Thief Emperor

Chapter 1141 The Ambition of the Young Generation
There are many intelligent people in this world, and even more intelligent people in the imperial court. And most intelligent people, relatively speaking, tend to be quite realistic in their considerations.

Simply put, it's just four words.

Seek advantage and avoid harm.

This is human nature, and there's nothing wrong with it. Li Yun himself is no exception. Whether he was the weak Li Yun in the past or the invincible Li Yun now, he would make some choices based on interests.

In fact, anyone in charge has to make some compromises on practical issues. This is true for Li Yun, Du Qian, and probably even for the officials in charge of various prefectures, counties, and districts.

However, in this world, or rather in this court, there must always be some upright idealists. They may not be the ones making the decisions, but they can serve as a benchmark within the court.

Cao Yu is the person Li Yun has chosen, the future successor of Xu Ziwang.

Of course, given the emperor's professional skills, Li Yun couldn't possibly make a judgment about Cao Yu based on just a few words. What kind of person he would become in the future would depend on his performance in the Luoyang court.

However, his seven or eight years as the Supervising Censor of the Three Circuits of Jiangnan were enough for Li Yun to give him an important position.

As the highest leader of a country, it is best not to let personal feelings interfere with official business. Li Yun now makes personnel appointments based more on actual circumstances.

As for whether Cao Yu will change in the future, it doesn't really matter. If he does change, then we'll deal with him depending on the situation.

If he hasn't changed, it means His Majesty the Emperor has a discerning eye.

After chatting with Cao Yu for a while, His Majesty the Emperor led him out of Zhaoming Hall and said with a smile, "Come on, I'll take you to see Prime Minister Du."

Cao Yu responded and followed behind His Majesty the Emperor. The two of them arrived at a small courtyard in the Jinling Imperial City.

This place was originally the location of the Jiangdong "Zhongshu" (Secretariat). Of course, it didn't have a proper name back then; it was just that Lord Du and others conducted official business here for a few years.

At this moment, hundreds of Imperial Guards were maintaining order in the courtyard, while dozens of students were divided into groups to check the vast amount of accounts.

Upon seeing His Majesty the Emperor arrive, everyone stopped what they were doing and bowed to him.

Minister Du bowed and said, "Greetings, Your Majesty."

The emperor smiled and helped him up, then told everyone to get up and go about their own business.

Then, he pointed to Cao Yu and said to Du Qian, "Cao Yu, Cao Yuanzhen, Brother Shouyi should still remember him."

Cao Yu quickly stepped forward and said respectfully, "Greetings, Prime Minister Du."

Du Xiangong glanced at him and said with a smile, "Yuanzhen is so young, it's enviable."

When Cao Yu left Luoyang in the eighth year of Zhangwu, he was only twenty-four years old. This year, he is only thirty-two years old, in the prime of his life.

For Prime Minister Du, this was an extremely young junior, as his eldest son was actually around the same age.

Cao Yu bowed his head and said, "Prime Minister Du, you flatter me too much. At my age, your achievements far surpass those of mine."

When Du Qian was in his thirties, although he did not hold the position of Chancellor, he had been in charge of Jiangdong for many years. When he was thirty-five or thirty-six, he became the Chancellor of the new Tang Dynasty. His achievements were indeed far greater than Cao Yu's.

Du Qian shook his head and said, "The times are different, so we can't compare."

As he spoke, he looked at Li Yun and said, "Your Majesty, I estimate that in another half month, the accounts of Jinling Prefecture and Jiangnan Circuit will be able to be reconciled. At that time, we will be able to clearly see the effectiveness of the new policies over the past five or six years."

As for the authenticity of the accounts.

Du Qian lowered his head slightly and said, "In the past few days, I have confirmed with Zhang Sui and the relevant officials in Jiangdong that there should be no problem. The people below also know that His Majesty attaches great importance to Jiangdong, and they dare not act recklessly at this critical juncture."

"They would dare not act recklessly in Jiangdong."

The emperor grunted in agreement: "I am at ease entrusting this matter to Brother Shouyi."

As he spoke, he looked around and said, “It’s been cold lately. Brother Shouyi, could you please have someone add a few more stoves for these students? In this cold winter, they have to do accounting and counting by hand. It would be too much of a hardship without a stove.”

Du Qian nodded and smiled, "Alright, I've got it."

"Cao Yu".

Li Yun called out, and Cao Yu quickly replied, "Your subject is here."

"After that, you will follow Prime Minister Du and deal with those people who secretly reported to me. Let Prime Minister Du take you along. You will follow behind him, firstly to assist him, and secondly to learn from Prime Minister Du how to do things well."

Cao Yu naturally had no objections and quickly bowed his head, saying, "Your subject obeys."

He then bowed to Prime Minister Du and said, "Thank you for your guidance, Prime Minister Du."

