It was June, and the capital was in the hot summer.

Heat waves inside and outside the Ministry of Rites yamen, and cicadas chirping on the treetops.

Inside and outside the tea room, there are officials waiting to make tea. As officials, the most feared thing is that they are in such a fury day, and even more afraid of being in the afternoon.

Officials in the departments of the Ministry of Rites still barely covered their official robes to maintain their superficial appearance, and only a pair of single pants were left under the table. At this time, the officials in the departments would turn a blind eye to the case and would not be too serious about it with their subordinates.

Despite this, the officials' sweat continued to drip, and they kept picking up the teapot beside them and pouring them down.

In the fire room of the Ministry of Rites, Lin Yanchao also shared the joys and sorrows with the officials and was on duty in the yamen.

The best conditions in the capital are the cabinet offices, the Ministry of Personnel’s fire rooms, and the houses are equipped with ice cubes to cool down.

Ice is taken from Jishuitan and Taiping Lake every year in the severe winter, and then the ice cubes are taken and placed in the ice storage pit of the ice factory. They are covered with straw on weekdays. In summer, the ice factory will provide ice to the emperor and nobles in the capital.

However, although there was no ice in the fire room of the Ministry of Rites, it did not affect Lin Yanchao's cooling. At this moment, he was lying on the bamboo bed with his head resting on a porcelain pillow, and a stinger next to him was fanned with a palm fan.

Lin Yanchao has always had the habit of taking naps, which belongs to the "day sleep" that was most criticized by scholars and officials in this era. Lin Yanchao did not care about so many things. He did not stop after taking a nap for one or two hours. It was not until he became an official that he only slept for half an hour.

In ancient times, when there was no air conditioning, being able to put business aside on such a hot afternoon and stay in a quiet place to avoid shade, it was a rare pleasure in life.

Lin Yanchao turned over on the bamboo bed, and heard someone outside, so he closed his eyes and asked, "Who is outside?"

"Report to the master of the ministry, he is Xu Cifu's family."

"Oh, then tell him to come in!"

"Master Budo?"

"It's okay."

After Lin Yanchao sat up from the bamboo bed, he picked up a bowl of iced sour plum soup and was drinking it.

At this time, the butler of Xu State was brought here. When he saw that Lin Yanchao was not wearing an official robe, he only wore a single robe, and his face flashed with anger.

Then the other party smiled and said, "The villain has met Master Jun Tang."

Lin Yanchao smiled and said, "I am as close as my family. You are his family, and naturally you are not an outsider. So I won't feel rude when I see you through this."

"How dare you? This is the honor of the villain. My master doesn't know how to be happy after hearing this."

Lin Yanchao smiled and signaled, "Look at the seat and watch the tea."

"Thank you, Lord Budang."

The housekeeper Xu Guo sat down and said, "The villain came here to be ordered by the master to discuss important matters with the master."

"Please say it."

"The master said that this time the Minister of War was vacant, and he wanted to elect Shi Siong as the Nong, and the other vacant position of Minister of Revenue was taken by Yang Puzhou. He had a tacit understanding with the Lord of the Ministry of War. I wonder if this is still the case today."

Lin Yanchao smiled and said, "Please tell your master. Shu Sikong from the Ministry of Works came to the headquarters to discuss the position of Minister of War..."

Butler Xu couldn't help but hear this.

But seeing Lin Yanchao smiled and said, "But I have rejected him."

The other party immediately breathed a sigh of relief when he heard this.

Lin Yanchao said: "This year's provincial examination chief examiner's final decision, thanks to Xu Cifu's speech on the emperor, otherwise it would not be so smooth."

Butler Xu smiled and said, "The master of the ministry is very serious. The master and the master are as close as a family. It is natural to support each other in the court."

Lin Yanchao smiled and said, "Okay."

There is no reason why Xu Guo showed goodwill to him now. The situation in the cabinet is unstable, and not many people in the Nine Ministers support him, let alone losing the Ministry of Personnel.

The Minister of Personnel Lu Guangzu was obviously disagreeing with him. If he wanted to compete with Lu Guangzu, he had to win over Shixing and Yang Junmin joined the Nine Ministers, so he sold it to himself first. For example, he supported his memorial on the Ministry of Rites' selection of the chief examiner of the provincial examination, and even passed the Wang family's screensaver to save Hu Runing. Xu Guo might not know about it.

Although he had put him in his arms, Xu Guo was able to tolerate it and did not have to worry about settlement. Instead, he grabbed him first, which really made Lin Yanchao see the forbearance and scheming in Xu Guo.

Lin Yanchao was not allowed to let the country go, but he also supported Yang Junmin as the Minister of Revenue. After all, the salt merchants in Lianghuai were also his own basic foundation.

Of course, the salt merchants in the two Huaihe River still bet on Xu Guo. If they think about it, if Xu Guo stepped down, it would only be a good thing for Lin Yanchao, not a bad thing.

After thinking through this, Lin Yanchao would not have a grudge against Xu Guo. What should I do with someone who is about to step down, let alone he has more important things to do.

After Xu's housekeeper left, Lin Yanchao thought for a while and ordered his servants: "Put it in the sedan chair to Yuanfu Mansion."

After the release of the yamen, Lin Yanchao arrived at Shen Mansion.

In the past, when Lin Yanchao came to Shen, there were endless cars and horses at the residence, and there were many guests at the door, but now it is a bit deserted.

According to Shen Shixing's plan, his days were to leave a memorial service while standing in the cabinet and waiting for his return home.

