Chongzhen carefully looked at Liu Ximing for a while, and the more he looked at it, the more satisfied he felt in his heart, such a magnificent person can be regarded as a pillar of the country.

Sensing the small movement in the corner of Liu Ximing's eyes, Chongzhen smiled slightly, "Xin Amber doesn't have to be restrained, you have just been sealed, and it is normal that there are some inconsistencies in the number of etiquette, I won't be weird." ”

Liu Ximing hurriedly bowed again, "Thank you, Your Majesty, the minister has not thanked Your Majesty for the grace of the reward, the minister's talent is very small, fortunately His Majesty appreciated, and gave him a good lord, dare not to be like a dog and horse." ”

"It's good if you know", Chongzhen nodded with satisfaction and walked down the imperial case to Liu Ximing's side.

"There is a lot of resistance to the DPRK and China in naming you as the new Amber, after all, you are only a weak champion, and you are just a showman, and the officials of the DPRK and China will inevitably have some opinions."

Chongzhen smiled and said with a change of tone, "But I don't think so, if you have merit, you will be rewarded, this is the ancestral system." Aiqing's contribution to guarding the royal mausoleum is in Sheji, even if she is young, I still believe it. ”

He looked at Liu Ximing's immature face, "When I saw it today, I felt that I didn't see the wrong person, Aiqing is a talent, and he is also loyal and brave, if he can work hard in the future, he may not be able to become a pillar of the country, and you will be encouraged." ”

"Thank you for Your Majesty's encouragement, the minister will always work hard and repay His Majesty Long En with a useful body."

Liu Ximing knelt on the ground again and thanked him.

Chongzhen waved his hand and motioned for him to stand up, "Don't say much, you just came from Fengyang, what do you know about thieves?" What was the situation of the first battle in Fengyang, you can tell me in detail. ”

Is this to test yourself?

Liu Xi's heart was full of thoughts, the battle of Fengyang was easy to talk about, and he was thinking about the topic behind while telling what happened at that time.

“…… The minister thought that the Liukou was already a big problem for the henchmen of this dynasty, and he needed to be eliminated as soon as possible. ”

Chongzhen raised his eyebrows when he heard this, "I don't need you to say this, I know it, what do you think about how to suppress thieves?" ”

Liu Ximing turned his head slightly and looked at a figure in a cyan official uniform looming behind the pillar of the hall on the side, this could not be the official in charge of writing the living notes.

The conversations between the emperor and the courtiers are generally recorded by special officials, which will be archived as important historical materials in the future.

He naturally heard the dissatisfaction in Chongzhen's tone, but considering the other people in the hall, he could only consider it again and again, and only said after a long time:

"Your Majesty, the minister thinks that the first thing to do is to govern the place, and the second is to exterminate it, otherwise the people of the world will not be able to make a living, even if the current thieves are exterminated, there will be other thieves swarming."

"New Amber, be cautious!"

Wang Chengen stood aside, and when he heard Liu Ximing's words, his face changed in fright, and he even scolded Liu Ximing directly in disregard of the rules in the palace.

Liu Ximing was also frightened by his voice, and his face turned pale.

Only then did he remember that in front of the emperor, he said that the people of the world were not happy, wouldn't he mean Chongzhenzi

No virtue?

Hastyly, it's really careless.

"Your Majesty forgives the sin, the minister is a person from the mountains and wilderness, there is no rule to speak, and the minister means ......"

Liu Ximing looked flustered and wanted to explain, but Chongzhen closed his eyes and waved his hand, and only opened his eyes and sighed after a long time.

"It's rare for Aiqing to dare to tell me the truth, I don't blame you."

"The world is in turmoil, the people are displaced, and they are all at fault."

"Your Majesty!" , Wang Chengen and Liu Ximing shouted out in unison.

Liu Ximing took a step forward, "How can this matter be related to Your Majesty, the world is in turmoil, as seen by the ministers, one is a natural disaster, and the other is **, even if the minister is in the people, he has heard that His Majesty is dreaming of sleeping at night, just asking for peace and quiet in the country, Your Majesty has done his best for the lord of the world." ”

Wang Chengen was massaging Chongzhen's back while looking at Liu Ximing with relief.

Chongzhen turned his head to look at Liu Ximing when he heard this, "Then why do you say the chaos in the world is?" And how can it be cured? ”

Liu Ximing's scalp was a little numb.

Fortunately, he had thought about these questions to some extent, and now his mind immediately came up with a flexible statement.

"Your Majesty, the minister is just a member, so your majesty should ask the ministers and ministers about such national affairs, and the ministers dare not beak."

