The court lackeys of the eight-hour workday

Chapter 7 This is what the contract says
"Don't throw the bowl at me, there's soup in it. I'm wearing a flying fish suit now, and if it gets dirty it would be an insult to the king."

Li Miao said.

In Li Miao's previous life, many people had the impression that Jinyiwei should wear Feiyu uniforms and carry embroidered spring swords.

actually not.

Under the productivity conditions of the feudal era, it was impossible to distribute embroidered uniforms to groups other than officials.

In fact, the uniforms of the Jinyiwei were ordinary official uniforms, while the tight-fitting clothes they wore when on duty were changed according to the style of the Ministry of War at the time.

The Feiyu Clothes were actually one of the rewards given by the emperor to meritorious ministers, subordinate officials, and others. Whether they could wear them depended on whether the emperor granted the gift.

There are four types of robes that were granted to Jinyiwei officials: python robe, flying fish robe, bullfighting robe, and unicorn robe. The flying fish robe that Li Miao was wearing was granted by the current emperor. It was a sin to get it dirty, or even to wash it.

Clothes like this bestowed by the emperor are rarely worn.

Wang Hai put this outfit directly on Li Miao because he expected Zhu Zai would do the same to Li Miao and took precautions in advance.

Sure enough, Zhu Zai was choked by Li Miao's words and put down the bowl in his hand.

But he still stared at Li Miao fiercely and breathed heavily.

After a while, Zhu Zaicai yelled angrily: "Look at you! You are like a piece of mud that can't be helped!"

Li Miao said without raising his head or opening his eyes: "Sir, I have been working under you for twenty years. You have long known that I am a piece of mud, why do you support me?"

"You keep forcing me to do this. The mud is uncomfortable, and you're still angry. Why don't you just treat me like a fart?"

"That lady——"

Zhu Zai was in his fifties, a member of the royal family. He was an old man with a bad temper but a decent demeanor. However, he was also annoyed by Li Miao's reckless attitude.

The hand holding the bowl just put it down and raised it again, and was about to throw the bowl at Li Miao's face.

"Hey, hey--" Li Miao straightened his chest, revealing the flying fish embroidered on his chest, and pointed at it with his hand. His intention was to remind Zhu Zai that it was the clothes bestowed by the emperor.

Snapped!
Zhu Zai threw the bowl to the ground angrily and pointed at Li Miao's nose and cursed.

"Why can't you just stand up for yourself and move! How long have you been a captain? Fifteen years, right?"

"You have been a captain under my command for seven years! You are still a captain under my command for twenty-three years! Do you want to be a captain for the rest of your life? "

"How many times have I given you so many chances? I haven't even put so much thought into my son's career! Can't you move your lazy bones and come up to share the burden with me!?"

Zhu Zai looked at Li Miao, who was leaning on the chair with an indifferent look on his face, as if he was disappointed in his friend.

"Why didn't you come back to report last night!?"

Li Miao replied: "I'm sleepy. Wang Hai brought back a few thieves, so I went back to sleep."

"Who cares about those bastards!? I'm asking why you let Yan Xiaosheng go!" Zhu Zai said. The few outlaws who were brought back from Yan Xiaosheng last night, some of them were experts who had made a name for themselves in the underworld, but in his mouth, they became bastards.

"Yan Xiaosheng's business is lucrative, and everyone wants to do it. Why do I insist on you going? Don't you understand?"

"I understand, I understand." Li Miao said.

"It's just that Qian Tongzhi is going to step down, and Yan Xiaosheng has a background in the Ministry of War. Do you want me to bring him back and hand him over to the Ministry of War? Then they will raise their hands and let me take Qian Tongzhi's position?" When the founding emperor of Dashuo established the Jinyiwei, he wanted to leave a secret service organization independent of the court for future emperors. Personnel promotions and salaries were all decided by the emperor. Only in this way could the loyalty and reliability of this secret service organization be guaranteed.

