The sun was setting in the west, but it was still early. The glazed tiles in the palace of the imperial concubine and the lacquer paintings in the pavilion are full of colors in the sun, and there are flowers and plants ponds and rockeries dotted among them, and the scenery is very beautiful.

The imperial concubine Mu Zhen has just been diagnosed and is pregnant; Today, Zhu Gaoxu will go early, and he will come here to accompany her in the afternoon.

"I can't see it, the imperial doctor said that it will only be more than a month at most." Mu Zhen said embarrassedly, she glared at Zhu Gaoxu slightly coquettishly, but she still had a smile on her face.

Zhu Gaoxu was walking with her on the stone path between the sparse trees, and a team of eunuchs and palace maids were behind, ten steps away, holding kettles, cups, melons and fruits and other things. Just now, Zhu Gaoxu looked at Mu Zhen's waist many times, and she found out.

Zhu Gaoxu smiled: "I really can't see it, some women don't even know themselves when they are a month or two." ”

He looked at Mu Zhen's small waist, it still looked like a slender waist, and there was indeed no sign at all.

Mu Zhen's cheeks were slightly red and she nodded.

Her facial features are very exquisite, really beautiful, and the most common smile she often wears in front of Zhu Gaoxu is extraordinarily pleasing to the eye. Zhu Gaoxu said casually: "Close to Zhu Zhechi, your smiling appearance is very contagious, and it makes me feel happy." ”

Mu Zhen glanced up at him: "The saint is good to me, and he speaks warmly, if the concubine doesn't smile, will she still cry?" ”

"Hahaha......" Zhu Gaoxu laughed heartily. I suddenly felt that the weather was really good today, and Mu Zhen was still the same as before, a little playful from time to time.

Mu Zhen said again: "It seems that the heavens approve of the saint's use of troops abroad, and they also sense that the saint's dispatch of troops is for the sake of all the people in the world. ”

Zhu Gaoxu said: "How can you see it? ”

Mu Zhen said with a smile: "Before the eldest son of the saint, Zhan Yan, he sent troops to Meng Yangsi to conquer the Si family. Now she is about to go north to Mongolia, and the concubine is pregnant for the saint again. Isn't that a good sign? ”

"Huh!" Zhu Gaoxu suddenly laughed briefly.

He obviously doesn't believe in this, and this kind of statement must be said to be feudal superstition if it is to be put on hold in future generations!

However, now that it is the Ming Dynasty after all, there is nothing wrong with Mu Zhen's statement; What's more, she said auspicious words, on the eve of the Northern Expedition, to bless Zhu Gaoxuli! What can Zhu Gaoxu say? If you don't agree with this statement, you can only laugh.

Mu Zhen seemed to be very understanding, and immediately felt Zhu Gaoxu's disapproval, so she said softly: "Dong Zhongshu said, 'When heaven and man are united, they become one', and Cheng Hao said, 'Heaven and man are inherent, there is no need to be together', isn't this the case with heaven and man induction?"

In the fifth year of Yongle, the abolished prince sought to kill his father and lost his morality in the world, and an earthquake occurred in Beijing; Now that the Son of Heaven is in power, the heavens will send auspicious signs. The virtue of the saint has been sensed by the heavens. ”

Zhu Gaoxu had no choice but to respond: "Then I have to work hard to continue to satisfy God." ”

Mu Zhen said: "As early as when I was in Yunnan, I heard the words of the saint, and I believe that the saint is a master who can bless all people. ”

"Which time? I've said so much. Zhu Gaoxu stretched out his hand and put it on his forehead, and after laughing, he made a memory.

Mu Zhen said softly: "It was not long before the conquest of Annanguo, in the pear orchard. I can't remember it, but I have been moved to worship you for a long time. ”

"It's a bit impressive." Zhu Gaoxu nodded and said, "King Qianning (Mu Ying) started with military merits, and the Duke of Qianguo is also a noble general, but Zhen'er seems to have read a lot of books." ”

Mu Zhen said: "My father also loves to read. ”

"I see." Zhu Gaoxu nodded, and couldn't help but smile bitterly again. He remembered Mu Sheng's aristocratic style and his ability to lead troops to fight to a certain extent.

Mu Zhen's remarks made Zhu Gaoxu realize again: in the ruling class of the Ming Dynasty, and even among the groups with a little knowledge, Confucianism has a very high status in the philosophical worldview, and people's thoughts are relatively unified.

The ruler is not ignorant, because people all over the world do not yet know such common sense as "the earth is round"! On the contrary, it is not the result of wisdom that scholars assumed the foundation of a "worldview" and were able to construct a very complete and rigorous philosophical system on top of it.

When it came to such an in-depth topic, Zhu Gaoxu couldn't convince Mu Zhen for a while, and he didn't agree with her, so he began to consciously divert the topic. He remembered something that made Mu Zhen feel more intensely, so he turned his head to look at the scene behind him.

The palace maids and eunuchs were all ten paces away, far away. Zhu Gaoxu said in a low voice: "That time in the pear orchard, I looked at your body, I really didn't mean it. ”

Sure enough, Mu Zhen's face suddenly turned red, and what heaven and man sensed might have been immediately left out of her mind.

Suddenly, although Mu Zhen was very embarrassed, but now that the two of them had a name, she quickly calmed down again. She glanced at Zhu Gaoxu and said softly, "That incident is no wonder to the saint. But don't get me wrong, Holy One, I'm not that kind of person......"

