Damn it, I'm in the garbage book I wrote

Chapter 471 Who doesn't want to work hard at the beginning?

After the turmoil in the capital gradually subsided, there were naturally a large number of personnel changes in the court. The first one was Gao Shilian, who took the initiative to ask to retreat behind the scenes and stay in the court. As a veteran of three dynasties, Gao Shilian naturally could not retire easily, so he became Taiwei Gao, a first-rank Taiwei.

Others who received the same treatment as him included Zeng Ming and Zeng Taifu.

After these two old ministers retired to the second line, young blood was naturally needed to take over. As a result, Ma Zhou, who was promoted by Gao Shilian, was dismissed from his current position and promoted to the chief official of the Secretariat. That is, the 37-year-old Ma Zhou officially ascended to the position of prime minister.

Zeng Ming's position was taken by a less famous player.

But everyone knows that this position was originally prepared for Xia Lin. Xia Lin is in mourning as the next emperor and cannot govern the country, so a person should be assigned to this position to make it look good. If it is not for the sake of appearance, a dog could be assigned to this position.

As the saying goes, a new emperor appoints his own ministers. Unless the old ministers are particularly capable, they basically have to be sensible and give up their positions to the young ones. Only then will they have the possibility to live out their lives in peace. Otherwise, cruel struggles will tear them to pieces in their twilight years.

Ma Zhou's rise to the top was not surprising. He was very steady and balanced in his work and was a person who fully understood the doctrine of the mean. Therefore, when he was prime minister, he was neither conservative nor reformist but a balanced person. Such people were very important in the new dynasty. Now was not the time to make great progress. What was needed was stability, stability, and fucking stability.

Those who followed the prince all the way were not treated unfairly. Xu Jingzong was promoted to the fifth rank, which means that once any official above retired, he could take his place. Although the fifth rank is not high, the main thing is that this promotion is too awesome.

Zhang Zhongchun was promoted to the fourth rank and was awarded a gold plaque by the emperor. Although there was no obvious job transfer, his rank went up a level, which meant that the Inspection Department would become a very important department besides the three provinces, six ministries and nine temples.

The most unexpected one among them was Zhao Shiyuan. He received an exceptionally heavy reward. Not only was he given a fifth-rank official position, but Emperor Jingtai also personally arranged a marriage for him with one of his own sisters. This was the same treatment as Xia Lin, and he also enjoyed the same benefits as Xia Lin, a "son-in-law of the emperor" with no restrictions on functions.

Of course, there were a lot of people who were rewarded here, and many people, high and low, got benefits. Even Luo Shixin, who stood in the study all night posing and did nothing, was awarded the title of a sixth-rank general.

But Xia Lin, there was not a single feather.

There was really nothing left, let alone any reward. Even his name was nowhere to be found in the reward list that had been read out for three hours.

Many people feel unfair about this, but anyone with a little bit of common sense would be extremely envious.

Does the absence of Xia Lin's name mean that he is not included? On the contrary, he has received the greatest benefit in the world, which is the so-called "no title can be given".

What else does he want? How high does he want to climb? The 400,000 troops in his hands have not been reduced, and the 150,000 Po Lu troops in Guo Da and Guo Minghuai's hands are obviously going to be given to him. He has also been given the ability to walk freely in the palace. What else does he want? Going up further is the throne in the Golden Palace. What else can he want?
In the court, no matter if you are a minister or a high official, the old generation will step down and the new generation will step forward and beat these people up in front of the emperor. At most, they will be punished for misbehaving in front of the palace.

But he did nothing and asked for nothing. He just quietly kept vigil over the late emperor's body, and then quietly disappeared into the crowd.

This is the most terrifying thing. No one knows what he is thinking. No one knows what he is doing. No one knows his ideas and plans. They are completely hidden in the darkness.

As long as he doesn't show up, no one will be at peace.

This is the national defense formation left by Emperor Hongbao.

Although Emperor Jingtai was narrow-minded, jealous, arrogant, romantic and not very smart, it is impossible for a person to be without any merits. This guy was obedient and actually quite kind.

At least at this stage, although he did not show the demeanor of a wise ruler, he was not too funny either. But this was limited to the present, and God knew what would happen in the future.

Xia Lin's task now is to give birth to a child with the little princess within these three years. This is an order from the prince, who said that they have been married for so many years but still have no children, which would be a laughing stock if it were made public.

Xia Lin didn't dare to say anything, after all, he had a child... Although there was no news about the two little sisters, they probably had given birth. But they couldn't tell Xia Lin about this, because the two children were named Li and Dugu...

That’s also good. Let’s say that Princess Li gave Dugu Han twins.

Men are like this. Although they know that the child is theirs, they don't have too many thoughts before they meet the child. But if they meet the child, it's all over. At least for Xia Lin, if he meets the child, he may not be able to come back.

But the problem is that he has to go see the child eventually, but Xia Lin really can't leave now, and he can't write a letter.

As for why he couldn't write a letter, he was an outsider, but he wrote a letter to ask whether the child of the head of the Dugu family was born, and he asked the wife of the head of the Dugu family. What's more important is that the wife of the head of the Dugu family had been having an affair with him for many years.

