He slept too late the day before and was still tired from the journey. However, Zhao Junchen, as the Minister of Household Affairs and a third-rank official in the imperial court, still had to get up early the next day and go to the morning court in the dark night. (Please use the pinyin domain name of this site to visit us.)
On the way to the Meridian Gate, Zhao Junchen was sitting in a sedan chair, yawning constantly along the way, feeling aching in his back and feeling unbearably sleepy.
Looking at the dim sky outside the sedan, someone still needed to hold a lamp in front of the sedan to see the road clearly, Zhao Junchen frowned and asked outside the sedan: "Qingyan, what time is it now?"
"Go back to the young master, it's half past Yin hour now, there's still time, don't worry, we can get to the Meridian Gate before Yin hour."
Xu Qingyan's voice was also full of sleepiness and exhaustion.
Yin Shi, that is, from three to five o'clock in the morning, in late autumn, is when the night and cold are the heaviest.
Thinking that he had only slept for two hours, Zhao Junchen couldn't help but shook his head and sighed, with a look of helplessness on his face.
If Zhao Junchen is most dissatisfied after coming to this era, it is probably the early dynasty system.
According to the rules established by Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang, during the morning court, ministers need to get up at Chou hour (one o'clock in the morning) to prepare, walk through half of the capital, and arrive at the Meridian Gate before Yin hour (three o'clock in the morning) to wait. At Yin hour, drums are played on the Meridian Gate Tower, The ministers began to line up, and after an hour of long waiting, until at Mao hour (five o'clock in the morning), the bell rang, the Meridian Gate opened, the ministers lined up to enter the palace, and formed a queue in front of the Gate of Taihe, and then waited for another hour. Around the time when the incense sticks are burning, the emperor arrives at the Hall of Supreme Harmony, and the morning court will begin.
The most unacceptable thing is that after arriving at the Meridian Gate, the ministers were not allowed to even yawn, otherwise they would be recorded by the censor in charge of picketing and wait for the officials to deal with, let alone being late.
It can be seen that the entire morning court, from the preparation at Chou hour to the start of Mao hour, is the time when human body functions are the most sleepy of the day, and most of the time is wasted in waiting and forming the team, and the efficiency is extremely low.
Zhao Junchen really didn't understand what Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang was thinking when he formulated these rules, but he had no choice but to follow the rules set by his ancestors unconditionally.
However, during the reign of Emperor Deqing, official governance was relaxed, and the supervision of the early dynasty also began to gradually relax. For those high-ranking ministers in the DPRK, as long as they arrive at the Meridian Gate before it opens at Mao Shi, no one will say anything. The censor responsible for the inspection did not dare to put these ministers on record. Secondly, even if they dared to put them on record, after they were handed over to the Ministry of Personnel, the Ministry of Personnel would not dare to punish them severely, and most of them just muddle along.
Zhao Junchen is now the Minister of Household Affairs, in charge of the internal treasury, and is a member of the Holy Family. He is in a high position of power. Therefore, while ordinary ministers are suffering in pain in front of the Meridian Gate, Zhao Junchen can still rush towards the Meridian Gate slowly. Go, no one will say anything because of this, including Emperor Deqing.
However, despite this, Zhao Junchen was still dissatisfied. In his opinion, even if he got up at Yinshi and had a court meeting at Maoshi, it was still too early. During this time, people's heads were groggy, so how could they handle the court affairs well?
However, Zhao Junchen could only complain about this. This kind of thing was simply not something Zhao Junchen could change.
………
Amidst Zhao Junchen's helplessness and complaints, he hurriedly hurried and slowly arrived at the Meridian Gate before Mao o'clock.
When he got off the sedan, Zhao Junchen was surprised to find that compared with other important officials in the court, he had arrived relatively early.
At this time, many ministers of the court had gathered outside the Meridian Gate, but most of them were below the second rank, either without power or with no holy family members. The inspectors and censors were never merciful towards these people. They don't dare to be late.
"What a loss, I should sleep a little longer..."
Seeing the scene in front of the Meridian Gate, Zhao Junchen complained to Xu Qingyan next to him.
Xu Qingyan nodded in agreement.
Seeing Xu Qingyan's exhausted look, and thinking of riding in a sedan while Xu Qingyan used his legs on the way to Meridian Gate, Zhao Junchen couldn't help but feel a little soft-hearted and said: "Qingyan, it's still early before the next court, and you don't need to be here. Just wait, sit in the sedan chair and relax for a while."
Xu Qingyan was not polite and got into the sedan directly.
Seeing Xu Qingyan like this, Zhao Junchen shook his head helplessly, turned around and walked towards the Meridian Gate.
When passing by the Inspector Censor, Zhao Junchen yawned loudly, not intentionally, but he couldn't help it.
The inspector and censor didn't seem to see it. He didn't move the notebook in his hand at all. Instead, he smiled flatteringly at Zhao Junchen and bowed.
"Thanks for your hard work."
Zhao Junchen also nodded to the inspector censor and said softly.
