New year, new atmosphere, 1041 A.D., the first year of the celebration of the calendar.

Historically, the Song and Xia were still in a confrontation, and the successive years of conquest made the Great Song Dynasty miserable, and the price of grain in Bianliang skyrocketed.

However, since last year's Kangding peace talks, the domestic situation has stabilized regionally and grain prices have become normal.

Recently, Zhao Jun has been very busy, first of all, as the prefect of the Constitutional Yuan, the No. 2 person in the Great Song Dynasty, to attend various occasions.

For example, the early dynasty parliament, the year-end sacrifice, the New Year banquet, etc., but also to go to Kaifeng Prefecture and various departments to make inspections and instructions, review their work in the past year, and investigate the current efficiency of officialdom.

Then Zhao Zhen chose a family for him, and it was Cao Wei's youngest daughter, called Cao Miaoxin, Queen Cao's cousin.

It is worth mentioning that Empress Cao's name is Cao Miaolian.

Cao Miaoxin was born to Cao Wei in his later years, born in the first year of Tiansheng, that is, in 1023 AD, he is seventeen years old this year, and he will be eighteen years old in a few months, which can be regarded as barely meeting Zhao Jun's requirements.

No way.

Zhao Jun inherited the fine tradition of the old Zhao family - he likes beautiful women.

Second, he really can't accept underage marriage, which has something to do with principles, and it also has something to do with the hope that his wife will grow up and give birth to healthy children.

However, in ancient times, when women were engaged to marry at the age of fifteen and even eleven or twelve, or even seven or eight years old, it was difficult to find a beautiful woman over eighteen years old, and she was not a widow, a divorcee, or a family member.

Cao Miaoxin is still because of his background in Jiangmen, he likes knives, guns and sticks since he was a child, and it is said that he once had a sweetheart, and everyone who came to propose marriage was beaten out by her with sticks, which led to the fact that he was seventeen years old and had not married anyone.

After Zhao Zhen heard about it, he told Cao Cong, Cao Cong was naturally overjoyed and went to tell his niece, but Cao Miaoxin was not happy, saying that she had been waiting for her sweetheart and didn't want to go on a blind date with Zhao Jun, which caused the matter to drag on for a few days, and it took a long time before agreeing to meet.

It just so happened that Zhao Jun had other things to deal with, although Zhao Zhen mentioned to him that there was a suitable woman he could meet, but halfway through, he was delayed by other things, and it was quite an unexpected thing to release the woman's pigeon.

In fact, Zhao Jun can't really be blamed for this, because he happened to be caught by Bao Zheng that day, Bao Zheng returned to Bianliang in Jingyou for four years, and was appointed by Zhao Jun as the official of Kaifeng Mansion.

Although it is an eight-grade imperial history, it is not inferior to power, and after less than a year, he has impeached many colleagues and made people disgusted.

Originally, this situation would definitely be suppressed, but there was a big boss who appreciated it, and was promoted to supervise the imperial history last year, and a year later he was transferred to the Tongzhi Kaifeng Mansion, and the promotion was like riding a rocket, and he did it from the seventh grade to the fifth grade in four years.

Zhao Jun's carriage was on the way to a blind date, but unfortunately because of the snow and slippery, the horse collided with the people, and was caught by Bao Zheng, who was patrolling the street at the time.

Bao Zheng didn't care that the boss behind him was Zhao Jun himself, so he directly reprimanded his boss on the street and asked him to compensate the people for all losses.

This made people depressed and delayed the blind date, so Zhao Jun had to send someone to talk to Cao's mansion to make an appointment next time, and then went to Lao Fan's mansion to discuss this year's new policy reform.

It was the beginning of the new year, on the sixth day of the first month, and most of the officials were resting except for the officials on duty.

Lao Fan has been in unlimited scenery recently, he has just been promoted, and he has become the prime minister from the deputy minister who is the alternate Tongzhi, and because of two big victories, his prestige among the people has skyrocketed, and now he seems to be an idol in the minds of the people of the Great Song Dynasty.

Zhao Jun entered the Fan Mansion and saw Lao Fan leisurely drinking tea in the study, in previous years, Zhao Zhen would hold several more banquets, inviting civil and military officials to drink banquets and poetry meetings every day.

