Traditionally, when choosing officials in China, some people advocate the selection of talents, while others advocate the appointment of talents. For example, in the Han Dynasty, in the second year of Emperor Gaozu, Liu Bang issued an order to seek talents, which included "to jointly determine the world with the world's great men and wise men, and to compile it together with An An." The order to seek talents.

, to put it very clearly, it is the selection of talents. Later, it developed into the imperial examination system of the Han Dynasty. The imperial examination system was corrupted and became the de facto co-governance system of aristocratic families. In the Sui Dynasty, it was changed to the imperial examination system, and the imperial examination system was transformed

After that, it was basically perfected in the Song Dynasty and became the main method of selecting officials.

Wen Yanbo once said that the emperor and the scholar-bureaucrats rule the world together. This sentence is not surprising. In fact, it has meant this since Liu Bang. Later generations used this sentence to ridicule the officials of the Song Dynasty, which actually missed the point and was somewhat inexplicable.

After the Song Dynasty, Mongolia took over the Central Plains, bringing with it a large number of nomadic habits. Politically, the checks and balances between the emperor and scholar-bureaucrats, or in other words, between emperor and imperial power, disappeared. After Zhu Yuanzhang established the Ming Dynasty, he abolished the prime minister, and the imperial power was unprecedentedly strengthened.

Strengthened. In the Qing Dynasty, the imperial power was strengthened again, and ministers even became slaves.

Historically, it is often said that since the establishment of a unified regime by Qin Shihuang, there has been a contradiction between imperial power and prime ministerial power in China. The general trend is that the imperial power is getting stronger and the prime ministerial power is getting weaker and weaker. Some even say that the Song Dynasty was a group of prime ministers.

System is a manifestation of the strengthening of imperial power.

Objectively speaking, the power of the prime minister in the Song Dynasty was not weak, but the power of a single prime minister in the Northern Song Dynasty was weak. However, as the overall political affairs minister, the power was very powerful, far from being comparable to that of the later Ming and Qing Dynasties. In the Southern Song Dynasty, it was even more powerful.

There have been many powers, some of which are abnormal.

When people of later generations study Chinese history, they often talk about general trends. For more than two thousand years since the Han Dynasty, they often use one sentence to summarize the historical trend, and then fit each dynasty into this trend. If there is something that cannot fit in, it is called history.

A special case, or even a historical reaction. For example, as history progresses, centralization becomes stronger and stronger, and imperial power becomes stronger and stronger. For example, as history develops, private commerce becomes more and more developed, and at this time, the emergence of capitalism sprouts.

At that time, the sprouts of capitalism also appeared. For example, with the development of history, taxes became more and more monetized, and monetization was the direction of historical development, etc.

Why is this a trend? Most of them don’t understand it. Maybe it’s the theories of foreign scholars, or it’s ideology, or it’s just a few big scholars who think so. What is the historical trend? I can’t really believe it.

Wang Xiaolie remembered that he once had a degree defense meeting in his previous life. A student went up and did research on the popularization of agricultural machinery. At the beginning, he talked about how difficult it was after the founding of the People's Republic of China and what rapid development there was after the reform and opening up. The following professors

He was stunned. Someone couldn't help it and told him that before the reform and opening up, China's agricultural machinery industry had actually made great achievements. In the twenty years after the reform and opening up, it either stood still or retreated on a large scale.

It was not until two thousand years later that it developed again. This is true.

This is often the case in historical research. For example, the monetization of taxation is a major trend and represents the advancement of society. In fact, most of the time, it is very difficult for farmers to obtain currency. Not to mention in ancient times, even in modern times, in the 1990s

Annual business taxes and various other miscellaneous taxes have caused great difficulties to farmers and triggered a lot of social conflicts. To a large extent, farmers do not participate in commercial activities. What they harvest is food, in kind, and taxes are paid.

Monetization increases exploitation.

