The east is slightly white, outside the Taihe Palace, the ministers are lined up to prepare to go to court.

Wen Chen held the board in his hand, and stood alone at the back of the line yawning.

The queen mother's birthday this time, the ministers took a three-day break, yesterday happened to be the last holiday, Wen Chen dealt with some trivial matters, and watched Mo Xuyou make a lot grabbing device that can be operated in the dark, which is often used by Liu Taichang to arch the little emperor's routine, and the rest of the time is to accompany the little black bean to the restaurant, although it is not tired, but it is also quite boring.

"Lord Wen......"

A figure suddenly appeared beside him, hunched back and slightly rickety, Wen Chen turned his head and saw that it was Cui Wei, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites who had been thinking about it for the past few days.

"Cui Gong finally remembered our family?" Wen Chen laughed.

Old man Cui smiled a little embarrassed, "Don't blame Lord Wen, the old man has asked someone to check the bottom of the Black Tiger Gang in the past few days, and by the way, he asked Xu Youzhong, the former secretary of Dali Temple, about Chen Qian's case, and now he has sorted out some ideas......"

The old man was also cautious, and sure enough, he couldn't rub a little sand in his eyes.

"Oh? What is Cui Gong's final conclusion? Wen Chen asked.

Cui Wei sighed deeply, "I know people and faces, but I don't know my heart, it was indeed the old man who was reckless before, I originally thought that Lord Wen was the black and white criminal, but I didn't want to be that I didn't know right from wrong, so I fell behind, and I am here to make amends to Lord Wen." ”

As he spoke, he bowed deeply to Wen Chen.

When the courtiers in front saw this, their expressions were very puzzled.

Didn't this Lord Cui be incompatible with Wen Chen before? Why did you suddenly run to bow to people now?

Could it be that Wen Chen really has his hands and eyes to the sky, and even the strong old Shangshu in this life can be bought?

For a while, they whispered.

The corners of Wen Chen's mouth hooked, and he raised his hand to help Old Man Cui, "Gong Cui doesn't have to be polite, if you really want to apologize, why don't you do our family a favor, how about it?" ”

Cui Wei was stunned for a moment, raised his head and looked at Wen Chen with some surprise, "Although the Ministry of Rites is the head of the six departments, all the affairs involved have nothing to do with the East Factory, and Lord Wen's words made the old man very puzzled. ”

"Without him, I just want Cui Gong to add a few names to the pardon document of the Jiaofang Division."

"Faculty Division?" Cui Wei frowned, "Lord Wen is an internal official, why did he get in touch with the Teaching Division?" Could it be that Lord Wen also has special habits like those tasteless eunuchs? ”

This has already been said very implicitly, if it had been put before, Old Man Cui would have already scolded Wen Chen for losing his conscience and not forcing his face.

Wen Chen smiled and shook his head, "Gong Cui thinks too much, our family is just responding to His Majesty's call and wants to use some of our own means to let the families of these convicts atone for their crimes in other ways." ”

"Cui Gong also knows that since there is this official prostitute, many ministers in the court and the central government are tired of this and love it very much, which makes the image of my Dasheng officials in the eyes of the people greatly reduced, but the abolition of official prostitutes is not something that can be achieved overnight, after all, it is a tradition left by the previous emperors of previous dynasties, so our family has found a suitable livelihood for them, massaging and recreation, but they don't have to sell their bodies anymore, and they are decent."

This is a high-sounding statement, and it is not at all self-interested.

Cui Wei's face softened slightly, and he nodded slightly, "After Your Majesty ascended the throne, he did mention to the old man many times that he wanted to prohibit officials from prostituting, but he couldn't find a suitable way to implement it. ”

Wen Chen heard this, and a bright smile appeared on his face, "Now that we are asking Cui Gong for this batch of pardon documents, what our family plans is to lead them into the right path, a pure green industry, if Cui Gong is not at ease, our family can take you to experience it for yourself." ”

Cui Wei shook his head and smiled, "Although the old man is a scholar of the Ministry of Rites, he is very old, and he suddenly enters and leaves the Teaching Workshop Division, which seems a little unserious, so let's do it, the old man sent two of his subordinates forward, if Lord Wen's words are true, this matter, the old man will do it for Lord Wen!" ”

"That's great!"

