In the Great Dynasty, on the occasion of the new moon of each month, all officials of fifth rank and above in the entire city were required to participate, and the position that Li Chongrun currently held concurrently as the chief minister of Dali Temple happened to be of fifth rank.
It was stipulated in the Tang Dynasty that the Prime Minister of Dali Temple was in charge of the review of judicial cases in various central departments and local states. Although Li Chongrun only went to Dali Temple Minister Di Renjie yesterday to have his orders, he was already qualified to participate in the imperial court.
On the Tianjin Bridge, the civil and military officials, accompanied by palace attendants holding lanterns, rushed towards the bright hall like a fiery dragon.
It was Li Chongrun's first time to participate in this kind of official court political activity. Although the officials did not recognize him, they naturally recognized the identity of the young man in purple robe seeing the way he followed Shangguan Wan'er step by step.
Several officials who were acquainted with Guan Wan'er eagerly came to greet her. Most of them were poet ministers with quite a reputation for poetry in the court.
After exchanging a few words with those ministers, Li Chongrun asked Shangguan Wan'er curiously: "Auntie, why are the ministers in the court vaguely divided into three groups and walking forward?"
"Look at the column on the left. They are dominated by officials from the Qiu Guan Punishment Department, Dong Guan Works Department, and Tian Guan Li Department. The leader is Tian Guan Shilang and Prime Minister Liang Wangwu Sansi."
Shangguan Wan'er pointed to the queue of officials on the left. Although there were many officials in King Liang's team headed by purple-robed nobles with big bellies, the one at the head was the slightly thin Prime Minister.
"The column on the right is dominated by the Official Household Department, the Spring Official Rites Department, and the Xia Official Military Department. Headed by are the Xia Official Assistant Minister and Prime Minister Wang Xiaojie, General Wang."
"Auntie, why are there two prime ministers?" Li Chongrun was a little surprised when he heard that Wang Xiaojie also had the title of prime minister.
"What's so strange about this? Although there are slightly more prime ministers in this dynasty than in the previous dynasty, with as many as 12 people, this is a practice that has been in place since the Taizong period. It is mainly to prevent aristocratic families from controlling the government and evading the imperial power.
That’s why there are so many prime ministers.”
Shangguan Wan'er said with a bit of complacency: "After my aunt became secretary and superintendent Shi, she was also the prime minister."
"Auntie is mighty!" Li Chongrun flattered Shangguan Wan'er sincerely: "Then what is the background of our group?"
In the column where Shangguan Wan'er and Li Chongrun were, the leader was Li Chongrun's current boss, Di Renjie, the Minister of Dali Temple.
"Our group is different from General Wang and others who mostly come from famous families. We are all scholars from poor families and miscellaneous officials who have worked hard to climb up through the imperial examination, such as those from Dali Temple, those from the secretaries of my aunt's side, and those from Taichang Temple.
Yes, most of the people in Qintianjian Yushitai are from this background."
Shangguan Wan'er pointed at the adults in the queue and explained to Li Chongrun: "Although Master Di is not from a poor family and has not been a prime minister recently, Master Di is a Jinshi and is famous for his ability, so it is vague.
The leader of a poor family."
Li Chongrun simply sorted out the relationship between the characters explained by Shangguan Wan'er. Basically, they were one group of relatives, another group of aristocratic families, and another group of poor scholars.
The clan sect of the foreign relatives has the fewest people, but most of them are rich and valuable, and the number of third-grade officials in purple robes is also the largest.
Although the aristocratic family does not have many purple robes, it is valuable because of its large number of people. There are a long row of red robes, and the leader Wang Xiaojie has an arrogant and domineering expression.
The poor family had the smallest number of people and the lowest grade. The team was sparse, ranging from old men to children and women. It didn't look like they were going to court, but rather like they were visiting a temple fair.
The official street drums were beating louder and louder. When the officials saw that the time was coming, they slightly quickened their pace.
Several young officials shuttled back and forth among the crowd, quietly arranging government affairs for today's morning meeting.
They were all about the imperial government's budget, the border troubles in the north, and so on. Li Chongrun didn't have any idea when he heard it, but suddenly something related to him.
As usual, Di Renjie had to submit a report to the emperor for the tomb of Empress Chen discovered yesterday. Although he had already submitted the note yesterday, the regulations and budget still required the approval of other prime ministers.
The beating of drums in the official street stopped, and everyone was already standing in the hall. Li Chongrun naturally stood behind his immediate boss, Di Renjie, as usual.
Last night, the golden needle pierced the peach blossom stamen twice, and Li Chongrun felt a little weak.
In addition, today's court meeting had nothing to do with him being a small Dali Temple minister, so he felt at ease and hid behind Di Renjie's huge figure and dozed off.
"What does Huaiying think of this matter?"
Suddenly hearing the emperor's voice coming towards him, Li Chongrun didn't dare to hide in such an upright manner, so he pricked up his ears and listened carefully.
"Yangzhou has always been prosperous, and the governor Wei Anshi is a capable official. Logically, there should not be such chaos. Dali Temple checked 18,000 cases across the country last year, and although there were more cases in Yangzhou, no unjust, false or wrongful cases were found."
"I'm asking you what to do, not listening to your merits."
Wu Zetian's voice was a little impatient: "It turns out that a total of five hundred people need to be exiled in one year. According to his method, Yangzhou will become an empty state in a few years!"
"The Senate can investigate this matter." Your Majesty has your orders, so naturally some people will jump out to take credit, such as Qiuguan Shilang Lai Junchen.
There were also several officials with rich family backgrounds who were not willing to have their limelight stolen by King Liang, and they also came to seek this job one after another.
Wu Zetian looked as usual, but continued to look in the direction of Di Renjie, her eyes firm.
After so many years of ups and downs in the court, Di Renjie naturally understood what His Majesty was planning.
Just when he was about to leave to report, he heard Shangguan Wan'er's voice coming from the imperial steps.
"I recommend the King of Linzi and Li Chongrun, the Prime Minister of Dali Temple, to investigate the exile of five hundred people in Yangzhou."
The three forces all expressed their acceptance, and no other officials jumped out to take credit. The group of humble scholars even indirectly expressed their welcome.
"Oh, Wan'er really doesn't shy away from relatives when doing good things." Wu Zetian seemed to be very satisfied with the answer and answered quickly. "I'm right. Then boy, don't think I didn't see you dozing off secretly and let you go.
Yangzhou, do you have any opinions?"
Li Chongrun had just married a young daughter-in-law, so naturally he did not dare to compete with the emperor who liked to reset family trees, so he could only agree with a wry smile.
The content of the following court meeting became more and more boring. Only when the minister of the Ministry of Industry took over the task of rebuilding Empress Chen's tomb, Li Chongrun regained his energy and listened for a while.
Empress Chen's new tomb was arranged at the foot of Mang Mountain, and a lot of money and silk were given out. Although it was just a treatment like a county king, it was much better than stealing other people's tombs now.
The court lasted until lunch. Li Chongrun didn't have time to eat in the morning, but he didn't have many needs. He just thought that he would have to experience this kind of activity again in the future, and he vaguely felt that he still wanted to invent an adult diaper.
It's better to come out.
"Auntie, why are there so many people grabbing this job assigned by His Majesty today?"
Li Chongrun had to report to Dali Temple later, so he took advantage of the opportunity to go out and follow Aunt Guan to find out more.
"Let's talk about it when we get back. It's a good thing anyway."