When Zhao Hongrun rescued Wen Qi from Dali Temple and took him to Prince Su's Mansion, Shang Zhou Yan of the Ministry of Punishment had already arrived at the headquarters of the Ministry of Personnel and met Shang Hemei of the Ministry of Personnel.
He Mei, the Minister of Civil Affairs, is already a veteran minister who has been in office for many years. He is not much younger than Cao Zhi, the former Shang of the Ministry of Industry.
But now that Cao Zhi, the former minister of the Ministry of Industry, has resigned and begged for old age, among the six ministers of the imperial court, He Mei is the oldest, followed by Li Huan, the minister of the Ministry of War.
As for Minister Zhou Yan of the Ministry of Punishment, Li Liang of the Ministry of Household Affairs, and Du You of the Ministry of Rites, although these people are already over forty years old, compared with Cao Zhi, He Mei, Li Huan and others, they can be said to be in their prime.
prime of life.
"What kind of wind is blowing today? It actually brought Mr. Zhou here..."
When meeting Zhou Yan, the official Shang He Mei said with a smile.
To be fair, the Ministry of Personnel is now under the control of Prince Hongli of the East Palace, while the Ministry of Justice is under the control of Yong Wang Hongyu. If it were not for the fierce fight between the two princes, there would have been no conflict between the Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of Justice, and He Mei and Zhou Yan had no personal relationship.
On the gap mustard.
Putting aside the fights between the princes, the object of resentment among the officials was actually the Ministry of Rites. Who allowed the right to host the imperial examinations that originally belonged to the officials to now belong to the Ministry of Rites?
It is no exaggeration to say that there was a fraud case against Wenqi during this year's general examination. Many officials from the Ministry of Personnel secretly watched the joke made by the Ministry of Rites and took the opportunity to add insult to injury as revenge. Therefore, it is no wonder that Shang Duyou of the Ministry of Rites hated Wenqi so much.
"Sir He, I came here today to check your department's official registration library..." Shang Zhouyan of the Ministry of Punishment said straight to the point.
"..." He Mei stroked his gray beard and said nothing, but looked at Zhou Yan with a pair of slightly cloudy small eyes, with a hint of vigilance in his eyes.
After all, ever since Yong Wang Hongyu took over the Ministry of Punishment, the Ministry of Punishment has always put small shoes on the Ministry of Personnel. Now, when officials of the Ministry of Justice see people from the Ministry of Punishment, they will avoid them if they can, and they will hide whenever they can. They are no longer as tall as when they were the head of the Six Ministries.
Arrogant.
"What does His Highness King Yong want to do?" He Mei said with a pretending nonchalant smile.
After hearing this, Shang Zhouyan, the Minister of Punishment, smiled slightly but said nothing.
Although his coming today actually has nothing to do with Yongwang Hongyu, he doesn't mind taking advantage of it. After all, pulling Yongwang Hongyu's tiger skin is more effective than him, the Minister of Punishment.
Maybe this trick doesn't work for others, because of the current situation in Daliang, the prestige of Prince Hongli of the East Palace has almost completely surpassed that of King Yong Hongyu, but Zhou Yan believes that the official Shang He Mei in front of him will definitely be able to tell something about others.
The truth that has been ignored.
Sure enough, seeing Zhou Yan pretending to be profound and silent, He Mei, the official official, thought for a while and said with a bit of ridicule and sarcasm: "In that case, Mr. Zhou, just go on your own. Anyway, my official status in the official department is
Tibetan Treasury, Mr. Zhou, you have been coming and going for a long time, and you will not be able to touch it."
Zhou Yan smiled slightly when he heard this and didn't care. He cupped his hands and said with a smile, "Thank you very much."
After saying that, he stood up and walked towards the depths of the Ministry of Civil Service.
Looking at Zhou Yan's leaving figure, the official Shang Hemei sighed worriedly and murmured: "I really envy that old guy Cao Zhi, he is so free now..."
