Chapter 1073 Personnel transfer!

After leaving Bai Yuanyuan's villa, Ye Mingsheng came to his study. Just as he imagined, Ye Cheng had already prepared the memorial for him...
Looking at the thick stack of memorials, Ye Mingsheng smiled bitterly and shook his head, but still sat down and started working.

First of all, the first memorial was sent to Ye Mingsheng by Zhao Wanxian, the governor of Liaoyang. The content was mainly to wish Ye Mingsheng good health. He, Zhao Wanxian, missed the Marshal very much and wanted to listen to the Marshal’s teachings!
After talking a lot of nonsense, Zhao Wanxian began to report his achievements to Ye Mingsheng, saying that in his position as the Governor of Liaoyang, he would not dare to slack off for even a moment in order to live up to the high expectations of the Marshal!

In the past year, he has built two new canals and a dam in Liaoyang, ensuring that 30,000 mu of fertile land can be irrigated with sufficient water.
He also built two roads to facilitate the travel of hundreds of thousands of people. Not only that, he also paid 390,000 taels of silver, 310,000 dan of grain taxes, and 300,000 dan of coal to the central government, creating the best record of Liaoyang's payment of money, grain and materials to the central government in the past three years.

After praising himself for his achievements, Zhao Wanxian also told Ye Mingsheng that he planned to repair the main roads between the prefectures and counties of Liaoyang and the provincial capital Dongning in the next few years, so as to strengthen the connection between the prefectures and counties of Liaoyang and the provincial capital Dongning and promote the economic development of Liaoyang as a whole!

Originally, Ye Mingsheng was very satisfied with this. Ever since the Gu family case, he had taken down Gu Zhongshi, the governor of Liaoyang...

Zhao Wanxian, who was then the councilor of Youyan Provincial Government, was promoted to the position of Governor of Liaoyang. At that time, some people in the central government had different opinions.

I feel that Zhao Wanxian is young and inexperienced, and it's a bit of a big step to go directly from a political participant to a governor. He should first gain experience as a deputy governor for a few years, and then consider being promoted to governor. Direct promotion is also in line with the usual practice of personnel appointments!

Directly promoting Zhao Wanxian to the position of governor in one step would not be conducive to the development and construction of Liaoyang on the one hand, and on the other hand, it might not be a good thing for Zhao Wanxian's own future, and might even backfire!

For this reason, Cui Shao also communicated with Ye Mingsheng implicitly, and suggested to Ye Mingsheng that Gongsun Hao, who was then the deputy governor of Liaoyang, should take over the position of governor of Liaoyang.

At that time, Cui Shao believed that Gongsun Hao had been rooted in the Liaoyang officialdom for twenty years and was experienced and had always been very prestigious in the Liaoyang officialdom.

Although Gongsun Hao was born into the Gongsun family, he was an honest and upright person. Before serving as the deputy governor of Liaoyang, he had served as a county magistrate and prefect. He had extensive grassroots experience, was familiar with the situation of the people in Liaoyang, and had a very good reputation among the people.

Therefore, Cui Shao also tried his best to recommend Gongsun Hao to Ye Mingsheng. Cui Shao believed that Gongsun Hao was the best candidate to be the governor of Liaoyang and was more suitable for Liaoyang than Zhao Wanxian!

Because of Cui Shao’s recommendation, Ye Mingsheng once considered Gongsun Hao, and asked the Internal Security Bureau and the Coordination Office to conduct a background check on Gongsun Hao.

The results of the investigation showed that although Gongsun Hao was not as perfect as Cui Shao said, he was indeed very good!
In the prefectures and counties under his jurisdiction, there had been cases of young thugs robbing women and bullies seizing people's property, but Gongsun Hao always handled them impartially. Even if the other party used their connections to ask the Gongsun family to plead for mercy, Gongsun Hao was ultimately ruthless and did not bend the law for personal gain!

While serving as the deputy governor of Liaoyang, Gongsun Hao was also in charge of the mining industry and had a considerable say in the mineral development of Liaoyang.

With the encouragement of Ye Mingsheng, Liaoyang's mining industry has been developing rapidly in recent years, with thousands of coal, iron ore and other minerals being mined every day!

As the deputy governor in charge of mining, it is no exaggeration to say that Gongsun Hao is the God of Wealth. Just writing a note or making a greeting would give you a lot of silver. If you want to put 50,000 or 60,000 taels of silver in your pocket a year, it would be like a piece of cake!
Therefore, even though there were unscrupulous businessmen who wanted to use money and beauty to bring Gongsun Hao down, Gongsun Hao finally resisted the temptation and did not use his power to open the door for these illegal businessmen.

Although Gongsun Hao performed very well in terms of integrity and dedication to public service, he is not a saint and he also has his shortcomings!

