Chapter 66 Li Nuo's Shock
Song Zhe frowned and asked, "What do you mean?"
"nothing……"
Li Nuo whispered and continued to focus on Gu Wenhan's evaluation form.
This look really made him see some problems.
The Ministry of Personnel has many assessment items for officials, such as the number of cases in the jurisdiction in a year, the number of thieves, grain production, number of marriages, population growth, number of taxes, etc.
In Gu Wenhan's assessment, in the first six years, the comprehensive evaluation was mostly below A, and there were also "B" evaluations in the detailed items.
This is quite reasonable. An official has limited energy and different areas of expertise, so it is impossible for him to take care of everything.
But during the three years since he was transferred to Qinghe County, all his assessments were ranked A, or at least "A", and nothing below "A".
There is no reason why he couldn't do his best in assisting the chief officer when he was the county lieutenant and county magistrate, but after becoming the county magistrate, he was able to do everything to the best of his ability.
Either he really is a talent who can see the overall situation, or he has falsified the data.
Li Nuo was not an official of the Ministry of Personnel, so he did not know what it meant to have all the grades above A in the assessment. So he pointed to that part and asked Song Zhe, "Father-in-law, is there really no problem here?"
Song Zhe glanced at the assessment form of Gu Wenhan during his three years as the magistrate of Qinghe County, and his eyes fluctuated slightly.
After passing the imperial examination, he has been working in the Ministry of Personnel for nearly twenty years. He has a sharp eye and can tell at a glance that Gu Wenhan probably paid a lot of "travel expenses" to the officials sent out by the Ministry of Examination during the three years of performance appraisal.
These so-called political achievements are just done for show.
He did not hide anything and said calmly, "There is a problem. During the past three years of assessment, the officials of the Examination Bureau must have accepted bribes."
The Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of Examination were different departments of the Ministry of Personnel, and the data for performance appraisal was provided by the Ministry of Examination.
The Ministry of Personnel is only responsible for promoting, appointing or dismissing relevant officials based on these data.
As Li Nuo expected, the Ministry of Personnel's assessment could not be guaranteed to be true.
Li Nuo couldn't see anything in Gu Wenhan's files. He thought about it and suddenly said, "Can you let me see the files of the counties surrounding Qinghe County?"
Song Zhe didn't say anything. He turned and walked out of the duty room, and waved to the official from the Ministry of Personnel again.
In less than a quarter of an hour, three more files appeared on the table in front of Li Nuo.
The Gu Wenhan case had far-reaching consequences, and the entire Xuanzhou officialdom was shaken up. The county magistrates of the three neighboring counties of Qinghe County were all killed.
These three files are all sealed in the file library. If it weren't for his father-in-law, Li Nuo would never have been able to access them.
He quickly flipped through the three files, and after verifying a guess in his mind, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Song Jiaren had been standing beside him, and asked in confusion, "What did you see?"
Li Nuo opened the three files one by one and said, "Madam, look, what's the difference between this, this, and this?"
Song Zhe walked over, took a look, and then looked thoughtful.
Song Jiaren looked at it for a long time but couldn't figure it out. She shook her head in confusion.
Li Nuo pointed at rows of data and explained, "Before Gu Wenhan became the magistrate of Qinghe County, the number of marriages and newborns in the three counties surrounding Qinghe County were both rising steadily. But after Gu Wenhan became the magistrate of Qinghe County, Qinghe County achieved excellent political performance. The number of marriages in the three counties surrounding it has fallen for three consecutive years, and the number of newborns has also begun to decrease slightly. Only the number of missing cases has increased year by year, and the public security assessment has been rated as C every year..."
Gu Wenhan was able to bribe officials from the Ministry of Personnel to make the data of Qinghe County so beautiful, but the officials of the other three counties did not have his financial resources and connections.
If he was secretly trafficking in a large number of decent women, the counties surrounding Qinghe County would probably not be spared.
He was very smart. He bribed the officials of the Ministry of Personnel to create an image of himself as an upright and capable official. However, he was not smart enough and did not falsify the assessment data of the other three counties, leaving such a loophole.
Song Zhe seemed to have realized something and asked, "Do you want to prove that Gu Wenhan is a corrupt official and that Li Xuanjing killed the person who deserved to be killed?"
Li Nuo didn't say anything, but nodded.
Song Zhe suddenly said, "Have you ever thought that all this might have been planned by Li Xuanjing three years ago? He had those women kidnapped in order to clean up Xuanzhou and pave the way for Prince Chun three years later. As the Minister of the Dali Temple, it would be very easy for him to frame someone for anything..."
Li Nuo was slightly stunned.
He really had never thought of this possibility.
He felt that no matter how bad a person was, they had a bottom line, at least they couldn't...
