Empress: Your Majesty, please respect yourself, I don't want to be promoted

Lu Chen, who was explaining the follow-up work to a group of officials from the Ministry of Industry in the camp, heard the sudden shout, felt the love and affection in it, and couldn't help but have mixed feelings.

"Lord Lu..."

A petty official came over with a flattering face.

"The common people love you so much, why don't you go out and have a look first?"

"Look at what?"

Lu Chen glanced at him, and said expressionlessly: "Look at how many 'good things' the people in my Ministry of Industry have done to them before, so that this small favor can make them feel grateful and grateful?"

Hearing this, the little official's face froze immediately, and he was speechless.

The faces of the others were a little weird.

Small favors and small favors?

Damn, looking at the ancient and modern times, which official in the past dynasties would be like this surnamed Lu, who would be so kind to the laboring people? Under this kind of policy, can this labor still count as labor?

They are not so comfortable farming, are they?

"snort!"

Lu Chen snorted coldly, then asked Zhang Xuan to appease the people, while he continued the meeting.

His serious attitude immediately caused everyone to temporarily put away their small thoughts and concentrate on writing down Lu Chen's instructions.

Most of the day passed quickly, and Lu Chen, who was presiding over the meeting at the Ministry of Industry for the first time, spoke dryly before finally explaining the things he had to explain, such as the procedures for bidding and bidding, the standards and verification methods of materials required for each project, and other matters. The precautions are over.

"Okay, let's call it a day."

Lu Chen closed the self-made memo in front of him, and said calmly: "In the future, I will check from time to time to see if you are strictly following what I said today. I was sent to Dali Temple and the Metropolitan Procuratorate by this official, don't blame this official for not explaining clearly to you in advance."

Having said that, he suddenly turned serious, and there was a trace of coldness in his voice.

"Remember, as long as you act in accordance with the regulations, no matter what the result is, even if something happens and you are blamed by His Majesty, I will bear all the responsibilities and will never implicate anyone. On the contrary, I will never forgive you lightly!"

"Don't expect any so-called big shot to come forward to intercede with you and support you when something goes wrong. With this official, things are just as they should be, and no one can lose face!"

"If you don't believe me, you can give it a try and see if I dare to take you to justice on the spot in front of the big man in your eyes!"

Hearing this, most of the officials of the Ministry of Industry couldn't help but look terrified, and the rest of them, looking at Lu Chen, also quietly flashed a look of jealousy.

"Please don't worry, my lord, the little one will obey your orders!"

A middle-aged official stood up first to express his opinion.

Immediately afterwards, the officials beside him clapped their chests to promise after they realized that they would definitely obey Lu Chen's orders from now on, and never dared to slack in the slightest, let alone think otherwise.

Seeing everyone's response, Lu Chen nodded, and then said to Wang Qi beside him:

"The repair of the Wuji Palace and the Xinyuan Grand Ceremony cannot be done without the chief officer, Wang Qi, you and Zhang Xuan will temporarily act as the chief officer from today onwards, and take care of this place for me. If there are any problems or problems that cannot be solved in the future If you are in trouble, come to the Ministry of Industry to find the official."

Wang Qi bowed his hands respectfully to Lu Chen: "Yes, my lord!"

Afterwards, Lu Chen handed over the official seal recovered from Xu Sanping and the other three to Wang Qi, and then turned and left the camp.

A group of officials followed behind Lu Chen, respectfully sent him to the gate of the Wuji Palace, and then all bowed to Lu Chen and cupped their hands:

"Congratulations to Mr. Lu!"

"Master Lu, go slowly."

Although he wished that this surnamed Lu could get out of here quickly, he still had to do a good job on the surface.

After all, even if Lu Chen is not the most favored minister of the dynasty, the absolute confidant of the Empress, ordinary officials would not dare to be presumptuous in front of him just because of his status as the right servant of the Ministry of Industry.

Don't look at Ge Shizhong and Yushi, who are both junior officials of the seventh rank, from time to time they toughen the senior officials of the third rank in the court hall, and sometimes even piss off the senior officials who are in high positions, but that's because Ge Shizhong himself is a A special official position that is low and powerful, and the rule that the official ranks crush people to death has limited effect on things.

How can ordinary officials have the courage?

What's more, Lu Chen is so favored.

