Chapter 139 Restructuring (asking for monthly ticket)

Li Shimin seemed to have discovered a new talent. When he was knitting, his thoughts were even clearer than usual.

If Li Xiang knew this, he would definitely scream out “Fuck!”

His grandmother was like this in his previous life...

The old lady was knitting and playing mahjong at the same time. Her mind worked faster than anyone else and she could even remember the cards.

The ministers who received the scarf were all impressed by its warmth-retaining properties, but after wearing it for a while, their necks began to sweat.

"This can not only be woven into scarves, but also gloves and socks." Li Shimin said, holding up the gloves woven by Li Xiang. "Look, the five fingers of these gloves are separated, which does not hinder labor, nor does it hinder holding weapons. If all the soldiers of the Tang Dynasty can wear this, why should they be afraid of the severe cold?"

"This wool is truly a magical tool." Changsun Wuji was the first to come out and make a comedic comment. He was a little unhappy because the scarf was knitted by the prince, not his brother-in-law.

Gao Shilian didn't care. On the contrary, he was even happier because the scarf was woven by Princess Jinyang.

After all, she is my nephew's granddaughter, so she can be considered a little cotton-padded jacket.

Fang Xuanling also said, "What Changsun Situ said is absolutely right. Since our Tang Dynasty has mastered the technology of converting wool into yarn and weaving it into clothes, we should send caravans to the grasslands to purchase large quantities of wool!"

All the ministers echoed, and Old Li smiled and said, "Some time ago, the Prince of Hengshan sent Li Jingren, the second son of the King of Jiangxia, to lead a caravan to the grassland to buy wool. They should be on their way back now."

Zhang Sun Wuji understood immediately. He heard from his son that his daughter-in-law Princess Changle was doing some business with Princess Gaoyang recently, and it seemed to be related to wool. He didn't take it seriously before, but now it seems... this business is very big.

Thinking of this, I thought of Li Xiang.

The wealth and prosperity of the second and third generations of the Changsun family will depend on the Prince of Hengshan!

"But then again, wool products need to be promoted and accepted by the people." Li Shimin said, "I have thought about it and the best thing is to set an example for the people. I and the officials in the court should take the lead and use wool products together to drive the trend of using wool products among the people!"

"We agree." Everyone said it was no problem. After all, wool products are really light and warm, much warmer than fur coats.

"In this case, when Li Jingren leads the caravan back, we will launch an activity in the court to learn how to weave wool products. Every household must send at least one person to come to the court to learn how to weave." Li Shimin gave the order in a deep voice.

The ministers said they didn't care, and some even wanted to participate, such as Cheng Yaojin and Yuchi Gong.

When Li Shimin saw the two of them enthusiastically signing up, he even imagined the scene of two bearded men holding knitting needles and knitting sweaters...

hiss……

This picture is so beautiful.

So the matter was settled. As the days passed and the New Year was approaching, on the day of the Little New Year, Li Chengqian and Su Yi brought Li Xiang and Li Jue to the Dianshan Bureau, where they offered a cup of fragrant tea in front of the stove and lit a few incense sticks, which was considered as a sacrifice to the kitchen god.

The Kitchen God worship in the Tang Dynasty was not as complicated as that in later generations. It was just a matter of a cup of tea, a pack of cigarettes... and a few incense sticks.

Luo Yin's description of "a cup of tea, a wisp of smoke, and the Kitchen God ascending to heaven" in "Sending Off the Kitchen God" is a real record of the Kitchen God worship in the Tang Dynasty.

After accompanying Li Chengqian to offer sacrifices to the Kitchen God, Li Xiang was captured by Li Shimin again and took Li Mingda with him to offer sacrifices to the Kitchen God again in the palace.

He still did not attend this small court meeting, but instead accompanied Li Mingda in making a snowman in the Lizheng Hall.

Li Shimin was still knitting a sweater. After so many days of hard work, he had already knitted the two sleeves and was now knitting the upper body.

During this court meeting, Li Shimin planned to reform the imperial examination system.

"During this court meeting, I am concerned about the imperfections of the current imperial examination system, so I want to discuss a set of rules with you all."

"As far as I know, the confidentiality of the imperial examination papers is very poor nowadays. The examiners can tell who wrote the papers at a glance. And I'm sure you have heard about the current trend. Some poor students want to seek a chance to advance quickly and even submit their papers to the powerful for help."

"I believe that the most important thing in the imperial examination is fairness. We cannot allow the examiners to cheat for personal gain and favor certain people during the examination."

"In order to deal with this problem, I intend to adopt a system of obscure names in the reform of the imperial examinations."

Although Li Shimin was knitting a sweater in his hands, his work was very clear.

