Next, Brother Wen stayed at home and did not even go to the Hanlin Academy. He concentrated on playing with his two elders and his younger brothers and sisters.

Two days after the earthquake, Jin Sheng came back from home.

Brother Wen learned from him that the situation outside the city was indeed worse. The newly built houses were fine, but the old thatched mud houses would fall down after an earthquake.

Two rooms of their house also fell down. The second uncle wanted to rescue the books, but ran away late and his leg was crushed by the fallen bookshelf. The house was in a panic.

When they returned, they happened to hear his second aunt crying so loudly that the whole village felt uncomfortable because of her crying.

Fortunately, the doctor said the leg could be saved, otherwise there would be no hope if the leg was lame.

Jin Sheng, mother and son, helped at home for two days, working together to tidy up the house. They also helped the old lady kill three chickens that were crushed to death, and then they left money for the family and returned to the city.

The weather has been so cold recently, and it's okay for their house to be so crowded that they can still accommodate people while they wait to be rebuilt. Those whose houses have collapsed and have nowhere to go will suffer. I wonder if any relatives, friends or neighbors are willing to take them in.

Fortunately among the misfortunes, it was the twelfth lunar month in the middle of winter. Everyone had enough food, and the food in the fields had been harvested long ago. Otherwise, people would be hungry in such a cold weather, and I really don’t know how to deal with it.

After listening to Jin Sheng's report, Brother Wen remembered the farmyard he had visited just before the winter solstice.

For ordinary people, a few houses and acres of land are where they will live and settle down for the rest of their lives. If some natural or man-made disaster takes away these things, it would be tantamount to annihilation for them.

Seeing the worry on Brother Wen's face, Jin Sheng comforted him and said, "My grandma had already planned to turn those two dilapidated old houses into brighter tile-roofed houses. This time I can make up my mind to tear them down and rebuild them."

In fact, this time I had to demolish it even if I didn’t want to, because the old house was so scary.

Fortunately, most of their houses are made of bricks and tiles built by generations of people who saved money, otherwise they might not be able to withstand this earth dragon's comeback.

Jin Sheng's second uncle injured his leg, and two old houses collapsed at home, which cost money for everything, so Jin Sheng kept all the money. He told Brother Wen where the money was going, and promised: "I will take care of it."

The money belongs to the young master."

Brother Wen didn't say any polite words like "No need to pay it back." He just said, "Don't be in a hurry, just take your time. Anyway, I don't have anything to use the money for."

He just likes to take out his money and count it out of curiosity, but he really has nowhere to spend it.

Jin Sheng nodded and said nothing, but he followed Brother Wen more and more closely. Whenever Brother Wen didn't say what he wanted, he would directly hand it to Brother Wen and take care of him.

It can’t be said that it’s not dedicated.

He still felt that this was not enough.

Because Brother Wen is different from other children, Brother Wen doesn't really need anyone to take care of him very often. At most, he only needs them to follow him closely when he goes out to visit other people's homes.

Brother Wen mostly took him to study.

After all, he gained access to so many books and so many good teachers for free.

Jin Sheng thought about it at night and felt that he had to study well, try to get a good name with Brother Wen, and work hard to become Brother Wen's right-hand man.

Only in this way can he be worthy of Brother Wen's many kindnesses to him and the many opportunities he gave him.

The children are relatively peaceful.

All civil and military officials were very busy during this twelfth lunar month, busy following up on the many changes caused by the earthquake.

Even Wang Hua, a Hanlin official, would leave early and come back late.

After Wang Hua was visibly free, Brother Wen pestered Wang Hua and asked about matters in the court.

The Gyeonggi earthquake was not a bad thing.

For disaster relief in other places, we can still rely on the emperor to deceive and use different methods to make money. The Gyeonggi area is under the emperor's feet, and anyone who dares to mess around will lose their head.

When the whole government and the central government are united as one, shouldn't disaster relief arrangements need to be done quickly and quickly, and should we be more dedicated and dedicated?

While doing serious business, ministers in the DPRK also took turns submitting a round of resignations.

In particular, several ministers in the cabinet and the chiefs of the six ministries rushed to the table and said, "These recent disasters are all due to me shamelessly occupying the position of the present secretary. Please remove me."

This is a special landscape of ancient officialdom.

Since ancient times, Chinese people have paid attention to "three words and three concessions".

For example, when your superiors offer you a promotion, you have to write a letter saying, "I'm not worthy and I don't want it." You have to decline the job several times before accepting it.

Another example is that when an official resigns, his superiors must repeatedly try to retain him.

Even if you really want to approve an official's return to his hometown, you have to go through the retention process several times and make a lot of reluctance before letting him go.

If the emperor approves your resignation as soon as you resign, it means that the emperor is already very dissatisfied with you!

At the beginning, Wang Shu had asked Emperor Xianzong to resign several times. One time, Emperor Xianzong was really impatient and "inadvertently" approved his resignation.

Wang Shu had no choice but to pack up and go home full of resentment. It was not until Zhu Youtang ascended the throne that he was invited back to take charge of the civil service.

