Chapter Five Hundred and Twenty Two Give the Officials a Big Exam
"Our Majesty is good at everything. He brought several of Chang Yuchun's children to the palace, as well as Xu Da's children. He always thought that he could teach them well. If he had this ability, why would he dump the prince?
Give me!"
While Zhang Ximeng was peeling pumpkin seeds for his wife, he complained unceremoniously.
"Don't worry, our baby won't be snatched away as long as I'm here. I have a hundred ways to make His Majesty give up his thoughts."
Jiang Nan listened silently, and her thoughts were more on the pumpkin seeds. If she eats more, the child will get more points. The little thing is growing up every day, becoming whiter and more beautiful, and it is simply hard to put it down.
How could such a good child be handed over to others?
"Sir, there is no need to worry, I can handle this matter well." Jiang Nan said with a smile: "No matter how domineering your majesty is, it is not easy to separate the mother and the child. I have already written to the queen, so there is no need to worry, sir. In fact, let me say
, I don’t want our son to be too close to the prince.”
Zhang Ximeng thought for a while, nodded and said: "I don't want to either, but in our position, we can't hide even if we want to!"
Jiang Nan said: "Then I have to find a way. My husband, I don't want to say that there is much right and wrong in the palace. Just from the perspective of raising children, if you are surrounded by a bunch of princes since you were a child, it is a tall and profound palace. I am afraid that this child
There will be no achievements. In other words, if this child can only circle around a few princes, then he will waste his time in life. I want my child to see more of the world, all kinds of religions and nine streams, and have more friends of all kinds. Three hundred and sixty lines,
Everyone needs to be exposed to it. Let him choose whatever he likes and what he can accomplish."
Jiang Nan said, grabbed a handful of pumpkin seeds, threw them into his mouth, and chewed them happily.
"With our abilities, if we can't let our children make their own choices, who else in the world can do it?"
Zhang Ximeng smiled and nodded, knowing that his wife would say this.
This is Jiang Nan's temper, and this is what Zhang Ximeng admires about her.
A person must strive to live his or her own life. It is unlikely that Zhang Ximeng will position his son as a close minister of the emperor or follow any prince as soon as he is born. Even Zhu Biao does not have this qualification.
The Zhang family already has a prime minister, will the next generation make the same mistake again?
In contrast, Zhang Ximeng hoped that his son could pursue an academic career, become a chemist, and live to tinker with Zhang's three laws of mechanics, Zhang's theory of relativity, and Zhang Xianggong's cat... This is no more promising than the boring government affairs.
Or set sail to the sea, conquer the world, and aim in all directions... Why is it not the same way? Why can't it be remembered in history?
Zhang Ximeng thought about this and pinched his son's face casually. He exerted a slight force. The little boy felt pain and frowned. After a moment, he started crying with a loud cry.
Jiang Nan saw this and turned his head to the side angrily, too lazy to look at this bastard father.
"Stop bullying your son and comfort him quickly. Don't break your throat from crying."
Zhang Ximeng said with a smile: "How could it be possible? He can't do anything now. He can only rely on crying to exercise his lung capacity. If you want your son to be strong, you have to do anything! Besides, if you don't give birth to a son,
What’s the value of having fun?”
Jiang Nan was furious, "Okay, okay, you have a lot of sense... Let me remind you, if His Majesty sees you like this, he will definitely say that you don't know how to take care of children, and then take your son away. I see you
Will you cry then?"
"Yes, yes?" Zhang Ximeng quickly withdrew his sinful slap, and seemed to want to be nice to the child, otherwise he would be taken away.
In this way, after a full month and a half, Jiang Nan has long since recovered, and her little thing has become better-looking, with bright eyes, delicate skin, especially a big head, and short limbs, which are more beautiful than young bamboo shoots.
cute.
The perfect head-to-body ratio, similar to that of a giant panda, is born to make people cute.
From the initial shock and hesitation, Zhang Ximeng gradually accepted it, and then couldn't put it down. He held the child in his arms all day long, regardless of whether his son understood or not, reading him various books and holding him in the sun.
However, it was obvious that the happy time was short-lived. Under Zhu Yuanzhang's repeated urging, Zhang Ximeng's family of three had to leave and return to Yingtian.
When I left, it was still the first year of Hongwu. When I returned, it was almost the third year of Hongwu. Even Zhu Di could wear crotchless pants and run around the world.
After being away from the center for so long, Zhang Ximeng really felt like he was in another world.
He only had a brief acquaintance with many ministers, and there were a few whom he didn't know at all.
It's just that Li Shanchang's old smiling face remains the same, without any change.
"Prime Minister Zhang, you are finally back! Without your help, the government would be in such a mess that I don't even know how I got here!"
Zhang Ximeng laughed and said, "Brother Li is so polite. When I come back, we can push the cart forward without falling over!"
Li Shanchang was startled, and then said with the same smile: "Xiang Zhang, I think you are getting more and more powerful. I can't even see your back anymore."
Zhang Ximeng waved his hand, "Brother Li, there is no need for us to be polite. Let's go to Beijing as soon as possible."
Li Shanchang nodded, and just like that, Zhang Ximeng returned to Yingtian surrounded by the officials who came to greet him.
Zhang Xianggong finally arrived at the loyal Yingtian. When he came back, Zhu Sheng came to see Zhang Ximeng after just a few days of rest.
