"A Yu is right. Fang Jun has always worked hard for the Imperial Court. I have always known that. I will make sure to keep an eye on the child he picked up."
If he was not disloyal, he would give him an opportunity. If he was, he would ensure the safety of the Fang family.
Under the moonlight, Shen Yu hooked his finger with Shang Junlin's. He knew that Shang Junlin had sent someone to ask the boy later, but unfortunately, the information he got was limited. After Fang Jun returned, the boy was brought to his side and taught. It was as if he was a junior in his family.
How Fang Jun arranged the boy was his private matter. Even the Emperor could not intervene. Shang Junlin did not like to ask about the affairs of his officials. If the boy had not said that he had seen someone who looked like Shen Yu, he would not have paid him any more attention.
The wind at night was very cold. Shen Yu and Shang Junlin walked around and returned to the palace.
After bathing, Shen Yu leaned on the soft couch. A palace maid took a hand warmer to dry his hair.
Shang Junlin sat on the other side and read the memorials. Dahuan was flourishing and there were many things that the Emperor, Shang Junlin, had to read every day. Even with the help of the Prime Minister, Fang Jun, and other officials, there were still endless memorials to read every day.
After his hair was almost dry, Shen Yu waved the palace maid away. He got up and walked to Shang Junlin's side: "Your Majesty is still busy?"
He lowered his head. His hair slid down his shoulders and fell on the table and the memorials.
Shang Junlin stopped writing: "There are still a few more."
"Didn't you finish reading the memorials during the day?" Shen Yu ran his fingers through his hair and moved it away from the memorials.
"The cabinet sent them in at night."
Shen Yu looked at the memorials. There was nothing important written on them. They could be handled by the cabinet ministers themselves.
Shen Yu flipped open the other memorials. Without exception, they were all the same.
"Your Majesty can just let the Prime Minister and the others approve these memorials. There's no need to go through them personally."
Shen Yu had noticed before that Shang Junlin was very meticulous with Da Heng's matters. He would personally handle each and every matter. Previously, because the aristocratic families were in power, Shang Junlin did not trust them. Now that the aristocratic families had been suppressed, the people who were promoted were all his own people. He could completely hand over the unimportant matters to them.
"We are used to it." Shang Junlin closed the memorial. Thinking about it, it made sense. Now that the imperial court was under his control, he did not need to personally attend to everything like before. In fact, the Prime Minister and Fang Jun were fully capable of reviewing these memorials.
"If Your Majesty is still worried, it's fine to have them review it after they're done. There's no need to review it personally."
When Shen Yu worked for the King of Yue in his previous life, the King of Yue didn't ask about many things. Shen Yu was sure that the King of Yue didn't know as much as he did about many things.
"A Yu's words are correct."
Shang Junlin placed the brush on the brush holder and reached out to hold Shen Yu in his arms. He instructed Eunuch Meng: "Tomorrow, send these memorials back to the Cabinet and let them review them before sending them to the palace. This will be the case for future memorials."
"Yes." Eunuch Meng brought a young eunuch forward and put away the memorials on the table.
Shen Yu remembered the contents of the memorial that he had casually glanced at and asked: "The aristocratic families want to borrow the power of the imperial court to restrict the printing of movable type?"
Shang Junlin: "They most likely know that we are involved in this matter. They sent the memorial to test our attitude."
Shen Yu: "What does Your Majesty plan to do?"
Shang Junlin: "This matter indeed requires the imperial court to step in. If the imperial court doesn't step in, how can we promote this method to every part of Da Heng in the shortest time possible? It's too slow to rely on the power of the people. "
Shen Yu: "The aristocratic families will not be happy to see this."
Shang Junlin: "We don't expect them to be happy with what we're doing."
The next morning, Shang Junlin brought up this matter at the morning court. As expected, he was met with strong opposition from the aristocratic families.
This step was completely out of the aristocratic families' expectations.
When they saw that the new printing method was only secretly circulating among the people, they thought that Shang Junlin wouldn't want to make a big deal out of it and directly confront the aristocratic families. Thus, they sent a memorial to test Shang Junlin's attitude. Who would have thought that the other party would directly throw a ball at them?
"Your Majesty, you can't."
Several aristocratic ministers stepped forward and knelt in front of the Emperor.
"Oh?" Shang Junlin supported his chin with one hand and looked down with interest, "Why not?"
Why not? Of course, it was because this matter was too unfavorable to the aristocratic families.
But this reason couldn't be brought out in the open.
The ministers looked at each other and were momentarily speechless.
"Since you can't give a reason, this matter …"
"Your Majesty, you can't!" An old minister from an aristocratic family interrupted Shang Junlin.
Shang Junlin looked over unhappily, "My dear minister, why don't you tell me the reason?"
His tone was very calm and could even be said to be warm, but none of the ministers present were foolish enough to think that his feelings were the same as what he was showing.
Being stared at by the man's emotionless gaze, the old minister's back was drenched in cold sweat. It was clearly an extremely calm gaze, but for some reason, it gave off a huge sense of oppression.
"This minister …" The old minister steeled his heart, "This minister thinks that this matter is extremely unfavorable to Dahuan …"
"From what we see, it's not unfavorable to Dahuan, it's unfavorable to all of you. We know very well what you're thinking and what you're doing. Don't think that we're letting this matter rest just because we're not pursuing it."
After he finished speaking, the court fell silent.
No one dared to really anger Shang Junlin. Countless examples had shown that if they opposed Shang Junlin, they would be the unlucky ones in the end.
