Chapter 1245 Working Method!
Hearing Qiqige mention Ye Cheng's name, An Miaoyi couldn't help but snorted coldly:

"The dragon robe prepared by this ungrateful bastard is as shabby as he is. How can you wear something like that when you ascend the throne as the ruler of a country?"

Qiqige didn't say anything more after hearing this. She just accepted the order and said:

"Yes! I'll go inform Tailor Wang in a moment!"

An Miaoyi looked in the mirror for a while, then took off the phoenix crown on her head, handed it to Qiqige and instructed:
"The shape of this phoenix crown is pretty good, but the gems on it should be more varied!"

Qiqige looked down at the Phoenix Crown, hesitated for a moment and said:
"Madam, if you add more clothes, the weight of the Phoenix Coronet will increase, and you may feel a little heavy when you wear it!"

An Miaoyi shook her head and said:
"It's okay. I don't wear the Phoenix Coronet very often. I'll just have to stick with it when I wear it occasionally!"

"Yes!"

Looking at her beautiful face in the mirror, An Miaoyi said calmly:
"Did that bitch go to see the old lady again?"

Although An Miaoyi did not directly say who this "bitch" was, but having been with An Miaoyi for so long, Qiqige naturally understood what his wife was thinking and immediately said:
"She has indeed been getting close to the old lady recently, and the old lady seems to like her son very much!"

Hearing this, An Miaoyi's eyes flashed with a hint of coldness. After pondering for a moment, he continued to ask:
"What's going on with the Cui family recently?"

Qiqige thought for a moment and said:

"Two days ago, Cui Hang wanted to visit Zhu Xiaowen, but Zhu Xiaowen claimed to be ill and did not meet Cui Hang..."

An Miaoyi's expression became a little playful when she heard this. Before Cui Zibo fell ill, Zhu Xiaowen knew that no matter how good his relationship with Cui Shao was, it could not be better than that of biological father and son, so he did not have so many thoughts.

But this time after Cui Zibo fell ill, Zhu Xiaowen really believed that he had a chance to become Cui Shao's successor and inherit Cui Shao's political legacy. However, his surname is Zhu after all, not Cui, so the greater the hope, the greater the disappointment!
Although Zhu Xiaowen may not be able to accept this now, but with Cui Shao by An Miaoyi's side, Zhu Xiaowen will slowly figure it out!

The most urgent task on my side is to find out what Ye Cui is thinking!

When she thought of her mother-in-law, An Miaoyi couldn't help but frown. To be honest, she was still grateful to Ye Cui. After all, Ye Cui always stood on her side and helped her solve many problems. For example, the last conflict with Ye Mingsheng, if Ye Cui hadn't intervened, things might not have been resolved so well!

Unfortunately, Ye Cui was not a person who could be easily dealt with. An Miaoyi knew that Ye Cui was dissatisfied with her because of the incident at the temple last time, and thought that she was making excuses to fool her, so she deliberately used the incident of that bitch having a child to give her a warning and make her feel a sense of crisis so that she would work for her honestly!
To be honest, An Miaoyi didn't want Ye Cui to be dissatisfied with her. If it was something else, she would have done it for Ye Cui.

But the problem is that if she let Ye Cui do this, she wouldn't be able to get past Ye Mingsheng!
Ye Mingsheng had long been dissatisfied with those monks who were unproductive and only knew how to engage in metaphysics all day long. If it weren't for Ye Cui's sake, Ye Mingsheng would have reorganized them long ago!
It was precisely because she understood Ye Mingsheng's attitude that An Miaoyi was unwilling to do this for Ye Cuishi even though Ye Cuishi thought she was evading her.

Thinking of this, An Miaoyi couldn't help but sigh, although in the eyes of others, as Ye Mingsheng's legal wife and the future empress of the new dynasty, she was very glorious, but this was just like a person drinking the water, only he knew whether it was hot or cold, and sometimes she was also caught in the middle and suffered from this kind of pressure...
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The next day, the Yijing Criminal Department

Li Jian, the Minister of Justice, sat in the main seat, the Left Censor-in-Chief Xiao Lingyu sat on the left, and the Chief Justice Zhu Xiaowen sat on the right. The three of them had the same file in their hands. After taking a quick look at the file in their hands, Xiao Lingyu and Zhu Xiaowen looked solemn and did not speak.

