Chapter 101

Chapter 101

When Ji Yuan and Zuoyou Dianji went to the Hanlin Academy, they thought there were not many people inside.

I came here now just to take a quick look around and get familiar with the work inside.

The left and right classicists also thought so. After all, in the afternoon, except for those on duty in the Hanlin Academy, the rest basically went home.

But what happened today?

After all, they have been in the Hanlin Academy for a long time, so they will know what is going on after just listening.

The two men held Ji Yuan and whispered, "Let's go in after the Hanlin scholars finish arguing."

Although Ji Yuan didn't know the situation, he knew that Zuoyou Dianji were his subordinates and would basically not harm him.

It is no exaggeration to say that these three people prosper together.

Seeing that Lord Ji trusted them so much, the two men told him what they knew.

They first talked about the Hanlin Academy itself.

Everyone knows that the Hanlin Academy is a powerful department of the central court of Tianqi State.

Why?

There are probably two reasons for this.

1. The Hanlin Academy is the emperor’s close ministers.

The officials here are also known as "potential prime ministers". Those who can become Hanlin officials must either have high rankings in the imperial examinations or be very capable in governing.

Most of the important positions in the six ministries were held concurrently by Hanlin officials.

For example, Li Shoufu, the highest official in the Hanlin Academy, is also the Minister of Personnel and is in charge of personnel transfers in the entire Tianqi State.

The second most powerful Grand Secretary in the Hanlin Academy, Lord Chu, is the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue.

This is evident from this.

Second, how close is this minister to the emperor?

Later generations simply called the Hanlin Academy the emperor’s “secretariat”.

But government secretarial work is completely different.

As the emperor's "secretary", one must serve as both an advisor and a think tank for the emperor.

It is also necessary to undertake the coordination work between the upper and lower levels.

Furthermore, any official document that the "secretaries" come into contact with is a state secret.

From national affairs and important decisions to matters of all sizes in the Emperor's palace, as well as miscellaneous matters in the six ministries below.

Therefore, as a Hanlin official, although he did not have an actual position, he was different from other officials because of his important position.

It is even called a noble official because it does not involve an actual position.

Such an important department is naturally different.

The left and right classicists said, "This is how outsiders view the Hanlin Academy and its officials."

"But our Hanlin Academy is also roughly divided into two departments."

If the Hanlin Academy is a huge secretariat.

One of the secretaries is the cabinet official, which refers to the fifth rank Hanlin Bachelor, the fifth rank Attending Bachelor, and so on.

They are usually directly responsible for the affairs of each ministry, which are under the jurisdiction of Prime Minister Li, Wenyuan Pavilion where Prime Minister Li is located, and Jixianguan where Grand Secretary Chu is located.

The second secretary is like the historian of the Hanlin Academy.

They don't even participate much in the work of the "think tank", all of which is in the Academy of Historians.

My daily job is to sort out the documents sent by my subordinates, or to archive the work completed by each department.

And write history in spare time, etc.

From this we can see that in the Hanlin Academy, cabinet officials are higher than historians.

Even if the historian was placed somewhere else, he would actually be very powerful.

"The daily debates on government affairs have nothing to do with us historians, unless Prime Minister Li specifically asks us to go and listen. Otherwise, we can just go to the Historian's Office."

Ji Yuan listened and finally understood the duties of the officials in the Hanlin Academy.

It is under the unified management of Prime Minister Li.

Then it is divided into two categories.

A type of political participation.

Another type does clerical work.

He belongs to the latter.

As for the quarrel just now, it was the dispute among the political officials.

The people around him also understood what was going on inside.

The Hanlin scholars were arguing about something that happened at the beginning of the year.

At the beginning of the year, the weather suddenly changed and it snowed, causing disasters near the capital. Shuntian Prefecture handled the situation properly at the time, but the supplies used to open warehouses for disaster relief and the subsequent repairs of houses cost a lot of money, and the court's approval had not yet been obtained before the use.

Logically speaking, this approach is not appropriate.

In modern terms, the correct reimbursement process should be to submit a budget application first, and then do the work after the budget is approved.

The current practice in Shuntian Prefecture is to do things first and report the expenses later.

The emperor asked the Hanlin Academy to handle the matter, and naturally it was divided into two factions.

One group believes that the situation was urgent and this had to be done, otherwise what would happen to the losses at that time? If it was not done in time, this year's summer and autumn harvests would definitely be affected.

