The Overlord of the Red Mansion

Chapter 273: Early Morning Madness
The sixth day of the fifth month in the third year of the Holy Dynasty.

At around four o'clock in the morning, ministers from all walks of life began to get up and prepare to go to court.

The left prime minister got up at four o'clock.

Get dressed, wash face, wash hair, shave, eat, go to the toilet.

I smoke and think in the toilet, usually it takes about the same amount of time as a cigarette.

Ever since cigarettes came into being, there have been more popular descriptions of three to five minutes.

The time spent in the toilet usually exceeds this time, but after finishing the cigarette, I am almost ready to leave.

After leaving the toilet, he washed his hands and left the toilet again under the guidance of the lantern servant.

The toilet had hot water and a mirror where one could see one's face clearly, and the servants lit kerosene lamps all around.

"Master, the car is ready."

The butler came over to talk.

When Zuo Xiang walked out of the room, he saw the time on the clock on the wall.

5:05 AM
Zuo Xiang quickly left home, and when he walked out the door, a rickshaw driver was already waiting for him.

With the help of servants, he walked to the rickshaw and sat down. After the driver confirmed that it was all right, he lifted the handle and walked forward with the lying Left Prime Minister.

As an important official in the imperial court, the left prime minister was followed by two bodyguards armed with swords.

The left prime minister lived in the government office area within the Second Ring Road, ten minutes away from the imperial palace. Every day when he went to work, his driver and guards had to follow him for two kilometers.

The first ring is the Imperial Palace, where the royal family lives and the Imperial Palace is where the princes study. Ministers also work and handle official business in the Imperial Palace, and come here regularly to report on their work and seek instructions.

The area inner than the second ring road is the guard area and some functional buildings, such as hospitals, state-owned restaurants, state-owned hotels, ice cellars, granaries, government warehouses, royal furniture factories, royal winemaking workshops, royal gold and silver jewelry stores, and royal yacht marinas.

The original prince's palace was demolished, and some members of the royal family were moved outside the third ring road. The area outside the second ring road is the official office area, which is specially for court officials and their families to live in.

But it's just a temporary stay.

When I leave my job in the future, I will have to move out of the renovated villa and make way for someone else.

The imperial court also distributed houses, but they were all in the suburbs of Beijing.

It was still dark when the coachman arrived at the palace gate.

The Left Prime Minister got off the carriage, asked the driver and guards to go back, and took a walk in the open space at the palace gate.

At half past five, the city gates opened and people began to line up to enter the palace through the small doors on both sides.

The guards will search you to prevent you from carrying any dangerous items.

When we arrived at the State Council Building after going through layers of inspection, it was already six o'clock and the sky was completely bright.

After entering the door, one has to pass through a magnetic door, and the guards will check whether the ministers are carrying any iron objects.

The Left Prime Minister went to the office to sort out the official documents sent from various places. Some were sent last night, and some were sorted out in the previous few days.

The emperor does not attend court every day, so usually many days' worth of matters have to be dealt with together.

The Left Prime Minister quickly began to prepare the tabloids to be sent to the Emperor, and was responsible for telling the Emperor in advance what issues would be discussed today, so as to avoid mismatches and embarrassment for everyone.

Around seven o'clock, those who needed to attend court would go to the court hall to prepare for the meeting.

The Dali Temple official came over and asked quietly, "Prime Minister, what is the emperor doing in court today?"

The left prime minister looked ahead solemnly, and continued to line up and stand in the first position, "Don't ask, if there is anything, you will naturally know."

The Dali Temple Minister went back helplessly and stood far away.

Zong Zheng looked at the Right Prime Minister, "Does the Right Prime Minister know what happened?"

The Right Prime Minister smiled slightly and said, "I don't know, but it shouldn't be an urgent matter. We will know soon."

Generally, there is only one prime minister. If there are two prime ministers, it means that both of them have low status.

Only when there is only one prime minister does he seem so powerful!

Guan Zhong, Li Si, Cao Cao, Zhuge, Wang Anshi, and Zhang Juzheng, basically they were able to prove their power by monopolizing all the power.

The circumstances of the Holy Dynasty are special, and the emperor has exceptionally great power.

The strength of the military generals far exceeded that of any other dynasty. Even when Taizu, who conquered the world, was alive, he was not so powerful.

Even if the founding emperors conquered the world themselves, they would still be on guard against their military generals. But the current emperor doesn't care about that at all.

Although the military generals are powerful, the civil officials are not weak either. Especially after the imperial examinations every year, there are far more people who choose the civil service route than the military generals, and the number of civil officials is four or five times more than before.

In addition to civil officials and military generals, the status of merchants and craftsmen also increased rapidly.

So many people's status has been improved, so whose status has been declined?

In fact, it is diluted.

