About two months ago, the list of cabinet auxiliary ministers drawn up by the Ministry of Ministers was handed in a white volume, for this reason, Emperor Chongzhen was furious, and asked the first assistant Xue Guoguan to draft a decree to make the world clear, as long as people with both ability and political integrity, or although there are small mistakes but can make great contributions to the country, they can come to Beijing to report, once the verification is true, the imperial court will immediately select the best and hire without using the previous set of official methods.

No, under the influence of this will, Zhang Guowei, the governor of Tianfu, submitted the twenty-eight volumes of the "Wuzhong Water Conservancy Encyclopedia". The book contains a total of 53 water conservancy maps of Suzhou, Songjiang, Changzhou, Zhenjiang and other prefectures, as well as water species maps of prefectures and counties under each prefecture.

This book can be said to be a comprehensive summary of the water conservancy construction in the Jiangnan region over the past dynasties, and Zhang Guowei's own experience is also summarized in it. He has presided over the repair of Jiuli Stone Pond, Pingwang Nei and Nei Tang, Cheung Chau Zhihe and other ponds, repaired the Songjiang River to defend the sea, and dredged the Zhenjiang River and Jiangyin Cao Canal. It can be said that in terms of water conservancy, it has truly achieved the combination of theory and practice, and has rich experience in water conservancy.

Originally, this "Wuzhong Water Conservancy Encyclopedia" would not be submitted until July. But now, under the butterfly effect, it has been advanced to May. After Emperor Chongzhen read it, he carefully read the information about Zhang Guowei and couldn't help but be overjoyed.

This Zhang Guowei is the governor of Yingtian and holds military and political power. But he is not good at military affairs, so that Zuo Liangyu is arrogant and domineering in front of him, he likes to listen to his orders, he doesn't listen to dispatches at all, and he doesn't care about him at all. And he couldn't help Zuo Liangyu, so he could only complain to the imperial court.

But he's a real expert when it comes to water conservancy. One of the best ways to combat natural disasters is to build water conservancy projects to reduce the impact of natural disasters. Now, this man has appeared.

It can be said that Zhang Guowei's submission of the "Complete Book of Water Conservancy in Wuzhong" this time is indeed a good time. Emperor Chongzhen has just raided a lot of big families and has money in hand; And after the will to seek merit was issued, he was the first to respond, and it was the kind that Emperor Chongzhen liked. Therefore, even if it is a thousand gold bones, Emperor Chongzhen must give preferential treatment.

As a result, a decree was immediately issued, and Zhang Guowei was appointed as a scholar of the Ministry of Industry and a scholar of Dongge University, and he entered the cabinet to lead the world water conservancy, and gave him the title of "water conservancy master". At this point, Xue Guoguan finally ended a month of solitude and finally had company.

In terms of qualifications, this is not a special promotion. After all, Zhang Guowei is already a governor and a feudal official. One step further, it is not without precedent that positions such as the six books can enter the cabinet.

However, in the original history, he did not have the opportunity to enter the cabinet. There is no other reason, although he dedicated the "Wuzhong Water Conservancy Encyclopedia", but Emperor Chongzhen has no money! So, in the court of the Southern Ming Dynasty, he went to be the secretary of the military department. After the Manchu army went south, it was like a bamboo, and it was unable to turn the tide, so it made three chapters of desperate words, namely "Negative Country", "Nian Mother", and "Commandment", and went to the water to die, and he was twenty out of fifty.

It can be said that among so many ministers in the late Ming Dynasty, Zhang Guowei was really a rare civil official with integrity. It's just that the talent he is good at has not been displayed, if it is not in the troubled times, but in the peaceful years, maybe it will be more beneficial to the people.

Emperor Chongzhen was very happy because he needed an expert in water conservancy like Zhang Guowei so much. At this time, during the Xiaoice period, if the water conservancy is properly repaired, the impact of the Xiaoice River on agriculture can be minimized.

What he didn't expect was that sometimes, when luck came, he couldn't stop it.

Emperor Chongzhen was happy, and an attendant came to tell him that the candidate official Chen Zilong presented the late scholar Xu Guangqi's agricultural masterpiece "The Complete Book of Agricultural Administration".

Hearing this, he immediately paused, and then remembered it. This "Complete Book of Agricultural Administration", even in later generations, is also famous. However, after he crossed over, he had been busy with military affairs, and from the memory of the original Emperor Chongzhen, he didn't have the impression of this "Complete Book of Agricultural Administration", so he didn't think much about it. But all of a sudden, how could he be upset? So, he hurriedly issued an order to summon Chen Zilong to meet him.

