The mountains in the distance came out of the darkness, revealing the gray and blue colors in the distant sky. Day after day, year after year, none of this seems to change, the mountains just stand still, motionless.

No, more than ten years ago, there was also a big movement here - the Tancheng earthquake once shook the ground in an area of thousands of miles, and once changed the topography here. I don't know how many ditches have been added, and I don't know how many flat lands have become hills.

Now, radically changed. After the earthquake of that year, in the face of continuous aftershocks after the earthquake, the imperial court chose to emigrate and moved a large number of people in the earthquake area to Northeast China, Sichuan and other places. The subsequent reconstruction of the earthquake area is not so much a reconstruction as a natural recovery.

After a large number of people moved, many areas of the earthquake zone became no-man's land. However, this sparsely populated area is not idle, but because it has both plains and mountains, it is chosen by the officials and soldiers as a "training ground", and the autumn drills of the official year are carried out here every year. In addition, it became a military camp where the Praetorian Guards stationed in the garrison of the capital.

Over the past dozen years. The officers and soldiers stationed here also planted a large number of trees here, just like the red oak and white oak that are now densely covered on the mountain, these hardwoods introduced from North America, in the past ten years, have taken root in all parts of the Ming Dynasty, and many official roads are planted with this kind of hardwood on both sides, of course, this is not for greening, but the silvicultural plan implemented by the naval division in order to obtain timber, after all, the fleet needs a large number of high-quality oak for shipbuilding, and this is exactly what the local area lacks, so, in addition to logging from the northeast and coastal areas, Silviculture in the interior does not address the root of the timber source, although the process is long. Not only did the naval division have a silvicultural plan, but even the land division also had its own silvicultural plan - the fire gun needed walnut wood as a bed of gun, and the artillery needed high-quality hardwood as a gun carriage. These high-quality timber are rare in the mainland, and high-quality oak and other timber still need to be transported from the northeast and other places. So as early as a few decades ago, the Governor's Office of the Five Armed Forces implemented its own forestry plan.

Although now, iron ribs and even iron plates are replacing wood. However, after nearly 20 years of implementation of the reforestation program, good results have been achieved, as evidenced by the dense forest area on this large mountain.

And now this uninhabited area formed by the earthquake has become the largest forest area near Zhongdu.

As the trees in this area grow, its fringes have been connected to the royal gardens of the central capital, forming a forest corridor that stretches for hundreds of miles. Therefore, in recent years, Zhu Mingzhong has sometimes taken advantage of hunting to come to this mountainous area along the "forest corridor" and hunt some large animals in the mountainous area.

Yesterday, because he was chasing the leopard and forgot the time, Zhu Mingzhong camped in the mountains, not as usual. Stay in the palace.

Early in the morning, after coming out of the tent.

Facing Chaoyang, Zhu Mingzhong had a smile on his face, especially when he saw the leopard, his expression was even more proud.

"When I return to Zhongdu, I will make it into a specimen!"

There is an exhibition hall in the palace, where many animal specimens are placed, both captured from various overseas colonies and hunted by Zhu Mingzhong himself.

For him, perhaps this is one of his favorite entertainment in this era.

Now there are many mountains and forests in Daming, far beyond the imagination of future generations. After 20 years of popularization, in addition to the use of firewood in the countryside, coal has long been popularized among the citizen class, and the popularization of coal not only brings a lot of tax revenue to the government, but more importantly, allows the mountains to recuperate. Many barren mountains in North China, after decades of natural breeding, are not only densely forested, but have even become a paradise for wild animals, tigers, leopards, wolves, wild boars, deer and other animals live in the continuous mountains.

Although there is hunting by the people, the number of them is extremely impressive. Even in this early morning, Zhu Mingzhong was awakened by the roar of the tiger on the mountain.

Today, the ecology here is closer to a primeval forest. Being in this forest is a pleasure in itself. This kind of enjoyment is more of a relief to the restoration of the Central Plains environment.

