Chapter 270: Many Pots Flying from the Sky
Early in the morning, Prime Minister Lu was thoroughly disgusted.
He thought the Emperor would have at most joked, “You should study hard.”
He never expected that someone would actually expand a single sentence into something like this.
Moreover, he couldn’t even go to the Emperor to confront him.
The matter was too trivial.
If he went to the Emperor for such a small matter, he wouldn’t be able to find the Emperor when a major issue arose next time.
Prime Minister Lu generally did not easily seek out the Emperor in private.
Whenever he did, it was certainly for a matter of importance, something seriously related to the Emperor.
If he went to the Emperor for trivialities like studying laws and regulations, it would make him seem incompetent.
However, making officials read the detailed rules and regulations was just a trick to secretly give newcomers a hard time.
Everyone did it.
When a newcomer arrived, they wouldn’t teach them anything; they would first make them sit on the bench, assigning them these materials to study.
By the time they figured out what to do, the newcomer’s probationary period would naturally have ended.
As it turned out, someone actually studied it seriously, summarized it earnestly, and even wanted everyone to study it together.
So, did he have to study it?
As a dignified Prime Minister, did he have to memorize the rules and regulations?
Hilarious.
Seeing the man before him, shamelessly wearing a handsome face, was he waiting for praise?
Prime Minister Lu was busy with endless matters, large and small, all day long; he couldn’t possibly finish them all.
He didn’t even have enough time to sleep, so where would he find the time to memorize this?
He hadn’t been this troubled even when he first entered officialdom.
After all, everyone had fought their way through nine years of imperial examinations.
Who didn’t know how to study?
And yet, here he was, someone with a background as Rebels, making everyone study the laws and regulations together?
“Thanks to Prime Minister Lu’s recommendation, this humble official will certainly be conscientious, do the job well, and ensure both Prime Minister Lu and the Emperor are satisfied.”
After Jiang Changtian finished his earnest declaration, he took his leave.
Hmm.
He understood the rules of the officialdom.
He returned to the room where he had studied the regulations yesterday.
He had left the palace and gone home yesterday, so naturally, he hadn’t done any work.
The meager salary the imperial court provided—if they expected him to take work home, that was completely impossible.
However, creating something out of nothing was an essential skill in officialdom.
Publicizing how hard and diligently one worked was a fundamental skill, much more important than actually working hard.
He knew Prime Minister Lu would certainly not read the pile of books he had submitted.
He didn’t care; he had just passed them along.
He arrived at his temporary office area.
This place was originally used by Prime Minister Lu to give newcomers a hard time.
Now, it had become the temporary office for the newcomer, Jiang the Second.
With nothing to do, Jiang Changtian found his first task: organizing all officials to study the rules, regulations, and detailed bylaws.
These three had distinctions.
Rules were the general outline, regulations were the main framework, and detailed bylaws were the specific provisions.
Organizing everyone to study was a matter that could be seen as neither big nor small.
It depended on how one wanted to do it.
If it were just for show, one would simply send people to tell each government office.
“Prime Minister Lu requires all officials to master the rules, regulations, and detailed bylaws of the imperial court, and everyone must set an example.”
The various offices would perfunctorily send people to organize a study session, take the opportunity to curse Prime Minister Lu for being meddlesome, and that would be the end of it.
If one really wanted to execute it, that would be different.
To truly execute a matter, there must be a reward and punishment mechanism to ensure implementation.
Jiang Changtian had no other merits, but his execution skills were superb.
Except for being unable to teach his own daughter to recite books at home, he could teach anyone else.
Because he couldn’t bear to punish his own daughter, but he was willing to punish others.
It was just like the imperial examinations; why did so many people study hard?
Because studying hard for the imperial examinations meant bringing glory to one’s ancestors and helping the whole family cross class barriers upon passing.
Everyone with the means would study hard, and they wouldn’t need anyone to supervise them.
To get people to do something consciously, there were only two reasons: there was a reward for doing it, or there was a penalty for not doing it.
His daughter didn’t study well because even if she studied hard, the rewards weren’t attractive enough, and even if she didn’t study, she would still be given those rewards.
Furthermore, if she didn’t study well, there was no punishment, as he couldn’t bear to punish her at all.
He couldn’t bring himself to act against his own daughter, but he didn’t care about others.
In the temporary office, Jiang Changtian quickly produced a plan to organize the study of the regulations.
First, the Prime Minister would lead by example, and the heads of various departments, the Ministers, would also lead the study.
They would organize collective study sessions; the Ministry of Revenue, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Rites… all would come together to study the regulations.
The organization of the study could also be diverse, such as establishing thematic discussion sessions, like “Why can’t officials be beaten?” etc…
Comparative study of similar regulations, such as the prohibition against beating superiors and the prohibition against insulting superiors; comparing the respective punishments, the severity…
Discussion and study combined with actual work, such as whether officials should give gifts and the maximum amount of gifts one could receive…
Jiang Changtian meticulously wrote down all the work content he intended to carry out next.
