Idle courtiers

Chapter 239 Old Xu Ge's riddle
Zhou Nan was extremely angry in his heart: Xu Jie, if you want to run the horse without feeding the grass, where is such a cheap thing in the world?The one next door to Spicy, that's all, I might as well hang out there for a while.Anyway, the place is not closed, and I am happy not to see the stinky faces of the pedestrian department.

As far as Zhou Nan knew, the Military Weapons Bureau of the Yuheng Qingli Department of the Ministry of Industry was located ten miles southwest of the capital, in the area under the jurisdiction of Daxing County, but it was quiet.To be in charge of a department alone, to live behind closed doors, and to govern hundreds of people, is a bit like a tyrant.

That's all he could do to comfort himself.

Under the guidance of the door, Zhou Nan walked around the Xu mansion again, and opened several doors during the process.

Fortunately, there was this concierge leading the way. If Zhou Nan was allowed to go by himself, he might not be able to find Bei.

After walking for a while, passing through secluded courtyards, suddenly a woman in costume came in through the moon gate, and happened to meet Zhou Nan face to face.

In the inner house, men and women are different, the porter hastily avoided and saluted: "I have seen Miss Jiu."

This person is Ah Jiu, the ninth son.

But I saw Ah Jiu wearing a long jacket with large sleeves and gold buttons with a vertical collar, a horse face skirt tied underneath, a gold thread beam crown on the head, gold inlaid treasures on the bottom, and gold hairpins on both sides. Yes, there are three emerald green leaves and jade flowers on the crown, gold lilacs on the ears, and she is dressed like a rich and noble lady.

She has thick flat eyebrows, big and round eyes, fair skin, shining against the surrounding white snow, so beautiful that people can't open their eyes.

If any normal man saw such a fairy-like person, he would have already been enthralled.

However, for some reason, Zhou Nan suddenly laughed.This smile was unstoppable.

After a long time, he gasped: "Xiaguan Zhou Nan has met the young lady." Yes, he and the ninth young master are very familiar.After going through a few things, I have already treated her like a tough guy and iron buddies in my heart.

I also like this crazy girl's eccentric spirit. Seeing her dressed like this today, it's like seeing a grandma in women's clothing.

This is really... so funny.

When he smiled, the concierge was stunned, and then he seemed to understand something, and couldn't help laughing.

Ah Jiu was so angry that her eyebrows were raised upright, and she held back for a long time, but couldn't help it anymore: "What are you laughing at, how rude are you?"

"Yes, yes, yes, it's a lowly official, I'm leaving, I'm leaving." Zhou Nan's eyes were full of tears, he saluted hurriedly, turned his head and left.

As soon as he turned around, suddenly, there was a severe pain in his waist, which made his tears finally fall.

It turned out that Ah Jiu couldn't bear it anymore, and secretly stretched out his hand and twisted Zhou Nan's waist with all his strength.

It really hurts.

When Zhou Nan returned home, he didn't care about eating, so he took off his clothes and shouted, "Fang Yu, come quickly and see what's wrong with my lord's waist?"

Xun Fang was ashamed to see her husband take off naked after a word of disagreement after returning home.Looking at it with a blushing face, he whispered: "Master, what's wrong with you?" He hurriedly handed over a mirror.

Zhou Nan saw a large bruise on his waist in the mirror, bared his teeth and scolded: "That girl's hands are so vicious, I will never let it go."

Hearing the word xiaoniangpi, Xun Fangyu thought that her husband's injury was caused by a brothel woman while he was having a good time outside, and suddenly became annoyed, so she lowered her head and said nothing.

Zhou Nan found out that something was wrong, and it was useless to persuade him for a long time. It was very boring to face his little wife's vest all night.

In the morning of the second day, Xun Fangyu remained silent, and started a cold war with Zhou Nan.

Putting on the official uniform and arriving at the Pedestrian Division, Zhou Nan couldn't help sighing when he recalled yesterday's situation: What a colorful day!

Anyway, last night I saw Jiu Gongzi dressed up.If she guessed correctly, she should return to the Prime Minister's Mansion to be the eldest lady.Thinking about it, it should be due to his own contribution to rebuilding the Renshou Palace, and Ah Jiu also made a lot of contributions to it.

She is safe, and Zhou Nan is also at ease.

When he arrived in Sili, Zhou Nan got the dispatch notice from Qin Liang, and then he could go to the Military Weapons Bureau to take up his post.

Zhou Nan has a bad heart and feels that he is now a cadre of Bao village in the future.

Seeing Zhou Nan packing his bags, Guo Shuban asked Mr. Zhou curiously, where are you going?
"Where else can I go? I've been assigned!" Zhou Nan roughly told Guo Shuban about his temporary management of the Arms Bureau, and finally said angrily: "Old Guo, we met for a while, and today we are only talking about friendship." , don’t talk about the relationship between superiors and subordinates, how much we will cherish it in the future.”

"What, temporary management of the Military Weapons Bureau?" Guo Shuban looked at Zhou Nan with green eyes.

Zhou Nan was startled by his expression: "Old Guo, are you okay?"

Guo Shuban let out an annoyed voice: "Zhou Xingren, my subordinates have also served your life for you. If there is no credit, there will be hard work. Even if there is no hard work, you will be tired. Yes, this errand is probably the grace of Mr. Xu Ge .You are developed, why did you forget about your subordinates, and just left like that, didn’t you make the little one come to an end?”

It was so intense, Zhou Nan was surprised, and asked, "Old Guo, what's wrong with you? I've been assigned!"

Guo Shuban complained: "Pedestrian, my Zhou Xingren, don't tell your subordinates these things. Don't you know what a wonderful job this military bureau is and how important it is?"

