Nanjing City, after the enthronement ceremony, its original dilapidated and decadent atmosphere was swept away, and now it turns its head to give people a vibrant look, after cutting off the braids, the people's mental outlook seems to be much better than in the past, and it looks like a bit of a great country.

Just when the Qing court, Liu Ruhan and Zhu Yigui successively sent envoys to Nanjing, Ning Yu was receiving a very special guest, this person named Ernst, from Jena, Prussia, was a missionary.

In the past few years of marching, Ning Yu has not been completely without contact with missionaries, but most of them are just simple missionaries, and there is nothing special about it, but since talking to the Ernst in front of him, Ning Yu has keenly discovered this person's extraordinary attainments in chemistry and medicine.

"Your Majesty the Great Emperor, the Qing Emperor in the north only needs people who can make guns for him, not people like me...... But what I want to say is that the arrogant Qing Emperor will never know the magical power of chemistry, let alone what the Lord represents! ”

Ernst was a bearded Prussian, and he chattered to Ning Yu about chemistry and the greatness of the Lord, but this did not bore Ning Yu, and he even pushed the meeting with the White Lotus envoy to the back burner.

"Mr. Ernst, I would like to ask you, what can you bring to me?"

Ning Yu smiled, of course he knew that the thoughts of these foreigners were nothing more than the desire to be able to preach freely in China, so they were not stupid, they knew that in the land of the East, the best way to proselytize was nothing more than to become an advisor to the emperor, just like their predecessors, and they could get a lot of money for this.

Ernst smiled, he liked the young emperor in front of him, not so rude and arrogant as the monarch he had ever seen, he didn't even need to kneel, what he had experienced in the Qing court had made the German feel extremely angry and puzzled.

"Your Majesty the Great Emperor, I have brought a book to the Celestial Empire, this book is enough to make you reacquaint yourself with our world, and I can assure you that this is the greatest book of our time!"

Ernst had a little pride on his face, the Westerners of this age were different from later generations, when they first came to China, everything they saw was so beautiful and grandiose, exquisite and shocking, even the clothes of the people on the street looked very beautiful, you must know that the West at this time had not even begun the industrial revolution, and the golden age they experienced was far from coming.

I saw him as he spoke, while taking out a book from the box he was carrying, with a line of words written in German on the cover, but Ning Yu only knew some English, and when he saw the German on it, he couldn't help but be dumbfounded.

"Ernst, I can't understand this book, why don't you introduce it to me, what kind of book is this?"

Ernst smiled and said, "Your Majesty the Great Emperor, this book is called "Fundamentals of Chemistry", which my teacher took a long time to sort out, and it is the greatest book in the world!" ”

"Fundamentals of Chemistry"? First of all, whether it is the greatest book in the world or not, but when Ning Yu heard these four words, he felt a little familiar in a daze, and couldn't help but ask curiously: "This book was sorted out by your teacher, what is his name?" ”

Ernst heard Ning Yu's question, and immediately said proudly: "Your Majesty the Great Emperor, my teacher is called Georg Ernst Stahl, and he is the greatest chemist in this world. ”

Good guy, the master and apprentice use the same name, which made Ning Yu a little crying and laughing, but he quickly reacted, this person is not as simple as the Ernst in front of him, so to speak, this person's legend is really not ordinary.

In the memory of Ning Yu's previous life, for some reason there is still some understanding of the person Stahl, this person can be described as quite strong, in the early years he was a student of Becher, the pioneer of phlogistin theory, and later obtained a doctorate in medicine at the University of Jena in Germany, this stage can be called a double master of chemistry and medicine, and then this person later became a professor of medicine and chemistry at the newly built university in Halle, and the most strange thing is that he was crazy about alchemy in the process.

"The teacher is now working as a royal physician for the King of Prussia in Berlin, but he has never given up chemistry, this is a book of "Fundamentals of Chemistry" that he compiled last year, and I will send it to His Majesty the Emperor today, and I also ask His Majesty the Emperor to allow me to preach in the Celestial Empire......"

