After the court was dismissed, Fang Yun returned to the Zuo Xiang Pavilion still looking sick.
A group of officials from the Left Prime Minister's Office immediately came out to greet him, even more enthusiastically than before.
Fang Yun had not been to the Zuo Xiang Pavilion for several days. Although he also handled matters by letter, there were still omissions. So he asked people about the affairs of the Zuo Xiang Pavilion one after another.
There are basically two types of officials in the Zuo Xiang Cabinet. One type has a strong background, and coming to the Zuo Xiang Cabinet is like gilding.
As long as it does not involve factional disputes, the experience of serving in the Left Prime Minister's Cabinet will become one of the important factors for promotion.
The other type is capable officials like Li Zhixiao or Xu Changgeng who are involved with the Left Prime Minister. They do not have any big forces behind them, but their relationship with the Left Prime Minister is not particularly close. They are needed to maintain the operation of the Left Prime Minister's Cabinet to avoid problems in the highest bureaucratic institution of Jing State.
If nothing unexpected happens, these people would be assigned to those low-paying government offices to live out their retirement in three to five years at most. However, the appearance of Fang Yun saved them.
Those with strong backers were at best relatives of the empress dowager or children of aristocratic families, which were nothing compared to ordinary Confucian scholars of the fourth realm, not to mention Fang Yun, a virtual saint. Therefore, they were more cautious than anyone else, because if they offended Fang Yun, their fate would be worse than that of ordinary officials.
Ordinary officials would at most lose their official positions and could go anywhere in the world, but once they were punished by Fang Yun, in order to avoid angering Fang Yun, their backers would inevitably abandon them temporarily, causing them to lose their originally excellent treatment. Perhaps after many years when the limelight has passed, those backers would compensate them, but it would be of little use.
As for people like Li Zhixiao or Xu Changgeng who had no roots, they were even more devoted to Fang Yun because they saw the hope of joining Fang's party.
Whatever the future holds for the Square Party, even if they are like the Left Party today, they can only grasp this lifeline.
What's more, the benefits of joining the Fang Party are too tempting.
Just a few days ago, a story was circulating throughout the Shengyuan Continent that more than 30% of the Xiangzhou officials and other friends who participated in Fang Yun’s dinner had made breakthroughs recently, either in their literary rank, literary talent, calligraphy, painting, etc.
Joining the Fang Party has become almost the fastest way to success at present, and it is even much better than joining a noble family.
Among those who can serve in the Left Prime Minister's Cabinet, there are honest and kind people, but there can never be a fool.
Therefore, after learning about the affairs of the Left Prime Minister's Pavilion these days, Fang Yun felt boring. This was completely different from the situation in Ning'an County and Xiangzhou. When he was the county magistrate or governor in those two places, there were officials who kept jumping out to challenge his authority, while the officials of the Left Prime Minister's Pavilion were more dutiful than each other.
Fang Yun finally shook his head.
"Either he's timid or he's just an experienced person, that's all."
Fang Yun smiled, but he knew in his heart that his position in Jing Country was becoming more and more stable.
But that alone is not enough.
Throwing out the cabinet centralization system too early will inevitably alert the royal family, but this is the correct and kingly way.
As the head of all officials, using so-called strategies and conspiracies is already a low standard. Only by using upright and fair methods can the problem be solved cleanly and efficiently. Otherwise, if the conspiracy succeeds, it will be difficult to convince people and there will inevitably be endless troubles.
Exposing your purpose in advance will offend people, but it can also win over like-minded people and even neutral forces.
For example, Wei Xu, the Minister of Rites, did not attack Fang Yun when he was down and did not flatter him when he was the only one in power in the court. This is commendable. Such people can definitely play a huge role if they can be won over a little and do not become members of the royal family.
Next, Fang Yun began to work closely with officials from the Left Prime Minister's Cabinet to draft a detailed draft of the reform of the Ministry of Personnel's assessment system, with the core of benefiting the people.
After the plan was drawn up, Fang Yun ordered people to copy it in several copies and distribute it to the Empress Dowager, the Right Prime Minister's Office, the Assistant Prime Minister's Office, the Literary Prime Minister's Office, and the capital's institutions headed by the Six Ministries. It was then copied to all cabinet councilors, asking all those who were affected by the reform plan to give their opinions and suggestions, which would be included in the evaluation of the Ministry of Personnel.
In the history of the human race, there has never been such an open and fair approach in each generation, which has greatly improved the officials' perception of the other party's luck.
Because the officials anticipated that even if all parties had allowed Fang Yun to reform, no matter what plan Fang Yun came up with, it would inevitably lead to verbal battles and bloodshed in the court meeting. Without fierce court struggles, it would be impossible to truly implement it.
Fang Yun avoided this possibility and openly solicited opinions and suggestions in a manner that was most respectful to all parties. After receiving feedback, the Left Prime Minister's Cabinet would inevitably make changes based on the suggestions of all parties, and only then would it be brought up for discussion at the court meeting.
By then, except for a few places that may cause controversy, most of the content will have been tacitly agreed upon by all parties, the possibility of passage will be greatly increased, and once implemented, the efficiency will be terrifyingly high.
It can even be said that as long as the fundamental interests of all parties are not touched, they don't care how Fang Yun reforms. They need face and a way out more. Now, Fang Yun has given them face and a way out. As long as they compromise with each other, there will be no obstacles to the reform of the Ministry of Personnel.
After all, Fang Yun was the left prime minister and should have absolute control over the Ministry of Personnel.
At the beginning, Fang Yun proposed a cabinet centralization system, which would gradually disperse power to the cabinet, cabinet councilors and cabinet assistants. Many officials did not believe it because such a thing had never actually happened in all dynasties.
But now, many officials see light.
Now Fang Yun is using the draft to solicit opinions from all parties, so the next step may be for all parties to vote.
In the imperial study, the Empress Dowager and Jing Jun sat together. On the table in front of them was Fang Yun's trial draft of the Ministry of Personnel's assessment reform. Opposite them sat the Minister of Rites Sheng Boyuan.
"Lord Sheng, what do you think of this... well, let's call it Fang Yun's way, what do you think of this draft?"
Sheng Boyuan sighed and said, "I dare not hide it. Fang Yun is a talent that will never appear again. I have read this draft over and over again, and I have to admit that Fang Yun is indeed a good minister. Apart from other things, this system of accountability is like a big hand clamping the throat of officials. Moreover, he completely gave up the power of the Ministry of Personnel to hold officials accountable, and handed it over to the Supervisory Council to take the lead. The Ministry of Personnel is only responsible for assessing demotions, demotions, transfers, and determining the number of years that cannot be promoted. If nothing unexpected happens, the Supervisory Council will gradually side with Fang Yun."
"By strengthening the authority of the Supervisory Council, is Fang Yun trying to take advantage of the opportunity to control the Supervisory Council and gain the power to supervise all officials, even more than Liu Shan?" asked the Queen Mother.
Sheng Boyuan hesitated for a moment and said, "There are two possibilities for this matter. One is that Fang Yun is paving the way for power, as you said. The other possibility is that Fang Yun is simply carrying out reforms, because, in a way, holding officials accountable is a good thing. Moreover, this reform has existed since ancient times, it is just made public and institutionalized, and there is no major change in essence."
The Queen Mother snorted coldly, and Sheng Boyuan remained silent.
Both of them knew very well that this accountability system was itself a seizure of royal power.
Before this system was established, if the monarch was unhappy, he could find any excuse to demote the officials who made mistakes, and even demote them again and again. If he was happy, he could find any excuse to reinstate the officials, and they would be reinstated quickly.