Chapter 914: Changing Orders Every Day
Wei Zhi breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this and retreated respectfully.
Without Bai Shan and Zhou Man, there would naturally be other ways to expose this matter, but they would be less tactful.
The emperor didn't take this matter seriously. Although he regretted that there was no turning point and he had to find another way, as he said, he couldn't issue an edict to force people to come to Beijing, right?
Even if you issue an order, people can refuse it, okay?
The emperor returned to the harem with his hands behind his back in a bad mood. The empress had just returned from the empress dowager and personally took off his outer robe. After the palace maid served him tea, she waved goodbye and asked them to leave.
The Queen then said, "My mother is crying."
The emperor frowned and asked, "What's wrong? Are you feeling unwell?"
The Queen sighed and said, "The Imperial Physician said it was caused by depression in his heart."
She glanced at the emperor, paused, and said, "Queen Mother misses the Prince of Yizhou. He's been complaining these past two days about how hard life is for the Prince in Yizhou, how many children he has to raise, and how his fiefdom has been cut. He even said he wants to give the several manors under his name to the Prince..."
Seeing the emperor's bad face, the empress said, "Your Majesty, if I were to worry about the King of Yizhou's livelihood, how would the people of the court and the world think of you, their brother?"
The emperor stood up with a sullen expression and walked around twice before asking, "When does your mother wish to summon the Prince of Yizhou to the capital to celebrate your birthday?"
"My Queen Mother still wants to recruit people to the capital this month. Next month is the Ghost Month, and it will be difficult for the King of Yizhou to travel with the child. It will be too late to enter the capital in August."
The emperor was amused. "Isn't mother's birthday in September?"
"My mother said that since she is going to celebrate her birthday in August, we should celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival together."
"Then why did you only recruit the King of Yizhou? Why did you also recruit the King of Hejian and the others into the palace?"
The Queen knew he was speaking in anger, but she didn't take it to heart. She asked calmly, "Because Wei Zhi had warned me against this, my Queen Mother hasn't spoken about it often in the court. She just called me over and hinted at it for a few days."
The emperor thought that the queen had to get up early these days to go to the empress dowager for morning news, and had to wake up in the evening. How many days had it been since he had dinner with her?
The emperor pursed his lips, lowered his eyes, thought for a moment, and then said, "I will tell all my ministers tomorrow that I will invite the King of Yizhou to the capital in late June."
"His Majesty……"
The emperor pressed his hands and said, "I will consider it."
The emperor fell into silence. He had originally not planned to let Bai Shan and the others enter the capital, but now he saw that the Queen Mother valued the King of Yizhou more and more. If he filed a complaint, he was afraid that the matter would not be kept secret. But if he filed a complaint, who could compare with Bai Shan and Zhou Man in terms of legitimacy and friendship?
The emperor couldn't help but feel a headache when he thought of the "forget it" he had just said to Wei Zhi. He was afraid that he would be reprimanded for being fickle and breaking his promise again tomorrow.
Despite this, during the small court meeting the next day, the emperor and his ministers recalled the heroes since the founding of the country, some of whom died on the battlefield, and some died in office due to various official duties.
Of course, there are not many such people. In comparison, there are more generals who died on the battlefield.
Seeing the emperor's unusual sentimentality, the ministers also recalled the past, and they talked about more and more. Wei Zhi heard the emperor mention Bai Qi's name, saying that he was also a meritorious official who had served the country loyally in the past...
Wei Zhi and Old Tang's eyebrows twitched slightly, and they looked up at the emperor. The emperor had already mentioned a name.
The other ministers didn't care. They and the emperor had mentioned about twenty people in total. It was normal that there were one or two people they were not familiar with or had never heard of.
Anyway, we are just commemorating the deceased heroes, so it is right for everyone to sigh with regret.
The emperor changed the subject and asked, "I wonder if these meritorious officials are now serving the country loyally?"
He said, "Their fathers have made great contributions. The country cannot let them down. They should inherit their fathers' legacy and serve the country and the people."
"Your Majesty is right."
Then everyone recalled that this general had once served under Minister A, and he remembered that his eldest son was currently serving in the army. This meritorious minister also remembered that his son had long since returned home, presumably to be a wealthy man...
At the end of the conversation, the emperor simply waved his hand and said, "The court is in need of talents. These children have such talented fathers, and their talents cannot be wasted. Wei Qing, please draft an imperial edict to recruit the children of these meritorious officials of appropriate age to study at the Imperial Academy. If you train them, they can continue to serve the country in the future."
Wei Zhi: ...didn’t we agree on “that’s all”?
But he thought about it and decided that this method was better than recruiting only Bai Shan and Zhou Man to come to Beijing. If there were more than 20 people admitted at once, who would still pay attention to Bai Shan?
Wei Zhi agreed.
The ministers did not expect such a turn of events. After thinking for a long time, they still couldn't understand why the emperor made such a sudden move, so they could only express their cautious agreement.
Seeing that this matter was settled, the emperor said, "This year, the Queen Mother will celebrate her 100th birthday. The Prince of Yizhou wants to come to the capital to celebrate her birthday. I intend to invite him to the capital in late June."
Upon hearing this, the ministers immediately expressed their opposition, and their opposition was very intense. They felt that the emperor's proposal was a complete diversion. They said, "The King of Yizhou is a vassal king. How can he be away from his fiefdom for too long? The Queen Mother's birthday is in September, so he should return to the capital at the beginning of September."
The emperor said expressionlessly, "I'm afraid it's too late."
"Then we will enter Beijing in late August..."
Anyway, he cannot enter the capital so early, otherwise he will serve the empress dowager every day and whisper in the emperor's ear. Who knows what kind of trouble he will cause?
The imperial court was not rich to begin with. The King of Yizhou always came to the capital empty-handed but left with a full load. If you had emptied your own private treasury, they would not have been able to say anything even if they had objections. But you emptied your own private treasury and the national treasury at the same time, which is really too much.
So all the ministers expressed their opposition, especially the Minister of Revenue Liu Hui, who particularly hated the King of Yizhou, so he expressed his strong opposition.
The emperor didn't seem very insistent. Seeing that everyone was against it, he waved his hand and said, "Forget it. Let's discuss this matter later."
This sentence choked the ministers who were planning a protracted war.
After discussing state affairs, the emperor asked Old Tang and Wei Zhi to stay and talk together.
"Mr. Wei, please take more care of the Imperial College."
Wei Zhi had been thinking about this a while ago and asked, "Your Majesty, are all the descendants of meritorious officials enrolled in the Imperial Academy, or are they divided into various schools such as the Imperial College and the Four-Gate Academy?"
He then asked, "How many descendants of a meritorious official can be enrolled in school? One, or two?"
The emperor thought for a moment and asked, "What do you think, Wei Qing?"
Wei Zhidao said, "I think these two are the most suitable. They will look after each other after they enter the Imperial College. However, the selection of schools for admission to the Imperial College should be based on examinations. The best students will go to the Imperial College, followed by the Imperial College, and then the Four Schools. The best students will be selected to go to the School of Mathematics, the School of Calligraphy, and the School of Law."
The emperor thought for a moment and nodded, "Let it be as you say, my dear minister. Ahem, you go find Mr. Kong to make plans. I'll leave this matter entirely to you."
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(End of this chapter)
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