A few days later, the capital, Shen Fu.

The Shen family is ready to celebrate the promotion, and today is the day of the feast.

For the sake of low-key, there are no lights outside the gate of the mansion, but a little decoration in the inner courtyard, and there is a festive atmosphere up and down the mansion.

Shen Tingyang's appointment has officially completed the process. Even Shen Shuren's latest whereabouts have been determined. The father and son of the Shen family sat back and relaxed, and they also had more confidence in the face of the guests.

"Jiang Shilang, please take a seat. Come to the humble house, and the fluffy will shine. Shen Tingyang faced a group of colleagues from the household department, and let in one by one with a spring breeze.

"Brother Ge, Brother Song, please hurry up, the younger brother will also leave Beijing soon, I wish you to continue to make great achievements in Beijing."

Shen Tingyang was on the other side, and he also greeted Ge Shizhen, Song Mingke, and Yan Hun one by one.

There are dozens of tables in the house, and seven or eight tables in the inner courtyard are all officials and colleagues from all walks of life, and there are more than 20 tables outside for relatives and staff.

The wine on the banquet is the local high-grade lotus white in Beijing, as well as Fenjiu from Shanxi.

The dishes are divided into grades according to the upper, middle and lower seats.

Shangguan and his colleagues ate a banquet with venison barbecue, mountain delicacies, dried seafood from the Bohai Sea, and finally had to make sure that there was a live sturgeon fish at each table. Jiang Shilang's table had to be three feet long, and the other tables had to be two feet long.

Subordinates and staff can skip venison barbecue and sturgeon fish in the middle of the table, and there must be others.

As for the next table for the relatives to eat, there is no need for game, just enough chicken, duck and fish.

Looking at all these preparations, Shen Shuren himself was quite emotional: The more you reach the end of the world, the more complicated the rules become, and the red tape must not be wrong, otherwise others will think that you are not authentic.

In fact, the guests also know that they don't want to eat this bite, but if their colleagues are promoted and treated, they have to be this rule, and they can't spoil the dignity of officialdom.

The banquet has not yet officially started, so the father and son of the Shen family also greet their own guests, and each table serves fruit plates to watch the plate, so that everyone can catch up and chat.

Shen Shuren was also surrounded by Ge Shizhen, Yan Hun and others, chatting about his latest appointment.

In the same year, it was already known that he was about to be promoted to the sixth rank, but he didn't know much about the details. Some were happy for him, and some felt that this reward was not enough to recognize the merits of the Shen family.

Ge Shizhen sighed: "If it were someone else, it would be an unexpected joy to be promoted to the sixth grade. But the virtuous brother will be able to do the seven grades before the test, and after the test, it is basically just a flat tone.

Now that we are accounting for the merits of the Cao Yun resettlement, it is also appropriate to raise a little more. How did I hear that the imperial court also let you use silver, which damaged your reputation and made things messy. ”

Yan Hun on the side is now assigned to the ministry to give things, his attitude is obviously more serious, and he also persuaded when he heard the words:

"Brother Ge, why should he be unfair, the court naturally has difficulties. The key is that Brother Shen Xian is still young, and his sudden rise is too fast to convince the public, which may not be a blessing. ”

Shen Shuren had a very good mentality, and said lightly: "Your Majesty's grace is already extraordinary, and my appointment, after all, was finally determined by the Ministry of Officials based on the actual vacancies, and I was awarded the same knowledge of the six grades of Huangzhou."

Huangzhou is west of An and Lu, deep into the Yinghuo Mountains, and is also closer to the nest of the five camps of Gezuo. Because of this, the original Huangzhou Zhizhou and Tongzhi were either martyred or captured and surrendered.

Therefore, although I am only a six-grade acquaintance, in fact, it is no different from the authority of the five-grade governor, and the main post above is empty, and no one dares to go. They were all afraid of death and did not dare to go deep into the thieves' nest as officials. ”

In the Ming Dynasty, the magistrates at the level of "prefecture-level cities" coexisted with the prefect and the prefecture. The state is generally directly under the governor's jurisdiction, but there are no longer restrictions on the following, and the level of the governor is all the five products, and the prefect has four products and five products.

Tongzhi is a deputy position, corresponding to the prefect / Zhizhou and another grade, the upper government with the knowledge of the five products, and the lower government with the knowledge of the six products.

Shen Shuren, who also knows Huangzhou, is the deputy of the lower government and actually presides over the work in an all-round way.

In the end, he still suffered the loss of age, and he was only nineteen years old after a year. In two months, he will officially take office, and he will be 20 years old at most.

is so young, it is impossible to give the prefect any way, and he can't do things firmly without hair on his mouth. Giving a deputy position, it is said that it is a wartime matter to be in a hurry, and it does not hurt the dignity of the imperial court.

