Chapter 204: Anxiety

Wen Tiren stepped forward and memorialized: "Your subject deeply commends Your Majesty's gesture of elevating the scholars of the realm! This act opens a precedent in history, surpassing even the founding emperor's selection of officials from among Imperial Academy students at the start of the dynasty! This old minister dares to assert that this policy will lay a foundation for Great Ming to endure for ten thousand generations! I congratulate Your Majesty, and I congratulate Great Ming!"

Wang Yingxiong and Zhang Zhifa both secretly sneered: the older he gets, the more shameless he becomes! His flattery used to be somewhat restrained and subtle, but now he simply brazenly sings praises at full blast! Isn't it just because he clings to power that his words ring false? Isn't it just because his own son amounts to nothing, and now that the Emperor has given a way out, he fawns so obsequiously?

Wang Yingxiong stepped forward and said: "Though the Chief Grand Secretary's words are somewhat excessive, they do carry reason. Your subject believes that once this policy is announced, the candidates who would otherwise have to return home and wait three years will surely be overjoyed! Your Majesty is truly a benevolent sovereign! Your subject admires this immensely!"

He had two daughters and one son; his youngest son was still at the age of child's tufted hair, and who knew what the future held for him. He had not benefited from this measure, so he merely offered a perfunctory compliment and let it be.

Zhang Zhifa memorialized: "Your subject also feels that Your Majesty's policy is most ingenious—it both reassures the hearts of the realm's scholars and selects talent for the court's use, not allowing worthy men to fall by the wayside. This old minister is full of admiration!"

Chief Censor Li Banghua stepped forward and memorialized: "Though there are precedents of candidates and Imperial Academy students entering officialdom, their quotas have always been very small. Your subject fears that once this policy is implemented, the number of officials will surge dramatically—the disaster of redundant officials in the former Song is a lesson close at hand. I beg Your Majesty to think thrice!"

Right Censor Shi Bangyao memorialized: "What the Censor-in-Chief says is most correct! The proliferation of redundant officials in the former Song burdened the common people heavily; our dynasty has now lasted over two hundred years, and the number of official posts is far fewer than in the former Song. If Your Majesty rashly multiplies them severalfold, I fear it will not be a blessing for the common folk!"

Zhu Youjian thought to himself: You people have never seen what truly excessive officialdom looks like. Compared to later ages, the Song dynasty's number of officials was hardly worth mentioning.

He smiled and said: "What the two ministers worry about is only natural. The cautionary tale of the former Song is not far off—how could I repeat its mistakes? Candidates and Imperial Academy students are both where the court stores its talent; among them are no lack of capable individuals who, for various reasons, failed the examinations. Hence I devised this policy, its purpose being that no worthy man be left in the wilds. As for the matter troubling the two ministers, the solution is not difficult—at that time, I shall rely on the two ministers to fulfill their duties diligently!"

Li Banghua bowed and said: "Your subject is dull-witted; I beg Your Majesty to enlighten me!"

Zhu Youjian said: "I have a notion: though candidates and Imperial Academy students already possess the qualifications for office, the gate for their entry into governance is no less than passing the metropolitan examination! I call this policy 'wide entry, strict exit'!"

The assembled ministers in the hall seemed to grasp something upon hearing this.

Zhu Youjian continued: "A strict system of official selection is the strategy to prevent redundant officials! Regardless of what a candidate or Imperial Academy student specializes in, when they sit for the selection examination, the Six Ministries, the Censorate, and the Court of Judicial Review must all dispatch officials well-versed in departmental affairs to jointly supervise! What I speak of does not refer only to ranking officials—capable clerks may also serve as examiners!"

Li Banghua nodded and memorialized: "Your subject understands Your Majesty's intent. I too have served in the relevant offices and know well that many clerks are indeed thoroughly familiar with departmental affairs; having them serve as examiners would allow for even finer discernment! Your Majesty's policy has the style of not being bound by convention—I have no objection!"

Minister of Personnel Zhou Yun praised: "In this way, whether a given candidate or Imperial Academy student can become a competent official, and the quality of their conduct, will be clear at a glance! Thus the path of mediocre officials is utterly sealed off at the source! Your Majesty's policy is truly heaven-given! What a fine 'wide entry, strict exit'! Splendid!"

Zhu Youjian smiled and waved his hand: "Ministers, no more praise. If there are no objections, the Ministry of Rites may send personnel to announce it on the day results are posted. After the palace examination, all candidates shall enter the Imperial Academy. Each ministry and court shall now begin arranging the personnel to be sent for teaching, preparing rotation plans—all to proceed on the premise of not delaying each ministry's own affairs! To ensure the officials and clerks teach with greater dedication, I shall draw silver from the privy purse as rewards—all who apply themselves diligently shall receive subsidies!"

