I embezzled 100,000 taels at the beginning, and the empress begged me to be more greedy

At today's court meeting, the empress wanted to discuss how to select new talents.

Some time ago, many grassroots officials from the court or local areas were convicted for their involvement in disaster relief corruption cases. Now, the State of Yan is in urgent need of additional officials and talents. What's more, the State of Yan has unified the north and the south, and needs officials to go to the south even more.

"My dear ministers, what is your plan?"

Chen Qingyun said, looking towards Jiang Zuo.

This look was meant to get Jiang Zuo to come up with some advice.

The selection of officials in the imperial court mostly relies on recommending filial and honest people, and then being recommended by important officials of the imperial court. After that, they are selected through layers of selection and finally become appointed officials of the imperial court.

Such a system will naturally involve a lot of interests.

Previously, after Jiang Zuo had dealt with the disaster relief in Jizhou, he wrote a letter to the emperor, asking him to set up an imperial examination system to recruit children from poor families to serve as officials in the court.

But although the plan seemed to be going fast, when it came to execution, Chen Qingyun had no way to supervise it properly.

The officials in charge of conducting the imperial examinations said that they selected children from poor families from the general public, but cheating in the examinations was ultimately difficult to prevent, and many of the newly selected officials had gotten in through connections and were not the talents the court truly needed.

Chen Qingyun was quite troubled by the new selection of court officials.

But the situation is different now, because Jiang Zuo has arrived in the capital, he will naturally find a way to help the empress.

Chen Qingyun still trusts Jiang Zuo quite a bit.

Facing Chen Qingyun's expectant gaze, Jiang Zuo finally stood up and said, "I believe that the imperial examination should be opened as soon as possible to select talented people from poor families all over the world to serve the court."

"Imperial Examination?" others were puzzled.

Jiang Zuo added: "The court can hold imperial examinations every one or two years, from the county examination, provincial examination, to the palace examination, and select the most talented officials from all parts of the court."

"But how can ordinary people from poor families understand how to govern a country?"

At this time, the Minister of Personnel Xu Renyou said.

If the imperial examination system that Jiang Zuo talked about was successfully implemented, the first person to be harmed would be Xu Renyou's interests. As the Minister of Personnel, Xu Renyou relied on the selection system of selecting filial and honest people to cultivate a lot of power for the right party.

"Only those who come from aristocratic families are more suitable to serve the court."

Some officials also echoed.

What they meant was actually the same as what the right prime minister meant.

However, the current right prime minister Lu Jun is no longer able to personally refute Jiang Zuo's opinions.

"I also come from a poor family. Could it be that Minister Xu also looks down on me?" Jiang Zuo said calmly.

Xu Renyou was shocked and said repeatedly: "No, no, please don't misunderstand, Prime Minister Jiang."

At this time, Chen Qingyun said, "What do you think of Prime Minister Jiang's suggestion?"

Everyone was silent for a long time, and it was Xu Renyou who spoke up again: "Prime Minister Jiang's suggestion is not bad, but the court has relied on selecting talents for hundreds of years. I'm afraid it's not appropriate to suddenly implement this new policy."

"Yes, this system of selecting filial and honest people is a rule established by our ancestors. It has existed for hundreds of years and cannot be easily changed."

An official said.

"If this remains unchanged, how can the Great Yan Kingdom unify the country?"

Chen Qingyun said with great dignity.

She had long been disgusted with those who followed the rules and ancestral laws. When she ascended the throne as a woman, she had also suffered a lot of such accusations behind her back.

Now that the entire Dayan Empire is becoming increasingly powerful, Chen Qingyun believes in Jiang Zuo's methods even more.

Having said that, everyone immediately stopped talking.

Chen Qingyun now trusts Jiang Zuo's advice completely.

"Who has any objections?"

Chen Qingyun glanced at the ministers.

Except for Jiang Zuo, all other ministers had complicated expressions.

After a moment, the empress said again: "Since no one objects, then it is decided."

This new policy reform is bound to offend many people in the court and affect many interests.

But even so, Chen Qingyun still chose to believe it, and she also wanted to take this opportunity to completely eliminate those bureaucratic forces in the court who were hypocritical and cultivate her own team.

It's time for those old officials who occupy high positions to give up their positions.

Chen Qingyun pondered and looked at Jiang Zuo again, thinking: "Jiang Zuo must be under a lot of pressure in recent days. I hope he doesn't take it too seriously."

Jiang Zuo's attention was also only on Chen Qingyun.

At this moment, Jiang Zuo's heart was only thinking of one thing: "Si Yue, who is so serious and earnest, is still so beautiful..."

Chen Qingyun didn’t know what Jiang Zuo was thinking, but she had even more things to worry about.

Ever since the State of Yan unified the north and the south, there have been more troubles in various places. The empress has to focus more on court affairs and has no time to spare.

After discussing the preparations for the imperial examination, the officials began to submit memorials to report to the emperor on important matters in various places.

Now, perhaps the only country that can threaten Yan State militarily is the Uighur State in the northwest.

Ever since Jiang Zuo led his army to the south, the situation in the northwest has been turbulent and changes have continued to occur.

Now, the fourteen kings guarding the northwest have also begun to request reinforcements from the court.

Faced with this situation, Chen Qingyun was actually a little conflicted.

On the one hand, she wanted to quickly resolve the unrest on the northwest border. On the other hand, Chen Qingyun did not want the northwest border army to be too powerful. She was worried that the border army would be too powerful and by then the fourteen princes would have their own troops and pose a great threat to the court.

Chen Qingyun actually already had a plan in his heart.

The court meeting continued, but Jiang Zuo's mind was not on it at all.

I don't know how long it took before I heard the empress say the words "dismiss the court".

Just as Jiang Zuo was about to leave, the chief eunuch came over and said, "Prime Minister Jiang, please come to the imperial study."

"Row."

This time, Jiang Zuo did not resist at all.

Arriving at the imperial study, Jiang Zuo and Chen Qingyun had another chance to be alone.

As soon as Jiang Zuo walked in, Chen Qingyun was already sitting at the desk, waiting for Jiang Zuo.

"See the Emperor."

Jiang Zuo still pretended to kneel down respectfully.

"Stand up." Chen Qingyun said calmly, turning to the guards and palace maids beside him and said, "You guys go out first."

The door was closed, and they were the only two left in the imperial study.

Jiang Zuo slowly raised his head, looked at Chen Qingyun and said, "What instructions does Your Majesty have?"

"I plan to reorganize the cabinet. You can select a group of candidates." Chen Qingyun said.

"Forming a cabinet? It is better to let Your Majesty select the candidates personally for these matters. After all, I don't know the situation in the court and dare not make a decision on my own." Jiang Zuo said.

"You're just too lazy to do it." Chen Qingyun saw through Jiang Zuo's heart.

"I dare not, I dare not." Jiang Zuo said calmly.

"Then I want you to handle this imperial examination personally." Chen Qingyun said softly. Facing Jiang Zuo, she really couldn't show too much seriousness.

Jiang Zuo said: "I have already written in detail about the process of the imperial examination. Your Majesty should remember it, right?"

Chen Qingyun said: "Of course I remember. The first palace examination was held two months ago, but the officials admitted were not to my liking. I can only rest assured if you do the job."