61 Chapter 61
◎High-grade cattle and horses◎
3:30 pm, Qianqing Palace.
On the desk, memorials were piled up like a mountain.
I picked up one of the books at random, which was a record of weather conditions in Huguang and the price of rice.
There has been plenty of rain this year, the harvest in the south is good, the price of rice is stable, and the people have enough food and clothing. The old emperor stroked his beard with satisfaction and wrote the words "very good" on the memorial with a red pen.
Today was a good start, and he picked up the next book in a good mood. It was a memorial handed over by the Governor of Jiangxi, which read: "A Jiangxi woman returned lost money and did not keep it." It seemed that the place was well governed, the people were simple and honest, and they valued morality and were kind. The emperor was pleased and wrote a word in red: "Good."
The next book: "May the Emperor's health be with you", with red-lettered comment: "Read".
The next book had tens of thousands of words on it. The old emperor thought it was something important, so he sat up straight and read it carefully.
Half a minute later, the emperor frowned, but still calmed down and continued to read.
A quarter of an hour later, the emperor became furious, slammed the table and threw the memorial to the ground.
"Come here!" The emperor swung his wide sleeves and said angrily, "Call this guy named Ru here and give him thirty strokes of the cane! He talks about morality and ethics all day long and writes useless nonsense. I think he is just bored, so I'm going to give him some rest!" [1]
The emperor was furious, and everyone was terrified and dared not move.
Only one person stepped forward steadily, picked up the memorial on the ground with his slender fingers, dusted it off, put it back on the table, and said lightly, "Our dynasty stipulates that memorials must be submitted on time. Those who are just sitting there doing nothing have nothing to report. They can only show off their literary talent and say a few auspicious words. If they can please you, it will be of some use."
The emperor choked when he heard someone scold his officials so bluntly. Although it was true, he still felt uncomfortable. He looked at Master Zhao with an unchanging expression, "Why is it your turn today? Where's the other one? Let him come over and serve the pens and ink!"
I really don't want to see this face again when I'm in a bad mood.
What kind of ivory can a dog spit out when it opens its mouth?
Unfortunately, the other person on duty was Jiang Jingyun.
When he heard the emperor's roar in the side hall just now, he was secretly shocked: No wonder they say that serving the emperor is like serving a tiger. Three hundred and sixty days a year, without a break, working diligently, managing such a huge country, who wouldn't be irritable?
Well, high-quality cattle and horses are still cattle and horses.
The old emperor doesn't eat people, so he is considered to have a mild temper.
Jiang Jingyun had been in a state of panic for several days since he was notified to serve in the palace.
After the results came, he discovered that although they were on duty in front of the palace, they did not actually have to stay in front of the emperor all the time. People from the Hanlin Academy only had to wait in a side hall and would only be summoned when drafting documents.
Moreover, the country has been peaceful and the people have been safe recently, and there has been no war on the border, so there is nothing that requires an imperial edict. Even if there is, two people are on duty at the same time, and the person summoned will be a superior of a higher rank than him.
So even though he had already taken two turns, Jiang Jinglin had never seen the emperor's face. He just changed his place and continued to slack off.
Just when he was enjoying himself, he heard the bad news that he was summoned. It was like a bolt from the blue, splitting Jiang Jingyun to pieces.
People really shouldn't be too proud, otherwise they will easily fail.
Hasn’t the teacher already gone there? Why are you still calling him? !
Woo woo woo, the groundhog felt bitter. He wanted to cry but couldn't. He didn't even dare to dawdle for a second. He walked to the front of the palace in a cowardly manner and saluted respectfully with a serious face: "I am Jiang Jingyun, your humble servant. I greet your Majesty. May your Majesty be at peace."
"Get up," the old emperor lowered his head and rubbed his eyebrows, his voice tired. If he had known that the other one was Zhao Mengcheng's student, he would not have called him over.
The people recruited by this old thorn can't be good people. They only know how to stab people's hearts!
However, thinking of the things presented before, all of which were from this person's hand, maybe there was some ingenuity, he pointed to the memorials that had been approved and said, "Come here, take a look at these memorials and see if you have any good ideas."
Ah, read the memorials?
Is his status suitable for this?
Could it be that he was dragged away and silenced right after he finished reading it?
Jiang Jingyun glanced at the teacher secretly, and when he saw the other party nodded slightly, he walked forward cautiously, picked up the topmost folding paper, and quickly browsed the contents inside.
After flipping through two copies, he already knew where the problem lay. When he saw the obscure, ten-thousand-word nonsense literature full of righteousness, morality and ethics, Jiang Jingyun felt that the old emperor had a really good temper. No matter how angry he was about wasting his time and energy, he would just call the person over to beat him up and vent his anger.
The employees are slacking off and the boss is working overtime. What a conscientious company.
Jiang Jingyun said he liked it very much! But since the boss was questioning me personally, it would be hard to get away with it, so I had to give some useful suggestions.
He gently put the memorial down, folded it neatly, then stepped back two steps and bowed, "Your Majesty, I have a solution."