Then, ignoring the stunned expression of the inspector and censor, Zhao Junchen moved forward towards where the courtiers gathered.
After seeing Zhao Junchen appear, the courtiers were afraid of Zhao Junchen's power and holy family, so they bowed to Zhao Junchen and said hello.
For a time, the voices of "I have met Mr. Zhao" came one after another.
However, although these officials greeted Zhao Junchen and showed their kindness, they were just doing it to save face. With Zhao Junchen's original arrogant and domineering character, no matter how attentive they were, it was enough for Zhao Junchen to nod to them. It’s very respectable.
However, to their surprise, Zhao Junchen was uncharacteristically different today. Faced with their greetings and overtures, he actually returned the greetings with a smile on his face and said: "My lords, you are really early. Junchen is late." Sorry, I haven’t seen you for two months, how are you doing these days?"
Just like the previous inspector and censor, everyone was shocked to see Zhao Junchen so approachable.
After a while, these people reacted one after another, either with surprise or joy, but their expressions were all the same. They gathered in front of Zhao Junchen one after another, rushing to reply. For a while, the solemn noon In front of the door, it became chaotic.
"Oh, Mr. Zhao, you are back from inspecting Lu'an Mansion? I didn't know this, otherwise I should have visited Mr. Zhao."
"I've met Minister Zhao. Minister Zhao has been working hard all the way."
"Oh, I have heard about what Mr. Zhao did in Lu'an Mansion this time. Under the supervision of Mr. Zhao, the locust plague in Lu'an was solved so quickly and quickly. It is a great achievement. After His Majesty learned about it, I’m afraid I’ll have to call you Shangshu Zhao in the future.”
Although they don’t know why Zhao Junchen is out of character, Zhao Junchen is rarely so approachable, which is a great opportunity for them to get closer to Zhao Junchen.
Zhao Junchen is in charge of the world's money and food, and he is favored by the Holy Spirit. Being able to have a good relationship with him will bring many benefits, needless to say.
After seeing the reactions of all the ministers, Zhao Junchen was also secretly happy.
As Zhao Junchen had guessed before, with his current position of power, it would have been easy for him to recruit party members in the court and form his own faction. However, the original Zhao Junchen was unwilling to share interests with others and had a domineering temper. In addition to having to win over some household ministers and Yuanwailang, the relationship with other court officials became increasingly cold. As a result, there were political enemies everywhere in the court, and there were countless people who were jealous and resentful of him.
However, as long as Zhao Junchen is willing to share the benefits, the officials who were originally jealous and resentful of him will immediately gather around him automatically, and his political enemies in the DPRK and China will not mind turning enemies into friends with him.
In a way, problems arising from interests are both the most difficult and the best to solve.
Isn’t this? Zhao Junchen only showed a slight kindness, and many ministers in the DPRK and China were eager to get closer to Zhao Junchen.
………
Surrounded by a group of courtiers, Zhao Junchen politely accepted everyone's compliments and looked around.
Then, he saw that the prince's party had already gathered, and they were surrounding the prince Zhu and Yu, all of them discussing something with each other with serious faces. When they saw Zhao Junchen's scenery and were surprised by Zhao Junchen's abnormal performance, they all had expressions of disdain and disdain on their faces, especially the prince Zhu Heyu, who looked at Zhao Junchen who looked like stars over the moon. It's black.
However, Zhao Junchen knew that the most abiding by the rules of the morning court in the whole court today were probably the Crown Prince Zhu Heyu and his party. Over the years, they always arrived at the Meridian Gate on time to wait for the start of the morning court.
However, except for the prince and his party, there were very few important ministers in the court outside the Meridian Gate at this time, and only Zhou Shangjing, the chief minister of the cabinet, remained.
At this time, Zhou Shangjing was also surrounded by courtiers, but they were much quieter.
The courtiers gathered around Zhou Shangjing, both in power and status, were higher and more important than those gathered around Zhao Junchen.
In fact, most of the court officials gathered around Zhao Junchen were not even qualified to speak in the court.
If the prince's party obeyed the rules of the morning court because they behaved themselves, then it was because of his cautious style that Zhou Shangjing was able to wait outside the Meridian Gate so early.
In fact, until three years ago, Zhou Shangjing, like the prince and his party, came to wait outside the Meridian Gate at Yin time every day. It was only in recent years that he got older, so he postponed the time. However, compared with other important officials of the imperial court, he also waited outside the Meridian Gate. You have to arrive much earlier.
Seeing Zhao Junchen staring at his position, Zhou Shangjing's old face also changed into a smile. After nodding to Zhao Junchen, he said something to the ministers around him, and then he was alone. Walking straight towards Zhao Junchen.
After seeing Zhou Shangjing arrive, all the officials around Zhao Junchen became quiet and bowed to Zhou Shangjing, looking much more respectful than when they treated Zhao Junchen before.
But Zhou Shangjing ignored them, just walked up to Zhao Junchen and said with a smile: "Young Minister Zhao has had a hard time on his trip to Lu'an Mansion. I wonder if you can talk to me alone?"