Many historical views have this trace. Regarding the Song Dynasty, the most famous view is that the emphasis on culture over military force, the use of culture to control military force, or the worship of culture and restraint of military force led to the weakening of the military. Wang Xiaolie remembers watching a British movie, commanding

The one who fought the war was an engineer battalion officer. According to these people, it can be regarded as using civility to control military force, and an old non-commissioned officer should be used as the commander. I don’t know when this view originated, and it has even become a

When talking about the military weakness of the Song Dynasty, people often make condescending remarks.

Is history really like this? Just because warriors have a low status, they are not very motivated and do not work hard to fight, so they are not good militarily? Why did it change to European and American countries and change to another set of statements?

Fundamentally speaking, the study of history does not insist on seeking truth from facts. On a deeper level, there is a problem with attitude.

When New China was founded, a teacher once said that we are good at breaking an old world, and we are also good at building a new world. However, subsequent history has shown that building a new world is actually more difficult than breaking the old world.

The biggest difference between New China and Old China is that the status of the people has been established. The legitimacy of the regime is no longer a illusory destiny from above, but the support of the people. Only from an ideological point of view can we truly understand this difference and truly stand on the

From the people's standpoint, it is not an easy task. Especially for many scholars and politicians, it is too difficult for them to think about issues and learn from the people's standpoint.

Build a new world, what kind of new world will it be?

Wang Xiaolie can't answer this question. So let's not answer it for now. Let's put aside the question of choosing what kind of people to be officials and who to let them take power. The so-called officials, all the power and honor and family members, are all put aside.

On the official uniform, it can also be said that it is placed on the official seal. Whoever puts on the official uniform is an official. Whoever holds the seal is an official. If it is not appropriate, take off the official uniform and continue to be a common person.

For the appointment of officials, the most important thing is selection. Selecting people who can do it is called appointment. The most important thing for the assessment of officials is supervision. To be promoted, not only must they do well, but they must also be recognized by the people.

It's about selecting talents.

This official uniform is hung here, and capable people can do it. The path to promotion is there, and virtuous people are promoted. This is the method Wang Xiaolie chose, which is different from previous lives and different from future generations.

After listening to Wang Xiaolie's detailed explanation, all the officials couldn't help but be stunned.

After a long time, Chen Qiudao said: "How to appoint competent officials? The imperial court relies on the imperial examination, what do we rely on?"

Wang Xiaolie said: "I have thought about it for a long time, and I still found that the imperial examination is a good way. The problem is that the people who passed the imperial examination were not trained enough by the court. Once they passed the imperial examination, they were released as officials. After that, the training was rudimentary, and several

After a few months, I went out to do practical work. How come people who study hard suddenly know how to be an official? This is obviously not enough. I think that in the future, we should combine the imperial examination with training schools, so that those who pass the examination will not only

They should be well versed in literary works, be familiar with classics, history, songs, and poems, and have practical civil service skills. They should be placed in appropriate positions based on their academic performance."

Chen Qiudao asked: "What kind of school?"

Wang Xiaolie said: "Our army is based on military schools as the core, training officers at all levels. The same goes for officials. Not only do they need to take the imperial examination, but they also have to study in specialized training schools. After learning the skills, they are sent to actual posts. Inside

Don’t worry too much about what to teach. We have actual officials and political records. Just teach first. If you don’t teach well at first, you will slowly improve and things will get better. In short, future officials must first wear official uniforms.

Only with your ability can you really become an official. After putting on the official uniform, if you don't do things well, there will be rewards and punishments."

Having said this, Wang Xiaolie said to Chen Yuyi: "Senior Councilor should understand now why I said that I would build a big government office for you? Because in the future, at least in our place, the supervisory committee for officials will be very important. As long as you become an official

, we have to face supervision. This kind of supervision is no longer as simple as before, but covers all aspects. Nowadays, officials should have high incomes and high status, and supervision will be stricter!"

Officials are selected personnel. In the words of later generations, they are the elite of society. Since they are elites, they should naturally have the income of elites, and they cannot be treated badly. In addition, they also have a high social status. To
Chapter completed!