Dominate the Country

Winter is almost over and spring is not far away. The Emperor's period of filial piety has passed, and some of the bustle of the past has returned to Nanjing.

One afternoon on the eve of the New Year, in the palace filled with busyness and tension, Chen Ming took a break from the busy life and lived a leisurely life.

This year's Spring Festival, the palace is not planning to hold a big event, and next year's Spring Festival is not going to be a big event, including the Mid-Autumn Festival, Wanshou Festival, Qianqiu Festival, etc. during this period, will not be held in a big way. Is it because of Chen Hui’s death?

Chen Hui's death is of no importance to Chen Hanlai today. He is also Chen Ming's advantage. According to traditional Chinese filial piety, the three-year [27-month] filial piety period is inevitable. During this period, no bright colors were allowed in the palace. To be precise, Chen Ming was not even allowed to eat meat. If he had raised a child during this period, it would definitely be a huge scandal.

The Hundred Days of Filial Piety among the people is only for the people, but for the whole world. You can't just ask the people all over the world to follow the vegetarian diet for three years just because the emperor died, right?

But even though the palace is not planning any big events, things are still very busy.

If you are not allowed to wear red or green, you will naturally have a sober look; the entire palace, in front of and behind the house, also has a sober look like other people. Not being fancy and not being tidy are two completely different things.

At this moment, in the small pavilion on the rockery of the Royal Garden, Chen Ming was basking in the sun while carefully checking the homework of his children.

Yes, among Chen Ming's sons, the older ones are already in their thirties, such as Chen Ding. But the younger sons and daughters have only entered high school and junior high school.

Chen Xun and Chen Sui were respectful in front of Chen Ming, waiting quietly for Chen Ming to evaluate their homework - social investigation. Chen Ming's youngest daughter, Princess Chen Yueyi of Danyang, who had just turned fourteen, was not far away, holding a tube-shaped thing like a monocular telescope, with her eyes attached to one end, watching intently.

"Danyang, stop playing with the kaleidoscope and show your father your embroidery!" The queen liked this little girl very much. Although she was not her biological child, she had liked her since she was a child. Now it was rare for him to keep a straight face and teach Danyang to stop playing around.

As for why Princess Danyang wanted to learn embroidery, this is a powerful "historical tradition" in Chinese society. After the Qing Dynasty entered the country for more than a hundred years, the tradition of Han daughters learning to be female celebrities was lost a lot, especially in the families of high-ranking officials. But after Chen Han drove away the Tartars and restored China, this tradition was picked up by the noble ministers of the new dynasty, and this custom even invaded the palace.

Of course Chen Ming would not force his daughter to learn to be a female celebrity, but as a side job, it was an important thing for her daughter's family. Comparing Qinqi, calligraphy and painting, Danyang chose embroidery when she was young, and she has been working hard on embroidery.

Danyang didn't seem to hear, he just lowered his head and still looked through the kaleidoscope.

"It's okay to play a little more. Children, be careful about playing."

In front of his daughter, Chen Ming's attitude has always been very good. Whether her daughters have grown up and have children, or are still in school waiting to be married, in their eyes, Chen Ming has always been a good father. After hearing what Chen Ming said, Danyang stopped playing. He handed the kaleidoscope to the palace maid next to him.

It's a pity that such leisure time is short-lived. During dinner, court affairs came up again.

"Your Majesty, the National Security Bureau has just sent news that His Royal Highness the Prince of Yu stayed at the Pang Mansion Villa outside the city yesterday. His Royal Highness the Prince of Guo visited Lord Wu Xueli in the morning, and the two discussed the issue of grassland desertification in Mongolia..."

The phenomenon of a person attaining enlightenment and a chicken or dog ascending to heaven is something that China has not yet been able to completely put an end to. What's more, Wu Xueli still has certain abilities. Although he has been working in other provinces in the past few years, his qualifications and rank are indeed enough to join the cabinet.

He is the Minister of Agriculture, Animal Husbandry, Forestry and Fisheries in the next cabinet, in charge of agriculture, animal husbandry, forestry, and river and sea fisheries. Pang Zhenkun has been around the Chen-Han court for many years and has made many friends, but it seems that the only one of his die-hard supporters in the next cabinet will be Wu Xueli.

