Tang Dynasty Xie Lu Lang

Chapter 448 Shortcuts to Zhongnan Mountain Are Easily Accessible
"Thank goodness Pei Lang returned in time, otherwise I would be dead!"

After leaving the front hall of Shaoyang Academy, Zhang Dai said to Pei Zhen with a grateful expression.

Upon hearing this, Pei Zhen's heart skipped a beat. He looked Zhang Dai up and down a few times and whispered, "Is the matter really that serious? Does the Crown Prince truly intend to harm you?"

Of course, it wasn't that serious. The Crown Prince and his cronies were typically weak in both looks and strength. Even if they had thoughts of harming him, they would be too afraid to act due to their many concerns. If they really had the guts, Zhang Dai, no matter how eloquent he was, would have had a hard time dealing with them.

However, in order to live up to the right to fight back, Zhang Dai naturally had to exaggerate the situation in front of Pei Zhen. Therefore, he sighed and said, "I thought the Crown Prince only wanted to teach me a lesson because of Xue Shaoqing's matter and to save face for Xue Shaoqing. I didn't expect that he would send Huo Gong's son to make things more difficult for me!"
Pei Lang, you must have heard of the old feud between the Huo family and me. I usually avoid them whenever possible, not daring to approach them, but unexpectedly, Huo's son has ingratiated himself with the Crown Prince, and both father and son are favored at the time. My situation will likely become even more difficult in the future!

"Alas, the officials in the North Gate are too powerful..."

Upon hearing Zhang Dai's words, Pei Zhen couldn't help but sigh. He then patted Zhang Dai's back to comfort him, saying, "Don't worry too much. The Crown Prince has no reputation for being tyrannical. He may have been misled by the villains around him for a while, but he will eventually realize his mistake and know that you are a loyal and righteous person. At that time, he will not be easily misled again and will treat you with courtesy!"

"How long? If the wicked do not retreat, it will be difficult to see and hear clearly! If I know that what I am doing is the right path, I will do my best to destroy the evil path. Otherwise, who else can I expect to do it for me?"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Dai snorted coldly again. Seeing that he was about to leave Shaoyang Courtyard, he asked Pei Zhen, "Are you coming with me to the Southern Province, or will you stay here?"

"Go ahead, I won't be back until evening. When he told me about this, he was very worried about your safety. Go ahead, and we'll meet again later."

Pei Zhen was very responsible, unlike Zhang Dai who was late, left early, and had a habit of slacking off. Even though he, as the Crown Prince's Attendant, had nothing to do all day, he would stay there from morning till night whenever he was on duty.

Upon hearing this, Zhang Dai waved his hand to thank him again, then left Shaoyang Courtyard and headed straight for the Secretariat.

The Secretariat was still very busy. Although Xiao Song was the official Grand Secretary, he had to serve under the Secretariat and also take care of the Ministry of War. Therefore, the daily affairs of the Secretariat were still managed by Pei Guangting.

Now, Pei Guangting is no longer just summoning officials from various departments; he has begun to promote some government reforms. However, these are often minor issues, and he currently lacks the capacity to push forward anything truly important.

Zhang Dai waited outside the corridor for about half an hour before Pei Guangting finally had time to summon him. Upon seeing him enter the hall, Pei Guangting immediately asked in a deep voice, "What's going on?"

Zhang Dai then recounted the reason and course of his argument with Xue Tao at the Court of Imperial Sacrifices. After listening, Pei Guangting immediately frowned and said, "Is that all? Who exactly is Ma Lizheng?"

Seeing his son rushing into the province with a face full of anxiety to report the emergency, he quickly issued a hand order. However, he never expected that the reason why the situation had escalated to such a great extent was so surprising, which left him somewhat astonished.

Zhang Dai understood Pei Guangting's meaning; perhaps Pei Guangting felt that Zhang Dai had inexplicably offended his superior and the Crown Prince over such a trivial matter as Ma Lizheng.

"Xue Shaoqing has never been particularly talented. The court has already shown him great favor by appointing him to a position, but because his talent is not suited to the position, the affairs of the temple and government are slowed down and there are many conflicts. Instead of reflecting on his actions, he has stirred up trouble and persecuted those who are truly dedicated to their work, which has only made things worse!"

Zhang Dai immediately said in a deep voice, "This Ma Lizheng is not a prominent figure, nor does he possess any outstanding virtues or talents compared to his peers. However, he is hardworking and diligent, and although he has no great achievements, he has also made no minor mistakes."

He was not a renowned official, but he was present in every department and office. Destroying one person is insignificant, but precisely because of this, how many others will be destroyed? The qualifications established by the Prime Minister are precisely to place ordinary people in ordinary positions. The value of this method lies in the fact that the selection department has a law to follow.

Now, why is Xue Shaoqing so brazen, acting on impulse and slandering his subordinates? It's because he cannot be controlled. This is not just the misfortune of one person, but the misfortune of millions! Losing one person today will mean losing countless others tomorrow. If there is no fair and just selection process to govern him, what use will such people be?

Many criticize Pei Guangting's system of selecting officials based on qualifications, often arguing that its rigid standards apply to both the wise and the foolish, requiring candidates to conform to certain criteria before being appointed, thus violating the principle of selecting officials based on talent, leading to widespread resentment among talented individuals. However, those who resent this system are not only talented individuals, but also many others whose shortcuts have been blocked.

The greatest significance of qualification is that it provides a standard. If the selection and assessment of talent is completely subjective and lacks objective standards, then the selection and assessment will inevitably become a joke.

