The revival of the Han Dynasty must start with Dong Zhuo

Chapter 190 Volume Imperial Examinations and the Han Dynasty Law
"In addition, because in the past, most of the candidates were recommended by people of high moral character and prestige in the countryside, but now it seems that the clan has failed to supervise, it is better to cancel their recommendation qualifications and recommend people from the government soldiers instead."

The imperial examination is important, but not that important.

It is not that important because the current literacy rate is still low. Even if there are examinations, those who are admitted are still the children of wealthy families.

It is important because it ended the "Cao Ju System" and fundamentally shattered the means by which aristocratic families controlled the upward path.

The inspection system is that local officials inspect and select talents at any time in their jurisdiction and recommend them to their superiors or the central government, and then appoint them to official positions after probation and assessment.

However, during the process of recommendation, local officials would recommend their students, old officials, good friends and relatives out of selfish motives, and even engage in corruption and form cliques, which became the biggest drawback of the recommendation system.

The reason why the Ru'nan Yuan family is said to have "disciples and former officials spread all over the world" is because they are a family with three officials in four generations, and many of their family members have been recommended by county governors and provincial governors in various places. That is why they have such a high reputation that the brothers Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu can get hundreds of people to respond to their calls.

Even though as early as the first year of the Yangjia period, Emperor Shun of Han adopted Zuo Xiong's suggestion to reform the recommendation system and introduced an examination mechanism, which was known in history as the Yangjia New System and could be regarded as the embryo of the imperial examination system, it still could not eliminate the impact of the recommendation system from the root.

The complete replacement of the "recommendation system" with the "imperial examination system" does not mean that Liu Xie wants to completely abandon the gentry, but only means that he wants to cut off the network of connections between the various gentry families.

But Dong Zhuo has another sentence behind it -

"Nominate from the palace soldiers?"

The big Han bureaucrats present all smelled something bad.

Wei Duan didn't even bother to take care of his fear of Dong Zhuo, and directly asked Dong Zhuo: "Grandmaster, are there any talents who can govern the country among the soldiers?"

some.

Of course there is.

As early as two years ago, Liu Xie asked Lu Bu to start teaching his soldiers to read.

Later, with the promotion of the military system, the literacy rate of soldiers increased greatly.

The seeds that were planted before have finally come to fruition!
Liu Xie was very pleased.

Although those soldiers who had only studied for a few years were not even worthy of carrying shoes for the children of aristocratic families in terms of their attainments in the classics.

But does the selection of officials depend on their familiarity with the classics?
Especially grassroots officials.

There is no need for you to talk about how to govern the country.

As long as your inner values ​​are simple enough and you can understand the messages conveyed by your superiors, that is enough!

In this regard, the soldiers who came from poor backgrounds and experienced the baptism of war are more suitable than the scholars who study the books of sages all day long.

However, if we limit the selection of talents to just the government soldiers, it is actually too narrow.

Liu Xie never intended to abandon the gentry, he was just trying to find ways to contain them and drive them back to where they belonged.

Although they don't want to admit it, the gentry are ultimately the foundation for the Han Dynasty to rule and stabilize the world.

So Dong Zhuo looked at the small words on Jia Xu's tablet and gave a natural answer: "Of course it can't be just the palace soldiers. Before, many children of noble families went to teach the palace soldiers. These people can also be recommended to participate in the imperial examination."

After all, this was the first time the imperial examination was held.

Even Liu Xie was unsure.

Therefore, as the emperor, he even did not hesitate to drag Dong Zhuo to take sides.

The only people who can take the examination are the government soldiers and those teachers who had previously shown goodwill to the court and sent their family members to teach the government soldiers.

In this way, it not only protected the large number of soldiers who would be promoted to officials in the first imperial examination, but also gave these gentry a sweet treat, telling them that the court would not abandon them.

When the number of subsequent soldiers gradually increases and their knowledge becomes more and more profound, we can loosen our grip on the gentry and allow everyone to compete fairly.

But for the first session... I'm sorry, I still prefer the government soldiers, and want them to fill the gap of a large number of grassroots officials in Guanzhong.

Wei Duan also understood the meaning behind this, so he no longer worried about the fact that only government soldiers and a small number of scholars could participate in the first imperial examination. After all, there would be opportunities sooner or later.

and……

The Jingzhao Wei family was one of the noble families that had shown goodwill to the imperial court and sent their children to teach the palace soldiers.

Anyway, there are a large number of scholars in the Jingzhao Wei clan who can take the imperial examinations, so he was worried that he would not be able to benefit from this matter.

As for other families?

A dead Taoist friend is not a poor Taoist!
What were you doing before? Is it fun to cry now?

Seeing that Wei Duan had no objection, Dong Zhuo began to talk about the second decree:

"The imperial examination system can certainly screen officials at the source, but it still needs constant supervision by the court to prevent them from going against their original intentions."

"So I request that you set up a prison in the Censorate to deal with official cases!"

After this was said, the faces of the officials in the Xuanshi Hall became even uglier.

The Censor was an official in charge of supervision.

However, from ancient times to the present, censors have only had the power to report on matters based on hearsay, but not judicial power.

