Tibet

Everyone quickly asked: "Is the abolition of slavery really going to be implemented?"

Zhou Rong's cousin Zhou Guang is a general of the inner guard, and he usually has inside information about the inner guard.

Zhou Rong lowered his voice and said, "I went to pay my uncle a New Year's greeting on the third day of the lunar month, and then I found out that my cousin didn't have any rest on the first or second day of the lunar month. The internal guards established an inspection department for the abolition of slavery. It is said that they were prepared to accept reports!"

"I see!"

Li Zunyi slapped the table and suddenly realized: "I said what the two big black boxes at the door of the Internal Security Department are for, it turns out they are for accepting informants!"

Everyone became nervous, "Isn't this the same as Wu Zetian? Strict trial, torture, and putting you in a urn. How could the emperor do this?"

Zhou Rong smiled and said: "Actually, you don't need to be too nervous. My cousin said that it is not that strict. He is just supervising the implementation of the abolition of slavery. If you don't have slaves, it has nothing to do with you. Even if you have slaves, don't be afraid. The internal guards are only responsible for checking This is the principle of not interrogating the officials. After the case is investigated, it will be handed over to the Yushitai, who will summon and question it. We will not see the internal guards. "

"That's pretty much it. I thought the inner guards were going to use the abolition of slavery to make trouble again."

Zhou Rong knocked on the table and said: "Don't put the cart before the horse, everyone. This time is not about the internal defense, but the strict implementation of the slave abolition order. If there are still a few slaves in the family, abolition them as soon as possible and convert them to civilians. Sign an employment contract and don’t lose your job because of a few slaves, it’s not worth it!”

Liu Qiming frowned and said: "I don't understand why the emperor must pursue the abolition of slavery. It has been more than two years and there is no end. Brother Zhou, what did your father say?"

Zhou Rong's father, Zhou Yan, was a great Confucian scholar in Guanzhong and a professor of Taixue. He had taught for thirty years and had cultivated numerous talents and was highly respected.

Zhou Rong said slowly: "My father said that since the Qin and Han Dynasties, slavery has been a big problem. All dynasties have tried to abolish it, but they have never succeeded. My father also said that now is the easiest time to abolish slavery. There is no big problem." Interest groups have resisted. If it is not abolished at this time, there will be no chance in the future. My father admires the emperor very much and appreciates the emperor's great wisdom in solving the Guanlong Group. He believes that the abolition of slavery will be successful this time. "

Li Zunyi nodded, "Anyway, there are no slaves in my family. Brother Liu, please release those slaves in your family immediately. Tell your father that if you don't release them, you will be dismissed. Your father will definitely agree."

Liu Qiming sighed, "I'll go back and persuade my father!"

Another member of the Ministry of Rites, Wailang Qin Kun, laughed and said: "Actually, I think today's mention of education and imperial examination reform, as well as county-level official system reform, is the focus of this year."

Li Zunyi raised his glass and said with a smile: "The education reform should be to popularize primary school education. This should be a consensus! Taking advantage of the current financial abundance of the imperial court, allowing more children to have the opportunity to study is a necessity in a prosperous age. I am concerned about the reform of the imperial examination What does it mean?”

Qin Kun hesitated and said: "I heard from the minister that it may be reforming the third question of the Jinshi subject!"

Everyone laughed immediately, "This reform is timely and necessary. I don't know how many soldiers have been cheated by the countermeasures. We all support it!"

“What about county-level official system reform?”

Li Zunyi asked again: "Who knows?"

Everyone is confused, no one knows this.

In the courtyard of Danfeng Restaurant, Yan Zhenqing filled a glass of wine for Wei Jiansu and asked curiously: "What does the county-level official system reform mentioned in today's congratulatory message mean?"

Wei Jiansu smiled and said: "This should have been mentioned before. It's normal for Brother Xian not to be aware of it. Brother Xian was still serving in the local government at that time."

"Brother, tell me, I'm very interested!"

Wei Jiansu smiled and said: "These are some reform measures proposed by the emperor in response to the imperial court's inability to control the county level. It is clarified that the county level is divided into four categories: officials, officials, messengers, and servants. Then the officials and officials are appointed by the court. , the commission and service are still managed by the county. The officials mainly include the two officials of law and household affairs, as well as Xuezheng, Xingbao and Liucao, as well as six county assistants, a total of sixteen people.

In other words, the salaries of these sixteen people were borne by the imperial court and they were also appointed by the imperial court.

Then the number of people admitted to the imperial examination will be appropriately expanded and divided into the first-A list, the second-A list, the B-list and the C-list. The first-A list will be the top ten, the second-A list will be 21 to 50, and the 51st will be The 100th place is called the B list, and the one after the 100th place is the C list.

