On the early morning of Chinese New Year's Eve, the sun struggled to squeeze a few rays of sunlight out of the thick clouds, and cold air poured in through the wide open windows.

The air was very good, with the smell of wildflowers in the mountains, Zhu Pingjin stood outside the temple gate and took two deep breaths, turned around and crossed the threshold, walked into the West Pavilion, and habitually sat behind the desk. With his left hand, he picked up the teacup and groped for today's newspaper on the table with his right hand. No? Oh, forget about the times you're in. No, there are already newspapers in this era, and they are official. From time to time, the imperial court's official newspaper would publish the last issue, publishing some officials' notes, imperial edicts, and other news, such as the Tartars and thieves that Zhu Pingjin was most concerned about.

It's just that there is no newspaper today.

Zhu Pingjin used to go to work every day, and like other colleagues, he has developed a fixed work pattern. First browse the front pages of newspapers, especially party newspapers and organ newspapers, then read the news on the Internet, and the entertainment version he definitely does not read during this time period, and then look at the newly signed documents, and then deal with all kinds of affairs for the day. The work seems to be easy, at least that's how many people outside the yard of the agency see it. However, years of work experience have made Zhu Pingjin understand that such work habits are absolutely necessary. Accurately grasping the overall situation and clearly grasping small details is the basic ability that the staff of leading organs must possess.

Zhu Pingjin's fingers tapped unconsciously on the table. In this era, the means of gathering information were very limited, and they mainly relied on the reports of officials at all levels. Manpower is limited, so the amount of information is too small and too distorted, and the storage and transmission efficiency is very low, and the cost is frighteningly high. These technical limitations made it difficult for each of the unified central dynasties to implement centralized administration. One of the most difficult is the speed and cost of information transfer. Zhu Pingjin's ancestor Shu Xianwang Zhu Chun was a vassal CD, and at the beginning of getting off the car, he encountered the Western Fan barbarians to make trouble. He hurriedly went to the imperial court, and it took only sixteen days to get from the CD to Nanjing. But this is only a special case, and the cost of ensuring such a transmission speed is surprisingly high. After the Chongzhen year, because the post station was laid off, the cost of information transmission was saved, but the speed of information transmission was as slow as a turtle. It is recorded in the book that Sichuan went to Beijing for 1,710 miles, Nanjing for 7,260 miles, and 1,150 miles for Sichuan. The Sichuan governor Yamen played an affair, even if he traveled two or three hundred miles a day, it would take three or four months to go back and forth, and a few horses would have to die on the way. Coupled with the time for the official documents of the imperial court to be uploaded and handed down, and the decision-making and deliberation, it is normal to wait for half a year or even a year, which is also based on the premise that there are no thieves encountered on the way!

The imperial court has thought of many ways to solve this situation, but the main way is to give the local government a reasonable division of power. The extensive establishment of a feudal domain is a division of powers, the governor, the governor, and the governor are divided according to the inspection of the heavens, and the local officials and the officials are also divided powers. After the decentralization, the central government still retains a lot of power, and retains the final discretion in any matter. The bits and pieces of information on various affairs, from the local to the central, are reported, filtered, and accumulated layer by layer, like a little raindrop, converging into a trickle, and finally flowing into the surging river. What did you rely on to deal with the mountain of official documents brought about by the vast territory of the empire in a timely manner? Rely on an equally large bureaucracy. A large part of these bureaucracies in turn belong to secretarial bodies. At the central level, the cabinet of the Ming Dynasty belongs to the highest level of secretaries, and the cabinet members only have the right to make suggestions and not the right to decide, and the first assistant is the emperor's secretary. Under the cabinet there is the Hanlin Academy, which belongs to the auxiliary and reserve of the former. The celebrants of the Ming Dynasty also belong to the highest level of secretaries, but they are not the official secretaries of the organization, but the personal secretaries of the leaders, so they are closer to the leaders. They only approved Zhu according to the leader's personal opinion, and communicated and coordinated with the foreign DPRK in advance according to the leader's opinion. All these measures were taken to ensure that the supreme power of the Ming Dynasty was concentrated in the hands of only one person - the emperor himself.

"The dictatorship of the secretary. In addition to the political secretary, there must also be a security secretary and a life secretary......" Zhu Pingjin smiled when he thought of this, and called Cao Sanbao in. How the matter arranged a few days ago went, this minion has not yet been reported.

"Cao Banban," after finding his wife last night, Zhu Pingjin has been in a good mood, and at this time he feels the need to strengthen contact with his wife, "You quietly arrange it below, and select a smart, capable and reliable woman from the house to send to Luo's mansion for use, which is Miss Luo's house last night." She has to listen to Miss Luo's instructions for what she does. Zhu Pingjin paused for a moment, feeling that this matter could not be hidden from Cao Sanbao, and said: "This Luo girl is very eye-catching in this world, and she will marry into the mansion to be the princess in the future, that is, your heroine." ”

Cao Sanbao felt bad when he heard the word "marry" instead of "incorporated", and when he heard Zhu Pingjin clearly announce that it was the future princess, he felt even more big. Marrying a concubine in this world is the top priority of the Shu Palace, how can it be so hasty?