Another group said that if this precedent was set, there would be no budgeting in the future and people would just give as much money as they wanted. Is this appropriate?

In short, both sides have their reasons.

In addition, in the summer, local canals and dams need to be inspected, so the funding for this part is also stuck.

Several things were mixed up together, and the Ministry of Revenue, the Ministry of Works, and the Hanlin Academy were arguing non-stop.

The left and right classicists said, "Anyway, we officials just need to listen. You are the top scholar of this year's exam, and it is reasonable for you to observe the government. But if someone asks you to say a few words, wouldn't it be implicated?"

No matter how you look at it, it's not right, and it can't be explained by just a few words.

The emperor is here, and everyone wants to argue a little. It will be useless if the top scholar of this exam speaks up.

Ji Yuan listened and thought, no wonder it was like a vegetable market in there.

This is indeed a vegetable market, and everyone is bargaining.

After it was quiet inside for a while, Zuoyou Dianji took Ji Yuan to the Historian's Court on the other side.

This place is more than twice as quiet as before.

Before entering the door, I saw the extremely tall bookshelves inside, and the desk and chair in front were also piled with piles of documents.

They were required to organize and compile all the documents sent by the six ministries from all over the country.

A thick stack of stuff would be delivered every day, and if it wasn't finished one day, it would pile up more and more.

It was very quiet in the Historian's Office.

There aren't many people here so far this year.

Including the left and right classics and the top three in the first class, there are less than ten people in the entire Historian Academy.

There are fewer people, so it is naturally quieter.

Some people even fell asleep.

There's not much to do here anyway.

Their superior, the Imperial Academy Compiler, was also not there.

Yes.

The new number one scholar, Jiyuan, is the highest-ranking official in the Historian's Office.

Everyone thought that the superiors had gone to the Imperial College to give lectures and would definitely not come this afternoon.

So those who want to sleep sleep, and those who want to slack off slack off.

Zuo Youdianji had never expected that there would actually be someone taking a nap in the Historian's Office, and he couldn't help but want to wake the person up.

Ji Yuan let it go and asked them to take him to the office.

The Historian's Office itself is not very big, and Ji Yuan's office is not far away. The plaque on the room reads "Xiu Xin Hall", which is quite fitting.

After they walked in, Ji Yuan said, "Normally there should be a lot of paperwork, why are there so few people in our Historian's Office?"

The ministers of the Hanlin Academy served as secretaries to the emperor.

They work as secretaries for cabinet ministers in the Historiography Office.

There must be a lot of paperwork every day, with less than ten people?

It’s really too little.

The bookkeepers knew the answer and said immediately, "This is where the new scholars do their internship."

In the Academy of Historians, the highest leader is the newly crowned top scholar.

The following officials will be selected from among the second and third class Jinshi.

Dong Kang and others had said before that the trainee Jinshi candidates who went to various ministries to observe government affairs would be selected as Shujishi in July.

Only after passing the assessment in July can one be assigned to the Historiography Department of the Hanlin Academy to help out.

In other words, the normal process of entering the Hanlin Academy is not like this in Ji Yuan.

It should be, first the joint examination, then the palace examination, and two months after the palace examination, the selection of Shujishi will continue.

Only if selected can one enter the Hanlin Academy to observe government affairs.

Otherwise, you will have to continue working in the Six Departments.

After completing layer after layer of assessments, he was finally able to enter the Hanlin Academy.

As Ji Yuan ranked first in the first class, he skipped the examination for selecting scholars and entered the Hanlin Academy directly.

It means you have good grades and can skip a grade directly.

Then why do you all want to enter the Hanlin Academy?

Since there is a saying in Tianqi State that only Hanlin scholars can enter the cabinet.

Also, as long as one is assigned to the Hanlin Academy, it will be easier to be assigned an official position later.

This year's batch of Jinshi consists of a total of one to two hundred people.

So how should the Ministry of Personnel assign officials? What rules should they follow?

Naturally, the first three.

Next came the Shujishi who entered the Hanlin Academy.

Finally, there are the Jinshi who are interning in the six ministries.

Everyone is trying their best to enter the Hanlin Academy in order to prepare for future assignments.

The last imperial examination was in the 35th year of Huayuan.

The top scholars, scholars of the imperial examinations and others at that time were all sent out one after another during these three years.

This has been three years.

Naturally, most of the people who had been selected for the imperial examination had left, so it was normal that there was a lack of talented people in the Historiography Office now.