"Unnamed?"

The ministers looked at each other in bewilderment. Fang Xuanling, the Shangshu You Pushe, stepped forward and asked, "May I ask, Your Majesty, why do you want to be anonymous?"

"The so-called covering up the names means covering up all the parts of the test papers where the candidates' names are written to prevent the examiners from being partial to each other." Li Shimin replied with a smile.

Fang Xuanling and others immediately understood what was going on. After careful consideration, they all said that it was feasible.

"But...if we just cover the names, I'm afraid it won't be enough." Chang Sun Wuji pondered for a moment and said, "What if the examinee marks the test paper, or the examiner recognizes the examinee's handwriting?"

Li Shimin smiled.

I am not afraid that you will ask, but I am afraid that you will not ask.

"In that case, before marking the papers, we should first order the clerks to copy the papers and then cover the names." Li Shimin said with a smile, "In this way, no matter the handwriting or the marks made by the examinees, they will be useless."

When the ministers heard this, they all thought this policy was very good.

"Your Majesty is holy."

Li Shimin spoke again and said, "I think that just carrying out these two reforms cannot fully guarantee the fairness of the imperial examination. Now that the country is divided into ten regions, it would be better to divide it into fifteen or twenty regions, and allocate admission quotas in proportion to the number of households in each region."

"Before taking the exam, candidates must strictly report their place of origin. Those who have moved within three years can only take the imperial examination at their original place of residence. For example, a distant disciple of the Cui family of Boling is only allowed to apply for the exam with the place of residence of the Cui family of Boling as his place of residence."

When the ministers heard this, they understood what Li Shimin meant.

This move will kill people and draw blood!
It’s not that they thought too much about it. The main reason why Li Shimin used the Cui family of Boling as an example was because there was an old grudge against Cui Min.
With such divergent thinking, it is hard not to think of this place.

"I think it is feasible." Changsun Wuji was the first to come forward to support the comedy. After all, his family did not rely on the imperial examinations.

My sister is the queen, and I am a duke and a prime minister. Do my children still need to take the imperial examinations?
The grandson can really say that when my grandfather followed the sage Xuanwu Gate, he suffered all the hardships in my life.

The military generals all expressed their support, because they did not rely on the imperial examination. You couldn't expect one of Cheng Yaojin's sons or Yuchi Gong's sons to become the top scholar, right?

When that time really comes, everyone in the world will have to wonder whether these two old guys are willing to go and threaten the examiner.

"Finally, I intend to subdivide the examination into different levels, and classify them into prefectures, states, and counties."

"May I ask Your Majesty how to subdivide it?" Fang Xuanling asked.

"I think that the county magistrates can organize their own examinations every year, and the people selected are called Tongsheng. Then the governors of each state can organize Tongsheng examinations, and those who pass are called Xiucai. Then the supervisory censors of each prefecture can organize prefecture examinations, and those who pass are called Juren."

"In addition, academies can be established in counties and states to provide unified lectures on examination contents." Li Shimin did not say the latter sentence.

His actual purpose, as he had discussed with Li Xiang before, was to force the children of aristocratic families to leave their hometowns and move into the city.

It is said that the aristocratic families of General Huang Chao and Zhu Wen were great generals, but without the wave of urbanization in the Song Dynasty, the aristocratic families would not have died out, but would have revived.

Old Li continued, "Only after obtaining the status of Juren can one be eligible to take the imperial examination in the capital. I plan to remove other subjects and only keep the Jinshi subject. The Jinshi subject will no longer test poetry and prose, but will change the examination content from classics, current affairs and poetry and prose to classics and current affairs. When the time is right, administrative ability tests will be added in the future."

"Those who pass the Jinshi exam are called Gongshi. After the Gongshi selection is completed, a palace exam will be held under my supervision. Those who pass the palace exam will be called Jinshi..."

"After being admitted as a Jinshi, you will observe government for two years. You must have more than five years of work experience at the grassroots level or in border provinces before you can take up a position at the level of a central department or above."

This time, Li Shimin completely raised the Jinshi examination to the highest level in official status.

If you pass the Jinshi exam, you will really soar to the sky...

Li Xiang did not completely copy the wisdom of later generations, such as the top few Jinshi candidates being directly admitted to the Hanlin Academy to cultivate their reputation, and then becoming high-ranking officials in the central government after a few years. This precedent should not be set.

Even if you are the top scholar, you have to start from the grassroots.

After hearing Li Shimin's perfect plan, the ministers looked at each other in bewilderment.

Isn’t this too perfect?!

Moreover, anyone who is not a fool can understand the profound meaning of Li Shimin's reform of the imperial examination system.

