"Chen Xinshu, I have read all your records in the Ministry of Civil Affairs. As you said yourself, you once entered the officialdom with passion, but you failed to stick to this belief. On the contrary, you finally chose to work with
It makes me sad that the darkness of the officialdom is colluding with others. Chen Xinshu, please think about it, did you sleep soundly then or now?"
Chen Xinshu didn’t know why I asked this question, so he thought for a while and said: “Your Majesty, when I first became an official, I could basically fall asleep by turning my head down, but now I have to toss and turn before I can fall asleep, and my sleeping condition is not as good as before.
.”
I stared at Chen Xinshu with my eyes like a torch: "Everyone has two sides, good and evil. The so-called good and evil are all in the same mind. Chen Xinshu, when you first became an official, although you were blocked, you had an upright heart. That heart can release
Out of goodwill, you protect your subconscious mind and keep your spirit smooth. But now, although your experience in the officialdom has become very rich, it can be said that the officialdom
You know all the roads and byways of the market, but your heart is no longer right. What it releases is basically evil, and it can no longer protect your inner peace. You may be sleeping repeatedly because you think it is because you have too many things to do, but in fact it is.
Your subconscious mind is already full of evil. This evil makes you no longer open-minded, and sooner or later it will swallow you up."
"Your Majesty, this, this..."
Chen Xinshu felt a little stunned. Although he roughly understood what I meant, what I said seemed too mysterious. He did not dare to refute my remarks, and he could not refute. Which official does not have a righteous appearance? No one will associate evil with himself.
Together. In the officialdom, even evil people will advertise themselves as honest officials who are loyal to the emperor, patriotic, and love the people like sons.
I didn't care whether Chen Xinshu understood or not, so I continued: "Chen Xinshu, aren't you willing to be a good official whose name will be passed down to future generations?"
"I, I am willing." Chen Xinshu was full of thoughts and seemed to have the passion of his youth again.
"Okay, please sit down too." I pointed to the seat next to Ye Mengding and said, "What is the official way? The official way is the connection between the court and the people. The late emperor was gentle in nature, advocated Neo-Confucianism, and wanted to
Rule the country by doing nothing, but you are surrounded by traitors and sycophants
Surrounding and deceiving the superiors and concealing the inferiors, the imperial framework was corrupted and the source of the pipeline was completely polluted. As a result, the upstream and downstream imitated, and local officials such as you also followed the trend, making the entire pipeline turbid. I have some experience, in this kind of situation
turbid
In the pipes, it is difficult for clean water to flow. As a result, the officials in our court only know how to make profits for themselves. If the officials behave like this, the people no longer have a sense of trust in the government agencies, and they also follow suit. Ultimately, our government does not care about the people, and the officials do not care about the people.
official bureau
Face, so now the national strength of our dynasty has begun to decline day by day. If this continues, the country will not be a country, and sooner or later it will be defeated by the Mongols. Do you want to be a slave to the subjugation of the country, or do you want to sell yourself to join the bandits? Alas, is this situation for you?
Do you want to see it?"
After Chen Xinshu sat down, he carefully replied: "Of course I don't want to."
"From the perspective of human nature, as ordinary Han people, the vast majority of them are not willing to be slaves to the subjugation of the country, and as officials, the vast majority of them are also unwilling to leave a lasting infamy."
Ye Mengding nodded and agreed: "What your Majesty said makes sense."
"So, I still believe that people in the Song Dynasty can distinguish right from wrong. This includes you, Chen Xinshu, and most of the officials on Fujian Road. And what I have to do is to completely remove the pollution from the source. I will not use this method.
There is no way to govern the country without doing anything, I
We will perfect the law and use the law to clear away pollution. As for you, you need to rely on the law to keep the channels open. Whenever there is pollution, you must destroy it immediately. In this way, you and I, the king and the ministers, will be of one mind and we will be able to return our dynasty.
A bright and sunny day. Ye Aiqing."
"I'm here."
"Tell me to serve the food. I'm a little hungry after talking so much."
"Yes, Your Majesty, the Fujian cuisine at Juyinglou is still very good."
I turned to Yuan Ji behind me and said, "Sir, sit down and eat together."
