On the eighth day of the Lunar New Year, Chen Mu finally had some free time.
Since the Western Han Dynasty started the practice of taking a break for officials, the Chinese New Year has been the happiest time for officials.
With a provincial holiday ranging from 15 days to 30 days, you can go back even if you are thousands of miles away.
Chen Mu's family have all come to Luoyang now, so the holiday is only 15 days.
Counting begins five days before the Chinese New Year, and officially begins work on the tenth day of the Lunar New Year.
There are still two days left, and he plans to spend some time with his wife and children. They will return to Qingzhou after the new year.
The Shaofu residence covers an area of several acres, and the backyard garden alone covers an area of two to three acres. It contains rockeries, ponds, bamboo forests, terraces, courtyards, and a large artificial lake.
The three brothers and sisters Chen Xiyu had a great time playing hide-and-seek with a few playmates in the rockery and bamboo forest.
Chen Mu and Qin Luofu were having a picnic and barbecue on the grassland by the lake.
Although the Chen family is not a wealthy family, it is still a large family in Puyin. Now that Chen Mu has become prosperous, his chickens and dogs have ascended to heaven. Most of his servants are from the Chen family, and they have brought some of their children to be the young man's playmates.
Needless to say, the Qin family is a bigger clan than the Chen family. After Qin Luofu married Chen Mu, his father-in-law married many of his parents' family members with a wave of his hand.
Logically speaking, keeping concubines is not a big deal in this era, but since the couple plays the harp in harmony, they naturally have no intention of keeping concubines.
Qin Luo was a virtuous man. When he first saw Chen Mu often fighting outside, he even advised Chen Mu to take a concubine with him for comfort.
Chen Mu smiled and refused, and said that in the future a law would be enacted to prohibit concubinage and that monogamy would be required.
This incident also caused Luo Fu to panic, thinking that it was because of her that Chen Mu wanted to break the laws established at that time.
But in fact, she didn't know that the monogamy system was stipulated to ensure a normal population fertility rate.
There is a saying in later generations that "you cannot be poor for more than three generations."
This sentence is correct.
Because rich people marry more and more, while poor people can't even get a wife. By the third generation, they don't even have any descendants, so they will naturally be poorer than three generations.
This phenomenon was not uncommon in ancient times, even in the difficult years of the founding of the People's Republic of China in later generations.
Chen Mu knew that he had an uncle, his grandma's brother.
Because the family was really poor, my uncle never married and had no children. He lived in a triangular thatched house made of wood and thatch in the countryside of his hometown.
Before Chen Mu had a promising future and was admitted to a prestigious school to develop abroad, his family was just an ordinary family, relying solely on his father's monthly salary to support him.
Even so, my parents still often go back to their hometown to visit and help my uncle and grandfather buy some rice, grain, fish meat and oil to improve their living conditions.
When I was in high school, I went to see it with my father once. At that time, my father lamented that my uncle and grandfather had a difficult life, and said that he wanted Chen Mu to study hard, earn more money in the future, and help his uncle and grandfather build a house.
As a result, by the time Chen Mu was admitted to the best university in the country, and then went to a foreign Ivy League school to study for a Ph.D., earning tens of thousands of dollars a month, his uncle and grandfather had already passed away.
If you are so poor that you don't even have a house in the deep mountains and old forests, and you really can't afford a wife, you will have to cut off your children and grandchildren, let alone three generations, maybe one or two generations.
Therefore, practicing monogamy is a trend and is also to ensure the fertility rate.
However, Chen Mu was not in a hurry to do this. He felt that he would have to consider this issue at least thirty or forty years later, perhaps when the others were gone and the next generation took over the court.
It’s not that the obstacles were big, but because of the war, the ratio of men to women in the late Eastern Han Dynasty was seriously unbalanced. Similar to Europe after World War II, there were more boys than girls.
Although most of the time, people who can take concubines are usually from rich families and have nothing to do with the poor.
But the war also liberated the land, with fewer people and more land. When productivity is greatly improved and the country's 30 to 40 million people can have enough to eat, it will naturally be possible to increase the fertility rate, at least not to the point of not being able to find a wife.
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The couple had a picnic and barbecue in the backyard. Barbecuing was a daily routine in this era. Starting from the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, people's common eating methods were boiling, frying, and roasting, and had nothing to do with stir-frying and frying.
Mainly Luo Fu was roasting, and Chen Mu was sitting on a recliner watching her roast. Today's weather is a rare sunny day after the new year. As winter passes and spring comes, everything is recovering.
The warm sunshine in the afternoon shone down and reflected on Luo Fu's fair and serious face, as if there was a golden halo, as holy as a fairy.
"Husband, what are you looking at?"
Luo Fu noticed that her husband had been staring at her and couldn't help but feel a little shy.
Chen Mu said with a smile: "Look at my wife's virtuousness, look at my wife's beauty."
Luo Fu Xiafei's cheeks became even more rosy. He flipped the skewers with both hands, but his movements were much slower, and he was secretly happy.