Chen Zilong, Chongzhen's ten-year jinshi, was originally the manager of Huizhou Mansion in Guangdong. But before he could go to work, his mother died of illness and returned to his hometown to mourn. During this two years, he has been working on the manuscript. heard of Hu Zhengyan's name, and rushed to Beijing to ask Hu Zhengyan to publish the things he had organized. Unexpectedly, as soon as I arrived in Beijing, I saw Emperor Chongzhen's newly promulgated title announcement, and thinking of the previous emperor's order to seek talent, I decisively played it in the name of Xu Guangqi.

In the Wenhua Palace, Chen Zilong met him, at this time, he was only in his early thirties, just in the prime of life. Emperor Chongzhen immediately flipped through it and found that the "Complete Book of Agricultural Administration" was divided into 12 articles, including agricultural capital, field system, agricultural affairs, water conservancy, agricultural tools, arboriculture, sericulture, sericulture, sericulture, planting, shepherding, manufacturing, and waste administration. It not only summarizes and retains the experience of ancient Chinese agricultural technology, but also absorbs and develops the current new technologies, such as the sweet potato that has just been introduced to the Ming Dynasty, it has been explained in great detail to promote.

Seeing this, Emperor Chongzhen finally remembered. Xu Guangqi once appeared in "Sweet Potato Shu", but many people disagreed with it at that time, thinking that this kind of thing was useless. So, Emperor Chongzhen did not let Xu Guangqi go to be in charge of agricultural affairs, but let him go to military training, and did not pay the army, tossed Xu Guangqi in vain, and did not let Xu Guangqi play his due role until he died.

Thinking of these, Emperor Chongzhen couldn't help but sigh very emotionally, in the original history, the final demise of the Ming Dynasty had a lot to do with Emperor Chongzhen's unknown acquaintance. In a country as big as the Ming Empire, even if there are eight stocks of scholars who have been criticized by later generations, all kinds of talents can still emerge. It's just that these talents often don't get brought into play reasonably, and they are drowned in the long river of history.

Just imagine, if the original Emperor Chongzhen had reused Xu Guangqi and let him play well in farming, there would not have been so many desperate thieves in the Ming Dynasty. If Zhang Guowei is allowed to devote himself to water conservancy, I don't know how much the impact of that natural disaster will be reduced!

Fortunately, I crossed by myself, and history can repeat itself.

Emperor Chongzhen thought about this, with an irrepressible smile on his face, and kindly asked Chen Zilong about the "Complete Book of Agricultural Administration", and got more information.

Xu Guangqi was too busy when he was alive, and the book "Agronomy", which he had been writing with great concentration, was not completed, and most of it was only a draft. After Chen Zilong heard about it, he got these drafts from Xu Guangqi's second grandson, Xu Erjue, rearranged and supplemented them, and finally this "Complete Book of Agricultural Administration" came out.

In the original history, it was also published in the twelfth year of Chongzhen, and this has not changed. What has changed is that as soon as the "Complete Book of Agricultural Administration" was published, it went to the imperial case of Emperor Chongzhen.

After listening to the publication of this "Complete Book of Agricultural Administration", Emperor Chongzhen smiled and sighed: "If Xu Qing knew that his hard work could be passed on, I believe that his spirit in the sky should also be satisfied." ”

"Your Majesty, Weichen doesn't dare to agree." Who knew that Chen Zilong said something unexpected, which made Emperor Chongzhen stunned, looking at him and not knowing why he said this, "Your Majesty, Weichen thinks that if the ancestor knows that these can benefit the people, he may be able to get what he wants!" ”

Speaking of this, he saw that the emperor seemed to be stunned, so he played again: "The ancestors learned from their lives and studied heaven and man, and they were all based on practicality. As for farming, I pay special attention to it. It is the source of people's livelihood and education, and the foundation of the country's prosperity and strength. It's a pity that ambition dies before it is rewarded! ”

Emperor Chongzhen nodded, smiled, and nodded solemnly: "Yes, I didn't do a good job before, and now, Qing is willing to uphold Xu Qing's legacy and work hard for me to strengthen the Ming Dynasty and make the people rich?" ”

This is the pot that was originally carried by Emperor Chongzhen, but for him, it doesn't matter, if he carries it, he will carry it.

Chen Zilong didn't expect the emperor to admit his mistake in person, which was a bit beyond his imagination. When he came back to his senses, he couldn't help but be very excited, and immediately bowed down and saluted: "This, Weichen's wish is also!" ”

Emperor Chongzhen listened to it and nodded again with satisfaction, this Chen Zilong is available!

