Chapter 241: Li Chen wanted to give him a decent opportunity

In the morning court the next day, Li Chen still sat lazily leaning on the dragon chair.

I don't know why, the lazier Li Chen was, even squinting his eyes, the more the court officials were in awe, feeling that Li Chen's squinting appearance was like thinking.

No one wanted to wake up the giant dragon that was squinting its eyes.

So the court officials reported their work with extra seriousness, and didn't dare to speak too loudly.

Actually, this was just because Li Chen didn't sleep well yesterday, fighting all night with Ning Tao's master and disciples, letting this sect female elder who hated the imperial family be thoroughly occupied by the imperial family.

Now Li Chen was equivalent to slacking off at work and dozing off, saving energy to play happily after getting off work.

This was the way Li Chen found to be lazy.

The start of the train track was very perfect, and many departments began to improve the train track.

First was the Ministry of Personnel; the train track now belonged to the state, and the staff certainly had an establishment; since a new establishment was to be opened, the Ministry of Personnel also held a big meeting to study the position arrangement of the train track department.

In the morning court, the Minister of Personnel handed the position list to Li Chen; if Li Chen agreed, the position would be set like this.

Li Chen scanned the position list, and then looked at the Minister of Personnel again; the Minister of Personnel was somewhat guilty.

As everyone knew, once a new establishment was opened, at this time, there would certainly be many high-ranking officials and powerful people who wanted to stuff their family descendants in; this was the norm.

This position didn't look like it had any power, but it was also an iron rice bowl; as long as one didn't make mistakes, one would have no worries about food and clothing.

Most of the grassroots positions in the train track department were selected for talent, but these management levels were all people with backgrounds.

If one were to talk about why Li Chen knew, he had been an Emperor for so long, after all; he had read too many memorials, and there were always some familiar names appearing.

The ministers who often attended the morning court knew that Li Chen didn't care much about these things, basically agreeing with a glance.

But this time, Li Chen suddenly began to be silent.

The atmosphere in the morning court instantly solidified, and many court officials lowered their heads, and the officials of the Ministry of Personnel even began to shrink their heads.

Even Grand General Guo Poyun and Prime Minister Zhao Wenyuan knew what Li Chen's silence represented.

The entire morning court began to be quiet, and the court officials didn't dare to breathe; even the eunuch beside knew that someone might be in trouble.

After a while, Li Chen spoke: "If I didn't see it wrong, in this list, there are several officials who were dismissed by me because of lack of ability some time ago, right?"

Once these words were spoken, the whole scene was shocked; they thought that the Minister of Personnel was truly daring.

As an Emperor, what he feared most was mediocre officials, because such officials had no ability, but occupied very important positions, without any achievement.

Those corrupt officials, at least they had some ability, and their brains turned fast.

Li Chen didn't have a bad memory, nor was he old and confused; before, there was an official of the Ministry of Personnel, whose official position was Vice Minister, and this official was not small; many ministers came to him to handle official business, and this guy pushed it off with various reasons, and hadn't handled it well for more than a year.

The most outrageous thing was that this guy wasn't corrupt either; he was just lazy, without any ability.

Li Chen certainly dealt with him when someone reported this kind of thing.

How did he appear again now? And he was still holding an important position in the train track department; could Li Chen not be angry?

If there was any problem at that time, if this guy didn't handle it in time, it would cause certain trouble.

Hearing Li Chen's tone somewhat displeased, the Minister of Personnel immediately knelt on the ground and cried: "Your Majesty, please forgive me; this old subject was also confused for a moment, feeling that he had the heart to change, and he was also an old man of the Ministry of Personnel, so I wanted to give him a chance."

Li Chen could also guess the real situation seven or eight out of ten; they mostly had a relationship.

The Minister of Personnel was one of the oldest ministers in the court, a staunch loyalist of the Emperor.

During the period of the Retired Emperor, he was the Minister of Personnel, which could also be said to be a minister of three dynasties.

When Li Chen ascended the throne, he didn't jump as much as other ministers, belonging to the obedient type.

The official position of Minister of Personnel couldn't be said to be large, only that it was extremely large.

Responsible for the selection, assessment, appointment, and supervision of officials.

If the Minister of Personnel was bold enough, he would even dare to sell official positions.

Not to mention in the morning court, even in the entire Tian Ce Dynasty, the Minister of Personnel had a pivotal status.

Without a certain qualification, one couldn't even be the Minister of Personnel; he was a big official with real power.

He was doing this now, and Li Chen truly wanted to deal with him, but this guy had worked for the imperial court for decades, and an old man with white hair kneeling in front of him, Li Chen wanted to give him a decent opportunity.