But rules are dead, people are alive. After several emperors and the court's game, the Jinyiwei is no longer just the emperor's private soldiers. The two assistants under the commander are now recommended by the Ministry of War. It is equivalent to the court planting a nail in the Jinyiwei.

Zhu Zai meant to have Li Miao capture the Ministry of War's white glove Yan Xiaosheng under the pretext of cleansing the capital, and make an exchange with the Ministry of War so that he could legitimately promote Li Miao to the position of Tongzhi.

From the highest to the lowest, the Jinyiwei consisted of the commander, the commander's associate, the commander's assistant, the pacification commissioner, the thousand-householder, and the hundred-householder. Li Miao's thousand-householder was of the fifth rank, and the commander's associate was of the third rank. This was a very rare promotion across ranks, which only happened in special yamen like the Jinyiwei.

If this kind of opportunity were offered outside, I'm afraid people would fight over it.

But Li Miao beat the man half to death, then let him go, letting Yan Xiaosheng to resolve the matter himself. He also talked to Yan Xiaosheng about a bunch of random things.

He had to have the leverage in his hand to have a basis for negotiation. If he released Yan Xiaosheng, it would only turn this matter into an unspoken exchange of interests.

It is thought that the Ministry of War will send a large sum of silver in a few days, but Zhu Zai's plan to ask the Ministry of War to promote Li Miao to the position of Tongzhi was not mentioned.

How could Zhu Zai, who had painstakingly found an opportunity, not be angry and furious?
He said angrily, "You are not a reckless man who only cares about practicing martial arts. You know this matter very well! Why do you have to go against me?"

"For so many years, so many times! Every time we want to promote you, you make trouble. You don't show up for roll call, you don't go for guard duty. You sleep when others take credit, and you cheer when others get promoted!"

"Others work from sunrise to sunset, but you work only four hours a day like a young master. Okay, you are very capable and good at martial arts, so I will tolerate you. But what does promotion have to do with you? Do you really want to be a fifth-rank captain? "

Zhu Zai's face turned red with anger. He paced back and forth in the room, cursing with every step he took. He cursed until his beard was disheveled and his clothes were wrinkled. He lost all the demeanor of a senior official and looked like an old man scolding his good-for-nothing son.

Seeing that Zhu Zai was really angry, Li Miao took his hands off his face, straightened his posture, and took out a yellowed piece of paper from his arms.

When Zhu Zai saw the paper, his momentum weakened and he waved his hand impatiently: "Don't talk about this crap!"

Li Miao ignored him and took the piece of paper from under the paperweight on his desk and unfolded it on the table.

The paper was vaguely written with words like "Li Miao" and "four hours a day", and the rest of the paper was stained with dried blood, making it black. Only a handprint could be seen at the bottom, which seemed to be someone's signature.

"I paid with my life for this. The fingerprints you placed on it were made with my blood," said Li Miao.

This happened when Li Miao was 20 years old and still a centurion.

At that time, he did a life-threatening task for Zhu Zai and almost died. Zhu Zai rescued him and helped the bloody Li Miao to ask him what he wanted.

As a result, Li Miao took out a "labor contract" imitated from his previous life and coaxed Zhu Zai to put his fingerprints on it.

Zhu Zai thought it was a joke from Li Miao, but he only worked four hours a day from then on. Every time Zhu Zai scolded him for being lazy, he would use this piece of paper to shut Zhu Zai up.

Every time Zhu Zai saw this piece of paper, he would think of Li Miao who was lying in his arms with bruises all over his body, and he would no longer make things difficult for him.

But, this time is different.

Zhu Zai was silent for a while, and finally said: "Li Miao, this is not a joke."

"Your Majesty has shown signs of aging in recent years. He has already built a mausoleum and is planning to pass on his burial and the throne to a prince."

"I won't be able to be the commander for long."

(End of this chapter)