There is a very famous anecdote in the history of examinations in the Tang Dynasty. During the reign of Emperor Gaozong of Tang, the minister Lu Chengqing was examining the officials, both inside and outside the capital. One official was supervising the transport of grain when a storm caused a loss of rice. Lu Chengqing examined him for "losing grain during transport" and gave him a poor score.

The man remained composed and withdrew without uttering a word. Lu Chengqing admired his magnanimity and revised the annotation to: "Beyond his ability, he passed the exam with a mediocre score." The man showed neither joy nor shame. Lu Chengqing was even more impressed and revised the annotation to: "Unperturbed by favor or disgrace, he passed the exam with a high score."

A dull, expressionless man, while supervising the transport of grain, failed to fully consider the weather conditions, resulting in losses during transport. However, he passed the imperial examination with flying colors because he remained calm and composed in the face of both praise and criticism.
In this anecdote, the person involved was fortunate, as the change in subjective evaluation was positive. However, in reality, such examples are inevitably rare. More people will likely encounter situations like Ma Lizheng's, where even with hard work and dedication, they do not receive fair evaluation or treatment. Moreover, because they lack outstanding talent and achievements, it becomes doubly difficult for them to reverse this situation.

Because they are not the kind of perfect victims with stark contrasts, the injustices they suffer are not even of concern to public opinion.

Of course, Zhang Dai discussed this matter together with the "selection based on qualifications" method mainly to gain Pei Guangting's approval and support, because whether he could impeach Xue Tao still required the prime ministers' permission.

As expected, Pei Guangting frowned and pondered after listening to Zhang Dai's account.

Unlike Song Jing and his ilk, who had lofty ideals and excessively high expectations for the conduct of officials in the selection process, Pei Guangting was more pragmatic. Especially given the current situation where there were many candidates but few official positions and the selection process was becoming increasingly difficult, he believed that only by making everyone feel that the process was fair and hopeful would they comply with the selection rules and follow the arrangements.

Besides assigning suitable positions to suitable people, the selection officer has an even more important task, which, as Zhang Dai said, is to bind the candidates to the selection officer with fair selection methods, and not to let them scatter to seek opportunities elsewhere.

Of course, what Zhang Dai mentioned should not be confused with the selection method based on qualifications.

Pei Guangting was calm and astute, and naturally wouldn't be easily swayed by Zhang Dai's rhetoric to express his support in solidarity. After pondering for a moment, he asked in a deep voice, "After the Crown Prince summoned you, what was your attitude?"

Zhang Dai knew that obtaining Pei Guangting's permission wouldn't be so simple, so he recounted his experiences after entering Shaoyang Academy. Of course, he was selective; he skipped over details that Pei Guangting didn't need to know.

"Is there anything else about Lord Huo?"

After hearing this, Pei Guangting frowned even more deeply, and his gaze toward Zhang Dai became somewhat strange.

This young man is indeed very intelligent and capable, and Pei Guangting holds him in high regard; otherwise, he wouldn't have actively sought out the position of Censor for him. However, he is also incredibly prone to causing trouble, and always attracting troublesome and difficult individuals.

"The officials in the central government and the northern gate have a long-standing feud. The Duke of Bohai is close to me, and I inevitably got involved, thus incurring the wrath of Duke Huo. These are all old stories from Luoyang. After returning to the capital, I have always kept my distance from Duke Huo."

Zhang Dai then introduced Gao Lishi, which was also a way of telling Pei Guangting, "Don't think I can cause trouble. You will probably have to get involved under Gao Lishi's supervision in the future."

After all, although Gao Lishi came from Wu Sansi's family, it was hard to say how much of that old friendship remained. Ultimately, one must live in the present. Gao Lishi must have played a significant role in Pei Guangting's appointment as prime minister; otherwise, he would have found it difficult to stand out among the ministers. Gao Lishi's actions were undoubtedly motivated by a desire for something in return.

After listening to Zhang Dai's story, Pei Guangting pondered for a moment before asking, "And what do you intend to do next?"

"Of course we must continue to impeach Xue Shaoqing! He can be disregarded in all his previous matters, yet he brings this matter to the Crown Prince. What are his intentions? Are all the officials in the court unable to judge fairly, and instead have to appeal to the Eastern Palace to seek justice?"

Zhang Dai immediately spoke up, saying that although he had promised the other party at Shaoyang Academy that he would not impeach Xue Tao again, it was under duress, and he would keep his promise. He would go to Shaoyang Academy to accept the Crown Prince's punishment after impeaching Xue Tao.

Upon hearing this, Pei Guangting picked up another memorial from his desk, glanced at it briefly, and then said to Zhang Dai, "Zhang Jiazhen of Dingzhou is seriously ill and requests to retire, hoping to return to Luoyang for treatment and recuperation..."

"What does my husband mean?"

When Zhang Dai heard this seemingly random sentence, he was immediately taken aback, not quite understanding what Pei Guangting meant.

"Zhang Jiazhen is seriously ill, and it is difficult for him to continue holding the concurrent position of Censor-in-Chief. This is a crucial position of justice and should not be easily relinquished to others!"

Pei Guangting then fixed his gaze on Zhang Dai and said in a deep voice, "Zongzhi, go for it! I'll take care of you! Since I recommended you, I certainly won't stand idly by!"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Dai immediately understood: Pei Guangting had also set his sights on this shortcut to success, intending to help the emperor discipline his son in order to secure the position of Imperial Censor and reverse his current disadvantageous situation!
(End of this chapter)