The instant Zhong Hui spoke, Cao Mao also realized what he wanted to do.
No wonder he had encouraged Zheng Mao and Chen Qian to take on more work earlier.
He disdained petty skirmishes altogether. He wanted to make a big move outright.
Standardizing the appointment and transfer of officials seemed to limit the emperor's power, but in reality, there was tremendous scope for action here.
This was very much in keeping with Zhong Hui's usual style.
Zhong Hui liked doing things whose benefits and drawbacks were evenly matched-reckless, dangerous things.
This placed restrictions on control over personnel. The emperor could no longer make appointments at will; candidates had to be assessed first, and the assessors would probably still be officials. From this perspective, it meant letting the officials control personnel appointments and making the emperor withdraw.
The drawbacks were enormous. If the Great Clans were responsible for these assessments, Great Wei would likely face serious trouble.
But if they could keep building on this measure, its effects would be equally enormous. It could improve Great Wei's increasingly absurd administration of officials in a single stroke.
The officials of our Great Wei were an utterly mind-blowing bunch even when measured against every dynasty in history. Whatever outrageous thing you could name, someone among them did it. In sheer bizarre behavior, they ranked below only those absurdly behaved princes of the early Han and the later Gao Family.
The Gao Family was merely one family of lunatics, whereas among Great Wei's officials, who treated powder consumption as fashionable, whole batches went mad after taking it.
If he could overhaul the administration of officials on a broad scale and replace those fools scattered throughout Great Wei, it would be worthwhile.
Though it would still mean replacing one great clan with another, reasonably