Troubled times: Start practicing spiritual practice by taking care of your sister-in-law

Early April.

This month marks the deepening of spring and the beginning of summer.

April is also the season for plant growth and flower blooming. Many flowers bloom in this month, bringing the breath of spring.

Tianchuan, the capital of the Song Dynasty for nearly four hundred years, has once again rejuvenated the ancient city, which was originally somewhat defeated and desolate, with the emperor's relocation.

In the direction of the west gate of Tianchuan, more than ten riders can be seen galloping past. After checking their identities, the guards at the west gate did not dare to stop them and let the more than ten riders enter the city quickly. In the shops lined up on both sides, people came in and out, which was very lively.

On the saddle, the three leading people were wearing brocade robes, with a tired look on their faces.

They were Geng Songfu, Zuo Lianglun, Chen Xiu and others who came to Tianchuan to take office.

The three had served in the capital before, and their original mansions were guarded by special people. However, after leaving Beijing, these mansions were all swallowed up by powerful officials.

Later, Xu Guozhong moved the capital, and Tianchuan was looted by the Xiliang Army. The Prince of Huai entered the capital to drive out the Xiliang Army, which redistributed the resources in Tianchuan City.

After Chen Mo came to power and moved the capital, the resources in the city were disrupted and redistributed again.

Xu Guozhong's prime minister's residence became Chen Mo's residence, but this residence was also the most severely damaged at that time and is still under repair.

The original residences of the Prince of Chong, the Prince of Huai and others in the capital were confiscated and returned to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and then Chen Mo allocated them to Geng Songfu and others.

After they entered the city, Chen Mo immediately got the news and asked them to come to the Prince of Wei's Mansion to see him.

Greeted by Sun Meng, Geng Songfu and others walked into this majestic and magnificent mansion, and sat down in the flower hall with a series of rosewood screens. The maid served hot tea as soon as possible, and then slowly retreated.

Chen Xiu's old face showed his joy, and he said, "It's been ten years since I left Beijing. Now I'm back in Beijing. It feels like a lifetime ago."

Although he resigned and returned home on his own initiative, he was helpless. At that time, the court was in chaos, and there were countless cases of buying and selling official positions and forming cliques for personal gain. Although he was a famous scholar in the court, he did not have the core power, and he was unwilling to cling to Xu Guozhong. Seeing that he could not change the situation, he resigned and returned home.

Zuo Lianglun couldn't help but sigh: "Now it's really a matter of time."

"Where's the prince?" Geng Songfu took a sip of tea and asked Sun Meng.

"Just after the morning court, the prince is still in the palace, but the prince has learned of your arrival and must be on the way now. Please wait for a while." Sun Meng said.

Hearing this, several people could only suppress their excitement. Geng Songfu asked Sun Meng: "Is the court busy recently?"

Sun Meng nodded, and then smiled and said: "It will be clear after you take office."

Several people paused, and then Zuo Lianglun asked Sun Meng about Luonan to kill time.

The news passed on was somewhat vague, and more details had to be learned.

After learning more, Geng Songfu said: "Your Majesty is really my benefactor. If it weren't for Your Majesty, I wouldn't be here today."

They didn't wait long, and soon a loud laugh came from outside the hall: "Mr. Geng, Mr. Chen, Mr. Zuo, you are finally here."

Chen Mo and Xia Zhining, dressed in a python robe, walked in quickly.

"Uncle Geng." Xia Zhining bowed to Geng Songfu.

"Your Majesty, Madam"

Geng Songfu and the other two hurriedly stood up to greet them and bowed.

"No need to be polite, please sit down quickly." Chen Mo stepped forward and helped them.

The three of them stared at Chen Mo and said, "Thank you, Your Majesty."

Chen Mo sat at the top. Xia Zhining knew that they were going to discuss court affairs. After saying hello to Geng Songfu, she left.

Chen Mo said in a gentle voice, "Although the rebels have been eliminated now, when Xu Guozhong and Lu Sheng were in power, they harmed too many ministers, resulting in a lot of things in the court, a shortage of officials, and many things were left unattended. The three adults came at the right time to take over the affairs of the six ministries and work hard for the court and Your Majesty."

The three people looked solemn, and Zuo Lianglun said first, "Don't worry, Your Majesty, I will do my best to share the worries of the King of Wei."

After that, Geng Songfu and Chen Xiu also said the same thing.

Chen Mo's smile grew a little more, and he looked at Chen Xiu immediately, "Mr. Chen, I wonder if the list of tribute scholars for the imperial examination has been released."

"I was just planning to tell you, Your Majesty. This is the list. Please take a look, Your Majesty." Chen Xiu handed the copied list to Chen Mo.

