"You're right."
Li Shimin sighed lightly,
"The country must be passed down and the government must run smoothly, so talents must not wither! There must be capable officials in the government!"
"In the first year of Zhenguan, I ordered Fang Xuanling to lay off officials. Unexpectedly, thousands of people were laid off during this layoff! The number of officials in the imperial court was reduced to 644!"
“This also shows that talent is rare.”
Out of thousands of people, only 20% are usable, and the remaining 80% are mediocre people!
If these 80 people were allowed to control the government, would the Tang Dynasty be okay?
"It's not that rare, it's just that there's something wrong with the screening mechanism."
Xu Fenglei shook his head and said,
"Who were the people in the court before?"
"They are former Sui officials, Conglong heroes, founding heroes, separatist forces, Shandong nobles, Guanlong nobles... I can rank thousands of people in any row!"
"But most of them did not rise to power based on their own merits. Rather, out of consideration for the stability of the court, the emperor distributed benefits to each force so that they could all become officials and participate in the rule together!"
"To put it bluntly, even a fool can't find a position in the government as long as he is the son of a hero! Anyone with a little bit of ability will be spared no effort to push him to power by the forces behind him."
"As a result, although there are many people in the court, Your Majesty has no capable ministers to use."
Li Shimin nodded repeatedly.
"Yep."
He hummed softly,
"When my father was here, I was very dissatisfied with this, so I decided to abolish it in a drastic way!"
"All incompetent people must get out of the court! Even if it means making some room and saving some salary and money, it will be good!"
When this was done, there was still a lot of resistance. It was Li Er who first took action on the clan members before he was able to implement it.
I don't know if I don't masturbate, but the court is almost empty with just one masturbation!
"I deeply agree with your Majesty's move."
Xu Fenglei smiled and said,
"But the question arises again, who should fill the vacancy created?"
Li Shimin frowned.
"I just have a headache because of this."
He said dullly,
"It was better before. Although I was a little busier, I can still hold on."
"But as soon as Du Ruhui fell down, the government affairs that I had to deal with doubled! You don't know that lately, I have to go to bed when it's close to ugly every day... I'm so tired!"
"Now Fang Xuanling is still there, and the auxiliary machines are also working diligently and conscientiously, but what if they all fall down one day in the future? Who should I rely on? Who should I ask to assist?"
"Talents... I really need talents!"
Li Er sighed for a while and suddenly stared at Xu Fenglei.
"Listen clearly, I want every minister to recommend talents, but you don't seem to care much about it?"
He said displeasedly,
"With your ability to recognize people, if you take it seriously, it shouldn't be difficult to find a few wise men in the wild, right?"
When Xu Fenglei heard this, he couldn't help but laugh.
"Your Majesty, if I hadn't said so, your train of thought would be wrong."
He spread his hands and said,
"How many talents can be discovered by just relying on eyes to discover and ears to listen? Do you want me to visit the people? Search for them?"
"That's not realistic!"
Li Shimin curled his lips.
"Is my idea wrong? Then let me tell you what's right!" He hummed softly, "I caught you negligent in your duty today, and you have to make up for it! Either find me talents, or give me ideas!"
Today, he came prepared!
"What's so hard about this?"
Xu Fenglei looked relaxed and said casually,
"Establish a talent selection system to allow talented people from all over the world to take the exam, and select the best based on their test scores."
Li Shimin raised his eyebrows.
"The imperial examination system of the former Sui Dynasty?" he blurted out.
"Yes, it's the imperial examination."
Xu Fenglei nodded and said,
"I know you look down on Emperor Sui Yang, but what he did was not entirely wrong."
"For example, the imperial examination system is very good and should be vigorously developed!"
Li Shimin stroked his beard.
"Elaborate." He nodded.
"Compared with the imperial examination system, the imperial examination system has three major advantages!"
Xu Fenglei stretched out three fingers and started talking,
"First, it is able to recruit talents from all over the world! As the old saying goes: In the land of ten steps, there must be sweetgrass; in the city of ten houses, there must be loyal men! In fact, talents are everywhere, just because there is no platform to show one's ambitions and display one's talents. of talent.”
"The imperial examination is to give the majority of children from poor families and civil servants a chance to show themselves!"
"And His Majesty can also use this to select the best from the best and select the real pillars of talent from among them!"
Li Shimin's eyes lit up.
"Keep talking!" He was a little moved.
"Secondly, the imperial examination can make the world more stable!"
Xu Fenglei said again,
"Why did all the dynasties die? Our people are extremely simple. It is impossible for them to rise up in rebellion unless they have no choice but to lose all hope!"
