Another busy place in Beijing is Zhaojia Hutong.

Yesterday, the palace had issued an imperial decree, appointing Zhao Shouzheng, the young lady, the Minister of Personnel, and the Grand Secretary of Wuying Palace, as the Left Pillar of the State and the Grand Secretary of Zhongji Palace. This is commonly known as the Cabinet's Chief Assistant...

Of course, Zhao Shouzheng was going to decline the offer as usual. He had only just made it to the bookstore once, and it would take several more days.

But who would take it seriously? So after all the officials paid their respects at the Grand Tutor's Mansion, they turned around and came to pay their respects to the new leader.

Zhao Shouzheng would of course not accept congratulations as his predecessor had just passed away and they were his children's in-laws, so he asked his servants to just leave visiting cards and turn away all other guests.

The doorman of the prime minister's residence is still Yu Men, the doorman who served as Zhao Shouzheng when he was the county magistrate in Kunshan.

Twenty years have passed, and Yu Men's brother Yu Ben has become a top executive at the third level of the group, but he has turned himself into the doorman, Uncle Yu.

In fact, his elder brother and even Zhao Hao tried to arrange things for him several times, but Yu Men was determined not to change his career. He said that he loved what he did and would stick to it and would never give up halfway!

Now that he has finally become the prime minister's doorman, his life is complete and there is nothing more he could ask for.

If she wants to be promoted further, she has to castrate herself and work in the Forbidden City, but Master Yu is absolutely reluctant to give up his eighth concubine.

Sometimes he would wonder, if his master became the emperor, should he cut off his genitals or not? Alas, it was really hard to decide, he could only wait and see what the organization needed...

I hope that by then I will be too old to be used, and it won’t matter whether I cut it off or not…

"Mr. Quentin, Mr. Quentin..." A flattering voice interrupted Uncle Yu's reverie.

"Oh." Yu Men realized that he was being called. He had given himself this nickname more than ten years ago when he first came to Beijing to commemorate the beginning of his career as a doorman. But it had never been well-known, and few people knew about it.

He was stunned when he was suddenly called.

Yu Men hurriedly looked over and saw that it was the Minister of Rites Xu Xuemo. He bowed and said with a smile, "Grand Master, please don't kill me. Just call me Yu Men!"

"Alas, brother is extraordinary now, so you can't call me by my name." Xu Xuemo's face was full of smiles. It was really bold for the Minister of Rites to get close to a doorman in the street.

In fact, Xu Xuemo had also surpassed Qiu Luan, King Jing, and even Zhang Juzheng. But he was impeached and dismissed from office every time, and he almost lost his life when he was punished by King Jing. Xu Xuemo learned from his mistakes, softened his posture, and finally walked a wider path.

When Zhang Juzheng was buried, he was the governor of Yunyang. Because of his flattery, he was favored and went to Beijing to be the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice. He was promoted to the Minister of the Ministry of Justice and then to the Minister of the Ministry of Rites.

But since the Hongzhi reign, the Grand Master of the Imperial Clan could only be appointed from the Hanlin Academy, but Xi Shu was transferred from the Imperial Academy because of his "great ceremony". Xu Xuemo had never been in the Hanlin Academy for a day, but he was appointed as the Minister of Rites. Many people naturally disliked this act of breaking official conventions, but who dared to say no to Zhang Juzheng's decision?

Now that Master Zhang was an old friend, Xu Xuemo's intuition from years of ups and downs in the political world told him that he was going to be a target, so he hurried to Zhaojia Hutong to curry favor.

"The Grand Master wants to see my husband?" However, Master Yu had been the second assistant for ten years and was immune to the magic potion. "I'm really sorry, my husband can't see guests now. He has ordered everyone to leave their name cards. I will apologize another day."

"Mr. Quentin, you have misunderstood. I have official business to consult with you, my husband." Xu Xuemo calmly opened his sleeves, revealing a corner of the yellow imperial edict.

"Oh, please invite the Grand Master in to serve tea. I will go and report to my husband right away." Yu Men naturally knew the limits and quickly stepped aside to invite Xu Xuemo in.

~~

In the back house of the main courtyard of the Zhao Mansion.

The new Prime Minister, Zhao Shouzheng, was telling his son Zhang Taishi's last words with tears in his eyes. He was a kind man, and when a person died, he only remembered the good and not the grudges.

"The Grand Master told me that if I do three things after taking over as Prime Minister, I will win the support of all the officials and make the Emperor trust me completely."

Zhao Hao nodded. He did not keep vigil in Dashamao Hutong every day. The discord between the father-in-law and the son-in-law was known to the world, so he had to put on a full show.

"First, we should cancel the arrears of taxes. The Grand Tutor said that from the first year of Longqing to the twelfth year of Wanli, the arrears of taxes and grains in various provinces, not including the prices of horses and materials from the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Works, amounted to more than two million taels of silver... After years of review and comparison, those who cannot pay cannot pay. We can petition the Emperor to order the Ministry of Revenue to check the arrears of taxes and grains before the twelfth year of Wanli, and cancel all of them except for gold and silver."

Zhao Shouzheng's speech speed was obviously slower than before, but it was not because he was old. Although he was already 57 years old, it was the prime time for him to be an official. The elixir of power was making him feel spiritually refreshed all the time, and his overall state was better than ever before.

In fact, speaking slowly is a habit he has developed over the years. The Grand Secretary cannot say the wrong thing, so he has to think twice before speaking. Sometimes he would rather not speak first and think it over after coming back...Okay, just ask the painter first.

Over time, the whole person becomes more steady, sophisticated, and well-rounded.

