Li Shimin faked his death? Then I will be powerful enough to conquer the world!

After Li Longji wiped out the remnants of Princess Taiping's followers and completely grasped the imperial power, he immediately turned his attention to the deep-rooted problems of the Tang Dynasty's administration - the malpractice of "slanted appointment of officials" left by Empress Wei's chaotic rule.

This official farce that began during the reign of Emperor Zhongzong had long been corroding the administrative foundation of the empire like a cancer. If it was not eradicated, the so-called "rejuvenation" would be nothing but a mirage.

By then, the prevalence of "slanted appointments" had reached alarming proportions. When Empress Wei and Princess Anle were in power, anyone who relied on them, bribed them, or even offered them a servant or trusted servant could bypass the Ministry of Personnel's selection process and directly obtain an official position from the fifth to the seventh rank simply by submitting a slanted appointment letter through them.

According to the archives of the Ministry of Personnel, in the third year of Jinglong alone, more than 2,000 new officials were added. The government offices in the capital were overcrowded, and some positions were held by three or four people at the same time. When exchanging official documents, people passed the buck to each other, and it was extremely difficult for the common people to even find the right officials to do things.

The same month Li Longji ascended the throne, he summoned the Minister of Personnel, Liu Youqiu, and issued a stern edict: "Since the reign of Emperor Jinglong, all those who have been appointed to official positions without the proper imperial decree shall be dismissed."

He specifically emphasized that the appointment of officials with oblique titles, "although it was done with the handwriting of Emperor Zhongzong, was a personal favor and could not be regarded as a law," completely denying the legitimacy of such official positions.

In order to prevent any fish from slipping through the net, Li Longji ordered people to compare the list of officials granted during the Zhongzong period with the official selection records of the Ministry of Personnel one by one, and found that more than 300 officials with informal titles had infiltrated the three provinces and six ministries through intrigue.

Among them, Princess Anle's wet nurse actually held the fifth rank of Shangshi Bureau Fengyu, responsible for the emperor's meals.

Household slaves of Empress Wei's relatives, who relied on their "slanted seals" to become palace gatekeepers, in charge of the keys to the palace gates. When these people were dismissed, some cried and hugged their official seals, while others tried to resist by presenting the "iron certificates of immunity from death" from Empress Wei's time. However, Li Longji remained unmoved and issued an order: "Anyone who dares to stay will be punished for defying the imperial order."

In just one month, thousands of officials with special titles were fired. On the streets of Chang'an, it was common to see "adults" who used to wear crimson official robes, now leaving the capital in casual clothes.

This thundering force not only shocked the officialdom, but also made the people see the new emperor's determination to rectify the administration of officials - in Luoyang City, people spontaneously burned incense on the streets, saying that "finally, we don't have to pay those 'officials' money to get things done."

Dismissing officials with oblique titles was only the first step. Li Longji knew that if the official selection system was not reconstructed, the loophole of private power interference in politics would be exploited again.

He learned from his mistakes and built a strong institutional defense line from three aspects.

Reaffirming the "Three Selections System": It stipulates that official selection must undergo the "Three Selections" assessment of the Ministry of Personnel - "Writing and Judging" tests official document writing and judicial judgment, "Body and Speech" examines appearance, behavior and the logic of words, and "Moral Conduct" is assessed by local officials.

Those who fail any link cannot be appointed as an official even with the emperor's special approval.

The "Imperial Censorate to Supervise the Selection" was established: the Censorate was ordered to send censors to supervise the entire process of official selection by the Ministry of Personnel. Once it was discovered that examiners accepted bribes or engaged in favoritism and fraud, they would be impeached immediately and punished the same crime as the briber.

In the first year of Kaiyuan alone, two assistant ministers of the Ministry of Personnel were demoted to Lingnan by Li Longji for accepting bribes from their former subordinates, and were never allowed to return to Beijing for the rest of their lives.

Strictly control the scope of "Enyin": Previously, the descendants of the royal family, even if they were infants, could obtain official ranks through "Enyin".

Li Longji stipulated that the son of a prince must be at least fifteen years old and pass the Imperial College examination before he can obtain an official position.

The upper limit of the imperial favor for relatives by marriage cannot exceed the sixth rank, and they must have actual political achievements to be promoted.