Many places in the Central Plains are gradually restoring to the topography of thousands of years ago. Another benefit of changes in the natural environment is the continuous reduction of natural disasters.

Chasing the benign changes in the natural environment everywhere. The drought that once ravaged northern China is decreasing. Many areas are gradually becoming land of fish and rice again.

Compared to expanding the territory. Perhaps this change in the local environment. is a more gratifying thing, after all, no matter how vast the land of Daming is in the future. Can't change. The fact that the Central Plains will always be the core of this civilization.

The improvement of the overall natural environment is meaningful for the future of the Ming Dynasty. For all this. Zhu Mingzhong was in his eyes and happy in his heart, but he had never discussed this issue with anyone. Just stubbornly pushing for something he thinks is right. Eventually, time will tell.

And this stubbornness also brings a kind of exhaustion. Sometimes he even feels so exhausted that he wants to rest a lot of the time.

"Actually, it would be nice if I could live like this all day long."

Looking at the flowing stream in the mountains, Zhu Mingzhong muttered to himself.

Twenty-one years!

It's really tiring enough!

In fact, it is almost time to let the prince get in touch with state politics. After all. The crown prince is the successor of the future Ming Dynasty.

Thinking of the prince who was already in his twenties, Zhu Mingzhong thought silently. Maybe it's time for him to handle the affairs of the country and slowly preside over the affairs of the country. In this way, he can not only be a real and unknown "emperor", but also watch his ability to handle national affairs from the sidelines.

In this way, it can be regarded as a grind!

Of course, it's also a workout. There was himself watching him. There won't be any mess. Even if something goes wrong? I can also correct it in time.

Maybe it's time.

Suddenly, the voice behind him interrupted Zhu Mingzhong's thoughts.

"Your Majesty, a messenger has just sent a telegram from the court. It is to urge His Majesty to return to the court. ”

"Is there anything mentioned in the telegram?"

"Well, not really."

"Then there's no need to rush."

Zhu Mingzhong said with a smile.

"They can't see me being idle, they're busy, and they don't want me to be idle, hey, I'm actually very hard, and I didn't stop all day yesterday. It's like chasing this leopard, chasing for a whole few hours, hey, why didn't anyone help me drive all the prey in front of me? ”

Thinking of the "Ming Jun" who hunted several tigers and hundreds of deer and rabbits in another time and space, Zhu Mingzhong couldn't help but mock a few words. But that's about it.

"The minions drove the wild things over, to put it bluntly, in order to please the master and cheat, from the small to the big, the entire officialdom, must be to please the official to cheat, as a human king, not only do not stop it, but think that he is proud, if there is such a Ming Jun in the world, then there will be no faint king in the history books."

His Majesty's words made Wang Lu deeply agreed.

"What His Majesty said is very true, when the minister was young, I don't know why His Majesty had reprimanded the officials for their exaggerated words, and even ordered the officials who wrote "a thousand miles a day" in the compromise, to go thousands of miles, and could not immediately dismiss the official and exile, and so on later admitted to the martial arts hall, the minister finally understood His Majesty's painstaking efforts, the Spring and Autumn penmanship, the literati exaggerated, it seems to be quite literary, but not only is it not much useful in governance, but it will also mislead the court and cause trouble, just like the great drought in Beizhili that year, some officials played "Beizhili Chidi Qianli, Tens of millions of hungry people", so exaggerated, although it seems to be well-intentioned, but not only useless in the imperial court, but will lead to the imperial court can not get accurate information, unable to provide disaster relief and relief in an emergency, unable to adjust relief according to the priority of the disaster, if there is a mistake, it will inevitably lead to civil unrest, therefore, Your Majesty will decree that the officials who have made such a twist and turn will be dismissed and exiled at a rate, since then, my Ming officialdom has changed its past style, and then to the Tancheng earthquake, all places have truthfully reported the collapse of houses and casualties, as well as the number of victims, so, It was only later that the imperial court prioritized and dispatched materials, so that the people were at peace after the catastrophe and did not lead to a catastrophe and famine. ”

Wang Lu's words made Zhu Mingzhong nod slightly, and then said.

