Chapter 193 Imperial Examination

Li Shimin really wanted to say something, for example, he asked curiously what a "forbidden marriage family" was.

For example, I was still planning to go to Guanyin Maid tonight, pretending that I had no intention of asking why I wanted to choose a concubine from among the people.

Li Shimin wanted to sneer at what Guangmu said about the nobles not wanting to marry the royal princess:

Don't want to marry? Are you worthy of being a coward from an aristocratic family who is harming the country and enriching your family?

Li Shimin still remembers the power of Princess Pingyang Zhao.

In response to Jinyang, he raised troops, gathered the heroes of Guanzhong, and Sizhu raised the women's army.

The Wei and Hebei armies joined forces, and the brothers and sisters defeated Chang'an, and controlled the pass and settled the world.

The troops and horses are ruthless, life is prosperous and death is mournful.

Therefore, when Li Shimin heard that later generations called Weize Pass Niangzi Pass, he was happy for his sister from the bottom of his heart.

only……

My sister, Princess Yongjia, had an affair.

Princess Taiping, who doesn’t know which of her daughters is plotting rebellion! ? !

As well as the dizzying number of princesses behind them, for the first time, the fear in Li Shimin's heart overwhelmed his curiosity.

He doesn't want to know!

But then Li Shimin felt that the light curtain was like a giant hammer, hitting him hard on the head:

Empress Changsun died of illness in the tenth year of Zhenguan!

Li Shimin felt dizzy for a moment, and there seemed to be thousands of people shouting in his ears, crying and laughing, and suddenly he seemed to be able to hear the happy and relieved voices of his brothers.

He couldn't help but stood up and took two steps forward, but immediately realized that the light curtain was just announcing the news, and his Guanyin maid was not among them.

After he relaxed a little, an unprecedented feeling of weakness overtook his body.

Then the ministers saw their Majesty, and the scorching sun of the Tang Dynasty, who was only thirty years old, became dimmed like never before.

This young and energetic body staggered back until it held onto the chair.

Changsun Wuji, whose eyes were red, helped him up.

"His Majesty……"

"Everyone……"

The sound was noisy, but it gave Li Shimin an inexplicable peace of mind and allowed his body to regain its strength.

"I'm going to see the queen..."

Li Shimin couldn't wait, but soon realized that the light curtain was still there, so he covered his head and changed the order:

"Quickly announce that Queen Changsun has come to Ganlu Palace."

Even as stubborn as Wei Zheng was, he didn't jump out and say that he was at odds with Li because he knew it would be useless.

Dragons have reverse scales, which will make them angry, and Queen Changsun can definitely be regarded as one of His Majesty's reverse scales.

Being supported by Changsun Wuji, he lay weakly on the couch. Li Shimin closed his eyes while Changsun Wuji massaged his head.

In the awkward silence, Li Shimin finally took the initiative and said:

"In the 20th year of Zhenguan, the prince was in trouble and the harem usurped power. Nothing was accomplished."

With a wry smile, Du Ruhui advised:

"Why should your majesty suffer for yourself? How could the Taixuan prosperous age, the commemoration of future generations, and the honorary title of future generations be faked?"

This persuasion made some sense. Li Shimin's headache was relieved a little, and he simply looked at the dome of Ganlu Hall and said:

"That martial artist is entering my palace, so that's right."

"This..." Fang Xuanling thought carefully and said carefully: "Since he can enter the palace, it can be seen that his name, appearance and talent are all a good choice for the moment."

"With his superiority over Empress Lu, even if His Majesty turns a blind eye, he still has the means to enter the palace."

Li Shimin was about to refute, but he was speechless when he remembered this princess of the Tang Dynasty.

Even if you don't enter the palace in the name of a talented person, if you choose a princess who acts unscrupulously, you may still find good opportunities.

On the other side, Changsun Wuji said with murderous intent:

"Please give an order, I will dig three feet into the ground to find this witch and execute her to eliminate the trouble!"

"No!" Wei Zheng jumped out: "Isn't this killing people in an unwarranted name? This is not what a benevolent king would do!"

