manynovel Chapter 1261 Waiting for the Leak
Chapter 1261 Waiting for the Leak
Chapter 1261 Waiting for the Leak
May.
Bianjing.
I don’t know if it’s because of the beginning of summer or because my sleep has become lighter as I get older, but Zhang Yue woke up early and left his residence to go to the court.
Because he lived quite close to the palace, Zhang Yue did not have to get up early in the morning to attend court, while the other officials who lived far away had to set out in the early morning.
However, although Zhang Yue lived nearby, he never acted like a prime minister and was late. He always arrived at the court very early.
A ray of dawn was reflected on the tower of Xuande Gate. Before dawn in the east, Zhang Yue still saw a few officials on horseback. Their followers were holding lanterns made of white paper with official titles written on them and hanging them in front of the horses with long handles. They were anxiously hurrying on their way.
When Zhang Yue arrived at the forbidden gate, it was already the fourth watch. Officials were holding lanterns and chatting together. Countless lanterns gathered in one place and fluttered. From a distance, it looked like a city on fire. Under the bright light of the fire city, the dark night like a palace city was brightened.
When Zhang Yue's carriage arrived, the horsemen on both sides called out "The Prime Minister has arrived."
Upon hearing the news, all the officials extinguished their lanterns and stood by the road waiting for Zhang Yue's carriage to arrive.
Zhang Yue got off the carriage, and the princes, officials and servants all bowed to Zhang Yue, their eyes and bodies moving with the speed of the prime minister's steps.
After the candle went out, the smell of the burning wick was still in his nose. Under the gaze of everyone, Zhang Yue went straight to the waiting courtyard beside the palace gate to rest.
After Zhang Yue arrived at the Tailou Courtyard, the officials were also given a rest. At this time, in front of the Tailou Courtyard, vendors had been waiting to serve liver powder porridge for the officials to eat.
Under the early morning light, the footsteps are noisy and the gleaming robes are a unique sight.
Officials ate and talked about important events and career advancement, which was also a routine before the daily morning court session. Some officials were not keen on socializing, so they took a nap against the wall of the waiting courtyard.
Zhang Yue always arrived early, but there was always one minister among them who arrived earlier than him, and that was Cai Que.
Cai Que had already arrived at the Tailuo Court, handling and reviewing documents.
Unlike the outer area, there were several "giant candles" about a foot long lit in the waiting courtyard.
Under the light of the huge candle, the two of them looked at each other.
Zhang Yue and Cai Que were both born in poor families, and they knew clearly how they had come to this point. Before going to the palace to report on matters, they hurriedly read the documents sent to them yesterday under the candlelight, and some of them needed to be approved.
Cai Que wrote a few words to approve the document, and ordered someone to send it to Zhang Yue for review. At the same time, he reported: "The Liao envoy still refuses to give in. He insists on asking for Liangzhou in the letter. If you don't see the letter, then we will not return in vain."
Zhang Yue glanced over the document, signed his name at the end and said casually, "Let's leave it alone for now!"
Not long after, the rest of the ministers arrived one after another.
Prime Minister Wang Gui and the newly arrived Lu Gongzhu were chatting about the Taoist health-preserving methods they had heard from Bixuzi.
Zhang Yue chatted with Lu Gongzhu for a while and said that Bixuzi was Zhang Wumeng's disciple and must have some secret health-preserving skills. Zhang Yue talked to Lu Gongzhu to actively resolve the superficial rift between the two due to their differences in the war and defense of Xixia, and Lu Gongzhu responded cautiously.
Cai Que and Wang Anli reviewed the documents in person.
Sun Gu took a leave today.
After Zhang Yue returned to the court, the two ministries and four offices of the imperial court had a new structure.
The Eastern Palace was headed by Wang Gui, the Prime Minister of Zhaowen, and Zhang Yue, the Prime Minister of the History Museum.
Vice Prime Minister Cai Que and Wang Anli.
Privy Councilor Sun Gu.
Deputy Privy Councillors Lu Gongzhu and Su Song, and former Deputy Privy Councillor Zeng Xiaokuan were exiled.
Next is Huang Lu, the Third Secretary.
Cai Jing, the acting governor of Kaifeng Prefecture.
Acting Chief Censor Shu Tan.
Hanlin academicians include Han Zhongyan, Chen Mu, Li Qingchen, Pu Zongmeng, and Zhang Xu.
This was also the time when Zhang's party had the largest number of members in the top leadership.
Sun Gu and Lu Gongzhu were members of a different faction, similar to Wang Gui's faction, such as Li Qingchen and Zhang Xu. As for Cai Que, Pu Zongmeng, and Shu Dan, although they were members of the emperor's faction, they had no choice but to temporarily rely on Wang Gui in order to gain power under the dominance of Zhang Yue.
This does not include Zhang Qie and Zhang Zhi who are temporarily staying at home.
Previously, in the two governments, Zhang Yue had the support of Xue Xiang in the Secretariat and Wang Anli in the Privy Council, and now the situation remains unchanged.
