After Zhu Houzhao watched this Zhang Heling and Zhang Yanling leave, he instructed Liu Jin: "Send an edict to Yan Song, let him arrange more courses for this Jianchang Marquis and Shouning Marquis, and extend their study time, and they will not be allowed to graduate within five years!" ”

Beijing Normal University is now a boarding system, and it is not allowed to leave the school casually during non-holidays, so as long as Zhang Heling and Zhang Yanling stay in it for five years, they can cause less trouble, so that Zhu Houzhao does not have to worry about making Empress Dowager Zhang sad when these two commit big crimes and are punished by themselves in the future.

The two brothers, Zhang Heling and Zhang Yanling, came to Beijing Normal University reluctantly, and Kang Hai came at the same time as them.

"I really didn't expect that we would become classmates with Zhuang Yuanlang", Zhang Heling said, and Zhang Yanling also echoed: "That's it, how to teach this!" ”

Kang Hai also shook his head, he didn't understand why Jingshi University only accepted people above the rank of scholar on the one hand, and on the other hand, it allowed the children of noble relatives who did not learn and did not know how to enroll, was it for the sake of education?

Yan Song came over at this time and gave a salute first: "Welcome to the three new students, the purpose of Beijing Normal University is to be inclusive, to accept hundreds of schools, students are also free to study after admission, but they have to complete the required points, this is the "Freshman Admission Handbook", please put it away, your files have been transferred from the Ministry of Rites, and now you can choose subjects." ”

Saying that, Yan Song took the three of them to various academies of science, although Kang Hai had long heard about the unique teaching method of Beijing Normal University, but now he is still very touched after seeing it with his own eyes, especially when he saw a few former princes' children and Zhang Xuan, a literati from Jinshi, discussing something under the ginkgo tree, it made him feel even more novel.

"Isn't that the boy from the British government, how can he hold the back of a book in his hand now, what kind of elegance! I think back then, when this guy was a hairy child, he followed Lao Tzu through the Qinglou! I knocked a scholar downstairs, and now I'm a scholar! ”

Jianchang Hou Zhang Heling said.

Yan Song and Kang Hai saw that Zhang Heling's mouth was full of vulgar words, and they couldn't say anything, so they only smiled awkwardly.

At this time, Zhang Yanling, the Marquis of Shouning, pointed to Xia Yan, who was riding a horse and galloping on the school field in front of him, and shouted: "That kid is the one who sued the Metropolitan Procuratorate!" also disabled four or five of my house slaves, today Lao Tzu doesn't clean him up, Lao Tzu will not be surnamed Zhang! Come! ”

Zhang Yanling shouted for a long time and saw that no one came, only to realize that he was now in Beijing Normal University, he was already a student, and there were no house slaves around him, so he had to stop and sneer: "Yan Siye, how do you train students in Beijing Normal University, this is not civil, martial or martial, what do we study?" ”

"Xiaguan has already said it, you are free to choose!" Yan Song replied.

"We don't like the Four Books and Five Classics, we want to learn something new," Zhang said.

"There are fresh natures, such as this science, and now there is a new doctrine, such as the theory that the earth is round, you can learn it, or you can argue and refute it yourself, and write an article, if it is well written, it will be published in the journal of Beijing Normal University."

"Is the earth round? Does Beijing Normal University still have such a doctrine? Isn't that! Although Ben Hou is not as knowledgeable as Kang Zhangyuan, he also knows that the sky is round! ”

As soon as Zhang Heling heard Yan Song say this, he immediately became interested, he dealt with the people of Qin Tianjian all day long, although he did not learn and did not know anything in other aspects, but he also had some understanding of this astronomical and geographical aspect, so he began to talk.

After Yan Song finished speaking, Yan Song only smiled and said: "This new doctrine, as described by Your Majesty, is taught by an old Taoist, and there is empirical evidence, this is an argumentation article about the earth is round, if the Marquis of Jianchang is interested, you can take a look." ”

Yan Song entered the science department and gave Zhang Heling a copy of the journal of Beijing Normal University.

Zhang Yanling also watched from the side, and Kang Hai was also a little interested, so he hurriedly followed.

And Zhang Yanling is young and has an active mind, so he naturally sees it the fastest, and after reading it: "These are just proof!" Seriously! If the earth is really round, is it possible to start from the current place and go in one direction, so that you can return here in the future? ”

"It stands to reason that this is the case, but no one in the world dares to experiment like this", Yan Song replied with a smile.

