Outside the Meridian Gate, Yuan Jixian's carriage slowly stopped, and the second assistant Li Banghua immediately walked over and greeted the chief assistant as before.☆→☆→,

"The eyes are red, Yuan Fu didn't sleep well last night, right?"

Yuan Jixian looked at his deputy from his hometown in the province and nodded, "I can't sleep well. The emperor has decided to go to the west to fight next summer and send more than 300,000 troops. By next summer, the court will have to complete the first major official test. If you are in a hurry, you will be able to sleep."

The chief assistant and the secondary assistant of the cabinet were both from Jiangxi, Yuan Jixian from Yichun, Jiangxi, and Li Banghua from Ji'an, Jiangxi. The two adjacent prefectures had similar accents. At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the chief assistant Zhou Yanru and the secondary assistant Wu Yan were both from Jiangnan, one in Jiangbei and the other in Jiangnan. However, there were many conflicts in the cabinet, and the Jiangbei Party and Jiangnan Party were also formed. The two Jiangxi Pavilion Masters now have good cooperation. Yuan Jixian has a great reputation. Li Banghua is also the second assistant, and he is also trying his best to assist the chief assistant and abide by his duties. The cabinet is rare to be consistent.

Li Banghua just smiled and didn't say much. The emperor's words at the Prime Minister's Meeting made him understand that the Western Expedition was inevitable, and it was difficult to change even if he personally expeditioned. Therefore, he was not surprised when he heard the exact news. The two entered the Meridian Gate side by side, and the officials behind him followed.

As soon as the two entered the cabinet yamen, an eunuch came to pass the order and summoned them to the Qianqing Hall.

Five other prime ministers were summoned together to participate in politics.

"I bow to your Majesty."

"No need to salute, sit down." Liu Jun sat in the upper head and said to the important officials of the central government.

"Today I have summoned the Prime Ministers to participate in politics and have two important instructions. The first thing is that I have decided to personally conquer Mongolia in the west of the desert in May next year. War is the military's business, but diplomacy and logistics need to be supported by the officials of the court. Prepare food and grass, prepare equipment, and withdraw the funds for the war. In addition, envoys must be sent to Yarkand, Tsarist Russia and even Uszang, to do some diplomatic work, win over and divide the enemy, etc., and these must be arranged immediately and seized."

The seven prime ministers participated in politics and all nodded, and no one objected.

"Very good. Since everyone nods, we must do our best and not to be violating the sun. If you have any opinions, try to implement them if you have no opinions. What I hate the most is the act of violating the sun and pulling my back behind my back. If someone has such an idea, I will never tolerate it."

"Okay, the second thing is the official test. This is also a big event. I attach great importance to this matter and hope you will pay attention. I am planning to draw special personnel from various departments of the court to form a joint assessment team to be responsible for this assessment."

Officials actually conducted inspections in each dynasty.

For example, during the Ming Dynasty, there was a special Beijing inspection system.

Beijing inspection was an inspection of Beijing officials. It was first inspected every three years, then ten years, and finally changed to six years. After the inspection of officials above the fourth rank, they were either promoted or demoted, and the emperor personally decided that retirement, demotion, dismissal, and dismissal for those below the fifth rank were different, which was also called internal calculation.

Having internal plans is of course an external plan.

External strategy is to specifically inspect local officials, also known as major strategy. During the Ming Dynasty, the Beijing Procuratorate was jointly chaired by the Minister of Personnel and the Left Censor of the Censorate of the Censorate.

This assessment system is of course positive in nature. Beijing Censors divided the incompetent officials examined into eight categories: old age, disease, dismissed from soft and inaction, greedy, cruel and violent, unscrupulous, impetuous and superficial, and lack of talent and ability. Among them, the strong retired, dismissed from soft and inaction, greedy and cruel and violent dismissed for the people, those who are not cautious in practice were dismissed, those who are impetuous and superficial, and those who are not capable of talent were demoted to one level.

The method of inspection is to issue anonymous inspection to the department and court. After completion, the cabinet ticket is planned to stay or leave, or return it to the department and court for reconsideration, and finally make a book to request the emperor to make a judgment and issue the memorial. After the Beijing inspection, the impeachment of the retained officials by the censors is called the edict.

Officials who were dismissed due to Beijing inspection are not allowed to be resigned, and officials who were attacked by the censors' litters are generally not lucky enough to be exempted.

However, since the Wanli period, Jingchao deteriorated. Jingchao began to become a tool for party struggles. Donglin and the three major factions fought each other, and their momentum was like water and fire until the fall of the Ming Dynasty.

