The meeting went on until noon, and Vitus was so thirsty that he asked Eunuch to bring some food to replenish his strength.
After the meal, Vitus walked around outside the hall to pass the time. It was not until everyone had finished reading the complicated book Administrative Plan that he returned to the main hall to continue the meeting.
At this moment, Thomas was chatting with Constantine, mentioning the difference between the Moesia war and the Eastern War. The civil servants were whispering to each other and discussing some details of the planning document.
Pelato stood in the hall with an expressionless face, as if nothing happened. Romanus had no one to talk to, so he could only hold the planning book and immerse himself in thinking.
Vitus walked to the seat in the middle. After taking his seat, the discussion in the hall instantly subsided. Seeing this, he waved his hand nonchalantly, "You continue the discussion, and you can ask me questions after you think about it clearly."
According to each person's position, the civil servants had different focuses of attention. Vitus patiently explained to them, and unknowingly stayed up until the evening.
For more than ten days, the meeting continued.
After each meeting, there were always some civil servants who tried to meet with the emperor privately, or to submit memorials reporting on certain topics that were not convenient to discuss in public.
After lengthy discussions and weighing, Vitus accepted certain suggestions and obtained a revised planning document.
As of February 5, through meetings and private interviews, he realized that 60% of the civil servants approved of the new plan, while 20% were perfunctory, and that overall the conditions for implementation were met.
Now that the matter has come to this, Vitus is unwilling to continue to delay, and officially announced the reorganization of the Eastern Roman Empire's administrative Central Administration, abolishing some outdated laws and institutions. From now on, Imperial Council will be disbanded, and will be replaced by Chrysaphi (formerly Administrative Minister), Balram (formerly Chief Archivist), and Savard are in charge of Cabinet. The former becomes Prime Minister, and the latter two serve as Deputy Prime Minister, and are jointly responsible for the decision-making of Cabinet.
Carlo·Santis was transferred from Cabinet to serve as Finance Minister.
Cabinet's discussion process remains unchanged. When Chancellor are handling the memorial, Inner Palace Directorate's Eunuch is responsible for observing. When the discussion is over, Inner Palace Directorate submits the memorial to the emperor.
At the same time, the original ministries were reorganized and divided into nine main departments: administration, Finance, Justice, Foreign Affairs, Army, navy, Education and Medicine, Trade, Agriculture and Animal Husbandry, and some other sub-departments.
Vitus introduced the minister candidates and scope of responsibilities of each ministry, and then added, "That's it. Do you have any other questions?"
At this time, the original Finance Minister Ektor looked gloomy and asked in a hoarse voice, "Your Majesty, where should I go?"
"Outer Tauris Governor is transferred to Don Frontier. His position is vacant. You can take over this position."
To a certain extent, Outer Tauris is a wilderness.
In recent years, Don River and Circassia have been building towns, and Outer Tauris is positioned as Ranch. Governor has very few affairs. The land under its jurisdiction has been divided into multiple areas and leased to nomadic tribes or Agricultural Company for sheep herding.
Ektor Being transferred to this position is equivalent to being exiled. Judging from the emperor's tone, he probably will never come back in this life.
The reason for his exile was not the number of his mistresses. Vitus didn't care about his subordinates' private lives.
The real reason why Ektor was transferred was that he had the most intense conflict with Cabinet and caused the most trouble some time ago, which was beyond Vitus's tolerance. Vitus turned his attention to other people and thought to himself:
"Some departments have less adjustments, such as administration, Finance, Justice, and will be able to operate normally soon. Some departments are established from scratch and require a long time to run in. It is expected that the work in the first half of the year will be very busy."
At four o'clock in the afternoon, the meeting ended. Ilya followed the other civil servants out of South Gate, looked at the many courtyards on both sides of the main road, and slowly exhaled a breath of white mist.
"I have finally waited for this day."
According to the emperor's wishes, he was transferred from Circassian Borderland Region and from now on served as Minister of Agriculture and Animal Husbandry at Central Administration, no longer having to work hard in the wilderness.
Considering the mood of some colleagues, Ilya suppressed his inner joy and kept scanning the courtyards on both sides of the road, looking for his office location.
Gradually, the civil servants dispersed one after another, leaving only Ilya standing in the middle of the road, staring blankly at the many courtyards on both sides.
At this time, a young Eunuch ran out of the palace gate and took the newly appointed Ilya to the office.
"Sir, you will work here from now on."
"Are you mistaken?" Ilya looked at this small courtyard not far from the canteen, and suspected that Eunuch was deliberately making things difficult for him.
After entering the door, some idle building materials were piled in the courtyard in front of him, and the surrounding houses were empty. Ilya took a closer look and saw that some windows had not had time to install glass. Tables and chairs were placed randomly in the room. There were no carpets on the floor and no candlesticks on the walls on both sides. It looked particularly deserted. "Can I change to another courtyard?"
Eunuch replied clearly, "This is the only courtyard left. In fact, your situation is not bad. Some departments cannot find office space and can only stay in the old office area in the palace temporarily. When the new courtyard is built, they will move out and work independently."
Ilya picked up the chairs scattered around and stared at the empty rooms, "Where are my subordinates?"
Eunuch: "Someone went over to notify them, about thirty or forty people. For a long time, there have been very few Agriculture and Animal Husbandry Officialss from Central Administration. I don't know why the emperor deliberately set up a large department."
Ilya recalled the contents of the planning document and found that his responsibilities were probably to collect and organize Agriculture and Animal Husbandry's information and promote advanced technology and excellent breeding stock.
Suddenly, there was a noise outside the courtyard gate, and a group of civil servants filed in carrying documents, interrupting Ilya's thoughts.
Ilya showed his identity, ordered them to pile up the materials in the hall, then asked his subordinates one by one for their names and positions, and assigned them office space.
After working for more than an hour, Ilya finished the work.
The sky outside had darkened. He followed the crowd and left Central Administration, looking for a carriage parked nearby.
Blachernae Palace is in the northwest corner of the city, and his home is in Emilian District in the south of the city. The two places are almost the entire city apart. If you walk, you need to walk for two hours in the cold night.
During this time, Ilya paid for a carriage to carry him back and forth between his family and Blachernae Palace every morning and evening, eliminating the hardship of traveling on the road. Soon, he found the hired carriage. There was a dim oil lamp hanging in the front of the carriage, and a rough black horse was painted on the side, which was easy to identify.
"Take me home."
Ilya got into the carriage and heard the coachman crack his whip. The carriage accelerated slowly and headed south along the wide street. He stared at the gradually dimming scenery outside the window. For some reason, he suddenly missed Kuban Town's life.