At this time, Song Zhe said calmly: "However, a small Xuanzhou is not worth him making such a fuss. He doesn't need a reason to kill anyone. Gu Wenhan is indeed someone who deserves to be killed..."
Li Nuo looked at his father-in-law speechlessly. Are you kidding me? If he wasn't my wife's father, I really wanted to give him a couple of slaps...
After recovering from the shock, Li Nuo leaned back in his chair and let out a long sigh.
No matter how outsiders criticize him, at least he did nothing wrong in this matter.
Song Jiaren stood beside Li Nuo, her eyes slightly dazed.
Almost every time she thought he was smart, he always proved that he could be smarter.
If he hadn't reminded her, she wouldn't have been able to see it even if the evidence was placed in front of her.
Sir is right, she is really stupid...
Song Zhe's gaze was also on Li Nuo.
At this moment, he seemed to see the shadow of that man when he was young in Li Nuo.
After personally investigating the Gu Wenhan case, Li Nuo finally felt relieved.
But since I've come to the Ministry of Personnel, it would be a waste of opportunity to just go back like this.
He looked at Song Zhe again and asked, "Father-in-law, can you let me see the files of the successful candidates in the 14th year of the Zhisheng imperial examination?"
This time, Song Zhe did not agree to his request. He waved his hand and said, "Don't worry about the files of the Jinshi in the 14th year of the Zhisheng period. Those files have been destroyed by the court. They are not preserved anywhere..."
In the 14th year of Zhisheng, the case of more than ten newly-appointed Jinshi scholars committing treason was the case that Li Nuo really wanted to know in detail.
Unexpectedly, the court was so secretive about this case that it even destroyed all the files.
Li Nuo could only settle for the next best thing and said, "The files are gone, but the list of successful candidates for the imperial examination that year must still be preserved, right?"
Song Zhe didn't say anything, but walked to a bookshelf on one wall, pulled out a book and handed it to Li Nuo.
Among all the ministries in the imperial court, the Ministry of Personnel was the most closely involved with the imperial examinations. The Ministry of Personnel not only kept the list of successful candidates in each imperial examination, but also made a special list, which was updated every four years along with the imperial examinations.
Li Nuo took the book and opened a page at random. It was filled with names.
He quickly found the fourteenth year of the Holy Prophet according to the year number.
There were 460,000 candidates in the imperial examination that year, and the court admitted 42 Jinshi.
This is truly one in a million, and one in a million among scholars. Even if he is the last in the imperial examination, he is the absolute protagonist in his own story.
Li Nuo locked onto a name on this page at a glance.
Because this name comes first.
In the 14th year of Zhisheng, the top scorer in the imperial examination was Li Xuanjing.
In other words, his father was the top scorer in the imperial examination in the 14th year of Zhisheng?
Li Nuo only knew that he was a Jinshi this year, but he didn't expect that he would have such a brilliant result. He ranked first among 460,000 scholars. The value of his result is not comparable to the civil service examinations of later generations...
However, what shocked Li Nuo was yet to come.
The imperial examination of Daxia was based on Confucianism and tested six subjects: rites, music, archery, charioteering, calligraphy, and mathematics. The candidate with the highest score in the six subjects would be the top scholar of that session. In addition to the top scholar of the imperial examination, there were also top scholars in individual subjects.
The so-called single subject champion is the one with the highest score in each of the six subjects, such as the champion in etiquette, the champion in music, the champion in archery, the champion in mathematics, etc.
Although these single subject top scores are only an invisible honor, they have practical benefits.
For example, someone's scores in six subjects combined may not be enough to qualify as a Jinshi, but if he or she has the highest score in a single subject, he or she can still be admitted as an exception and appointed to a position based on his or her specialties.
This is to take care of those war gods who are good at one subject but not the other. There are such people occasionally in the imperial examinations.
The top scorer in every imperial examination is the one with the strongest comprehensive abilities. He may not be the first in a single subject, or even not be the first in every subject.
But in the Fourteenth Year of the Most Holy...
Li Nuo looked at the neat lines of words on the paper.
The imperial examination champion Li Xuanjing.
Li Xuanjing was the top scorer in the rites category.
The top scorer in music is Li Xuanjing.
Li Xuanjing, the top scorer in archery.
Li Xuanjing, the top scorer in the imperial examination.
The top scholar in the literature category is Li Xuanjing.
The number one scholar in mathematics is Li Xuanjing.
He was not only the top scorer in the imperial examination, but also the top scorer in six subjects. His name occupied seven lines, neatly arranged on the paper, giving a strong visual impact.
Li Nuo's eyes widened.
What is this equivalent to? It is equivalent to the national college entrance examination, where a person takes all the exams in liberal arts and science, and ranks first in every subject in the country...
Is this something a human would do?
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
