Chinese dining table

Chapter 1265: The Great Cage-Changing Bird Technique
The Autumn Examination was just around the corner, and the city of Chang'an was crowded with scholars coming to take the exam.

Nowadays, the practice of gaining the favor of a nobleman and then obtaining an official position by submitting a certificate of merit is completely unworkable.

Both Empress Wu Mei and Crown Prince Li Hong were extremely disgusted with this behavior of almost privately granting court positions. Of course, the person who was most eager to put an end to the practice of circulating official documents was the current Emperor Li Zhi.

On this point, the three highest-ranking people in the Tang Dynasty all agreed.

Therefore, there are very few ways to become an official in the Tang Dynasty. Among them, the easiest way is to get the favor of your father and grandfather. However, this way is not easy to take now. The emperor is very stingy now and will not easily give officials this convenience.

The other is military merit. There is nothing much to say about this one. It is often used by people in the military. This is how Yun Chu got his earliest official position.

However, over the years, the Tang Dynasty's border troops had often seen a hundred cavalrymen defeat ten thousand, or even a hundred thousand, or one man destroy an entire country or an entire clan, and had easily expanded the territory by hundreds of miles. These astonishing military exploits made the imperial court very angry.

After sending censors to investigate several major achievements, they found that some people either killed innocent people to claim credit, or collaborated with foreign races to cheat for military merit. The censors killed countless people in the border army, and when they returned to the capital, the scholars were almost turned into butchers. This made this bad habit gradually disappear, and by the way, the military merits of those brave soldiers who had accumulated hundreds of enemy heads were certified, which created a normal promotion atmosphere in the border army.

However, what the imperial court valued most was the imperial examinations.

Over the years, Pei Xingjian has completely reformed the imperial examination system. He now covers the names of candidates, copies the papers, does not designate the chief examiner in advance, and does not predetermine the examination questions. The examiners have to review and proofread the papers three times afterwards, and the papers of those who pass the examinations will eventually be posted on the bulletin board.

Although it is impossible to select all the talents through this process, at least those who have passed the examination and obtained official positions are all well-educated people.

The scene of a scholar who is illiterate when selected, a filial and honest person whose father lives separately, a poor and honest person who is as dirty as mud, and a talented disciple and general who is as timid as a chicken was very rare in the court of the Tang Dynasty.

Whether it is military merit or examinations, it can only screen out the brave and the well-educated. As for whether these brave men are good officers and whether these well-educated men are good officials, it depends on one's own opinion.

The aftereffects of the Queen setting up a bronze box in Luoyang, allowing common people, even prisoners, to report any illegal activities they knew of to the court and receive rewards in the end, still exist.

The sequelae of this was that false accusations became a common practice. Although it was later corrected by the crown prince, after the queen granted official positions to several false accusers, many people who knew they lacked talent hoped to use this method to gain the queen's favor and thereby gain an opportunity to advance in their own class.

As long as they are scholars for one day, even if they are beheaded and their property is confiscated, their family can still regard themselves as scholars in the future. This is the worst trend in the Tang Dynasty at present.

There are many people in this world who disregard life and death in order to gain the title of scholar.

For example, this man called Liang Hou.

This guy's name sounds official, and at first glance you might think he is a respected marquis in the Tang Dynasty. In fact, this guy is nothing. He is just a failed student who studied in the Imperial College for many years but still failed to pass the imperial examination.

He didn't know where he had collected all the illegal deeds of Yun Chu, and even listed Yun Chu's ten major sins.

Instead of sending the document filled with Yun Chu's ten major crimes to the Dali Temple or the Censorate, he posted it directly in front of the Yun family's gate and recited the contents loudly to the onlookers. His generosity was so great that when people heard it, they felt that if Yun Chu had not committed these crimes, it would be a waste of their time and effort.

Just when everyone thought that this madman would be killed without a trace, the Yun family closed the door and allowed Marquis Liang to shout and curse outside while the house was completely silent.

Not only that, whenever the sun was shining brightly or it was cloudy and rainy, the Yun family would set up a canopy and serve tea to prevent the Marquis of Liang from being exposed to the sun or drenched by the rain and getting sick.

When Marquis Liang got tired of scolding, the Yun family would send someone to send Marquis Liang home and hand him over to his family to ensure that he returned home alive.

This retreat did not stop Marquis Liang. On the contrary, more and more scholars joined Marquis Liang's ranks, and Yun Chu's ten crimes eventually turned into thirty major crimes.

Although people were cursing heatedly outside, the Yun family's house was extremely calm.

Yu Xiurong glanced at the list of Yun's fifty major crimes that her husband had just drafted, and couldn't help but ask, "Is my jealousy considered a major crime?"

Yun Chu said sternly, "Why not? It's because Madam is jealous that the Yun family's harem is empty and there are not many offspring."

Yu Xiurong curled her lips and said, "I accept this. Speaking of heaven, I am the only woman in the Yun family's harem. As for the lack of offspring, it's because my husband was away from home for years when I was most fertile. This is not my fault."

Yun Chu smiled and blew the ink dry on the memorial, then called the butler Lao Liu and asked him to send the new charges to Marquis Liang, so that they would not run out of new ideas when criticizing the Yun family.

