On the way back from the Princess's Mansion, Shang Bo, who was staying at the Longyou Governor's Mansion, always had a smile on his face.
Although Princess Yanguang repeatedly expressed concern about the situation in the court, Shang Bo finally began to comfort the princess, but Shang Bo knew that An Qingxu's counterattack would not last long.
Guo Ziyi and Zhang Xun were good generals at the time. The defense line they established in Luoyang was very strong, and the Tang Empire was transporting supplies to Luoyang through water transport. As long as the confrontation continued for a long time, An Qingxu, who was already short of supplies, would inevitably be unable to survive.
By that time, An Qingxu and Hedong would turn against each other.
Shang Bo is more concerned about the situation in the court. Now that the world is in turmoil, as long as the court is stabilized, the Tang Dynasty will not lose.
The northern roundabout strategy has entered a state of confrontation. Shang Bo naturally hopes that Datang can last longer on the frontal battlefield and buy Pinglu more time.
Returning to the backyard, Shang Bo reported the situation at the Princess Mansion, and Zhang Leyan and Zhou Shi came to report on the recent developments of the players in Chang'an.
Zhou Shi took a statistical report and said to Shang Bo excitedly: "President, our permanent players in Chang'an have reached 1,500! Now the growth of the number of players in Chang'an has exceeded that of Longyou.
It has become the most desired upgrade location for players!"
Shang Bo also had a smile on his face. With the increase in the number of players, it also means that the strength that Zuiyingyin can control has further increased. The power of these players when mobilized is not small.
However, Shang Bo also knows that the proportion of these players as military and general players is not high. Most of them are businessmen and officials, and they cannot be fully counted as combat effectiveness.
Zhang Leyan said: "President, Longyou's trade volume with Chang'an has increased again this month. Although some imitations have appeared, our share in cotton and wool textiles, alcohol, and new daily necessities is still rising. New daily necessities
The industry has even occupied a monopoly position."
New daily necessities include matches, soap and other new daily necessities industries. Nowadays, the people in Chang'an have become accustomed to using convenient matches to make fires, instead of using inconvenient fire-making tools such as flints.
Similarly, soaps that are scented and easier to clean have replaced ancient cleaning products such as saponins and become a new demand for thousands of households.
More player merchants began to go to Chang'an, bringing new products from Longyou to Chang'an. Now there are merchants who specialize in selling Longyou goods in the East and West Markets and the markets within each village.
Zhang Leyan continued: "The largest proportion of players are naturally businessmen. In addition, many of our players are officials in Jingzhao Mansion and Wannian County. The number of official players in Chang'an is also growing rapidly!"
The growth in the number of official players means that players are infiltrating the Chang'an government. Once a system enters a player official, more players will soon enter the government.
For example, after Cui Guangyuan joined the Political Affairs Hall from Jingzhao Yin as prime minister, he recommended Shan Tao, the street patrol envoy, to Dali Temple.
Dali Temple is one of the Three Law Divisions, the highest criminal unit in the Tang Dynasty. Shan Tao, who was originally a street patrol officer, was only a low-ranking official, but this time he was actually given an official position because of Cui Guangyuan's recommendation and became a seventh-rank Dali Temple
Si Zhi.
Si Zhi of Dali Temple is one of the detailed judges in Dali Temple who has the power to adjudicate cases. Although his rank is not high, he can handle cases both large and small in Dali Temple. He is also sent to local areas to handle difficult and unsolved cases. He is the core position of power in Dali Temple.
After Shan Tao entered Dali Temple, he quickly submitted a list to Shangfeng and transferred his former "subordinates" to Dali Temple as officials.
Si Zhi of Dali Temple was originally a detailed judge who handled cases independently. His request to form his own team was naturally approved by his superiors, so another group of players entered Dali Temple as officials.
Players joke that when you find that there is one player in a yamen, then there are many players in this yamen.
The current level of players is not high, and they are basically minor officials. However, through infiltration into various ministries and yamen, the intelligence network left behind by the Governor's Mansion has become more informed.
Nowadays, Shang Bo doesn't even need to go through the princess's mansion to know the news in the palace.
Zhang Leyan brought another report and said: "This month, five more players have entered the palace. Thanks to Eunuch Mu Rong's care, they have been assigned to good departments and have now established a firm foothold in the palace."
Having said this, Zhang Leyan bared his teeth and took a breath of cold air. These players are really ruthless!
Although it is possible to block pain in the game, not all players can bear the burden of becoming a slave in the palace.
But with the support of Mu Rong, a role model, countless ordinary players saw the hope of entering the palace.
After receiving the secret assistance of Gao Lishi, Mu Rong's life in the palace went smoothly. After working as a messenger eunuch delivering imperial edicts for a period of time, Mu Rong's father-in-law once again won the favor of the eunuch in charge because of his prudent work and quick hands.
, he was assigned to the imperial study room to sort out memorials, which was obviously another major promotion.
The imperial study room was the place where the emperor corrected memorials and was also the core of the inner court of the Tang Dynasty.
