Promotion Letter for the Chief Executive

Ping An originally thought that since his ramming had muddied the water in the capital, since the emperor wanted to do something next, he would naturally use the Imperial City Secretary.With the use of the Imperial City Secretary, it was naturally time for him to show off his abilities.

However, things are not as he imagined.

First of all, after the emperor dealt with Qiu Wenhao, he did not continue to be involved in this matter, and no one commented on it anymore. It seemed that this matter really came to an end.

Of course, Ping An did not believe that an emperor would turn a blind eye to this kind of thing, but it also showed that the emperor was more tolerant than he thought.

And since he didn't do anything, the Imperial City Secretary would be useless for the time being.

Fortunately, Ping An's reforms in the Imperial City Department have not yet been completed. Now if he keeps entrusting them with errands, he is really afraid that he will not be able to stand up.After all, most people have not received training, and they still have the original professional ability and level, and I am afraid that they cannot keep up with the increasing work needs.

And since there is nothing to do now, he will naturally be given a lot of time to slowly develop the Imperial City Division.

In the past, Ping An urgently needed a big case to build its prestige, but now that everyone in the Imperial City Department is united, it is a good time to implement changes.So Ping An stopped thinking about it, but buried himself in doing his own things.

It took more than two years for the five commanders of the Imperial City Division to fully train.During this process, of course, some old people were "assigned" and new ones continued to come in.Today, there are still five commanders in the Imperial City Division, but all the personnel have been disrupted and reassigned, and there is no such thing as who is the direct descendant anymore.

Perhaps they still have contact in private, but it is difficult to form a strong group after all.

With the emergence of this change, it is replaced by everyone's return to peace.In the past two years, the Imperial City Division has also handled some cases, large and small, and now it has become an important organization for monitoring officials in the capital. many.

What's rare is that Ping An restrains the people below. When handling the case, he is neither domineering nor disturbing the people at will, so his reputation among the people is actually not bad.The common people all know that this is the department that supervises all officials.

Later, Ping An simply set up a large iron box half a person's height at the gate of the Imperial City Division, locked it with a lock, and only opened a seam on the top.If the public finds anything illegal about officials, they can write it down and put it in the box.The Imperial City Division will naturally investigate based on the report.

This anonymous way of reporting caused a strong backlash when it first appeared, because it is a crime in the law itself to sue the government!In the yamen at this time, no matter whether the people sued the officials for no reason, they had to hit thirty boards first, and the weaker people couldn't resist it at all.So the common people dare not fight against the government. This is a kind of deterrence, but it is also a kind of isolation.

Of course, in this era, people think that scholars and commoners are two classes, and class segregation is normal.

But Ping An didn't think so. The words "Water can carry a boat can also overturn it" was also said by the ancients, which shows that the people are not naturally opposed to officials and the court.

It is man who opposes it.

Since people are in opposition, there are ways to resolve them.For Ping An, mass supervision is a very deterrent thing, and transparency in the office will make corruption lose the soil for growth.Of course, the report box may not be that powerful, but from here on, what he wants to change is this concept.

Finally, Ping An persuaded the emperor and agreed to let him set up this report box.

And after the common people in Beijing heard the initial criticism, after knowing that the court allowed the existence of this box, they couldn't help but care about it. Everyone wanted to know if anyone put in the pleadings in the box, and what the result was.After waiting and watching for a long time, one morning, when Ping An opened the box, he found a letter lying quietly inside.

He couldn't help laughing.

To inspire people's wisdom, reading is of course very important, but it is not the only way to read, and benign guidance is also very necessary.

And he just wants to dig a hole out of this strong class barrier, let it spread slowly, and sooner or later, this barrier will become riddled with holes and blurred.

In order to give everyone confidence, after the investigation of the first batch of reported cases was completed, Ping An released a list of the results of those reports that were confirmed to be true: the investigation was found to be true, it had been dealt with, and the culprit was handed over to Dali Temple.

This was what Ping Na insisted on. The Imperial City Division could arrest people and interrogate them, but they could not convict them. The evidence should be handed over to Dali Temple for trial and conviction there.This is tantamount to changing the concept secretly, setting the Imperial City Division as the "police station", and Dali Temple is naturally the "court". After the separation of powers, they can restrain each other.

It's just that the current "police station" is only arresting officials.

After the initial drive, the report box quickly became lively, and a thick stack of documents could be produced every day.However, problems also emerged, most of which were just to vent their anger, and some of them had nothing to do with officials at all. The conflicts among the people also found here.

Ping An didn't know whether to laugh or cry, so he had to ask everyone to sort out these letters and send them to the yamen.It's not their business.