"Oh?" As expected, young people have good brains. When the old emperor heard that there was a solution, he instantly became more energetic and sat up straight, urging, "Tell me about it quickly."
Jiang Jingyun spoke slowly and calmly, "If we only want to treat the symptoms, we can use the colors to distinguish the importance of memorials." Blue is for ordinary matters, used for matters such as paying respects; orange is for official matters, used for routine work reports; and military intelligence or other urgent matters are reported in red. In this case, if you engrave a seal with the words "read" or something like that, and use it to review ordinary blue memorials, you can save a lot of time and energy...
He paused after he finished speaking, as if he had discovered a loophole, and added, "If you think the color is too conspicuous and can easily leak secrets, you can also use different seals on the inner pages of the memorial to distinguish them."
After the emperor heard this, he exchanged a glance with Zhao Xueshi beside him, and both saw the word "feasible" in each other's eyes. He then looked at Jiang Jingyun and continued to ask, "If you want to cure the root cause, what should you do?"
If you want to cure the root cause, the operation will be more complicated. If I have to say it, it's really a child without a mother, and it's a long story. "If we want to solve the root cause, we can standardize the format of memorials."
First of all, the title summarizes the entire content in a few simple words so that people can understand it at a glance.
Then comes the main text. The beginning introduces the basic information at this stage; the main body describes in detail the main situation and practices of the work, as well as the results achieved so far; the end writes about the existing problems and shortcomings, and it is best to attach solutions and clearly state what kind of help the court needs to provide.
Finally, sign and indicate the specific date of submission.
Jiang Jingyun spoke in detail and the two listened attentively, especially the old emperor, who asked about the meaning of the unfamiliar words that came out of his mouth from time to time.
Seeing him stop, the old emperor immediately cast an expectant look at him. Under such a fiery gaze, Jiang Jingyun could only bite the bullet and continue talking. Anyway, he had already said this, so this last bit didn't matter. He brought out the modern management system, including future work plans, weekly, monthly, quarterly, annual reports, reward and punishment systems... He told them everything he knew.
The emperor was amazed and suddenly understood. He looked at the young minister in front of him with admiration and said, "Just as I just said, write a memorial to me and I will reward you handsomely later!"
"I obey your command." Jiang Jingyun bowed in response.
At the morning court a few days later, the emperor issued the latest decree, the content of which was implemented exactly as Jiang Jingyun had said.
When the ministers heard this, they were in an uproar.
Even though Jiang Jingyun was not in the palace, he could still guess how wonderful the expressions on those court officials' faces were!
Although he was also one of them, it did not prevent him from feeling secretly happy in his heart: Hey, the cattle and horses in ancient times, feel the exploitation from the capitalists thousands of years later, and then be shocked, tremble, struggle, and then surrender helplessly! Hehehe, if he has been drenched, he will make others taste the rain too!
However, Jiang Jingyun was proud in his heart but did not show it on his face. After all, this was something that angered everyone. Fortunately, the old emperor was loyal enough and did not push him out as a living target. But even if he didn't say it, those people in the cabinet probably knew it.
After the court session, several ministers cast meaningful glances at Jiang Jingyun as they passed by him, but he pretended not to know and lowered his head to focus on the patterns on his shoes. The shoes on his feet were recently given to him by Jiang Qingrong. The girl is now very skilled in making shoes. Not only are the shoes sturdy and durable, but there are also patterns embroidered on the uppers, which look delicate and beautiful. Staring at the circles of auspicious clouds, Jiang Jingyun's mind couldn't help but become a little empty: Speaking of which, since he entered the court as an official, he seemed to be busy every day, and he hadn't gotten together with his family to relax for a long time.
How about taking advantage of this break to go out and have some fun? So, where should we go?
"Where to what?"
Just as he was lost in thought, Su Yuheng's face came close to him. Jiang Jingyun came back to his senses and realized that he had unknowingly walked out of the palace with the team. He looked at his friend who was gossiping and replied in a good tone, "Nothing, I just want to take my family out to play during my day off, but I haven't decided where to go."
"You should ask me about this. I'm the best at it!" Su Yuheng patted his chest proudly.
Jiang Jingyun looked at him and asked, "Then how many can you recommend to me?"
"How about renting a farm in the suburbs? We can go hunting in the mountains during the day and barbecue the prey. It must be delicious," Su Yuheng talked about eating, drinking and having fun. "I heard there are hot springs. After eating and drinking, we can also go take a bath at night to relieve fatigue..."
"Wait," Jiang Jingyun interrupted him, "We? Who said we're going to take you with us?"
"Well, we are a family, so we should keep our differences." Su Yuheng didn't care about Jiang Jingyun's refusal, and said carelessly, "Besides, it's more fun to go out and play with more people! Besides, there is Brother Zhengbai. Can you bear to go out and play by yourself and leave him alone here?"
"..., go and book that place, and remember to negotiate the price, don't get ripped off again!"
"No problem, leave it all to me!"
【Author’s words】
【1】The content refers to the content of greetings in the Ming and Qing dynasties.
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