Before leaving the palace, Lu Zhong was obviously still a little dissatisfied. However, since the emperor had spoken, he could only go back and pack his things, preparing to go to Gansu to investigate with Jin Shangshu.
The two left the imperial city together, and just as they were about to go their separate ways, Commander Lu suddenly had an idea and asked Jin Lian, who was about to get on the sedan chair and return to the Yamen of the Criminal Department.
"Jin Shangshu, you have already planned to take He Hao to Gansu with you. That's why you haven't tried him in the Ministry of Punishment for so long?"
In fact, Lu Zhong has no doubts about Jin Lian's ability to examine cases. Just looking at Mr. Jin's past resume, we know that he has very rich experience in the criminal field.
Therefore, Lu Zhong has never been able to understand why, after he transferred He Hao to the Ministry of Punishment, the trial of Jin Shangshu has not started yet.
You know, as Ren Li's key witness, he pried open He Hao's mouth, and most of the evidence was broken.
According to the information currently available, He Hao was basically the one who did dirty things for Ren Li. Whether it was invading military villages or assassinating Yu Qian, if nothing unexpected happened, he was the one who passed the news and made arrangements.
He was even responsible for the interception and killing of the mission. The name of He Hao's name was written in black and white on the application book where Ren Li used the mission to take credit.
Lu Zhong knew very well that the whole government and the public were paying attention to this case, and the pressure on the Punishment Department was no less than that of Jin Yiwei.
Because of this, seeing Jin Lian's unhurried look made him even more anxious.
However, just now, when Jin Lian said that he was going to take He Hao to Gansu, Lu Zhong suddenly reacted.
The Minister of Punishment probably had already made plans.
No one knows He Hao's situation better than Lu Zhong. Although he did not stay in the imperial prison for a long time, he has used most of the Jinyiwei's torture instruments.
To put it bluntly, if He Hao had not spent this period of time in the prison of the Ministry of Punishment and continued to stay in the imperial prison, He Hao would not have been able to survive for many days. Of course, he would not have been able to withstand the long journey.
So in fact, Jin Lian is not refusing to interrogate him, but is waiting for He Hao's recovery before preparing to take him to Gansu for interrogation?
Jin Shangshu glanced at the commander of the Jin Yiwei who looked simple and honest but actually had a ferocious look in front of him and wanted to ignore him at first.
After all, Jin Yiwei's reputation among civil servants is not really good, and sometimes it is even three points worse than Dongchang's.
You must know that although Dongchang is domineering, in the end, it is just a place that carries out orders and prefers to collect intelligence.
But the Jinyiwei is different. The Jinyiwei has its own prison for investigating crimes, and its biggest use is to imprison court officials for questioning.
In particular, looking at the style of the commander in front of you, you can tell that Jinyiwei is not a serious place where people will be tried properly. The torture instruments in the imperial prison are much richer than those of the Ministry of Punishment and Dali Temple. Not only are they rich in variety, but they also have everything.
Sufficient practical experience.
Therefore, Jin Lian really had no good impression of Lu Zhong, the commander of the Imperial Guard.
However, thinking of the promise he had just made in the palace, he still nodded and said.
"Commander Lu, if you want to pry a person's mouth open, you can not only use punishment, but also use subjugation and beating, which is always an inferior method."
"What's more, it is not suitable to interrogate He Hao in the capital. As for how the trial will be carried out, we will naturally find out after we leave the capital. Your Majesty has ordered Commander Lu to accompany me, so the Commander will naturally know when he arrives.
"
After saying that, Jin Lian bowed his hands, got on the sedan and left, leaving Lu Zhong standing there. After a while, he also left with a slight hum.
…………
On the other side, after Jin Lian and Lu Zhong were sent away, those who entered the palace immediately were naturally the long-awaited Minister of Rites Hu Yi and the Second Assistant to the Cabinet Yu Shiyue.
The court was indeed calm during this period, but if we were to say that the busiest yamen was definitely the Ministry of Rites.
Uncle Hu Dazong, who has always been late and left early, has been staying in the Ministry of Rites until on time almost every day in the past few days before going back to the government office. This has caused the Ministry of Rites, which was originally the most leisurely, to become a lot more involved.
"I will see you, Your Majesty."
Entering the hall, the two of them bowed respectfully without mentioning anything. After being seated, Hu Hui took out a memorial from his sleeve, handed it over and said.
"Your Majesty, the time for spring hunting and martial arts exercises has been decided. This is the almanac calculated by Qin Tianmonitor. The veteran has selected three auspicious days from it. Please take a look at it."
After that, he handed the memorial to the chamberlain on the side and delivered it to the emperor.
Zhu Qiyu opened it and took a look. Sure enough, Uncle Hu Da Zong did things properly. The day for the martial arts performance was set on March 17. According to the original agreement, the ceremony of leaving the palace in the East Palace was held after the spring hunting was over, which was April.
