Chapter 10: Wenyuan Pavilion
Wenyuan Pavilion.
This was the first meeting of the cabinet scholars. In the future, they will all work together in Wenyuan Pavilion to assist in government affairs. The former rivals have now become a "family" sitting at the same table.
There are two tables in Wenyuan Pavilion, which were specially built by palace craftsmen at the request of Yan Xuanyu. The shape imitates the round tables in modern banquet halls, and the round wooden boards on them are rotatable. Such a table was built and placed in Wenyuan Pavilion not for these officials to have meals together.
Instead, Yan Xuanyu creatively came up with a method—
Assembly line operation of memorials.
There were five people at each table. All memorials were divided into two parts and placed on a turntable. The five people at the table each took a memorial, read it, and passed it to the right. If they felt that the memorial should be submitted to the Chengtian Hall, they would stamp it with the jade seal at hand to achieve fair handling.
Then there is another question at this time, is this easy to cause disputes and be difficult to resolve?
It doesn't matter. Yan Xuanyu also ordered people to place soft couches in the side hall of Wenyuan Pavilion, so that if the cabinet officials were unable to complete the processing of memorials, they could sleep on them in the side hall to enhance their feelings and tacit understanding.
"Sir Jiang, why do I feel cold?" Zuoqiu Cheng and Jiang Yuanhua were walking together on the official road.
Jiang Yuanhua said, "It's getting hotter, but I haven't felt any coolness yet. Maybe it's because there's a locust tree forest behind this official road, which is a great place to cool off in the summer."
"Lord Jiang knows a lot about the imperial palace." Zuoqiu Cheng said with a smile.
"No, I just heard someone mention it before and I just remembered it." Jiang Yuanhua also laughed a few times.
The two of them quickly walked along the official road to Wenyuan Pavilion, where Lin Fu and others were already waiting.
Zuo Qiucheng sneered, "Now that he's been made a Duke, he's become loyal."
Jiang Yuanhua's face turned serious: "Master Zuo, please be careful with your words."
Seeing that Jiang Yuanhua seemed unhappy, Zuoqiu Cheng quickly restrained his expression.
This is Wenyuan Pavilion, and maybe people around here are the emperor's entourage.
Zuo Qiucheng saw two round tables placed in the main hall of Wenyuan Pavilion. He saw the servant turn it, and the round wooden board on the round table actually began to rotate slowly, so he walked forward curiously and reached out to try it. He knew that it was probably similar to a wheel or something like that, but he had never seen it permanently fixed on the table, so it was quite novel for a moment.
Han Yuan was the last to come in. He was not wearing the clothes of a duke, but a crimson official robe. His white hair was neatly tied up, and he looked very energetic.
The cabinet officials bowed and saluted: "Greetings to the Prime Minister."
Han Yuan nodded: "Get up."
At that time, Zuoqiu Cheng and his friends did not know that the round table, which seemed novel to them, would become a "nightmare" for them.
When the large number of memorials were carried up by several young eunuchs, the cabinet members vaguely sensed that something was wrong and began to whisper to each other.
“We have to select so many memorials in one day?”
The emperor has not appeared yet, and there are only a few eunuchs serving in the palace.
"My lords, His Majesty said that we only need to select the useful memorials and put them here, and the rest can be stamped with the jade seal here." After the chief steward of Wenyuan Pavilion finished speaking, he took the young eunuchs to wait far away, obviously leaving the officials enough room for discussion.
They were all important officials of the court. Several of them sat around the table and picked up the memorials. At first they did not open them, but started discussing them.
"I believe that memorials should still be submitted by subordinates to superiors and then presented to Chengtian Hall. The current cabinet system will probably be abolished soon." said Lu Pengju, a 13th-rank official.
An official beside him stroked his beard and said with a smile, "Lord Lu is right. How can the rules be changed so easily?"
"If a few officials had stood up at the time, Your Majesty would have given up on forming this cabinet."
They were all silent at first, but now when they arrived at the cabinet and saw that they were just screening memorials, they all felt a little unhappy for a moment.
At this moment, a voice rang out: "If you have any objections to the cabinet's decision, you may go to Chengtian Hall to see His Majesty."
Everyone looked in the direction of the voice and found that it was Lin Fu.
Originally everyone thought that Han Yuan was going to fall, but the emperor placed Han Yuan under house arrest and then released him and directly made him a duke.
Lin Fuzheng looked at the memorial in his hand. After reading it, he stamped it with the jade seal and handed it to the official next to him, indicating that he believed that this memorial should be presented to His Majesty.
Seeing Lin Fu like this, the few people stopped talking and went back to their work. But they must have been dissatisfied in their hearts, and it showed on their faces. Even when reviewing memorials, their efficiency was very low.
