frightfiction Chapter 559 Ordering me around with such confidence?
Chapter 559 Ordering me around with such confidence?
Those twenty-six students, led by Zhou Liangyu, definitely need to be taught a lesson.
The tricky part is that these twenty-six students are not serving under a single provincial administration commission, but are distributed throughout the Sixteen Prefectures of Yan and Yun.
There were six provincial administration commissions in Shandong, five in Shanxi, and seven in Shaanxi, with others scattered throughout other places.
According to Emperor Zhu, these twenty-six students were equivalent to twenty-six seeds.
Even if only one official could inspire the officials in the surrounding prefectures and counties to care for the people, or if some assistant officials could be trained to care for the people, the Ming Dynasty would have dozens more good officials who know how to care for the people, and more people would benefit in the future.
Yang Shaofeng never expected that Emperor Zhu's impulsive decision to disperse the twenty-six students, perhaps out of fear that they would cause him trouble if they stayed in the capital, would now successfully cause him great distress.
Should I write a letter and hurl insults at him?
It's certain that she'll write a letter to scold him.
These twenty-six idiots thought themselves clever, believing that they could do anything that would benefit the country and its people, but they intentionally or unintentionally ignored many unspoken rules of officialdom.
They thought I could solve all their problems?
Or did they think that Emperor Zhu would indulge them?
Managing upwards is not done like that at all!
Therefore, simply writing letters to scold them is not enough.
More importantly, they need to learn a lesson.
Just as Yang Shaofeng was pondering how to teach those idiots a lesson, Emperor Zhu, who was sitting to the side, had already calmed down.
They're just a group of kids.
These children neither embezzled money nor harmed the people of the Ming Dynasty. They did everything in accordance with the laws of the Ming Dynasty. Where did they go wrong?
Illegal coal mines and iron ore mines in Luan County?
Xia Yu just said that they have records and have reported to the government. It's not an illegal coal mine or iron mine at all.
Those were legitimate government-run coal mines and iron mines.
As for the fact that he was good at using some sticks as laborers, and then accidentally killed more than twenty sticks...
Emperor Zhu glanced directly at Yang Shaofeng.
The bastard has done all sorts of awful things, none of which are less outrageous than what these kids have done.
Did we do anything to him?
Emperor Zhu gave a sarcastic snort and said, "We'll talk about these children later."
"There are two things to do now."
"One of them is a member of the Embroidered Uniform Guard."
"Xia Yu has brought the men over to you. You are also the newly appointed commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard. So we will hand over these thousand or so men to you."
"The second matter is still what we just talked about: the shortage of manpower in the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Works."
"You just said that the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Works only lack people who can prepare the provincial examination papers?"
As Emperor Zhu finished speaking, Yang Shaofeng went completely numb.
Did you see it?
Those twenty-six scoundrels caused trouble, and Old Deng covered for them. He felt he had given me face, so now he not only orders me around with a clear conscience, but he also doesn't mention the Little Dragon Gang anymore!
But there is no way.
Although those twenty-six scoundrels caused a lot of trouble, it wasn't anything that violated principles, so as their master, I had to cover for them no matter what.
Let Lao Deng order me around a couple of times, I guess.
We'll figure out a way to make up for it later by taking it out on Xiao Deng, Li Shanchang, and Liu Bowen.
Having made up his mind, Yang Shaofeng smiled and said to Emperor Zhu, "Father-in-law, aren't you curious about something?"
Emperor Zhu was slightly taken aback. "What is it?"
Yang Shaofeng said, "Ningyang County originally had no scholars. Later, His Highness the Crown Prince transferred twenty-nine scholars to Ningyang County, three of whom were Xiucai (a successful candidate in the county-level imperial examinations). Now, two more have been transferred to other counties to serve as county magistrates."
"In other words, there are only twenty-seven scholars in Ningyang County who are qualified to serve as officials or clerks."
"Aside from the county magistrate, the registrar, and the clerk, there are only twenty-four."
"But the number of clerks that Father-in-law just saw must have been at least fifty or sixty, right?"
Emperor Zhu was stunned by Yang Shaofeng's words.
I just saw the number of clerks; there must be fifty or sixty of them in total.
And this is just a workshop.
If we add the other branches and the academy, I'm afraid even a hundred wouldn't be enough to handle them all.
Emperor Zhu pondered for a long time but couldn't come up with a solution. The more he thought about it, the more confused he became. In the end, he could only stare blankly at Yang Shaofeng and ask, "Where did you get so many scholars from Ningyang County? Did you rob them from other prefectures and counties?"
Yang Shaofeng curled his lip and retorted, "Are there scholars in the nearby prefectures and counties that your son-in-law is robbing? Even if there are, how could there be so many?"
Emperor Zhu was once again dumbfounded.
Yes, Ningyang County originally had no scholars, and the surrounding prefectures and counties certainly didn't have that many scholars for him to vie for.
So?
Where did these scholars from Ningyang County come from?
Seeing the Emperor Zhu's bewildered and curious expression, Yang Shaofeng simply smiled and turned to Limpy Five, instructing him, "Go and grab a few people from the street, and also bring over a copy of the official gazette."
Emperor Zhu was completely dumbfounded.
When Limpy Wu brought several ordinary people over on the street, Yang Shaofeng directly instructed Limpy Wu to hand the newspaper to one of the people, and then said, "Read the official gazette to me."
The commoners, dragged there by the lame man, glanced at Yang Shaofeng, then at the Zhu Emperor, and finally read helplessly: "On the third day of the eleventh month of the fourth year of the Hongwu reign of the Great Ming Dynasty, the Central Secretariat... the Central Hall..."
After the people had read a few sentences, Yang Shaofeng instructed, "Next, continue reading."
"New additions to the Dengzhou timber yard... Korean envoys... Annamese envoys... laborers..."
It was halting and contained a few typos.
However, Emperor Zhu was so shocked that he was completely dumbfounded.
Yang Shaofeng instructed Lame Wu to randomly grab a few people from the street.
In other words, Limpy Five must have just grabbed a few unlucky guys he happened to run into on the street.
Then, these unfortunate souls can stumble through the official gazette?
Damn it, is it this world that's abnormal, or is it Zhu Chongba who's abnormal?
The ordinary people in Ningyang County are all literate!
Damn it, Ningyang County seems to have several thousand people, right?
If all these several thousand people were sent to other prefectures and counties to work as clerks or assistant officials...
The more Emperor Zhu thought about it, the more his mind wandered, even into unrealistic fantasies.
After the commoners finished reading the official gazette, Yang Shaofeng smiled and said, "Father-in-law, what do you think?"
Emperor Zhu stammered, "Does your Ningyang County have so many scholars?"
At this point, Emperor Zhu suddenly felt very displeased.
That bastard!
When we issued the imperial edict seeking talented individuals, we even forcibly conscripted illiterate old farmers to become officials.
Why doesn't he tell us that there are so many literate people in Ningyang County?
Does he still care about us, his father-in-law?
It’s his mother’s fault!
It's decided, we'll eat two pounds of goji berries tonight!
Just as Emperor Zhu was pondering this, Yang Shaofeng said with a smile, "The people of Ningyang County, excluding those who are too old or too young, can all recognize at least five hundred characters."