In the Wenhua Hall in the Forbidden City, Emperor Chongzhen is holding a pre-imperial meeting here.

On the two sides below, on one side are the eunuchs of the celebrant and the eunuch, headed by the eunuch Wang Chengen, who has a palm print; On the other side, there are six cabinet books, headed by the cabinet chief assistant Du Yinxi.

After completing the land clearance from Kaifeng, checking the hidden households, and returning to Beijing after completing the affairs of Tuntian, he became the first assistant of the cabinet.

At this time, I heard Emperor Chongzhen say to these courtiers below: "The ills accumulated in the past two hundred and seventy-five years of the Ming Dynasty must be cleaned up. The present situation, the rebellion of the thieves, has been driven to the southwest frontier by Mr. There is also a problem, that is, the construction of Liaodong. ”

When he said this, he was a little emotional, so he paused, as if he was thinking about it, and then continued: "However, Jianyu, who had the most headache in the past, is now also dragged in Liaodong and cannot enter the customs. According to Mr.'s arrangement, if the Denglai Water Master can destroy the Jianyu Water Master, this matter will be considered stable. ”

Hearing this, Wang Chengen smiled and said: "Long live the Lord rest assured, the Denglai Sailor is the elite transferred from the Fujian Sailor, and he will definitely be able to defeat the Jianyu Sailor!" ”

Plug Yinxi is from Nanzhili, that is, a native of Jiangsu, and he has certainly heard of the Fujian Navy. Therefore, he also followed: "The naval battle of Liaodong, as long as the battle starts, the Jianyu Naval Division will definitely be defeated!" ”

When Emperor Chongzhen heard this, he also smiled and said: "This, Mr. has analyzed it for me, and I also believe that Denglai Sailor will win!" However, this war has not yet come to an end, and I can't sleep soundly, what if Jianyu makes a detour to the grassland? ”

Jianyu made several detours through the Mongolian steppe to invade Guannai, and according to the later generations, the direct and indirect economic losses to Guannai were unimaginably huge! This is something that no one in power can bear.

However, although Emperor Chongzhen said so, he never issued an order to urge the Denglai Sailor side? Even if a courtier had a proposal? Nor did he decree it.

Is it really the lesson that the imperial court interfered in the front-line war, which led to a great defeat at the front? It's still in front of you. The most recent? It is the Battle of Songjin. If it weren't for Mr. crossing over, he wouldn't be far from the country of death at this time.

Of course? There is another very important reason why Emperor Chongzhen no longer interferes in the front line, is that he already has confidence? There is no need to rush to interfere anymore.

How many previous interventions? It was because the imperial court could not afford the long-term war, and the military salaries and grain were urgent, so they had to rush to urge.

But now, for the imperial court? Although the taxes north of the Yangtze River were not collected into the national treasury? However, the wealth of the feudal kings in various places was used for local military purposes. Otherwise, Xingguo Gong would not have been able to persist in the southern and northern wars for more than a year.

And also? Didn't the reform of the salt administration reduce the revenue of the national treasury because of the reduction of taxes? On the contrary, because of the large increase in salt production, the tax revenue has increased several times at once!

What made Emperor Chongzhen's heart feel most down-to-earth? The profits of the glass factory continue to enrich the treasury.

At this point? After talking about Liaodong for a while? Emperor Chongzhen began to talk about the main topics he had convened his ministers to discuss.

I saw him look at Shoufu Plug Yinxi and said, "Plug Qing? You already have experience in the transformation of Kaifeng. The effect on Wuchang's side, I have already known it through the prince's side, and it is very good. Sir's letter, since the pilot in these two places is successful, then the time for other places is also about to start, do you have any arrangements? ”

When Du Yinxi heard it, he thought about it for a while, and then replied: "Your Majesty, the Duke of Xingguo has already carried out this change in Shudi. Weichen thinks that Shu should be worry-free. In other places, Jiangnan is the main head. It is better to let His Royal Highness the Crown Prince sit in Yingtianfu and supervise the innovation of Jiangnan. And before that, you can let the chief officials from all over the south of the Yangtze River go to Wuchang and Kaifeng to travel first, so that you can know what to do! ”

When Wang Chengen heard this, he added: "If the local magistrate cannot comprehend these changes, he can send officials who are familiar with these changes to serve in the places where there are still needs to be reforms!" ”

Emperor Chongzhen listened, nodded with a smile and said, "This method is good, do you have any objections?" If not, Du Qing will take the lead and write a specific arrangement of the recital, and I estimate that Mr. will be back soon. Let's see if Mr. has any opinions! ”

Hearing this, none of the ministers below had any opinions, and they didn't say anything about Emperor Chongzhen's request for the Duke of Xingguo to see this first.

Because many things have proved that Xingguo Gong has a lot of ideas. Often, they think that it is already a very safe measure, and after Emperor Chongzhen showed it to Xingguo Gong, they can put forward some useful additions.

Or they can't think of it, or they can't see it, in short, many of the additions of Xingguo Gong can take into account local problems.

As for these additions, people who don't know understand it, and they still think that Xingguo Gong is an elderly official who is old in political affairs!

