Chapter 224: No Title
On the plateau.
The sky was gloomy and snowflakes were floating.
Jiajing stood on a tall grass lawn, Lu Fang stood respectfully beside him, and Prince Yu and Prince Jing were naturally there too.
Although the two did not hand in their official names, they were still nominally assisting the cabinet and would naturally participate in the year-end political meetings.
"Buzzing."
Between heaven and earth, golden curtains fell, and Yan Song, Yan Shifan, Hu Zongxian and others all appeared.
Looking at the golden curtains that appeared one after another between heaven and earth, and the figures in them, Jiajing couldn't help but feel secretly gratified.
Such a scene really gives the feeling of thousands of immortals coming to pay homage.
Twenty years have passed from the end of the 39th year of Jiajing and the beginning of the 40th year to the present day, the 60th year of Jiajing. The development and situation of the Ming Dynasty today have indeed made him feel deeply moved.
However, this is not enough.
The Ming Dynasty has not yet unified the world, has not yet sailed into the sea of stars, and has not yet entered the world of cultivating immortals. It is not yet time to be satisfied.
Lu Fang, Prince Yu and Prince Jing, who were standing by, took a deep breath and looked pleased as they watched the scene.
"Your Highness, I greet you, Great Lord of Heaven, the Immortal of Great Daluo, the Immortal of Longevity ...
Looking at the ministers standing on the snowy plain, kneeling and bowing to him, Jiajing put one hand on his waist and waved his sleeve with the other hand. His serious face relaxed slightly and he smiled lightly, "I am fine. Everyone, get up."
After everyone's eyes were focused on him, he looked at Yan Song, Hai Rui and other ministers standing in the wind and snow. He had an idea and waved his hand lightly, and the terrain began to change.
Then everyone was surprised to find that trees began to grow behind them. What was even more strange was that when these trees grew behind them, they formed the shape of a chair.
Not only that, a huge oval stone table appeared between the Silijian, the Cabinet and other court officials.
The memorials collected from other Ming officials who did not enter the plateau were now placed on it.
Of course, court officials like Xu Fan who entered the plateau had their memorials held in his hands and would present them in person later.
"Please sit down." Looking at the expressions of the crowd, Jiajing waved his hand and sat in the main seat.
The others looked at the "tree chair" behind them, and then looked at the distance from the stone table. However, they thought that the emperor would definitely not embarrass them, so they sat down obediently.
However, to their surprise, as soon as they sat down, the chairs were automatically arranged in front of the stone table. Seeing this, everyone suddenly understood and felt relieved.
I told you, today is not only a political meeting, but also the big day for distributing the 'year-end bonus'. How could the emperor possibly embarrass them?
The seating order was naturally that Emperor Jiajing sat in the main seat, Prince Yu sat on his left, and Prince Jing sat on his right.
Because it was an oval stone table, except for the two kings, everyone else's seats were arranged in a clockwise order.
Lu Fang took a seat next to Prince Yu, followed by Lu Bing, and the two imperial masters Qingfeng and Chanshuang.
Next came Yan Song, the chief minister of the cabinet, followed by Yan Shifan, Hu Zongxian, Wang Chonggu, Yu Dayou and other cabinet ministers.
Then came Hai Rui and the Minister of Works Xu Fan.
I don't know if it was a coincidence, but Hai Rui's seat was right in front of Jiajing. This made Hai Rui a little nervous and he wanted to stand up and apologize, but Jiajing, with a slightly relaxed expression, raised his hand to comfort him.
The emperor's grace is so great that when there is no need to be fussy about trivial matters, he will naturally not get entangled in trivial matters on such a happy day.
Jiajing's attitude towards Hai Rui also made everyone unconsciously reveal a hint of envy in their eyes when they looked at Hai Rui.
Yan Song looked at Hai Rui with deep emotion in his heart. Hai Rui was also a sword in the emperor's hand, but although his sword was responsible for doing the dirty and tiring work, it was more useful to the emperor.
But Hai Rui's sword is purer.
At the beginning, Hai Rui opposed the emperor's bestowing the title of immortal official upon everyone, and even broke the window paper between the Qingliu, the Yan Party and the two kings, which instantly broke the balance of the cabinet.
Many people thought that Hai Rui would never be reused after being demoted to Ningbo Prefecture, but only Yan Song knew that the sword of Hai Rui would only become more and more important in the emperor's heart.
