Chapter 286 'Promotion'
Secretariat.
Some time ago, Li Xuanjing purged the court, and many officials from various departments were demoted and beheaded, but the Secretariat was relatively less affected.
Apart from two Zhongshu Sheren from the Wang family who participated in the purge of the imperial court and were beheaded in public by the Dali Temple on charges of treason, no other officials were implicated.
One reason is that other officials did not participate in the actions led by King You.
Another reason was that he was the Minister of the Central Secretariat and the Left Prime Minister of the dynasty, and was the mentor of Li Xuanjing, the Minister of the Dali Temple.
Although the relationship between teacher and student broke down twenty years ago, there is still a layer of affection between them.
The officials of the Secretariat were not only not implicated by King You, but also benefited greatly from it.
The Jingzhao Yin committed suicide out of fear of punishment, and a Zhongshu Sheren took his place.
Many officials aim to enter the Secretariat and serve as the Secretary of the Secretariat because the Secretary of the Secretariat has great decision-making power over state affairs.
They only held fourth-rank official positions, but they also had to approve memorials submitted by the third-rank officials of various departments.
However, this kind of decision-making power is more like a castle in the air.
Unlike the Jingzhao Yin or the Dali Temple Minister, who have the real power of life and death, their power cannot bring them much benefit.
So Du Yu was very envious of Zhang Sheren for getting such a great bargain for free.
In the Secretariat, above him were two Secretariat Assistants, one Secretariat Minister, a Secretariat Sheren of the same rank, and five others.
But in the Jingzhao government office, the Jingzhao Yin can cover the sky with one hand.
The entire Gyeonggi Province, with tens of millions of people, were under his jurisdiction.
After feeling envious for a while, Du Yu continued to review memorials. When he picked up a letter from the Dali Temple, he subconsciously glanced at the signature. He couldn't help but sit up straight and read it carefully.
Although he has the final say on whether a memorial is passed, he also bears responsibility for it. If there is any mistake, he may be impeached.
Especially memorials from important officials must be taken seriously.
This memorial was submitted by the Chief Justice of the Dali Temple.
The Dali Temple Minister seldom submitted memorials to the Secretariat, so he did not have to give an explanation to the court when he killed someone through the Mingjingsi.
Matters that require him to submit memorials or appear in person are usually related to his son.
For example, the establishment of the Anti-Theft Department was after his son wiped out a group of thieves.
For example, he denied the choice of Princess An Ning as her husband... Princess An Ning is now his daughter-in-law.
This time, he submitted the memorial to request credit for his son.
In this memorial, the Chief Justice of the Dali Temple attributed all the credit for solving the Eastern Palace case to his own son, and it was obvious that he wanted the Secretariat to promote his son.
If what he said was true, it was indeed a great achievement.
But it had only been two months since his son's last promotion.
Even if a newly-minted scholar has a strong background, he or she has to wait for three years before getting a chance to be promoted, and that is if the rank is not high. And from the fifth rank to the fifth rank, it normally takes more than five years.
If he is promoted, those officials who have not been promoted for many years may have objections.
If he is not promoted, the Dali Temple Minister will definitely be dissatisfied.
Du Yu didn't want to get into trouble like this, so he handed the petition over as usual and let the higher-ups make the decision.
Faced with this memorial, the two Zhongshu Shilang were also undecided and forwarded the memorial to the Zuo Xiang, who was the Zhongshu Ling.
When the Left Assistant Minister of the Secretariat took the memorial and walked to the door of the Secretariat Minister's office, he saw an old man walking towards him with his hands behind his back. He stopped, bowed slightly and said, "Greetings, Right Prime Minister."
The two men walked into the government office together. The left prime minister was reviewing the memorial that had already been reviewed and approved by the secretary and the assistant minister. The left assistant minister stepped forward, handed over the memorial, and said, "Sir, this is a memorial submitted by Lord Li, the Minister of the Supreme Court. We are undecided. Please make a decision, sir."
The left prime minister took it, read it, and passed it to the right prime minister.
The Right Prime Minister glanced at him and said slowly, "He has been promoted two levels in half a year. His promotion speed is much faster than his father's."
The Left Vice Minister of the Secretariat thought to himself that Li Nuo's promotion speed was certainly faster than Li Xuanjing's back then, because Li Xuanjing didn't have such a powerful father back then.
The Right Prime Minister submitted a memorial and asked, "Was it really Li Nuo who solved the case in the Eastern Palace, or was it Li Xuanjing who forcibly attributed the credit to him?"
