such as Yue Linyuan

The weather was getting colder with the passage of time. Because Chu Yuezhi was afraid of the cold, charcoal fires were prepared in various parts of the palace early, and the hand stoves that Chu Yuezhi would use after winter came.

In fact, Chu Yuezhi himself did not take his fear of the cold too seriously, but Si Yuanting was very concerned about his body, and had already given the six bureaus to the Sili Supervisor, Shangyi Supervisor, Shangshan Supervisor, and the palace maids early in the morning. The fourth division ordered that arrangements should be made early, so before winter, Chu Yuezhi's robes and bedding were all ready to be replaced.

After the thunderous rectification in the past few months, Chu Yuezhi and Si Yuanting discussed and slowed down their pace until January next year, and then drafted new regulations and laws after January next year, officially marking the first day of the New Deal. step.

Charcoal fires had already been lit in the Hall of Mental Cultivation. After nightfall, Wang Zhong entered the hall to add candles a few times. Chu Yuezhi sat in front of the imperial case to approve the memorials. On another desk that was newly installed in the heart hall, it was Si Yuanting's seat.On weekdays, Chu Yuezhi would meet other ministers in the main hall of the Hall of Mental Cultivation. If he was discussing matters with important ministers, such as Fu Xingyun, Xia Zhiyi, Wu Yonglian and Zhao Bin, he would be in the compartment on the left side of the front hall.

Ordinarily, Si Yuanting would not appear in the main hall when Chu Yuezhi was meeting other ministers, but would temporarily rest or work in the warm pavilion on the right side of the Hall of Mental Cultivation.If some courtiers knew that some of the memorials were still approved by Si Yuanting, I really don't know how they would feel.

After several months of repairs, most of the burned places have been rebuilt in the Qianqing Palace. However, Chu Yuezhi does not like the Qianqing Palace from the bottom of his heart. He has always lived with Si Yuanting in the Xiefang Palace, and occasionally he will cultivate his heart together. Rest in the warm pavilion of the palace.

The Zhenguohou Mansion has been built, and Si Yuanting will go out of the palace to go back to the mansion during the day. His status is different now, and other courtiers will inevitably visit the Zhenguohou Mansion, so he will not stay in the palace all the time , but no matter how late he communicated with other courtiers in Zhen Guohou's Mansion, he would definitely rush back to the palace after sending people away.

The key to the palace gate is released every night when the time comes, but the guards at the gate all have a tacit consensus that the chief minister of the cabinet has a token bestowed by His Majesty, and whenever he wants to return to the palace, he must hurry He opened the palace door.

When Si Yuanting returned to the palace, Chu Yuezhi had just finished approving some of the newly handed-in memorials. He sat in front of the imperial case for two hours, his body was stiff, and his entire neck and back were hardened into an iron plate. He stood still. He stood up and stretched his sore shoulders and neck, and was about to take a few sips of the tea at hand when Wang Zhong came forward with freshly brewed tea, and said fearfully, "Your Majesty, this tea is too cold to drink. Ah, my maidservant has just brewed new tea for you, so please give your servant the cold tea that has gone cold."

In fact, Chu Yuezhi doesn't care whether the tea is hot or cold, but there are many rules in the palace, and his body needs maintenance because he is afraid of the cold. If Si Yuanting knows that he drinks cold tea, even Wang Zhong will inevitably order it. was blamed.

Putting the cup of cold tea in his hand on the tray, Chu Yuezhi picked up the cup of hot tea that was just right for drinking, used the tea cover to skim the tea leaves on the surface of the tea, and then finished drinking the tea with his head raised.

He still kept many of the habits left over from his marching and fighting days, and he didn't have so many pride problems.Although I have gradually gotten used to being an emperor, there are always many palace people around, but I still don't like the ostentation.Now he is serving personally only Wang Zhong, and the few eunuchs serving in front of the imperial court are also under Wang Zhong's subordinates.The supervisor of ceremonies lost the power to participate, and many eunuchs suddenly felt that they had no way out, so they began to secretly use their strength to other places. After Chu Yuezhi found out, he ordered Wang Zhong to rectify the supervisor of ceremonies. Get kicked out of the palace, so as to alert the other eleven prisons.

