Chapter 158

As for the two officials, they were the regular officials on duty in the hall.

Normally, one would be on duty while the other took leave, but today a new superior had arrived to take up the post, so regardless of whether they were on duty or not, they had to come over.

Seeing that Zhang Jian, this new compiling editor, was easy to get along with, the two officials secretly breathed a sigh of relief in their hearts.

Afterwards, Zhang Jian had Chen Xiuming attend to official business on the side, while he himself first went about familiarizing himself within the office.

This office was actually just the workplace.

It was not much different from his impression of an office, nor was it particularly spacious; he had previously visited the office of Huang Liangzhong, the Academician of the Imperial Academy, and the two were vastly different.

Here, he not only had two compiling editors, but also seven or eight editors from the Hanlin Academy, all crowded together, without even a small cubicle, only separated by a few bookshelves, so that you could see me and I could see you.

A group of grown men, and moreover married, greasy, stiff old men staring at each other all day—how could it possibly be good?

「Sigh……」

Zhang Jian secretly sighed in his heart.

As for the Jade Hall, that is, the place where the many officials of the Literary and Martial Institute held meetings, it was barely adequate.

Zhang Jian wandered around in his official robes, then settled his mind, and began to 'clock in for work' on time every day.

The next day he began to formally enter his role, taking charge of the veritable records, seizing the authority he needed, going in and out of various departments and halls to assist senior officials in running the court, and recording important matters.

He currently did not yet have the qualification to enter and exit the Chengtian Palace; this duty was currently held by the senior official Chen Xiuming.

Academician Huang Liangzhong merely had him first go to the various departments and halls for 'internship'.

In fact, the number of such internships was not large, and most of the important matters to be recorded were handled by the 'Little Kalami' of the Literary and Martial Institute.

More importantly at present was the revision of the Great Qian National Canon, the《Great Qian Complete Book》.

This was exactly to Zhang Jian's liking.

The《Great Qian Complete Book》encompassed everything, truly deserving its reputation as penetrating ancient and modern knowledge, and it extracted the essence of numerous ancient and modern classics, gathering them into one volume.

In Zhang Jian's view, was there anything more exciting than this?

If he could participate in compiling the《Great Qian Complete Book》, would it not be proper and justified for him to move freely among the great libraries of the Literary and Martial Institute?

His keen and perceptive heart precisely needed these materials as nourishment to grow.

And when Zhang Jian expressed his willingness to Huang Liangzhong to help compile the《Great Qian Complete Book》, he immediately gained Huang Liangzhong's favor and approval.

This truly was an enterprising 'good colleague'!

He was now troubled by the slow progress in compiling the《Great Qian Complete Book》.

Emperor Jingwu considered the compilation of the《Great Qian Complete Book》to be of great importance to the literary and educational affairs of Great Qian, and constantly urged haste, but the《Great Qian Complete Book》was too broad in scope, human energy is limited, and even with dozens of people from the Literary and Martial Institute working together, it was like dropping a clay ox into the sea—no end in sight.

In Huang Liangzhong's view, Zhang Jian's voluntary participation in such a thankless task showed he had insight and diligence.

And he secretly resolved to give him an excellent evaluation in the annual performance review.

In fact, the futures of the young compiling editors and editors in the Literary and Martial Institute rested in the hands of this Academician of the Literary and Martial Institute; if he gave a poor evaluation, wanting to leave the Literary and Martial Institute would be difficult.

Even if one did leave, it would only be through lateral transfer, not promotion.

Then staying in the Literary and Martial Institute would be nothing but wasting one's salary.

Of course, as an Academician of the Literary and Martial Institute, he was not all-powerful; after all, officials of the Literary and Martial Institute often interacted with the emperor, and lecturing and diligent service were also merits; if he could gain the emperor's favor, a single word could easily override convention.

However, the current Emperor Jingwu was not so easy to deal with; just look at Chen Xiuming—after three years as a compiling editor, he still had no opportunity to be promoted to Academician of the Imperial Lectures.

