CHAPTER 523: CHAPTER 224: ELDER LIANG’S HARDLINE STANCE, GRAND SECRETARY OBSERVES MOURNING

The capital, a well-known place of leisure.

Xu Qing and Elder Liang took their seats, with Yan Ge serving wine, the standards were quite high.

"Elder, do you know how many scholars participate in each local exam in Qian Nan Province now?"

Elder Liang’s career largely revolved around the Ministry of Personnel, the Inspection Bureau, and the Ministry of Rites, eventually climbing to the position of Minister of Rites. It can be said that our Elder Liang is timid, but one absolutely cannot say that Elder Liang lacks professional skills or memory.

To be honest, any cabinet minister who can enter the cabinet has a few tricks up their sleeve.

"Sometimes over a thousand, sometimes two thousand," Elder Liang quickly replied.

"How about the southeastern provinces?"

"At least eight thousand, sometimes tens of thousands."

Xu Qing said, "Elder Liang has a good memory. After I went to Qian Nan Province, I focused on investigating this matter. Qian Nan Province not only has few scholars, but even fewer scholars who apply and pass, and many of them aren’t even natives of Qian Nan Province. This results in very few officials and clerks from the province, forcing dependence on the self-governance of Tusi. I know, the benefit of Tusi self-governance is that the Court’s governance costs are greatly reduced, but the downside is that due to too many Tusi, rebellions in Qian Nan Province have never ceased since the early days of the Country, only differing in scale."

The quota of scholars for each province is allocated proportionally.

The quota for Qian Nan Province is relatively small compared to other provinces. Despite this, due to the scarcity of students, the competitive environment and degree of internal pressure are far less compared to other large inland provinces.

It can be said that Qian Nan Province has always been heavily impacted by education immigrants.

Additionally, conditions in Qian Nan Province are poor.

This also leads to many scholars, once they pass, who if they feel there’s no hope for the exam, will find ways to serve in other provinces.

As for scholars and officials from other provinces, they are even less willing to serve in Qian Nan Province.

Thus, many officials in Qian Nan Province are those who have been demoted or exiled there, and one can imagine their dedication to their work.

Therefore, the shortage of officials in Qian Nan Province is very serious.

Xu Qing rambled on, then proposed a practical solution, which was to increase the quota of scholars in Qian Nan Province. However, these scholars would not participate in the exams but could be directly appointed as officials, and their promotion treatment in Qian Nan Province would be the same as Third Rank Scholars.

If they refuse to accept appointment to serve in Qian Nan Province, their scholar status will be directly canceled.

Of course, Xu Qing had a lot of official reasons, but fundamentally, it was to find a pretext to resolve the staffing issues for members of the Recovery Society who were willing to work in Qian Nan Province.

By the end of Xu Qing’s explanation, Elder Liang also understood.

Members of the Recovery Society were mostly from South Zhili, and handling this matter well was considered doing a good deed for fellow countrymen.

The officialdom of Qian Nan Province was at the periphery of the Great Yu Dynasty’s officialdom, an uncompetitive place in officialdom, and even if people discovered many of the new scholars in Qian Nan Province were from the Recovery Society, they couldn’t dispute it.

As for the potential harm of Recovery Society members controlling the officialdom of Qian Nan Province?

Could they be more harmful than the Tusi?

The Tusi literally raised flags and rebelled directly.

Yan Shan, sitting beside, listened with admiration; the dexterity of running the establishment became increasingly impressive.

How is this different from directly issuing an appointment from the Ministry of Personnel?

Yet, legally, there’s no flaw to be found.

"Gongming, who do you think would be more suitable to be the chief examiner for this special local exam if it is implemented?"

Xu Qing gave Yan Shan a knowing glance.

Yan Shan was a bit hesitant: "I fear my rank is not up to standard."

Xu Qing said earnestly, "Precisely because it’s a new trial, having an overly high specification for the chief examiner is not ideal. With the reforms now, we emphasize crossing the river by feeling the stones and being bold in trying new things. I think Weizhong fits quite well. This matter has been decided by Elder Liang and me, so please don’t feel pressured."

Elder Liang: "What does the Grand Secretary say about this matter?"

"They have already been informed."

Elder Liang felt assured within.

...

...

The next day, Elder Liang, as one of the two leaders of the Southern Zhili Party, did not spare any effort, leading the charge, directly bringing the specially selected local exam, discussed with Xu Qing, to the Court meeting for discussion.

Wang Shangshu, who had just taken the position of Minister of Personnel, immediately opposed it.

Not that Wang Shangshu thought the matter was inappropriate, but because Elder Liang now had the support of Xu Qing, becoming a leading figure of the Southern Zhili Party.

It must be known that Wang Gong was also from Southern Zhili and was now the Minister of Personnel.

Even if Elder Liang was an Elder, he couldn’t overshadow him, the Heavenly Official, or else his subordinates’ morale would falter, making it impossible to run the Ministry of Personnel.

Moreover, lately, Assistant Minister Zhang deeply resented Old Wang for snatching his position as Minister of Personnel, repeatedly showing insubordination.

This made Wang Shangshu very unhappy.

But Elder Liang, contrary to his usual style, was very firm, citing classical references, binding this matter together with converting the Tusi to mainstream administration.

Although Wang Shangshu held his ground in debate, he couldn’t triumph over Elder Liang.

The first Court meeting discussion about this matter ended unhappily.

But Wang Gong didn’t expect that after the meeting, many Southern Zhili partisans came to block the door of Wang Shangshu’s home, hurling many unpleasant words.

Old Wang was puzzled, but in this era of officialdom, it’s risky to offend local families.

He had no choice but to send someone to find out why.

"Xu Gongming, that bastard." After Wang Gong inquired about the details, he learned the inside story. Because this specially selected local exam had already been internally communicated within the Southern Zhili Guild Hall.

They all believed that both the Minister of Rites and the Minister of Personnel were from Southern Zhili, they absolutely wouldn’t cut off local prospects. Who knew that Elder Liang would argue on principle, while Wang Gong, the compatriot, ended up dragging his feet.

After all, even Xu Liushou had promised that Qian Nan Province was just a stepping stone, and once the countrymen got in, the current situation was to temporarily stay in Qian Nan Province, but after achieving results, there would surely be efforts to relocate them out.