After Shoufu's funeral was completed, Xu Baolu and Qian Jin found a random place to sleep in Li Mansion, and this sleep was most of the day. Xu Baolu originally went all the way north, and before he had time to take a breath, he rushed to see Shoufu for the last time, and he barely closed his eyes these days, and he was already tired.

In the evening, the first thing Xu Baolu opened his eyes was the settlement of the Li Mansion.

The mansion of the Li Mansion was rewarded by the first emperor to the first assistant, and it is still unknown whether the royal family will take it back at that time. Although Xu Baolu has been promoted to the first assistant, it is not justified if he lives in the Li Mansion, and he is ready to move to the Guangdong Fellow Townsman Hall when this happens. Therefore, Steward Li and more than 50 servants, as well as the troupe that lived in Li's mansion, had to make a decision.

After the two had some fasting in the east study, they began to discuss. Qian Jin saw that Xu Baolu's face was embarrassed, so he proposed: "Shibo, Shoufu is gone, no one can go to tea and cool, if these people are willing, the younger generation will raise them." ”

"It's okay for those servants to help with some work, but what to do with the dozen or so young women in the troupe?" Xu Baolu asked.

"The juniors haven't really thought about it, let's talk about it then." Qian Jin smiled and said, "But what is the identity of those women, the younger generations have always been a little confused. ”

"It's just some distressed women taken in by Shousuke, don't think about it?" Xu Baolu said with some displeasure.

"That's easy to do, if they are willing to learn a craft, the younger generation just opened a tailoring workshop, just in the south of the square."

"I've heard Shousuke talk about your workshop. You said that you have been in the capital for a few months, how can you think about these things? Xu Baolu said with some hatred that iron is not steel.

"If it weren't for the fact that the younger generation had a few workshops, how would these servants of the Li Mansion settle down?" Qian Jin asked with a smile.

Xu Baolu sighed and said, "That's the only way." ”

Qian Jin drank some tea, and planned to discuss the matter of breaking the sea ban with Xu Shoufu to come up with a charter. The matter of shipping has been played by the Queen Mother and Her Majesty; Li Shoufu once said that Xu Baolu's coming to the capital was the second fire he prepared, but as for how this fire would burn, Li Shoufu never talked about it. So, he talked about the matter of discussing with Li Shoufu a few months ago to break the sea ban.

Xu Baolu thought for a while when he heard this, and after a while, he stroked his palm again and again and praised: "Wonderful, it is worthy of the teacher's decision." ”

Seeing Qian Jin's puzzled expression, Xu Baolu explained with a smile: "More than four months ago, many strangers went to Guangdong to negotiate with the political envoy because of the sea ban, and I couldn't make a decision at that time, so I sent a letter to Shoufu. Shousuke only said in his reply that he would bring all these strangers to the capital, but did not say what to do with them. Now that I've heard from you, I've already understood Shousuke's intentions. ”

"Shibo is saying to let these strangers enter Beijing, so that the Queen Mother and the officials can get to know them closely?"

"Exactly. I, Chen Guo, are known as the Celestial Empire, and my eyes are above the top, and I can't see the strengths of the aliens. Only when the Queen Mother and them get closer and know that others also have places that need to be emulated by our dynasty, can this sea ban be broken. I'm looking for an opportunity to make this happen these days. ”

"This breaking the sea ban is not an overnight achievement, Shibo will not rest for two more days?"

"We can't afford to delay state affairs." Xu Baolu was silent for a long time at the picture of the tiger descending the mountain, and only after a long time did he say: "Shoufu has worked hard for half his life, and now that he is an old man, what is my hard work?" ”

Qian Jin couldn't help but feel a little sad when he heard this.