"My father-in-law never relaxed his duty in collecting overdue taxes during his lifetime, yet he gave my father these instructions." Zhao Hao sighed softly.

"He said that those in power should prescribe the right medicine for the right situation and adapt to the situation. In the early years of the Wanli period, the treasury was empty and the border defenses were neglected. If the country was in trouble, where would the money and grain come from? Therefore, it was necessary to implement 'harsh policies' to get rid of the crisis of insufficient income as soon as possible." Zhao Shouzheng said slowly:

"Fortunately, the new policies have had some effects in recent years, and the weather has been good. Now that the four barbarians have been pacified, the national treasury is full, enough to cope with three major wars. Any more will be a waste. We should take this opportunity to change our ways and give the people a rest. Alternating between tension and relaxation is the way of civil and military affairs."

Zhao Hao nodded and said, "Father-in-law is the bad guy and wants my father to be the good guy."

"Yes." Zhao Shouzheng's eyes were slightly red, and he choked up a little as he said, "Grand Master knows that my father is not that kind of person. It is often said that one should stay upright and uphold justice. God has willed me to uphold his legacy for him."

"Well." Zhao Hao asked, "What else?"

"Also, we should relax the standards of the performance evaluation system to let all officials breathe a sigh of relief. But we can't relax it all at once. We need to reduce it by 10% every year, and eventually reduce it to 70% or 80%. I will decide." Zhao Shouzheng continued, "If we reduce it too much at once, they will become lazy. We can gain gratitude from them every year by reducing it year by year."

"That's right." Zhao Hao nodded. Managing subordinates and raising monkeys do have something in common. "But the standard can be lowered, but it must still be strictly enforced. If it's 90%, it's 90%. If it's less, there will be a penalty. Otherwise, they will really dare to let the sheep run wild in front of their father."

"Ah, that's what the Grand Tutor said." Zhao Shouzheng sighed, "You two should really have a good chat. He was so lonely in his last few years, and no one could understand him. I thought at the time that if you were here, you would definitely be able to talk to him."

"Father, you're overthinking it." Zhao Hao shook his head and said, "After the eighth year of Wanli, we parted ways. Apart from thanking my father-in-law for not killing me, we have nothing else to talk about."

"Alas, not really..." Zhao Shouzheng waved his hand and said, "Do you know what the third thing he mentioned is?"

"What?" Zhao Hao asked softly.

"Reopen all the academies in the world." Zhao Shouzheng said slowly.

"Really?" Zhao Hao felt a lump in his throat.

The father-in-law and son-in-law pretended to be at odds with each other, but in fact, "when the fake is made real, the real becomes fake", Zhang Juzheng did not stop suppressing him and his people. So much so that seven years later, Zhao Hao could not tell whether the discord was real or fake.

"The Grand Master said that it was because all the academies in the country were against him. If the academies were not destroyed and lectures were banned, the reform would not be implemented. But since the academies were destroyed and lectures were banned, the reform still failed. There is no need to offend the scholars in the world anymore." Zhao Shouzheng sighed and said:

"He also said that after his death, countless people would call for the reopening of the academy. This is a huge favor, and we must not let outsiders take advantage of it."

"Alas..." Zhao Hao also sighed deeply. It is conceivable how painful and desperate his father-in-law must have been in the last few years.

At this moment, there was a gentle knock on the door.

The father and son wiped the tears from their eyes, and Zhao Hao said in a deep voice, "Come in."

Yu Men pushed the door open quietly and reported respectfully that the Grand Master of the Imperial Clan wanted to see him with an imperial edict.

This kind of meeting had to be met, Zhao Shouzheng nodded, asked Xiaohong to change clothes, and went to the flower hall to meet the guest.

~~

After Zhao Shouzheng left, Zhao Hao sat in the study for a long time.

It was not until Xu Wei staggered in that he came to his senses.

The painter is 67 years old this year. Since regaining his freedom, he has traveled all over the country with his wife. Now that he has exhausted his desire to travel, the writer stays at home to finish writing his "Journey to the West", while Old Xu has nothing to do all day long. He has long lost his thoughts on the world and spends his days eating and sleeping, becoming increasingly fat.

Xu Wei sat down next to Zhao Hao and started eating the snacks on the table.

Seeing the few remaining white hairs on his head all over the place, Zhao Hao couldn't help but smile bitterly and asked, "Why did you get up so early today?"

Ding ding, the clock chimed, it’s eleven o’clock in the morning.

"Damn, it's so noisy." Xu Wei choked on the red bean cake and quickly picked up Zhao Hao's teacup and drank it. After he recovered, he grinned at Zhao Hao:

"How is it, are you touched?"

"Not bad." Zhao Hao knew that nothing could be hidden from this wise and cunning man.

"He is setting a trap for you. The better your father's reputation is, and the more the emperor trusts him, the harder it will be for you to cause trouble." Xu Wei sneered and said, "You have so much energy but nowhere to use it. Isn't it uncomfortable?"

"Why do you teach me, sir?" Zhao Hao asked with a smile.

"How dare I?" Xu Wei waved his hands and said in a pretentious manner, "Do I need to be taught this? Your ancestor is an expert!"

"You don't need to test me. What I said back then will always count." Zhao Hao supported the back of the chair with both hands, looked at Xu Wei calmly and said, "I want to eliminate this great harm for the world and change the law of one family into the law of the world! How can I bring disaster to myself?"

"Really?" Xu Wei also looked at him steadily. His old eyes, which were covered with eye boogers, now revealed a light that could see through the world and human hearts.

He looked at Zhao Hao for a moment and asked, "What if someone insists on giving you the yellow robe in the future?"

"Then I will sentence him to death for the crime of restoration." Zhao Hao said lightly.