Chapter 927: Wu Jinshi and Jiannan Killer God

In the Tai Chi Hall.

A total of fifty Jinshi candidates stood in a row before Emperor Li, bowing to the ground and kowtowing to the emperor with great respect.

After Li Yun raised his hand, these people stood up and stood in the hall with their hands hanging down.

Emperor Li looked at Du Qian standing beside him and said with a smile, “It’s quite lively here today.”

Du Qian also smiled, then looked at these Jinshi and said in a deep voice: “You are all new Jinshi this year. You can say that you are all disciples of the emperor. Now you are going to be sent out to serve as officials. You should listen to the instructions of His Majesty and put them into practice when you arrive in the local areas.”

All these Jinshi nodded their heads in agreement.

Li Yun looked at everyone.

This was not the first time he had seen these people. He had met them one by one when he passed the imperial examination. Some of them were younger than him, and some were about the same age as him.

But no matter how old they are, if they are selected as Jinshi by Mr. Li, then theoretically, they are his disciples and his direct descendants.

The direct lineage among the civil servants.

Moreover, among the fifty people selected today, at least thirty of them are from humble backgrounds. These people, like Yao Zhong, originally had little chance to succeed, but now, Li Yun has given them this opportunity.

He is the great benefactor who helped them.

The new dynasty will also become their lifelong career, and even the career of generations to come.

In other words, these newly elected people will be the future base of New Tang.

This was because there were too few people from the original Jiangdong small court. Many of the local officials of that small court had gone to Luoyang, but there were still not enough people.

However, the Jiangdong Army later conquered the vast tracts of land, but there was simply no manpower to take over and implement administration.

Therefore, the old Zhou officials had to remain in office.

There is no other way around this. All dynasties have done this. Otherwise, no one would be able to implement their own administrative system in a short period of time. This is not something that can be solved by simply posting a notice or changing the country’s name from Zhou to Tang.

A long blood transfusion process is required.

This process can take as short as ten to eight years, or as long as an entire official’s career cycle.

That is about twenty-five to thirty years.

Because if we want to be safe, it will take this long to allow the officials of the new dynasty to fully fill all positions from the bottom to the top.

But Li Yun obviously would not allow such a long process.

It’s not that he has no patience, but if he sits back and watches this slow replacement process, the officials of the old Zhou Dynasty will also promote their subordinates in the process, thus forming a huge force.

At this time, he needed to push these officials from his own direct line to relatively high positions as quickly as possible.

“Everyone.”

Emperor Li reached out and knocked on the table, a smile on his face: “Why did I invite you here? Where will I let you go in the future? I guess you all know it.”

“Originally, the imperial court should have sent you new Jinshi candidates to the Hanlin Academy, or let you observe government affairs in the six ministries to cultivate your talents and reputation.”

“However, the new dynasty has just been established, and the court does not have so much time to give you. I also need you to contribute to the court as soon as possible.”

Li Yun stood up, looked at everyone, and said solemnly: “Many of you are Jinshi selected by me. We are my own people. When you go to the local area, don’t forget that you are different from others. You must obey the orders of the court and don’t go along with the local people.”

“Now is the time to rebuild everything.”

Emperor Li said slowly: “It is time for you to show your skills.”

“This dynasty is different from the previous one. This dynasty puts practical work first. Everything should be based on pragmatism and we should have a heart for achievement.”

“Therefore, when I was in Jiangdong, I told Prime Minister Du that the future prime ministers of this dynasty must be selected from among the officials of the prefectures and counties.”

Having said that, Li Yun looked up and looked at these people again.

Sure enough, I saw fifty pairs of burning eyes.

He nodded with satisfaction and said with a smile: “Therefore, as long as you can make achievements in the local area, I, the court, and the Ministry of Personnel will take note of it.”

“You are the first batch of Jinshi since the establishment of the new dynasty. Among you, there will definitely be prime ministers, ministers, and future key officials of the court.”

Emperor Li smiled and said, “When you get to the local level, you have to get things done down to earth.”

“If you encounter any difficulties.”

“Fifty of you.”

Emperor Li looked calm and said, “You can report this to Luoyang in secret and have it delivered directly to me.”

Having direct access to the ears of heaven has always been a remarkable privilege since ancient times.

Because even if ordinary officials wrote letters to the court, they would basically send them to the ministers. After the ministers read them, they would select the important ones and then report them to the emperor.

Being able to send documents directly to the emperor, even if it was just a few words, would have a huge impact. Emperor Li looked at the crowd and said with a smile: “However, there are too many of you. Remember to write to me when there is something important.”