"This is somewhat interesting, Ben Hou wants to give it a try in the future!" Zhang Heling said with a smile at this time.

……

"Returning to Your Majesty, Kang Hai chose liberal arts, and is currently studying "The Theory of Heavenly Evolution" on his own; Jianchang Hou and Shouning Hou both chose science", Yan Song reported to Zhu Houzhao about the latest admission of students at Beijing Normal University, and Zhu Houzhao couldn't help but laugh dumbly after hearing it, the theory of heavenly evolution is something he wrote based on the evolution theory of Darwin in later generations, and he used the Chinese name used by Yan Fu when he translated "The Origin of Species", and he wrote it just to open the eyes of the students of Beijing Normal University, but he didn't expect Kang Hai to choose philosophy, and he first looked at the theory of heavenly evolution.

However, Zhu Houzhao is quite pleased that his two uncles chose science, because what Daming needs is science and engineering talents.

"Very good, now Zhang Xuan and Xia Yan can graduate," Zhu Houzhao said and asked.

"Yes, Your Majesty, they have all full credits, and now they have all entered the period of observing politics and entering the scholar period, Xia Yan chose the Ministry of Industry, saying that although the Ministry of Industry is not as powerful as the Ministry of Rites and other ministries, it is a department that is really related to the national economy and people's livelihood, and Zhang Xuan chose the Ministry of Rites, saying that the Ministry of Rites is in charge of the study of people in the world, and it is a promising place in the future."

Zhu Houzhao couldn't help laughing after hearing this: "I have my own ideas, inform the Ministry of Officials, and approve them to go to the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of Rites to be Guanzheng Jinshi, probation for half a year, and then entrust the official position after half a year, and then I will personally arrange it. ”

Yan Song was quite surprised when he heard Zhu Houzhao say this, and secretly thought that according to His Majesty's intentions, this Jinshi who graduated from Beijing Normal University will be trained as a prince in the future, and he doesn't know if his own business of Beijing Normal University will also be the same, but seeing that Wang Yangming has now directly become the governor of Nanzhili, it seems that he should be arranged as an important minister of the empire in the future.

"How's your corn doing?" Zhu Houzhao suddenly asked, now Yan Song is no different from the university professors and officials of later generations, while being in charge of the administrative management of Beijing Normal University, he is also conducting agricultural research, and is in charge of the first agricultural science in the Ming Dynasty.

"Back to Your Majesty, the first batch of corn sown this spring also bears seeds, and when it is ripe, a bag is harvested, and the yield is indeed higher than that of wheat, and corn can be planted after the wheat is harvested, so that the grain can be harvested twice;

The minister plans to sow seeds again next spring, and this time directly plant ten acres of land, in addition, five acres of them are ready to sprinkle some phosphate fertilizer to try to see if the yield is higher, if it can be improved, it will be promoted. ”

Yan Song replied.

The phosphate fertilizer mentioned by Yan Song is the latest product manufactured by the Royal Industrial Company, which is a fertilizer made by the reaction of sulfuric acid and phosphate rock, and it is also the first fertilizer chemical produced by Daming, and it has begun to be promoted in Huangzhuang, and has significantly increased the grain output of Huangzhuang tenants, and it is a great increase.

In addition, phosphate fertilizer has also been used in the greenhouse vegetable base of the Royal Industries Company, so that the off-season vegetables produced by the Royal Industries Company can not only meet the vitamin needs of the people in winter, but also ensure the quality and yield of off-season vegetables.

In this era, it is not without large households using greenhouses to grow out-of-season vegetables, but even if some people grow them, the quality of vegetables cannot catch up with the Royal Industries Company, because the Royal Industries Company has chemical fertilizers, so that the out-of-season vegetables grown by the Royal Industries Company will not turn yellow due to lack of phosphorus.

Zhu Houzhao nodded, and said, "When the time comes, I will ask you to patrol Shuntian and other mansions, and you will first promote corn planting in the Gyeonggi area!" ”

Yan Song heard that Zhu Houzhao was planning to arrange for him to go out to serve as governor, and he was overjoyed and hurriedly thanked him.

Agriculture is the foundation of everything, Zhu Houzhao does not deny this, in the future he wants to launch foreign wars, naturally it is inseparable from the development of agriculture, now if the corn can be popularized throughout the country, so that the Ming Dynasty's grain production increases, Zhu Houzhao will naturally have more confidence to launch foreign wars in the future.