This is like using a blunt knife to stab the flesh of the aristocratic families.

"May I ask Your Majesty, what is the administrative ability test?" Fang Xuanling asked again.

Li Shimin said: "This administrative ability test was proposed by the Prince of Hengshan. The so-called administrative ability test, in the words of the Prince of Hengshan, is to predict the possibility of candidates' success in various positions in the administrative profession by testing a series of psychological potentials."

"This kind of test tests the abilities that a person has accumulated through years of life, study and practice. Its nature is a test of basic potential abilities."

"As for the specific content of the investigation, the Prince of Hengshan will announce it in the future." Li Shimin added finally.

In fact, Li Xiang had no intention of coming up with any specific difficult questions. He was just going to gather a group of grassroots officials and let them come up with some questions to test their common sense of life, geographical features, local customs and practices. If they really have grassroots experience, they would be able to answer these questions with ease.

It was said to be a discussion, but in fact it was a disguised notification. After all, the plan put forward by Li Shimin was extremely perfect.

To put it bluntly, it is basically equivalent to copying the wisdom of later generations.

In fact, Li Shimin did not intend to completely kill the aristocratic families. Li Xiang had the same idea. He wanted the aristocratic families, the children of poor families, and the meritorious ministers to stand together in the court and compete with each other.

Lao Li is indeed good enough and does not need to play any balancing act, but after all, it is difficult for future generations to surpass his predecessor.

In his opinion, there was nothing wrong with Li Xiang, but that didn't mean that Li Xiang's descendants...

Li Shizhi: Are you talking about me?
In fact, to say something politically incorrect, these days the children from poor families who are selected through the imperial examinations are really not as good as the children from aristocratic families.

The children of noble families have been influenced by their environment since childhood and can start working directly after taking office, but the children of poor families...it's better not to mention them.

To sum it up in one sentence, the aristocratic families must be fought, but not completely killed. Instead, their outrageous ideas of controlling the court must be eliminated.

The ultimate goal of suppressing the aristocratic families is simply to provide a channel for children from poor families to rise.

As a person in a higher position, one should know clearly that one should not use the water preferentially because it is clear, nor should one neglect the water preferentially because it is turbid.

Officials who rose through the imperial examinations certainly formed a "civil servant group." However, in the Tang Dynasty, the imperial examination system was paralleled by the recommendation system and the imperial patronage system, so it was difficult for officials who came from the imperial examinations to dominate the country.

The dozen or so close ministers still participated in the court meeting this time, but there was no stir caused by this reform.

Old Li is sharpening his knife, thinking about taking action against the aristocratic families.

The Shandong gentry were also unwilling to be left out, so they also turned their attention to Chang'an.

In the Jianghu Restaurant, Li Shu was eating hotpot with Li Lizhi and Pei Xueqing.

Li Su was extremely satisfied with this girl from the Pei family.

Li Su originally intended to make friends with Pei Xueqing because he was planning to help Li Xiang win over Pei Xingjian and Su Dingfang.

After spending so many days together, Li Shu discovered that this woman's beauty was actually proportional to her ability.

Very good, my Li Shu’s friends must not only be good-looking but also capable.

“If it weren’t for the Pei family’s sister this time, it would have taken a lot of effort to find an old farmer with experience in growing white calamus.” Li Lizhi said with a smile.

Pei Xueqing smiled lightly and said modestly: "It was just a coincidence. I don't deserve the princess' praise."

Li Shu looked at Pei Xueqing mischievously, then at Li Lizhi: "Sister Changle is wrong..."

"Hmm?" Li Lizhi hummed cutely.

"Sister, you don't know, some time ago, Xiang'er had hotpot with Xueqing and her brother. I heard that Xiang'er called her 'Sister Pei'. Don't you think that the generations are mixed up?" Li Shu teased in a quirky manner.

When Pei Xue heard Li Shu mention Li Xiang, a blush appeared on her jade-white cheeks.

Although the Tang Dynasty was an open-minded society, people would still feel shy if they were joked with by a young man.

"Is there such a thing?" Li Li smiled gently, her gossipy nature was instantly aroused.

Li Shu glanced at Pei Xueqing, whose face was blushing, and began to tell Li Lizhi gossip about what he had heard before.

It was just that Li Shu was gossiping in the restaurant, but she was being targeted by someone.

In a house somewhere, a gentle young man put down his teacup and looked at the servant in front of him with a serious expression.

"are you sure?"

The servant did not dare to be negligent and spoke in a sincere tone.

"It is absolutely true. I have confirmed that the wool yarn was made by Princess Gaoyang!"

(Cong has fainted, please give me a monthly ticket.)
(End of this chapter)