The old east wind comes to dream

Chapter 105 It seems to be repairing the plank road, but it is really dark and surging

Although what Zheng Zhongcheng said about the mutual examination of civil and military affairs is absurd-after all, civil servants and military commanders have always been self-contained systems, and their requirements are completely different.But the first half of what he said attracted the approval of many aspiring officials.

As soon as Dazhao founded the country, he followed the previous dynasties and formulated an official evaluation system. There was a small exam every three years and a big exam every five years. It was divided into "Beijing inspection" and "outside inspection", covering all officials in Dazhao.However, in actual implementation, many standards cannot be quantified, and this kind of evaluation gradually becomes a mere formality.

According to the law of the imperial court, the responsibility of evaluation lies with Yushitai.However, there were only a few dozen censors in Yushitai, and it was impossible to take into account thousands of court officials.Therefore, it gradually evolved into that in the year of evaluation, the governors of the prefectures and counties were responsible for making comments on the achievements of the officials in their jurisdiction for several years, and then handed them over to the censor to collect and organize them and pack them away.In this way, lower-level officials naturally need to curry favor with superior officials. If superior officials are not upright, they will have to collude and collude.Even if the censor came, most people would not dare to report and expose the strong dragon.

And because many censors in Yushitai have stayed in Yushitai almost all their lives, lack of experience in local administration, and they only wander around the capital on weekdays, and they are not familiar with major issues of people's livelihood.When these people arrived in the local area, they were either fooled by the local officials, or they had to rely on the relationship of old acquaintances in the same year.Over time, the atmosphere of connecting with each other in the officialdom has intensified.And then at the level of Yushi Zhongcheng and Yushi Dafu, who hold the official career destiny of all the officials under evaluation in their hands, they naturally become the targets of scrambling to win over and bribe.

After Zheng Zhongcheng said those words, he told all the twists and turns like a smashed can, and he sold Yushitai.

After talking about this, Zheng Zhongcheng couldn't help but burst into tears, "I am in the position of Zhongcheng. Although I have never accepted bribes to do things for others, I have chosen to muddle along with some corruption and perversion of the law. I always turn a blind eye. Thinking of this, it is really hard to rest at night, I just feel ashamed of your Majesty's cultivation, ashamed of the people's trust, ashamed of heaven and earth and Gaotang, and ashamed to face the family's wives and childish children! Minister, you are guilty!"

Gu Zizhan watched his performance, and while lamenting Taifu Chu's extraordinary action, he couldn't help complaining slightly, this old man, um, he used too much force.

But except for a few insiders in the palace, the rest of the officials were panicked.Especially Mr. Wu, the imperial censor, and another Qi Zhongcheng standing beside him were so shocked and frightened that they almost fell to the ground.

The two of them glanced at each other, then raised their heads at the same time to peek at Emperor Tianshun's face.

Unexpectedly, Emperor Tianshun's expression was extremely ugly at this time.

Wu and Qi were so frightened that they fell to their knees, shouting for grievances, while angrily reprimanding Zheng Zhongcheng and the censors who stood up to impeach them.

However, they had been arguing for a long time, but Emperor Tianshun remained silent.Not only the few people at Yushitai, but all the courtiers in the hall gradually felt strange—the reaction of His Majesty the Emperor today was a bit too abnormal.

In this way, the noise gradually stopped.Even the few other "Qingliu" who had always been keen to show their integrity by fighting against the emperor and refusing to join forces with others, unknowingly quieted down.

Emperor Tianshun remained silent all the time, with a gloomy face, looking at these ministers coldly.

Suddenly, he smiled coldly, his tone was flat, but there was sarcasm that anyone could hear, "That's great! Everyone, you are really the humerus and pillar of my Dazhao!"

Gu Zizhan, who was watching from the sidelines, immediately knelt down and said loudly: "Your Majesty is guilty, please calm down!"

As soon as she, the "prospective prince", knelt down, all the courtiers in the hall could only kneel down and shouted in unison: "Your Majesty is guilty, please appease your anger!"

Emperor Tianshun glanced at Gu Zizhan, and then said: "You all know that you are guilty, it seems that what Zheng Zhongcheng said is true!"

Seeing that the doctor Yushi was about to open his mouth to complain, Emperor Tianshun made a final decision: "Investigate! Let me investigate carefully! This matter is led by Chu Taifu, Dali Temple and the Six Departments are assisted. Whatever is found will be counted. It must be clear. It's clear! Although I'm old, I still have some energy to spare, and I will definitely clean up this officialdom! You are corrupt and perverting the law, and you have lost my face, and the face of the entire imperial court!"

Looking at Gu Zizhan again, Emperor Tianshun said leisurely: "Ah Che, you have taken care of this matter too! It's your first time to do an errand, so don't let it go wrong."

Gu Zizhan, Chu Taifu, and the ministers of the six ministries, who were pointed out by Emperor Tianshun, kowtowed and said, "Your minister leads the decree!"

Gu Zizhan was also very excited in his heart, and said loudly: "I will definitely not disappoint Your Majesty!"

Emperor Tianshun nodded, Li Ruoyu looked at the timing and said loudly: "Back to court—"

In the scene in the court hall, after all, Emperor Tianshun cooperated with Gu Zizhan's plan.First throw out such a fatal event for all courtiers to attract everyone's attention, so that Gu Zizhan's previous plans can be carried out quietly without attracting attention.

Since Emperor Tianshun wanted to be perfect, Gu Zizhan no longer concealed it.After coming down to court, after following Emperor Tianshun to the imperial study, Gu Zizhan pushed Li Ruoyu away enthusiastically, and followed him around with a saddle on his back.

Seeing her like this, Emperor Tianshun could see some kindness.After all, he is still young at heart.

