The Bad Guys: Playing the Fake Li Xingyun at the Beginning

Chapter 137: Have to Fight

Li Siyuan simply couldn't hold it anymore. It was Li Cunli who first proposed this, so why was he being put on the blame now?

Can he bear this responsibility? No!

Can An Zhonghui do it? No!

Can Ren Yuan do that? Even less so!

If the noble families behind those Jinshi scholars had not expressed their intention to get closer to him, Li Siyuan would not have jumped out so hastily.

He does have many chess pieces at his disposal in the court, but none of them is as important as King Qi, and only he can compete with him.

This is the helplessness of being a boss. His subordinates expressed their loyalty to him, and he must respond. Otherwise, who would still follow him in the long run?

If he doesn't work hard now, he may not be able to become a new Jinshi in the future. In troubled times, soldiers and generals are of course important, but when you have a piece of land, everything is different.

In the past, we conquered wherever we could, and it didn't matter if it was destroyed. Now that we have territory, we have to manage it well. The fields must be cultivated again, the farmers must hand over grain, the craftsmen must forge weapons, the army must be rotated, and new young and strong people must be recruited.

Only in this way can the army maintain strong combat effectiveness and be called a separatist vassal state. Otherwise, it can at best be regarded as a refugee leader and is not worthy of being on the stage.

Li Siyuan now has a large group of people under his command. It is considered the maximum that he can support an army of 50,000 in Hedong. If he wants to support more, he must plunder them, engage in war, and exploit the people.

Li Siyuan was very envious of these new scholars. He was not a local governor who knew nothing and did not know the importance of talent.

He had not thought it through before and did not agree with Su Ming's approach to reform the content of the imperial examination. After all, the imperial examination before the Tang Dynasty included many subjects such as Mingjing, Junshi, Jinshi, Mingfa (law), Mingzi, Mingsuan (mathematics), etc. The content included current affairs policies, scriptures, and essays.

Although the initiative of dividing subjects into categories was a good one, the imperial court did not implement it because most of the scholars focused on the Mingjing and Jinshi subjects, and there were very few candidates studying other subjects.

In addition, the exam names are not hidden, so who will pass and who will not is determined before the exam, so the exam results are the least important.

Nowadays, candidates have to copy their papers under anonymous names, and are not allowed to submit their papers to officials of the current dynasty, which makes the test scores account for a large proportion of the imperial examination.

Such reforms ensured that only talented and knowledgeable people were selected in the imperial examinations. Li Siyuan came from the Tongwenguan and was the Prince of Jin who was in charge of Hedong. Only after he served as an examiner for the Jinshi examination did he truly understand the significance of it.

Although those candidates were young, the essays and answers on the test papers made him feel enlightened. Those who were selected were not just Jinshi scholars, but officials who could really do things.

Although he was born in Tongwen Academy, he was not interested in Confucianism. Can he rely on Confucian morality to govern the local area? Can he rely on the Spring and Autumn Annals to decide cases? He still had to rely on weapons and laws.

In these troubled times, morality is the least valuable.

So, today, Li Siyuan must fight.

Li Siyuan held his tablet with a blank expression, "Could it be that this huge court cannot accommodate these mere 99 Jinshi? The imperial examination is to select talents for the country. If the talents are selected but not used, then why would the court bother?"

Li Cunli smiled slightly and said lightly, "Prince Jin, you are too serious. We are now arguing about how to use them, not whether the court should not use them. The Secretariat has already asked the Ministry of Personnel to arrange for those scholars and candidates to take up positions, from petty clerks to assistant officials. They have all been assigned."

"I wonder what advice the King of Jin has and how he intends to arrange for these new scholars so that I can make arrangements as soon as possible."

At this point, Li Siyuan was embarrassed. You said the court didn't make any arrangements, but it even made arrangements for the juren and scholars. How could the court ignore those jinshi?

The only question now is, what exactly do you, Li Siyuan, want to do?

Li Cunli's words were already on the tip of his tongue, and he had to pick up the thread, otherwise the whereabouts of these Jinshi scholars would have nothing to do with him.

"Since those successful candidates can be employed, so can these successful candidates. If they cannot serve as the chief official of a place, then they may be able to serve as assistant officials in the counties."

"And they don't have to be limited to the vicinity of Luoyang. They can be sent to serve in places like Hedong, Shanzhou, and Bianzhou."

As a last resort, Li Siyuan finally revealed his true thoughts. He wanted to send these Jinshi to Hedong and use them for his own purposes. Once in Hedong, he would have the final say on how they would be appointed and how they would be dealt with.

As for Shanzhou and Bianzhou, they were just mentioned in passing. Anyway, they were not his territory. At the same time, dispersing these people would prevent the emperor from controlling the Heluo area and uniting them into one.