Li Chen's tone was flat: "Considering you are a minister of three dynasties, I will give you another chance; give me the list before tonight, requiring true talent and practical work; at that time, I will personally inspect it, and if there is even one dereliction of duty among them, you will be guilty of the same crime."

The Minister of Personnel kowtowed gratefully: "Thank you for your forgiveness, Your Majesty; this old subject will certainly exert himself to the utmost."

After taking back the list Li Chen threw to the side, this old fellow returned to the ranks of the ministers, and his heart was beating wildly.

That feeling was as if he had experienced a ghost gate once.

Many court officials saw that it was estimated that it wouldn't be long before the Minister of Personnel would resign.

Li Chen had already given him a chance to retire to his hometown considering the sentiment; if he still wasn't satisfied, and if he was caught making mistakes by Li Chen next time, or if there were court officials reporting him, he would probably have to squat in the big prison.

Thinking of this, the entire morning court instantly began to have undercurrents moving.

Because this was going to vacate the position of Minister of Personnel, which was a big official with heavy power; who among the second-in-command of various departments didn't want to occupy this position.

Smart court officials had already begun to work actively, striving to mix a good impression in front of Emperor Li Chen.

Normally, major factions in the imperial court would fight for this position, but now no one dared to do so, and everyone relied on their own ability.

Li Chen was still angry just now; who dared to provoke him at this time.

After all, they were court officials for so many years; who didn't have some ability!

After handling this matter, Li Chen squinted his eyes to doze off again, continuing to listen to the court officials' reports.

The second to stand out was the new Minister of Rites, who was responsible for diplomacy.

Many envoys from other countries wanted to learn this technology back after seeing the Tian Ce Dynasty's train track, so that their own country's economy could develop rapidly.

But it was absolutely impossible for the Tian Ce Dynasty to give them the technology directly.

In the past few days, people from the Ministry of Rites discovered that many foreign imperial family members were on the train, looking like they were stealing this technology.

The Minister of Rites inquired whether it should be controlled.

Li Chen indicated it didn't matter; such things couldn't be prevented, just come normally; rather than various precautions, it was better to develop rapidly, always leading other countries by a few versions, letting them always be behind their buttocks.

After the Minister of Rites listened, he knew what was called the pattern of a great country's Emperor.

Next was the Minister of Revenue regarding the collection of vehicle and horse taxes, because the orbital train could not only drive the development of various regions, but also had benefits for the imperial court's tax revenue.

The Minister of Revenue Liu Minghan was like chanting scriptures, saying the construction cost and operating cost of the orbital train.

Construction costs included track materials, train manufacturing, protective arrays, and operating costs included spirit stone consumption, maintenance costs, and labor costs. Then there was the estimation of benefits, which was passenger transport benefits, freight benefits, military benefits, and economic driving.

These were all numbers, making the nearby court officials' heads ache.

Finally, after Liu Minghan's calculation of net benefits and payback period, it could be paid back within one and a half to two years, and it would be profitable in the future, and the economic benefits were significant.

And this time, many merchant families and chambers of commerce participated in the investment; this method was very good for the national treasury, and Liu Minghan suggested that if there were any construction projects in the future, they could actually consider letting the chambers of commerce participate.

The Tian Ce Dynasty's old economic model was basically mobilized from the national treasury; this innovative method had achieved certain success, actively promoting the participation of the chambers of commerce, and the pressure on the national treasury was also small.

The data Liu Minghan spoke of was like a tightening spell to the military generals in the imperial court; they couldn't understand a single word of it.

Anyway, the general meaning was that building an orbital train could be paid back within two years; they still understood this point.

Li Chen looked at the list presented by Liu Minghan seriously, and also felt that it was appropriate for the Minister of Revenue to let him be, truly worthy of being a prodigy.

The military generals were all very curious, Li Chen could understand this stuff? Why was he still looking at it so seriously!

If Li Chen knew they thought so, he would certainly give each of them a big mouth. Many court affairs I just didn't want to manage, not that I couldn't understand.

!

After all, I had been an Emperor for so long; you thought I was like you, only knowing how to fight.

Li Chen also rewarded and praised Liu Minghan many times; although it was his duty, he still had to reward what should be rewarded.

It formed a sharp contrast with the Minister of Personnel just now.

Liu Minghan was clearly a court official with extremely strong work ability.

There were many things in the morning court today; the Minister of Revenue just stepped down, and the Minister of Works stood out again.

