Although it was nominally a military and political discussion, it did not actually involve the military, let alone the discussion of the ministers, but after Yang Guang arbitrarily decided to admit 2,000 people to the imperial examination, he hastily ended this short discussion, and the ministers came out of the Wencheng side hall one after another.

"Pei Gong, please stay!"

Someone behind was shouting Pei Ju, Pei Ju stopped, looked back and saw that it was Lu Ju, he asked with a smile: "Is there anything wrong with Lu Yuanjun?" ”

Pei Ju is Lu Ju's elder, he has a very good relationship with Lu Ju's father Lu Shen, the two were still classmates and friends when they were young, and Lu Ju was appointed by Yang Guang as the priest of the country, and to some extent it was also Pei Ju's recommendation.

Lu Zhuo stepped forward and saluted, "The juniors have encountered some troublesome things, and I want to ask Uncle Pei Shi, I wonder if Uncle Shi has time?" ”

Pei Ju saw that there was no one outside the side hall, so he smiled and said: "Don't dare to ask for advice, it's okay to chat, go to my official room!" ”

Lu Ju followed Pei Ju to the official office located in Menxia Province, Pei Ju had two official rooms, one was in the official department of Shangshu Province, which served as the official room of the official department of Shangshu, and the other was in Menxia Province, which was used as the official room of the Huangmen Shilang.

But Shangshu doesn't care about specific government affairs, so Pei Ju doesn't have much time in Shangshu Province, and most of the time he deals with government affairs in Menxia Province.

Next door to Pei Ju's official room is Xiangguo Suwei's official room, and the two are in the same province, so the two have a very good personal relationship.

Pei Ju walked into the official room, handed the coat to the tea boy, and smiled at Lu Zhuo: "Virtuous nephew, please sit down!" ”

Lu Zhuo sat down, he hesitated and said, "Uncle Shi also heard it today, the Holy Lord asked for the admission of 2,000 people, and it is really difficult for my nephew to do it!" ”

"Do you think it's inconceivable to admit 2,000 people?" Pei Ju smiled slightly.

Lu Zhuo sighed and said: "Since the first emperor implemented the imperial examination system, the number of admissions has never exceeded one hundred and fifty, and the last three years of the great cause are only one hundred and forty-four, but this time the Holy Lord actually wants to admit two thousand. The nephew had never faced it, and he didn't know what the saint was thinking, and the nephew was afraid that something would happen after admitting 2,000 people, and the scholars would have nothing to do, so they finally concentrated their anger on their nephew. ”

Lu Zhuo said very implicitly, he was afraid that Yang Guang would backtrack. In the end, all the responsibility for admitting 2,000 people was put on him.

In fact, this is also an obvious matter, it is simply impractical to appoint 2,000 soldiers as officials, and everyone knows it in their hearts, so no one is silent in military and political affairs, lest they get into trouble.

Pei Ju took a sip of tea and said slowly: "Do you think that the Holy Lord's request to expand the admission of scholars is hot-headed?" ”

Lu Zhuo was taken aback, "Could it be that the Holy Lord already has a plan?" ”

Pei Ju nodded slowly, "The two major things that he has been most worried about since he ascended the throne are the Guanlong nobles in charge of military power. The second is that the wealthy family controls the local government, and by the end of the third Goguryeo campaign last year, the problem of military power has been solved, but what about the control of the local government?

Last year's imperial examination was postponed again and again, from spring to autumn, from autumn to this year, and the two years of imperial examinations were combined, and I knew that he must want to use the imperial examination to do something. It's just that I didn't expect him to do it so thoroughly and admit 2,000 people. He wants to do it in one step! ”

Lu Zhuo's eyes widened, he never thought that he would be involved in such a complex and important incident, at this time, he suddenly had a bad feeling in his heart, could it be that the Holy Lord's appointment of himself as the priest of the country was actually premeditated?

An unconcealed worry welled up in his eyes, and he said in a low voice, "Uncle Shi." Am I really going to be a scapegoat? ”

Pei Ju drank tea and didn't speak, in fact, he realized later that the reason why the saint appointed Lu Zhuo as the prince of the country to supervise the sacrificial wine was actually a deep intention, the Lu family is the second most famous family in Hebei, and it is also one of the five and seven surnames in the world. It has a high prestige in education, so it is most appropriate for the Lu family to preside over this year's imperial examination reform, at least the Hebei scholars cannot strongly oppose it.

Today, the saint suddenly proposed to recruit 2,000 people, which made Pei Ju suddenly realize that the saint wanted to use the imperial examination to change the situation of the imperial court's weak control over the local government.

This kind of thinking is right, but the saint wants to do it in one step, Pei Ju feels that it is not realistic, first of all, there is no complete and correct establishment of local government officials in the official department, which counties are short of people? Which counties were still under the control of the imperial court?

Since the sixth year of the Great Cause, the Ministry of Officials has never counted the situation of the local government, and now the situation of the local government is unknown, how can new officials be appointed? It is very likely that there will be a situation where there will be two county orders in one county, and it is very likely that the bandits will appoint one person and the imperial court will appoint another person.