And the fact was just as he had thought. Apart from the spiritual veins, which were beyond his reach, Hai Rui had everything that the people in the cabinet had. Now his cultivation had reached the seventh level of Qi training.
In fact, it seemed that his aura was even more powerful than his. Obviously, Hai Rui obtained the immortal technique no later than him.
Next to Xu Fan were Xu Jie, Zhang Juzheng, Gao Gong and Zhao Zhenji. Well, the former four clean members of the cabinet were gathered together again, but the atmosphere was a bit weird.
In order to overthrow Li Chengwu, who had the Five Military Commandery behind him, Xu Jie played a very big trick and even ruined all the people of his own lineage. Zhang Juzheng and three others were directly kicked out of the cabinet.
Except for Xu Jie and his son, the entire Xu Jie family was raided and sentenced to three hundred years in prison, not allowed to take up official positions or practice Taoism. Some of the Xu family members who had embarked on the path to immortality are still on the run, while those who were caught had their cultivation abolished.
In this lifetime, there will be no possibility of embarking on the path to immortality again.
Xu Jie behaved like this. Not only the victims like Zhang Juzheng, but even the people present kept their distance from such a ruthless person.
However, facing the gazes of the crowd, Xu Jie's expression remained calm, as if he didn't notice it at all.
Xu Fan, who was sitting next to Xu Jie, naturally felt the strange looks from everyone, and he clenched his fists in his wide sleeves under the table.
But with the emperor in front of him, he naturally would not be allowed to act so recklessly.
Moreover, he felt aggrieved. In his honest opinion, although his father's actions were understandable, they were ultimately immoral. However, his experience in officialdom over the years made him understand this.
There is no morality or immorality in court struggles, let alone right or wrong, there is only interest.
It was precisely because of this complex emotion lingering in his heart that Xu Fanshi felt suffocated.
After a round of sittings, all the people from the Imperial Household Department took their seats.
"I will take care of the government affairs first, and then I will repay your kindness later and reward you for your achievements in the past seven years." Jiajing spoke slowly.
"Yes." Everyone sitting in the seats of the cabinet, six ministries, and other officials bowed and said yes.
"Everyone," Lv Fang said to everyone with a smile, "Since the government affairs review involves other officials in the Ming Dynasty, we will start with the government affairs of officials of all ranks in the two capitals and thirteen provinces."
"Because we need to give out "immortal salaries" as rewards, we are rating all officials in the two capitals and thirteen provinces from the ninth rank to the first rank, from low to high."
"As for the rating, everyone present will rate together, take the average, and make the final decision." Lv Fang looked around at everyone and said, "Everyone, please write down the level you have rated on the table in front of you, and the Emperor's seal will take the average in the end."
"However, everyone should pay attention to one thing," Lv Fang paused for a moment, and then said, "The Emperor's Seal monitors the whole country and takes the average to determine the grade. If there is any water in the performance, it will be automatically downgraded."
Hearing this, everyone felt a chill in their hearts, and then felt relieved.
After all, political achievements are reported by officials themselves, and no one knows whether there is any water in them. How could the emperor, who is naturally wise, be deceived?
Besides, the imperial seal can confer immortal official titles on all officials, monitor the world, and distinguish right from wrong. Is it difficult?
However, everyone also understood that what Lu Fang said also contained a certain warning, which was to tell everyone not to deliberately give high-quality ratings just because they are officials from your respective factions. It is useless!
"Everyone, do you understand?" Lu Fang asked with a smile.
When everyone heard this, they looked at the stone table in front of them, and they immediately understood, so they nodded.
Then, everyone began to read and rate the government affairs of other people in the Ming Dynasty.
However, everyone gave scores based on factions.
After all, if we count strictly, the officials in the two capitals and thirteen provinces can all be regarded as members of the faction of everyone present.
On the plateau, snowflakes were floating, but not a single snowflake fell on the table or on the people. Because their consciousness had entered their own destiny, Jiajing naturally would not bestow any sense of coldness on them.
Jiajing closed his eyes and rested. The only sounds between heaven and earth were the flying snow, the occasional whirring sound and the sound of flipping through memorials.
On the plateau, the ministers were reading the memorials of their political achievements. In the outside world, in reality, other officials from the two capitals and thirteen provinces were waiting anxiously, and many of them even knelt in the ancestral halls to pray for the blessings of their ancestors.
All officials knew that only officials of the fourth rank and above in the capital could possess immortal magic, and in addition to their original salaries, they also enjoyed the most important "immortal salary" treatment.
