In the evening, in the teahouse next to the inn, Chao Qing and the other three were drinking and eating while exchanging various information.
Chao Qing picked up the wine glass and said to his two friends: "I did not agree to Deputy Shen's order. To be honest, I am not interested in settling accounts, but I did not refuse. I just said that I would consider it."
Su Ce smiled and said: "The Du Branch Office has great power. It controls financial power. All the states and counties will come to beg you. I like this feeling. I think it's pretty good. Why doesn't the Du Branch Office come to me?"
Zhong Huan smiled again and asked: "You have been chatting for so long, what did Deputy Shen say to you?"
"Deputy Secretary Shen is very straightforward and let me know many secrets that I didn't understand before."
"Tell me about it!" Gossip is also a man's nature. Zhong Huan and Su Ce both joined in.
"I just learned today that Sichuan and Shaanxi are actually a separate power, but in name they are still a territory of the imperial court."
Su Ce shook his head, "This is not a secret. We can all see that there is no reason for each branch of the imperial court to hold the imperial examination independently? Tell me something interesting."
Chao Qing thought for a while and said: "Jiang Yanxian and Zhang Xiao are nominally the Changshi and Sima, but in fact they are the left and right prime ministers. Jiang Yanxian is in charge of the Zhongshu and the Ministry of Personnel, Zhang Xiao is in charge of the Ministry of War and the Privy Council, and Zhou Kuan is in charge of the Household Department and Duzhi. Zhang Miao was in charge of the Ministry of Justice and Supervision, and the four of them, together with Governor Chen Xuan, formed the highest authority in Sichuan and Shaanxi."
Zhong Huan frowned and said, "That's not right! We still need the third department, the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Works, and there should also be a judge responsible for auditing."
Chao Qing smiled and said: "After all, it is not a real imperial court, so it is impossible to connect them one by one."
At this time, a man next to him came over and said with a smile: "Actually, every state is connected with the imperial court. Aren't Changshi and Sima connected with the left and right prime ministers? The six Cao Cao are responsible for the six ministries, don't you think so?"
Chao Qing and the others were shocked. Their voices were so low that someone could actually hear them.
Zhong Huan had long discovered that this man was observing them secretly. He could hear it from such a distance. He must be a highly skilled martial artist. He held the hilt of his sword and said, "Excuse me, who are you?"
The man smiled and said: "Brother Zhong, don't be angry. I am Wang Hao, the commander of the inner guard. Our inner guard is short of a clerk to join the army. It is the eighth grade official who is the clerk. Brother Zhong, would you like to talk to me?"
Zhong Huan was stunned. Didn't he say that only the top ten were competed for? He was only the thirty-seventh one!
Chao Qing and Su Ce quickly laughed and said, "Then let's go away!"
"No need to go away! You two brothers will listen together and make up your mind for your good friends."
Wang Hao's boldness immediately made the three of them like him. Zhong Huan smiled and asked, "What exactly does the inner guard do?"
Wang Hao said with a smile: "Everyone has a misunderstanding about the internal guards. They think that the internal guards are surveillance officials who carry out assassinations and other things. In fact, they are not. I don't know if they will be in the future, but not now. We have established a supervision department. , supervising officials and arresting corrupt officials, but it has nothing to do with internal security, which currently has three responsibilities."
Chao Qing quickly asked the shopkeeper to bring two more bottles of wine and a few more dishes.
Wang Hao nodded and continued: "The first duty is to find and capture the spies planted by the enemy on our side. This is the most important task. It has been going on for the past few years. There is still a big case for us. Worried.
The second duty is to protect high-ranking officials and their families. This is very necessary. The Xixia court especially likes assassinations. They have a black brocade hall that specializes in assassinating the leaders of various tribes. They also attacked our fire oil depot in Ganquan Fort. , To be honest, I am also very worried that they will definitely attack the Xuanfu Envoy, so we protect the Xuanfu Envoy very closely.
The third duty is newly added, mainly to detect illicit salt, illicit wine, illicit copper coins and counterfeit silver."
Zhong Huan's eyes flashed and he asked: "If I go to the inner guard, what will be my responsibilities?"
Chao Qing and Su Ce looked at each other, and they both saw that Zhong Huan was tempted. Indeed, Zhong Huan liked investigating cases, and the role of an internal security officer seemed to suit his taste.
