Chapter 8 Recruitment
Outside the West Garden, the wind was howling coldly and everything was silent. The important ministers surrounding the palace wall had strange expressions on their faces and remained silent. They only bowed and greeted each other when getting into the sedan chair or car, and then left in a hurry.
Just now there was a sudden chaos in the palace, and everyone was frozen in place, at a loss as to what to do; then Li Zaifang rolled out from behind the screen, and with a trembling voice ordered his men to send them all out. The ministers were worried and waited in the cold wind for a full quarter of an hour before Wang Ben, with a bruised face and nose, came out to read the emperor's oral order, saying that he accidentally stepped on his Taoist robe and fell, but was fine now, so the ministers did not need to worry and could disperse.
Everyone was full of doubts and had no choice but to retreat in silence, not daring to say a word in this forbidden area of the palace. Mu Qi rode out of the West Garden on horseback and quietly opened the system in an empty place. He saw that the emperor's status showed a "skin injury", which seemed to be a simple fall.
But the emperor had been practicing for a long time and had practiced the Bugang Baidou ritual at least a thousand times. He could perform it correctly with his eyes closed. How could he fall down for no reason? Mu Qi was puzzled. He simply gave up thinking about it and rode his horse swaying towards home.
Why should a corporate slave who leaves work early care about his boss's safety?
As soon as he turned a corner, Xu Liben, the eldest son of Duke Xu, came over with a smile and rode his horse side by side with him:
"Seventh Brother, are you going to be on duty at Xiyuan again today? I have some clues about the scholar you asked us to find the other day!"
Mu Qi thought about it and remembered that he had a horse race with several noble sons a few days ago, and he did mention the trouble of copying the "Great Code" and the lack of a few scholars to lead the way. Duke Mu is the leader of all the nobles in the dynasty, and his status as a crown prince is even more noble. No wonder people would look for him if he just said something casually.
So he smiled as well: "Thank you very much, Brother Xu. May I ask, Brother Xu, who did you find?"
Xu Liben was very proud: "I didn't find this, but my father's staff recommended him. This Qingke said that he met a scholar who had failed in the imperial examinations for a long time in Beijing. After reciting poems with him a few times, he realized that he had great ideas and was definitely not a vulgar person. The most important thing is that this person is now poor and needs money. It only takes five taels of silver a month to hire him to work hard. Isn't it a great deal?"
It is really ridiculous that the children of nobles would be so stingy over money. But when Mu Qi listened carefully, he couldn't help but be moved. It's pitiful to say that the Duke Mu's mansion had many properties in the capital, but he hired people to copy the classics, and had to exchange rare species from overseas with wealthy merchants, try out various local methods and techniques, and subsidize his few resentful friends; after a few years of only taking in money and not spending it out, he had also spent all his private property. I really can't resist the temptation of cost-effectiveness.
He couldn't help but ask, "I wonder what the origin of this scholar is?"
The identity of being unsuccessful in taking exams and having no chance to show his talent is a popular cosplay among scholars nowadays. As for whether he has talent or not, he himself is very skeptical.
Xu Tao laughed and said, "Seventh brother, have you forgotten? It's the scholar from Kunshan who I told you about a few days ago. I heard that he lived in Xiangjijing, so he called himself Xiangjisheng, and his collection of essays is circulating in the market."
Mu Qi took a deep breath and said, "Xiang Ji, Xiang Ji... loquat tree!"
Xu Tao was puzzled: "What loquat tree? If you want to eat loquats, I can ask the Huguang Guild Hall to send them to you."
Mu Qi was stunned for a moment, and finally reached out and grabbed Xu Tao's arm:
"Thank you, brother!" He said eagerly, "Please inform Mr. Gui immediately. I will be waiting for him at home anytime and will not neglect him!"
Xu Liben was even more confused: "Okay, I will definitely tell you... Wait, how do you know his last name is Gui?"
·
Although Xu Liben agreed to hire someone for him, Mr. Gui often went to literary gatherings outside Beijing and might not be able to deliver the message in time. Mu Qi was so excited that he thought for a long time after returning home. He then asked the housekeeper to prepare his name card and personally send someone to deliver it to Mr. Gui's house the next day to show his seriousness.
