It's that annual review period again.

Basically, this annual evaluation determines the promotion and demotion of a large number of officials.

Some people can achieve great success through this, but others will still return with regrets in the end.

But no matter what the result is, these old foxes in the officialdom know very well that if you cannot prepare enough silver, then you will definitely be the worst in this year's exam.

But if you don’t have enough money now, you will have to enter the most brutal internal selection stage.

That is, whoever gives more silver will have a higher rank, and whoever's things are rarer will have their name at the top.

And the power to control all this lies in the hands of the Minister of Personnel.

I heard that even a powerful figure like the Prime Minister would leave something in Wang Yu's hands.

Such arrogant words came from the mouth of the Minister of Personnel.

Zhao Ji thinks it is 50% credible.

After thinking about it carefully, Zhao Ji felt that most of the officials in the court could not be trusted.

It is still unclear how these officials got promoted. Even if they were at the same level, it is very likely that they got promoted through trickery.

Zhao Ji didn't dare to use such a person.

Now Zhao Ji needs someone, who can be used as a lever to pry the entire Ministry of Personnel.

So after Zhao Ji thought it through, he sat in his study late at night, carefully looking through the list of officials who were rated the lowest level.

To be rated as the highest-ranking official in this dynasty, there is no need to write any reasons.

However, if an official is rated as the lowest, the reasons must be clearly stated.

"Information is slow to be transmitted, and I failed to respond to my supervisor's instructions in a timely manner..."

Zhao Ji looked at such a bland comment and couldn't help but focus his eyes on the name of the lowest-ranking official.

Zhang Jun, this is the fourth consecutive year that he has been selected as the lowest-ranking official.

Zhang Jun himself has gotten used to it. His colleagues have more or less saved some money over the years and put it into the Ministry of Personnel.

Some people rise to great heights, while others, like him, are depressed and frustrated.

But no one has ever been rated the lowest for five consecutive years like him.

Or perhaps this outrageous phenomenon rarely occurs.

These are mainly officials who have been rated C for three consecutive years and have generally resigned from their posts.

Only Zhang Jun stayed at his post diligently.

Zhang Jun was just a small county magistrate. He was the former county magistrate of Huaixiang Town.

When Zhang Jun received the news of the transfer, he was calm.

He had long anticipated that after this year, he might not even be able to hold the position of ninth-rank county magistrate.

But he never expected that the person who would take over from him would be the stupid son of Mr. Zhao.

It was obvious that the fool couldn't even speak a coherent sentence, so how could he judge cases for the people?

"I really don't know how it could be him, but if it was anyone else, I would have accepted it!"

Other people in the yamen were talking about it.

Zhang Jun gave a wry smile.

"Although he is a fool, Mr. Zhao's family is rich. They are truly wealthy!"

After these words were spoken, everyone fell silent.

The feud between Mr. Zhang and Mr. Zhao's family dates back to a year ago.

A year ago, someone brought a case against the stupid son of a wealthy family to the imperial court, and the charge was against a woman, a crime of rape.

Zhao Chun, the stupid son of Mr. Zhao, had almost no way to deny that incident, as he was seen by other people in the mansion when he took action.

There were witnesses from everyone from the gardener to the maid.

Therefore, Zhang Jun judged this case extremely smoothly. The process was completed in just a few days, and Zhao Chun was about to be put in jail.

One day in the middle of the night, Zhang Jun saw Mr. Zhao himself in his mansion, along with one thousand taels of gold.

"My child is innocent and kind by nature. He must have been slandered by evil people. He would never do such a thing as rape a woman! I hope you can show some mercy!"

When Zhang Jun saw the silver, his eyes were dazzled.

To be honest, during all these years as county magistrate, Zhang Jun had never accepted any money of unclear origin. It was said that a clean county magistrate could earn 100,000 silver coins in three years.

However, Zhang Jun did not accept a single penny during his years as county magistrate. He relied on the salary from the court to support his family's expenses.

To be honest, we lived a very poor life.

Seeing so much money, he was tempted.

But think about it, the mother with a dull expression and crying, the father who wanted to kill Zhao Chun with a hoe, and the beautiful woman who stayed at home and dared not go out.

Zhang Jun finally gave up.

"What are you talking about, Mr. Zhao? Now that the evidence is solid, I'm afraid Ningzi won't be able to overturn the verdict. If a son doesn't teach well, it's the fault of his father. If Mr. Zhao wants to atone for his sins, why not go directly to the victim and express your apology to them..."

After saying this, Zhang Jun remembered that Mr. Zhao's face seemed to suddenly become gloomy.

He walked away without saying anything.

Not long after Mr. Zhao left, Zhang Jun saw a fire in the yamen.

The only person missing from the government office that caught fire was Zhao Chun.

But when Zhang Jun went to search Mr. Zhao's house, Mr. Zhao refused to cooperate.

A day later, all the gardeners and maids who had been able to describe the incident and the process clearly had turned against the family.

Those people insisted that the woman was of unstable character and wanted to seduce Zhao Chun. Zhao Chun didn't want to, but the woman even forced herself into Zhao Chun's arms.

In short, this matter became the woman's wishful thinking.

The matter was quickly settled because the witness changed his testimony and no one else was willing to testify.

So Zhang Jun could only clear Zhao Chun of the charges, and it eventually turned into a romantic anecdote.

If you think about it, the only person who was ruined in this whole incident was that beautiful woman.

But what did this woman do wrong? Was it just because she was born beautiful? Can the beauty of life be considered a mistake?

From then on, Zhang Jun often found faults with Zhao Chun, but with the money from Mr. Zhao, Zhang Jun was never successful in putting Zhao Chun in jail.

It was a pity for the beautiful woman and her family. They moved out of Huaixiang Town in disgrace and finally no one knew where they ended up settling down.

It's really pitiful and makes people feel sorry for it.

It is said that before the woman left, when she was carrying her package out of the house, her neighbors threw rotten vegetable leaves all over her.

The reason was that they felt that the woman was a fickle person and that living here was a disgrace to them.

It was precisely because of these previous events that Zhang Jun was so incredulous when he heard that it was that fool Zhao Chun who succeeded him as the county magistrate.

"It seems that money can really do whatever you want, and it can't tolerate me after all!"

Even though Zhang Jun was rated the lowest every year, he never resigned for the sake of the people in Huai'an. However, seeing this transfer letter made him want to quit for the first time.