Seeing what this man did, Zhao Junchen was also stunned. (lingdiankanshu)
Zuo Lanshan, Gu Quan and others who were sitting with Zhao Junchen also had dissatisfied faces.
Among them, Zuo Lanshan and Zhan Shanchang showed the most obvious performance.
Leading the officials to toast Zhao Junchen seems to be an ordinary thing, but it also depends on seniority. Among the officials present, Zuo Lanshan has the highest official position, and Zhan Shanchang has been with Zhao Junchen for the longest time. Such an action should have been done by Zuo Lanshan or Zhan Shan often takes charge.
However, Zhao Junchen had not spoken just now, nor had he announced the opening of the banquet. Zuo Lanshan and Zhan Shanchang were wary of each other and did not rush to speak. However, they did not expect that someone would be jealous of Jiang Qian's treatment in order to please Zhao Junchen. , in order to attract the attention of Zhao Junchen, he actually gave a toast first!
As a result, one can imagine the embarrassment and annoyance felt by Zuo Lanshan and Zhan Shanchang.
There is nothing trivial in officialdom, and if you make the slightest mistake, you will offend others without realizing it. Looking at the man in front of him without realizing it, Zhao Junchen couldn't help but wonder how this person has gained a foothold in the officialdom over the years.
"I wonder who this colleague is?..." Zhao Junchen did not stand up, but looked confused and asked in a long voice.
At this time, seeing no one responding, this man was a little embarrassed, but when he heard Zhao Junchen's inquiry, he was flattered, and with a flattering look on his face, he said repeatedly: "I have met Lord Shangshu in Shuntian Prefecture, Zhong Wei Ping."
Zhao Junchen nodded with a smile, raised his glass, and after a brief gesture to Wei Ping, took a sip and settled the matter.
Although he didn't like Wei Ping's tendency to steal the limelight and be unruly, Zhao Junchen didn't express much in front of everyone.
Looking at Wei Ping, seeing Zhao Junchen's expression, he was even more happy. Not only did he drink the wine in one gulp, but he also looked around after sitting down, which seemed quite interesting.
Seeing Wei Ping's appearance, Zhao Junchen chuckled softly to the officials at the table: "This Lord Wei Ping is quite straightforward and interesting."
Li Lide, the Minister of Criminal Affairs, had just joined Zhao Junchen. He wanted to close the relationship and was most familiar with Shuntian Mansion, so he explained with a soft smile: "Wei Ping's father, Wei Ran, was originally a classmate of the Chief Assistant. Counting this, Wei Pingyuan First of all, he can be regarded as the chief assistant. The chief assistant cares about his father and has given him a lot of support in the early years. However, this Wei Ping has some abilities, otherwise he would not have climbed to the position of ruling the Shuntian Prefecture. , but he had no regard for the overall situation, and often acted jealous of his colleagues, so he gradually became unpopular with the Chief Assistant. It is said that the Chief Assistant has been unwilling to see him over the years. I am afraid that because of this, Wei Ping has become a living person. I’m thinking of changing my appearance.”
Zhao Junchen frowned slightly and said slowly: "So, this Wei Ping is still nominally the disciple of Lord Chief Assistant?"
Li Lide nodded and said: "That's it. Although he is not valued by the Chief Assistant, the Chief Assistant cares about the old relationship, but he does not deliberately exclude him. He just no longer reuses and promotes him. Otherwise, it will be based on his ignorance of advancement and retreat. How can Xingzi continue to sit firmly in the position of the ruler of Shuntian Mansion?"
Hearing what Li Lide said, Zhao Junchen smiled and shook his head slightly.
Judging from Wei Ping's previous behavior of grabbing the limelight, Zhao Junchen has seen many bad qualities. His disregard for the overall situation and jealousy of his colleagues are also obvious. It is natural that he is not taken seriously by Zhou Shangjing's group.
Thinking like this, Zhao Junchen said to everyone at the table: "No less than your lords, I have been focusing on taking care of the household department before, and I don't know much about other officials in the court. Today's banquet, on the occasion of dealing with it, please Colleagues, please give me some pointers."