Collecting celebrities is like spending money to draw cards. You can choose not to do it, but you can’t live without it. Even if you can't draw an SSR of Ge Xiang's level, it's also good to draw a life that has been in the textbook to satisfy your desire.
In order to express his pride in collecting celebrity cards, Mu Qi sent away the butler and servant, then opened the system, preparing to update his status to "graceful and majestic" in order to counter Lin Li, that dead seal who updated "The Memorial to the Emperor on Leaving the Capital" once every two days. But as soon as the screen popped up, the system dinged:
【Congratulations! Your progress bar for becoming a powerful nation is rising, please keep up the good work! 】
Mu Qi:?
Apart from the fact that he had taken great pains in his early years to impeach several corrupt officials and promote several technologies, barely advancing the progress bar of a strong country by 0 percent; ever since he was exhausted by the Emperor Lao Deng's yin-yang madness and simply lay down, he has not heard the prompt sound of the task progress bar changing. Now that we meet again after a long separation, the surprise is greater than the joy:
I haven't done anything recently?
He opened the system with a confused look on his face and saw two notifications:
[Clean up Zuodu Deputy Censor Di Maoyan in advance to slow down the collapse of the salt administration; progress increase: 0.1%;
Take the right measures to avoid the struggle for succession in Korea and maintain the court's influence on foreign vassals; Progress increase: 0.05%
Please keep working hard】
Mu Qi became more and more confused. He knew the nature of the dog system very well, and it was disgustingly fussy in calculating the progress. Unless it is a project that is undoubtedly closely related to Mu Qi, other policies with weaker relevance will not give him extra points at will. But Mu Qi recalled again and again, but he really couldn't remember what connection he had with Goryeo!
Could it be that the chaos in the dog system's server has reached this point?
·
After dinner, Dunton drank half a bowl of milk that absorbed heavy metals. Mu Qi opened the chat window, wanting to subtly show off the treasure he had just obtained. But after saying hello, Liu Li's avatar took half a day to send a message:
[Seventh Brother, the chili peppers you sent me before were very good. You don’t have to send me more in the future. Thank you, and thank you for your help. 】
【Mu Xiaoqi:? 】
[A seal took my spear: I was discovered by my father-in-law...]
Although there are only six words, they fully express Liu Li's sadness. Of course, this is not his fault. In order to consider the impact, Lin Li is still very careful in doing things. After getting the devil pepper from Mu Qi, he carefully filtered out the pigment, leaving only the juice, mixed it with red bean paste and brown sugar, wrapped it with glutinous rice, and made it into fragrant, sweet and flawless glutinous rice balls. He ordered people to reward it to Li Miao, a military officer in the Prime Minister's Office who talked nonsense and had ulterior motives, and guaranteed that he would not say a word after eating it.
Although Li Miao's words were disgusting, Liu Li did not have the decisiveness to kill people, so he could only let the minister Hook suffer, but he could not let the minister's head be cut off for the time being (it's not that he didn't want to, but his father-in-law stopped him); so he made a special adjustment in the amount, which should not be a big deal. Unfortunately, he still ignored the evolution of thousands of years. The Chengdu of Sichuan during the Three Kingdoms era was not the Chengdu of later generations that had fought with the old hot pot spicy chicken and spicy rabbit for decades, with a well-tested digestive tract and anorectal department that was unprecedentedly developed. How could the current spiciness extracted by cornus officinalis and ginger compare with that?
Therefore, Li Miao ate seven or eight meatballs in one breath, and when he felt thirsty, he drank two sips of hot water. The chili peppers soaked in the gastric juice immediately took effect. As for the effect, there is no need to elaborate - according to several clerks who worked in the yamen, they thought at the time that it was a neighbor's family slaughtering a pig!
Such cries of pain and agony certainly alarmed the prime minister. The prime minister found out the whole story and went to the palace that night to give the emperor some advice and remonstrance. However, Liu Li was well prepared and not worried: there was no problem with the other ingredients of the glutinous rice balls, and the origin of the chili peppers could not be traced; even if others had doubts, who would dare to question him as an emperor?
But in the face of such a sophisticated cover-up, the father-in-law only said one sentence:
"I heard that there are still a few meatballs left that Your Majesty gave to Li Miao. I wonder if I can have a taste?"
Liu Li immediately wilted and honestly admitted his little trick.
