"I, your humble servant, would like to return to Wenqing Bookstore."
Huang Qubing did not hide his thoughts, but boldly expressed them.
Gu Jiu raised his eyebrows and said, "You are trying to grab a position with Cui Qi."
"Please forgive me, Your Majesty."
Gu Jiu smiled, "Don't be nervous! You want to resign, it must be after careful consideration, perhaps you are really not suitable for the position of Shaofu Household Commander. When the old ancestor passed away, you and your father helped me stabilize the Shaofu, and have persisted until today. I will always remember your contribution. However, you are also aware of the current situation. The northwest is about to move, and the Shaofu is the key."
"Precisely because the Shaofu is crucial, I am resigning at this time. For the next two or three years, the Shaofu's focus will be in the northwest, in Xiliang. I am not sure if I can hold on until then."
Huang Qubing was also in great pain.
Gu Jiu frowned and tried to ask, "Is there something wrong with your body?"
Huang Qubing nodded hesitantly, "I dare not lie to your Majesty. Lately, I've often felt like I've reached the end of my life."
Hearing this, Gu Jiu sighed.
"Forget it. I won't force you. Since you're not feeling well, go home and recuperate for a while. You can return to Wenqing Bookstore if you want, but you'll have to wait. Let me think about where to place Cui Qi first. I can't just abandon him after he's done his work."
"I can help Cui Qi."
Gu Jiu waved his hand, "It's not appropriate."
Both of them are talented, how can they both be crowded in Wenqing Bookstore?
After sending Huang Qubing away, Gu Jiu sent someone to invite Liu Zhao.
She got straight to the point. "Huang Qubing is resigning. Who will take over the position of Shaofu Household Manager? Do you have a suitable candidate?"
"Resign at this time?" Liu Zhao was slightly dissatisfied.
Gu Jiu excused Huang Qubing, "You know he's in poor health and is about to collapse. Forcing him to stay would probably backfire."
Liu Zhao said with a stern face, "You're always causing trouble for me. Can I let Prince Consort Huang take over for a while?"
Gu Jiu shook his head, "Prince Consort Huang can't handle it, he doesn't have that ability."
"You asked me to find someone at this last minute, but where can I find one?" Liu Zhao was very angry and wanted to drag Huang Qubing out and give him a good beating.
Although Liu Zhao didn't know everything about the mess inside the royal family, he had a general idea of it.
It's not easy to find a pillar of support among a group of bad people.
Gu Jiu comforted him and said, "Actually, Uncle Sixteen is a good fit, but..."
Sixteen is almost dead, it will happen in these few days.
Then, she added, "Liu Shi is also OK. He can supervise the Imperial College well, which shows that he has some ability."
"Liu Shi is not suitable!" Liu Zhao first denied Liu Shi. "He has no problem managing the Imperial College and educating people. But when asked to manage finances and accounts, he is a mess. You have seen the accounts of the Imperial College. I never manage accounts. He is even worse than me. When I saw the accounts of the Imperial College, I wanted to dismiss him."
Gu Jiu frowned, "You are making it difficult for me. I can't find a suitable candidate for the time being. I am not familiar with the royal family."
Gu Jiu has been busy these past few years and hasn't interacted much with most of the royal family. At most, he would send gifts during festivals.
Liu Zhao frowned, feeling unhappy.
"Why don't we let Huang Qubing hold on for a while longer?"
"I think he couldn't bear it anymore, so he decided to resign."
"Is it that serious?" Liu Zhao didn't believe it.
Gu Jiu nodded, pointed, and then pointed to his heart. "He is a free and easy-going person. The position of Shaofu Household Supervisor is really not suitable for him. Back then, I forced him to take it. He really held on. Over the years, under his management, the Shaofu has always been at the forefront. Now that the overall situation has been decided, he has let out his anger and can no longer hold on."
"Let him hold on for another month, even if he can't. Can you find a successor in a month?"
Liu Zhao asked Gu Jiu.
Gu Jiu rolled his eyes at him and said, "This is something you should be worrying about."
Liu Zhao was playing tricks, "The more capable, the more work. I don't trust anyone else with the Shaofu position. I trust the person you choose one hundred percent."
Gu Jiu said, "I'm not familiar with the imperial clan. If you ask me to find someone to succeed Huang Qubing, I won't be able to do it right away."
"It seems that this royal family school must be opened as soon as possible to cultivate more talents." Liu Zhao sighed.
The royal family had private schools to provide education for their children.
However, the palace did not attach much importance to it, and since education cost money, as time went by, being able to recognize only a few words was enough for enlightenment, so many royal families stopped sending their children to school.
Because of previous rules, members of the royal family were not allowed to take the imperial examinations, so they had no interest in studying.
Why study?
Of course, it’s because studying can change one’s destiny and one can pass the imperial examination to become an official. That’s why so many people, generation after generation, study and take exams until they die.
When studying could not lead to the imperial examinations and could not change one's fate, the royal family's attitude towards studying naturally became to just get by, and they were satisfied with just knowing a few words.
In addition, studying costs money, which makes some poor royal family members even more resistant to studying.
As a result, there were large numbers of illiterate people in the royal family.
In other words, wealthy members of the royal family would pay teachers to teach their children.
After all, rich people are a minority.
It is even rarer to find a royal family member who can not only read but also become famous.
As a result, it is now very difficult for Liu Zhao to stand out among the short people in the royal family.
