The queen and Concubine Zhang were about to give birth to a baby girl on the same day, and the emperor of Daxing had no children.

However, another plan was immediately launched: Although the 20th son of the late emperor (Xiao Gang), the king of Leliang, Xiao Dayuan, had passed away, his youngest son had been brought into the palace and adopted him to the late emperor (Xiao Daqi), and succeeded to the throne as the younger brother of the Daxing Emperor.

So, the throne that had been vacant for several months had a master, but was a young emperor.

The new king was the heir of the queen mother, so the queen mother was still the queen mother, the empress of the big emperor, and was named "Empress Jingming".

Because the new king was young, the government was still under the prime minister's charge.

In the blink of an eye, it was already winter. Li Li, who was in charge of the government affairs, should have been very busy, but in fact he was not that busy.

Because most of the affairs are handed over to the assistant, he only needs to focus on the key points.

In the afternoon, Li Li, who was handling official duties at the Prime Minister's Office, talked with Zhang Ying, the chief secretary of the Prime Minister's Office. What Zhang Ying is talking about now is a past event.

In the Song and Qi generations, Emperor Xiao Daocheng of Qi planned to work hard to govern, so he naturally wanted to "check the household registration" (check the household registration) to increase taxes and increase the treasury income.

At this time, due to poor management, many common landlords and even merchants bribed county officials to tamper with their household registration.

He made his family listed as a gentry in his household registration, or his ancestors had military achievements, so he enjoyed various privileges, did not pay taxes, or did not serve labor.

And conceal the land and the number of people in the family.

In response to this situation, the court set up a public official and investigated and punished those who had false household registration.

Any family that falsely reports, false reports or tampers with their own household registration will be removed from the household registration registration, which is called "resignation".

Those who found out that the "rebirth" were exiled to the border.

Xiao Daocheng died a few years after he reigned. After Xiao Xie ascended the throne, he continued to implement "prosecutorial registration".

With the continuous implementation of this policy, various "displacements" of county officials during the implementation process have led to more and more "unfair and false cases". The resistance in the Sanwu area has become increasingly high, and later something happened:

At the beginning of the fourth year of Yongming, a man named Tang Yuzhi in Kuaiji area took advantage of the opportunity of Kuaiji prefect Wang Jing entering the capital to gather people to raise an uprising and first conquered Fuyang.

Subsequently, those who were abandoned participated, and tens of thousands of them were involved.

Most of the households who were registered were expatriates from the north. Their household registration was originally white, so the rioters were called "white thieves".

Tang Yuzhi captured Tonglu again, occupied Qiantang, Yanguan, Zhuji, Yuhang and other counties, and proclaimed himself emperor in Qiantang, established the crown prince, changed the country's name to Wu, and Jianyuan Xingping.

Tang Yuzhi also sent troops to attack Dongyang County, killed Dongyang Prefect Xiao Chongzhi, and attacked Shanyin.

After receiving the urgent report, Emperor Xiao Zi of Qi immediately mobilized troops to suppress the rebellion. The official army defeated the main force of the rebels with one blow, and Tang Yuzhi was defeated and died.

The rebellion quickly subsided, but the resistance to "prosecutors" in the Sanwu area continued to rise, and the "water" continued to boil. Tang Yuzhi's rebellion was just the beginning.

Seeing that the situation was slowly losing control, Xiao Zi had to announce the suspension of "certification" and let the household registration return to the state of late Song Dynasty. All those who were exiled before returned to their original homeland.

As a result, the common landlords and merchants who tampered with their household registration regained the privileges like those of the gentry.

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The center (the emperor) was disgraced.

Zhang Ying summarized: On the surface, Tang Yuzhi's rebellion was a group of people who were forced to rebel by corrupt officials during the "procuratorial process".

In fact, it was the resistance of common people and landlords from all over the country to "prosecutors" that led to this accident.

Xiao Xie had troops on his hands and could suppress rebellions of this scale, and he didn't mind suppressing them a few more times.

However, when the public is angry to a certain extent, the scale of the rebellion that broke out will inevitably exceed that of the Tang Yuzhi rebellion, which will shake the foundation of the dynasty.

Therefore, Xiao Xie chose to give in, settle the matter and settle the matter, and leave the matter alone.

Zhang Ying talked about the "Tang Yuzhi Rebellion" today, in order to remind Li Li that after the "Shishou" was over, he would start to collect grain and tax from the landlords.

If you think that as long as you kill a few people who dare to stand out, everything will be fine, then it will be troublesome.

None of the landlords is willing to pay taxes (land rent) honestly, and the same is true for those who have given the hidden households, regardless of the scholars or the common people.

The small landlords are not strong enough to bear it. They are dissatisfied and are just complaining at home. The big and middle landlords are dissatisfied and will not jump out, but they will instigate others to jump out.

If that's the case, it won't be great.

In all parts of the Three Wus, and even across the country, several rebels emerged every now and then, causing trouble, wandering around and harassing counties and counties. The government troops suppressed the rebellion everywhere, and they would only be exhausted.

Frequent mobilization of troops will inevitably increase expenditure significantly, and rebellions that break out from time to time will affect the lives of local people and agricultural production.

For example, in a certain place, a rebellion broke out in spring. Even if the official army quickly quelled it, the people would be greatly affected by the farming season.

If the rebellion breaks out in autumn, the impact will be great.

In order to strengthen local control, all counties and counties must strengthen their troops, which is another considerable expense.

Therefore, Zhang Ying believes that in the subsequent "checking" of "crime", the use of force cannot solve the problem, so he must use both soft and hard.