Ning Yu looked at the "Fundamentals of Chemistry" in his hand, and his heart was actually a little excited, but for Ning Yu at the moment, he didn't want missionaries to preach in China, so he was a little entangled.

"Ernst, you know what? Missionary work in the Celestial Empire is not an overnight thing, and I, the people of the Celestial Empire, do not believe in ghosts and gods, but believe in the power of knowledge, if you can bring knowledge to them, they will truly agree with your ideas. Ning Yu observed Ernst's expression while talking nonsense.

Ernst agrees with this messy set of theories.

"Your Majesty, I understand what you mean, what you said is very correct, only by bringing the truth can you bring the glory of the Lord! It's just that I don't know how to bring the truth to the people of your country. ”

Ning Yu smiled, "I think that although there are occasional exchanges between China and the West, there are not many exchanges, although there are geographical factors, but more often than not, the first step of exchange has not been taken. Ernst, I would like to hire you as a scholar, would you? ”

That's right, the current Ning Chu actually has the Hanlin Academy and university scholars, but compared with the so-called scholars of the Qing court, Ning Chu's bachelor does not have the so-called political rights, but is a title that is more inclined to academics, and in addition, it is not only used to confer Confucian masters.

"Bachelor's degree? I understand....... Thank you for the trust of His Majesty the Great Emperor, I am willing to serve His Majesty the Great Emperor! ”

As soon as Ernst heard that he was in office, he was a little excited, and he readily agreed to this request, although he still remembered the matter of preaching, but after all, he did not attach so much importance to it.

Ning Yu smiled and said, "Ernst, since you are my advisor, then I want you to do a few things......

"Please also ask His Majesty the Great Emperor to command."

"I think that the world is so vast and vast, and the distance between the Celestial Empire and the West is too far, and many of them are not very smooth, so I think it is better to ask you, as my plenipotentiary representative, to send envoys to Western European countries together with my foreign minister in the future, so as to establish corresponding communication channels."

As soon as Ernst heard that there was an opportunity to return home, the foreigner's laughter could not be stopped, and he immediately promised: "Your Majesty the Great Emperor is far-sighted, and the ministers will definitely go to various countries with the sincerity of the empire to establish diplomatic relations, and live up to the trust of His Majesty the Great Emperor." ”

"Well, Ernst, I have one more thing, that is, please go back to the West and sort out a batch of books written by the West, and then transport them back to the Celestial Empire, the more the better, and the field does not have to be limited, everything that is useful can be shipped back, I want to build a big library in Nanjing!"

"Yes, Your Majesty the Great Emperor."

"Ernst, I hope that when you return to the West in the future, please collect a group of experts in astronomy, geography, physics, chemistry, medicine, and military affairs, and invite them to come to the Celestial Empire to become consultants, I am willing to give more than five times the salary, and I will give them knighthoods, of course, after you do this well, I will give you a marquis."

Ning Yu was thinking about what he needed to do, and at the same time drew a big pie for Ernst, in fact, if these things can really be realized, even if he gives Ernst a duke, it is not too much, but Ning Yu is controlling the number of knights at the moment, and it is not good to give too much, otherwise insiders will also have opinions.

Although he was only a marquis, it was enough to smash Ernst into a daze, and everything he had dreamed of seemed to be about to come true in such a short time, which made him feel a little unreal, and he closed his eyes and recited silently.

"Lord, is it that your great eyes have shone upon me?"

Ning Yu didn't care what this foreign devil was saying, he repeatedly admonished: "Ernst, I will give you money, people, and status, but you have to remember one thing, you will be a member of the Celestial Empire in the future, understand?" I want you to put the interests of the Celestial Empire first in everything. ”

Ernst was still very conscious in this regard, and he immediately pressed his chest and said: "Promise the Lord that I, Ernst, will do everything according to the will of His Majesty the Great Emperor, and will never betray the interests of the Celestial Empire." ”

When he finished his work on Ernst, Ning Yu felt that his head was a little groggy, he had been so busy that his feet didn't touch the ground recently, and he had been staying in Fengtian Hall to deal with political affairs, and his whole person had a sense of fatigue.

