Li Jue went straight to the Ministry of Personnel after leaving Taiji Palace, but was stopped by a minor official while checking the archives.

"Your Highness Prince Yong, according to the laws of the court, the archives of the Ministry of Personnel cannot be accessed at will!"

Upon hearing this, Li Jue's temper flared up immediately.

"I have His Majesty's imperial decree!"

"Your Highness, verbal orders are not reliable; you would be better off requesting His Majesty's written edict..."

"I possess the golden seal of the Minister of the Imperial Secretariat!"

"ah?"

The clerk was dumbfounded upon hearing this. Although the boy in front of him looked like a little adult, his youthful appearance made him seem quite young.

"Do you really have the golden seal of the Minister of the Imperial Secretariat?"

"certainly!"

Li Jue showed the gold seal to the clerk, who quickly bowed and accepted the order.

"Your Excellency, please feel free to browse!"

Li Jue walked into the archives and saw rows of items arranged like shelves, which gave him a headache.

"That guy..."

"This humble official is Xiao Mu, not that person...!"

"I don't care who you are, just find these files on the official documents for me!"

"promise!"

Although Xiao Mu was unwilling, the higher the rank, the more powerful he was, especially since the person in front of him was already a high-ranking official in the Tang Dynasty!

"Your Highness, these are definitely not in the left row. These are all archives from the Sui Dynasty!"

"This row on the right... let me see who's on these petitions..."

"Dou Deming was promoted to the rank of fifth-grade magistrate of Chang'an County... His ancestor, Dou Yi, was the governor of Dingzhou and the Duke of Shenwu during the Sui Dynasty!"

"Dou Desu was promoted to the rank of Fifth-Rank Imperial Tutor. His ancestor, Dou Yi, was the Governor-General of Dingzhou and Duke of Shenwu during the Sui Dynasty!"

"Dou Dexuan was promoted to the rank of Senior Imperial Diarist, a sixth-grade official. His ancestor, Dou Yi, was the Governor-General of Dingzhou and Duke of Shenwu during the Sui Dynasty!"

Upon hearing that three people in a row bore the surname Dou, Li Jue was immediately displeased. He wondered whether the Tang Dynasty belonged to the Li family or the Dou family.

"Who is this Dou Yi? How come all his descendants can become officials?"

Upon hearing this, Xiao Mu's expression immediately turned strange, and he looked at Li Jue with a hint of mockery.

"Your Highness, this Duke Shenwu is related to you..."

"ah?"

"I don't know him!"

"Dou Yi was the father of Empress Tai Mu, the founding emperor of this dynasty!"

Li Jue was stunned when he heard this, and it took him a while to react.

You're saying he's my great-grandmother's father?

"Indeed!"

"These three all entered officialdom through the privilege of their ancestors, and the ranks they were given were not high. Apart from Dou Deming's position as the magistrate of Chang'an County, the other positions were all considered sinecure!"

"However, in my opinion, Dou Deming's position as magistrate of Chang'an County is probably just a temporary measure, only to raise his rank. He will soon be sent to another place to serve as a prefectural or county official!"

"this……"

Li Jue was dumbfounded again upon hearing this, and then asked a very stupid question.

"Doesn't our Great Tang Dynasty have the imperial examination system?"

"Your Highness, the imperial examination is held every three years, and only a few dozen people are selected each time. Moreover, most of these few dozen people are from aristocratic families, and it is rare for a poor scholar to be selected!"

"Even if you are lucky enough to be selected, you generally won't get a decent official position. Some of you have to wait two years for a vacancy to become an official!"

"This...this..."

"You mean that the Tang Dynasty clearly didn't have many official positions, and there weren't many scholars from humble backgrounds who passed the imperial examinations, so the few official positions that were available had to be divided among the sons of aristocratic families?"

"More or less..."

"Holy shit!"

Li Jue had always thought that Li Shimin was doing a good job, but now he realized that wasn't the case at all.

What is all this nonsense? The Tang Dynasty just handed over official positions to the sons of aristocratic families so easily?

Why not admit more students from underprivileged backgrounds? Why not give more opportunities to children from poor families?

Thinking of this, Li Jue felt a surge of fighting spirit.

He wanted to fight against the evil forces led by Li Er and find a way out for the poor and needy!

"Thank you for letting me know!"

"Please find all these people's files for me; I need to review them one by one!"

Upon hearing this, a sly glint flashed in Xiao Mu's eyes, and he happily began searching for Li Jue's file.

In fact, he came from a poor family and had passed the imperial examination during the Wude era. However, he had been delayed for many years and had not been promoted. He was always in the position of an eighth-rank official in the Ministry of Personnel, but his actual work was to manage archives in the Ministry of Personnel.

Therefore, after seeing Li Jue's aversion to officials from hereditary noble families, he decisively informed him of the problems with the Tang Dynasty's bureaucracy.

Although he didn't think Li Jue could shake the might of the powerful aristocratic families, he felt it was worth it as long as it could create a crack for children from humble backgrounds and allow more of them to enter officialdom!

Xiao Mu was very efficient. After all, he had been working in the archives since the Wude era. He was familiar with all kinds of personnel files, if not fluent.

Therefore, he only needed half an incense stick's time to find all thirty-six files that Li Jue wanted.

Li Jue held a thick stack of files, intending to look through them in the archives, but Xiao Mu told him that the Minister of the Imperial Secretariat had an official residence.

Upon hearing this, Li Jue immediately took the file to his office. Of course, he didn't forget to bring Xiao Mu along.

However, the Minister's office had been vacant for too long, and the desks, chairs, and floor inside were covered with a thick layer of dust.

Li Jue didn't care. He simply found a burlap sack, wiped the table and chairs, and sat down to work.

"Xiao Mu, who is this Lu Zhaoying? How can he hold an official position at only seventeen years old?"

"Your Highness, this man is a member of the Lu family of Fanyang..."

Upon hearing this, Li Jue's face turned extremely ugly, and he patted the thick stack of files.

"Is there not a single person from a poor family here?"

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