So in just two years, after the training was completed and the Department of the Imperial City was revived, it also officially appeared in front of the court and the people, and successfully gained a firm foothold, becoming an important member of the judiciary.

Xiping February 17th.

The weather in early spring is still a little cool, and the house is warm with a charcoal fire.Ping An is sitting in the office of the Imperial City Secretary, studying what happened in the court in the past two years.

Although the emperor could bear it, Pingan felt that he could not really endure it for five or ten years, two years, almost reached the limit.And what he is looking for now is the clues and clues that the emperor has laid out in the past two years, so as to infer the possible behavior of the emperor.

Only by anticipating this opportunity, when things happen, can he deal with them calmly.Of course, if the Imperial City Division is only the Imperial City Division, then it doesn't make much difference whether you know it or not.But after all, Ping An had to take care of Zhao Can. If he got any news this time, he planned to tell Zhao Can.

Two years is enough for him to arrange it calmly, and he doesn't need to worry about being exposed safely.

"My lord." He was immersed in research when Feng Yutang walked in quickly from the door.When Ping An first met him back then, he was still an immature young man who looked a little thin and inconspicuous. Two years later, Feng Yutang had grown up and grown taller. He stood in front of him with a straight back, lo and behold He also looks like a handsome young man.

He is now Ping'an's deputy. He has no specific position, but instead of Ping'an, he is in charge of everyone in the Imperial City Division on Gyeonggi Road.It can be described as high weight.

So both appearance and temperament are very different from two years ago.Appears calm and calm, own school of power and influence.Even when talking to Ping An, he was neither humble nor overbearing.

Seeing that Ping An raised his head, he continued, "My lord, there is new news." As he spoke, he handed over the note in his hand.

Ping An took a look and smiled.

He was still guessing where the emperor was going to start, so this is it?

It turned out that the emperor made an order to call scholars of both ability and political integrity to Beijing to hold an unprecedented literary meeting, so that these scholars, who could almost be masters of a school, debate what they have learned with each other, and then invite highly respected Confucians to judge.

For all literati, this is a good opportunity to become famous all over the world.There must be many people who want to squeeze into the capital when the time comes.

And there is no need to worry about those great Confucian scholars not being able to invite Xianyun Yehe, after all, they will inevitably have a few old students, they are indifferent to fame and fortune, but they always want to think about the younger generation.What's more, they didn't come to Beijing this time to be an official, but just to be a judge. For them, there was no loss, and it was also a very rare opportunity to see different schools of thought.

As expected, the emperor was well versed in the way of "strike the east and attack the west". This literary meeting will probably focus the attention of all the people in the world. At that time, even if there are some small movements in the court, I am afraid that it will not attract the attention of many people.As for Zai Zhi and the others who could notice, there were several princes, the emperor naturally had a way to implicate them in reciting the text, so he couldn't act rashly for the time being.

The emperor had laid the foreshadowing long ago, and with no leader in the crowd, it is naturally very easy to do it.The most wonderful thing is that this literary meeting will inevitably select some truly talented and capable scholars. At that time, the emperor will add grace and bestow the same Jinshi background, and then he can enter the court as an official.It can just fill those vacancies, so that there will be no mistakes in any link.

When the essay meeting is over and everything is settled, even if someone wants to do something, it will be too late.

It can be described as bloodless.

He continued to look down, and below was the list of people who would be invited to Beijing.Ping An glanced twice, then his gaze suddenly froze.

He saw a familiar name: Wen Ning (Ning) of Chongzhou.It was the grandfather of Wen Chengbi, Miss Wen's lady whom he had met two years ago, a well-known university student in the south of the Yangtze River, full of peaches and plums, with a faint identity of "master of the world", and he had a huge influence among scholars.

He will be invited, Ping An is not surprised, after all, it is such an identity.What surprised him was the meaning behind the invitation.

The Imperial City Division's monitoring of the capital is so strict that many people can't imagine it.Therefore, Ping An knew Zhao Xuan's movements in the past two years.His honesty is a little surprising.Even if the emperor made a faint move to cut off the influence of the princes, he did not move.In comparison, the three brothers Zhao Rong and Zhao Rong are much worse.

Being so quiet, in Zhao Can's words, must be holding back some bad idea, and it must be the one that can kill with one blow.

Seeing Wen Ningzhi's name now, Ping An just remembered that Zhao Xuan seemed to have wanted to marry Wen Chengbi.It's just that it was put on hold later because it was not easy to operate.It's hard to say whether there is any promotion by him in this so-called literary society.After all, Wen Ningzhi has come to the capital, so it is much easier to get close to him.

As we all know, Wen Ningzhi dotes on Wen Chengbi, and with such a good opportunity, he will definitely bring her to the capital to increase his knowledge.When the time comes near the water tower...