Zhang Jian gradually found his footing in the Literary and Martial Institute, walking with vigor.

……

Fengyang Commandery

At the commandery headquarters, the newly arrived commandery commander Ying Yingxin frowned as he dealt with a pile of trivial matters inside and outside Fengyang Commandery, sighing more and more as he looked.

Ying Yingxin, like Yu Tongguang, was a military officer who rose through merit, having once spent time in the frontier experiencing combat; due to outstanding merit, he was promoted beyond the regular ranks.

Yet facing the mess inside and outside Fengyang Commandery, he still felt overwhelmed.

The situation before him in Fengyang Commandery was that outside, bandits fleeing from the Xuandu Sect had infiltrated, while inside, he still had to face the exclusion of many powerful clans.

Fengyang Commandery had long been dominated by these powerful clans; though he wanted to do something, he was like a clever woman unable to cook without rice.

At present, under his command were only the several hundred personal guards he had brought with him; besides that, the so-called eight thousand elite troops of Fengyang Commandery inside and outside, not a single one of the eight commanders was his own man.

Moreover, he had learned that to counter the bandits inside and outside Sanyang Commandery, several great clans had stored up village militias, openly numbering in the thousands, but if pressed, they could raise a force of ten thousand, even tens of thousands—certainly not difficult.

「The Qi family, the Zhang family, the Gu family……」

Ying Yingxin sat before the lacquered table; he now had to guard against them while also trying to win them over.

Winning them over was necessary to rely on them against the infiltration of the Xuandu Sect, lest trouble arise.

Ying Yingxin let his gaze fall on the two characters 'Gu family'.

Compared to the flourishing Qi family, Zhang family, and Gu family, the Gu family was much easier to deal with.

The Gu family had only recently lost its patriarch; the current new patriarch lacked the ability of the former, merely maintaining the status quo, incapable of advancement.

During this time, the Gu family's influence had waned greatly; if he seized the opportunity to form a marital alliance with the Gu family, he might well bring them over to his side.

He had heard that the former patriarch still had a remarkably beautiful legitimate daughter, Yunying, unmarried; he himself had recently lost his legitimate wife, so if he went to propose, he guessed the Gu family would not dare refuse.

As for how to suppress the Qi and Zhang families, Ying Yingxin, between them, gradually let his gaze fall on the Zhang family.

The Qi family was now at its height; General Wei Yuan Qi Yi and his eldest son Qi Yuanwu had led troops to suppress rebels with merit, likely to receive further honors; at this time, making small moves would clearly be inappropriate.

Moreover, it was heard that Qi Yuanwu had also attached himself to Princess Qingfeng the Long, able to reach the ears of heaven—he still had some reservations.

Whereas the Zhang family's foundation was much weaker.

Although the clan had a fifth-rank prefect stationed around Haojing, this was not considered a great reliance.

Ying Yingxin was calculating in his mind when he saw the commander of the personal guards hurrying to the gate.

「General…… uh, Commander, great victory! 」

At this moment, however, this lean personal guard commander appeared solemn, with a hint of smile in his eyes.

Upon hearing this, Ying Yingxin raised his head.

"A great victory? Could it be that Old General Yang finally crushed that rebel force completely? Captured the Little Ming King Chang Li alive?"

A glint flashed in his eyes.

If true, that would indeed be great news.

Chang Li of Little Ming is the leader of that rebel army; if we can capture him alive, the other rebels will be no threat.

Upon hearing this, the commander of the personal guards shook his head and said.

"Prefect, this is the victory report from Haojing City—the palace examination results have already been announced!"

"Oh, does this mean someone from Fengyang Commandery has made it onto the golden list this time?" Ying Yingxin smiled faintly, recalling that the Ministry of Rites' provincial exam had been held a month ago, so the palace examination results should now be out.

He casually took the urgent document from the commander of the personal guards, merely glanced at it, and Ying Yingxin's heart sank—he couldn't help but show a look of astonishment on his face.