"In other words, if the Historian's Office wants to do its job normally, it has to wait until the July selection of Shujishi, and select Shujishi from the new Jinshi to fill the position?"

This is a transitional position.

So people were coming and going.

At this time of the year, the previous batch of people has just left and the next batch has not yet arrived.

The classics explain it clearly and the era is remembered clearly.

Fortunately, I have help from my left and right hands, otherwise who would know such a detailed matter.

Ji Yuan also laughed: "Before they come over, I can still familiarize myself with the job here in advance, otherwise I will be embarrassed."

They are all from the same batch of Jinshi, and his coming to take up the post early can indeed help him familiarize himself with the work of the department in advance.

Otherwise you won’t be able to convince the public.

The scholars around him flattered him: "You are the new champion, who would not respect you?"

Ji Yuan shook his head: "The exam is over. After that, I will just be a lowly official of the sixth rank."

The two were surprised.

Ji Liuyuan is really able to let go of things.

If they were the top scorer, they would want to reveal their identity eight hundred times a day.

Ji Yuan was looking at the documents on the desk.

The previous top scorer wrote down clearly what should be done, and although the two of them did not hand over the work, they did have a conversation across the air.

There were even complaints from the previous year's top scorer, which made Ji Yuan laugh and cry.

For example, the following ones.

"It's so idle, there are so few people."

"busy."

“It’s a lot of paperwork.”

“It’s a complicated matter.”

"tired."

"Why haven't you sent an official yet?"

It was not until the spring of the 36th year of Huayuan that the previous top scholar was sent away to become the provincial education commissioner of a certain place.

Ji Yuan calculated the time.

The last imperial examination year was in the spring of the 35th year of Huayuan, and it was around May of the 35th year that I came to the Hanlin Academy and the Historian Institute.

Starting from July, the previous top scorer started to get busy.

Until the end of the thirty-fifth year, there was still a lot going on.

Around March or April after the Chinese New Year, he was assigned as an official.

This means that the previous top scorer has been here for almost a year.

Then should I be the same?

Ji Yuan tried hard to familiarize himself with the next task.

His friends were not so lucky.

Among them, Dong Kang and Gao Laosi were assigned to the Ministry of Rites, and both of them were quite lively.

But from morning till afternoon, I didn't even have a chance to drink a sip of water.

Sometimes he had to deliver documents, sometimes he had to help officials, not to mention all kinds of errands.

It was similar for Monk Bai. Monk Bai worked in the Ministry of Justice. Not only did he have to run errands as an "intern", he also had to familiarize himself with all kinds of legal books of the Tianqi Kingdom so that he could read them at any time.

Fortunately, Monk Bai had studied law at the provincial school, otherwise it would have been much more difficult.

But his basic knowledge made Monk Bai be looked at differently by the officials of the Ministry of Justice. He was given less miscellaneous work to do and was able to concentrate on helping to look up legal books.

The same was true for these three of them, and the other new scholars were almost the same.

First day of internship!

My legs are going to become thin from running!

What?

You are Jinshi, why don't you do this kind of miscellaneous work?

There are really people who are so blind as to say this directly.

The other party sneered directly: "Why? Who is not a Jinshi?"

"If you are not a Jinshi, you can't even step into this door."

If there are indeed people who are not Jinshi, but serve as officials in the Six Ministries, the Tongzhengsi, the Dali Temple, and the Censorate.

Do you think they are royal relatives, princes, and ministers?

Jinshi?

Here, Jinshi is the lowest honor.

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone's face changed.

There's nothing I can do. Although what he said was straightforward, it was correct.

What else can I do?

You must study hard and get into the Hanlin Academy after you have done well!

Maybe if I go to the Hanlin Academy, the situation will be better?

No one has ever told them before what this is like being an official?

If I tell the people in my hometown that these gentlemen who have passed the imperial examinations are now all doing odd jobs, doing tasks that even scholars can do, I guess everyone would be shocked.

But there's no way.

Who made these the six ministries of the imperial court?

After all, this is the power center of the entire Tianqi Kingdom.

If they work hard, maybe they can go to the Hanlin Academy in July!

At this moment in the Hanlin Academy, Ji Yuan, there were five or six people standing in front of him who had just woken up from slacking off.

The classics finally woke them up.

Don’t sleep!

The revision is here!

The new boss is here!

Among these five or six people, four of them are reviewers of the Historiography Institute, which is a fixed position here, just like the left and right classics officials.

The other two were a bit awkward.

They were the Jinshi of the previous session, who were admitted to the Hanlin Academy and became Shujishi.

