The daily life of a peasant girl taking the imperial examination

The next day.

It was also the last day of Zhuge Yunshu's holiday.

While she was working hard to finish the remaining blueprints for the windmill, thousands of miles away in the capital, the Grand Secretary Qin Lian was pacing restlessly back and forth in his study.

Recently, due to the disaster, many victims have emerged in various places. Emperor Xia Ming has repeatedly reprimanded the cabinet in the court in front of all the officials, making him, the chief minister, lose face.

What he didn't expect was that his arch-enemy, Vice Minister Chen, had submitted a memorial this morning, detailing how to quickly resolve the problems of disaster victims in various regions.

Upon hearing this, Emperor Ming of Xia was overjoyed and adopted the plan with a wave of his hand. He also directly ordered the Ministry of Revenue to allocate funds according to Chen Cifu's budget and appointed Chen Cifu to be fully responsible for the matter.

Thinking of this, Chief Minister Qin lost his appetite.

To understand why he was so angry, we need to go back to the power struggle between the Grand Secretary and the Second Grand Secretary in the Great Xia Kingdom over the past few years.

Chen Cifu was originally promoted by Qin, the chief minister, to deal with the former chief minister. Who knew that his most trusted subordinate would stab him in the back?

If he hadn't been incredibly lucky, he would probably be dead by now.

The thought of that scoundrel, currently celebrating his triumph in his mansion, made him want to go over there, chop him up, and feed him to the dogs.

Unfortunately, he is no longer the beloved subject of Emperor Xia Ming.

Qin Lian felt a pang of sadness when he thought of this past event.

It's unclear what triggered Emperor Xia Ming's sudden change in attitude, but ever since Empress Gao's death, he has completely lost interest in handling state affairs and is now preoccupied with seeking immortality and enlightenment.

He spent his days with charlatans, discussing Taoist longevity techniques.

Not long ago, he even planned to use his private treasury to build ships, in order to emulate Qin Shi Huang's voyages to find immortals.

If it weren't for a group of censors threatening suicide, Emperor Xia Ming would probably have fled long ago.

Even though it was all so absurd, this emperor was extremely skilled at manipulating people's hearts and using the art of checks and balances.

Although he neglected state affairs, he valued power highly.

Even though he had been very careful all these years, the emperor still feared him.

That troublesome Vice Minister Chen was promoted by Emperor Xia Ming, who was there to cause him trouble.

Emperor Ming of Xia watched as the two factions fought each other, while he himself reaped the benefits.

Just by looking at his overflowing private treasury, which was filled by the confiscation of his property, one can see how well-fed he was.

Therefore, Emperor Xia Ming did not lack money for seeking immortality and enlightenment. It was also because of this method of manipulating people's hearts that his throne became more secure.

Indeed, the imperial family is the most ruthless place. These ministers are just pawns, easily discarded if they disobey.

The former prime minister was, he is the current prime minister, and that scoundrel Chen is even worse.

"Go, find out who Chen Lin has been in contact with recently," Qin Lian ordered in a low voice, his head aching.

As the saying goes, the person who knows you best is your enemy.

Based on his understanding of Chen Laogou, he would never believe that Chen Laogou could come up with such a brilliant method without someone guiding him.

Hehe, no matter who this person is, they either need to be used by him or simply disappear from this world.

"Hmph, let old dog Chen dream of replacing him!" Qin Lian strolled to the window, gazing out with a thoughtful expression.

At this time, the person who secretly handed over Zhuge Yunshu's strategy was Chen Tixue, who was also a distant relative of Chen Cifu.

It was quite an accident that he was able to obtain this secret report.

I didn't think much of it at first, but I was shocked when I opened it.

Isn't this the solution to the disaster victims that has been giving all the civil officials a headache lately?

Although some of these viewpoints were ones I had never heard of before, upon careful consideration, they seemed quite reasonable.

Such talents are far more useful than those pretentious scholars who only know classical Chinese.

What a pity... it's just that this person appeared at the wrong time.

Although Chen Xing admired Zhuge Yunshu's talent, he wanted to return to the capital and become a government official.

He returned to that place where land was incredibly valuable and where the powerful and wealthy gathered, and reunited with his wife and children whom he hadn't seen for many years.

Having grown accustomed to the extravagance of the capital, he simply couldn't adapt to a desolate place like Pingchuan County.

Therefore, it could only be Chen Xing who wrote this policy article on how to resettle the disaster victims.

This was also his last lifeline when he returned to Beijing to report on his work.

However, what Chen Xing didn't know was that opportunity and danger go hand in hand, and he would pay the price for his greed.

Zhuge Yunshu and Magistrate Shen will also avoid a lot of trouble because of their losses.

......

(Note: This article contains some fictional elements. In local areas, there are specially appointed officials to manage the education of a prefecture called "Ti Xue". In this article, Chen Ti Xue was appointed as Ti Xue with the rank of Qian Shi, which is the fifth rank. Although he did not have an independent government office in the local area, he was given the right to submit secret memorials to the emperor.)

The position of "Provincial Education Commissioner" was not a formal official post, but rather a "dispatch" appointment. It can be understood as an imperial envoy specially appointed by the court to manage education and the imperial examinations in a specific prefecture. The term of office was three years, and after each provincial examination, the Ministry of Personnel would re-nominate candidates for Provincial Education Commissioner.