Emperor Chongzhen had just returned to Beijing, and he hadn't had a good rest for a few days, let alone had time to think about the concrete matter, so he first received Xue Fengxiang's resignation.

Xue Fengxiang really didn't plan to do it anymore - he had already been put on a hat by the concubine a few years ago, although the concubine and the adulterer were fed to the dogs, and the factory guard, who had always been pervasive, also chose to be temporarily blind at that time, but Xue Fengxiang's heart was still not very comfortable.

In addition, he is now over 80 years old, and if he continues to work, it is estimated that he will have to die of old age, so he chose to retire bravely - an emperor like this can only live a few more years if he returns to his hometown!

Emperor Chongzhen approved Xue Fengxiang's recital.

In fact, it is foreseeable that Shi Fenglai and Xue Fengxiang's farewell to the old is just the beginning, and there will be a steady stream of court bosses who choose to return to their hometowns in the future.

After all, they are all sixty or seventy years old, and some people are still courtiers in the Wanli period, and in their own generation, they can already be regarded as the elders of the Four Dynasties.

Although his cheap father has only been the emperor for twenty-nine days, he also has a temple name and a year name, so he can naturally be regarded as a son of heaven.

If you can give people a good death, you should give it.

Emperor Chongzhen sighed in his heart for his kindness and generosity, and on the other hand, he was thinking about who should replace Fang Zhuangli - after Xue Fengxiang said goodbye, someone from the Ministry of Industry had to take over.

Now Fang Zhuangli can still hold on, but Fang Zhuangli is not suitable to worry about the ministry at this age, and it is estimated that it will be time for him to do it after a while.

At that time, there will be a lot of vacancies in the court, especially the part of the top floor.

From a common sense point of view, each ministry is still a scholar, and naturally there are servants from each ministry to go up, and then provide it step by step, and the newly appointed boss will burn a fire again, clean up the factions that are not dealing with him, and finally vacate a large number of middle and bottom positions.

This is a normal operating process, but it does not apply to the situation of Chongzhen's fourteenth year.

The reason is very simple, before the first year of Chongzhen, there were officials in the capital who were waiting to fill the vacancies, and there were also a large number of preparatory officials in various ministries who walked and studied, and they could be used to be vacant at any time.

However, since the first year of Chongzhen, with the killing of Emperor Chongzhen and the continuous expansion of the territory, not only the officials in the capital who are waiting to fill the vacancies have been released, but even the officials who have walked and studied in various ministries have been released in large numbers.

By the sixth year of Chongzhen, some grassroots officials, such as the county magistrate, were simply selected from among the old officials such as the county lord Bo.

Because even if Emperor Chongzhen played with his life, the selected scholars needed to walk and study in the cabinet and various ministries for a period of time before they could be released, and the number of officials was always in a very tense state.

Emperor Chongzhen, who hadn't come up with any good solution after thinking about it for a long time, simply didn't want to think about it, and ordered someone to summon Wen Tiren and other bigwigs into the palace again.

Looking at Wen Tiren and Guo Yunhou, as well as Fang Zhuangli, Xue Fengxiang and others, who were either gray or completely white, Emperor Chongzhen couldn't help but feel sour in his heart.

It is these eunuchs in front of them, these old ministers who should have been scolded in the history books and should have been stinking for 10,000 years, accompanied themselves to support the crisis of the Ming Dynasty, survived for thirteen years, and stabilized the already dangerous situation.

Maybe without them, I can still survive, but it will never be as easy as it is now - it is more likely to completely destroy Daming and start over.

In fact, all the people in later generations who shouted that the situation of the Ming Dynasty should be completely destroyed and then reshuffled, including Emperor Chongzhen himself, who did not cross the previous time, were just thinking about it.

It's easy to break the situation, and it may be easy to create a new situation, relying on your own knowledge hundreds of years ahead, but who is really suffering?

Emperor Chongzhen has always been an emperor, even if he marches and fights, he can't suffer much, and other high-ranking officials and wealthy merchants and gentry are roughly the same.

Only the people at the bottom suffered, and they were the ones who suffered the most, not the army.

This is also the reason why Emperor Chongzhen chose to slowly change after the mass killing, rather than choosing the coolest to start over.

People who forget the Soviet Union have no conscience, and those who want to reborn the Soviet Union have no brains - the same is true of the Ming Dynasty, who shout that they will start over and solve the problem simply and rudely, either they are people who have no worries about food and clothing, and have not seen the poverty of the people, or they are crying out slogans in despair because of their misfortunes, anger, and despair.

