A few days later, Zhang Chao went to the box of a tavern, and then gathered here with several acquaintances in the officialdom. And now they are also a little nervous, because everyone knows that the person who convened the meeting this time is Zhang Chao, and Zhang Chao's purpose has been preliminarily communicated with them, and these people have also come here to gather after some deep thought. And when they heard Zhang Chao's words, they all thought about it. And those who don't come, Zhang Chao has decided to break off friendship with them, and there is no second word.

"Two Brother Liu, and Brother Zhou." Zhang Chao said.

The people who came here to attend the meeting, in addition to Zhang Chao, also included Liu Renliang, that is, the person who Zhang Chao just recommended him to Zuo Qianniuwei a few days ago. And then there is Liu Chun, that is, Zhang Chao's important assistant when he implemented the examination method at that time, and the rest thought that Brother Zhou would leave Zhou Yang, who was the second place in the Jinshi examination this time, and was his colleague. And now Liu Renliang joins the army as an armor in Zuo Qianniuwei, responsible for managing the armor in the army, which is equivalent to the equipment minister of later generations, but this era belongs to the establishment of civilian officials, not officers. And Liu Chun is currently a judge in Dali, an official position responsible for hearing and participating in cases, which is equivalent to a senior judge of the Supreme Court in later generations, and his grade is the same as Zhang Chao's, all from the eighth grade. And the last Zhou Yang, the position is the director of Zhongshu Province, and this is equivalent to the senior staff member of the General Office of the Central Committee in later generations.

And the addresses of several of them are not low, because they don't look at them as low-level officials, but they all serve in central institutions. Zhang Chao is not much to say about managing personnel, while Liu Renliang is close to the emperor and has served in the palace for a long time, who knows when he will be reused by the emperor, and the hidden power is not small. As for Liu Chun, although he is in Dali Temple, although the current level of Dali Temple is not high, it will be the Supreme Court in later generations and has the highest jurisdiction over the case. And if someone falls into Liu Chun's hands, I'm afraid it will be easy for Liu Chun to clean up, because he is qualified to express his opinions in the case. In the end, Zhou Yang is also a senior clerk of Zhongshu Province, but the status of Zhongshu Province is only higher than that of the Central General Office of later generations, because officials of Zhongshu Province are qualified to express their opinions on national affairs. And if this Zhou Yang said something in front of his boss, it would easily affect the judgment of the prime minister, and then further affect the judgment of the emperor, and finally make the country have a huge butterfly effect.

So, if it was known that these people were meeting here, it would be enough to freak people out. The combined energy of these people is not low, even if they are just some officials who have just joined the officialdom, but if they work together, it will affect a lot of range, and even the national policy of Datang will be deflected.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I have my own ideas in calling you to a meeting today. We are not from a high-ranking scholar family, and we have always been ostracized by the scholar clan above the officialdom, and then go up step by step, which is very difficult! Zhang Chao said.

And then, Liu Chun and Zhou Yang, the two "tender birds", also began to vomit bitterness, saying something like the suppression of the Shi clan. You must know that in the early years of the Tang Dynasty, there were still a lot of relics of that year, from the Han Dynasty, the scholars also began to control the officialdom, and then the vast majority of officials were also from the scholar family, and it was impossible for ordinary Hanmen Shu to go to a high position, and even if there was an occasional person who stepped into a high position, it was a phenomenon-level situation, not universal. And several of them have also gained a certain understanding in the officialdom of Datang during this time. Because at this time, they also felt the pressure of the Shi clan, and all the high-level people were also Shi clans, and the influence of the Shi clan in this era was very huge.

And since Cao Wei implemented the nine-grade Zhongzheng system back then, the scholars have also reached the peak. The status of the Shi clan is very lofty, and they are also very proud, they look down on the ordinary Shu clan, and they don't even disdain to marry the Shu clan even if they marry their families. They are just marrying within the scope of their own clans, and they pretend to be high one by one, obviously looking down on the Shu people very much, thinking that the Shu people are untouchables and are not qualified to communicate with them on an equal footing. In this era, the scholars were an out-and-out privileged class, they had the privilege of not having to pay taxes, and they all had the privilege of becoming officials without exams. And the imperial examination is just a crack opened for those Shu people to enter the ruling class, and it does not mean that the Shu people have begun to rise.

The pressure and power position of the Shi clan is simply huge in this era, and even the ordinary people recognize the power position of this Shi clan, and there is no intention of resisting. But Zhang Chao is different, he comes from the republic of later generations, and the republic emphasizes equality for everyone, especially equality before the law. Naturally, he could not tolerate the existence of such an unequal Tang Dynasty, especially since the scholars had endless privileges, and even had legal privileges. And the reform addiction in Zhang Chao's heart has flareed up again, and he is naturally unwilling to watch the scholars enjoy privileges all the time. And he comes from a republic, so he naturally thinks that this kind of thing is stinking shit, and it belongs to the people to be defeated. As an official of the later republic, who doesn't have a lot of knowledge about the revolutionary history of those years? It's not all republics established by stepping on the corpses of those great families and families that have been passed down from generation to generation. Therefore, as an official of the republic in later generations, it is naturally impossible to tolerate the existence of the backward system of these generations of princes, let alone allow the existence of these privileged classes.

And this is the biggest backwardness in ancient times, so Zhang Chao, a professional reformer, will use his power to complete the reform in this lifetime, and then let this country realize a country where the capable are superior and the mediocre are lowered, and can be equal in law. As for why not all aspects are equal, Zhang Chao thinks it is impossible. Because classes will be there for a long time, equal in all respects, this is definitely a common. Productionism, this Zhang Chao has no confidence that it can be realized. But to achieve equality before the law for everyone, Zhang Chao will still try his best to do it. As long as legal equality is achieved, it is equivalent to the fairness and justice of this society can be maintained, and the final effect can be achieved. As for the future, it depends on the individual's struggle to realize his own future.