Taking a sip of tea, seeing Gu Zizhan standing aside and busy filling him up, Emperor Tianshun felt a little amused, and waved his hand: "I'm not a cow, you don't need to force me down."

Gu Zizhan grinned, "If it's hot today, Your Majesty must take care of the dragon's body and drink more green tea, which will help to dispel dampness and heat, maintain vitality, and prolong life."

Emperor Tianshun laughed and scolded: "Where did you learn to be so glib!"

He waved again, let Gu Zizhan sit down beside him, and said, "In the final analysis, I gave you face in today's matter."

Gu Zizhan nodded, "Thank you, Your Majesty, I dare not forget my great kindness."

Emperor Tianshun was satisfied, and said again: "You are indeed on the right path to go to Master Chu to handle this matter. But I never thought that you would use Yushitai's evaluation as an issue. This is your idea , or is it Taifu Chu's idea?"

Gu Zizhan's expression also became serious, "It's my minister's idea." He said loudly: "When I was in Dali Temple, I had several errands abroad, and I had some dealings with the officials below. Ruozhou County officials are in office For many years, the attitude of low-level officials towards Shangguan is mostly incomprehensible. Every word, deed, and every action depends on Shangguan's wink. But for newly appointed state and county officials, it is the other way around. These people rely too much on Those old officials who have accumulated many years often have many constraints when governing the local area."

Emperor Tianshun squinted at her, "This second point has never been mentioned today."

Gu Zizhan nodded and explained: "Although the performance is different, in the final analysis, it is still related to the evaluation. Those who have been in office for many years are already familiar with the local area and have accumulated enough prestige. Naturally, the evaluation of subordinate officials is entirely up to them. On this point, Zheng Zhongcheng pointed out the joints in the court today. But for the newly appointed governors of the prefectures and counties, they don't know the local customs. It may not be able to see through. In addition, the old officials in the yamen are more or less related to the local big families, and these big families have complicated relationships with the prefectural yamen or the officials of the court, and in turn, they will affect the higher officials from the side. , the evaluation of the governors of these states and counties."

"In the final analysis, the crux of the problem is that the evaluation is not independent enough, nor does it know enough about the actual situation in the local area. Therefore, even if the imperial court's evaluation of officials is not resolved now, it must be resolved in the future."

Hearing this, Emperor Tianshun also heard Gu Zizhan's unfinished words.

If the evaluation and promotion of officials cannot be controlled by the emperor, then the emperor who lives in the deep palace will really become a loner with his eyes closed and his ears closed.

In fact, Emperor Tianshun was vigilant about this point early in the morning.Otherwise, he would not have sent Xing Kang out to be his eyes and ears.

But it is precisely because he has suffered a great loss from Xing Kang that he is a little timid about the supervisory officials.After all, an emperor who likes to listen to small reports is destined not to be a Mingjun.

After thinking about it, Emperor Tianshun said to Gu Zizhan: "There is no rush for this matter. You go back and think about it carefully, write it into a memorial, and then show it to me."

Gu Zizhan nodded in response, and was sent aside by Emperor Tianshun to sort out the memorials.Nowadays, Gu Zizhan will read the memorials submitted to the Ministry first, and after writing preliminary opinions, they will be handed over to Emperor Tianshun for review.After more than ten days, she gradually became more comfortable.

He was busy until it was dark, and Emperor Tianshun planned to let Gu Zizhan go.

But when she was about to go out, she suddenly asked again: "By the way, Ah Che, has the King of Ningling County looked for you in the past few days?"

Gu Zizhan was taken aback for a moment, and then replied, "I haven't looked for it."

Emperor Tianshun nodded, seemed relieved, and finally let her go.

It's just that he didn't expect that just after he finished asking this question, a stone was suddenly thrown in outside the Yanqing Palace where Gu Zizhan and Chu Lan lived.

Under Lian Shizhi's arrangement, Li Dai and Liu Zan officially became the Dragon Knights and became Gu Zizhan's personal guards.After picking up the stone, Li Dai quickly reported it to Gu Zizhan, and Liu Zan led his men to chase it out.

A letter was tied to this stone.When Gu Zizhan just took it off, Liu Zan also came to reciprocate.As Gu Zizhan expected, he got nothing.

Gu Zizhan's expression darkened, he had already guessed who wrote the letter.

Open it and look, sure enough, it is the handwriting of her good father.

"My son has been proud of the spring breeze recently, leaving my old father alone. My son is really a son of iron and blood. I don't know if I still remember it. My parents are so kind?"

Gu Zizhan's face sank like water.Between the lines of Gu Quan's words, it is clearly a threat!

Then he suddenly smiled coldly, the handle is hers, but why not Gu Quan's?Wanting to threaten her with this, is it possible that she is still the ignorant child who was at his mercy?

But no matter what, Gu Quan was always a hidden danger who didn't know when it would happen.Gu Zizhan understood that Gu Quan's intentions were not pure when he wrote several times to ask for the feudal domain.The centipede is dead but not stiff. Although most of the forces in his hands have been destroyed by Gu Zizhan, there must be many that have not been found.

If Gu Quan is allowed to leave the capital, he can follow the vine and catch them all, but he is afraid that playing hard to catch will turn into letting the tiger go back to the mountain.

After thinking about it, Gu Zizhan suppressed the letter.Now, it's not time for her to meet Gu Quan.

However, for the next four consecutive days, every night, a stone would be thrown into Yanqing Palace.Gu Zizhan remained on his guard the whole time, turning a blind eye to it.

On the fifth night, Liu Zan, who had been lying in wait for several days, finally caught him.

It's just that this person's identity, but no one expected.

But it was also because of this person that Gu Zizhan understood that she had to go see Gu Quan.