Before dawn the next day, Zhang Huan's carriage went to the imperial city, and there are currently two of his offices in the court, one is in the military department of the imperial city Shangshu Province, which is the court room where he is in charge of the affairs of the military department, and the other is in the Zhongshu Province of the Daming Palace, as one of the cabinet members, he also has a court room in the political hall of Zhongshu Province, today is his first time in the court, and naturally he went to the military department first.

The sky was not yet bright, and the night fog filled Suzaku Street, and through the gray mist, a bright star could be faintly seen hanging in the sky, which was a sign that the sky was about to dawn.

Since the gate of the fang has been opened, there are already many people who get up early to make a living on Suzaku Street, and some low-level officials on duty are also riding towards the imperial city, but he is the only high-ranking official like Zhang Huan, who has hundreds of cavalry guards and is driving on the street.

Generally speaking, with the passage of time, many rules of officialdom will produce a kind of inertia, when no one cares, the boundaries of such rules will quietly develop in favor of officials, big things and small things, big things, such as matters related to the national economy and people's livelihood, such as the encroachment on land, and some small things, and the common people also think that insignificant things, such as the time of the dynasty.

The earliest imperial court had strict restrictions on the time of the last dynasty, even if Li Longji was infatuated with Yang Guifei in the later period and did not think about the early dynasty, but the hundred officials still strictly abided by the time of the last dynasty, which was generally grasped by Xiangguo. It is also strict with the officials.

But the laxity began when Pei Jun was in power, perhaps because the old family system collapsed, and the new power system was not established for a long time, when there was a lack of order in the court. The officials fell into a state of confusion and confusion, and began to slack off on the previous dynasty, starting with the high-ranking officials at the level of Xiangguo and Shangshu, and soon the heads and brains of the provincial Taiwan and the secretaries and supervisors were also infected, and they took their official affairs home to deal with them. The upper beam is not correct and the lower beam is crooked, and this trend soon spread, and officials of slightly lower rank, such as Lang Zhong and Shaoqing, but who have real power, also began to follow suit.

Soon, the people discovered the benefits of this kind of official business. Of course, it's not that I spend more time with my wife and concubine, but that many interpersonal relationships can be carried out in private, for example, when Tobe Duzhilang Zhong was reviewing the financial income and expenditure statements of each county, a certain county stationed in Beijing happened to send some local products, and the feelings were contacted, and the affairs of this county were much easier.

Moreover, once this kind of behavior of going to court at night or not going to court begins to involve the vital interests of many people, it will form an unspoken rule of officialdom.

So at this time last year, Zhang Huan could still meet some middle and high-level officials in the court, but now he can't see any of them, not everyone is seeking personal gain. It's that a lot of people don't want to break this unspoken rule. The weather is cold, and I am happy to have a big dream of autumn with my wife and concubine in my arms in the quilt. Zhang Huan also knew a thing or two about this situation, but he didn't expect it to become more serious today, his brows couldn't help frowning, and the corruption of officials often starts with lax law enforcement.

Until he arrived at the Vermilion Bird Gate in the Imperial City, Zhang Huan specially paid attention to the place where the four were placed, and sure enough, it was empty, and Li Xuhe followed Pei Mingyuan to Dashi. Of course, the officials acting on his behalf were not so dedicated.

The soldiers guarding the Suzaku Gate didn't seem to have woken up yet. Squatting on the ground one by one, he suddenly saw a large group of people coming. Frightened, they all stood up, Zhang Huan saw it through the crack in the curtain, and his face became more and more gloomy.

The carriage was driving on the empty Chengtianmen Street, and the sky was beginning to be numb, and many officers were shoveling the ice from the steps, and the carriage turned a corner and stopped in front of the steps of the military headquarters.

Zhang Huan jumped off the horse, walked up the steps quickly, the large courtyard of the military department was also deserted, no one could be seen, at this time it had passed the time of the court, but the door of the court room had not yet opened, only the side door was hidden, he quietly and silently walked from the side door to the courtroom, the long corridor was silent, on both sides of the corridor were distributed the military department, the staff, the driving department, the treasury department four divisions, each division has several courts, in addition to the storage of various documents, classics, drawings of the library. **

At this moment, the lights are on in the court rooms of each division, obviously there are people arriving, Zhang Huan walked into the court room of the Ministry of War with his hands behind his back, the court room is very large, and there are more than a dozen copywriters neatly placed, two Lang Zhong, two foreign langs, these are four officials, and there are officials, which are equivalent to the staff members of later generations, and they are called principals and engaged in according to their qualifications, a total of more than a dozen people.

At this moment, there are five or six people in the military department, most of whom are engaged in it, some are burning charcoal pots, some are making tea, and some are cleaning the table case in Langzhong, but Sun Jinfang and other officials in Langzhong have not yet arrived.