Wang Hao smiled and said: "Within the three responsibilities of the internal guard, there are three departments. Each department has intelligence to join the army. It compiles and reports information from all sources. The duty of recording and joining the army is to find valuable information from the intelligence of the three departments.
, there is already one recorder joining the army, but we need one more."
Gu Xin
Zhong Huan was a little disappointed, "Is he just a civilian and not involved in solving the case?"
Wang Hao smiled slightly and said: "There are two people who join the army to record affairs. One is responsible for internal work, which is specialized in organizing documents and the like, and the other is responsible for field work. Field work is actually to participate in solving cases. Let me give you an example and you will understand.
For example, three months ago we discovered that the Jin Kingdom had an intelligence network in Chang'an. We started investigating and found an important clue. A shop selling furs had major suspicions. I reported the matter to the Xuanfu Envoy, who then
Decide whether to arrest or not.
The Xuanfu Envoy said that we could arrest him, but after we arrested him, we found that we had arrested him wrongly and that the information was wrong. This was too passive and might have caused the Jin State spies to become wary. I still can’t explain it to the Xuanfu Envoy.
Only then did I realize that we need a system to review and confirm important information. When you get the evidence, you join the army as a field recorder, and you have to designate another team to review, and at the same time you have to participate in the follow-up. This is
The reason why Ambassador Xuan recommended you to me."
Zhong Huan scratched his head and realized that it was the Xuanfu envoy who recommended him to the inner guard.
He asked in confusion: "There are so many Jinshi, why did the Xuanfu envoy recommend me to Commander Wang?"
"We need a recorder with both civil and military skills to join the army, so Ambassador Xuanfu recommended you to me."
Having said this, Wang Hao said expectantly: "How about it, will Brother Zhong be willing to come to the inner defense?"
Zhong Huan pondered for a while and said: "I think Xuanfu also knows that I am a son of the Zhong family. My father wants me to go to the battlefield. I also know that my ability is not enough. I can go to the inner guard for a year or two to train myself.
But you can't expect me to stay on the inside."
Wang Hao nodded, "You don't have to worry about this. The internal security positions are changing very quickly. All the old subordinates have been transferred. You will first help me establish this review and confirmation system, and then let it operate normally. This will almost make it happen."
If you want to leave in one or two years, I won’t stop you!"
Early the next morning, as soon as Chen Qing arrived at the official office, Zhou Kuan, the commander-in-chief of Du Branch Office, came angrily.
"Xuanfu Envoy, you are so uninteresting. You can't drain the fire like this. I can't explain it to my subordinates!"
Chen Qing quickly comforted him and said: "Don't be angry! Sit down and talk slowly, what happened?"
"The third one is Chao Qing. Our branch office tried hard to convince him, but I just learned that his resume was gone. When I asked, I found out that it had been taken away by the Xuanfu envoy. Why, the Xuanfu envoy wanted to poach us?
The corner of the branch office?"
"I'm not trying to rob you, let alone poach you. I've already taken a liking to Chao Qing. After the exam, I sent someone to investigate his character. You should be the one who took this away.
You should come and apologize to me!"
Zhou Kuan blinked, "He is Chao Buzhi's grandson, does Xuan Fuzhi also know him?"
"More than just acquaintance, Chao Buzhi is my wife's grandfather, and Chao Qing is my wife's cousin. Since he is a relative of mine, and it is rare for him to be so good at both character and learning, I certainly want to train him."
Zhou Kuan was stunned after hearing this. After a while, he moved his lips and let out a long sigh, "He is your relative, so forget it. I can give him to you, but the Xuanfu Emperor will compensate me!"
Chen Qing pointed at him and said with a smile: "So the foreshadowing is here?"
Zhou Kuan chuckled and said, "How can I win over the Xuanfu envoy? Since I can't win, I must be compensated, right? I don't ask too much. Give me two more Jinshi places."
Chen Qing shook his head like a rattle, "Your branch office has already obtained five places, and the dozen or so offices in the Third Division are still waiting eagerly! It's impossible to add more places to you."
"Then add one more person. In fact, we only have one person missing."
Chen Qing said bitterly: "We agreed that we will only add one more place."
He took out a piece of paper, wrote a warrant, and signed and sealed it.
Zhou Kuan took the order with a smile and exchanged Chao Qing for an additional quota. This deal was very cost-effective no matter what.