The new official system has basically been implemented, and Ning Chu's first first assistant should have fallen on Ning Zhongjing's head, and the title of the second assistant was given to Cui Wancai, Li Fu did not win Cui Wancai in this battle, but his position was also quite good, he was the first supervisor of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, of course, this position was also one made by Ning Yu, and its status was theoretically higher than that of the various ministries, so Li Fu was satisfied at the moment.

As for the Shangshu of the other ministries, they have also been filled in from the original staff, but the operation of this system still needs time to run in, so for Ning Yu, things are not much less.

"Your Majesty, Liu Ruhan's people have arrived, to see or not to see?" Second assistant Cui Wancai said softly.

Ning Yu twisted his brows, "Let's dry it first, I'm afraid I want to come again this time to help...... Hmph, if it weren't for the fact that I still have some use value in the north, how would I have let them get away with it so far? "No matter what the strategy is, Ning Yu can't look down on some of the actions of the White Lotus Sect.

Cui Wancai nodded lightly, and then said: "Your Majesty, this Ernst is from a Westerner, is it a little too conspicuous to make him a university scholar?" With such a greedy person for money, it is a matter of sending away some money and goods. ”

After Ning Yu heard Cui Wancai's words, he was a little helpless at the moment, even a talented and intelligent person like Cui Wancai looked at Westerners with a little contempt, they were actually no different from Yongzheng in this regard, and they were also mainstream ideas - on the contrary, Ning Yu attached so much importance to it, and it was more like an outlier.

"I think that there is a lot to learn from the thinking of Westerners, especially their understanding of objective things is no less than that of China, so with the method of thousands of gold and bones, I think we will be able to attract a large number of Westerner elites to fill the gaps in our dynasty and learn from each other's strengths, do you understand?"

After Cui Wancai listened to Ning Yu's words, he was silent for a long time, but he raised a deeper question.

"Does the emperor think that the Westerners are now stronger than me in some aspects?" This question seems to be very arrogant, but it actually reflects the mentality of the people in the world at present, that is, the great country of our Celestial Empire is a land of outstanding people, and the rest of the land is barbarian.

Ning Yu smiled bitterly, he knew Cui Wancai's intention to ask this, this was not Cui Wancai himself, but for the courtiers and Shilin, but Ning Yu couldn't answer, just like he couldn't tell Cui Wancai that in more than a hundred years, the Westerners' strong ships and cannons would ring the gate of Huaxia, and the country would not be a country at that time.

From what Ernst said, Ning Yu can basically conclude that the entire West is already on the eve of the industrial revolution, and it can even be said that it has already begun, accompanied not only by technological innovation, but also by changes in social relations.

Although Watt has not yet been born, but the early industrial steam engine has appeared, it may have one kind or that problem, it is only in the laboratory stage, but Ning Yu knows in his heart that in a few decades, the steam engine will be perfected one by one, separated condenser, set up insulation layer outside the cylinder, lubricated piston with oil, planetary gear, parallel motion connecting rod mechanism, centrifugal governor, throttle valve, pressure gauge, etc., they will all appear.

It can be said that God put him Ningyu in the best era, at this time the industrial revolution has not officially begun, the Western horse racing colonization has not completely kicked off, the world is still an unknown state of chaos, and whoever can seize the opportunity at this time will become the protagonist of the times, just like the British Empire in the nineteenth century!

Therefore, at this time, Ning Yu was so anxious to adjust the domestic situation, and even before the complete unification of China, he took the lead in starting a series of changes, hoping to integrate the power of China in a shorter period of time, and then radiate to the whole of Asia, and finally complete a perfect resistance to the rise of Western civilization.

And all this, Ning Yu could only put it in his heart, he looked at Cui Wancai and showed a smile.

"What I am doing now, you may not understand, but in the next fifty years, or even a hundred years, many people will thank me ......."