He slept too late the day before and was still tired from the journey. However, Zhao Junchen, as the Minister of Household Affairs and a third-rank official in the imperial court, still had to get up early the next day and take advantage of the dark night to go to the morning court.
On the way to the Meridian Gate, Zhao Junchen was sitting in a sedan chair. He yawned constantly along the way and felt only pain in his waist and back, and was unbearably sleepy.
Looking at the dim sky outside the sedan, someone still needed to hold a lamp in front of the sedan to see the road clearly, Zhao Junchen frowned and asked outside the sedan: "Qingyan, what time is it now?"
"Go back to the young master, it's half past the Yin hour now, there's still time, don't worry, we can get to the Meridian Gate before the Yin hour."
Xu Qingyan's voice was also full of sleepiness and exhaustion.
Yin Shi, that is, from three to five o'clock in the morning, in late autumn, is when the night and cold are the heaviest.
Thinking that he had only slept for two hours, Zhao Junchen couldn't help but shook his head and sighed, with a look of helplessness on his face.
If there is one thing that Zhao Junchen is most dissatisfied with after coming to this era, it is probably the early dynasty system.
According to the rules established by Zhu Yuanzhang, the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, during the morning court, ministers need to get up at Chou hour (one o'clock in the morning) to prepare, walk through half of the capital, and arrive at the Meridian Gate before Yin hour (three o'clock in the morning) to wait. At Yin hour, the Meridian Gate Tower knocks
Drum, the ministers began to line up, and then after an hour of long waiting, until 5 o'clock in the morning, the bell rang, the Meridian Gate opened, the ministers lined up to enter the palace, and lined up in front of the Gate of Taihe, and then,
After waiting for about a stick of incense, the emperor will arrive at the Hall of Supreme Harmony, and the morning court will begin.
The most unacceptable thing is that after arriving at the Meridian Gate, the ministers were not allowed to even yawn, otherwise they would be recorded by the censor in charge of the inspection and left to be dealt with by the officials, not to mention being late.
It can be seen that the entire morning court, from getting ready at Chou hour to starting at Mao hour, is the time when human body functions are most sleepy in the day, and most of the time is wasted in waiting and forming the team, and the efficiency can be said to be extremely low.
Zhao Junchen really didn't understand what Zhu Yuanzhang, the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, was thinking when he formulated these rules, but he had no choice but to follow the rules set by his ancestors unconditionally.
However, during the reign of Emperor Deqing, the administration of officials was relaxed, and the supervision of the morning court also began to gradually relax. Those high-ranking ministers in the court, as long as they arrived at the Meridian Gate before the Meridian Gate opened at Mao Shi, no one would say anything.
The censor responsible for picketing did not dare to put these ministers on record. Secondly, even if they dared to put them on record, after they were handed over to the Ministry of Personnel, the Ministry of Personnel would not dare to punish them severely, and most of them just muddle along.
Zhao Junchen is now the Minister of Household Affairs and is also in charge of the internal treasury. He is a member of the Holy Family and is in a high position. Therefore, while ordinary ministers are suffering in pain in front of the Meridian Gate, Zhao Junchen can still rush towards the Meridian Gate slowly.
Go, no one will say anything because of this, including Emperor Deqing.
However, despite this, Zhao Junchen was still dissatisfied. In his opinion, even if he got up at Yinshi and had a court meeting at Maoshi, it was still too early. During this time, people's heads were groggy, so how could they handle the court affairs well?
However, Zhao Junchen can only complain about this. This kind of thing is not something Zhao Junchen can change at all.
………
Amid Zhao Junchen's helplessness and complaints, he hurriedly hurried and slowly arrived at the Meridian Gate before Mao o'clock.
When he got off the sedan, Zhao Junchen was surprised to find that compared with other important officials in the court, he had arrived relatively early.
At this time, many ministers from the court had gathered outside the Meridian Gate, but most of them were below the second rank, either without power or with no holy family members. The inspectors and censors were never merciful towards these people.
They don't dare to be late.
"What a loss, I should sleep a little longer..."
Seeing the scene in front of the Meridian Gate, Zhao Junchen complained to Xu Qingyan next to him.
Xu Qingyan nodded in agreement.
Seeing Xu Qingyan's exhausted look, and thinking of riding in a sedan on his way to the Meridian Gate while Xu Qingyan used his legs, Zhao Junchen couldn't help but feel a little soft-hearted and said: "Qingyan, it's still early before the next court, and you don't need to be here.
Just wait, sit in the sedan chair and relax for a while."
Xu Qingyan was not polite and got into the sedan directly.
Seeing Xu Qingyan like this, Zhao Junchen shook his head helplessly, turned around and walked towards the Meridian Gate.
When passing by the Inspector Censor, Zhao Junchen yawned loudly, not intentionally, but he couldn't help it.
The inspector and censor didn't seem to see it. He didn't move the notebook in his hand at all. Instead, he smiled flatteringly at Zhao Junchen and bowed.
"Thanks for your hard work."
Zhao Junchen also nodded to the inspector censor and said softly.
