Chapter 192 Xiao Ji and Shen Yushan
Seeing that his sons were silent, Xiao Yuancheng restrained the smile on his lips. His voice was neither loud nor soft, but every word he said struck their hearts.
"Let Lao Liu be among the hundreds of officials. There are hundreds of officials, and you are supervising them. What else do you have to worry about?"
He was the emperor, so there was no need for them to feel at ease. Upon hearing this, the three of them immediately lowered their heads deeply.
"I dare not."
"Father has misunderstood..."
"Misunderstanding?" Xiao Yuancheng stroked his beard, his voice cold. "I don't think it's a misunderstanding. You are so bold that you can't even tolerate a brother with disabilities. He just returned to the capital!"
As Empress Yang's memorial anniversary drew closer, Xiao Yuancheng began to feel a rare pang of guilt. He knew he had feelings for Empress Yang, a woman of both talent and beauty, intelligent and wise, and they had shared a few years of passionate love. He couldn't bear to see her child suffer like this.
Xiao Ji just became the Shangshu Zuo Cheng, no, he should have inherited the responsibilities of Shangshu Zuo Cheng. If he really wanted to form a clique for personal gain, holding this position would undoubtedly be like a rat falling into a rice jar.
But Xiao Ji now knew the emperor's thoughts very well, and he didn't know how many eyes were watching him, so after he took office, he just did his job conscientiously and became familiar with the affairs of the three ministries in the Secretariat.
Only then did he vaguely realize that something was amiss when he was the crown prince. Was he deliberately being "raised to be useless"? No, not useless, but rather raised too upright. The poetry, books, etiquette, and morality he learned were completely cultivated according to the standards of a gentleman, not an imperial crown prince.
Later, when he was fifteen years old, he was allowed to attend court affairs, but he could only listen to the general ideas. When he wanted to participate in some affairs in person, the emperor would refuse him on the grounds that he was still young. Later, when his mother passed away, he was delayed for several months because of his bad mood. By the time he got over the grief of losing his mother and began to really get involved in court affairs, it was only a year and a half before he was deposed.
Compared with his brothers who had been involved in government affairs for several years, he was as immature as a chick. Looking back now, he only felt irony.
Even with a teacher, his understanding of state affairs remained at a relatively shallow level. Only after entering the Secretariat did he understand more of the intricacies involved. Even if he just observed, he saw more and more deeply than before.
The four princes all had their spies keep an eye on Xiao Ji, to see if he would take the opportunity to collude with his followers, but the reports they heard every day were all -
"Prince Zhao went to the provincial capital at 7:00 PM today and returned at 5:00 PM. Apart from discussing matters with his colleagues, he did not meet with anyone privately."
"Your Highness has handled over thirty memorials from the Ministry of Revenue today, and he had his lunch in the duty room."
"Prince Zhao borrowed the performance evaluation files of previous years from the Ministry of Personnel, saying he wanted to familiarize himself with the regulations for official promotions."
Several princes listened to the spy's report with unhappy expressions. Prince Ning threw down the secret report in frustration and said, "Who is this Sixth Brother pretending to be for?"
Prince Wen rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "...He's too well-behaved, which is suspicious." He turned to his confidant, "Pay close attention to what he did after borrowing the files."
Meanwhile, Xiao Ji was in his duty room, reading through the files of officials from the Ministry of Personnel over the past few decades. He came across many names of those who were still serving in the court or had passed away. He was so engrossed in his reading that he didn't notice who had come up to him.
When he realized it, he looked up and met the smiling eyes of Shangshu Ling Shen Yushan. Xiao Ji immediately stood up and said, "Master Shen is here. Is there something important?"
Given his status, he actually doesn't need to be so humble, but after all, he has been training in the Ministry of Chancellery, and he still needs to respect the highest superiors.
He had been in the Ministry of Chancellery for a few days, but the Shangshu Ling had never come to see him and had always regarded him as an ordinary subordinate. Xiao Ji was very satisfied with the current situation, but now that he saw him coming, he felt something was wrong.
He had finally been able to enter the Secretariat and truly understand how this department operated, but he didn't want to attract the emperor's attention by having close contacts with the Shangshu Ling and thus lose this opportunity.
Looking at the somewhat cautious and distant young prince in front of him, Shen Yushan smiled amiably and pointed at the file, saying, "It's nothing, I just happened to see my name."
Xiao Ji subconsciously lowered his eyes and saw Shen Yushan's name on that page of the file. It was the record of his transfer from the Hanlin Academy to the position of Zuo Buque in the Menxia Province.
"That was during the Shuntian period. More than thirty years have passed in a flash." When saying this, Shen Yushan's eyes flashed with thousands of memories. At that time, he and the princess were both in their prime.
Shuntian was the reign title during the reign of Emperor Yang. After hearing this, Xiao Ji suddenly realized that this Shangshu Ling was also a veteran minister of three dynasties, and this record of promotion was left by his great-grandmother in the last years of her reign.
Glancing at the nostalgia in Shen Yushan's eyes, Xiao Ji was also slightly touched. "More than thirty years is indeed a long time. Fortunately, the Minister of the Chancellery has now reached the top."
Shen Yushan waved his hand, his gaze still fixed on the yellowed page. "It's just the right time. There aren't many veteran officials left in the court."
This means that he has achieved his position through seniority, which is quite humble.
This also slightly changed the image of Shen Yushan in Xiao Ji's mind. Before reading this file, he really didn't know this Shangshu Ling. He only knew that he was a middle-ranking official when his grandfather was in power, and it took him many years to become Shangshu Ling.
Even because he always agreed with the emperor and never interacted with any princes, Xiao Ji, as the crown prince, secretly felt that this Shangshu Ling was a man who only wanted to protect himself.
Of course, the nicest way to put it is to protect oneself, the worst way is to just avoid mistakes, and the worst way is to be a figurehead, serving only the emperor, a sycophant... ahem, now it seems that this is not the case? He couldn't help but feel a little curious.
Before he could say anything else, Shen Yushan bowed slightly and said, "Your Highness, please continue watching. I have something important to attend to."
Xiao Ji nodded in farewell and sat down again. This time he purposefully looked through the part about Shen Yushan and gradually discovered something special.
Shen Yushan was a disciple of Emperor Zhongzong, and most of his transfers and promotions were concentrated in the late reign of Emperor Yang and during the reign of Emperor Zhongzong.
There was nothing wrong with his resume, he had made steady progress, but Xiao Ji keenly discovered that there was another person involved in several transfers and promotions on his resume, and that was the Princess Zhenguo.
If Xiao Yuluan had not been Qingwu's grandmother, Xiao Ji would not have noticed this and would have just thought that they happened to work together. But he noticed... The young man touched his chin.
Shen Yushan did a lot of things in his promotion history, and people with personalities like my grandmother were involved... So Shen Yushan was once a capable and honest official, which is not quite consistent with his current style of doing things.
Is this a complete change of mindset, or is there nothing that can be done?
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