Do You Know?: I, the Little Cabinet Elder, Regent of the World

He had indeed reached the point where he should get married.

"Let your mother take a look," Gu Yankai instructed, glancing at Madam Qin.

As a rough and uncouth military man, he didn't usually pay much attention to the women of noble families.

On the contrary, Lady Qin was quite prestigious among the women.

"Don't worry," Madam Qin said gently with a smile, "I will definitely find Tingye a good marriage."

Perhaps we could start from this angle?

Chapter 124 Changes in Court Officials!

Tea is roasted in the clear stream, and rice is scalded in the bamboo grove.

A stream about ten feet long flows gently, and a stove sits on the bank, fueled by pine and bamboo, with a tea kettle about a foot long hanging above it.

Jiang Zhao wore a light blue brocade robe with wide sleeves and a leather belt around his waist. He held a straw fan and gently fanned it, creating wisps of smoke.

Inside the stove, the tea was boiling, and Jiang Zhao would occasionally add some fresh goat milk and honey, stirring it with his chopsticks.

A few steps away from the stream, a pavilion was specially built. Sheng Hualan and Sheng Shulan sat facing each other. Dried fruit, pastries, and tea were laid out on the stone table, and a small chess set was placed in the center. The two women picked up the chess pieces and played the game with light laughter.

Enjoying a dried fruit or a pastry now and then, and sipping a cup of tea, is a truly leisurely and comfortable experience.

The two children, Jiang Huaijin and Jiang Heng, were either stuffing fruit into their mouths or fighting crickets together.

Every now and then, a joyful exclamation would draw attention.

"call!"

Jiang Zhao fanned himself with a straw fan and picked up a porcelain bowl, scooping out a bowl of specially made "milk tea".

Blow on it to cool it down, then drink it all in one gulp.

"Ok?"

Jiang Zhao shook his head; the taste wasn't right.

This milk tea has a slightly goaty smell.

"Do you have any milk?" Jiang Zhao asked, looking at the maidservant who was serving him.

Maids in wealthy families, if their masters are kind-hearted and their lives are comfortable, may not be worse off than the legitimate daughters of some low-ranking officials.

At this moment, with Sheng Hualan and Sheng Shulan playing chess, the maids didn't need to be particularly serious.

Several maids, each carrying tea, snacks, and dried fruit, sat by the stream, teasing the fish and chatting and laughing.

As soon as Jiang Zhao asked, a maid immediately replied, "There is no fresh milk. However, several cows have recently given birth to calves and still have milk. We can squeeze some out now."

Jiang Zhao waved his hand dismissively: "Never mind. Just have them send some milk over tomorrow."

In this era, oxen were the primary means of plowing.

Cattle are naturally raised in the fields.

It would probably take one or two hours to go out and milk the cows.

Jiang Zhao picked up the goat milk tea, took a couple of sips, and frowned slightly.

The goat milk tea has a really strong goaty smell!

Tomorrow I'll try making tea with milk. He refuses to believe I can't create a delicious and sweet milk tea!

Or, try removing the goaty smell from fresh goat milk?

A sudden inspiration struck Jiang Zhao, and he quickly fanned the fire in the stove.

Beneath the pines and bamboos, beside the stream.

Whispers fill the chessboard, children play with crickets, maids frolic in the waves, and scholars brew tea.

Han Mansion.

study.

A pile of cabinet documents lay on the desk, and Han Zhang held a vermilion brush, carefully annotating them.

Since the retirement of the Grand Chancellor Fu, Han Zhang has been at the pinnacle of power among officials.

He has been in the cabinet for eight years now.

It is extremely rare for someone to be the head of all officials for eight years!

Since the founding of the Great Zhou Dynasty, over a hundred years of national rule, there have been more than forty heads of officials.

Among them were prime ministers with extremely short terms, such as Li Di, Zhang Zhibai, and Zhang Shixun.

Li Di served as Grand Secretary for only about four months.

Zhang Zhibai served as Grand Secretary for about seven months.

Zhang Shixun had only been in office for one day.

Apart from relatively extreme cases like Li Di, Zhang Zhibai, and Zhang Shixun, the remaining prime ministers and grand chancellors also experienced considerable fluctuations in their terms of office.

Especially when it comes to new policies and changes of regime, the fluctuations are even more significant.

The renowned Lü Duan, Kou Zhun, and Yan Shu all served for less than two years.

Even under normal circumstances, the prime minister or chief minister is usually replaced every three years.

The reason for this is that the position of Grand Chancellor is simply too powerful.

The Grand Secretary, the Privy Councilor, and the Chancellor of the Secretariat-Chancellery – all three are one!

This is the minister who is closest to the emperor's power, and has the ability to mobilize resources across the land.

If a prime minister or high-ranking official serves for too long, it can easily lead to the emergence of a powerful minister.

Thus, frequent replacements naturally occur.

Of course, there are indeed officials who have held their positions for a long time.

Zhao Pu has been in office for nine years.

Xue Juzheng served for eight years.

Ludosen served for nine years.

Lü Yijian served for seven years.

These individuals were all long-serving officials, among the top officials.

In addition, the former Grand Chancellor Fu Bi also served for seven years.

Therefore, Han Zhang, who served as the head of all officials for eight years, was already a very rare figure.

In fact, it could be said that he entered the stage of a "powerful minister".

