Rubbing his eyes, tears flowed down unconsciously. Yan Yingyuan yawned, stretched and got up from the couch.

The only people accompanying him at this time were two secretaries of the cabinet who were also on duty like him. They did not have this kind of treatment and could only spend the night lying on the table.

It was another peaceful night.

"Dong dong dong——"

At this time, there was a knock on the closed door, and a sharp voice sounded: "Mr. Ge, the time has come, it's time for breakfast."

Yan Yingyuan looked up and saw that the grandfather clock on the ground had stopped at six o'clock.

From last night to now, the duty is over.

Of course, when nothing serious happened, he usually slept on the table, and the ground dragon had already warmed up.

"Well! Come in!"

"Creak——"

The door was opened, and several eunuchs brought lunch boxes and carefully placed them on the table.

On the table, there are millet porridge, steamed buns, pickles, and fried dough sticks, simple but not simple.

After the Ding Revolution, the imperial dining room underwent comprehensive rectification. In the past, dogs were not allowed to eat, and the situation in which the emperor was forced to eat from the eunuchs' private kitchens was changed.

This is also a manifestation of the weakness of imperial power.

During the reigns of Taizu and Chengzu, if pig food was cooked in the imperial dining room, it would be dead as soon as it came out of the pot.

Of course, these two ungrateful masters may not be able to reward them with breakfast.

It truly belongs to the Emperor's great kindness and generosity today.

At this time, the two secretaries of the cabinet were also busy and started to clear the table. Their noses twitched and they smelled delicious food.

They were Shujishi in the 19th year of Shaowu's reign. While other colleagues were observing politics in the Eight Departments, they came to the cabinet to study.

Memorials from all over the world broadened his horizons.

They are the reserve force of the important officials of the imperial court. Even the worst ones are expected to become high officials, ministers and cabinet ministers in the future.

Yan Yingyuan was filled with emotion when he saw the two of them.

If he had not made achievements during the Revolution, how could he have been in and out of the temple from an unofficial official?

But people only need to take exams well, once every two years, the court will carefully train them, and the officialdom will go smoothly, which can be said to make people cry with envy.

In the side room, he brushed his teeth with willow branches and salt, then washed his face before eating.

After eating a bowl of porridge, biting two steamed buns, and adding a fried dough stick, Yan Yingyuan felt full.

After eating, he could have packed up the few empty plates in front of him and taken them home directly along with the lunch box.

Custom-made from an official kiln, it must be worth dozens of dollars at the very least.

But you can't do anything more than once or twice. If things go on like this, you will easily lose your sense of proportion.

The secretaries of the cabinet can do the same, but their tableware is a bit crude, just ordinary models. Although it is customized by the official kiln, it is not very valuable.

After a full meal, Yan Yingyuan asked several Zhongshu to follow up and asked, then gave him a favor and left.

After walking two miles and eating, we finally left the imperial city.

By this time, it was already broad daylight, and the groom wearing white frost had been waiting outside the city gate for a long time.

"Let's go!" He stepped on the chair and got into the car. He felt comfortable after sitting firmly on the soft couch.

The couch in Wenyuan Pavilion was not soft enough and was covered with hardwood quilts. It was really difficult to sleep on at night.

Of course, this may be intentional and no one wants to change it.

After all, we are on duty, can An sleep comfortably?

After staring for a while, the carriage stopped.

"Master, we're home."

A large courtyard comes into view.

This is an official residence assigned by the imperial court, and it is a large three-in-one residence.

It consists of a cross-yard with twenty-five rooms, covering an area of ​​about five acres, and a small garden. It is considered a top-level house in the capital.

If you sell it at market price, you won't be able to buy it for less than 100,000 yuan.

In addition to the area, there are many fourth- and fifth-level courtyards in the capital. The key is the location. This place belongs to the inner city. It is only a few hundred steps away from the imperial city, and it is not as far away as he can walk out of the imperial city.

Such an excellent location is at a price but not marketable.

But it is also because the official residence is of a welfare nature, so once it leaves office, it will be taken back and given to the next cabinet minister.

As for the level of Babu Shangshu, there are also three courtyards, but there are only about twenty houses.

Senior officials such as ministers and Xiao Jiuqing were assigned to the second courtyard, which only had about fifteen rooms.

