kvmb Chapter 566 The Pursuit of Ideals
Chapter 566 The Pursuit of Ideals
Li Mingyuan's political achievements are beyond doubt. His governance of Taicang County not only brought a better life to the people of Taicang County, but also increased the taxes paid to the imperial court.
Under normal circumstances, with such outstanding political achievements, Li Mingyuan should have been promoted quickly, but...
Still the same problem.
Li Mingyuan had no background and came from a peasant family. He had no support in the court and no one spoke up for him. Therefore, no matter how good Li Mingyuan's political achievements were, his promotion speed was still extremely slow.
Li Mingyuan held the position of magistrate of Taiping County for ten years, and the position of prefect of Taicang Prefecture for a full eight years!
Eight years passed before Li Mingyuan was promoted, transferred from Taicang County to the prefectural city, and his official rank was raised to the fourth grade.
After that, Li Mingyuan's official position kept changing; he was transferred from Qingzhou to Liangzhou, and then from Liangzhou to Yuezhou...
Finally, he took up the position of Prefect of Yuezhou, a position known as a powerful regional official.
At this time, Li Mingyuan was already 50 years old, and even the little beggar Li Qiao who used to be by his side had grown from a sallow-faced and thin child into a spirited young man.
Li Mingyuan, now over 50, may not have the energy he once had, but his ideals have not been extinguished and his ambitions have never changed. He still maintains his simple lifestyle and does his best to help people live a better life.
Over the years, wherever Li Mingyuan had governed, the lives of the people had generally improved. Yuezhou was no exception. Under the governance of Prefect Li Mingyuan, the lives of the people of Yuezhou were getting better day by day. However... before the people could even recover from this, Li Mingyuan was transferred away...
As for where Li Mingyuan went...
In the second year of Li Mingyuan's tenure as the prefect of Yuezhou, a new emperor ascended the throne. The newly enthroned emperor naturally wanted to achieve something, so he took notice of Li Mingyuan's outstanding political achievements and issued a transfer order to move Li Mingyuan from Yuezhou to the capital. He also personally met with Li Mingyuan to listen to his governing philosophy and ideas.
The conversation between the two sides lasted for two hours. The new emperor was very satisfied with Li Mingyuan and, after the conversation, directly appointed Li Mingyuan as the Minister of Personnel.
Li Mingyuan was naturally pleased with this outcome. Having served as an official for many years, he knew very well that those who caused the most harm to the people were always the corrupt and incompetent officials.
The Ministry of Personnel was precisely the department responsible for the promotion, evaluation, appointment, and removal of officials.
As Minister of Personnel, he can effectively punish incompetent and corrupt officials!
After taking office as Minister of Personnel, Li Mingyuan began to make great strides. He formulated strict evaluation standards for officials and made strict requirements on their conduct and performance. Officials with poor evaluation results were fined or even dismissed.
Thanks to Li Mingyuan's efforts, the atmosphere of the officialdom in the entire Xia Kingdom changed dramatically. Corrupt officials became more restrained, and even those who were idle and inactive became more diligent, fearing that they would be fined or lose their positions.
Seeing that the situation in the officialdom was very good, the emperor was increasingly satisfied with Li Mingyuan. So, in the third year after Li Mingyuan became Minister of Personnel, the emperor directly overruled the objections and granted Li Mingyuan the position of prime minister!
This move undoubtedly caused a huge stir in the capital.
For over two hundred years since the founding of the Xia Kingdom, except for the early years, all the prime ministers were from prominent families. Li Mingyuan was the only prime minister who came from a farming family!
The powerful and influential people in the capital were undoubtedly extremely dissatisfied with this, but the emperor had made up his mind, and they could only watch helplessly as Li Mingyuan ascended to the position of prime minister.
Li Mingyuan, who had suddenly been appointed prime minister, did not become arrogant or complacent. Instead, he became even more cautious.
With great power comes great responsibility. The prime minister was arguably the second most powerful person in the Xia Kingdom, second only to the emperor. Once he took this position, the responsibilities on his shoulders became even greater!
However, Li Mingyuan was not afraid at all because of this; on the contrary, he became even more excited.
In his first year in office, he took the first step in addressing the most serious problems in the Xia Kingdom's civil service examination system.
Li Mingyuan had realized the problems with the imperial examination system long ago.
The seemingly fair imperial examination system was actually riddled with problems. The chief examiners of each imperial examination were almost all from powerful families in the capital, which made it extremely difficult for students from poor families to be admitted. Even if a student with exceptional talent passed the examination, he would be assigned to a remote place to serve as an official under the arrangement of the powerful family, far away from the capital and the center of power.
This situation was clearly abnormal. Therefore, in his first year as prime minister, Li Mingyuan personally served as the chief examiner in order to create a fairer environment for the imperial examinations.
Unsurprisingly, after Li Mingyuan personally took on the role of chief examiner, the admission rate for students from impoverished backgrounds increased significantly. Many students from these backgrounds were extremely grateful to Li Mingyuan and wished they could kowtow to him several times.
"Prime Minister Li is truly an upright and just official! If it weren't for Prime Minister Li taking charge of the examination, we poor scholars would never have had a chance to rise in the world."
On the day of the admission, a candidate who was nearly forty years old made such a cry. He had been taking the imperial examination for twenty years, but because of his ordinary background, even though he performed extremely well in every exam, he failed every time.
Fortunately, just when he was about to despair, Li Mingyuan appeared and helped him successfully make it onto the list.
"Hahaha! I passed the exam! I finally passed! After thirty years of studying, I finally passed! Thank you, Prime Minister Li!"
"Thank you, Prime Minister Li!"
"Li Xiang is my second parent!!!"
"..."
On this day, countless students from impoverished families wept with joy, their emotions bordering on ecstasy.
It's hard for ordinary people to understand their feelings at this moment. They've studied hard for decades, only to find out that they come from an ordinary background and have no chance of changing their fate through education. The disappointment of working hard for decades but getting no reward is enough to drive a person crazy.
Fortunately, just when you think you've reached a dead end, a new path opens up before you.
Just when they were in despair, Li Mingyuan appeared and gave them a fair competitive environment, allowing them to realize their dreams of studying and becoming officials!
In a corner unseen by these students from impoverished backgrounds, Li Mingyuan watched these students weeping with joy from afar, a smile playing on his lips.
He did not give these students from poor families preferential treatment, but treated them equally and provided them with a fair competitive environment. As it turned out, these students from poor families were no worse than those scholars from wealthy families. The reason they failed the exams was never because they were not talented, but simply because they did not have a good family background.
Now, with the fair competitive environment provided by Li Mingyuan, these students from impoverished backgrounds have finally succeeded in the exams and realized the ideals they have pursued for decades.