Dark Sand: My Players Are All Actors-Chapter 485 - 263: One Man Did It All! (8000 words)

Zhang Jingbang returned to his own mansion still feeling dizzy.

"I am a current high-ranking official, am I not?"

"Just because of the emperor’s words... I’m dismissed?"

Zhang Jingbang found it difficult to come to terms with such a fact.

Because... it seemed rather too frivolous!

After all, although there were precedents for dismissing high-ranking officials in the Qi Dynasty, there was usually a specific process involved.

First came the rumors, which allowed people to sense that the emperor’s intentions had changed and that he was considering replacing his high-ranking officials; then, the Imperial Censors and other officials would take action upon hearing the news, starting to attack and impeach; next, there was a great uproar in the court, with various powers taking their stand, and the emperor favoring one side to gradually establish a favorable atmosphere for the dismissal; and only then would they find an appropriate reason to dismiss the official.

Moreover, a dismissal did not often mean direct removal from office since those who were high-ranking officials were key members of the court, and unless the emperor hated them to the bone and wished to get rid of them swiftly, they were usually demoted or reassigned to local government, away from the power center.

In any case, this set of unwritten rules was basically how the Qi Dynasty bureaucratic system worked, with very few deviations from this procedure.

This is why scholars and officials attacked each other but always kept some restraint, not driving each other to absolute ruin. After all, a time of influence is always followed by a fall from grace; one must think about the days of downfall.

However, the current royal family seemed not to care about these conventions at all!

Were there any hints beforehand? No, Zhang Jingbang did not at all anticipate that the emperor planned to dispose of him.

Were there Imperial Censors and officials who had caught the wind and started to impeach him? Also no, his relationship with the courtiers was quite good.

Was there a dispute in the court? No, the emperor simply decreed the dismissal directly, not even giving the ministers time to react!

Since none of these three steps occurred and they directly jumped to the last one, it was no wonder Zhang Jingbang felt as if he were living in a dream and still found it hard to accept the reality.

At this moment, in his mansion, seven or eight ministers, including the Minister of Personnel Wang Shiyong, gathered together.

Wang Shiyong said with a troubled face, "Prime Minister Zhang, what should we do?"

Zhang Jingbang felt a headache coming on: "Don’t call me Prime Minister, I am no longer a high-ranking official..." freewebnσvel.cøm

These ministers had come to find Zhang Jingbang obviously because they too were stunned by the combination of moves the emperor used in the Golden Throne Hall that day.

On one hand, as bureaucrats within the system, they were closely allied with Zhang Jingbang, and such a major event required their consolation; but more importantly, they were both panicked and unwilling to accept the emperor’s decision to abolish the system of hereditary privileges, and so they wanted to discuss strategies.

Although Zhang Jingbang was no longer a high-ranking official, his reputation still mattered.

Like Cai Yuanzhang or the influential courtier Tong Daofu of Emperor Qihui’s reign, even after retiring for a while, they still had many officials come to see them and continued to have a great influence on state affairs.

Their past students and subordinates were everywhere, having formed an intricate network of relationships, and those within the web had power whether they were in office or not.

Zhang Jingbang’s influence, of course, could not compare to that of Cai Yuanzhang or Tong Daofu, but after all, he was a general plucked from the dwarfs, the last one to have served as a high-ranking official.

"Prime Minister Zhang... you’ve experienced so much, can you tell us what the emperor meant by his last words in the court today?" an official asked, trembling with trepidation.

Today in court, the emperor’s final words were, "Who told you that there must be high-ranking officials in the court?"

This sentence left all the ministers in the capital bewildered.

What did he mean? No high-ranking officials?

To whom do we submit the Six Ministries’ documents in the future? Who will do the things that used to be the responsibilities of high-ranking officials?

Was this not treating the administration of government as child’s play?

Zhang Jingbang looked at him blankly, the meaning was clear.

You’re asking me, whom should I ask?

How the hell would I know?

But after all, Zhang Jingbang was worldly; he pondered a moment before asking, "After the emperor adjourned the court, did he say anything else? Was there any special action?"

An official thought about it: "The emperor seemed to say that all the petitions from the Central Secretariat and the Privy Council should be sent to his palace..."

As soon as these words came out, everyone gasped in shock.

They weren’t fools; they understood very well what this meant.

With the emperor’s actions, was he planning to do everything himself?

Under normal circumstances, it was the high-ranking officials who handled various government affairs; although the emperor could also inquire, he generally did not personally intervene.

But now, with no high-ranking officials left, those petitions that were supposed to be reviewed by them were all sent to the palace; wasn’t the signal clear?

The emperor wanted to roll up his sleeves and take matters into his own hands!

Therefore, it was likely that there would no longer be any need for high-ranking officials in the future.

An official who caught on turned pale and said, "Prime Minister Zhang, how could the emperor do this? You must come up with a solution!"

Zhang Jingbang replied somewhat irritably, "What solution could I possibly have?"

The other officials chimed in, "Even if there’s no solution, you need to find one! Prime Minister Zhang, if the emperor’s intentions become reality, will there even be a place for us in the vast capital?"

The other officials were also very anxious, for this was by no means just an issue for Zhang Jingbang alone.

On the surface, as a high-ranking official directly deposed, Zhang Jingbang suffered the greatest loss. But the other officials also faced invisible losses.

The source of this c𝐨ntent is fre𝒆w(e)bn(o)vel