The Left Vice Minister of the Secretariat said, "Regarding the case of the Eastern Palace, the Dali Temple submitted a detailed report to the Secretariat. The Secretary of the Honglu Temple did play a key role in it. He was unexpectedly involved in several cases related to this case. It was after he arrived at the Honglu Temple that he accidentally discovered that there was something strange about the death of the Secretary of the Guanglu Temple. He also found the list of Eastern Palace officials from the Honglu Temple's case library and found clues from it. It can be said that if it weren't for him, the case of the Eastern Palace might not have been solved until now..."
The left prime minister thought for a moment and said, "In that case, he is suitable for the Ministry of Justice."
The Left Vice Minister of the Central Secretariat echoed, "The Secretary of the Honglu Temple does have a talent for solving cases that ordinary people don't have. He was the one who uncovered the Sifang Pavilion case. Otherwise, the court would not have been able to give an explanation to the State of Chu."
The left prime minister was silent for a moment before he said, "They are indeed very good at solving cases. It would be a good idea to let him go to the Ministry of Justice. The doctor of the Ministry of Justice..."
Before he could finish, the Right Prime Minister waved his hand and said, "I don't think it's possible. There is already Li Xuanjing in the Dali Temple. If he goes to the Ministry of Justice, wouldn't Daxia's criminal law be completely in the hands of the Li family father and son? How can the court officials feel at ease?"
The Left Vice Minister of the Secretariat thought about it and felt that what the Right Prime Minister said made sense.
The imperial court would try its best to avoid this situation when appointing officials.
In the same department, there must be officials from different parties and forces to check and balance each other. Otherwise, it is easy for an office or a matter to be controlled by the same force from top to bottom, and the court cannot intervene.
The Ministry of Justice and the Dali Temple actually also have constraints in this regard.
If Li Nuo entered the Ministry of Justice, the lives and property of all the officials of Daxia would depend on them, father and son. Even if Li Nuo was not like his father and could be absolutely fair, he could not eliminate the panic in the officials' hearts.
This is obviously not conducive to the stability of the court.
This tacit rule was originally intended to prevent those aristocratic families from controlling the government.
Although the Li family was not a noble family, the fact that the father and son served in the same court had indeed caused a lot of trouble to the court.
Therefore, from the very beginning, the Right Prime Minister would rather be criticized than allow him, the top scholar in six subjects, to enter the core department of the court.
It was also he who decided to appoint the top scorers in six subjects as Deputy Directors of the Ministry of Rites.
However, clear rewards and punishments are also a principle that the court needs to abide by. The Left Assistant Minister of the Secretariat asked: "What position do you think the Right Prime Minister should give him..."
The fifth rank is different from the secondary fifth rank. Officials of the fifth rank are almost all core officials of departments with real power.
The Right Prime Minister thought for a moment and said, "Since Li Xuanjing is trying every means to get his son promoted, just give him a promotion. From now on, the rank of the Honglu Temple Secretary will be raised to the fifth rank..."
…
Honglu Temple.
Li Nuo was still practicing martial arts when the imperial edict from the Secretariat arrived.
This imperial edict was an order for his promotion.
In order to reward him for his great contribution in solving the Donggong case, the Secretariat decided to raise his official rank by one level, from the fifth rank to the regular fifth rank.
However, after being promoted, he was still the Secretary of the Honglu Temple.
Because of his official rank as the Secretary of the Honglu Temple, he was also promoted one level.
The former Honglu Temple Secretary was an official of the fifth rank, but now it has become the regular fifth rank.
The rank of a certain official position is not fixed. Sometimes it will be promoted, and sometimes it will be demoted. The ranks of almost all official positions have changed before, but this time the rank change of the Honglu Temple Secretary was not normal no matter how Li Nuo looked at it...
Before he was promoted, he was responsible for arranging funerals.
After being promoted, he still handled funerals for others.
There is no change in responsibilities.
I got promoted, but it’s the same as if I didn’t.
Li Nuo had reason to suspect that someone was deliberately targeting him.
It was not difficult to find out about this matter. Li Nuo asked Butler Wu to investigate and soon found out the root cause.
The order to raise the rank of the Honglu Temple by one grade was given by the Right Prime Minister. Apart from His Majesty, only the Left and Right Prime Ministers have such power.
At the same time, Li Nuo also learned that it was the decision of the Right Prime Minister that appointed him as the Deputy Minister of Rites.
Li Nuo and the Right Prime Minister had only met once. Thinking of the old man who looked majestic without even getting angry, he couldn't help but ask, "Have I ever offended the Right Prime Minister?"
Butler Wu coughed awkwardly and said, "The young master has never offended me, but the old master has."
Li Nuo looked at him, and Butler Wu continued to explain: "Many of the scholars who were killed back then were disciples of the Right Prime Minister and the Left Prime Minister. Over the years, some of the Right Prime Minister's other disciples have also died at the hands of the master..."
(End of this chapter)
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