Du Xiangong looked at Li Yun and said with a smile, "This is because His Majesty has promoted you. There is not much I can teach you. I have been in the court for a long time, and I may not be as proficient as you in handling cases involving local officials."

After exchanging a few polite words, His Majesty the Emperor said with his hands behind his back, "Then you two should discuss it carefully, get things done before the New Year, and then we can spend the New Year together in Jinling. Next year, once the affairs of Jiangdong are settled, we can set off for other places."

Both of them bowed their heads in agreement.

His Majesty the Emperor, with his hands behind his back, glanced at the students examining the accounts on either side of him. After a while, he left with his hands still behind his back. The purpose of examining Jiangdong's accounts was not simply to check the books.

In fact, he had been paying close attention to Jiangdong for the past five or six years and was well aware that the accounts submitted by the Jiangdong government were unlikely to have any major problems.

His authority as the founding emperor was still intact, and ordinary people wouldn't dare to fool him on this matter.

After all, although His Majesty the Emperor rarely implicated others anymore, confiscating family property and barring five generations of relatives from holding office could be considered an act of implicating others on a political and economic level.

Families whose members have held official positions find it difficult to accept this kind of punishment.

Moreover, the emperor's policy of not implicating relatives does not mean that he will not kill the individuals involved. In the more than ten years since the founding of the dynasty, dozens of officials above the rank of prefect have probably lost their heads due to corruption.

Even though he knew that Jiangdong's accounts were probably fine, Li Yun still wanted to investigate because the new policies were being implemented across all the provinces and needed to serve as a warning to the other provinces and set an example for them.

This is to prevent these local government offices from falsifying accounts to deceive the imperial court.

After His Majesty the Emperor left, Prime Minister Du stood with his hands behind his back, looked at Cao Yu, and said with a smile, "In recent years, the only official His Majesty has valued so highly is Yuan Zhen. Next year when we enter Luoyang, what position does His Majesty plan to assign Yuan Zhen to?"

Cao Yu hesitated for a moment, but he had no reason to hide anything from Du Qian, so he lowered his head and said, "Reporting to Prime Minister Du, it is probably... probably the Vice Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate."

Du Xiangong clapped his hands and said with a smile, "You've really risen to the top in one step."

"Don't dare."

Cao Yu lowered his head and said, "According to His Majesty's regulations, I have never served in prefectures or counties, so I'm afraid I'll have to stay in the Censorate for the rest of my life."

Li Yun established a rule in Jiangdong that officials after the founding of the country must have served as prefectural or county officials before they could enter the Central Secretariat and become prime ministers.

This regulation was intended, on the one hand, to break down the boundaries between officials in the capital and those in the local government, and on the other hand, to ensure that the central decision-making level had local administrative experience and knew what the lower levels were like.

Instead of only knowing how to fight for power.

Cao Yu is indeed lacking in this aspect, which will become one of the obstacles for him to enter the Zhongshu in the future.

After thinking for a moment, Prime Minister Du smiled and said, "This is indeed a problem. It's not easy for you to bring it up yourself. How about I talk to His Majesty and suggest that after you return to Luoyang, you serve as the prefect of Jingzhao Prefecture or a nearby prefecture?"

"Go back to being the Censor-in-Chief."

"What do you think?"

Cao Yu took a deep breath, looked up at Du Qian, then bowed and said, "This humble official thanks you, sir!"

Du Xiangong looked at him, speechless.

Clearly, this young man was not content with the emperor's favor; he had a long-term vision and wanted to emulate Minister Xu, enter the Secretariat, and become the prime minister of the Tang Dynasty.

For an official to have the ambition to become prime minister is not considered ambition, but rather "ambition".

Which civil official wouldn't want to become prime minister?
Minister Du didn't say much, but simply smiled and said, "Then I'll bring this up with His Majesty later."

Cao Yu bowed and said, "Thank you, sir."

"Alright, get up."

"His Majesty has assigned three people to handle this. Let's do it one by one, starting with the Vice Magistrate of Jinling Prefecture."

At this point, he looked at Cao Yu and asked, "Yuanzhen has been in the three Jiangnan regions for many years. Are there only these three parasites in Jiangdong and Jinling?"

Cao Yu followed behind Du Qian, bowing his head and smiling bitterly: "Reporting to the Prime Minister, this humble official... has impeached at least fourteen people before His Majesty."

Du Xiangong nodded silently, then turned around and patted him on the shoulder.

"Do not worry."

"Your Majesty has his reasons for doing this. Some people should not be arrested, while others should be arrested for the sake of the overall situation."

"His Majesty has probably already put these charges on them."

Cao Yu bowed his head and said, "Yes, sir, I have remembered your teachings."

"Then let's go."

Du Xiangong said with a smile, "Let's go to the Jinling Prefecture government office first to meet the local officials of Jinling Prefecture, as well as Zhang Gongda."

Cao Yu lowered his head and said.

"I obey your orders."

(End of this chapter)