Seeing that the two colleagues were silent, Li Jian felt helpless, but he still took the initiative to speak:
"Have you two read the draft of the working method? I wonder what you two think of it?"

Facing Li Jian's question, Xiao Lingyu and Zhu Xiaowen continued to look at their noses, their noses at their mouths, and their mouths at their hearts without saying a word. Although the two did not speak, Li Jian was actually very clear about their attitudes. He immediately took out a letter and said:
"Yesterday, the Marshal's urgent letter was delivered to the Ministry of Justice. The Marshal asked us how the preparation of the working law is going?"

"You two, one of you is the Left Censor-in-Chief of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, and the other is the Minister of the Supreme Court. You and I, the Minister of Justice, have the same responsibility in this matter. Others may be able to get away with it, but none of us three can escape it!"

As soon as these words came out, Xiao Lingyu and Zhu Xiaowen's expressions changed slightly. Although they were reluctant to admit it, they both knew in their hearts that Li Jian was absolutely right. When it came to the work method, the three of them were indeed the first to bear the brunt and could not shirk it...
And since there is no way to avoid it, all we have to do is face it bravely!

After realizing this, the older Xiao Lingyu took the initiative to break the silence and looked at Li Jian and asked:

"What do Master Cui and Master Gu think about this matter?"

Li Jian did not answer directly, but asked helplessly:

"What do you think Master Cui and Master Gu would think?"

Xiao Lingyu couldn't help but sigh when he heard this. Although their Marshal Ye was a man of great talent and strategy, his ideas were too unconventional. The tiered tax rate made everyone in the court break out in a cold sweat, but fortunately the Marshal listened to advice, and with the dissuasion of Cui Shao and others, there was no news about the tiered tax rate!

However, within a few days, the Marshal thought of the work method again!
This working method looks very good. It aims to protect the rights and interests of ordinary people, requires local provincial secretaries to formulate minimum wage standards based on local economic development, requires employers to guarantee at least four days of paid vacation a month, four and a half hours of work a day, overtime pay for rest time, employers are not allowed to delay wages, and are responsible for work-related injuries, etc.

However, once this working method is announced, it will inevitably have an impact on the current order of the Great Zhou, increase the burden on the employing party, and cause certain side effects on the current economic development of the Great Zhou!
The most critical point is that the provincial governors are currently building roads, canals, dams and other infrastructure, which use tens of thousands of workers. If this work method is implemented, should these workers be paid?
Is it illegal if I don’t post it?
If it is issued, where will the provincial governors in various places get the money to pay the workers... Secondly, all the officials in the court have property at home, and if this work method is once announced, it will inevitably increase the expenses of everyone and make them earn less money. Therefore, there is no doubt that most of the officials in the court do not want to see the work method announced!
However, although most people do not want to see the Work Law promulgated and implemented, many people in the Yijing court, including Cui Shao and Gu Sansi, did not dare to openly oppose the Work Law at this time. After all, everyone had already opposed the Marshal once on the issue of the tiered tax rate!

Although the Marshal listened to the advice and did not mention the issue of the tiered tax rate again, there is no guarantee that everyone's opposition attitude will not make him dissatisfied!
Therefore, if you oppose the Marshal again on the issue of the work law, it is very likely to cause thundering wrath!

You must know that when a common man is angry, blood will splatter three feet; when the emperor is angry, millions of corpses will be buried and blood will flow for thousands of miles. What's more, for a strongman like Ye Mingsheng who relied on force to seize power, no one in the court would doubt Ye Mingsheng's determination and will to carry out a major purge!

Because of this, even though everyone disagreed in their hearts, no one dared to jump out at this time and be the first to bear Ye Mingsheng’s anger...

