Chapter 391: The First Day of the Court

Before dawn the next day, the mist at night had gradually dissipated, leaving a layer of dew transformed from mist on the white walls and red tiles of the Daming Palace, but the mist still enveloped the lakeside and green trees like a transparent gauze.

On the path leading to Qinzheng Hall, Zhu Guanghui led a dozen palace maids and eunuchs to move forward anxiously. Last night was the first night of the new emperor in the Daming Palace, and they made a big mistake. No one knew where the emperor was resting. He searched everywhere and disappeared. It was still the little eunuch An Zhongshun clever, reminding everyone if the emperor would return to Linde Hall again. He brought back dozens of memorials last night.

Zhu Guanghui remembered that the lamp in the study of Qinzheng Hall was blown out by himself. He accompanied the emperor back to the bedroom, so why did he go back? But with a glimmer of hope, Zhu Guanghui rushed back to Linde Hall.

Sure enough, I saw the window of the study open from a distance. He was closed before leaving. Is it really inside? Zhu Guanghui walked into the door anxiously. Suddenly, a guard stopped him, "Shh! The emperor is asleep, it's less than an hour, don't disturb him."

Zhu Guanghui nodded and lowered his voice: "There was a meeting in the Political Affairs Hall this morning, and the time for court is coming soon."

The guards retreated to both sides and asked Zhu Guanghui to go in. He quickly walked towards the study. The living man had left. The door of the study was closed. Zhu Guanghui gently pushed open the door, but was stunned. The lights in the room had been turned off and the incense burned. A stack of high memorials were like a hill. The new emperor of the Tang Dynasty was lying on the table and fell asleep, with a collar robe on his body. It was probably his personal soldiers who had covered him. A memorial was still flipping in front of him, and the pen in his hand fell to the ground, and a ball of dirty things was covered.

Zhu Guanghui suddenly felt a soreness in his nose. He had been in the Daming Palace for thirty years and had served several emperors. Neither Xuanzong nor Suzong had ever reviewed memorials all night. But what made Zhu Guanghui feel sad was not Zhang Huan's diligence, but he felt the indescribable loneliness in Zhang Huan's heart.

"Your Majesty!" He stepped forward and gently pushed Zhang Huan. Zhang Huan woke up suddenly. He was stunned for a while and suddenly asked, "When is it now?"

"If you go back to your Majesty, it is now a moment of Mao."

"Ah!" Zhang Huan jumped up all of a sudden. It was still a quarter of an hour before courtship. It was too late. He put on his shoes in a panic and complained: "Why didn't you call me earlier? Did I want me to violate the rules on the first day?"

Zhu Guanghui said with a bitter face and didn't dare to say anything. Today was the next day. Everything was messy. He could not think about everything. He quickly ordered someone to go out and wash his face, and then stepped forward to tidy up Zhang Huan's clothes. When he saw several palace maids standing at the door, he couldn't help but say angrily: "Come here to comb your majesty's hair quickly!"

Several palace maids responded and panickedly looked for the comb. Zhang Huan stopped them, "It's too late, let's go to open the imperial study room first, and then prepare two snacks for me."

In this way, on the first day of the court, he had not changed his clothes and had not combed his head, so he hurriedly washed his face. Zhang Huan got on the dragon chariot and headed towards Zichen Pavilion. Before leaving, he repeatedly reminded Zhu Guanghui that he must bring his wife and children into the palace today.

Zhang Huan Yu's study room is in Zichen Pavilion, next to Cui Xiaofu's study room. Everything is re-built. As early as the beginning of the year, Zhang Huan had already started preparing for the country. The room was spacious and bright, and you can look at the numerous palaces in the distance. At two hours of Mao, when the bell of the bell tower of Hanyuan Palace rang in a distant way, Zhang Huan appeared at the door of the Yu's study room on time.