Li Shimin was tired of the noisy officials, so he simply closed his eyes again.

And soon the hall became quiet again. A pair of weak, boneless and slightly cold hands came back to his forehead, and then they began to pinch it skillfully, and the pain began to slowly disappear.

"Guanyin Maid..."

Li Shimin grabbed these hands and put them on his eyelids, and then big tears fell from the corners of his eyes.

…

Everyone in the Chengdu government office was dumbfounded when they saw the deeds of the Tang Dynasty princess.

Pang Tong swallowed and said:

"At this moment in the prosperous Tang Dynasty..."

Kong Ming interfaced:

"Just like my Han at that time and that moment."

Liu Bei couldn't help but admire:

"How can they be so similar?"

The two military advisors shook their heads together and exclaimed:

"It's so similar!"

For a moment, everyone in the hall found it difficult to accept it.

What about avoiding past mistakes and avoiding future ones as promised? What about the person who said he was going to overturn the vehicle before him?

Eunuchs were in power, and relatives were involved in government affairs.

The harem is regent, and the princess rebels.

You have to reproduce them all, right?

You, the Tang Dynasty, even if you imitate the good qualities of a big man like me, how can you still imitate them completely?

Zhang Fei whispered to Lai Lai:

"Our big man is far worse than that Tang Dynasty."

"The Empress Gao did not claim the title of emperor, and the eldest princess of Eyi only participated in it, but she was no match for Princess Taiping who controlled the government and wanted to seize the throne."

Liu Bei immediately gave him a death stare:

"Third brother, Dujiangyan is still lacking..."

"That's all I won't say." Zhang Fei quickly shut up.

Kong Ming remembered a rather realistic problem and was a little worried:

"Guangmu said before that Li Shimin and the traitor Cao generally suffer from head wind."

"Now that I suddenly heard such news, I'm afraid..."

Head wind disease... shouldn't cause death, right? Kong Ming is not sure.

Zhang Fei also wanted to gloat:

"Perhaps the Emperor of Tang is in love with Empress Wu..."

Kong Ming shook his head and said:

"Emperor Tang had said in the light curtain before that the Western Regions had not been taken, which shows how early it was."

Pang Tong's eyes lit up, and then he clapped his legs in regret:

"I wish I could see the Emperor of Tang seeing such news with my own eyes!!"

...

In Ganlu Palace.

Empress Changsun was sitting on the couch, massaging Li Shimin's head while she listened attentively to Du Ruhui's explanation.

Du Ruhui's words were concise and accurate, and in just a few words, Empress Changsun had a general understanding of the current situation.

It also helped Empress Changsun solve a puzzle in her heart: why did everyone occasionally get excited before, but didn't say anything when asked.

If she hadn't believed in his character, Empress Changsun would have almost thought that Li Shimin had secretly taken Wushisan.

Now that she knew about his worries, Empress Changsun smiled and said to Li Shimin on her lap:

"Since she can inherit the prosperity of your majesty's Zhenguan era, I think this Wu Cairen is also a heroine. It just so happens that I lack a smart and lovely person by my side."

This means that Li Shimin should summon Wu Cairen into the palace in advance.

Li Shimin was a little hesitant, and Empress Changsun smiled and said:

"Now that you have summoned her, how to deal with her is up to your majesty. What should your majesty, Li Shimin, the greatest emperor of the Tang Dynasty, be afraid of?"

Li Shimin sat up suddenly. He liked this title before, but somehow he felt ashamed when his queen read it out loud.

So he had to shout: "Then I will follow Guanyin."

It happened that the light curtain continued to roll slowly at this time, and Li Shimin hurriedly begged for mercy:

"Look at the light curtain first."

[Five surnames and seven families is a saying in the early Tang Dynasty. Taking advantage of the prosperity of Zhenguan, and the nobles such as Wei Zheng, Fang Xuanling, and Li Yu ignored the warnings of Erfeng and rushed to marry with Shandong gentry.