It is undeniable that he does envy the Ministry of Works, because although the Ministry of Works does not have the support of a certain prince, with the relationship between the Ministry of Works and the Smelting Bureau, who would dare to despise the Ministry of Works now?
Compared with the past, the Ministry of Industry, which was at the bottom of the six ministries, is now booming. The Ministry of Personnel, which was once the head of the six ministries, is now in a plummeting position. Most of its power has been divided by the Ministry of Rites and the Yushijian, and is also being targeted by the Ministry of Punishments.
Every time he thought about this, He Mei wanted to follow the example of Cao Zhi, the former minister of the Ministry of Industry, who resigned from office.
It's a pity that he can't leave now, because the man in Chui Gong Hall still needs him to manage the mess of the Ministry of Personnel until the East Palace and King Yong decide the winner.
If Dong Gong wins, he will be replaced by Dong Gong's true confidant; and if King Yong wins, I believe King Yong will not let him sit in the position of Li Bu Shang again.
Once the emperor and his ministers come to power, no matter which new emperor comes to power, these old ministers will gradually fade out of the court. The only difference lies in the treatment they will enjoy in the future.
Therefore, He Mei was actually not very concerned about the battle between the East Palace and King Yong, even though his son was also working in the Ministry of Personnel.
"Why don't you go and have a drink with that old guy Cao Zhi today?"
In the deserted hall, a certain official was muttering to himself.
At the same time, Shang Zhouyan of the Ministry of Punishment had reached the library of the Ministry of Personnel based on his memory.
The library of the Ministry of Personnel, in layman's terms, is the archives room, which is a special place for storing files. However, the files placed here are all the files of imperial officials.
Regardless of whether he is in office or not, as long as he has served as a court official (county magistrate or above), even if he only served for one day, his files will be left in the official library, that is,
Commonly known as official status.
The Wei State has civil registration, official registration, noble registration, scholar registration, and guard (military) registration that just came out a while ago, etc., and they are preserved in different places.
The national registrations are classified according to each county and are stored in the county treasury of each county. The official registrations are hidden in the official department, the noble registrations are hidden in the Zongfu, and the scholar registrations are hidden in the Hanlin Office. The newly divided Wei registrations are now owned by
Collected by the General's Mansion.
Today, Zhou Yan found the official registration treasury of the Ministry of Personnel, in order to find the official registrations of Wang Ling, Ma Qi, Su Li and others.
In fact, to be precise, Ma Qi, who once served as the right military commander in front of the palace, should now be included in the General's Office. However, the General's Office was newly established not long ago, and there are many places that are not perfect, and have not yet been completed with the six departments of the imperial court.
I asked the clerk guarding the door of the warehouse for an oil lamp, and Shang Zhouyan of the Ministry of Punishment walked into the dimly lit warehouse holding the oil lamp.
The treasury containing official records is actually rows of tiles filled with rows of wooden shelves.
On the wooden shelf, the files of imperial officials over the years are neatly placed according to year.
It has to be said that few people come to this place. Although the Ministry of Officials sends people to clean it from time to time, it is still inevitable that there is dust everywhere.
No, Zhou Yan was choked by the dust as soon as he pushed them away.
He shook his head helplessly, held up the oil lamp, pushed open the door and walked in.
This warehouse had indeed been covered in dust for a long time. The wooden shelves and books were covered with a thick layer of dust. Zhou Yan even saw a spider crawling around.
"The second year of Hongde...the second year of Hongde..."
While muttering, Zhou Yan looked inside for the mark of Hongde's second year.
Because his old friend Wang Ling, like him, was an official who became an official in the second year of Hongde's reign. The only difference is that Zhou Yan spent several years in the Ministry of Punishment and rose through the ranks, and now he has become the chief official of the Ministry of Punishment.