There were 215 people on the list. Chen Mo took a quick look and remembered the top five.

Chen Xiu said, "Your Majesty, the imperial examination is over now. I wonder if the palace examination will be held in the four states or..."

Chen Mo knew what he was going to say and said, "Let's hold it in Xiangyang. The world is still unsettled and the world is not peaceful. If they are summoned to Beijing to participate in the palace examination, there may be many twists and turns. It just so happens that I have to go back to Xiangyang. Please ask Mr. Chen to prepare the examination questions for the palace examination and I will take them back."

Seeing that the palace examination was not held in the capital, Chen Xiu was a little disappointed, but he could understand and nodded.

Chen Mo looked at Geng Songfu next to him and said, "Among these people, which ones do you think are capable of great use?"

Although the list was in Chen Mo's hands, officials had to make a comprehensive assessment.

Geng Songfu glanced at Zuo Lianglun and Geng Songfu and said, "Your Highness, to be honest, on the way here, I also discussed this matter with Lord Zuo and Lord Chen, but we all had different opinions."

"Oh." Chen Mo became interested and said, "Tell me about it."

"The best scorer among them is Guo Ning, who won the first prize, but I would rather recommend Sun Cheng, who ranked eighth. His policy essays have solutions to the problems exposed by the court now. Although some problems are still too rough, as long as he is sent to the local area to experience well for a year or two, he will be of great use.

In addition to Sun Cheng, the policy essay written by Qin Shi, who ranked 37th, is also very interesting. He has his own unique insights on people's livelihood issues. If he is sent to the north, he will definitely shine."

Geng Songfu mentioned several people in a row, all of whom wrote good policy essays.

Zuo Lianglun naturally recommended those with high scores.

And Chen Xiu focused on Confucian ideas such as benevolence, righteousness, reason, wisdom, and trustworthiness. He would give high scores to those who highlighted these in the test paper.

For example, Guo Xian, who ranked 47th, and Jiang Quyang, who ranked 78th.

Chen Mo remembered the names of these people, and then asked those who shone brightly in the provincial examinations but failed in the imperial examinations.

The result was none.

It seems that the list of the provincial examination is not too exaggerated.

After that, Chen Mo asked those candidates who passed the provincial examination but failed the imperial examination, which ones are worth re-employing.

Although he had said long ago that anyone who passed the provincial examination could become an official, he had to pick out a few key ones for arrangement.

After this, the three of them fell silent.

After all, the people who were concerned about the provincial examination were all on the list of this imperial examination, and the three of them really had no impression of the others.

But since Chen Mo asked this, they had to think hard and name a few.

Geng Songfu said: "There are a few, Lin Zhong from Fengzhou, Wang Hai from Jiangdong, and Li Linyi from Gaozhou..."

Hearing this, Chen Mo took out the map of the north and said: "In this case, let's arrange them first. Where do you think they should be officials?"

Geng Songfu immediately stood up and surrounded them.

After that, several people exchanged greetings and talked about some personnel arrangements.

Geng Songfu and Zuo Lianglun were both good at handling political affairs. With them sharing the burden for him, Chen Mo instantly relaxed a lot.

The few of them chatted until noon.

When Chen Mo planned to let those who passed the palace examination serve as high-ranking officials in the court, Geng Songfu and Chen Xiu both opposed it.

Since ancient times, even the top scholar and the third scholar could not become high-ranking officials at the beginning. They were generally arranged to be editors in the Hanlin Academy (from the sixth rank) or editors in the Hanlin Academy (the seventh rank).

If the second and third-class Jinshi wanted to stay in Beijing, they would also enter the Hanlin Academy.

The new Jinshi who failed to stay in the capital would be uniformly arranged by the Ministry of Personnel to the waiting team. The waiting period could be as short as three to five years and as long as seven to eight years. Most of these Jinshi would be assigned to various prefectures and counties as county magistrates of the seventh rank.

Of course, there are different arrangements in different periods.

In a chaotic world like today, there is no need to wait for the waiting list. Those who are sent to the local area to serve as prefects and prefects, but they are all sent out.

The reason for doing this is nothing more than training, tempering one's character, and increasing work experience, so that when one is in a high position in the future, one will be more comfortable with handling things and will not act on impulse.

And if one takes office as a high official right away, many people will not be able to keep up.

"I understand all you said." After all, there is still a probation period for part-time jobs. Chen Mo said: "But now many departments in the court have vacancies. If they enter the Hanlin Academy, the court will be seriously short of manpower."

Geng Songfu proposed a solution, which is to invite officials who resigned and went home or were demoted to Beijing to serve.