Lao Pang is Chen Ming's preferred chief minister in the cabinet, so Chen Ming naturally wants to arrange a die-hard supporter for him in the cabinet. Now that the final court recommendation is about to come, the country's third-rank and above civil servants, namely Pang Zhenkun and Wu Xueli, are "at ease".

"Desertification of Mongolian grasslands..."

Hearing these words, the corners of Chen Ming's eyes twitched. Nowadays, most Mongolians have left the plateau where their ancestors lived, but a large number of Han people have also poured into Mongolia. The benefits of wool have driven countless people crazy, especially after a buffer of ten or twenty years. The next generation of Han people have grown up on the Mongolian prairie. Countless immigrants have adapted to the living environment and living environment on the grassland. What makes the Han people crazy? There was a shocking productivity explosion, and the number of sheep herds increased rapidly. During the five years that Wang Huizu was in office, the desertification of the Mongolian grasslands showed signs of rebounding.

It can be said that Wang Huizu left a big mess for the roarers to clean up when it came to the issue of desertification in the Mongolian grasslands.

As the next Minister of Agriculture, Animal Husbandry, Forestry and Fisheries, Wu Xueli holds the opinion of reducing production on the Mongolian grassland, that is, reducing the number of sheep on the Mongolian grassland. But this will cause serious economic problems and will greatly reduce the domestic wool textile self-sufficiency rate. There isn't much support for his idea in the short term. Moreover, Chen Ming was not pleased with Wu Xueli's view - it was too low of technical standards.

…

It's quiet at night.

Shen Guozhen still hadn't fallen asleep.

It was already twelve o'clock, and he was still sitting at the table, reading the book in his hand under the whale oil lamp.

Shen Guozhen was not a scholar, and his reputation in the Chinese "literati" had never been crowned with the word "great scholar". Now he had stayed up all night for two consecutive nights, his eyes were bloodshot, red like a rabbit, and he was browsing the book in his hand very carefully. This was really abnormal.

Shen Guozhen's mind was very focused. Every ten minutes or so, he would turn a page of the book in his hand. This book, which was intended to regulate the qualifications and requirements for the election of local advisory council members, had not many words, only five chapters, forty-seven articles, and 25,000 words. Shen Guozhen read this booklet over and over again for a full five times.

If he didn't know that this book was written by Liu Wen, Zhu Shihai and others, and had a close connection with the New Confucian Party, Shen Guozhen would never have read such a boring book. What's so good about this thing?

Even if he doesn't know the basics of the future "Election Law", will anyone in the Jiangsu and Zhejiang Provincial Advisory Council dare to vote out the Shen family?

Shen Guozhen is the Minister of Justice. If nothing unexpected happens, he will still be the Minister of Justice in the next cabinet, in charge of the courts and the Supervisory Council. If you offend him, aren't you afraid of being quietly settled?

But Shen Guozhen doesn't want to continue to be the Minister of Justice. He wants to be the second assistant. He has no hope of being the first assistant in this life, but he still has a glimmer of hope to be the second assistant.

The emperor really doesn't seem to be prepared to interfere in other matters of the cabinet. In addition to finalizing Pang Zhenkun as the first assistant, he promoted Wu Xueli. Shen Guozhen has not seen any clues of Chen Ming's intervention in the position he took over. Of course, the number of ministers of the interior is regular. It has always been the heads of the National Security and Military Intelligence Departments who take turns to do it, and outsiders cannot interfere.

But this is enough to make the court boil.

Without the emperor's suppression, everyone has to do what they want.

But you have to know that Shen Guozhen is the Minister of Justice. The police stations in various places are also under his responsibility. The power of the police stations cannot be compared with the specialized intelligence departments, but they are not without any "investigation" capabilities. Moreover, his connections in the court are strong. Until now, he has not noticed the emperor's selection of other cabinet members. Shen Guozhen is sure that he still has hope to climb one more step forward.

Did Xiong Bingzhang retire directly? He was in poor health and did not even enter the Council of State. He went home to retire.