As for Wang Ling, his luck was not very good. According to Zhou Yan's impression, not long after Wang Ling became the Vice Minister of the Wenxuan Department, he was transferred to Jiyang County as the county magistrate for unknown reasons.
It is undeniable that Jiyang is a prosperous county town in Wei State. In a sense, it is quite rich in oil and water, but compared with the officials in the capital, the status of local officials is definitely far inferior.
"Found it, the second year of Hongde."
After some searching, Zhou Yan found the label of Hong De's second year, and then began to look for the official registration book of his old friend Wang Ling.
"King...King...King..."
Zhou Yan's eyes scanned the labels on the wooden shelf one by one, and it didn't take long to find the official registration album of his old friend Wang Ling.
Taking out the bamboo album, Zhou Yan spread it out and saw that the bamboo album clearly recorded Wang Ling's origin, date of becoming an official, and the official positions he had held.
But what surprised Zhou Yan was that there was no record in the official register why Wang Ling was transferred to Jiyang County.
This is unreasonable.
You should know that when an official is transferred from his original position, the Ministry of Civil Affairs will leave corresponding records for future inspection.
To put it harshly, even if Wang Ling got into a fight with a colleague because he couldn't stand his style, corresponding records would be left in his official status.
The merit examination department of the Ministry of Personnel was established for this purpose.
But there is no record of Wang Ling’s official registration...
"..."
Zhou Yan frowned and thought for a moment, then immediately found the official registration books of Ma Qi, Su Li and others.
What surprised him was that many of the officials implicated in these headless cases had no record of why they were transferred from outside the country.
If Wang Ling was just one person, it might be due to an oversight by officials from the Gong Kao Department, but with so many people, it would be impossible for the Gong Kao Department to correct such an oversight.
In other words, this is what happened between Wang Ling, Ma Qi, Su Li and others: these people were probably involved in something back then and were transferred out afterwards.
There is only one person in Wei who can transfer these officials to other places without any reason, and that is...
Your Majesty? It was your Majesty who transferred these people to other places?
Zhou Yan swallowed his saliva subconsciously.
Of course, he did not think that the current Emperor Wei was behind the murder of these officials. After all, the transfer of these officials occurred more than ten years ago. If Emperor Wei wanted to harm them, these officials would not survive in the past few years.
The question is, why were these officials transferred by Emperor Wei?
From the second to the third year of Hongde, these people were transferred out one after another by His Majesty. Before that, what happened to Daliang? Wait...the second year of Hongde?!
The eyes of Shang Zhouyan, the Minister of Punishment, showed shock and confusion. He grabbed the official rosters of several officials in his hand, and his heart was pounding.
Found it! If there is no mistake, it is the same group of people... Whether it is the murderer who framed Wang Ling and other officials, or the murderer who killed the Chu envoy that His Highness King Su once asked me to track down... That's it! That's it!
in this way!
Zhou Yan, the Minister of Punishment, was overjoyed.
At this moment, he suddenly heard a slight movement inside.
"Who?! Come out!" Zhou Yan shouted alertly.
Not long after, a small official walked out from behind the wooden frame. He might have been surprised and said timidly: "Shang... Lord Shang, you... it's getting late. Our staff department is going to close down..."
"Oh." Zhou Yan's tense nerves gradually relaxed, and he nodded and said, "I understand, you can go out first."
"Yes." The clerk walked out.
Seeing this, Zhou Yan put the bamboo scroll under his ribs and walked towards the door.
However, when he came to the door and glanced at the footprints on the ground near the door, his expression changed slightly and he glanced outside the door in surprise.
For some reason, he felt a vague premonition in his heart.
After thinking for a moment, he immediately returned to his previous position and scratched the bottom of the wooden frame with his nails.
"Master Shang?" the junior official called from outside.
"I understand, I will be out soon."
Deliberately picking out a piece of sawdust and embedding it in his fingernails, Zhou Yan took a deep breath and stepped outside.