"I am Dongfangyun, please see Your Majesty!" The person who came earlier than Zhang Huan was the living man Dongfangyun. He turned against his smile last night and bowed to Zhang Huanshen very seriously.

"Thank you for your hard work, my dear." Although I hated this person deeply last night, Zhang Huan still admired his dedication very much and couldn't help but feel a little affection for him.

"Let's go in together!"

The imperial study room was already airtight and cleaned spotlessly. The entire imperial study room had eight rooms, one for office, one for rest, one for marching rooms with sand tables and maps, one for conference rooms, one for Hanlin rooms, and the other three were library of books for various books. The living room man Dongfang Yun sat in the corner of Zhang Huan. If there were any secret matters, he could be asked to avoid them as usual.

A royal table carved from red sandalwood is neatly scribed with two stacks of memorials like hills. One is a memorial that he did not finish last night, and the other is a new memorial that the Zhongshu Sheren just sent when the door opened this morning.

Although the new emperor ascended the throne, being an emperor is indeed an extremely hard job. A large number of memorials are sent every day. If you slacken a little, you will accumulate more and more. You will summon ministers to deal with it and hold court meetings, which will make the emperor exhausted every day. The emperor who has done little will review memorials all night long. But once you encounter a playboy ascend the throne, they will never work hard in state affairs like this, or ask an eunuch, or simply be a big shopkeeper. The former leads to the autocracy of the eunuch, and the latter leads to the powerful ministers covering the sky.

Of course, Zhang Huan did not have the blessing to enjoy the emperor's glory and wealth. As soon as he sat down, the young eunuch An Zhong handed him a catalog of memorials. "Your Majesty, this is a catalog of memorials sent by the Secretariat. Add to last night's memorials, there are a total of 165 books. Please read it."

This is a bit similar to today's list. On the one hand, it is to prevent people from striking memorials from entering and leaving the palace. On the other hand, it is also to facilitate the emperor to understand at a glance and to select key matters and review them first.

"I understand, you can put it here first!" Zhang Huan picked up the teacup and took a sip of tea, then glanced at Dongfang Yun. Seeing that he was preparing his pen and ink meticulously, he nodded secretly and said to An Zhongshun: "You go to the Secretariat and Menxia Province first, please invite Pei and Cui Erxian, and Lu Shangshu of the Ministry of Rites to come together."

An Zhongshun agreed and hurried away. Zhang Huan then picked up the memorial catalog and read it roughly. Judging from the time on the memorial, most of them were important things accumulated a few days ago. There were only more than ten things that happened after he ascended the throne. Liu Yan, the Jianghuai Transport Author, asked the grain transportation to restore the old road and repair the warehouse along the way; Zhang Potian, the Minister of Justice, requested the world to be amnesty to show the emperor's grace; Han Hun, the Minister of Revenue, requested the establishment of a chamber of commerce to develop large businesses and large workshops, and suggested that it be trialed in Guangling, Wujun and Yuhang first.

He was very interested in Han Huan's suggestion, and he soon found the memorial numbered 162. As soon as he opened it, Han Huan's passionate font was reflected in his eyes. "I think the fundamental reason for suppressing land annexation is to promote industry and commerce. If industry and commerce prosper, the people will be raised and taxed, and they will not be trapped by the land. However, merchants are profit-oriented and must be restricted. Therefore, I have brought up the case of the Chamber of Commerce."

Zhang Huan silently looked at this book with advanced ideas. The ideal state described by Han Huan is now unavailable. Under the premise that people regard food as the most important thing, it is impossible to speak of business if there is no large surplus of grain. However, there must be surplus of grain. First, develop farming technology to increase yield per mu, and second, transfer the Jianghuai River, which gradually matures in a year, and even develops three ripe one year to the south. Another key is to give farmers their own land so that they can grow grain for themselves.

Industry and commerce, grain, land, and population are linked one by one. In addition, transportation, currency and other problems need to be solved. This is not something that can be done in a day or two, but it can indeed be tried in Jiangdu and Suzhou.

