Tang Dynasty Xie Lu Lang

Chapter 222 Seeking early recognition and meritorious service

Yan Tingzhi's courtyard was quite large, though not as grand as the Zhang family mansion, it was still a rare find in Luoyang, where land was incredibly valuable. However, the furnishings in the main hall were rather simple and plain, which didn't quite match the spaciousness of the house.

After inviting everyone into the hall, Yan Tingzhi ordered his servants to quickly serve the meal, while he himself returned to the inner quarters. Soon after, he brought out a trunk of clothes and said to everyone, "When you all came to visit me the other day, I regret that I did not keep you at home. Only Zhang Dai took a piece of clothing with him."

How could I show favoritism? Therefore, upon returning home, I instructed my family to make several more sashes to distribute among you. These are not precious items, but merely to help maintain proper decorum!

After saying this, he carried the clothing trunk over to the group of disciples and gave each of the belts inside to them.

Upon seeing this, everyone stood up to express their gratitude and respectfully accepted the sash with both hands.

They recently visited Yan Tingzhi's home to express their gratitude, but Yan Tingzhi's wife refused to let them in, only offering a sash as a token. Yet, she invited Zhang Dai inside, which Zhang Dai refused.

This experience was undoubtedly very unpleasant. Even as they were leaving Yan Ting's house and heading to the capital, some people were already complaining in hushed tones that they shouldn't have come here to offer such a cold shoulder.

Fortunately, thanks to Zhang Dai's humble yet assertive response and efforts, Prime Minister Du Xian intervened and helped, leading to a positive turn of events. Even so, the unpleasant experience remained unresolved in everyone's hearts; though unspoken, the resentment lingered.

Yan Tingzhi gave each person a sash today, which was naturally also an apology for what happened before. It was obviously not his intention to do what happened the other day, and he did not pretend not to know afterward, but apologized to everyone in this way, which gradually made the lingering resentment in everyone's hearts disappear.

Yan Tingzhi's actions made the atmosphere in the hall even more lively.

After sending out the sashes, Yan Tingzhi returned to his seat, raised his cup to greet everyone, drank it all in one gulp, and then said, "What I said earlier was just a joke. Although you have all passed the provincial examination, there are still many things to be done. After paying your respects to the Prime Minister, you will need to prepare for the final examination."

Although the preliminary examination is not as rigorous as the official selection examination, it still requires careful attention and should not be taken lightly. I have already consulted with the Ministry of Personnel, and the preliminary examination will be held in five days. We can celebrate merrily after the examination.”

The selection process of the Ministry of Personnel consisted of four procedures: appearance, speech, writing, and judgment. Judgment involved making judgments on specific cases, while the final examination consisted of three judgment questions, usually administered by an Assistant Minister of Personnel.

Now that Yan Tingzhi has been transferred from the position of Assistant Minister of Personnel to the position of Director of the Ministry of Personnel, he is the superior of the Assistant Minister of Personnel. All the examinations will be conducted under his jurisdiction, making the examinations, which were originally just a formality, even less suspenseful.

Upon hearing this, everyone laughed and agreed, feeling fortunate for their previous perseverance.

After recounting these subsequent events, Yan Tingzhi also inquired about the students' living conditions, and asked, "After the examination, what are your plans? Do you intend to stay in Luoyang or return home to travel? Do you have enough money for your travels? If not, don't be shy, just tell us."

He was a man of strong character and did not flatter the powerful, which is why he remained a low-ranking official for so many years. In his early years, he was appreciated and promoted by Yao Chong to serve as Right Remonstrator in the court, but he had a dispute with the arrogance of the Imperial Censor and was demoted for several years until he returned to the court in recent years.

Yan Tingzhi was the same age as Cui Mian, but Cui Mian is now a high-ranking official of the third rank, wearing a purple robe, while Yan Tingzhi is still only a sixth-rank assistant official and almost suffered further exclusion.

His recent disturbance by his followers allowed him to take the imperial examinations again, but the leak of his essays during the examinations landed him in prison. However, thanks to the support of Zhang Dai and other new graduates, he turned misfortune into good fortune and gained the appreciation and promotion of Prime Minister Du Xian.

Therefore, although Yan Tingzhi didn't express it much, he was deeply grateful to everyone. Once he approved of someone, he would always prioritize loyalty and do his best to help. Even though he was penalized, he would still sell his belongings to help if anyone was truly in need of money.

Upon hearing this, everyone quickly waved their hands and said, "Thank you for your concern, Master. We have nothing to worry about. As for our plans after the examination, Chief Zhang intends to travel east to help the people in the disaster-stricken prefectures and counties, and we would like to accompany him..."

Upon hearing this, Yan Tingzhi was naturally curious and quickly inquired further. After listening, he looked at Zhang Dai with great admiration: "Zhang Dai comes from a prestigious family, with a long history of learning and a thorough understanding of historical anecdotes. His response in the provincial examinations recently was unmatched even by seasoned officials. What's more, it's rare that you are concerned about the people's suffering. If you can govern the people next year, you will be spared from exhausting the demands of regulations without understanding the people's hardships. That would be truly excellent!"

After praising Zhang Dai, he said to everyone, "You are all willing to go with Zhang Dai to help with disaster relief, which is a great idea! I will also arrange a task for you to compile your travel experiences, observations, and reflections on people and events into a book and bring it back to me."

When I discussed matters with Prime Minister Du, he lamented that last year's disaster was severe, and the prefectures and counties suffered greatly, and the officials' handling of the situation was not satisfactory. Last year, everything was rushed, and there was no time for in-depth investigation and review. If the disaster situation eases this year, then we must strictly promote and demote officials, reward the good and punish the evil. This autumn should be a year of general elections.

