Emperor Ming Dynasty

Rubbing his eyes, tears flowed down unconsciously, Yan Yingyuan yawned, stretched his waist, and got up from the couch.

Accompanying him at this time are only two secretaries in the cabinet who need to be on duty like him. They don't have this kind of treatment and can only spend the night lying on the table.

It was another peaceful night.

"Boom boom boom——"

At this time, the closed door was knocked, and a sharp voice sounded: "Ge Lao, it's time, it's time for breakfast."

Yan Yingyuan looked up and saw that the grandfather clock on the ground had stopped at six o'clock.

From last night to now, the shift is over.

Of course, when there is no major incident, he usually sleeps on the table, and the earth dragon has long been warmed up.

"Well! Come in!"

"Squeak-"

The door was opened, and several eunuchs brought lunch boxes, carefully placing them on the table.

I saw millet porridge, buns, pickles, fried dough sticks on the table, simple but not simple.

After the Ding Revolution, the imperial dining room underwent a comprehensive rectification. The old dogs were not eaten, and the situation that the emperor was forced to eat the eunuch's private kitchen has changed.

This is also a manifestation of the weakness of imperial power.

During the period of Taizu and Chengzu, if the pig food was cooked in the imperial dining room, it might die as soon as it came out of the pot.

Of course, these two ungrateful lords may not be able to reward breakfast when they are in court.

It really belongs to the greatness of the emperor's grace, and it is generous today.

At this time, the two secretaries in the cabinet also got busy and began to clean up the table. With a sniff, they smelled delicious food.

They are Shujishi who were born in Shaowu in 19 years. They came to the cabinet to study when other subjects were watching politics in Babu.

The memorials from all over the world broadened his horizons.

They are the reserves of important officials of the imperial court, even if they are the worst, they will be great officials in the frontier in the future, and Shang Shu and Ge Lao are also expected.

Yan Yingyuan felt emotional when he saw the two of them.

If he hadn't made achievements at the time of the Ding Revolution, how could he have entered and exited the temple from a low-level official?

But people only need to take the exam well, turn around every two years, the court carefully cultivates, and the officialdom is smooth, which can be said to make people cry with envy.

In the other room, he brushed his teeth with willow sticky salt, and then washed his face before eating Shi Shiran.

After eating a bowl of porridge, biting two steamed buns, and adding a deep-fried dough stick, Yan Yingyuan felt full.

After eating, he could have cleaned up the empty plates in front of him and took them home with the lunch box.

Official kiln customization is at least worth dozens of yuan.

But you can't do anything more than three times, one or two times is enough, and if things go on like this, it's easy to lose your sense of proportion.

The books in the cabinet are also available, but their tableware is a bit crude, just ordinary models, although it is also custom-made by the official kiln, but it is not very valuable.

After eating, Yan Yingyuan told several Zhongshu to ask follow-up questions, and then left.

After walking two miles and eating, it was considered as leaving the imperial city.

At this time, the sky was already bright, and the groom wearing hoarfrost had been waiting outside the city gate for a long time.

"Let's go!" Stepping into the car on the chair, he felt comfortable sitting on the soft couch.

The couch in Wenyuan Pavilion is not soft enough, the quilt is covered with hard wood, it is really hard to be human, and I can't sleep well at night.

Of course, this may also be intentional, and no one wants to change it.

After all, he is on duty, can An Neng sleep comfortably?
After staring for a while, the carriage stopped.

"Master, you're home."

A large courtyard came into view.

This is an official residence allocated by the imperial court, with three entrances to the mansion.

It includes a courtyard with 25 rooms, covering an area of ​​about five acres, and a small garden, which belongs to the top house in the capital.

If you sell it at the market price, you can't buy it for less than one hundred thousand yuan.

In addition to the area, there are quite a few of the fourth and fifth courtyards in the capital. The key is the location. This place belongs to the inner city. It is only a few hundred steps away from the imperial city, which is not as far as he walked out of the imperial city.

Such a good location is priceless.

But it is also because the official house is of a welfare nature, so once it leaves office, it will be taken back and given to the next elder.

As for the level of Babu Shangshu, there are also three courtyards, but there are only about twenty houses.

Senior officials such as Shi Lang and Xiao Jiuqing were assigned to the Second Academy, with only about fifteen rooms.

Considering that it is not easy to live in the capital, Beijing officials, regardless of their size, will basically allocate housing.

Only those above the fourth rank will have small courtyards where they live alone. Like those middle and lower level officials, they are all counted by the number of rooms.

When you reach the fourth rank, you will be allocated a small courtyard with ten rooms.

At the fifth rank, there are only eight rooms, at the sixth rank six rooms, at the seventh and eighth ranks four rooms, and at the ninth rank there are only two rooms.

With this allocation, even more servants are not enough to live in, so they can only be counted as living in a courtyard.

Therefore, generally wealthy officials will rent a small courtyard, especially middle-level officials below the fourth rank and above the seventh rank.

