Chapter 78 Officials on Strike
The weather in Beijing has been getting hotter recently.

Midsummer is approaching and people are looking for coolness everywhere due to the heat.

Wenyuan Pavilion, located south of Wenhua Hall in the imperial city, has been the place where the cabinet operates since the beginning of the country.

In Wenyuan Pavilion.

In addition to the cabinet ministers, there is a group of scholars from the Hanlin Academy and the Secretariat who are responsible for communicating information.

It was not yet the hottest time of the year, but the Cabinet had already begun to use ice basins in small quantities to cool down Wenyuan Pavilion, in order to ensure that the central heart of the empire could always operate efficiently.

No matter how hard it is, the cabinet must not suffer!
Favorable treatment from the cabinet is an unspoken rule that must be guaranteed.

Otherwise, if you become an official and I become an official too, who would want to try so hard to join the cabinet?
Today, Wenyuan Pavilion has begun to provide iced lotus seed soup.

Yan Shaoting, who was serving the cabinet, sat at his own desk, sipping the free cabinet benefit, while his eyes were fixed on the cabinet minister's classroom.

Compared to his plain little desk, the desk inside was a large desk with carved patterns and made of precious wood.

Yan Song sat in the top chair of the cabinet as usual, squinting his eyes as if he had been unable to wake up all day.

Xu Jie had no intention of enjoying the free benefits today, but he did not even look at the memorials submitted by the various ministries and government offices. He just sat there, not knowing what he was thinking.

Gao Gong was quite happy today. He drank the small bowl of iced lotus seed soup with a gurgling sound.

But what is different from the past is.

There is one more person in the cabinet classroom today.

It’s not Zhang Juzheng who was originally in the cabinet and is now in the southeast.

Instead, it was Yuan Wei and Yuan Fanzhong, who had just returned to the Ministry of Rites from the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel and was promoted to the Minister of Rites, and was then recently promoted by the Taoist priest to enter the cabinet.

It was within everyone's expectations that Yuan Wei would join the cabinet.

He has a remarkable ability and characteristic, just like Yan Song in those days and Yan Shifan in previous years.

Can write Qingci.

Can write good Qingci!
Since he passed the imperial examination and became a Jinshi in the 17th year of Jiajing, and then served as an official in the Hanlin Academy, where he was promoted from editor to reader, Yuan Wei demonstrated his ability in writing Qingci and was summoned by the Taoist priest to serve in the Western Garden to practice Taoism and write Qingci.

It is also because of this ability that Yuan Wei feels like a rocket is pressing down on his butt.

In the 35th year of Jiajing, he was appointed as a Hanlin Bachelor in Nanjing, in charge of the Nanjing Hanlin Academy, and was later promoted to a Bachelor of Lectures.

In just two months, he was promoted to Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites.

The following year, he was promoted to the position of guest of Taizi and scholar.

Until last year, in the 39th year of Jiajing, Yuan Wei was promoted to the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel. At the beginning of this year, Yuan Wei was transferred to the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel. Not long ago, he finally returned to the Ministry of Rites and became the Minister of Rites, and was conferred the title of Prince's Guardian.

In the end, Yuan Wei successfully entered the cabinet with his excellent Qingci.

In the following years, he would be ridiculed as the Qingci Prime Minister along with Li Chunfang, Yan Ne and Guo Pu, who successively entered the cabinet.

monasticism.

Qingci.

make money.

This is the daily life of the Taoist priest in Xiyuan.

Thinking about the personnel changes in the cabinet in the next few years, Yan Shaoting narrowed his eyes slightly and looked down at the documents in front of him.

Since last year, I have been focusing on the most critical issue of making money for the Taoist priest, so I now have a smaller desk in this cabinet.

I don’t know how to practice Taoism, nor can I write Qingci, and I can’t make any progress in these two areas.

suddenly.

Yan Shaoting was reading the memorial that Hai Rui had urgently sent to Beijing to arrest Zheng Michang, He Maocai and other criminal officials, but his eyes moved.

He suddenly thought that the Taoist priest Tao Zhongwen, who was now practicing Taoism with the Taoist priest, did not seem to have achieved immortality through his practice, but was about to die.

After Tao Zhongwen's death, Old Xu recommended Taoist Lan to Jiajing, which had a great influence on the eventual fall of the Yan family and the Yan Party.

