The grinding in Song Dynasty was very complicated, and civil servants were divided into "selecting candidates" and "officials from Beijing and North Korea". Candidates are the lowest class in the civil service, divided into four grades and seven orders. Officials in Beijing and North Korea are divided into "Beijing officials" and "officials promoted to North Korea". Those who are qualified to discuss state affairs in North Korea are called "officials promoted to the DPRK", and those below Secretary Lang are called "Beijing officials". Fan Zhongyan has a famous saying: "It is easy to transfer officials, and home-cooked meals are delicious." I have always been content with plain meaning. The regular transfer of officials refers to the process of selecting and promoting people step by step. Candidates have to go through three semesters and six exams, and they will be promoted to varying degrees. The term of office is three years, and the exam is taken once a year. This process is called endowment. From the selection of candidates to the promotion of Beijing officials, after the running-in period expires, someone will recommend them, and their ranks and positions must reach a certain level before they can be recommended. The process is roughly as follows: the recommender sends the resume of the candidate he recommended to Cao Nan in the civil service department. Cao Nan is an auxiliary body whose function is to review the resumes of candidates. If you think that the candidate meets the requirements, you can transfer, so that you can integrate your resume into a document and send it to Liu Neiquan of the official department at the next higher level. After examination, Liu Neiquan was indeed correct, so he sent it back, issued a certificate to the candidate, and then submitted it to Zhongshu Province for approval by the Prime Minister. This process is called "changing officials". Whether a candidate can change officials as he wishes and be promoted to Beijing official will determine his career, and the whole examination and approval procedure is extremely strict. In order to give full play to people's talents and master the power of personnel decision-making, the emperor often asked himself and answered questions on the issue of selecting and changing officials.
Officials in Beijing and North Korea are assessed by the official department and the official academy, which conducts a grinding survey every three years to evaluate the merits of their political achievements and whether they are at fault. After the examination, the Examiners' Institute will draw up corresponding appointment or transfer plans for people with different ranks and titles according to the vacancies in various departments, and then send them to the Central Secretariat and the Privy Council for approval. If there is no objection, it will be promoted and demoted according to the proposed scheme. "Everything except grant, first by the minister into the quasi, and then in the book, door two provinces, no difference, life word provincial trial grant. ("Song Hui Pharmaceutical Records Museum") "
The appointment and removal of senior officials and some key departments are examined and approved by the emperor himself, and the selection and recommendation of personnel are the responsibility of the Chinese Book Province and the Privy Council.
Although the grinding system is the same, the choice of officials in different periods is quite different. The most famous example is Liu Yong. Zhang Shunmin recorded in "Painting" that Liu Yong ranked first and then became a candidate. After three terms of six exams, the grinding test expired, but the promotion was stuck in the official department and refused to change the official position. The grinding in the Song Dynasty clearly stipulated the age, and anyone over 70 years old would no longer grind, and his career would end here. At this moment, Liu Yong is no longer young, and he also hopes that his political career can go further. When he was in a hurry, he went to Yan Shu, the prime minister at that time, complaining that the official department was unfair to him. Yan Shu asked, "Does Xian Jun compose music?" Liu Yong replied, "Like Xianggong, he also writes music." Yan Shu didn't buy it, saying, "Although I write songs, I don't write songs like' Pick a Line and Sit in Iraq'." Liu Yong excused himself.
This incident reflects the rigor of the grinding system in the Northern Song Dynasty. Liu Yong's reputation at that time was not very good. Although he is very talented, his behavior is unrestrained. It is precisely because of his shallow virtue that the official department has repeatedly stuck him in this important joint of changing officials. Yan Shu didn't misinterpret Liu Yong's words, but told him the reason implicitly.
At the end of the Southern Song Dynasty, Han Biaozhou, Jia Sidao and others served as prime ministers, taking bribes and perverting the law, and dominating the appointment of officials for one day. "Chen Ziqiang boy scouts, choose a prime minister in a few years. (Song Shi Han Ya Biography) "Chen Ziqiang entrusted Han Ya with power, and within a few years, he was promoted from a candidate to a prime minister. This miracle also makes the system of selecting officials become a dead letter and has no practical effect.