After traveling through time, I was spotted by the new emperor

Qi Cheng has completely caught up with Ye Wuwei's rhythm:

“This has several advantages:

First, since they are building a new home for themselves, they will definitely not slack off on the work, and the quality of the house is guaranteed.

Second, the court not only provided the raw materials for building the houses but also paid them wages, so they did not feel that the court was exploiting them.

Third, if they move out early, the houses in the west of the city can be built sooner."

"You're all right. We just need to be careful about how we manage public opinion and not let those with ulterior motives manipulate the situation and cause civil unrest."

No one quite understood Ye Wuwei's last sentence, but they understood the general meaning.

Chu Fuchi's thoughts also opened up:

"Building houses requires the Ministry of Works. We can hold off on deciding on the position of Vice Minister of Works and let them compete for the position through this new housing construction."

Qi Wushuang asked Chu Fuchi: "Who do you think should be entrusted with the demolition?"

Chu Fuchi looked at Ye Wuwei.

His ideal candidate is Ye Wuwei, but he is worried that Ye Wuwei will find it troublesome and refuse to do the job.

Ye Wuwei didn't refuse this time: "I'll be in charge of the demolition."

"Then let Qi Cheng help you."

……

**

After leaving Taiji Hall, Master Zhuang took a group of people to the Zhuang Mansion.

These are all people who are affiliated with the Zhuang family.

Zhuang Jiaxu asked on behalf of Grand Tutor Zhuang, "What do you all think of today's events?"

Zhuang Jiaxu was the son of Grand Tutor Zhuang and the nephew of Empress Zhuang.

An official asked, "What do you think of the new emperor's official system?"

"Simply speaking, the official system is much clearer and more distinct than the existing one, with clearer responsibilities and powers. The purpose is also very clear."

The rest of the words were not said, and everyone understood: this was also to undermine the power of General Qi, Grand Tutor Zhuang and Grand Master Yuwen.

Question: "What exactly does this competitive recruitment mean?"

Someone answered:

"The purpose is simple: the new emperor wants to install his own people in power and doesn't want us to unite against him."

"Why don't we unite with Prime Minister Yuwen to oppose the competition?"

The reason why General Qi was not mentioned was because he had already expressed his support for Qi Wushuang.

To General Qi, it made little difference whether Qi Wushuang or the three princes ascended the throne.

An official continued, "Even if Prime Minister Yuwen agrees, there's still the Qi family. Besides, the position being contested doesn't involve the local government."

When the previous emperor was alive, in order to balance the power of the aristocratic families, court officials were basically divided into three groups: Qi, Zhuang, and Yuwen. There were also many children of small and medium-sized aristocratic families who were affiliated with the Qi family and did not serve in the court.

This competition is only for officials in Chamdo and does not involve local officials. If the Zhuang and Yuwen families give up the competition, the Qi family can take over.

Zhuang Jiaxu: "What if we join forces with local officials?"

This time, no one spoke.

Master Zhuang sighed and said, "Forget it. Let's discuss how to fill out the form."

Master Zhuang knew very well:

Most of the people who do practical work at the local level are low-level officials or clerks, most of whom come from the common people. If someone from the Zhuang family resigns, there will be someone to take their place at any time.

After everyone finished discussing it, an official asked Master Zhuang, "Master, why don't you fight for yourself?"

"As long as everyone can maintain stability in the court, then the Grand Tutor will be the Grand Tutor."

Having said that, Master Zhuang did not have confidence in his heart.

After the officials dispersed, Zhuang Jiaxu asked Master Zhuang:

"Father, today in Taiji Hall, why didn't the new emperor mention the assassination attempt yesterday?

Doesn't he know that it was Prime Minister Yuwen who did it yesterday?"

"He knows, but he doesn't want to confront the Yuwen clan head-on for the time being."

"What do you think the new emperor will do next?"

Master Zhuang pondered for a moment:

"His goal is to weaken the power of the Zhuang and Yuwen families. I suspect he will vigorously promote civilian officials next."

"You mean he will change the current system of selecting officials?"

"Did you notice one thing about the competition for the position?"

Zhuang Jiaxu thought about it but still didn't quite understand: "Which one?"

"The recommended officials can also be those who are not currently in the court."

"But aren't all the current officials recommended by us?"

“But the officials competing for the position this time are not just from the Qi, Zhuang, and Yuwen clans, but also include military commanders from Andu and Yingdu.

Many of the military commanders in Andu and Yingdu were of commoner origin, and there was no stipulation that military commanders could not recommend civil officials.

"I see.

In the past, we all appointed our own military commanders, but the new emperor deliberately did not appoint his own generals, in order to give them the opportunity to recommend officials for promotion."

Although they could recommend their own officials to serve as military generals according to the system, it was impossible in reality.

Even the commander of Qi Kangping’s imperial guards is not safe!

Master Zhuang:

“Many of these military commanders are of commoner origin, and the people they recommend will certainly include many commoner officials.

Once a number of civilian officials come to power this time, there will definitely be more civilian officials serving in the court in the future. Over time, changes in the official selection system are inevitable.

This is just the beginning.”

"Father, if one day the court officials are no longer under our control, will the Zhuang family's influence be greatly weakened?"

"Not only the Zhuang family, but also the Yuwen family and all the aristocratic families, including the Qi family."

Master Zhuang sighed in his heart:

Although what Ye Wuwei said in Taiji Hall today was unpleasant, it was the truth.

From ancient times to the present, no aristocratic family can last forever, including the imperial power.

What the Zhuang family needs to do is to preserve their strength as much as possible in the upcoming major changes!

Master Zhuang glanced at Zhuang Jiaxu:

He only has this one son, but his talent is so average that he cannot support the Zhuang family.

As for Qi Yuye, he is even more simple-minded.

Qi Wushuang chose this time to weaken the Zhuang family's power. Is this really God's will?

……

**

Not long after Ye Wuwei returned to his residence, Qi Yushen came looking for him.

Ye Wuwei first taught Qi Yushen the modern "addition, subtraction, multiplication and division" methods.

When it comes to learning arithmetic, Qi Yushen is much faster than Chen Shusheng.

"I've taught you the calculation method. What I'm going to talk about next is a completely new way of keeping accounts."

Ye Wuwei had never studied accounting and didn't know how to keep accounts. But that didn't stop him from knowing that modern account books have four columns:

Previous period's balance, current period's income, current period's expenditure and current period's balance.

After teaching Chu Fuchi and the others how to calculate that day, Ye Wuwei went to see the accountant at Prince Qi's mansion and asked about the simple accounting method currently used by the Qi Dynasty.

Only the time, quantity, amount and content of economic events are recorded.

Not only does it look inconvenient, it is also easy to falsify accounts.

At that time, Ye Wuwei had the idea of ​​telling Qi Yushen the concept of modern accounting methods.

Why tell Qi Yushen and not others?

Of course, it was because Ye Wuwei’s accounting knowledge was not even superficial, while Qi Yushen managed the coke plant’s accounts very clearly.

Ye Wuwei first drew four columns on the paper and wrote down "balance of the previous period, income of this period, expenditure of this period and balance of this period".

"I took a look at your account books the other day and came up with some new ideas. Do you think they're feasible?"