Pei Ju smiled and comforted him: "Don't worry, nephew!" The Holy Lord only asked you to admit 2,000 people, and as for the appointment of the later admission scholars, it has nothing to do with you, you just need to do a good job of admission, and no one will put the responsibility on your head, everyone knows, it's not up to you to decide. ”

Having said that, Lu Zhuo was still very worried in his heart, after all, he was the executor of expanding admissions, once the existing pattern was changed, the interests of many people would also be damaged, how could he not be responsible at that time?

Lu Zhuo sighed and asked again: "How does Uncle Shi think I should be admitted, should I admit more children from the family, or should I focus on admitting children from poor families?" ”

Pei Ju smiled slightly, "Didn't the Holy Lord say it today?" Why did the children of the family do so poorly in the exam, you have to listen to what he said, if you want to admit more children of the family according to his wishes, then you are very wrong, his purpose is to break the local government that is controlled by the wealthy family, of course, it is to insert a large number of children from the poor family, otherwise what do you need to admit 2,000 people? ”

Lu Zuo nodded silently, "Nephew understands, thank you Uncle Shi for your advice!" ”

At the same time that Pei Ju was teaching Lu Zhuo Dundun, in the imperial study, Yang Guangzheng discussed the matter of the Heroes Meeting with Fan Zigai, the secretary of the Ministry of War, and the general Yuwenshu.

Just as the imperial examination is just a tool used by Yang Guang to gain control of the local government, the hero meeting is also a means for Yang Guang to quell the chaos in the world by means of Huairou.

As an emperor, Yang Guang certainly has far-sightedness and unusual actions that are difficult for ordinary people to achieve, and the timing of his hero's meeting was very cleverly chosen, just when the Flying Eagle Army quelled the bandits in Shandong, and at the same time broke the Hebei bandit Zhang Jincheng,

The successive victories of the Flying Eagle Army shook the world, and many bandits were uneasy, and Yang Guang invited the heroes of the world to Luoyang to compete at this juncture.

"The Heroes Meeting is held in five days, and I want to know how ready it is?" Yang Guang asked the two people.

This hero meeting was jointly organized by the Ministry of War and the military, Fan Zigai and Yu Wenshu represented the Ministry of War and the military respectively, Fan Zigai hurriedly said: "Back to Your Majesty, it is ready, a total of three rounds will be carried out, and it will be held in the camp of the Right Xiao Guard outside the East City." ”

Yu Wenshu also said: "The military will absolutely guarantee safety and will not make any mistakes." ”

Yang Guang nodded and asked, "How is the situation of the Zhao'an bandits?" ”

Fan Zigai was most afraid that the saint would ask about this matter, and the progress was not good, so he had to bite the bullet and say: "Your Majesty, the Guanzhong three-way bandits led by Sun Hua have made it clear that they are willing to submit to the imperial court, and Li Zitong has also expressed his willingness, so some of the conditions he put forward are a little harsh. ”

"On what terms?" Yang Guang asked.

"Li Zitong asked for the title of Marquis of the county, and appointed him as the commander of the East China Sea, with him in command of his own army, and he promised to cooperate with the imperial court to destroy Sun Xuanya and Wang Bo of Langya County."

Fan Zigai originally thought that the saint would be furious, so he was a little trembling, but Yang Guang was not angry, he pondered for a moment and said: "It's not impossible to be a marquis, but you have to have merit, if you want to keep the army, I can also agree, but he must be sincere, you go and tell Li Zitong, as long as he can cooperate with the imperial army to exterminate Sun Xuanya and Wang Bo, especially if he gets Wang Bo's head, I will make him the prince of the county, Fan Shangshu, do you understand what I mean?" ”

Fan Zigai breathed a sigh of relief in his heart, and hurriedly said: "Weichen understands, he can agree to the conditions he puts forward, but he must make meritorious service before realizing the conditions they put forward." ”

Yang Guang nodded and said with a smile: "Fighting poison with poison is a very effective method, but to achieve the goal, there must be a demonstration, I said last time, I can't bear the child can't trap the wolf, if Li Zitong can succeed, I believe that more bandits will come to serve the court, at that time, why worry about Wagang, Dou Jiande and the like will not be extinguished?" ”

"Your Majesty Shengming, Weichen will go to Li Zitong to talk in detail."

Fan Zigai saluted and slowly retreated, and at this time, Yang Guang asked Yuwen lightly: "The general told me yesterday that the Yuan family and the Bohai State were colluding, and I want to know, does Dugu Shun know about this?" ”

"Your Majesty, Dugu Shun shouldn't know yet."

"Excellent! You might as well find an opportunity to let Dugu Shun know about this, I am looking forward to seeing the infighting of the Guanlong nobles. ”

Yu Wenshu hurriedly saluted, "Weichen understands that the minister asked the eldest son to do this matter." ”

"Really? It's also out now! ”

"He's just sensible late, after all, he's not small, he's no longer as ridiculous as when he was young, he's now the minister's right-hand man, I believe he won't let His Majesty down."

Yang Guang nodded, "I will pay attention to him, and if he does perform well, I will consider letting him inherit the career of the Great General!" ”

"Thank you, Your Majesty!"

Yuwenshu bowed gratefully, slowly retreated, and walked out of the door of the imperial study, Yuwenshu couldn't help but laugh proudly, if he didn't get a little benefit, how could he just give up? (To be continued......)