I Just Won’t Play by the Book - Chapter 232

Generally speaking, the situation of having several young officials in the Imperial Court was divided into two extreme scenarios.

Scenario one was that the Imperial Court was extremely corrupt and was crazily buying and selling officials. As long as one’s family was rich, they could send their sons in to be a high-ranking official.

Scenario two was that the Imperial Court was extremely open-minded. Those who were capable could be promoted regardless of seniority or age. The experienced officials were also humble would never take advantage of their seniority.

“Since Deng Bo didn’t do anything good, Old Fox Yin said that he was a talent. There should be some capable officials under him.”

Just as Jiang Beiran recognized the unfamiliar faces under him, a eunuch at the side hesitated timidly whether he should go forward or not. He was not afraid of Jiang Beiran, but of the devil beside him.

However, after hesitating for a while, the eunuch finally gathered his courage and walked to Jiang Beiran’s side. “Your Majesty… If Your Majesty have anything to say, let me pass it on to the officials. Be careful not to hurt the Your Majesty’s voice.”

1

Jiang Beiran glanced at him and waved his hand to drive him away. “There’s no need to go through so much trouble. Leave.”

“Yes.” The eunuch bowed and immediately retreated to the side.

Before they understood the new emperor’s temper, the eunuchs would never dare to say anything.

After recognizing almost all the faces, Jiang Beiran said, “My dear ministers, there’s no need to be so reserved. Just do it as usual. Do you have anything to report?”

The ministers could not help but look at each other when they heard this. No one dared to be the first to “stand out”.

So, they all lowered their heads again.

“You’re not saying anything? If you’re not saying anything, I’ll just call the roll. Yes, lower your head a little. I like the ones who kept lowering their heads.”

When he said this, a young official was so scared that he quickly raised his head.

1

“Very good. It’s you. Step forward.” Jiang Beiran pointed at the young official who raised his head and shouted.

“? ? ?”

The young official was full of doubts. Wasn’t he said that he liked the one who kept his head low? This emperor did not play by the rules…

However, the emperor had personally called for names. What else could he do? He could only stagger to the middle.

“Tsk… it seems like the worst-case scenario.” Jiang Beiran thought.

After Jiang Beiran said that, there were not many people who raised their heads. He could tell that they were a group of scheming old foxes. These few young people were extremely straightforward. One by one, they raised their heads, they really did not seem to be shrewd.

The young official walked to the middle and pondered for a moment. In the end, he cupped his hands and lowered his head. “Reporting to your Majesty, I… I have nothing to report.”

“Tsk.”

As the Imperial Court quieted down once again, Jiang Beiran suddenly realized that he could not even mimic the emperor he saw in the television dramas from his past life. This was because there was no emperor like him in his original era.

Firstly, he was an emperor who had “descended” from the sky. He wasn’t like those emperors who had successfully rebelled. They all had their own people who had contributed to the founding of the country. They had to be both civil and military.

Secondly, he wasn’t the crown prince. One had to know that behind a successful crown prince, there would always be a team. Whether it was the people his father had sent to assist him or the people he recruited himself, as long as he ascended the throne, those officials who assisted him would be promoted to high-ranking officials at any moment and continue to help him solve his problems.

Thirdly, was there ever an emperor like him who “forced” to sit on the throne? There were, and there were many of them. But usually, this kind of emperor who was forced to sit on the throne had no real power at all. The real power was in the hands of the powerful officials.

Then, it was quite easy for him to be the emperor. Usually, he only needed to say “report accepted” and “renegotiation”, and the other powerful officials would help him.

Although Jiang Beiran was also pushed to the throne for no reason, the real power of the emperor was firmly in his hands. Not to mention the powerful officials, there were no slanderous officials at all.

“If the emperors of the past generations hear about the idle emperor who has absolute real power, they will probably go crazy with envy.”

“Reporting to Your Majesty, I have something to report.”

Just as Jiang Beiran was thinking of how to break the deadlock, an old official dressed in purple raised a jade hu and said.

This hu was also known as a hand board. It was a tool for the officials to meet the emperor. Its function was a little like the emcee’s hand card. They wrote the report on the hu so that they would not forget the script or startled when they were reporting.