After Li Siyuan expressed his opinion, the old eyes of the Minister of Rites Yan Suchen sparkled with light, and he stood up tremblingly, "Your Majesty, I have something to report."

A deep voice rang out from the dragon throne, "Accurate!"

As soon as the voice came out, Li Siyuan's heart skipped a beat. How come Yan Suchen showed up just after he expressed his opinion? Was this a premeditated plan?

Yan Suchen raised his head slightly and said in a sad tone, "Your Majesty, the court has not held the imperial examination for a long time. It is for fear that when the officials of the Ministry of Rites checked the imperial examination system in the past the other day, they found that many of the court books were scattered and lost, and they could not find them."

"Then we went to look for the history books of the past, hoping to recreate the old traces from them. But to my surprise, most of the history books of the previous dynasties were also lost, buried in the vast piles of books in the Jixian Hall. We only found a few words and fragments about the imperial examination system."

"The Tang dynasty has been passed down for hundreds of years and cannot be lost in the passage of time. I beg Your Majesty to find someone to compile the ritual system and revise the history of the previous dynasty to avoid omissions in the history books and prevent the deeds of our ancestors from being lost."

Yan Suchen was very old, not much younger than Kong Xianwen. At the beginning, he watched Kong Xianwen being abandoned by Li Siyuan and dying in Yanmen Pass. Since then, he gradually lost his spirit.

Kong Xianwen's fate made him feel sad, so he took the Yan family to the current emperor. The day before yesterday, he received a secret letter from His Majesty, and he was immediately interested because the secret letter mentioned compiling a history book.

Editing history books is such an attractive thing for a civil servant.

Unlike the mission to Khitan which was full of uncertainties, if this matter was done well, it would be enough to make him famous in history. Sima Gongwen's "Records of the Grand Historian" will be famous through the ages, so why can't Yan Suchen do the same?

After receiving the secret letter, Yan Suchen did not think about what the emperor was planning. He was old and his neck was almost buried in the earth. At this age, he had the opportunity to write a history book, so why would he care about anything else?

Isn't the greatest pursuit of a civil servant to leave a name in history?

He would rather die than leave a name in the history of mankind, not to mention that he also has the opportunity to put the final nail in the coffin of a past dynasty.

After making the report, Yan Suchen returned to his original position and couldn't help but sigh in his heart, "Lord Kong, you died too early."

Chapter 138 Killing three birds with one stone

Last year, the former Minister of Rites Kong Xianwen died in Yanmen Pass. Not only did he fail to leave his name in history, but his reputation after death was also ruined. However, Yan Suchen, as the deputy envoy, was able to make amends for his crime and was reinstated.

Now think about it, it's all so worthless.

Li Siyuan is not a human leader!

The important affairs of the court seemed like child's play to him.

Now, as Prince Qi has established a firm foothold in the court and the situation has stabilized, Yan Suchen has begged for his life several times, wanting to retire and return home, but was rejected by the emperor.

Yan Suchen has a long history in the imperial court and is also a big name in the literary world. If he were to retire, there would be no one else on Su Ming's side who could become the Minister of Rites.

If he left, the position of Minister of Rites would inevitably fall into the hands of the Jin Wang Party.

Su Ming had no choice but to find a way to keep him in the court. By next year, when he had grown stronger, it wouldn't matter whether Yan Suchen was in the court or not.

For Yu Su Ming, this year is a critical year. He needs to negotiate with the Khitan, develop his military strength, and win over the Jiedushi.

If his brother-in-law returns, he will not let him open the Longquan treasure, but will delay it as much as possible. The longer the delay, the more beneficial it will be for him.

What he lacks now is time, whether he has to deal with the military governors of the world or Yuan Tiangang.

As for compiling history books, this move can be regarded as killing three birds with one stone. First, it can keep Yan Suchen. He will never leave the court until the history books of the previous dynasty are completed.

Secondly, this was a big pit he dug for the children of aristocratic families. It would take at least several years to compile a history book.

Thirdly, Yuan Tiangang’s goal was to revive the Tang Dynasty, and he was loyal to the Tang Dynasty, the Tang Dynasty where all nations came to pay tribute and the country was rich and prosperous. Su Ming had people compile history books, which undoubtedly put the final nail in the coffin of that era.

Regardless of whether those ancestors were good or bad, they will always leave their place in history books. Although they are gone, their names will remain in history forever.

Perhaps at some point, this history book will have an unexpected effect, provided that it is well compiled and not modified like the way the Book of Changes was compiled by the Ten-Perfect Man.

Is that repairing the book? Is that destroying the book?

There are many benefits to compiling history books, which I will not list one by one. In short, this matter is beneficial to the court and even more beneficial to Su Ming.

