Chapter 358 Reform of the Official Selection System

Naturally, given the personalities of old foxes like Song Yehong and Zheng Ting, they would never do anything without profit; they only chose to support Gao Yuan's policy because they saw a massive opportunity.

After taking Western Liang, the local governments controlled by local warlords and Powerful Families would certainly need a large number of officials to take over.

What kind of people would Gao Yuan choose to send? Naturally, those willing to support and vigorously promote his policies. How could these Powerful Families possibly let such a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity slip by?

However, they were clearly mistaken; this time, Gao Yuan really hadn't considered appointing people directly, but was preparing for examinations instead.

As for the content of the examination, it was simple, divided into four subjects. In addition to the basic Confucian Four Books and Five Classics, it would also test arithmetic, law, and essay writing—yes, that's right, the essay writing that strikes fear into the hearts of countless people.

After completing the four subjects, there would be an interview, and only then would they be assigned positions.

In fact, future selection of officials would all be conducted in this manner; this was the first generation of the Imperial Examination in this space-time.

In the fourth month of the twenty-first year of the Great Qian, an imperial edict was spread across the country. The Emperor decreed that Prince of Tang Gao Yuan would preside over the first Imperial Examination of the Great Qian to select talent for the imperial court.

Following this was a lengthy introduction explaining what the Imperial Examination was, as well as the content to be tested, with a special explanation of what essay writing entailed, accompanied by an example.

The imperial edict also announced that all candidates across the land, upon passing the basic assessment of the prefectural schools, could use the recommendation letter issued by the prefectural government to eat, drink, and stay at official post stations along the way for free, and could even ride on military transport carriages.

Precisely because of the free food and lodging, Gao Yuan had to add a basic assessment at the prefectural schools to prevent illiterate people from scamming free meals and lodging.

As long as one could read through a Confucian classic and solve some simple arithmetic problems, they would pass the preliminary selection.

Of course, Gao Yuan also specifically warned the officials in charge of the prefectural schools not to think about playing any tricks like taking bribes or trying to grab attention in front of the Emperor and the Prince of Tang.

Once they arrived at the imperial capital and discovered anyone making up the numbers, the local prefectural school and even the provincial inspector would be held accountable.

This news quickly spread across the country, causing an immediate uproar. Before many heads of the Powerful Families could even react, the preliminary selections in each prefecture had already begun.

The time for the Imperial Examination was set for the third month of next year, known as the Spring Examination. Anyone who broke through the Spring Examination would receive a certificate, which they could use to go to the provincial inspectors of each circuit to wait for work assignments.

Of course, this only meant becoming the most basic civil servant, or a clerk, which counted as entering the system.

In the original timeline, there was a world of difference between clerks and officials; some low-level clerks even belonged to the lowly caste. They had no rank, no fixed salary, and could only survive by extorting others.

But here, Gao Yuan had made reforms. Even the simplest jailer would have to take an examination in the future; as long as they passed, they would be able to enjoy a proper imperial salary.

And if a clerk wanted to advance further to become an official, they would need to go through a joint selection by the Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of Rites, and then be approved by the Department of State Affairs.

Officials above the seventh rank would need to be recommended by the Department of State Affairs and finally personally selected by Zhao Xiyao; these were the so-called disciples of the Son of Heaven.

This could be said to have completely overturned the official selection system inherited by the previous dynasty and the Great Qian for hundreds of years, causing a nationwide uproar.

Now, not only the people from major Powerful Families like the Song and Zheng families, but even Mu Sheng expressed his concerns to Gao Yuan, intentionally or unintentionally, fearing that Gao Yuan's actions would cause him to lose the support of the scholars of the world.

Even Northern Yan and Northern Liang, who were busy with internal strife, were using various channels to stir up trouble in the Great Qian.

Their thinking was simple: if they could stir up internal chaos in the Great Qian, it would be for the best.

The voices of opposition from many provincial inspectors and county magistrates flew onto Zhao Xiyao's desk like snowflakes in the form of memorials.

However, the Empress merely replied coldly, "This is my will!" and suppressed them all.

Although these vested interests were unwilling, they had no time to make trouble.

As for the reason, it was simple: the preliminary selection work in each prefecture and county had begun.

Although they were reluctant, they would not give up their official positions.

The preparations for the Imperial Examination began in full swing, while on an island thousands of miles away, a bloody massacre was brewing.

Yes, a massacre; although it hadn't started yet, it was basically certain to be a massacre.

On the main island of Eastern Japan, the armies of dozens of daimyo, led by Buddhist temples, confronted the "cruel invaders."

From the moment Cao Xing set foot on the main island of Eastern Japan, he began to resolutely implement Gao Yuan's orders.

All women were to be seized, all men were to be captured as slaves, and anyone who dared to resist was to be killed on the spot.

In less than half a year, hundreds of daimyo on the main island of Eastern Japan and their armies were wiped out.

However, these daimyo were called local warlords, but in reality, their strength was not even comparable to a county magistrate.

Among these people, the strong ones had no more than three or four hundred men, while the weak ones had only a few dozen, and their equipment was extremely backward.

Facing such an easy crushing situation, how could Cao Xing go soft? He directly used his advantage in numbers and equipment to grind these people into dust.

However, there was one force that surprised Cao Xing, and that was the Buddhism that had spread from the Great Qian.

Buddhism in Eastern Japan not only held vast amounts of farmland, money, and grain, but also controlled a large population.

A larger temple often had tens of thousands of believers.

According to the two surrendered daimyo, they not only had to provide for the temples in normal times.

Moreover, these daimyo and even the Shogun had to report to the temples in advance if they wanted to attack anyone.

There had even been cases where temples mobilized thousands of troops to destroy several countries.

Here, these temples and monks had seemingly become the common masters of the world.

The status of the head monks in the temples was even more noble than their nominal common master, the Emperor, or the Shogun who held real power.

Cao Xing also reported this situation to Gao Yuan through a returning messenger.

Gao Yuan finally understood why a general and a daimyo would be so wary of that little monk named Ikkyu.

Regarding this situation, the reply Gao Yuan gave was very simple:

No matter who they are or what their background is, such an arrogant existence is not allowed under the rule of the Great Qian.

With Gao Yuan's approval, Cao Xing could naturally let go and act.

However, just as Cao Xing paused to build ports and towns while waiting for Gao Yuan's reply, these Eastern Japanese people, instigated by the temples, began to collude.

They probably thought that the warning from the temples had made Cao Xing timid, which is why they listened to the instigation of the high monks.

Now, the three largest temples in and around Kyoto, along with the 100,000-strong army of dozens of daimyo, had gathered and were marching toward the port in full force.

Standing on the city wall, looking through binoculars at the dense, chaotic army in the distance... well, let's call it an army, Cao Xing sneered.

"Speaking of which, those bald donkeys actually did me a huge favor by gathering all these people together."

The deputy general next to him also laughed.

"This saves us a lot of trouble; the brothers have been exhausted these days. It was hard work destroying a country, only to find that even counting the old and children, there were only a few hundred people—not even as good as a village back home."

Cao Xing recalled the awkward situation when he first arrived on the island. He heard about one country where they charged in with tens of thousands of troops, only to find there were only about two hundred people.

He was so angry at the time that he almost killed that short, bowing-and-scraping little Japanese guy.

Smiling, Cao Xing ordered:

"Notify the brothers, prepare to take prisoners. There are a lot of people this time, so the brothers will probably have to work hard."

Yes, that confident; he had already foreseen the outcome before the fight even began.