But this year, it snowed in Bianliang, and it was a little cold, and the Constitutional Yuan was a group of sixty or seventy-year-old old men, who were afraid that they would make trouble, so they only held one annual meeting, and the banquet was canceled, and everyone rested at home, which was quite comfortable.

Seeing that Lao Fan was leisurely, Zhao Jun walked over and sat on the chair opposite him angrily, stepped on the edge of the charcoal basin with his feet, and complained while roasting the fire: "You are comfortable." ”

"What? Are you not feeling well? ”

Lao Fan was not sitting behind the desk in the study, but this guy actually made a wooden collapse inside, and the wooden collapse was padded with a thick quilt, he reclined on it and covered his chest with a quilt, and he leaned on the wooden collapse to read, drinking tea and reading at the same time.

He turned sideways, picked up the teacup from the coffee table next to him and took a sip, then put the teacup down, looked at Zhao Jun and said with a smile: "I heard that the official family chose a woman for you, or the Cao family, didn't you like it?" ”

"I didn't look at it at all."

Zhao Jun took the hot tea handed over by the servants of Fan's Mansion and said: "I am unlucky, the carriage slipped and knocked over the people's stalls, and I met Bao Zheng, and he gave me a beating, this is not my fault, not to mention that I did not compensate the people." ”

"Isn't that good? Kaifeng Mansion is selfless with the same knowledge, and the Governor of the Constitutional Yuan does not play official roles, even if he is in a high position, he humbly accepts criticism, you are simply Qin Shi Huang playing cloning - a win-win situation"

Lao Fan joked with a smile.

Zhao Jun was shocked: "Where did you learn the messy things?" ”

"Yesterday, the official family watched the popular science video you downloaded with us, and there is also a popular science about the strange small African country, and I learned it from that."

Lao Fan said.

Zhao Jun rolled his eyes and said: "In the future, I will watch less of that rat thing, this guy's update is too slow, I waited for many months in order to save a few more episodes before I crossed, and when I looked back, it was less than ten episodes, and only two or three episodes a month." ”

Fan Zhongyan scratched his head, how could he understand this, so he straightened up, sat on the wooden collapse, and changed the topic: "Recently, I have studied the plan you gave me, and I think there are some problems." ”

"What's the problem?"

"There are still some radicals in agricultural reform."

"Which one is radical?"

Zhao Jun asked.

Fan Zhongyan took the information given by Zhao Jun from the table next to him, turned the page and said: "To carry out national governance, the local government is required to investigate the local landlords and bullies. ”

"Questions?"

Zhao Jun wondered: "I personally think that this is very necessary, because it is necessary to safeguard the country's legal system, and it is also necessary to safeguard the interests of farmers, and it is conducive to the stability of the country to fix the anti-gang and evil for a long time." ”

"But you have to take into account the actual situation, you were able to do this in that era because the social environment at that time was very different, and in the Great Song Dynasty, even if the local government strictly enforced, the people who could be sent to enforce it were local officials who had deep collusion with the landlords and bullies."

Fan Zhongyan pointed out the crux of the problem: "According to the words of later generations, the control of our grassroots is far from enough, and the officials of a county need to rely on these officials to perform official duties, so it is only a matter of time before there is cover-up and concealment." ”

"Of course I thought of this, do you think I've been running for nothing in the past few years? How do you not know the dangers of local officials? ”

Zhao Jun said with a smile: "I have already studied such an upper and lower structure. If we want to dismantle the local officials, we must start from three aspects. ”

"Oh?"

Fan Zhongyan became interested and said, "Which three aspects?" ”

"The first is that they must be given a source of income, the second is that they need to be given room to rise, and the third is that they must be given a strong level of supervision."

Zhao Jun said: "These huge officials are not included in the imperial court's Yulu system, their income depends on eating and taking cards, and there is no room for growth, doing the dirtiest, most tiring and hardest work, and there is no hope, so they will naturally be willing to fall, but with income guarantee, it is different with room for growth." ”

"You mean the two-tax system, as well as the assessment of officials?"

Fan Zhongyan remembered several other things that Zhao Jun mentioned in the restructuring.

"Not bad."

Zhao Jun nodded: "The tax will be changed to national tax and local tax in the future, and the local tax will be left as a local expense and the salary of the officials. ”

Needless to say, the national tax and local tax systems are different, and the examination of officials is different from the civil service examination of later generations, but is based on the combination of the Han Dynasty inspection system and the Tang and Song imperial examination systems.

