Chapter 358: How did Wu Yong get here with so much official business?
As the innermost public room opened, the clerk went in first and pushed open the window to let in the light from outside.

Qin Desheng was about to go inside, but when he stood at the door of the public housing and looked inside, he was stunned.

“Sir, why don’t you come in?”

“Where is the place to stay?”

In front of the official documents room, there were nine baskets filled with various memorials of various sizes.

There were three or four piles of memorials on the table, and the table was almost as tall as a person.

Even though it was the prime minister’s official residence, it was in the palace after all, and the office conditions were extremely poor. This official residence was only about 15 feet long from front to back, and was square like a cage.

It’s hard to imagine that this is where Wu Yong usually works!

Qin Desheng said dissatisfiedly: “Clear all these debris, what a mess it will be.”

The clerk was startled and tried to dissuade him, “Sir, this cannot be done! These are all memorials submitted from various places. They are sent to this public house because they are urgent matters that need to be dealt with. How can we clear them out?”

Qin Desheng was shocked and pointed at the nine baskets on the ground: “What are these?!”

The clerk nodded and said, “The nine baskets on the ground correspond to the nine provinces. The piles on the table are all reports submitted by officials from the capital to the emperor. You have to review them first and then decide which ones need to be presented to the emperor and which ones you can review on his behalf.”

“Don’t complain that it’s too much. These are the ones that the ministers in the ministry have reviewed in advance, sorted them according to importance, and removed the unimportant ones. It’s just that the leftovers were left after the Left Prime Minister was seriously ill these days, and no one dared to take charge before you came, so they are all piled up here.”

Qin Desheng was surprised and said, “But Prime Minister Wu was seriously ill and I took over the position of Prime Minister for only five days. How could there be so many piles?”

The clerk replied, “Five days… five days is about the same, that’s usually the amount.”

Qin Desheng couldn’t help but widen his eyes when he heard the answer.

He couldn’t help but look at the memorials in the ministry again, and was stunned for a moment.

Does it turn out that the daily duties of a prime minister are so heavy?
But if Wu Yong can handle it, there’s no reason why I can’t!

Qin Desheng encouraged himself, then put on a stern face, walked to the back of the desk and sat down: “Go and get the memorial that Prime Minister Wu handled a few days ago, so that I can see how Prime Minister Wu responded.”

……

During the court meetings a few days later, Zhao Qi’an noticed that the Prime Minister Qin Desheng, who had been full of vigor and vitality, suddenly lost his edge.

At every court meeting, he always looked sleepy, and the dark circles under his eyes became darker day by day.

Now he stood at the position of the head of all officials, which was the position where the left prime minister Wu Yong originally stood, and presided over the court meeting.

But Zhao Qi’an noticed several times that Qin Desheng stood there, his eyes slowly closed, and he actually fell asleep while standing!
After a while, he seemed to wake up only when someone next to him reminded him.

This kind of thing happened one after another, and immediately attracted a lot of criticism.

Privately, many officials compared Qin Desheng with Wu Yong. After the comparison, everyone was surprised to find that Prime Minister Wu, who was often criticized, was much more competent in comparison.

During this period, Zhao Qi’an also wanted to have a private gathering with Qin Desheng. After all, the election for the crown prince has not yet ended, and Qin Desheng should take over Wu Yong’s previous arrangements in Jingzhou.

But Zhao Qi’an couldn’t find Qin Desheng at all!

After each court meeting, Qin Desheng always left in a hurry.

Zhao Qi’an also sent people to the Qin Mansion to deliver invitations, but every time the people from the Qin Mansion replied that their master was still in the palace and had not returned yet.

It would be fine if it happened once or twice, but it has been like this for several days in a row, which makes Zhao Qi’an doubt whether Qin Desheng is really qualified to be the “acting prime minister”?

……

Qin Desheng had no words to say about Zhao Qi’an’s criticism.

In the past few days, apart from the daily court meetings, he spent most of his time in the Secretariat dealing with memorials. From morning until the palace curfew, he took a lot of documents home and continued to deal with them until late at night.

These days, he slept no more than two hours a day, and many times he was so sleepy that he fell asleep on the desk.

But despite all his hard work, the pile of official documents did not decrease, but instead grew higher and higher.

“How did Wu Yong get here before?”

Qin Desheng really couldn’t hold it in any longer. He wanted to curse but didn’t know who to curse.

But what finally overwhelmed him was a letter sent from the south.

……

On this day, in the Ministry of Central Secretariat.

Qin Desheng was facing the memorials spread out on the table. He was rubbing his eyebrows with his eyes closed, feeling a splitting headache.

Just at this moment, someone hurriedly came outside the public housing estate.

“Sir, the commander of Zhennan, Lin Hu, has a memorial to present. It was just delivered this morning.”

Mr. Lin?
Qin Desheng was immediately cheered up. It had been half a month since the eldest prince left the capital. He must have reunited with the army long ago. Now the letter from the south could it be the news of victory after the war with the Southern Buddhist Kingdom?
This is a good thing.

He quickly stood up, stretched out his hand and beckoned, “Quick, bring it here for me to see.”

The subordinate quickly walked into the room and presented the memorial.

Qin Desheng couldn’t wait to open the memorial and read it. The memorial mentioned that the army had been assembled and military supplies and food had been escorted to the border. Everything seemed to be stable and improving. Old man Lin Hu had also issued a military order, and it was imperative to wipe out the Southern Buddhist Kingdom this time.

But when Qin Desheng saw the last few sentences, he was stunned:
“It has been half a month since the birthday banquet, why hasn’t the eldest prince returned yet? I hope the eldest prince can return to the southern border as soon as possible. Military opportunities cannot be lost!”

The eldest prince…hasn’t returned to join the border troops yet?
Qin Desheng couldn’t help but feel confused.

Although the southern border is far away, the eldest prince can travel light and will definitely arrive within ten days.

Now that even Mr. Lin Hu’s letter has been delivered to Kyoto City, how is it possible that the eldest prince will still come to the southern border?
“Maybe something happened on the way and he was delayed.”

He was thinking with some uncertainty in his mind, but now it seemed that this was the only explanation.

Qin Desheng thought that it would not take a few days, so he simply kept the memorial and put it aside.

But he didn’t know that his postponement had planted a huge hidden danger!
……

Liangzhou border, Longhu Pass.

A petite figure was running through the mountains and forests, looking behind her in fear from time to time.

This was a foreigner. Although his face was covered with a veil, his red hair and green eyes still revealed this.

This person was none other than Chi Zhailuo who had followed Ji Wuchang back to the southern border army!

Chi Zhailuo ran very far before looking behind him.

I saw a giant golden hand pressing down on the mountain not far behind me.

Her eyes quickly filled with tears. She bit her lips hard to prevent herself from making any sound, but sobbing sounds were still coming from her throat.

The next moment, she wiped her tears and went into the dense forest without looking back.

(End of this chapter)