In the late Ming Dynasty, the auxiliary minister of the cabinet was appointed as the Minister of the Palace and the Grand Secretary of the Palace, and he held the right to vote and approve the approval to assist in the government affairs, and his status was above the six ministries.

The auxiliary ministers of the cabinet were in charge of the Ministry of Personnel and the election, which was no different from the prime ministers of the previous dynasty. Therefore, later, the Ming Dynasty specifically stipulated that the Minister of Personnel would not enter the cabinet.

However, in the Ming Dynasty's Beijing Procuratorate system, although the Minister of Personnel and the Zuodu Censor jointly presided over the Beijing Procuratorate, they were eventually sent to the cabinet to decide whether to stay or not, especially at that time, whether it was the Censorate, the Six Sections, or the Six Departments, they were actually considered under the leadership of the cabinet, so the Beijing Procuratorate eventually became a tool of party struggles.

The Han Dynasty now has to take the exam every two years, including the Beijing officials' inspection and the major plans for local officials. Liu Jun did not want the final assessment of officials to become a tool for officials in the court to form gangs and attack each other. Therefore, this first assessment is extremely important.

Instead of entrusting the responsibilities of the assessment to a certain department, personnel are drawn from each department for each assessment to form a special independent temporary assessment team.

The assessment process is that the official first writes a report on his or her own political affairs. At the same time, the investigation team investigates the official's political achievements and ethics through the secret investigation. At the same time, the superiors, colleagues, and subordinates of the official also need to write a report about the official, and also investigate his or her accounts and private property. According to Liu Jun's intention, it will be announced in the end, and his or her position will be announced, and the gains and losses of his or her position, the quantity of property, etc. During the public announcement period, if there is any doubt about the content announced, you can report it.

The whole thing is divided into three steps: self-report, including commentary reports from superiors and subordinates and colleagues. Investigation, including open visits and secret investigations, checking the gains and losses of the job, accounts of the transactions, and private property. The last step is to make public announcements, and the results of the investigation are accepted. After receiving the report, an investigation must be given and the results must be presented.

Such an assessment is very strict, and it is difficult to escape if there are any problems.

Even if there are no major problems such as corruption, they will have to evaluate their performance during their tenure, and finally get three levels of competence, diligence, and work, and reward and punishment.

Even in the performance report, an essay must be submitted to explain opinions on the national major policies and submit some policy guidelines for their duties.

The big test not only requires the level of integrity and dedication, but also the ability to serve and manage government affairs.

Both the Beijing inspection and major plans must use the four categories and six methods as the assessment standards. The four categories are talent, patronage, politics, and year. Talent refers to talent, length, flatness, and shortness. Conservation refers to ethics, integrity, flatness, and greed. Government refers to government affairs, diligence, flatness, and laziness. Year refers to age, grade, green, middle, and old three categories.

As for the six methods, it refers to the lack of six aspects: "not being cautious", "stop being soft and inaction", "impulsive", "insufficient talent", "old age", and "illness". After assessment, those who are included in "not being cautious and dismissed from their positions will be dismissed; those who are "irritable and untalented" are demoted; those who are "old age and have illness" are ordered to retire.

In addition to the four grids and six methods, there is also a hard indicator for the assessment, which is to stipulate the elimination rate. Officials at each level have an elimination rate. If those who are old and sick are ordered to retire, they will be dismissed, impetuous, unpretentious, dismissed, and demoted, and have not yet reached the hard elimination rate. The assessment results must be ranked among the people behind and eliminated one batch until the index number is reached.

This rigid elimination indicator is the most ruthless move in this Han officials' examination.

With this move, if officials do not protect themselves, you will eventually have to eliminate a certain number of officials and then replenish fresh blood.

The official assessment group selected by various departments and offices is responsible for the major examination, but the cabinet, the censorate, and the parliament still have the power to supervise the assessment group.

Those officials who find corruption and dereliction of duty during the assessment must be held accountable and handed over to the judicial system for trial.

For officials with excellent assessment, the Ministry of Personnel will be promoted. For those with equal grades, the original position will be maintained. For those with poor grades, the lower grades will be demoted or dismissed.

In terms of the military, it is not within the scope of this assessment. The military consists of an assessment group composed of an internal military system yamen such as the Ministry of War, the Privy Council and other military units for assessment separately.

The assessment team is responsible for the assessment, and finally provides the assessment and investigation results. The final disposal will be carried out by the House of Assembly and the Censorate supervised the Cabinet and the Ministry of Personnel.

During this entire assessment process, the emperor held the final right to interpret. All departments of the court participated, but no one had the right to decide alone.

