The progress of the salt field test field was very smooth. In less than two days, the princess's centurion team opened up four patchwork flat areas on the sandy slope. Each area is small, about twenty meters long and wide, which is suitable for verifying the effect.
It has to be said that these people are indeed quite experienced in farming. They did a good job of driving cattle, loosening the soil, and leveling the soil, which saved Xia Fan a lot of time.
After the carpenter completes the keel waterwheel, the next step is to fill it with water and dry the flat bottom.
On the other side, Xia Fan finally waited for the first candidate to accept his invitation.
"Your Majesty, Sun Haotian, is from Hezhou. Mr. Xia, do you take what you said in your letter seriously?" The first thing the other party did after meeting him was to confirm whether his promise counted. After all, the advantage of being directly selected into the Privy Council in the next academic examination is too tempting. As for salary and position, they are ranked lower. Candidates who can lend money to strangers during the examination will obviously have good family conditions. Wherever they go, what they value is an opportunity to make friends. It’s just that these people didn’t expect that the rewards would come so quickly and so directly.
Xia Fan didn't waste any time and directly invited the princess to prove it - in this era, the identity of the royal family is more effective than any cake. In other words, the Ning family's nod is the most convincing cake in the world. In this way, Sun Haotian joined the ranks of temporary workers in the Privy Council Office and became the first new employee to join the headquarters.
It turns out that where there is the first, there is the second.
In the next few days, people who sensed Qi arrived in Jinxia City one after another. Even if they could not come for the time being, they all sent replies to express their congratulations. Although Xia Fan was already prepared for the team's success, he found that besides not being good at rectangular skills, these people were still above the standard in other aspects, such as speech and behavior, dealing with others, self-care ability, etc., not to mention He is an outstanding person between the ages of fifteen and twenty, and at least he can see the shadow of a good family education.
The level of alchemy can be improved day after tomorrow.
Now that Xia Fan walked into the Privy Council House, the lobby of the headquarters was no longer deserted. Everyone would bow their hands to him and salute him from afar, and he would nod and smile back. The Privy Council House does have various shortcomings, but there is one thing that Xia Fan quite agrees with, that is, there is no need to pay too much attention to etiquette here.
In addition to the two supporters Wei Wushuang and Luo Youer, the current headquarters has four "quasi-alchemists" who have decided to stay, plus the master Zhao Dahai who has been recruited, and the "criminal investigation team" headed by Li Xing. The number of people he could mobilize reached twenty, which finally alleviated the plight of the polished commander.
This series of changes in the Lingbu department were naturally noticed by the staff of the other three departments.
In the secret room of the main hall of the Privy Council, Wen Xingyuan from the Academic Department, Quan Gu from the Finance Department, Xue Zhigeng from the Record Department, and other six-level alchemists gathered together - they came for nothing else but Xia Fan's matter .
"What on earth does that kid want to do? Recruit alchemists privately and let a group of nondescript people enter and leave the Privy Council House at will, and you two just watch and ignore it?" Wen Xingyuan was the first to knock on the table and angrily shouted, "This is simply lawless and reckless. ! I will definitely file a complaint with the general government!"
"Mr. Wen, please calm down. Xia Fan is indeed hateful, but your method may not work." Xue Zhigen said, stroking his beard, "I don't think Xia Fan has any intention of reporting to the general government. In other words, those people also They are not considered sergeants at all. If they are just hiring chores or servants, the command department can make the decision on its own."
"Then where does his money come from?" Wen Xingyuan stared at Quan Gu, "You probably didn't secretly approve the money for that kid, right?"
Among the four employees, only Quan Gu took office the latest and was only in his early forties. At this time, facing Mr. Wen's questioning, he could only smile and say, "How dare I. It's better to say that he is a serious person from Lord Yuan." I won't give him money randomly if he's promoted. Even the thunderbolt wood approved to him by the superiors is stored in my warehouse."
"The salary of one alchemist cannot afford to support so many people," Xue Zhigeng judged, "there must be someone behind him to support him."
"No... she's a princess, right?"
As soon as these words came out, the scene suddenly fell into silence.
"Your Highness...who of you has visited?" Wen Xing looked at everyone from a distance.
"I've been there."
"Me too."
The two officials replied one after another.
"What about her attitude?"
"To be honest, neither cold nor hot." Quan Gu thought about his choice of words, "But I can't find any problem. She is a princess after all, and has nothing to do with the Privy Council. It would be better to say that she has a deep respect for the local aristocratic family. The degree of dependence is greater than that of the government."
"The problem is that as far as I know, her attitude towards the Wang family is not much different." Wen Xingyuan frowned.
"Are you sure?" Quan Gu asked in surprise.
"That's why I ask you a question specifically to avoid misunderstanding."