After Wen Tiren and the others entered the palace and sat down, Emperor Chongzhen directly set his eyes on Xue Fengxiang: "Xue Aiqing is also sixty out of eighty now, right?" ”

Xue Fengxiang bowed and said: "Your Majesty Lao is concerned, Weichen is indeed sixty out of eighty this year. ”

Emperor Chongzhen simply got up from the chair, waved his hand to Wen Tiren and the others, and said, "Wait and sit down first, I have a few words in my heart, and I want to talk to Zhongqing." ”

After a pause, Emperor Chongzhen continued: "I still remember that when I first promised the vassal kings to exchange their fiefs overseas, I also promised you Aiqing.

What I promised at that time was that you Aiqing could spend some silver to pick some overseas lands from the hands of the imperial court as fiefs, although it was not as good as the feudal domains that could be passed down from generation to generation, but after a few generations, you could get some benefits.

It's just that this promise has been made for many years, except for Wen Aiqing's family, who was rewarded by me for a piece of land on Xinming Island, none of the other Aiqing have come to me?

I will repeat it again today, if you want to buy a fiefdom, even if you open your mouth, the price of ten taels of silver per acre, I will not investigate where the silver in your Aiqing's hands came from. ”

Speaking of which, Emperor Chongzhen's meaning is obvious.

You people, I have seen the merits of shedding blood and sweat for me, and I have recognized you, and now if you want to buy a fief and waste it yourself, you can put it forward.

As for the money you bought land, I know that the big guys are not clean, but I don't intend to pursue you, this is the benefit for you, be bold and don't be afraid.

Shi Fenglai owed a debt and said, "Your Majesty, Weichen has already said before that he doesn't plan to buy land from overseas anymore.

Children and grandchildren have their own children and grandchildren, and Weichen has earned them a foundation that is countless times stronger than others, if they are angry, they will find a way to buy a fief.

If they don't fight, how much land Weichen buys now, sooner or later there will be a day of failure. ”

Emperor Chongzhen shook his head and said, "What Shi Aiqing said is indeed right. But I have one thing to tell you, which is that life itself is unfair, and the starting point is very different.

No matter how wasteful my son is, he will inevitably have a fief in his hand, and no matter how unhappy Zhuqing's son is, he will be countless times higher than others' starting point, which is undeniable.

Therefore, if you have a fief, the starting point of your sons and nephews will be the governor of a place, which is countless times higher than the starting point of ordinary students.

Although I don't like this situation, I don't want to change this situation, life is inherently unfair, and deliberately emphasizing fairness is originally unfair. ”

Faced with the topic that Emperor Chongzhen almost picked out, Xue Fengxiang simply gave up his hand and said: "Your Majesty, compared with ordinary students, the sons and nephews of the ministers and other families are not as good as ordinary students, but when it comes to governing the family or being an official, they are better than ordinary students.

But if you really want them to govern the fiefdom, they are not enough, and maybe there will be some chaos. Rather than this, it is better to let them go on in peace. ”

Wen Tiren also bowed and said: "Your Majesty must also be clear, although the dog is diligent on Xinming Island, but there are many mistakes and omissions in governance, if it weren't for the dedication of His Royal Highness Tang Wang and others, I am afraid that there would have been a big mess."

It can be seen that there is a big difference between serving as an official and governing a fiefdom.

The minister has already had the intention to ask His Majesty to take back the fief, but he has not been able to find a suitable opportunity, so he just took advantage of today's opportunity to ask His Majesty to take back the fief in Weichen's family! ”

After finishing speaking, Wen Tiren simply got up and pushed to the end.

Emperor Chongzhen stretched out his hand and said with a smile: "There are no barbarians on Xinming Island, so it is natural that there will be chaos, what if you replace your Aiqing's fiefdom with the Mughals?"

I said it bluntly, the people of the Ming Dynasty are the lifeblood of the Ming Dynasty, and the ancestors of Zhuqing are also the people of my Ming Dynasty, so the people of the Ming Dynasty are not in chaos.

But instead of foreign barbarians, I don't care whether they live or die, let alone whether they will rebel, if they are interested, they can replace the fief with the Mughals.

I have made a promise to everyone today, that is, there is a big mess in the Mughals, and the South China Sea Fleet and the Southern Imperial Forest Guard are enough to settle it! ”

Wen Tiren and the others suddenly fell into a tangle.