On this day, Zhu Houzhao summoned Zeng Jian, the secretary of the Ministry of Industry, and Chi Zong, the young eunuch of the War Bureau, in the cabinet and the celebrant duty room, in order to discuss the manufacture of weapons in the Ming Dynasty.

The military leadership of the Ming Guards has been established, and the weapon manufacturing naturally needs to be improved, but the Ming Dynasty is actually not backward in terms of weapon manufacturing in this era, and the real backwardness is the management craftsman system, and the craftsman registration system greatly limits the development of the imperial weapon manufacturing level.

In the Ming Dynasty, craftsmen and sergeants are divided into a separate place of origin, the status of the artisan people is very low, lower than the nationality of the people, they can not participate in the career into the official career, nor can they do business, generally have to serve the court for free, but also have to be exploited by officials, and because of this, many craftsmen will resist by means of passive sabotage or even fleeing.

The Ming ordnance manufacturing was mainly composed of the Inner Court Military Bureau and the Ministry of Industry Ordnance Bureau, and the number of registered craftsmen in these two institutions was basically decreasing every year.

"Back to the emperor, the number of craftsmen in the War Bureau is now thirty-five less than in the eighteenth year of Hongzhi!"

"Back to Your Majesty, the number of craftsmen in the Ordnance Bureau is now less than three hundred, twelve less than the eighteenth year of Hongzhi!"

Zhu Houzhao couldn't help but fall into contemplation, he knew that the number of craftsmen in the Ming Dynasty was decreasing year by year, and he was now thinking about how to change this phenomenon, as far as he knew, Zhang Juzheng in the late Ming Dynasty in history had reformed this, that is, to allow craftsmen to choose their jobs freely, but they needed to pay the silver to the imperial court, and the imperial court used this silver to hire craftsmen to make weapons.

Zhu Houzhao now decided to change the relationship between craftsmen and Ming weapons manufacturing more thoroughly, and he decided to return the craftsmen to freedom, that is, to ban the artisan registration system, after all, the number of artisans is not as large as the number of military people, and the interests involved are not so many, unlike the military registration that would cause dissatisfaction among the military landlords throughout the country.

At the same time, Zhu Houzhao did not plan to collect the silver of the craftsmen, which could be regarded as reducing the burden on these craftsmen.

Therefore, Zhu Houzhao asked Zeng Jian, the secretary of the Ministry of Industry, and Chi Zong, the young eunuch, at this time: "Do you think that the craftsmen will be cancelled, and these craftsmen will be returned to the people's nationality, and then the imperial court will hire craftsmen to make weapons by itself, and the treatment of hired craftsmen is linked to the quality and quantity of weapons, that is to say, whoever does a good job will get more silver, what do you think?" ”

The young eunuch Chi Zong and the Ministry of Industry Shangshu Zeng Jian both looked nervous, they naturally didn't want to let these craftsmen be free in their hearts, after all, if the craftsmen were canceled, they would lose a lot of income, after all, the craftsmen had to pay them filial piety and silver when they fled and fled.

But the two also knew that Emperor Zhu Houzhao naturally wanted to change his question now, so Zeng Jianxian said: "Your Majesty's move is undoubtedly a move for the benefit of the people, and it is really good governance!" ”

"It is a good thing for the ministers to listen to the emperor's arrangement and use silver to work on behalf of the minister", the young eunuch Chi Zong also said, but in his heart he was extremely resistant, after all, once the imperial court hired craftsmen, it meant that these craftsmen would receive Lu rice like the sergeants.

Zhu Houzhao saw that the heads of the two departments in charge of the arms manufacturing had no objections, so he was relieved, after all, this had to be agreed by these two people, which meant that they could accept the loss of benefits brought about by the employment system, and if their leaders could accept it, they would naturally be able to suppress the officials below, and the officials below would be able to accept it.

"In this case, the cabinet will draw up a decree that in the future, the craftsman nationality will be changed to the people's nationality, and the craftsmen and the people can freely choose their jobs, pay taxes and serve in the service, and they can enter the official career, and the imperial court will recruit craftsmen to manufacture weapons in the future with the employment system, and when the will is issued, the household department and the Ministry of Industry will cooperate to complete this matter, and the registered craftsmen will be rewarded with a stone for each household, in order to reward their contributions to the imperial court for many years, and at the same time, the Ministry of Industry will recruit craftsmen on its own, and the War Bureau and the Ordnance Bureau will be merged into the Ming Ordnance Bureau, and a supervising squire will be set up, and the left squire of the Ministry of Works, supervised the affairs of the Ordnance Bureau, and the young eunuch Chi Zongxian served as the co-organizer. ”

After Zhu Houzhao spoke, Ma Wensheng, the first assistant of the cabinet, hurriedly said that he would obey the order, and the officials present all said that His Majesty was benevolent and loved the people.