Don’t people from the Dugu family have any face?

Of course, Dugu Han doesn’t mind, as she already has a baby in her belly, but the Dugu family has others, and they are a big family and need to maintain their reputation.

So Xia Lin simply lay low these days and lived safely in the capital.

"This should be the most peaceful period during the Jingtai reign."

By the time spring came and flowers bloomed, everything had been settled. The people who had left Fuliang were now either high-ranking officials or powerful officials. They had all landed on land, and when they got together to drink tea, they all acted like masters.

Ma Zhou sat in the small courtyard and watched the birds and flowers. "When I was a jailer, I never thought that I would be where I am today in just a few years." "You know how you got to where you are today." Xu Jingzong and Ma Zhou were old friends. He ate a piece of cake and said with a smile, "Do you know what people call us outside?"

"what?"

"Floating party." Xu Jingzong laughed loudly: "Floating party is ruining the country!"

"Hahahahaha..."

Everyone laughed together. Ma Zhou pursed his lips and said, "It's strange. I invited Master Xia several times, but he refused to come."

"You still call me Master Xia? Shouldn't you call me Master Ma Xiao Linzi now?"

"You!" Ma Zhou almost got angry with Xu Jingzong: "Yan clan, don't say anything nonsense!"

"Hahaha, it's okay. Lord Xia doesn't care." Xu Jingzong waved his hand and said, "He didn't come to our party gathering, in fact, he was just protecting us. It should be said that Lord Xia has been protecting us openly and secretly over the years, which can be regarded as his intention."

"They say great favors require no thanks. I don't know how to repay you, Lord Xia."

"You can go to his room to sleep with him tonight. Although you are nearly forty years old, you are still tender and healthy."

President Ma had long been accustomed to this guy's bad mouth, so he didn't bother with him. There were also many young officials around him who also came from Fuliang. They didn't know what was going on until they saw him.

It was said before that half of the civil and military officials in the court were from Jiangxi, and everyone just laughed it off, but now there are nearly two hundred officials from Jiangnan and Xidao in the court, most of them are concentrated in the Ministry of Works and the Ministry of War, and they are also scattered in other departments.

It is said that personnel is politics. Now the number of people sent to the court by the entire Jiangnan Province has definitely exceeded the normal proportion. Coupled with their own network among the high-end floating parties, it seems that their floating parties have controlled more than one-third of the government.

This matter is very terrifying when you think about it carefully, but fortunately, the Floating Party is really composed of practical people, and each of them is very serious. If it were other factions, I am afraid that the civil war would have been going on for many years by now.

"I heard you talking about some kind of floating party when I came here. If I hear you again, I will kill you."

At this moment, Old Zhang came over with his hands behind his back and said, "You are all so old, yet you still speak so freely. Do you want to be the emperor?"

"It's all said by the Yan clan. It has nothing to do with me." Ma Zhou pointed at Xu Jingzong and smiled. "But it's you, Zhongchun. How dare you say that? I've never seen anyone with a worse mouth than you. Do you know why I didn't allow His Majesty to transfer you back to the center?"

"Oh, you are jealous."

“I…” Ma Zhouyi slammed the table: “Okay, okay, you kid, you look great.”

Xu Jingzong beside him laughed so hard that he lost all his energy, "If you ask me, this is all done by Lord Xia. I know that there are all kinds of strange things around him. If it were someone else, it would be a fight of life and death."

Lao Zhang came over and said without further ado, swinging his feet, "There is good news and bad news. Which one do you want to hear?"

Ma Zhou glanced at Xu Jingzong and said, "Let's talk about the bad stuff first."

"It's bad. Li Yuan cut off the trade route with Gyeonggi Province, and trade has almost been cut off. If something unexpected happens, the commercial tax with the northwest will probably hit rock bottom this year."

"What about the good news?" Ma Zhou frowned, "You're not going to tell me there's no good news?"

"Yes, of course." Old Zhang waved his hand towards Ma Zhou: "Old rules."

Although Ma Zhou was the prime minister, he had been blackmailed by Lao Zhang more than once or twice. He coughed and took out ten taels of silver from his pocket: "Speak now, you money-grubber."

"There's no other way. If I don't embezzle, I won't have any spare money left, and I still have a starving kid to feed at home."

"Hurry up and tell me, don't keep us in suspense." Xu Jingzong also became anxious: "You've whetted my appetite."

"Fifteen new ports will be opened in the entire Northeast this year. The trade in Goguryeo, Silla, Baekje, and even the entire area north of Huangyaguan will increase more than ten times compared to the past. Moreover, it can be directly transported by sea without the need for land transfer."

Ma Zhou stood up suddenly and asked: "Is the news reliable?"

"This is a brand new consultation. Your Majesty doesn't even know about it yet, so I'm here to entertain you guys." Lao Zhang said with a smile, "What do you think? Is this ten taels of silver worth it?"
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I can't finish yesterday's chapter today. After I finished it in the afternoon, I took an injection, took some medicine, and slept until night. People in middle age are indeed not as good as they were when they were young. They are so weak. Tomorrow, I will definitely finish it tomorrow!

(End of this chapter)