Early morning.
Minister Lu was thoroughly disgusted.
He thought the Emperor would at most make a casual remark about studying well.
He never imagined someone would expand a single sentence into something like this.
Moreover, he couldn't go to the Emperor to confront him about it.
The matter was too trivial.
If he went to the Emperor for such a small thing, next time when there was a big issue, he wouldn't be able to see the Emperor.
Minister Lu generally didn't seek private audiences with the Emperor lightly.
Whenever he did, it was always for something important, a matter that genuinely concerned the Emperor.
If he went to the Emperor about learning rules and regulations, such a minor issue, it would make him look incompetent.
But having officials study rules and regulations was just a tactic to give new people a hard time in private.
Everyone did it this way.
When newcomers arrived, they weren't taught anything, just left to cool their heels, assigned these things to study, and by the time they figured out what to do, their training period would naturally be over.
But someone had actually taken it seriously, studied earnestly, summarized it, and now wanted everyone to study together.
Should he study too?
He was the dignified Prime Minister, did he still need to memorize rules and regulations?
Laughable.
Seeing the man before him, with his handsome face beaming, was he actually waiting for praise?
Minister Lu had endless big and small matters to attend to every day, simply too much to handle, not even enough time to sleep, where would he find time to memorize this?
He had never been given such a hard time even when he first entered officialdom.
After all, everyone had come through nine years of imperial examinations.
Who couldn't study?
You, with your background as a former rebel, want everyone to study laws and rules together?
"Thanks to Minister Lu's recommendation, this humble official will certainly work diligently to do a good job, and definitely satisfy both Minister Lu and the Emperor."
Jiang Changtian made his earnest statement before taking his leave.
Hmm. He did understand official etiquette.
Returning to the room where he had studied regulations yesterday.
He had naturally not done any work after returning home from the palace yesterday.
With the meager salary the court provided, it was absolutely impossible to expect him to take work home.
But creating something from nothing was an essential skill in officialdom.
Proclaiming one's hard work and diligence was a fundamental skill in officialdom, far more important than actually being hardworking and diligent.
He knew that the pile of books he had sent up, Minister Lu would definitely not read.
He didn't mind, it was just a matter of passing them on.
Arriving at his temporary work area.
This place was originally meant for Minister Lu to give new people a hard time.
Now it had become the temporary office of the newcomer Jiang Er.
With nothing to do, Jiang Changtian found his first task.
Organizing all officials to study rules, laws, and regulations.
These three had distinctions.
Rules were the general principles, laws were the outline, and regulations were the specific provisions.
Organizing everyone to study this kind of thing was neither big nor small.
It depended on how you wanted to do it.
If it was just for show, you could simply send someone to tell each department:
"Minister Lu requires all officials to learn the rules, laws, and regulations of the court, everyone must set an example."
Each department would perfunctorily organize some study, cursing Minister Lu for meddling along the way, and that would be it.
But if you really wanted to implement it, that was different.
To truly implement something, there must be a system of rewards and punishments for it to be carried out.
Jiang Changtian might not have other merits.
But his ability to execute was superb.
Except for being unable to teach his own daughter to memorize books at home, he could teach anyone else.
Because he couldn't bear to punish his own daughter, but he had no qualms about others.
It was like taking the imperial examinations, why did so many people strive to study hard?
Because if you studied hard for the imperial exams and passed, you would bring glory to your ancestors, and your whole family would rise in social status.
Everyone who could would study hard, without needing supervision.
To make people do something voluntarily, there are only two reasons.
Doing it brings rewards, not doing it brings punishment.
His daughter didn't study well because even if she studied hard, the rewards weren't attractive enough, as she would get those rewards anyway even if she didn't study. And if she didn't study well, there was no punishment, as they simply couldn't bring themselves to punish her.
He couldn't bring himself to be harsh with his own daughter, but he had no problem with others.
In the temporary office, Jiang Changtian quickly drew up a plan to organize the study of laws and regulations.
First, the Prime Minister would take the lead in studying, followed by the heads of various departments, the ministers, leading by example.
Organize collective study sessions, with the Ministry of Revenue, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Rites... all coming together to study the laws.
The study organization could have variety, such as setting up special topic discussions, like "Why can't we beat up officials?" and so on...
Comparative study of related laws, for example, comparing the punishments for not being allowed to beat superiors versus not being allowed to insult superiors, their respective punishments, comparing the severity...
Discussing and studying in combination with practical work, such as whether officials should give gifts, what's the maximum amount of gifts they can receive...
