So what's the problem?

Combining the answer of his father-in-law with the political gains and losses of past dynasties summarized by later historians, Mr. Zhao pointed out that the reason was that this examination system, which seemed to have layered assessments, clear rules and regulations, and different grades, actually had two major loopholes.

One is that there is something wrong with the subject of the assessment. No matter how good the system is, it still needs people to implement it. Once there is a problem with people, the more perfect the system is, the more it will encourage the growth of evil.

Second, the assessment content seems strict, but in fact it is subjective and empty, lacking operability. For example, "observe their ability, test their diligence, and make clear assessments based on public service." Is an official really capable? What is considered diligent and what is considered lazy? There is no objective standard at all, so how can we make clear assessments?

It does make it very convenient for the officials in charge of examinations to turn things upside down, bend the law for personal gain, and gang up on dissidents!

In the Qing Dynasty, the main body of evaluation of officials was the superior officer. Everyone who had worked in the office knew that the evaluation of subordinates by their direct superiors was related to closeness and faction, to maintaining balance, and to office struggles, but had nothing to do with actual performance. This was an old problem that could not be changed. Everyone worked in the same system, bound by countless connections, making it impossible for evaluation to be fair.

In fact, Zhu Yuanzhang paid much attention to this issue. In order to prevent officials from using examinations to suppress and bribe subordinates, he arranged inspectors, sub-inspectors, inspectors, and later governors in each province to supervise and evaluate local officials. He also set up six departments of officials at the central level to supervise and evaluate the six ministries. This prevented the direct superiors from being biased when evaluating their subordinates.

For a long period of history, this method worked well. But as the imperial examination system became a channel for advancement for a few people, the class system became seriously rigid. Those who passed the imperial examination and became officials came from a very small circle. All new imperial examination candidates were automatically brought into the circle by their teachers and seniors as soon as they entered the officialdom.

As for people outside the circle, except for Hai Rui, who is a rare genius in a century, most of them cannot escape the fate of being marginalized.

The biggest consequence of this is that the entire officialdom is full of nepotism and nepotism! Even the inspectors and the six-department secretaries who are specially selected to maintain discipline and laws and assess the work of officials cannot escape this rut!

In addition, the subjective examination standards and arbitrary evaluations further encourage the spirit of favoritism and fraud.

In this environment, it doesn't matter whether an official does his job well or not. It doesn't matter whether he is corrupt or not. What matters is who you belong to. Are you in the same group or in the opposite group? Are you a neutral party that needs to be won over, or a party that can be trampled on?

Therefore, relying on people's subjective opinions to give "competent, average, or incompetent" is simply a breeding ground for corruption and a weapon for the party to unite and attack dissidents!

~~

So how to solve it?

Zhang Juzheng gave a brilliant answer, which was to use quantifiable and objective standards as much as possible and avoid human judgment!

It is just like when setting questions for an exam, we increase the number of objective questions and reduce the number of subjective questions. This way, we can minimize the human factors that affect the fairness of the exam.

This is completely consistent with Mr. Zhao’s scientific management method!

Zhao Hao also combined the actual situation of the yamen and taught the KPI method to Mr. Zhao Erye.

Although Mr. Zhao never understood why his son gave the "key performance indicator" such a vulgar abbreviation as "looking at the asshole", it did not prevent him from studying "looking at the asshole" seriously...

Specifically, the daily work tasks and development goals of the government office are expanded and broken down into specific departments and subordinate government offices. Then, according to the "Sima Te" principle, key performance indicators are determined for each department.

The so-called "Simat" principle means that performance appraisal must have clear and specific indicators and cannot be general; the indicators must be quantifiable and measurable; achievable; related to the overall goal; and have a deadline for completion.

Later, when Zhao Shouzheng was promoted to the position of Tongzhi of Chaozhou, he suddenly realized one day that the so-called "Sima Te" meant "Zhao Sima Special Edition". My dear son really has good intentions!

As for the time when Zhao Hao taught him the 'asshole-reading technique', it was long before he became the Tongzhi... Master Zhao would not care about such details.

~~

In short, after exploring in Kunshan, Zhao Shouzheng has learned how to establish an evaluation index system, set evaluation standards, and how to review key performance indicators. He is also a master of "reading assholes"... although he is a master with high expectations but low skills.

But isn’t there a professional around-the-clock management team to help him implement it?

During the Chaozhou Defense War, the management team headed by Wu Chengen had already done this. It was with this management method that the Chaozhou officials and gentry, who were like headless flies, could understand what they should do, how to do it, how to judge whether they did a good job, and what would happen if they did a good job or a bad job in the shortest possible time.

This enabled them to take control of the situation in Chaozhou in a short period of time and handle the complex military supplies, logistics, and human resources organization in an orderly manner, making the greatest contribution to the victory of the Chaozhou Defense War.

Therefore, the main point of Zhao Shouzheng's speech to his subordinates today is that Chaozhou Prefecture and the county government will all adopt key performance management in the future...

He thought "looking at assholes" sounded too offensive, so he changed it to "performance audit method" - the method of auditing performance!

Well, Jiji is much better than an asshole...

"The specific details of the 'Performance Audit Law' will be issued to you, and training will also be organized. You must study hard and focus on the key points. Otherwise, if there is no performance during the audit, it will not only be a shame for everyone."