This vacated a position for the deputy assistant. Pang Zhenkun succeeded in taking the position, so the two deputy assistants were vacant. As an old cabinet, if Shen Guozhen still doesn't make a little effort, his five years as the Minister of Justice will be in vain.

Of course, if Shen Guozhen wants to take the position, he also faces very strong competition. Xie Hu and Zheng Wen are also senior.

Especially Xie Hu, who was the deputy governor of Lingnan in his early years. He entered the cabinet as the Minister of Civil Affairs during the Liu Dezhao era. Five years ago, he was sent to Luzon as the governor. Now he has returned to Nanjing. His target must not be an ordinary cabinet minister. Moreover, among the eight positions of postal service, agriculture, animal husbandry, forestry and fishery, justice, culture and education, finance, internal affairs, civil affairs, and diplomacy, diplomacy and finance are not what ordinary people can ask for. Xie Hu has rich experience in local positions, but he is not so good at diplomacy and finance. These two positions are obviously not suitable for him. Internal affairs are the private land of the Military Intelligence Bureau and the National Security Bureau, and it is impossible for Xie Hu to hold them.

The remaining agriculture, animal husbandry, forestry and fishery belong to Wu Xueli. If he aims at ordinary cabinet ministers, the only options are postal service, justice, culture and education, and civil affairs.

Among these positions, the importance of the Minister of Civil Affairs is much greater than that of postal service and culture and education, and the ranking is also higher than that of justice. The civil affairs department of this era is not the Ministry of Civil Affairs in Chen Ming's previous life. At the local level, the Civil Affairs Bureau ranks first among government departments. The nickname of the director of the Civil Affairs Bureau is still Xiao Tianguan, which refers to the former Ministry of Personnel, the Tianguan of the Ministry of Personnel. In a certain sense, the Civil Affairs Bureau is a smaller county magistrate. A strong director of the Civil Affairs Bureau can intervene in many aspects of government affairs and also serve as the Minister of Organization. He is awesome.

Zheng Wen should not be underestimated either. Because Zheng Wen has the support of Xiong Bingzhang behind him. Xiong Bingzhang not only has a good reputation in front of the emperor, but also has a good relationship with Wang Huizu. Zheng Wen, Xiong Bingzhang and Wang Huizu all came from the staff of the former Qing officials. The staff system or the master system is very powerful in the Chen Han political arena.

In terms of official position, qualifications and achievements, Zheng Wen's weight is still a little short, but if he has the joint promotion of the former first assistant and the right second assistant, then his chances of winning will be better than Shen Guozhen.

Since they have entered the cabinet, their qualifications and achievements will not be much different from each other. At this time, the importance of connections is particularly important.

Shen Guozhen is now facing a decision point. Should he contact the 'author' of the book he is reading?

This is also what His Royal Highness Prince Yu meant.

A book "Election Law" actually involves Liu Wen. This guy is a confidant of His Majesty known to everyone in the world. He has been in the position of the Minister of Culture and Education for twenty years. His position is not high in the top level of Chen Han politics, but his power is not small, and his weight in the court is even heavier.

His brother Liu Wu has been by the side of Emperor Chen for more than 30 years. He has been the chief director of the attendant room for several years. The rank of the attendant room is nominally half a grade lower than that of the minister at the ministerial level, but who really sees it that way? Liu Wu's nickname is "Liu Yuqian"!

The appearance of Liu Wen seems to be regarded as the emperor's most direct attitude towards this "Election Law". From a certain aspect, it also illustrates the value of the outliers of the New Confucian Party.

In Shen Guozhen's eyes, the things in this world are divided into two categories: useful to oneself and useless to oneself.

And people are the same.

Before waiting for a reply from a useful person, Shen Guozhen couldn't sleep even if he lay on the bed.

The oil in the oil lamp was decreasing little by little, but Shen Guozhen never got a reply to the news he was waiting for. Maybe tonight would be a vain wait. Finally, after finishing the book in his hand again, he threw the book on the table and lay on the bed, staring blankly out the window.

I don't know how long it has been, the darkness outside the window was replaced by a grayish white...

Another day has passed.