if they are replaced one by one, I am afraid that the court will not have enough talents. In addition, only the supervisors are replaced, and the supervisors under their command are retained, and there is also the danger of corruption, so the ministers think about it, they should use the method of examination and promotion to select the virtuous officials, and then take the meritorious and virtuous talents in the court as the supervisors, so that the wind of corruption can be strictly controlled! ”

"The method of examination? Selection of meritocrats? Liu Chong was puzzled: "I don't know what the hussar means?" ”

Seeing that the emperor had taken the bait, Fu Quan immediately said that he was going to use the method of the examination, and the imperial court sent someone to give the same examination questions, so that the people who were going to be elected as officials would be unified in the Beijing Division Luoyang examination, and in this process, the selection of capable and virtuous officials, so as to fill the vacancy of salt and iron officials in various places.

These words made Liu Chong's child listen to it novel and interesting, and it also made the other court officials present stunned, but these politicians quickly understood the key after thinking carefully.

If such a selection of salt and iron officials is successful, will Fuquan propose again, and the officials in the prefectures, counties and counties will also be selected and appointed by the imperial court using the examination method?

If this is the case, wouldn't it be to take back the right of the imperial court to recommend, appoint and dismiss their cronies and petty officials who have already acquiesced to it?

For a while, all the high-ranking officials in the court lost their minds again, this time, not only the powerful court officials, but also the Hanmen scholars. As for the reason, it is also very simple, for the sake of family interests, it is inevitable that high-ranking officials of the family will recommend their cronies as officials, and those poor scholars, once they gain power, in order to strengthen themselves, naturally they also recommend their cronies as officials.

But now, Fu Quan wants to snatch the right to recommend from them in disguise, can they be quiet?

However, they want to oppose it, but they can't help it, after all, can you say that the method of unifying the exam, comparing each other, and selecting the most talented people is wrong?

Some people want to refute the words of the Han Dynasty to choose officials, but they soon found that it was difficult for them to refute, because Fuquan did not destroy the original filial piety and honesty recommendation system of the Han Dynasty at all, but only made up for the way the Han Dynasty took officials.

Filial piety and honesty, this is for the selection of good officials with a clear name, not for officials, now, Fuquan offers a good way to choose good officials, what's wrong with this?

The court officials are like this, and the Empress Dowager Song, who is sitting at the top, naturally understands that she will do this for the emperor Liu Chong at the moment, only Liu Chong himself has not yet understood the deep meaning of opening the examination for officials, and he is a little puzzled when he sees that the queen mother rarely takes the initiative to accept the will.

Of course, the Empress Dowager Song naturally won't explain it now, she plans to explain it to her son Liu Chong after the court meeting. Although she is a woman, she is from a big family in the end, and she has been with Liu Hong for a long time, so she naturally understands what Fu Quan's words are, and the deep meaning of asking the governor of the prefecture and county in the world for the appointment and dismissal of local officials can be implemented, then it can undoubtedly greatly strengthen the centralization of power.

Not mentioning how the Empress Dowager Song taught Emperor Liu Chong, but said that after Fuquan received the order, the first step was to order as a hussar general to mobilize the soldiers and horses of his cronies in the prefectures and counties of the world, and send his cronies to all parts of the world in batches to examine the prisoners and officials.

All of a sudden, the world shook, but no one dared to intercede for these people, even if there were many distant descendants of the local family, no one came forward to protect them.

This move to protect the car is of course not the original intention of the powerful people of the world, it is really forced by the situation, and it is not easy to participate, after all, once they come forward to protect these people, won't they shake out the dirty things they have in the salt and iron trade?

Although this is an open secret between the world's powerful families, how can it be on the stage? For now, of course, the plan is to let those people go to prison first, and then try to rescue them when the matter is over.

The left and right are just corruption, the Han Dynasty is even a great Confucian emperor like Ma Rong is corrupt, as long as it is not deliberately targeted, it is basically fine, they believe that Fuquan will not be entangled in corruption.

It is true that Fu Quan wants the interests of salt and iron, and he is not interested in those corrupt spokesmen of the powerful clan, otherwise he will directly kill people and save more trouble, so why would he send them to prison?

The purpose of this is not to give the two sides room for relaxation, and to clearly tell the clan Haoqiang that he only needs to get back the salt and iron tax that the court should get, and he doesn't want to expand this matter, anyway, the salt and iron trade is still in the hands of the clan Haoqiang in the end, and I believe that they will not fall out with Fuquan because of the loss of money.