In the side hall of the Wencheng Hall of Ziwei Palace, Yang Guang, the Son of Heaven, held a military and political discussion here, and the military affairs were presided over by Yang Guanglai, the Son of Heaven, when the opinions of the Xiangguo were too different to compromise on major political decisions.

On both sides of the side hall sat more than a dozen high-ranking officials and ministers of the Great Sui, including Su Wei, Yu Shiji, Xiao Yu, Pei Ju, the secretary of the Yellow Gate, Wei Xuan, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, Fan Zigai, the imperial historian Pei Yun, the priest of the country, Lu Zhuo, the general Yu Wenshu, and so on.

At this time, the Son of Heaven Yang Guang has not yet arrived, and everyone is sitting together and discussing, the main reason for holding a military meeting today is that there was an accident in the Spring Imperial Examination, and the children of famous families in various places have not done well in the examination, but the children of the poor family have generally done well, which makes the important ministers of the court feel deeply embarrassed, and opinions have begun to diverge.

Some officials advocated adhering to principles and meritocracy, but others believed that priority should be given to the children of famous families, and the two factions disagreed, and in the end they could only let Yang Guang, the son of heaven, decide.

"Lu Envoy, what did the Holy Lord say?" Su Wei asked Lu Zhuo, who was sitting at the bottom.

Lu Zhuo hurriedly got up and saluted, "Back to Xiangguo, my subordinates reported to the Holy Lord yesterday, and the Holy Lord means that the local government has been hit by bandits, and the number of officials has been seriously reduced, so let's expand the number of students admitted to this imperial examination, mainly to supplement the local government." ”

"Did the Holy Lord say how much the number of admissions has increased?" Pei Ju asked again.

"The Holy One said it could be increased to two thousand."

"Two thousand!"

There was an uproar in the side hall, the number of admissions in previous years was only more than 100 people, and this year it will increase to 2,000 people, it is incredible, there was a whispering in the side hall, Su Wei asked Pei Ju in a low voice: "Pei Gong." Is the gap in the local government really that big? ”

Pei Ju shook his head, "Su Xiangguo should know that the imperial court is only appointed to the county level, and the county officials and county officials are all appointed by the local government itself, and no matter how short the local officials are, it will not cost two thousand." Two hundred people are enough, unless the saint wants to return the appointment power of county officials to the imperial court, does Su Xiangguo think it is possible? ”

"Impossible!"

Su Wei categorically denied that what he couldn't even do when Emperor Wen was in power, how could he do it now? Now Mo said that the county is the county leader, even if the county order appoints the imperial court, it can't be controlled, at most it can only be managed to the level of Taishou, Su Wei immediately realized that it is estimated that it is because the children of the family did not do well in the exam this time. Shengshang's relaxation of the number of admissions should be an attempt to take the opportunity to win over the children of the family.

But Pei Ju doesn't think so, he knows Yang Guang better than anyone else, Yang Guang has always been stubborn and self-serving, even if he dies, he will never easily change his mind, how serious is the crisis in the world, he still insists on waging the Goguryeo War, which shows his stubbornness.

He smiled bitterly and said to Su Wei: "I'm afraid Su Xiangguo thinks too well." ”

Su Wei was stunned, "Could it be that Pei Gong thinks-"

Don't wait for him to say more. A guard shouted from inside the hall: "The Holy Lord has arrived!" ”

The hall of Wencheng suddenly fell silent, and footsteps sounded. I saw dozens of guards, palace maids, and eunuchs surrounding Yang Guang, the son of heaven, and Yang Qi, the king of Yan, and walked quickly into the side hall.

Yang Guang sat down on the seat, and everyone bowed down together, "Ministers, see Your Majesty the Emperor!" ”

Yang Guang waved his hand and smiled: "Everyone, please sit down!" ”

Everyone sat down one after another, and Yang Qi also sat on the throne of the prince at the bottom of the steps, although he had not officially become the emperor's grandson. But everyone knows that the Holy One must have passed on the throne to him, otherwise he would not have cultivated so wholeheartedly.

There was silence in the side hall, and Yang Guang said to Lu Zhuo: "About the situation of this imperial examination, Lu Aiqing will tell you about it!" Just recount what you reported to me yesterday. ”

"Wechen obeys!"

