Chapter 149 The Value of the Number One Scholar
The next day when Zhao Xing got up to practice martial arts, he found that Gu Yankai and his son were not there.
Zhao Xing didn't care, thinking they were talking about Xiao Qinshi. He practiced for a while, had breakfast, and then took a car to Kaifeng government office.
When he arrived at the Kaifeng government office, Zhao Xing ordered all the officials of Kaifeng Prefecture to come.
But compared to the first time Zhao Xing came, there were several fewer people.
"Greetings to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince!" everyone bowed.
"Yes." Zhao Xing nodded slightly and said, "Recruiter Zhang!"
"I'm here!" Zhang Zongshi stepped out and saluted.
"You will temporarily serve as the Tongpan and assist Sheng Shaoyin in handling the official business of Kaifeng Prefecture." Zhao Xing said.
"Yes!" Zhang Zongshi was delighted to hear this. Although Zhao Xing only asked him to hold the position concurrently, he was actually already the Tongpan of Kaifeng Prefecture.
The appointment requires official documents from the Ministry of Personnel, which takes some time.
Zhao Xing arranged the remaining vacancies and said, "Shao Yin Sheng, notify the county magistrates under Kaifeng Prefecture to come to the government office in three days. I want to meet them."
"Yes!" Sheng Hong replied.
"Okay, all of you can leave." Zhao Xing waved his hand.
After they left, Zhao Xing asked Sanshui to grind ink and write down the personnel transfers in the Kaifeng government office.
After finishing this work, Zhao Xing went to the palace with the written notes.
…………
In Longtu Pavilion, the emperor looked at several resignation letters on the table and listened to Eunuch Liu telling about what happened in Kaifeng Prefecture yesterday.
After listening to it, combined with what Zhao Xing had done during this period, he roughly understood Zhao Xing's thoughts.
"You are still too young." The official shook his head slightly.
"Your Majesty, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is outside seeking an audience."
At this time, a eunuch came in and bowed.
"Ha." The official smiled and said, "I was just looking for him, but he came by himself. Let him in."
The eunuch took the order and left, and soon Zhao Xing walked in.
"Father." Zhao Xing saluted.
The emperor waved his hand, asked Zhao Xing to sit down, sent everyone away, picked up the letter on the table, and said, "Early this morning, five officials including the prefect of Kaifeng Prefecture submitted their resignation letters. You were willing to defile yourself before, is this for this?"
"I knew I couldn't hide it from you, Father." Zhao Xing did not hide anything from his father and said with a smile, "I will take over Kaifeng Prefecture, and those officials will definitely behave themselves. This way, I won't have a chance to establish my authority. If I don't establish my authority, I will be hindered in doing anything later. I have no choice but to resort to this last resort."
His identity is fundamentally different from that of an official.
If the Kaifeng government simply replaced the prefect, the officials of Kaifeng Prefecture would rely on their own qualifications or background to not give face to the new prefect, and might even think of undermining the new prefect.
This gave the new prefect an opportunity to act.
But since he is the prince, the officials in Kaifeng government will naturally behave themselves.
However, these people are only honest on the surface. If he wants to do something, they will inevitably hold him back.
Zhao Xing didn't want to compete with them in wits and courage when he did things in the future.
The official nodded slightly, and after a moment's silence, he said, "You probably didn't tell me the whole story. This was also done to show that we didn't intend to attack the officials of Kaifeng Prefecture at the beginning. It was their own fault. Right?"
"Your Majesty has a sharp eye. You can see through my thoughts at once." Zhao Xing said with a smile.
Indeed, he wanted to establish his authority, but he could not take the initiative to cause trouble.
Once he did this, although it would have a deterrent effect, the other officials would inevitably be in a state of panic. Even if Zhao Xing did not touch them now, they would still be worried.
I think the reason why Zhao Xing didn't move them now was that he didn't want to move too many people at once and affect the operation of Kaifeng government office.
When they become dispensable in the future, we will settle the score with them.
Now that Guo Zixuan was at fault, it was only natural for Zhao Xing to punish him.
Not only does it have a deterrent effect, it also puts them at ease.
Otherwise, given his status, why would he put so much thought into it?
"The method is too immature. They may not understand it at first, but they will definitely understand it after a while."
The official shook his head slightly and said, "But you did a good job in dealing with Guo Zixuan and the others."
What the emperor was most satisfied with was the way Zhao Xing dealt with Guo Zixuan and others. He asked them to hand over the embezzled property and resign, but did not impose any actual punishment on them.
It’s not that the emperor is soft-hearted, but what Guo Zixuan and others did cannot be investigated too deeply.
What Guo Zixuan and his companions did involved many nobles and officials in Bianliang. If the Gordian knot was not cut quickly, those who were involved with them would inevitably be afraid.
Some people may say that it is better to involve more people, as it will give you an excuse to deal with those people.
But many things in the world are not that simple.
Putting aside the fact that one should not blame everyone for one thing, many of these things are not a big deal, so how can we hold them accountable?
However, Zhao Xing cut the Gordian knot and did not investigate further. Those who were involved with Guo Zixuan and others would certainly be grateful to Zhao Xing.
"As long as your Majesty is satisfied, I'm fine. I'm afraid you'll scold me."
Zhao Xing took out the note he had written and said, "Father, Guo Zixuan and his men have resigned, leaving many positions vacant. This is the list I have drawn up, please have a look."
The official took it and unfolded it. When he saw a name, he looked at Zhao Xing in surprise and said, "He's the new number one scholar, and you're going to give him a seventh-rank county magistrate?"
Generally speaking, the new top scholar was appointed as an official in the Hanlin Academy, a sixth-rank editor.
Sheng Hong had been an official for more than ten years, but he was only a sixth-rank official. However, the new top scholar was directly given the sixth-rank official rank when he was appointed.
It can be said that it is the starting point for the top scholar, or even the end point for most people.
This is the value of the top scholar.
"Father, I am quite optimistic about the new number one scholar. I made this arrangement in order to train him," said Zhao Xing.
The emperor shook his head slightly when he heard this, and did not comment much. Anyway, he had already said that Zhao Xing would preside over the imperial examination this time, and the selected Zhao Xing could be arranged at will.
After reading the essay submitted by Zhao Xing, the emperor paused for a moment and said, "There are more than 200 new Jinshi candidates, but you only selected a dozen. How will you arrange for the rest?"
"Let the Ministry of Personnel arrange the rest according to usual practice," Zhao Xing said.
These dozen people were carefully selected by him based on the information obtained by Yin Hanzhang's investigation.
It’s not that only these dozen or so are available out of more than two hundred people, but Zhao Xing doesn’t need so many people now.
The emperor knew that Zhao Xing didn't want the rest, so he nodded and said, "I know, what are you going to do next?"
"I haven't made up my mind yet."
In fact, Zhao Xing already had a general plan, but he didn't want to tell his father.
The official looked at him deeply and said, "Then go back."
"Your son, take your leave." Zhao Xing bowed and left.
He went to chat with Empress Cao and his mother for a while before leaving the palace.
(End of this chapter)