Senior officials in Kyoto are living quite comfortably these days.
I haven't been to the court for several months. I don't have to get up in the dark before dawn. Sometimes I don't even care about breakfast, so I have to rush to the gate of the palace to gather. Dragging his tired body, he rushed to various departments to deal with various chores...
Now they can sleep until dawn, drink morning tea, and go to the yamen leisurely. If they are giants of various ministries, as long as they are not seen by those censors, the time can be more relaxed.
Of course, if you receive the news that you will go to the morning court one day, no matter how lazy you are, you have to restrain yourself and honestly blow the morning breeze at the gate of the palace for half an hour.
Although the time is still relatively hot in summer, the sun has not yet risen, and it is still a bit cold in thin clothes.
Old General Xue stomped his feet, wrapped his clothes tightly, and sighed: "This old bone is getting worse and worse. I don't know how many days it will be able to go to court..."
Old General Ma came over and said: "We old bones don't have much time left, but fortunately those kids are doing their best, Mr. Xue, you can sleep well even if you die."
Before the start of the early dynasty, when the officials were waiting at the gate of the palace, they had to line up according to their rank and department. evaluation.
Several censors cast a glance at the old generals who were gathered together, and quickly moved their eyes away. They caught a glimpse of an official in the crowd touching their buttocks, and immediately walked over with a sullen face, and said in a cold voice: "Please pay attention, my lord." deportment!"
The official wanted to adjust his trousers quietly, but unexpectedly, he was seen by the picket censor, so he had to watch his nose and nose, and only after the censor left, he glanced at the tree squatting not far away from the corner of his eye. A few people chatting with each other felt a trace of unspeakable sourness in their hearts.
It was rare for General Xue to have no verbal confrontation with General Ma this time. He sighed and said, "What is your Highness thinking?"
The highness he was talking about was naturally the eldest princess.
There was a lot of trouble in the college, and countless people in the court were waiting to see her jokes, but she seemed to have completely forgotten about it. She didn't do anything these days, and Jiangmen wanted to lend a helping hand, but she declined .
A red-faced veteran thought for a moment, then said: "Your Highness has always had opinions, if you come to the court today, you will know."
Because of the special status, Jiangmen and all the princes have maintained an alien relationship. However, the eldest princess is different. She is a woman. There is a lot involved in the world, and everyone is prosperous, and everyone is hurt. Even if you put aside your feelings, you must naturally pay attention to her affairs.
In recent days, the emperor, who is sick with dragon health, has almost handed over all the political affairs to the Shangshu Province, but every once in a while, he will still hold an early court to ensure that he will not be too alienated from political affairs.
Flooding in the two prefectures is still an extremely important matter. How to control the flood, properly resettle refugees, and post-disaster reconstruction work are all the focus of the court's attention. There will be news coming from the front almost every day.
However, the disaster situation this time is obviously different from previous years, the original method cannot be applied, and the situation is not optimistic.
After some elections by the courtiers, the emperor re-elected officials who were good at water control, and the matter was temporarily exposed, and the focus of the court debate shifted to another matter.
The construction of the eldest princess' academy can be said to have tightly affected the hearts of many courtiers.
Regardless of their intentions, there is no doubt that countless people are concerned about the progress of this matter.
Emperor Jing looked down, and said lightly: "Liu Dayou, tell me, how is the preparation for the academy going?"
This made many people in the court slightly startled.
Liu Dayou's name was really unfamiliar to them.
Although there are many officials in the DPRK and China, it is impossible for everyone to know them all, but it is not possible that they have not even heard of their names.
This can only be blamed on the official position of the capital magistrate, whether it is big or small, he is already the head of a county in the local area, but in the capital, he is hovering on the edge of the court, and he is not even qualified to be in the eyes of some people. No.
Of course, what surprised them was not this unfamiliar official, but the establishment of the academy, which was obviously taken over by the eldest princess. Where did this "Liu Dayou" come from
Seeing a person walking out from behind, many people were already thinking about something in their hearts.
However, some people still showed faint expressions of sarcasm and disdain. In their view, this kind of thing is impossible to complete, because the establishment of the academy involves not only the capital, but also the whole city. The entire country of Jing, even the national treasury, cannot afford so much money.
Liu Dayou stepped forward and said respectfully: "Your Majesty, so far, a total of more than five hundred thousand taels of silver has been raised, and the thirteen academies in Kyoto are already under preparation."
Five hundred thousand taels, this amount still made the hearts of many people present jump.
This is not a small amount. Everyone knows that when the Ministry of Rites is raising money, it hits a wall everywhere. Let alone five thousand taels, it is impossible to raise five thousand taels. In just a few days, the five thousand taels , where did it come from
They could hear clearly that what Liu Dayou said was "raising money", which meant that the money was not appropriation from the treasury. Where did they raise it from
Their doubts did not last long, and Liu Dayou continued to speak.
"Most of the five hundred thousand taels of silver were donated by merchants from the capital. I have sent someone to build a stone tablet according to His Majesty's wishes. Once the academy is completed, the stone tablet with the name of the donator will be erected in front of the academy. Let many students and the people of the world remember their contributions to the academy... "
As Liu Dayou spoke slowly, the faces of many officials in the court changed from doubt and stunned to shock and fear.
Unexpectedly, there is such a thing
Those people are just lowly businessmen, what qualifications do they have to engrave their names on the stele, so that the students and common people all over the world will admire them and pass them down from generation to generation
And after today, how will the people of the world see them
Even businessmen know how to contribute their heart and soul to the country, but they, the rich and powerful who passed down their poems and books to their families, don't know
You must know that, unlike ordinary officials in the DPRK, their family's reputation has been accumulated bit by bit. It is based on caring for the people, being willing to do good deeds... and accumulating bit by bit over ten or ten years.
As soon as the monument was erected towards the entrance of the academy, the prestige and fame they had accumulated with great difficulty were all gone.
Bah, what a famous family, what kind of aristocratic family, even worse than a businessman, what face do you have in the future to talk about what a famous and aristocratic family you are!
Especially those real giants who can stand for hundreds of years rely on the terrifying reputation they have accumulated for a long time. If they lose their reputation and even lose the trust of the common people and the nobles, no matter how big the family is, they will also lose their reputation. To go to the end of the road.
This simple monument left these aristocratic families with no choice.
Donate, must donate!
You can earn money if you lose money, but if you lose your reputation, you can't reverse it.
Of course, some people's choices are easy, and some people's choices are more difficult.
For example, those officials from the Ministry of Rituals once visited...
If you don't donate - you will definitely be reviled by all the people. If the merchant donates, other wealthy families will also donate. It will expose them nakedly. Will there be a place for them in this capital, in this Jingguo, in the future
Donate—how much to donate, they donated dozens or even hundreds of taels before, and they had a very unpleasant fight with the officials of the Ministry of Rites. Now they go up to donate money with a face, how can they save face
Even if it is donated, it may not have much face. It is obviously a remedial measure, which will make everyone despise it even more.
So here comes the problem.
In the end is to donate, or not to donate
At this moment, their hearts had never hated the officials of the Ministry of Rites so much.