Liu Che issued his first edict to all under heaven, calling for worthy talent. The Great Han currently used the recommendation system, chiefly relying on princes and lords, dukes and ministers to recommend officials who entered office directly. Another method selected people of good character from the various commanderies and kingdoms to enter the Imperial Academy as reserves for official service, from whom the emperor could select men for office at any time.
This was "examining and recommending outstanding gentlemen and people of noble character to fill the offices of government," or "examining exceptional talent, recommending the filial and incorruptible, honoring loyalty and righteousness, and advancing the way of benevolence." It was a modified recommendation system.
It was naturally less fair and advanced than the imperial examination system of later ages, but for this era, it was a very advanced institution.
Its advancement lay in having a system for assessing talent, one that included an assessment of character. The Luo Clan had some dissatisfaction with the principle of appointing people solely on talent.
This thinking had begun with Ji Zhao. People of the present always thought they had already witnessed moral depravity, but Ji Zhao had seen far more. A world without the restraints of morality and law was a world of chaos. Most terrifying of all was the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, which had simply been hell on earth.
If a country had only laws and no morality, countless people would exploit loopholes, then declare with righteous conviction, "This is legal. I am a law-abiding citizen."
The deeper one ventured into society, the more one discovered the importance of morality.
Why should rule by virtue take precedence, with rule of law as its complement? Because rule of law provided only a bottom line, while a society's prosperity