After Zhao Zhen visited Zhao Jun in the early morning and learned some new things, he went to the Chuigong Hall to discuss politics in the morning.
The Northern Song Dynasty had a regular court system, where civil and military officials would hold morning court in the Wende Hall. However, because regular court was merely a symbolic ceremony, it was gradually abolished.
The real court meetings were held in the Chuigong Hall. Except for some specific officials, other officials did not come here often. They would only come to report state affairs to the emperor and the three ministers and two councilors when their own offices had important official business to report.
In addition, if you encounter any emergency, you can also make an urgent request to enter the palace and then report to the emperor in the inner hall.
In the past, Zhao Zhen would have listened carefully to the reports on official business from the Privy Council, the Salt and Iron Department, the Ministry of Revenue, the Ministry of Finance, the many grand secretaries of the Academy of Scholars of the various cabinets, as well as the Yintai Department, the Tongjin Department, the Fazhi Department, the Sanbanyuan and the nine temples and six academies.
But today, his mind was completely unconcerned with state affairs; he was intent on going to the back garden to listen to history. Zhao Jun had clearly already captured Zhao Zhen's heart at this moment, and even the affairs of the nation were not as important as Zhao Jun's few prophecies.
"Official family, official family?"
Someone called him from below.
Zhao Zhen came to his senses and saw that the person below was Fan Zhongyan, the Tianzhang Pavilion attendant, the Ministry of Personnel Deputy Minister and the acting governor of Kaifeng Prefecture.
Fan Zhongyan's position as the Deputy Minister of Personnel was a salary-earning official without real power. His real power was the Acting Governor of Kaifeng Prefecture, which meant he was in charge of Kaifeng Prefecture, equivalent to the Prefect of Kaifeng Prefecture.
Zhao Zhen thought of how Zhao Jun had described Fan Zhongyan as a great official who would go down in history, so he perked up and asked, "What's the matter, Mr. Fan?"
"I just submitted several suggestions to the Emperor regarding the overhaul of Kaifeng Prefecture's administration. Why hasn't the Emperor said a word?"
Fan Zhongyan, 47 years old this year, looked at Zhao Zhen with a questioning tone.
The ministers of Renzong's reign were always so bold.
Zhao Zhen glanced at Lu Yijian, who had a stern face and said nothing. The conflict between him and Fan Zhongyan was known to everyone in the court, so there was nothing much to say.
Seeing that Lü Yijian was calm and composed, Zhao Zhen said, "I will follow Mr. Fan's instructions in everything."
"Thank you, sir."
Fan Zhongyan became angry when he glanced at Lu Yijian, but thinking that the map of all the officials in his family would be completed soon, he left after finishing his report.
Then the other officials reported on their affairs in turn, and Zhao Zhen handled them as usual to increase efficiency.
The court was not dismissed until the end of the morning at 9:00 PM, and then they hurried to the back garden.
Originally, the three ministers and three councilors had to deal with national affairs every day and help the emperor handle government affairs, but now they have pushed all the work to their deputies and followed the emperor to the back garden every day.
As the Chief Censor, Yan Shu was also the chief inspector of the Censorate, responsible for impeaching all officials in the court. However, he ended up delivering meals every day instead of doing his job.
Before entering, Zhao Zhen stopped Yan Shu and said to him, "Lord Yan, doesn't Zhao Jun like to tell jokes about the Song Dynasty? Why not let him do it? I want to see what else he can say."
Yan Shu was confused and said, "Your Majesty, Zhao Jun's jokes are offensive to His Majesty and pollute His Majesty's ears. What good is there in them?"
Zhao Zhen said, "If we can listen to more jokes, we can understand the inner meaning behind them. For example, if he tells us what will happen next, how can we respond if we don't know it?"
"Um."
Yan Shu thought for a moment, nodded, and said, "Your Majesty is indeed very clever."
Yan Shu then went in with the dinner tray.
On the plate was a bowl of buckwheat porridge and two steamed buns.
Hearing the sound of the door opening, Zhao Jun, who had been lying in bed with his mind wandering, jumped up again and said, "Old Village Chief!"
"Here I am."
This time, Yan Shu changed his tone to the more stiff Southwestern Mandarin.
Zhao Jun had let it slip before and asked if he was wearing Yi clothing. The Yi people were called the Yi people in ancient times, which are homophones, so Yan Shu knew that he was going to teach in the Yi village in later generations.
Even buckwheat porridge is a specially replaced staple food of the Yi people.
He placed the tray on the table next to him and handed over the bowl and steamed bun. Zhao Jun took it and asked in confusion, "Old Village Chief, I heard that the staple food here is potatoes. Why do we eat steamed buns every day?"
What is potato?
Yan Shu was at his wit's end again. He coughed and resorted to his tried-and-true trick, saying, "It's raining outside."
"Have the potatoes sprouted from the dampness?"
"Yes."
"Oh, that's a shame. But you don't have to worry too much, old village chief. Since it's a natural disaster, we can report the village's difficulties to the organization. Don't we have charity programs and poverty alleviation policies? We will definitely provide subsidies to the village."
Zhao Jun is full of confidence. In the new era, China's great country has not only leapt into the second place in the world in terms of strength, but its poverty alleviation program has also been in full swing for many years.
Not only is the country working hard to develop education in mountainous areas, but it has also been unambiguous about the major issue of poverty alleviation and prosperity.
"Teacher Zhao."
"Hey, you can just call me Xiao Zhao. By the way, I still don't know what to call the village chief?"
"Lajimuzi."
Yan Shu had done his homework. Last night he went back to look up the names of the Yi people and chose one for himself.
"Then I will call you Uncle Lari from now on."
Zhao Jun chatted with him while eating: "Uncle, do you know what time it is now?"
He came yesterday, but because he was blind and panicked, he forgot to ask the time.
Yan Shu had no idea what time it was. After a moment's hesitation, he could only answer, "I don't know."
"You don't know?"
Zhao Jun was surprised and asked, "Don't you have a watch at home?"
"The battery's out."
Yan Shu remembered what Zhao Jun said about the thing called a mobile phone being out of battery, so he applied it to him as well.
"The battery is out."
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