Without money, what is the point of being a traitor?

Chapter 389 Xia Yan's plot killing
Pei Yuan rubbed his forehead and said to Wang Chang bluntly, "So it's not that easy to get a group of obedient candidates?"

"A batch of..." Wang Chang was speechless, feeling that Captain Pei was somewhat disrespectful to intellectuals.

He said to Pei Yuan, "In the six prefectures of Shandong, only about 80 juren are produced every three years. Those with strong backgrounds are naturally impossible to be recruited by us. Those without backgrounds, who are a little older and have no hope of a career in the government, will generally choose to be assigned an official position outside the capital if they fail the imperial examination."

"Only those who come from humble backgrounds but have outstanding talents and are relatively young can become our targets."

Pei Yuan continued Wang Chang's words and said, "But for people like this, no matter how much we do for them, they may not remember our feelings."

Wang Chang sighed, "That's it."

After hearing this, Pei Yuan began tapping his fingers on the table.

Seeing this, Wang Chang didn't say much and let Pei Yuan think about it.

After a while, Pei Yuan asked Wang Chang, "What do you think if the scope of this special examination is expanded to include scholars? Let the scholars take the examination for Juren again, and then go to the capital to take the examination for Jinshi?"

Wang Chang reminded him, "Even in the Song Dynasty, there were not many special examinations, and at least the candidates had to be juren. Now there has not been a special examination since the Ming Dynasty. If we want to benefit the scholars all of a sudden, it will definitely attract more opposition."

Pei Yuan hummed, also feeling that it was not very realistic.

Wang Chang asked Pei Yuan again, "Have you explained the matter of the Enke to His Majesty?"

Pei Yuan replied, "I don't want to alert the enemy too early, so I haven't revealed my intention to too many people. But the emperor shouldn't refuse. As long as the emperor says something like this, he will make a lot of money no matter what the result is. Why would he refuse?"

Enke was originally a means of showing favor to the lower classes and winning over those who failed the imperial examination.

Who wants to waste their best years and wait for three years after three years?

If I could have the opportunity to take the exam again, I would definitely make all the candidates in the two capitals and thirteen provinces grateful to me.

And it wasn't just the successful candidates who were happy.

The special examination is relative to the regular examination. One more special examination means that two or three hundred more Jinshi will be admitted, and the pressure on the candidates in the next examination will naturally be greatly reduced.

Now is an era where civil servants govern the country. As long as Zhu Houzhao expresses this intention, no matter who dares to jump out and oppose it, he will inevitably be cursed by scholars all over the world.

So no matter whether Zhu Houzhao could implement this special examination or not, as long as he opened his mouth, he would definitely win.

The rebellion in Bazhou had previously wreaked havoc in the north, and it was a time when people needed to be won over and appeased. When the time came and Lu Ting, a meritorious official, spoke up and pointed out the matter, Zhu Houzhao would certainly be very interested.

Pei Yuan was thinking about it, and suddenly something came to his mind. He asked Wang Chang, "Are there any useful talents among those Liaodong children?"

As spiritual Shandong people, people from Liaodong still use Shandong school records, and their juren quotas come from Shandong.

When Liaodong was first opened up, it was mainly populated by military households and artisan households. Naturally, there were no powerful civil servant families. Those who could read and write were all relatives of civil and military officials.

The household registration system during the Ming Dynasty was not as rigid as we imagined. It did not mean that the children of military households could only join the army, and the children of artisan households could only become artisans.

This household registration requirement is aimed at "households" rather than people.

In other words, in a military household passed down from the early Ming Dynasty, as long as one person went out to join the army, the remaining children could farm if they wanted to, or hang out on the streets if they wanted to, and no one would care.

Are there any exceptions?
There are exceptions.

For example, among the imperial guards, there was a guard called the Left Guard. One day, a soldier in this guard died. So the officials of this guard diligently tracked down his family and asked the military households in his area to send a replacement to serve in the army.

After much investigation, it was found that the soldier's family had no descendants and there were no males available to serve in the Zuowei Army of the Prefecture Army.

But don't panic, just trace back along the clan generations.

Finally, they traced back to the soldier's hometown of Yuanzhou, Jiangxi, but still couldn't find a man named Ding who was suitable for military service.

Later, I finally found someone who could inherit the military position, and he is now working for someone else.

So the Ministry of War sent a message, Lao Deng, come to the military sub-district to report as soon as possible!

This person is none other than Xia Yan, the Minister of Rites of Emperor Wanshou of Xuandu Realm.

When Xia Yan received the notice of military service, he was stunned.

This fucking guy is already the Grand Secretary of Wuying Palace, the Junior Tutor, the Grand Doctor of Guanglu, and the Grand Pillar of the State!

Now I’m only one step away from becoming the Prime Minister!