Therefore, for local innovation, Kaifeng and Wuchang are used as samples to prepare for promotion throughout the country, and this matter is so discussed.

Originally, Emperor Chongzhen was also ready to end this Wenhua Hall meeting.

However, at the end, he suddenly remembered something, and said a little angrily: "Those students of Guozijian are still making a lot of trouble? ”

Hearing this, Wang Chengen, who was in charge of the East Factory, hurriedly replied: "Although it is not as hot as it was at the beginning, it is still the main place against the steam engine!" ”

When Emperor Chongzhen heard this, he said unhappily: "It's been so long, my husband is coming back, how can I explain to my husband?" Wang Daban! ”

"The slave is here!" When Wang Chengen heard this, he hurriedly responded.

I heard Emperor Chongzhen explain to him: "Send someone to arrest the people who made the most trouble, interrogate me clearly, and see if there is anyone behind them!" ”

As soon as he heard this, before Wang Chengen could agree, Zuo Maodi, the left capital of the Imperial Procuratorate, immediately came out and played to Emperor Chongzhen: "Your Majesty, you must not. ”

"Huh?" When Emperor Chongzhen heard this, he stared at him a little unhappily and snorted.

Zuo Maodi didn't dare to slack off, and hurriedly played: "Your Majesty, my Ming Dynasty has never been convicted for words!" Even if Haigangfeng spoke disrespectfully to Emperor Sejong back then, he was not guilty in the end! ”

Emperor Sejong is Emperor Jiajing. The thing he was referring to was Hai Rui's most famous book, namely "Public Security", which was equivalent to pointing at Emperor Jiajing's nose and scolding.

This kind of thing, as everyone knows, is very serious. Therefore, even Hai Rui himself bought a coffin and waited for the book to be given to die.

As a result, Emperor Jiajing only locked him up and did not kill Hai Rui until he died. and left a will, pardoned Hai Jui, and was reused during the reign of Emperor Longqing.

After Zuo Maodi mentioned this matter, he hurriedly followed up and said: "These students of Guozijian are only against the steam engine, not to slander the government and disturb the people's hearts. If you use the factory guard in this way, it is not what Mingjun did! ”

Hearing this, Emperor Chongzhen frowned and was silent for a while, but still a little unwilling to say: "The matter of the steam engine is very important to the future of the Ming Dynasty. Fang Kongzhi objected to it, and it was forgivable, after all, his son almost died for the steam engine. But those who are in the country's prisons, what do they have to do with them, jumping up and down like this, do you really think I will not care? ”

When Zuo Maodi heard this, he replied to Emperor Chongzhen again: "Your Majesty, as far as Weichen knows, among the most violent people in the Guozi Prison, there are protégés of the Fang family. In addition, the matter of the steam engine may not have anything to do with Guozijian. ”

"Well, what do you mean by that?" When Emperor Chongzhen heard this, he was a little curious, so he immediately asked.

I only heard Zuo Maodi play: "The relevance of the steam engine is not found in the Four Books and Five Classics. Most of the students in Guozijian read the Four Books and the Five Classics, in order to pass the imperial examination and serve the imperial court. But now the momentum of the steam engine is supported by the rejuvenation of the country and the praise of His Majesty, which makes the students of Guozijian, perhaps not only the students of Guozijian, but all the people who read in the world will panic, for fear that their knowledge of hard work is completely useless. Therefore, this time the steam engine incident is the most fierce among these readers, and this is the reason! ”

For these people who are already officials in the court, they don't really mind so much. Just as Zuo Maodi said, the people who are most mindful and most worried are those who are still studying the Four Books and the Five Classics.

Emperor Chongzhen listened, thought for a while, and felt that Zuo Maodi was also reasonable, so he asked him: "Then what do you think should be done with this matter?" ”

"Your Majesty, this matter of learning should also be dealt with in a scholarly way!" When Zuo Maodi heard this, he immediately replied, "Since Xingguo Gong proposed this steam engine, he must be proficient in this aspect. Weichen thought that it was the best way to deal with this matter by Xingguo Gong personally! ”

When Emperor Chongzhen heard this, he didn't say anything, but turned his head to look at the others and asked, "What do you think?" ”

Wang Chengen actually didn't care the most, let him use Dongchang to arrest people, he didn't have any burden, because he was a eunuch, and he couldn't urinate with a scholar.

However, Du Yinxi and others were born as scholars, and of course they were the faction of Xingguo Gong, but they were also biased towards Zuo Maodi's proposal, so they came out one after another to express their agreement with Zuo Du's suggestion.

When Emperor Chongzhen heard this, he frowned and said, "Since this is the case, then let's wait for Mr. to come back!" ”

Of course, he knew how much Zhang Mingwei attached importance to this matter, and he also knew that Zhang Mingwei would definitely be able to clean up those students. But let Zhang Mingwei clean up in person, he always felt a little ashamed of Zhang Mingwei, and Zhang Mingwei had to be busy with everything!

Thinking so, after he finished speaking, he still told Wang Chengen: "You send someone to watch, if you find that those students are colluding with someone, or someone is behind the scenes, I must clean him up!" ”

Wang Chengen heard this and hurriedly agreed.

At this time, they really didn't expect that there would be a big man behind them.