Qin Tai came to the cabinet duty room for the first time, and he was actually very curious about the layout here. Any common person or official has an indescribable feeling about the palace, as if the inside and outside of the palace are two different worlds. Although Qin Tai had been in and out of the palace several times, he had never really appreciated the scenery inside the palace. Qin Tai is not a high-grade official, so he is not qualified to go to the court, of course, he has not had the opportunity to enter the palace from the main gate of the palace, and he is not qualified to enter the cabinet duty room that ordinary ministers are not qualified to enter. After Qin Tai heard that Zhang Juzheng was appointed as the cabinet secretary many years ago, he once asked Zhang Juzheng how the cabinet duty room was going. At that time, Zhang Juzheng said lightly, "That's it, so-so." After that, he didn't say much. Qin Tai had long wanted to see with his own eyes that this Ming official had been thinking about it almost day and night, thinking about what the place he had come in was like.

To Qin Tai's disappointment, the cabinet duty room didn't seem to be very luxurious, and it was a bit like an inconspicuous courtyard. If there was a talkative official around Qin Tai, or if he was a direct talker, they would definitely tell Qin Tai that this was not as good as the court room where the officials were waiting for the emperor to receive him when he was in the previous court. After all, the court room is a place to entertain and receive foreign officials or foreign envoys to rest and wait. For example, Daming is a suzerainty and a country with a good face, so the etiquette and hospitality are of a high standard. The cabinet is only an internal institution of the Ming Dynasty, the second is that the institution is not important at the beginning, and the third Ming Emperor has always been very harsh on his courtiers, so their duty room is simply scared to death.

Qin Tai and his wife Zhan Xiaoxiao had just gone to the library inside the palace and looked for relevant information. The library in the palace is much simpler than in other places, and the residences and offices of big figures such as Feng Bao are more magnificent. A little eunuch who led the way told Qin Tai and his wife that no one with a big eunuch like Feng Bao had a large courtyard in the palace, and there were more than a dozen little eunuchs serving Feng Bao alone. Feng Bao can do whatever he wants to eat and do with just one sentence. The treatment of Feng Bao and the others was already luxurious for ordinary eunuchs and palace maids, but it was frugal compared to the masters of the harem. The little eunuch mysteriously told Qin Tai and his wife that the life of the old man was called a luxurious and wealthy one.

In contrast, the layout and structure of this cabinet duty room are not comparable to those of a big eunuch like Feng Bao, even the general chief eunuch. The area of the entire cabinet duty room is not as big as Feng Bao's residence in the palace alone, and the layout inside is something that the little eunuchs in the palace disdain. Qin Tai looked at it again and again, and found that in addition to the necessary documents and study utensils, the furniture layout in the duty room was really too simple. Who would believe that a well-known cabinet official outside would work aggrievedly in such a small place every day. It seems that the emperors of the past dynasties really did not treat these humeral ministers well, at least they had to improve the office conditions of the cabinet officials. This kind of place is not only hot in the summer, but also very cold in the winter. The people who can survive to serve as cabinet officials are all top people with grades, how can they endure this kind of suffering?

When Qin Tai first served as the arraignment officer, he had heard that Yan Song, the first assistant of the cabinet, couldn't even walk, and he still had to occupy the position of the first assistant of the cabinet and not let go. At that time, Qin Tai was really a little disdainful of this Yan Song, and always felt that Yan Song was really a bit excessive. Now it seems that the evaluation at that time was almost wrong, and Qin Tai really wronged Yan Song. First, Yan Song didn't want to let go, he didn't want to be the first assistant of the cabinet for a long time. As long as he does not serve as the first assistant of the cabinet, his son Yan Shifan, who is a "cabinet walker" in the cabinet, can serve as the fourth assistant of the cabinet or the third assistant of the cabinet, so Yan Song has repeatedly used his old age as a reason to hope that Jiajing Emperor Zhu Houyu will allow Yan Song to give office, but Jiajing Emperor Zhu Houxi does not agree. Second, Yan Song's legs and feet are not only because he is old, he is not so old that he can't even walk. A person's brain is always one step ahead of the body, and children will think about this and that before they can walk. When people get older, their bodies have not yet aged, and their brains begin to fail, which is an inevitable phenomenon. Qin Tai is not only an official, but also a coroner who knows the body very well. He knew this inevitable law, so he was a little skeptical about Yan Song's question. Yan Song can handle the daily affairs of the cabinet in an orderly manner, and deal with Jiajing Emperor Zhu Houxi and cabinet officials, and should not be physically aging like this. Now it seems that this is Yan Song's occupational disease, and it is this cabinet duty room that has harmed Yan Song. Yan Song has been in the cabinet for nearly 50 years, and he has been the first assistant of the cabinet for more than 30 years. Working in this low, damp place every day is not only hot and humid in summer, but also bitterly cold in winter. Even a healthy person can be tortured into a sick man, not to mention that Yan Song is a little old after all. So when Qin Tai saw this cabinet duty room, he really began to sympathize with Yan Song back then. However, Qin Tai immediately thought of a more important issue, which was Zhang Juzheng's body. Zhang Juzheng has been appointed as the second assistant of the cabinet, and the future first assistant of the cabinet will work in the cabinet duty room for a long time, and his body must not be tortured, right? Qin Tai wants to think about the future for his friend Zhang Juzheng, at least to protect Zhang Juzheng's physical condition.

