Chapter 75 2. The Nine Ranks of Zhongzheng Jushi System

Before he finished speaking, he saw his third brother Sima Fu had already stepped into the study.At the door, two cousins, Sima Fu and Sima Zhi, just bowed their hands to salute - Sima Zhi turned around and hurriedly said goodbye.Sima Fu glanced at his back, quite surprised: "Second brother, is there something urgent for brother Zhi to go back to the Yamen? Are you leaving in such a hurry?" "This...Henan Yin governs the important cardinal area within a radius of 800 miles inside and outside the capital. The affairs are complicated and complex, and he can't neglect any of them. Of course, brother Zhi is too busy to touch the ground!" Sima Yi Welcoming Sima Fu into the study, he sat down on the boxwood bench, and said with a gentle expression, "How can you be as quiet and graceful as the third brother when you are in the position of official secretary? Oh, that's right—the third brother is here today, Is there anything important?"

"Second brother, Chen Lingjun recently proposed to set up a 'Nine Rank System for Promoting Scholars', do you know?" Sima Fu asked Sima Yi solemnly after he sat down on the boxwood bench. "The system of nine-rank Zhongzheng's eligibility?" Sima Yi was slightly taken aback, "Brother, I heard him talk about some related ideas at the beginning of this year... What? Has he worked out the rules in detail?" "Yeah. Chen Lingjun sent the manuscript of the "Nine-Rank Zhongzheng Jushi System" to the Ministry of Officials for review yesterday. After signing and agreeing with my younger brother, he will submit it to the Inner Court Zhongshu Province to ask His Majesty to promulgate the whole world with a seal. .”

"Oh? Third brother, do you want to come to ask for advice?" Sima Yi's eyes lit up, and he glanced at Sima Fu's face, "What do you think of Chen Lingjun's manuscript?" "Second brother, my younger brother thinks that Chen Lingjun's intentions are still good. According to Chen Lingjun's original intention, he also wanted to further improve the previous dynasty's 'method of recruiting talents, inspecting four subjects and selecting scholars' to a more fair and just selection of talents. good governance." While listening carefully, Sima Yi began to think deeply: he was very familiar with the Han Dynasty's "method of recruiting sages, inspecting four subjects and selecting scholars" when he was in the prime minister's Dongcao family.Its specific content is "there are four ways to recruit talents and scholars: one is to be virtuous, with a clean mind; The censor in the text; the fourth is fortitude and strategy, not confused when encountering things, and clear enough to make decisions, so he can be appointed as the third assistant order. Scholars of the four subjects must have filial piety and honesty." Then, the "four subjects standard" was awarded to the All prefectures and counties "country elections and elections", the imperial court selects Cao, and the Ministry of officials selects talents according to the opinions of the township.But later in the "election in the township elections", the eunuchs, nobles and wealthy gentry took control of the right to flaunt the township elections: the children of the rich and powerful were mostly elected by their families, and the benevolent and wise men were mostly abandoned because of loneliness, resulting in Corruption situations such as "recommend scholars without knowing books; inspect Xiaolian, father lives away; Han Suqing is white and turbid like mud, Gao Diliang is as timid as a chicken" and other corruption situations emerge in endlessly.Therefore, since the Jian'an period of the former dynasty, Xun Yu, Cui Yan, Mao Jie and other pure and upright scholars have carried out various reflections, revisions, and improvements on this system.And Chen Qun's current "Nine-Rank Zhongzheng Jushi System" is also based on the crystallization of various experiences they have explored.However, can this set of "Nine-rank Zhongzheng system for educating scholars" be able to achieve "rectification of wrongs and rectification of wrongs, making advantages and eliminating disadvantages"?Sima Yi also didn't have much success in his mind.