At this time, Li Jian, Xiao Lingyu and Zhu Xiaowen were in a very difficult situation. Just as Li Jian said, people like Cui Shao and Gu Sansi could have kept silent and tried to get away with it without expressing their opinions, but these three people could not do that!
After all, the three positions of Minister of Justice, Left Censor-in-Chief, and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court are the persons in charge of the SF field of the Great Zhou Dynasty, and they are also the executors of Ye Mingsheng's orders!
Therefore, Li Jian, Xiao Lingyu, and Zhu Xiaowen had to make a difficult choice at this moment: to stand on the side of their colleagues and write to Ye Mingsheng to oppose the promulgation and implementation of the work law, or to stand on the side of Ye Mingsheng and promote the implementation of the work law!
Seeing that the atmosphere in the room was somewhat silent, Zhu Xiaowen, who had not spoken a word, looked at Li Jian and said in a deep voice:

"Minister Li, what do you think about this matter?"

After Zhu Xiaowen finished speaking, Xiao Lingyu couldn't help but look at Li Jian. The Left Censor-in-Chief of the Yijing court also wanted to know what choice Li Jian would make.

Under the gaze of Zhu Xiaowen and Xiao Lingyu, Li Jian said with a wry smile:

"I, Li Jian, am where I am today thanks to the Marshal's cultivation. I will do whatever the Marshal tells me to do!"

Seeing Li Jian saying one thing and thinking another, Zhu Xiaowen and Xiao Lingyu also understood Li Jian’s purpose of calling them over today...

It was obvious that Li Jian, like the other two, was unwilling to see the promulgation and implementation of the work law. However, Li Jian, the Minister of Justice, was far less courageous than Cui Shao, the Minister of Revenue. He did not dare to write directly to Ye Mingsheng to express his opposition, so he could only obey Ye Mingsheng's orders!

Li Jian knew that after making this choice, he would inevitably face pressure from his colleagues in the court, so he called the two of them today, thinking that the three of them would support the announcement of the work law together. In this way, Xiao Lingyu and Zhu Xiaowen could help him share some of the firepower!
After understanding Li Jian's idea, Xiao Lingyu hesitated for a moment, then said with determination:
"I am old and in poor health. I am losing my energy every day, so I plan to write to the Marshal and request to retire and return home!"

Li Jian and Zhu Xiaowen were shocked when these words were spoken. They had not expected that Xiao Lingyu would actually want to use retirement as a way to avoid making a choice!

If they remembered correctly, Xiao Lingyu was only 49 years old this year. Although he was considered an old man in this era, he was not considered very old in the court. He could continue to work for another five or six years before retiring!
The Left Censor-in-Chief is of the second rank, and Xiao Lingyu is a member of the cabinet. Wouldn't it be a pity if he retired like this?
Li Jian took a deep look at Xiao Lingyu and said in a deep voice:

"Master Xiao, please think twice!"

Upon hearing this, Zhu Xiaowen also advised:
“Sir Xiao, you don’t have to do this. There must be a better solution to the problem…”

Xiao Lingyu shook his head and said:
"Please don't misunderstand me. I am not retiring because of this matter. I am really not strong enough to perform the job of Left Censor-in-Chief, so I want to abdicate and return home!"

"I didn't make this decision hastily. I thought about this matter at the beginning of the year, but I never made up my mind. But my health has been getting worse recently, so I had to make this decision!"

"I will write a memorial to the Marshal tonight!"

Although Xiao Lingyu's excuse was plausible, Li Jian and Zhu Xiaowen obviously did not believe his lies. However, they were helpless about Xiao Lingyu's escape. Seeing that Xiao Lingyu had made up his mind, Li Jian looked at Zhu Xiaowen and asked:

"Master Zhu, you are the Minister of the Dali Temple. What do you think about this matter?"

Zhu Xiaowen was a little confused about this matter, not knowing which side to take. When he heard the news that Xiao Lingyu was going to retire, he was undoubtedly even more confused. After pondering for a few seconds, he could only prevaricate:

"Master Li, I just took a cursory look at the draft of your work law. This is a matter of great importance and I want to read it carefully. Please give me some time!"

Li Jian nodded and said:

"Master Zhu, this is as it should be!"

"But the Marshal is pressing for this matter, so please hurry up and read the draft as soon as possible and give your thoughts!"

Zhu Xiaowen nodded and said:
"Three days! Sir Li, give me three days. I will give you an explanation after three days!"

"Okay! Then Lord Zhu, let's make it a deal..."

(End of this chapter)