Deja Vu Yan Returns

In a blink of an eye, the autumn hunting was over, and the royal guard returned to Fengdeng in mighty force.When Emperor Jing learned that the Ministry of Punishment and the Ministry of Household Affairs had committed suicide in prison, he was very angry.After the retrial of the case, Young Master Gan was sentenced to be beheaded for public display to indignate the common people.In front of Gan De, Minister of Rites, Xia Zeduan simply blamed Xia Yanzhi for the death of his brother and son, making Gan De's teeth itch with hatred for Xia Yanzhi.

Besides the rewards for the paddock competition, Emperor Jing had already planned in his mind.In the morning court this morning, in front of all his ministers, he sent rewards one by one.Neither gold, nor silver, nor jewels were rewarded, but two errands.

It stands to reason, how can an errand be considered a reward if it takes hard work?However, Emperor Jing, watching the two sons' struggles over the years, knew in his heart that their desire for money was far less high than their desire for power.And he really needs some things to judge, which of the two of them is more suitable for the position of crown prince.

"Fengtian Chengyun Emperor Zhao said, since the virtuous king Xia Yanzhi joined the government, he has performed his duties diligently and diligently, which is the well-being and heart of all people. Every time I think about this, I feel very relieved. Today's military system is redundant and morale is low, and military expenditures are heavy. The national treasury is empty. Order the wise king to abolish the old system and reorganize the three armies to rejuvenate the country. I respect this."

"Fengtian Chengyun Emperor Zhao said, since Duan Wang Xia Zeduan joined the government, he has been diligent and diligent, and it is the well-being and heart of all people. Every time I think about this, I feel very comforted. Talent is the foundation of the stability of the court, and the system of scientific research It has been done for several years, and the results have been outstanding, and now I want King Duan to preside over the affairs of the general examination, so as to share my worries, I respect you."

The two imperial edicts seem to have very similar wording on the surface, but the things they entrust are very different.Xia Yanzhi received the order to rectify the three armies and reform the military system, which actually meant that Emperor Jing gave him the opportunity to win over the army and gain actual military power.This can be said to be a kind of supreme trust.And Xia Zeduan is in charge of this year's scientific examination, which of course is also an opportunity for him, an opportunity to further consolidate his contacts in the court.However, everything is afraid of comparison. Once these two errands are put together, smart people will choose the former.After all, it is an eternal truth that political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.

Xia Zeduan was furious after returning home.None of the staff at the side dared to step forward, for fear of offending him again.On the other side, in Prince Xian's mansion, Xia Yanzhi and Su Yin had already started discussing how to reform the military system.

"The current three armies are a collective term. It actually refers to the imperial army guarding the imperial city, the Zhennan and Zhenbei armies guarding the border, and the imperial army distributed in various places." Xia Yanzhi carefully introduced the situation of the natural army to Su Yin.

Su Yin only got a rough understanding of some situations and grasped the key points.Analyze them one by one for Xia Yanzhi.The number of imperial troops is small, but only 8000, and before Su Gui left, he and Cai Chun had readjusted the training method, so there is no rush at present.However, the Zhennan and Zhenbei armies each have 2 people, stationed at the border for a long time, and there will be basically no large-scale mobilization, not to mention that mobilization may also cause border instability.From this point of view, the only thing that needs major changes is the imperial army with as many as 10 people.

Emperor Jing was warlike in his early years, and thus accumulated a large area of ​​land, but at the same time, the Great Yan Dynasty recruited troops year after year, and the army became larger and larger.Moreover, Dayan's army is a professional army, although it trains every day, it has not been in battle for a long time, and it has long been slack.The country supports these soldiers every year, and the treasury expenditure is huge.

"Army must be disarmed." Su Yin said affirmatively.

Although Xia Yanzhi had thought in this direction, he never expected Su Yin to be so firm.

"Disarmament will create a large number of idle people, and I'm afraid there will be great troubles." Xia Yanzhi raised his concerns.

"That's right, so we have to abandon the traditional management method. While downsizing the army, we don't reduce the number of people who can fight..." Su Yin smiled and couldn't help showing off.

The more they discussed, the more excited they became. They didn't embrace each other until late at night, after they had established a general reform plan.

Xia Zeduan got angry, calmed down and continued to work. Since he was in charge of the test, he had to make full use of this opportunity to install his own people.The test papers for the meeting are produced by a group of domestic scholars selected by the Ministry of Rites every year. They come in various forms, mostly policy discussions.Every year, the test site will randomly select from the rolls where the test papers are placed, and whichever topic is selected will be tested.

He convened his staff to discuss, and arranged every step properly to ensure that the person he wanted would definitely enter the palace trial.The palace examination is personally reviewed by the emperor. Generally, the chief examiner will select 18 people who have passed the preliminary examination, and then the emperor will personally review the papers before they can pass the examination.

Xia Zeduan marked the exam questions he selected in advance, and the identification method was only known to Gan De, Minister of the Ministry of Rites.At the examination site, the selected examination questions are guaranteed to be drawn, and the examinees he arranges only need to silently write down the strategies that have already been memorized on paper.

Of course, this completely black-box operation can only ensure that the candidates arranged by Xia Zeduan will pass the exam smoothly, but it cannot ensure that they will be assigned to any department.At this time, the role of the examiner is revealed.It is only necessary to casually note the appropriate department of each person when checking the papers for the first time, but it can also influence Jingdi's judgment invisibly, and the purpose of pointing to where to go can be achieved to a large extent.

Su Pingting got the news that King Duan was going to make a big fuss in the meeting.So they sent someone to visit the examination room at night to see what he was up to. Unexpectedly, Xia Zeduan had learned the lesson from the Ministry of Criminal Justice last time, so he arranged for people to lie in ambush early in the past few days, just in case.

"His Royal Highness, the man has been caught."

"Have you hired?"

"He...has committed suicide by biting the poison in his mouth."

"A bunch of useless things!" Xia Zeduan protested.

Looking at the bloody corpse in front of him, Xia Zeduan couldn't help frowning.Just as he was about to ask his subordinates to dispose of the corpse, he suddenly smelled a familiar aroma.It was the smell from the dead man's clothes, it was very faint, and it must have been rubbed on by accident.

"This fragrance is very familiar. Whose is it..." Xia Zeduan said to himself.Suddenly, his eyes froze as if he remembered something.

The author has something to say: This paragraph took a long time to narrate, and it may be a little boring.