Before the holidays were sealed at the end of the year, the court announced the details of the official test to the world.

"This is a big cleaning!"

In the Shuntian Prefecture yamen, a non-ranking scholar who was not good at writing to the yamen, burned the shell and boiled water as usual, then made a cup of tea, and started reading the newspaper.

The front page headlines were the detailed charter for the assessment. After reading it, Li De couldn't help but slapped his teeth.

Li De was a rankless official, but the officials also had ranks. Li De was a civil servant or a civil servant. Now the court no longer restricted the promotion of officials to officials.

With Li De's current qualifications and grades, as long as he can get a chance to get promoted from the ninth grade. He is less than 40 years old this year, and maybe he can get a seventh grade in his lifetime.

But now looking at the assessment charter, Li De frowned.

It is so strict that you have to take the exam for both political achievements, integrity, and property declaration, and even public announcement.

He didn't have to think about it and knew that he would definitely not be able to pass these levels. He started to help in the yamen when he was in his teens. When he was in his twenties, he officially replaced the position of hereditary clerk from his father. Then he went to the Han Dynasty and worked for another three years.

In the Ming Dynasty, he did not collect money in Shuntian Prefecture, but everyone was like this at that time.

But when he arrived at the big man, he had not made a lot of money, but it was not as obvious as before. He usually welcomed and sent gifts, and had a lot of money. Especially now, he is still in charge of urban construction and has so many engineering projects, so he can't say he is asking for bribes. Usually, his father and mother celebrate his birthday, his own birthday, his children enter school, and the elderly get sick. His colleagues give gifts a lot, especially those businessmen, who don't give one or two yuan.

If you accumulate a lot, you will receive a lot of gifts.

Li De secretly calculated that he would not talk about the previous news. In the past three years, the various gifts he received were worth several thousand.

Although he didn't dare to accept the gifts, the amount of thirty or fifty yuan accumulated to become a large sum of money.

I didn't expect that the imperial court's assessment will be so strict this time.

I still want to be the county magistrate in my lifetime, but now it seems that I can't even pass this level.

He has a good relationship with his superiors, subordinates and colleagues. I believe there will be no words in their narrative report that are not harmful to him. However, the property declaration and review must be exposed, especially there is a public announcement. At that time, someone will definitely report it secretly. His house and land are all there, and it will be found out once you check it.

After thinking about it, Li De couldn't help but feel a little panicked.

I don’t even know how to handle this matter. At the forefront, no one dares to accept gifts. Even if he wants to give it to him, he still can’t find the temple gate with his pig’s head.

The assessment is under the responsibility of this temporary officials, and it is said that even the Dongchang and Jinyiwei participated. But he did not know any of these people.

Sitting in front of the desk, Li De sighed repeatedly, hammered his chest and stamped his feet.

After sitting there for a while, Li De couldn't sit still. He found a reason for a headache and asked for leave with his boss to go home.

Li De returned home in a carriage dejectedly. After thinking about it for a long time, he still couldn't find a way. The more he thought about it, the more he felt that this incident was so great, like the tranquility before the storm.

The keen sense of being an official for many years told him that the emperor must take advantage of the assessment opportunity to carry out a major cleanup this time.

When the Han Dynasty was established, there was no major move in the court in recent years. Most of the officials of the previous dynasty remained in office. But on the other hand, the emperor was also training new officials. There were 8,000 young Jinshi who had been training for two years and juren in the capital university.

In addition, hundreds of thousands of troops were laid off this year, of which no less than 100,000 officers at all levels were transferred, and many officials were still waiting for Hou Que.

The sudden dismissal of Senate Speaker Ni Yuanlu seems to be a signal. Who is Ni Yuanlu? A famous veteran of the Donglin Party during the Chongzhen Dynasty, he is even more like the current emperor.

After a long time of thinking, Li De thought of someone, maybe he could discuss it.

Li De hurried out again and went to his wife and brother-in-law's mansion. Li De's wife's elder brother turned out to be an official. At that time, Li De's father and his wife's father were both officials of Shuntian Mansion. The relationship between the two families was pretty good, so they formed children and relatives. Later, Li De's father-in-law retired when he was old, and his wife and brother took the position.

But this brother-in-law was dismissed after the founding of the Han Dynasty because his accounts were unclear and had a lot of losses.

After leaving the yamen, my wife and brother started business in recent years. At first, they went to Zhangjiakou to sell wool, and later they went to Tianjin to sell southern goods. Over the years, they had accumulated a lot of money in the family business and even opened a candle factory in Tongzhou.