His shortcoming was that he was not good at developing the economy and was rather old-fashioned and dogmatic. The economic development of the prefectures and counties under his administration had been in a stage of stagnation for a long time, and the living standards of the people had not been effectively improved.·························
So after repeated considerations, Ye Mingsheng finally went against the majority opinion and let Zhao Wanxian serve as the governor of Liaoyang. However, Ye Mingsheng did not waste Gongsun Hao's talent, but parachuted him to Qi and Lu to serve as the censor.

To this day, it seems that both Zhao Wanxian and Gongsun Hao are doing a good job in their new positions and have lived up to my expectations and trust in them!
Just when Ye Mingsheng was about to approve Zhao Wanxian's memorial to commend his achievements in Liaoyang, Ye Mingsheng saw something that surprised him at the end of Zhao Wanxian's memorial!

At the end of the memorial, Zhao Wanxian told Ye Mingsheng that a Feng Shui master in Liaoyang had found a legendary dragon vein in Liaoyang. Whoever was buried there a hundred years later would be guaranteed to bless his descendants and pass the country on from generation to generation.

So Zhao Wanxian persuaded Ye Mingsheng to occupy this good location and build a mausoleum for himself here, so that the blessing of the dragon vein would continue to his descendants. Seeing this, Ye Mingsheng was a little amused and didn't know whether to praise Zhao Wanxian's loyalty or blame Zhao Wanxian for his feudal superstition.

Ye Mingsheng thought that he was not even forty yet and was still in the prime of his life, so it was not time for him to think about his afterlife.

Moreover, building a mausoleum is a waste of money and labor, but Sichuan has not been completely conquered yet, and all parts of the country are in ruins and need to be rebuilt. It is a time when everything is in short supply. We should not waste precious money, food, manpower and material resources on building a mausoleum...

Therefore, Ye Mingsheng also rejected Zhao Wanxian's kindness in his reply and let this guy focus on the government affairs of Liaoyang. As the saying goes, when serving as an official, one should benefit the people. Ye Mingsheng hopes that he can make Liaoyang's politics stable and the people harmonious, and improve the people's sense of happiness and gain!

After putting down Zhao Wanxian's memorial, Ye Mingsheng picked up the second memorial, which was handed over by Cui Shao.

The content of Cui Shao's memorial was not complicated. Simply put, Cui Shao believed that the Fengwu Army had already occupied most of the world, so the imperial examination should be reopened to select talents from all over the world for their own use!

Cui Shao’s suggestion can be said to have made Ye Mingsheng’s eyes light up. It must be said that Cui Shao’s suggestion was very good and it was something Ye Mingsheng had not expected!

The imperial examinations of the Great Zhou Dynasty were completely interrupted after the Luoan Incident. It has not been held for five or six years. This is undoubtedly a disaster for scholars all over the world, as it cuts off their path to becoming an official!

Therefore, reopening the imperial examination now is undoubtedly a response to the needs of these scholars, allowing them to be used for their own benefit!
As for Ye Mingsheng, although he has always wanted to get rid of the influence of local aristocratic families, the Fengwu Army has only been rising for a short time and its foundation is still shallow. Especially in areas like Jingchu, Huainan, Guanzhong, Yongliang, and Yunbing, the Fengwu Army still needs to rely on the power of local aristocratic families to maintain local social stability.

Therefore, Ye Mingsheng injected some fresh blood into the officialdom to resist the erosion brought by these aristocratic families and powerful clans·························
Although Ye Mingsheng thought that Cui Shao's idea of ​​reopening the imperial examination was a very good one, how to implement this idea was a problem that Ye Mingsheng needed to face!
Who will be in charge of the examination?
For Ye Mingsheng, he definitely wants to let his own people be the chief examiner, such as Cui Shaogu Sansi!

However, according to the laws of the Great Zhou Dynasty, the imperial examination should be conducted by the Ministry of Rites!

Therefore, bypassing the Ministry of Rites and handing the imperial examination over to Cui Shao and Gu Sansi can be said to be neither justified nor legitimate, making it difficult for people all over the world to be convinced!
In the past, the Fengwu Army was considered a local vassal state, and Ye Mingsheng didn’t care too much whether people in the world believed in it or not. But now that the Fengwu Army has seized power, Ye Mingsheng has to consider this aspect and can no longer do the same as before!
At this time, Ye Mingsheng also understood that Cui Shao apparently proposed to reopen the imperial examination, but in fact he seemed to be hinting that he should solve the problems of the Central Council and the Six Ministries as soon as possible!
Only when this problem is solved can all the remaining work be carried out step by step. If this work cannot be solved, the subsequent work will always be constrained!
Thinking of this, Ye Mingsheng pondered for a while, then took out a piece of paper full of words from the drawer of the desk!
In fact, Ye Mingsheng has been considering the issues of the Central Court and the six ministries, and has basically come up with the general framework. It’s just that on some details, Ye Mingsheng is still a little undecided····························

First is the head of the Six Ministries, the Ministry of Personnel!

