met free Chapter 561: Let officials and pedantic scholars cause us trouble?
Chapter 561: Let officials and pedantic scholars cause us trouble?
With the Hongwu Dictionary nearing completion and the Hongwu Encyclopedia in its early stages of preparation, sending people to Kong Xixue and Kong Xilu's ranks now would certainly be seen as an attempt to reap the benefits.
At that point, it would be a miracle if they didn't hate this bastard to death, let alone appreciate it.
Thinking of this, Emperor Zhu couldn't help but glare at Yang Shaofeng again.
That bastard offends everyone he goes by.
He still has to worry about him as his father-in-law, unlike our old Zhu, who devoted himself to relieving Commander Guo's burdens back then.
That bastard!
Yang Shaofeng was somewhat bewildered by the glare.
Is Old Deng about to get his period?
Judging by age, it seems about right.
Tsk.
Being an emperor is different; you can even experience menopause early.
While inwardly cursing, Yang Shaofeng said with a smile, "Don't worry, Father-in-law. Whether Kong Xixue and Kong Xilu appreciate it or not depends on who they send."
Emperor Zhu was slightly taken aback and asked, "What do you mean?"
Yang Shaofeng said, "If we directly send the officials from the court over, Kong Xixue and Kong Xilu will definitely think that we are taking credit for their work, and they might even misunderstand that their father-in-law is dissatisfied with them."
Emperor Zhu scoffed, "We're already dissatisfied with them, why would we need them to misunderstand? Go on."
Yang Shaofeng rolled his eyes quietly, then continued, "It's definitely not going to work now to put officials under them, since we still need them to do a good job."
"But what if they were handed over to members of the Kong family?"
"Although the Duke Yansheng's mansion is only good for doing things like being a traitor to three masters and having hereditary surrender documents."
Emperor Zhu's face immediately darkened.
A slave to three masters.
Shi Xiu surrendered.
This bastard knows how to swear.
Ironically, we almost conferred the title of Duke Yansheng upon Kong Xixue.
Yang Shaofeng continued, "It doesn't matter what they think about us stuffing the Kong family into their hands; what matters is that they have no choice but to accept it."
After all, they are all members of the Kong family, whether they are from the South or the North, they are all from large and powerful clans.
However, being from a prominent family often means that some members of that family don't fare very well.
If there were an opportunity to make a name for oneself, enter officialdom, or even be remembered in history, would these people willingly give it up?
The Duke Yansheng, in name only, may not be the person in charge of the clan.
Even if they do, don't they need to consider interpersonal relationships and social interactions?
Yang Shaofeng smiled meaningfully and said, "As long as they accept the Kong family, those people they summoned to revise the 'Hongwu Great Dictionary' and the 'Hongwu Great Compendium'..."
Those people will definitely feel dissatisfied.
Even though he was forced by the pressure of the emperor's sword to cooperate with Kong Xixue and Kong Xilu in repairing the "Hongwu Dictionary" and "Hongwu Encyclopedia", he would inevitably fall out of favor with Kong Xixue and Kong Xilu and even turn against them later.
That bastard is a real piece of trash.
Because Kong Xida, the magistrate of Qufu, offended him in the first year of the Hongwu reign, he held a grudge against the entire Kong family, even plotting against the Kong families of the South and North.
By the way, it seems we stole two small dragon balls from him today?
So how will this bastard torment his father-in-law?
Just as Emperor Zhu was secretly complaining to himself, Yang Shaofeng smiled and said, "Besides sending the Kong family, Father-in-law can also send the female scholars who can read and write from the palace, or even the Xu and Chang families."
"They don't need to have high academic qualifications. As long as they can help organize the classics or do simple copying and proofreading, wouldn't that be a way for Father-in-law to care about the officials and scholars and lighten their burden?"
Emperor Zhu was slightly taken aback and asked, "Female students? Female clerks?"
"Tsk."
Emperor Zhu smacked his lips and said, "It's one thing to have female officials in the palace, but how can we use female officials and scribes for things like compiling the Great Dictionary and the Great Compendium?"
"We're fine, but wouldn't those old scholars in the court cause an uproar?"
"Inevitably, they'll spout some nonsense like 'a hen crowing at dawn'."
At this point, Emperor Zhu suddenly widened his eyes and looked at Yang Shaofeng, asking, "Has Ningyang County already begun employing female officials and clerks?"
Yang Shaofeng replied confidently, "There are definitely no female officials yet, but there are female clerks working as temporary staff."
"Work such as copying and writing in the ceremonial office and the household registration office, or registering household information for the people, is quite tedious and requires patience and meticulousness. Female clerks are actually better at doing these tasks than male clerks."
"More importantly, by employing an additional female clerk, we can free up a male clerk to do something else."
"If the Ministry of Personnel, the Ministry of Rites, or any other official is dissatisfied, they are welcome to go to my superior's office to complain."
"Or they could come to Ningyang County and take over the work of those female clerks."
Seeing Yang Shaofeng's self-righteous demeanor, Emperor Zhu was so angry that he laughed.
Listen, is this human language?
Did they even complain to his superior authorities?
He has many superior government departments.
The superior government of Ningyang County was the Secretariat, which had two powerful officials: the civil official was Li Shanchang, and the military official was Xu Da.
The superior government of Dengzhou Prefecture was the Shandong Provincial Administration Commission, and the Shandong Provincial Administration Commissioner was named Wang Guangyang.
The superior office of the Embroidered Uniform Guard is the Embroidered Uniform Guard Commandery, and its leader is Xia Yu.
We don't need to worry about the temporary post at the Court of State Ceremonial. There's only one position left: Imperial Son-in-Law Commandant. Our direct superior is ourselves.
He sent someone to complain to his superior government office. But which superior government office did he go to?
In the Central Secretariat, there was Li Shanchang for reasoning and Xu Da for violence.
Wang Guangyang, the governor of Shandong Province, was easy to bully, but he was determined to play dumb, so who could do anything to him?
Needless to say, the Embroidered Uniform Guard was in a similar situation.
The reputation of the Inspector was already bad, but it has become even worse after it was recently reorganized into the Embroidered Uniform Guard. People are avoiding Xia Yu like the plague, so who would want to get close to him?
So, he wants the officials and those pedantic scholars to come and cause trouble for us?
That seems to make sense.
We snatched two of his small dragon balls, so it's understandable that he's causing us trouble.
That bastard!
The Emperor Zhu's thoughts went further and further astray, quickly veerging from the idea that Yang Shaofeng wanted to cause trouble for Li Shanchang to his own actions.
Yang Shaofeng was unaware that Emperor Zhu's thinking had gone completely astray; he was simply fanning the flames.
"First, seal the hole for Kong's family."
"Then a female clerk was sent."
"It not only sowed discord between the Kong family and the scholars of the North and South, but also allowed some officials to be temporarily assigned to be in charge of setting the questions for the provincial examinations."
"At worst, we can let them go back and continue revising their books after the provincial examination."
Anyway, someone else will take the blame.
"Actually, Father-in-law could also visit the Confucius Mansion on the way."
"It's not much of a detour."
Yang Shaofeng became more and more enthusiastic as he spoke, but Emperor Zhu's face grew darker and darker.