When Zhao Hongrun rescued Wen Qi from Dali Temple and took him to Suwangfu, Zhou Yan, the secretary of the criminal department, had already come to the Ministry of Officials and saw He Mei, the secretary of the Ministry of Justice. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

He Mei, the secretary of the ministry, is already an old minister who has been in office for many years, and his age will not be a few years younger than Cao Zhi, the secretary of the original Ministry of Works.

And now after Cao Zhi, the former secretary of the Ministry of Industry, resigned from his official position and begged for old age, among the six books of the imperial court, He Mei was the oldest, followed by Li Wei, the secretary of the Ministry of War.

As for Zhou Yan, the secretary of the Criminal Department, Li Liang, the secretary of the Household Department, and Du You, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, although these people are also over forty years old, compared with Cao Zhi, He Mei, Li Feng and others, they can be called in the prime of life.

"What kind of wind is blowing today, and it actually blows Lord Zhou......"

When meeting Zhou Yan, the official Shangshu He Mei said with a smile.

In all fairness, the Ministry of Officials is now under the control of Prince Hongli of the East Palace, while the Ministry of Punishment is under the control of King Yongwang Hongyu.

Putting aside the struggle between the princes, in fact, the object of the minister's resentment is the Ministry of Rites, who let the right to host the imperial examination, which originally belonged to the Ministry of Officials, now belong to the Ministry of Rites.

It is no exaggeration to say that there was a Wenqi fraud case during this year's examination, and many officials of the Ministry of Rites secretly looked at the jokes of the Ministry of Rites and took the opportunity to fall into the well as revenge, so it is no wonder that Du You, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, hated Wenqi to the core.

"Lord He, this mansion came today to check your ministry's official collection...... "Zhou Yan, the secretary of the Criminal Department, said straight to the point.

"......" He Mei stroked his gray beard and did not speak, but just looked at Zhou Yan with a pair of slightly cloudy small eyes, with a hint of vigilance in his eyes.

After all, since Yongwang Hongyu became the head of the Criminal Department, the Criminal Department has not worn small shoes for the Ministry of Officials, so that the officials of the Ministry of Officials now see the people of the Criminal Department, they can avoid it, and they can hide it, and they no longer have the arrogance of the head of the six departments.

"What does His Royal Highness King Yong want to do?" He Mei pretended not to care and smiled.

Hearing this, Zhou Yan, the secretary of the Criminal Department, smiled slightly, but did not speak.

Although he came here today actually has nothing to do with Yongwang Hongyu, he doesn't mind taking advantage of it, after all, pulling up Yongwang Hongyu's tiger skin is more effective than his criminal department Shangshu.

Maybe this trick doesn't work well for others, because of the current situation in Daliang, the prestige of the prince of the East Palace, Hongli, is almost completely overshadowing the reputation of King Yong, but Zhou Yan believes that the official in front of him, Shangshu He Mei, will definitely be able to see the truth that others have ignored.

Sure enough, seeing that Zhou Yan pretended not to speak, He Mei, the secretary of the ministry, pondered for a while, and said with a little ridicule and sarcasm: "In this case, Lord Zhou, let's go by yourself, anyway, the official treasury of my ministry, Lord Zhou, you have been going for a long time, and you will not be unable to touch it." ”

Zhou Yan smiled slightly when he heard this, but he didn't care, and arched his hand and smiled: "Thank you." ”

With that, he got up and walked towards the depths of the mansion of the Ministry of Officials.

Looking at the back of Zhou Yan leaving, the official Shangshu He Mei sighed worriedly, and muttered: "I really envy Cao Zhi's old thing, but now he is at ease......"

It is undeniable that he does envy the Ministry of Industry, because although the Ministry of Industry does not have the support of a certain prince behind him, but with the relationship between the Ministry of Industry and the Smelting Bureau, who dares to despise the Ministry of Industry now?

Compared with the Ministry of Works, which was at the bottom of the six ministries in the past, is now developing prosperously, the Ministry of Officials, as the head of the six ministries, is now in a plummeting position, and the rights in their hands have been divided by the Ministry of Rites and the Imperial History Supervisor, and they have been stared at and suppressed by the Ministry of Crime.

It's a pity that he can't leave now, because the one in the vertical arch hall still needs him to manage the mess of the officials, until the East Palace and King Yong divide the victory and defeat.

If Donggong wins, he will be replaced by Donggong's true henchmen; And if King Yong wins, I believe that King Yong will no longer let him sit in the position of the secretary of the ministry.

Once a son of heaven and a courtier, no matter which new monarch ascends the throne, these old ministers will gradually fade out of the court, and the difference is only in the treatment they enjoy in the future.

Therefore, He Mei was actually not very concerned about the battle between the East Palace and King Yong, even if his son was also on an errand in the ministry.

"Why don't you go to Cao Zhi's old guy for a drink today?"

In the uninhabited hall, a certain official secretary muttered to himself.

At the same time, Zhou Yan, the secretary of the Criminal Department, had come to the book library of the Ministry of Officials with his memory.

The library of the Ministry of Officials, commonly known as the archives room, is a place for stacking archives, but the archives placed here are all archives of court officials.

Regardless of whether he is in office or not, as long as he has held an official position in the imperial court (county order and above), even if he has only been in office for one day, his file also leaves a document in the library of the Ministry of Officials, which is commonly known as official registration.

The Wei State is divided into civil registers, official registers, noble registers, scholar registers, and guard (military) registers that just came out a while ago, etc., and the places where they are preserved are different.