Jiang Beiran saw that the old minister’s eyeballs were rolling from time to time as he stared at the hu. He knew that there was something written on it, which meant that this person had come prepared.

Hence, Jiang Beiran happily said, “Please report.”

Thus, the old minister walked to the middle and bowed, “Your Majesty, Dongzhou County has been suffering from drought for years. This year, the famine has reached an uncontrollable stage. Your Majesty, please make a decision to save the people of Dongzhou County from dire straits.”

When the officials heard this, they were all shocked. They did not expect the minister to suddenly mention this. After all, this was the first day that the new emperor ascended the throne. Even if there was good news to report, he should not mention any bad new yet.

Jiang Beiran was also a little surprised. Although he had never been involved in matters of the Imperial Court, he had heard that these officials were all smart and had the ability to shift the blame.

This old minister was not afraid to announce such a “bad news” in the Imperial Court. it could mean that he was truly concern for the country or he was using this matter to impeach some people.

After thinking for a moment, Jiang Beiran asked, “Do you have any ideas, minister?”

The minister continued to bow and announce, “Your Majesty, I am willing to take full responsibility for this matter and draft a plan to Your Majesty. If Your Majesty agrees, I will definitely do my best to resolve the urgent situation in Dongzhou County.”

“Okay, go ahead.”

Although Jiang Beiran didn’t even know the name of this minister, he was already very curious about what this minister wanted to do.

“Thank you, Your Majesty!”

After bowing deeply to Jiang Beiran, the old minister retreated to the side.

Seeing that the minister had succeeded, the other officials were also a little restless. However, at this time, Jiang Beiran stood up and said, “Then today’s court meeting will end here. I have already remembered many people. Withdraw from the court.”

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After saying this, Jiang Beiran walked to the side of the eunuch who had wanted to pass on a message for him.

That eunuch was still quite smart. He immediately understood what Jiang Beiran meant and brought Jiang Beiran out of the Mystic Listening Palace through another path.

Yin Jianghong silently followed Jiang Beiran and left. From the beginning to the end, he did not say a single word.

As Jiang Beiran left, the officials in the court fell into a daze again. They were all a little stunned by this new emperor.

However, they did not criticize him in the main hall. Instead, they waited until they had withdrawn from the Mystic Listening Palace before they started discussing among themselves.

“Did those cultivators send a boor to be the emperor? This person doesn’t pay attention to etiquette at all.”

“Shh, lower your voice. That Devil… Cult Master Yin is still here. I think that the new emperor really doesn’t understand the affairs of the Imperial Court at all. That’s good too. Both of us can have an easy time.”

“What do you think Minister Shi’s move today means?”

“Minister Shi is not someone we can figure out. It’s better to hurry back to the residence. It’s just a matter of going through the situation. There’s no need to be so serious.”

“Sigh… if the late emperor was still here, our Sheng Kingdom…”

“Shh! Do you want to die? Go, go, go.”

…

While the officials were discussing Jiang Beiran, Jiang Beiran had already walked out of the Mystic Listening Palace and walked side by side with Yin Jianghong on the main road.

“Why did you leave so suddenly?” Yin Jianghong asked.

“It’s not that I wanted to leave so suddenly. I don’t even know their names, let alone their rank. Today, I just want to get to know them. Cult Master Yin, do you really want me to act like a wise monarch so you can watch my performance?”

Yin Jianghong laughed after hearing it and said, “Hahaha, not bad. You dare to quibble with me.”

Jiang Beiran didn’t know whether it was true or false, but from Yin Jianghong’s reaction, he was still very happy with the closeness he showed to him.

As for why Jiang Beiran did this, the reason was very simple. From the moment he entered the palace, Yin Jianghong had repeatedly shown him kindness. It didn’t matter if he told Jiang Beiran his life story or if he didn’t put on any airs in Yuxiu Palace, it was also good to bring him around.

These were all acts of goodwill.

If Jiang Beiran didn’t show any signs of closeness to him, then it would be a little too unappreciative.

Laughing happily, Yin Jianghong said, “By doing this, those ministers probably think that I’ve brought a disciple who doesn’t know anything to the Imperial Court.”

After hearing this, Jiang Beiran smiled and replied, “They aren’t wrong. Right now… I really don’t know anything.”