In early May, in Shanxi, a mighty army was moving forward in high spirits.

In the center of the army, there is a luxurious dragon chariot, which is driven by six horses, and the body is carved with dragon and phoenix patterns, showing the royal noble and luxurious style.

Zhu Cihong's trip back to Beijing was escorted by 8,000 elite soldiers from the Governor's Office of the Western Army, and the route was also adjusted, and he was rerouted to the north, inspecting Shanxi and Shandong by the way, and was expected to take the Grand Canal south in Shandong.

This is since the Northern Expedition in the second year of Tianwu, Zhu Cihong once again set foot in the provinces north of the Yangtze River, and it is also the fourth time since he became the emperor.

Originally, he planned to go back to Beijing along the Yangtze River in Xiangyang, but he thought that since the Northern Expedition, several northern provinces have been in a state of recovery, and he could only learn about the people's livelihood from the book and the information of Dongchang, plus the affairs of Shaanxi, Zhu Cihong felt that it was necessary to go to Shanxi and Shandong to see with his own eyes.

Along the way, the Qianlong Guard spies out in all directions, searching for and collecting information for several days in advance, in case local officials deceive.

Generally speaking, Zhu Cihong is quite satisfied with the people's livelihood in Shanxi, the people live in peace, the roads are solid, and even the railway plan just issued last year is being implemented step by step, and workers can be seen laying railroad tracks from time to time.

When passing by Taiyuan City, Zhu Cihong specially praised Zhang Huangyan, the governor of Shanxi, and praised him for his good rule.

In late May, when the imperial driver traveled to Jinan Prefecture in Shandong, Xiong Wencan, the 80-year-old governor of Shandong, came to greet him and handed over his resignation.

Xiong Wencan is an old minister of the Five Dynasties who has gone through Wanli, Taichang, Tianqi, Chongzhen, and Tianwu.

Looking at this old minister who even struggled to walk, Zhu Cihong sighed in his heart.

In history, Xiong Wencan recruited Zheng Zhilong, served as the governor of Liangguang and the governor of the five provinces, and then rebelled because of the surrender of Zhang Xianzhong, and was asked by Chongzhen to abandon the city.

Now, he has lived for more than ten years, and he earns blood! (At the beginning of the tenth year of Chongzhen, the crown prince Zhu Cihong replaced Lord Xiong as the governor of the five provinces and went south to suppress the Kou)

Zhu Cihong expressed a few words of condolences to Xiong Wencan and approved him on the spot.

The feudal dynasty's Zhishi system is a bit arbitrary, and the Han Dynasty sometimes has a saying that "the doctor is seventy and the doctor is seventy", but the actual operation is a bit complicated, even if the official reaches the age of seventy, if he is still in good health, he can continue to be an official.

In the Tang Dynasty, officials above the fifth rank worked until they reached seventy and wanted to retire, so they had to go to the emperor for approval, and if the emperor thought you could still do it, you would have to work for a few more years.

In the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang, the Taizu of the Ming Dynasty, followed the Tang Dynasty system and ordered that "internal and external officials who are seventy years old should listen to the order, and those who have a special purpose will not be subject to this example".

The meaning is very simple, you can retire at the age of seventy, but the emperor specially approved that you can ignore this age limit, and later changed it to sixty years old. (The "Daming Huidian" stipulates: "Those who are over 60 civil and military officials are all listened to.) ”）

But on the whole, the retirement system of the Ming Dynasty is still based on personal wishes, and it is not necessary to retire at the age of 60.

If the official doesn't want to retire, he just needs to play the emperor and say: The minister can still do it, and he wants to continue to do it! In general, they will remain in office.

Some of the emperor's reused ministers just want to take the initiative to apply for retirement, and they will not be approved, unless they really reach Xiong Wencan's "mental fatigue" and they don't want to do it.

Of course, the Ming court also has an assessment of officials, especially in the Tianwu Dynasty, the implementation of the performance appraisal method, even if you are not old, the court thinks that your ability can not keep up, and you will be ordered in advance.