The three days chosen by Hu Xi happened to be at the beginning of April, the middle of April and the end of April. So when he saw this memorial, Zhu Qiyu was very doubtful whether he had read the results of Qin Tianmonitor's calculations.
However, Zhu Qiyu didn't care about Uncle Hu Dazong's caution (testing). After thinking for a moment, he picked up the ink pen and circled the memorial, then handed the memorial back and said.
"The first day of April is a good day. Since Qin Tianjian thinks there is no problem, let's set it on this day."
"Old minister, I obey the order."
Hu Hu's eyes twitched, but he didn't say much. He just cupped his hands and accepted the order honestly.
Immediately afterwards, Yu Shiyue stood up and spoke.
"Your Majesty, when the East Palace is established, the ceremony should have been prepared early. Now that there are not enough officials in the East Palace, there may be mistakes in assisting the prince. Therefore, I would like to ask your majesty if you can select a few more learned people from the Hanlin Academy to serve in the prince's palace.
, Isadon Palace!”
Therefore, once many things take shape, the subsequent steps will be a matter of course. The only difference is sooner or later.
Just like the matter of the Prince of the East Palace, after being canonized, he will leave the cabinet. Since he is going to leave the cabinet, preparing the palace is an inevitable step. This is a legitimate thing.
Even if Dong Gong is young, the preparation of the government can be postponed a little, but there is always a difference between before leaving the cabinet and after leaving the cabinet.
Just like now, since the prince is about to leave the cabinet, Yu Shiyue, who is responsible for the affairs of the prince's house, must naturally take responsibility. Otherwise, it will be dereliction of duty.
Although the current Prince's Mansion has all the official positions, there are basically no personnel. The person in charge is Yu Shiyue, the Zhan Shi, but there is not even a Shao Zhan Shi under him.
Of the two bachelors in Chunfang, only one, Xu Youzhen, was a full-time scholar, while the other, Xiao Tan, was still a bachelor of the Hanlin Academy.
Apart from this, in the huge East Palace, there is only Yu Yan from the Economic Affairs Bureau, and no one else.
If the prince has not left the cabinet and is just preparing for his departure, then these people are naturally enough. In other words, in fact, only Yu Shiyue and Xiao Tan are enough.
However, since he is about to leave the cabinet, in addition to ceremonial preparations, it is natural that he must also start to slowly fill up the personnel.
However, this essentially means that the political power of the East Palace has begun to take shape. For the emperor, Yu Shiyue was really unsure whether the old man would agree to it. Because of this, he used Hu Hui to come.
Given the opportunity to announce the date of his resignation, he dragged the eldest uncle over with him.
Sure enough, after Yu Shiyue finished speaking, the smile on the emperor's face disappeared and he asked.
"In your opinion, which vacancies should be filled, and how many people should be added to the Prince's Mansion?"
The emperor said this in a normal way, but it sounded like there was a hint of evil in it.
Yu Cifu glanced at Uncle Hu Dazong next to him, only to find that the old man lowered his head seriously, as if admiring the patterns on the carpet, as if the ordinary patterns contained some intoxicating mystery.
Cursing the old fox secretly, Yu Shiyue had no choice but to bite the bullet and said.
"Your Majesty, according to the previously agreed regulations, after the East Palace becomes a cabinet, it is necessary to study the three enlightenment readings of the Three-Character Classic, Hundred Family Surnames, and Thousand-Character Classic. In order to initiate the practice of calligraphy, the person who teaches this chapter for the East Palace is Wan'an of the Hanlin Academy.
"
"In addition, the prince also has to study the "Ancestor Instructions of the Emperor" compiled by Taizu and the "Instructions of the Imperial Emperor" compiled by the late emperor. These two articles are read by the cabinet ministers. Now all ministers have the prince as their guardian.
It doesn’t matter if it’s a title.”
"However, Ni Qian, a lecturer on classics such as "The Great Learning", "The Doctrine of the Mean" and "The Classic of Filial Piety", is still in the Hanlin Academy and has not been transferred to the East Palace, just like Wan An."
"Therefore, in my opinion, at least Wan An and Ni Qian should be transferred to Zuochunfang. In addition, after the prince opens his palace, there must be officials responsible for the management of all correspondence, documents and books.
, the etiquette of farewell and guidance also need to be filled by generals."
"Although the East Palace is young and weak now, many rituals are not up to standard, and many political affairs are unpredictable, but if you want to make the East Palace run, I roughly estimate that at least a dozen ungraded officials and several general officials are needed."
As soon as these words were spoken, Yu Cifu lowered his head and finished them all in one breath. While changing his breath, he secretly glanced at the Emperor, only to see the old man sitting at the top, looking at him expressionlessly.
Yu Shiyue couldn't help but feel anxious, but he silently recited two sentences in his heart, the emperor will not treat ministers who work seriously, and the emperor will not treat ministers who work seriously.
After cheering himself up, Yu Cifu finally said the last sentence.