The civil registers are divided according to each county and county, and are hidden in the county treasury of each county, the official register is hidden in the official department, the noble register is hidden in the Zongfu, and the scholar's register is hidden in the Hanlin Bureau, and the newly distinguished Wei nationality is now included in the General's Office.

And today, Zhou Yan found the official records of the Ministry of Officials, just to find the official records of Wang Ling, Ma Qi, Su Li and others.

In fact, to be precise, Ma Qi, who once served as the right martial artist in front of the palace, should now be included in the General's Mansion, but the General's Mansion has not been established for a long time, and there are many places that are not yet perfect, and the six departments of the imperial court have not yet been completed.

asked the little official guarding the door of the warehouse for an oil lamp, and Zhou Yan, the secretary of the criminal department, walked into the dimly lit warehouse with the oil lamp.

The treasury containing official records is actually a row of tiled houses, which are filled with rows of wooden shelves.

On the wooden shelf, according to the year, the archives of the court officials over the years are neatly placed.

I have to say that few people come to this place, and although the officials also send people to clean up from time to time, it is still difficult to avoid dust everywhere in the house.

No, as soon as he pushed them away, Zhou Yan was choked by the dust raised.

He shook his head helplessly, pushed the door with the oil lamp and walked in.

This warehouse is really dusty for a long time, and the wooden shelves and registers are full of a thick layer of dust, and even Zhou Yan saw a spider crawling around.

"The second year of Hongde...... Hongde 2nd year ......"

While muttering in his mouth, Zhou Yan looked for the mark of Hongde's second year in the house.

Because his old friend Wang Ling, like him, is an official who was born in the second year of Hong De, the difference is only that Zhou Yan has been in the Criminal Department for several years, rising step by step, and now he has become the chief official of the Criminal Department.

As for Wang Ling, his luck is not very good, according to Zhou Yan's impression, not long after Wang Ling became the secretary of the above selection department, he was transferred to Jiyang County as a county commander for some reason.

It is undeniable that Jiyang is a rich county in the Wei State, and in a sense, there is quite enough oil and water, but compared with the Beijing officials, the status of local officials is definitely far from comparable.

"Found it, Hongde two years."

After some searching, Zhou Yan found the label of Hong De's second year, and then began to look for the official bamboo book of his old friend Wang Ling.

"Wang ...... King...... Wang ......"

Zhou Yan's gaze swept over the labels on the wooden frame one by one, and it didn't take long to find the official bamboo book of his old friend Wang Ling.

took out the bamboo book, Zhou Yan spread it out, and saw that the bamboo book clearly recorded Wang Ling's origin, date of appearance, and official position.

But to Zhou Yan's surprise, there was no record in the official register why Wang Ling was transferred to Jiyang County.

This doesn't make sense.

You must know that when an official is transferred from his original position, the officials will leave corresponding records for future investigation.

To put it mildly, even if Wang Ling fights with his colleagues because he is not used to the style of his colleagues, the official record will be left accordingly.

The Ministry of Officials' Examination Division was set up for this purpose.

But there is no record in Wang Ling's official register......

“……”

Zhou Yan frowned and thought for a while, and immediately found out the official bamboo books of Ma Qi, Su Li and others.

What surprised him was that many of the officials implicated in these headless cases did not have any official records on their official records for why they were transferred.

If it is only Wang Ling alone, it may be the negligence of the officials of the Gong Gong Division, but with so many people, it is impossible for the Gong Gong Department to turn over this omission.

In other words, this is the connection between Wang Ling, Ma Qi, Su Li and others: these people are very likely to have been involved in something back then, and they were transferred afterwards.

There is only one person in Wei who can transfer these officials out of the country for any reason, and that is ......

Your Majesty? It was His Majesty who transferred these people to a place?

Zhou Yan subconsciously swallowed his saliva.

Of course, he doesn't think that Wei Tianzi is behind the harm to these officials, after all, these officials were transferred abroad more than ten years ago, and if Wei Tianzi wanted to harm them, these officials would not have survived for a few years.

The question is, why were these officials transferred by Wei Tianzi?

From the second to the third year of Hong De, these people were transferred by His Majesty one after another, before that, what happened to Daliang? Wait...... Hongde two years?!

Zhou Yan, the secretary of the Criminal Department, showed shock and abruptness in his eyes, and he dragged the official registers of the officials in his hand, and his heart was pounding.

Got it!! If nothing else, it's the same group...... Whether it is the murderer who framed Wang Ling and these officials, or the murderer who killed the envoys of Chu that His Royal Highness King Su once asked me to investigate...... I see! I see!

Zhou Yan, the secretary of the Criminal Department, was overjoyed.

At that moment, he suddenly heard a slight movement in the room.

"Who?! Come out! Zhou Yan shouted alertly.

It didn't take long for a small official to walk out from behind the wooden frame, probably surprised, and said timidly, "Shang ...... Lord Shangshu, you ...... It's not too early, my ministry is going to close......"

"Oh." Zhou Yan's tense nerves gradually relaxed, nodded and said, "This mansion knows, you go out first." ”

"Yes." The little official walked out.

Seeing this, Zhou Yan put the bamboo book under his ribs and walked to the door.

However, when he came to the door of the house, his eyes swept the footprints on the ground near the door, his face changed slightly, and he glanced out of the door in disbelief.

For some reason, he felt a faint sense of foreboding in his heart.

After a moment's thought, he immediately returned to where he had been, and scratched the bottom of the wooden frame with his fingernails.

"Lord Shangshu?" The servant called out from outside the house.

"Got it, I'll be out right away."

Deliberately picking out a trace of sawdust and embedding it in his fingernails, Zhou Yan took a deep breath and walked out of the house.

I hope I'm overthinking......

He said secretly. (To be continued.) )