Chapter 250

A nationwide renaming campaign thus began in grand fashion.

Local government offices received the order, each scrambling frantically. Changing place names wasn't just swapping a signboard; all official documents, maps, and household registers had to be revised. For a time, the clerks responsible for copying in offices everywhere were overwhelmed, complaints rampant.

Court officials also had to choose their words carefully, lest a careless utterance bring bad luck.

Once, a drunken general bragged at a tavern with colleagues about his past campaigns alongside the Taizu Emperor in Guangzhou; as soon as he uttered the word "guang", his tablemates clapped a hand over his mouth. The next day he was reported, stripped of office, and sent packing to his hometown.

Thereafter, no one dared utter those two characters.

After finishing with place names and offices, Zhao Jiong turned his attention to the army.

The army was Zhao Kuangyin's foundation. The designations of the Palace Front Command and Guard Command—such as the Iron Cavalry Army and Dragon Cavalry Army—clearly bore his style.

Zhao Jiong didn't approve.

He wanted to eradicate all names associated with Zhao Kuangyin.

"Convey my decree!" he announced again at court: "The Imperial Guards are the nation's wings, the emperor's claws and fangs; they should carry the prestige of their title. I think the name 'Iron Cavalry Army' is too rigid, imbued with a combative spirit, unsuitable for the Era of Taiping Xingguo; it should be changed to 'Sun Cavalry Army', evoking 'the sun at its zenith, the emperor personally riding'. The 'Dragon Cavalry Army' should become the 'Dragon Guard Army', conveying 'guarding the true dragon emperor'."

He also, as an afterthought, renamed the royal temple outside Kaifeng that Zhao Kuangyin used to love visiting most—Longxing Temple—to Taiping Xingguo Temple.

There can be only one dragon.

That is him, Zhao Jiong.

This series of changes left the old generals who had followed Zhao Kuangyin in conquering the realm feeling uneasy.

They felt the new emperor was uprooting their foundations, erasing their achievements and memories.

But what could they do? Military power had already been stripped away at the wine banquet that dismissed military command; now they were merely wealthy, idle gentlemen who could do nothing but grumble at home.

Meanwhile, the newly appointed Director of the Palace Front Command, Shi Baoji, and his ilk were the New Monarch's most loyal supporters; when the emperor said change, they obeyed, executing it faster than anyone.

Wang Xu, serving as a Hanlin Academician bearing the seal, naturally also took part in this renaming campaign.

Many of the edicts renaming places and offices came from his hand.

He composed those ornate phrases, citing various allusions to argue the necessity and propriety of the renaming, while his heart was ice-cold.

He felt like a highly skilled paster; the emperor kept punching holes, and his job was to patch them with the finest paper, making them look splendid and perfectly proper.

He knew many behind his back cursed him as a sycophantic traitor, a lackey of the New Monarch.

He didn't care.

He only knew that the Wang family and Zhao Jiong were on the same front, and moreover, what he was doing now harmed no Wang family interests, merely tiring him out.

That day, after Zhao Jiong finished dealing with a heap of renaming hassles, feeling good, he came up with another idea to showcase his benevolence.

He summoned the Minister of Justice and the Minister of Punishments.

"I hear there are still many offenders from the former emperor's reign locked up in the great prison?"

"Your Majesty, most are corrupt and derelict officials, plus some accomplices of local rebellions."

"Hmm." Zhao Jiong nodded, thinking, "When I first ascended the throne, I should declare a general amnesty to show vast imperial grace. These people's crimes are not capital; having been imprisoned this long, they've already been punished. So, aside from the arch‑criminals whose crimes are heinous and whose offenses have aroused great public resentment, everyone else shall be pardoned and sent home."

"Your Majesty's benevolence!" the Minister of Justice and Minister of Punishments hastily knelt to thank him.

They knew the emperor's benevolence was not genuine; he was buying hearts.

Those officials released were all "criminals" of the former emperor's reign; they felt no gratitude toward him. Now that the New Monarch has freed them, who will they be grateful to?

They will become the New Monarch's most loyal supporters, sparing no effort abroad to proclaim his mercy.

One pull, one step—victory is decided.

Wang Xu stood aside, watching Zhao Jiong's face wearing a "benevolent" smile, and couldn't help thinking that this new emperor was a genius at manipulating hearts.

Each of his steps seemed bold and decisive, yet every move was filled with calculation.

He was gradually, in his own way, erasing every trace of the world left behind by Zhao Kuangyin.

And this process had only just begun.

Wang Xu knew the emperor would next reach for what he valued and needed most.

That was talent.

Zhao Jiong clearly understood that merely suppressing senior officials and buying off "criminal" officials wasn't enough.

He needed to build a bureaucratic system wholly his own, where every person must be personally promoted by him, and their fortunes must be tightly bound to this emperor.

Where could he find so many people?

The imperial examinations.

This is the tool dynasties have used to break aristocratic monopolies, select talent from humble origins, and consolidate imperial rule.

During Zhao Kuangyin's reign, although he also held the examinations, the scale was small, admitting few presented scholars each time; moreover, he trusted more the generals and nobles who had followed him in conquest.

Zhao Jiong decided to completely change this situation.

At the first grand court assembly of the first year of the Era of Taiping Xingguo, he floated an idea no one expected.

"I believe that the foundation of the state lies in talent. The selection of talent lies in the imperial examinations." Zhao Jiong sat on the dragon throne, his voice resonant, "Yet since the founding of our Great Song, the number of scholars recruited through the examinations has been pitifully few. Many ambitious, learned men from humble origins are buried in the countryside, with no way to serve the nation. This is the Court's loss, and also a regret of the world!"

"I have decided, starting this year, to expand the scale of recruitment through the imperial examinations! All those who pass the prefectural examinations and come to the capital to take the exam, I will not be bound by convention, I will select solely on talent. In previous years only a few dozen were taken each time, which is too few! This year, I will take one hundred! No, two hundred!"

Zhao Jiong waved his hand: "Anyone whose writing is good and possesses genuine talent and learning, I will want them all! I want all scholars under heaven to know that as long as they have ability, they can rise to prominence and bring honor to their ancestors in our Great Song."

This decision once again left the officials in the court dumbfounded.

Taking two hundred jinshi at once?

What does that mean?

In the more than ten years since the founding of the Great Song, the total number of jinshi recruited adds up to less than two hundred!

This year, the emperor intends to recruit as many as the total of the past ten-odd years?

"Your Majesty, absolutely not!" a minister stood up to oppose.