Lu Tianshi said: "Are you worried that the scholars selected through the imperial examination will form an alliance with a high-ranking family like the five surnames and Qiwang, and then monopolize the officialdom and power, and then the gate valve of the Wei and Jin dynasties will appear?" ”

"Heavenly Master, I'm afraid this is no longer a worry, but a fact." Li Longji smiled bitterly, "As early as the Taizong Dynasty, the family headed by the five surnames and Qiwang had de facto control of the imperial examination, and the scholars selected through the imperial examination were either the sons of the family or the sons-in-law of the family, and the real children of the poor family were not qualified to participate in the imperial examination at all, or even if they obtained the qualifications to participate in the imperial examination, it was difficult to be Chinese." ”

"It is precisely because of this that the emperor's grandmother was angry and opened the first precedent for the people of the market to suppress the family Gaomen, and I have been competing with the family Gaomen for more than 40 years, but all the upper and lower aspects are their people, I am like being trapped in a big net, and I am powerless to break free, so I will be angry and stop Zhang Jiuling, and named Li Linfu, a disciple of the clan, as the right minister, and Yang Guozhong, who was born in the market, as the prime minister."

Lu Tianshi said: "And the reuse of Hu as a general is also to beware of the family Gaomen, right?" ”

"Well, exactly." Li Longji nodded and said, "Only let the children of the family masters seize the power, but they lose the national government, if the children of the family masters are allowed to control the military power of the local feudal towns, then the disaster of the former dynasty will be repeated immediately, Li Tang is afraid that he will change his surname overnight, so I am helpless to do this." ”

Lu Tianshi said: "So, you also admit that you can't solve the trouble of the family's high family, right?" ”

"Whoa." Li Longji said helplessly, "Although I don't want to admit it, I am still young and difficult to solve, and now that I am old and frail, it is even more impossible to solve this big problem." ”

Lu Tianshi said: "Then do you think the crown prince Li Heng has the ability to solve it?" ”

"Him?" Li Longji said disdainfully, "Even ten Li Heng can't solve this matter." ”

"It's not just Li Heng who can't solve it, but none of your children and grandchildren can solve it." Lu Tianshi shook his head and said, "Then do you want to know how the harm of the family's gate valve was finally solved?" ”

Li Longji hurriedly straightened his face and said, "Please also ask Master Lu Tianshi to give advice." ”

"It's simple, one word, kill." Lu Tianshi made a gesture to wipe his throat.

"What? Kill? Li Longji said, "The intention of the Heavenly Master, is it to kill them all?" ”

"Yes, kill all the high-ranking families of the family, and the harm of the family will be eliminated." Lu Tianshi said, "I might as well tell you one more thing, these two people who killed all the high-ranking families of the family were also the culprits of the downfall of Li Tang." ”

Li Longji's eyes lit up and asked, "Is that the person surnamed Zhu that Lu Tianshi said before?" ”

"There's also a guy surnamed Huang." Lu Tianshi said, "This is a son of a Han family, who has participated in the imperial examination three times, but as Ling said, the imperial examination is just a formality, whether you can take the exam, whether you can win the exam, whether you can win the exam, you have to say it to the family Gaomen, that Huang surnamed Shi repeatedly failed the test, and in a fit of anger, he pulled the flag and rebelled, and then every time he went to the city, the first thing he did was to kill the local officials and the children of the family Gaomen." ”

"I see." Li Longji's face flashed with a look of enlightenment, and he bowed his head and said, "It's no wonder that he is." ”

"I really can't blame him." Lu Tianshi said, "If the imperial examination is open and fair, and ensures that the children of the poor family can take the exam and can also be Chinese, this scholar surnamed Huang will definitely not rebel, maybe he will be a loyal and virtuous minister, and the Tang Dynasty will probably not die, what do you think?" ”

Li Longji thought so: "What the Heavenly Master said is true. ”

Lu Tianshi continued: "In fact, it is necessary to put an end to the harm of the high family family, and there is no need to kill all the people by such drastic means, as long as the ascending channel of the cold door is ensured and the class is not solidified." ”

"Guarantee the ascending passage of the cold door? Don't let the strata form solidification? Li Longji was thoughtful.