Then, ignoring the stunned expression of the inspector and censor, Zhao Junchen moved forward and walked towards the gathering place of the courtiers.
After seeing Zhao Junchen appear, the courtiers were afraid of Zhao Junchen's power and holy family, so they bowed to Zhao Junchen and said hello.
For a while, the voices of "I've seen Mr. Zhao" came one after another.
However, although these officials greeted Zhao Junchen and showed their kindness, they were just doing it to save face. With Zhao Junchen's original arrogant and domineering character, no matter how attentive they were, it was enough for Zhao Junchen to nod to them.
It's very respectable.
However, to their surprise, Zhao Junchen was uncharacteristically different today. When faced with their greetings and overtures, he returned the greetings with a smile on his face, and said: "My lords, you are so early. Junchen is late."
Sorry, I haven’t seen you for two months, how are you doing these days?"
Just like the previous inspector and censor, everyone was shocked to see Zhao Junchen so approachable.
After a while, these people all reacted one after another, either with surprise or joy, but their expressions were all the same. They gathered in front of Zhao Junchen one after another, rushing to reply. For a while, the solemn noon
In front of the door, it became chaotic.
"Oh, Mr. Zhao, you have returned from your inspection of Lu'an Mansion? I didn't know this, otherwise I should have gone to visit Mr. Zhao."
"I've met Minister Zhao. Minister Zhao has been working hard all the way."
"Oh, we have heard about what Mr. Zhao did in Lu'an Mansion this time. Under the supervision of Mr. Zhao, the locust plague in Lu'an was solved so quickly and quickly, which is another great achievement. After His Majesty learned about it,
I'm afraid I'll have to call you Shangshu Zhao in the future."
Although they don’t know why Zhao Junchen is out of character, it is rare for Zhao Junchen to be so approachable, which is a great opportunity for them to get closer to Zhao Junchen.
Zhao Junchen is in charge of the world's money and food, and he is favored by the Holy Spirit. Being able to have a good relationship with him will bring many benefits, needless to say.
After seeing the reactions of all the ministers, Zhao Junchen was also secretly happy.
As Zhao Junchen had guessed before, with his current position of power, it would have been easy for him to recruit party members in the court and form his own faction. However, the original Zhao Junchen was unwilling to share interests with others and had a domineering temper.
In addition to having to win over some ministers and ministers of the household department, the relationship with other court officials became increasingly cold. As a result, there were political enemies everywhere in the court, and there were countless people who were jealous and resentful of him.
However, as long as Zhao Junchen is willing to share the benefits, the officials who were originally jealous and resentful of him will immediately gather around him automatically, and his political enemies in the DPRK and China will not mind turning enemies into friends with him.
In a certain respect, problems arising from interests are both the most difficult and the best to solve.
Isn't this? Zhao Junchen just showed a slight kindness, and many ministers in the DPRK and China were already eager to get closer to Zhao Junchen.
………
Surrounded by a crowd of courtiers, Zhao Junchen politely accepted everyone's compliments and flattery while raising his eyes to look around.
Then, he saw that the prince's party had already gathered, and they were surrounding the prince Zhu and Yu. They were all discussing something with each other with serious faces. When he saw Zhao Junchen's appearance, he was surprised by Zhao Junchen's unusual performance.
Yu, all of them showed disdain and disdain on their faces, especially the prince Zhu Heyu. Looking at Zhao Junchen who looked like stars over the moon, his face turned dark.
However, Zhao Junchen knew that the most abiding by the rules of the morning court in the whole court today were probably the Crown Prince Zhu Heyu and his party. Over the years, they had always arrived at the Meridian Gate on time to wait for the start of the morning court.
However, except for the prince and his party, there were very few important ministers in the court outside the Meridian Gate at this time, and only Zhou Shangjing, the chief minister of the cabinet, remained.
At this time, Zhou Shangjing was also surrounded by courtiers, but they were much quieter.
The courtiers gathered around Zhou Shangjing, regardless of power or status, were higher and more important than those gathered around Zhao Junchen.
In fact, most of the court officials gathered around Zhao Junchen were not even qualified to speak in court.
If the prince's party obeyed the rules of the morning court because they behaved themselves, then it was because of his cautious style that Zhou Shangjing was able to wait outside the Meridian Gate so early.
In fact, until three years ago, Zhou Shangjing, like the prince and his party, came to wait outside the Meridian Gate at Yin time every day. It was only in recent years that he got older, so he postponed the time. However, compared with other important officials in the imperial court, he also waited outside the Meridian Gate.
You have to arrive much earlier.
Seeing Zhao Junchen looking towards his position, Zhou Shangjing's old face also changed into a smile. After nodding to Zhao Junchen, he said something to the ministers around him, and then he was alone.
Walking straight towards Zhao Junchen.
After seeing Zhou Shangjing arrive, all the officials around Zhao Junchen became quiet and bowed to Zhou Shangjing, looking much more respectful than when they treated Zhao Junchen before.
But Zhou Shangjing ignored them, just walked up to Zhao Junchen and said with a smile: "Young Minister Zhao has had a hard time on his trip to Lu'an Mansion. I wonder if you can talk to me alone?"