Gu Jiu reminded him, "It's not enough to just build a school and provide free education. You have to open up the imperial examinations to the royal family so that everyone will be motivated to study. Otherwise, after studying hard for more than ten years, but not being able to pass the imperial examination and become an official, who would be willing to spend that time studying? Also, you have to open up the possibility of royal family members joining the army, giving them another way to make a living. Following the way our ancestors did, keeping the royal family in captivity will indeed make few royal family members dare to rebel, but it will also cultivate them into a bunch of unproductive waste. Such a group of royal family members who drag their feet will not benefit the Great Zhou."
Liu Zhao nodded. "My grandfather and father were too cautious when it came to the royal family. Although my father allowed royal family members to join the army, he also set various restrictions. As a result, over the years, none of those who joined the army have managed to stand out."
"We should treat everyone equally, not discriminate. The late emperor's actions, to put it bluntly, were discrimination against the royal family."
Gu Jiu not only complained out loud, but also muttered a few words in his heart.
Emperor Chengzong Wende did not think about the fact that if he had not been able to ascend the throne, he would have been a member of the royal family and would have been discriminated against and bound by various ancestral family rules, leading to a life of frustration.
It's not easy to be a member of the royal family of the Great Zhou.
Only the princesses and princesses of the Great Zhou lived the most carefree lives.
It can be said that they are the most free-spirited group of women in this era.
The family rules passed down from generation to generation have always been particularly tolerant of princesses and princesses.
Liu Zhao smiled and said, "If the emperor heard what you said, his coffin would be broken."
Gu Jiu said, "If the late emperor were still alive, he would agree with me. With such a large clan, tens of thousands of people, they can't even find someone to serve as the Shaofu Household Supervisor. Isn't that tragic?"
Liu Zhao held her hand. "Then let's start the change with our generation. Opening up the imperial examinations to members of the royal family and relaxing the standards for military service will definitely be in favor within the royal family. The only thing we need to worry about is the court officials, who may strongly oppose it."
Generation after generation of civil officials and military generals, all kinds of internal struggles and quarrels, in the final analysis, are actually to limit the imperial power, limit the royal family, strengthen the power of civil officials, and strengthen the power of military generals.
This involves the conflict between civil officials and military generals, but we will not discuss it for now.
When the imperial power is restricted, interests will naturally come to the court officials.
A hundred years ago, during the reign of Emperor Taizong, the royal family had been successfully castrated and restricted by civil and military officials.
Now that Liu Zhao wants to overturn the decision made that year and open up the imperial examinations and military service to the royal family, the court officials will certainly oppose it to the end.
Once it is released, within ten years, the voices of the royal family will be heard in the court.
It is not impossible that in another twenty years, high-ranking officials in the ministries and halls will be usurped by members of the royal family.
The power of the royal family will inevitably harm the interests of civil and military officials, which is absolutely unacceptable.
When it comes to a conflict of interests, no one will compromise.
As the saying goes, cutting off someone's financial resources is like killing their parents.
Liu Zhao's move was tantamount to killing the parents of civil and military officials, and was bound to lead to an unprecedented backlash.
Liu Zhao was a little worried. He continued, "Emperor Taizong couldn't bear the pressure back then. Furthermore, the imperial clansmen were restless and still harboring rebellious intentions, so he took advantage of the situation and imprisoned them. Now I'm going to release them from that cage. I've set a precedent. If nothing unexpected happens, the historians will definitely call me a tyrant."
"Let the royal family deal with those civil and military officials. It's time for those princesses and princesses to do something for the royal family." Gu Jiu is good at using the opponent's force to defeat him.
This is a melee, and she and Liu Zhao will not personally intervene for the time being.
Let the royal family and the civil and military officials fight each other first. It doesn't matter who wins or loses. The key is to muddy the waters so that you can fish in troubled waters.
Liu Zhao nodded and said, "I will first summon the clan elders to discuss the matter of the elementary school, and then discuss the relaxation of the imperial examination and military affairs."
Being a royal family member is a double-edged sword.
During the reigns of Taizu and Taizong, the royal family was the biggest factor causing instability in the court, so they had to be imprisoned.
The Great Zhou Dynasty lasted nearly two hundred years, and the royal family had long been spoiled and was no longer as sharp and strong as they were a hundred years ago.
It is the perfect time to release the royal family members and let them compete with the civil and military officials.
There cannot be only one voice or one party's interests in the court.
The court must be a hodgepodge, with multiple voices and interests intertwined and checking each other.
The three forces are the most stable.
The fight between civil officials and military generals will eventually determine the winner.
Either the east wind prevails over the west wind, or the west wind prevails over the east wind. This is definitely not a good thing.
This means that the court has become a one-man show for certain vested interests.
Only when there are three pillars can things last long.
Instead of allowing eunuchs to interfere in government affairs, it is better to release the royal family to disrupt the situation.
Both of them are action-oriented.
Before the war in the northwest was finalized, Liu Zhao was busy summoning clan elders to set the tone and open a free school for clan members.
The school provides three meals a day, clothes, shoes and hats for all four seasons, and writing brushes, ink, paper and inkstone.
All children between the ages of five and sixteen, regardless of gender, must be sent to school. Anyone who dares to prevent a child from studying will be fined six months of grain if he or she has no title, and will be stripped of his or her title if he or she has one.
－－－－－－Digression－－－－－－
Second update.
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