The task of sorting out the memorials is to sort out the memorials sent by the eunuchs from various ministries and yamen, sort them and submit them to the emperor. Then, after the emperor has given instructions, they will be handed over to the eunuchs and sent to each yamen.
In this position, Mu Rong had access to all memorials while on duty, and this job was close to the emperor, which was the starting point of the careers of countless eunuchs.
Some young father-in-laws who have just entered the palace do not understand why the work of compiling memorials can be so important.
The key point is naturally the order. When sending memorials to the emperor every day, Mu Rong would observe the emperor's mental state.
If the emperor is in a good mood, there is a high probability that the memorial sent at this time will be approved. Even some bad news will make the emperor cheer up and find a solution. At this time, the memorial is more likely to be approved.
However, as the emperor's working hours became longer and he saw more and more bad news, the memorials sent later would often annoy the emperor.
At this time, at best, you will be sent back to rewrite, or at worst, you will be reprimanded by Emperor Zhu Pi.
In addition, memorials asking for money are often easily approved when the emperor is in a good mood. Putting a bunch of memorials asking for money together will make the emperor more irritable. The later memorials are, the less likely they are to be approved by the emperor.
After mastering this secret, Eunuch Mu also enjoyed the benefits of becoming a "power eunuch".
For example, if the player himself submits a memorial, Eunuch Mu will take advantage of the emperor's good mood to submit it.
As for the enemies of the Yue King, Eunuch Mu was not polite and would deliberately send them to the Emperor every time when he was in a bad mood.
For example, King Qi's mad dog-like memorials, Eunuch Mu would send them to him at a time when the emperor was most impatient, and each time he would make the emperor furious.
Relying on this "new skill", Eunuch Mu's experience value increased rapidly again, and the speed at which his rocket class was upgraded also attracted more players to enter the palace.
Naturally, Eunuch Mu was not stingy about taking care of these little brothers who entered the palace. He also greeted the eunuchs below and assigned these players to key departments.
Sure enough, there is someone in the court who is easy to be a eunuch! Compared with the detours he took, these new players in the palace are much more comfortable!
Except for occasionally delivering some information about the emperor to Gao Lishi, Eunuch Mu lived a comfortable life during this period, and some eunuchs began to fawn over him. This kind of life made him very satisfied.
Shang Bo looked at the report with satisfaction. In addition to the big aspects mentioned above, there are also various players infiltrating into all aspects of Chang'an.
For example, Sun Mingcai wrote "Three-Year Simulation of the Fifth Imperial Examination". After this undergraduate examination teaching aid became an instant hit, Sun Mingcai collected the essence of later teaching aids and once again launched "Tie Jing Bai Lian" and "Tie Jing Bai Lian".
"Compilation of Excellent Policy Articles" are two heavyweight textbooks.
After these two books were released, paper became extremely expensive in Chang'an, and even pirated copies were hard to find.
Those scholars who stayed in Chang'an to study for the imperial examination, and parents whose children wanted to take the imperial examination, were waiting at the bookstore for this set of books.
Although some officials from the Imperial College said sourly that Sun Mingcai's teaching aid was an insult to the imperial examination, and that it encouraged candidates to take shortcuts instead of seriously studying Confucian classics.
However, compared to blindly reading Confucian classics, teaching aids with explanations and analysis can make it easier to take exams. The sales of teaching aids exceed textbooks, which is also normal in later generations.
Sun Mingcai's reputation has become so great that his status in the hearts of the candidates is no less than that of the great Confucians of the time. After all, reading the books of the great Confucians of the time will not make you pass the imperial examination. If you study Sun Mingcai's papers carefully, you are very likely to pass the exam.
Now that Sun Mingcai has become famous in Chang'an, the officials can no longer sit still.
When the Ministry of Civil Affairs was selecting officials, because Sun Mingcai refused to give gifts, he was assigned several inferior positions. Therefore, Sun Mingcai was angry and gave up being an official, and devoted himself to the career of teaching and assisting in the imperial examination.
But now that Sun Mingcai has become a great scholar in the world, countless dignitaries are begging for his books for their children. Naturally, some people ask why such a person passed the Mingjing examination but failed to be awarded an official.
Officials from the Ministry of Personnel had no choice but to come to the door and beg Sun Mingcai to become an official, but Sun Mingcai was unwilling!
How much is the annual salary of an eighth-rank or ninth-rank official? How much fun is it to publish a book as an official? The market for imperial examination guidance books is a blue ocean, and there are many opportunities to make a fortune!
But there is nothing that can be done about the selection of civil servants. If Sun Mingcai continues to be so popular, then the civil servants will become the target of public criticism among scholars. If such talents are not awarded official positions, your civil servants are too dark.
Finally, the Minister of Civil Affairs personally came forward and granted Sun Mingcai the position of School Secretary, allowing him to serve in the Ministry of Rites and be responsible for the collection of books in the School of Rites.
This job did not require going to the Yamen every day, and it would not affect Sun Mingcai's book writing career. Sun Mingcai reluctantly accepted it.