But Dong Zhuo wanted to set up a prison in the Censorate, which would undoubtedly greatly increase the power of the Censorate! It even became a terrifying institution that could stand shoulder to shoulder with the Shangshutai!
In the past, when people were impeached by the censor, they were only punished by drinking three cups of wine, and this was never repeated.

But if the censors had the power to enforce the law...

Many people were trembling all over, and they could clearly feel that "officials have a hard time making a living."

Wei Duan had no choice but to stand up again and face Dong Zhuo head-on: "Grand Master, the Censorate already has the power to supervise all officials. If we set up a prison... isn't that too much power?"

heavy?

Dong Zhuo looked at the tablet, but found that Jia Xu did not have any comments on this question... Dong Zhuo put the tablet down, wanting to scare Wei Duan with his power and make Wei Duan retreat.

"Cough cough!"

It was Liu Xie who noticed that something was wrong with Dong Zhuo. He coughed twice and signaled Dong Zhuo to look at him.

Liu Xie kept shaking his head at Dong Zhuo, indicating that Dong Zhuo must give a reasonable explanation in this regard.

Personal reputation and authority are indeed useful.

Dong Zhuo had previously relied on this one trick to dominate the world.

But now we need reform and rebirth!
If Dong Zhuo continued to use his personal prestige to exert pressure, mistakes would inevitably occur at the root, causing people to be dissatisfied.

Dong Zhuo received Liu Xie's signal and blinked pitifully.

Why are court affairs so troublesome?

Can't it be like in the army, where those who don't obey are killed?
But seeing that the emperor was quite tough at the moment, Dong Zhuo could only rack his brains to find the answer -

"Tai Chang is wrong."

Dong Zhuo said sternly: "Although the censors have the power to supervise all officials, which official nowadays really takes the censors seriously?"

"The reason why many bureaucrats are doing evil nowadays is precisely because they have no fear!"

"Only by setting up a prison in the Censorate and making those bureaucrats afraid can we truly deter them!"

Wei Duan shook his head.

"My confusion is not whether setting up a prison in the Censorate will be effective, but whether the Censors, who already have the duty of supervising all officials, will have too much power if they have a prison as a support!"

If what Dong Zhuo said was really followed and the censor was given both supervisory power and law enforcement power, wouldn't that mean he would be both a referee and a contestant?
Think about one day.

You are eating hot pot and singing at home.

Suddenly, a group of imperial censors burst in with your evidence and arrest warrant in their hands, and they throw you directly into prison... Such a scene is really too horrifying!
After hearing Wei Duan's protest, not only Dong Zhuo, but even Liu Xie realized that something was wrong.

It is indeed as Wei Duan said, the power of the Censorate is a bit too great, which is undoubtedly laying landmines for future generations.

Just as Liu Xie was thinking, Jia Xu, who no longer had his tablet, came out with his hands clasped, as if he wanted to make up for his mistake.

"Your Majesty, what Wei Taichang said is actually not a big deal."

"As long as we set up procedures so that the Censorate can only arrest criminals with the emperor's permission, we won't have to worry about the Censorate having too much power."

Since the Censorate is about to expand, let's put a chain on it.

And the owner of this chain, of course, can only be the emperor.

Liu Xie's eyes lit up.

In this way, it not only prevented the Censorate from becoming too powerful, but also indirectly strengthened the deterrence of imperial power over officials.

"good."

Liu Xie, who had been silent all this time, suddenly spoke, which forced Wei Duan to retreat again.

There is no doubt that the emperor's power will become more terrifying with the establishment of the Censorate, but this is also something that cannot be stopped.

The gloomy expressions on Wei Duan and others' faces naturally caught Liu Xie's attention.

This made Liu Xie a little amused.

Where is this?

Giving the Censorate the power to enforce the law is actually quite merciful.

If these Han bureaucrats knew that in later generations there was something called "Jinyiwei" and another thing called "Dongchang", wouldn't they all cry their hearts out?

Dong Zhuo saw that the dilemma of the second decree had been resolved, and finally began to state the last decree:

"Whether it was the subsequent street violence or clan fighting, they all had one source."

Dong Zhuo's round waist and abdomen contracted slightly, and he slowly bent his body.

"The source of all this is nothing more than my clan's evil deeds in Lintao, which led to the opportunity for ambitious people like Huangfu Li to find an opportunity and cause this disturbance."

"Therefore, I ask Your Majesty to punish me!"

The whole hall was shocked!

Is this something Dong Zhuo could say?

Dong Zhuo actually apologized to the emperor?

What is he planning?
Only some smart people felt a shock in their hearts.

The tone of this court meeting was set from the very beginning with the emperor punishing Jia Xu, which prevented people from arguing over trivial matters and directly ignited the war to the level of the Nine Ministers.

And now, Grand Tutor Dong Zhuo actually showed up in person, which undoubtedly meant that everyone's retreat route had been blocked, leaving no room for anyone to turn back at this moment!
really!

Just after Dong Zhuo apologized, the emperor sighed.

"How can you let your clan, who are thousands of miles away, bring disaster upon yourself? Doesn't that mean there are no innocent people in this world?"

"After all, this is still caused by the imperfections of the Han Dynasty's laws."

(End of this chapter)