Today is a holiday.

Prime Minister Zhou Yafu lay comfortably on the couch, enjoying this rare rest time.

Sleeping is the prerogative of officials.

Every five days, the court gave officials a day off to relax and unwind.

At the same time, it also gives officials time to organize and record what they have done in the past five days.

This is also the ruling art developed by the ruling class since the Qin Dynasty.

Starting from the grass-roots level officials, everyone is required to submit a work brief to their superiors on a regular basis.

The bamboo slips use the heavenly stems and earthly branches as tables to record the important administrative processes of officials as well as what they saw, heard, and thought.

Through this slip, superiors learned what the officials below were doing.

Moreover, these slips are in duplicate.

Give one report to your boss and keep one to yourself.

A hundred years later, when this official dies, his descendants will respectfully bury the slips recording his journey as an official into the tomb and place them near his coffin.

Thousands of years later, later generations dug up the tombs of these ancestors and discovered these slips. Through these slips, later generations refreshed their understanding and views of the Qin and Han dynasties.

A series of slips unearthed from different periods and regions vividly present to future generations the daily life of Qin and Han officials and the process of patrolling and governing the place.

This has revealed many truths that have been buried or even tampered with by history.

Compared with the Qin Dynasty's slip reports, the Han Dynasty developed more advanced and complex reporting methods.

The popularization and development of white paper also enabled officials to record more information on slips in more detail.

For example, take the slip that is next to Zhou Yafu now.

Well, it should no longer be a slip.

It should be called a briefing!

It has become the prototype of the original policy address.

It looks a bit like a wall calendar from later generations.

It is rectangular, three feet wide and seven feet long, to symbolize the dignity of the law and the gentlemanly demeanor of officials.

The entire briefing is bound with twine.

It is divided into twelve months in total, with one page per month.

For each month, it is written in words on the right side of the briefing: On a certain month in the fourth year of Yuande, Prime Minister Zhou Yafu and other words are stamped with the Prime Minister's seal.

Just like the briefing page that Zhou Yafu placed next to him now, it says: In the fourth year of Yuan De's reign, Prime Minister Zhou Yafu respectfully recorded it.

On the page, dates are distributed one by one according to the heavenly stems and earthly branches.

From Jiazi to Wuxu is one month.

From Jichou to Guihai, it was another month.

The twelve heavenly stems and ten earthly branches come and go in cycles, and their movement records the date.

Although after he ascended the throne, he advocated using simpler and more convenient numbers like one, two, three and four to record dates.

But for the aristocratic scholar-bureaucrats, that was too unworthy.

It is still more superior to record the movement of the heavenly stems and earthly branches.

Of course, as the prime minister, Zhou Yafu had to set an example, so behind the dates of the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches, there were small numbers marking that day.

Today is Bingwu, the fifteenth day of January.

Below the date, there is a small square frame about ten centimeters.

The text in the small frame was written vertically: Bingwu, Xiumu, a messenger from Jiangdu came to deliver a private letter to the prime minister. Zhou Yafu's own personal seal was stamped at the back.

Before this date, Zhou Yafu's daily activities were written in small boxes.

Or, 'Come to the Xuanshi Palace to discuss affairs with the emperor in the Ming Dynasty' or 'Practice internal history and literature, recruit the chief historians of the Shaofu, and bring them to the government office to inquire about the government' or 'Govern Lantai, summon the ministers to inquire about performance matters.'

There is even a record of the appointment and dismissal of the prime minister, a certain Cao official, who misbehaved in his duties and is not an official, so he should be removed.

These words fully demonstrate that the official slips or briefings of the Han Dynasty have made progress compared with those of the Qin Dynasty, and they are profound and long-term progress.

Zhou Yafu squinted at the text on the briefing, and what he had done in the past fifteen days came to his mind.

Then, he sat up and picked up another letter from afar.

"The Taifu of Jiangdu went to Yuan Si and paid homage again: My brother has contributed to the narrowing of Wu and Chu, so he was appointed as the prime minister. He was ordered to be the first emperor to assist the young master...Shun stayed at Xuanji Yuheng and unified the seven political affairs, so he was like God..."

"When every life is prosperous and prosperous, we should answer it with Zen..."

Watched it three times.

Zhou Yafu finally smiled.

"Yuan Si wants to ask, am I Guan Zhong or Nan Zhong..."

Nan Zhong assisted Zhou Xuan and granted Zen to Mount Tai, while Guan Zhong assisted Duke Heng and dissuaded Duke Heng from granting Zen.

"Children are fooling around..." Zhou Yafu dusted off his clothes: "Are you, Yuan Si, also fooling around?"

Don’t even look at who is today?

Is it necessary to become a Zen monk nowadays?

Zhou Yafu is very aware of today's bad temper.

To put it nicely, it is pride.

To put it harshly, it is arrogance and narcissism!

If a person like him wants to be granted Zen status, the Four Great Vajras and the Three Great Loyal Dogs will already be jumping up and down in the court and the public to create a lot of noise.

But now, let alone making noise.

There was not even the slightest movement among the four great Vajras.

On the contrary, everyone behaved in a well-behaved manner.

This is not pressure from the emperor, only a ghost would believe it!

but……

Zhou Yafu stood with his hands down. Another thing mentioned in Yuan Ang's letter made Zhou Yafu feel a little uncomfortable.

"Come here, prepare the car. I want to enter the palace and please see your majesty..." Zhou Yafu thought for a while and made up his mind.

No matter what Yuan An said is true or false.

As the Prime Minister, he has the responsibility to ensure the current political stability and peace of the world.

The East Palace is the foundation of the country.

If something goes wrong in the Eastern Palace, the country and society will also be in turmoil.

Apart from other things, if Zhao and Chu will cause trouble again, it will cause a scandal.

The emperor himself would be happy, but the country would be completely disgraced.

The Empress Dowager is too embarrassed to see anyone anymore.

But how much better can he, Zhou Yafu, be?

When something big happens to the country, as the prime minister, he must take off his hat, bow, and go home to farm.

He, Zhou Yafu, is still full of ambitions but has yet to realize them!

…………………………

Jiangdu Kingdom, Guangling City.

Yuan An looked far to the north, holding a copy of the Di newspaper in his hand.

"The Prime Minister should have made a decision..."

"No matter what the Prime Minister decides, I should just go with the flow..."

"Come here, prepare your car. I want to enter the palace to meet the king!" Yuan Ang ordered.

For Yuan An, no matter what Zhou Yafu's reaction was, what was the emperor's attitude?

It doesn't matter.

He just needs to follow the rhythm of the court.

If the emperor wants to enshrine him, he will immediately encourage Liu Yan to write a letter and sing praises. On the contrary, he will righteously refute those cowards who try to interfere with the emperor and waste money and people!

No matter what result Zhou Yafu got after meeting the emperor.

Yuan Ang will take the next step based on this result.

Just like back then, when he was trying to overthrow Zhou Bo, he fished in troubled waters and followed Taizong's rhythm.

He is the one who plays the bad side, and he is also the one who plays the bad side.
To be continued...