When Xu Guozhong was in power, many officials did not obey him, but they could not confront Xu Guozhong, so they simply resigned and went home.

There are also some who were suppressed by Xu Guozhong, and now they can also be promoted.

Let them temporarily occupy these vacant positions, and wait until those who have been on the list of the palace examination have finished their training, and then replace them.

Chen Xiu also gave a suggestion.

That is, there are many hermits in Longgui Mountain.

In addition to those who seek fame and reputation, there are still some talents in governing the world.

Chen Mo nodded, his bright eyes flickering under his sword-like eyebrows.

Before, he had asked His Majesty to summon the princes and officials above the fifth rank to the capital to meet the emperor.

If they obeyed the imperial edict and came to the capital, they would obey his rule, so these officials could still be used.

...

After lunch, Chen Mo took Geng Songfu and others to the capital to meet the emperor.

After arriving in Tianchuan, Chen Mo made a big change.

Not only were the palace guards at the palace gate replaced by soldiers of the Chen army.

The imperial guards in the palace were also replaced by soldiers of the Xianzhen Guard.

The commander of the imperial guards was still Yang Wei, but the guards below were no longer the same as before.

In addition to the replacement of the guards in the palace, Chen Mo also replaced the eunuchs and palace maids.

In this way, any disturbance in the palace could not escape Chen Mo's ears and eyes.

Similarly, anything in the palace could not be spread out of the palace without Chen Mo's permission.

In short, all the departments in the palace, big and small, are under the strict control of Chen Mo.

Of course, Chen Mo did not make the atmosphere in the palace too depressing and heavy. He just changed the people in the palace, but did not restrict the personal freedom of Emperor Yong'an and others.

Meeting the emperor is nothing more than a formality. The final decision is still in Chen Mo's hands.

Emperor Yong'an had no opinion on Chen Mo's arrangement.

After meeting Emperor Yong'an, a palace maid walked over quickly and whispered in Chen Mo's ear.

Chen Mo coughed lightly: "Prime Minister Geng, you go to Hanyuan Hall first. I still have some things to deal with."

After meeting the Emperor Yong'an, Geng Songfu can officially start his post.

Geng Songfu and his friends didn't think much about it. At this moment, they couldn't help but go to the six ministries to get familiar with them.

The layout of the palace in Tianchuan City is similar to that in Luonan. The Queen Mother's bedroom is also called Shoukang Palace.

Liang Ji is sitting on the armchair at this moment, waving her brush on the drawing board. On her charming and graceful face like a hibiscus flower, her phoenix eyebrows are sometimes frowned and sometimes relaxed. When Chen Mo comes over, Liang Ji has successfully completed the last step.

At this moment, the maid entered the palace quickly and whispered, "Queen Mother, the King of Wei is here."

"Send it."

"Your subject has seen the Queen Mother." Soon, Chen Mo came to Liang Ji, bowed, and walked up to her quickly, holding the soft and white hands of the beautiful lady: "Oh, do you miss me?"

Liang Ji looked angry and pulled her hand out. This man really didn't regard himself as an outsider anymore. When he was in Luonan, he would pretend to be serious for a few times. After coming to Tianchuan, as soon as they met, there was no courtesy and he started to touch her.

Liang Ji pointed at the drawing board with her slender jade finger: "How is it?"

Chen Mo tilted his head and saw that the painting showed a young man wearing a python robe, sitting on a white horse, holding a longbow. He was indescribably majestic and powerful. Who else could it be but him?

Chen Mo raised his eyebrows and said, "It's so lifelike and vivid, and the painting is just like the person. I didn't expect my Yoyo to be able to do this."

"Who is yours?" Liang Ji's plump and beautiful face blushed like a rosy cloud. This man is really shameless. She is the queen mother of the dynasty, not his private property.

"Of course it's the queen mother. Now even if I stay overnight in Shoukang Palace and have fun every night, it's okay. And except me, who dares to touch the queen mother? Even that person can't touch a hair of the queen mother without my permission."

Chen Mo hugged Liang Ji's round shoulders, took her to the bed and sat down, gently reached into the lapels of the palace skirt, and measured the mountains and rivers of the Song Dynasty.

Liang Ji's delicate body trembled, her eyes were charming, and she thought that this man was too domineering. Since that night, this man really regarded herself as his private property and guarded her tightly. Even if that man wanted to see her, he was rejected.

But this also made her firm in her mind. She instinctively struggled for a while, and then said: "Don't move. I have something to tell you."

"What is it?" Chen Mo asked.

Liang Ji slowly spoke.

It turned out to be a problem with the concubines in the harem.