After the founding of the Ming Dynasty for more than 200 years, the body of the Ming Dynasty inevitably became increasingly bloated, especially the bureaucracy.

But correspondingly, the imperial court's assessment of officials has become increasingly strict - at least this is how the system is formulated.

It was custom-made in the early Ming Dynasty and inspected by Beijing officials, who immediately deposed Zhi when the examination was completed.

That is, irregular inspections.

When the emperor encounters something, he will check it out when he thinks of it to see if the person below is ruthless enough to hide it from him.

In the eighth year of Tianshun, which was nearly a hundred years after the founding of the People's Republic of China, the Beijing Chaoxiang finally formed a custom-made system - "held once every ten years, regardless of appointment, salary, Dingyou, tolerance, recuperation, provincial sacrifices, etc., all public and private yamen The superior officer of the hall inspected."

And in the seventeenth year of Hongzhi.

Under the continuous advice of Huang Bao, the official doctor, Lin Han, the official secretary, and Xu Tianci, the official official secretary, the Beijing inspection was changed to once every six years. The superior officer of the hall will conduct inspections from now on, once every six years, and write an order."

But after arriving at Zhengde, once every six years is too long.

The so-called intervening inspection was born - that is, in addition to once every six years, additional inspections are temporarily added depending on the situation.

For example, after Gao Gong took charge of the cabinet, he wanted to plow the officialdom again before the official inspection period, so he took advantage of the haze to conduct intercalary inspections.

In addition to the annual inspection of Beijing officials, the Ministry of Personnel also conducts assessments on the number of years officials have been in office.

Once every three years after serving as an official, each officer will review his merits and demerits within three years and submit them for review to determine his dismissal.

The two methods are similar. For those with five ranks and below, the Ministry of Civil Affairs will jointly inspect with the Metropolitan Procuratorate and the chief seal officials of each court. For those with four ranks and above, the emperor will personally decide whether to stay or leave.

In short, this inspection of large and small institutions covers officials, both large and small, both inside and outside Beijing.

In today's Wanli Dynasty, Zhang Juzheng proposed the examination method, which went a step further, combining the effects of the two, and directly changed it into a national normalized annual examination.

Although it has been a big step forward, it is also the same as the same origin and has developed slowly until now.

It's easy to say that they are of the same origin, and the original team is more comfortable at work.

Especially the Department of Civil Service Examination, where officials have been in charge of examinations and deposed. No matter which time they are inspected, they are the well-deserved main force. It can be said that they have experienced hundreds of battles.

Today, even if there was a surprise inspection by the emperor, the examination department did not lose its position. Instead, it quickly prepared the case files and documents as requested by the emperor.

Zhu Yijun majestically occupied the yamen office of the Ministry of Personnel Examination, sitting in the hall and reading the case files compiled by the Ministry of Personnel.

From time to time, he would ask the two ministers of the Ministry of Civil Affairs on the side: "Shen Qing, Wen Qing, how many officials are there in the two capitals and one province that I have passed the examination this time?"

Shen Shixing and Wen Chun were specially given seats by the emperor, and sat on the left and one on the right under the examination hall.

When the emperor asked questions, it was natural that Zuo Shilang would answer first.

Shen Shixing recalled for a moment and replied: "Your Majesty, after passing the examination this time, there are 1,996 officials in Beijing, including 580 in Nanjing."

"The two direct jurisdictions merged with Fujian Province, state, prefecture, and county officials, a total of 5,240."

"Two capitals and one province, totaling more than 7,000 people."

Zhu Yijun flipped through the case files, listened to Shen Shixing's words, and nodded.

There are currently 28,963 officials on the books.

Seven thousand people, although only a fraction, is not a small number.

No wonder I haven't finished it after two months of work.

Zhu Yijun asked again: "So far, how many are good and bad?"

Shen Shixing and Wen Chun looked at each other, and then looked at Liu Dashou, the doctor of the examination department who was accompanying the emperor to interpret the case file.

Liu Dashou knew what was going on and quickly helped Shangguan take over the conversation: "Your Majesty, so far, our company has passed more than 5,000 people, of which 211 are excellent, 672 are inferior, and the rest are all

qualified."

When Zhu Yijun heard this, he couldn't help but shook his head.

This is too much.

10% are unqualified, and we haven’t even started working in the field yet!

Now that it is the first year of passing the exam, more work is being done to improve the system.

Most of the examination requirements for local prefectures and counties are just some indicators for tax collection, transportation, and stability maintenance. Not to mention the officials in the capital, if they maintain the normal operation of the department and complete the tasks assigned by the emperor and the cabinet, there will be no failure.

If it is a minor problem, the officials will even show their favor. As long as they are willing to make corrections within a time limit, it will not be recorded in the case file.

But even so, the number of unqualified officials still far exceeded Zhu Yijun's imagination.

This can only mean that these people either don’t do any work at all, or they are simply delaying on purpose.

Zhu Yijun randomly pulled out a case file and studied it carefully - he wanted to see what was wrong with the law.

"...In December of the sixth year of Longqing, Prince Shangyong of Zhongshan in the Ryukyu Kingdom sent his companions to pay tribute, requesting him to be crowned the king. He sent a letter to the Ministry of Rites and ordered the Fujian town patrol and other officials to inspect the document. The Fujian town patrol and other officials did not

Report. In May of the following year, I accepted a bribe of 1,600 taels of silver from the Crown Prince of Zhongshan, Shangyong, and I reported it."

