Some days, when he was busy, Xiao Ruxun had to deal with more than 200 memorials. Even when it was the least, there were still 120 to 130 state affairs to deal with.
When he encountered a difficult problem where the ministers had different opinions, he had to make a decision himself. He even had to squeeze out the time to eat.
At this time, he truly felt how tiring it was to be an emperor with absolute power.
He also truly felt what kind of mood Zhu Yuanzhang was in when he wrote that limerick.
Before the ministers rise, I rise first. After the ministers sleep, I don't sleep. I am not as rich as Jiangnan's old man.
When he was very tired from dealing with state affairs, he smiled bitterly and read this poem to Wang Xijue, Li Tingji, and Ye Xianggao, expressing his tiredness and desire to rest.
However, this was just a sigh. If anyone thought that Zhu Yuanzhang was too tired and felt that he needed to divide his power to others, then they were gravely mistaken.
Everyone knew that a man couldn't be powerless for a day, let alone an emperor.
In order to grasp this tiring power in his hands, Zhu Yuanzhang overturned countless competitors and launched eight northern expeditions to expel the Meng Yuan Empire from the Central Plains. Then he killed countless ministers, killing more than a million people.
In order to grasp this tiring power in his hands, Xiao Ruxun mobilized a class to overturn another class. He killed people like flies. In the future, he would continue to kill until he died.
They stood on a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood to grasp this hard-won power, and they must stand on a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood to obtain this power. Except for the emperor who stood on a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood, no other emperor could obtain this power.
Not to mention the emperor's love for power, even in modern times, many business tycoons woke up earlier than chickens and slept later than ghosts. They would never let go of their power.
For any elite, his rest time and entertainment time were always insufficient. It was the same in any era and any place.
Did those rich men in Jiangnan really not have enough time to sleep?
The higher the status, the more important the position, and the greater the power, the less time they had, or even almost none.
Except for retired people and abnormal people, even an ordinary person who went to work or went to school did not have the right to sleep in every day.
Not to mention the emperor of this era.
Therefore, the Emperor could roast and joke, but if the officials believed it, they would be courting death.
Many of the ministers had been working with Xiao Ruxun for more than a year, so they knew Xiao Ruxun's character very well.
The Iron Blood Emperor was nothing more than this.
Problems could be discussed, but after a decision was made, whoever dared to question it or go against the Emperor would have to think about whether they still wanted to keep their heads.
This was just the Emperor's self-ridicule. To put it in a more modern and vulgar way, this was called posturing.
However, this was not just a simple act of showing off. Generally speaking, pretentiousness referred to those who did not have the ability to boast for the sake of their reputation. However, the Emperor's pretentiousness was the product of his extreme complacency and his inflated vanity.
This was a real show of pride, not a complaint.
This was a sigh of relief after extreme pleasure, not incessantly complaining.
These were words that could only be said by an emperor who had enjoyed the bliss of bliss.
In other words, the Emperor was enjoying it.
Zhu Yuanzhang wrote this doggerel in a state of extreme comfort.
For the same reason, it was the same for Xiao Ruxun.
He was very tired, this was true, very tired, very tired, and wanted to rest. However, at the same time, he was very happy, so happy that he could fly, so happy that he could not be any more happy. Any happy things in the world added together could not be compared to the happiness he was feeling right now.
Everything had to be approved by him, and all the affairs of the country had to be decided by him alone. No one dared to do anything without his approval. The whole world would tremble when he stamped his feet, and the whole court would worry when he sneezed.
A casual look from him could make a person feel uneasy for a whole day, and even make them paranoid to the point of schizophrenia.
Just a casual sentence from him could make countless people guess the meaning behind it, and it made them deeply worried.
A casual imperial edict could make all the civil and military officials predict the future direction of the court, and make them move here and there like their own puppets.
A casual point from him could make countless loyal dogs charge forward, following his orders, to fight, to snatch, to die.
Holding the real power of life and death, holding everyone's lifeline, playing with everything in the world, this feeling was really …
The joy of extreme happiness.
The joy of grasping power, he could clearly feel it now, right now, and in this very moment.
And he was almost addicted to it.
He clearly understood why people could give up everything for power.
If he did not understand the direction of history better, and clearly understood that all this was just a castle in the air, he would be completely addicted to it, and become the second Zhu Yuanzhang, governing the Daqin into a strengthened version of Daming. After two or three hundred years, it would usher in a revolution, or two, and then it would collapse.
Because it was really too happy.
Too happy.
Therefore, the wise ministers knew it clearly. If they did not know it, they could almost predict Xiao Ruxun's behavior pattern by reading the Volume of the Founding of the Ming Dynasty.
Xiao Ruxun complained a little, but they did not dare to take it seriously. If they said that His Majesty was so tired, why not let them share some of the burden for His Majesty? If they were really worried about His Majesty's health, they could wait for their heads to roll.
Accompanying the emperor was like accompanying a tiger, and the emperor's heart was like a needle at the bottom of the sea. Especially for an excellent emperor, his mind was not comparable to that of an ordinary woman.
The current emperor's mind was even more so.
They were often tested by Emperor Xiao, intentionally or unintentionally. Every time they dealt with it, they had to be careful, for fear that if they said something wrong, the emperor would be dissatisfied and directly dismiss them.
Now, it was even easier for the emperor to kill someone than Zhu Yuanzhang.
Therefore, they often comforted Xiao Ruxun with the story of Emperor Taizong lamenting that he had become thin.
His Majesty was indeed tired, but His Majesty was so diligent that the people must be relaxed.
They were really smart, and Daqin needed such smart people.
Xiao Ruxun laughed and asked them to go back to work. They were not allowed to be lazy. He would take care of their meals, but whoever was lazy would not have food.
After the Palace of Heavenly Purity became the emperor's office, the ministers and the emperor worked in the same office. When they encountered problems, they directly discussed with each other to deal with them. Xiao Ruxun could also closely supervise the work of them and the cabinet staff.
At the same time, it was convenient to make a more complete estimate of some people's abilities and potentials, and then directly see who had stronger abilities and potentials could take over the work of important positions in the future, or even eventually enter the cabinet.
Now there was no such rule of Hanlin entering the cabinet in Daqin. At present, Hanlin Academy was just a miscellaneous government office for writing books and history. Under the arrangement of Xiao Ruxun, a large number of idle old scholars were gathered and began to write the History of the Ming Dynasty.
Before and after the establishment of Daqin, the Hanlin Academy was either killed or demoted. Those who were talented and could stand with Xiao Ruxun were basically sent to work in various major departments. Only some old scholars were left in Hanlin Academy.
There was no reason to kill them, and he did not want to be bothered by them. He did not want to be criticized for driving them away, so he simply let them do some chores.
After that, the cabinet officials must be selected from the underground departments. Anyone had the possibility to enter the cabinet, and any official had the possibility to eventually become a minister of the empire or even the prime minister of the empire. The rule that only Hanlin could enter the cabinet was completely abolished by Xiao Ruxun.
At present, the young officials who entered the cabinet would be sent to places in the future, even remote places. According to their respective political achievements, they would gradually be transferred back to the central government in the future to preside over all the operations of the empire. The cycle repeated, generation after generation.
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