Finally, Sheng Xiaoqi, led by the female envoy, came to visit Sheng Changbai.
No matter what, these brothers and sisters can come and visit Sheng Changbai after she comes back.
Sheng Changbai was still a little relieved. It was not in vain that Sheng Changbai had worried a lot about these younger brothers and sisters.
At three o'clock in the afternoon, Sheng Changbai finally waited for Sheng Hong to come back.
Sheng Hong travels by horse-drawn carriage. Because of the traffic jam, it will inevitably take longer than Sheng Changbai's previous commute by horseback.
"Greetings to father."
After Sheng Hong went to Wei Ruixuan, Sheng Changbai also went there.
"My father heard about what you did in Xuzhou. You encouraged farmers to cultivate mulberry trees and build rivers and embankments. As an official, you can benefit a place. You have lived up to the family motto of our Sheng family and my father's teachings over the years."
After not seeing each other for more than a year, Sheng Hong still had to act like an old father.
"It's good that I didn't disappoint my father." After answering, Sheng Changbai began to ask: "Father, I served well in Xuzhou, how could I be suddenly transferred back to the capital?"
"Let's go to the study to talk." Sheng Hong said after pondering for a while.
"Dongrong, go out and watch, don't let anyone come to the study."
After arriving at the study, Sheng Hong told Dong Rong.
She came to the study again and asked Dongrong to guard the door. Sheng Hong looked like he wanted to talk about something private.
"Bai'er, the officials asked you to return to Beijing this time." Sheng Hong said with a serious face.
"For no reason, why did the officials think of me?"
Although Sheng Changbai had the right to report to the emperor, there was no conflict between Sheng Changbai and Huang Zhizhou.
Apart from the routine memorial of greetings to the emperor, he had no personal communication with the emperor.
How could a little general judge who was let out be worth worrying about for the already anxious old emperor?
"Because you have made good political achievements in Xuzhou, my in-laws and I asked someone to put in a few good words for you in front of the officials, hoping to save you some troublesome time. I didn't expect the officials to listen. After that, I remembered you and wanted to call you back to Beijing."
"Mokan" is the assessment of civil and military officials in the Zhou Dynasty. It is the responsibility of the state government and the chiefs of the hundred divisions. There is a small test every year and a big test every three years. It is based on "goodness", which is the behavioral character, and "best", which is the ability to do things. Points are used. The method is divided into nine levels and injected into the examination certificate. At the end of the period, the advancement and decline of officials will be determined based on the performance evaluation.
During the Great Zhou Dynasty, a court of judges was set up to take charge of the evaluation and promotion of officials. However, most officials above the imperial court had to be personally examined and promoted by the emperor.
Sheng Hong and Sheng Changbai's father-in-law obviously had good intentions and wanted the old emperor to help Sheng Changbai become a first-level official.
Unexpectedly, this kind words reminded the emperor of Sheng Changbai.
"Father, why do you and I, future Master Taishan, have to do this? I haven't even reached the crown yet. It's not necessarily a good thing if I'm too young and my position is too high."
Sheng Changbai inevitably had some unpleasant emotions when he spoke.
"Changbai, no matter what, it is a good thing that you can return to Beijing. Why do I think you are still reluctant?"
Sheng Hong also heard Sheng Changbai's displeasure.
"I still have a lot of unfinished business in Xuzhou. Of course I won't be reconciled if I haven't finished everything. Besides, with the current turbulent situation in the capital, there is no place for peace."
After hearing that it was the old emperor's intention, Sheng Changbai was even more unhappy. Sheng Changbai really didn't want to get involved with the current old emperor.
When the old emperor was young, he was kind, diligent, and caring for the people, and he was considered a qualified emperor.
But after all his sons died, the old emperor was left with only one benevolent one.
I spent the whole day playing Tai Chi with the ministers in the hall, trying to find ways to delay the establishment of the throne.
If you don't do any serious business and just argue about these things all day long, there is no nutrition at all. It is obviously a waste of time for Sheng Changbai and the old emperor to play together.
"You are at peace locally, but haven't you also missed this opportunity to 'change the world'?"
As the saying goes, once the emperor comes to power, there will be a big wave of job adjustments after the new emperor takes office.
Therefore, neutralists like Sheng Hong want to stay in Bianjing one by one even if they know that the situation in Bianliang is dangerous.
When the new emperor wants to clear out the old ministers of the previous dynasty, he will be able to seize the opportunity first.
The emperor couldn't think of those officials who were sent out for a while.
"That's all, father, does he know how the official family will deal with me?"
Sheng Hong was still obsessed with officials. Sheng Changbai told Sheng Hong that he didn't care, and Sheng Hong wouldn't support it. Sheng Changbai stopped talking about it and asked about the importance of his new position.
"In the past few days, I have also asked people to inquire about the officials. It seems that the officials want you to be the censor."
