Just as he was closing the door and contemplating the map, footsteps came from outside the house. The footsteps of Datou and others could be heard. The person coming was not Datou and others.

Sensing that someone was coming, he put away the map. Immediately, a voice came from outside the house, "Sir, Mr. Shi, the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, wants to see you."

After hearing the yamen servant's announcement, he stood up, opened the door, and went to the door with the yamen servant to greet him.

When you become an official, you have to deal with your colleagues and don't have many interactions with courtiers. At his level, ordinary officials no longer dare to bother and make friends at will, and only officials of the same level or above can come to talk to him.

The name of the Minister of Civil Affairs is Shi Linyun. He is a middle-aged man who is unsmiling and unsmiling. However, it depends on who you are talking about. He is very polite when talking to him. On the one hand, he is young and promising and has a high position. On the other hand, he admires his integrity and courage.

, he quite agreed with some of the practices of eradicating eunuchs and severely punishing corrupt officials in Jeju.

There is no official business for Shi Shangshu here, it is just a simple visit. However, this is only Shi Shangshu's own statement. In fact, he still has something to do when he comes, but it is not convenient to say it directly. The necessary greetings and small talk are still needed before talking about the serious business.

I still have a good impression of the Minister of History. This person is quite honest in charge of the civil service. In addition, in order to resettle Batulu, Su Pingcuo was transferred to Suzhou to take up a post. The Minister of History did not refute this matter.

It is well known that the imperial court wants to rectify the administration of officials. The appointment of officials in charge of the Ministry of Personnel and the rectification of the administration of officials will definitely have something to do with the Ministry of Personnel. Previously, the inspection envoys sent by Yushitai had already figured out the situation of official administration in various states and counties.

At that time, the censor had already been sent to the place with the police officers and the imperial army to arrest people and close the net.

Officialdom has a great characteristic. Nearly a million officials, large and small, seem to have nothing to do with each other, but in fact they are still inextricably linked to each other. Officialdom is like a big tree, and its roots are only so big.

There are several, and each big tree root will give rise to some small roots, and the small roots will give rise to smaller roots.

Shangshu Shi also has disciples and disciples. Some of the officials to be arrested this time have a close relationship with him. Shangshu Shi is here to test his tone. The ultimate goal is of course to restore environmental protection.

Young people and middle-aged and elderly people have different styles of doing things. Young people do things more directly and don't like to talk in circles. After learning the purpose of Shi Shangshu's visit, he directly took out the list of Dai Zui officials who were about to be investigated and asked Shi Shangshu to

Pick out the people you want to protect.

Shi Shangshu was quite grateful for his actions, but he was not very surprised. The reason was also very simple. He owed him a favor before. In official circles, favors are exchanged for favors. This is the rule.

Shi Shangshu selected seven people. He also knew the rules very well.

Knowing that while rectifying the administration of officials, they were also tasked with raising money and food, they took the initiative to transfer or demote these officials to some idle positions, and went to their posts empty-handed, leaving all the proceeds from corruption.

He agreed with Shi Shangshu's statement. Doing so was undoubtedly bending the law for personal gain, but he also knew very well that almost all officials above the seventh rank had problems, big and small. If they really wanted to handle official business, they would have to deal with it all.

The rectification of the official administration was most involved in the Yushitai and the Ministry of Personnel, because the Yushitai had to arrest people, and the Ministry of Personnel had to select officials to fill the vacant positions after the arrests. Therefore, the two of them then discussed the matter of rectifying the official administration in detail.

The idea is also very simple. Officials who are simply corrupt can be given a chance to change their ways, but those who seek money and kill others cannot and must be strictly investigated.

Seeing this attitude, Shi Shangshu was relieved. What he feared most was to apply one-size-fits-all. Some court officials and all local officials were appointed by subordinates. If they were really strictly investigated and dealt with, the officialdom would be turned upside down. As an official,

Minister of the Ministry of Finance, he was the first to be implicated.

In fact, he wanted to cut it across the board, and he also wanted to investigate and deal with it strictly, but he knew very well that the current situation of the imperial court was already in turmoil due to internal and external troubles, and if he continued to arrest people everywhere, he would make people panic, and things might change.

Furthermore, corrupt officials may not necessarily be incapable of governing. It is not necessarily a good thing to catch all these corrupt officials and replace them with new officials who have no experience and have no enthusiasm and no rules for handling government affairs.

While having a secret conversation with Shi Shangshu, I suddenly felt a chill in my heart.

Shi Shangshu didn't know that his frown was due to the change in spiritual energy in his body, and he had already entered the deep blue hole. He thought that his sudden frown was because he was a little disgusted with the Xizhou governor they were discussing, so he immediately changed the subject and said what this person had done.

Because it is too presumptuous, it must be investigated and dealt with strictly.

The officialdom is like this. The future and even the life and death of the officials below are only determined by the thoughts of those in high positions. This is also the scary part of the officialdom. While one is superior to others and bosses around, one must always be on guard.

There are two types of stable and close relationships. One is like-mindedness and sympathy for each other. The other is collusion and taking advantage of each other. The reason why Shi Shangshu dared to come to ask for mercy was simply because through Su Pingcuo's case, he discovered that he was not selfless and valued human kindness.

Shi Shangshu's matter of protecting his disciples can be regarded as a clue here, so he no longer hides and avoids it. He only said that Wu Yusheng, the newly appointed doctor of the Department of Hubu Duzhisi, is quite talented, and the officials can pay more attention to it.