As the chief minister of the cabinet, Han Yuan sat on a chair nearby, holding a book and reading it slowly, seemingly unaware of what was happening here.
It was almost three o'clock in the afternoon, but the memorials on the table were still piled up like a mountain.
"Gentlemen, why don't we deal with it tomorrow?" Someone said this, and several people around agreed.
"As it should be."
"First, have the chief steward of Wenyuan Pavilion send these selected memorials to Chengtian Palace."
Several people looked at Han Yuan who was still sitting on the chair. He seemed a little tired and closed his eyes slightly.
"Sir Han, the memorials selected today are already on the table." Lu Peng said politely.
Han Yuan seemed to have fallen asleep in the chair and did not respond.
The officials around looked at each other for a moment, "Then let's take our leave first!"
After that, they apologized to Han Yuan and walked towards the door of Wenyuan Pavilion.
Unexpectedly, before he even reached the door, he was stopped by the head steward of Wenyuan Pavilion: "My Lords, have you dealt with the memorial?"
"No," Lu Pengju said, "It's time for officials to leave the palace today. We will return to the cabinet tomorrow to continue processing."
Memorials from the Great Zhou were submitted every three days, so it was not excessive and reasonable for them to continue processing the memorials tomorrow.
The head steward of Wenyuan Pavilion looked troubled. "But His Majesty has ordered us to collect all the memorials for today before we can let you all go home."
Officials: ???
"this?"
Everyone was dumbfounded.
"Could you please tell His Majesty again that you might have misheard it?" an official said to the chief steward of Wenyuan Pavilion.
The steward bowed and said, "Your Excellency, we must listen carefully to every word His Majesty says, otherwise it would be disrespectful."
The implication is that it is the emperor's order to let them continue to assist in government affairs.
The dozen or so people present were all court officials. There were the Prime Minister, the Censor, the Grand Tutor, and several Shangshu from the six ministries. How could they have ever suffered such injustice?
Wenyuan Pavilion was originally divided into two parts. There were also officials in the part where Lin Fu was located who had the same idea as the officials in the other part, but due to Lin Fu's identity and the speed at which the other party sent the memorials, they had to concentrate all their attention. Later, the people on Lin Fu's side found a way to "take advantage of the situation" - all the memorials that Lin Fu handled, which he stamped with his jade seal, were most likely to be submitted, and they only needed to stamp one too.
It was not the same on the other side. Zuo Qiucheng was a man of outspokenness, and Lu Pengju and others were already angry, so the originally polite situation between them was somewhat broken.
Zuo Qiucheng, holding a memorial in his hand, laughed and said, "I didn't know that a murder case like this, caused by a horse riding in the street, shouldn't be reported?"
Lu Pengju's face darkened. "This matter should be handled by the Jingzhao Yin. Why is it being presented to His Majesty?"
"Hmph..." Zuoqiu Cheng snorted coldly, "I'm afraid you think the one riding a horse in the street is your wife's nephew!"
"You!" Lu Pengju stood up suddenly.
Jiang Yuanhua, who was sitting between them: .....
"This matter was reported by a minor official in the capital. He probably wrote this report just because he thought the memorial could reach the emperor's ears... Oh, he also reported the officials of Lord Lu's wife's family. He didn't expect that there would be a hurdle like us, and he didn't expect that it would be seen by you, Lu Pengju. If this minor official lost his life, who do you think should be investigated first?" Zuo Qiucheng said.
Lu Pengju's face was gloomy. "I haven't said anything yet, and I'm not the only one who thinks this memorial shouldn't be reported. Why is Lord Zuo being so aggressive?"
"Sir Jiang, do you think this memorial should be sent to Chengtian Palace?" Zuoqiu Cheng suddenly turned around and asked.
Jiang Yuanhua: .....
Why ask him, a Qing official who has nothing to do with anything?
Lu Pengju's gaze also fell on Jiang Yuanhua. "Sir Jiang, we believe this is the responsibility of the Jingzhao Yin. Why should such a trivial matter be brought before His Majesty?"
"The Jingzhao Yin is only in charge of the area surrounding the capital. Who among the imperial family and officials in the capital can he touch?"
"Although riding horses in the street is prohibited, it has never ceased. Why is this matter being brought before Your Majesty? Is Lord Zuo targeting me just because I'm the nephew of my wife's family?"
"The key point of this case is that someone died."
Jiang Yuanhua: "Alright, both of you please sit down first."
He seemed to have returned to the early years of the previous emperor when officials were pointing fingers at each other and cursing at each other in the Golden Palace, and for a moment he felt an extremely headache.
"Since you are all hesitant, why not leave it to His Majesty to decide." Lin Fu, who was passing by them, suddenly spoke.
Although there was one more person supporting his point of view, the other party was Lin Fu, his old rival, so things were not so good.
Lu Pengju angrily asked, "Why is it so?"
