Volume 4 is in the ascendant Chapter 382: The Diligent King of Chu
Bai Tu didn't know about Zhang Song's change of mentality yet. He just thought that the time was not yet ripe. Although he was a little depressed that Zhang Song had no intention of surrendering, but... soon this depression was replaced by anxiety and joy.
Getting married was Bai Tu’s first experience, no matter before or after the time travel.
While feeling happy, even the King of Chu would have pre-marriage anxiety!
Unlike the situation before the time travel, Bai Tu doesn't have to worry about preparing for the "welcoming" process, as the Ministry of Rites will arrange it properly.
However, the anxiety caused by the tension is not so easy to relieve... until the day of the wedding.
From the moment Bai Tu left the house, wherever the entire guard of honor passed, the people of Jinling filled the roadsides. Even though the government repeatedly announced that it was not encouraged to go to Jinling on one's own and that the flow of people to Jinling would be restricted during the King of Chu's wedding... it still couldn't stop the enthusiasm of the people.
There were only a few people in each village and pavilion in the surrounding counties who were willing to come. When they gathered together and added the people from Jinling, they formed a considerable number of people.
Even since last night, the gifts from the Prince Chu's Palace have never stopped!
Even if it is strictly prohibited, people still leave a basket of eggs, a few pounds of pork, or even rice, and run away...
Bai Tu wondered if everyone had any misunderstandings about their financial situation and felt that they needed to be fed.
Of course, Bai Tu also understood that this was everyone’s thoughtful gesture.
So he ordered people to process it overnight, adding the meat, eggs, rice and grains that could not be eaten at all, and made them into meals, which were packed in split bamboo joints and distributed to the people today, so that everyone could come to the wedding banquet and have fun with the people...
Although Bai Tu knew that there were people who hated him, and that poisoning was not completely impossible, but... with the current toxin extraction technology, there was no such thing as a colorless, odorless, and highly toxic poison with a small lethal dose, so cleaning and simple identification would not be a problem.
Fortunately, nothing disappointing happened in the end.
Bai Tu's wedding went smoothly, but it was a little tiring... The King of Chu's wedding was also tiring, after all, the process was more complicated. Even though Bai Tu had asked for it to be simplified, Lao Kong still arranged for it to be done before dark with cumbersome etiquette ceremonies to drain Bai Tu and Lu Lingqi dry.
Bai Tu also cooperated with this. After all... the sense of ritual is also very important.
It can be seen that Lu Lingqi was even more uncomfortable. She finally completed all the procedures at night, and Bai Tu also dismissed all the maids in the room.
Forget about watching...
"Ah! Your military token hit me!"
"My military token has been integrated into the Seal of the King of Chu..."
"Why are you still carrying the Chu King's Seal?"
"No, I didn't."
“…”
One night later.
As usual, Bai Tu came to the "Palace" in Jiangshan Garden, which was where the King of Chu and the Grand Secretaries of the Palace usually worked.
At this time, the structure of the "royal palace" in Jinling was rather peculiar. There was no real royal palace, only the central office area "Jiangshan Garden" of the six ministries and one academy, and... the Prince of Chu's Palace.
Both the Ministry of Civil Affairs and the Ministry of Rites proposed to enclose the two areas and separate some marginal government offices so that they could be renovated into the Chu Palace.
However... Bai Tu did some calculations and found that now, only the Prince of Chu's Mansion was his own property, and the expenses were paid from the royal family's account, while the expenses of "Jiangshan Garden" were considered as the expenses of the court!
If all of these are circled...why do I feel like you guys want to harm me?
What does your office have to do with me? Why should I pay for servants, guards, tea, and snacks? If I had that much money, wouldn't it be nice to build a garden outside the city?
Therefore, Bai Tu refused repeatedly and only kept the Chu Palace. The only privilege he had was a convenient door opened for himself on the wall next to Jiangshan Garden. Of course, Bai Tu was also ready to renovate the Chu Palace again when Gan Ning gave him money next time. He had already bought the land of the garden outside the city at a low price...