There was no need to say too clearly who Shi Shangshu was. He understood it casually and did not make any superficial guarantees. He just repeated Wu Yusheng's name casually to show that he remembered this person.

The exchange of cups and cups at the banquet and the calling of brothers are actually of no use in bringing the relationship closer or promoting the relationship. As long as it is useful to the other party, the relationship will naturally develop naturally. The two chatted happily and did not go out to eat. They just asked the kitchen to cook a few things.

Meals are delivered to the house.

The relationship between the Ministry of Personnel and the Yushitai is very close. The Ministry of Personnel can retain the officials they want to appoint through the Yushitai, and can also investigate and deal with officials who are derelict and arrogant through the Yushitai. Although the Yushitai has the power to supervise all officials

However, it does not have the power to appoint or remove officials. When necessary, some personnel arrangements can be made through the Ministry of Personnel.

It was approaching the third watch, and Shangshu Shi had just boarded the sedan and left. When he returned to the backyard, Da Tou was feeding the horses in the west compartment. Seeing Shangshu seeing him off, he took the opportunity to come over and report to him the profitability of the Ni family's properties in various places.

The profit from the Ni family's industry is divided into two. Most of the profits related to the city of Chang'an are given to the inner government. The inner government is responsible for various affairs of the palace. The silver sent to the inner government becomes the emperor's.

He did this not to please, but to compensate. After all, when the court was preparing to attack the Ni family, he sent away the Ni family privately. This was tantamount to going against the emperor, and the emperor was very embarrassed. Now he has taken away the Ni family's property.

Giving the proceeds to the emperor would also let the emperor know that he was grateful that the emperor did not forcibly keep everyone in the Ni family that day.

Many of the Ni family's properties are scattered in major state capitals outside of Chang'an. He did not bring this part of the income to Chang'an, but kept it in the local area. There are many considerations in doing so. First of all, Chang'an is a place of right and wrong.

, I cannot live in Chang'an for a long time. Secondly, my money is scattered everywhere. If I need to replenish military supplies for Zhang Shan's army in the future, I can also allocate it calmly. If I move the money to Chang'an and transport it out in the future, who can tell?

Does the money belong to him or to the Ministry of Accounts?

After listening to Datou's report, Datou did not answer immediately. Seeing this, Datou thought he was tired and prepared to get up and leave.

"Wait." shouted Da Tou.

After hearing the sound, Da Tou returned to his seat, picked up the teapot and poured a glass of water.

He let out a long sigh and said, "I went to the Household Department today to check the account books of the Warehouse Department. The grain reserves in Zhizhou and Shuzhou are not as much as I expected."

Datou knew the relationship with Li Zhongyong and Chen Liqiu, so when he mentioned Zhizhou and Shuzhou, he immediately understood why he sighed, because Li Zhongyong and Chen Liqiu had previously sent troops from Pingzhou and Shenzhou and went south to capture Zhizhou and Shuzhou.

The reason why the two men led their troops southward was because the food and grass supplies in Pingzhou and Shenzhou had been exhausted.

Has been exhausted.

It has been several months since the two men captured Shuzhou, and the food and grass in the city must have been exhausted. It is now a time of drought, and famine is occurring everywhere. Other states and counties have court relief, but Li Zhongyong, Chen Liqiu and the people of the four states

We can only fight hard.

"Sir, there is the Ni family's rice shop and cloth shop in Zuzhou, which can squeeze out 80,000 taels," Datou said, "Zuzhou is located on the south bank, and Shuzhou is to the north of the Yangtze River."

After talking, he didn't answer the call.

Da Tou guessed what he was thinking and said again, "I'm also worried that the news will leak out. If the court knows that we secretly provide food and grass for them, Long Yan will be furious."

Said, "The reason why the imperial court did not move them is because there is not enough time. At present, the recruitment of 300,000 new troops has been completed. Their location connects the north and the south. After the new army is formed, the imperial court will definitely be the first to attack them."

"Yes, procrastinating like this is not an option," Datou said very worriedly, "Sir, is there no possibility of recruiting someone?"

He shook his head slowly, "Do you think the emperor doesn't know about my relationship with them? If the emperor really wanted to recruit them, he would have given me hints long ago."

Datou didn't answer the call because he really couldn't think of a feasible way.

After a long silence, he said, "The Ministry of Revenue has received an official document. Leprosy epidemics have occurred on both sides of the Taiwan Strait recently. You can use the opportunity of epidemic prevention and medication to secretly go to Shuzhou to see the situation there and ask them what their plans are?"

"

The boss nodded in agreement, then turned to ask, "Sir, what do you want them to do?"

He shook his head and said, "The reason why they haven't moved yet is probably because they hope that I can mediate and try to recruit them, but the emperor has no intention of recruiting them, and there is nothing I can do. You should go and see what they think first."

"Okay," Datou nodded, "Should I go empty-handed?"

He shook his head and said, "The four states of Pingshen, Zhishu and Shu have been designated by the imperial court as rebel territory, and surrounding cities are strictly prohibited from doing business with them. It is useless for you to bring money there. They are not short of money, they are short of food."

"We also have food." Datou said.

"Send some over, try to be as discreet as possible." He said.

"When should I leave?" Big Head asked.

"Let's leave tomorrow." He said.

"Okay, then I'll go back and clean up." Datou left his seat and stood up.
Chapter completed!