Chapter 1234: Carrying on the Past and Opening up the Future (One Hundred and Twenty-Four) Passing Away

He got off his horse and walked straight to Guo Quan's shed. Zheng Jun had come here more than once or twice. Last winter, he had invited Guo Quan to stay in Liaoxi City temporarily to avoid the wind and snow, but Guo Quan declined politely and insisted on staying on the construction site, staring at the last difficult hurdle. Zheng Jun felt inferior to such a diligent old minister. He could only try his best to meet Guo Quan's needs in terms of logistics. Most of the things in this shed were bought by Zheng Jun for Guo Quan. When he first set up camp here, Guo Quan's residence could be described as bare.

"Zheng County Magistrate!" Guo Quan's guards bowed in front of the shed.

"Where is Minister Guo?"

"To reply to your words, the Minister has not rested for several days for the final blast at this point, and is resting now. I will go in and report immediately." The guard replied.

Zheng Jun reached out to stop the guard who was about to enter the door, and said with a smile: "No need, we are old friends, I will go in by myself, let him rest for a while."

Pushing the door open, Zheng Jun stepped in lightly, the sunlight slanted in from the open door, just shining on Guo Quan who was dozing on the rattan chair with his head down. Looking at the face with ravines and ravines, Zheng Jun's heart suddenly surged with incomparable respect. If he was not here, and if he did not know Guo Quan's identity, with his appearance, walking on the street, anyone would think he was an old farmer who had worked hard all his life.

Looking around, there were stacks of files and models on the table. These things were Guo Quan's treasures, and he would take them wherever he went. He slowly walked to the table. Reaching out to pick up a model of a suspension bridge, Zheng Jun knew that this was the latest bridge-building technology that the team led by Guo Quan had just invented and explored. The first application of this latest technology was not in Cuiping Mountain. A suspension bridge connected the two mountaintops.

It has been ten years since the Han Dynasty began in Jishi City, and for Guo Quan, these ten years are equivalent to cities, roads, and bridges. He has deeply impressed his mark on the land of the Han Dynasty. Zheng Jun envied this old man. Because he knew that with the passage of time, people like him would eventually turn into a dusty soul with the passage of history, and eventually be buried in the vast files, and only people like him would be passed down from mouth to mouth and go down in history.

Gently putting down the suspension bridge model, Zheng Jun turned around. He walked to Guo Quan and carefully looked at the old man who was still sleeping. Slowly, Zheng Jun's face changed a little.

He slowly bent down and approached Guo Quan little by little. His face turned pale as he approached. He raised his hand stiffly and slowly stretched it towards Guo Quan's face.

His body trembled, and the whole person froze in an instant.

The next moment.

Zheng Jun screamed: "Come here, come here!"

Inside and outside the house. In an instant, there was chaos.

Zheng Jun sat woodenly on the chair, staring at the doctor who hurried over and tried his best to make the last effort. After a while, the doctor finally stopped in despair, turned to look at Zheng Jun, and his voice trembled a little, "Sir Zheng, Minister Guo is gone."

Zheng Jun closed his eyes and two lines of tears fell.

The Minister of Works, who had worked for the Han Dynasty for more than ten years and built countless cities, bridges, and roads, passed away peacefully in the fourth year of the Han Dynasty on the construction site where he had worked all his life.

The next day, the Cuiping Mountain project stopped. Officials and workers from the Ministry of Works gathered outside Guo Quan's shed. In front of them, there was a carriage with a huge coffin on it. Today, the body of their beloved Minister of Works Guo Quan would be sent from here to Jicheng, and they came to see him off.

Among them were old subordinates who had followed Guo Quan around, skilled craftsmen that Guo Quan had recruited from all over the place, and even more were countless temporary workers.

Many new workers did not know that this old man, who was wearing a coarse cloth and often ran around on the construction site, was one of the few high-ranking officials of the Han Dynasty. They thought he was just a worker like them. After a while, they realized that he was actually a high-ranking official. This completely overturned their understanding of officials. Even though the officials of the Han Dynasty were close to the people, there were still few people like Guo Quan. He often held a large coarse pottery bowl and ate with the craftsmen while arguing about some technical details. He also happily chatted with the workers about some trivial matters. In the hearts of these workers, this old man was more like an elder than a high-ranking official.

It was very quiet outside the shed, except for the extremely suppressed low sobbing sound. Zheng Jun watched several old craftsmen wiping Guo Quan's body and putting on a brand new official robe. This official robe had been pressed under the box in Guo Quan's room. He rarely wore it. Most of the time, he wore coarse linen clothes and shuttled around the construction site, sweating on hot days and covered in mud on rainy days.

These old craftsmen were all old people who had followed Guo Quan all the way. The youngest had been there for seven or eight years. Zheng Jun knew that the highest position among them was the Deputy Director of the Ministry of Works, and the lowest was the Doctor of Sanyi. These official positions were conferred by the court to commend their contributions. They were all marked with the distinct mark of Guo Quan, and there was no trace of an official at all.

Zheng Jun stood up and looked at Guo Quan who was lying on the bed. He was very calm and even had a satisfied smile on his face. He walked peacefully.