Not only that, but more importantly, in fact, the root cause of the "exaggeration of words" in the old days was the laziness of officials, and there must be an accurate numerical basis for government affairs. This is obviously inappropriate, so I ruled that the officials were lazy, not just exaggerated. ”

The literati are pompous. For thousands of years, this tradition has been disastrous for China. It can even be said that the reason why China has come to this point is fundamentally related to the exaggeration of literati. For them, flowery and exaggerated words are far more important than that.

They take it for granted that it is right to use literary exaggeration to present facts. In fact, they were wrong from the start. Facts are facts. They chose to start with pompousness, and the process of Chinese civilization went down a crooked path.

After that, Zhu Mingzhong turned his head to look at Wang Lu and asked.

"If I'm not mistaken, Wang Qing's hometown is in Tancheng."

"Back to Your Majesty, Chen's hometown is Tancheng, but after the earthquake, he has moved to Sichuan with his family, compared to Tancheng's hometown, after arriving in Sichuan, life is becoming more and more relaxed, and later Chen can study all the way to the county school, and was admitted to the Lushi School, thanks to the improvement of the family situation, or I am not afraid that I will not be able to go to the county school."

Nodding silently, Zhu Mingzhong said.

"County school, it will be free in the future, but it will take time, and in another twenty years, it will be almost enough......"

To establish a complete education system, this is Zhu Mingzhong's wish all along, and now Daming has proposed a four-level education system from social school to county school, from the government to the academy. In fact, they are equivalent to elementary school, middle school, high school, and college. However, the development of education is driven by the development of society, and with the development of the industrial and commercial economy, education will continue to develop on its own.

After establishing a foundation, sound ...... Let's teach the society to be healthy! After all, Daming doesn't need so many middle school students now.

"If this is the case, then the people of the world will definitely be grateful to the heavenly family."

After a simple compliment, Wang Lu said again.

"In fact, the reason why the minister was lucky to survive back then was all because His Majesty asked all over the country to build street lights and encourage night markets, if it weren't for that, when the earthquake occurred, the minister and many people would probably sleep peacefully at home, but I don't know how many deaths and injuries will increase."

Even though more than ten years have passed, Wang Lu still thinks of the earthquake and the night market of that year. Now Daming has long been accustomed to night markets, but who remembers the surprise when the Chinese New Year's Eve market first rose?

No one has counted how many people were saved in the night market that year, but it is certain that if it weren't for His Majesty's will, I am afraid that he would have died in the earthquake a long time ago, where he had the opportunity to be admitted to the Lu Shi Academy, and then become His Majesty's close attendant.

"Well, it was a mistake back then!"

Zhu Mingzhong smiled, he still had palpitations about the earthquake that year, after all, Zhongdu was also extremely strong, and many houses collapsed. The only good news is that the casualties are limited, as many people are on the streets of the night market.

The night market saved a lot of people, of course, although there were also good people who linked the implementation of the holy decree to the night market with the earthquake, but Zhu Mingzhong never admitted it, and even rebuked this connection, although the original intention of asking all localities to implement night markets was to reduce casualties.

"However, after this night market is in fashion, the streets are always lively, so it's better to be lively!"

Laughing, Zhu Mingzhong said again.

"Pack up, hurry back today, they sent me a telegram, if I don't go back, I guess they will send another telegram. Busy and idle, that is, idle for a while! ”

The next morning, Zhu Mingzhong, who had been away from Zhongdu for a week, finally returned to Zhongdu under the supervision of the cabinet. Although there are no big things, there are always small things, after Fang Yizhi reported the affairs of the last few days one by one, he mentioned the recent experience of the people in the Jiashen Tianchang period when the newspapers around the world were solicited, Zhu Mingzhong was silent for a moment, and then said.

