Shen Tang was puzzled. "You can check someone's family background through their registered home and Clan Genealogy, and their Literary Heart rank through their Literary Heart Sigil. You can test their 'abilities' with an exam, but 'character' is far too subjective. Everyone's values differ a little, and the same person doing the same thing might be judged in completely opposite ways by different people. I can't think of any assessment that could measure something like that..."
There were serious problems with this selection method.
The "character" requirement was clearly there to leave room for exploitation.
"Abilities" depended on a person's own strength, but "character" depended on the examiners.
They might wave the banner of "fairness and justice," but the people carrying it out weren't saints. As long as they weren't flawless, someone could exploit the system. If there was something to gain, who wouldn't favor their own people?
Bound by blood ties and united through working together, small cliques would naturally grow larger and larger, their footing in court becoming ever more secure.
The human heart was greedy, and desire could grow without limit.
The higher one's position and the greater one's power, the more one craved. It started with "just let me enter officialdom," then evolved into "just let me rise a little higher," then "just let me become the highest-ranking minister," and finally "let my descendants enjoy endless wealth." Their appetites would only grow.
Just imagining the scene made Shen Tang feel the court was doomed.
And sure enough, Xin Country fell.
Qi Shan said, "There is a road through Book Mountain, and diligence is the path; the sea of Learning is boundless, and toil is the boat. Young Master Shen must be very familiar with this saying."
Shen Tang nodded.
Of course she was familiar with it.