Jiang Changtian carefully wrote down all the work content he was going to carry out next.
And with this content, he eagerly went back to the palace to report his work to the highest leader, the Emperor.
As the Imperial Secretary, he had this authority.
The Emperor was generally impatient with listening to work reports and court affairs, after decades, he was tired of it all.
As long as it didn't shake the foundations, he let the Prime Minister handle everything.
But this Jiang Er was too earnest.
Looking at the detailed study plan he presented,
The Emperor was at a loss for words.
The handwriting was quite good.
He felt that those old hands among his ministers would surely curse loudly when they saw this study plan.
However, the rules, laws, and regulations Jiang Er had compiled emphasized imperial power, establishing the authority of imperial power rather than the authority of the Prime Minister.
The Emperor also felt that although it would trouble everyone, studying a bit was good.
It would prevent those officials from being bored and fighting amongst themselves all day.
They should indeed put their minds to studying the court's laws and regulations.
Seeing that all he needed to do was occasionally conduct random checks, with no other matters, it seemed fine.
"Approved."
Jiang Changtian handled affairs strictly according to rules and regulations. The Emperor had approved, so he took it to get Minister Lu's approval.
If the Emperor had approved, how could Minister Lu oppose?
If Minister Lu had approved, how could the finance department object?
In short, Jiang Changtian first set up an office, got a budget approved, organized the laws, rules, and regulations, and then began to issue study notices to various departments.
When the Minister of Revenue received this notice, his face turned green.
He felt this was Minister Lu giving him a hard time again in a roundabout way, surely because he hadn't been quick enough to provide money when Minister Lu wanted to build a residence for the Emperor earlier, and now Minister Lu was taking the opportunity to show him who's boss.
He, the dignified Minister of Revenue, at his advanced age, having been an official for decades, now had to start studying official regulations, even memorize the full text, and the Emperor would conduct random checks?
"Lu, you old villain, I'll never forgive you!"
The Minister of War was even more angry when he saw this document.
He really couldn't memorize it all!
At his age.
If he could memorize it, he would have gone to war himself.
Well, he'd better send a copy of these regulations to Old General Meng at the border first, spread the joy around.
And also summon Meng Qingshe.
When Meng Qingshe saw this pile of laws, rules, and regulations that had to be fully memorized and would be randomly checked, he also cursed Minister Lu vehemently.
"Old Lu is inhuman, taking advantage of my father not being around to torment our War Ministry."
"What? Other departments have to study too? Well then, surely there will be others like me who can't memorize it all."
When Inspector He received so many laws, rules, and regulations, his expression was very pleasant and cheerful.
He immediately thought, this must have been issued by Jiang Er.
He had memorized all of these before.
Thinking back to when he was a young newcomer, the first thing his mentor had him do when he arrived at the office was to memorize these, memorize the full text, knowing the rules was the key to utilizing the rules, to knowing where opponents had violated regulations, to better catch their weaknesses and report them.
Jiang Er had good intentions.
Nowadays, with declining social mores, this excellent tradition had been lost for a long time.
It was time to pick it up again!
When the Minister of Rites saw this study notice, he angrily cursed Minister Lu.
"Showing off his power, taking a chicken feather for an imperial edict, endlessly tormenting people, and even pushing out a newcomer to do this, taking the benefits for himself while letting the newcomer take the blame if anything goes wrong, that cunning old fox Lu, he's overreaching, even if we needed to organize study sessions, it should be our Ministry of Rites doing it!"
On this day, as Minister Lu was working in his office, he felt a bit of pressure in his ears and an inexplicable headache, not knowing why, perhaps the weather was about to turn cold.
Feeling a bit chilly, his back ached.
He stood up and opened the door, standing in the doorway to stretch his back a bit.
This side of the door faced a garden with an excellent view.
It was already dark.
He could see the imperial palace not far away, its towering and magnificent roofs like a painting of power.
There was a day's work that could never be finished, simply impossible to complete.
Although his authority was great, there were too many big and small matters in the court.
He only slept for three hours a day. Sometimes even these three hours couldn't be guaranteed.
There would also be various emergencies requiring him to get up.
Standing there, he rested for a moment, breathing in the cold air, feeling a bit more clearheaded.
At this moment, a servant approached and kindly reminded, "Sir, you asked me to remind you about reading the official rules, regulations, and detailed bylaws. You're already two hours late. If you start reading now, I'm afraid it will take until the early hours of the morning to finish."
Minister Lu: ...
...