But they have no connections and no channels, and no officials have been sent for three years.

Now the new Jinshi have arrived, and after a while, the new Shujishi will also arrive, and they are still waiting for assignment.

Just now, the two of them were sleeping, and it was even more awkward now.

Ji Yuan didn't intend to mention these, and said directly: "I see that there are many documents in the Historian's Office. Is it okay if I don't deal with them for the time being?"

The two Shujishi looked at each other, and the left and right classicists said, "Just tell the truth."

The two of them quickly said, "It doesn't matter. These are all documents sorted out by the six ministries. We just need to register and classify them."

"It's just that we have few people here, so the backlog is a bit too much."

Also because they were all sent to other posts in the same year, they stayed here and became somewhat disheartened and didn’t want to do anything.

Ji Yuan nodded: "Okay, I understand."

Is that okay?

The two of them left the Xiuxin Hall and thought to themselves, this year's top scorers may be too young, so just ignore them.

So can they continue to slack off?

Looking at the classics, the four reviewers were equally puzzled.

Ji Yuan smiled and said, "It's almost time to get off work today, let's talk about it tomorrow."

"The two editors will also be here tomorrow. If there is anything, we can talk about it tomorrow."

The two editors are naturally the second and third place winners.

From then on, they addressed each other by the names of their official titles.

The left and right classics were okay. They had spent a few days with Ji Yuan and knew that he was not someone who talked casually, nor was he a weak person.

The four reviewers had the same idea as the Shujishi.

Could it be that their days would be better in the future?

Can I continue fishing?

After all, even the biggest boss in the Historian Office doesn’t care.

After they left, Ji Yuan spread out a piece of white paper.

For things like work efficiency, you still need to set a KPI.

Come on, give everyone in the Historian's Office a little performance shock.

When Ji Yuan saw the piles of documents, he realized how long the tasks here had been piled up.

He still has almost a year to do it, and if he doesn't do it today, he will have to do it tomorrow, so it would be better to clean it up early.

Otherwise the pressure will only increase.

In addition to this, of course, they had to sort out the affairs of the Historiography Institute and assign responsibilities before the new Shujishi arrived.

This kind of thing could be a big thing or a small one. It was also his first official mission after passing the imperial examination. If he didn't do it well, he would be embarrassed.

Ji Yuan's sense of responsibility did not allow him to turn a blind eye.

After everyone left, he continued to move forward with the performance guidelines for his office.

First, you need to understand their duties, then understand how many documents they have to handle every day and how long it takes to process them.

This thing definitely can't come out of thin air. I'll have to do some research on it tomorrow.

The epochs are written one by one, with a framework first, and then the details are filled in after field investigation.

At five o'clock in the afternoon, the Hanlin Academy closed for the day.

The ministers who had been arguing had already left, and when the officials around him saw Ji Zhuangyuan leave, they also dispersed.

The first day at work for the newly-minted scholars is over.

Coming out of the Hanlin Academy and walking straight west, Ji Yuan arrived at his doorstep in a little over a quarter of an hour.

The house given by the emperor is great. It only takes 40 minutes to commute to and from get off work.

Ji Yuan returned home. Wuying and his men had to go on patrol at night today, so the kitchen only prepared dinner for Ji Yuan, Monk Bai, and Gao Laosi.

Ji Yuan waited and waited, but no one came back.

It was not until the end of the You hour that Monk Bai, who had returned from the Ministry of Justice, and Old Gao, who had returned from the Ministry of Rites, dragged their exhausted bodies home.

The two of them walked into the house and sighed in unison.

On duty.

It’s really too difficult!

"You don't know how many chores the Ministry of Rites has."

"My God, I've been running around the six ministries today, either delivering documents or passing on messages. Why am I so busy?"

"It's true that the test has just passed, and there are so many things to do."

"The prince has just come out of the Imperial Ancestral Temple, and there are many things that need to be dealt with."

"It's only May now, but we've already seen letters of request for New Year's greetings from the surrounding small foreign countries."

"Go ask the Ministry of Revenue for a budget. Why are the officials there so arrogant?"

Gao Laosi complained while eating.

The Ministry of Justice, where Monk Bai worked, handled cases from all over the country. They were responsible for reviewing the cases, and only after they were sure there were no doubts would they agree with the verdicts in various places.

They had to go through all the thick legal documents, and if they found anything wrong, they would send it back and rewrite it.