"All the officials and ministers are subordinate to the Zhanshi Mansion. Although I am the Zhanshi Mansion of the Prince's Mansion, I also hold the position of the cabinet. I also need to explain the meaning of scriptures to His Highness the Crown Prince. I am afraid that I will not be able to do it and make mistakes in my busy schedule.
Therefore, when the prince opens a palace and leaves the cabinet, he should also give Shao Zhan another person to assist in the affairs of the palace."
In fact, there is nothing that can be done about it. After all, Yu Shiyue is the second minister of the cabinet. He is very busy with government affairs on weekdays. Under normal circumstances, when the Zhanshi Mansion has all the officials, he only needs to take care of it occasionally.
However, now the East Palace is empty, and Yu Ci has to do everything by himself, which is really a waste of time. But when it comes to the prince, he doesn't dare to slack off at all, which is really a constant complaint.
Otherwise, he wouldn't have asked for someone even though he knew he might displease the emperor.
After the words fell, the Wenhua Hall fell silent. Yu Cifu did not dare to raise his head, and Hu Shangshu observed the carpet seriously.
After a while, a burst of laughter suddenly sounded in the palace, and then the emperor's voice sounded.
"Yes, from now on, I order Wan An and Ni Qian to be transferred to Zuochunfang. Ni Qian will be appointed as the fifth-rank Zuo Shuzi. Wan An will be appointed as the fifth-rank Zuo Yude to teach the prince. All the ministers and subordinates will be appointed as follows.
The officials are responsible for the transfer, as for Shao Zhan's affairs..."
At this point, the emperor seemed to be hesitant, but he only paused for a moment and said.
"Although this official position is only of the fourth rank, it is necessary to take care of the affairs of the East Palace and assist Zhan. Since the gentleman felt that it was necessary to add another person, he issued an edict and ordered the ministers of the imperial court to recommend officials from among the fourth rank officials.
People with outstanding abilities and virtues will be handed over to the Ministry of Civil Affairs to select three people and present them to me."
Ah this...
Yu Shiyue didn't react for a moment. However, Mr. Hu on the side quickly raised his head at this time, with a smile on his face and cupped his hands.
"Your Majesty is wise, this is a blessing to the country!"
"Thank you, Your Majesty."
Yu Cifu also followed suit and bowed his hands as a gift, but his mind still didn't turn around.
How could the emperor agree so easily?
He was well prepared to be reprimanded by the emperor and then have a bunch of quotas deducted. In his expectation, it would be good for the emperor to match him with all the officials he should have, let alone a young man.
Zhan Shi has taken up his post.
You must know that, as Yu Shiyue said, although he is the official of the Prince's Palace, his position is still in the cabinet. Therefore, the more important significance of his existence is that in the court, there is a person who is second only to the six ministers.
Assisting important ministers can become a channel for the East Palace to speak out.
But for those specific matters, if it weren't for the current special situation, he might not really be responsible for much, because he really doesn't have the energy.
So most of the time, most of the affairs of the East Palace were actually handled by Shao Zhan. Did the emperor really agree to such a key position so easily?
He raised his head and glanced at the Emperor, only to see that the old man was smiling and looking relaxed, showing no signs of displeasure just now.
Seemingly sensing Yu Shiyue's doubts, the emperor suppressed his smile and spoke again.
"I am really focusing on cultivating the prince. I hope that the East Palace can inherit the country and continue the country in the future. I have no selfish motives. I will not allow anything that is beneficial to the prince and is in line with etiquette and law!"
The emperor's words were sincere. Yu Shiyue thought about it for a while. No matter how he felt in his heart, at this moment, he would not refute the emperor's face, so he immediately raised his hand and said.
"Your Majesty is wise, and I admire you all!"
This matter came to an end, and Yu Shiyue finally breathed a sigh of relief. Although the emperor finally let the Ministry of Personnel come to select the officials of the Prince's Mansion, as long as the Emperor relaxed, then, as for the Ministry of Personnel, even Wang Wen
No matter how hard it is for the old man to talk, he always has a way.
Thinking of this, Yu Cifu was already thinking about how to communicate with the officials and tried to find a few useful people.
However, just when he thought that today's affairs were almost coming to an end, Mr. Hu, who had been observing the carpet for a long time, seemed to wake up from a dream and said.
"Your Majesty, I have one more thing to report. It is about the Spring Hunting in March. According to the custom, the Supreme Emperor should be present in person for such a large ceremony. However, when the Ministry of Rites was discussing the ceremony, someone suggested that the Supreme Emperor should live in the Nangong to rest in peace.
, this kind of ordinary ceremony, forcing the old man to come out of the palace to watch the ceremony, is a bit too invasive."
"However, some people say that the Oara mission is about to come to Beijing this time. If the Emperor does not appear at the Spring Hunt, Oara may suspect that the Tomorrow family is at odds, and the two sides will argue. In the end, most people feel that the Emperor should be invited to watch the ceremony together.
, the specific notes on the ceremony have been copied here, and your Majesty is invited to read them."