Nowadays, those who are in high positions have a lot of experience in writing memorials for begging for positions. It is not necessary to be too skilled in writing this thing.

Everyone lined up behind Liu Ji and submitted a perfect essay with beautiful words and neat sentences in a timely manner, striving not to be the last one to hand in the paper.

With so many powerful ministers expressing their intention to take the blame and evade their positions, Zhu Youtang would certainly not be able to approve.

On the contrary, he must sincerely try to retain them.

After all, how could the court continue to function if there were so few people suddenly?

What's more, when they stood up to take the blame and evade their position, they were also blocking the sword for him, the emperor.

If Liu Ji and the others don't scramble to take this disaster on themselves, then others will say whether Zhu Youtang, the emperor, is not worthy of his role?

You see, Emperor Xianzong has not fallen in love with the court for several years, and the Ming Dynasty has always had good weather. How come it is your turn to have droughts here and floods there, and even the capital has turned upside down?

He can't let any of these loyal veterans go!

Zhu Youtang spent a lot of words before he comforted all the old ministers who had handed over the memorials begging for abdication.

After listening to his father talk about the grand and wonderful collective performance in the court, Brother Wen couldn't help but asked with concern: "Did Qiu Shangshu also submit a letter?"

Wang Hua's expression suddenly became a little subtle.

A few days ago, Li Ming, the Minister of Household Affairs, had just requested to be appointed to the official position, so Li Shangshu did not come forward this time.

The remaining four ministers of the Ministry of Personnel, Ministry of War, Ministry of Husbandry, and Ministry of Works all followed the elders and wrote to beg for their seats.

After all this calculation, Qiu Jun, the Minister of Rites, was the only one of the six chief officials who did not come forward to submit a letter.

Brother Wen immediately understood when he saw his father's expression.

No wonder Lao Qiu is not popular and doesn’t even participate in such group activities!

As expected of you, Lao Qiu!

Brother Wen saw that everything was calm inside and outside the court, and it seemed that there would be no more aftershocks from the earthquake, so he asked his father to let him go out to play with Lao Qiu.

Lao Qiu still owes him a piece of cake!

Wang Hua did not stop Brother Wen, but only warned: "Don't talk nonsense about what I told you." After he finished speaking, he felt it was not enough, so he added, "Don't write it in the article either."

If Brother Wen hadn't taken Li Dongyang as his teacher, Wang Hua wouldn't be afraid of him writing nonsense.

But Brother Wen has already become a disciple. If he dares to write nonsense, it won't be long before the whole world knows about it!

Brother Wen was immersed in the joy that he would soon be able to eat the "celebration cake" he had longed for. How could he have the patience to listen to his father's verbosity? He nodded repeatedly and said: "I know, I know."

Before he even finished speaking, people rushed to the door and excitedly called Jin Sheng to go out together.

It's obvious that he has been suffocating these days.

Brother Wen strolled to Qiu Jun's house and saw Qiu Jun sitting there holding a book and reading.

He ran to Qiu Jun and sat down. He still remembered his father's instructions. As soon as he opened his mouth, he curiously asked Qiu Jun why he didn't submit the letter together with Liu Ji and the others.

Everyone submits, but you don’t submit. How out of place!

Qiu Jun snorted coldly when he heard this, glanced at Brother Wen, and asked: "Did your father tell you?"

Brother Wen then remembered that his father asked him not to talk about it everywhere, and he immediately remembered: "I asked!"

Qiu Jun said: "If I want to avoid my position, I will naturally avoid it. Why should I join in the fun?"

He was not willing to do such meaningless things.

The practices he most admired were those of Emperor Wen of Han and Emperor Xuan of Han.

Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty asked for advice when disasters occurred, asking people all over the world to comment on the pros and cons, and asked all regions to recommend to the court virtuous, upright people who could speak out and give the most outspoken advice.

Emperor Xuan of the Han Dynasty sought talents every time there was a disaster, and asked the prefectures and counties in the world to recommend the two most outstanding talents under their rule to the court.

From now on, no matter it is a solar eclipse, a meteorite, an earthquake, a landslide, a flood, a drought, or an epidemic, the court will open up channels of expression and recruit talents. Politicians will know in time whether they have made mistakes, and those with talents will be reused by the court in a timely manner.

This is what is beneficial to the people of the world.

It's a pity that everyone understands the truth, but there are too few kings who are willing to do this, and too few ministers who are willing to do this. Otherwise, Han Zuo would not have only three or four hundred years.

It should be together for generations to come.

Qiu Jun felt that this kind of "collective begging for a seat" was of little use. If he petitioned for an official position, it would be because his body could no longer hold on and he didn't want to occupy the seat.

These ideas were written in Qiu Jun's book, and Brother Wen also read them when he was compiling the outline. Naturally, he understood that Qiu Jun had no interest in this kind of superficial work.

Brother Wen didn't come here for this matter. Seeing that Qiu Jun was not interested in this topic, he immediately changed to the topic: "Are we still making cakes? We didn't make them last time!"

Qiu Jun said: "Everyone in the court is so busy right now. Your Majesty may not have time to read the memorial I submitted earlier."

This means "you are out of cake".
To be continued...