Dark Sand: My Players Are All Actors-Chapter 488 - 263: One Person Does It All! (8000 words)_4

After this incident spread, the ministers of the Great Sheng Dynasty were inevitably thrown into a bout of panic.

Could the Emperor really manage all these state affairs by himself?

It was indeed impossible for one person to review several hundred petitions, but what if he had the help of these Imperial College students?

However, they panicked at first, but after carefully calculating the number of petitions, they were reassured.

There were more than a hundred petitions each day, and the issues addressed in them totaled over three hundred!

With each petition being about a thousand words, there would be a total of over a hundred thousand words daily.

Even if the Emperor had the Imperial College students pre-select and summarize the petitions for a concise report, and he then dictated his response for the students to transcribe, it was still a daunting amount of work.

After deliberation, the officials concluded that the Emperor might be able to persist for two or three days, but it certainly couldn’t last!

That’s because dealing with these petitions wasn’t as simple as just writing "Noted."

Which were important and which were not—the Emperor had to make clear distinctions, or else he risked being sidelined.

If the ministers discovered that the Emperor couldn’t distinguish between the important and unimportant issues, they would start having devious thoughts.

Even if the Emperor could endure for one or two days, what about a month? A year? Ten years?

Would you, as the Emperor, never rest for even a single day?

In short, the officials felt that the Emperor absolutely could not continue, even if he managed for ten days or half a month, the efficiency of subsequent processing would plummet, both physically and mentally unable to keep up. ƒreewebɳovel.com

If he persisted, the victory would still belong to the ministers.

However, Wang Shiyong, the Minister of Personnel, felt increasingly uneasy.

Because from the petitions reviewed by the Emperor, it was apparent that the young sovereign was not confused by exhaustion but was exceedingly clear-headed!

All the subtle points in Wang Shiyong’s petitions were mercilessly exposed, and the Emperor ordered him to follow instructions without resorting to any tricks. Moreover, each reply was concise, to the point, and even smoother than when there were chief ministers handling things.

Wang Shiyong became even more frightened.

He vaguely sensed the danger therein.

If, for the Emperor, including the chief ministers, none of the ministers was irreplaceable...

What could he possibly do then?

...

Beside Chuigong Hall was Wende Hall.

This place was originally where the Emperor would rest and pause before and after the court sessions, but it was now bustling with activity.

Several Imperial College students were arranged here on couches, sifting through the mountainous stacks of petitions.

After they finished reviewing a batch and thoroughly understood the issues within, they would take turns reporting concisely to Fan Cun.

Following Emperor Taizu of Sheng’s suggestion, Fan Cun would give verbal responses that the students were then to transcribe in red onto the petitions.

In the beginning, Fan Cun and Emperor Taizu would certainly have to check the petitions marked in red to see if they accurately expressed his words. Whether there were distortions or alterations made due to ability or motive.

The first time a discrepancy was discovered, it was just a warning, but the second time would lead to punishment, and if found a third time, a replacement was due.

After about two days of adjustment, these Imperial College students had generally adapted to the whole process and steadied themselves.

This was normal because these Imperial College students were, after all, a group of very talented individuals. Even if they didn’t understand the administration, merely conveying and marking petitions was within their capabilities.

In fact, the work they were doing now was much like that of the Great Sheng Dynasty’s eunuchs who assisted the Emperor in his workload.

Although Emperor Taizu was known for his diligence—a model of hard work—many petitions were verbose and failed to get to the point, and if he had to read all by himself, a lot of time would be wasted.

Thus, it was better to have these Imperial College students help.

If used correctly, the efficiency of handling state affairs could be greatly increased.

Of course, Emperor Taizu couldn’t trust these individuals completely; he would randomly select some petitions for spot checks every day, and also explained to them the system of accountability. If any Imperial College student did not faithfully report the meaning of the petitions or red-mark them according to the Emperor’s wishes, they would be charged, with execution as the most severe punishment.

With the combination of grace and severity, these Imperial College students performed very well.

If we were to make a modern analogy, it was like selecting some of the brightest students from top domestic universities to work temporarily in government departments.

Although these Imperial College students were always eager to get involved in state affairs, the Emperor had never truly given them this opportunity.

But now, not only could they enter the Imperial Palace to review petitions for the Emperor, but they could also communicate face-to-face with him.

How great a favor was this?

In the past, it was unthinkable.

Therefore, these Imperial College students were all very active, almost as dedicated as Emperor Taizu himself, almost forsaking sleep and food to get these petitions reviewed.

During this process, Emperor Taizu also observed the performance of these Imperial College students.

Those who were capable of doing real work and performing well in handling state affairs were noted.

And when the time came that officials disobeyed? Easy, just replace them, and put these Imperial College students in their place.

Through these maneuvers, Fan Cun firmly grasped the reins of government power through Emperor Taizu, the official cheat code.

Follow current novℯls on f(r)eewebnov𝒆l