However, for officials below the fourth rank in the capital, as well as other officials outside the capital, there are only two ways to obtain immortal magic and immortal salary.
Or climb all the way to the capital and reach the fourth-rank official rank.
Or he is an official with outstanding political achievements, is appreciated, and is granted additional immortal magic and enjoys immortal treatment.
As for outstanding political achievements, it does not require you to make any major contributions within a year and be granted immortal magic at once.
In fact, it can be accumulated over several years. When the political achievements accumulate to a certain amount, you can distribute immortal spells and enjoy immortal salaries.
Although this second path was not explicitly stipulated by the court, it was an invisible path to promotion that everyone tacitly acknowledged.
Even when someone asked the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, Yan Shifan, who formulated the rules for the distribution of immortal salaries, the always arrogant Yan Shifan took a tacit attitude and did not refute.
Well, this certainly doesn't mean that the greedy and arrogant young cabinet minister Yan Shifan suddenly found his conscience and started to consider others.
But regarding the distribution of immortal spells and immortal salaries, all of these must go through Lu Fang's hands. For example, some implicit rules, whether they are tacitly agreed or not, Lu Fang will report them to the emperor one by one.
Since the emperor did not explicitly reject this hidden path to promotion, it meant that he tacitly approved it, so Yan Shifan naturally did not dare to act recklessly.
Moreover, if he rejected this implicit rule, it would be equivalent to blocking the path to immortality for all officials in the court, both friendly and enemy, and equivalent to making all officials lose the opportunity to live forever.
This kind of public outrage, if not handled properly, these angry officials would unite and do something stupid like scattering the ashes of the Yan family. Yan Shifan would not do such a stupid thing even without Yan Song's advice.
Therefore, the memorials submitted this time were almost all the accumulation of these officials over the past seven years.
Each memorial was as thick as a fist.
Some officials even wrote down the environmental sanitation under their jurisdiction as their political achievements.
Of course, it does not mean that every official can report his or her achievements. There are also requirements for reporting political achievements.
For example, the scope of submitting political achievements is from the provincial governor to the prefect, and officials below that do not need to submit.
But even so, the stone table was still filled to the brim with gifts from all the provincial governors, provincial judges, and prefects.
Time passed, and five hours passed in the blink of an eye.
At this time, the plateau had become covered in silver, and the sky was even darker, but on the trees around the stone table, there were more than a dozen special jade beads as big as a human head hanging.
The area within a hundred meters around the stone table was as bright as snow. This jade bead was naturally obtained by Jiajing from the world of immortal cultivation. It was a kind of illuminating jade called "Yingmushi".
Many sects in the world of immortal cultivation would install "firefly clam stone" lighting that emits light of different colors when they were first established.
Naturally, the Daming Xianzong initially used candles and oil lamps, the most primitive means of lighting.
And considering that everyone is a cultivator, even the mortals who have just embarked on the path of cultivation and have not yet opened up their acupoints have enhanced their eyesight. Moreover, candles and oil lamps are nothing to cultivators, and even the smallest sect can afford them.
Also, considering that the sect had just been established, all kinds of resources should be wasted as much as possible. Therefore, the Daming Xianzong had always used candles and oil lamps. However, candles and oil lamps did allow the sect to be brightly lit.
It won't be dark and you won't be unable to see.
Later, Jiajing became the head of the sect and asked Tiangong Pavilion to renovate the entire Daming Xianzong. Only then was the lighting method of oil lamps and candles completely abolished and replaced by "firefly stone" lighting.
Before this, considering that the Ming Dynasty's lighting method was also oil lamps and candles, and this "firefly clam stone" was not particularly precious, with only three or two spiritual sources in one, Jiajing brought back more than a dozen.
For him now, although the spiritual resources he possesses cannot be compared with those sects that have been entrenched in the Central Plains for a long time, it is still easy for him to take out several million or tens of millions.
When Yan Song and others were reading the performance reports of officials of various ranks, the heavy snow had stopped unnoticed.
In the distant sky, the red sun broke through the clouds, and the orange-yellow sunlight, wrapped in the morning mist, fell softly on the stone table.
"Shhhhh!"
As Yu Dayou wrote the number "nine" on the table and completed the final rating, everyone stopped.
"Buzz!" At this moment, everyone saw that above the stone table, the imperial seal that they had seen before slowly appeared.
As the imperial seal cast a golden light, the names of officials of various ranks and everyone's ratings of their political achievements were all neatly arranged.