Don't look at the Jiupin only has two rooms, but it is still in the inner city. If calculated according to the market price, it will cost at least three silver dollars per month to start.

Of course, if you have to rent, you can only go to Xuanwu County and Chongwen County in the outer city, but it is too hard to drive every day.

After returning home, he changed his clothes and ate two more soup dumplings to fill his stomach. Yan Yingyuan was sleepless at this time.

"What happened yesterday?"

Trapped in the palace for one night, losing sight and hearing, Yan Yingyuan desperately wanted to know what happened.

After all, after the military gown scandal happened, Zhu Mou was hit hard, and his prestige, which had suddenly increased a while ago, dissipated a lot.

In a sense, Zhu Mou, Feng Xianzong, and Du Yinxi are already on an equal footing.

Even though Yan Yingyuan's mind is calm, he couldn't stand the temptation after all:

This is the chief assistant!

In the 300 years of the Ming Dynasty, except for the 17 chief assistants who were replaced by the Chongzhen Dynasty in [-] years, the other dynasties together only had about [-] people.

In other words, Emperor Chongzhen abolished almost a quarter of the chief ministers of the Ming Dynasty in 17 years, which was powerful enough.

Zhu Mou was not stable this year, and Yang Shiqi served for 21 years in the previous Ming Dynasty, the gap is too big.

But if you think about it carefully, Zhao Shu has been in office for more than ten years, which is considered very powerful.

The more he thought about it, the less sleepy he became.

At this time, suddenly the servants reported that his friend Feng Houdun came to visit.

If it was someone else, Yan Yingyuan directly refused. After all, he was in a daze, and it was customary not to see visitors after he was on duty.

But Feng Houdun was different. He was the instructor of Jiangyin, who defended the city with him, and resisted the Qing soldiers outside the city for many days, so that he waited until the emperor's troops came to Nanjing and rescued the siege of Jiangyin.

It can be said that the two are friends through thick and thin.

The identities of the two are almost the same, and they are both born in Juren.

However, Yan Yingyuan came out on top and became the deputy candidate (a candidate who did well in the examination, but regrettably failed), while Feng Houdun was just an ordinary candidate who failed.

Therefore, when he was appointed, Yan Yingyuan was in charge of the justice of a county, and he was the canon history, while Feng Houdun could only be the teaching assistant of the teaching order.

Relying on the merits of defending the city against tens of thousands of troops, Yan Yingyuan has been promoted step by step, and has been appointed as a cabinet assistant.

Feng Xiandun's official luck was a little bit worse, and now he is only the governor of Shandong.

Under the intentional or unintentional arrangement of the emperor, the sixty-year-old officialdom has become an unspoken rule. Except for Shengen, it is difficult to get rid of it.

Feng Xiandun is now fifty to six, and there is still hope.

Especially if this hope is still in the cabinet.

As soon as he remembered that his former colleague Shangguan was already an old man, Feng Xiandun felt an irresistible impulse in his chest:

When can I do the same?
"Brother Feng, what are you?"

Appearing in front of Yan Yingyuan was a thin figure, wearing a long robe, cloth boots, and a felt hat. The clothes were simple, but he had a certain bearing.

"Return to Beijing to report on your work." Feng Xiandun smiled: "The sign I handed over last night, see you in three days..."

The emperor is too tight for time and can't make it.

But Yan Yingyuan knew that the emperor was too busy fishing and cutting flowers to pay attention to people.

"Brother, if you come to Beijing this time, I'm afraid you will go straight up!"

Yan Yingyuan smiled and congratulated.

The governor is the second rank, and the special governor plus the title of Minister of the Ministry of War is the second rank.

As the governor of the second rank, Feng Houdun has four promotion paths.

One is to be promoted to the governor, responsible for the military affairs of two or several provinces, and become a real official of the frontier.

Er Zeping was transferred to Beijing as a servant.

The three served as Xiaojiuqing, such as Taichang Temple, Dali Siping, Guozijian Jijiu, etc. They were originally the third-rank titles, but in the early years of Shaowu, all Beijing officials were promoted to the second rank.

Finally, Ping transferred to other provinces to continue serving as governor.

According to the practice of officialdom, Beijing officials are naturally at the first level of local officials.

Similarly in the officialdom, as long as you don't make mistakes, you will not be demoted, you can only get promoted or promoted.

Therefore, Feng Houdun's first three choices are all considered promotions, and only the final level is the most uncomfortable, because it means that his future has reached its peak.

But it's fine if there is no one, but he has someone in the court, so he naturally wants to take two steps.

"The Governor?"

Yan Yingyuan pinched the beard on his chin and made a thoughtful gesture: "Brother Feng, you don't have military expertise, so you can only be in the interior."

"Now the three governors-general of the imperial court, Shanxi-Gansu, Guangdong-Guangdong, and Jinsui, all three places have candidates. It is really difficult to do so."

Whether it is Sun Shirui, Sun Changzhou, or Yu Jackie, they are not easy to match, they simply cannot compete.

"According to someone's opinion, it's better to be an official of the yamen, and Xiao Jiuqing is also good."