Zhu Houzhao just smiled, he found that the officials in the court seemed to be much more obedient recently, and he couldn't help but wonder, is it because he made them afraid after his previous tough methods, or because he is now using the interests of the Royal Bank to trap ordinary officials and completely make other officials realize the power of his emperor?

However, just when Zhu Houzhao issued an order to abolish the craftsman registration system and return the craftsmen to the common people to set up an ordnance bureau in a free and combined manner, the Shuntianfu went to the court and reported that five or six craftsmen who had just come out of the Ordnance Bureau of the Ministry of Industry killed a Shaoqing and a head of the household department and a pedestrian in Dali Temple with fire guns!

Three court officials were killed!

This is enough to be regarded as a shocking case in the Ming Dynasty, and firearms are forbidden things! This makes the nature of this case even more serious!

But what made Zhu Houzhao even more surprised in this case was that the murderer turned out to be a craftsman who had just regained his freedom!

"What's going on, I just gave these artisans a free life, why did they suddenly kill the court officials?"

Zhu Houzhao asked.

"Your Majesty, this is Lu Shumu's dismissal in the engineering department, admonishing the imperial court to restore the craftsman registration system, the reason is that these craftsmen and ordinary people are all hiding the benefits of strange skills and tricks, once they have bad intentions, they will make a big mistake, and even it is possible to rebel and kill, and it should be strictly controlled by the imperial court! They should not be treated in the same way as villagers! ”

Jiao Fang handed over a note at this time, Zhu Houzhao didn't need to ask, and knew that Jiao Fang was reminding him that someone was deliberately doing this, wanting to force himself to restore the craftsman registration system.

"What do you think of this case in Shuntianfu?" Zhu Houzhao asked first.

"Killing three court officials, Shaoqing of Dali Temple is already an important minister, and he also uses firearms, which is equivalent to rebellion, and should be severely punished in the law!" Xu Jin replied.

"Dongchang investigated this case first, and as soon as the person was killed, the engineering officer played it, it's too urgent!"

Zhu Houzhao snorted.

……

At this time, in a hidden attic of the Teaching Workshop Division, a middle-aged man dressed as a wealthy man pulled a eunuch into the inner room and said: "My master said that you are too eager, and it is really unwise to let the engineering officials play at this time!" It's better to kill a few more, so that the officials can be afraid before forcing the current emperor to change his mind. ”

"Okay, I'll convey the opinion of Da Sikong (Ministry of Works) to my godfather, but my godfather asked me to pass on the word, and the people over there said that they should be careful here!"

The eunuch said.

"Don't worry! Those craftsmen who killed people were all dead soldiers, they were originally registered craftsmen, but later they couldn't survive and were raised as slaves by our master, their families were raised by our master, if they dared to say something, their family would not survive! What's more, since you have people on the Dongchang side, you will naturally have a way to get a result that they were killed in the edict prison. ”

The middle-aged man sneered.

"It's the same, I'll go first, now the palace is strictly prohibited, if you go back late, you will be targeted by the people in the palace!" The eunuch said and left.

And the middle-aged man left after a while, and suddenly appeared in the middle of the night when Zeng Jian, the secretary of the Ministry of Industry, said: "Master, the people in the palace said that the emperor asked Dongchang to investigate this case, and it seems that he can't believe the report of Shuntianfu." ”

"Of course I can't believe it, who told that Chi Gonggong to hurriedly let the engineering people play the sparse, our Majesty is shrewd, in order to beware of the incident at the east window, you go and explain, in a few days Your Majesty will go to the Ordnance Bureau, you let them replace the sulfur saltpeter in the Guangji warehouse with the prepared gunpowder, and ignite it directly when the time comes!"

"Sir! This is a murderer! The middle-aged man said in surprise.

"What nonsense, this is just an accident, if it is dry today, it is normal to land on the sky, and it is only a last resort, if your majesty does not strictly investigate and investigate it in the next few days, naturally it does not have to be so!"

Zeng Jian, the secretary of the Ministry of Works, said.

"Yes!" The middle-aged man walked down.