Lu Tianshi said: "Are you worried that the scholars selected through the imperial examination will form an alliance with the powerful families of the Five Surnames and Qiwang, and then monopolize the officialdom and power, and then the clans of the Wei and Jin Dynasties will emerge?"
"Master Tian, I'm afraid this is no longer a worry, but has become a fact." Li Longji said with a bitter smile, "As early as the Taizong Dynasty, the high-ranking families headed by Qiwang of the fifth surname had actually controlled the imperial examinations and passed the imperial examinations. The selected scholars are either the children of aristocratic families or the sons-in-law of aristocratic families, and the truly poor children are not qualified to participate in the imperial examination at all, or even if they are qualified to participate in the imperial examination, it will be difficult for them to pass."
"It is precisely because of this that the Imperial Grandmother set the precedent of using a member of the public as her prime minister in a fit of rage, in order to suppress the high-ranking families of the aristocratic family. I have been fighting with the high-ranking families of the aristocratic family for more than forty years. However, no matter how high or low I am, They were all their people in every aspect. It was like I was trapped in a big net with no way to break free, so I got angry and killed Zhang Jiuling, and appointed Li Linfu, a member of the clan, as the right minister, and Yang Guozhong, who was born in the business world. For the prime minister."
Master Lu Tian said: "If you use foreigners as generals, you are also wary of high-ranking families, right?"
"Well, that's exactly what it is." Li Longji nodded and said, "Only letting the high-ranking sons of aristocratic families hold the power of the prime minister will only result in the loss of state affairs. If the sons of high-ranking aristocratic families take over the military power of local vassal towns, the disaster of the former dynasty will be imminent. If it happens again, Li Tang will have to change his surname overnight, so I have no choice but to do this."
Master Lu Tian said: "So, you also admit that you cannot solve the problems of the noble family, right?"
"Here." Li Longji said helplessly, crossing his hands, "Although I really don't want to admit it, it is difficult for me to solve this problem when I am young. Now that I am old and frail, it is even more impossible to solve this big problem."
Master Lu Tian said: "Then do you think Prince Li Heng is capable of solving it?"
"Him?" Li Longji said disdainfully, "Even ten Li Hengs can't solve this matter."
"Not only Li Heng can't solve it, but none of your descendants can solve it." Master Lu Tianshi shook his head and said, "Then do you want to know how the family's troubles were finally solved?"
Li Longji quickly straightened his face and said, "Please give me some advice from Master Lu Tian."
"It's very simple, one word, kill." Lu Tianshi made a gesture of wiping his throat.
"What? Kill?" Li Longji said, "Does the Heavenly Master intend to kill them all?"
"Yes, if you kill all the high-ranking members of the aristocratic family, the harm to the family will be eliminated." Master Lu Tian said, "I might as well tell you one more thing. Killing all the two high-ranking members of the aristocratic family will also bring about the downfall of Li Tang. The culprit."
Li Longji looked sharply and asked, "Is this the person surnamed Zhu that Master Lu mentioned before?"
"There is also a man named Huang." Lu Tianshi said, "This is a son of the Han family who has participated in the imperial examination three times. But as you said, the imperial examination is just a formality. Whether you can take the exam or not, after taking the exam Whether you can win or not depends on the decision of the high-ranking family. The scholar named Huang failed many times and rebelled in anger. Then every time he entered a city, the first thing he did was to kill him. Local officials and children of high-ranking families.”
"I see." A look of understanding flashed across Li Longji's face, and he nodded, "I can't blame him."
"I really can't blame him." Lu Tianshi said, "If the imperial examination is open and fair, and ensures that children from poor families can take the exam and be able to learn Chinese style, this scholar surnamed Huang will never rebel, and he will probably be a loyal and virtuous minister. I’m afraid Tang will not die, what do you think?”
Li Longji believed deeply: "The Heavenly Master said it is true."
Master Lu Tianshi continued: "In fact, if you want to prevent harm from the high-ranking families, you don't need to take such drastic measures as killing them all. You just need to ensure the upward path of the poor families and prevent the formation of a solidified hierarchy."
"Guarantee the upward path for poor families? Prevent the formation of strata?" Li Longji thought thoughtfully.
