Idle courtiers

Chapter 237
This is Zhou Nan's third visit to Prime Minister Xu Jie's Mansion. No matter which time it is, he has the impression of a big character.

The inside was too big, Xu Jie had already rested, and he didn't know how many yards he had to pass through to enter the inner house from the outside.At night, all the courtyards were locked, and the doors were called to open one by one.

After a lot of tossing, Zhou Nan was led to a big garden and met Xu Jie in a water pavilion.

The weather was so cold, there was snowflakes outside, and the pool by the gazebo at the entrance was frozen.

But as soon as I entered the house, it was very hot, and I felt a damp feeling on my body. I didn't know if it was sweat or melted snow.

The house is full of chicken-wing wood furniture, and half-mouthed porcelain vases are inlaid on the wall, with plum blossoms inserted.In addition to books, there are various suet jade ornaments on the bookshelves.

Official boots stepped on the thick carpet, silently.

I heard people say that Xu Jie is the richest man in the capital, and his family fortune is bigger than Yan Song's.

Zhou Nan didn't know what happened to Yan Song's family, but in his two lifetimes, the old Xu's family was the richest man he had come into contact with.

Xu Jie obviously just got up, took the hot towel handed over by the servant and wiped his face, looking tired.

Everyone in the world says that a prime minister is good, but it is actually quite tiring to be under one person and over ten thousand people.

Officials of the fourth rank and above in the capital had to enter the Forbidden City to attend the morning court every day.That is to say, future generations have to get up at [-] o'clock Beijing time, and have to be busy until [-] o'clock in the afternoon to go home.After dinner, I have to go to bed.

Days like this, not to mention that modern people like Zhou Nan can’t bear it, even the emperors of the Ming Dynasty hated it deeply, such as Zhengde, Jiajing, Wanli, Tianqi and other kings, they simply moved to Xiyuan and did not go to court for decades , I will not compensate you for playing.

Seeing Zhou Nan, Xu Jie reprimanded him with a straight face: "Zimu, Yanqing Prefecture studies sacrifice, and this time the Beijing inspection passed, why don't you tell the old man? Your official position is hard to come by, and the country needs your proficiency. Practical officials, but they don’t cherish them so much?”

Zhou Nan is tired of thinking, last time I asked you about studying in the locked hall under the brand of Xinxuemen, but you old man Xu broke his promise and even gave up the face of Zaifu.

I am a mustard seed in your mind, if I really beg you to come here, I will definitely be rejected.

Now that you're pretending to be affectionate again, it's not because the idea I came up with did you a big favor.

Xu Jie pretended to be yelling at him sharply, probably to hit him with a stick, a carrot and a stick.

In fact, if it was Zhou Nan who was someone else, Xu Jie's reprimand would probably make him tearfully moved and prostrate himself to the ground immediately.If people in the officialdom, especially big figures like Mr. Xu Ge, are polite to you, it may not be a good thing.What you are doing now is like a teacher giving a lesson to the younger generation, and is treating you as an outsider.

It's a pity that Zhou Nan, a time traveler, really understands who old man Xu is, so naturally he won't be so moved by his mere words that he will go through fire and water.

"Your Majesty has a lot of affairs to deal with every day, how dare the officials come to bother you. Besides, these are just two trivial matters, and the officials and Zou Yunqing don't even know each other."

The expected tears of gratitude did not appear, Xu Jie was slightly disappointed: "It's good to pass, it's good to pass. After all, we are from the same family. If you have a grudge with Yun Qing because of this, it is not beautiful."

Zhou Nan: "I don't know what orders the boss has for calling the officials over late at night?"

Xu Jie: "Yunqing came to me last night and talked about the reconstruction of Renshou Palace that you suggested, but did you come up with it?"

"The lower official is talking nonsense, and I ask the old man to punish him." Trying to figure out the meaning of Junfu, it is not a small crime to be held accountable.

"Don't worry, it's just gossip from the same family, so you don't need to go online." Xu Jie laughed, waved his servants to leave, asked Zhou Nan to sit down, and then said something.

Early this morning, after the ministers of the cabinet returned to Xiyuan after the morning court, there was a message from Jiajing that the four ministers had spoken, intentionally or unintentionally mentioning the burning of the Renshou Palace. It is too small and quite inconvenient, implying that Yan Song will come up with a charter.

It turns out that Taoist practice pays attention to the four elements of "Tao, partner, wealth, and land".Tao is the method of practice; partner is the guidance of a famous teacher; a lot of heaven and earth treasures are consumed in the process of practice, which is wealth; land is the cave and temple.

When cultivating immortals and refining qi, the required materials such as furnaces and cauldrons occupy too much area, and Xu Taoist warlocks are required to protect the dharma. The space is small, and it really cannot be arranged.

Yan Song really has no money at hand now. In order to maintain the situation of Hu Zongxian in the southeast, he has tried his best, how can he get the money now?
New temple, what a joke.Royal projects have always been a bottomless pit. The gold bricks in the outer room cost a penny and a piece of silver.A Renshou Palace comes down, and 50 goes out.

Wouldn't it kill me to build it now?
Therefore, Yan Song said seriously, if His Majesty thinks that Yuxi Palace is too small, he might as well move back to Da Nei.

Moving back to Da Nei, the reason why I live in Xiyuan for a long time is not because I don't want to be restrained by others, Jiajing frowned, and then turned his eyes to Xu Jie.

Seeing that everything was within Xu Jie's expectation, he followed Zhou Nan's plan.The answer was that the country's finances were difficult, and it was indeed difficult to afford to build a new temple, and Yan Ge's suggestion was justified.However, the first assistant was wrong. The reconstruction of Renshou Palace would not cost much money, nor would it take a long time to complete the project.

