Fortunate Young Gentleman

Zhong Mingli hurried into Tang Ning's study, looked at him, and asked in shock: "How come the issue of Jiangnan's quota of candidates and streamlining of taxes fell on you?"

Tangning shook her head and said, "I don't know either."

He couldn't tell his father-in-law that this was one of the betrothal gifts that Emperor Chen asked him for after he met Emperor Chen's daughter.

"What should we do..." Zhong Mingli said with a worried look on his face: "No one can do anything about these two things. Isn't this going to be difficult for you, Your Majesty?"

"It's okay." Tangning smiled and said, "There will always be a way."

For him, there are naturally ways to solve this matter, and there are many of them. The question is how to choose.

The quota of Jiangnan candidates can be directly reduced. Anyone who dares to cause trouble in front of the Imperial College will be arrested and thrown into the prison of the Ministry of Punishment.

The quota for Jiangnan candidates can be changed, and the qualifications for the two Jiangnan prefecture examinations to be independently asked can be cancelled. From now on, the Jiangnan prefecture examination questions will be set separately by the capital, and they will no longer be judged by ranking, but will set up a separate passing line...

The number of places given by the imperial court remains unchanged, but whether there are enough students to pass the Jiangnan Prefecture Examination is not something the imperial court can decide.

Of course, from Tang Ning's point of view, these were the last resort.

The task given to him by Emperor Chen was to do things beautifully, not only to reduce the number of places in Jiangnan, but also to prevent Jiangnan students from having any objections. Any violent behavior or unfair policies would inevitably arouse great resistance from them, so he Lost the original intention of doing this.

Even Tang Ning couldn't think of any good method at the moment.

Huang Chen's order to transfer the matter to him obviously ushered in another round of resistance from Jiangnan students. Many Jiangnan officials also complained, bluntly saying that this method was unfair and too unfair to Jiangnan.

Some people even pointed the finger at Gyeonggi, saying that the imperial court had given preferential treatment to students from Gyeonggi, and now it was unreasonable to suppress Jiangnan.

There is a big difference in educational resources between the north and the south of Chen State. In terms of the quality of students, Jiangnan ranks first, even the capital is inferior. However, the number of candidates allocated for each imperial examination in the capital is even higher than that of Jiangnan.

However, the capital is the capital of the Chen Kingdom, and the upper echelons of the Chen Kingdom gather here. Jiangnan can only endure this unfair treatment, but their patience has a limit, and they cannot tolerate the capital's repeated bullying. .

This time, all the quotas that were cut from Jiangnan were added to Gyeonggi. Who could bear this? So the conflict between the Imperial College and the students from Jiangnan gradually developed into the conflict between Jiangnan and Gyeonggi.

Naturally, the students and officials in the capital could not let them arrange it, and gradually began to fight back. The stacks of papers from the two sides filled several tables in the Shangshu Province.

Before going to the Yamen, the Shangshu Province did not discuss a countermeasure. Tangning left the Shangshu Province as usual. When she was about to go home, she saw a person walking out of the Yamen at the back.

That place was Zhongshuyamen, and the person who came out was Tang Jing, a native of Zhongshuya.

Every injustice has its owner, and every debt has its owner. Although Tang Jing is also a member of the Tang family, he is different from Tang Qi and Tang Huai. Therefore, Tang Ning did not point the finger at him when it came to matters against the Tang family.

He is still his Zhongshu Sheren. In Chen State, although Zhongshu Sheren's official position is not high, he can directly participate in state affairs. He is equivalent to the emperor's secretary and has unlimited future.

Even though Tang Ning had no grudges against Tang Jing, he didn't want to get too entangled with the Tang family. He took the initiative to slow down his pace and waited until Tang Jing walked out of the palace gate before he walked out slowly.

As he walked out of the palace gate, a voice came from the front.

"The problem in Jiangnan, in the final analysis, is the conflict between Jiangnan and Gyeonggi. His Majesty does not want the Jiangnan faction to become dominant, and the Jiangnan faction does not want the Gyeonggi faction to become dominant. It is fundamentally unfeasible to reduce Jiangnan to make up for Gyeonggi..."

Tang Jing did not leave, but waited for him outside the palace gate.

After saying this, he got into the carriage.

After hearing Tang Jing's words, Tang Ning stood there, and a bright light suddenly flashed through her mind.

At this moment, rapid footsteps suddenly came from behind, and a eunuch trotted out, breathing heavily, and said: "Master Tang, Your Majesty has summoned..."

Tang Ning entered the royal study, and Emperor Chen didn't even raise his head as he asked, "Have you thought of a solution to the Jiangnan matter?"

Tangning said honestly: "Not yet."