My wife and brother Zhao Shouxin has a beautiful house on the East Street of Nancheng. It has a townhouse. After buying this house, it will pay taxes and furniture decoration, which cost more than 3,000 yuan.

My wife always wanted to buy a building here. Not far from here, Dongmen Street is extremely prosperous, and that one is rich, clean and beautiful, and schools, hospitals, etc. are also close to. However, Li De always felt that it was too high-profile. More than 3,000 silver dollars were nothing to him. In recent years, he worked in the yamen and was eating out of the door to make extra money. In recent years, the market outside was so good, so he also invested money, especially when his wife and brother went out of the yamen, he took 5,000 yuan to his wife and brother.

Originally, my wife and brother-in-law said they had borrowed it, but Li De felt that his family didn't have to calculate it so clearly. Even if he had calculated the investment, he would share some risks with his wife and brother-in-law.

Unexpectedly, my wife and brother's business went smoothly later. Three years have passed and the business has been very big. His initial investment of 10,000 yuan, accounting for one-third of the shares, has now increased several times.

Qian Li Deyou, and Li De's total property, real estate and shops, as well as external shares and deposits in banks, all of them are converted to at least 100,000 yuan.

One hundred thousand yuan is not considered a rich man in the entire capital, but he is also above the middle class.

But although the money is a lot, a lot of money is not very obvious. Even if it is the money he earns from investing in shares, it is difficult to spend it openly. After all, that capital is not well-known.

A little official paid 3,000 yuan to buy a villa, which was obviously too silly. Li De's current salary and bonus are less than 300 yuan in total. 3,000 yuan can be his ten-year salary. Isn't this silly?

Sometimes, Li De also wanted to leave this yamen errand like his wife and brother, go into business and make money. Otherwise, although the family has a lot of money, there is no need to be exposed. He lives in an old house of several generations and dare not spend money if he has money.

Zhao Shouxin was not surprised to see his brother-in-law coming.

"I guess you'll come to me, is it for the assessment?"

"My brother-in-law, your ability has always been admired by me. If you hadn't left the yamen, you would definitely be a rank official now."

Zhao Shouxin snorted, "I have been entrusted to death by the eighth grade, but I have not had much sesame seeds. If I had been a few years ago, I would have been very happy even if I could be a ninth grade. But now, it is an era, and you are still staring at being an official. What's the point of being an official? A seventh grade magistrate can earn less than a thousand yuan a year. Look at me, I am now a boss for myself, and I don't say much a year, but I can earn whatever I want."

"Brother, you are also a smart person. Times have changed, and the yamen food is not so delicious. In the past, business was the most despicable industry. Any yamen official could make the merchants smile. But now, in the world of rich people, officials still have to beg for businessmen. Do you believe it or not, I just want to let them go and say that I plan to build a new factory in Tongzhou, invest 40,000 to 50,000 silver dollars, and recruit two or three hundred workers. In the three counties below Tongzhou, a large number of officials came to invite me to dinner immediately."

"Brother, I know the trouble you are facing now. As the court's usual style, you must not pass this time. If you don't do it well, there will be a prison disaster at that time."

"Please give me some advice?" Li De said hurriedly.

"Actually, the solution is very simple. You are just in the bureau. Now you immediately report your boss to a serious illness, then resign, and level your account. At the same time, hello to your colleagues, invite them to have a few meals, and ask them to help say a few words. Before the assessment officially begins, you get out of the way. As long as you quit and leave, there is no problem in the account, the assessment will not be found. After all, as long as you have no problem with the account, no one will care about some of your gray income."

Li De was stunned for a moment, but he didn't expect the solution to be that simple.

"Of course, the premise is that you are willing to give up the official position that your family has passed on for several generations." Zhao Shouxin said with a smile beside him.

Li De hesitated that their family had been an official in Shuntian Prefecture for several generations. His grandfather's grandfather was passed on to his grandfather's father, and then his grandfather passed on to his father, and his father passed on to him. This was the errand that the Li family had passed on from generation to generation.

"If you want to get out, just as early as possible, hesitate. Finally, you go in for a few years to go to the prison meal to mine for a few years. After you come back, do you think your family's hereditary errands can be passed on? These days, officials must be transferred from military to civil service exams before they become popular. Old officials like us will be eliminated sooner or later. Now you are out voluntarily and can still retain a decent person and protect your family's responsibilities. Why not? Come out and work with me, it is much better than being an official."

Li De thought about it carefully for a while and felt that things seemed to be the case. As long as he rushes to leave before the assessment starts, the assessment team will only investigate the officials in office, and those who have already left are not in the assessment and investigation. If he settles the accounts, there will be no other problems and will never find them on his head.
Chapter completed!