That is, give a sweet date,

The so-called "sweet dates" are to give the common people (cold tribes) a relatively fair way to become officials. As long as this is guaranteed, the common people (cold tribes) landlords will cooperate.

The system of military affairs in the government gives the children of the Han clan a chance to enter the officialdom with military merits, which is a way, but landlords in Jiangnan may not be willing to join the army and enter the officialdom with military merits.

Because war will kill people, not all parents are willing to let their sons go to the battlefield, nor are they who pursue fame and fortune have the courage to go into battle to kill the enemy.

Especially for those noble scholars, joining the army is a "bad thing".

The method given by Zhang Ying was to "replace officials" and implement alternative official selection (the official here refers to officials, not officials):

Through the assessment, some county officials in the Sanwu area who do have real talents and knowledge were further promoted to officials (external officials).

Experience in a new position for one to three years. As long as you pass the experience and performance, you can "enter the current", that is, you will become an official in the stream.

The "official" referred to here is not a lowly official, but an assistant official.

The county officials in the Sanwu area were mostly children of cold people (born small landlords), mostly clan relatives, and the relationships were mixed in the local area.

As long as these people have hope and can eat "sweet dates", in order to obtain the opportunity that they have finally obtained, they will cooperate with the court's "procuratorial registration" and "procuratorial territory".

In this way, the resistance will ease.

Introducing some cold-sected children as internal officials can allow Li Li to gain more support, and in the future, he can build a relatively loyal bureaucratic team with many cold-sected officials.

Li Li said: "This idea is good, but it has limitations, which is equivalent to giving benefits to the Sanwu area."

Zhang Ying replied: "Telephone matters are handled in order to successfully inspect the local area."

Li Li asked back: "What else? This expedient approach is still limited. It should give children of cold tribes everywhere the opportunity to bypass the ninth-rank Zhongzheng system and become officials."

"Ming Gong said... was it the regular exam selection mentioned before?" Zhang Ying was interested. Because Li Li is now the prime minister, his name for Li Li became "Ming Gong".

Li Li nodded: "The Imperial College has been in practice for many years, right? Moreover, it is said that the Qi State of the Gao family also convened students to Beijing for examinations in prefectures and counties. Those who pass the exam will be appointed, and this trick is not new."

He said this and laughed, "But the Imperial College examination system of the dynasty is full of darkness, but you know it clearly."

Zhang Ying also smiled.

As the former "substitute" he certainly knew the various dark corners of the Imperial College examination selection system, but this was not the system's fault, but the human problem.

It is not the fault of the system that people who formulate the system take the lead in violating the system, or turn a blind eye to let the system become a laughing stock.

"Ming Gong, although there are many children of the gentry who are just a scattered, there are still many outstanding talents and knowledgeable people. If you are in the exam, the children of the cold race will not be able to test them."

"If the examination selection system is expanded from Imperial College to various places, I am afraid that most of the people who stand out in the end will be the children of the gentry."

Zhang Ying's worries are very realistic. Nowadays, most of his knowledge is monopolized by the gentry, and only the gentry's families have a large number of books to read.

It is impossible for the children of the cold clan to compete with the children of the gentry by taking exams.

But Li Li had an idea: "Have you ever thought about the exam results, divided into two rankings and ranking them separately?"

Zhang Ying was stunned when he heard this, and then he thought: "Mr. Ming! Could it be... a scholar list, a common list? a scholar list?"

"That's right, there are only one gentry and one commoner. Different test papers are used to make the difficulty and ease of different levels." Li Li smiled again. This inspiration came from the "North and South List" of the imperial examinations in the Ming Dynasty.

"Think about it, it is naturally much less difficult for common people to fight against the gentry children."

"Gold and gold are in the same list, and bronze and bronze are in the same list, which is called combat power matching."

"And ordinary gentry children do not need to study in the Imperial College, but they can also have the opportunity to pass the examination and become officials."

"Exams can be divided into...for example, level 3...for the second level, the junior exam is a state exam, and there is no threshold. As long as you are a good citizen, you can register as a senator and a common identity to take the junior exam."

"After passing the junior exam, you can take the second level exam, that is, go to the capital and take the Provincial Examination of the Shangshu Province. Those who are famous on the list can enter the officialdom."

"The gold candidates compete with each other and decide the first... For example, the top five, who are admitted to the official position, start with the official position, at least two classes, and the specific position will be determined by the emperor himself. Others who fail the exam will take the exam next time."

"Bronze and bronze compete, and the top ten people who have been selected to join the government will be selected. The first and second classes, and the official positions will be determined by the emperor. Others who fail the exam will be taken next time."

"Think about it, as long as you pass the exam and become a famous official on the list, you can become an official. This is an achievement that many children of the cold clan will never achieve in their careers for the rest of their lives?"

"As soon as this two-list examination system comes out, the competition on the Scholars will inevitably be more fierce than the competition on the Scholars. Do you believe it or not, whether you believe it or not, you will be crazy about it?"

Zhang Ying showed joy and nodded constantly, Li Li said again:

"If the two-row regular examination and selection system is really implemented, do you think those common landlords will change their household registration and become gentry?"

Zhang Ying smiled: "There must be many people who want to change it back! It is true that the gentry household registration can be exempted from taxes, but compared to the opportunity to become an official, what is that?"

"If a family, if a child becomes an official by taking the exam, then the entire family will have hope! What is the mere tax exemption?"

"If the household registration is a gentry, their children will have to compete with the elite children of the gentry. How can they make a breakthrough?"

Zhang Yingyue said that his thinking was getting broader. As the "replacement exam" of the Imperial College back then, he was very talented, but because of his identity, he was unable to study in the Imperial College, and he was even less likely to take the exam to become an official.
To be continued...