"The first emperor once said: 'Taixue is the world's virtuous pass, etiquette and righteousness come from it, and talents come from prosperity, so that all beings can succeed, scholars and scholars will change, and the country will depend on it.'" ”

"As the first emperor said, you are all outstanding talents of my Ming Dynasty, I uphold the meaning of the first emperor, although things are busy, but also pay great attention to the national eunuch, whether it is the previous sacrificial wine or the current sacrificial wine, I have repeatedly called into the palace to ask the national supervisor to check the virtuous."

"I have long had the intention of teaching you and others in the Guozijian by myself, but things are busy and I have not been idle. Fortunately, now that the year is approaching, I decided to come to Guozijian to teach the students myself. He explained the reason why he had come to teach.

The faces of the scholars in the Guozijian were not very good-looking. No matter what the reason is, the emperor personally came to teach the class is a denial of them, and of course his face is not good-looking. Only Kim Sun is the same as usual in both his expression and his heart. He was not responsible for the specific lectures, and the emperor had told him about it before, so he didn't care about it.

After the students had agreed, Yun Xi ordered the distribution of textbooks. The guards walked in with many notebooks in their hands and handed them out from table to table.

After the guards put the textbook on his desk, Chen Tingfeng immediately picked it up to see the contents. He was very curious about what the emperor was going to teach. Not only him, but everyone present.

Chen Tingfeng opened the cover and saw that it was written: "The gains and losses of the past dynasties." ”

At the same time, he heard Yun Xi's voice coming from the front: "Today, I will talk about my views on the changes after Guan Zhong Xiangqi. ”

Yun Xi came to the martial arts hall to instill his thoughts in them, since this is the case, then talking about history is the best way to mix private goods; Historically, teaching the reforms of the past dynasties was the easiest way to put on private goods, so he decided to teach this course to his students.

He didn't think the inmates would be able to fully embrace his ideas, even if only with regard to the reforms. So he doesn't tell them all about his understanding of these changes, but picks and chooses some of them.

After a while, Yun Xi finished a class, and these students seemed to have a lot of puzzles, but Yun Xi didn't mean to answer, but said to Jin Shan: "Call the next class over." After hearing this, the prisoners understood that the emperor was going to teach a few more classes, so they hurriedly bowed and retired.

Yun Xi told all the five classes of the Frank Hall, and when he finished speaking, it was almost dark, and Yun Xi said: "It's getting late today, and the next time I come to Guozijian to teach a course for you and others, I will answer your questions." ”

After saying this, Yun Xi left the classroom, rested in the public room for a while, and got up to return to the palace.

Yun Xi just came to the Zuo'an Gate of the palace, and saw that Wang Xi was already waiting here, he saw the car hurriedly catching up, and said to Yun Xi, who had already lifted the curtain: "The official family, the Marquis of Jingchuan, the Marquis of Changxing, the Duke of Zheng, the Duke of Liang and other nobles are already waiting in the palace, and no one is coming. ”

"Okay." Yun Xi agreed, and he had to put down the curtain; But his hand suddenly stopped halfway through, opened the curtain again, and smiled at Wang Xi: "It's strangely cold, you can come up too." ”

"Official, how can a slave be able to sit in the same carriage with His Majesty?" Wang Xi said immediately.

"If I ask you to come up, you will come up, what is hypocrisy." Yun Xi said. Seeing that Wang Xi still couldn't resign, he said, "If you don't come up, I will keep lifting the curtain." ”

"How's that going to work? How can the official family be frozen all the time? Wang Xi jumped to his feet in a hurry, and finally had to get into the carriage.

Yun Xi smiled at him, "That's right. If I tell you to get in the car, you will get in the car, don't grind. After a pause, he added, "You have been following me for ten years, and my feelings with you are different from others. Tomorrow is the twenty-third year of the lunar month, and I should have let you go home for the New Year, but there are too many things in the palace this year, and I don't know who can handle these things well without you, so I can only wait for your holiday after the New Year. ”

"Slaves are the servants of the official family, and they should serve in front of the official family during the New Year." Wang Xi pondered for a while, and then said: "Although Huang Lu and Huang Fu have not yet been trained, it is difficult to take the lead, but there are other eunuchs in the palace who can handle these things. ”

"Who?" Yun Xi asked immediately. There was such a person that he did not know.