Qin Tai deserved to be knowledgeable, and he came up with a simple recipe after only a few steps. As long as Zhang Juzheng can take it for a long time, at least it can be guaranteed that Zhang Juzheng's body will not be too affected by this kind of house. Qin Tai not only wanted Zhang Juzheng to take medicine, but also hoped that Zhang Juzheng would tell all the cabinet officials about this prescription, hoping that they would not be affected by this kind of house. By the way, Qin Tai also had to write the recipe to Feng Bao, so that the miscellaneous eunuchs and small palace maids who also lived in such low houses could get rid of their illness.

The cabinet duty room is a place for cabinet officials to handle official business, and some rooms are piled up with various documents, so that outsiders are not allowed to enter and leave casually. Zhang Juzheng would not find a random room to receive Qin Tai, so Zhang Juzheng took Qin Tai to his own office room. Since the cabinet duty room does not accept outsiders, except for the relatively large conference room, the other rooms are very small, even Zhang Juzheng's room. Zhang Juzheng used the room used by Yang Tinghe, Yan Song and Xu Jie, which was the best and largest room here, but it still made Qin Tai feel uncomfortable. Zhang Juzheng also felt that Qin Tai was a little uncomfortable, but this was already the best room here, so he could only entertain Qin Tai here.

Zhang Juzheng's room is the innermost room on the left side of the cabinet duty room, which is twice the size of the office room of ordinary cabinet officials. The outside room was his assistant's, and there were many documents that had been processed or had not had time to be processed. One inside is Zhang Juzheng's own office, which, in addition to a huge filing cabinet, is a huge piece of copywriting. There were a lot of study utensils and papers, as well as a cup of semi-cold tea. This is Zhang Juzheng's office environment, Zhang Juzheng is going to work here for at least many years, who would believe all this?

Zhang Juzheng also knew that Qin Tai was here for the first time, so he briefly introduced the environment and layout here for Qin Tai. It turned out that this was an independent courtyard, and in addition to the main gate where Qin Tai had just entered, there was also a small hidden door. In general, cabinet officials and documents are sent in and out of the main gate, and they are inspected by the soldiers at the gate. But the soldiers outside the gate did not dare to offend the people here, because the people who could enter here were either big people or the entourage of big people, and they couldn't offend them casually. However, the Hidden Door also has its own purpose, allowing the Emperor to enter and exit when he wants to inspect in secret, or when important documents need to be transmitted. It's just that this hidden door has not been used a few times, and the emperor has never been to this cabinet duty room.

The cabinet is no longer the cabinet it used to be, and it is no longer two or three kittens. In addition to the four members of the Cabinet, who are considered to be official members of the Cabinet, there are many more "Cabinet Walks" and "Cabinet Chapters". The "Cabinet Walk" is an alternate official cabinet official and a person who shares the work of the four regular cabinet members. Becoming a "cabinet walker" means that the official has embarked on a broad road and will become a full member of the cabinet in the future. The "Cabinet Chapter", also known as the "Cabinet Chapter", is the assistant of the official cabinet officials, who is responsible for sorting out the general daily documents and copying documents and records for the cabinet members. Cabinet members, cabinet walkers, and cabinet chapters are all called cabinet officials, but their treatment and status are very different. The cabinet members are official super ministers, and each of them has more power and status than the ordinary six ministers. The cabinet walk is the future cabinet member, and the status is equal to that of the six books or the six departments, but the rights are not as good as the six books, and even the more important departments are not as good as the ministers. The cabinet chapter is equivalent to an ordinary middle-level official, and his status is similar to that of the head of the six ministries, but he has access to more secrets. Cabinet members must be appointed by the emperor himself and announced to the world; The cabinet also needed to be personally appointed by the emperor and notified to officials at all levels; The Cabinet Seal belongs to the Cabinet Temporary Officials, and only needs to be approved by the Cabinet Chief, and then reported to the Celebrant for the record. Once the cabinet chapter is effective, it can be reported to the emperor for commendation or directly promoted to the cabinet. However, if a mistake is made, it is not immediately killed and secretly imprisoned, so there are not a few cabinet chapters who have disappeared for no reason. Generally speaking, each cabinet member has its own independent office, with two or even three or four people in one office, and one or two offices for each cabinet member. Zhang Juzheng told Qin Tai that he also had an office in another room, but the environment there was not as good as here.