He even rejected the request of his father-in-law, Dou Xiaochen, who wanted to seek a seventh-rank official position in Beijing for his youngest son. Li Longji replied: "As the Son of Heaven, I should show the world justice. How dare I use personal favors to disrupt the laws of the country?"

These measures put the power of selecting officials back in the hands of the Ministry of Personnel, and imperial examination background and grassroots experience became the main channels for officials to be promoted.

Among the new Jinshi in the early Kaiyuan period, 70% came from humble backgrounds. For example, Zhang Jiuling, who later became a famous prime minister, entered the officialdom through the imperial examination and gradually rose to the position of prime minister with his talent and knowledge.

The prevalence of obliquely appointed officials was due to the erosion of imperial power by external relatives and powerful officials.

While Li Longji was dismissing his official position, he also had to cut off the roots of this force.

He ordered an investigation into the land and manors occupied by the powerful during the reign of Empress Wei, and distributed half of them to landless peasants, while the other half was nationalized and rented to refugees for cultivation. The annual tax revenue increased by hundreds of thousands of strings of cash.

Li Longji adopted a "differential treatment" strategy for officials who had been attached to Empress Wei and Princess Anle: those who took the initiative to expose the truth could be given a lighter sentence. For example, Cui Riyu, the Secretary of the Central Secretariat who had passed on information for the Xiefeng officials, was pardoned and retained because he had made meritorious service in the campaign to punish Wei and voluntarily handed over the bribes he had received.

Those who refused to repent were severely punished. Although Wei Hou's trusted prime minister Zong Chuke had been executed, Li Longji still ordered the confiscation of his property and discovered that his home contained "an ochre-yellow robe intended for the emperor's formal attire," so he exiled all of his followers.

The more far-reaching impact was that Li Longji completely reversed the chaotic situation of "multiple sources of power" during the reign of Emperor Zhongzong by rectifying the officials with oblique titles.

He clearly stipulated that any government decree must be drafted by the Secretariat, reviewed by the Ministry of Palace Affairs, and approved by the emperor before being implemented by the Ministry of State Affairs. Relatives and eunuchs were not allowed to interfere.

Even princes and princesses were not allowed to privately issue "Mo Chi" (informal imperial edicts) to grant official positions. Violators would be "punished to the entire family."

In the second year of the Kaiyuan reign, Li Longji's sister, Princess Yuzhen, wanted to ask for a minor official position for one of her retainers. She went to the palace to plead with her brother, saying, "It's just a county lieutenant of the ninth rank. Why bother with so much?"

Li Longji frowned and said, "If I make an exception for you, all officials will follow suit, and the chaos of the slanted appointments will repeat itself. My sister is my family, so she should understand my difficulties."

In the end, Princess Yuzhen's request was rejected.

The cleansing of the obliquely appointed officials and subsequent reforms were like a strong medicine, gradually restoring clarity to the Tang Dynasty officialdom, which had been in chaos for many years.

In less than two years, significant changes were evident.

The efficiency of local government affairs has been greatly improved. Things like household registration and land transfers, which previously required going through multiple departments and bribing several officials, can now be completed in a maximum of ten days according to the procedures.

The number of officials admitted from the lower classes through the imperial examinations increased. They had a better understanding of the sufferings of the people, and the policies they proposed, such as "reducing and exempting taxes for refugees" and "developing water conservancy projects," often hit the nail on the head.

The powerful and wealthy no longer dared to act recklessly, and even the princes curbed their arrogance. Li Longji's eldest son, Li Cong, once wanted to seize people's land and was impeached by local officials based on the newly promulgated "Order to Prohibit Land Occupation". Li Longji not only reprimanded Li Cong, but also commended the local officials who dared to speak out.

In the third year of Kaiyuan, the number of cases reported nationwide was reduced by nearly half compared to the Jinglong period, and "only one or two out of ten people went to Beijing to file complaints."

The starting point of all this was Li Longji's resolute liquidation of the officials in charge of the slanted positions.

He proved through his actions that the so-called "plugging loopholes" is not only about eliminating old problems, but also about rebuilding trust through the system - making officials believe that "only talents are promoted" and making the people believe that "national laws are fair." This trust is the first cornerstone for the arrival of the Kaiyuan Prosperity.

Now, many people are still discussing this next year.

Your Majesty has the style of Emperor Taizong.

The Kaiyuan era will directly catch up with the Qianwu era of prosperity.