In the Han Dynasty, if there were officials who did a good job, they would be recommended by the state government to be officials, and this form was called Jumaocai.

The imperial examination is for the Jinshi.

However, at the end of the Han Dynasty, this kind of situation of raising Maocai has become a virtual reality, and the upward channel of Chaju is often monopolized by wealthy nobles. Lift Maocai, don't know the book".

Therefore, Zhao Jun combined the two and asked the local county order to recommend outstanding officials to participate in the state examination, which is also equivalent to the township examination in the imperial examination. After passing the state examination, you can participate in the examination organized by the Ministry of Officials, and after passing the examination, you can enjoy the treatment of Jinshi and become an official.

In this way, since the local county magistrates have little energy to meddle in the examination level of the state capital and the capital, passing the state and general examinations will put an end to the practice of local county magistrates recommending relatives and engaging in favoritism and malpractice, and to a large extent, some relatively outstanding officials can be selected to come up.

Of course.

Because there are many people in the huge Xu Officials Group, who are obviously very good, but their families are poor and cannot afford to read, and their cultural level is not necessarily high, so it is necessary to reduce the cultural difficulty, and focus on hard work, and their knowledge is about the same as that of a Song Dynasty Xiucai.

Compared with studying hard, Zhao Jun values the ability to work hard.

"Well, thinking about it this way, because the qualifications for the officials to be recommended are in the hands of the county order, and they have local income, the possibility of collusion with the landlord and bullies is indeed much smaller."

Fan Zhongyan felt that what Zhao Jun gave was quite like that.

"But it's also useful for a while, so that the county order will grasp the ascending channel of the local officials, which will inevitably cause the county order to have great influence on these people, if those landlords and bullies turn their heads and collude with the local county order, then the harm will be even greater."

Zhao Jun shook his head and said: "Therefore, senior officials generally serve for a five-year term, or they can't be applied to lower-level officials in the state and county, so it is better to serve a three-year term." Three years can generally make achievements, and the local involvement is not so deep, through the local tax and Xu officials assessment, I hope that most of the local county orders seize the opportunity to eradicate the local cancer. ”

"What about regulation? The county order is easy to be deceived by the officials, how can the officials be supervised? ”

Fan Zhongyan asked rhetorically.

"Peasant Society."

"Peasant association?"

"Not bad."

Zhao Jun said: "Each county should organize an inventory of the specific population of each county, the distribution of townships and towns, and allow villagers to form peasant associations based on the distance between villages. The members of the peasant association must be composed of middle peasants, poor peasants, and hired peasants with only one household owning less than 20 acres of land. ”

"What does it do?"

"Naturally, it is to help the local government supervise the local government and indirectly achieve the role of supervision."

"You're talking nonsense, let's not talk about whether the peasant council listens to the orders of the local government, if the people form a gang, wouldn't it be easier for an uprising?"

Fan Zhongyan expressed dissatisfaction.

In ancient times, social power was not delegated to the grassroots level, but was managed by local gentry, landlords, and clans, which naturally made some sense.

If the people are allowed to govern themselves, in the event of a natural disaster, so many people will gather together, and it will easily cause an uprising.

So this strategy is simply shooting yourself in the foot.

However, Zhao Jun also has a reason, he said: "This is the result of my field investigation, I found that the enthusiasm of the local people is still very high, but they are too constrained and cannot improve productivity." ”

"If a peasant association is formed, the peasant association is directly responsible to the local government, which can be regarded as the township government and has certain powers, and if there is any problem in the township, the peasant association should actively participate in the management and report to the government, which will be very helpful for the government to control the grassroots."

"For example, the competition for water and the fighting of the village can be coordinated through the peasant association and the government. In addition, cooperatives are jointly organized by the government and peasant associations, and the government buys surplus farm tools, livestock, granaries, etc. from farmers to serve as public farm tools to release productivity. ”

"After the formation of the peasant association, the farmers help each other and help each other, which can also increase productivity and improve work efficiency. If you think something is wrong, then discuss it again. ”

In fact, in addition to Zhao Jun's own investigation of the local peasants and the common people that he thought could be done, this was also the method of our army in the base areas in later generations, and it achieved very good results.