Upon hearing this, the fifty people were all excited, and they bowed deeply to Li Yun to thank the emperor for his grace.

Li Yun looked at Du Qian and said, “I have finished what I want to say. Prime Minister Du is also the Minister of Personnel. Please say a few words to them as well.”

“Yes.”

Du Xianggong bowed his head and said yes, took a deep breath, and said in a deep voice: “You all heard what your majesty said!”

“Your Majesty has treated you so well, which has never happened in the past five hundred years. He is training you to be the pillars of the new dynasty.”

“If you go to the local areas and do evil and misbehave, you will bring shame to His Majesty and the reputation of the new dynasty.”

At this point, Mr. Du’s voice and expression became stern.

“Even if the three judicial officials can spare you, I, Du, will not spare you!”

Du Xianggong’s words made these new scholars look serious. They all bowed to Du Qian and responded respectfully.

At this point, almost everything that needed to be said had been said. Li Yun had someone give each person a copper plate. The plate was only the size of a child’s palm, with cloud patterns engraved on the back and four characters in seal script on the front.

Zhangwu Jinshi.

This sign itself is not a rare thing, nor is it a symbol of power. It is just a souvenir.

However, there were only fifty of these plaques in the entire Zhangwu dynasty, making them all the more precious and becoming a treasure worthy of being passed down from generation to generation.

Emperor Li and Prime Minister Du played the good cop and the bad cop respectively, and gave these new scholars a good scolding before letting them leave the palace and prepare to leave Beijing to carry out their missions.

After all these people left, Du Qian looked back at Li Yun and said with a smile: “Your Majesty, guess, among the Jinshi of the first year of Zhangwu, is the most promising one among these fifty people?”

“Hard to say.”

Li Yun seemed to be thinking about something, and then he said, “This time, we admitted one or two hundred Jinshi candidates. I read the answers of many of them and found them quite insightful.”

He looked up outside the palace and smiled, “I think that if our new dynasty prospers and becomes a dynasty that can be passed down from generation to generation, seven or eight prime ministers should emerge from this batch of scholars.”

Du Qian thought about it, then smiled and said, “I guess there should be ten.”

“Half of them will be among these fifty people.”

Li Yun smiled dumbly: “Brother Shouyi has become a high-ranking official, how can he still be able to predict the future?”

“I am just speculating.”

Du Qian also looked outside the palace and murmured, “When I was young, if I could hear what you said just now in the court, I would do my best to handle the affairs of the court properly even if I didn’t sleep.”

Li Yun was stunned and smiled silently, but did not respond.

Being an official sometimes requires comprehensive abilities, which has little to do with diligence.

If you are a fool, the more diligent you are, the worse things may be.

It’s just that among this batch of Jinshi in the first year of Zhangwu, there are quite a few stupid ones.

The king and his minister chatted for a while, and Du Qian looked at Li Yun and said, “Your Majesty, when will the battle in Guanzhong begin…”

Li Yun said, “General Su has been away from Beijing for ten days. The war may break out at any time.”

“correct.”

Li Yun looked at Du Qian and said, “We are almost done with taking over Jiannan Dao. Pei Huang will come to Luoyang soon. I am too lazy to meet him. Brother Shouyi, please meet him for me.”

At this point, Emperor Li paused and said, “Although he is not very capable, he is also a useful person. If he wants to be an official in Luoyang, Brother Shouyi can also arrange it for him.”

Du Qian bowed his head and said yes. He hesitated for a moment and said, “Your Majesty, Jiannan Road…”

“I heard that after Huang Chao arrived in Chengdu, he killed many people in Jiannan Road…”

“I’ve seen them all.”

Li Yun narrowed his eyes slightly and said, “Jiannan Road, some local forces have been entrenched for too long, and they need people like Huang Chao to kill them. Brother Shouyi, don’t worry, Jiusi is watching, and Chen Da is also in Jiannan Road, so nothing will happen to Jiannan Road.”

“Huang Chao should report this matter to the Secretariat. Some of the local natives and chieftains need to be dealt with severely.”

Du Qian smiled bitterly and said, “I saw it from his report. I was thinking that since Jiannan Road has not been pacified for long, wouldn’t it be better to be more gentle?”

Mr. Li reached out and knocked on the table, then slowly said: “Since ancient times, the area has been dominated by vassalage, with local chieftains governing themselves. Let Huang Chao give it a try, if he can crush the local forces.”

“For the court…”

Emperor Li looked calm.

“Not a bad thing.”

(End of this chapter)