Also attached below are the impeachment of the imperial censor and the complaint of Prince Zhongshan.

Okay, I’m very energetic after eating and taking cards.

It has to be said that Zhu Yijun is used to the expected operations, but it is a bit outrageous to delay the official business of the Ministry of Rites.

He continued to scroll down.

"The tax burden of Changzhou Prefecture, Yangzhou Prefecture, and Suzhou Prefecture has reached more than 170,000 yuan a year. It is because of the manipulation of the prefects and other officials that although they quickly collect taxes, they are still not fully paid according to the limit."

It is followed by the accounts posted by the Ministry of Accounts, and who is responsible for the prefecture and Yamen officials posted by the Ministry of Personnel in black and white.

Tax arrears... Zhu Yijun shook his head.

Last year, the Minister of Revenue Wang Guoguang complained bitterly at the court meeting, saying that it was difficult to collect taxes. The local government either complained about natural disasters or man-made disasters, or complained about uncooperative people.

After the censors from all over the country went to press for it, they summarized four points: one is that powerful people are blocking it; the other is that there are officials who are idle; the third is that big fishermen invade the fishing industry; and the fourth is that the sticks are all over the place.

To put it mildly, it was actually a collusion between officials and gentry.

Zhu Yijun now saw the name of the official who corresponded to the state government.

Zhu Yijun silently wrote down a note, and then handed it to Wu Zhongxing, the Hanlin editor on the side: "Please take a look at it and tell me later whether it is fair to be sentenced to be unqualified for an official."

Wu Zhongxing bent down, held it in both hands, and respectfully took the case file handed over by the emperor.

He and the Shujishi on the side watched together.

Zhu Yijun let them read it by themselves while he read through the files again.

Greed, cruelty, impetuousness, inadequacy, old age and illness are just some of them.

Zhu Yijun sometimes has smoke coming out of his seven orifices, sometimes it is cloudy and clear, and sometimes he feels relish.

Unknowingly.

Outside the examination hall, two rare guests walked in.

The little emperor was looking down at the file without realizing it, but Shen Shixing, Wen Chun and others saw it and hurriedly stood up to salute.

Zhang Juzheng stretched out his hand and pressed it weakly, indicating that Shen Shixing did not need to see the courtesy. Then he and Gao Yi stood beside the emperor, silently waiting for the emperor to turn over the scroll.

The young emperor himself was not aware of it at all. Without raising his head, he asked Liu Dashou, the doctor of the examination department: "Mr. Liu, among these unqualified officials, what is the reason for not doing their job?"

Zhu Yijun roughly scrolled through and found that among these unqualified officials, corruption and tax resistance were still in the minority.

Most of them just record a sentence of disloyalty.

It made him a little puzzled.

Liu Dashou glanced at the two court officials and two cabinet ministers on the court. Seeing that neither of them had any intention of answering, he replied to the emperor: "Your Majesty, the so-called incompetence mostly refers to county magistrates, prefects, various ministries and yamen, etc."

All the court officials, prefects, etc., do not attend their duties, do not sign bonds, and do not perform their duties."

"Although no crime has been committed, it is a breach of duty to prevent the department or the duties of the government from functioning properly."

Zhu Yijun's hand turning the page suddenly stopped in mid-air, and then he silently pointed at the two people on the file and ordered: "Ask Tu Xiying, the minister of Honglu Temple, and Zhao Zhigao, the editor of the Hanlin Academy, to come to the Ministry of Civil Affairs to see me."

Immediately he sighed again: "The corpse seat is a vegetarian... I don't even sit in class, I don't know what I am doing all day long."

I was talking to myself and didn't expect anyone to answer.

Suddenly, a familiar voice came into my ears: "Replying to your Majesty, most of them are traveling around and giving lectures."

Zhu Yijun was deep in thought when he was unprepared and trembled by the sudden sound.

But as expected, when he looked up, he saw Zhang Juzheng standing beside him and bowing in salute.

After the two saluted, they stood beside the emperor without squinting.

Zhao Yongxian on the side looked slightly flustered, lowering his head and not daring to meet the teacher's eyes. Wu Zhongxing, on the other hand, bowed respectfully to Zhang Juzheng, calmly and calmly.

Only then did Zhu Yijun come back to his senses.

After calming down, he smiled and said: "It's not easy for you two gentlemen to work in the cabinet, so why did you come here quietly to scare me?"

Zhang Juzheng was expressionless: "When I heard that Your Majesty was dragged out of the palace by a group of concubines, I felt uneasy and had to abandon the cabinet affairs and put Your Majesty's safety first."

Zhu Yijun smiled awkwardly.

Pretending not to hear the dissatisfaction with his own behavior of not saying hello, he looked at Gao Yi and changed the topic: "Sir, when you said you were traveling around the mountains and rivers and giving lectures, did you mean Tu Xiying and Zhao Zhigao?"

Gao Yi originally wanted to follow suit and "sarcastically admonish" the emperor, but seeing the emperor's expression, he still didn't sarcastically speak out.
To be continued...