Traveling through Du He, Li Chengqian's rebellion begins

Xiao Kai saw out of the corner of his eye that his father was passing by with a stern face, so he smacked his lips and swallowed back the words that were about to come out of his mouth.

He has made great contributions now and cannot afford to be beaten with a tablet by his father in the Taiji Hall.

After all, he is a well-known person now, so how can he be the same as before?

Du He patted Xiao Kai on the shoulder and said, "Brother Xiao, go to the Ministry of Works later and call Zhang Bi, the deputy chief of the Ministry of Works, to go to the Ministry of Revenue to find Minister Lu."

"Regarding the pricing of the kang, it will be easier if someone who will supervise the construction helps."

"When you are done, please return to the Ministry of Industry. I am going to lead you to improve the straight plow."

Although Xiao Kai was from the Ministry of Industry and was nominally an innovator of the kang, he actually knew nothing about it.

If he were asked to go to Lu Chengqing, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, to order the price of the kang, it would probably turn out to be a mess and cause a lot of jokes.

Xiao Kai also knew his own worth, so he nodded in response.

"Don't worry, Brother Du, I'll do it now."

After saying this, Xiao Kai ran out of the Tai Chi Hall in a hurry.

Xiao Kai didn't want to miss Du He's big move to change the straight plow into a curved plow.

Therefore, the contribution he made in innovating the plow and the honeycomb coal and kang that Du He made for him were completely of two different levels of merit.

The innovative plow can benefit ordinary people all over the world, while honeycomb coal and kangs can only benefit high-ranking officials and nobles. The gap between the two is huge.

Du He, Yu Chang and the other doctors from the three ministries came to the gate of the Ministry of Personnel and stopped.

"Minister Yu, wait until Xiao Kai comes back and gather the people together."

"I will go to the Ministry of Personnel first and talk to Minister Li about the personnel selection."

In order to lead the people in the Ministry of Works to innovate the straight plow, Du He could not tell everyone in the four departments, but he first issued orders to the doctors and assistant doctors of the four departments.

Afterwards, the doctors of the four departments led the people from each department to think and experiment.

Yu Chang clasped his fists respectfully and said, "As you wish!"

Du He nodded, then slowly walked into the gate of the Ministry of Personnel.

In the lobby.

When the officials from the Ministry of Personnel saw Du He, dressed in a purple robe, walk in, they were stunned for a moment, then they stood up and saluted.

“See Du Shang’s book.”

Du He waved at them, then walked towards the office of the Minister of Personnel with ease.

When Hou Junji was the Minister of Revenue, Du He had been to the Ministry of Revenue several times and was very familiar with the location of each office there.

When Du He walked to the door of Li Ji's office, Li Ji was already standing at the door, greeting him with a smile on his face.

Du He saw a middle-aged man who looked very familiar, waiting respectfully outside the gate.

It seems that he reported the news of his arrival to Li Ji, the Minister of Personnel, in advance.

Du Hexian clasped his fists towards Li Ji and said, "Greetings, Duke Ying."

Li Ji nodded slightly.

He was a duke, so ordinary officials had to take the initiative to salute him when they saw him.

Li Ji waved his hand to the officer beside him and said, "You go down first and have someone serve tea."

"promise!"

After the official walked away, Li Ji gestured towards the office.

"Du Shangshu, let's sit down and talk."

"it is good."

Du He responded and then strode into the office.

Li Ji asked with a bit of envy on his face: "Minister Du, how come you have the leisure time to come to the Ministry of Revenue today?"

"Your Ministry of Industry has been busy these days, so you must be very busy, right?"

After returning from the Liaodong battlefield, he and Du He were promoted on the same day. The Ministry of Works led by Du He had already done some practical work, but there was no movement in the Ministry of Personnel under his jurisdiction.

Li Ji, who had been calm these days, was actually feeling a little anxious.

Everyone was doing well and mediocrely, but Du He suddenly stood out. With the comparison, the other five ministers seemed to be unambitious.

Du He waved his hands and said, "Duke Ying, you are joking. The Ministry of Works has done such a small thing, which is not worth mentioning compared with the Ministry of Personnel."

"I am the one who came to disturb you when you are the busiest, Prince of England, and delayed your handling of government affairs."

As the head of the Six Ministries, the Ministry of Personnel was in charge of the appointment, dismissal, assessment, promotion, demotion, and awarding of honors to civil servants throughout the country, as well as presiding over the imperial examinations.

The assessment of officials is conducted in mid-November, and registration for the imperial examination is also in mid-November.

Therefore, the end of the year is the busiest time for the Ministry of Personnel.

While they were talking, the middle-aged official who had just come to inform Li Ji came in personally carrying tea.

"Minister Li, Minister Du, please have some tea. I will come back later to get more tea."

After the middle-aged official finished speaking, he quickly left the office.

Du He pointed at the back of the middle-aged official leaving and asked curiously, "Duke Ying, who is this?"

Li Ji said softly, "He is Yu Zhining's eldest son, Yu Lizheng, and he is currently serving as a deputy director of the Ministry of Personnel's Examination and Reward Department."

"He is in charge of the current imperial examination."

The imperial examinations during the Zhenguan period were presided over by the Deputy Director of the Ministry of Personnel, so this was an official position of low rank but extremely powerful.

Du He suddenly realized and said, "I said this official looked very familiar, I didn't expect he was Yu Zhining's eldest son!"

"Your Majesty is very kind to Zhining and arranged such a good job for his eldest son."

Speaking of which, Yu Zhining was also unlucky. When Li Yuan started his rebellion, he defected to Qin Wang Li Shimin and was listed as one of the eighteen scholars in Qin Wang's palace.

He originally had a bright future in the officialdom, but after he led Li Chengqian to be dismissed, he ended up going to the Prince of Wei's palace to teach.

Now he is following Li Tai to Xiangzhou, and he doesn’t know when he can return to Chang’an.

Du He shook his head and then stated his purpose: "Duke Ying, our Ministry of Works is currently short of a few core officials. Please ask the Ministry of Personnel to fill them for us as soon as possible."

"Especially the vacant post of Tuntian Yuanwailang. The absence of this key position may delay next year's spring ploughing."

When Li Ji heard that Du He came to him this time and wanted him to fill the vacant position in the Ministry of Works as soon as possible, his expression paused slightly.

"Could it be that Du He wants to arrange for his own people to go in?"

This thought suddenly popped up in Li Ji's mind.

An unnatural smile appeared on his face, and then he spoke in a businesslike manner while drinking tea.

"Mr. Du, do you have any candidates to recommend?"

"If you have a suitable candidate in mind, you might as well tell us. Our Ministry of Personnel can consider them as important candidates."

"As long as there are no problems with the assessment and we follow the normal procedures, everything will be fine."

After hearing what Li Ji said, Du He already knew Li Ji's attitude towards him.

He will follow reasonable and compliant procedures and will not do anything to benefit his own interests or engage in fraud.

However, Du He did not feel the slightest bit disappointed, because he had never thought of having Li Ji stand on the same side with him.

After all, Li Ji is one of the most survivable people in the Tang Dynasty. He will not easily take sides until the last moment.