Ye Mingsheng planned to let Gu Sansi serve as the Shangshu to prepare for the next step of replacing Cui Shao.

As for the positions of the two assistant ministers, Ye Mingsheng plans to let the current deputy director of the Personnel Bureau, Shen Changhong, serve as the left assistant minister. Although Shen Changhong is not an old subordinate who started out with him, he is from the Qilu Provincial Government and was transferred here after the Personnel Bureau was established!
However, Shen Changhong reported his work to Ye Mingsheng several times, which left a very good impression on Ye Mingsheng. He has clear thinking, is meticulous and careful in his work, and is good at dealing with people. He has always had a good reputation in the Central Court, so this time Ye Mingsheng gave him the position of Minister.

As for the position of Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, Ye Mingsheng planned to give it to Zhang Xiong, the former Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel of the Luoan court. After the Fengwu Army took control of Luoan, Zhang Xiong was the first to approach the Fengwu Army and expressed his loyalty to Ye Mingsheng!
Zhang Xiong was a native of Huainan and a member of the Zhang family, a local wealthy family. He passed the imperial examination and won the third place in the imperial examination more than ten years ago. He then worked in the Hanlin Academy for a period of time and was then transferred to the Ministry of Revenue as a director. After the Luoan Incident, he was transferred to the Ministry of Personnel and finally became the left vice minister of the Ministry of Personnel.

At that time, Ye Mingsheng wanted to move the capital from Luoan to Yijing. Many people in the Luoan court stood up to oppose it, but Zhang Xiong was one of the few people who stood up to support Ye Mingsheng's decision.
This also made Ye Mingsheng pay attention to him, and he conducted a background investigation on this former left vice minister of the Ministry of Personnel. The investigation showed that Zhang Xiong was quite capable. He was in charge of many daily tasks of the Ministry of Personnel, and he was very good at judging the situation and changing his stance according to the situation!
However, in terms of personal morality, Zhang Xiong was somewhat greedy and lustful. During the years he worked in the Ministry of Personnel, he accumulated a considerable fortune for himself!
Therefore, at the beginning, Ye Mingsheng not only did not plan to use Zhang Xiong, but also planned to slaughter him like a pig to make an example of him to the powerful people in Luoan!
However, what Ye Mingsheng did not expect was that Zhang Xiong seemed to be aware of Ye Mingsheng's thoughts, and took the initiative to donate most of his wealth and wanted to meet Ye Mingsheng!
Seeing that he was so sensible and took the initiative to support his relocation of the capital, Ye Mingsheng didn't want to kill him anymore, but he didn't plan to use him either. He just let him return to his hometown in Huainan to fend for himself!

In response to this, Zhang Xiong knelt down in front of Ye Mingsheng’s residence and knelt for a whole day. Ye Mingsheng was somewhat surprised at the perseverance of this former high-ranking official of the imperial court, so he made an exception to meet him...
During the meeting, Zhang Xiong sincerely told Ye Mingsheng that he knew he had done some wrong things before, but those were forced by the current situation and he had no choice but to do them. Deep down in his heart, he rejected them!
He truly admired Ye Mingsheng and hoped to follow Ye Mingsheng, hoping that Ye Mingsheng could give him a chance to reform!

For this purpose, Zhang Xiong was willing to issue a military order to persuade those Luoan dignitaries to hand over their property to the Fengwu Army. If they failed to complete this task, Ye Mingsheng would chop off his head!

At that time, Ye Mingsheng was also curious. Where did you, Zhang Xiong, get such great ability and confidence to accomplish this task?
So he made a bet with Zhang Xiong, saying that as long as you, Zhang Xiong, completed the task to his satisfaction, then you, Zhang Xiong, would be the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel in the future Xin Dynasty!
As it turned out, Zhang Xiong was more capable than Ye Mingsheng had imagined. He successfully persuaded 17 powerful families to donate 700,000 taels of silver, tens of thousands of acres of fertile land, 27 mansions, 131 shops, in addition to thousands of antiques and cultural relics, and various gold and silver utensils!
So Ye Mingsheng, who lost the bet, decided to fulfill his promise and let Zhang Xiong serve as the right vice minister of the Ministry of Personnel!
However, before letting Zhang Xiong take office, Ye Mingsheng still needs to give this kid a good beating!

Ye Mingsheng wanted him to understand that working in the Fengwu Army was completely different from working in the Luoan court. If he did what he did before, Ye Mingsheng would definitely make him regret why he didn’t return to his hometown in Huainan to fend for himself...
(End of this chapter)