Chapter 334: Being a Person Who Has Side Effects on the Imperial Court
Jiang Mansion.
Grand Princess Huiyun could do nothing about the little one who was sticking her butt up at her.
She accompanied her for a nap.
As it turned out, she slept for too long.
Sure enough, not sleeping well at night meant needing to catch up on sleep during the day.
She slept until noon.
She felt a tiny bit embarrassed.
However, thinking that she was a Grand Princess, it was the same in the Princesss Mansion.
Her daughter-in-law probably wouldn’t mind.
She definitely wouldn’t mind.
Xiao Qin’s temperament was too good.
Just as she was struggling with this, preparing to wash up, get out of bed, eat, and find the little one for the rest of the story, Grand Princess Huiyun prepared to use all sorts of coercion and bribery, determined to make Mianmian tell her the rest of the story.
As it turned out, the servant said that the Madam had taken the young lady out.
Grand Princess Huiyun:…
She ate lunch with Cong Geer.
Grand Princess Huiyun looked at the calm, poker-faced Cong Geer and suddenly revealed a loving expression.
After finishing the meal, Grand Princess Huiyun grabbed Cong Geer and said kindly, “Great-Aunt will tell you a story.”
Cong Geer looked at Grand Princess Huiyun in surprise.
He obediently nodded and sat down.
…
At the Yamen, Jiang the Second came to work.
The Earthquake yesterday was not severe; it just shook down some houses that were already of questionable quality and full of holes, but according to statistics, seven people died yesterday.
One was in a brothel, dying of a stroke during intercourse.
Two died of colds.
Three were fighting and brawling; two died on the spot, and the third died shortly after.
There was also one who died of dystocia.
The causes of death had no direct relation to the Earthquake.
However, it was a bit unlucky that one government residence collapsed.
Although everyone ran out and was fine, the residence had collapsed, so someone in an official capacity had to take responsibility.
Thus, they found the person in charge, Jiang the Second.
Vice Minister Jiang had shown his face well before the Emperor yesterday.
He was not only loyal but also had strong work capabilities.
Regarding an Earthquake, he casually provided a deployment plan, detailed and practical.
Although it was nothing major, just a small Earthquake, Jiang the Second treated it as a super major event to handle.
Previously, for small matters like reciting regulations, laws, and detailed rules, he had managed to reduce the average income of the entire Imperial Court by 200 taels and the number of Prime Minister positions by one. This time, there was an actual Earthquake, so who knew how he would stir things up.
First of all, an Earthquake actually killed seven people… this required profound reflection.
How each person died had to be analyzed in detail.
The most deaths, three, were from fighting and brawling, which indicated that there were serious problems with public security in the capital.
It had to be handled strictly, severely, and with heavy penalties.
The leader of the department responsible for public security was called over by Jiang the Second, seriously scolded, and then assigned a bunch of tasks.
At first, the leader of the public security department was unhappy, thinking, ‘Jiang the Second, even if you are the son of a Grand Princess, you must act according to the rules. What right do you have to scold me and make me do work? The officialdom has its rules.’
What temporary Earthquake management headquarters? Forget it, if I get scolded, I get scolded; just don’t let me catch you later.
As it turned out, later on, when he heard Jiang the Second say he wanted to increase the establishment, increase the number of security patrolmen under his command, and there weren’t that many positions in the Imperial Court?
It didn’t matter; they could arrange for extra-establishment personnel. They wouldn’t be called Yamen Runners; they could be called City Managers, management personnel for the entire city.
Jiang Changtian liked chatting with his daughter; different words would always pop out of her mouth.
But Jiang Changtian would always keep them in mind and think about them himself, always feeling that one day they would definitely be useful.
The leader in charge of the Ministry of Justice’s public security, who was scolded later on, became happier the more he listened.
In the capital, the establishment was limited, but there were so many large families and so many family descendants, and there was nowhere to arrange for people, and not everyone could take the imperial examinations. According to Jiang the Second’s suggestion, opening this loophole wouldn’t it suddenly increase many, many job opportunities?
Of course, since Jiang the Second proposed it, he definitely had to give Jiang the Second a share of the pie; everyone had to share the benefits to keep things going for a long time.
Thus, the Ministry of Justice leader left happily after being scolded.
Next, the person in charge of the collapsed government residence was called over.
This government residence had been in disrepair for years; it was said to be used to shelter the old, weak, orphaned, and widowed, but in reality, it hadn’t had that function for a long time.
But Jiang the Second was meticulous; he scolded the person, directly fired them, and then promoted some officials who had been waiting for posts for years to do the work.
Anyway, every department, related or unrelated, was called over.
The Ministry of Rites was even called over and scolded.
The people from the Ministry of Rites were very confused; what did the Earthquake have to do with them?
Jiang the Second said that as a land of etiquette, for things like an Earthquake, the Ministry of Rites should have notified in advance. If they couldn’t notify in advance, at least they should have shown care afterward… they had to put up the sign of the Emperor distributing porridge and so on…
In short, Jiang the Second was just scolding people in the Yamen.
Scolding wave after wave.
Strangely, after these people were scolded, they all left with smiles on their faces, even warning each other not to tell the other side.
While the big bosses were still fighting over Prime Minister Lu’s political legacy and status, Jiang the Second, using the Earthquake as an excuse, pried a hole into the officialdom of the capital.
His creed: You must live like a knife, because you don’t know who will need to borrow your knife to kill.
You must keep malice in your heart, because you don’t know who will envy you and frame you, so be malicious first as a greeting.
You must keep faith in your heart, because you know that if you have no faith, you will be excluded by others.
On this day, the capital’s Yamen was extremely busy.
It swept away the lazy atmosphere of the approaching New Year.
Jiang the Second always did things strictly according to official regulations, laws, and detailed rules, with clear rewards and punishments; there were punishments as well as rewards.
Everyone had something to strive for, so they became active in their work.
In these few days, the KPI of the capital’s brothels fell off a cliff.
The number of people coming dropped by more than half.
Because one of the official rules stipulated that one was not allowed to go to brothels during working hours.
Officials only had one day off per month; theoretically, they only didn’t work one day.
Except for that day off, going on other days was considered a violation of official rules.
After the City Managers, who were well-versed in official rules and laws, took office, they kept a close eye on these officials. As long as they went in, they could report them for arrest. If they were caught in the act, such as not having any clothes on, they could be directly convicted.
In short, the officials were living in deep water and scorching heat.
They never expected that the Earthquake management matters had not yet been fully revealed, and there was a follow-up to the recitation of official rules, laws, and detailed rules.
One by one, the officials cursed at home.
Officials were all scholars, and scholars inevitably had romantic affairs; being caught one by one was too embarrassing.
But the madams and wives in their mansions secretly felt that Jiang the Second was not bad.
And the angriest person was the Seventh Prince.
He was the person behind seven or eight of the capital’s brothels, and relying on brothels to collect various information was one of his trump cards.
But now, it had been inexplicably cut off.
And the madam of the largest brothel in the capital was also confused. At the beginning of the year, a fortune teller said their business would be cut in half by a stunning beauty. This year, the madam guarded strictly against it, hearing where there was a stunning beauty, she would spend a lot of money to buy her over and make her a girl in her brothel. She didn’t expect that at the end of the year, her business was still cut in half by a stunning beauty.
That stunning beauty was not a woman at all…
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