At this time, the voice of the eunuch An Zhongshun came from the door, "Your Majesty, Pei Prime Minister, Cui Prime Minister and Shangshu of the Ministry of Rites have been invited."

"Supreme them come in."

"Your Majesty has an order to meet Pei You, Secretary of the Emperor Xuan, Cui Yu, Secretary of the Ministry of Rites, and Lu Qi, Minister of Rites!"

"Your Majesty has an order."

One by one, a sound came from outside Zichen Pavilion. After a moment, Pei You and the other two hurried in and bowed to Zhang Huanshen and said, "I will meet your Majesty."

"Three dear friends, please sit down!" Zhang Huan smiled and asked the three of them to sit down, then apologized to Pei Jun: "I specially summoned you to delay your Political Affairs Hall meeting."

Pei You hurriedly bowed and said, "Your Majesty and me will attend court at the same time. This is a rare matter. The Political Affairs Hall meeting can be held later, but obeying Your Majesty's arrangements on the first day is the top priority."

At this time, Lu Qi next to him sneered secretly at Pei You's flattery. He stood up and bowed and said, "Your Majesty, I have two suggestions to start the report."

Zhang Huan immediately became energetic, "Lu Aiqing said frankly."

Lu Qi glanced at Pei You and said, "There was a customization during the reign of Emperor Taizong. When the prime minister met the emperor, he had to bring the censors to follow him. After that, this system gradually became abolished. Yesterday, Your Majesty issued an order that our Tang Dynasty ministers were not punished for their words. I was very moved by this. Since this is the case, why don't Your Majesty restore the old system of Emperor Taizong and allow the censors to follow the prime minister to meet with him?"

The censors followed the prime minister to meet the emperor and had always been in the Tang system. The censors did not supervise the prime minister, but supervised the emperor. They advised him when his words and deeds were out of control. They were first initiated by Li Shimin, who was good at accepting advice, and fixed it. However, in the later period of Li Longji, Lu Qi gradually reiterated this matter, hoping that Zhang Huan would no longer act arbitrary and could listen to the advice of the ministers.

Zhang Huan pondered for a moment and said, "Since I promise not to be guilty for words, it is not a whim. I agree with Lu Aiqing's first advice and allow the censor to meet with the prime minister."

Dongfang Yun next to him shook his hand, and he immediately recorded Zhang Huan's order excitedly. Pei You and Cui Yu looked at each other, and their excitement was beyond words.

Zhang Huan smiled and asked again, "I wonder what is Lu Aiqing's second advice?"

Lu Qi did not expect Zhang Huan to agree so happily. He was stunned for a moment and quickly saluted and said, "My second advice is to hope that Your Majesty will not come to the court in a hurry. The officials of the Ministry of Rites should teach Your Majesty the etiquette so that Your Majesty can understand the emperor's etiquette and thus be both majestic."

"I do not agree with the suggestion of Shangshu Lu." Cui Yu, who was silent on the side, suddenly spoke out against Lu Qi's second suggestion. He stood up and bowed to Zhang Huan and said, "Our Tang Dynasty has gone from chaos to rule, and all things are waiting for it. Although etiquette is important, it is lighter than state affairs. Moreover, I see that Your Majesty was in the court yesterday, and there was no rudeness in advance and retreat. I think that teaching etiquette is not appropriate at this time."

At this time, Pei You also expressed his support for Cui Yu's view, "Recommendations are not necessarily followed. We should follow them reasonably, and we should not follow them unreasonably. Now there are many state affairs and everything is important. Your Majesty is indeed not suitable to learn etiquette at this time."

Zhang Huan smiled and waved his hand and said, "Shangshu Lu is the Minister of Rites. It is his job to promote etiquette. The two prime ministers don't have to worry too much about it. Etiquette needs to be learned, but you can give it a little later. Today I have found three of you to discuss whether you can open a course to win a scholar this summer."
Chapter completed!