Feng Houdun sighed: "It's not too late!"

The so-called Xiao Jiuqing, in the early Ming Dynasty, was Zhan Shifu of Zhan Shifu, Jijiu of Guozijian, Bachelor of Imperial Academy, Qing of Taichang Temple, Qing of Guanglu Temple, Qing of Taipu Temple, Qing of Shangbao Temple, Qing of Honglu Temple, Yuan The nine officials of Ma Siqing are the second rank.

Later, the six divisions became the eight divisions, and the Dali Temple Minister and the Tongzheng Envoy were reduced from the Big Jiuqing to the Xiao Jiuqing, crowding out the Shangbao Temple Minister and the Honglu Temple Minister.

Later, Shuntian Fuyin squeezed away Yuanma Siqing and became one of the Xiaojiuqing.

Da Jiuqing is the eight ministers and the capital censor of the Metropolitan Procuratorate.

Among Xiaojiuqing, Zhan Shifu of Zhan Shifu and a scholar of Hanlin Academy must be good scholars, Yin of Shuntian Fu is the emperor's confidant, and Guozijian Jijiu is in charge of the examination, it is even more impossible for him.

Taichang, Taipu, Guanglu, a place of leisure.

If it is a young official, it is to grind seniority, and for the older one, it is to provide for the elderly.

As for the Tongzhengshi and Dali Siqing, there is too much competition, even the governor wants to fight, because this is the real power department, the former Dajiuqing.

"That's true!" After thinking about it carefully, Yan Yingyuan felt that it was even more difficult.

As a result, there are not many choices, only to be the servant.

The point is, it's not about where you can get promoted, but there have to be official vacancies, one carrot and one hole.

"The current situation in Beijing and China is not stable."

Suddenly, Feng Houdun's voice floated over, with a touch of flexibility.

"Heh!" Yan Yingyuan said casually, "Let's be so-so!"

"Then I can stay on Xiao Jiuqing." Feng Houdun tentatively said.

"Oh? Brother Feng wants to fight for something?" Yan Yingyuan was slightly surprised.

"I believe in Brother Yan's ability."

Feng Houdun said seriously, staring at Yan Yingyuan with both eyes, revealing sincerity.

These words made Yan Yingyuan a little stunned.

Well, you are betting on my future whether I can go further.

After a year and a half, he was promoted from Qunfu to Cifu, and even Shoufu, so wouldn't it be easy for Xiao Jiuqing to be promoted to governor or minister.

"Hahaha, since Brother Feng believes in me, then Yan will gamble with you."

Yan Yingyuan laughed loudly, and then said earnestly: "If I don't agree with it, I won't let Brother Feng wait."

The two clasped their hands tightly, and it seemed that they had returned to the time when they guarded Jiangyin City.

The ups and downs in the capital were suppressed by an invisible hand again, and the emperor's feet returned to the calmness of the past.

Only undercurrents are surging in the officialdom, and the situation is compelling.

Because everyone knows that if the cabinet is at odds and there is no winner or loser, it is absolutely impossible to let go.

After the cabinet reached a certain balance, the secret struggle for power did not stop, but it became more secretive.

In mid-October, when the first snow fell in the capital, the prince went out of Beijing again to assume the post of governor of Sichuan and Chongqing.

This is the fourth governor after Shaanxi-Gansu, Shanxi-Sui, and Guangdong-Guangzhou, and it is an important and rich land like Sichuan and Chongqing.

In the twelfth lunar month, Zhu Mou wrote a letter to become an official and officially resigned from the cabinet.

A few days later, the second assistant Feng Xianzong also received the same treatment and was forced to resign.

The first assistant became the group assistant Du Yinxi.

Yan Yingyuan of Qunfu was promoted to second assistant.

Great earthquake in the imperial court.

When King Yue returned to Beijing, he felt that the capital had changed too fast.

"Zhu Mou came down so soon? It's only been less than a year!"

When several brothers gathered, King Yue couldn't help sighing.

King Wei said casually: "I lost my sense of proportion, I was greedy, and my ability didn't match my position. That's what happened."

"I heard that it's not bad. It lasted for about a year. If it was in the previous dynasty, tsk tsk—"

Full of amazement, King Yue entered the palace.

"So, you want Sakhalin?"

Facing the emperor's question, the king of Yue responded straight away: "Father, the country of Yue is too small. Most of it is grassland. The land is barren and crops once a year. Now the land is small and there are many people, but it will not work in the future.

Sakhalin Island in the north is extremely suitable. "

Zhu Yixi also fell into thinking.

Looking at his son's begging face, he felt a little soft-hearted after all: "Sakhalin Island was discovered by the Heilongjiang General's Mansion, and it was also registered, but the country of Yue is indeed a bit bitter..."

"In this way, I will divide Sakhalin Island into two, and you and Heilongjiang will each get half. Don't take more."

Half is also good.

"My son, thank you for your kindness!" King Yue couldn't help himself, his face was full of surprise.