Chapter 19: Jinyulou Talk
The place where people who work here eat is a separate room with many square tables and long benches. After receiving today's meal, they sit on the long benches and eat in silence. There is no crowding and no chaos.
If you look at these people, you can easily tell those who have just arrived today and those who have been here for a day or two, because those who have just arrived mostly eat voraciously, while those who have taken a day or two to adapt to life here mostly eat very happily with every bite.
If the rice porridge is not enough, you can go to the porridge bucket to add more. This porridge is not very good. It is not made entirely of corn. It is cooked with miscellaneous grains. The taste is not very good, but it is rice porridge, something that can fill your stomach!
The only sound in the huge room was the sound of eating. They ate very seriously and reverently, as if they would be willing to die in the next second.
The person in charge of making porridge had been reminded long ago to be careful to prevent some people from not knowing when they were hungry or full and eating until they got a stomachache.
There were some dishonest people among them, but they became more obedient after eating a few meals.
After finishing their meal today, the refugees returned to where they worked. Some of them were assigned to push the millstones, some were assigned to plant beets, and some were assigned to do other work.
Er Gouzi continued to grind the millstone. He observed the area he was in and found that the security was not strict. It would be easy for him to leave, but after many days, no one was missing. He gradually adapted to life here. He worked and ate every day, and returned to the large bunk bed to sleep at night.
There is food and shelter here. Although the work is tiring and hands are sore and shaking at the end of the day, everyone who comes here will have a "human" expression on their face after working for a while - their faces were originally numb and fearful, but now there is more satisfaction, expectation and gratitude.
...
Jinyu Tower.
Led by Li Zhongxian, Su An entered the private room and saw at first sight the "young master" who had an extraordinary temperament even though he was dressed in a plain way.
He stepped forward and saluted: "Sir."
Although Su An called him "Young Master", he was actually following the etiquette between a ruler and his subjects.
Before he could kneel down, the person originally sitting in the main seat stopped him from moving and gestured for him to sit down: "No need to be so polite in public. Tell me how the task I asked you to do is going."
"....Yes." Su An was stunned for a moment and looked at Li Zhongxian.
Li Zhongxian said beside Yan Xuanyu, "Young Master asked you to sit down, so just sit down."
He found calling Su An "Young Master" much smoother than calling him "Young Master". Thinking of this, Li Zhongxian felt a little proud.
Su An responded and sat down next to the chair.
While Su An did not dare to look the emperor in the eye due to the etiquette between the monarch and his subjects, Yan Xuanyu was observing his every move. During this observation, Yan Xuanyu thought of Su An in his previous life. He always felt that he had not much in common with this young man in front of him who was practical, polite, and seemed not to have been worn away by officialdom.
Su An, of course, didn't know what Yan Xuanyu was thinking. He thought for a moment and said, "My lord, I have gathered the refugees in the capital and the surrounding cities according to your instructions. For now, I have them doing some farming and grinding work to help them adapt to life here first, and then I will classify them according to their different personalities and abilities..."
As he spoke, his initial awkwardness disappeared and Su An spoke more and more fluently.
When he heard that Su An was using silver to get officials and soldiers from various cities to search for refugees in the city, he frowned slightly. Su An was right. The ills of the Great Zhou Dynasty were not formed in a day or two, including the laziness of officials and soldiers in various cities, and some even bullying others by relying on their official status. It was a pity that Yan Xuanyu could not change this situation all at once. First, he had to introduce talents through imperial examinations so that local officials could have replacements, and then clean up those officials who were not serving the people. With good officials, the officials and soldiers below would naturally be restrained and managed.
Moreover, the reason why Yan Xuanyu did not give Su An a specific official position and only gave him the status of an eighth-rank official was that he had another idea, which was to set up an inspection department that would directly obey him and be responsible for supervising the affairs of the Great Zhou.
"You previously told me to establish an independent Supervisory Office, independent of the imperial court. The people who make up this office must be utterly invulnerable, and I personally trained them... So, I plan to select teenagers who meet the requirements from among these familyless refugees, give them the training you mentioned, and then select the qualified ones to join the Supervisory Office."
Yan Xuanyu nodded gently, "Yes."
Su An didn't know why His Majesty entrusted such an important task as establishing the Supervisory Office to him, a man who was just a minor official under the Jingzhao Yin a few days ago, but he didn't ask. He only knew that he would do his best to complete what His Majesty had entrusted to him.
No matter whether it was some things in the previous life or the actual achievements that Yan Xuanyu had seen Su An make in road construction and drainage facilities, Yan Xuanyu felt that Su An was trustworthy and reliable.
"When selecting personnel for the Supervisory Department, we must pay attention to their character." Yan Xuanyu added, "First, train a group of people to see the results. If it works later, we can also select people from the civilian population..."
