Chapter 337 Means
"Name?"
"Zhou Bin."
"Which village head is this?"
"The first village of Xihejiazi in Heyin County, Zhengzhou..."
On the last day of February, in front of the third gate on the west side of Xuande Tower, many people turned their heads, including a middle-aged official in a red robe passing by, because of the appearance of a special number, but soon turned their heads away again. After all, there must be this first village with the character "甲", and it should be located in Heyin.
This is because after the government recaptured Tokyo, it held a military parade and a grand gathering in Heyin.
"When did you settle down?" The clerk in charge of recording immediately returned to normal. "Where is your original place of residence?"
"March of the third year of Jianyan, originally from Ruzhou." The village head named Zhou Bin responded cautiously.
"The time is right." The clerk finally put down his pen again and frowned. "But Ruzhou is so close, why don't you go home?"
This question caused the official in red robe next to him to look at him curiously again.
"Let this bailiff know that there are two reasons for this." The village head named Zhou Bin saw the high official next to him, and although he was afraid, he answered fluently, as if he had read books. "One is that I was forced into the army of the traitor Zhang Yu, and was pardoned and resettled, and I had no choice but to go; the other is that later in the fourth year of Jianyan, I returned to my hometown, and after asking around, I found out that the entire town in my hometown had been taken away by Zhang Yu, and there were only a few men and women left, so I simply settled down nearby and started a family there..."
The clerk in charge of registration sighed slightly after listening to this, then lowered his head to record: "It was like this for several years. It seems like a long time ago, but in fact it was only three, four or five years... From your appearance, you must have studied and married a woman from Hebei, so you were promoted to the head of the village?"
"Yes." The village head surnamed Zhou answered straightforwardly.
"I know that people like you have gone through all that and have lost all thoughts except settling down." The clerk continued to record with his head down, but sneered at me. "Yes and no?"
"Yes." The village head was still straightforward.
"Well, that's how it is now." The clerk of the Ministry of Revenue put away his smile and said seriously. "We have handled interest-free land loans in Kaifeng Prefecture before, and we know that there are still few village heads like you in the riverside villages. Most of them are retired soldiers from the imperial camp, and they are not easy to talk to. Since you are well-educated and know their feelings, you can stay here and negotiate for us for two days... It won't delay you from getting the loan in three days, and food and accommodation are provided. There is a kind of announcement job in your county. One person is responsible for ten villages, and he specializes in announcing government orders and summarizing the village heads of military and civilian villages. The money is not much, but the work is not much either. It is more or less an errand, and there are free court reports... Do you want to come?"
"If you give me face, why don't you come?" Zhou Zhuangtou responded quickly.
It was at this moment that the middle-aged official in a scarlet robe who had been watching from the side for a while finally turned around, but after crossing the bustling Imperial Street and entering the Dibao Courtyard diagonally opposite, he forgot about the scene that had just happened.
The official in the scarlet robe was none other than the Imperial Censor Li Jing.
Moreover, there has been a saying since ancient times that all officials avoid censors. Moreover, in the Song Dynasty, the Censorate, which had the ability to control the prime minister, had a very important status, and Li Jing was already the highest-ranking Censor in the Censorate?
Therefore, as soon as he entered the courtyard, many officials gathered in the courtyard bowed and saluted him, but they were unable to make way for him.
Li Jing, who was only in his thirties, was quite embarrassed, but he had no choice but to follow the path that everyone had left until someone called out from afar:
"Is this Shuyi (Li Jingzi)? Come and sit here."
Li Jing looked carefully and saw that it was the Minister of Personnel Chen Gongfu who was sitting alone on a long bench in the corner of the courtyard. He was overjoyed and hurried forward to greet him... and an official in a red robe opposite Chen Gongfu also stood up with a smile and naturally gave his seat to Li Jing.
Although Chen Gongfu was the one who opposed Taoism the most vigorously, he opposed it from the very beginning instead of changing his stance later. This made Chen Gongfu still maintain an indecisive attitude towards many minority groups in the court, including the Li Gang brothers.
And no matter what, both sides are still fellow villagers in the southeast (Li Gang and Li Jing are from Shaowu, Fujian, and Chen Gongfu is from Linhai, Taizhou), and they still have political ties. In addition, Chen Gongfu is now an official in the Ministry of Personnel, with a prominent and important position, and although he has a free and honest personality, he is a bit old. Therefore, the relationship between the two sides has always been relatively respectable.
"Mr. Chen, do you, a dignified official, have to condescend to wait for the imperial report?" After sitting down, Li Jing immediately changed to a southeastern accent, asked with a wry smile, and was unusually polite in his words... This politeness was more due to Mr. Chen's age rather than his official position.
"If the Imperial Censor can come and wait in person, why can't I, a court official, come?" Chen Gongfu responded casually, still with his carefree personality. "Besides, look at this courtyard full of red and green, how could it be missing you and me?"
"That's right." Li Jing also sighed as he looked at the officials in the courtyard. "Rather than saying that so many people have condescended to do so, it's better to say that the weight of the court report is no longer comparable to the miscellaneous affairs of the Honglu Temple... Mr. Chen, doesn't the Ministry of Personnel have any explanation?"
"Of course there are theories," Chen Gongfu answered frankly. "But they were all refuted by the provincial government. I think the government is keeping a tight rein on this and is reluctant to interfere. They also believe that Hu Quan is a useful person."
"If that's the case." Li Jing held his knees and thought. "It should be two years later, when Hu Quan has enough experience, he will gradually promote the Dibao to a department, and then to a supervisory office... It won't be a ministry at all... But such a key position, held by one person for a long time, will inevitably be mixed with some personal tendencies."
"The emperor is trying to take advantage of Hu Quan's personal inclinations to control the court reports." Chen Gongfu still spoke his mind, and his words were so straightforward that it was unbelievable. "Before the Northern Expedition succeeds, there should be no changes, just like the several prime ministers, Zhao Xianggong consolidated his power, and Zhang Xianggong moved forward..."
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