Lu Zuo stood up and saluted everyone, and said slowly: "A total of 145,000 people participated in this imperial examination. Since it was not held last year, so this year's reference number is the largest in the history, the preliminary marking has ended, in general, the results have decreased slightly compared with the previous two years, and the children of famous families around the country generally did not do well, the top 100 children of the family I personally judged only accounted for 30%, the situation is not optimistic, according to the original admission plan this time will admit 120 scholars, then the children of the family will only be more than 30 people. ”

Yang Guang continued: "I think it's very strange, it stands to reason that no matter the financial resources, teachers, and books are concentrated in the hands of the major families in the world, if the children of the family have an advantage in the exam, I am not surprised, but this time the children of the poor family did well in the exam, I am puzzled, what is the problem?" Have you considered it? ”

There was silence in the side hall, no one answered, Yang Guang's eyes swept over everyone, and seeing that everyone's expressions were unnatural, he couldn't help but snort heavily, "I know very well in my heart that it is because the major famous families are dissatisfied with me and do not want to let outstanding children work for me. ”

Everyone was speechless by default, in fact, the saint said to the root, originally under the Jiupin Zhongzheng system, the imperial court and the local government are all in the world, Emperor Wen began to implement the imperial examination system, but still retained the measures of recommending scholars to Beijing by the locality, and limited the number of places, which ensures the right to recommend the children of the family, which is also a compromise.

But when Yang Guang was in power, the local recommendation right was canceled, and no matter the poor family, they could freely enter Beijing for reference, of course, it seriously violated the interests of the famous family, so the resistance of the famous family to the imperial examination was also very strong, and the enthusiasm for participation was greatly reduced, coupled with the current turbulence and social instability, so most of the famous families maintained a wait-and-see attitude, especially the Guanlong nobles who collectively boycotted the imperial examination this time.

Everyone understands these realities, but they don't dare to say it to Yang Guangming, Yang Guang became more and more dissatisfied in his heart, and asked Su Weidao: "Su Xiangguo, you are the head of the hundred officials, you can talk about this matter, why did this happen?" ”

Su Wei felt bitter in his heart, so he had to get up and salute and said: "Your Majesty, Weichen thinks that there may be too many scholars who have come to refer to this year, and in comparison, the number of children of the family is much smaller, which is normal."

And the road is not very safe, especially in Hebei, Shandong bandits are rampant, Weichen heard that Lu Xijiu's son came to the capital for reference and was attacked by bandits, and it took a lot of twists and turns to enter Beijing, and the major families will not easily let their son-in-law go on the road for safety reasons, of course, this is just an example, Weichen means that everything has a reason, not that he is dissatisfied with His Majesty. ”

Su Wei's self-justification can be regarded as finding a little reason, Yang Guang felt a little more comfortable in his heart, and he asked Lu Zhuo: "Lu Aiqing, has your son encountered bandits?" ”

Lu Zhuo hurriedly replied, "Back to Your Majesty, it is true, the dog was attacked by Zhang Jincheng in Qinghe County on the way to Beijing last year, and thanks to meeting Zhang Xuan, he escaped with his life, and it is indeed unsafe on the road." ”

"Then has your son been admitted to the imperial examination this time?" Yang Guang asked again.

"Back to Your Majesty, Wechen is the chief examiner, and letting his son participate in the imperial examination is just to let him know the questions of the imperial examination, even if he does well in the exam, Wechen will not admit him."

"You did a good job, as the examiner, you should avoid suspicion, but Lu Aiqing is in Guozijian for a day, and Ling Lang has no chance for a day, which is too unfair to him, I can give special approval, as long as he does do well in the exam, he can also be admitted."

"Thank you for your kindness!"

Yang Guang said to everyone: "I think that the chaos and bandits in the world are rampant, to a large extent, because of the poor control of the local government, considering that the imperial court's control over the local government is too weak, the main reason is that the imperial court appoints too few local officials, so I decided to admit 2,000 scholars this time, and the county chief of each county must be appointed by the imperial court, and the appointment of the county officials of Liucao must also be handed over to the imperial court for the record, I believe that it will take three to four years to rectify the locality, and the imperial court's criticism of weak local control will be gradually reversed!" ”

Yang Guang's words made the side hall even quieter, and even Yu Shiji, who had always been greedy for power, did not dare to say anything, for fear of causing trouble, Su Wei secretly glanced at Pei Ju, and it seemed that he was unfortunately hit by Pei Ju's words.

The 2,000 scholars were not recruited to compromise with the family, but to be more radical, to forcibly appoint local officials and take back control of the local government from the local families.

Su Wei sighed secretly, such a forcible act would seriously infringe on the interests of the families in various places, I am afraid that the world will be even more chaotic, and the saint is too extreme to do things. (To be continued......)