Jia Zhongtang sincerely thanked the comrade "Tearless Lazy Worm" for taking the initiative to donate 1,000 taels of silver before Zhongtang was developed, becoming the second alliance leader in this work after "Little Overlord Don't Chicken"!

.....

In late autumn, Beijing is very cold in the morning and evening, especially at dawn.

At this point, anyone wants to lie under the covers and can't get up.

Except for the poor (workers) who are busy with their livelihoods, and those who are officials.

The Qing Dynasty stipulated that officials should work in the yamen from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. in winter and spring, and from 5 a.m. to 7 a.m. in summer and autumn, so even if it was very cold in late autumn, most of the officials who had to work had to get up at midnight (3 to 4 a.m.) to get dressed and wash.

Some of the Han officials who can't live in the city have to get up at the ugly time (two o'clock), otherwise they will miss the shift time, but they will be impeached by the responsible discipline picket imperial history. Minor fines will be recorded in the performance appraisal and will affect the year-end appraisal, and at worst, they will be dismissed because of this.

Therefore, Jia Liu's father Jia Daquan said that being an official, especially a Beijing official, is the most painful thing in the world, and it is not unreasonable.

The official Huangqi Manchurian Commander Yinglian, who is also the secretary of the Criminal Department and the head of the household department, got up early, and today he is the Manchurian Shangshu on duty, so it must not be late.

It's just that Ying Lian is a sixty-six-year-old man after all, although he is dressed quite warmly, but the moment he walked out of the house, the chill on his face still made the old man frown, and he exhaled lightly and got into the sedan chair with the help of his subordinates, and then went to the direction of the imperial city.

The household yamen is in the imperial city, and it is next to the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Officials after the Great Qing Gate. In the Qing Dynasty and Ming Dynasty, most of the six departments and Jiuqing Yamen were in their original offices.

Today is thirteen, and there is no need for a pilgrimage.

Even in the last dynasty, the Qing Dynasty was different from the previous dynasty, because the emperor of the Qing Dynasty only needed to go to the court three times a month, that is, the fifth, fifteenth, and twenty-fifth days of the first month.

At the time of the ancestor, Lord Shunzhi was diligent in political affairs at the beginning, and required hundreds of civil and military officials to enter the court every day. But after a long time, Lord Shunzhi couldn't bear it, and felt that the day was too complicated and too tiring, so he set the fifth, fifteenth, and twenty-fifth days of the first three astronomical martial arts to perform in the court. For the other twenty-seven days, there is no need to go to court.

In the previous dynasty, the emperor would be scolded if he did not go to court for a day, saying that he was not diligent, lazy, and lazy.

The Qing Dynasty directly set the system that the emperor only went to court three times a month, and both inside and outside the court, including the people, praised the Ming monarch.

However, not going to court is a relief for the emperor, but it is not much benefit for the hundred officials, except for the officials who walk in the inner court, all the Manchu and Han military attaches must go to the yamen at dawn to sit on time.

The Manchurian Yellow Flag is divided in the Desheng Gate, that is, the north of the Imperial City, which is also the closest to the Imperial City, and it is only a pillar of incense from Yinglian's house to the Daqing Gate.

At this time, it was still very dark, and there were many sedan chairs for officials who went to the yamen on the road, and there were also officials who were not of enough grade to sit in sedan chairs and walked in the dark.

Near the imperial city where the yamen are located, you can see many low-grade officials following the palanquin of the prince and the prince who can be illuminated by the lantern, like a centipede. No way.,There was a thing that happened before because there was no lighting because it was dark.,As a result, I drowned in the river.。

It's just that today is a little strange, before arriving at the Daqing Gate, Ying Lian, who was sitting in the sedan chair holding a hand warmer, felt that the outside suddenly lit up, and the people were boiling, and the strange side lifted the sedan curtain to see, and the scene in front of him suddenly surprised this Ying Zhongtang.

I saw that the original dark Daqing Gate was illuminated overnight, and the rows of palace lamps from top to bottom reflected the Daqing Gate brilliantly.

Looking at the long road leading from the Daqing Gate to the Miyagi Tiananmen Gate (Ming Chengtian Gate), a stage was built every dozens of steps, and an archway was built between every two stages. On the clean road of the major yamen on both sides, a number of verandahs have sprung up like mushrooms after a rain, and they are also full of lights, and they can't be seen at a glance.