He was thinking about it, but he saw Chen Zilong excitedly and impassionedly, and with the enthusiasm of a young man, he played to Emperor Chongzhen: "Your Majesty, today's Ming Dynasty, vulgar Confucianism is ancient rather than modern, scribes are gorgeous and give up the truth, husbands hold the defects, and look for sound and color, all of which are empty talk. The world's affairs are urgent, when there are gains and losses, there is no intention, as seen by Weichen, today's people have no real learning. Therefore, Weichen and his friends co-authored a book, called "Huangming Jingshiwen Compilation", a total of 504 volumes, divided into military salaries, horse administration, border defense, border conditions, firearms, tribute market, fanbo, famine, agriculture, sand control, water conservancy, shipping, transportation, finance, salt law, criminal law, money law, tax law, military confiscation, imperial examination, etc., to be dedicated to His Majesty. ”

Emperor Chongzhen was overjoyed when he heard this, and hurriedly asked, "Where is this book?" Quickly present it to me! ”

For him, he feels that there are too few talents available at his disposal. At this time, I heard that there was such a group of readers, who felt that there were too many sour Confucianism in the Ming Dynasty, and most of them were empty talkers, sorting out practical books by themselves, no matter what, these people were a group of ambitious people. When he heard this, he was naturally happy.

Chen Zilong mentioned this matter to Emperor Chongzhen, so he was naturally prepared. He brought the books, and they were at the servant's side outside the Forbidden City. Therefore, this set of "Huangming Jingshi Wen Compilation" was quickly presented to the imperial front, and Emperor Chongzhen immediately quickly browsed it.

In fact, this "Huangming Jingshi Wen Compilation" is mainly a collection of articles from the Ming Dynasty for more than 200 years, which are excerpts and edited by editors like Chen Zilong who feel that they are useful for the current governance of the country. Of course, the value of this book is not as good as that of the "Complete Book of Agricultural Administration", and there are many of them, in fact, they are just general talks and hearsay, but it is undeniable that this is indeed useful for today's troubled times. If someone engages in research in this area and goes to practice, it will definitely bear fruit.

After a cursory glance, Emperor Chongzhen smiled at Chen Zilong, who looked expectant, and said, "I appreciate people with lofty ideals, and it seems that the rest of the people are also interested." In this way, you will go and find them all, and I plan to meet them. ”

Chen Zilong was looking forward to this sentence, and when he heard the emperor's promise to see him, he was immediately overjoyed and hurriedly agreed.

These friends of his, in the original history, were also good and bad, some died to resist the Qing Dynasty, some surrendered to the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and some of them were more famous in later generations. As for Chen Zilong himself, he also resisted the Qing Dynasty and died by throwing himself into the water, just like that, the Manchu Qing Dynasty did not let it go, and it was too late to pick it up. It can be seen from this that the Manchus hated him.

Emperor Chongzhen didn't know about these things, but this did not prevent him from rewarding Chen Zilong. Considering that Chen Zilong himself was a Jinshi of Chongzhen for ten years, Emperor Chongzhen decided to set up an agricultural department in addition to the thirteen divisions of the household department, which was dedicated to national agricultural production, and the chief official was a member of the six products. And Chen Zilong is the first agricultural secretary wailang.

In this regard, Chen Zilong was overjoyed. It can be seen that the emperor attaches great importance to this agricultural matter. Chen Zilong knows that as long as he can do a good job, he will have a bright future in the future. He was only in his early thirties, and he was suddenly full of pride, and he made up his mind that he would live up to the emperor's trust.

Emperor Chongzhen then issued a decree posthumously crowning Xu Guangqi as the master of agriculture, which was the first title of "grandmaster" for the Ming Dynasty. Of course, if he were alive, he would probably only have the title of "Master of Farming".

As soon as this second decree set off, it immediately sent a signal to all parts of the country. That is, the emperor attaches great importance to talents from all walks of life, and as long as there is talent, the title is not a problem. For example, right now, there are already masters of weapons, water conservancy, and agricultural masters; This greatly stimulated those craftsmen, scholars, and so on.

Emperor Chongzhen has reason to believe that it is estimated that in the near future, there should be more talented people standing in the foreground for their own use. It is hoped that all walks of life in Daming can bloom and contend, and reproduce the glory of Daming technology.

It's just that what Emperor Chongzhen didn't expect was that before he could turn his mind to the Hetao area, a letter broke his happy mood.

This piece was presented to the emperor after many twists and turns by Ruan Zhitian, the magistrate of Gucheng. He made it clear in the recital, saying that Zhang Xianzhong knelt down and worshipped etiquette on the surface of Gucheng, but in fact, he trained his soldiers to control the armor and staff, did not release troops, should not be transferred, did not enter the palace, and was arrogant and did not obey the law.

Ruan Zhitian concluded that this thief would rebel. Therefore, he reported to Xiong Wencan, the governor of the six provinces, but was severely reprimanded by Xiong Wencan. So, he went directly to the imperial court, hoping that the imperial court would take action as soon as possible to suppress Zhang Xianzhong's rebellion.

Emperor Chongzhen looked at the time, and this piece was delayed on the road for at least a month. Judging from what he said in the concert, it seems that Zhang Xianzhong's opposition is very obvious. It's been a month, what's going on in Gucheng?

Thinking about this, he couldn't help but worry.