Zhu Gaoxu nodded and said, "Of course I understand." ”

Mu Zhen said: "Because I was seen by the saint, I often think about it, and my heart is entangled. Later, I felt weird, and I vaguely wanted to be seen by you......" The more she spoke, the lower her voice became.

Zhu Gaoxu said: "It's only a month pregnant, and you can still do that kind of thing." I'll sleep in your palace tonight. ”

"Holy ......," Mu Zhen groaned shyly.

…… The next day, after Zhu Gaoxu met the minister at the imperial gate, he came to the Rouyi Hall to work.

The weather has been very good recently, and the climate in Jingshi is calm, maybe Mu Zhen is right, God is in favor of this Northern Expedition! Zhu Gaoxu also has a clear conscience, and it is not an unrighteous war in itself!

Most of the chapters do not need to be approved every day, and the cabinet and the treasure department can handle it, and there has been no major problem so far; However, matters related to the Northern Expedition will still be directly presented to Zhu Gaoxu.

There are often reports in the military department, and everything is more complicated; There are also chapters for the allocation of weapons and ordnance.

Zhu Gaoxu took a general look at the weapons and ammunition that the military department was preparing to transport, and the equipment did not change substantially from what was used by the Han Wangjun during the "Battle of Crime"; However, the production system, which was not very mature at the beginning, was improved.

Among them, the Hanwang cannon used to be inconsistent in size and troublesome to use. Nowadays, the workshops of various bureaus and institutes have uniformly used the size standards and casting technology of the "iron factory" of the Shouyu Sinan Administration, and finally avoided the disadvantage that the shells are difficult to replenish.

In the firecracker, the previous various types of "bronze handguns" and "sharpshooters" have been eliminated from the local guards; The firearms used by the elite of the Beijing camp and distributed to all the people of the Northern Expedition all used the Kaishan guns.

The gunpowder used has also changed from the past, adding several purification processes such as filtration and cooking, and then grinding and screening into granules. Due to the increase in the power of gunpowder and the amount of gunpowder used in firearms and artillery, the Ministry of War and the Governor's Office of the Five Armies have also made new adjustments.

Based on these experiences, Zhu Gaoxu pondered in his heart: The improvement of specific technologies and top-down government decrees can have a certain effect, as long as sufficient money and resources are invested. However, for technology to develop in all its aspects, it requires the participation of a wider group of people, as well as motivation and enthusiasm.

After he put down the recital of the military department, he remembered the "celestial and human induction" mentioned by Mu Zhen yesterday, and suddenly remembered that this year is the year of autumn, and next spring will open Enke to take the jinshi.

Zhu Gaoxu asked the eunuch to go to the Wuying Hall to take a look at the government affairs files recently handled by the cabinet.

Sure enough, in the dossier, I found the content of the imperial examination, mainly about the examination of people this autumn. The "Qiuqiu" township examination is presided over by the provincial tribute institutes, but the Ministry of Rites must send people to supervise it; The examiners, questions, etc., must be controlled by the imperial court.

Zhu Gaoxu didn't need to ask about the progress of Qiu Yu in detail, and he could 100% conclude the topic in his heart: it must still be Confucianism!

Since the Song Dynasty and until the Ming Dynasty, Confucianism was an officially recognized discipline and the direction of the imperial examination. It means that most of the scholars are very unified in their thinking from Confucianism, Xiucai, Juren, and Jinshi......

People in the world are very utilitarian and pay attention to practicality, whether people agree with it or not, if you can become an official by learning this thing, everyone will be willing to learn when you study. Even serious books such as "Historical Records" are useless idle books at this time!

Although Zhu Gaoxu was born as a vassal king and showed himself as a martial artist, he was taught by well-educated people since he was a child, and his educational resources were very rich. So he still remembers a lot of knowledge in his mind; He still understands the general situation of various doctrines and schools of learning in ancient times.

Before and after the Song Dynasty, the rise of science and mind were all branches of Confucianism, with a relatively complete set of systems.

In fact, these "backward" ideas in Zhu Gaoxu's eyes played a great role in maintaining the rule of the Zhu dynasty. It strictly expounds the rational relationship between monarchy and ethics; If it's not the most basic thing, it's wrong, and this set of worldviews is almost invulnerable!

If Zhu Gaoxu tells everyone about "science" now, because of his status as emperor, people must be considered crazy...... The brother who was going to kill Zhu Gaochu and had already become an enemy died, and Zhu Gaochu was only a little suspicious, so he made him a little anxious; Not to mention that the emperor suddenly jumped out and wanted to challenge the ideological foundation of the world.

Moreover, the theory of science may not be able to match the current productive forces and ruling order.

"You can't be in a hurry...... Zhu Gaoxu muttered to himself, and reluctantly closed the cabinet file.

The eunuch standing beside him heard him speak and quickly paid attention to it. But Zhu Gaoxu has no follow-up.

He plans to ignore this year's township examination and next spring's general examination for the time being, and let the ministers tinker; At least the familiar stuff and the people are playing skillfully, and it's better than the chaos in the world.

At the moment, science is science! Anyway, when Zhu Gaoxu ascended the throne, he also had a "celestial induction" on the Chengtian Gate.

Zhu Gaoxu couldn't help but think of what he said again: Any meaningful event is complicated and difficult.