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

Chapter 632 Six Seven Five

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, once again regained its sense of heaviness as the capital city as the emperor moved in again.

In the direction of the west gate of Tianchuan, more than ten riders on fast horses could be seen galloping past. After checking their identities, the guards at the west gate did not dare to stop them and allowed them to quickly enter the city. In the shops lined up on both sides, people were coming in and out, making the scene very lively.

On the saddle, the three leading men were wearing brocade robes, their faces showing signs of fatigue from the long journey.

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

The three of them had all served in the capital before and had their own mansions which were guarded by special people. However, after they left the capital, these mansions were all swallowed up by powerful officials.

Later, Xu Guozhong moved the capital and Tianchuan was looted by the Western Liang army. Prince Huai went to Beijing to drive out the Western Liang army, which led to the redistribution of resources in Tianchuan City.

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

The former prime minister's residence of Xu Guozhong has now become Chen Mo's residence. However, this residence was also the most severely damaged at that time and is still under repair.

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

After they entered the city, Chen Mo immediately got the news and asked them to come to Prince 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 them hot tea and then slowly retreated.

Chen Xiu's old face showed a look of joy as he said, "It has been ten years since I last left the capital. Now that I am back in the capital, it feels like a lifetime ago."

Although he voluntarily resigned and returned home, he had no choice. The court was in chaos at the time, with countless cases of buying and selling official positions and forming cliques for personal gain. Although he was a famous Confucian scholar in the court, he did not hold core power and was unwilling to curry favor with Xu Guozhong. Seeing that the situation could not be changed, he resigned and returned home.

Zuo Lianglun couldn't help but sigh: "Nowadays, the situation has really changed."

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

"The prince is still in the palace after the morning court session. However, he has already learned of your arrival and must be on the way. Please wait for a moment." 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, then smiled and said, "It will become clear after you take up your posts."

Several people paused for a moment, and then Zuo Lianglun asked Sun Meng about Luonan to pass the time while waiting.

The message that was passed on was somewhat vague, and we need to understand it in more detail.

After learning more about it, Geng Songfu said, "Your Majesty is truly my benefactor. Without Your Majesty, I wouldn't be where I am today."

They didn't have to wait long before 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 python robes, walked in quickly.

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

"My Lord, Madam"

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

"No need to be so polite, please take a seat." Chen Mo stepped forward and gave him a gentle support.

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 state affairs, so after greeting 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 plethora of affairs in the court, a shortage of officials, and many things left unattended. The three adults are here at the right time to take over the affairs of the six ministries and work hard for the court and Your Majesty."

The three of them looked solemn, and Zuo Lianglun was the first to say, "Don't worry, Your Majesty. I will do my best to help the King of Wei."

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

Chen Mo smiled a little more, and then looked at Chen Xiu: "Mr. Chen, I wonder if the list of candidates for the imperial examination has been released."

"I was just about to tell you, Your Highness. Here is the name list. Please take a look." Chen Xiu handed the copied list to Chen Mo.

There were a total of 215 people on the list. Chen Mo took a quick look and mainly remembered the first five.

Chen Xiu said: "Your Majesty, now that the imperial examination has ended, 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 do it in Xiangyang. Right now, the world is still unsettled, and if we summon them to Beijing to take part in the palace examination, there might be many twists and turns. It just so happens that I have to go back to Xiangyang, so please ask Elder Chen to prepare the examination questions, and I will take them back with me."

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 and asked, "Among these people, which ones do you think can be of great use, Mr. Geng?"

Although the list is in Chen Mo's hands, officials still have 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 performer among them is Guo Ning, who won the first prize, but I would rather recommend Sun Cheng, who ranked eighth. His policy papers have solutions to the problems currently exposed by the court. Although some of the problems are still too crude, as long as he is sent to the local area and trained 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 surely shine. "

Geng Songfu mentioned several people in succession, all of whom were good at writing policy essays.

Zuo Lianglun naturally recommends those with high academic performance first.

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

Such as Guo Xian who ranked 47th and Jiang Quyang who ranked 78th.

Chen Mo memorized the names of these people, and then asked about those who performed brilliantly in the provincial examinations but failed in the metropolitan examinations.

Nothing came of it.

It seems that the list of provincial examinations is not too inflated.

Afterwards, Chen Mo asked which of the candidates who passed the provincial examination but failed the metropolitan examination were worthy of being reused.

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

After these words were spoken, the three of them fell silent.

After all, all the people I paid attention to in the provincial examination were also on the list in this imperial examination, and I really had no impression of the other three people.

