NOVEL NEXT Chapter 104 - I
The official minister on one side was shocked.
He had been an official for so many years, and this was the first time he had seen an official act so fresh and refined!
If he really didn’t want it, why did he say that the official position must be fourth grade? Did he think that the fourth grade fell from the world?! Did he know how many people had been stuck in the fourth grade for so many years?
Almost all the ministers were confused and felt a little uncomfortable.
The ministers who stood further forward had almost grey beards and hair, which showed that it was not easy for everyone to become an official or to be promoted.
As a result, such a young man came out and wanted a fourth-rank official as soon as he opened his mouth. Could they feel comfortable after hearing this?
But unfortunately, they wanted to say something, but couldn’t say it in this situation.
They hadn’t heard him say it himself, so it wasn’t appropriate.
Although Jing Xingzhi himself said it was inappropriate, everyone always felt that something was strange, as if someone was forcing him to become an official.
By the way, didn’t the Holy One really want him to be the official?!
All the ministers, including second-place brother and third-place uncle, secretly raised their eyes to peek at their Holy Emperor, wanting to see what His Majesty’s expression was.
So, in Li Yunxi’s eyes, many ministers raised their heads to peek at him inexplicably.
Their actions caused Li Yunxi to be distracted for a moment.
Li Yunxi’s mentality was much better than theirs. After all, he had been thinking about it the night before as to whether it would be better to give Jing Xingzhi an official position of a certain rank.
Li Yunxi’s psychological expectation was that the upper limit was fourth grade, and the lowest was fifth grade.
Why such preferential treatment? Of course, he felt a little guilty.
After all, he not only wanted his junior brother to work diligently like a calf but also wanted to secretly sell him out. How could he not feel guilty?
Of course, feeling guilty didn’t change Li Yunxi’s decision. At most, he would try to make up for it.
If this person hadn’t been Jing Xingzhi, his junior brother, and helped him teach his son, Li Yunxi would have taken advantage of him even more and might not have even made amends.
However, even if he had expectations in his heart, Li Yunxi also felt that Jing Xingzhi was asking for an official position indiscriminately.
Li Yunxi had very selfish ideas. He could give someone preferential treatment, but they couldn’t ask for it themselves.
He glanced at the ministers below, frowned, and then his eyes fell on Jing Xingzhi: “Do you know how many fourth-grade officials there are in our court?”
“I don’t know.” Jing Xingzhi shook his head; he really didn’t know.
But Li Yunxi had something to say, and Jing Xingzhi still had something to say!
Jing Xingzhi said loudly: “But I know that if I am going to be appointed to the post of education in the frontier, the higher the official position, the better.”
Li Yunxi originally thought that the fifth grade was high enough, but he hadn’t expected that this junior brother had such a big appetite.
“What nonsense are you talking about? The fifth grade still doesn’t satisfy you?!”
Li Yunxi snorted. “You have a beautiful idea.”
“I’m not talking nonsense.” Jing Xingzhi began to reason, that is, to say it was a misfortune.
And what he was selling was other people’s misfortune.
“The mountains are high, and the water is far away. I didn’t know when I would return home. But I thought that the people in the border town were complicated, so the number of people on this trip must not be small. People who were traveling this time would have to be away from home for several years, far from their hometown, and suffer from homesickness.”
“The destination of this trip was outside the border town. Although I had never been there, I knew that the conditions were difficult. I had heard that the border areas were short of water and food, and the land was difficult to cultivate. What was said in the book should also have been true.”
“So, I felt that I was going on this trip to endure hardships, and I couldn’t let everyone feel wronged. If my official position is higher, the people below could also get a raise as usual.”
“What’s more, time is running out at this time. War is very likely to break out in Anbei and Dingbei. We couldn’t let everyone be worried and shed blood and tears.”
‘If you want a horse to run, you have to feed it.’
Jing Xingzhi felt that by doing this, those who went to work could work harder.
So, when Jing Xingzhi felt that Li Yunxi “needed” him, he conveniently benefited his future subordinates.
Of course, Jing Xingzhi had the confidence to do this. Li Yunxi acted too eager for him, and even chased him to ask if he was willing.
This was like buying something. If people wanted it and showed their “desire,” then of course, Jing Xingzhi would get a high price.
If he didn’t kill the fat sheep that came to his door, who would kill it?
In addition, Li Yunxi just mentioned the new enlightenment method but didn’t go into details. Jing Xingzhi guessed that there was something wrong with Li Yunxi’s new teaching method, which made him the most suitable candidate.
Everything Jing Xingzhi said made sense. Except for the strange fact that he wanted a higher official position, everything else was extremely true.
Among the ministers, Hong Jiyi, who had suffered a lot from educating the border people, was even more moved after hearing this.
Hong Jiyi knew that all the pain was real, and it was really painful.
Hong Jiyi, who had been teaching for many years, stood up and said with red eyes: “Your Majesty! I think Jing Zhuangyuan (number one)’s words are reasonable.”
Hong Jiyi had no sense of presence on weekdays. He had been recovering from illness a few days ago. He was about to go out to work again, and then he reappeared in the court.
His voice trembled as he said: “Educating the border people is, as the Holy Emperor said, twice the effort with half the reward, but they are still the people of my own country. Therefore, even if I work twice the effort with half the result, as a minister of my Li Dynasty, I am willing to keep working. However, many of my subordinates were living in poverty at home. Please forgive me, Your Majesty!”
Seeing the grey-haired Hong Jiyi, who was only two years older than him, Li Yunxi, the domineering emperor, felt a little sorry.
“Beloved Minister Hong, please get up quickly! I know, I know everything.” Li Yunxi did not expect that Jing Xingzhi’s words actually made Old Hong come out to seek benefits.
Normally, his Beloved Minister Hong was conscientious and didn’t make any demands.
However, they couldn’t always be short of honest people. Li Yunxi immediately said: “It’s not easy to go north this time, and we’re in a hurry. We’ll add 20% to our money and 30% to our food and grass. The accompanying officials, Beloved Minister Chang and Hong, are promoted to the second rank, and enjoy a 20% increase in salary during the northward journey. Beloved Minister Wang is promoted to the third rank, and also enjoy a 20% increase in salary.”
When they first heard about this great reward, many people looked at Minister Wen, Minister Hong, and Minister Wang with envy.
The further you went, the harder it was to get promoted to an official position. It took several years to climb up each level; sometimes it took more than ten years to get to the top.
But now that Li Yunxi had opened his mouth, all three of them were promoted and transferred; and capable ministers like them didn’t have to stay in the frontier for a long time. They could make a profit by returning to Beijing after a few years.