"That's a good thing!"

Looking at Fang Yizhi with his back to him, Zhu Mingzhong said.

"Forgetting history is tantamount to betrayal, forty years, it doesn't seem to be a long time, but in these forty years, many people have long forgotten everything that happened back then, forget the pain, remember happiness, this is the instinct of people, but this should not be, the instinct of the country!"

Referring to people's gradual forgetting, Zhu Mingzhong thought of the "anti-Japanese dramas" of later generations, although those "divine dramas" are very magical and make people complain, but in addition to people complaining, the role of the divine drama still plays a role - through those divine dramas, people once again remember the War of Resistance, remember the pain and hurt of the past, and once again complete patriotic education.

The drama is very godly, but it does not prevent him from reminding people to remember history.

But in this era, there are neither movies nor television. Even opera is not something that everyone has the opportunity to listen to every day, so naturally there are not many channels to remind people of everything that happened 40 years ago. Slowly people will forget.

Even, this is why, for a long time, there are many people who do not approve of the expedition to the Western Regions - they have long forgotten what happened to them back then.

"Fang Qingjia, can you remember why, since the westward expedition of the army, why did some people oppose the imperial court sending a large army and spending hundreds of millions of military salaries and laborers on the expedition? Why did they advocate peace with the Manchus and make them vassals, the so-called "soldiers who surrender without a fight?" ””

Looking at Fang Yizhi with a smile, Zhu Mingzhong's words were mocking.

"Why would they do that?"

"Because they have forgotten, forgotten what happened to them for forty years!"

Fang Yizhi replied directly.

"So, when the newspaper solicited these, the minister sent some of the manuscripts he had written, and the minister thought, there are some things that people always need to remember it, and someone to remind the world is better than no one to remind them!"

As an eyewitness, Fang Yizhi naturally remembered what happened in those years, and he would not forget it, but the forgetting of the world made him extremely helpless.

"So, in the final analysis, it is still the imperial court that has not fulfilled the responsibilities of the imperial court, we think that as long as some of the atrocities of the Manchu Qing are written into the history books, and then let the teenagers learn them in the academy, everyone will remember it, but in fact, it is just a few strokes, what is the use? When they leave the school, the environment they are exposed to will no longer remind them of all this, and many of them will slowly forget, and eventually forget ...... completely."

Looking into the distance, thinking of history in another time and space, Zhu Mingzhong said again.

Just like shaving hair is easy to wear, 40 years ago, people shouted "the head can be broken, the hair can not be shaved", but if it is another 40 years, I am afraid that they will feel that shaving their hair is natural, if the North Korea, Vietnam envoys come, the people and officials will even take the Han clothes on their bodies as strange, and it is strange! ”

People are always so forgetful. Even more than two hundred years later, when they wanted to cut their braids, there were still people who were so angry that they were angry, and some people kept their braids to be loyal ministers of the Qing Dynasty.

Why are people so forgetful?

Not because of anything else, it's because the environment didn't remind them. Why don't people in later generations forget the Anti-Japanese War, in the final analysis, the Anti-Japanese War drama can be said to be indispensable!

But what should be done in this day and age?

Looking at the newspaper, pondering for a long time, Zhu Mingzhong said to Yizhi.

"I don't know how many letters the newspaper receives, but I think that the newspaper, as the most important public opinion in the Ming Dynasty, should shoulder their responsibility, well, from now on, every newspaper must publish a collection of letters from the people every week. Only in this way can we constantly remind them of what kind of atrocities those Manchuqing committed! ”

Hearing this, Fang Yizhi immediately said.

"Your Majesty, in this way, the subjects of the world will never forget the tyranny of the Manchu Qing Dynasty again."

"Shengming ......"

Shaking his head and sighing, Zhu Mingzhong sighed, looking at the West.

"At least, now that everyone is awakened, there won't be so many people who will oppose the expedition to the Western Regions!"