In the Nanjing Governor's Mansion, Bingbi, the Superintendent of Ceremonies in charge of the Jiangnan area, and Chen Ju, the Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications, were having a drink with Li Xiuqing in the second hall.
Li Xiushan has been guarding Nanjing for more than five years. According to Zhu Yijun's rules of manipulating the world's guarding eunuchs, Li Xiushan may return to Beijing next summer to serve as the eunuch Bingbi.
Therefore, the two of them talked happily. Chen Ju, who was responsible for the emperor's orders, first carefully inquired about the political situation and official dynamics in Jiangnan in recent times, and then the two of them talked about the draft.
Li Xiuqing said: "I never expected that the scope of this draft would be so large. In Yunnan and other border areas, the imperial court would actually send imperial envoys."
Chen Ju smiled when he heard this, stood up and stretched, then sat down and said, "I feel a little more relaxed after leaving the capital - Your Majesty sent me out this time to cultivate myself, haha."
Li Xiuqing was a smart person. Hearing this, he knew there was something more to the matter and looked at Chen Ju with inquiring eyes.
Chen Ju thought about what he was going to say in his mind, and felt that there was nothing to say, so he smiled and said: "Xiushan Gong doesn't know something. When the emperor acts, two or more things will inevitably happen to one thing. The internal officials who left the capital this time , and also had the emperor's mandate to visit the people's sentiments and political conditions in various places and conduct market research for the emperor's factories and stores. When we got back, we all had to hand in the "inspection report" - well, I had to read them one by one. "
After hearing this, Li Xiuqing also smiled bitterly and said: "What Duke Lingang said is that in the past two years, I and other servants of the Emperor's family have done these 'research' and 'inspections' and submitted various 'summaries' and 'reports', all written I’m about to vomit—Your Majesty, can you look over here?”
Chen Ju wiped his face, as if wiping away a handful of bitter tears, and said with a smile: "The emperor really can't see it, but what does the attendant's office do? It processes these reports and approved memorials every day, forming abbreviations Report it to the Emperor. If the Emperor asks for details, he will find the original report and submit it. The eunuchs, civil and military officials from all over the country are now trapped by the Emperor with 'plans', 'schedules' and 'summaries' After taking off the bridle, the burden of the documents is more than three or five times greater than before."
When Li Xiushan heard him talk about the attendant room, he first flattered Chen Ju and said, "The Duke of Linggang has just left the Dongchang factory and is now the minister of the inner court. He can compete with his ancestors in the same court, which is enviable."
When Chen Ju heard this, there was no look of pride on his face. He smiled bitterly at Li Xiushan and said: "Although Duke Xiushan has not been in the inner court for a long time, he should know that the current administration is completely different from that of the late emperor. When I walk in the inner court, I feel like walking on thin ice every day. I dare not If you don't slack off in the slightest, you will have long hair early even though you are in your prime." After saying that, he pointed to his temples and showed them to Li Xiuqing.
When Li Xiuqing looked carefully, she saw that Chen Ju's temples were white. She was so frightened that she stuck out her tongue and said, "If I go back to serve as the ceremonial supervisor, will I be so tired?"
Chen Ju drank the wine in front of him in one gulp and laughed loudly: "In this huge empire now, from top to bottom, is there anyone who is not tired? Two days before leaving the capital, a certain person praised the emperor for his hard work in the attendant's office. I am diligent, guess what the emperor said?"
Seeing Li Xiuqing's attitude of listening attentively, Chen Ju smiled bitterly and said: "At that time, the emperor looked at me with strange eyes and laughed loudly, 'Chen Wanhua, where are you now? The more tiring days than now are still to come. I want to It’s just that you don’t dare to find a job because you’re growing taller, otherwise you won’t be able to read at least four hour abridgements and memorials every day?’”
After hearing this, Li Xiuqing's face turned pale, and her calves were so frightened that her legs twisted. He sighed: "Your Majesty wants to read for four hours, how many hours should we read and how many books should we write?"