"This... doesn't make sense." The Finance Ministry official wondered. A princess has hundreds of servants and guards. In addition to food and clothing, she also has a villa to take care of. If there is not a steady stream of income, it will be completely empty within two or three years.
There are only three sources of this: one is government subsidies, the other is family support, and the third is support from local aristocratic families. But Princess Guangping has no backer in the palace and is lukewarm towards the Wang family. What kind of idea is this
The small amount of money from the government alone is enough for basic expenses at most, and it is impossible to maintain a luxurious life.
The accident in Gaoshan County made Xia Fan reach the sky with the help of the princess. But based on this alone, the princess will use her own family wealth to support Xia Fan
This kind of thing sounds ridiculous.
"You'd better check, not only the aristocratic families in the city, but also the shops and banks." Wen Xingyuan said, "If there is anyone who supports Xia Fan, let them cut it off. No matter where his money comes from. , As long as the source is blocked, he can't keep playing this trick."
"I think so too. Xia Fan's move is just to save some money to bargain with us." Xue Zhi nodded in agreement, "As long as we don't give in, is it possible that he can replace three movies with one?"
"Hmph, don't forget that the headquarters still has to deal with evil spirits. That's his real point." Wen Xingyuan sneered, "It may seem like fun to win over a bunch of people, but when the evil spirits come, those people will regret it. . Of course, we shouldn't let him perform, otherwise it will have an impact on other new alchemists." He looked at Quan Gu, "You take some money from the warehouse and see if you can bribe a few people to find out information for us. .”
Quan Gu frowned imperceptibly. This kind of expense must not be recorded in the account books. In the end, it is estimated that it will have to fall on himself. It's just that he is the oldest person in the academic department. Since the other party has spoken, he has no choice but to agree, "I will do my best."
"Perhaps the aristocratic family should also let everyone know the attitude of the Privy Council." Seeing the three people working on finalizing the direction, the alchemists below also started to become active.
"That's right. We can even inform the local officials and ask them to falsely report evil cases, so that Xia Fan will be exhausted."
"Oh? That's a good idea."
Everyone seemed to think that the other party was in a situation of embarrassment from all sides.
At this moment, an untimely voice interrupted everyone's conversation.
"My lords, I think those are just minutiae and cannot achieve a final result at all."
Wen Xingyuan followed the reputation and found that the other party was Zhang Ya, the sixth-rank member of his army.
"What do you mean by minutiae? Shouldn't we deal with this kind of person step by step so that he can do nothing?" Someone said in dissatisfaction.
"By the way, that guy Xia Fan was the one you released to the headquarters, right?"
"What do you think? You might as well say it." Wen Xingyuan raised his hand to signal others to be quiet.
"Lord Wen," Master Zhang bowed his hands towards Shangguan, "Money can be a matter of more or less. No one knows how long he can last - maybe two or three months, maybe two or three years. The question is two or three If so, can those new alchemists never leave the academy?"
He paused and then said, "There are also evil spirits. The group he summoned may die on the spot, but what if they are solved? Wouldn't it further strengthen their confidence?"
"You can still try the first few methods, but there is no need to try the latter ones." He glanced at the alchemists with disdain, "Since when did we ask the aristocratic family to support our Privy Council affairs? As for letting It is even more ridiculous for the government to falsely report the case. If Xia Fan finds out, wouldn't he deliberately give people evidence?"
"According to what I see, there is only one reason why the situation is like this!"
"What is it?" Wen Xingyuan asked.
"There is no leader in the Privy Council Palace!" Zhang Fuzi replied bluntly, "If there is a prime minister here, why would we bother to do this? Just transfer him outright, or relieve him of all his duties, it is just a matter of words."
"Master Zhou has been transferred to Gyeonggi. Don't you think it's too late for you to say this now?" Xue Zhi said disapprovingly, "According to the efficiency above, we don't know how long the appointment of the next Prime Minister will be delayed. Besides, Yes, Xia Fan is already engaged in the work, if he strongly objects, this may not be possible."
According to convention, the new prime minister must obtain the support of at least two ministries, but the actual status among the four ministries is not consistent. Just like among the six departments of the imperial court, only the Minister of Personnel has the title of Heavenly Official. The highest status in the Privy Council is undoubtedly the Ministry of Ling. The General Office obviously does not want to see the core department responsible for the task of eliminating evil spirits not accepting its own Prime Minister.
"This is indeed the practice, but there are also special methods," Zhang Fuzi explained calmly. "According to the Privy Council's Code, if a major local danger occurs and a certain level of officials is missing, in an emergency, according to position, official Fill in the order of age." At this point, he turned his attention to his boss, "And among all the people engaged in this job, you, Lord Shuwen, have the highest qualifications."