"Since I became an official, I have always been cautious in my words and seldom wrote memorials. How can I look like a public official?"
Sheng Changbai didn't think that even though he didn't like to talk, the emperor wanted to make him a troll.
"Maybe it's because you are like this that the officials have taken a fancy to you. When choosing an official, three things are important. The first is not to love wealth, the second is to cherish honor and integrity, and the third is to know how to govern the body. You meet all the conditions. , only the officials would want to transfer you to the Yushitai."
According to what Sheng Hong said, in terms of integrity, character, and political experience, Sheng Changbai actually fits the bill.
"Father, is there any room for maneuver in this matter?"
Sheng Changbai himself could not influence the emperor, so he could only let Sheng Hong think of a way.
"There is no room for maneuvering with the wishes of the officials. The officials chose you to be the official because they believe in your character. The official is also noble and cannot be asked for by others. Is there anything else you don't want to do?"
Although the censorship is an offending position, it is indeed a good position. It is a low-ranking and powerful position, and one can criticize the prime minister at the top and the county magistrate at the bottom.
The salary is also high, the salary and allowances are large, and you can also gain fame in Shilin by swearing at others.
He is not afraid of the powerful, he is upright, he is dedicated to serving the public, and he cares about the people. He just wants to scold a few people in power for their scandals.
You can gain a huge reputation among the people of Shilin.
But this is definitely not a good time. The officials the old emperor needs at this time must be against the civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty, King Yong, and King Yan.
Acting as the censor according to the old emperor's wishes was against Sheng Changbai's original intention.
If the old emperor doesn't follow his wishes, of course he won't do it, and he doesn't know how he will make things difficult.
"The official is sending me to the Yushitai at this time. He must want me to speak out for him and do the right thing for the civil and military affairs of the Manchu Dynasty. How should I do this job?"
Establishing a reserve as soon as possible is in the interest of everyone except the old emperor.
Sheng Changbai thought about it, and the old emperor suddenly thought of himself.
Perhaps it was during the imperial examination that in order to get a better ranking, Sheng Changbai's attitude towards the matter of establishing a prince was a bit ambiguous when he wrote the policy papers.
The old emperor was made to think that Sheng Changbai was an imperialist and a pure minister, leaving behind future troubles.
Thinking that this matter might have been buried by Sheng Changbai himself, Sheng Changbai could not blame Sheng Hong and his future father-in-law. At this time, he was trying to express his merits in front of the emperor and accidentally buried it in the dirt.
At this point, Sheng Hong also understood that this was not a good job for Sheng Changbai: "After taking office, you just stay the same and continue to be cautious in your words and deeds. After that, we will think of a way to find an opportunity to transfer the Yushitai as soon as possible. That’s it.”
"That's all it can do."
It would have been a pleasure to be a professional troll, but it was a pity that I couldn't troll as much as I wanted because the time was not right.
"Now that you have returned to Beijing, your marriage to the Hai family should also be put on the agenda. The Guan family's health has not looked good recently. Only by completing the wedding with the Hai family as soon as possible can people feel at ease. The wedding date is not close. Will it be delayed due to any accident or delay for too long?
You should stop using your age as an excuse. My father and Mr. Hai both mean this now, and this is also an important reason why the two of us want you to return to Beijing to take up a position."
What Sheng Hong said was somewhat cryptic.
But the meaning is not difficult to understand. If the old emperor dies, it will be a national mourning.
Even if a commoner's family has to mourn for the emperor, they are not allowed to entertain or marry for a hundred days.
The officials of the Sheng family who were able to serve as officials were considered to have received a lot of favor from the emperor.
Let's be careful, no matter what, we should break off the marriage for a year to show gratitude and respect to the emperor.
In case the old emperor died unknown, Sheng Changbai's original plan to get married next year when he was over 20 years old could not wait any longer, so he had to get married as early as possible.
"Listen to father's arrangements."
There was really no room for rebuttal, so Sheng Changbai agreed.
The next day, Sheng Changbai entered the palace and waited for a long time before finally meeting the old emperor.
The old emperor's body seems to be getting weaker and weaker. There is a hereditary disease in the old Zhao family. The emperor used a large amount of cinnabar, mercury, and lead as painting materials in the house decoration. He has lived in an environment surrounded by such heavy metals all his life. How can he survive? It's not easy to reach this age.
Under such circumstances, being able to live for more than fifty years is definitely considered a long life.
After being encouraged by the emperor, Sheng Changbai could see the old emperor's ardent hope even though he didn't say a few words.
I hope that if any of the ministers persecutes the emperor too much, Sheng Changbai will find something to blame.
"Promoting Dr. Taichang, Xuzhou Tong sentenced Sheng Changbai to be the Dali Zheng and supervising censor."
