I am not a deposed emperor of Han Dynasty

Chapter 450: The emperor’s good tricks: It’s hard for his brother to become a eunuch even if he is the chief minister of the cabinet!

When the new list of officials was sent to the Greenhouse Hall, Zhang Anshi's carriage stopped at the door of the general's back house.

During the last great court meeting, the emperor re-appointed many officials in the court - when the official positions were moved, the families had to move with them.

Therefore, in the past few days, the chief officials of Jiuqing and many cabinet ministers were busy moving.

Because Chinese and foreign officials could not serve each other concurrently, under the system of front office and back house, the house was somewhat insufficient.

The emperor took out more than a dozen houses that had not been collected in the corruption case and distributed them to the courtiers, which solved the urgent need.

The original Grand General's Mansion itself was also the Grand Sima's Mansion, so Zhang Anshi, who no longer serves as Grand Sima, should not live here.
But the emperor went out of his way to show mercy, saying that Zhang Anshi was still a general and a chief bachelor, so he should live in a more spacious place.

So Zhang Anshi was still allowed to move into the former Huo residence.

As for the new Grand Sima's Mansion, it was replaced by the original Prime Minister's Mansion - there is no need for the Prime Minister's Mansion to exist anymore.

To be honest, Zhang Anshi was very reluctant to move into the general's mansion.

Although the atmosphere here is a bit more impressive, it is also really unlucky.

The emperor's kindness cannot be denied, and how could Zhang Anshi refuse, so after he wrote a letter to express his gratitude, his family moved into the General's Mansion.

Before moving in, he specifically asked the emperor for five rolls of firecrackers, and set them off at different locations in the back house of the general's mansion.

Although Zhang Anshi believed that the power of this firecracker was too strong and inconsistent with the golden mean, he had to admit that when it came to getting rid of evil spirits, this firecracker did seem to be more powerful than firecrackers.

In addition, Zhang Anshi also sent people to clean all the seven or eight wells in the general's back house. Fortunately, no dead bodies were found.

I don’t know if the saying that “the well in the back house of the General’s Mansion is full of innocent souls” is a rumor, or if the officials of Tingwei Temple who investigated the case have already cleared away the corpses in the well.

Zhang Anshi did not investigate this matter in detail, because it is best to be confused about some things.

Fortunately, it has been several days since the Zhang family moved here. Everything is as usual in the back house, and nothing weird has happened.

After Zhang Anshi got off the car, he did not enter the door immediately. Instead, he looked up at the plaque with the word "Zhang Zhai" on the door.

Once upon a time, this plaque still said "Huo Zhai".

Zhang Anshi's father, Zhang Tang, once served as the imperial censor. It was also from that time that the Zhang family moved towards glory.

However, Zhang Anshi and his father Zhang Tang have completely different styles in dealing with the world.

Zhang Tang was not a Confucian scholar, but came from the most ordinary and humble legal official position.

During his decades of official career, Zhang Tang was famous for his familiarity with laws. He once participated in the formulation of "Yue Gong Law" and "Chao Law".

When he was an official, Zhang Tang attacked wealthy businessmen and tyrannical tyrants and annexed their families. He was called a cruel official by the world, and he was highly valued by Emperor Xiaowu.

He assisted Emperor Xiaowu in implementing the system of salt and iron official camps and calculating and suing min. It is no exaggeration to say that he was extremely powerful.

Zhang Tang has never been the prime minister in his life, but he has performed the responsibilities of the prime minister many times, and his power is much higher than that of the prime minister.

There are simply countless official positions in the court: with the emperor's trust, the censor is more powerful than the censor. Without the emperor's trust, the prime minister is just a decoration.

Compared with Zhang Anshi now, Zhang Tang had a higher status in the court at that time.

But what about Zhang Tang’s final outcome?

But he ended up dead.

In the second year of Yuanding, Li Wen, the imperial censor, and Zhu Maichen, Luo Zhi, the chief minister, falsely accused Zhang Tang of hoarding goods for his own benefit.

Emperor Xiaowu, who was suspicious by nature, believed it to be true and directly sent minister Zhang Yu to Zhang Tang's house to interrogate Zhang Tang, hoping that he would plead guilty and be punished.