"Master Zhang, do you want to defeat the Shi clan?" Liu Chun asked.

Zhang Chao said affirmatively: "The Shi clan is already a decadent and backward thing, is their existence meaningful?" They restrict the talented of us from the poor to take the path of ruling the country, and then they reject us in order to maintain their power to oppress the people and live a privileged life all the time. And those of us who are from humble backgrounds have read so many books, but few of us can embark on official careers. However, the scholars can rely on their natural bloodline, and then for generations they want to be officials, and they can enjoy themselves if they want to enjoy themselves, and they rely on parasitic bodies to suck blood every day. They have not been able to create anything for the people, they have monopolized the land, and then leased it to the people to obtain rent, and then they rely on the income of the land day after day to enjoy a luxurious life, but they have not created any value at all. ”

"And we, the children of poor families, work hard every day at the same time, we have to spend a little time to study, how difficult it is! And Brother Liu Renliang, you have to work hard since you were a child, and then you can spare a little time to study, and even you are still writing and drawing in the air with your hands to consolidate your knowledge. ”

And Liu Renliang recalled this past, and then said: "The world was in turmoil back then, even if I was not only busy with the work in the farmland, but also busy reading, and those days were really hard work, now I think about it back then, it was the real ambition that was boiled up, and I could really grow up in the suffering, that period was the hardest time for me, but it was also the time when I grew the fastest." ”

"But does it make sense to study so hard? I'm afraid that not many of you can be an official, and not many of you can use what you have learned. In the end, I am afraid that everything I have learned will eventually be wasted in the field at most, and I may even have to work for a merchant if I don't mix well, and then do some bookkeeping and accounting things. And what you have learned, is it going to be such a waste? Zhang Chao asked.

"This ......," Liu Renliang immediately said with some hesitation.

Zhang Chao is right, although they can be officials in this, but they are just the "lucky ones" among these poor students, and they belong to phenomenal figures. However, the vast majority of poor people are scholars, so in the end, they can only waste their knowledge and stay in the land for the rest of their lives, responsible for cultivating the farmland. At most, it is to work for a businessman, and then become an employee in this life, at most to become a shopkeeper. But they didn't dare to do business, even though they were literate and would be able to achieve good results in business. However, in this era of widespread discrimination against businessmen, no one dares to do business, and once they do business, they may have a lower status. In ancient times, businessmen were not able to take the imperial examination, once someone became a businessman, even if they were not a businessman in the future, they would not be able to take the imperial examination within three generations. Therefore, even if they are not able to become officials, they do not dare to go into business, so they are afraid of ruining the future of their descendants.

It is conceivable that these poor scholars, except for those who are less than one in a thousand, can move towards the status of officials of the ruling class, and the vast majority of the remaining people will inevitably waste their talents in this life. They can't be those officials, they can't be part of the ruling class, they can't get enough status.

"What caused it? In fact, isn't it the gentry who are blocking our way up? If the imperial examination can really be released, if all official positions are also based on the imperial examination, and then the capable are promoted and the mediocre are lowered, then how many scholars can still be in the officialdom? And we have tens of millions of poor students, and there are definitely a lot of talented people. As for the number of scholars, they account for less than one-thousandth of the country's population, but they can occupy more than ninety percent of the country's official positions. And they have been officials for generations, and they can directly serve as officials without exams, and we, the children of poor families, did not have a channel to be officials at all decades ago. In this way, we are all ruled by the poor, and even if we have a talent, we will not meet talents. Are we just going to let those warriors go on like this? There will be no seeds, so why can they go on like this for generations? ”

Zhang Chao knew very well that this was the Chinese version of the caste system, and their scholars would not marry with the Shu clan, and the scholars had the power to be officials directly and did not need to pass the exam. And they have legal privileges, they can have privileges in the land, they don't have to pay taxes, and they even use public power to oppress ordinary people. This is simply the same as the caste system in India, no different. And their number is less than one thousandth of the country, but they can hold more than 90 percent of the country's official positions, even the more high-level they are, and in the past, there was a saying that there was no poor quality. And they also found a theoretical basis for them to rule the people, fool the rule and enslave the people, what is the difference between this and those Indian Brahmins? It's just that one is religious, and the other is borrowing from ancient Confucian classics.

So all this is also caused by the scholars, in order to maintain their privileges, the scholars continue to attack those outstanding talents from ordinary poor families, and prevent them from ascending to high positions. And in this way, they also caused the solidification of the ruling class, and finally let the ruling class step by step in the hands of so many big families. Therefore, Zhang Chao could not tolerate this, as a later generation, especially after being deeply educated in revolutionary thought, Zhang Chao naturally could not tolerate this kind of ruling class solidified in the hands of several families. He pays attention to the ability and the mediocre, and must select some outstanding talents from a large group of people to rule. In this way, officials represent the interests of the vast majority of the people, rather than allowing a very small number of people to use public power to rule over the majority.

Therefore, now Zhang Chao has decided that his idea in this life is to defeat these scholars, and then let the country be able to rise to the top and the mediocre, and let the officials in the officialdom represent the interests of the vast majority of the people, not the interests of a small number of scholars.

And all this, he must gather some like-minded "comrades" to work hard, so he has now gathered these people to discuss the establishment of a like-minded "comrade association" to fight against the scholars.