Following behind Bai Tu at this time are still Zhou Tai and Lu Lingqi...it can be considered as a wedding leave!
After all, the huge golden and jade military talisman had been integrated into the Seal of the King of Chu.
As everyone knows, the diligent King of Chu did not take wedding leave, and he came to the palace early the next morning.
According to the current rules, the Grand Secretaries of the Palace and Cabinet must report to the Palace and Cabinet every morning except the first and fifteenth days of the lunar month. If there are major events that require the Palace and Cabinet's decision, meetings will be held to discuss and make plans.
During the period when cooperation from other departments is needed, other court officials can also be summoned. If there is nothing important, they can just go about their own business. If there is nothing important, they can go to their respective departments to work in the afternoon.
The Grand Secretaries of the Palace and Cabinet have no ranks themselves, and everyone has his own actual title.
For example, Jia Xu, whose actual title was only a councillor, would skip work and go home in the afternoon when he had nothing to do...
After all, the "Yilang" of Chu was different from the Guanglu Xun official of the same name in the Han Dynasty. In theory he was an official of the Ministry of Rites.
Now each of the six ministries has one Shangshu and two Shilang, who are the chief and deputy officials. Under them, each has a Zhubu as the head . The Yilan is under the "Siyuan Zhubu" of the Ministry of Rites who is in charge of Jiangshan Garden... which is equivalent to a senior clerk walking around Jiangshan Garden.
Jia Xu was very happy with this arrangement.
Because this also means that Jia Xu's theoretical superior is just the chief clerk of the Ministry of Rites. Jia Xu has stomachache every day, so what can a chief clerk like him say?
Not to mention the chief clerk, even if he impeached him in front of the left assistant minister of the Ministry of Personnel, Wei Teng couldn't care less about Jia Xu's stomachache every afternoon...
Besides, if Jia Xu doesn't have a stomachache one day, he will really go to various departments for a stroll... Is this delivering documents or inspecting work? Theoretically, the Palace Grand Secretary has no rank, so you can treat him as a non-official?
Bai Tu was not late, but the other five arrived earlier than him.
"Good morning, father-in-law, and good morning to everyone." Bai Tu greeted them as usual, but he changed his tone when addressing Lu Bu.
"Just call her the same as before... Where's Lingqi? Is she still..." When Lu Bu saw Zhou Tai, he couldn't help but frowned.
She's like a mother-in-law who's not happy with her daughter-in-law sleeping in right after getting married...
"Hehe, wedding leave, wedding leave, we should set an example!" Bai Tu explained quickly.
Huang Chengyan didn't know whether he couldn't bear to see the father-in-law and son-in-law "showing affection", so he interrupted and said: "Your Majesty, Nanjun has already coordinated, Your Majesty can go anytime."
This was indeed a serious matter. Bai Tu had originally planned to "travel" around Jingzhou after the wedding, mainly to Nanjun and Nanyang counties. On the one hand, he wanted to appease the local gentry, and on the other hand, there were still talented people in the countryside - even with the Academy of Talents and the imperial examinations, one could not expect people of great virtue and talent to come to one's door on their own initiative.
Don’t worry about whether they want to be an official or not, it won’t affect Bai Tu’s hunting rabbits…
Now that Jingzhou has been settled for half a year, Bai Tu is ready for this trip.
"Then we'll set off on the first day of next month! Mr. Huang and my foster father will accompany me. If there's anything urgent during that time, I'll leave it to you three."
Bai Tu was thinking in his mind that in half a month, Lu Lingqi's honeymoon would be over, so he could just treat it as a honeymoon funded by the government... The feeling of getting the best deal would be really great.
But before he could finish, Lu Kang said, "For other matters, my old bones, Zijing, and Wenhe can still help, but... the matter of the official workshop still needs to be finalized before the king leaves, so that we can start."