Zhang Tang, who had a stubborn temperament, did not plead guilty and committed suicide after writing a memorial in protest.

After his death, the family was liquidated, and the Zhang Family Mansion only had five hundred gold - all of it came from the emperor's rewards and ordinary money and food, and none of the money came from improper sources.

Emperor Xiaowu regretted the wrongful killing of Zhang Tang, executed the people who framed Zhang Tang, and promoted young Zhang Anshi to an official position.

However, this huge change in the family caused Zhang Anshi's temperament to undergo earth-shaking changes.

From that time on, Zhang Anshi became a cautious person, and he always followed the standard of an official as an official, for fear of being labeled as a cruel official.

Twenty years after Zhang Tang committed suicide, Zhang Anshi's elder brother Zhang He was implicated in the witchcraft rebellion and was sentenced to castration.

This made Zhang Anshi remain silent and did not fight or compete in the court - all in order to avoid repeating the mistakes of his father and brother.

To this day, the scene of his father hanging in the main hall often appears in front of Zhang Anshi.

Zhang Anshi's greatest wish is to make the Zhang family prosperous.

It doesn't have to be a very popular minister, but it does have to be able to always have a place in the Han Dynasty.

After the cholera was suppressed, Zhang Anshi thought that the emperor would become a benevolent king, so he became more "public" and gave advice more frequently.

But unexpectedly, the emperor became more and more like Emperor Xiaowu.

This made Zhang Anshi suddenly realize that he could no longer be as "flashy" as he was a few months ago, but should be more careful.

……

In this way, Zhang Anshi looked at the incense stick in front of the door for a while, and then gradually withdrew his gaze.

However, he still did not lift his feet and walked in. Instead, he listened carefully to the movements around him with his hands behind his back.

It was much deserted than before when Huo Guang was here.

Although Zhang Anshi is now a general, he does not need to deal with military affairs, and he will not need to lead troops on the battlefield in the future, so there is no need to build a government office.

Therefore, the general's front office was naturally empty, with only a dozen soldiers guarding and maintaining it.

Zhang Anshi didn't think there was anything wrong. Now at the cusp of the reform and implementation of the New Deal, it would be better to be quieter.

At this time, Yu, an old slave of the Zhang family who was over 50 years old, ran out of the door to greet the head of the family.

"Master Fu, Lord Fu is here." Yu Ren said respectfully.

"Oh? How long have you been here?"

The Lord of the House mentioned by Yu Ren was naturally Zhang He, Zhang Anshi's elder brother. "I have been waiting in the study for more than an hour."

"Well, go and tell Mr. Dafu that I will go see him after dinner and ask him to wait for me for a while."

"No!" Yu Ren bowed respectfully, then trotted in the door.

Zhang Anshi shook off the dust on his robes, and finally walked into the house from under the plaque of "Zhang's House".

He naturally knew the reason for Zhang He's visit, so after a hurried dinner, he came to the study.

The two Zhang brothers sat across from each other. After chatting for a few words, they got straight to the point.

"My dear brother, the magistrate made such a big noise in the court, will it not cause any turmoil?"

Zhang He was seven or eight years older than Zhang Anshi. Because he had been castrated, he only had a few sparse beards on his chin, making him look younger than Zhang Anshi.

"Brother, don't worry. Although the county magistrate's behavior is a bit reckless, he just doesn't want powerful ministers like Huo Guang to appear in the court anymore." Zhang Anshi enlightened.

Zhang He nodded thoughtfully but somewhat understandingly, and his expression finally relaxed a little.

"A few days ago, Ye Tingling also received the "Government Office Meeting Requests". The changes in the court are really quite big."

"If the county magistrate wants to reform the law and implement new policies, he naturally wants the court to obey his orders. Over the past seven or eight days, the government has been running smoothly."

"This county magistrate is becoming more and more like Emperor Xiaowu. My brother is always a little scared." Zhang He said solemnly.

"It is also a good thing that the county magistrate wants to pursue Emperor Xiaowu. It is also time to deal with the Western Regions and the Huns."

