Chapter 140: Incompetent and Corrupt Officials
Early that morning, Zhao Xing changed into the crown prince's regular clothes and went to the palace.
After reuniting with his father, the father and son took a carriage out of the palace and headed for Qionglin Garden.
The Qionglin Banquet was not held in the imperial palace, but in the Qionglin Garden.
Qionglin Garden was a royal villa located to the west of Bianjing City.
Emperor Taizu stipulated that a banquet should be held to celebrate after the results of the palace examination were announced.
The first banquet given by Emperor Taizu was held in Qionglin Garden, so it was called the Qionglin Banquet.
From then on, a banquet was held here after every imperial examination.
In fact, except for Emperor Taizu who would personally attend the banquet after every palace examination, the later emperors only came occasionally. The rest of the time, they either sent the crown prince or the prime minister to preside over the banquet.
However, the current emperor strictly abides by the ancestral system. After the palace examination, the emperor personally gives a banquet. This was set by Emperor Taizu. It is the ancestral rule, and he will naturally not violate it.
Therefore, since he ascended the throne, he would attend every Qionglin Banquet.
Zhao Xing did not ride in his own carriage, but instead rode in the emperor's carriage with his father.
This was the first time that Zhao Xing rode in the emperor's carriage. It wasn't that his father didn't allow it, but that his father usually never left the palace.
It is worthy of being the emperor's carriage, it is very spacious, like a moving palace.
Zhao Xing remembered that in history Zhang Juzheng's sedan chair required thirty-two people to carry it. He also heard that there were two bedrooms, a living room, a kitchen and a bathroom inside, but he didn't know whether it was true or not.
If it's true, my father's emperor's carriage seems to be inferior to it.
Zhao Xing looked at him for a while and then lost interest. He withdrew his gaze and said, "Father, the imperial examination is over. Are we going to hold a special examination?"
The special examination, also known as the major examination or the special examination, is an irregular and unconventional examination held to select extraordinary talents.
The Tang Dynasty was the first to implement the imperial examination system in order to select talents in extraordinary times.
For example, if the imperial court wants to go to war and lacks talents, it will hold an imperial examination to select talents based on the topic.
If you want to carry out reform, you should select talents based on the topic of reform.
The system does not restrict the background of the candidates.
But in the Song Dynasty, the imperial examination became exclusive to officials.
As we all know, there were a lot of officials in the Song Dynasty, and only a small number of people who passed the imperial examinations could be appointed as officials.
The rest could only be appointed as civil officials and wait for opportunities.
Many people who passed the imperial examinations may never actually serve as officials until their death.
In order to appease these people, the system that was not a regular system was made a regular system.
The imperial court would regularly hold imperial examinations for those who had not yet been granted official office, as well as lower-level officials, to participate.
Those who perform well can be appointed as officials, and those who hold official positions will also have the opportunity to be promoted.
"Why, do you want to be the invigilator or set the questions?" the official said with a smile.
"I will be the prefect of Kaifeng soon, so I don't have the time. I want to ask you, father, to let me select a few talents from this imperial examination." Zhao Xing said with a smile.
The people selected by the imperial examination were still new people after all, so Zhao Xing set his sights on establishing an imperial examination system.
There are many people in the Department of System Science who have been officials for several years and have acquired certain experience.
Such people have experience, but they have only been in the officialdom for a short time, so they can still be used.
"Okay, I'll send you the articles with good grades when the time comes, and you can choose from them."
The emperor would naturally not refuse this, because the thing the Song Dynasty had the most was scholars.
Not many people will be selected each time. It is just to give hope to those who have not been granted official positions.
"Thank you, father!" Zhao Xing said with a smile.
…………
No one knows about your ten years of hard study, but you become famous overnight.
This sentence is the most true portrayal of the students who have passed the imperial examination.
In the main hall of Qionglin Garden, nearly a hundred newly-appointed scholars stood behind a table, facing the main seat at the top, waiting for the emperor to arrive.
It is worth mentioning that only those who ranked first or second can attend the Qionglin Banquet, while those who ranked third are not eligible.
These people were dressed differently and were of different ages, but their mental outlook was almost the same.
Full of confidence and in high spirits.
"Your Majesty, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has arrived!"
