We have fought to the Arctic Circle, and you want me to inherit the throne?

dong dong dong-

The morning light broke through the clouds and the sky became slightly brighter.

Officials from Feng State, dressed in leather jackets, gathered towards the government office to the beat of drums.

The snow outside had not stopped falling all night, and when the officials walked to the corridor of the government office, the soles of their shoes were covered with muddy snow.

Huai En brought a few Kunlun slaves with him, holding small brooms, to clean the snow off the officials' clothes and shoes.

After sweeping their bodies clean, the officials took off their outer leather coats and wore official uniforms to enter the palace to attend the first court meeting in Fengguo after the snow.

Li Che was sitting on the throne, and the officials returned to their seats one by one.

When the time was almost up, he looked up and saw that there were still many vacant seats below.

"How many people haven't arrived yet?" Li Che asked, tilting his head.

Wang Yongnian stepped out of the group and took a look, then bowed and said, "Your Highness, the senior officials Qian Bin, Jia Miao, and Wang Xi have not arrived yet."

Hearing this, Li Che's sleepiness was immediately swept away, and his expression became a little nervous: "Are you feeling unwell?"

Having lived in Northeast China for more than 20 years, he naturally knew that winter in Northeast China was always a busy period for hospitals and crematoriums.

Because the weather is too cold in winter and the diet relies on high salt and oil to resist the cold, these two factors are the reasons for the high incidence of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases.

Qian Bin and others are not young anymore. Hua Changan had taken their pulses before and found that they all had some chronic diseases to varying degrees.

Fengguo has just gotten on the right track, so don't let it fall at this moment.

Zhuge Zhe stepped out and said:

"Don't worry, Your Highness. Winter is approaching and the elderly often feel sleepy."

"I went to visit them before I left home. Mr. Qian and the others simply overslept and were just woken up by the servants. I believe they have already come here."

Li Che breathed a sigh of relief: "So that's how it is. As long as you are fine, we just need to wait for them for a while."

Another stick of incense passed before Qian Bin and others finally arrived.

Qian Bin felt very guilty, thinking that he was old and useless, and was even late for court meetings. He repeatedly apologized to Li Che.

Li Che didn't care. He was just late, not a big deal.

People are not machines and cannot work non-stop for 365 days a year. Serving the country day by day is indeed a heavy burden for officials.

In fact, the work of officials in ancient times was relatively easy compared with that in later generations.

The Western Han Dynasty had a court session every five days, and the Tang Dynasty had a court session every ten days.

Although the Song Dynasty was not good at external affairs, the government was relatively stable. The main policy was to have everyone be in a state of disarray, with court meetings only held on the first, fifth, fifteenth and twenty-fifth days of each month.

It was not until the Ming and Qing dynasties that officials' lives began to become difficult.

The Ming Dynasty implemented a system of "holding court every three days", and the Qing Dynasty ostensibly held court every ten days, but the Qing emperors were severely plagued by internal conflicts, especially Emperors Kangxi and Yongzheng, who had to attend court every day.

Moreover, during the Qing Dynasty, officials worked very long hours, usually more than 14 hours a day, and there were no weekends off.

The closed political system caused great psychological and physical stress on officials, and countless people suffered from malaria, carbuncle, and malaria.

Li Che does not want to follow in the footsteps of the Qing Dynasty. The future Fengguo court cannot be a room full of sick people. This internal system must be changed.

He thought for a moment and then spoke first:

"The first snow has arrived, Fengguo has officially ushered in winter, and some strategies have also changed."

Li Che looked at the ministers below the stage and said with a smile: "From today on, we will implement winter duty. The daily court session will be changed to one every three days, and the court session will be delayed by half an hour."

Everyone was stunned at first, then their faces lit up with joy. They bowed and said in unison, "Thank you, Your Highness."

Li Che was not bad to his officials. Regardless of their rank, they all received accommodation in the city, and their salaries and monthly rewards were also the same.

Officials of a certain rank who were able to attend court meetings basically had their own independent courtyards and were served by servants and maids.

But Li Che is still very diligent, although he occasionally watches Korean girl groups dance.

But he insisted on holding a morning court every day and never got tired of it, and his government affairs continued day and night.

Li Che was diligent in his work, so his officials naturally could not slack off, and the working atmosphere in Fengguo was naturally a bit tense.

Now that Li Che has taken the initiative to propose reducing everyone's burden, the officials are naturally very happy.

"Alright, alright." Li Che suppressed his smile and said, "It's been almost a year since I was enfeoffed. I've seen how hard you all work."

"Fengguo was just established, with many things to be done and foreign enemies surrounding us. It was a time of internal and external troubles."

"I am not a mean and ungrateful king, but in this situation, I can only inconvenience you. Please accompany me to fight for a few more years. I hope you will not blame me."

"We dare not." The ministers said in panic.

Li Che nodded gently and continued, "Reducing the burden is reducing the burden, but work cannot be delayed. It's freezing outside and many things can't be done, so we will focus our energy on a few things."

"First, we need to do a good job of cleaning the roads. The cement road outside is too long, so we don't need to worry about it for now. The roads inside the city must be kept clean to prevent people from falling and getting injured."

"Secondly, coal mining cannot stop. We don't know how long this winter will last, so the more honeycomb coal we have, the better. We can sell the excess to the people in the interior."

"Third, the university must still be built, workers recruited from the people must be paid adequate wages, and foreigners must be provided with adequate food."

The number of barbarians in Chaoyang City has reached nearly 100,000, and many of them have been promoted to the third, fourth, or even second level of civil nobility.

It was not appropriate to call them barbarians anymore, so after Li Che discussed with the officials, he gave these barbarians the name "foreigners".

It is also to let them remember one thing: if you don’t have the first-level civil nobility, you will always be an outsider in Feng State. Only when you reach the first-level civil nobility can you be a true Feng person.

After a brief assignment of tasks, the meeting was adjourned.

There is really not much to do in winter, as ancient China was a traditional agricultural society.

After winter comes, things become less busy, and the ancients called this period of time "winter leisure".

After everyone had left, Li Che asked Qiu Bai to move a seat into the lobby, lit the stove, opened the door, and began to enjoy the snow.

The white snow fell gracefully, and the earth was covered with white, so clean.

If I hadn't traveled through time, what would I do now?

The first snow of winter is the perfect time to eat geese.

Call a few good friends, go to an authentic iron pot stew restaurant, drink some wine, and eat iron pot stewed goose.

That feeling... I wouldn't trade it for even a prince.

Li Che felt that he was now qualified to express such an exclamation.

If you are alone at home, it would be great to light up a copper pot and eat some mutton hotpot.

Fresh lamb rolls, covered with sticky sesame sauce, are put into your mouth.

Li Che only felt saliva secreting in his mouth, as if he had already sensed the delicious taste.

"hiss......"

Li Che wiped his saliva and murmured, "I've been working hard for a year, so what's wrong with enjoying myself?"

"Qiubai, Qiubai! Go get those sesame seeds the caravan brought back!"