When the identities of favored minister, direct minister, meritorious minister, and capable minister are combined into one, and he really wants to use his official status to do things, the effect it brings is not as simple as one plus one equals two.

After Lu Chen left, the Wuji Palace became busy again.

Officials left their tents and went to the construction site, preparing to supervise the laborers.

Although the regulations have changed, there are still supervisors, but their power is not as great as before. Facing these laborers who used to be able to fish at will, they dare not be too presumptuous, at least they dare not wantonly beat and scold them like before.

"well."

After parting in twos and threes, a short and fat little official suddenly sighed and said with a gloomy expression:

"This errand is not easy to do."

The companion on the side responded with a face of agreement: "Who says it's not? They don't let them be beaten or scolded, and they also provide food and clothing for those Guizhou chiefs, and they also reduce their working hours. So afraid of me waiting, and then working desperately? I have lost my majesty, how can I deal with these troublemakers in the future?"

The other two small officials also spoke up: "The surname Lu doesn't want to sit in the yamen of the Ministry of Industry, thinking about how to go up, so that he can get promoted and make a fortune, or he can cultivate his way like Mr. Xue did, but he still wants to come. It's really full to take care of those Qianshou's nosy affairs."

"This kind of person will only gain power for a while, and it will definitely not last long."

"I don't know what kind of knowledge this guy is learning. If he doesn't understand anything, he will do bad things. If he doesn't listen to advice like this, he is really stupid!"

Mr. Chen and Mr. Su are also in this team of small officials.

Hearing what they said, the two sneered at the same time, and then said one after another: "Wait, wait until those unruly people become more and more lawless, and they will only steal and play tricks all day long. When the construction period comes, the project of the Promise Palace will not be completed on time. Your Majesty Blame it, there will be times when he is unlucky."

"At that time, everything will be back to normal. I have to buy the Longquan Lingshi from the Duke of Yan's mansion. How to deal with those unruly people? Let him be arrogant for half a month, and let those ignorant leaders be happy for a while. ?”

At this time, not only them, but also the other petty officials had the idea that they were not bad.

After they came to the place under the jurisdiction, they didn't bother to care about the people who benefited from the new regulations. Since they are not allowed to beat and scold the workers, they don't care about it. Anyway, this stupid order was issued by Lu Shilang himself. I act according to the rules, even if something goes wrong, I can't blame them.

Although I can't vent my depression of losing yesterday's gambling, there's nothing wrong with being idle.

However, just as they were thinking this way, while leisurely leaning on the recliner and shaking their heads, those laborers who had not been whipped and had enough food for the past two days worked extraordinarily hard at this time, sweating profusely.

The leisurely or busy time always passes quickly, and before you know it, the sun has already set.

According to the new regulations formulated by Lu Chen, the working time of the laborers should not exceed four and a half hours. Therefore, as soon as the three o'clock in the unitary hour came, several small officials would take out the gongs and drums they had prepared in advance.

Bang! !

A dull sound resounded throughout the construction site.

"Get off work!"

The loud voice of orders spread to the ears of all the workers.

Hearing this sound like the sounds of nature, all the workers stopped their movements immediately, then stood up at the same time, and looked at each other with obvious joy in their eyes.

The government really kept its word.

As soon as this point is reached, immediately strike the gong and start work.

The new regulations set by Mr. Lu are true!

Everyone gathered together with their acquaintances, put the tools in their hands in the designated positions according to the management system in the new regulations, and then went to the camp on the north side of the Promise Palace in groups.

That's where the kitchen is.

At this time, in front of the camp, several cooks who were in charge of distributing food placed two large wooden barrels half a person's height on both sides. The wooden barrels were covered with a lid, and white hot air was continuously emitted from them to the surroundings.

Then everyone picked up the cleaned pottery bowls from the side and walked up to the cook, and looked at the cook not far away with anxiety, with a hint of expectation in their humble eyes.

Master Lu said that from now on, he will feed them white flour steamed buns and thick porridge every day. A good official like Master Lu will definitely not lie to them, so this wooden barrel contains...

As if to confirm their guess, when the chef lifted the lid of the wooden barrel, he showed them the true face of the food inside.

I saw white flour steamed buns the size of a fist placed in the wooden barrel continuously emitting white steam on the left, which made everyone's eyes straight.

