Starting from a thatched cottage, the farmer embarked on the road to wealth through imperial examina

Li Ping was indeed well-informed. A few days after Li Ping had a small gathering with Ye Changyan and Liang Jingcheng, the Ministry of Personnel issued the latest appointment letter.

The emperor approved the resignation request of the Minister of Personnel Tian Gan. As the head of the Six Ministries, the Ministry of Personnel was suddenly vacant with the positions of Shangshu and Zuo Shilang, the two top officials in the Ministry.

Although people from all sides were eyeing these two positions, the emperor would not allow anyone else to get involved in such crucial positions. In the end, the emperor promoted Tong Zhongqin, the left vice minister of the Ministry of Rites and a top scholar, to the position of Minister of Personnel.

For a time, all parties were very surprised by the emperor's appointment. No matter what, they did not expect that Tong Zhongqin would be promoted by His Majesty. Tong Zhongqin had served as the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites for more than ten years. He had always been unknown. The most frequent time he appeared was during the spring examinations held every three years. Tong Zhongqin was mainly responsible for organizing the imperial examinations and managing schools across the country in the Ministry of Rites.

Now, Tong Zhongqin jumped from an unknown official who selected talents for the court to the head of the six ministries, which was far beyond the expectations of all parties. Little did they know that what the emperor valued was his calm nature, his inability to take sides, his ability to endure loneliness, and his principles in dealing with people.

The Ministry of Personnel had always been a coveted target for all parties. Now that the position of the Minister of Personnel had been decided, everyone was full of expectations for the vacant position of Left Vice Minister of Personnel. The emperor promoted the Right Vice Minister of Personnel to the rank of Left Vice Minister, but to the surprise of all parties, Zhu Yuchun, an originally unknown fifth-rank Left Assistant of the Dali Temple, unexpectedly won the favor of His Majesty and was promoted by His Majesty. He was promoted several levels and was appointed as the third-rank Right Vice Minister of Personnel.

In the Dragon Boat Festival match-fixing case, Zhu Yuchun's performance was indeed remarkable. Everyone guessed that Zhu Yuchun might get a chance for promotion because so many positions were vacant this time. However, no one expected that Zhu Yuchun, who was only 34 or 35 years old, would be promoted to the rank of a third-rank official, and even to the crucial position of Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel.

With the two most important vacant positions filled, other appointments were soon settled.

Wang Xinkuan, a member of the Ministry of Personnel who was highly regarded by His Majesty, was transferred to Xuyang Prefecture as a fifth-rank official. Although everyone had more or less guessed that Wang Xinkuan would be promoted, the fact that he was a fifth-rank official at the age of 26 still made many people envious.

Many of them saw that His Majesty still had a backup plan. Xuyang Prefecture's performance in this flood was not very good, and His Majesty was not very satisfied with the performance of the prefect of Xuyang Prefecture. Perhaps His Majesty took into consideration that the prefect of Xuyang Prefecture was related to the Empress Dowager's family, so he saved some face and did not change the prefect's position for the time being.

This time, His Majesty has placed Wang Xinkuan, whom he values, in Xuyang Prefecture. Anyone with a discerning eye can see that His Majesty has high hopes for Wang Xinkuan and wants him to go there for training. And with Wang Xinkuan's temperament and ability, after some training, His Majesty may have plans to let him replace the prefect of Xuyang Prefecture.

Song Zhang, a Langzhong of the Military Selection and Purification Department of the Ministry of War who participated in selling official positions and titles, was dismissed. The vacant position was originally the focus of contention among various parties. Finally, His Majesty transferred Ji Yunting, an experience officer of the Experience Department of the Supervisory Yuan, to this position, and his rank was raised from the sixth rank to the fifth rank.

Zhao Mubai and Lu Ge'ang were also promoted in this major personnel reshuffle. Zhao Mubai was transferred to the Supervisory Yuan and promoted to Right Censor-in-Chief of the Supervisory Yuan, and his rank was raised from the original fifth rank to the fourth rank. Lu Ge'ang was transferred to Chaozhou, which suffered heavy losses in the flood, as the magistrate, and his rank was also raised from the original seventh rank to the sixth rank.

The emperor determined the important position that was vacant this time, and he handed the remaining personnel vacancy to Tong Zhongqin, the newly appointed Minister of Personnel.

After more than ten days of deliberation, the Ministry of Personnel finally came up with a list of personnel arrangements and presented it to the emperor for review. The emperor did not raise any objections and approved the memorial. Thus, a series of cases, including the Dragon Boat Festival match-fixing case, the case of selling official titles, the case of dereliction of duty in flood relief, and the case of hoarding and driving up grain prices and selling moldy grain, were completely concluded.

There are careful people who have sorted out the list of personnel adjustments and found that most of the people who replaced key positions are people with calm personalities, who do not take sides and are loyal to His Majesty.

The most interesting thing is that the five disciples of Cai Zhengqing, the former chief academician of the Imperial College who had retired for many years and had already entered officialdom, were all promoted by His Majesty himself in this major adjustment. The most dazzling one among them was the eldest disciple Zhu Yuchun, who jumped from an unknown position as the left assistant minister of the Dali Temple to a high-ranking official in the court, and he was only in his early thirties.

The other four disciples were all promoted to a higher rank. Among the five disciples, all in their twenties or thirties, there was one who was of the third rank, one who was of the fourth rank, two who were of the fifth rank, and one who was of the sixth rank. This was unprecedented in the entire history of the Great Sheng Dynasty.

Some people marveled that the sky in the court seemed to have changed. It was obvious to the naked eye that His Majesty intended to promote talented young officials. This seemed to be reserving a younger generation of officials for the crown prince, which was tantamount to paving the way for the future crown prince.

However, there is no clear indication that His Majesty particularly favors any of the princes. The eldest prince is the eldest, but he is impatient and tends to be too hasty. The third prince is the legitimate heir, but he is a bit indecisive. The second prince is thoughtful and has many people on his side, but he seems too ruthless in his actions.

As for the Fourth Prince, due to his mother's humble birth, he is not valued by His Majesty and has seldom appeared in public in recent years. Now that he is about to be crowned, the Emperor has no intention of letting him participate in state affairs.

It was originally thought that since the Dingyuan Marquis' Mansion was so deeply involved in this series of cases, the Second Prince would be implicated to some extent. Although many of the officials who were dismissed this time were believed to be from the Second Prince's faction, His Majesty did not vent his anger on the Second Prince. This made many people feel that the Second Prince seemed to be more valued by His Majesty.

Ye Changyan and Liang Jingcheng were very happy to learn that several of their senior brothers had been promoted. They had clearly felt recently that their classmates seemed to be more friendly towards them than before, and even the teachers at the Imperial College were more polite to them than before.

"I really envy you two for being able to become Master Cai's disciples. Now that your five senior brothers have been promoted, especially your eldest brother who has now gone to the Ministry of Personnel, there must be many people trying to curry favor with him. Some people will do anything to get in touch with him. You two should be careful, because you never know who will come to get in touch with you."

When Ao Chong'an said this, Ye Changyan and Liang Jingcheng were both moved. If he didn't truly regard them as friends, he would definitely not say such words.

With Ao Chong'an's reminder, Ye Changyan and Liang Jingcheng became more vigilant. As Ao Chong'an expected, there were indeed many people in the Imperial College who wanted to get through Ye Changyan and Liang Jingcheng's ways under various pretexts.