"The imperial examination system is to give them hope - as long as ordinary people are talented and capable, you can escape poverty through the imperial examination, become a court official, fly on a branch and become a phoenix!"
"The upward path has been opened. Even if public dissatisfaction will continue to accumulate, it will never be as intense as before. More capable people will choose to work quietly and devote all their energy to studying and learning, and taking the imperial examinations."
Li Shimin listened attentively and kept nodding.
"Yes, yes, we should give the people a chance."
He continued,
"Throughout the past dynasties, most of the people who held office were wealthy nobles and relatives of nobles. The government was controlled by them, while ordinary people had no hope of getting ahead in their lives."
"But there are definitely smart people among them! And there are many of them! If they can't survive, they will naturally rise up!"
"If we could open up a way for them to rise, the situation would be very different!"
Xu Fenglei stretched out his third finger.
"The third benefit can just solve the disadvantages Your Majesty just mentioned."
He said seriously,
"Weaken the power of noble families and relatives!"
"Your Majesty, honestly speaking, do you hate those aristocratic families of the Five Surnames and Seven Hopes? And those old nobles?"
Li Shimin was startled.
He didn't expect Xu Fenglei to suddenly ask this question while he was talking, and his thoughts were changing so fast that he couldn't keep up.
"Well……"
Li Er hesitated for a moment and whispered,
"The nobles are arrogant and powerful. The former Sui Dynasty died at the hands of nobles and nobles. I naturally hate it."
"Well... I can't describe it as disgusting. It should be described as fearful."
The Li family also comes from the fifth surname and Qiwang, so they naturally know how terrifying the background of these aristocratic families is!
Dynasties will change, but they will always be evergreen trees. If the emperor falls, I will not fall.
Change of dynasty?
It doesn’t matter, just play music and dance.
Which emperor can't be wary of these existences that "jump out of the Three Realms and are not in the Five Elements"?
"That's right! Then Your Majesty, you should hold the imperial examination!"
Xu Fenglei slashed his left hand in the air and said,
"It can kill aristocratic families!"
Li Shimin was shocked.
Vaguely, he seemed to have grasped something crucial, and his heart trembled.
"Officials are selected through the inspection system, and they are all gentry and nobles. How many of the ministers in the court have friends with ordinary people? Those who can make friends with them and be recommended by them must be people of the same class! A pure community of interests!”
Xu Fenglei said loudly,
"But when selecting officials through the imperial examination system, you don't have any status as a noble gentry. It doesn't matter whether you are a young man or a mud-legged person. It all depends on a test paper to determine your merits!"
"The imperial examination is a big stage. If you have the ability, come!"
"In this way, once the threshold is lowered, it will inevitably lead to involution, and the quality of the selected talents will become higher and higher! They will drag those stupid sons of noble gentry families and mediocre losers into nowhere!"
"Your Majesty, just think about it. Those so-called aristocratic families have had no family members serving as officials in the court for several generations. They are far away from the center of power. How can they not decline?"
Da da.
Li Shimin tapped his fingers lightly on the table, pondered for a long time, and finally let out a long sigh.
"This is a blunt knife cutting flesh!"
He couldn't help but give a thumbs up and said,
"Listen, if it's vicious, it's you! You're a noble gentry that's so powerful that I'm afraid of you. You can just take out an imperial examination and crush it to pieces!"
"Awesome, really awesome!"
"It seems that the imperial examination system must be implemented! I'm afraid I will be so excited that I can't sleep tonight! Talents, talents... Talents from all over the world are rushing towards me! I can withstand it! "
Li Er stood up suddenly, opened his arms, and looked excited!
He has already begun to fantasize about the wonderful picture of a steady stream of top talents being used for himself!
"What's going on?"
Changsun Wugou spat and threw a piece of pastry into his mouth.
Xu Fenglei was "praised" by the emperor, but he just smiled modestly and waved his hand.
"Your Majesty, you are so complimentary. Emperor Sui Yang thought of this earlier than I did. It's just that he took too big a step and hit his egg."
He joked and then said,
"Based on the lessons learned from this, we should take action slowly and not expose all our intentions to arouse vigilance and opposition."
"Besides, the education system has not been established, and there are so many illiterates among the people. If they are asked to take the exam at once, they will not be able to pass the exams of the gentry children with family education!"
Li Shimin nodded.
"Your ideas are very mature."
He agreed,
"The soft knife cuts the flesh, and it needs to be subtle so that they don't feel the pain."