"do not know."

Guo Shuban: "The Armaments Bureau is responsible for the manufacture of armaments for the towns and armies on the nine borders. What does the country do with so much military expenditure every year? In addition to paying military salaries to sergeants, it is all kinds of armaments, horses, and clothing. Among them How much silver is still in circulation? Let’s not talk about anything else, let’s take the copper and tin used to make firearms as an example, which can be directly used as money, and there are big loopholes in it.”

"The Ministry of Industry is the territory of Xiao Ge's old man. All the military equipment and clothes are directly supplied to the southeast battlefield. Unless you are a real confidant, you can't be the ambassador. Pedestrians get this good job, but forget their subordinates. Wouldn't it be chilling. Just ask , from now on, who will be willing to follow your lord wholeheartedly."

Guo Shuban was very angry. He is not a Jinshi, and running errands is a necessary process. When the process is completed, he will be assigned to be an eighth-rank or ninth-rank miscellaneous officer.For now, he is in charge of Zhou Nan's paperwork, which is equivalent to Mr. Zhou's secretary.

According to the official rules of the Ming Dynasty, if the supervisor was promoted or transferred, the book office would follow suit.One is to pay for merit, and the other is to put it bluntly, the work in the yamen is the exchange of official documents, and all affairs must be written.And writing materials is very professional, and you won't be able to get started in a few years.Therefore, for the sake of convenience, when the chief officer is transferred, he will also take away his secretary who can write materials.

Master Zhou left without saying a word, who will work hard for you in the future?

Hearing what he said, Zhou Nan was shocked.Yes, the Weapons Bureau is directly linked to the Southeast Battlefield, and handles so much money every year. The rights in it are beyond what ordinary people can imagine.

The Ming Dynasty's mission is good or bad, the amount of power in its hands and the resources it can mobilize cannot be defined by mere grades.

From this point of view, Mr. Xu Ge did not treat Zhou Nan badly, I blamed him wrongly.

No, the Ministry of Industry is Yan Shifan's private land, and the Ordnance Bureau is so important, Lao Xu sent me to act as an ambassador temporarily, I'm afraid it's not as simple as asking me to make a fortune in the past.

What does he want to do?
Zhou Nan had something on his mind, so he said: "Old Guo, I take your matter to heart. If you want, it's okay to take you there. However, you will definitely not be able to do it as an ambassador. A deputy envoy is from the ninth rank, but I feel wronged." is you."

When Guo Shuban heard Zhou Nan's promise, his heart was filled with ecstasy: "This subordinate is willing." Yes, even if he chooses officials in the future, if he is lucky, he can at most be a county magistrate from the seventh rank. If he is not lucky, he can only be a rank eighth Ninth grade miscellaneous flow.

Being an official for thousands of miles is only for money, and he is not a Jinshi, so could he still be a county magistrate?

Although Cong Jiupin is not an official of the imperial court, this position is lucrative.If one year's work is worth ten years to others, what can't be done?
Zhou Nan packed up his personal belongings, and went to Zou Yinglong to tell Guo Shu what he had done.

Zou Yinglong is an engineer major, this is just a word he does.However, Mr. Zou was a little displeased, and said: "It's meaningless to work on trivial matters."

Zhou Nan felt a little ashamed, but luckily he didn't go directly to Xu Jie, otherwise the old head Xu might have something to say about him.Hey, I'm actually quite nostalgic, and I can't turn my face and be ruthless, and throw away my hands as toilet paper.

Back home, Xun Fangyu was still silent.

Sitting in the study, Zhou Nan lowered his head and thought about Xu Jie's intention to send him to the armory. After thinking for a long time, he couldn't figure it out. He felt annoyed in his heart: This Xu is really, what's wrong with me playing charades?Presumably he must have learned from Jiajing.

Emperor Jiajing's temperament can be summed up in two words: "hypocritical." What he wants to ask the ministers to do, and taking into account the publicity, he usually says something that doesn't make sense to make people guess.

Because Yan Shifan guessed the emperor's mind correctly, the Yan family has only been prosperous for 20 years.Now that Xiao Yan is seriously ill, no one guesses, the situation of the Yan Party has taken a turn for the worse, and Yan Song is gradually losing power.

"Everything in the world has a cause and effect. I went to the military house to be the result, so what is the reason? As long as the reason is found, the answer will naturally come to light."

Zhou Nan felt that he had grasped the key point, and his heart was shocked.

The reason is very simple, that is, I made a plan to rebuild the Renshou Palace and let Xu Jie vote for the king.

Could it be that Yan Song couldn't see that the emperor wanted to rebuild the Renshou Palace?Nonsense, Lao Yan has served the emperor for 20 years, and the emperor's mind can still be figured out.But why didn't he do what he liked?
The question goes back to "doing things that are not pleasant". Yan Song is not just a person, but the speaker of an interest group, and his words and deeds must serve this interest group.

Today, the greatest interest of the strict party is the southeast military. As long as the battle is fought well, one good and one good will be good, and everyone will be promoted and rich.If they lose, whether it is the emperor's thunder or the anger of the people in the world, they can burn the entire strict party to ashes.

What does the war rely on, money and food.Now that the national treasury is empty, Hu Zongxian went to the capital himself and only got 20 taels. This amount of money is not enough at all, and he has to rely on Yan Song to borrow from other places.

Therefore, all the resources Yan Song has on hand must be invested in the southeast.As for Jiajing, knowing that it would offend the emperor, he had to stand down, even at the expense of the relationship between the monarch and his ministers that he had accumulated over the years.

Thinking about it this way, Elder Yan Ge is also quite sad.

(End of this chapter)