Shoufu's biggest hope before his death was to return to seclusion, and now that he has gone west, he, as a protégé, naturally has to find a way to fulfill it. After thinking about it for a while, Qian Jin got up and said to Xu Baolu: "Shibo, now that you are also the secretary of the ministry, the younger generation just happened to take a leave of absence from you. When next spring comes, the younger generation plans to send Shoufu's coffin back to his hometown in Suzhou for burial. ”

Xu Baolu stared back at Qian Jin for a moment, nodded and said, "The nephew has a heart." Now that I haven't entered the court, I really can't leave. ”

The two also discussed the day of the spirit, and there were corresponding manpower.

…………

In the early morning of the next day, an open and secret battle was being staged in the Fengtian Temple.

Someone has already received news that Xu Baolu will serve as the new first assistant of the cabinet. A local official directly served as the first assistant, which was also the first time in Chen Guo.

After Wang Shangshu went into hiding, the position of deputy head and assistant of the cabinet has been vacant; Li Shoufu passed away, and Shoufu's position was also vacant. Many members of the court are full of expectations, and they often go to the Queen Mother to talk about Xiang these days, and they have used all the methods in the open and in the dark, in order to compete for these two positions.

These thoughts of the ministers, the Queen Mother is naturally clear in her heart.

When His Majesty was newly ascended to the throne, some ministers jumped out and said that His Majesty was too young to take care of the government, and even some people said that they wanted to welcome King Ming into Beijing. It would have been Li Shoufu who killed a few early birds before he pressed it.

Now that the power of the Queen Mother has been cultivated, how can there be a change in the power of the court? Therefore, today's Queen Mother participated in the early dynasty for the first time, in order to block the mouths of the ministers and stand up for Xu Baolu to take over as the first assistant. Not only the first assistant, but also the position of deputy first assistant, the queen mother also drew up a candidate, and directly named Guo Guangming, a scholar of the Hanlin Academy, to be appointed.

Xu Baolu struck while the iron was hot and handed over a candidate for the officials to supplement the officials. When the man in black attacked the Zhenfu Division at night, he killed Liu Shilang and the others, and the officials were almost empty. Last night, Xu Baolu made a plan in his heart to make a list of supplementary officials, and presented them to the Queen Mother as soon as he went to the court today.

The first piece of the new first assistant, the queen mother naturally wants to give some face. In addition, the ministry has now become a place for Xu Baolu to take care of, and the Queen Mother will not interfere much, only symbolically crossed out a few names, and the rest are all played. The one who served as the left waiter of the Ministry of Officials was Lin Youtang, the chief examiner of Qian Jin's participation in the Guangdong Autumn Festival; The right squire is still served by An Ruhai.

This right squire didn't have much real power, and An Ruhai was an old pedant, so he survived the purge safely. Xu Baolu didn't want to leave people with the stigma of cronyism, so he decided to simply let him continue to serve as the right waiter.

Regarding Xu Baolu's official book, although the ministers complained, they had the help of the Queen Mother to speak, and in the end, it was gone.

The Queen Mother knows the truth of giving a sweet date when you hit a stick.

Next, she hand-picked more than 60 names, most of which were mentioned to her by the ministers when they went to Renshou Palace a few days ago. Although she didn't say anything at the time, she actually had a score in her heart. If there is indeed some talent, she will not stop it. First, it is a compensation for these ministers; Second, it is also to fill the vacancies of officials after the Great Purge, so as to achieve a smooth transition to the court.

After such an arrangement, it is natural to secretly rejoice in the benefits that will be obtained; Those who didn't get the benefits could only blame themselves for going to the Queen Mother to move around less.

In this way, Xu Baolu finally has a foothold in the court, and he needs to do a few major things to gain a firm foothold. As the saying goes, there are three fires when a new official takes office, and he has prepared the first fire early, just waiting for the excerpt of Honglu Temple to arrive at the palace, and he will start to exert his strength.

After retiring from the dynasty, Xu Baolu went to Wenyuan Pavilion.

Looking at the duty room where Shoufu had stayed for decades, as well as the pieces piled up high on the table, Xu Baolu came out of his heart for no reason with a mantra he heard from Qian Jin: When the sky falls, there is a tall man on top.

"If the sky is going to fall, let me Xu Baolu hold it first."