Nu Yalang of Tang Dynasty

The "Anxi Good and Lowly Order" was issued at the end of the 16th year of Tianbao's reign (757) and was implemented in Anxi for nearly a year. It was at the end of the first year of Tianyou (758) that it caused an uproar in the Liangzhou court.

The biggest reason why it took so long to cause a backlash in the officialdom was because too many major events happened in Liangzhou City this year, which made the officials in the court have no time to take into account the impact of Anxi's good and bad order.

Just a few months after the dispute between Liangzhou officials and Anxi officials over the Good and Bad Order, at the end of the first month of the second year of Tianyou (759), a decree with far more far-reaching influence and greater controversy than the "Anxi Good and Bad Order" was issued.

Sent from Liangzhou Palace City.

This law is called "God's Blessing of Promoting the Worthy".

This order is summarized and roughly includes the following three articles:

1. The two capitals of Chang'an and Luoyang have been in the hands of thieves for a long time. The pseudo-Yan Dynasty privately opened the imperial examination in Luoyang and recruited scholars from all over the world. However, the Tang Dynasty moved its capital to Liangcheng, and the imperial examination was stagnant for several years. In the long run, the talent of the Tang Dynasty will wither and there will be no

Talents can be filed. Therefore, the palace issued an order to reopen the imperial examinations in Liangcheng and Anxi at the same time to recruit talents from all over the world.

Second, according to Tang law, there are six categories of people who are not allowed to participate in the imperial examination, including those in industry and commerce, those who are prostitutes and untouchables, those who are in mourning, those who have violated criminal responsibilities, those who are subordinates, and those who are monks and Taoists.

Among them, the "industrial and commercial miscellaneous" specifically refers to "industrial and commercial miscellaneous people are not allowed to associate with scholars", that is, craftsmen, merchants and other people (engaged in) miscellaneous industries cannot associate with scholars, and their three direct generations are not allowed to participate in the imperial examination.

In the decree of God's Blessing of Talents, Anxi craftsmen, merchants and other miscellaneous businesses can take the Anxi imperial examination, and the restrictions on industrial and commercial miscellaneous categories have been lifted. Handicraftsmen, merchants and other miscellaneous students can attend private schools and study in private schools, as well as their parents and children.

Together with the scholars, they first conducted the academic examinations in Kucha Town, Yanqi Town, Khotan Town and Shule Town. Those who passed the academic examinations then went to Kucha Town to take the Jie Examination (Qiu Wei), and those who passed the Jie Examination were selected

, and finally went to Liangcheng to participate in the Ministry of Rites Examination (Chunwei) of Shangshu Province together with the candidates from other prefectures and counties in the Tang Dynasty.

3. In the imperial examination category, on the basis of subjects such as Xiucai, Mingjing, Jinshi, and Junshi, two additional subjects are added: business and research.

As soon as the "Order of God's Blessing of Promoting Virtue" was issued, it was like a thunderclap, shocking the entire officialdom and people of the Northern Tang Dynasty.

The first and third items are easier to say.

However, in the second article, students with a wide range of business and miscellaneous knowledge can enter the officialdom. This is equivalent to weakening the privileges of the gentry that have lasted for thousands of years, breaking the origin restrictions of the four categories of industrial, commercial, scholar, and peasant people, and placing everyone on the track of becoming an official through the imperial examination.

are on the same starting line.

This, for the entire Tang Dynasty, its impact was like a stormy sea.

Once the decree was promulgated, a large number of Liangzhou officials in the court petitioned to withdraw the decree.

The memorials flew into the Shangshu Province like snowflakes.

The clerk who was responsible for sorting out the memorials found that there was no room for them in the library, so he had to put a large number of memorials in the attic.

A large number of scholars in the city united and knelt in front of the palace gate, holding a letter with ten thousand words written in blood, and they all denounced the order to promote the virtuous.

At the censor's platform in the middle of the court, dozens of censors and officials gathered, knelt in front of the palace gate, and protested in silence against the decree.

As for the officials in Anxi, they seemed to have heard about the order of meritorious examination for a long time. Not only were they not surprised, but they joined forces to build momentum in Liangzhou City and persuaded poor families such as industrial, commercial and miscellaneous students to fight against the gentry branch and fight for the power of the imperial examination.

Why did Anxi officials support the order to promote talents?

The reason is actually very simple.

On the one hand, there has been rumors about the Order of Promoting Talents in Anxi for a long time, and the local people in Anxi have heard about it more or less, so the coming of this law is not surprising.

On the other hand, it is because God's decree to promote talents is in line with the interests of the vast majority of Anxi people.

The original population of the four towns in Anxi was only over 200,000.

Later, due to the large influx of refugees, the population is now close to one million.

Most of the refugees who poured into Anxi were poor people and small households who could not survive in their hometowns and therefore migrated long distances to the west.

As for those noble families who did not join the migration team, in the midst of natural disasters and military disasters, due to their large family business and their ability to protect themselves, few people left their hometowns, and most of them chose to stay in the Central Plains.

Because of this, Anxi's population expanded and its official team expanded rapidly.

Most of these new officials are from refugees, that is, most of them come from poor families and miscellaneous households, so they naturally welcome the virtuous ministers with both hands.

On this day, Zhou Jun was processing official documents in the palace palace, and Gao Shi, the right-hand admonishment official, asked to meet outside the door.