The jobs of the left and right prime ministers were not diluted, but their power was diluted. The salaries of civil officials and military officers increased, and their power was also diluted by more civil officials and military officers.

In the past, meritorious families like the Jia family could use the power of their ancestors to do many things, and even the third and fourth rank officials of the imperial court were not taken seriously.

But now this kind of power has been seriously diluted, and the vast number of officials promoted by the emperor are in charge of you! Who the hell do you think you are!
The more officials there are, the more fragmented the power becomes.

It is difficult to control this big ship alone, whether it is the county magistrate, the prefect, or the prime minister.

Only the emperor who has concentrated all power can control this big ship.

But it is only relative. Some places cannot be controlled if they are not taken seriously.

Jia Rong forcibly seized a huge amount of power from civil officials and military generals, old aristocrats, and wealthy families.

Previous emperors believed that too many officials would mean more food to eat and greater financial pressure, so they were unwilling to recruit more officials.

Even promotions and titles were conferred very carefully, and a wicked emperor would grant them and then take them back soon after by finding a crime.

We certainly cannot afford to support too many officials, so generation after generation has felt that there cannot be too many.

Jia Rong thinks differently. Since he has money, he must hire more subordinates. There are only so many things to do anyway, and it is impossible for one person to manage a city.

Another reason is that there was not much that officials could do in the past. Now that productivity has increased and all industries are booming, there are more things that need to be managed, and the number of people collecting taxes has also increased.

The Holy Dynasty has completed the final evolution of the feudal empire, achieved true centralization and cohesion, and achieved the highest level of territorial expansion and centralization in all dynasties.

All local officials were appointed by the central government, and as the emperor, Jia Rong had the ability to formulate laws, morals, the military, and the bureaucratic system.

The emperor has the final say on laws and morals, and the military and bureaucracy follow his lead.

Soon, ten thousand elites gathered from the government district began to line up to enter the temple.

After everyone entered, they stood at the designated positions, knelt down and waited for others.

"The Emperor has arrived!"

The eunuchs began to shout.

Soon Jia Rong walked towards the dragon throne from the passage.

"Long live my emperor! Long live! Long live!"

"Be flat!"

"Thank you, Your Majesty!"

After everyone stood up, Jia Rong directly told his story.

"I have received a report from a spy that one of the three teachers of the crown prince learned magic from an ancient book, but the book has been burned by his descendants, and there is no evidence."

Jia Rong's words shocked everyone.

The commander of the Jinyiwei, who was in charge of the Jinyiwei, looked frightened at this moment.

There are secret agents of the Imperial Guard that I don't know about?

How many secret organizations are there in this capital city...

The left prime minister quickly asked: "Your Majesty, since the thieves still have descendants, they should all be killed! To prevent them from reviving again!"

Jia Rong looked thoughtful. "Now that the spy has given me the magic power, I am not afraid and I don't believe it, but there may be similar people among the people."

"These evildoers have no father, no king, and no laws. They are protected by heaven when they commit crimes. If these people are not eliminated, the Holy Dynasty will never have peace!"

"Now, relying on my power in killing the three thieves, those people dare not show their heads, but most of them are hiding in Buddhism, or there are many evil people overseas."

"Yesterday I dreamt of a monk and a Taoist priest who advised me to give up the throne and become a monk. I was really pissed off!"

Jia Rong himself had an erotic dream from which he woke up right at the beginning, and after waking up he began to make up stories.

But his words made all the ministers tremble with fear.

"Your Majesty! You are the true dragon emperor, you must not become a monk!"

"Your Majesty! The Holy Dynasty still needs Your Majesty to make decisions. That monk must be a demon who wants to bring disaster to Your Majesty's great country!"

Jia Rong said angrily: "Yes! This is really outrageous!"

"Pass the order down, thoroughly investigate folk artists and powerful people in various mountain gates and temples. Anyone who claims to be a god, Buddha, or Taoist nun, don't waste words when you meet him, and test his golden body with bullets. If you can't kill him with bullets, please come to the capital and I will meet him in person!"

"No one is allowed to privately build temples or Taoist temples. I don't care what kind of temples or Taoist temples they are! No matter who built them, one-fifth of the money from incense offerings will be paid as taxes, and the land at the foot of the mountain will be returned to the public. Monks and Taoist priests are not allowed to own land or houses! They are forbidden to marry and have children!"

"Starting from the first day of every month, have the local tax collectors and inspectors, as well as the 300 musketeers under the local Qianhu Battalion, collect taxes with guns! All Buddhist temples and Taoist temples with more than ten people must be strictly inspected! Anyone who claims to be a Taoist master will be shot first!"

"These bastards actually dare to come out and threaten me! This is outrageous!!"

Jia Rong was furious. He had clearly dreamed of a fairy who looked like Qin Keqing, but after waking up he caused trouble for the monks, Buddhists and Taoists.

(End of this chapter)