Ge Shizhen, Yan Hun and others discussed this appointment, and said with concern:

"If you don't have a regular job, you can also take care of government affairs. But in the land of thieves and chaos, it is important to control military power, can Tongzhi be able to control the local regiments to train the villagers and control the soldiers who defend the land? They don't have the right to recruit troops on their own based on thieves, do they? Huangzhou is a mess. ”

Shen Shuren said with confidence: "So the officials also gave me an errand as a deputy envoy for regimental training, which can control the village bravery." Anyway, there is real power, but the grade cannot be higher than Tongzhi, so a sub-word is added, and in fact, there is no main position above. ”

The regimental training system of the Ming Dynasty was inherited from the Song Dynasty, and there were also village warriors and militias in times of war, but they were not permanent. Under normal circumstances, there are no regimental training envoys, and at most they are replaced by temporary military positions such as "regimental training chiefs", which are supervised by provincial-level inspection envoys.

But Shen Shuren is a pure civilian official, and it is impossible to be a regimental training commander, and after the officials have audited, they decided to be flexible and use those unpopular official names with horns.

When several young brothers heard this name, they couldn't help laughing: "Huangzhou also set up a regiment to train the deputy envoy, this is going to Su Zizhan's name, what does the ministry think." ”

"The virtuous brother Geng Jie, the guilty Yan persuasion angered His Majesty, but it is better than Mr. Dongpo angering Song Shenzong, and this name is also deserved. That's it, don't say these depressing words, come, let's toast Brother Shen Xian together, it can be regarded as wishing him to follow the ancients. ”

Shen Shuren accompanied everyone to drink a full cup and laughed freely: "Brothers, don't worry about me, I'm going to Huangzhou, I heard that Huanggang County has not yet been recovered, and it is still in the hands of thieves." Only Qizhou, Qishui, Huangmei, Luotian and other counties in the east of Fudong, which are close to An and Lu, are still in the hands of the official army.

The officials have already greeted me, as long as I crusade against Lin Yangcheng and Liu Xiyao's merits, destroy one of them, and recover Huanggang County, I can be awarded the prefect of Huangzhou. If the entire territory of Huangzhou can be recovered and Lin Liu and other thieves can be annihilated, it is not impossible to consider sending troops to prepare for affairs and assisting in the defense of various provinces in northern Hanbei.

When it comes to the locality, it is really promoted by merit, and the capable are promoted by merit, and the military merits since ancient times cannot be faked. It also saves the need to deceive oneself in the DPRK and the central government, and entangle with political enemies. ”

Huangzhou, where Shen Shuren is going, belongs to Huguang Province and is also the state capital on the border between Huguang and Nanzhili. Because Huguang Province is too large and it is difficult to assist in defense during wartime, some "military preparation roads" will be set up between provinces and prefectures.

For example, the three prefectures of Xiangyang, De'an (now Suizhou), and Huangzhou north of the Han River are under the management of a military station.

Jingzhou and other places in the north of the Hannan River are again a military road,

The southern part of the Yangtze River is divided into a military road.

The big cake that the officials drew for Shen Shuren was already very clear, and he told him in advance that he was also fighting chicken blood, so that he could go to the place and work hard.

Ge Shizhen and others saw that he said so lightly, and they also secretly admired:

How many civil officials are afraid of thieves like tigers, and they dare not become officials when they hear that there are thieves. Brother Shen Xian actually regarded the thieves as nothing, and regarded the Fifth Battalion of the Revolution as a tool for making meritorious contributions, what a kind of arrogance!

Everyone reflected on it and compared, and they all felt that they were completely incomparable.

When they toasted Shen Shuren, their attitude became more and more admiring, and they regarded Shen Shuren as the spiritual leader of their session.

……

On the other side, at the main table where Shen Tingyang and Jiang Dejing and others were drinking, Shen Tingyang also maintained his friendship with Shangguan and colleagues very well.

There is more than one squire in the household department, and each squire is theoretically equal. But in fact, just like a bunch of deputy ministers in later generations, there is always a "executive deputy secretary", Jiang Dejing is now the executive deputy who presides over the work of the household department.

When Shen Tingyang was originally a foreigner, he was far from him, and now he has been promoted to Langzhong, and he is still the Langzhong of the most appreciated division of the divisions, and he is not far from Jiang Dejing.

Therefore, Shen Tingyang had to stand in line on the one hand, and on the other hand, he also had to maintain Shangguan's emotions, so that the other party realized that he had no intention of finally grabbing Jiang Dejing's position.

After three rounds of drinking, Shen Tingyang took an opportunity to talk to Jiang Dejing about Hou Sui, who was imprisoned a few years ago.