There is absolutely no conflict of interest between the common people and the nobles. Yan Xuanyu believes that through the training plan he has set, he can select a group of capable people who can enter the Supervisory Office. In the future, the Supervisory Office will definitely be in front of the public, so from now on, the identities of this group of people must be hidden.
Su An nodded frequently as he listened to the various precautions Yan Xuanyu mentioned, and silently took note of them in his mind.
No one could have imagined that the establishment of the Supervisory Office, which would later terrify corrupt officials of the Great Zhou, was decided in just a few words in a private room of the Jinyu Tower.
Before I knew it, the sky outside had turned dim, and the noise in the Jinyu Building had gradually died down.
Yan Xuanyu smiled sheepishly. He stood up and straightened his robe. "I didn't expect the discussion would take so long."
He was like a faucet, and once he started talking, he talked endlessly. Yan Xuanyu explained to Su An everything he thought about, from the selection of personnel in the Supervisory Office to the various training contents in daily life. They talked and the other memorized silently, and time passed like this.
Su An also stood up after him.
"Sir, it's getting late today. Should we go back?" Li Zhongxian said.
Yan Xuanyu nodded: "Then let's go back."
It was not until Yan Xuanyu stood up that Su An realized that the young man's back was so thin. Looking closely, he saw that his face looked a bit sickly.
Yan Xuanyu was in disguise when he left the palace today. His original facial features were flattened, and now he looked like an ordinary person. He nodded to Su An and was supported by Li Zhongxian as he walked away.
Su An looked at Yan Xuanyu's back and suddenly felt worried.
He bowed deeply behind Yan Xuanyu and said, "Farewell, young master."
When there was only one person left in the private room, Su An sat on the chair and carefully thought about what the emperor had just said about the Supervisory Office's method. The more he thought about it, the more frightened he became.
When the new emperor ascended the throne, rumors spread from all sides that the Fourth Prince was a playboy and had an ugly character, unfit to be an emperor. However, after meeting His Majesty, Su An felt that this prince was far superior to the other princes in both talent and strategy.
Everyone said that the Fourth Prince was the only one who escaped unscathed during the late Emperor's later years, but...
Now looking at the young master's thin and weak back, Su Anxin slowly sank. Is it really like this?
After spending these days alone with His Majesty, Su An gradually realized that His Majesty wanted to change the Great Zhou, and that His Majesty appointed people regardless of their official rank.
The Great Zhou now has an imperial examination system. However, because aristocratic families often collect books to pass down their legacy, and their children often have renowned teachers, only a handful of books are accessible to the general public. Therefore, it is difficult—almost impossible—for peasant students to pass the imperial examination and enter the imperial court. Su An, born into a poor family, was the only one to experience the hardships of his youthful education. He later passed the imperial examination, achieving a lowly ranking and becoming a minor official. He had initially believed he would never rise above the rank of Jingzhao Yin. However, during a road renovation project in the capital, he caught the eye of the emperor, who promoted him to the rank of eighth rank and entrusted him with a crucial task for the Great Zhou.
This brought his idea of serving His Majesty for the rest of his life to a climax.
The fact that His Majesty often summoned the Imperial Physician to diagnose his pulse and was always being treated by the Imperial Physician was no longer a secret from the palace. Even Su An, an official of low rank, knew about it.
A thought popped up in Su An's mind - I only hope that Your Majesty will be in good health and be able to do everything Your Majesty wants to change the Great Zhou.
...
When Ergouzi had adapted to life here, one day someone suddenly came and took them away from where they were working and gathered them together.
The person who had been in charge of them shouted, "This is Master Su. You can eat your fill here because of Master Su!"
The originally quiet crowd below suddenly became agitated, and everyone craned their necks to look at the Lord Su he was talking about.
Ergouzi also saw the person standing on the platform from afar.
But he soon lowered his eyes, took out a multi-grain dumpling that he had kept since morning and started eating it.
When he finished eating the food in his hand seriously, he suddenly found that the people crowded in front of him spontaneously made way, and Lord Su came down from the stage and walked in front of him.
"Your name is Ergou?" The man called Lord Su was holding a notebook in his hand.
Er Gouzi still lowered his eyes and nodded.
Lord Su said, "You work very hard. Do you want to come with me?"
Er Gouzi shook his head and said after a while: "I won't leave. I can eat enough here."
He was clearly a teenager, but his eyes were dark and now full of stubbornness.
The Lord Su smiled and said, "If you follow me, you can have enough to eat and eat better."
Ergouzi was stunned. He seemed to be thinking hard about something, and finally said "Okay".
...
Ergouzi was taken away like this, along with a dozen or so teenagers of about his age. They were all refugees or beggars from various cities. After working here for some time and having a full meal every day, they finally had a bit of the energy and spirit that they should have at this age.
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