Maybe there is no need to wait until the time, maybe Zhao Xuan has already started to pave the way for himself before, but he has never thought about this aspect, so he doesn't know if there is any progress.

The development of Huangcheng Division may still be a bit slow, Ping An couldn't help but think.Just controlling the capital is not enough, six roads and 32 states... Dachu is really too big.

Ping An quickly let go of this thought.Because this was just my own guess, if it wasn't for the fact that Wen Chengbi knew someone, and Zhao Can was really concerned about her marriage, Ping An might not have thought of this at all.Whether it is very difficult to say.

He planned to send a message to Zhao Can.Let Zhao Can handle this kind of matter by himself.When Wen Chengbi came to the capital, Ping An ensured that he would hide away and not let her see him.

Although after two years, he has grown a lot, but the mold is still the same after all, the difference is not too big.It would be too embarrassing for Wen Chengbi to recognize him and know his identity as a eunuch.

Ping An finished reading the list, put down the documents in his hand, and looked up at Feng Yutang, "We need to focus on this matter."

"Yes." Feng Yutang immediately nodded in agreement.

Although there are other yamen for maintaining order, if something goes wrong, the emperor is likely to ask the Imperial City Secretary to intervene.If there is no preparation and understanding in advance, how can it be handled to satisfy the emperor?

Ping An also stood up, "I'll go into the palace."

After entering the palace, he passed the news to Zhao Can, and he went to the original hall safely.In the past two years, he has seen the emperor more and more times, and now face saints have become commonplace, and even the big Han general at the gate of Benchu ​​Hall, Ping An, almost recognizes him.It's just that they are limited to their respective responsibilities, and it is even more impossible to talk at the gate of this primary hall, so they can only communicate by spirit.

When a young eunuch saw him coming, he immediately went in to report.It just so happened that there were no ministers present at the moment, so Ping An was quickly summoned.

The emperor was studying the map that came up before Ping'an, and when he saw him, he waved in a good mood, "Ping'an, why don't you explain it to me, how to identify this map?"

This map was drawn after Pingan knew that the emperor wanted to go west, and specially selected reliable people who were proficient in drawing from the Imperial City Division to form a team, went to the west border, and drew it after on-the-spot investigation. Although the scope was only Xinzhou, where the war was most critical, It is also very rare.Because he can let the emperor know the topography over there at a glance, he can adapt to local conditions when deducing the war, instead of taking it for granted.

However, this is drawn according to the maps of later generations. Many of the legends above are difficult to understand without explanations.Although Ping An explained it once, the emperor's memory was not as good as expected, so when he saw Ping An, he asked him to explain it again.

Ping'an had already heard that the emperor was looking for this map, and had shown it to more than one courtier, obviously very proud of it.So he stepped forward to pick up the pointer and began to explain.

After the emperor had finished his addiction, he asked him, "Why did you enter the palace today?"

Pingan reported a few more important news, and then said, "I heard that the emperor is going to hold a literary conference?"

"I know you are well-informed." The emperor said, "Ping An, you have always been the most alert, I want to leave this matter to you, how about it?"

"Me?" Pingan was very surprised, "This is not the scope of the Imperial City Secretary's duties, I'm afraid it's not appropriate."

The emperor snorted when he heard the words, and glanced at the map hanging on the wall indiscriminately.That's not the scope of the Imperial City Division's functions.The Ministry of War does not have such a detailed map. The last time the Minister of the Ministry of War met, I heard that it was presented by the Secretary of the Imperial City, and the expression on his face was very beautiful!

Although Ping An just presented a map, it was almost tantamount to pointing at the Minister of War's nose and saying that he was not doing well in this position.

Ping An couldn't help covering his face.He deliberately sent the things on the Longevity Day to show that it was just a gift to please the emperor and had no other meaning, but in the end he still recruited an enemy for himself.

Seeing him like this, the emperor couldn't help feeling amused, and said, "You work in the Imperial City Department, you should get used to such things earlier." Being guarded and tabooed, he took precautions like an enemy.

"I still hope to have a good relationship." Ping An sighed.

He is much more casual when talking to the emperor now.Even Zhang Dongyuan no longer made a fuss about it.

"I really want to transfer you to my side to serve, I'm afraid you won't want to part with the imperial city department that you built by yourself." The emperor said.

Peace of mind shuddered.

The emperor's words sounded like a joke, but it might not be without the intention of testing.The Imperial City Division was built by Ping An, whether it is the Emperor's Imperial City Division, or his Ping An's Imperial City Division - Zhao Can would have this doubt, but wouldn't the Emperor not?