"Therefore, when the imperial examination is to be held, young talents should be selected among the noble gentry class, and they should be arranged to take the imperial examination. At the same time, publicity should be fully publicized among the people to attract talents. This cannot be too much. Twenty percent is enough."
"Eighty percent vs. twenty percent, let them compete! Admission will be based on merit!"
"In this way, the gentry will not object, and the imperial examination system can be implemented smoothly. In the future, we will slowly increase the share of the poorer families and the head of Guizhou. After finally forming an unbreakable imperial examination system, everyone will be treated equally and the examination will be fair!"
Xu Fenglei gave a thumbs up gesture.
"Your Majesty is wise and has far-reaching plans!"
He praised highly,
"In this way, in less than a hundred years, the imperial examination system will be completely formed, and the upward path for the bottom will be opened!"
"If this system can be improved, the Tang Dynasty will surely extend the country!"
Xu Fenglei never forgot his long-cherished goal - to extend the Tang Dynasty for one hundred more years!
Historically, the Tang Dynasty also had an imperial examination system, but it was not perfect. It would take until the Song Dynasty for the system to become truly complete.
If the imperial examination system could be improved in advance, it would give the Tang Dynasty a few more decades, wouldn’t it be too much?
"Hahaha, okay, okay!"
Li Shimin was very happy and clapped his hands and said,
"The Grand Master is truly a genius. Every time I am confused, I turn to you and you can clear away the clouds and see the blue sky!"
"I'll leave the imperial examination matters to you!"
Xu Fenglei: "???"
"Your Majesty, don't bring such a deceitful person!"
He glared and said,
"I planned this for you, so many hairs fell out. Can't you just feel sorry for me and let me rest?"
"Besides, you also know that I have always been good at talking on paper, and my strategy is my best, but my practice is my shortcoming!"
This Li Er regards himself as the donkey of the production team!
There are wars to be fought, finances to be managed, and project construction to be taken care of... What a good thing now, but one more person to handle the imperial examinations?
You might as well split me in four!
"Your practice is not short, it's just shorter compared to Qimu."
Li Shimin patted Xu Fenglei's shoulder and said with a smile,
"Don't worry, I still don't know what your temperament is? I will arrange an assistant for you."
"Which one you want is up to you! I'll have him work as a coolie for you right away!"
"Changsun Wuji." Xu Fenglei said without hesitation.
After all, I had just accepted Changsun Wuji's love, and now that I have "fat meat", I must let him eat it!
"Um?"
Changsun Wugou turned his head, frowned and said,
"Listen Ming, what do you want brother to do?"
Xu Fenglei shook his head helplessly.
"Queen, please don't be too sensitive. I just want the auxiliary machine to help me and organize the talent examination."
He explained,
"He won't control power, but he will have a good reputation."
"I know you don't want him to take charge, but you still have to let the auxiliary machine use his talents, right?"
The eldest grandson Wugao suddenly understood.
"that is!"
Li Shimin said dissatisfiedly,
"The assistant is such a good brother! He is loyal and capable! He can definitely serve as prime minister!"
"If he had taken over Du Ruhui's position to help manage the government, I wouldn't be as tired as I am now. Maid Guanyin, I say you... are really too selfish!"
Li Shimin and Changsun Wujia were deeply in love as husband and wife and seldom quarreled, but they had quarreled several times just because of Changsun Wuji!
Every time, Changsun Wugou would never give in.
This time, too.
"I listened to what you just talked about. The imperial examination is a good thing."
Changsun Wugu said calmly,
"Since it's to help Ting Ming, let's ask him to go. I agree."
Li Shimin's face darkened.
"What? Does it still need your approval? If you don't approve, he can't go?"
Li Er was very unhappy and asked.
"right."
Changsun Wugou raised his head and said confidently,
"I am the queen, and he is my brother. He is a relative, so naturally he is under my control!"
"If I don't agree, I can't go!"
"Don't glare at me. This is all for the continuation of the Li family's country! Think about how much trouble the relatives have caused when they took power in the past dynasties. You don't know!"
Li Shimin's brows were raised, and a burst of fire was rising up.
"Forget it, Your Majesty..."
Seeing that Li Er was about to run away, Xu Fenglei immediately stopped him and said,
"The Queen is also considering the country, don't be angry, don't be angry."
"The matter of the imperial examination has been settled. Let the assistants do the work and I will be the leader..."
call!
Li Shimin flicked his sleeves and snorted coldly:
"Unreasonable! Humph!"
"Come on, let's go outside and have a cigarette! I don't want to be in the same room with her!"
Xu Fenglei: "..."
(End of chapter)