[…Then my father-in-law taught me for a long time.] Liu Li muttered to himself, very resentful: [The Prime Minister said that it is the duty of ministers to give advice. Even if what they say is wrong or bad, they cannot be dealt with in this way. Things in the court must be open and aboveboard, without any conspiracy or intrigue. Even if we have to criticize, we have to do it publicly. But - but this person is clearly spreading rumors maliciously! He even hinted in the memorial that the Prime Minister's father was colluding with the Eastern Wu to assassinate Li Yan... How could such a memorial be made public? ! How insulting! 】
[Mu Xiaoqi: What did the Prime Minister say?] 】
[The seal took my spear: The prime minister said that he had done everything in his life that was shameful to others, so why would he be afraid of a memorial to the emperor? My father-in-law also told me that if Li Miao spread these words in private, it would be like "Su and Zhang's affair" and he must be severely punished; but if he said these words publicly, it was his due responsibility and no matter how harsh his words were, it would not be a crime. As long as he is willing to speak publicly, he should be allowed to speak.
I was very unhappy at the time, and said that Li Miao was a pure villain and opportunist. I also listed many of his bad deeds and said that I must drive him out of the court. But my father advised me that even if this person really had problems with his mind, we should refute him publicly, criticize his mistakes with evidence, clarify the doubts of the vast majority of ministers, and unite everyone's hearts. This is what a monarch should do...
Alas, it is so frustrating that such people who talk nonsense and spread rumors all day long cannot be dealt with promptly. 】
It seems that Liu Li is really aggrieved. He even went against his usual behavior and complained so much. But Mu Qi stared at the string of complaints he typed for a long time before typing:
[Mu Xiaoqi: Public debate will rally everyone’s hearts... This is the standard process of ‘unity-criticism-reunion’. 】
[The seal took my spear: What? 】
[The seal took my spear: Why does it sound so familiar? 】
[Mu Xiaoqi: Of course you should be familiar with this. This is the required knowledge point in the political textbook for the postgraduate entrance examination, and the only way to do organizational work! Damn it, you stinky seal, how dare you chirp in front of me! Tell me, who else in this world would be so patient as to break down and feed you the top-secret dragon-slaying techniques such as organizational work in small pieces? ! This is fucking teaching you how to be an emperor! ——Ten years with no foundation, from a useless person to a wise ruler——How many people have heard of such a course? How dare you complain! 】
[Mu Xiaoqi: You ungrateful seal, take this spear from me! 】
Mu Qi finished the spray in one breath, still panting heavily. He was so broken-down and jealous that he couldn't bear it any more. The three of them huddled together for warmth and helped each other, but the beginning of their time travel was different. When he appeared, his father had been recuperating from an injury and had gone to Nanjing to serve at Emperor Gaozu's mausoleum, so he might not see him more than a few times a year. The other Zhao Fei was of a more distinguished status, but it was said that he was also an orphan at the beginning, with many turbulent circumstances around him, and not even many trustworthy relatives. There was only Liu Li, only Liu Li -
It’s great to have a father who is kind to him. Children with such a father are like treasures!
Faced with such a cruel reality, the feeling in his and Zhao Fei's hearts was naturally indescribable. It is understandable to curse the European Emperor occasionally.
Liu Li seemed to be stunned for a long time before he finally replied:
[I also know that my father-in-law does everything for my own good. It’s just a few grumbles in private. What’s the big deal…]
Mu Qi rolled his eyes and almost sneered out loud. Those who are truly favored are fearless. Not to mention ordinary monarchs and ministers, even between fathers and sons in the royal family, can they be so close? Without talking about anything else, let’s just look at the relationship between their taciturn old Deng and Prince Yu, Prince Jing and Princess Sishan.
This is my biological child!
Liu Li seemed to feel a little guilty and quickly changed the subject:
[Okay, I'm going to tell my father to drink the sour jujube seed calming soup on time. By the way, why isn’t Sister Zhao Fei online yet? She came online and kicked me, and I still have something to ask her. 】
Mu Qi chuckled and didn't respond, but subconsciously glanced at the gray avatar in the upper right corner with the note [Deposed Emperor Playing Mahjong]. If he remembered correctly, Zhao Fei had been offline for half a month, right? Is the battle to capture Shanzhou so difficult?
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