All the staff at Juyinglou only served our table of guests, so the food and drinks were naturally served very quickly. Wen Zhang at the door held a silver needle in his hand, and each dish was carefully inspected before being sent into the room.
Fujian cuisine is light and fresh, heavy on sour and sweet, and emphasizes the use of soup to enhance the freshness. It has been developed to later generations and is also one of the eight major cuisines in my country.
"Chen Aiqing, Fujian Road is one of the few areas in our country that has not experienced the trauma of war. Over the years, Fujian Road's economy has developed to a certain extent. In this regard, you have merit, but the growth in tax revenue is far lower.
Regarding economic growth, you have also experienced this. The reason why I came to Fujian Road this time is
Just to see if you can still be of use to me, since you are willing to follow me to revive our dynasty, I will not punish you for your past crimes for the time being. If your future performance satisfies me, I will slowly forget your crimes.
But if you perform poorly, if there is even a slight mistake, I will settle your new and old accounts together."
Chen Xinshu stood up hurriedly and said: "Your Majesty, I will do my best to repay the Emperor's kindness. From now on, I will do whatever the Emperor says."
When he heard me call him Chen Aiqing, Chen Xinshu finally let go of a stone in his heart. Fortunately, he followed Jiang Baoshan's suggestion and asked Ye Mengding to convey his determination to be loyal to the imperial power in advance, otherwise this time it would have been almost completely over, Chen Xinshu thought to himself.
"Ye Aiqing, Chen Aiqing, how are the salaries of our officials?"
Ye Mengding said: "Your Majesty, the salary of our court is higher than that of the previous court. There is salary money, rice, tea and wine money, cooking material money, fuel money, horse feed money and other subsidies, and even food and clothing for the servants in the officials' homes.
The royal court also pays wages, so it should be said that all officials can live a luxurious life with fine clothes, fine food and fine food."
"Chen Aiqing, is that true?"
"Your Majesty, what Mr. Ye said is correct. Since I was a ninth-rank official, my salary has been enough to provide enough food and clothing."
"Hmph, with such a salary, can't we still maintain integrity with a high salary?"
Chen Xinshu quickly responded: "Your Majesty, once a person's greed is formed, it will be addictive just like taking Five Stone Powder."
Ye Mengding sighed: "Yes, Your Majesty, even if a person is a high-ranking official, he will eat so many meals every day and sleep on such a big bed. They will not be able to use up all the money they got from greed in their lifetime, and they will take it with them when they die."
They won’t leave, but they just want to be greedy. As Mr. Chen said, they have formed a desire, a desire that they can’t stop.”
"Chen Aiqing, are you like this too?
"Your Majesty, that's exactly what happened." Chen Xinshu said with a blush on his face, "I regret my sins. I regret my sins. For the desire of gold and silver, I lost my true nature as a human being. I studied hard since I was a child. After ten years of hard work, I was awarded the title of Jinshi, and I was awarded the title of Jinshi.
I was favored by the late emperor and served as an official for decades, but because of this greed, I embarked on an evil path. If the emperor had not warned me in time, I would have been swallowed up by evil. I, Chen Xinshu, know my sin, confess my sins, and repent."
When Chen Xinshu spoke of repentance, she burst into tears. I don't know whether it was more of a show or if it was truly touching.
"Chen Aiqing, since you can wake up, start from tonight and become an official again, and become a good official who can be remembered for generations to come."
"Your Majesty, don't worry. I will definitely act in accordance with your Majesty's will."
Chen Xinshu remembered what Jiang Baoshan said: If the emperor asks you to be greedy, you will be greedy; if the emperor asks you not to be greedy, you cannot be greedy even for a copper coin.
I nodded and said: "Chen Aiqing, I have two things to tell you in advance. One is that I plan to promote you to the position of Fujian Road System Envoy."
"What about Mr. Shi?" Chen Xinshu felt both happy and worried. It was natural that he would be promoted. But he was worried because he thought I wanted to punish Shi Hongsheng, so he hurriedly said, "Master Shi has never been greedy. He is an upright official."
"I know that Shi Hongsheng is an honest official, but he is not a good official. What I want is a good official who can serve the people and be responsible for the court. Shi Hongsheng is too scholarly and not suitable to be an official here. I