Looking at the square outside the Daqing Gate, there are also countless palace lights hanging in the air. Many pine trees appeared out of thin air on the originally empty square, each tree was decorated with silk ribbons, with four-color palace lanterns, which made people stunned and suddenly enlightened.

At this moment, inside and outside the imperial city, it is really like a fairyland on earth.

Officials big and small all looked attracted, and they forgot to go to work for a while.

Ying Lian also walked out of the sedan chair, he looked at the ground, and found that there was no dirt on the ground, apparently someone had cleaned it overnight. I can't help but say that the internal affairs office is very efficient, but I don't know how much those guys are greedy for ink from it.

"Master, look at that, look at that!"

“......”

Yinglian's entourage and palanquin driver looked around like countrymen entering the city, very excited, and they all dazzled the beautiful scenery in front of them.

But their master did not see the magnificent scene in front of him at this moment, but his face sank like water, and his brows were slightly wrinkled.

Not far away, someone saw Yinglian, whose face was as heavy as water, and after a little thought, he slowly came over, and said softly: "Brother Ji, the household department is in trouble now." ”

"Ji Liu" is the word of Yinglian.

The person who came was Liu Tongxun, the president of the "Siku Quanshu", the chief master of the upper study, the scholar of Dongge University, and the minister of military aircraft.

"It's not just trouble, I don't think it's enough to treat the household department."

Another person came over, but it was Qinggui, the son of the former university scholar Yin Jishan and the current military aircraft Zhang Jing.

"The Queen Mother used 9.6 million taels of silver for her 60th birthday, and more than 13 million taels of silver for her 70th birthday.

Looking at the inside and outside of the imperial city, which was like a fairyland, Qing Gui couldn't help but shake his head.

The Qing Dynasty now has an annual treasury income of more than 30 million taels, and the emperor will spend half of the treasury income on the queen mother's birthday, who is not frightened!

Liu Tongxun smiled bitterly and said to Yinglian: "Sixth Brother Ji, you are now in charge of the household department, you know better than me about the situation of this household department, I think you still have to go to the fold, otherwise where will you make up for the big deficit?" ”

After that, he sighed and said: "The previous use of troops in the west, it took five years to pacify and return to the two departments, and the money used was more than 30 million taels of silver. The previous time I used the army Jinchuan, the land was only a thousand miles, not as accurate, back to the two departments of 12/12, with silver to 40 million, but the result was twice the result with half the effort, now Xiaojinchuan is reversed, the three-way army gathered, I am afraid that the cost of money and food is not less than 30 million. In the thirty-first year, the army was used in Burma to the thirty-fourth year, and more than 10 million taels of silver were used... Now that we have to celebrate the queen mother's birthday, where can the treasury be able to supply, if we can't dissuade it, the country's financial resources will be exhausted, and the people will definitely complain. If this goes on for a long time, how can I get it? ”

"Isn't it, the previous tour, there was a division of the local flattery, how much did it cost in the tens of millions. The vitality of the southeast has been greatly consumed, and the influence has been reached, and the customs of officials governing the people have been corrupted one by one. How can we, as courtiers, seek advantage and avoid harm, and not admonish? ”

Although Qinggui is young, he is a rare pragmatic and honest person among the Manchurian officials, and he is also known for his courage to speak out.

"Liu Zhongtang and rest assured, since I am responsible for the household errand, I should put national affairs first." Ying Lian showed his attitude.

"That's good."

Liu Tongxun didn't say much, and went to get on his sedan chair and enter the military plane. Qinggui stayed and said a few more words to Yinglian before leaving.

Seeing Qinggui walking away, Ying Lian was about to get on the sedan chair, but a voice came from his ears: "The emperor is a person of great filial piety, and the middle hall cannot advise on the queen mother's birthday." If the treasury is really difficult to support, you might as well make a large donation. ”

The so-called "big donation" refers to the temporary routine in the "donation" method of the Ministry of Officials - when encountering specific major events, some high-grade officials are put on sale.

Most of the officials who are routinely sold by the Ministry are below the fourth grade, so they are called small donations;

The official titles sold by the big donation are at least four grades, and most of them are real jobs, so they will only be put on sale in special circumstances.