Hearing what Zhao Junchen said, Zuo Lanshan, Zhan Shanchang and others did not even dare to say so, but they already understood what Zhao Junchen meant.
Zhao Junchen held this banquet. In addition to wanting to get closer to them, the important ministers who had recently taken refuge in the DPRK, Zhao Junchen also wanted to see how many people in the DPRK wanted to take refuge with him and how many of them were available.
You must know that the distribution of power between the factions in the DPRK and China is now stable. Under this situation, the officials in the DPRK and China who intend to seek refuge with Zhao Junchen either have no backers or are not valued by their factions. There are various reasons, some of which are Because their talents are not recognized, some are because they offend others, but many are because of defects in their own abilities and temperament.
For example, Wei Ping, not only cannot be reused, but even "light use" may cause bad things, and Zhao Junchen will never accept it.
Zhao Junchen knew very well that with his current reputation, most of the officials in the DPRK and China who wanted to take refuge in him would not be good officials, but that would be fine if they were just corrupt officials. Corrupt officials also have their uses, but if they were just corrupt officials, that would be fine. If he knows how to be corrupt but cannot be an official, and knows how to do bad things but cannot get things done, then Zhao Junchen can only be grateful but not sensitive.
Zhao Junchen asked Zuo Lanshan, Zhan Shanchang and others to help make the selection, firstly to eliminate the bad and retain the good, and secondly to show his trust in them.
………
After saying a few words with Zuo Lanshan, Zhan Shanchang and others who were sitting at the table, Zhao Junchen also stood up, raised his glass to the officials present and said: "I have won the trust of your majesty today and was promoted to be the minister of the Ministry of Revenue. Although it is mainly because of your majesty. We love and care for you, but we cannot do without the strong support of your colleagues on weekdays, so I am hosting a banquet for you all today, and I ask you not to be polite and go back having a good time!"
As he spoke, Zhao Junchen raised his glass of wine, but this time he drank it all in one gulp.
As Zhao Junchen stood up to speak, all the officials present also stood up one after another. They all said, "Your Majesty, you are so polite." After raising their glasses with Zhao Junchen, they all drank it in one gulp.
After Zhao Junchen sat down, everyone also started the banquet. However, after a few chopsticks were taken, after Zhan Shanchang and Zuo Lanshan exchanged polite greetings, Zuo Lanshan finally stood up on behalf of the officials and raised his glass again: "I should have been waiting for you today. I invited Mr. Zhao to a banquet and congratulated him on his promotion, but I didn’t expect that Mr. Zhao would spend a lot of money. In just one month, Mr. Zhao raised an additional million taels of silver for the country, which shows his great talent. Your Majesty appointed you as the Minister of Household Affairs. , It is truly a well-deserved title. Colleagues, let us raise a glass together to congratulate Mr. Zhao on his promotion, and wish Mr. Zhao that he can take further steps and achieve success every step of the way!"
Different from Wei Ping's self-initiated toast before, following Zuo Lanshan's words, all the officials stood up to respond and said in unison: "Congratulations to Mr. Zhao on his promotion, and I wish Mr. Zhao to take further steps. Bu Qingyun!"
Zhao Junchen also raised his glass and drank it in one gulp.
While drinking, Zhao Junchen looked over and saw Wei Ping looking at this situation. Thinking of his previous actions, he suddenly realized what he had done wrong and his face turned pale.
As Zhao Junchen and other officials sat down again, the banquet finally officially began. Because of Wei Ping's previous incident, no one dared to make a fuss about it. Officials came out one after another to toast Zhao Junchen, or hinted at surrender. , or want to leave some impression in front of Zhao Junchen.
And Zhao Junchen also deliberately took this opportunity to find some talents among these officials. He would not refuse anyone who came and was quite polite. Although he only had a taste of it because he didn't like to drink too much, but with his current status, he could No one can say anything.
After this contact, Zhao Junchen discovered that these officials who wanted to seek refuge with him were indeed mixed.
However, there was one person who caught Zhao Junchen's attention.
c