Now, Shang Junlin had the hearts of the people, and the prestigious ministers in the court were also on his side. If the aristocratic families wanted to control him, they had to first consider themselves.
"His Majesty seems to be very angry today and punished several ministers." Mu Xi said as she tied up Shen Yu's hair.
"What is it for?"
"It seems that the aristocratic families don't want His Majesty to do something, but His Majesty is determined to do it."
Thinking of the conversation with Shang Junlin at night, Shen Yu roughly guessed what had happened in the court.
"His Majesty hasn't returned yet?"
Mu Xi shook her head, "Eunuch Meng sent someone over and said that His Majesty has a meeting with the ministers and asked Young Master not to wait. Does Young Master want to serve the meal?"
"Go ahead."
The meal in the small kitchen had already been prepared. It was only waiting for the master to order it to be served. Soon after Mu Xi went out, she brought the meal in with the palace maids.
When he was alone, Shen Yu was not very picky. Mu Xi had already noticed this. While serving Shen Yu, she said, "When Young Master eats alone, he is different from when His Majesty is present."
"How is it different?"
"When His Majesty is present, Young Master is more picky."
Mu Xi had been by Shen Yu's side for many years, so she knew some of Shen Yu's habits very well. When he was in Count North's residence, he was treated poorly. Although Shen Yu was picky about what he ate, he was not as picky as he was now. After entering the palace, under His Majesty's intentional indulgence, he was even more picky than before. He was not willing to let himself suffer at all.
If Mu Xi didn't mention it, Shen Yu wouldn't have noticed it. After it was mentioned, he thought about it carefully. It seemed that it was true. When he was with Shang Junlin, he would always unconsciously indulge himself more.
When he first entered the palace, he was not like this. At that time, all he knew about Shang Junlin was from others. He was afraid of the man who was called a tyrant in his previous life. He didn't know when the fear in his heart disappeared. Now, when he thought of Shang Junlin, he only felt full of trust.
It turned out that unconsciously, the defense line in his heart had been broken. He couldn't resist this feeling.
He originally thought that his feelings for Prince Yue in his previous life were love. Now that he thought about it, if it was really love, then this love was mixed with too many things. Instead of saying it was love, it was better to say that it was a shackle in the name of love that was imposed on his heart.
This so-called "love" drove him to do things for Prince Yue unconditionally without asking for anything in return. Why was he so sure in his previous life that he liked Prince Yue?
Shen Yu carefully thought about the events of his previous life, but he couldn't find any trace of it at all. It was as if he had naturally fallen into the huge net woven by Prince Yue's love. He lost all his judgment and was driven by him.
Shen Yu's head ached faintly. He closed his eyes and stopped thinking about the events of his previous life.
Now, he could basically confirm that there were many suspicious points in his previous life that he didn't discover.
After the morning court, Shang Junlin asked the Prime Minister, Fang Jun, and several ministers to discuss matters in the imperial study.
Regarding the movable type printing technology, the Minister of Revenue was the first to know about it, followed by the Minister of Works. Now, the Ministry of Works had mastered this new printing technology and put it into use. The results were good.
"I want to establish an Imperial College." Shang Junlin went straight to the point and said his thoughts.
"Like the Imperial College?"
"It's similar, but different. I want to establish an Imperial College that includes basic education."
To establish an Imperial College, many things were involved. Whether the commoners were willing to send their children to the Imperial College, where the Imperial College would be located, what kind of students would be recruited … There were countless problems that had to be solved.
"First, we will conduct a trial in the capital. The candidates for the teachers are usually county scholars. They don't need to have top-notch knowledge. The students just need to be literate and know some basic knowledge."
Hearing this, the ministers heaved a sigh of relief. If it was just basic education, it would be much simpler.
"You all can discuss this matter among yourselves. Within half a month, I want you all to come up with a basic plan."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
There were also aristocratic ministers present, such as Minister Duan. He knew what kind of impact this decision would have on the aristocratic families, but he couldn't raise any objections.
His Majesty the Emperor was no longer someone they could control.
After leaving the palace, the aristocratic ministers who had received the news came to find him.
"Lord, are we just going to let His Majesty do as he pleases?"
"What else can we do? His Majesty just warned the aristocratic families today. If we jump out to object before the concrete plan is out, what would His Majesty think?"
"If it's just basic education, the problem isn't that serious. I'm just afraid that this is just the beginning."
"It seems like His Majesty is determined to weaken the power of the aristocratic families. Are we just going to accept it?"
Minister Duan's eyes flashed. He thought of something and fell silent.
"Did the aristocratic families object to His Majesty's proposal?" Shen Yu was curious about the aristocratic families' reaction after hearing about this from Shang Junlin.
Even though it was just basic education, it might not be the case in the future. The aristocratic families shouldn't have no reaction at all.
"They naturally want to object, but I haven't touched their interests yet. They will just wait and see for now. When it's officially implemented, there will definitely be trouble."
Shen Yu stood up and sat beside Shang Junlin, "Since His Majesty has proposed it, he must have a solution. I won't worry about His Majesty."
"His Majesty, Imperial Physician Gu wishes to see you. He said that he has found the results of the experiment that His Majesty and Your Majesty asked him to do previously." Eunuch Meng walked in and reported.
Shen Yu's heart skipped a beat. Imperial Physician Gu was mainly responsible for two things. One was his illness, and the other was' Fei Meng '. The latter was something that he and Shang Junlin had instructed together.
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