Emperor Chongzhen's heart-digging nest is a heart-digging nest, but to say that Emperor Chongzhen has no bad intentions at all, I'm afraid that it may not be - it's not that he took a fancy to the little money that everyone made, and threw the Mughals who were not completely actually controlled by everyone to everyone, while taking out all the money in everyone's hands, and at the same time completing the real matter of immigration through everyone's hands.

The benefits have been taken by Emperor Chongzhen and the imperial court, but the infamy that may appear in the future will be borne by the big guys.

But the conditions are really tempting.

Just like Emperor Chongzhen said, it will definitely not be possible to make a mess on Xinming Island, and there is no way to explain it to the emperor and the court, but when it comes to the Mughals, even if it is a big mess, it is just to throw the barbarians out and make an errand.

There are pros and cons, and that's what makes people feel the most entangled.

After muttering for a long time, Wen Tiren simply bowed down and said, "Your Majesty, the minister is willing to replace the Xinming Island seal with the Mughals." ”

Shi Fenglai also spoke: "Your Majesty, Longen, the minister is willing to buy two thousand hectares of land as a fief, and if you buy the silver of the land, Weichen will arrange for someone to send it to the household department as soon as possible." As for recruiting the people and other matters, Weichen will also arrange for his children and nephews to do it. ”

Emperor Chongzhen snorted, and then turned his gaze to Xue Fengxiang again: "What did Xue Aiqing say?" ”

Xue Fengxiang bowed and said: "Your Majesty, Weichen is willing to buy 2,000 hectares of Mughal land like a consultant, and if he recruits the people, he will also arrange for his sons and nephews to do it." ”

With Wen Tiren and Shi Fenglai, Xue Fengxiang taking the lead, the remaining cabinet and household bigwigs also made up their minds and purchased different amounts of land, even Hong Chengchou, who had no intention of doing it and was estimated to be able to work for another twenty or thirty years, also subscribed for 2,000 hectares of land.

Looking at the ministers, Emperor Chongzhen also sighed in his heart, it is estimated that this is the first time, and it is very likely that it will be the last time to give the ministers a fief.

As for the next time, it is estimated that it will be possible until the land on the European side is occupied, or if there is another situation where a large number of Shangshu Pavilion elders will become officials.

After cheering himself up, Emperor Chongzhen set his eyes on Hong Chengchou: "After Cui Shilang goes back, he should have told Hong Aiqing, right?" ”

Hong Chengchou bowed and said, "Yes, Cui Shilang has already told Weichen about crossing the Yellow River Bridge. ”

Emperor Chongzhen nodded, returned to the chair and sat down, before continuing: "Then what is Hong Aiqing's plan?" Do you have an idea right now? ”

Hong Chengchou said: "Your Majesty, Cui Shilang said that Your Majesty once mentioned the method of building bridge piers with steel as bone and cement as meat, and Weichen has arranged for someone to try it out."

Not to hide it from His Majesty, the original minister thought about whether he could use cement plus bamboo branches or reeds, and some other things to make bridge piers, and he also tried it several times. ”

Emperor Chongzhen was even more interested now.

Although Hong Chengchou is a famous traitor in history, he is actually very useful if he is used well.

At the very least, with him in charge of the Ministry of Railways, he basically doesn't have to worry about it, he only needs to give a casual order, and Hong Chengchou can do things clearly.

I just casually mentioned it once at the beginning, and I wanted to find a way to let the railway pass through the Yellow River, but I didn't expect that Hong Chengchou was already thinking about it.

Sure enough, none of these guys who can leave their names in the history books are simple.

After thinking about it for a while, Hong Chengchou continued: "In fact, in addition to the cross-river bridge, my colleagues in the Ministry of Railways have another idea, and I don't know if it is feasible?" ”

Emperor Chongzhen sighed and said, "What do you think?" Hong Aiqing might as well talk about it. ”

Hong Chengchou said: "Your Majesty, if the bridge across the river cannot be repaired, or the piers built are not suitable, can a tunnel be dug under the Yellow River?"

Chen remembered that many railways had to pass through mountains, that is, tunnels dug, and now they have been changed to the Yellow River, isn't it the same? As long as people are sent to excavate and supported with cement and steel, it seems that this tunnel under the river can also be used. ”

Emperor Chongzhen almost spurted out a mouthful of old blood.

Why don't you dig an undersea tunnel? Now Daming's technology, can you fucking support you to dig the tunnel under the river?

How wide is the Yellow River? How deep are you going to dig? Dream!