In the ten years of the Tianwu Dynasty alone, Zhu Cihong ordered more than 60 officials, the youngest of whom was only 35 years old.

Zhu Cihong is also considering whether to stipulate a fixed retirement period for individual officials, or a tenure system......

Jinan, the capital of Shandong, on the shore of Daming Lake, Zhu Cihong stands under the Yanyu Pavilion, looking at the vast lake.

Since the 12th year of Chongzhen, the Qing army entered the customs and went south, Dolgon broke through the city of Jinan and slaughtered hundreds of thousands of people, Jinan's economy collapsed, although after more than ten years of development, the level of economic development can only be regarded as the upper level in the six provinces of Shandong.

However, Jinan has beautiful scenery and gathers a large number of literati, especially in the area of Daming Lake, forming a commercial area with cultural characteristics.

The shops of books, tablets, antiques, calligraphy and paintings here are lined up one after another, and the places where the dwellings are concentrated, all kinds of commercial houses also abound, especially the cotton textile industry is the most developed, with a wide variety of products and high quality.

At present, in the middle of summer, it is the season of lotus appreciation, Zhu Cihong is still in a good mood, so he dresses up and travels to Daming Lake privately.

Seeing that the lake surface is infinitely green, and the lotus flowers are different red, he is very happy, walking and stopping, and sometimes writing a poem.

When Zhu Cihong walked to the Yanyu Pavilion to brew poems, he suddenly heard the melodious and pleasant sound of the guqin in the lotus willow bushes, he followed the sound to find it, and saw a pavilion surrounded by water and lotus lotus.

This pavilion is red pillar and green tile, out of the corridor of Xiamen, the furnishings are quaint, and there is a woman with light makeup in the middle who is stroking the piano and singing.

Zhu Cihong saw that this woman was born with a beautiful appearance, so he approached and took a closer look.

Next to the piano platform, the cigarette curls, the woman's willow eyebrows, cherry lips, and the piano seems to be in a trance, and no one is found.

At the end of the piano sound, Zhu Cihong was happy, stroked the fan and praised it, and sometimes commented.

The woman was surprised, and she knew that a handsome man suddenly appeared next to her, with a shy face.

The girl is lustful by nature, and this woman is the same, seeing that the handsome body is unnatural, although she secretly glanced at Zhu Cihong, she shifted her gaze, but it was not him in her eyes, and the rest of her eyes were all him.

With Zhu Cihong's textbook-style opening conversation, sometimes quoting scriptures and classics, sometimes showing off knowledge, the two gradually chatted and began to talk to each other.

Zhu Cihong found that this woman knew books and etiquette, talked elegantly, and gradually changed from shyness at the beginning to generous, showing her nature.

The two talked about the future, piano, chess, calligraphy and painting, poetry and articles, all of which were very deed, and there was a feeling of seeing each other late.

Next, they chanted poems and painted, played the piano and chess, swung the lake, enjoyed the lotus and watched the rain, and their music and pottery, back and forth, and the two sides exchanged names.

Only then did Zhu Cihong know that this woman's name was Chen Annie, who was eighteen years old, and was a beautiful lady in the scholarly family on the lakeside of the lake, and a talented girl in Jinan Mansion.

When Miss Chen asked Zhu Cihong's name and occupation, Zhu Cihong said unabashedly: "My name is Zhu Cihong, professional emperor, fortunately!" ”

After a brief period of surprise, Ms. Chan was flattered and showed surprise at winning the lottery.

Like Yang Guifei, she also admires Emperor Tianwu very much, no longer in political achievements and military achievements, but in cultural attainments.

Over the years, Zhu Cihong has intermittently copied a lot of famous poems and flowed to the people, including several classic poems by Nalan Xingde and flirting with his sister, who was called the Merry Emperor by the people of the time.

Of course, Emperor Zhu's own cultural attainments are also very high, and he also created some serious poems to praise the heroes.

In this way, the two became confidants, and the interaction became more frequent, Zhu Cihong stroked the qin, Chen Annie danced, sometimes did some strenuous exercise, and was happy for several days.