"It was the second year of Jianye, and Wang Jin and Wang Bu, who were demoted by the official family to the small eunuchs of the capital governor and the little eunuchs of the palace."

Yun Xi didn't speak for a long time, and after a while, the carriage had already come to Qianqingmen, he turned his head and said to Wang Xi, "Why did you remember the two of them?" ”

"Official, although Wang Jin and Wang Bu did something wrong back then, they have been regretting what happened back then all the time in the past three years. A few days ago, the slave saw the two of them, although they were wearing the clothes of a little eunuch, they were also very dedicated to their work, and there was no slackness in the slightest. It is better for the officials to see that they served the officials properly back then, bypass them, and reappoint them. Wang Xi replied.

Yun Xi sat in the carriage for a long time, and said to him, "It's still up to you to take care of the things in the New Year Palace." ”

"Official!"

"You don't have to say any more." Yun Xi put down this sentence and stepped out of the carriage.

Yun Xi walked into the hall with a lot of concern, and heard many people shouting unevenly: "The minister has seen Your Majesty." ”

"It's all exempt." Yun Xi retracted his thoughts and smiled at the generals in front of him.

After Yun Xi sat down, let them all sit down, and said two homely words casually, and said: "Tomorrow is a small year, I also want you Aiqing to have a good year, but this morning suddenly came from the northwest, I have to invite you Aiqing into the palace tonight to discuss important matters." Please don't mind. ”

"Your Majesty summons you, how dare the ministers mind? It's just a big matter of discussion, but Samarkand is going to send troops to the Ming Dynasty? Geng Bingwen, the oldest person present, said.

"Exactly." Yun Xi said: "The Jinyi Wei and Qin Domains in the northwest have urgently sent a secret music for 600 miles, and Timur has collected his troops and returned to Samarkand City after searching for his soldiers in vain. ”

However, when he returned to Samarkand, he once again made a strong expedition. After consulting with the generals of the Shaanxi Xingdu Division, the Qin clan thought that the possibility of his eastward expedition was very great, and even if he did not want to occupy Yiwu, he would definitely occupy Yili Qiangli. ”

"Yili is the barrier of the Qin Domain, and it must not be seized by Samarkand, so I will announce that all Aiqing will enter the palace to discuss how to deal with this matter."

When the generals heard this, they were speechless for a long time. Like the students of the country, they did not care enough about the war with Samarkand that did not know which year it would take place, and when they heard more conclusive news from the emperor's ears, they did not know what to say for a while.

After a while, Geng Bingwen asked, "Your Majesty, do you know how many troops the Samarkand Congress sent in this battle?" ”

"It's not good, but it won't be less than 300,000. After careful investigation, it was learned that there were about 200,000 elite soldiers under his command who could serve him to the death, and because Timur had never been defeated in his expeditions, his prestige was very high, and even those tribes that were not under his direct jurisdiction would be willing to follow him in the war. Therefore, there will never be less troops. In order to make it easy for them to understand, Yunxi always compared Timur to a Mongol on the steppe.

"In that case, the number of troops sent cannot be less than 300,000. In order to be safe, it is necessary to recruit troops from Wusizang and other places to fight, and also to send troops to the army, and the total number of troops cannot be less than 400,000. Cao Zhen said.

"400,000 is a little less." Geng Bingwen said: "The minister has seen the map, from Samarkand to Yili is much closer than from the Central Plains to Yili Li, the enemy's geographical advantage is better than that of the Ming Dynasty, and Timur is a veteran of the battlefield, and his prestige is very high, not to mention that he may not only send 300,000 troops." Therefore, in the minister's opinion, at least 500,000 troops must be sent. ”

"Still." He said with some concern: "The minister once led troops to extinguish the rebels in Shaanxi, and knowing the bitter cold in the northwest, I am afraid it will be difficult to afford the supply of 500,000 troops." ”

"There's no need to worry about that." Yun Xi smiled confidently: "I have been laying out in the northwest since more than three years ago, and I have already hoarded a large amount of grain, and built granaries in Xi'an, Lanzhou, Ganzhou and other places, which is enough to bear the expenses of hundreds of thousands of troops. I also sent people to build a rail-drawn carriage, which has now been connected from Xi'an to Yiwu, and it is very convenient to use the railroad to transport food and wages. Don't worry about food and grass. ”

After Yun Xi guessed that the envoy was from Samarkand, he prepared for the battle in the northwest, sent the person who was best at building railcars in the palace, and appointed Xia Yuanji, Xu Huizu and others to the northwest to prepare for this battle. So now the grain and grass are quite sufficient.