At this moment, the butler outside the door came to report: "Mr. Sir, there is a guest coming to visit."
"Didn't I ask you to close the door and say no to guests?"
Chen Mu frowned. Since the first day of the Lunar New Year, countless people have come to visit. By the eighth day of the Lunar New Year, they have closed the door to thank guests. Why can't they live in peace?
The steward replied: "They are Guang Luxun's two sons. They said they are here to pay New Year's greetings to Lang Jun on behalf of Guang Luxun."
"oh?"
Chen Mu's brows suddenly relaxed, he thought for a while, stood up and said, "Let them go to the study."
"yes."
The butler leaves.
Luo Fu asked: "Are there any guests coming again?"
Chen Mu smiled and said, "It's that old fox Sima Fang. He's afraid that I won't let his son become an official. You take care of the child first, and I'll be here soon."
Luo Fu said: "Hurry up and it will be cooked. If it's too late, it will be eaten by Xiyu and the others."
"knew."
Chen Mu waved his hand, turned around and walked out of the backyard to the atrium study.
After a while, the housekeeper brought someone in.
Sure enough, it was Sima Yi and another young man in white.
The young man was handsome and elegant in appearance, quite a bit like Chen Mu when he was young.
"Sima Yi, Sima Fu, have met the prime minister."
The two of them bowed and bowed.
Chen Mu's eyes lit up, he looked at Sima Fu and said, "Please sit down without courtesy."
"Thank you, Prime Minister."
The two stood up and sat on their left and right sides.
Chen Mu sat on it, looked at Sima Fu and nodded in approval: "Jiangong is so lucky. I heard that all eight sons are among the best. Where do you rank?"
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! "Hui Prime Minister, I am my father's third son, named Shuda."
Sima Fu replied seriously.
"oh."
Chen Mu nodded and said with a smile: "I heard that Sima Bada is knowledgeable about ancient times and the present, but I don't know what classics he can treat?"
"The Five Classics and Seven Strategies are all covered."
"Qi and Youhu fought in Ganzhiye. What did they do?"
"Gan oath."
"Building a city is not the capital."
"Any town with an ancestral temple and its ancestors is called the capital. If there is no town, it is called a town. A town is called a town, and the town is called a city."
Sima Fu knew that he was testing himself, so he answered seriously.
"good!"
Chen Mu said: "Let's go to the Ministry of Education and become a literature clerk first."
After saying that, he turned to look at Sima Yi again, smiling and saying nothing.
Sima Yi quickly cupped his hands and said: "Prime Minister."
"Zhongda, I feel wronged to you."
Chen Mu smiled.
Let Sima Yi take the blame in the first place for strategic purposes, and secondly to suppress him.
Naturally, Sima Yi didn't know. He thought that having fallen into Chen Mu's eyes would lead to a prosperous official career in the future, so he hurriedly said: "I am willing to go through fire and water for the prime minister."
"Um."
Chen Mu nodded: "You were accused before. You were promoted too quickly and attracted attention, so you came to my account as a low-level assistant and followed me. Although your promotion was slow, it was better than being stable.
After two years, I will promote you."
Sima Yi then said: "Everything depends on the Prime Minister's arrangements."
"Um."
Chen Mu then said: "Now that the imperial court has established a cabinet, do you understand the true purpose of the cabinet?"
Sima Yi thought for a while and asked tentatively: "Shang Shutai?"
"good."
Chen Mu said: "In the future, the cabinet ministers will be in charge of the power of the world. The chief assistant of the cabinet is the prime minister, and the cabinet ministers are the deputy prime ministers. On the tenth day of the lunar month, I will hold a cabinet meeting. Although you are not a cabinet member, you can come with me.
I will propose."
"Thank you, Prime Minister!"
Sima Yi was very excited. Everyone in the world knew that the cabinet would replace the Chancellor. Although the three ministers and nine ministers did not exist in name only, they could only take care of their own affairs. The real power must be in the hands of the cabinet.
If you can participate in cabinet meetings early and accumulate experience, I am afraid that it is a political achievement in itself, and your promotion speed in the future will naturally be much faster than ordinary officials.
The three of them chatted for a while and talked about some things. Brother Sima Yi didn't bother them much and left after achieving their purpose.
Watching their leaving figures, Chen Mu sneered in his heart.
Sima Fang is an old fox. The eight sons of the Sima family are all relatively outstanding. Now they are all trying to trick him, just like Bada followed the Cao family in history. The purpose of the fight is probably to use his own strength to make Bada rise quickly.
Although it is said in history that Sima Yi's success was inseparable from his own talent and hard work, the eight brothers of the Sima family were all officials in the court, so they naturally became a force.
For example, Sima Fu was the minister in charge of central power before the Gaopingling Incident. During the Gaopingling Incident, he and Sima Shi assisted Sima Yi in killing Cao Shuang's clan, and made great contributions to the Sima family's subsequent seizure of the world.
Maybe they don't have this intention now, but once these brothers take power, especially Sima Yi, and their ambitions grow, who knows whether they will have another Gaoping Ling incident in the future?
