In the court hall, before Ying Feiyu arrived, the ministers all took out pens and papers and were recording each other's phone numbers.
Some signed up late, installed a little later, and are now giving their phone numbers to others.
"Marquis Tongwu, I heard that you have four or five telephones installed in your home?"
A general looked enviously.
"That's right! I have one, my father at home has one, and I have given one to Wang Li. There is also another one placed in the main hall for everyone to use!"
Wang Ben puffed out his chest and nodded proudly.
"The ministers are still awesome! Although the installation fee has been reduced now, we still have to pay fifty gold every month. Four phones are two hundred gold, which is more than our annual salary. We can't afford it!"
"Yeah! It's so hard for us to install even one phone, let alone four or five. Don't even think about it!"
The two ministers around him also started to praise him.
Unlike Wang Ben and others, they were the first batch to join His Majesty in doing business, and their monthly dividends flowed into the government like running water.
The electricity and railways they invested in were long-term transactions, and the initial shares they invested were not large, so the money they received every month was not much, so the spending was naturally not so generous!
At first, Wang Bi and Zhang Han only installed one phone. When they learned that the installation fee was only fifty gold, they immediately signed up to install a few more phones to make them look more popular.
As expected, he received envious looks from many courtiers!
"Marquis Tongwu, in the past few days, I have seen that the business of the public telephone shops in the city is getting better and better day by day, and people have started to queue up recently!"
"Yes! At the beginning, no one knew each other's phone number, but now everyone knows it, and business will naturally pick up!"
"At this rate, within a few days, the team will be lining up on the street!"
"Yeah! That's almost it!"
"Fortunately, everyone is very quick on the phone, and the next person in line can be found in a few minutes..."
Telephones have become the hottest topic not only among the people, but also in the court.
Until the morning session started, everyone was talking about the same topic!
Today at the court, most of the reports were about the political achievements of various places, the people's grain harvest this year, how it compared with previous years, etc. There was nothing nutritious.
The only slightly bigger event is that Wang Ben will retire next month and they will discuss the candidate for the next Minister of War!
In fact, everyone knows that this position must be taken over by Han Xin, the current minister of the Ministry of Justice.
Han Xin is His Majesty's confidant, and at the same time he is fighting in all directions for the Qin Dynasty and cleaning up overseas affairs. The position of Minister of War must belong to him.
However, the procedures that need to be followed still need to be followed.
The courtiers recommended Han Xin one after another, so Ying Feiyu announced in public that Han Xin would take over as Minister of War.
The handover begins now and will be completed within a month. Wang Ben will retire and Han Xin will take office!
After the court, there was a sound of congratulations in the court hall.
In addition to congratulating Han Xin on his promotion to Minister of War, he also congratulated Wang Bi.
The daughter of the family became the queen, and the son also held a high position in the court. It would not take a few years for him to sit in the position of minister.
After he retires, he doesn't have to go to court early, and he still has a pension, and his comfortable life will begin soon!
"I really envy you, Marquis Tongwu. You have reached the pinnacle of your life now! Unlike us, we have to work harder for our son's future!"
"Yes! My son is not up to par. He has no hope of entering the court. The whole family depends on me to support him!"
"That's right, we are not as lucky as Tong Wuhou...!"
What the ministers envied most was Wang Ben's ability to climb His Majesty's big tree.
Now my children are well-off, I don’t have to go to court after retirement, and I have endless money on hand. Life is really beautiful and enviable!
"Alas! What's the good thing about retirement? It's boring to stay at home every day when you're old!"
Wang Ben waved his hands modestly, but he was actually very beautiful in his heart.
"Marquis Tongwu has been on the battlefield all his life. He is rich in experience and has made great contributions to the Qin Dynasty. If not, His Majesty will hire you back to train those young generals! Then the life of Marquis Tongwu will become lively!"
"Yes! If Marquis Tongwu feels bored after retirement, we will definitely recommend you to be hired back if we have the opportunity!"
"Yep……!"
The ministers didn't know his true thoughts and thought he was really bored, so they immediately asked for re-employment.
However, Wang Ben quickly waved his hand, "No, no, no! I have suffered a lot of illnesses just because I have been on the battlefield all my life. I'm afraid I won't be able to re-employ. I'll take good care of myself while I retire and go back home! Oops! My waist is like this , it started to hurt right after I said it hurt! Ouch...!"
As he spoke, he supported the old man's waist and left the palace pretending to be in great pain, leaving everyone else stunned.
After leaving the palace, I jumped in the car and immediately changed my appearance.
My waist no longer hurts, and the painful expression on my face is gone. I muttered to myself, "You still want me to re-employ you? Come on, do I miss the two dollars? They are all hot weapons now, and What can be trained? Just bulldoze it all the way! Wouldn’t it be good for me to lie down at home during that time?”
After shaking his head, he drove the car and drove away.
In the month before his retirement, he still has to continue his morning pilgrimage! After leaving the court, he went to the Ministry of War to hand over to Han Xin.
It was said to be a handover, but in fact it was nothing.
After Han Xin became the Minister of War, many matters were left to him to deal with, and only those that were uncertain were discussed together.
As long as you explain some things casually, the handover will be completed!
After hanging around casually for a month, Wang Ben officially retired.
"Dad, from now on we will play chess and boxing at home. It's very comfortable, haha!"
After officially retiring and taking off his court uniform, Wang Bi happily said to me, Wang Jian.
"Humph! After serving in office all your life, and suddenly retiring, you will definitely feel empty in your heart!"
Wang Jian was playing chess alone, and after losing a piece, he said with emotion.
He has experienced what his son is going through now. How could he not understand?
"Impossible! Dad! I am different from you back then! Our family now wants money and status. Wouldn't it be better for me to enjoy the blessings at home? Why do I have to get up before dawn every day and go to court early?"
Wang Ben said unconvinced.
"Hmph! Just wait and see! It will only be fresh for a few days!"
Wang Jian smiled confidently.
The fact was just as he expected, Wang Ben woke up every Yin hour for several days in a row, got up and went to court early.
It wasn't until I couldn't find my official uniform anywhere that I remembered that I had retired!
What I usually look forward to most is to go home, have a good meal and take a nap after the next morning.
No one cares about it now. He can eat whenever he wants and sleep whenever he wants.
On the contrary, I find it boring!
I used to hope that the Ministry of War would be fine and be able to go around.
Now he can go out at any time, but he feels that there is no point in going out without knowing where to go!
It seems that the little time I squeezed out used to make me happier, but now that I have a lot of time, I feel that life is no longer interesting!
"How's it going? Is your father right?"
Seeing that his son was unhappy all day, Wang Jian stroked his beard and said.
"well!"
Wang Ben only sighed deeply and said nothing.
"Don't worry, this is also temporary! After you adapt to it in a few days, you will get used to it...!"
Wang Jian said with a smile: "Zhang Han and Meng Tian are both very old. Shouldn't they both retire one after another next year? And that boy Chun Yuyue, who has been busy all day, should be around soon, right? Among you people, too As long as Kang Anping is younger, there will be no problem in working for another seven or eight years!"
"Yes! It's time for Zhang Han and Meng Tian to retire next year. Then we can drink and play chess together. If we're really bored, we can even go out together!"
After hearing this, Wang Ben's eyes suddenly lit up.
Zhang Han is only a few months younger than him and will retire next spring, so he will have a companion by then!