"It's almost time, please put Guo Shangshu into the coffin!" he said softly.

Several old craftsmen sobbed, stretched out their hands together, lifted up the camp bed where Guo Quan usually slept, and walked slowly outside the work shed.

Guo Quan's body was gently placed into the coffin. As the coffin lid was closed, the cries suddenly became louder on the construction site.

"Let's set off!" Zheng Jun shouted loudly.

The carriage started slowly, and behind it, countless people knelt down.

"Send Mr. Guo home!" an old craftsman shouted loudly.

"Send off to Mr. Guo." Thousands of people knelt on the ground.

Jicheng. In the Great Council, the great congressmen from all over the Han Dynasty were gathered together. Hundreds of people were looking at Jiang Jiaquan, the chief minister of the council, who was summarizing the previous year on the stage. Behind him, standing in a row, were all the senior members of the council and the ministers of various ministries. This time of year is also the time when the senior congressmen are most proud. Their only job at this time is to It is to find faults and find out the shortcomings of the officials who were in charge of the government last year. There are often narrow-minded scenes where members of Congress ask questions that make these officials sweat.

These days are also the most difficult days for these senior officials. The deputies in the political hall had a slightly better time, but once those officials from various ministries were criticized too much, they would not receive the support of the majority in the subsequent voting. He must step down sadly and resign.

Although such a situation has not occurred once in the three years since the convening of the Grand Council, it does not mean that it will not occur. No one in the various ministries wants to be the first.

The chief minister was highly respected and no one found fault with him. This year's problems focused on the reconstruction of Jicheng's old city, and Wu Kai, the political advisor in charge of this matter, was a little uneasy. Before that, he had heard some rumors about land acquisition and demolition. Regarding replacement and compensation, no matter how careful you are in such a large project, there will still be many problems. Wu Kai is thinking about how to safely get through this hurdle.

This project was led by him and the Ministry of Industry was responsible for its implementation. However, Guo Quan, the minister of the Ministry of Industry, was not in Jicheng, and the main work was handled by the two ministers on the left and right in Jicheng. There is too much oil and water here, and if you loosen your grip a little, it will be thousands of dollars. Wu Kai himself doesn't like it, but he can't guarantee that there won't be such things below. Judging from the rumors that have been heard, I am afraid that there are many such things going on, and some big congressmen have already caught the handle. I am afraid that this spring will be a bit difficult! Wu Kai tilted his head and looked out the window of the Great Council. The sun was shining brightly and the spring flowers were blooming. This time in previous years was a good time for spring outings, but this year, who would have such thoughts!

Gao Yuan naturally would not appear in the auditorium of the Great Council. As usual, he came quietly and sat in a curtained room upstairs, listening to the sounds below.

"Mr. Wu may be having a hard time this year." Through the bead curtain, looking at the political discussions and ministers below, Gao Yuan smiled and said to He Weiyuan next to him: "Look at his pins and needles appearance, he must be lower down. Something went wrong."

"Yes, it would be strange to say that there are no problems with such a large project to renovate Jicheng. However, Mr. Wu himself is very upright, so he is not afraid of the criticism of these big councillors." He Weiyuan said with a smile.

"That's not necessarily the case. If the leakage below is too big, won't he not be responsible for leadership?" Gao Yuan said with a smile: "That's good. Let him give him a warning. Our Lord Wu, during the renovation of Jicheng, Go ahead, it’s just a boss who wants to get rid of you, pick his thorns and make him wake up, it’s not that easy to discuss politics.”

"Actually, Mr. Li Can, who is in charge of maritime affairs, is probably not having a good time either." He Weiyuan said.

"Oh, is there something wrong with him too?"

"The senior congressmen from Cangzhou and Fenzhou accused Li Yizheng of using his power for personal gain, using his status and influence to squeeze out other maritime merchants in addition to overseas trade and expansion, and even accused him of colluding with the navy commander Kou Shuguang," He Weiyuan said. .

"Huh?" Gao Yuan glanced at He Weiyuan and pondered for a moment, "Wei Yuan, someone found you? Do you want these words to reach my ears?"

He Weiyuan nodded, "Your Majesty is aware of thousands of miles away. Someone has indeed found me. I hope I can tell you in His Majesty's voice."

"You should admit it frankly, what did that person give you?"

"He gave me 10,000 yuan and a thick stack of new bills just released by the central bank!"

Gao Yuan laughed and said, "If you give it away, keep it away. This person will only get more from maritime merchants. What do you think about this?"

"There may be some ostracism, but collusion with Commander Kou is unlikely. Commander Kou came from the Supervisory Yuan and knows the powerful connections here. These maritime merchants just want to bring down Li Yizheng," He Weiyuan said.

Gao Yuan smiled and said, "I know about this. It's not that easy to unseat a councilor. First, you need more than half of the votes in the big council, and then you ask me to approve it. They will give you money. That’s probably what it means.”

"yes."

"Let's take a look! Even if Li Can is fat, he is not a master who is easy to bully!" Gao Yuan said with a smile. (To be continued)