The gentry surnames also quickly recovered. By the time of Emperor Gaozong, the five surnames and seven families had become seven surnames and ten families. At that time, the poor prime minister Li Yifu was rejected when he tried to marry Shandong gentry, so he appealed to Emperor Gaozong.

Emperor Gaozong then ordered the prohibition of intermarriage between the seven surnames and ten families, which is the origin of the so-called forbidden marriage family.

A ban actually raised the status of Shandong gentry. The seven surnames and ten families were proud to be called forbidden marriage families, and the ban was useless, so they just got married secretly.

During the reign of Emperor Wenzong, the emperor personally proposed to Prime Minister Zheng Tan, hoping that the prince could marry Zheng Tan's granddaughter. Zheng Tan refused and married his granddaughter to Cui Gao, who was only a ninth-rank official.

Emperor Wenzong of the Tang Dynasty's lament "I have been the emperor for two hundred years, but I can't take care of Cui Luye?" has become a golden signboard for the family that forbids marriage, and the prestige of Shandong gentry has become more and more important.

Behind the role of Li Shimin in compiling the "Clan Records" is a very helpless fact: the imperial examination in the Tang Dynasty was indeed an improvement compared with the Southern and Northern Dynasties and the Sui Dynasty, but it did not play a big role in the Tang Dynasty.

In the 20th year of Emperor Taizong's Zhenguan reign, Erfeng inspected Bingzhou and sent 22 people including the Dali Temple to inspect the four directions. However, the inspectors soon found that the administration of Bingzhou was extremely corrupt. Erfeng was furious and immediately executed or dismissed nearly a thousand people, and this was only in Bingzhou.

Looking at the history books, four people were selected through the imperial examination in the 20th year of Zhenguan, and seven people the following year, which together accounted for only one percent of the vacancies in Bingzhou.

According to the data collected so far, the imperial examination in the Tang Dynasty began in 622 and ended in 904. During the 282 years, the imperial examination was held 273 times, and a total of 8,455 people were selected, with an average of only 23 people per year.

So were there few officials in the Tang Dynasty? Obviously not. Let's take the early period as an example:

In the second year of Emperor Gaozong's Xianqing reign, there were 1,400 officials, and only 22 people were selected through the imperial examination in the same year. How many official positions were vacant in the second year of Xianqing? Nearly 500.

In fact, there were many ways to enter the officialdom in the Tang Dynasty, including Zhiju, Enyin, Chaju, Biju, Dongjian, Zhuoqian, and military merit.

Among them, Zhiju, Chaju, Biju, and Dongjian had different final test forms, but the starting point was the same: local officials were required to recommend them to obtain qualifications.

Although the Enyin system has been modified in successive dynasties, it has never been abolished. The Tang Dynasty was the dynasty with the most Enyin, and most of the officials in the Tang Dynasty came from it.

The system of selling official positions for money is a disguised form of selling official positions. There are such positions as "Zhaoqian Lingshi", "Xushi", "Pinzi", etc. This position is equivalent to using the court's money to lend money at high interest rates. A certain amount of money needs to be paid to the court every year, and after a certain number of years, the position can be granted.

Because there are too many means, the Tang Dynasty did not lack the imperial examination at all. In fact, the problem of redundant officials had already appeared during the reign of Emperor Gaozong.

It was still the second year of Xianqing, with less than 500 vacant official positions and a total of 1,400 people entering the officialdom. There were still more than 7,000 children of the Ministry of Personnel who were waiting for the examination to enter the officialdom. When the redundancy of officials in the entire Tang Dynasty was the most serious, there were more than 70,000 people in the Ministry of Personnel waiting for the examination, and the longest one might have to wait for ten years.

In the process of "Enyin" and "Liuwai Ruliu" (outsourcing to regular), it is where the "Clan Records" comes into play. According to the surname level, the upper limit of the official position of the disciples of the five surnames and seven hopes was limited.

And the restricted gentry soon found their new place: the imperial examination is the best cradle. 】

Writing and writing, I forgot the time.