"...Second Brother, the specific provisions of the 'Nine Ranks of Zhongzheng Officials' drafted by Chen Lingjun are as follows: set up 'Zhongzheng Officials' at every level in each state and county, and select virtuous and insightful people to be responsible for inspections People in this state and county do not care about their family status or family background, but discuss their morality, ability and conduct, and based on this, they form "adverbial sentences" and define "upper, upper, middle, upper, middle, middle, middle, lower, lower, upper." , Xiazhong, and Xiaxia' nine grades are submitted to the Ministry of Officials for appointment on the basis of "status". At the same time, the evaluation of the "adverbial words" of people is jointly assessed by the Zhongzheng official and the Ministry of Officials every three years: those who practice their words and deeds will be promoted. Advance in, or use five to advance to four, or use six to advance to five, until you reach the first rank; How do you feel about it?"

"From what you've said, Chen Lingjun's system of "Nine-Rank Zhongzheng Jushi" is indeed very thorough. However, in my brother's opinion, your official department will implement the "Nine-Rank Zhongzheng Jushi System" in the future ', we must grasp the key points, and we must not hold power upside down, so that the unhealthy situation in the late Han Dynasty, such as powerful relatives, wealthy gentry, etc., who manipulated the power of the township to advertise will reappear in the world." "Brother, I asked my second brother to advise me, how should we, the official officials, grasp the key point?"

"Originally, your official department has always been in charge of Chen Lingjun. As a servant of the Shangshutai, he is in charge of the general affairs of the military, government, money and food. It is not good to interfere with the affairs of your official department. But the third brother made a special trip today to ask, Brother Wei also spoke bluntly from the point of view of Chao Gang’s righteousness: According to Brother Wei, there are two key points in the implementation of the "Nine-Rank Zhongzheng Jushi System"-one is to respect the Zhongzheng officials of the prefectures and counties. Choose to appoint; the second is to verify the person's "adverbial words". Like Xu Shao, he has the lessons of knowledge and fairness. Moreover, the verification of the "adverbial" of scholars must be in place: those who match the name and reality must be used even though they are sparse; .In addition, we must dare to pursue the blame of "Zhongzheng officials" in prefectures and counties for miswriting "adverbial sentences", bending the law for personal gain, and infidelity in educating scholars! Only by grasping these two key points can this "Nine-rank Zhongzheng system of educating scholars" be truly Become a great good government for the imperial court to recruit talents!"

"Second brother really has rich experience and profound insights. Your comment can be described as 'hit the nail on the head, penetrating into the heart'. The younger brother listened to it, and it is quite beneficial! After the younger brother comes down, I will definitely pass your advice to Chen Lingjun..." "Forward it to Chen Lingjun? Hehehe, third brother! You don't need to do that. You only need to keep in mind the comments that my brother told you and act honestly. Chen Lingjun is also experienced in the officialdom. Great Wei Suchen, he naturally knows the key points of these two points, so you don’t need to go to him and reveal these.”

When Sima Fu heard what Sima Yi said, he nodded in doubt. Sima Yi raised his thick eyebrows, and said calmly: "Actually, according to my brother's opinion: since ancient times, it is not easy to recognize people and distinguish virtuous people. Only the virtuous can know the virtuous, and the wise can know the wise. Able to know Qi Ji. Thinking back to the time when Emperor Gaozu of the Han Dynasty established his foundation and expanded his career, if he failed to accept goodness, he seemed to turn around from remonstrance, listened to what he said but did not seek his ability, and made meritorious deeds without considering his merits. Pulled out of the ranks and ascended to the rank of general. Therefore, people from all over the world gather to return to the Han Dynasty. Each shows his talents and competes for strangeness. The wise exhaust their strategies, the fools exhaust their worries, the brave are extremely virtuous, and the cowards encourage them to die. Gathering the wisdom of the world , Gathering the world's sages is because Han Gaozu was able to sweep away the tyranny of Qin Ruo, and seize the strong Chu Ruo's relics, and he was invincible across the world! Third brother, after you go down, think about this statement, and it will be beneficial in the future to recruit talents. "

"Second brother's boxing teachings, younger brother will definitely remember them in his heart." Sima Fu replied deeply.