But I didn't expect that everyone saw that Shen Shixing was about to retreat, so the censors who were originally unhappy about him impeached him one after another to gain reputation.

So how did Shen Shixing live this period? After being impeached by the censor, he returned to the mansion to resign and then left the cabinet to do business as a way to avoid suspicion. After the emperor refused, Shen Shixing returned to the cabinet to serve as the chief minister, but before two days of returning to the cabinet, Shen Shixing was impeached by the censor and resigned again, and continued to return to the palace to wait for the order.

Lin Yanchao knows this. Once he knows that you have to stay away from the center of power, everyone’s attitude towards you will be different.

The first two times were fine, but three times and four times. After Shen Shixing returned to the cabinet after a while, he would definitely find that neither Xu Guo, Wang Xijue, nor Wang Jiaping would buy you that much.

The people below are no longer timid and start to disobey you.

This is what is called bullying the old or the young in the officialdom.

When Lin Yanchao arrived in Shen Mansion, the butler Shen Jiu was still here to greet him.

"The Lord is here!"

"Yes, I'll leave the yamen today."

Shen Jiu sighed, "The Lord of the Zong is really intent. Since the master gave me a memorial, there have been fewer people in the mansion. It's not that I have said bad things behind my back, but this officialdom is really a cold and cold world. You, the Lord of the Zong is really in love."

Lin Yanchao said: "Hey, don't say that, I think everyone is afraid that the prime minister will make things difficult for him."

Shen Jiu shook his head when he heard this.

After a moment, someone reported that Lin Yanchao and Shen Shixing had dinner together.

Shen Shixing entertained Lin Yanchao's family banquet. In addition to Shen Shixing, his eldest son Shen Yongmao, son-in-law Li Hong, Sijing Bureau's Ma Zhu Guozuo, and Lin Yanchao had a total of five people. As for the female family members, they had dinner at another table.

When Lin Yanchao arrived, everyone had already started a banquet. Shen Shixing ordered someone to add chopsticks to Lin Yanchao and then let him sit next to him.

This was not the first time Lin Yanchao went to Shen Shixing's family dinner, and he was not so restricted, so he sat next to Shen Shixing.

At this time, Li Hong smiled and said, "Mr. Master, today I heard that your disciple, Yuan Keli, who is currently the Suzhou Promoter, is very upright."

Lin Yanchao glanced at Li Hong, but thought in his heart that he would really be your father-in-law and be able to be in the position of chief minister for the rest of his life? He dared to talk to me in such a tone.

Lin Yanchao said on the face, "Mr., the students are very frightened."

Shen Shixing pushed a bowl of rock sugar and tremella soup on the table to Lin Yanchao, and then said to Li Hong: "Zonghai has already reported this to me. You don't have to say anything more."

Speaking of this, Shen Shixing said: "The folk customs and customs of the four counties in Jiangnan are different from those in other counties. It is even more difficult to be a high-ranking official, and it is even more difficult to be a small official. Yuan Ke has a small seventh-rank prosecutor, but he is not upright. I really admire him very much. Zong Hai, this son is not a thing in the pool."

Shen Yongmao also said: "Yes, Dad is a first-class prime minister and the current prime minister, how could he argue with a prosecutor? It's just Brother Zong Hai, I'm worried that someone will use this to make trouble and fuel the fire."

Lin Yanchao said: "I will deal with this matter."

With Lin Yanchao's words, everyone stopped saying it immediately.

After dinner, Lin Yanchao went to Shen Shixing's study room to speak.

But when Shen Shixing said to Lin Yanchao, "The incident of Governor Yingtian Li Lai imprisoning Shi Kunyu will surely provoke the impeachment of my political enemies in the future."

Lin Yanchao said: "Don't worry, the teacher, the student must solve this problem for the teacher as soon as possible."

Shen Shixing waved his hand and said, "Don't do anything!"

"Mr., the student doesn't understand."

Shen Shixing said: "I just follow the trend."

Lin Yanchao was surprised. No official wanted to return to his hometown without seeking honor, and no one left after asking for impeachment.

Shen Shixing sighed, "Why do you think I don't have a reputation? It's just that I followed Wang Jian and Xiao He's actions, although it was helpless, this was the way to maintain honor and disgrace and peace for their descendants."

Before attacking Chu, Wang Jian tried his best to ask the King of Qin for money, which was disgusting.

When Xiao He was the prime minister, he received money to defile himself.

Lin Yanchao said indignantly: "My teacher has been in charge of government administration for more than ten years. Why is he trembling when he left... The court is so careless about his mentor, and the students really can't understand."

Shen Shixing smiled helplessly and said, "The emperor's words 'the palace and the palace are one' are to push me into the water. If I don't understand this, I will be a monarch and minister for so many years in vain."

"It's just that Li Hong and the others don't understand this, and I don't want to explain it to them. Only you can tell me. After I retreat, they will have to ask you to take care of me in the future."

Lin Yanchao said: "Don't worry, the students will definitely do it."

Shen Shixing nodded and said, "You have saved Hu Runing, the minister of the Like Department."

Lin Yanchao couldn't help but admire that Shen Shixing had not been in the cabinet these days, but he could not hide anything from him.

"Yes, mentor, he came to ask the students for help. The students took the initiative without asking the mentor..."

Shen Shixing waved his hand and said, "He helped well. You saved a Hu Runing, but you were better than helping ten people. Do you understand what I mean?"
Chapter completed!