"Yes, for the country, once the class is solidified, it will inevitably tend to be conservative. In order to protect the interests in their hands, those with vested interests will inevitably put an end to any form of change. Those who come from poor families and have outstanding abilities will become more conservative due to the lack of opportunities for advancement. Seeking to destroy the original platform is to start a rebellion.”
"That's it." Li Longji was extremely talented in politics, and he knew everything at once.
After a pause, Li Longji said again: "Then how can we ensure the upward path for children from poor families?"
"This is actually very simple." Lu Tianshi said, "Just ensure that every child from a poor family is eligible to participate in the exam, and at the same time ensure that the exam is fair and just."
"So simple?" Li Longji didn't believe it.
"Yes, it's that simple." Master Lu Tianshi said, "As far as I know, what those high-ranking families use to win over the children from poor families is nothing more than marriage. However, once all the children from poor families can take part in the exam and ensure the fairness and justice of the exam, It is no longer possible for a high-ranking family to win over the children of a poor family through marriage."
"Why?" Li Longji asked, "Why can't we win over children from poor families through marriage anymore?"
"Because the high-ranking families don't have that many young ladies." Lu Tianshi said, "You can hold an imperial examination every year and get hundreds of people in each subject. There are only about twenty aristocratic families in the Tang Dynasty, so how many young ladies are there? Can you get married?"
What Lu Tianshi is talking about here is actually the imperial examination in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, which used the method of anonymizing and transcribing.
In fact, the imperial examination system of the Ming and Qing Dynasties also had flaws, and it would also form a larger gentry group. The Donglin Party was one of the gentry groups, and this gentry group would also form a class solidification in the end. Under the sect, the Ming Dynasty perished at the hands of the gentry group.
Therefore, the imperial examination system of the Ming and Qing Dynasties still needs to be revised.
But there is no rush now. The top priority is to implement the Ming and Qing imperial examination system first.
"What, take hundreds of scholars?" Li Longji said in astonishment, "How should we arrange so many scholars?"
In the imperial examinations of the Tang Dynasty, only dozens of people usually succeeded, and sometimes only ten people succeeded.
Therefore, it was completely unimaginable for Li Longji that hundreds of people passed the imperial examination in one examination.
"Didn't I just say that? Prime ministers must start from prefectures and counties, so new scholars must go down to serve as county magistrates. After passing the county magistrate examination, they will be transferred or promoted until they enter the political hall and serve as prime minister."
"But there aren't that many vacancies, so what can we do?" Li Longji was also in a dilemma.
"Then remove some local officials." Lu Tianshi said, "The current official selection system in the Tang Dynasty has serious flaws. The governors of local vassal towns and state governors have the power to recommend subordinate officials. How can this be done? All officials must be The central government will dispatch officials, and they must be from the imperial examination. Of course, in the first few years, there will not be so many officials from the imperial examination, so two official selection systems can be adopted in parallel, but in the end the official selection system must be formalized and institutionalized."
"Master Tian, I'm afraid this won't work." Li Longji smiled bitterly and shook his head, "This system cannot be implemented at all."
"What?" Master Lu Tian asked, "Are you worried that the governors of local feudal towns and governors of the state will resist?"
Li Longji said: "Most of the military envoys or soldiers and horse envoys in the feudal towns are from Hu people. Even if they are not Hu people, they are basically from poor families, so the problem should not be big, but the local economic envoys, appeasement envoys, and state governors, etc. Officials are basically the children of various high-ranking families, or have close connections with various high-ranking families, so they will definitely resist. Unless all local officials can be replaced at once, this system will not work at all. May be implemented."
In the final analysis, no matter how well-designed the system is, it still needs people to implement it, and now that the officialdom of the Tang Dynasty has been occupied by the children of the twenty-eight noble families or officials who have close relations with them, at this time, the central government dispatches poor families If a scholar from a new family goes to serve as a local official, wouldn't that mean that high-ranking officials from various aristocratic families would stab themselves in the heart?
It is also because of this that Li Longji has never been able to get rid of the constraints of the high-ranking family.
For example, the Pei family, the Cui family, the Du family, the Xue family, etc., etc., etc., the interests of the twenty-eight top aristocratic families have been tightly entangled and intertwined. It is really difficult to deal with the whole body.
