Chapter 929: Pull One Hair, Move the Whole Body

The Emperor and Empress sat facing each other, troubled, so much so that they forgot to reply to Pan Yun's letter.

As a result, Pan Yun sat at her desk staring at the talisman book for hours without reaction, then went to sleep.

The Emperor and Empress, however, pondered all night without proper rest, and the Emperor went to court with dark circles under his eyes.

Yu Qian and the other cabinet ministers saw the Emperor dozing through morning court and were deeply dissatisfied.

When the meeting in the Imperial Study began, Yu Qian held back, then could not hold back and advised the Emperor to cherish his health, taking the late Emperor as a warning, and not to indulge in pleasure.

The Emperor looked slightly aggrieved and muttered, "I haven't indulged in pleasure~~"

Cao Nai couldn't help asking, "Your Majesty, are you troubled by something?"

The Emperor immediately raised the problem he and the Empress had pondered all night without solving.

Upon hearing the Emperor was troubled by state affairs, the ministers' expressions instantly brightened, and they all grew cheerful.

No matter what specific matter they were thinking about, as long as it was state affairs, they were happy.

Just as the ministers were rejoicing, Yu Qian mused, "There is a way—hold examinations for officials."

The ministers' smiles froze: "Examinations?"

"Indeed," Yu Qian said solemnly. "Different departments and official ranks shall take different exams. After this one, we shall institute a regular system to evaluate officials—those who fail shall be demoted or dismissed, and examinations shall be held every five or ten years to determine whether they are neglecting duty or still fit for their posts."

The ministers opened their mouths wide; Chen Xun could not help asking, "Are we to be examined too?"

Yu Qian glanced at him and said, "Why not?"

"How do we take the exam? Who writes the questions? Who grades them?" Chen Xun said. "My Lord Yu, don't propose ideas on a whim."

The Emperor, however, was eager to try—he had never examined others, only been examined himself since birth, especially not the cabinet ministers; he very much wanted to examine them.

All were Third-rank or higher officials; only he could write the exams, and only he could grade them.

The Emperor was thrilled, but seeing the ministers already arguing over the proposal—with some supporting Yu Qian and others opposing him—he opened his eyes wide, glancing from one to the other, his face full of excitement.

Of course, the Imperial Study meeting could not focus solely on this one matter; everyone tacitly stopped there, knowing no conclusion could be reached immediately, and quickly moved on to the next item.

The next major matter was proposed by the Ministry of Revenue, who, seeing the success of Quanzhou Port, wished to establish other seaports.

For example, Tianjinwei and Suzhou.

Yu Qian keenly sensed Pan Yun's emphasis on maritime trade, and keenly perceived the commerce and related tax revenues it had spurred; after a brief pause, he said, "Since the maritime ban has been lifted, we must support maritime trade. Let us select several coastal locations to establish seaports, but without extravagance—we must proceed gradually."

The Emperor immediately said, "Before leaving, the State Master marked several circles on the map."

Yu Qian's brow twitched: "Oh?"

The Emperor promptly ordered a eunuch to fetch the map from Kunning Palace, unrolled it, and showed it to them: "The State Master said Tianjinwei, Lingshanwei, Suzhou, Quanzhou, and Guangzhou are all good places for seaports, but…"

Yu Qian looked down at the map and said solemnly, "But we must also develop a naval force; otherwise, with such a long coastline, if these ports attract sea pirates, maritime trade will suffer a severe blow."

The Emperor nodded vigorously: "Exactly, exactly—My Lord Yu and the State Master thought of the same thing."

He stroked the map and said, "The State Master also said the sea can not only sustain fishermen and merchants, but bring greater benefits to the state, for beneath its waves lie countless treasures—we must retrieve them, and to do so, we need to fight naval battles and have soldiers who can fight them." Yu Qian's gaze flickered slightly and asked, "Did the State Master mention how large a navy is needed?"

Beside him, Chen Xun grew anxious and hurriedly said, "Your Majesty, after last year's suppression of pirates, sea raiders are temporarily contained. In my view, they pose no immediate threat; the urgent matter is the northern Hu tribes. The imperial treasury is empty—we still owe border silver to the Northwest Army, the Northern Army, and the Northeast Army."

The court also owes salaries to officials in the capital and provinces, but the Ministry of Revenue has gone mad printing treasure notes, which at least offsets some of the debt.

But treasure notes cannot be given to border troops.

They do not recognize them at all; money that cannot be spent is just a pile of worthless paper, and printing them is a waste.

Giving border troops treasure notes is not appeasement—it is provoking rebellion.

So the court simply does not give them.

When asked, they reply once after three inquiries, and only after three more inquiries do they squeeze out a little from elsewhere to send, barely enough to pacify them.

There is no choice—people are poor, and so is the court.

Chen Xun was truly terrified of being asked again; he dared not agree to expanding the navy now.

Yu Qian understood him and nodded: "Now is indeed not the time to expand the navy. Your Majesty, why not rename the navy as the Sea Force, let the existing navy acclimate to sea warfare, and expand only when the treasury has funds?"

He added, "The coastal garrisons in the southeast can defend the seaports, offering some deterrent effect."

Chen Xun was speechless, unable to find a counterargument.

The Emperor quickly agreed.

Besides this, there were matters of encouraging agriculture and sericulture, and handling the refugee situation across the realm.

The Emperor sighed helplessly and issued an edict ordering officials and garrisons north of Jingcheng to continue searching for lost soldiers and officials, gathering them, and sending them back to the capital;

Simultaneously, he issued another edict commanding local authorities to properly arrange refugees—allocate land if possible, and if not, find them livelihoods.

Yu Qian felt this edict was insufficiently strict and told the Emperor, "Your Majesty, the late Emperor once issued an edict to properly settle refugees, but local officials ignored it; years passed until censors discovered no one had enforced it—this shows the importance of official evaluation."

The Emperor thought for a moment and said, "Order the Censorate to dispatch censors to inspect enforcement across the realm. My Lord Yu, you must work hard—draft a useful evaluation system with the cabinet as soon as possible."

Yu Qian agreed.

Once they left, the Emperor immediately pulled out his yellow talisman book and communicated with Pan Yun across a thousand li: "If only the State Master were here, I could discuss examining the cabinet ministers with him."

Pan Yun read it and scoffed, replying directly: "Examining the cabinet ministers is unrealistic. Examinations apply only to local officials and executive officials in the capital. Rather than thinking of giving them exams, consider how to implement this system once it is established."

"A good policy is only useful if implemented—otherwise, it is a castle in the air," Pan Yun praised without restraint: "The one who proposed this method is truly virtuous—but this person will surely be hated. Your Majesty must protect them."

The Emperor did not say that Yu Qian had proposed the idea; Pan Yun did not bother to calculate it.

In her own time, the evaluation system—the Kaicheng System—was still proposed by Zhang Juzheng in later generations; she did not know who this genius was to have proposed it now.

Pan Yun did not know that this matter had originally begun when Yu Qian complained to the Emperor about excessive personnel, which was triggered by her own complaint to the Emperor about insufficient staff.