"Wow!" The first name appeared, and a lot of political achievements were listed at the same time. Seeing this, Lu Fang stood up and began to announce loudly.
"Yunnan Provincial Governor, Mu Xiran... From the fifty-third year of Jiajing to the sixtieth year of Jiajing, his achievements were outstanding and he was rated as the fourth, fifth, sixth, second, and first rank..."
"On average, it's grade six!" After saying that, Lu Fang added, "Reward: ten kilograms of spiritual rice and a bottle of 'Stove Elimination Pill'."
As Lu Fang finished speaking, a golden light suddenly shot out from the stone table and disappeared into the air.
At the same time, an image suddenly appeared above the stone table, and then everyone was surprised to find that the image on the stone table was actually a scene of golden light falling into the house of the Yunnan Governor.
At this time, in the home of the Yunnan Governor, Mu Xiran was waiting nervously when he saw a golden light suddenly enveloped him.
Then, Lu Fang's grand voice sounded in his mind. At the same time, the golden light dissipated, and the reward for him appeared on the ground.
Then in the video, Mu Xiran was seen looking at the reward, he was stunned for a moment, and without time to think about it, he quickly knelt down and kowtowed to express his gratitude. Although he was disappointed that he did not get the immortal magic, he also knew that his political achievements were only rated as sixth grade, which was not up to standard at all.
However, with these "stove-removing pills" and the magical rice, he believed that his body would remain healthy.
In this case, as long as you work hard, it may not be impossible in the future.
Afterwards, the image faded as Mu Xiran kowtowed in gratitude, and everyone turned their gaze away.
No one present was surprised at Mu Xiran's rating of sixth rank and the content of his reward.
According to the standards for issuing immortal laws and immortal salaries formulated by the Ministry of Households, the political performance rating of these officials must be at least fourth grade before they can be granted immortal laws and immortal salaries.
In fact, the fourth rank was the treatment for Beijing officials.
Officials from other places who want to obtain immortal methods and immortal salaries probably need to have a political performance rating of the second or third grade, or even the best of the first grade.
Lu Fang naturally ignored what everyone was thinking. He continued to "call out the names" of the second official randomly selected by the imperial seal.
In his opinion, no matter what level of performance rating these officials reached, whether or not the immortal magic would be bestowed upon them was decided by their master.
"Guangdong Provincial Government, Provincial Governor, Qi Yuang... His performance rating is ninth rank. He will be awarded a small bottle of spiritual rice." After saying this, Lu Fang shook his head slightly, thinking to himself:
"The Governor of Guangdong is terrible!"
Upon hearing the performance rating and rewards of this provincial governor, everyone shook their heads and chuckled.
At the same time, everyone couldn't help but secretly say in their hearts that it would be difficult for the people of Guangdong to survive under such officials.
But no matter what, the official's performance rating is still ranked eighth, not the worst.
The light disappeared and the image reappeared. Everyone looked down at the stone table, at the Governor of Guangdong who was also kneeling to express his gratitude but with an unnatural look on his face, full of disappointment.
"Humph!" Gao Gong snorted coldly, "He still has the nerve to be disappointed?"
Seeing this, the others also shook their heads slightly.
"Fujian Provincial Government, Provincial Governor, Fang Jinrui... His performance rating is ninth grade. He will be awarded a small bag of spiritual tea."
Wow, there are experts!
This provincial governor’s performance rating is only a mere ninth rank?
It seems that compared with Fujianese, Guangdong people are relatively happy.
However, although he was admitted to the rank, in such a prosperous dynasty, his political performance rating was still at the eighth or ninth rank. What does this indicate?
This shows that these people have been standing still from beginning to end.
In such a prosperous era, if provincial governors stand still, it is tantamount to regression.
Not making progress, but also regressing? Thinking of this, Gao Gong, who had a hot temper, looked at the Fujian Provincial Governor in the image on the stone table and said angrily, "Officials like this must be dealt with!"
"I can't imagine how hard it is for the people." Zhao Zhenji shook his head and sighed.
Hearing this, Yan Shifan felt ashamed.
Looking at the Fujian Provincial Governor in the video, he wanted to eat him alive. He was upset that he had lost such a big person, especially in front of his old rival, Gao Gong!
I have already made up my mind that I must replace this good-for-nothing!
You know, people in Fujian and Guangdong are now descendants of the Yan family. Zhao Zhenji's words are equivalent to implying the Yan family.
And how miserable should the people be?You are the one who said this openly in the hall and cried for the people?