Chongzhen's face turned pale, "If I want you to say it, you will say it, now that you have been knighted, you are already a minister of the court, what is there to say." ”

Liu Ximing originally wanted to excuse himself, but seeing that Chongzhen's face became impatient, he was unwilling to let go of a good opportunity to show his face, so he immediately took the opportunity to grit his teeth and surrender his hand.

"Your Majesty wants the ministers to speak, but the ministers dare not say it, according to the ministers' opinion, the evil of the world lies in the collapse of the rule of officials, and the key to the rule of officials lies in the officials."

"Where?" , Chongzhen looked at Liu Ximing with some amusement, "What kind of statement is this?" ”

Liu Ximing was also a little embarrassed in his heart, he couldn't just say that one of the harms in the world was your old Zhu family, and the other was bureaucrats at all levels.

If he really wants to say this, I'm afraid that he Liu will soon become a thorn in the side of the Manchu Dynasty, so does he want to mix in the capital.

However, at present, this situation still needs him to deal with it carefully, Liu Ximing simply stubbornly said: "Exactly, the minister tried to explain it to His Majesty." ”

"The wealth of the world is nothing more than agricultural business, and the commercial tax is not a regular tax of this dynasty, and it has not been collected much over the years, so there is not much to say here."

"As for the agricultural tax, the collection of grain from the peasants to the imperial court must first pass through the hands of many small officials, and Your Majesty can know that these filthy officials use methods such as pouring tips and kicking the fire, which is the evidence of their corruption."

"Moreover, many things in the imperial court need to be handled by the hands of the officials, and now the salaries of the officials are not enough for the family to survive, how can these people handle so many things of money and power in the imperial court, how can they control themselves and not be in the hands of them."

Chongzhen was suddenly a little moved, what he said seemed to have some truth, and this new Amber still had some insight.

Liu Ximing hurriedly struck while the iron was hot and continued: "Your Majesty, imagine that the officials of this dynasty are all low-level officials, and they will only serve for a few years, even if there are corrupt people, they will only be a disaster for a while, but most of the officials are filled by locals and controlled by inferior gentry, and the victims are not great. ”

"Besides, there are other considerations as the minister said, such as the accumulation of disadvantages today, if you want to get rid of the accumulated evils, you must need to reform, the officials are just rampant in the township, if there is a minister who can try the law in one place, change the official system, and the people involved are only dozens of people."

"The officials have no foundation in the court, and the resistance in the court and the center will not be too great, so the reciprocal situation can make the world set things right, if the money that these filthy officials are greedy for can be filled into the treasury, then the state will no longer be in danger of using the army."

After Liu Ximing finished speaking, he breathed a long sigh in his heart, this was already the best way he could think of now.

As he said earlier, reforming the rule of officials will not touch the interests of the clan and the gentry, and is the most likely reform to be implemented at the moment.

Of course, judging from the current actual situation, Liu Ximing does not think that Chongzhen really has the means to carry out this reform.

But in this way, at least in Chongzhen, what Liu Ximing said is not a nonsense.

At least he raised the problem and also put forward specific solutions, which made Chongzhen's eyes shine among the courtiers who only knew the truth.

"There is some truth in what Aiqing said, but is there any way to say the specific implementation of this?" Chongzhen asked with great interest.

The corners of Liu Ximing's mouth twitched slightly, you old man is still serious.

Reform of the rule of officials sounds good, but Liu Ximing has already made it clear, the officials are the key tentacles of all the affairs of the imperial court, and it is simple for your old man to replace all these people, but where to find so many people who understand local affairs to act as officials.

Nowadays, this imperial court has not been carrying out compulsory education like Liujiacun, and there are enough general affairs talents.

Although the court has been a scholar for hundreds of years, and there are millions of scholars, these people are not willing to be officials.

"Uh, Your Majesty, after all, the minister is not very familiar with the government affairs, should Your Majesty discuss such a major matter with the elder and others?"

Liu Ximing politely refused.

Chongzhen laughed, "You guy, I don't want to tell the truth." But for the sake of your daring to suggest, I will go around you, do you have any ideas for this Kexiang test? ”

I'm sure of that.

Liu Ximing was clever in his heart, and immediately laughed and said: "The minister is a scholar, and he is naturally determined to take the imperial examination, and the minister of Jinke Township will definitely go all out." ”

Chongzhen slowly paced back to the imperial case, with a smile on his face, "That's good, it's precisely because you still have to participate in the imperial examination that I didn't directly confer an official, so don't waste my kindness." ”

"The minister will live up to His Majesty's grace", Liu Ximing should kneel down again.

"Hahaha, so confident, then I'm going to test you well."