After meeting the three elders, Lin Yanchao returned to the office, packed up his things and prepared for the next day, and officially went to the pavilion to sit in the hall. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

And the colleagues of the Hanlin Academy knew that Lin Yanchao and Liu Yukui were going to enter the cabinet to do business, and all the colleagues inevitably congratulated the two.

Lin Yanchao and Liu Yukui also agreed, and set up a banquet in the restaurant next to the Hanlin Academy, and invited colleagues to the banquet on the second day.

Lin Yanchao returned home, and when he entered the house, he listened to Yu Bodao, the subordinate on duty: "Master, many people have come to congratulate you today, what ice crystals to send." ”

"Ice crystals?" Lin Yanchao said with a smile, "It's Bingjing, this is a gift from a friend in the officialdom." ”

Yu Bo smiled and said: "It's the master, when the villain is in the township, he is the old lady's door, I haven't seen the dignitaries, I don't understand the rules, so the lord laughs." ”

"It doesn't matter." Lin Yanchao thought in his heart, it seems that everyone in the officialdom knows about his entry into the cabinet, so in the same year in Beijing, fellow villagers came to the door to give gifts.

The rotating Hanlin in the cabinet, although the officials are not big, but they have the opportunity to contact the cardinals, confidential official letters, and the latest major events in the empire are in contact every day, so no matter the Beijing officials, foreign officials will also find ways to make friends with themselves and inquire about some confidential matters of the cabinet.

When Lin Yanchao walked to the north house, he saw Lin Qianqian sitting in the house and said to himself, "Brother Chao, someone has come to give gifts to our family today." ”

Lin Yanchao said: "I heard Uncle Yu say, what kind of etiquette is it?" ”

Lin Qianqian took out more than a dozen letters. Lin Yanchao first read the signature, in the same year that there were officials from other places, the governors stationed in Beijing Titang, and even the officials of the six departments in Beijing, even Gu Xiancheng also sent gifts to congratulate himself on the Zhiwen Yuan Pavilion.

Lin Qianqian took a letter and said with a smile: "Brother Chao, you see that this person also inscribed a poem, and the red sun is like a fire." The old man in Beijing shook the brocade fan. If you want to spread your wings in a clear sky, you can bring cold jade with your waist. ”

Lin Yanchao smiled: "Don't look at the crepe writing, to put it bluntly, it is to send Bing Jing." ”

"Brother Chao, what is Bingjing?" Lin Qianqian asked with a blink.

Lin Yanchao put the letter aside and said: "This is a bad habit of officialdom, and what foreign officials give to Beijing officials, Bing Jing is nominally a filial piety in the name of cooling down for Beijing officials." ”

Lin Qian nodded. He asked again: "Xianggong, what does this letter say about the fifth son?" “

Lin Yanchao said: "It's five taels of silver." “

"Why don't you just say five taels?"

"Scholars, ashamed of words, this is elegant."

Lin Qianqian couldn't help but roll his eyes, and then picked up a letter and asked, "Then this plum blossom poem is eight taels of silver tickets?" “

Lin Yanchao nodded and said, "It's okay, it's all inferences." “

Lin Qianqian listened to Lin Yanchao's praise, and was so happy that he couldn't do it, and then asked, "Then what is this Dayan?" “

Lin Yanchao said: "Speaking out of Zhou Yi, the number of Dayan is fifty." “

"Fifty taels? So much. What about this double Plato? “

"Two hundred taels of silver."

"Two hundred taels? Who sent you so much money? Lin Qianqian was taken aback and asked.

Lin Yanchao glanced at the signature and said, "It's the warehouse sitting grain hall." “

There are three criteria for how much Bing respects charcoal, one is that your official position is honorable, that is, how many grades and how many grades are officials, the second is whether it is a key department such as the six ministries, and the third is that you have a relationship with you.