Now Sheng Changbai's salary-paying officers and service officers have all become the seventh rank.
The old emperor finally gave Sheng Changbai a salary increase.
It has increased a bit, but not much. It is only a few qian per month. If Sheng Changbai wants to go against his heart and go against the civil and military forces of the Manchu Dynasty, this little bargaining chip is far from enough.
Although Sheng Changbai also sympathized with the old emperor, none of his biological sons grew up and all died young.
But since I lost my own son, I decided to adopt someone else’s child earlier.
He was not good enough, and he was not willing to adopt his eldest nephew, so the country had no development for several years, and was constantly at war with each other just for the sake of the position of prince.
One person's unhappiness affects the lives of hundreds of millions of people. If you think about it, there is no need to sympathize with the old emperor too much.
Sheng Changbai, the newly appointed censor, is mainly responsible for supervising the Ministry of Etiquette.
Although the Department of Rites is not low in the ranking among the six departments, it is indeed a department with little real power and mundane affairs in normal times.
If the imperial examination system of the Great Zhou Dynasty had not been relatively complete and had not been placed under the management of the Ministry of Rites, there would have been only one Qinggui left in the Ministry of Rites.
If it wasn't because of the emperor's promotion, after Sheng Changbai took office.
The first thing to do is to remonstrate. The old emperor himself is inconsistent with etiquette. He is so old and does not establish a heir to the country. The country has no heir. How can the court be stable?
The old emperor assigned this position to Sheng Changbai, and it was indeed suitable for him to find trouble.
All civil and military officials are ordinary people, and none of them are saints. How can anyone find something inconsistent with etiquette?
Some small details, some minor mistakes, usually nothing happens.
But when the emperor wants to mess with someone, moral and etiquette errors are enough for the emperor to remove officials.
The emperor gave Sheng Changbai this position, so Sheng Changbai could not completely fish.
But Sheng Changbai can make his own choice as to which officials he wants to join.
Not willing to mess around, Sheng Changbai could only find a few dancing, greedy and insatiable corpses to vent his anger on the emperor.
All officials can file a complaint, but the advantage of the Yanguan is that they can hear about the report and can file a complaint with just the vague information and no evidence.
After the complaint was filed, the emperor nodded, and others would investigate the evidence.
Just rant, not responsible for the evidence, this kind of thing is still very enjoyable to do.
There are very few people who make no mistakes at all. Even an official can restrain himself well.
But it may not be possible to restrain the family members well. If a family member makes a mistake, the officials themselves can also be implicated.
Even among officials, the Sheng family has a relatively high moral bottom line.
But if you really want to go to Sheng's house and investigate, you can still find a lot of mistakes.
Not to mention other things, Sheng Hong's brother-in-law, the Kang family, killed many people in the backyard. Sheng Hong had done a lot of work to help the Kang family cover up, which is enough to be regarded as a case of favoritism and perversion of the law.
Therefore, we need to have high requirements for the moral standards of the officials. Otherwise, if the officials cooperate with the emperor and start to bite, it will be easy for everyone to be in danger and panic.
At the imperial court, Sheng Changbai handed over several people to vent his anger on the emperor.
After setting the first fire at the Yushitai and temporarily dealing with the old emperor.
Sheng Changbai began to care about family affairs again. Sheng Changbai was mainly concerned about other people's affairs.
Sheng Changbai didn't need to worry about his own marriage, Wang Ruofu was taking care of it.
The latest thing happening at home is that Mo Lan’s wedding ceremony is coming soon.
"Mother, you can temporarily stop my wedding preparations. Mo Lan's haircut ceremony needs you to take care of it."
The daughter's hairstyle ceremony mainly involves changing her childhood hair style, twisting her hair into a bun, then wrapping the bun with a bun, and then using hairpins to secure the bun.
The person who performs the hairpin ceremony is the female head of the family, and the female guest invited is a girl with a hairpin, which means that the girl can get married when she reaches adulthood.
The more female guests come and the higher the status, the more honorable the woman who gets her haircut will naturally be.
This kind of thing should have been handled by Wang Ruofu. Lin Jiaoshuang was just a concubine and was not qualified to handle this kind of thing.
But Wang Ruofu still has a deep grudge with Lin Zongshuang, and he is not willing to care about Lin Zongshuang's daughter Mo Lan.
I just thought that Sheng Changbai was too busy preparing for the wedding, so I planned to skip Mo Lan's hairpin ceremony.
Mo Lan and Lin Zhishuang believed that they had never been weaker than others in their lives, and they would not accept Mo Lan's gift of haircut.
Lin Zheshuang couldn't control Wang Ruofu, but she could always control Sheng Hong. Sheng Hong went to Wang Ruofu again, but Wang Ruofu refused. Lin Zheshuang made trouble with Hong Lang again, and the cycle continued, and the family became noisy again.
