Wang Shuren and Zhao Dajia had similar backgrounds. Zhao Dajia lost both his parents and was raised by an old monk in a small temple on meager donations. Wang Shuren, on the other hand, lost his father at a young age and was raised by his widowed mother with great hardship.
Nowadays, all officials are poor, but Wang Shuren is very different from Zhao Dajia. Even though he was so poor that his court robes were patched, he still maintained the dignity that a Confucian scholar should have. He did not pick up trash, but rather the trash from his colleagues' homes.
Moreover, the two have differences in more than just this aspect.
Take Zhao Dajia for example. He's a real show-off in the workplace. To show how diligent he is, he arrives at the morning court session half an hour earlier than everyone else, as if it makes everyone else seem lazy. And like last time, when he was injured, he could have just stayed home and rested, but he didn't. He insisted on coming to court, just to make his presence known to the emperor.
What would the emperor think of him?
Now I'm so sick that I don't even dare to take a day off!
Absolutely outrageous!
Achoo!
As he was thinking, Fang Daren sneezed, sneezing through his heavily congested nose, his disgust for Zhao Dajia intensifying.
Wang Shuren was different. He was very low-key in everything he did, and he was also humble and polite. Unlike Zhao Dajia, who was just a minor official of the sixth rank, he looked down on people and deserved to be a laughing stock now!
After the civil and military officials took their places and entered the main hall, the emperor quickly took his seat. Of course, Chuanwen and the little princess were also there. However, Chuanwen closed his eyes and dozed off not long after sitting down, while the little princess, needless to say, was still fast asleep in her swaddling clothes.
Sigh, it's so early, and they still managed to get up with great difficulty. A fourteen-year-old girl is still growing and needs to sleep, but she was dragged to court. It's not easy for her.
Of course, while many ministers shared Fang Daren's pitiful fate, there were also a few who resentfully thought they deserved it, such as Liu Zhangmin, who hadn't dared to attend court for many days, and Zhang Hui, who had been driven out of his home and had nowhere to go.
Chuanwen was woken up again by the arguing downstairs while he was sleeping. He was annoyed. They had been arguing for days. Was there any resolution? Didn't they get tired of it?
As for why they argued, the reason goes back a few days.
In the previous court session, the emperor deliberately mentioned the Western Regions, and Chuanwen's thoughts revealed the original plot that the Western Regions would launch a surprise attack on the border city in the spring of the following year, and that the Great Jin Dynasty would be struggling to cope with the empty treasury.
Since that day, arguments have broken out in the imperial court.
Should we fight or appease and persuade them to surrender?
If the aim is to appease and persuade a smaller country to surrender, it is inevitable to send a princess for a marriage alliance or offer substantial sums of money as a gesture of goodwill. This has always been the case; to demonstrate the grandeur of a powerful nation, it is often the smaller country that is offered money in exchange for its surrender.
The emperor's idea was to attack directly; their Great Jin princesses were not meant for marriage alliances! Besides, the Western Regions had already made their move. Even if they were appeased for the time being, in the long run, who knew when their restlessness would resurface? Or perhaps they would simply pretend to be appeased and launch a surprise attack when Great Jin was off guard?
But the peacemakers then asked, "Where's the money? Where will the military pay come from?"
Winter is just around the corner, and the soldiers need to add more winter clothes. Marching and fighting inevitably involve long distances, so they need to add more shoes. Weapons also need to be added. Food, drink, and all sorts of other things cost money.
Although we just raided a bunch of houses, we still have to support an army of over 100,000 people, and there's no end in sight. That little bit of money isn't even enough to fill a tooth gap!
Winter is fast approaching, and the surprise attack from the Western Regions is only two or three months away, yet they still haven't come up with a plan. These past few days, the emperor has been suffering from a severe headache, with clumps of hair falling out.
What's there to argue about? Just fight!
Chuanwen rolled her eyes, intending to change her posture and continue slacking off. She wondered what the emperor was thinking, saying he wanted to cultivate the little princess's knowledge from a young age, yet he insisted she get up so early to hold the princess and attend the morning court session.
The emperor shared the same idea as Chuanwen, but his ministers were hesitant and indecisive, always having their own concerns.
As the emperor pondered, he lost his mind. So, once the issue of military pay was resolved, the ministers would have nothing more to say, right?
But how do we solve this?
Ugh, can't a person get any sleep?!
Chuanwen's sudden outburst startled the emperor. The noisy ministers paused for a moment before continuing their spittle-flecked chatter without any apparent incongruity.
I even have a bit of a mischievous streak in my heart, haha, I'm not letting you sleep. You're always the one who exposes others and torments them, today it's your turn, haha.
Chuan Wen glanced around and fixed his gaze on the official who had the loudest voice and seemed the most smug.
[This guy's so chubby and healthy, his family must be really rich. Let's raid his house!]
The plump, white official trembled, and the voices of the argument became panicked. "No, why should we do this?"
[And that other guy, with that big belly like Pigsy, he must be eating meat and fish every day, let's fry his too!]
The pot-bellied official from the pro-democracy faction, who had no money, was startled, his face turning pale. "You think you can just confiscate it like that?"
[Hey, this fat guy's got some weight to spare too, he must have embezzled a lot as well!]
The rather large fat man, huddled in the queue like a quail, was momentarily bewildered. "I...I...I didn't disturb your sleep! Don't talk nonsense about who...who embezzled!"
【besides...】
As Chuan Wen called out each name, the officials whose names were called turned pale, their voices became flustered, and some even started trembling. The officials who were not called secretly breathed a long sigh of relief and couldn't help but wipe the sweat from their foreheads.
Chuanhai was the one who wiped the most vigorously; his entire sleeve was almost soaked with sweat, and he kept chanting Amitabha Buddha in his heart.
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