"That's true, but in the past few days, my brother has been dreaming about my father from time to time... He always tells my brothers to be careful in his dreams."

"Brother, how could I not be the same?" Zhang Anshi also sighed.

"I hope the big man can be in peace and there won't be any more troubles. The Zhang family can't have any more troubles." Zhang He seemed to be talking to himself.

The two brothers fell into a brief silence. The laughter of the children in the house mixed with the sound of silk and bamboo orchestras came here, making their minds gradually calm.

After a while, Zhang He hesitated, his face full of hesitation.

"Brother, if you have something to do, it's okay to say it." Zhang Anshi asked proactively.

"This..." Zhang He seemed to have made a lot of determination before he said, "Brother, please don't worry about your brother..."

"Brother, my two brothers don't have to be so polite."

"It's about my brother's appointment as a temple priest. I would like to ask... if there is any further information..."

Zhang Anshi sighed again, then shook his head gently, and said helplessly: "Brother, it's my fault for being too hesitant. This matter is difficult to handle now."

Zhang He's originally expectant eyes dimmed. Before coming today, he had already guessed such a result.

The situation in the court has changed, and many things that were easy to handle before are no longer easy to handle.

Moving the seat for Zhang He was something Zhang Anshi and Zhang He decided upon during their wedding last year.

At that time, Zhang Anshi was the Great Sima General, in charge of the affairs of the Secretariat, and was the de facto Prime Minister.

Appointing a six-hundred-stone temple priest is not only an extremely small matter, but it is also within the scope of responsibility, and no one can gossip about it.

At that time, Zhang Anshi could draft an order in the name of the Shangshu Office and send it to the Shaofu and Taichang Temples as long as he had an understanding with the General Secretary Shi Bingji.

First remove Zhang He and Ye Tingling from his post, and then let him take up his post in Taichang Temple.

The whole process will probably only take a few hours.

Not to mention that it would not alarm the emperor, who was above the emperor, and would not even notice other matters involving the minister - naturally they did not want to care about these trivial matters.

Even when Huo Guang was in power, it would not be difficult for Zhang Anshi, who was distant from Huo Guangruo, to accomplish this matter.

All he had to do was go to Huo Guang and say a few good words and ask for an edict, and Zhang He could escape from the hard work of Yeting.

The reason why Zhang Anshi never did that was because he didn't want to give others a lesson.

But now, the situation is completely different. It is difficult for Zhang Anshi to appoint a [-]-stone temple priest, or even to appoint a [-]-stone coward.

"Brother Xian, is this really difficult to handle?" Zhang He asked unwillingly.

"Brother, please listen to me explain the difficulties first, so as not to mistakenly think that I am wise enough to protect myself." Zhang Anshi said helplessly.

"No, no, no, brother, I know the dangers in the court, and I would never dare to have such an idea." Zhang He waved his hands repeatedly.

"I'm not blaming my brother, but I'm really helpless." Zhang Anshi shook his head with a wry smile.

Zhang He saw the helplessness on Zhang Anshi's face, so he stopped blocking him.

Zhang Anshi took a piece of rice paper and wrote the words Taichang Temple, Shaofu, Guang Luxun and Cabinet on the paper.

"Although my brother is just a Ye Ting Ling, if you want to be transferred to the Temple Sacrifice Order now, you have to go through many Taoists."

"First of all, Taichang Su Wu needs to go to Guang Luxun Gong Sui and tell him that there is a lack of a member of the temple priest order..."

"Then Guang Luxun and Gong Sui were asked to go to the Shaofu Wei Xuancheng and made it clear that he would transfer his brother to serve as a full-time temple priest."

[In the previous chapters, I was handicapped and wrote Wei Xian (father) as Wei Xuancheng (son)]

"After the young master agrees, Guang Luxun will write a memorial and submit it to the cabinet."

"After the cabinet votes are drawn up, the county magistrate still needs to be approved, and then the next step is to go back to Guang Luxun and go through the transfer procedures."

"Brother, please take a look. This procedure is many times more complicated than before. I can only use my strength in the cabinet."

Every time Zhang Anshi said a step, he drew an arrow on the paper.

By the time the whole process was finished, the paper was completely dark.

　Ask for full order!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)