"Mr. Fenglin, how is your health? Have you recovered?"
Zhu Sheng had more white hair on his head, and he could only sigh: "At my age, I am good or bad. If I don't lie down for a month or two every year, the Lord of Hell won't agree."
The old man smiled and said: "Xiang Zhang, you are finally back. Someone should take charge of the overall situation of the imperial court."
Zhang Ximeng frowned, quite surprised.
"Mr. Fenglin, Prime Minister Li has been presiding over the government affairs. Everything is in order and the Lord has no objections. Why do you say this?"
Zhu Sheng had a smile on his face and looked like "What are you pretending to be?"
"Prime Minister Zhang, if you ask me to tell you, I will tell you the truth... In fact, all of us know that Li Shanchang is sitting in that position, and his virtue is not worthy of it! You, Prime Minister Zhang, are His Majesty's true prime minister! This is true regardless of morals and martial arts. Everyone understands this.
You know it. In the past, you were unwilling to take a step forward, and we all can understand it. After all, you are still young. But now that you have a family and a career, and you have become a father, it is the right time to take a step up and take charge of hundreds of officials!
"
Zhang Ximeng couldn't help being surprised.
So giving birth to a son can objectively help me to advance a step further?
It doesn't seem unreasonable.
If you don't have hair on your lips, you can't do your job well.
As a prime minister, you should indeed have a suitable family.
After all, how can we govern a country if we can’t organize our families?
Although Zhang Ximeng worked hard to separate his family, country, and world, he had to admit that if his background was too special and he could not understand the joys, sorrows, joys, and thoughts of ordinary people, he would not be able to preside over government affairs.
But... this is not important. As soon as he came back, Zhu Sheng encouraged him to replace Li Shanchang. Has the court already reached this point?
"Mr. Fenglin, Mr. Li has worked hard over the years without complaint and has done a good job. Are you too prejudiced against him?"
Zhu Sheng shook his head repeatedly, "Prime Minister Zhang, it goes without saying that Li Shanchang is a hundred times better than me when it comes to doing things. He is selfish, likes to seize power, and forms cliques for personal gain. This is also a fact. Especially recently, with the establishment of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, originally
His six-ministry structure has long since ceased to exist. If he still has the final say in the reform of the official system, I am afraid that the entire court will be filled with soldiers from the Li family!"
Zhang Ximeng frowned and became more and more surprised.
"Mr. Fenglin, have you passed it? How could this happen?"
Zhu Sheng laughed and said, "Prime Minister Zhang, you are deliberately pretending to be stupid! Among the earliest civil servants in the current court, there are not many left. Jia Gong is still managing the river in Kaifeng, and I am not in good health. Today, Zhongshu Province
, it is Li Shanchang who has the final say. Originally, there were six departments, the Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of War, which could compete with Li Shanchang. There was also a Yushitai outside. But now there are several more departments, not to mention restraining Li Shanchang. Everyone has to fight for it.
They are scrambling to curry favor, and only by currying favor with Prime Minister Li can they get the budget. Although everyone knows that Li Shanchang is not qualified to hold the high position of left prime minister, there is nothing they can do about it. After all, except for Prime Minister Zhang, no one can defeat Li Shanchang."
Zhang Ximeng listened patiently, and he gradually understood Zhu Sheng's thoughts.
The establishment of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is a signal. Together with the previously separated Taxation Department, the original six-ministry structure will have to be reshuffled. There is no doubt that if Li Shanchang continues to sit in the position of Zhongshu and Left Prime Minister, even if Zhang Ximeng still maintains his position
He is aloof, but it cannot stop the people below from worshiping Li Shanchang.
After all, you are noble and unwilling to form cliques for personal gain, but there are always people who need to find shelter to survive in the government and share a little more along the way.
It is almost inevitable that more and more people will gather around Li Shanchang.
"Mr. Fenglin, you mean to take down Li Shanchang and let me take over all the power, right?"
"This..." Zhu Sheng's expression changed slightly, "Xiang Zhang, I can trust your character, and the superiors can trust you as well. You must be fair in your dealings, far better than Li Shanchang."
Zhang Ximeng smiled helplessly, "Mr. Fenglin, you really think highly of me. In fact, we don't like Mr. Li, but sitting in that position, who can't be Li Shanchang?"
Zhu Sheng was shocked and said, "Xiang Zhang, it's hard for me to understand what you're saying. Are you just going to sit back and ignore it?"
Zhang Ximeng thought for a while and said with a smile: "No, Mr. Fenglin won't forget, right? I'm still in charge of Menxiasheng, it's time to let Menxiasheng move!"
"Menxiasheng?"
"Yes!" Zhang Ximeng nodded with a smile, "I am going to conduct a professional evaluation of the officials in the yamen, comprehensively judge their abilities, and give them a score. The capable ones will be promoted, and the mediocre ones will be demoted. By the way, we will rectify the government situation.
Improve the abilities of officials."
Zhu Sheng couldn't help but take a deep breath. When the Menxia Province was first established, everyone didn't seem to pay much attention to it, especially since Zhang Ximeng had not done much in the past few years. Everyone just thought that the Du Branch was scary.
But I never thought that the truly powerful Menxia Province has not been officially launched yet!
The lifeblood of all officials in the world lies in their subordinates... Therefore, instead of replacing Li Shanchang, it is better to make officials more professional, instill discipline and rules in them, and directly change the structure of the entire officialdom.