But since Chen Mo asked this, they had to rack their brains to come up with a few.

Geng Songfu said, "There are a few of them, Lin Zhong from Fengzhou, Wang Hai from Jiangdong, and Li Linyi from Gaozhou..." Hearing this, Chen Mo took out a map of the north and said, "Then, let's arrange them first. Where do you think it would be best for them to serve as officials?"

Geng Songfu immediately stood up and surrounded them.

Afterwards, they exchanged greetings and discussed some personnel arrangements.

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

The few of them chatted like this 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 three scholars in the imperial examination could not become high-ranking officials right away. They were usually arranged to be compilers in the Hanlin Academy (sixth rank) or editors in the Hanlin Academy (seventh rank).

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

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

Of course, there are different arrangements for different periods.

In troubled times like today, there is no need to wait for a vacancy, but to be transferred to the local area to serve as a prefect or county magistrate, but those are all remote positions.

The reason for doing this is nothing more than to gain experience, temper one's character, and increase work experience, so that when you are in a high position in the future, you will be able to handle things more easily and will not act on impulse.

However, many people will not be able to keep up if they take up a high-ranking position right away.

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

Geng Songfu proposed a solution, which was to invite officials who had previously resigned and returned home or were demoted to come to Beijing to take up positions.

When Xu Guozhong was in power, many officials were dissatisfied with him, but they had no way to fight against him, so they simply resigned and went home.

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

Let them occupy these vacant official positions temporarily, and then replace them after those who have passed the palace examination have completed their training.

Chen Xiu also gave a suggestion.

That is, there are many hermits in Longgui Mountain.

Apart from those who seek fame and reputation, there are still some people with talent in governing the world.

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

Before this, he had asked His Majesty to summon all the princes and officials above the fifth rank to Beijing to meet him.

If they obeyed the imperial edict and came to Beijing, it meant they were submitting to his rule, so these officials could still be used.

……

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

After arriving in Tianchuan, Chen Mo made major changes.

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

The royal guards in the palace were also replaced by the Vanguard Guards.

The commander of the Imperial Guard is still Yang Wei, but the guards under him are no longer the same people as before.

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

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

Similarly, nothing that happens in the palace can be leaked out without Chen Mo’s permission.

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

Of course, Chen Mo did not make the atmosphere in the palace too depressing and heavy. He just replaced 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, and the final decision still lies with Chen Mo.

Emperor Yong'an had no objection to 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 and said, "Prime Minister Geng, please go to Hanyuan Palace first. I still have some things to deal with."

After meeting Emperor Yong'an, Geng Songfu could officially start his office.

Geng Songfu and the others didn't think much about it. At this moment, they couldn't help but want to go to the six ministries to familiarize themselves with them.

The layout of the imperial palace in Tianchuan City is similar to that of the imperial palace in Luonan, and the empress dowager's bedroom is also called Shoukang Palace.

Liang Ji was sitting upright on the armchair at this moment, dancing with the paintbrush on the drawing board. Her charming and graceful face, which looked like a hibiscus flower, was sometimes frowned and sometimes relaxed. When Chen Mo came over, Liang Ji had successfully completed the last step.

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

"pass."

"Your Highness has paid his respects to the Queen Mother." Soon, Chen Mo arrived in front of Liang Ji, bowed, and then quickly stepped forward and grasped the beautiful lady's soft, white, slender hands: "Yoyo, have you missed me?"

Liang Ji's face showed anger and she pulled her hand away. This man really didn't regard himself as an outsider anymore. When he was in Luonan, he would pretend to be serious for a while, but after coming to Tianchuan, as soon as they met, he started to make advances without any courtesy.

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

Chen Mo tilted his head to look, and saw a young man in the painting wearing a dragon robe, sitting upright on a white horse, holding a longbow. He looked so majestic and powerful that it was hard to tell who else could it be but him.

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

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

"Of course it's the Queen Mother. Even if I stay overnight in Shoukang Palace and have fun every night, it's fine. Besides 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 put his arm around Liang Ji's round shoulders, took her to the bed and sat down, gently reached into the lapels of her palace skirt, and measured the Song Dynasty.

Liang Ji's delicate body trembled, her eyes were charming, and she thought to herself that this man was too overbearing. Since that night, he really treated her as his private property and kept a close watch on her. Even when he wanted to see her, he was rejected.

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

"What's the matter?" Chen Mo asked.

Liang Ji spoke slowly.

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

(End of this chapter)