And among the four leaders, several more people came to help.
The Zhongshu Sheren, who compiled the daily records, included Cai Bian, Lu Dian, Cheng Hao and others.
Not to mention those who served as high-ranking officials in various places such as Zhang Heng, Zeng Gong, Zeng Bu, Shen Kuo, Xu Jiang and so on.
Zhang Yue is now in charge of the Privy Council as well as the History Museum, and is in charge of the negotiations with Liao. Not to mention that he also has a private team directly under the Prime Minister, the 'Official System Detailed Planning Office', which is fully responsible for the formulation of official regulations.
Compared to when he resigned as prime minister of Dingli Temple, Zhang Yue was one step closer to wielding all the power in the court.
Although there were conflicts among the ministers in the Tailou Court, they all appeared to be in harmony and sat down together to "put up with each other for the sake of the country."
Having served as an official for decades, everyone has fought along the way. Who among you here does not have conflicts with each other?
Struggle and cooperation are the norm in the daily work of the prime ministers.
Zhang Yue listened to the idle chatter of several people and glanced at the gradually brightening sky near the window.
Zhang Yue moved his waist slightly, which was tired from sitting for a long time. He was very satisfied with his current state. As a capable minister under a capable monarch, he had almost reached this point.
The only way to go further is to change the emperor.
The moon is half full, the flowers are half open, and the wine is slightly intoxicating, which is a first-class state of mind. If you seek perfection too much, it will be the beginning of a turn from profit to loss.
During this time of waiting, Zhang Yue felt that everything was at ease, and everything was like floating clouds, not lingering in his mind.
After the cock-man, who was responsible for telling time in the palace, crowed, fifteen drums were sounded in the Tailou Courtyard, indicating that it was already the hour of Mao, and all the officials filed into the court to pay homage.
The Chief Censor Shu Tan led all the officials in paying homage.
After Zhang Yue was reinstated as prime minister, he told the emperor that the prime minister was too busy to be on duty. As a result, the rule that the prime minister had to be on duty when Han Qi was impeached when the emperor ascended the throne was abolished and the Censorate was put in charge instead.
This is also Zhang Yue's way of reducing his workload and concentrating on being lazy.
Shu Tan led all the officials in the court to pay homage, but the emperor did not sit in the hall as usual.
After the worship, the officials in charge of customs affairs left one after another, while the rest of the officials rested behind the curtain and waited for an audience with the emperor.
Outside the Chuigong Hall, the official has not arrived yet.
After a while, officials from the two ministries and three departments sat in the tent and chatted.
Officials can only chat with officials in the same screen and cannot chat across the screen.
This rule was established because Emperor Taizu of Song Dynasty hated the collusion between Prime Minister Zhao Pu and Privy Councilor Li Chongju.
It seems that it is unprecedented for Zhang Yue to temporarily take charge of the Privy Council.
Zhang Yue Wang Gui led the Zhongshu to report to the emperor first, and the content of the discussion included allowing Shen Kuo to build towards Xiaoguan.
During the meeting, Lu Gongzhu replaced Sun Gu's position and questioned and opposed the proposal put forward by Shen Kuo, which had been agreed by the Secretariat.
Lu Gongzhu thought the plan was too radical and risky.
This is also expected.
In the normal discussion process, one has to "make himself blush and sweat", which is also the purpose of mixing up different opinions.
Just like a couple getting along, if they have small quarrels every day, there will probably be no problems. If a couple never quarrels, big problems will arise sooner or later.
However, the meeting in the palace was already the final procedure, and Zhang Yue and the emperor had already finalized it during their discussion.
Lu Gongzhu's opposition had no effect on the final outcome.
The report lasted until the end of Chenzhong.
The emperor asked Zhang Yue to stay and make a reply.
Today, while Zhang Yue was staying in the palace, he presented to the emperor a detailed outline of the "reform" strategy he had written in Dingli Temple for the next two years as prime minister.
At the same time, there are also the results of the two-year work of the Official System Detailed Development Office - the evolution of the official system and the discrepancies in the number of officials.
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Why is it necessary to establish a detailed bureau of official system? This involves a problem, that is, any organization will encounter the problem of organizational bloat when it develops to a certain stage.
The problem was particularly serious in the Song Dynasty. At the beginning, it inherited the official system of the Five Dynasties. The local official system was basically in the name of the Jiedushi's staff officials. Later, it was divided into principal officials, dispatched officials, and library officials, etc.
Finally, the phenomenon of redundant officials is serious, resulting in extremely low government efficiency.
Therefore, when any organization develops to a certain stage, it will have to cut, merge, and establish new departments.
Therefore, as an emperor with potential, he proposed the Yuanfeng reform plan since the beginning of Zhang Yue's tenure as prime minister, and now it is time to implement it.
As usual, Zhang Yue was allowed to sit down and drink tea, and then he presented his ideas to the emperor one by one.
This means that small matters should be dealt with in a big way, and big matters should be dealt with in a small way.
(End of this chapter)