Everyone suddenly saw Zhang Huan come in, and they stood up in fright, all of them were at a loss, Zhang Huan waved his hand and smiled at everyone: "Are you here so early?" ”

One of the oldest directors hurriedly bowed down and saluted: "Back to Shangshu, the imperial court stipulates that it must arrive at three o'clock in the morning (six o'clock in the morning), and now it is two o'clock in the morning, I will wait to clean up, it will be the time of the court." ”

"When will he arrive?" Zhang Huan nodded at Langzhong Sun Jinfang's table.

The old official looked to both sides, with an embarrassed expression on his face, the relationship between people in the room was complicated, how could he talk casually, but he had to answer Shangshu's words, so he said vaguely: "Sometimes a little earlier, sometimes a little later, there is no one accurate number." ”

Zhang Huan knew that he couldn't ask anything, so he smiled, turned around and went to his room, as soon as he left, the officials were panicked, and they packed up their official documents, and two of them sneaked out to tell their superiors.

Zhang Huan's room is located at the bottom of the corridor, in the middle of the chamber of the waiter, there are currently two waiters in the military department, a right waiter Yuan Zai, a left waiter Li Huai, Li Huai's legs have been abolished, occupy a quota in vain, and do not specifically manage things, in fact, all the affairs of the military department are still managed by Yuan Zai, when encountering major matters, he will send a quick letter to Longyou to ask Zhang Huan to decide, but this year Zhang Huan spent most of his time in Anxi, so most of the major affairs of the military department are decided by Pei Jun.

At this moment, Yuan Zai did not arrive, only a few people were cleaning up the house for him, Zhang Huan pushed the door into his room, the room was neatly tied, the charcoal fire had been lit, the teapot was burned on the stove, and the room was filled with a strong smell of tea.

Next to the bookshelf in a corner, I saw a person standing on the short ladder to get a volume of documents, he was alarmed by the sound of pushing the door, and instinctively turned his head, it was Zhang Huan's secretary Lang Niu Monk and Children, and Zhang Huan's other secretary Lang Qin Mi was working in his court room in Daming Palace.

When the cow monk and the child saw that it was Zhang Huan coming in, they couldn't help but be surprised and delighted, and hurriedly climbed down from the ladder and stepped forward to salute: "Subordinates see the governor!" ”

"Are you alone here?" Zhang Huan looked around and asked him with a smile.

"No, there is also a tea boy who is cleaning up for the governor in the room."

"You come in, I have something to ask you."

Zhang Huan said, walked into the back room quickly, a tea boy in the house was wiping the table neatly, seeing Zhang Huan come in, he was so frightened that he hurriedly retreated, Zhang Huan sat down, and when the soldiers closed the door, he asked Niu Monk and Ru: "When does Yuan Zai come to the court every day?" ”

Niu Shengyu thought for a while and replied respectfully: "Yuan Shilang is okay, he comes to the court every day, about three or four minutes. ”

"So, you're here on time every day?" Zhang Huan changed his words and asked him indifferently.

"The subordinates don't dare to slack off, and they go to the court room on time every day, and they don't stop for a day."

"Yes, once or twice is nothing, what is rare is persistence, just like the major events you wrote, day by day, I am very satisfied." Zhang Huan nodded approvingly, he pondered for a while and asked, "What about the four Shilang and the outer Lang?" ”

In front of Zhang Huan, Niu Seng and Yu will not hide it for anyone, he said unceremoniously: "Sixteen Lang Zhong and Wai Lang of the Fourth Division of the Ministry of War, who can retreat from the morning every day, at most five or six people, most of them show up after the hour (nine o'clock in the morning to eleven o'clock in the morning), take a few books and go home, as for the three o'clock in the morning, except for Yuan Shilang, there is no other, Yuan Shilang also opens one eye, closes one eye, and lets them do it." ”

"Then do you also think that the time of the court is too early?" Zhang Huan asked him again quietly.

"Definitely!" Niu Shengyu saluted Zhang Huan, and said loudly: "I have my own customization of the time of the Tang Dynasty, so that the hundred officials will be diligent in the early dynasty, not to mention that the predecessors have been conscientious for a hundred years, and they never dare to be late to the Kuang Dynasty, take a step back and say, even if the time of the Dynasty is too early, the system can be modified, and it is not a personal preference, come if you want to, you can go if you want to, forgive your subordinates, this wind is led by Pei Xiangguo, and he has been letting it go, and what can be done in the past one or two days has to be delayed for seven or eight days to do, and it is not a single person, almost everyone is like this, If he doesn't strictly control it, I'm afraid that the Tang Dynasty will be ruined in this matter. ”

Zhang Huan nodded and smiled: "You have some truth in what you say, but everyone sweeps the snow in front of the door, and we don't care about others, you go and see if Yuan Shilang has arrived, if he arrives, ask him to come to me." ”

Niu Monk and Child promised to leave, but Zhang Huan stopped him again, "Wait a minute, I still have one more thing." ”

He groaned for a moment, then smiled at him and said, "You go and tell my carriage and guards to make a gesture that they are ready to take me away, and if I guess I am right, someone should come to me soon." ”