In the lobby, Mr. Zhao, who was always amiable, became serious today and said something serious:

"To put it simply, according to the 'Performance Auditing Law', the government will separate all your tasks, set deadlines and quantitative standards into two 'Performance Auditing Books'. There will be two copies of the 'Performance Auditing Book'. The government will keep one copy for future reference, and you will keep one copy for yourselves and do your work according to the requirements above. Register each completed task, check your progress every ten days, accept performance audits every month, and conduct an evaluation every quarter based on the results of the performance audits!"

He slowly swept his eyes over the crowd and said in a deep voice, "There are specific scoring standards and weights at the back of the booklet. Those with high GPAs are considered excellent. Those with low GPAs are considered poor. The excellent will be rewarded, the poor will be punished, the capable will be promoted, and the mediocre will be demoted! This is what I ask of you. Did you all hear clearly?!"

"Yes, sir..." the officials responded hurriedly.

But everyone could sense that the atmosphere in the lobby had become somewhat solemn.

The clerks and runners held the heavy red envelopes in their hands and suddenly felt that the money was not so easy to take.

Shu Tongpan, An Tuiguan and ten county magistrates looked even more solemn, for they all knew that hard times were coming.

This is exactly the effect Zhao Shouzheng wanted. The old man had told him long ago that a leader cannot just buy favors, but must use both favors and power!

Mr. Zhao is a little bit stupid, but he is obedient and listens to his son and father... Well, the son and father are two people, referring to his son and his father, not just a son who looks like his father.

Because he knew that in this world, only these two people would never harm him. Maybe there were Ning An and his elder brother? But if he listened to those two, he would either be a traitor or seek his own death. So he only listened to his son and his father...

~~

After the clerks, yamen runners, and all the assistant officials except Shu Tongpan and An Tui Guan had left.

The government hall, which had been crowded just now, suddenly seemed spacious.

The remaining thirteen officials were clearly divided into two groups.

Mr. Zhao, with Shu Fu on his left and An Yi on his right, the three officials in the palace sat facing south. Of course, Shu Tongpan and An Tuiguan sat sideways, to be precise, one facing southwest and the other facing southeast.

All the county magistrates sat on their chairs sideways, facing north.

Next was the first working meeting of Chaozhou Prefecture’s top leaders.

Chaozhou has a total of ten counties, Haiyang, Chaoyang, Raoping, Chenghai, Jieyang, Chengxiang, Huilai, Dapu, Puning, and Pingyuan. All ten county magistrates were present, but their expressions were different, and it was obvious that they were in different moods.

The person sitting in the top position among the county magistrates was naturally the Haiyang County Magistrate Qin Shunhan. As the county magistrate of the first county in the city, he should have the most worried look on his face. But he sat there happily, looking very pleased with himself.

Of course he was happy. Because from the moment Mr. Zhao arrived in Chaozhou, he had devoted everything he had wholeheartedly and without reservation. Mr. Zhao was able to quickly gain a foothold, and he, the county magistrate of the prefecture, had made great efforts.

During the Chaozhou defense war, he completed his mission conscientiously, and asked about his brother's well-being every day, helped him relieve stress, and encouraged him to fight. Naturally, the relationship between the two quickly warmed up, and they went from ordinary classmates to close comrades who had fought on the battlefield together.

Now, Gui Tongnian has become the acting prefect again, and has already made it clear that he will focus on the provincial capital. As long as his confidant does not let him down, he can just wait for his brother to take him with him! He can even laugh in his dreams, okay?

As mentioned before, 20% to 30% of the county magistrates in the country were born in the same year as Mr. Zhao. So in addition to Qin Shunhan, there were also Liu Rugao, the county magistrate of Raoping, and Huang Yilong, the county magistrate of Chaoyang, who were also Jinshi in the second year of Longqing.

Huang Yilong was of course very happy, but his happiness was also mixed with worries.

Because he read in the provincial newspaper that his biggest enemy, Lin Daoqian, who was entrenched in Xiawei, Chaoyang, also took the initiative to attack Zeng Yiben at the order of Mr. Zhao Er and lifted the siege of Chaozhou. Now that guy is relying on this great achievement, he is probably going to be even more arrogant.

Moreover, he heard from his family members in the province that the Governor was going to ask for a reward for Lin Daoqian's merits. How could he live like this? So this time, he must ask Gui Tongnian to come up with a set of rules to clearly tell him how to deal with Lin Daoqian in the future.

As for Liu Rugao, the magistrate of Raoping, he was left with only confusion and anxiety. In just one month, he had lost ten pounds and his complexion had become much worse. He felt like he was sitting on pins and needles, and his days were like years.

In stark contrast to Qin Shunhan who had made great contributions, he had severely offended this noble classmate...

When Mr. Zhao Er entered Chaozhou Prefecture from Fujian, his first stop was Raoping County under his jurisdiction. However, he closed the city gates and escaped through the city wall to meet Zhao Shouzheng.

Mr. Zhao asked him to borrow soldiers, but he refused to lend any due to opposition from the gentry. He just watched Mr. Zhao go to the capital.

Everyone thought Mr. Zhao was in trouble, but unexpectedly he defeated Zeng Yiben beautifully, won the battle to defend the city, and was promoted to acting prefect by the governor.

Moreover, I heard that the Zhongcheng also made it clear that as long as nothing went wrong, Zhao Shouzheng would continue to act as the prefect and no more prefects would be sent.

When Liu Rugao heard the news, his eyes went dark and he fainted.