You want me to report to the military sub-district?
But what can be done? Xia Yan is a military household.

And Xia Yan doesn’t even have a son.

When he was the only one left in his family, he had to serve as a soldier.

So Xia Yan encountered the most fatal crisis in his official career.

The horror of this crisis is comparable to the plot killing in the game.

I wouldn't even dare to write this in a damn storybook, a guy born as a grass-roots military household would be drafted to be a soldier when he is about to become a powerful figure in the world.

So Xia Yan cried and went to find Emperor Wanshou of Xuandu Realm, "Your Majesty, please say something."

Jiajing was a little dumbfounded when he heard this. How could I, an emperor born into a vassal family, know this?

This, this is a question about the fixed body!

Therefore, Emperor Jiajing issued a special decree to remove Xia Yan from the military service.

Therefore, in Liaodong, which was developed by military households and artisan households, a large number of people did not join the army or work as artisans, which was enough to form a relatively complete ecosystem of scholars, farmers, merchants and artisans.

Moreover, the military households were very capable in taking imperial examinations. Among those who passed the imperial examinations in the Ming Dynasty, the number of military households reached half of that of civilian households.

Even among the artisan households, which are considered to be of low status in everyone's stereotype, the number of Jinshi can reach one-eighth of that of ordinary households.

Considering the proportion of artisans in the population of the Ming Dynasty, this number is simply outrageous.

Liaodong has been thriving for so many years, and Pei Yuan believes that there must be many vigorous military and artisan students.

Wang Chang was also moved when he heard this, and said to Pei Yuan, "There are some successful candidates in Liaodong."

He added, "Although there is no clear statement, it is a custom in Shandong to give three to five juren quotas to the Liaodong children in each subject of the imperial examination."

"But the imperial examination is not just about talent and learning."

"Liaodong is isolated overseas, and its literary style is very different from that of the Central Plains. When these candidates from Liaodong came to Beijing to take the exam, the examiners opened the papers and took a few glances, and they realized that people with different beliefs could not work together, and these candidates had no connection with them."

"These people naturally have no hope of becoming Jinshi."

Pei Yuan had no better choice now, so he could only say, "Then postpone the lecture date and notify the Liaodong candidates as much as possible to come. Since they lack a guide in this regard, they will definitely cherish this opportunity."

"Please help me select some local talents from Shandong who can be used. I'll give them a rough review first."

"I have brought Huo Tao with me this time. He is a man of great talent and will be of great use to me in the future. Let him follow you and learn how to do things. When those scholars arrive, let Huo Tao get in touch with them first." Wang Chang was not clear about Pei Yuan's further plans, but building up his own party was what a qualified leader should do.

If Pei Yuan just muddles through and does nothing, then their careers will have no future at all.

Pei Yuan has now begun to place people in the court. He is a man of great talent and strategy, quite like Wang Jujun.

Wang Chang naturally tried his best to cooperate with Pei Yuan's request.

Pei Yuan then asked, "How far have you progressed in counting the soybean fields?"

Wang Chang frowned again when he heard this and sighed, "I'm afraid things are not as simple as we thought."

Wang Chang explained, "The bean fields of the common people are easy to deal with. I have asked various places to count the number of fields and contract them out. But now, in addition to the land of the common people, there is still a large amount of land in the hands of the princes and guards."

"It is difficult for the government to intervene in these lands, and local officials cannot afford to offend them. The amount of land owned by these two companies is huge. As long as they use some of the land to grow soybeans, it will be enough to have a big impact on the price of soybeans."

Pei Yuan also felt it was a bit troublesome after hearing this.

If he cannot form a short-term monopoly advantage over soybeans, then Pei Yuan's hard-earned bargaining power over soybeans will be greatly weakened.

Those vassal kings and garrisons were able to take advantage of Pei Yuan's offer at almost no cost.

Then Pei Yuan would suffer a great loss.

Pei Yuan thought of the large and small vassal kings and garrisons in Shandong, and he also felt a little confused.

There are two strongest vassal clans in Shandong now, one is the Dewang clan and the other is the Luwang clan.

In addition to Prince De, the lineage of Prince De also included his eldest son Prince Tai'an and his third son Prince Jining.

The lineage of King Lu is quite old. In addition to the King of Lu, there are also the King of Zhenye, the King of Zouping, the King of Anqiu, the King of Leling, the King of Dong'ou, the King of Bucheng, the King of Guantao, the King of Yicheng, the King of Guishan, the King of Ziyang, and the King of Yangxin.

The Dewang faction is powerful and has concentrated strength.

Although the power of the Lu Wang family became scattered during the feudal division, the Lu Wang family and the Kong family always maintained a close marriage.

The Kong family also maintained marriage alliances with a large number of court officials.

Although the power of the Lu Wang faction was dispersed, the potential power of its allies was extremely huge.