So on the surface Chen Mu agreed to his political ally Sima Fang and accepted the surrender of his sons, but whether he would allow them to be promoted too quickly and gain real power is naturally another matter.
At least Zhuge Liang is his apprentice and also his brother-in-law.
Chen Feng is 25 years old this year. There are countless people chasing her in Taishan Academy, but everyone knows that in her heart she only has Zhuge Liang, her playmate she grew up with.
After pacifying Nanyang the year before last, Zhuge Liang went back to Qingzhou to be engaged to Chen Feng, and finally completed the evening ceremony at the beginning of the year before last.
Zhuge Liang was 21 years old and Chen Feng was 23 years old at the time.
By this year, my nephew is almost one year old.
When it comes to cultivating a successor, if you don't choose Zhuge Liang, how can you choose Sima Yi?
The two days of rest passed quickly.
On the tenth day of the lunar month, it was finally time to go to work.
A lot of national affairs are still waiting for me to deal with.
Chen Mu left the prime minister's residence early in the morning, got on a carriage and entered the palace leisurely.
Now that the brand of the Shaofu Mansion has been changed, it would be too expensive to build a new Prime Minister's Mansion, so we'll just make do with it for now.
After entering Luoyang Palace along the bluestone paved stone bricks, we went straight to Yuntai.
Yuntai is located in the south of the West Palace, very close to the emperor's palace.
This is where the cabinet office will be from now on. When Chen Mu went there, all the cabinet members in Luoyang had basically arrived.
The first-class minister of records, that is, the deputy prime minister, was the only one present.
Because Jushou was in Guanzhong, Tian Feng was in Hedong, and Xun Yu was in Jizhou. Only Xun You came back after following Liu Bei to pacify Liaodong. Currently, he is the new Shaofu, and concurrently holds the positions of general, military advisor, rural marquis, and first-class cabinet secretary.
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The second-class councilor doctors resigned voluntarily after being sent abroad. Therefore, except for Hua Xin, Sun Qian, Shiyi, and Jian Yong who were sent abroad, the rest were Dong Zhao, Mao Jie, Wang Xiu, Bing Yuan, Sun Shao, and Cui Yandu.
arrive.
However, the second-class doctor doctor does not mean that there is less, because as mentioned before, if you have outstanding political performance in the local area, you will be transferred to the cabinet, which can be regarded as a political training.
This year, five people have entered the cabinet as second-class counselors. They are also from the Qingzhou faction, and they are five veterans: Wang Lang, Guoyuan, Gongsun Fang, Zuo Ji, and Liu Qian.
They all followed Liu Bei relatively early, and they basically joined before and after the Dong Dynasty. They have high seniority and their grades are no lower than the fourth grade.
The same is true for the third-class admonishment ministers. Eighty-nine people including Chen Deng, Man Chong, Zhang Ji, Du Ji, and Zao Zhi were sent to the local areas to serve as senior officials in the county. The rest, Jia Kui, Yang Fu, Du Xi, and Sima Lang,
Ren Jun and about ten others stayed in Luoyang as officials and also came to the meeting room.
In addition to them, the newly promoted third-class admonishment ministers include Zhuge Liang, Chen Qun, and Yang Xiu, as well as about 20 county-level officials who had extremely outstanding political achievements last year. In the future, these people will go to the county to serve as prefects.
Cheng, Sheriff Shi, etc.
In addition, like Sima Yi, the low-level officials who came in with Chen Mu to observe included Pang Tong, Xu Shu, Xiang Lang and others.
Zhuge Liang, Chen Qun, and Yang Xiu are not very old, but they have made great achievements following Chen Mu. They are now officials of the sixth or seventh rank, and they have already been ahead of Sima Yi and others in their official career.
However, Sima Yi was suppressed by Chen Mu, and Pang Tong, Xu Shuxianglang and others had just entered the official position. Their current positions were cabinet clerks with a rank of ninth grade. In addition to observing, their main duties were to record the contents of meetings and copy manuscripts.
However, this job is not a bad job that people dislike, it is completely a good job, and many descendants of officials in Luoyang are rushing to get it.
If you are exposed to discussions on national affairs at the level of cabinet meetings when you first become an official, and hang out in front of the emperor and prime minister every day, it will not only help your future official career a little or two?
So even if it was a clerical job, a lot of people were crammed into it.
The entire hall has a clear hierarchy from top to bottom. At the bottom is the third-class minister, who sits cross-legged in the lower hall. In the middle hall are the second-class doctors, sitting on the left and right. In the upper hall are the first-class ministers, who do not sit on mats.
Sit on a chair.
Although sitting on mats was a custom in the Han Dynasty, who made Liu Bei the boss and Chen Mu the second?
Now that their power has been stabilized, no one can say anything if they change it.
At the top of the upper hall is naturally the seat of the emperor.
Liu Bei will also attend cabinet meetings.
After Chen Mu entered and sat at the top of the upper hall, Xun You sat next to him.
After waiting for about half a quarter of an hour, Chang Shi Wang Zhi said loudly: "Your Majesty is here!"