The June weather in the capital was still very comfortable, with no catkins blowing due to the wind, only sunflowers slanting towards the sun! In early summer, Sijiu City no longer has the windy sand and annoying catkins of spring, nor the heat of the dog days.
The wind is beautiful and the sun is bright, the fruits are fragrant, and everything is green. This green is the kind of beauty between the tenderness of early spring and the greenness of midsummer!
Such weather made the people in the capital forget the hardships of their past lives and become a little more relaxed!
The common people were lazy, even the officials in the government offices were lazy. Just look at the soldiers on duty at the gate of the Prime Minister's Office in Dongcheng. Every one of them seemed to be falling asleep.
The huge Yamen is very quiet, and there is no noise like before!
Only a few scribes in the duty room were lazily drinking tea and chatting, and the topics they talked about were the secrets in the capital!
"Brother, how many of you are new here? You don't know the details at first glance. Brother, I entered the Prime Minister's Yamen Mansion as a post clerk in the twelfth year of Xianfeng's reign, and now I am a fifth-rank Zhangjing!"
A man with a rat beard is obviously the **** in the yamen, and the three newcomers across from him made him dazzled!
"Oh, brother, you are really a veteran. The Prime Minister's Yamen was only established in the 11th year of Xianfeng. You are a proper veteran!"
"Of course! I've become familiar with this Dongtangzi Hutong for ten years! How many decades does a person have? From the beginning of three courtyard houses to now, the area has more than tripled. When I bought the surrounding houses, All the errands are done by me!"
"Oh, my old brother is so powerful. This is definitely the prince's confidant! Otherwise, I can't give this job for money to outsiders!"
Mouse Beard curled his lips and said with great pride, "That's natural. Most princes don't look down on you. You have to be a really capable person!"
"Your Majesty! Tell us more, tell us the details of this yamen..."
The rat's beard couldn't talk in vain. He held his beard with his fingers and drank tea without saying a word. The three of them looked like newcomers and knew that they wouldn't be popular without some blood!
"Sir, brother... How about we live together at noon today? The three of us will pool our money to treat you! As you know, we have only been here for more than three months and we are tight on money!"
"But you are eating with our respectful and filial heart! You will never find fault with us because of the food, hahaha!"
Your Excellency smiled, "Oh, just by talking to you, I know that you will be able to do well in the future! Of course the restaurant is mediocre, and I will definitely not like you, but you know how to talk!"
"I know how to praise people with high hats and win people's hearts. This is my ability... Listen to you two, this is what you call someone who knows how to do things!"
"If you really want to work in the yamen, you have to learn like this...it's obviously only three taels of silver for a table, but you have to express your love for ten taels of silver with your mouth!"
"You said that this kid is so good at talking. Even if he treats me for one tael of silver, I still have to accept his wishes for ten taels! Right? Learn from me. This is called being able to spend money. Even if you spend a small amount of money, you can accomplish big things. Son!"
The other two didn't dare to refute, they could only smile and nod to accommodate, but they started to complain in their stomachs. "My wife and children's rice jars have all gone to the bottom. They sold their fields in their hometown and collected more than 200 taels of silver. They bought it with money." Such a scribe's position! '
'The current salary of five silver dollars per month is just enough for the family's food, drink and rent. How can I have the money to hire an old dog like you? '
'But it's not enough to be unclear. If I piss you off, you will have small shoes to wear in the future! '
'If it weren't for the fact that the bosses who we live with are from the same hometown and can get credit, we might not even be able to afford the money for the two meat shops! '
They cursed in their stomachs but couldn't show it on their faces, and they had to look particularly happy. They knew that if they wanted to do well in a yamen, they had to pay tuition first.
Then the daughter-in-law becomes a mother-in-law, and the days of making money are behind her!
Mousebeard extorted a meal at noon, and the conversation started!
"Do you know whose mansion this Prime Minister's Yamen used to be?"
I don’t know, the three of them shook their heads!
"I don't think you know that it was the old house of the great scholar Seshang'a! But later the court took it back! Do you know who Seshang'a is?"
"Don't know? I think you don't know either, that is the only Bannerman champion today! Lord Chongqi!"
"Ouch! It turns out this is Master Chongqi's old house. I heard that his daughter is going to be the queen!"
"What do you mean by hearsay? The palace has made a decision. Originally, the Queen Mother of the West was not willing to choose Chongqi's daughter, but there was no way. Her Majesty and the Queen Mother of the East jointly decided to choose Chongqi's daughter to be the queen!"
"That is to say, the Prime Minister's Yamen was once the old residence of the current queen's family... but it was later taken back by the court because of a conviction, and then it became today's Prime Minister's Yamen!"
This city of Sijiu is full of nets. Big families are ensnaring small families. Even this house is full of stories!
Mouse Beard told these people how Saishang'a was defeated in the Changmao War and was convicted, how he was later resurrected, how his son passed the exam, and how his daughter was finally selected as the queen.
How many family secrets have been dug out from this spit!
Two pots of white porcelain teapots had been consumed, and three waves of people came to deliver official documents. None of them were urgent matters. The four brothers simply did nothing but chat, drink tea and brag.
The curtain opened, and an errand boy walked in with a low eyebrow and saluted politely, "Good morning, gentlemen! This is the report that the Ministry of Etiquette asked me to send..."
"Put it there!" Mouse Beard waved his hand and asked the clerk to go out.
One of the three people raised his hand to open it, but your master shook his head, "There is nothing important in the Ministry of Rites, so just leave it alone!"
"I guess there was a complaint from one of the prefectures down there, saying that foreign churches had occupied too many people's land, and the people wanted to file a lawsuit... The local officials didn't dare to take care of it, so they went to the Ministry of Rites to express their grievances!"
"Can the Ministry of Rites take care of foreigners? I don't dare to. We can only send the report to our Prime Minister's Yamen, and finally let the prince negotiate with the foreign ambassador!"
"The Ministry of Rites basically contains these official documents. Our Prime Minister's Office only has business dealings with them. They are not important... So remember, don't worry about the official documents of the Ministry of Rites. Just save them for half a month and then read them all together!"
ah! The three of them suddenly realized it, and they thought that the three taels of lunch at noon were well spent, and they really learned a lot!
After a while, the clerk from the Ministry of War also sent a bunch of approval documents. Now the three clerks who were listening to the excitement did not dare to neglect, "Oh... The Ministry of War has already sent documents. There must be something important, or something." Take a quick look!"
"Put it there... Why are you so anxious?" He said with a calm expression like a rat's beard.
Everyone didn't understand and asked, "Brother, this Ministry of War is a major military matter! Shouldn't we deal with it urgently?"
"Shit! You guys just have no experience! Study hard! What kind of yamen are we? The Prime Minister's Office for International Affairs! The foreign devils call this the Ministry of Foreign Affairs!"
"What we deal with are matters between various countries and foreign devils. All ministries must come to us if they need to communicate with foreigners!"
"They are too timid to challenge the foreign devils. Why don't they let our prince come forward in the end?"
"Ministry of War? What matters does the Ministry of War have that we need to negotiate with the foreigners? It's such a big deal! I guess there is a conflict between the soldiers on the Shanghai Road and the foreign patrols!"
"Either there is friction between the ports in Hong Kong and Macau and the foreigners!"
"The bottom line is that our soldiers have been bullied by foreigners, so we are allowed to vent our anger!"
Upon hearing this, the three newcomers' eyes immediately stood up, "This foreign devil is so bullying? Then why don't we negotiate? We have to let the prince come forward to fight the foreign devil!"