Of course, he didn't know that Xu Huizu was now having a headache for the bandits who specialized in robbing money and food along the tracks. The northwest is barren, and they are very angry when they see these escorted grain and grass, and they often rob them. Most of these bandits were Bians or Mongols, and they had no fixed residence, so it was very difficult to exterminate them, and even if they exterminated a batch, it would be useless. The post guards at the post stations along the way are even more nonsense. In the face of the vicious bandits, they were fed and sacrificed their lives to protect the grain and grass. No matter how strict Xu Huizu is, he can't say that they can't guard the grain and grass and lose their heads. Xu Huizu had no choice but to assemble many carriages each time, and some of them were escorted by soldiers. But even then, occasionally food is snatched up.

"Now that there is plenty of food and grass, it's much easier." Geng Bingwen said: "Dispatch 400,000 soldiers from the Central Plains Guard, and then recruit the Xifanites and Mongols in the northwest, a total of 500,000 troops to fight against the soldiers of Samarkand. ”

Everyone thought that this amount was already a lot, but after thinking about it, Yun Xi said, "Isn't 500,000 a little little?" Let's send 600,000 troops. ”

"Your Majesty, 600,000, the minister thinks it's a bit much." Cao Zhen said. Lan Zhen also chimed in: "Your Majesty, even if the northwest has prepared for grain and grass, the consumption of grain and grass for the army to go out is huge, so it is better to be lenient. If Your Majesty is not at ease with the ability of the Xifan or the Mongols to fight, can you use all the Central Plains Guards? ”

"No, it's still necessary to recruit the Temphans and Mongols to fight." Yun Xi thought for a moment and then said, "I called King Qin and King Gan to enter the capital. Because the war is imminent, King Qin is too busy to come, but King Gan is about to enter Beijing. How many troops will be sent will be discussed with him after a while. ”

Everyone promised. Yun Xi discussed a few more things with them, worked out different ways to recruit different numbers of troops, and immediately ordered all parts along the way to prepare early.

After discussing all this, it was already the second watch. Yun Xi left them in the palace for supper, and said to them: "This year, you Aiqing are still having a good time, the northwest is colder than the south of the Yangtze River, and Timur will never go to the Ming Dynasty at this time." I will consult with you after the end of the year. ”

The generals agreed and immediately retreated.

However, Yun Xi left Lan Zhen behind and smiled at him: "In a few days, in addition to the New Year, it will also be Siqi's birthday." Remember to be prepared for her. ”

"Your Majesty, the minister has already been prepared, and he will never dare to neglect the county lord."

"Although she was the county lord of the first emperor, she is also your niece, except for the national ceremony, you can't call her the county lord."

"Yes, Your Majesty." Lan Zhen bowed down and agreed, and then remembered something, and said to Yun Xi: "Your Majesty, the minister wants to borrow a cook from Your Majesty, please ask Your Majesty for permission." ”

"What cook? What do you do as a cook? ”

Chen remembers hearing Siqi say once that she liked the cake made by a chef in the palace very much, but His Majesty did not allow her to eat more, so she was very greedy. Chen wants to celebrate her birthday this time and make a cake for her. ”

"It's not going to work." Yun Xi smiled: "This is what I have to prepare for her birthday celebration, how can I let you take the lead?" ”

Lan Zhen deliberately made a dejected look, which provoked Yun Xi to laugh again, and he retreated.

Yun Xi inquired and learned that Xi Yao had already fallen asleep, so he didn't go to Kunning Palace, and found a room to rest in the Qianqing Palace.