Lin Yanchao added: "This is not the highest, there is also one Qinguan, one hundred and twenty taels. Yihan Valley Pass is one hundred and twenty zhang high. One poem of Mao, three hundred taels. The reason is that Mao's annotated poems, a total of three hundred and five poems. Of course, the highest is Mengjin Yidu, with 800 taels of silver, which means that 800 princes crossed Mengjin to cut down. This is the Bing Jing of the local governor to the elder of the pavilion and the eunuch of Bingpen. “

Lin Qianqian immediately said after hearing this: "Brother Chao, we can't ask for this money." ”

Lin Yanchao smiled and asked, "Is this real money?" ”

Lin Qianqian said: "Even if it's real money." But in case Brother Chao you are caught taking bribes by Jinyiwei, what can you do, I heard that when Grandpa Tai was here, the officials embezzled more than ten taels, and they had to... ”

Lin Yanchao listened to Lin Qianqian's plan for himself. was moved and laughed again: "It's not as good as my grandfather now." ”

"That's not to be careless!" Lin Qianqian said anxiously.

Lin Yanchao re-read the more than a dozen gift lists, and the Bing Tribute given by the official was several times more than Lin Yanchao should have taken.

In particular, the Sitting Grain Hall gave two hundred taels.

Even if Lin Yanchao accepts this money, it can't be said that there is anything wrong, and the Beijing officials all rely on the subsidy of this foreign official to live. This is an unspoken rule of officialdom, and no one will accuse you of corruption for it.

For example, Hai Rui can be called the first honest minister of the Ming Dynasty, but when he was a foreign official, he also bribed Beijing officials, and he said a word, the year of Hajj, the year of collecting rent for Beijing officials.

Lin Yanchao thought for a while and said: "But what you said is that in addition to the favors that can't be abandoned, other things that are not sent to the door in vain will be returned to Jichuan one by one tomorrow." In particular, the two hundred taels of the food hall must not be wanted. “

Lin Qianqian didn't say anything: "Okay, then how to reply to those who gave gifts?" “

Lin Yanchao thought for a while and said: "That's okay, I'll personally write a letter to reply to them, and it will say 'I won't accept gifts for the holidays this year'." ”

However, although part of it was returned, Lin Yanchao also had nearly 100 taels in his account at one time.

Next.

Lin Yanchao and Liu Yukui went to Wenyuan Pavilion to sit in the court.

Just before I arrived at the pavilion gate, I saw several rows of benches outside the pavilion gate, full of various yamen officials, all waiting to enter the hall to tell the story.

Among the many officials, many of the senior officials also sat on the benches.

Seeing this scene, the former officials of the Jiajing Dynasty were shocked to drop their jaws.

Lin Yanchao still remembers that in the second question of the palace test, Pei Du played the prime minister to recruit talents and staff officers from all over the world, please meet in private.

It is said that during the Tang Dynasty, Pei Du suggested to the Son of Heaven that hundreds of officials should gather in the prime minister's mansion to perform affairs.

In other words, the prime minister of the Tang Dynasty was not allowed to meet with hundreds of officials in the mansion.

The Ming Dynasty did not have a prime minister at all, and the six ministries were directly responsible to the Son of Heaven. As for the cabinet scholars, to put it bluntly, they are the secretaries of the Son of Heaven.

The normal procedure for the officials of the six ministries is that after handing the recital to the Son of Heaven, the Son of Heaven then orders the eunuch to hand over the ticket to the cabinet university scholars, and then the recital after the draft is handed over to the Son of Heaven for approval.

In order to curb the power of the cabinet scholars, the Son of Heaven stipulated that those who enter the cabinet will not be placed in the official office, and they shall not be **** to the secretaries, and the ministers shall not be involved in the matter. The meaning of this sentence is that the yamen cannot ask the cabinet scholars for advice before they perform the matter to the Son of Heaven.

However, after the power of the cabinet scholars was increased, the votes were almost equal to the final approval, and in order to ensure the passing rate of the recitals, the ministers and yamen had to report to the cabinet scholars in advance about the performances, and then hand the recitals to the Son of Heaven.

In this way, Zhu Yuanzhang abolished the prime minister, and the original intention of the six ministries directly under the Son of Heaven failed, and he became a cabinet minister to unify the six departments, and then the cabinet ministers were responsible to the Son of Heaven.

After the ministers confessed to the cabinet, the Son of Heaven strictly ordered the cabinet not to **** the ministers, which became an empty word.

So that's why the cabinet members only hold the votes, but the power is almost equal to that of the prime minister. (To be continued.) )