Most of the eunuchs entered the palace, except for the criminals, because their families were poor and couldn’t afford to support them when they were young. They thought that sending their children to the palace would at least give them enough food to eat, and that they could get a small sum of money if they sold them to the palace. Maybe it can solve the urgent need, and the child has entered the palace as a servant. Although there is no hope of being an heir after being stabbed, at least there is a monthly salary, and it can also help the family a little.

However, this is the naive idea of ​​the poor people. In fact, hundreds of children are sent to the palace every year as eunuchs, but only about one-third of them can really survive in the palace and grow up.And these eunuchs who have entered the palace since childhood have no other skills other than serving the master. If they are not pardoned from the palace before they reach the age, but are kicked out of the palace because of mistakes, they often end in misery. It is difficult to find other eunuchs. way out.

Therefore, after Wang Zhong led the decree to drive out the eunuchs who had evil intentions in the chief of ceremonies according to the rules, the eunuchs of the other eleven eunuchs all settled down a lot. After all, they have been in the palace for many years. It's so hard to get an adult to have a place to live in the palace. There's really no need to kill yourself or even be kicked out of the palace because of a momentary advantage, or even lose your life because of it.

In the final analysis, most of the eunuchs are poor people. The main purpose of Chu Yuezhi's order to rectify is also to set rules for the palace.

Chu Yuezhi put down the tea cup he had finished drinking, and looked through the memorials that had not yet been approved. Apart from the capital city, there were also many memorials handed in from all over the thirteen provinces. There are priorities, so he has always dealt with the more important memorials first, and only then will he deal with the remaining ones that are not too urgent.

Chu Yuezhi sighed a little tiredly, looked up at the outside of the hall which was still dark and windy even though the lights were on, and asked, "What time is it?"

"Returning to Your Majesty, it's the end of the Xu period, and it's time for Master Si to return to the palace." Wang Zhong has been following Chu Yuezhi for a while, so he can naturally understand what Chu Yuezhi is really asking under the superficial question.

Hearing the words, Chu Yuezhi said "um", and pinched his sore temples. Chu Yuezhi always felt that the hall was a bit too dark, so he ordered: "Wang Zhong, go and light some more candles for me. It's too dark in the hall, and my eyes hurt from reading the booklet."

"Your Majesty, you have been busy for two hours, why don't you take a break first?" Wang Zhong had served Chu Yuelei in front of the imperial court, and he often couldn't help but secretly sigh in his heart. As the saying goes, each dragon has nine sons. This statement is true. Chu Yuezhi's level of diligence is comparable to that of Gaozu, Taizong and even Gaozong, and is many times better than that of Chu Yuelei. Already ushered in a new scene.

"It's not too late to rest when Si Jiu comes back." After all, Chu Yuezhi didn't like to procrastinate political affairs, and always hoped that the submitted memorials would be approved and sent back as soon as possible.

Familiar footsteps came from outside the hall, and the eunuchs waiting outside the hall announced accordingly. Wang Zhong was overjoyed, and hurriedly said to Chu Yuezhi: "Your Majesty, Master Si is back!" Zhi has no other excuse not to rest.

Si Yuanting entered the palace with a suit of late-autumn early cold, and the first thing he saw was Chu Yuezhi standing in front of the imperial case, walking over three steps at a time, saying, "I'm back." Feeling cold, he hesitated for a while but still didn't reach out to hug Chu Yuezhi.

Chu Yuezhi touched his hand and found it was cold, so he said to Wang Zhong without looking back, "Go and tidy up the Nuan Pavilion, I want to rest."

Wang Zhong bowed his head and retreated to the Nuan Pavilion, but he couldn't hide a smile on his face. Sure enough, every time Lord Si came back, His Majesty knew to rest.

"Have you eaten the dinner yet?" Si Yuanting asked, he left the palace in the afternoon, so the dinner was served in Zhen Guohou's mansion.