An eunuch shouted loudly, and the newly-appointed scholars who were standing up all bowed and saluted, saying, "Welcome to Your Majesty, welcome to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince!" The emperor and Zhao Xing walked to the main seat on the high platform and stopped.
"No need for formalities!" said the official.
"Thank you, Your Majesty!"
Everyone thanked him in unison, straightened up, and lowered their eyes.
"You are all students who have been selected through layers of selection and finally made it to the list of successful candidates. You are the elites among the scholars of the Song Dynasty and the future pillars of the court. I hope you can report to the court and bring peace to the country." said the emperor.
"We will live up to your Majesty's expectations and work hard until our death!" everyone said in unison.
Zhao Xing found this somewhat boring. These were obviously all arranged, otherwise how could they be so unified.
The emperor didn't know what Zhao Xing was thinking, otherwise he would have been so angry that he would have kicked him.
The official smiled, nodded slightly, sat down, and said, "Everyone, take a seat!"
"Yes!" Everyone responded and sat down.
Zhao Xing sat down at the side.
"Play music!" the official ordered.
Soon, there were sounds of harps and flutes in the hall, and a group of dancers walked into the hall and danced to the music.
The official sat for about an incense stick of time, drank a few glasses of wine, and then left.
"Everyone, please sit down. Be casual and don't be too reserved," said Zhao Xing.
"Yes!" Everyone responded and sat down.
Zhao Xing waved the dancers away and said, "In the Tang Dynasty, Meng Jiao passed the imperial examination and left a poem. Today, why don't you all compose a poem based on your feelings after passing the imperial examination and drink some wine to accompany the poem."
Everyone was delighted to hear this, as it gave them a chance to show off in front of the prince.
If their poems can gain praise from His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, it will be of great help in their subsequent appointment to official positions.
Zhao Xing took a sip from the wine glass and smiled as he looked at the students below who were frowning and thinking hard.
He suggested that they write poetry, but he just said it casually because he was bored.
It's not to test them.
As I said, talent does not necessarily mean virtue.
Compared with talent, Zhao Xing appreciates a person's virtue more.
There is a controversial topic in later generations: which one is less harmful, an honest mediocre official or a capable corrupt official?
As there are many different opinions on this issue, most people tend to choose capable corrupt officials.
The reason is that we are not afraid of your greed, but we are afraid that you will not do it.
A capable official, even if he is a little greedy, is always better than an incompetent official who holds office but does nothing.
An example is that Heshen of the Qing Dynasty embezzled the court's rice and replaced it with bran for disaster relief. This was actually good for the people because no corrupt officials would embezzle the bran, and the bran reached the hands of the people.
Therefore, we come to the conclusion that corrupt officials are very wise.
This statement is as ridiculous as "an official who embezzles 200 million will not embezzle 2 million."
In Zhao Xing's view, an honest and mediocre official, even if he lacks ability, will at least not harm the people.
Even if the interests of the people are harmed because of his mediocrity, it is much better than corrupt officials taking the initiative to harm the people.
The big corrupt officials are raised to be corrupt since childhood. After becoming corrupt, they will indeed not harm the people. However, those who are in the same faction as him or those who want to curry favor with him, don’t they harm the people?
Therefore, Zhao Xing would not look at people differently just because they were good at poetry.
The students didn’t know what Zhao Xing was thinking, and most of them were thinking hard, trying to show themselves in front of Zhao Xing.
The newly crowned runner-up Yao Xingtian glanced at the top scorer Pan Lun who was standing not far from him with a calm expression.
Pan Lun was about 27 or 28 years old, with a smile on his face. When he noticed Yao Xingtian's gaze, he smiled and nodded at him.
Yao Xingtian was very unhappy with Pan Lun who was superior to him. Pan Lun nodded to greet him, but when he looked at the smile on Pan Lun's face, it seemed like a provocation.
So he stood up and said, "Your Highness, I am willing to give it a try."
"Oh." Zhao Xing said with interest, "So you are the runner-up. Then read out your masterpiece for me and the others to appreciate."
"Yes!"
Yao Xingtian thought for a moment and said aloud: "The jade palace is a hundred feet high, and the blue sky rises straight up to the sky. I have lofty ambitions in my heart, and I will live up to my youth and glory."
Thanks to Pomie Fenghua and book friend 2024…0524 for the rewards.
(End of this chapter)