Standalone Northern and Southern Dynasties

Chapter 333 Examination
In any case, the disastrous second year of Xiaochang is finally coming to an end.

At the end of the year, all the dispatched officials would return to the shogun's residence, where the shogunate's chief secretary, Su Chao, would summarize and evaluate their work for the year, and Su Ze, as the master of the shogunate, would also bestow rewards on these private ministers.

This was an assessment conducted by Su Ze on his private officials in the shogunate. Because this year was a wartime period and transportation between Guanzhong and Luoyang was cut off, the court also entrusted the assessment of officials in December of each year to Su Ze.

The assessment of the shogunate's private ministers was not difficult. Basically, they were asked to return to the shogunate to report on their work, and Su Chao would give an evaluation, which would then be handed over to Su Ze for review.

But the assessment of officials is much more complicated.

Su Liang stood beside Su Ze and explained to him the process of official assessment.

"General, this dynasty's examinations are based on a three-year plan, and this year is the year of the plan."

"Examinations were originally the responsibility of the Shangshutai, but later the authority was returned to the Ministry of Personnel and became the power of the prime minister."

Su Ze nodded. The prime minister has been called differently in different dynasties, and there has to be some dialectical discussion on what a prime minister is. However, in Su Ze's opinion, the most important things about a prime minister are two powers.

The first is the power to participate in political decision-making.

This is easy to understand. If one cannot even enter the highest decision-making circle, then no matter how high his official position is, he is just an administrative executive official and cannot be considered a prime minister at all.

For example, the six ministers of the Ming Dynasty all held higher positions than the cabinet ministers, but they could not participate in decision-making and were not prime ministers.

The second is to assess the power of inspecting officials.

Zhang Juzheng, the most powerful cabinet chief in the Ming Dynasty, was able to exercise full power only after he had fully mastered the "Jingcha", or the power to assess officials.

He who possesses both powers is a true prime minister.

Of course, there has been no so-called real prime minister since the establishment of the Northern Wei Dynasty.

Since Emperor Wu of Han, the term "real prime minister" has specifically referred to powerful ministers who serve as regents, such as Huo Guang, Wang Mang, and Cao Cao.

As a regime established by a foreign race, the Northern Wei Dynasty did not imitate the old Han system and set up a real prime minister to cause trouble for the emperor.

For example, in the early days of the Northern Wei Dynasty, Cui Hao was the most trusted Han minister and was even entrusted with compiling the national history.

Cui Hao was once very powerful and called himself the Prime Minister, but when a national history case was exposed, his entire family was executed. Killing him was like killing a chicken.

How can such a person be called a true prime minister?

However, the affairs of the court could not be handled by one person alone, so the "group prime minister system" was gradually used since the Eastern Han Dynasty.

A group of prime ministers means that the power of the prime minister is divided from one person to an organization.

The advantage of this is that even the head of this department cannot fully exercise the power of the prime minister. If the emperor needs to change the policy direction, he only needs to adjust the candidates for the prime minister's team.

After Emperor Xiaowen's reform, the prime minister's office was the Menxia Province, and officials serving in the Menxia Province were considered prime ministers.

As Su Ze had more and more subordinates, the original situation where all administrative affairs were entrusted to the Su brothers needed to be changed.

In fact, the Su brothers are also very clear about this, and they are even taking the initiative to hand over some power.

This is not Su Ze's act of betraying his old subordinates, but the inevitable path for any group to grow and become formalized.

Su Ze still entrusted the assessment of the shogunate's private officials to Su Chao, which showed his trust in the Su brothers, but the assessment of the six states and two counties could no longer be handed over to them.

Su Ze summoned his staff and decided to set up a new department under the Shogun's office, called "Zhengzhitang", which would be specifically responsible for the affairs of this official examination.

Dugu Xin had just completed his assessment. Since he did not hold an official position in the imperial court, he was only a private servant of Su Ze. He only needed to submit a performance report to Su Chao and soon received the result of the assessment - upper middle.

Dugu Xin was a little surprised. He knew that this year's exams were divided into nine levels, from high to low. They were top-top, upper-middle, upper-low, middle-upper, middle-middle, middle-lower, lower-top, lower-middle, and lower-lower.

According to Confucian ethics, the first three superiors and the last three inferiors are not easily granted.

The evaluation of most officials is divided into three categories: “upper average, average-average, and lower average” (similar to the fact that modern performance appraisals rarely give awards to incompetent officials).

According to the new regulations of the General's Office, if one receives the last three assessment results of "low-up, low-average, low-low" for two consecutive times, he will be impeached and dismissed.

In Su Cho's assessment comments, it was also stated why Dugu Xin was given a medium grade in the assessment. It was because of his outstanding performance in suppressing the rebellion in the Pucheng refugee camp that he was given an additional military merit, which led to this assessment result.

At the same time, according to the news released by the Shogun's Office, those who scored the top three in the assessment will not only be given priority in the next promotion, but can also attend the Shogun's Office's Spring Festival Eve banquet together with the important officials under the Shogun's Office.

In fact, according to Su Cho's suggestion, Dugu Xin might be promoted before next year.

Dugu Xin thanked Su Chao for his kindness and became more certain that he had grasped the right timing to join Su Ze.

