"Who is outside the door?" The prince accidentally raised his head and noticed the clerk wandering at the door, so he asked.
The clerk was just thinking about how to get in, when he suddenly heard the prince calling him, his legs went weak, and he hurriedly knelt on the ground and said: "Your Highness, I am the clerk of the Zhongshu Province, and I have something urgent to ask Prime Minister Su. I heard someone say something on the way and rushed over before the meeting started."
Su Zongshan also looked at him and frowned: "What happened?"
The clerk kowtowed and said, "I wanted to put the approved documents in the library, but I couldn't find the key. No one in the province was here, so I wanted to trouble you to go back and help me look for it."
"Isn't it placed well in the east room?" Su Zongshan couldn't help but smacked his lips and became annoyed.
"The villain does know, but I don't know which cabinet it is in..." The clerk raised his eyes slightly and looked at him timidly.
"Hey, why are you bothering me at this time? I shouldn't leave these things to you!" Su Zongshan couldn't scold him due to the inconvenience of the officials, so he had to flick his sleeves and glance at him coldly. At a glance, he left his job and reported to the prince. The prince knew that it was official business and there was no other reason for it, so he nodded in agreement, and then said: "Qing Su is returning to the capital on this trip, and he will stop by the Ministry of War on the way to see the situation of the Ministry of War." Su Zongshan agreed. After receiving his orders, he withdrew together with the clerk.
The two of them left the main hall and had already walked a distance. When they saw that they were far away, the secretary grabbed Zong Shan and invited him to a deserted place to talk. Su Zongshan suddenly felt something strange. After thinking for a moment, he approached the corner close to the palace wall.
"Sir," the clerk spoke softly, "Sir Ye just sent someone here and asked me to tell you a few words."
"Just say it." Su Zongshan was not surprised. He just rolled up his sleeves and looked serious and calm.
The clerk explained clearly how Cui Yi came to visit, how he pleaded with him, and how he was cleared of charges. Zongshan didn't miss a single word and thought about it slowly for a while.
"I thought," the clerk saw that he was speechless for a long time, and ventured to add, "such an exchange is really of no benefit. Ye Yongjia is not from Mr. Chen's group, who knows the details of the person he recommended? Then he will be the target of criticism. If you target us, you won't have any regrets. But I have to give Hu Langzhong some face, and I still need the Prime Minister to say it in person and make a clear attitude."
However, Su Zongshan felt that something was wrong and shook his head repeatedly: "If you say it, he has already negotiated with the Ministry of Industry and people from both sides have come to me to ask for help. How can I have the nerve to refuse? Besides, what happened with Hu Chonglian back then? , out of good intentions, asked me to share the money. Although it ended in nothing, this plan also cost him a lot of effort. If because of jealousy of Ye Yongjia's rise to power, everyone in the Ministry of Works would suffer in vain. The emperor turned his back on us for being guilty, so how can we, colleagues, meet each other? We should always put peace of mind first!"
The clerk smiled and said: "Master Su is indeed a broad-minded person. He only thinks about the harmony in the court, and the villain's realm is low. I will do it as ordered."
"It's getting late, so we must hurry up!" After saying this, the two said goodbye and went to the provincial capital for the clerk's office. Su Zongshan returned to the main hall and said, "Ye Yongjia's eyes are clear and he will come immediately." This made all the ministers feel at ease and wait patiently.
Cui Yi was not happy when the secretary said that Su Zongshan had agreed. He thanked him and hurriedly set off to the Ministry of War to report the news and urge Mr. Ye. Ye Yongjia glanced at the Western clock and it pointed firmly at the fourth quarter of the hour. He broke into a cold sweat, opened the door, called Cai Xianqing and left. He sent someone to the Ministry of Justice to inform Ming Huiguang and ordered him to follow. Enter the palace. Ming Huiguang didn't know that he had been recommended, and thought that Ye Yongjia had fainted, so he was uneasy. When he saw the people from the Ministry of War, he breathed a sigh of relief, and after asking for details, he went to the meeting with him.
"Your Majesty Ye Yongjia, see His Highness the Crown Prince!"
This loud shout suddenly came from the silent hall, which cheered up all the officials. They turned around and looked outside the hall - they saw Ye Yongjia walking up the steps, kneeling and kowtowing in front of the threshold.
The prince still sat in silence, staring at him quietly: "Ye Qing, why did you faint today?"
"Your Majesty," Ye Yongjia didn't dare to raise his head and looked straight at the ground, "Since I took on the role of two ministries, I was very tired from running the business. I didn't sleep deeply for two days and two nights, so I felt dizzy and passed out for a while. Fortunately, I didn't It’s nothing serious, but my body is still a little heavy.”
"Okay, thank you for your hard work."
While they were answering, Cai Xianqing came in again and kowtowed to the prince. The prince didn't ask him anything, but stood up and asked the two of them to stand in class.
"Come here!" Before anyone could play again, the prince raised his arm and started giving orders, "All the officials have arrived, you can close the palace door! Let's formally discuss the matter."
"Your Highness," Ye Yongjia said anxiously, "there is still Ming Huiguang, the Minister of Punishment, who has not yet arrived."
"Ming Huiguang?" The prince frowned, and the raised arm slowly fell down. "...This person seems to have a low official rank. He has never participated in court meetings, right?"
Ye Yongjia continued: "This person used to be a doctor in the Ministry of Justice. Cui Shilang died a few days ago, so he filled the vacancy and was temporarily appointed as a court official."
"Oh, it's not here anymore!"
While the prince was still deep in thought, he heard a group of people shouting. He quickly raised his head and saw an old-looking official walking into the palace and saluting.
"Are you Minghuiguang? How old are you?" the prince asked.
"The villain is thirty-four years old."
Many of the officials who didn't know him couldn't help but sneer when they heard him say this seriously. A few of them even murmured: "I think he is clearly sixty-four years old..."
"This old gentleman, it's really not easy to get a meritorious degree..."
The prince was also shocked, but he quickly put down his strange expression and waved his hand to let him enter the class.
This time everyone was really here. Several young eunuchs hurriedly closed the door. The ministers in the palace looked at the dragon chair and shouted "Long live" three times. It was just past the fifth hour of Shenshi.
"The previous court meeting was chaotic and unfinished. Now that I am in charge, you should be quieter." The prince turned his attention to Su Zongshan, the leader. "Prime Minister Su, since the court has eliminated the Liu thieves and understood the rules and regulations, you can You can speak freely. Does the Prime Minister have anyone to recommend?"
"Your Majesty..." Su Zongshan had just taken half a step forward, but suddenly he hesitated as if he was being pinned down. He looked at everyone's eyes first, and everyone looked dissatisfied. Then he walked to the middle and hesitated. Said: "I want to recommend a new person."
"Newcomer...which one?"
"I'm afraid..."
"You don't have to be secretive. If you have good advice, it's okay to say it."
"Then I said," Su Zongshan made up his mind and lowered his head this time, not daring to look at others, "I want to elect Ming Huiguang to participate in the politics of the capital province!"