With fear and doubt, it is natural to have to test it out.If Pingan wanted to stay in the Imperial City Division, the emperor would probably not say anything for a while, for fear that he would be alienated from him in his heart.

Ping An really does not want to leave for the time being, because it feels that many places are not perfect.But when he heard the emperor's words, he knew that he had to leave.

Huangcheng Division is not his goal, and being a behind-the-scenes boss that everyone fears is not Ping An's own ambition.He has not forgotten his original intention of going out: he wants to bring some changes to Da Chu and leave something for the world.

Imperial City Division is far from enough.

Now that the emperor opened his mouth, Pingan felt that it would be a good idea to take this opportunity to leave.First of all, after staying in the Imperial City Division for a long time, he will definitely become a target of public criticism, just like the emperor said, be guarded by others.Secondly, Pingan felt that if he stayed, it would be good for the Imperial City Division, but not necessarily for his own development.

And this is the perfect opportunity, isn't it?

Thinking of this, he said, "It's my honor to be able to serve His Majesty. Besides, no matter where I am, I'm doing things for His Majesty, how can I be reluctant?"

The emperor's eyes flashed, "You are still so good at talking! Zhang Dongyuan, you can make arrangements for him later. When Ping'an comes, you don't have to worry about the matter of Wenhui all day long. Haha!"

"Thank you, Your Majesty, for thinking about it, and this servant is also happy." Zhang Dongyuan said, "It's just that if Ping'an is gone, this is a mess of the Imperial City Division..."

"Ping'an, you just recommend someone. They are all your subordinates, and you naturally know the best about their ability to handle affairs." The emperor said.

Ping An said, "Shi Shiwen is quite talented, and he is competent."

"Huh?" The emperor frowned, "I remember that Shi Shiwen is not a servant?" Since the emperor came to the imperial city, all the servants served as servants. This is because the emperor trusted the servants more, but more because they also opened and closed. The responsibility of the palace gate.Ordinary people can't enter the palace, so naturally they can't control this matter.

"Yes." Pingan said, "This is also what I plan to talk to the emperor today. Seeing that the power of the Imperial City Division is growing and spreading all over the country, if there is no supervision, after a long time, I am afraid that some internal problems will arise. . ” If the people of the Imperial City Division colluded with the local government, the eyes and ears of the imperial court would naturally be useless.

The emperor couldn't help but nodded, "Say what you think."

"I believe that it's time to separate the servants from the Imperial City Division. On the one hand, they will be responsible for opening and closing the palace gates and prohibiting entry and exit, and on the other hand, they can supervise the Imperial City Division."

The emperor raised his eyebrows when he heard the words, "This statement is very interesting. According to you, how should you supervise?"

The idea of ​​Ping'an is to be modeled on the army of later generations, where military command is separated from ideology and politics, and the military department is separated from the staff department.A staff officer is assigned to each team of the Imperial City Division, and the eunuch serves as a staff officer.This seems to have made the servant independent, but it is still in the system of the Imperial City Division.If it is still under the jurisdiction of the Imperial City Division, but faintly out of the control of the Imperial City Division Tiju, it can be directly responsible to Zhang Dongyuan and the emperor.

"Your Majesty, although this servant doesn't know much about this, I think the idea of ​​peace is very good." Seeing the emperor pondering, Zhang Dongyuan said, "In the imperial court, all officials are supervised by the Yushitai, and the Imperial City Secretary also supervises the Yushitai and the hundred officials." Officials, someone has to monitor them. If you let the servants do it, they are all trusted by the emperor, so you don’t have to worry about it.” This is a good thing to increase the power of the eunuchs, and Zhang Dongyuan naturally supports it.

After all, the Imperial City Secretary was also supervised by the eunuch, the chief inspector of ceremonies.

The emperor nodded slightly when he heard the words, "That's right. Then follow this and set up a separate staff department in the Imperial City Division. This..."

"Chief of Staff." Seeing him pause, Pingan hurriedly added.

"Yes, Chief of Staff, does Ping An have anyone to recommend?" the emperor asked.

"The Commander of the Imperial City Division, Wang Congyi, has always been cautious, and he is even more loyal to His Majesty. He is diligent and diligent, and he thinks he is qualified for this position." Ping An said.

"That's it." The emperor looked at Ping An with more and more satisfaction.He believed that the plan of peace had been in place for a long time. He was still in the position, so he considered limiting his own development. This was the first time the emperor saw it.Regardless of whether Ping An originally planned to speak today, or he decided to speak after asking him to come to the Supervisor of Rituals, it is commendable that he has this heart.

Both talented and loyal, he can clearly see his own position, know his own weight, and keep awake at all times.The emperor had always attached great importance to safety, but now he almost looked at him from the perspective of Zhang Dongyuan's heir.