"It's been used. You specifically told Wang Zhong that even if he tried to make me angry, scolded and punished, he would remind me to eat when the time comes." Lai Siyuanting simply told Wang Zhong that when he was away, he had to remind Chu Yuezhi to eat when it was time to eat, and if he was scolded, he would be moved out, and he would bear any punishment.

Wang Zhong's hands and feet were fast, and he came back within a few words between Si Yuanting and Chu Yuezhi, bowed and said: "Your Majesty, Mr. Si, everything in the Nuan Pavilion is ready and can be moved."

The hand was held by Si Yuanting, and Chu Yuezhi confessed again: "Go outside and wait, if there is nothing particularly important, there is no need to report it."

"Your servant obeys." Wang Zhong exited the Hall of Mental Cultivation after finishing speaking.

Si Yuanting and Chu Yuezhi went to Nuan Pavilion together, first took off the cloak and then sat down on the couch, picked up the hot tea prepared by Wang Zhong on the table, after Si Yuanting picked it up, he was not in a hurry to drink it, and just talked with Chu Yue Zhi said: "Huangfu's younger sister, Huangfu Liangyu has already entered Beijing."

"Well, it's not too late to let her rest at the mansion for two days before summoning her." When Chu Yuezhi heard that Wu Weiwei Yunxiao left the barracks very early to return to Huangfu Mansion, he guessed that it was Fu Xingyun's sister who came back, "You today Going back to Zhen Guohou's mansion, did you meet anyone?"

"I met with Wu Shangshu, mainly to talk about the imperial examination in the coming year." Si Yuanting said, with a hint of worry on his face, "This year's rural examination has ended, but judging from the situation in recent years, I'm afraid It is because next year it may not be possible to select talents that the court can use."

"Indeed. In fact, this is something I have been thinking about recently." Chu Yuezhi tapped the short table with his hand, and said in thought: "Chu Yuelei has issued many bans during his nearly eight years in office, regardless of How about ordinary people, many scholars have rigid thinking, and the stereotyped scholars select basically only elm lumps who can only study hard, so naturally it is impossible to produce talented people."

The imperial examinations were only held once every three years from the beginning of the provincial examinations, but Si Yuanting was not long after he became a eunuch with palm seals. Because it was difficult to select real available talents from the imperial court, after several efforts and operations, he made the imperial examinations a reality. Chu Yuelei agreed to change the imperial examination to be held every year.However, even so, Si Yuanting was still very disappointed by the person selected in the end.

"The harm of stereotyped writing is equal to the burning of books, and it destroys talents. It is worse than the ones trapped in the suburbs of Xianyang, but there are more than 460 people." Chu Yuezhi has always disapproved of the selection of scholars by stereotypes. And Cheng Zhu Neo Confucianism, but aside from these so-called benefits, what I see is that in order to gain fame, scholars memorize the chapters and dozens of other model essays in the imperial examinations by rote but don’t understand them. However, most of the questions in the exam cannot be applied in practice. This kind of exam is said to be a form of flattery, and the people selected are naturally like stagnant water, and their heads are empty. A man who thinks for himself, has the foresight to see what is wrong and give useful advice."

The form and content of the imperial examinations were completely contrary to the purpose of holding the examinations. In this way, neither scholars nor kings could get the results they expected.

Perhaps it was because Chu Yuezhi mentioned that the candles were too dark in the main hall just now, Wang Zhong deliberately added two more candles in the Nuan Pavilion than usual, so the Nuan Pavilion is brighter than usual at this moment.

Chu Yuezhi looked at Si Yuanting in such a warm and bright candlelight, and then slowly said what he had been thinking about for a while: "There is a long way to go to implement the New Deal reform, and this The first step is often the most important. I have thought about it for a long time, and I personally think that if you want to get a good start, the first step of reform should start with ideology and education."

----

The author says:

Quoted in the text:

"A fool thinks that the harm of stereotyped writing is equivalent to burning books and corrupting talents. There are more than 460 people cheated in the suburbs of Xianyang." ———— "Rizhilu · Proposed Title" Gu Yanwu