Although you have only recently passed the imperial examinations, if you have a well-thought-out plan, you need not be confined to waiting for your turn. Seek to be released from your official posts as soon as possible, and make a name for yourselves. If your virtuous deeds are known throughout the prefectures and counties, I will share in your honor!

Everyone was overjoyed to hear this, and they felt even more keenly the benefits of having a mentor to guide and guide them. Normally, after passing the imperial examinations, most of them would have to wait several years for the selection process before they could participate in the official selection. Now, judging from Yan Tingzhi's words, if they could perform well, they could directly participate in the selection of officials at this year's winter fair!

Upon hearing this, Zhang Dai was overjoyed. Although he already had a special opportunity to enter officialdom through the imperial examination arranged by his grandfather and did not need to participate in the winter selection, it would still be of great benefit to him if his fellow graduates could participate in the selection earlier.

Prime Minister Du Siam plans to conduct a thorough investigation this year into the dereliction of duty and inadequate disaster relief efforts by officials in the affected prefectures and counties, which will undoubtedly create a large number of job vacancies in the disaster areas.

So this year's selection process will naturally focus on filling these vacant positions. If his peers could have participated in the selection process that year, they would have had a greater chance of being selected to serve in disaster-stricken prefectures and counties.

Yan Tingzhi said he would arrange lessons for them and have them submit their travel experiences, which clearly indicated that he also planned to select his students to teach in these prefectures and counties.

Zhang Dai had high hopes for the personnel arrangements of the prefectures and counties along the Yellow River. He used a large amount of money for disaster relief, hoping to help more people, but at the same time, he also wanted to create a good foundation among the people to support other plans.

However, only with official support could more manpower and resources be invested in developing the plan. Before that, he had few capable subordinates and no political resources to allocate, so he could only rely on Yuwen Rong's appreciation to secure an envoy position for Xu Shen, who would temporarily lead the project.

However, if all his classmates were selected to be assigned to the banks of the Yellow River, it would undoubtedly bring more personnel convenience!

Although these people may only hold lowly positions like county lieutenant or prefectural military advisor in their current posts, if they can establish themselves and work diligently, they can rise through the ranks to become county magistrate or prefect! Who knows, in the future, their fellow graduates might even control the military and political power along the entire Yellow River!
Zhang Dai became increasingly excited as he thought about it, and quickly said to Yan Tingzhi, "Master, please rest assured, we will definitely go to the countryside to investigate the people's conditions and strive to fully understand the suffering of the disaster victims so that we can have a plan for governing the country in the future!"

Upon hearing this, everyone nodded in agreement. Originally, not all of them wanted to travel east with Zhang Dai, as everyone has their own ambitions. However, now that Yan Tingzhi had assigned them the task, they naturally wanted to make the most of it.

While the career prospects of serving in a prefecture or county may not necessarily be better than those of staying in the central government, it is necessary to analyze each case individually!

Without this opportunity, they would have to enter a long-term waiting period before being eligible to be elected again. Even if they were elected, it would be difficult for them to obtain a high-ranking official position in the court.

However, if they can participate in the election this year, it would be equivalent to skipping several years of waiting for election and rushing into the bureaucracy. No matter what official position they hold, they would have gained those extra years of experience.

Moreover, since their chairperson is participating in the election this year, they will naturally receive more attention than other candidates, and their chances of being selected are greater!

Seeing the enthusiastic attitude of the crowd, Yan Tingzhi couldn't help but smile. To be honest, when selecting officials for their first appointment, since there were no precedents to refer to, as long as the basic qualifications were met, what mattered most was their character and moral integrity.

He had previously presided over the provincial examinations, so he naturally had some understanding of the talents of these newly appointed scholars. Moreover, the fact that they came to thank their master and try to support and rescue him when they were in deep trouble was a very rare quality in officialdom.

Yan Tingzhi himself was pleased to have selected these young talents with high moral character and integrity, and was naturally happy to provide them with some guidance and assistance within the scope of his authority.

In short, everyone present was happy in their own way, but the happiest of all was naturally Zhang Dai. After all, the others were still considering their own fame and future prospects and rewarding their descendants, while he was the only one with the greatest ambition: to become a king by stealing a country.

When Zhang Dai decided to support Yan Tingzhi, he hadn't considered these things. Now, the personnel situation was undoubtedly a huge surprise. The previously unrelated personnel activities were suddenly linked together due to a strange change, making Zhang Dai's ideas and plans more complete and meticulous.

Today's gathering was fruitful for everyone, unlike the unpleasant occasion of the previous day, and everyone enjoyed themselves. Thanks to Yan Tingzhi's request, no one drank excessively or behaved recklessly, and everyone refrained from excessive drinking.

The next morning, everyone gathered again in front of Yan Ting's house and went with him to the capital to pay their respects to the prime minister. This time, with their host's guidance, everything went smoothly. After the formalities were completed, Prime Minister Du Xian specially invited them to stay in the corridor of the Secretariat for food and gave them much encouragement.

After all, in terms of factions within the imperial court, all these successful candidates, including their patron Yan Tingzhi, could be categorized as belonging to Du Xian's faction. As the leader of the group, Du Xian naturally needed to strengthen team building.

Although these scholars who had passed the imperial examinations were still commoners without official positions, they had no right to take sides.

The problem is that Du Xian, the gang leader, is a newcomer to the court, all alone. If there are any recruits, why be picky? Every little bit helps! Especially since there's Zhang Dai, the grandson of a former prime minister, in the group, which can further enrich his network of connections.

(End of this chapter)