"I will give you three more days." Emperor Chen said calmly: "Within three days, I will see the plan to reduce the number of candidates in Jiangnan. If there is an official in the court who has different opinions, I will do it in front of everyone. "

Tang Ning could tell that Huang Chen didn't want to solve the problem, but just wanted to defeat him. However, he still handed over his hand and said, "I obey the order."

Emperor Chen glanced at him and said, "Isn't this a embarrassment for me?"

Tang Ning said: "Returning to Your Majesty does not count."

Chen Huang said: "Since you think this is not an embarrassment, then when the matter in Jiangnan is resolved, the matter in Gyeonggi will be left to you."

Tangning raised her head and asked, "Your Majesty, what's going on in Gyeonggi?"

Chen Huangdao: "After the number of sons in Jiangnan is reduced, the power of the Jiangnan faction will definitely be reduced. By then, without the restraint of the Jiangnan faction, the Gyeonggi faction will be too strong, which is not conducive to the balance of the court..."

Tang Ning thought for a while and asked, "How about we find some random reasons and select some officials from the capital to raid their homes? Does Your Majesty think this method is feasible?"

Chen Huang looked at him and said, "What do you think?"

Tang Ning did not answer, but gave Chen Huang a vague glance. He was the one who wanted to weaken the Jiangnan Party. He was also the one who thought the Jiangnan Party was too weak to suppress the capital. At this moment, Tang Ning really wanted to take off her shoes and slap him in the face with the soles of her shoes.

Weakening the Jiangnan faction while asking them to increase their strength to contain the more powerful capital, what is the difference between this and asking him to draw colorful black with a brush?

Emperor Chen glanced at him and said, "What, is there a problem?"

Tang Ning gritted his teeth and bowed, saying, "Your Majesty, no."

After trying to think from the perspective of Emperor Chen, Tang Ning was not angry at all.

If he was Emperor Chen, the person standing at this moment would have had at least three legs broken by the guards.

Emperor Chen waved his hand and said, "If you don't have it, go back. I will only give you three days. If you still haven't figured out a solution after three days, remember to wear two more pairs of pants when you go to court."

After Tang Ning left, Emperor Chen put down the memorial, slowly stood up, took a long breath, and murmured, "After thinking about it, I feel bad if I don't beat him..."

…

Emperor Chen wanted to beat him by deliberately making things difficult, which was simply a foolish dream.

Even if he really wanted Tangning to paint a colorful black, Tangning would be able to meet his request and leave him speechless. On the second morning, during the morning court session, Tang Ning held his tablet and said, "Your Majesty, regarding the allocation of candidates' quotas in each state, I have a memorial..."

"So soon?" Emperor Chen looked at him in surprise and said, "Tell me about it."

Tang Ning bowed and said, "For a long time, the quotas for candidates in the imperial examinations in our dynasty have been occupied by the two provinces of Jiangnan and Jingji. More than 70%, I think this is extremely unfair to the students in other provinces. I propose that Jingji and Jiangnan each give up 20% of their quotas and divide them equally among Duji, Shannan, Huainan, Hedong, Guannei, etc., so that it will be fair."

Emperor Chen wanted to reduce the power of Jiangnan, but he didn't want Jingji to become too powerful. In this case, he would give each of them 30 strokes of the cane, and at the same time reduce the quotas of candidates in the two places and divide them equally among the other provinces. Wouldn't that be exactly what Emperor Chen wanted?

When Tang Ning finished speaking, the whole court was in an uproar.

The quota of candidates cut by Jiangnan Dao was originally given to Jingji Dao. In this way, Jiangnan's influence in the court would gradually decrease, and Jingji's power would continue to expand. No one expected that Tang Ning would not only not give Jiangnan's quota of candidates to Jingji, but also cut the quota of Jiangnan and Jingji at the same time and divide them equally among the other Daos.

In this way, in the future court, the power of the Jiangnan and Jingji parties will gradually decrease, and the other Daos will gradually rise, breaking the situation where the officials of the two parties monopolize power. In this way, more benefits can be obtained for the Daos, and they no longer have to follow Jiangnan and Jingji to eat their leftovers.

The court was in an uproar for a moment, and then it became quiet again.

However, the expressions of the crowd changed unprecedentedly.

The expressions of the officials in the two Jiangnan Dao were stunned. Although Jiangnan still had its quota reduced, the capital did not take advantage, but suffered the same loss as them. Thinking about it this way, things didn't seem so bad.

The officials who represented the interests of the capital were caught in an unprovoked disaster. They were naturally angry and dissatisfied. However, just as they were about to stand up and refute Tang Ning's proposal, they caught a glimpse of the eyes of the other officials. They couldn't help but feel a pang in their hearts and stopped their steps.

In the court, except for the officials from Jiangnan and the capital, the other officials all showed joy on their faces, with strange lights flashing in their eyes, like cats smelling blood...