"Husband, by doing this, can you lure out all those who are dissatisfied with the Yun family?"

Yun Chu nodded and said, "When a wall falls, everyone pushes it; when a drum breaks, everyone beats it. This is an irrefutable truth since ancient times. They don't dare to lead the way against the Yun family. However, I think they still have the courage to follow the crowd."

Yu Xiurong said, "When all the followers have arrived, what should my husband do?"

Yun Chu sneered and said, "Of course, we will beat those people who like to follow the crowd until they dare not to follow the crowd."

Yu Xiurong nodded repeatedly and said, "After a few more times, no matter who impeaches my husband, others will suspect that they are baits set by our family. From now on, no one will follow anyone who impeaches my husband for illegal activities."

Yun Chu smiled and said, "That's the truth. Now, Madam, you know how much I hope the Wu brothers can come in. This way, I will have an excuse to teach them a lesson again.

Recently, these two brothers have been so arrogant that they even dared to drink my tea without my consent."

When Yun Jin returned home, he did not dare to go through the main door, but entered the house through the back door on the side of Da Ci'en Temple. He did not plan to stay at home today, and was going to Princess Anding's Mansion to find Li Si, as the house was too noisy.

Fortunately, there was some distance from the backyard to the main gate. As long as the door was closed, the scolding from Marquis Liang and the others would be much quieter.

When Yun Chu saw his eldest son coming back, he smiled and asked, "Did you send the money to the Buddhist sect?"

Yun Jin said: "Today, when I went to the Liushui brand to collect money, I alarmed everyone in Chang'an. Everyone was worried that the Liushui brand would repeat the same mistake, which resulted in the selling volume today being more than ten times larger than the buying volume, and the selling price was 10% lower than the previous price.

Two days later, I will go to ask for money again. This time, the selling price should have room to fall further. If it falls by 30%, the people arranged by Aye can enter the market."

Yun Chu sighed and said, "In fact, we will make more profit if we boost the sales volume, but we can't bear to see the people who follow suit suffer. Forget it, 30% is 30%, a stable transition is the most important."

Yun Jin said, "Father, isn't our plan of changing the cage and replacing the bird too big? I'm worried that it will be discovered. If so, will it ruin Father's plan?"

Yun Chu shook his head and said, "It took us two years to completely replace the ward heads and village heads. It also took us two years to completely replace the clerks in Chang'an and Wannian counties. The supervisors, middlemen, and supervisors of the East and West Markets, as well as the various markets and wards have almost all been replaced by our people. This is a big thing and it really cannot be ruined. Tell Master Kuiji that it's better to be a little rude when collecting debts."

Yun Jin said, "Father, you let the Wu brothers in, let His Majesty, the Crown Prince's subordinates, and the children of high-ranking officials of the Tang Dynasty into Chang'an, and gave up all the important positions in Chang'an, just to stabilize the clerks and those temporary positions that are not in the mainstream. If there is a change, I am worried that those people and the clerks will collectively betray."

Yun Chu smiled and said, "Don't worry, it won't change. In the future of Chang'an, officials will be officials and clerks will be clerks. The two will not live under the same sky."

Yun Jin added: "But, over the years, Aye still taught the Wu brothers a lot."

Yun Chu smiled and said, "Tell me, who did you teach?"

Yun Jin frowned and said, "The Wu brothers, Li Jingxuan's son and more than ten other children."

Yun Chu smiled and said, "Anything else?"

Yun Jin thought about it and shook his head: "No more."

Yun Chu asked again: "Where are they now?"

Yun Jin smiled and said, "Except for the Wu brothers, the rest are serving as officials outside, and they are all important officials. Even if they return to Chang'an, there won't be so many equivalent positions for them."

Yun Chu sneered and said, “At the beginning, I did teach those people wholeheartedly so that the court would know that I had no intention of controlling Chang’an. This made those people think that once their sons and nephews came, they would also be taught well by me.

In fact, apart from the Wu brothers, whom I taught carefully, the rest were taught by those experienced officials. The reason why those people did their work well was not because they were naturally intelligent, but because the officials under their command were highly skilled.

At this time, even if a pig is placed in those important positions, that pig will definitely be the best choice in the experience evaluation of the Ministry of Personnel.

Once there is a change, if we do not allow the officials to continue to help them, their true colors will be revealed, and they will go from being geniuses in people's eyes to fools despised by everyone.

People are all selfish. For their own future, those people will not show their ugly side to others even if they are pretending or completely giving up their power. After all, their wise performance in that position has brought them too many benefits. "

Yun Jin laughed and said, "It seems that the decline of the Yun family is irreversible. That is - the palace soldiers?"

Yun Chu glanced at Yun Jin and said, “The emperor has great military power, the empress has great military power, the prince has great military power, the court has great military power, we don’t touch the palace soldiers, as local officials, we only have the power to manage the palace soldiers’ families.

Besides, there are still 8,000 bad guys in Chang'an, which is enough."

Yun Jin nodded, then smiled and said, "I will be hiding in the princess's mansion these days and won't be going home."

Yun Chu smiled and said, "It's time for you and Sisi to have a child."

(End of this chapter)