Although the food in the camp was pretty good in the past two days because of Lu Chen's words, and there were some steamed buns, but they were all afraid that it was just a temporary favor, so they didn't dare to finish it at all, and hid everything secretly. Anyway, it was such a cold day, It won't break if left alone.

I don’t know how many people die every year because of hard labor, especially in the cold winter and early spring. Set of life-saving means.

such as how to hide food;

How to save as much effort as possible under the eyes of the petty official;

How to be beaten without hurting the root;

how to endure hunger;

How to resist freezing...

If they didn't have the ability to save their lives, they would have froze to death, starved to death and exhausted, how could they have survived to this day?

As for the work the government asked them to do? Let's survive first.

Under this premise, you can do as much as you can, otherwise everyone will die, so who cares about you so much?

This is also the wisdom passed down from generation to generation by ordinary people like them.

But now, these white flour steamed buns are just as described in the new rules, and they are quietly placed in the wooden barrel in front of them, and the cook even took two and put them in the hands of the first person with an unhappy face. .

Master Lu promised them, and once again fulfilled.

And judging from this posture, it's not once or twice, but as long as he is working for him, even if it's just labor, he will treat all workers kindly...

As soon as I thought about it, the eye sockets of all the people became moist by coincidence.

At the same time, a certain concept in my heart began to gradually disintegrate.

…………

Since the fall of the Demon Empress, the voice of righteousness finally appeared in the court again.

After all, the Empress is a Mingjun, and as a Mingjun, naturally she will not block the way of speech.

And as long as Mingjun is in power, there will be a place for speech officials above the temple.

So, on the third morning, Lu Chen was impeached again.

"Your Majesty, I have impeached Lu Chen, the right servant of the Ministry of Industry, for wanton actions that delayed the fortification of the Promise Palace."

The one who stood up to impeach Lu Chen, the only favorite in the dynasty, was the old censor who had impeached Lu Chen before.

An old acquaintance.

Seeing this censor surnamed Zhou, who has always been right about things and wrong about people, who has the demeanor of Lu Chen when he was in the engineering department, the empress couldn't help but feel a little headache.

If it was aimed maliciously at Lu Chen, she would naturally ignore it, and even if it annoyed her, the backhand would be a dismissal and investigation.

But this week, she knew that the censor was truly dedicated to serving the public. Moreover, his impeachment was never based on catching rumors and using his power to act recklessly.

He didn't just impeach Lu Chen, he also impeached Qian Yiqian, the minister of the Ministry of Punishment, for making random judgments. His position was not good, and he impeached Dali Temple Minister Zhao Bingliang for his bad conduct. Now these two are still trying their best to defend themselves.

Although he was rigid in doing things, he was a good official as a censor.

If she is unhappy with such a person, she can naturally send him back to his hometown to retire with a paperwork, but don't forget that Lu Chen is also a direct minister and a true gentleman. Not only will her doing so not make Lu Chen happy, but it will arouse Lu Chen was disgusted.

And this... is really detrimental to Sheng Ming...

So she could only rub her temples while letting him go on in detail.

When Zhou Yushi told about Lu Chen's "good deeds" in Wuji Palace and expressed his views, everyone's expressions were a little weird.

Because it is a small court meeting, only officials of the fourth rank and above, officials from all walks of life, and officials from the six departments are eligible to participate. Duke Yan and other dignitaries are not required to go to the court if they are not necessary or have not been summoned, so they They are not in the Tai Chi Hall now.

With the absence of a part of the parties, the voice will naturally be much lower.

And although Lu Chen is the right servant of the Ministry of Industry, the things he does are actually not considered arrogance, and they are all within his scope of authority. He does have the right to formulate the relevant systems of the project and the expenditure of money and food, and has the right to decide which company to buy. materials.

But... isn't he afraid of offending Yan Guogong and other honorable groups to death if he does this?

Yes, now that the female emperor is in charge of the court, the military and political power is in full swing, and with Gu Simiao, a peerless general who once fought in the Holy Land of Alien Sacrifice, it is difficult for those nobles to shake the sky, but they still have some power.

Most importantly, is there any benefit in offending them?

Besides, it is true that Lu Chen has the style of treating the working people well, but even so, we have to look at the timing, right?

Doing this when the New Year Ceremony is about to start, do you want to go to heaven?

Aren't you afraid that the empress will be dissatisfied?