"Jiang Shilang, have you heard that there have been rumors in the court recently, saying that it is Wuchang Zuo Liangyu's self-respecting and fearful retreat, which is related to the former Shangshu Hou Sui who is still in prison?"

Jiang Dejing still wants to be "motivated", the old Shangshu Cheng Guoxiang did not contribute to his work, and he had just been dismissed by the emperor, of course he wanted to replace him directly, and listened to the topic of Hou Sui, of course, he was a little unhappy.

How can the old leaders of the "last term" make a comeback? Besides, this Hou Sui doesn't have any real skills, it's nothing more than that Donglin's internal status is relatively high, and his reputation is better.

He quietly took a sip of wine and lowered his voice:

"I haven't heard of this official, by the way, Brother Shen Xian, you have been in the household department for seven or eight years, before Hou Shangshu was imprisoned, you were already in the household department, and you were just a matter at that time, could it be that you were quite appreciated by Hou Shangshu at that time?"

Shen Tingyang: "Where, when the dog was in Nanjing before, he was a prison donor, and Hou Fangyu, the son of Hou Shangshu, and Zhu Dadian's nephew Zhu Guangshi, had some festivals, and that Jiangzuo celebrity Gong Dingyu.

I heard that Hou Shangshu had secretly befriended Zhu Dadian, if he could be rescued and reinstated by Zuo Liangyu and Zhu Dadian, he would naturally repay the favor and let the household department obstruct the advancement of Caoyun's reform of the sea.

The lower officials do not hide from the servants, this Cao Yun to change the sea, it is my life's wish, if the household department is taken over by those who have been out of office for many years and do not know the situation, it is really not a blessing in the world. If it can be taken over by a model like Shilang who is determined to forge ahead and hang a mirror, it will be beneficial to the country and the people. ”

"Eh, what are these words, how can this official be virtuous, Shangshu is not deserved." Jiang Dejing was overjoyed when he heard this, but he was very humble on his lips.

Although Shen Tingyang's official position is not high, he is rich, and even if other officials in the household department have been greedy for more than ten years, they do not have as much money as people like Shen Tingyang who are not greedy.

As long as Shen Tingyang is willing to help him unclog his joints, why can't he make progress?

However, Jiang Dejing still had a little doubt, he didn't quite understand how high Shen Tingyang's own expectations for the final officialdom would be, so after being modest, he knocked on the side again:

"Brother Shen Xian has saved so much silver for His Majesty this time, and the five-year period of Caoyun reform has arrived in the future, if it is a political achievement, maybe he can also look at Shangshu."

Shen Tingyang also knew what the other party was worried about, so he also told the news that his son heard through the ministry: "It's a shame to say that His Majesty's edict for the promotion of the lower officials was drafted by the dog, and the dog also took it to the cabinet and the ministry to handle it.

He helped inquire, and His Majesty also knew that after the successful reform of Caoyun, the credit could not be given by a single man. Now I will give it to Langzhong first, but I am also afraid that my follow-up placement of Caomin will not be effective, so I have to wait and see.

If this year is done, and there is no chaos in the resettlement of Caomin, His Majesty will consider promoting me to Nanjing Hubu as a squire and be in charge of the Jiangnan Division. Xiaguan is not from a scientific background, but a donor official, and it is impossible to go to the Taiwan Pavilion in the capital in this life.

Nanjing Sixth Department, ordinary people think that it is just a place to retire, but it is just right for a rich man who has no ambitions like Xiaguan, after all, the level is also noble enough. The lower officials only want to do what they can for the court and change the noble position, as for the real power, it is not what I want. ”

After saying this, Jiang Dejing completely attracted Shen Tingyang as a confidant.

In the Ming Dynasty, there were six ministries in southern Beijing, and the six ministries in Nanjing were not low-level, but the real power was much smaller, so they were regarded as a shelter for the losers of the political struggle.

This Shen Tingyang was born as a wealthy businessman, and what he wants is a high enough political status and reputation, rather than a real power, which has no conflict with Jiang Dejing.

If Shen Tingyang had to stay in Beijing, it would really be impossible for him to be promoted to a waiter again a year or two after he was just promoted to Lang. However, when he went to Nanjing to be a waiter, the competitive pressure was much less, and his colleagues were happy to see it, and they wished to empty the carrier who had real power in Beijing.

Jiang Dejing immediately began to make a wish: "What's so difficult about this, after this thing is completed, naturally the whole household will do their best to help the virtuous brother go to Nanjing to be a waiter." ”

When he said "after the deed was done", he certainly meant that he himself became a scholar.

Shen Tingyang reached a deal with Shangguan, but he still had some doubts in his heart: why did his son have to operate him to achieve rapid promotion by "going to Nanjing Sixth Department" as a means?