Lin Fu continued, "Lord Lu, since we are unable to determine the nature of this case, why not submit it to His Majesty so that we can understand His Majesty's criteria for what constitutes 'should be submitted' and what 'should not be submitted'."
This sentence left Lu Pengju speechless, but...
Finally, Jiang Yuanhua said, "Then let's do as Master Lin says."
In the small Wenyuan Pavilion, all the malpractices in the court were exposed in just one day. Some reports could not reach the top because the relationship network of upper-level officials had long been closely connected by in-laws. The Prime Minister, as the head of all officials, could not even suppress such things, let alone the affairs of the court.
In addition, these officials are all important officials in the court, but their efficiency is very low.
At the end of the day, they had not even completed one-third of all the memorials they had submitted.
Looking at Lin Fu, he had almost finished sorting all the memorials on the table.
Zuo Qiucheng walked over without giving up and picked up a divided memorial to read, and then took out another one.
He found that Lin Fu divided the memorials into reports on state affairs, reports on peace, and reports on other matters. The reports on state affairs were naturally those sent from all over the Great Zhou. Now that spring had just arrived and it was the sowing season for the people, many areas sent memorials describing the grain surplus and the sowing scene. There was even one person who wrote about a woman in the field who returned lost money.
Zuo Qiucheng saw Lin Fu place the memorial about returning the lost money among the memorials, and for a moment he felt like he had a handle on his opponent. "This is a memorial, why would a village woman who returned the lost money put it here? Isn't this kind of memorial, as Your Majesty said, should be placed with the memorial of greeting and other memorials and directly affixed with the imperial seal?"
Lin Fu wondered if Zuoqiu Cheng was so talented, why could the two of them end up in a tie in the court?
Then he suddenly realized that their fight was not about politics, but about means.
He said, "You only see here that it says the woman in the field returned the lost money. Where did this memorial come from?"
Zuo Qiucheng took a look and said, "Shu."
"A few months ago, there were bandits roaming around in Shu, but they were all taken down by the Bashu prefect. He intended to show that the people of Shu today are simple and honest, and that the people are diligently cultivating the land."
After Lin Fu finished speaking, he didn't say anything more to Zuoqiu Cheng. They handed the memorial to the young eunuch beside the chief steward of Wenyuan Pavilion, and then went to the armchair to wait respectfully for Han Yuan to wake up.
Zuoqiu Chengdu saw that before Lin Fu had even stopped there, Han Yuan sat up straight with sleepy eyes, and the group, led by the steward of Wenyuan Pavilion, went to where the carriages were parked on the official road.
The steward said that His Majesty showed sympathy for the cabinet and specially granted carriages to take the officials home.
Zuo Qiucheng and others could only watch them leave.
The others who had not left Wenyuan Pavilion wanted to wait for the time, as they did not believe that His Majesty would let them stay overnight in the palace.
It was not until the steward of Wenyuan Pavilion took them to see the side hall that the cabinet members knew that the emperor was really here.
Their tempers instantly faded, and they began to painstakingly divide the memorials and stamp them with the imperial seal. Since they were tired of arguing, they unexpectedly worked together very smoothly, and even developed a good understanding of each other.
The last few people left Wenyuan Pavilion at three quarters past the hour of You and were taken out of the palace by carriage on the official road.
The manager of Wenyuan Pavilion carefully put away the stamped memorial.
At the same time, the system in Yan Xuanyu's brain issued a prompt sound -
[Complete the tyrant growth mission and ignore state affairs, reward 16 points]
When Yan Xuanyu learned about this, he just thought in his heart, if I don't push them, they won't know how to improve efficiency or cooperate.
After all, if it is something that can be messed up, who among them wants to really do it well?
Oh, right? After completing the "Ignore State Affairs" mission, his points seemed to be enough to unlock a card draw. Yan Xuanyu suddenly remembered this.
He dismissed the palace servants on both sides, brought out the card drawing panel, and found that the button to start card drawing was no longer gray and could be used!
[System, what rewards do you have here?] Yan Xuanyu asked in his heart.
[Host, I think you've asked the system this question before. The system's answer is—random.]
Random? How random?
Well, you’ll know once you open it.
Card drawing games all have a mechanism to protect new players, so if we want to be humane, we should also have one for this tyrant card drawing system.
Yan Xuanyu was used to clicking quickly when playing card-drawing games. Without thinking, he just reached out and clicked.
I saw a chuck with golden light floating on it slowly appearing, but it was blurry.
[Host, please draw a lucky symbol]
A line of words appeared on the panel.
Yan Xuanyu stretched out his hand and drew a five-pointed star.
Immediately afterwards, a dazzling white light flashed before his eyes, with a few strands of gold flowing in the middle.
Yan Xuanyu was delighted. Something good happened?
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