As if seeing through Cao Sanbao's thoughts, Zhu Pingjin said to him again: "This matter has been decided by the prince of the world, and I will report to the prince and princess later." Blow the wind on you first, don't spread it out, but you can prepare first. ”

Seeing that the prince had made up his mind, Cao Sanbao's mind hurriedly turned: "The prince might as well report to the princess first." The princess nodded, and the prince would be easy to do. ”

Zhu Pingjin nodded and said, "That's good." How about the Fu Chinese case that you were looking for a few days ago? ”

Cao Sanbao did a little bit unwell in this matter, he thought about waiting for the matter to have an ideal result, but when he saw that the prince began to ask, he had to report: "The slave and maid reported to Gonggong Chen, but Gonggong Chen didn't say anything, and ordered to send over a few little eunuchs who are proficient in writing and ink for the prince to choose, including the house, the village, and the shop." I am a heirloom of poetry and books in the Shu Palace, and there are many people in the house who have read and read since childhood, and you have opened your mouth, how can Gonggong Chen say anything? Godfather's place, as well as in my house, the slaves and maids also picked a dozen, all of them together, the prince has time to take a look? ”

Gonggong Chen, who is Chen En, the great eunuch of the Shu Palace, is the chief of the Chengfeng Division, and usually follows the prince.

"The eunuchs sent into the mansion," Zhu Pingjin pondered for a moment before saying, "and the eunuchs in our own mansion have all broken up and arranged to do things, you can arrange for them to do any chores, you don't have to do copywriting right away, and there is no copywriting to do now." Only when they have done hard work, tired work, good deeds, and bad deeds, can their hearts understand. It's nice that half of them can use it, and you just sit around and watch to see who can use it. The employment of people in this house is different from the outside, when loyalty and honesty are the first, just like your Cao companion, this son is very relieved. ”

This is to go down to the grassroots level to exercise first, and then promote after inspection.

Cao Sanbao's face couldn't hide the smile anymore: "The master praises it falsely, the slave is a dog of the master, and the master will bite whoever he wants." Cao Sanbao took advantage of the praise and quickly told the troubles he encountered.

It turned out that Zhu Pingjin selected copywriting and divided it into two parts: internal and external. Eunuchs are used internally, and scholars are used externally. The internal eunuch is good-tuned, just squeak from above. Besides, which of these little eunuchs doesn't want to come? Everyone knows the truth of 'follow early, go far'. These little eunuchs are pressed on the head of the house, the village, and the shop, and they don't know the year of the monkey when they come out, so it is better to follow in front of the future master, and as soon as the master straightens up, they will also ascend to the sky in one step.

The problem is the scholar outside. There is no one who takes the initiative to apply for the job, and there is only a scholar in Huayang County who has no merit who takes the initiative to apply. People don't look down on the bride money issued by the Shizifu at all, and the talents don't want to mess with a captive pig for the rest of their lives. In the end, Cao Sanbao begged Master Shu, and Master Shu put the news in the literati circle, recommended two among the students, and took one of his nephews, which was enough to make up the minimum number of four people required by Zhu Pingjin.

Cao Sanbao was still a little uneasy: "Do you want those scholars to take a look now?" Just now, the slave maid had already asked Sizhong to invite Master Shu's house, and it was estimated that it was time to come. Now these four people are helping to read poetry at Master Shu's house.

Zhu Pingjin nodded, Cao Sanbao hurriedly went out, and soon brought in four scholars, stood in a row to pay homage, and introduced himself.

They are all scholars, both in their early twenties, but the difference in appearance is quite big.

The first one is heroic and handsome, with white clothes and white hats, and at a glance he knows that he is wearing filial piety. This person Zhu Pingjin saw it when he went to Master Shu's house to mourn, and knew that it was the youngest son of Master Shu's second brother's family, named Shu Guoping. When the thief broke Luzhou, more than a dozen members of the family died, and he was the only one left.

The second was thin, pale, with slender fingers, a thin and white robe, and spoke in a gentle and polite manner. This person's name is Li Chongwen, a native of Emperor Wenchang's hometown (Zitong County). After Zitong County was broken by Li Zicheng in the tenth year of Chongzhen, Li Chongwen fled to the teacher's house with his newlywed daughter-in-law's family, and relied on the help of the teacher's classmates and the teaching of children.

The third was tall, with a red and black complexion, a new coat and hat, a ring of fox fur on his collar, a jade pendant and a sachet on his waist, and a big demeanor. This person doesn't look like a scholar, but like a martial artist. This person's name is Gao Antai, and he is a complete person.

The fourth scholar, named Sun Hong, is a native of CD Mansion. He was the only one of the four who had no reputation, of medium stature and ordinary appearance, but his eyes were bright and his demeanor was calm and measured.

After the four of them saluted, Zhu Pingjin did not speak for the time being. He was observing the four of them, thinking about what to ask first.

Differentiation is the foundation of diversity. Interesting, Zhu Pingjin thought. Of the four, there are two CD people and two out-of-towners; Two have a grudge against the thief, and two have no vengeance; Three are Master Shu's nephews and students, and one is not.

"Offering thieves is rampant, and Shu is raging. The dragon vein of this world is trapped in the feudal prohibition system, so he is often worried in his heart. All of you gentlemen are well-educated, can you teach me? After a long silence, Zhu Pingjin finally asked in a deep voice.

Zhu Pingjin asked straight and dug a pit, which means that the thief is about to fight, I am a clan, I can't fight if I want to, and I can't get out if I want to run, so I'm very scared. Do you have a good idea? In addition, I'm talking about Sichuan, don't pull the world at every turn.

Zhu Pingjin has decided that once one of these four people violates the ban, such as persuading Zhu Pingjin to rebel, or conspiring with officials and gentry, and making personal friends with generals, he will immediately slap the saucer on the table and scream and beat it out, indicating that he will resolutely cut it off. This kind of person who has not achieved enough things and has more than enough to lose is left by his side, and sooner or later it will be a scourge.