Han Zhang was reviewing the documents, while Jiang Zhao held a cup of tea and the cabinet documents he had reviewed, reading them silently.

Historically, the most important thing for officials entering the capital was to understand the political situation at court.

Having a teacher who is the head of all officials makes it much easier for Jiang Zhao to understand the political situation at court.

Simply review the cabinet documents.

One serving, two servings, three servings.

After a long while, Jiang Zhao let out a long sigh of relief.

In recent years, there have been many changes in the imperial court, with the older generation of Grand Secretaries retiring one after another.

Grand Secretary Wen Yanbo was unfortunately implicated by his cronies and impeached.

Li Can, the transport commissioner of Hebei Road, made significant mistakes in river management, which even led to a small-scale peasant uprising.

This naturally led to impeachment by censors.

The charges against him, including forming cliques for personal gain, covering up mistakes, and being mediocre and incompetent, are quite alarming.

The Transport Commissioner was a powerful official of the fourth rank, serving as the third-in-command of a circuit.

Wen Yanbo only had a handful of former officials of this rank under his command.

Therefore, it was natural to write a letter to inquire about the reason.

As a result, Li Can told a little "lie," which made Wen Yanbo mistakenly believe that the fault was not serious and that the censor was simply exaggerating, so he did his best to defend him.

On the one hand, in order not to lose the support of the party members.

On one hand, they genuinely wanted to protect Li Can, a high-ranking official of the fourth rank who was about to be adorned in purple robes.

Once the maintenance was completed, the government naturally sent people to investigate.

Upon investigation, it was found that Hebei Road did indeed have serious problems, to the point that it was necessary to raise troops to quell the rebellion.

As a result, Wen Yanbo was implicated and accused of "colluding with evil," which was seen as improper political collusion with Li Can.

Wen Yanbo was impeached and felt uneasy. He took the initiative to resign several times. In the end, he was removed from the position of Grand Secretary and appointed as Grand Tutor, Chancellor, Prefect of Henan Prefecture, and concurrently Governor of Xijing.

A 60-year-old man theoretically has no chance of recovery.

Of course, who could have imagined that Wen Yanbo would live to be ninety years old?

Wen Yanbo's retirement inevitably caused some turmoil in his life.

Fortunately, Wen Yanbo's lineage is full of talented people.

Previously, Zeng Gongliang, a member of the same faction, held the position of Minister of Personnel. With the support of his cronies, he was able to enter the cabinet and replace Zeng Gongliang.

Grand Secretary Wang Qinruo retired due to old age, and Zhang Sheng, a member of the same faction who had served as Minister of Revenue, joined the cabinet.

Grand Secretary Shen Boyuan retired due to old age, and Wu Chong, a member of the same faction who had served as Minister of Works, entered the cabinet.

The lineage of Fu Bi included Zhao Gai, who had previously served in the cabinet, but had retired, and Ouyang Xiu, who had served as Minister of Justice, who had joined the cabinet.

Pang Ji's lineage suffered a shortage of talent after Pang Ji retired from office, and was suppressed by Han Zhang. Wang Yaochen then entered the cabinet.

Wang Yaochen has entered the cabinet!

Of the six cabinet seats, two are held by people from South Korea!

Aside from the older generation retiring or rising to higher positions.

A new generation of ruthless individuals is gradually emerging.

The lineage of Wen Yanbo began with Wang Anshi, who rose to prominence at the age of forty-five.

Six years ago, when Wang Anshi entered the capital, he was already a fifth-rank official in the Imperial Academy.

Three years ago, Wang Anshi was promoted and jumped two ranks to become the Vice Minister of the Court of Judicial Review, a fourth-rank official.

In a few days, it will be another major test of political performance.

If nothing unexpected happens, this person will be wearing a purple robe.

In addition, Fan Chunren, the son of Fan Zhongyan, was only thirty-nine years old when he became a fifth-rank official, showing signs of rising to prominence.

Fu Bi's lineage saw Han Jiang rise to power at the age of fifty-four, becoming a second-rank official in the capital and temporarily serving as the acting prefect of Kaifeng.

At the age of fifty-four, Chen Shengzhi entered the capital and was appointed as the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, a third-rank official.

Jiang Zhao's fellow Jinshi, Lü Huiqing, was thirty-four years old and held the rank of fifth grade official, showing signs of rising in power.

Feng Jing, a member of Shen Boyuan's lineage, had already risen to prominence at the age of forty-five and held the rank of fourth grade official.

Pang Ji's lineage included Lü Gongzhu, who wore a purple robe and was appointed as a third-rank deputy pacification commissioner.

Wang Qinruo's lineage saw Wang Gui, at the age of forty-seven, become a Hanlin Academician of the third rank.

The Han Zhang lineage is led by Jiang Zhao.

At the age of twenty-seven, he became the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, a third-rank official, leading the pack.

However, the speed at which Zhang Heng, Zhang Dun, Zeng Bu, Su Zhe, and Su Shi were promoted was actually no slower than that of the younger generation of other factions.

Zhang Heng, in particular, is about to be promoted to the fourth rank, and he may even be able to suppress some people from other factions.

Among the older generation, Wang Yaochen has already joined the cabinet, and Zhang Fangping also has the qualifications to join the cabinet.

In addition,

"call."