There were also Hengfan in Qingzhou and Jingfan in Yizhou.

These princes alone hold large tracts of land in their hands.

In addition there are guards.

The garrisons actually had their own land, and using the arable land of the garrisons to support themselves was the policy when the dynasty was first established.

Although much of the garrison's land had been divided up, it was still not subject to local control.

Pei Yuan thought for a moment and asked Wang Chang, "How many military governors are there in Shandong now?"

Wang Chang replied, "Now there are seven patrols in Wuding, Jining, Caopu, Yizhou, Linqing, Qingzhou, and Dengzhou."

The Bingbei Dao was a special first-level institution. As an organizational structure for controlling the military with civil power in peacetime, the chief of the Bingbei Dao was under the jurisdiction of the Ancha Si and had supervisory and judicial powers over the relevant guards.

Later, as civil officials became more and more powerful, they could even exert some influence on the money, grain and military farms of the garrisons.

Officials of the Bingbei Dao usually held the title of deputy envoy or assistant envoy of the Ancha Si.

Pei Yuan felt that he could make some use of this, so he asked Wang Chang, "Can we get these military officials together and have a meal together?"

Wang Chang knew that Pei Yuan was planning to personally go into battle and persuade these people.

He said, "It's just a small matter. After taking office, I haven't visited the Shandong Provincial Surveillance Office yet. It's a good opportunity for me to go with the thousand households."

In the early days, the Censorate was still very powerful because it was responsible for supervision and was under the jurisdiction of the Censorate, making it the father of officials from all over the country.

During the Xuande reign, when Zhao Xin, the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, was on his tour of Jiangxi, he wanted to go to the Jiangxi Provincial Surveillance Office to provide guidance. However, he was stopped at the door by the Jiangxi Provincial Surveillance Office, who politely asked him, "Who do you think you are?"

This is because although the Jiangxi Provincial Surveillance Office was named Jiangxi, it was actually under the jurisdiction of the Censorate, a central government agency.

We all come from the central government. Why do you, a right vice minister of the Ministry of Personnel, think of managing the work of the Censorate?

Zhao Xin had no choice but to leave in disgrace.

Later, in the fourth year of Jingtai, Geng Jiuchou inspected Shaanxi as the right vice minister of the Ministry of Justice, and he also encountered the unruly Shaanxi Censorate.

Geng Jiuchou could no longer hold back his tears and ran to Emperor Jingtai, "Your Majesty, please say something."

What could Emperor Jingtai say when he was confused?
Damn it! How would I, an emperor born into a vassal family, know this?

This, this is a question about the fixed body!

So Emperor Jingtai gave Geng Jiuchou the title of Left Vice-Censor-in-Chief.

The Left Vice-Chief Censor was an official of the Censorate, which gave him the right to inquire into the affairs of the Provincial Surveillance Commissioner's Office.

When Geng Jiuchou came to the Shaanxi Provincial Surveillance Office again, the rebellious people there saw that there was a "+" sign after Geng Jiuchou's official title of "Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice", so they curiously clicked on the drop-down menu.

As a result, the glaring words "Left Vice-Minister of the Imperial Censorate" blinded the officials of the Censorate.

From then on, the governors and governors-general sent by the Ming Dynasty had to carry the additional title of Chief Censor.

This time when Wang Chang was transferred to a local post, he was specially appointed as the Right Censor-in-Chief, so it was not difficult to find those officials from the Military Preparations Department.

Pei Yuan thought of Shandong's special long-arm jurisdiction, and said to Wang Chang, "Oh, by the way, let's also call the deputy envoy in charge of the three guards of Tianjin and Liaohai Dongning Road."

"Cheng Leixiang intends to control Tianjin's three guards and is now infiltrating Tianjin's left and right guards. I'll see if I can give him a heads-up."

"Many of the young men in Liaodong are from the families of local civil and military officials, and they have a close relationship with Liaohai Dongning Road. I have to try to sort this out."

Wang Chang said, "This is easy to handle. The deputy envoy in charge of the three guards in Tianjin is not out, and the deputy envoy in charge of Liaohai Dongning Road has gone to inspect Liaodong. It's just right for him to take a boat back with those Liaodong boys to report on his work."

Pei Yuan listened to Wang Chang's words and slowly formed an idea in his mind.

Liaodong, isolated overseas, seems to be a good place to establish a branch base.

If he could train a group of Jinshi from Liaodong and replace the deputy envoy in charge of Liaohai Dongning Road with his own people, wouldn't that be the key to controlling Liaodong?

However, if you want to control Liaodong, you must first control the Shandong Beiwodusi.

Because the Denglai waterway is an important channel connecting Liaodong, and the Shandong Beiwodusi has a large number of warships and can cut off the connection between Shandong and Liaodong at any time.

(End of this chapter)