Chen Ju listened and said: "Exactly. Your Majesty will read an abbreviation. We must study at least a dozen memorials carefully. It's enough to just read these. The key is to find out what the predecessors and predecessors did about something. The details can only be submitted after making a 'comparison' and a 'pros and cons analysis'. Hey, people in the attendant's office say that half a month's worth of words can be written in half a year's space."
After a pause, Chen Ju continued: "In the establishment of the Attendant's Office, we first assigned the work of the Supervisor of Ceremonies to write the summary of the memorial. The purpose is to allow us to grasp the outline. After the emperor has read the cabinet notices and the Secretary of Ceremonies, After the superintendent approved the memorial and made further comments on the memorial, the attendants would carefully read the memorial picked out by the emperor and distribute the memorials in it one by one. The files should be checked and the files should be checked out. If you want to do research, do research, and then submit a policy research report on something. - Hey, how did you come up with these words, Your Majesty?"
Li Xiuqing wanted to know the inside story of the central operation, so she couldn't help but ask: "What does the British businessman do? Does he see these things?"
Speaking of the British father-in-law, Chen Ju was full of opinions. But his palace was deep and he did not reveal his true colors. He just said lightly: "There are several marquises and uncles in the attendant's room, who are responsible for coordinating the imperial guards, guarding the residence, and conferring land for the nine-sided military merit. The British Duke is The palace ministers only take care of these things - Zhang Hong is still in charge of the rest of the palace affairs."
After hearing this sentence, Li Xiuqing had an idea. Turning the topic to the draft, he said: "A certain godson, named Feng Bangning. Well, he is the proprietor of "Huangming Nanjing Daily". The Suzhou banker got in touch with him from nowhere and wanted to give a girl to him. Come and show it to Duke Linggang. I have also inquired before and heard that she is the eldest son of the clan and the legitimate daughter. She is really beautiful and fragrant - is this possible?"
After hearing this, Chen Ju knew that Li Xiuqing's words were definitely not just for him to take a look at, but to use his influence in the inner court to recommend this girl to the ninth concubine. Hearing this, he smiled and said, "How is your conduct?"
Li Xiuqing secretly knew something, and said with joy: "This branch of the Zhuang family was born after Zhuang Ji in the Western Han Dynasty. Poems and books have been cultivated and read in the past dynasties, and have been passed down for thousands of years. How can such a family be so poorly educated?"
"I heard that this Zhuang Jingjia is good at reading, especially history. She is really soft and jade, graceful and graceful. There were rumors before that the banker could retreat from the land, burn debts, and pay off the debts, and hide away. The disaster of breaking down the door was due to this woman advising her father to use Feng Xuan as a guest to meet Mr. Mengchang."
Chen Ju was surprised when he heard this and said: "How can a girl in a boudoir know so much? I'm going to see some things - well, I have nothing to do these two days, so Mr. Xiushan can arrange it."
Li Xiuqing was overjoyed when he heard this and said with a smile: "This family has been waiting for Duke Lingang to drive away, and he is now in Nanjing! If nothing happens in the afternoon, how about we come and see Duke Lingang?"
Seeing that Li Xiuqing was as enthusiastic as a burning coal, Chen Ju looked at him with a half-smile. Li Xiuqing didn't show any embarrassment and said with a calm smile: "The ancients used a thousand pieces of gold to win the king's smile. How dare the banker to come to his descendants? If Duke Lingang falls in love, he will offer three thousand taels of red gold - if he really gets what he wants, even though he has ten thousand dollars, What’s the point of being stingy with gold?”
After hearing this, Chen Ju condensed his eyes and sneered: "What does it mean to get what you want? Duke Xiushan can explain it clearly."
When Li Xiuqing saw that Chen Ju was asking for the root cause, she said seriously: "To be honest with Mr. Lingang, I already met Zhuang Jingjia yesterday. Let's put it this way - a country and a city! As long as she can live in front of the emperor, the position of queen will at least 30% sure!"
————
A 30% certainty was already the limit for the internal officials in charge of the primary election to manipulate the draft. After hearing this, Chen Ju became really curious about Zhuang Jingjia!
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