Compile history books?

Li Siyuan narrowed his eyes, expressionless, and kept wondering in his mind, why did the emperor suddenly want to compile a history book?

Yan Suchen was only a Minister of Rites. Compiling history books was a huge project and it was impossible for him to accomplish it alone. The only person in the court who had the ability to push this matter forward was the emperor.

Even Li Siyuan did not have the qualifications. Compiling history books was the final judgment on the previous dynasty. Only the ruler of the world could do this. If a minister did it, it would mean trying to usurp the throne.

The emperor wants to compile history. What does he want to do?

He didn't understand Su Ming's thoughts. As the Son of Heaven, his imperial decrees did not leave the imperial city and he couldn't even control Luoyang. He didn't want to strengthen the court's prestige, train troops, or integrate the power of the court. Instead, he was compiling history books.

No matter how he looked at it, it seemed strange, but he just couldn't guess the emperor's true thoughts.

No, we can't let him succeed!

Li Siyuan almost subconsciously wanted to stand up and object, but when he took a step, he immediately calmed down and retracted his step.

According to his thinking, the emperor should not be allowed to compile history books. Although he did not know what the emperor wanted to do, his intuition as a powerful official told him that he should not be allowed to achieve his goal.

However, thinking of the children of noble families among the ninety-nine Jinshi, he hesitated. Not everyone was willing to be an official in the local area, especially an assistant official without sovereignty.

He has many young men from aristocratic families under his command, and he knows exactly what kind of people they are. Those guys would never be willing to be demoted and away from the political center of the court.

In comparison, compiling history books is a noble thing. It can gain fame without having to get involved in miscellaneous tasks. Why not do it? If he stops it, the people he recruited may not agree with him anymore.

Blocking someone's future is like killing their parents. These people have worked so hard to gain a position in the court, so how could they give it up easily? On the contrary, not only can he not stop it, but he has to go with the flow and reap enough benefits from the matter of compiling history!

After thinking this through, Li Siyuan quietly raised his head and looked at the emperor sitting on the dragon throne. He suddenly felt terrified. Could it be that he had already expected this?

If this is true, then his scheming is truly unfathomable.

At this moment, he actually felt a sense of dejection in his heart. Did he really have a chance to conquer the world and become the ruler of the Central Plains? Did he really have a chance to take the throne from him?

Once this thought came up, it seemed to have taken root in his mind and could not be shaken off. The more he tried not to think about it, the clearer it became. Later on, he didn't even care about what was being debated in the court.

On the dragon throne, Su Ming saw Li Siyuan's little movements, and a confident smile appeared on his face hidden under the crown. Li Siyuan, you have no choice!

As early as when he agreed to implement the imperial examination system, he had fallen into a rut. The more he struggled, the deeper he fell into it. Unless he suddenly woke up one day and left the court to become a local tyrant in Hedong.

But doing so would mean that he would be getting further and further away from the throne. As long as he still had ambition, he would never leave Luoyang easily.

Yan Suchen's proposal aroused heated discussion among the court officials. Reopening a track did not infringe on their rights. What else could the court officials be dissatisfied with?

Li Siyuan did not say anything, but King Qi and King Xue nodded in succession. The matter of compiling history was finalized and could not be overturned.

After the court meeting, the court summoned the new scholars to the Ministry of Personnel and gave them two choices: one was to serve as assistant officials in the counties, and the other was to stay in the court to write history books.

For the children of aristocratic families, this was not a multiple-choice question. Most of them simply chose to write history books, and only a few chose to be sent away.

Seeing that the children of noble families chose to write history, those children of poor families who were originally interested in doing so stopped and chose another path, which was to be sent to other places to serve as officials.

I would rather be a chicken head than a phoenix tail.

As successful candidates among tens of thousands of other scholars, they all have their own pride and persistence.

With so many children of aristocratic families participating in the compilation of history books, even if they were included, they would not be able to occupy a good position in it. Perhaps when the history books are finished, they will not even have their names mentioned.

In this case, it is better to quit early and be an official in another place.

They were the first batch of Jinshi in the new dynasty. As long as they had outstanding political achievements, they would have no worries about not being promoted. If the court was unjust, they could also turn to local military governors.

With the title of Jinshi, you don't have to worry about no one wanting you.

What's more, they are not good-for-nothings, but rather have great knowledge and are not the kind of Confucian scholars who can only talk nonsense.

Soon, the news that the court was going to compile history spread throughout Luoyang, causing heated discussions.

At the same time, in order to compile history books, the court reopened the Hongwenguan, Jixiandian Academy and History Museum to accommodate these new scholars. These places were all noble positions in the previous dynasties. They were both clean and idle, and were originally the private preserves of the children of aristocratic families.