Considering that it is difficult to live in the capital, officials in the capital, regardless of their size, will basically allocate housing.

Only people of fourth rank and above can live alone in small courtyards, such as those of middle and lower-level officials, who are all counted according to the number of rooms.

When you reach the fourth level, you will be allocated a small courtyard with ten rooms.

At the fifth level, there are only eight rooms, at the sixth level there are six, at the seventh level, at the eighth level there are four rooms, and at the ninth level there are only two rooms.

This allocation is not even enough to accommodate more servants, so they can only live in a large courtyard.

Therefore, generally the wealthier officials will rent a small courtyard, especially the middle-level officials below the fourth rank and above the seventh rank.

Don't look at the fact that Jiupin only has two rooms, but it is still in the inner city. If calculated according to the market price, it would cost at least three silver yuan per month to start.

Of course, if you have to rent, you can only go to Xuanwu County and Chongwen County in the outer cities, but traveling every day is too hard.

After returning home, he changed his clothes and ate two soup dumplings to fill his stomach. Yan Yingyuan was completely sleepless at this time.

"What happened yesterday?"

Trapped in the palace for a night, without hearing or seeing, Yan Yingyuan desperately wanted to know what happened.

After all, after the military robe scandal occurred, Zhu Mou was dealt a huge blow, and his prestige that had suddenly increased a while ago dissipated a lot.

In a sense, Zhu Mou, Feng Xianzong, and Du Yinxi are already on an equal footing.

Even though Yan Yingyuan was calm, he couldn't resist the temptation:

This is the first assistant!

In the three hundred years of the Ming Dynasty, except for the Chongzhen Dynasty, which had nineteen chief ministers in the seventeenth year, the other dynasties together only had about eighty people.

In other words, in the seventeenth year of Emperor Chongzhen's reign, he deposed almost a quarter of the chief ministers of the Ming Dynasty, which was quite impressive.

Zhu Mou was not stable this year, while Yang Shiqi served for 21 years in the former Ming Dynasty. The gap is too big.

But if you think about it carefully, Zhao Shu has been reelected for more than ten years, which is quite impressive.

The more he thought about this thing, the less sleepy he became.

At this time, a servant suddenly reported that his friend Feng Houdun was visiting.

If it had been someone else, Yan Yingyuan would have simply refused. After all, he was in a daze and it was customary not to see guests after being on duty.

But Feng Houdun was different. He was tutored by Jiangyin and defended the city with him, resisting the Qing troops outside the city for many days. Thus, he waited until the emperor's troops arrived in Nanjing and relieved the siege of Jiangyin.

It can be said that the two have a friendship that shares weal and woe.

The identities of the two are similar, and they are both born in Juren.

However, Yan Yingyuan came one step ahead and was elected as a deputy candidate (a candidate who did well in the general examination but unfortunately failed), while Feng Houdun was just an ordinary candidate who failed.

Therefore, at the time of the conferment, Yan Yingyuan was in charge of the judicial system of a county and served as the official historian, while Feng Houdun could only serve as the instructor of the deputy edict.

Relying on the merits of defending the city against tens of thousands of troops, Yan Yingyuan rose through the ranks and became a member of the cabinet.

However, Feng Xiandun's official career was somewhat poor, and he is now just the governor of Shandong.

Under the emperor's intentional or unintentional arrangements, it has become an unspoken rule in the officialdom to reach the age of 60, and it is difficult to avoid it except by divine grace.

Feng Xiandun is now fifty-six, so there is still hope.

Especially since this hope is still in the cabinet.

When he thought that his former colleague Shangguan was now an elder, Feng Xiandun felt an uncontrollable impulse in his heart:

When can I do the same?

"Brother Feng, what are you doing?"

What appeared in front of Yan Yingyuan was a thin figure, wearing a long robe, cloth boots, and a felt hat. He was dressed simply, but he had a certain air of dignity.

"Return to Beijing to report on my work." Feng Xiandun smiled: "I handed you the sign last night. I will see you in three days..."

The emperor's time is too tight and he can't arrange it.

Yan Yingyuan knew in his heart that the emperor was busy fishing and cutting flowers and had no time to pay attention to people.

“Brother, I’m afraid I’ll be in trouble this time I enter Beijing!”
To be continued...