That was to express that the success of the orbital train from the Imperial Capital to Yunhai City made many places request to open to traffic and participate in the construction.

Li Chen knew this yesterday; as long as the Tian Ce Dynasty could adapt to this mode, it certainly had to be vigorously promoted.

Next, the Minister of Justice Pang Jin also came to join in the fun; he indicated that the train and the train station were densely populated, and there were also some safety hazards.

Being able to consider this, he was indeed attentive, so Li Chen let him arrange it himself.

Regarding Pang Jin, Li Chen was still relatively at ease; at least from his work style, he was a workaholic.

After the morning court, the Minister of War came to Li Chen's imperial study.

He submitted a secret memorial, which was about the troop movement of the Third Prince Li Yu.

Li Yu had already withdrawn from the southern front and returned to Qingqiucheng in the east.

Qingqiucheng was a military stronghold.

The Second Army Group where Li Yu was located actually mainly guarded against the invasion of the sea clan, and also some countries around the east.

Now that the Second Army Group was going back, whether the troops transferred from the central part of the Tian Ce Dynasty to the east should be transferred back.

In the Tian Ce Dynasty, the Emperor had the highest authority for troop movement.

Of course, that was what was said, but it also depended on the Emperor's prestige.

If it were a puppet Emperor, no one would listen to what he said.

Now Li Chen, who dared not to listen to his words.

These large-scale military movements, in non-emergency situations, had to be reported to Li Chen first and listen to Li Chen's dispatch.

"You tell me your thoughts." Li Chen said to the Minister of War.

The Minister of War pondered for a moment and replied: "Replying to Your Majesty, that army is near the Second Army Group, and the defense zones overlap, so conflicts will occur sooner or later. But if they leave, the arrogance of the Second Army Group will be even higher. In this subject's view, it is better to keep that army stationed in the east, only needing to withdraw from the defense zone, which can make the Second Army Group not dare to act rashly."

Regarding such problems, the Minister of War certainly had to answer; having been Li Chen's subordinate for a period of time, he knew clearly what kind of court official Li Chen liked and what kind of court official he didn't like.

You could say the Minister of War was an old slicker, but his idea was not wrong.

Li Chen disliked the court official who didn't know anything when asked the most; then Li Chen would feel that you were useless in this position.

As long as Li Chen had this idea, then this court official basically had to prepare to be dismissed.

The Tian Ce Dynasty didn't lack talent, and a bunch of officials were waiting to be promoted.

The Minister of War could sit in this position, certainly having some brushes.

According to Li Chen's management mode, then the court officials would certainly work seriously to keep their official hats.

"Then do it this way; I will find an opportunity to clean up Li Yu." Li Chen said thoughtfully.

"Your Majesty, do you want to create some movement in the east?" The Minister of War was still actively working. 【2

Having finally become a high-ranking official with real power, he was now riding high on success; how could he not work hard?

His idea was to manufacture some conflicts between Li Yu and the other armies of the May Tian Ce Dynasty.

"No need, at his age, it is time for him to go to his fief."

Li Chen remembered that when the late Emperor was alive, he had granted Li Yu a fief, but Li Yu had used various excuses not to go.

As the Second Imperial Prince, Li Xian certainly had a fief too, but he had no chance to go.

This fellow's charge of treason had already been established, and if caught by Li Chen, it would be a capital offense.

Li Yu's situation was somewhat special; it wasn't that Li Chen wouldn't give him a chance, it just depended on whether he had the insight.

Actually, the Minister of War really wanted to know where the Third Imperial Prince's fief was, but sometimes knowing too much was not a good thing, especially regarding such matters between the imperial family. The Minister of War took his leave after reporting his work.

Li Chen was almost done with his work when Chu Ruoyan walked in.

She was indeed able to grasp this timing accurately, without delaying Li Chen's official business.

"Shouldn't you be cultivating at this hour? Why have you come to me?"

Li Chen dotingly held her in his arms; this was his beloved consort, who was very sensible.

Chu Ruoyan had been cultivating very diligently recently, and with the guidance of Mu Qingrou and that dual-cultivation secret manual, she had already reached the mid-stage of the Piercing Void Realm, and in another period of time, she would likely reach the late-stage of the Piercing Void Realm.

She also usually formed a sword array with Li Sining and the others; at least they had gathered seven people, and the sword array was already beginning to take shape.

Ever since they were disciplined by Li Chen last time, they had learned to be well-behaved. When great seniors like Mu Qingrou and Lady Youlan came to guide them, they would all teach them very gently.

If it were Li Chen, he could directly beat them all down and then finish them off.

(End of chapter)