Among them, the officials in the A list are officials, and the officials in the B and C lists are evaluated once every five years. If they pass the evaluation, they will be promoted to one level. In other words, if the lowest ranked scholar in the C list passes the evaluation, he can be promoted to an official in ten years at the latest. . "

"What about the Taixue students?" Yan Zhenqing asked again.

"Taixue students still go to teach in county schools and prefecture schools. They are divided into two grades, A and B, according to their grades. Grade A goes to the prefecture and county schools as teaching assistants and becomes officials after five years. Grade B goes to county schools as teaching assistants and is promoted to officials after ten years. ”

Wei Jiansu drank a glass of wine and smiled slightly: "So the reform of imperial examination education and the reform of county-level officials are complementary to each other. The real purpose of the reform is to increase the imperial court's control over county-level officialdom and firmly consolidate the county's power." It is in the hands of the imperial court and not in the hands of local powerful people. This is also a big problem that has been criticized for thousands of years. "

Yan Zhenqing raised his glass and said with a smile: "Your Majesty is really generous in fighting against the local powerhouses for control of the county. Let's have a drink. The emperor sincerely hopes that the reform will succeed!"

After the New Year, the Internal Guard established a special department for the abolition of slavery, and set up two whistle-blowing boxes in front of the Internal Guard offices.

According to the Internal Guard Regulations, except for major cases classified by the Internal Guard White Tiger Hall, the Internal Guard will not directly contact officials in general cases. The same applies to the abolition of slavery case. The limit is 50 people. If more than 50 people are involved, it will be classified as a major case. In addition, there is an unwritten rule that officials above the fifth rank must notify the Political Affairs Hall in a timely manner if they are found to have violated the rules.

If a major case involving more than 50 people involves officials or their immediate family members, the Internal Guard will also conduct a strict investigation.

If it is not an official but a civilian, but the number of slaves exceeds ten, the Internal Guard will issue a warning letter and require the other party to complete the rectification within one day. If the other party does not come to the Internal Guard to eliminate the warning within one month, the case will be filed.

On the fifth day of the first lunar month, the informant box was opened for the first time by the Internal Guard White Tiger Hall. No one expected that there would be more than 500 informant letters in it.

Excluding nearly 400 informant letters that were not within the scope of the investigation, these were all reports of civilians holding slaves, but the number of people did not exceed ten. These informant letters were forwarded to the county government for investigation.

There were a total of 164 compliance reports, and Baihutang sorted them into 164 cases and handed them over to various investigation teams.

At present, the Internal Security Abolition Order Inspection Department has mobilized a total of 1,000 people and established 100 investigation teams.

Upon receiving the case, the Internal Security Investigation Teams were dispatched.

The first investigation team had a total of 10 people, led by Captain Yang Li.

Yang Li received a major case of 50 slaves. It turned out that Zhang Hao, the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, had 50 slaves in his manor. It was reported by a servant in his mansion. If verified, the servant will be rewarded with 500 strings of money, and the Internal Security promised to protect his safety.

The heavy reward is the motivation. Under the heavy reward, people who know the situation report one after another.

Yang Li led nine men and rushed to Wushan County, Longzhou. There was a manor covering an area of ​​50 hectares. It was Zhang Hao's manor, and there were 50 slaves in it for him to farm.

On the sixth day of the first lunar month, all officials officially went to court. Li Ye also rushed back to Daming Palace from Huaqing Palace and started his normal official duties. His family returned on the thirteenth day of the first lunar month to catch the Lantern Festival in Chang'an.

There was no morning court today. All officials basically arrived at Daming Palace from the time of Chen.

In front of several gates of Danfeng Gate, officials were distributing newspapers. Almost all officials took a copy of the first issue of "Da Tang Weekly".

The news of the newspaper spread a few months ago, but I didn't expect it to finally come out at the beginning of this year.

The size of the newspaper is like A3 paper in later generations. It is printed front and back, folded in the middle, and divided into four pages. The front page is about people's livelihood, the second page is the emperor's will, the third page is the important news of the court, and the fourth page is the important news of the local area.

People's livelihood mainly includes the market price of major materials, disasters in various places and the court's handling, as well as grain production and other news related to people's livelihood.

The second version of the emperor's will, the first item is that the emperor issued a decree on the first day of the first lunar month, and the inner guard established the Abolition Order Inspection Office, starting from the third day of the first lunar month to offer rewards to all parties for clues, and the inspection operation officially began on the fifth day of the first lunar month.

At the same time, various filing standards and reward standards were introduced, and a reward of ten strings of cash was given for reporting a slave.

Once it was verified, the official would be dismissed and never employed again.

This news made all officials start to tremble with fear.