Gao Shi entered the study and saw Zhou Jun looking through the memorials handed over by the courtiers. He stopped moving forward and stood there for a while.

Zhou Jun glanced at Gao Shi out of the corner of his eye and said, "I don't have so many rules here."

Gao Shi heard this, walked to the desk, raised his hands and said: "In the Ministry of Secretariat, Han Xiang, the son of the imperial family, Yan Zhenglai, the chief minister, Sun Ji, the secretary and chief minister, and dozens of other people gathered together to hand over the written notes.

He threatened to resign and demanded that the palace abolish the order to promote talents."

Zhou Jun put down the memorial and asked Gao Shi, "Where is the Shi Fu Shu?"

Gao Shi took out a thick stack of books from his arms and placed them on the desk.

Zhou Jun opened it and looked at it carefully and said, "There are still a few people missing, but it's about the same."

Hearing this, Gao Shi was puzzled when he suddenly saw Zhou Jun starting to print and sign on the book of interpretation, and quickly asked: "What is the Prime Minister doing?"

Zhou Jun: "Don't these people want to resign? I fulfilled their wishes."

Gao Shi: "The Prime Minister's move may cause shock in the court."

Zhou Jun: "We don't agree with each other if we have different paths. Instead of being pretentious, it would be better to part ways as early as possible."

Gao Shi sighed, looked at the script on the desk, and asked Zhou Jun in a low voice: "If the Prime Minister approves these people's request to resign, does the Prime Minister have any idea what they will do next?"

Zhou Jun: "It's nothing more than three things. One, move the clan south, two, seek refuge in the Southern Tang Dynasty, and three, create public opinion and slander Zhou."

This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! Gao Shi: "Since the prime minister can guess it, why do you still agree to these people's resignation?"

Zhou Jun put down his pen and asked Gao Shi: "Kong You was demoted to Chang Shi. Did you go and say goodbye before leaving?"

Gao Shi knew that Zhou Jun had extensive intelligence in Liangzhou City, so he did not deny it and just nodded.

Zhou Jun: "Since the division of the Northern and Southern Dynasties in the Tang Dynasty, I have been thinking about how to restrict the gentry and redistribute the benefits of the world, so that those poor families, ordinary people, humble households, etc. can also obtain land, enter official careers, and obtain wealth.

goods."

"My original plan was to use the competition for the crown prince of the Tang Dynasty to provoke a power struggle within the clan, causing them to compete with each other and attack each other. But I sat on the mountain and watched the tigers fight, and finally slowly cut them off."

"However, what I didn't expect was that a wealthy family would be stupid enough to launch a coup in Liangcheng, even though they knew that Liangcheng and the palace were heavily guarded. And that night, Kong You took advantage of the situation.

Killing eight thousand clans in one night not only eradicated the noble clans, but also completely intensified the conflict, forcing the plan to change."

Gao Shi: "I heard Kong You say that at that time, the arrow was on the string, and there was no way out, so we had to strike while the iron was hot... Moreover, the prime minister was born in a poor family, and he was destined to be at odds with the family."

Zhou Jun: "Kong You is right. My background is destined to be different from that of the clan. Although the incident in Liangcheng was unexpected, it also opened up the conflict between me and the clan in advance, allowing me to act freely.

."

Gao Shi looked at the Shi Fu book, thought for a while, and said: "If I guess correctly, the prime minister wants to use the order of meritocracy to get rid of the old officials in the court."

Zhou Jun nodded.

Gao Shi took a deep look at Zhou Jun and asked tentatively: "Then why didn't the prime minister follow the example of Kong You and arrest and jail those courtiers who were disobedient and had different opinions, or even convict and execute them?"

Zhou Jun shook his head and said: "If you are not Li Linfu, you will not do things like talking sweetly and hurting people behind the back just because you want to exclude dissidents. Besides, being convicted for your words is equivalent to blocking the way of speech. In the future,

, what if I do something wrong and the people around me don’t dare to speak out to dissuade me because they are afraid of me, wouldn’t it make things even more uncontrollable?”

When Gao Shi heard this, he sighed in his heart, and suddenly remembered what Kong You said when he was leaving.

"After You left, it didn't take long for Doctor Gao to get along with the Lord, and he would understand one thing... What the Lord has planned is definitely not the pursuit of power and gain as ordinary people would say."

Gao Shi sighed and turned to Zhou Jun to persuade him: "If these old officials in the court move their families to the south of the Yangtze River, wouldn't it become a hidden danger for the prime minister in the future?"

Zhou Jun said with a smile: "There are also aristocratic families in the south of the Yangtze River. After the Liangcheng gentry moved south, the two parties fought for power and profit, but the fight became more and more chaotic. Moreover, the south of the Yangtze River has always been a gentle country, with luxurious officialdom and comfortable people. If you fight with the north, you will be born with it."

If the momentum is weak, the climate will not be achieved."

After hearing these words, Gao Shi nodded and stopped talking.

Although Gao Shi remained silent, there was still one last question in his mind - the prime minister had eliminated the troubles caused by powerful families, brought equal rights to the world, and helped the people build families. In the future, was he planning to return power to the Tang Dynasty, or was he planning to usurp power and establish a new dynasty?

This sentence was stuck in Gao Shi's throat, but he couldn't ask it no matter what.