"I wonder if the Zhang family of Longhu Mountain is willing to enter Beijing..."

Yan Shaoting muttered silently.

Longhu Mountain is located in Guangxin Prefecture, Jiangxi Province, only 500 miles away from Yuanzhou Prefecture, the hometown of the Yan family in Jiangxi.

We are considered fellow villagers.

Just when Yan Shaoting was thinking about how the Yan family should invite the Zhang family from the Longhu Mountain Tianshi Mansion to come to Beijing, heavy footsteps were heard outside the classroom.

Because he was sitting in the outer room, he was the first to see the person coming.

Gao Hanwen, with a broad face and a full beard, rushed in with a panicked look on his face.

For his own reasons, Gao Hanwen did not go south to Zhejiang to serve as the prefect of Hangzhou this time. He still worked in the cabinet as a member of the Hanlin Academy and observed government affairs.

Seeing Gao Hanwen coming in with such an expression.

Yan Shaoting immediately raised his hand, signaling the other party to speak in a low voice, then turned his head to look at the inner room, and then waved at Gao Hanwen.

Although the desk is small and is not in the cabinet classroom.

But outside this door is also a good place.

When Gao Hanwen saw Yan Shaoting waving at him, he hurried forward.

"Reader Yan."

Seeing that the other party's face was covered in sweat, Yan Shaoting pushed the tea on the table that he had never used in front of him: "Drink a sip of water first, and then tell me what happened outside."

Gao Hanwen was indeed thirsty.

He ran in from outside the imperial city in one breath.

Seeing Yan Shaoting say this, he didn't hesitate to bow, picked up the teacup and drank it all.

He still felt thirsty, so after looking at Yan Shaoting, he picked up the teapot and poured water into his mouth.

After a long time, Gao Hanwen turned his head shyly and wiped the corner of his mouth.

After that, Gao Hanwen bowed to Yan Shaoting again, and then explained in a low voice: "Something happened! Something big happened outside the palace!"

Yan Shaoting's eyebrows jumped, but he whispered: "Things outside the palace are not serious. You can talk slowly first. If it is urgent, I will go in with you to report to the elders later."

Gao Hanwen nodded, walked to Yan Shaoting, bent over, and whispered: "The officials of the previous dynasty have started to make trouble. They are not working in the government office and are gathering to block the Ministry of Revenue!"

"what!"

Yan Shaoting was startled, then reacted and whispered, "Is it because of the salary owed?"

Gao Hanwen nodded heavily, looking into the cabinet classroom from time to time.

Yan Shaoting frowned.

He still remembered that not long ago, he and Hu Zongxian met Xu Jie and Gao Gong who were rushing to Yuxi Palace outside Yuxi Palace.

At that time, it seemed that the officials of the previous dynasty were causing trouble because they were owed salaries.

It was just that I had just donated three million taels to the Ministry of Revenue, and I thought that the matter should be resolved quickly.

I didn't expect that this matter has not been resolved yet.

Yan Shaoting immediately asked, "Doesn't the Ministry of Revenue have money? Hasn't the salary owed been paid yet?"

Gao Hanwen glanced at Yan Shaoting with a strange expression, and asked, "Has Shidu Yan received his salary from the court recently?"

Yan Shaoting was stunned again.

Although he didn't have to rely on his salary to make a living, he hadn't heard Sister Lu mention the payment of her salary recently.

He hurriedly asked, "Where did the Ministry of Revenue take the silver? What's the situation outside now? Didn't the Ministry of Revenue persuade those people to stay?"

Asked several questions in a row.

Gao Hanwen shook his head repeatedly: "No one knows where the money has gone. The people from the Military Department have been alerted, but they didn't dare to take action because of...

As for the people in the Ministry of Households...

They are also making trouble..."

He really didn't have the face to say this on behalf of the Ministry of Revenue.

But I have something on my mind.

Gao Hanwen added: "The tutor should help to think of a solution, otherwise these people might go outside the Meridian Gate or even to the Western Garden to cause trouble!"

…………

Note: "Ming History" says that Wei was unrestrained in nature... Wei was quick-witted... Wei was proud of his literary talent, and when he saw others' works that he was not satisfied with, he would slander them. He would especially insult the scholars who came out of his school, so everyone was afraid of him and hated him. People at that time called Yuan Wei, Li Chunfang, Yan Ne, and Guo Pu "the prime ministers of Qingci".

(End of this chapter)