Mortal Mage

Qigu State was adjacent to Taicang Empire, with a total territory of only 200 li. A year ago, Taicang Empire suddenly sent troops to Qigu State. In just seven days, the heavily armored soldiers of Taicang Empire attacked the capital of Qigu State and destroyed the country in one fell swoop.

The area where Qigu State is located is mostly hilly and mountainous, and it has few resources. The Taicang Empire has no conflicts with them, and they don't know why the Taicang Empire suddenly sent troops to Qigu State.

After listening to this, Zhang Mingxuan thought for a long time.

The Taicang Empire has a territory of 30,000 miles. Theoretically, there is no reason to attack this small mountain country of less than 200 miles. It is completely worthless.

"Have you heard of the Taicang Empire's army killing civilians indiscriminately?"

Zhang Mingxuan asked a noncommittal question. If Qigu State offended the Taicang Empire, or if there was any major secret of that country, then they would most likely be massacred or killed indiscriminately.

"No, the purpose of your Empire's army seems to be very clear, which is to capture us and sell us as slaves for money."

Xun'er knelt on the ground, speaking calmly.

"Forget it, both of you stand up instead of kneeling."

After hearing this, Xun'er stood up directly. Yubin beside her hesitated a little, but seeing that Zhang Mingxuan did not say anything, she slowly stood up after Xun'er stood up.

After kneeling for so long, both of their legs felt numb.

"Now, your country has been destroyed. It should be the personal behavior of the generals in the border areas. I think the court should not know about these things."

Zhang Mingxuan tapped the table lightly, thought for a long time, and reluctantly said, "You two will temporarily stay in the woodshed in the courtyard today. Xun'er, you will be responsible for the sanitation of the courtyard, and Yubin, you will be responsible for washing and cooking. You cannot enter the main house without my permission. Go out."

According to what was written in the indenture, they were lowly slaves who could only sleep with cattle and sheep.

Zhang Mingxuan was afraid that there would be other servants in the future, and considering that he would need to entertain guests in the future, it was really shabby for a fifth-rank official to live in such a place.

The next morning, he found a craftsman in Taihe City who could build a house and asked him to add some extra space to it.

A standard quadrangle layout was drawn, and a large area of ​​two adjacent courtyards was occupied. In the end, the carpenter agreed to start the work after paying a full 120 taels.

Even if you buy another garden, it will cost a lot of money to renovate it, so it is better to start from scratch.

The house was not yet built, but the first day of work after taking office arrived.

The tenth day of the seventh month, the first quarter of the morning, in the Taihe Palace, Taihe Square.

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Great court meeting.

It is held twice a month, at the beginning and middle of the month.

There were nearly a thousand people participating, so it was held in Taihe Square.

Zhang Mingxuan, wearing a crimson official uniform, followed the long stream of people into Taihe Square and found his own position.

What followed was a complicated set of etiquette.

The ceremony ended at 1:00 pm.

"When there is something going on, we will start, and when there is nothing going on, we will retreat."

A loud duck voice sang from the platform in front of the square.

Sitting on the high platform was a middle-aged man in a yellow dragon robe. He was the emperor of the time.

It was too far away, and just like the last time he took the palace exam, Zhang Mingxuan still couldn't see the emperor's appearance clearly. He only saw that there was a young man next to the emperor, who was also wearing a yellow robe.

"Master Zhang, he is the crown prince of the current dynasty. He occasionally acts as regent for the emperor for many years."

Next to Zhang Mingxuan stood a hunched old man in his sixties wearing the uniform of a sixth-rank official. The old man saw Zhang Mingxuan's doubts and quietly reminded him in a low voice.

It was necessary to roll call at the grand court meeting. The old official rolled call behind Zhang Mingxuan. When he saw his own name written when he rolled call, he knew that his surname was Zhang, and he was not surprised.

Zhang Mingxuan gave him a grateful look.

Then, one by one, the officials who were about to make a memorial shouted, "I have this memorial to make."

Zhang Mingxuan had no evidence to present. What evidence could he have as he had just taken up an idle position in the Ministry of Rites?

It’s just that those who don’t have the skills have to accompany those who have the skills.

Soon, he felt extremely bored. He turned his head to look at the old official of the sixth rank next to him, only to find that the old official had fallen asleep while standing.

"Brilliant."

He sighed in his heart, and he also understood what these beatings were for.

Money, money, money.

All the discussions revolve around asking for money.

The emperor's solution was to ask his subordinates who had money.

What followed was that each department argued and cried poor.

At noon, the eunuchs served tea and distributed boxes of snacks to all the officials. The same thing happened in the afternoon. Zhang Mingxuan had been absent from work all day, and apart from the pain in his legs from standing, he was just there to make up the numbers.

According to convention, the grand court meeting only lasts one morning.

But this empire was so huge that there were more than a thousand prefectures alone, as well as direct-controlled prefectures, border checkpoints, governors, navy, six local ministries, and so on.

“This system is extremely backward.”

After the grand court meeting was over, he still had to report to the Lihe Hall.

Reporting is required for court meetings and for work at the Ministry of Rites.

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