Yan Shifan did not forget that when he first proposed the policy of "gathering land and reducing the clan's power", he intended to stir up conflicts between the clan and the people, let the clan oppress the people, and then the court would take this opportunity to deal with the clan.
Are you pretending to be a good person now?
"Xi'an Prefecture, Guo Yuang, performance rating is..." Lv Fang, who was calling out the name, frowned, but still said, "Ninth Rank."
Another ninth rank?
Everyone looked over in surprise.
You have to know that these political achievements are reported by the officials themselves, but the ratings are taken as averages, and there are even inspections, all of which are controlled by the imperial seal.
During the process, if it is found that some political achievements are inflated, the Emperor's Seal will directly downgrade the rating or even directly judge them as unqualified. Now there are two ninth-grade ratings in a row. What does this mean?
There is evidence that the political achievements of these two ninth-rank officials were inflated.
For a moment, everyone's faces looked a little ugly, especially the elders in the cabinet.
You know, if the officials of his faction falsify their achievements, what will the emperor think? Will it be disadvantageous to him?
"The governor of Shanxi Province, Chang Yifei... The governor of Henan Province, Tang Yuxuan... The governor of Shaanxi Province, Lan Jinchen... The prefect of Wuchang Prefecture, Chen Jingchen..."
Lu Fang's "rolling names" became faster, and everyone's faces kept changing. Up to now, the ratings of almost all the frontier officials had been downgraded to varying degrees.
The worst performance was among the officials in the Southern Zhili area.
So far, among so many provincial governors and prefects, the one with the best performance is the Governor of Henan, who is rated as the third rank.
But looking at the ratings given by everyone below his political achievements and taking the average, his political achievements rating should be at the second rank.
What does this show? Even the Henan Provincial Governor with the best performance has watered down his achievements!
But relatively speaking, everyone was still very relieved.
After all, it is understandable that some of his achievements are exaggerated and watered down, as he was rated as a third-rank official. All we can say is that he is worthy of being a responsible official in the ancient Central Plains.
"Xu Xiran, the governor of Shandong Province, is rated as..." At this time, Lu Fang paused for a moment, a smile appeared on his face, and he said, "First rank!"
First rank! Everyone looked at the rating of the Shandong Provincial Governor and suddenly realized that they had all given this person the first rank.
The main reason is that these political achievements are really impressive, and now it seems that these achievements are not only impressive, but also of the first grade that has passed the imperial seal test. The gold content is truly eye-catching.
As soon as the achievements of the Shandong governor were announced, they were like a fire in the dark night. Among the many provincial governors whose achievements were watered down, they stood out so much. However, Gao Gong smiled.
Because Xu Xiran is his disciple!
"This person will probably be granted immortal magic and enjoy immortal blessings..." everyone thought at the same time.
If all the provincial governors had excellent political achievements and high ratings, then even if the Shandong governor was rated as a first-class official, he would not be too eye-catching and would not necessarily be rewarded with magical powers.
But it’s different now. To put it bluntly, it’s all thanks to the support of my colleagues!
It can be said that it is not an exaggeration to say that my colleagues have helped me on my road to success!
"This person is not bad," Jiajing said slowly at this time, "Give him the immortal method and he will receive a fixed amount of immortal salary every month."
Sure enough! Seeing the emperor speak, everyone was not surprised at all. How could the emperor not like such an official?
"Swoosh!" As the golden light faded away, the image of Shandong Governor Xu Xiran's home appeared on the stone table.
A thin but energetic, honest man in his fifties appeared.
As the image of Shandong Governor thanking him faded away, Lu Fang read out a few more prefects, and then the evaluation of officials outside the capital was completed.
However, there are exceptions, such as Zhejiang Governor Tang Shunzhi, famous generals Qi Jiguang and Ma Fang, whose ratings are not included.
Qi Jiguang and Ma Fang belonged to the two kings respectively, so the two kings would naturally praise their achievements. As for Tang Shunzhi, he was a member of Yan's party, so Yan Song would praise his achievements.
"Okay," Jiajing raised his sleeves, looked at everyone, and said, "The rewards for the officials' achievements have ended. It's your turn next."
Hearing this, everyone was stunned, and then they stopped thinking and looked at Jiajing expectantly.
In fact, the emperor had already known about the achievements of the cabinet members long ago, and there was no need to commend them specially.
"Your Majesty, I have a memorial to report!" However, at this moment, what no one expected was that Xu Fan suddenly stood up.
"..."
(End of this chapter)