However, in ancient times, some of the methods of later generations may be more useful, but some may not be realized, and may even have the opposite effect.

Fan Zhongyan still shook his head and said: "Although you have gone to the grassroots level to investigate, after all, you have not lived in the ancient countryside for a long time, and you are a little too taken for granted. Although you criticize the squire, landlords, and clan management as feudal dross, at least in this era, there is a reason for its existence. ”

"Then tell me about it."

Zhao Jun did not refute it, because it is true that as Fan Zhongyan said, he researched and investigated, but he did not live in the ancient countryside.

Fan Zhongyan explained the situation.

Very simple.

In ancient times, the countryside was actually a relatively closed society, with its own set of grassroots operating logic.

That is, the system of squires, clans and landlords.

Fan Zhongyan believes that if the productivity does not reach a certain standard, this logic is forcibly broken and the government tries to meddle in the grassroots system, and the final result may be very dangerous.

For example, it is true that certain bullying landlords are restricted through peasant associations, but if the government cannot reach the point of close cooperation with peasant associations, then the result of the expansion of the autonomy of peasant associations will be that peasant associations will replace the original system of squires, clans, and landlords.

Listening to Fan Zhongyan's analysis, Zhao Jun also felt that he had considered it a little inappropriately.

It was difficult for the ancient imperial society to achieve such a point, so it was easy to cause the peasant association to get out of control.

Thinking of this, Zhao Jun said: "What you said is right, and it is true that I didn't do a good job, but the reform is supposed to be improved step by step, let's discuss it first, and finally come up with a summary charter." ”

"I think it's better to start with the rule of officials."

Fan Zhongyan reminded: "The rule of officials is fundamental, and only after rectifying the national officialdom and officials can the subsequent decrees be issued." ”

"Hmm."

Zhao Jun nodded and said, "Okay, then let's discuss the governance of the officials first, and I don't need to say more about the test method." ”

"Rest assured, I have already perfected all kinds of assessment systems, rules and standards."

"That's okay, I helped you improve the official restructuring in advance, and divide the functions and powers of officials well, just to pass the law, so that if you do a good job in the governance of Xu officials, officials and officials will be able to govern greatly."

"The only thing I'm worried about now is the civil and military affairs of the Manchu Dynasty."

Fan Zhongyan said sadly: "I really don't know what you think, redundant officials, you have arranged those idle officials to take up posts, and now you have to use the examination method to eliminate them, isn't that even more resistance?" ”

"Originally, so many new departments would have required so many officials, otherwise how would the work of the new departments be carried out?"

Zhao Jun shrugged his shoulders and said, "Don't have a psychological burden, go for it boldly." I, the official family, and the entire Constitutional Yuan, are your strong backing, make good use of the prestige you have accumulated this time, and succeed in one fell swoop, and you will be a famous minister through the ages in the future! ”

"I'm afraid it's a lot of scolding."

Fan Zhongyan rolled his eyes.

The first step of Qingli's new policy is naturally to do a good job in the governance of officials, otherwise other policies will be promoted, and this dark and corrupt environment of government will be promoted?

Which was the best in ancient society?

That is naturally Zhang Juzheng's reform.

The single-handed test was carried out, and the last elimination system made the Ming Dynasty officials involved to death.

And it works wonders.

For example, cracking down on corruption, breaking bureaucracy, reforming bad habits and leakage in officialdom, and so on.

According to statistics, during the 10 years that Zhang Juzheng was in power, a large number of incompetent and unclean "big tigers" and "small flies" were excavated.

One-third of the officials were dismissed because of the implementation of the examination law.

And because of the existence of the test method, "the limit of the test is clear at a glance". It has completely broken the traditional prejudice of seniority, and boldly appointed talents regardless of their background and qualifications.

It can be said that the effect is remarkable.

The officialdom of the Song Dynasty now is estimated to be no different from that time of the Ming Dynasty.

After the emergence of the test method, it is bound to strike a blow at the current lifeless and lifeless officialdom.

not only gives officials KPI assessments, eliminates a large number of incompetent and mediocre people, but also hides the corrupt officials who are hidden under the ground and are not discovered by Zhao Jun when he inspects the world, so that they have nothing to hide.

The only problem may be that the officialdom hates Lao Fan to death.

Just like the officials of the Ming Dynasty hated Zhang Juzheng!

(End of chapter)