Dark Sand: My Players Are All Actors-Chapter 487 - 263: One Person Does It All! (8000 words)_3

After such turmoil, the ministers became even more obedient, and the royal household itself no longer needed to work so strenuously.

Hmm, it seems that this indeed was a good strategy, and probably the only possible one.

However, once the ministers saw through this strategy, that would be another matter altogether.

These senior officials began to ponder, since the royal household could not possibly handle all state affairs personally and the ministers are not truly dispensable, perhaps we only need to make a superficial effort?

There was no need to be intimidated by the royal household and hand over all of our core interests, right?

Having realized this, the officials all breathed a sigh of relief and thanked Zhang Jingbang, who had pointed this out.

"Prime Minister Zhang indeed has penetrating insight! Listening to your words is better than reading books for ten years!"

"The Prime Minister is bound to have his comeback, this official eagerly awaits it!"

"Gentlemen, we should also often visit Prime Minister Zhang’s mansion, we will still need his guidance in the future."

"I shall take my leave then!"

They all retired with satisfaction.

Among them, however, Wang Shiyong did not think the same.

"Other people’s business, these people can talk without any personal stakes... but I am the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel! The abolition of hereditary privileges was specifically assigned to me by name by the royal household!

"If this task is not vigorously undertaken, they naturally would be happy to see it falter, but if the royal household got truly furious, I fear I could hardly escape death...

"No matter what they think, I still need to take care of the hereditary privilege issue promptly..."

Wang Shiyong once again chose to follow his conscience.

After all, his position was different from others, and years of survival experience made him keenly sense something, always feeling that, at this moment, it was crucial to preserve one’s own life.

...

Several days later.

At the Ministry of Justice.

Wang Shiyong looked at the memorial returned to him, his expression somewhat grim.

These past few days, he had been persistently working on abolishing hereditary privileges.

The royal household had already given him a very clear plan, and Wang Shiyong had no chance to tamper with it. However, the various processes and details of advancing this plan still needed to be continually reported by him as the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel.

Within the Ministry of Personnel, there is a department specifically in charge of hereditary privileges, the Sealing Validation Department, handling matters such as nobility titles, hereditary positions, hereditary privileges, difficult cases of hereditary privileges, petitioning for seals, etc. Wang Shiyong kept an eye on the subordinate departments while also watching over the higher authorities.

And each memorial that was submitted could always be returned shortly after.

The returned memorials virtually always had the emperor’s decree clearly inscribed, leaving no room for ambiguous or watered-down interpretations.

While Wang Shiyong was in the Ministry of Personnel, he also heard about external affairs.

When other officials at court believed the emperor could not possibly review so many petitions by himself, the emperor’s side had also taken action immediately.

First, official documents that originally belonged to two chief ministers were moved into the palace; then, some students with no official position but outstanding scholarly achievements were selected from the Imperial College.

Historically, students from the Imperial College, especially during the Jingping Reforms, have had significant presence.

The students who had previously petitioned for the execution of six traitors were from the Imperial College of the capital city.

The Qi Dynasty’s talent selection system was not limited merely to the imperial examinations. The imperial exams were open to all commoner’s children, like a process of sieving through sand to find gold; only those who passed the exams had the chance to officially enter the bureaucratic field, while scholars and other intermediate degrees often only served as temporary substitutes when needed by the state.

However, the Imperial College amounted to a direct entrance to the central government through local governmental recommendations. As long as one passed the entrance examination and earned enough credits in school, one could attain a degree equivalent to that of those who passed the imperial examinations and enter public service without participating in them.

Of course, students from the Imperial College could also choose to take the imperial examinations based on their capabilities, which typically meant they had higher personal aspirations.

In the past, Wang Wenchuan had implemented several reforms in the Imperial College and had lectured there, which made him very popular among the students.

In summary, the Imperial College basically took over all expenses of the students and supplied them as potential talents to the state, functioning like a large talent reservoir.

However, previous emperors of the Qi Dynasty had not been particularly attentive to students from the Imperial College.

Take Emperor Yingzong of Qi, for example.

At that time, the students from the Imperial College in the capital collectively petitioned for the execution of six traitors and even caused a large demonstration. Emperor Yingzong took this opportunity to execute the six culprits, ostensibly to quell public outrage but actually to take back control of state affairs into his own hands.

Yet, none of those petitioning students were truly given significant roles.

For Emperor Yingzong, these students from the Imperial College were akin to the contemporary activists; they were educated, understood righteousness, and could represent public opinion to some extent. But to appoint them to official positions? Unfortunately, they were considered insufficiently qualified.

Evidently, to the emperor, it was still the seasoned officials who were more handy to use.

Thus, through successive dynasties, the emphasis on the Imperial College was often superficial, with no ruler truly considering promoting these students to significant official positions.

However, the ruler at this time...

had unexpectedly selected several outstanding students from the Imperial College to work directly in the palace!

Of course, they were definitely located in the outer halls where day-to-day official and state matters were reported, not in the inner palace.

But what did this imply?

It was said that the current ruler let these students review the petitions, study them in depth, and then give him brief oral reports. Subsequently, the ruler provided oral answers, which the students directly recorded in official documentation, carefully considering the wording and details before distribution.

New n𝙤vel chapters are published on f(r)e𝒆webn(o)vel.com