As Su Ze's territory expands, it is a golden period for promotion. At this time, as long as you perform well, you can quickly stand out.

Once the expansion slows down or enters the digestion stage, a large number of talents will flow in. At this time, no matter how outstanding the talent is, they have to be promoted step by step, and there will be no more dividends at the current stage.

Su Cho also told Dugu Xin to stay in Yongle City, as the general's office might have a temporary task for him to do in a few days.

Dugu Xin expressed his gratitude to Su Cho again before leaving the Pingxi General's Mansion.

Yongle City was a completely new city. Su Ze had reserved it for his subordinates' residences when planning it. Yongle City was not built in the manner of a market town in Luoyang, but with some shops facing the street, allowing the people in the city to do business in these shops. Walking in Yongle City without high walls separating the market town and listening to the hawking of shops along the street, Dugu Xin felt that life here was a little unreal.

You have to know that half a year ago he was still struggling to survive in the Six Towns, and the peaceful scene in Yongle City seemed like a dream.

However, this kind of urban structure requires a higher level of urban governance. If other cities copy Yongle City, there will definitely be trouble.

Just to manage these shops along the street and make them pay business taxes, a mature tax collection team is needed.

In addition, without the layout of the Lifang, more manpower would be needed to maintain public order.

This also made Dugu Xin very curious. You know, in the Six Garrisons, the local officials wanted to lock up the people in the animal pens like livestock. Not to mention allowing the people to do business, even the people's going out were restricted.

Of course, as a fortress city, Yongle City still has a curfew, and the inspection for entering the city is also very strict. Those who can live in Yongle City are basically the families of officers, or at least the veterans who follow Su Ze.

As Dugu Xin was walking, he suddenly smelled the aroma of wine. He saw the banner of a wine shop and walked in.

This is also a shop on the street. It is a three-story wooden building that has been converted into a tavern. The servant saw that Dugu Xin had an extraordinary demeanor and greeted him warmly.

Dugu Xin first asked:
"Didn't the general issue a prohibition order? Why can your family still sell alcohol?"

As soon as the servant heard this, he knew that Dugu Xin was most likely someone from the government office. He smiled and said:

"My dear, please understand. After the autumn harvest this year, the prohibition order only prohibits merchants from brewing privately. The ban on ordinary people brewing for their own use and official stores like ours has been lifted."

In ancient times, wine was made from grain, so a large amount of grain was needed to make wine.

Therefore, when food is scarce, the government will ban alcohol.

Dugu Xin knew that the prohibition on alcohol was in effect before the autumn harvest, so the servant took out the official notice, and Dugu Xin found a place to sit down.

"Is the liquor you sell sold by the government?"

The servant said quickly:

"Private brewing can only be consumed by the people themselves. The government has a quota for private brewing koji every month. Sir, although our wine shop is not big, we consume a lot of wine every month. We can only sell it from the government wine shop."

“Can people still brew their own wine?”

Dugu Xin thought back to his childhood, when the Six Garrisons had not yet been neglected by the imperial court, and hereditary military lord families like his would also brew their own wine.

The servant said:

"You can make your own wine, but you can only buy wine yeast at the government wine shop. The price is not low, and there is a limit every month. Besides, the wine you make yourself is turbid. How can it be as delicious as the Yuhu Shao from the government wine shop sold in our wine shop!"

"Yuhu Shao? What a good name. Let's have a pot!"

It was only then that Dugu Xin noticed that there was a young man and a teenager sitting at the next table, and they seemed somewhat familiar.

After hearing their conversation, Dugu Xin remembered that these two people seemed to be private servants of the Pingxi General's court. One was called Wang Sizheng and the other was called Wei Xiaokuan.

Wang Sizheng also noticed Dugu Xin. He walked over enthusiastically and said:

"Meet Dugulang."

Dugu Xin also stood up to return the greeting, and the three of them simply sat at the same table.

After a few words, they naturally talked about politics.

Wang Sizheng said:

"I heard that the liquor tax was set by the general himself. The general allowed the general to collect taxes from the people, opened liquor stores but kept the liquor factories government-run. What a brilliant idea!"

After talking with the servant just now, Dugu Xin also understood Su Ze's liquor monopoly method.

It is difficult to stop ordinary people from brewing alcohol. If severe punishments are used to ban alcohol, it will lead to the problem of cruel officials harming the people.

For example, during the Prohibition period on the other side of the strait, official corruption and the rise of social groups occurred. Although alcohol is not a necessity of life, it is an important life supplement for the people.

Therefore, Su Ze controlled the private brewing of wine by controlling the buying and selling of koji. Private brewing also required koji, and the purpose of monopolizing the koji was not to gain financial revenue, but to keep private brewing on a relatively small scale.

Wang Sizheng added:
"I heard that this Yuhu Shao was invented by the general. This wine is clear and strong. Even the most powerful general with the best alcohol tolerance will fall down after drinking a pot of it."

Dugu Xin was surprised:

"General Su also knows how to make wine?"

Wang Sizheng said:

"People say that the general is a star that has descended to earth and is born with knowledge. There is nothing in this world that the general does not know."

(End of this chapter)