Zhu Youjian was not worried that any teaching official would go through the motions.

At every lecture, those seated below were mostly the cream of the scholars. Though they did not understand the specifics of governance, that did not prevent them from judging the quality of the instruction. If a lecturer did not apply himself, the assembled candidates and Imperial Academy students would surely leave him no face to save.

Like a seasoned foodie—he may not know how to cook, but that does not stop him from judging the chef's skill.

After the ministers dispersed, Zhu Youjian picked up Zhang Kui's memorial concerning the interception of Zu Dashou's convoy and read it once more.

The blocking of various supplies bound for Liaodong at Shanhai Pass was, of course, carried out under his direction. With the overall situation growing steadily calmer, sealing off Jianzhou was only a natural next step. Most of the goods seized this time were military supplies, which could simply be given directly to the Yongwei Camp for use.

Zhu Youjian planned to have the Ministry of War send personnel to Liaodong to audit the actual number of troops there, then distribute supplies according to real need, sealing off the channel by which they embezzled and skimmed goods before selling them to Jianzhou.

With the Shanxi merchants wiped out and Jianzhou's left-hand supply channel cut off, now closing its right-hand route as well—the fatal flaw of its dependence on external transfusion would, in the near future, bring catastrophe upon Jianzhou.

No matter how brilliant and wise you Hong Taiji are, even a clever housewife cannot cook without rice. Without gunpowder, how many times can Kong Youde's cannons fire? Without grain, will the Mongols still follow at your heels? Gold, silver, silks, and women only display their proper attributes after one is fed and warm—if you cannot even eat your fill, do you have the strength for anything else?

Though there were abducted Han Chinese farming and growing grain for Jianzhou, Zhu Youjian did not in his heart believe they could harvest enough grain in a single year.

Most Han slaves still used wooden farm tools—can such things even break ground? Without deep plowing and careful cultivation, can yields possibly be high?

Even for the few who used iron tools, and even if blacksmiths were not lacking, once the tools wore down, without iron stock how could they be repaired?

All men fall ill, and soldiers are all the more prone to injury in daily drills. Without the finished medicines smuggled from Great Ming, relying on those shamans of Jianzhou dancing their rituals—by the time they finish dancing, the man has long gone cold.

It was too simple for Great Ming to control Jianzhou. But historically, the emperors and ministers were all run ragged by the roving bandits, with no time at all to consider adopting the embargo strategy. Add to that the Jianzhou barbarians' repeated raids through the passes and their wholesale plunder of supplies, plus the direct and indirect support from the Shanxi merchants and Liaodong—that was what allowed them to gradually grow strong.

Jianzhou's response to a blockade was nothing more than raiding through the passes to plunder. Unable to break through at Shanhai Pass, they would have to do as last year—enter the capital region through the broken sections of the Great Wall.

Were it not for concern over innocent civilian casualties, Zhu Youjian would almost welcome the Jianzhou barbarians coming to plunder. Let them loot their fill first, let their greed automatically stretch their supply lines thin, then, when their troops were weary and their complacency total, concentrate heavy forces to crush them within our borders.

But doing so would be too cruel. As a transmigrator, he simply could not bear the massive civilian casualties war would cause. Countless living lives dying horribly because of his decisions—even if he later wiped out every last Jianzhou barbarian, his psyche would still bear a huge, ineradicable shadow.

War is a contest between grown men; it has nothing whatsoever to do with the old, the weak, women, and children. Better that I settle it with blade and spear.

The pressing task was how to get through the Little Ice Age as smoothly as possible, ensuring that the drought that would persist for several more years did not spark new unrest, and striving to reduce the number of people dying from disaster.

The various measures he had previously decreed were being vigorously implemented across the provinces. As long as the local officials did their duty, this year's summer harvest could go a long way toward alleviating the grain shortage crisis.

Like cooking a meal—the vegetables are washed, the meat is sliced, and all that remains is for the head chef to come cook. These head chefs are Great Ming's local officials, and those waiting to eat are the common folk forced by natural disaster to struggle on the brink of death.

Placing hope in the conscience of officials is a most unreliable notion. The inertia of non-action formed over a thousand years would make them turn a blind eye to the suffering right under their noses.

Strict oversight and severe punitive measures are the best approach. The censors and Embroidered Uniform Guard officers dispatched to the northern regions would play a pivotal role in this.

What Zhu Youjian, far away in the capital, did not know was that the very thing he worried about was already happening.