"Yes, for the country, once the strata are solidified, they will inevitably tend to be conservative, and those with vested interests will inevitably put an end to any form of change in order to keep the interests in their hands, and those who are from poor backgrounds and have outstanding abilities will seek to break the original platform due to the lack of an upward channel, that is, to rebel."

"I see." Li Longji's political talent is extremely high, and he can understand it at one point.

After a pause, Li Longji said again: "Then how to ensure the ascending channel of the children of the poor family?" ”

"It's actually very simple." Lu Tianshi said, "As long as we ensure that every child of a poor family is eligible to participate in the exam, and at the same time ensure that the exam is fair and just." ”

"So easy?" Li Longji was a little unconvinced.

"That's right, it's as simple as that." Lu Tianshi said, "As far as I know, what those high-ranking families use to attract the children of the poor family is nothing more than marriage, but once all the children of the poor family can take the exam and ensure the fairness and impartiality of the examination, it will no longer be possible for the high-ranking family to win over the children of the poor family through the method of marriage." ”

"Why?" Li Longji said, "Why can't you win over the children of the poor family through marriage? ”

"Because there are not so many little ladies in the family." Lu Tianshi said, "You can hold a imperial examination once a year, and hundreds of people are selected in each subject, and there are only more than 20 families in the Tang Dynasty, and how many little ladies can marry?" ”

What Lu Tianshi is talking about here is actually the imperial examination of the Ming and Qing dynasties, which is the examination method of vague names and transcription.

In fact, the imperial examination system of the Ming and Qing dynasties also has flaws, and it will also form a larger number of gentry groups, and the Donglin Party is one of the gentry groups, and this gentry group will also form a class solidification in the end, and its harm is not under the high family gate, and the Ming Dynasty will die in the disaster of the gentry group.

Therefore, it is necessary to revise the imperial examination system in the Ming and Qing dynasties.

However, there is no hurry now, the top priority is to implement the imperial examination system of the Ming and Qing dynasties first.

"What, take hundreds of scholars?" Li Longji was stunned and said, "How should so many scholars be arranged." ”

Datang's imperial examinations usually only select dozens of people at a time, and sometimes only a dozen people are selected.

Therefore, hundreds of people were selected in a single imperial examination, which was completely unimaginable for Li Longji.

"Didn't I just say that? The prime minister must start from the state and county, so the new branch scholar must go down to the local government to serve as the county magistrate, and then transfer or promote after the completion of the county magistrate examination until he enters the political hall and serves as the prime minister. ”

"However, there are not so many vacancies in the place, so what can I do?" Li Longji was also in a dilemma.

"Then remove some local officials." Lu Tianshi said, "There are serious flaws in the current system of electing officials in the Tang Dynasty, and the jiedu envoys of the local feudal towns and the state assassins have the power to recommend subordinate officials, how can this be done?" Of course, in the first few years, there were not so many officials from the imperial examination, and two sets of official election systems could be adopted in parallel, but the final official election system must be formalized and institutionalized. ”

"Heavenly Master, I'm afraid this won't work." Li Longji shook his head with a wry smile and said, "This system can't be implemented at all. ”

"How?" Lu Tianshi said, "Are you worried that the Jiedu envoys of the local feudal towns and the state assassins will resist?" ”

Li Longji said: "Most of the envoys or soldiers and horses of the feudal towns are from the Hu people, even if they are not Hu people, they are basically the children of the Han family, so the problem should not be big, but the local officials such as the economic envoys, pacification envoys and state assassins are basically the children of the high-ranking families of various families, or they have a close relationship with the high-ranking families of various families, so they will resolutely resist it, unless all the local officials can be replaced at one time, otherwise this system is impossible to implement." ”

In the final analysis, no matter how well designed the system is, it also needs people to implement it, and now the officialdom of the Tang Dynasty is occupied by the children of twenty-eight high-ranking families or officials who have a close relationship with them.

It is also because of this that Li Longji has never been able to get rid of the constraints of the family's high family.

For example, Pei's family, such as Cui's, such as Du's, such as Xue's, etc., etc., the interests of the twenty-eight top families have been tightly entangled, intertwined, and it is really difficult to move the whole body.