Then, clutching this content, he trotted off into the palace to report to the biggest leader, the Emperor.
He was an Attendant of the Yellow Gate, so he had the authority to do so.
The Emperor was generally impatient with hearing about work and court affairs; after several decades, he was sick of it.
Unless it shook the foundations, he let the Prime Minister handle it.
As it turned out, this Jiang the Second was too honest.
Looking at the detailed study plan he produced, the Emperor found it hard to describe.
The handwriting was quite nice.
He felt that those old foxes, his ministers, would surely curse loudly when they saw this study plan.
However, the rules, regulations, and detailed bylaws compiled by Jiang the Second emphasized imperial power and established the authority of the Emperor, not the authority of the Prime Minister.
The Emperor also felt that, although it would be a hassle for everyone, studying it was quite good.
It would save those officials from being bored all day and fighting with each other.
It was time to spend some effort learning the imperial laws and regulations.
Seeing that the part requiring his cooperation was just to conduct occasional spot checks, with nothing else to do, it was quite good.
“Granted.”
Jiang Changtian carried out his work strictly according to rules and regulations.
Since the Emperor had approved it, he then took it to Prime Minister Lu for approval.
Since the Emperor had approved, would Prime Minister Lu dare to object?
Since Prime Minister Lu had approved, would the Finance department object?
In short, Jiang Changtian first secured an office space, had a budget approved, compiled the rules, regulations, and detailed bylaws, and then began issuing study notices to various departments.
When the Minister of Revenue received this notice, his face turned green.
He felt that Prime Minister Lu was starting to torment people in a disguised way again; it must be because he hadn’t been forthcoming with money when Prime Minister Lu wanted to build a residence for the Emperor earlier, and Prime Minister Lu was taking this opportunity to give him a show of power.
He was a dignified Minister of Revenue, advanced in age, having been an official for decades, and yet he actually had to start studying the detailed bylaws for officials, memorize the full text, and the Emperor would conduct periodic spot checks?
“Old thief Lu, I will never forgive you!”
The Minister of War was even angrier when he saw this document.
He really couldn’t memorize it.
He was too old.
If he could memorize it, he would have gone to fight a war.
Forget it; he would first send a copy of these regulations to Old General Meng at the frontier, so everyone could share the burden.
He would also call Meng Qingshe over.
When Meng Qingshe saw this pile of rules, regulations, and detailed bylaws that had to be fully memorized and would be checked, he also harshly cursed Prime Minister Lu.
“Old Lu is inhuman; he’s bullying us in the Ministry of War just because my father isn’t around.”
“What, other departments have to study too? Well, that’s fine; there must be others who can’t memorize it just like me.”
When Censor He received so many rules, regulations, and detailed bylaws, his expression was very warm and happy.
He immediately thought that it must have been Jiang the Second who had them sent out.
He had already memorized all of these.
Back in the day, when he was still a small newcomer, the first thing his teacher made him do upon arriving at the government office was to recite this, recite the full text.
Only by knowing the rules could one utilize the rules, know where an opponent had violated them, and thus be able to seize the opponent’s weak points and impeach them.
Jiang the Second had good intentions.
Nowadays, moral standards were declining, and this excellent tradition had been lost for a long time.
It was time to pick it up again!
When the Minister of the Ministry of Rites saw this study notice, he was so angry that he cursed Prime Minister Lu loudly.
“He just likes to show off, using a chicken feather as a token of authority, tormenting people endlessly, and pushing a newcomer to do this job.
He takes the credit, and the newcomer takes the blame if things go wrong.
That old, cunning, three-corpse Lu has overreached his hands.
Even if one were to organize study sessions, that is something our Ministry of Rites should be doing!”
One day, while Prime Minister Lu was working, he felt a bit of pressure in his ears and a strange headache.
He didn’t know why; perhaps the weather was about to turn cold.
It was a bit chilly, and his lower back hurt.
He stood up, pushed open the door, and stood at the doorway, stretching his waist.
The door on this side faced a garden with an excellent view.
The sky had already darkened.
He could see the imperial palace not far away, its towering, magnificent roofs looking like a painting of power.
The work could not be finished in a day; it was simply endless.
He only slept three hours a day.
Sometimes even those three hours couldn’t be guaranteed.
There would be all sorts of unexpected matters, requiring him to get up.
He stood there, resting for a moment, breathing in the icy air, and felt a bit more clear-headed.
At this moment, a servant by his side came over and kindly reminded him: “Sir, you asked me to remind you that it is time to read the official rules, regulations, and detailed bylaws.
You are already two hours late.
If you start reading now, I’m afraid you won’t finish until the second half of the night.”
Prime Minister Lu:……
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