"Your Majesty has arrived!" A sharp and loud voice came from the gate of the Taihe Palace.

The ministers tidied up their clothes and began to enter the temple in an orderly manner.

After a short long holiday, the ministers have accumulated a number of folds in their hands, most of which are excerpts from local officials congratulating the Empress Dowager on her birthday and greeting Emperor Jingren's body, and some of them are the next month, which is the day of the autumn festival every three years, and the officials from all over the country report the examination arrangements, and implore the imperial court to send officials to supervise the examination room.

The little emperor also attaches great importance to this, this is the first time since she ascended the throne to solemnly select the list of officials, and this exam is also strictly speaking, the best opportunity for her to cultivate her henchmen.

All those who pass the examination can be called lifters, and they will be eligible to participate in the general examination held in Shangjing next spring, so this series of arrangements must be carefully considered, and all kinds of shortcomings and mistakes that existed in the imperial examinations in previous years must also be corrected and avoided.

The official in charge of this matter this time is Li Huainong, a cabinet scholar.

When Wen Chen first entered the Dongchang to investigate, he saw the name of this person in the scroll given by Du Lun, and it is said that he had slipped into a certain alley in the early morning and back, and seemed to have an improper relationship with the woman who stopped being frivolous in one fell swoop.

It's just that at the beginning, Dongchang often engaged in some false accusations against officials of different factions to smear them, whether they were true or false, Wen Chen did not know.

Besides, the little emperor's selection of talents has little to do with him, and there is no reason to interject during the period, so he has been silently listening to the little emperor giving tasks to the courtiers.

Emperor Jingren on the dragon chair breathed a sigh of relief, looked at the ministers below, and said, "Wen Chen, Duke Cui." ”

"Wechen is here." The two of them came out together.

"A few days ago, on the birthday of the queen mother, I dreamed of the figure of the first emperor at night, and I didn't go to see my father for a while, this matter is handled by the two of you, and I will go to the imperial tomb to worship my ancestors in three days."

Cui Wei's expression was slightly puzzled, the etiquette of ancestor worship has always been the responsibility of the Ministry of Rites, why did Wen Chen come in?

But even if he had this idea, he didn't ask Emperor Jingren, but just bowed his head with Wen Chen and agreed:

"Wechen obeys."

The little emperor bowed slightly, "Since that's the case, let's do this first today, retreat from the dynasty." ”

"Congratulations to Your Majesty!"

The ministers bowed in unison.

This seems to be the first time in recent times that such a calm early dynasty has been in place, before it was either Wei Cheng who made a mess, or the Dongchang incident was not resolved, coupled with the case of Mrs. Chen's father and son, a group of important ministers led by Cui Wei and Wen Chenshi were in the same boat, but it seems that because of the birthday of a queen mother, everyone's temper has also been restrained a lot.

After Emperor Jingren left, the ministers followed the retreat out of the main hall, but saw Wen Chen and Cui Wei together.

"Duke Cui, Your Majesty's decree is just to ask our family to assist, and please don't think about it."

In the past, Wei Chengla formed a faction to infiltrate the six departments, and now as a factory official in Dongchang, he was suddenly ordered by this, and the explanation must also be explained.

"Your Majesty's ancestors, there must be the heirs of the two princes, and the matter of this notification will be handed over to our family, and other affairs will have to be troubled by Gong Cui."

Cui Wei nodded lightly, slightly letting down his guard, "Then I'll bother Lord Wen." ”

Wen Chen also knew that this was the reason why the little emperor deliberately arranged for him to participate in the ancestor worship activities, after all, he was not the little emperor's personal eunuch now, and there was no excuse to follow him from time to time, if he wanted to secretly operate Liu Taichang, he had to follow a few people all the time in the ancestor worship activities.

And when he said this to Cui Wei, he also expressed that he did not want to seize power, so that Lao Cui could rest assured.