The Sage of Confucianism and Taoism

Chapter 2470 Accountability System

After the court was dismissed, Fang Yun still looked sick and returned to the Zuo Xiang Pavilion.

A group of officials from the Zuo Xiang Pavilion immediately came out to greet him, more enthusiastic than before.

Fang Yun had not been to the Zuo Xiang Pavilion these days. Although he also used letters to handle affairs, there were still omissions, so he asked people about the affairs of the Zuo Xiang Pavilion one after another.

There are basically two types of officials in the Zuo Xiang Pavilion. One is a strong backer, and coming to the Zuo Xiang Pavilion is equivalent to gilding.

As long as it does not involve factional disputes, the experience of serving in the Zuo Xiang Pavilion will become one of the important factors for promotion.

The other type is capable officials like Li Zhixiao or Xu Changgeng who are involved with the Zuo Xiang. They do not have a big force behind them, but their relationship with the Zuo Xiang is not particularly deep. They need them to maintain the operation of the Zuo Xiang Pavilion to avoid problems in the highest bureaucratic institution of Jingguo.

If nothing unexpected happens, at most three to five years, these people will be assigned to those clean government offices for retirement, but Fang Yun's appearance saved them.

Those with strong backers are at most relatives of the empress dowager or children of aristocratic families. Compared with ordinary four-level Confucian scholars, they are nothing, not to mention Fang Yun, a virtual saint. Therefore, they are more cautious than anyone else, because if they offend Fang Yun, their fate will be worse than that of ordinary officials.

Ordinary officials will at most lose their official positions and go anywhere in the world, but once they are punished by Fang Yun, in order to avoid angering Fang Yun, their backers will inevitably abandon them temporarily, causing them to lose their originally excellent treatment. Perhaps after many years, when the limelight has passed, those backers will compensate them, but it will be of little use.

As for people like Li Zhixiao or Xu Changgeng who have no foundation, they are even more devoted to Fang Yun, because they see the hope of joining the Fang Party.

No matter what the future of the Fang Party is, even if it is like the Zuo Xiang Party today, they can only grasp this life-saving straw.

What's more, the benefits of joining the Fang Party are too tempting.

Just a few days ago, a story spread throughout the Shengyuan Continent that more than 30% of the Xiangzhou officials and other friends who attended Fang Yun's dinner had recently made breakthroughs, either in literary rank, literary courage, or calligraphy and painting.

Joining the Fang Party has almost become the fastest way to success, even much better than joining a noble family.

There are honest people and kind people who can serve in the Zuo Xiang Pavilion, but there is absolutely no fool.

Therefore, after Fang Yun learned about the affairs of the Zuo Xiang Pavilion these days, he felt boring. This was completely different from the situation in Ning'an County and Xiangzhou. When he was the county magistrate or governor in those two places, officials kept jumping out to challenge his authority, and the officials of the Zuo Xiang Pavilion were more responsible than each other.

Fang Yun finally shook his head.

"It's either a coward or a veteran."

Fang Yun smiled, but he knew in his heart that he was becoming more and more stable in Jingguo.

But that alone was not enough.

Throwing out the cabinet centralization system too early will inevitably alert the royal family, but this is the upright way of the king.

As the head of all officials, using so-called strategies and conspiracies is already inferior. Only by using the upright way of the king can the problem be solved cleanly and neatly. Otherwise, if the conspiracy succeeds, it will be difficult to convince people, and there will be endless troubles.

Exposing the purpose in advance will offend people, but it can also attract like-minded people and even neutral forces.

For example, Wei Xu, the Si Zheng of the Ministry of Rites, did not attack Fang Yun when he was down and did not flatter Fang Yun when he was alone in the court. This is commendable. As long as such people are slightly won over and do not become members of the royal family, they will definitely have a great effect.

Next, Fang Yun began to work together with the officials of the Left Prime Minister's Cabinet to draft a detailed draft of the reform of the Ministry of Personnel's assessment, following the core of benefiting the people.

After the plan was drawn up, Fang Yun ordered people to copy it and distribute it to the Queen Mother, the Right Prime Minister's Office, the Assistant Prime Minister's Office, the Literary Prime Minister's Office, and the Beijing institutions headed by the six ministries, and then copied it to all the cabinet councilors, asking all those who were affected by the reform plan to give their opinions and suggestions, which would be included in the evaluation of the Ministry of Personnel.

In the history of the human race, there has never been such an open and fair way in each generation, which greatly improved the impression of all officials on Fang Yun.

Because in the officials' expectations, even if all parties have allowed Fang Yun to reform, no matter what plan Fang Yun came up with, it would inevitably cause verbal battles and bloody storms in the court meeting, and it would not be possible to really implement it without fierce court struggles.

Fang Yun avoided this possibility and publicly solicited opinions and suggestions in the most respectful way. After receiving feedback, the Left Prime Minister's Office would inevitably make changes based on the suggestions of all parties, and then discuss it in the court meeting.

By then, except for a few places that might cause controversy, most of the content had been tacitly agreed by all parties, and the possibility of passing was greatly increased, and once implemented, the efficiency would be terrifyingly high.

It can even be said that as long as the fundamental interests of all parties are not touched, they don't care how Fang Yun reforms. They need face and steps more. Now, Fang Yun has given them face and steps. As long as they compromise with each other, there will be no obstacles to the reform of the Ministry of Personnel.

After all, Fang Yun is the left prime minister and should have absolute control over the Ministry of Personnel.

At the beginning, Fang Yun proposed a cabinet centralization system, which would gradually disperse power to the cabinet, cabinet councilors and cabinet walkers. Many officials did not believe it because such a thing had never really happened in the past dynasties.

But now, many officials have seen the light.

Now Fang Yun is using the draft to solicit opinions from all parties, so the next step may be a vote by all parties.

In the Imperial Study Room, the Queen Mother and Jing Jun were working together. On the table in front of her was Fang Yun's trial draft of the Ministry of Civil Service Evaluation and Reform. Opposite him sat Sheng Boyuan, the Minister of Rites.

"Sheng Aiqing, what do you think of this... well, let's call it Fang Yun, what do you think of this draft?"

Sheng Boyuan sighed softly and said: "I don't dare to hide it, Fang Yun's talent will never come out. I have read this draft over and over again, and I have to admit that Fang Yun is indeed a good minister in the world. Not to mention anything else, that's all. A system of accountability is like a big hand Clamping down on officials' throats. Moreover, he completely gave up the power of the Ministry of Personnel to pursue accountability and handed it over to the Supervisory Yuan. The Ministry of Personnel was only responsible for evaluating demotion, demotion, transfer, and determining the number of years for promotion. Not surprisingly, the Supervisory Yuan will. It will gradually turn towards Fang Lun.”

"Fang Yun strengthens the powers of the Supervisory Yuan. Does he want to take the opportunity to control the Supervisory Yuan and gain the power to supervise hundreds of officials, even more than Liu Shan?" asked the Queen Mother.

Sheng Boyuan hesitated for a moment and said: "There are two possibilities for this matter. One is that, as you said, Fang Yun is paving the way for taking power. The other possibility is that Fang Yun is just making innovations, because, from a certain From one perspective, it is a good thing to hold officials accountable. Moreover, the innovation here has been made publicly and institutionally, and there is no major change in nature.”

The Queen Mother snorted coldly, and Sheng Boyuan remained silent.

The two of them knew very well that the accountability system itself was robbing the king of power.

Before this system existed, if the monarch was dissatisfied, he could demote the erring official simply by finding any excuse, or even demote him again and again. If you are happy, you can find any excuse to reinstate the official, and the official will be restored to his original post soon.