Jiajing was a little surprised and asked what to say about this.

Xu Jie, who had already prepared, said eloquently that there was still a lot of wood available in the fire in Renshou Palace.In addition, a large amount of stone can be used in reconstruction, and Chen also found a free stone yard, which can save a lot of money.Calculated in this way, the total cost will not be more than a hundred thousand.The various ministries squeezed together and came out together.The minister did some calculations again, and if he built the concept according to this method, he could complete it in half a year.

Jiajing was overjoyed, said, very good, according to this, you will preside over the construction of Renshou Palace by Xu Jie.

In the past, this kind of royal project was presided over by Xiao Yan, but now it falls on Xu Jie, which shows Jiajing's disappointment with Yan Song.

Being favored by the emperor, there are naturally many benefits to getting the emperor's veins right.That day, when Jiajing was holding a funeral ceremony, only Xu Jie was passed on to serve as the marquis, and he was rewarded with a fragrant crown made of fragrant leaves.

You know, this is a great favor.

What a shrewd person Xu Jie is, how can he not see that the emperor has prejudice against Yan Song, and knows that the opportunity he has been waiting for for many years has arrived.

After listening to him, Zhou Nan wanted to pretend to congratulate Xu Jie, but thought about it.Xu and Yan are dignified and old in front of the emperor, just like women competing for favor. There is nothing glorious about this matter, so they keep silent.

What he was only curious about was why Xu Jie asked him to come here today?
I'm afraid this matter is not as simple as rewarding meritorious deeds. In fact, Zou Yinglong gave this place an above-average evaluation, which is considered a passable reward.

"This plan came from you, it really is very good." Xu Jie: "From the perspective of this old man, you are a talented person who can be used in the world. It's a pity that you only have a reputation as a scholar, but you are risking the world when you work in the pedestrian department. It’s a shame. Originally, it was reasonable to lock the hall and go home to study. However, this old man thinks that it’s okay to practice in various ministries. Besides, with Wang Shizhen as a teacher, it’s not difficult to take the imperial examination next year.”

Hearing that there was something in his words, Zhou Nan was refreshed.I thought to myself: Is Lao Xu going to give me a promotion? That's a good relationship!
Indeed, he is now an embarrassing pedestrian, and it doesn't hurt to hang around in the pedestrian department all day long.If you don't get the title of Jinshi, it will be nothing.

But to be honest, he is not [-]% sure about next year's imperial examination.

If you can enter the test as a miscellaneous official, it would be a good way out to use Lao Xu's network to transfer to other yamen and directly become the seventh rank.

Xu Jie didn't directly talk about it, but changed the topic: "Today, Lu Ben Lu Ge, the old man, resigned and returned to his hometown Ding You. A minister in the court pushed the prince Zuo Chunfang Li Chunfang into the Zhi cabinet, and became the first scholar of the Wuying Palace. Zhi, Zimu, what do you think?"

On the surface, this question seems to be a nonsense question, but every sentence of a big man like Xu Jie has a profound meaning, how can he answer indiscriminately.

Zhou Nan thought about it for a while, and immediately tasted it.

Li Chunfang, the number one scholar in the 26th year of Jiajing, was in the same discipline as Zhang Juzheng, and was compiled by the Imperial Academy. He often went to Xiyuan to write Qingci for the emperor, which was valued by the emperor.Since he became an official, he has been on the rise, first as Taichang Shaoqing, then as the right servant of the Ministry of Rites, and still a Bachelor of the Imperial Academy, and went to Xiyuan on duty as before.

Later, he was promoted to be the Zuo Shilang of the Ministry of Rites, and recently he was appointed as the Minister of the Ministry of Officials as the Prince Zuo Chunfang.

This kind of resume is simply blind people's kryptonite dog eyes. From this point of view, Mr. Li went straight to the cabinet from the moment he entered the officialdom.

However, now Xu Jie neither calls him Li Hanlin nor Li Shilang, but only mentions the position of Prince Zuo Chunfang, which is worth pondering.

The so-called Prince Zuo Chunfang, divided into Zuo and concubines, each with four grades, in charge of attendants, praising ministers and etiquette, refuting Zheng Qizuo, supervising the province's seal title, and in charge of the East Palace to lecture and read notes.

To put it simply, it is to manage the prince's east palace and urge the prince to study. He is the emperor's teacher.

The other concubine was Zhang Juzheng, the same year of Li Chunfang.

As an imperial teacher, joining the cabinet is a must.Not only Li Chunfang, but even Zhang Juzheng later became the chief assistant because of this experience.

When Xu Jie said this, he probably asked Zhou Nan about his attitude towards the officials of the East Palace.

How could Zhou Nan not understand that Lao Xu was asking him to choose a team.Because, back then, he borrowed the wind from Prince Yu's Mansion to bring down the prefect of Huai'an, and the words "Prince's Outer Outer Outer Outer Outer Outer Outer Side" were already printed on his forehead.

Zhou Nan thought in his heart: I don't have much relationship with Yu Wang family, the only connection is Zhan Tong.The relationship between him and Zhan Tong is only a personal friendship, and has nothing to do with political factions.

Even if I want to seek refuge in the palace, one is that there is no way out, and the other is that people still don't like it!You are not an editor of the Hanlin Academy, and the editor is not a good scholar. Even if you want to board the big ship of the East Palace, you can't buy a ticket.

What is King Yu, I'm sorry, I don't know.But here with Lao Xu, I can still talk, and he can give me practical benefits.

Zhou Nan was very straightforward: "The prime minister must start from the state and county, the strong general must be sent to the army, and the useless one is a scholar."

Xu Cifu was very satisfied with his statement.

(End of this chapter)