It's not that they are harsh, but the cases handled by the Ministry of Justice are either exile or beheading, so they have to be cautious.

The two looked at Ji Yuan.

Just waiting for Ji Yuan to complain.

Ji Yuan said: "I went to the Imperial College in the morning and arrived at the Hanlin Academy in the afternoon."

"It seems that nothing is going on in the Hanlin Academy?"

The main reason was that he didn't go there until the afternoon, so Prime Minister Li and University Scholar Chu were not there.

It's okay if the boss isn't here.

"How about giving lectures? Are the questions from the students of the Imperial College tricky?"

"era!"

"You! You're famous again!"

Dong Kang didn't need to be polite to everyone and was brought here by servants.

After he separated from Gao Laosi from the Ministry of Rites, he went to a restaurant for dinner. Then he heard about Ji Yuan's lecture, and came hurriedly with excitement on his face.

Only then did Gao Laosi and Monk Bai realize how good Ji Yuan was at teaching at the Imperial College.

Why does it sound so ordinary when it comes to his mouth?

Ji Yuan coughed lightly: "We are all officials in the court now, so we can just put aside those empty titles."

Having said that, they are still happy for Ji Yuan.

Speaking of court officials.

The three of them sighed in unison.

It's too difficult.

No one ever said that being an official is so difficult.

After becoming a Jinshi, it is still so difficult to be an official!

Ji Yuan continued, "I guess the various departments may be very busy, but you are so busy right after you arrived. Maybe it's just a show of force."

Ji Yuan analyzed the situation with the three of them.

If you say I’m busy, of course I’m busy.

But being so busy can at least help to suppress the arrogance of the new scholars.

Otherwise, I don’t know how many troubles will arise in the future.

The transition from a gifted student to a minor official in various departments requires a period of adaptation and a process of tempering.

"If we work hard, we will know the result in less than three to five days."

It seems to be the case?

The three of them couldn't help but discuss.

Finally, it was Ji Yuan's turn. Ji Yuan said, "We are short of people, and we are still waiting for new Shujishi to come."

"You have to work hard and make it through."

It seems like he has a lot of work to do!

The three of them nodded in unison.

As a Jinshi, who doesn't want to go to the Hanlin Academy?

Dong Kang also said: "Fortunately, you are in charge of the Imperial Academy Historian Office. When we go there, you must protect us."

Ji Yuan thought about the plan he was making, and then thought about the abilities of the three people in front of him, and smiled at them: "Okay, as long as you pass the exam, I will definitely take care of you."

The three people nodded.

But Monk Bai noticed something.

Ji Yuan is not a lazy person.

I guess his care is not what Dong Kang thinks it is?

But everyone was tired today, so they quickly washed up and went to bed immediately.

I have to work tomorrow!

The thought of going to work!

Everyone has a headache!

I thought everything would be fine after the imperial examination.

Now that the imperial examination is over, it seems to be even more difficult. What should I do?

Early the next morning.

The newly-appointed scholars were dressed neatly again.

How excited I am to be on my first day at work.

How dejected I was when I went to work the next day.

Ji Yuan looked at it and thought, isn’t this the same as modern times?

It seems that whether in ancient times or modern times, going to work is really like going to a grave.

But for him.

It seems like today is just the first day of work?

Ji Yuan took the plan and continued walking towards the Hanlin Academy.

Just after walking a few steps, I heard someone next to me say, "Is that Ji Zhuangyuan in front?"

Ji Yuan looked back and saw a low-key carriage behind him, but judging from the workmanship, it must be worth a lot of money.

He's not in the way, is he?

The other party smiled and said, "Prime Minister Li invited you to ride in the carriage together."

Prime Minister Li?!

The highest-ranking official in the Hanlin Academy.

His immediate boss?

They are all from the Hanlin Academy, so it is indeed convenient for them to go there.

Ji Yuan had naturally met Prime Minister Li. He had met him when the emperor summoned him.

Prime Minister Li has gray hair, but he is in good spirits, and no one can tell what he is thinking from his eyes.

If my boss invites me, of course I have to go.

Ji Yuan saluted first, then said, "Sir Prime Minister, I'm sorry to bother you."

As soon as he entered the carriage, he saw Li Shoufu closing his eyes to rest. After he sat down, Li Shoufu asked slowly, "Is the job in the Historian's Office easy?"

Ji Yuan subconsciously looked at his immediate superior.

He just knows it!

It’s no good to use your boss’s car!

It’s not time to go to work yet! It’s time to report to work!