Chapter 1025
Rectifying Officialdom
Because many military generals and meritorious officials colluded with gentry and local officials to seize farmland, they followed the trail, first to the local areas, and then from the local areas to the capital.
Yu Qian submitted a memorial to the emperor, thus initiating a major overhaul of the bureaucracy ahead of schedule.
Winter has arrived, a time when various regions need to prepare for winter storage and disaster relief. The Embroidered Uniform Guard, the Censorate, and the Court of Judicial Review are all extremely busy, confiscating goods in local areas and in the capital, and the confiscated silver is continuously sent to the national treasury.
With the clean governance of the court, whether out of fear or lofty ambitions, the number of officials soliciting bribes decreased significantly.
At the same time, the emperor ordered that the paper money in officials' salaries be reduced and settled entirely in silver or copper coins. He also increased the charcoal tribute for officials this year.
It's essentially a disguised way of increasing the benefits for officials.
The imperial advisor said that if you want the horse to work, you must make sure it is well-fed.
The salaries of Ming Dynasty officials, especially those at the lower levels, were too low, which was detrimental to administrative efficiency.
Sure enough, improving treatment and strengthening governance quickly improved the efficiency of officials.
The improvement is only limited.
Xue Shao finally returned to the capital after inspecting Jiangnan, and took the opportunity to submit a memorial proposing the inclusion of an assessment system.
Officials are assessed annually, and those who fail to meet the standards three times in a row will be dismissed, given a warning once, and demoted twice.
With this method, Xue Shao successfully surpassed Pan Yun to become the most hated person among the officials of the court, and his infamy rivaled that of Wang Zhen of the previous dynasty.
Officials generally felt that Xue Shao's actions were a waste of human resources and national strength.
"The Ministry of Personnel and the Censorate are already short-staffed. From the capital to the local areas, every official has to be evaluated every year. How can there possibly be enough people?"
Xue Shao said, “In Jiangnan alone, one in ten officials are drawing salaries without working. It’s normal for two or three people to do the work of one person for some positions. In the court, there are even four or five people sharing the workload of one person. With so many redundant officials, how can there be no one to use them?”
Xue Shao said, "Using the assessment method can remove unsuitable people and put suitable people in suitable positions."
“They all studied hard to become successful candidates in the imperial examinations, so how could they lack even this basic learning ability?” Xue Shao said coldly. “If they don’t, then it means they are not suited for officialdom and should go home to farm.”
Yu Qian was the first to express his agreement, believing that this could also be considered as a task in governance.
He countered those who opposed him by asking: "Next year's special imperial examination is expected to select 227 candidates. As far as I know, the Ministry of Personnel still has 18 candidates from the previous year who are waiting for their official appointments, and there are as many as 198 candidates who are queuing up to apply for official positions. Not to mention the old officials who are waiting to be appointed for various reasons. All departments have been saying that they are short of people, but people have not been able to get official positions. If this matter is not resolved, will the imperial examinations still be able to proceed as usual in three years?"
"Isn't this the responsibility of the Ministry of Personnel?"
Cao Nai did not shirk responsibility, but he felt that annual assessments were too frequent and suggested assessments every two or three years.
The focus shifted from whether an assessment method should be established to how often assessments should be conducted.
Xue Shao suggested establishing a comprehensive mechanism to determine standards from the outset.
Starting with the most basic aspects, such as official document writing, officials are required to clearly and concisely express their thoughts, which can improve efficiency. At the same time, officials at all levels can have their examinations scheduled at different times, with annual performance evaluations conducted…
They discussed it from before the Lunar New Year until the start of the imperial examinations, and then until the end of the palace examinations.
Through collective wisdom and effort, the rules for the assessment method were finally determined.
This batch of scholars who passed the imperial examinations were test subjects.
Pan Yue, who had successfully passed the imperial examination and become a civil servant in the Ming Dynasty, sighed and picked up his books again. This time, however, he was studying the examination methods compiled by the Ministry of Personnel. When Pan Yun sneaked back to have dinner with his father and brothers, Pan Yue was holding a pen and trying to answer the questions. Beside him, Pan Hong's eyes were red, and he was working even harder than Pan Yue.
Because the father and son worked so hard, their home was always empty, with only a rice ball and two boiled eggs for dinner.
Pan Jun was stunned. She first ran to the street and bought them a roast duck before sitting down opposite them and asking, "What are you doing?"
Pan Yue: "The Ministry of Personnel will hold an examination on the 20th of next month. All newly appointed Jinshi (successful candidates in the highest imperial examinations) must participate. Only those who pass the examination will be appointed to official positions."
He said, "Now, besides the top three scholars who have been granted official positions, the second and third-ranked scholars are waiting to take the exam."
This year's special imperial examination was full of hidden talents. Shang Lu, who achieved the highest score in all three levels of the imperial examination, was born. Pan Yue was fortunate enough to rank second to last in the second class. If he were to be appointed to a post outside the capital, he would be qualified to be a county magistrate.
Pan Yue also knew that with Pan Yun in the capital, the best way for him to make a difference was to be transferred to a post outside the capital.
Otherwise, he would have to take the path of a treacherous official and rely on Pan Yun's hard work to realize his inner thoughts.
Pan Yue looked at his father with sympathy and said, "I'm doing alright, after all, I'm young and I learn things quickly. But Father... he also has to take exams."
Pan Yun raised an eyebrow. She had been focusing on cultivation recently. The emperor had asked her about the possibility of implementing an official assessment method.
She had long disliked the officialdom of the Ming Dynasty, where the people were extremely overworked, doing the work of two or three people, while the people were extremely relaxed, spending their days slacking off and chatting, or simply receiving salaries without working.
That's right, they're targeting the powerful heirs in the central government.
Because it was a lucky divination she had obtained herself, Pan Yun glanced guiltily at her exhausted father and ingratiatingly pushed the roast duck in front of them, saying, "Please eat."
Pan Hong, however, did not feel tired. Instead, he was full of ambition: "It's just an exam. Young people, don't think that we older people are inferior to you. In a real exam, you may not be as good as us."
Because the assessment method compiled by the Ministry of Personnel was very much in line with the realities of officialdom, it was just a matter of putting some rules into writing and fixing them.
It should be noted that Pan Hong had been an official for more than ten years and was very familiar with all the rules of officialdom. In terms of official document templates alone, he could easily outshine Pan Yue.
Writing official documents is not like writing an essay.
The veteran officials are very adaptable. In terms of mental agility, those who have been in officialdom for several, ten, or even twenty years are far superior to these rookie scholars.
Pan Hong gave his son a meaningful warning: "Don't underestimate us just because we're old. In this world, officials, like traditional Chinese medicine practitioners, become wiser with age."
Pan Yun, who was eating roast duck nearby, said upon hearing this, "Not only that, they're getting smarter and smarter."
Pan Yue: "Shrewdness and intelligence..."
Pan Yun shook her head, just like her father, with a meaningful expression: "It's different, completely different."
Pan Hong: "It's different, oh~~"
Pan Yue looked at his father and then at his sister, finding them really an eyesore. He simply rolled up his book and went outside to recite it in the cold wind.
Pan Hong shook his head and said, "What's the use of just memorizing this stuff? Without doing official duties, you can't truly understand many things."
Pan Yun: "So, Dad, I believe you can definitely beat my eldest brother."
Pan Hong raised an eyebrow, glanced outside, then leaned closer to his daughter and whispered, "Yun'er, tell your father secretly, is His Majesty going to give us a raise?" (End of Chapter)