Chapter 328 First Snow (2 in 1)

In the sixth year of Jianyan, autumn turned to winter and the first snow fell in Tokyo.

But when the first snow comes, it is not as romantic as covering the ground with snowflakes. On the contrary, most of the snowflakes turn into snow water the moment they fall to the ground, and the snow falls intermittently, making the dampness and coldness rise up and hit people directly.

You know, people are not only afraid of heat and cold, but also afraid of the process of getting hot and cold itself. They also hate the incompatibility between weather and temperature. And right now, it is undoubtedly the worst situation.

Therefore, on the day of the first snow, the once bustling Tokyo city suddenly became quiet. Hanfang Garden in the north of the city even posted a notice early in the morning asking spectators to pay attention to the weather. The Cuju match was temporarily postponed indefinitely in order to keep the venue clean, and small vendors also avoided it for a while.

Of course, all kinds of warehouses and shops with storefronts must still be opened.

In this situation, the shop assistants who were carrying food boxes, gift boxes, or even transporting food on mule carts all over the street became somewhat more efficient.

That's right, ordering, calling and delivering food, which had been popular in Tokyo in early years, has now reappeared in Tokyo with the recovery of Tokyo's population and business, especially the attraction of the capital to the powerful and wealthy, and on a larger scale... This is because nowadays it is not just the powerful and wealthy who do this. According to the government's proposal and arrangement, starting from this autumn, in addition to the Imperial Academy which has its own cafeteria, the six ministries, nine ministers and five academies of the capital, the Privy Council, the Imperial Camp Headquarters, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Military Academy and the Hanlin Academy, all have officially funded free outsourced lunch services.

This is a small design that actually works surprisingly well.

For some petty officials who are not very wealthy, it is a rare opportunity to enjoy the delicacies of the official restaurants during working hours. Some even simply stop eating breakfast... This has improved their centripetal force and work efficiency to a considerable extent. At the same time, the official restaurants are also very happy to compete for this qualification. You must know that once a certain dish or certain snacks are made on a large scale, the cost will be greatly reduced, and the merchants will not be unprofitable due to the so-called low bidding price.

In addition, the official stores that own this business will often have a better reputation and more prosperous business because of this business. Many wealthy families will compete to use the same dishes as the prime ministers, so that a business called follow-up orders is created... If someone's family is involved in the provincial government or the Privy Council, servants from the powerful families will come to them in the evening and order this kind of takeout.

There are even rumors that Emperor Zhao himself would randomly draw lots to select a regular restaurant that participated in the outsourcing and have someone deliver lunch directly to the Shiting in the harem... Many helpers in the regular restaurants claimed that they had delivered meals to Yiyoumen... and this kind of food was basically out of stock.

It sounds like the real thing.

But no matter what, this was a very effective way for the court to win people's hearts when the finances were not abundant enough.

However, there are also problems with this matter. For these regular shops that have outsourced the imperial court offices, the results of the temporary lottery will usually be notified to the shops by the imperial guards in the morning every day. These shops will not know which specific government office they will provide services for at noon until the lottery arrives.

So, at noon, the streets were filled with mule carts carrying food with flags of the Imperial Guard flying on them. Even the prime minister's guard had to give way, otherwise the reputation of someone being harsh on his colleagues and subordinates would spread immediately.

According to unreliable rumors, an official who was scheduled to be exiled to a large county to come to Beijing was banished to Guangnan West Road because he blocked the Ministry of Personnel's lunch car, causing the entire Ministry to have a meal of half-cold noodle soup.

It was a joke, and few people really believed it, but it spread anyway, and indeed attracted the attention of officials coming to Beijing - this rule had only been implemented for more than half a month, and it was said that officials from outside the city who had dinner or food at regular restaurants, including takeout at Wuyue Guandian, had an unspoken rule of only using the food after noon.

On the evening of that day, the first snow continued. Lin Jingmo, the Minister of Revenue, returned home from his official housing and was wondering whether he should ask his family to order the sweet and sour fish that he had had for lunch. However, as soon as he entered, he heard the nephew of the head of the family come to report that Mei Li, a nephew of the Jiangning Mei family, a family friend of the Lin family, had arrived after lunch and had been sitting there for the whole afternoon... Minister Lin was slightly startled, then he immediately came to his senses, and asked his nephew to order the sweet and sour fish while quickly asking the younger generation surnamed Mei to come over.

It turned out that the descendant of Minister Lin, a family friend, was a Jinshi in the third year of Jianyan. As the result of the first large-scale imperial examination after Emperor Zhao ascended the throne, that batch of Jinshi was particularly prominent in the current political landscape of the court.

Not to mention anything else, in just three years, three people have already become the top figures in the court.

The first is that he controlled the increasingly large and powerful official reporting system, and was powerful but in a low position, and was vaguely as famous as Hu Yin and Hu Hongxiu. He was known as one of the Three Hus (of course, there are also those who say there are Four Hus, which is because Hu Yin's brother Hu Hong was forcibly inserted)... This person's actions were enough to directly influence the court and government.

The second is Yu Yunwen, a third place winner of the imperial examination who also holds a low position but great power. Not only does he control the Military Statistics Department, which is no less powerful, but he also has a strong background. His father is a close confidant of the then Prime Minister Zhang Jun, and he himself is of course a direct descendant of Zhang Jun. His father-in-law is Zhang Rong, one of the generals... In theory, little Yu Yunwen, the third place winner, is still a subordinate of Minister Lin.

As for the last person, it was of course the No. 1 scholar of that period, Zhao Boyao. He was a distant relative of the imperial family, and he also inherited the legacy of his father-in-law, Mr. Wang. He had already finished his career as the magistrate of Zhengzhou and returned to the central government. According to the current simplification and transformation of various positions by the court, this person should be directly appointed as a sheren or a scholar, and then he can compile history while maintaining his reputation in front of the emperor. His future is more stable than that of Hu Quan and Yu Yunwen, and it is rare that his official career is so upright.

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