Chaoge.
Those who had entered court as officials over the past year or two were mostly mediocre incompetents. Zhang Da had screened out every capable candidate.
The veteran ministers had long been dissatisfied with these new officials. If they had drawn their generous salaries and done real work, that would have been fine. But taking the money while doing nothing, whiling away their days-what kind of nonsense was that?
Their dissatisfaction was useless, however. The veteran ministers had impeached the new officials countless times, and even impeached Zhang Da for his poor judgment of character, but Zi Shou had suppressed every last charge.
Because these new officials, represented by the Dark Phoenix Guard, really were just drifting through their days without contributing much.
But they did not have any major faults, either!
Apart from pocketing their salaries for nothing, there were no charges of criminal misconduct or insubordination to pin on them. If no fault could be found, how could they be punished?
It would have been easy enough before they entered court. Once they had become officials, throwing them out again was not so simple.
Throughout this period of repeated impeachments, Zhang Da had remained utterly bewildered. He had even begun doubting his own abilities. Why were all the people he personally selected such slackers?
Could His Majesty's Talent Recruitment policy be flawed? Had he deliberately included something misleading?
But soon, those doubts vanished.
Because the nobles arriving in Chaoge from all over the country brought everything the new officials needed.
To publicize their ancestors' achievements, the nobles racked their brains to write accounts of all manner of deeds. They even added plenty of details to make those accounts easier to understand.
Concrete and abacuses, for instance.
These were all "fresh" pieces of knowledge buried beneath history's dust, unknown