Zhu Zailei obviously wanted to know from Zhang Zhong's mouth that this was not the answer, and he couldn't help but sneer: "Zhang Daban, I'm afraid this is not what you really think, do you think that this king is most likely to be the emperor, but you want this king to be the emperor because as long as this king becomes the emperor, you can give the palm seal of the boss and the ceremonial supervisor." ”

"The old slave doesn't dare, the old slave doesn't dare to have this delusion! The old slave is really just loyal to His Highness, and he is willing to see His Highness ascend to the throne early and reign over the world! ”

Zhang Zhong hurriedly denied it, he was really afraid that his purpose would be known by too many people, and even if it was known, he didn't want to admit that he had such ambitions.

"Okay, you don't have to deny it anymore, my father is right, this king has to think carefully about whether he wants to be an emperor, or what he wants to do."

Zhu Zailei stood up and left,

And Zhang Zhong stood in place in a daze, looking at Zhu Zailei's back, he wanted to speak and stopped, he wanted to ask the emperor what he said to the emperor's eldest son, but he always felt that the emperor's eldest son didn't need to analyze the emperor's thoughts for him now.

Zhu Houzhao does not expect the teenage prince to suddenly find the ideal he has pursued all his life, after all, even in later generations, most people do not know what they want and what their ideals are in their lives, not to mention in this era when even marriage is decided by parents.

For other older princes, Zhu Houzhao also gave them the opportunity to learn government affairs just like educating the emperor's eldest son, Zhu Zailei, and Zhu Houzhao also told them that if they didn't want to be emperors, they could put it forward first.

Zhu Houzhao was not a Confucian scholar, and he did not want to abide by the so-called ethical code of ethics.

Zhu Houzhao admits that although capitalism has developed in the Ming Dynasty, the agrarian civilization is still the main social form in the west and north of the empire, and the empire is still a family empire, and it is impossible for him to transfer the ruling power to non-royal members, which will only lead to turmoil.

After all, the Chungjun Society is not yet a modern political party, and if it directly chooses a non-royal member with outstanding ability to be the emperor, other capable and ambitious people will directly question the legitimacy of this person's rule, and even many royal nobles cannot tolerate this phenomenon.

Of course, Zhu Houzhao himself could not emotionally be willing to hand over his power and wealth to people who were not his blood relatives to inherit.

But this does not prevent Zhu Houzhao from choosing the most suitable and willing person to be the emperor among his princes, although people are not sages but also not demons, the so-called faint tyrant is just unsuitable for being an emperor or unwilling to be an emperor.

"Father, the son of the emperor thought about it seriously, the son of the minister wants to be the emperor!"

Zhu Zailei told Zhu Houzhao the answer after his serious thinking on this day.

Zhu Houzhao was very pleased, at least the current Zhu Zailei was still willing to say his inner thoughts, and did not consider the consequences of saying this.

Therefore, Zhu Houzhao couldn't help but smile and asked: "Tell my father, why do you want to be the emperor?" ”

"Because being an emperor can make everyone afraid of me! Let everyone listen to me! They can all be as respectful to their sons as Zhang Daban and Miao Daban," Zhu Zailei replied to his understanding of the emperor.

Zhu Houzhao didn't criticize, only smiled: "You're right, being an emperor can indeed be like this, but do you know that when you become an emperor, you still have to be responsible for presiding over the justice of the world, you have to be responsible for everyone's food and clothing, and you have to serve the interests of the country and the nation!" ”

"Mr. said, as long as you are close to the virtuous ministers, the far villain can do what the father said."

Zhu Zailei's answer made Zhu Houzhao have to admit that some Zhan things in the palace are still educating his prince with old-fashioned Confucianism, and he couldn't help but continue to ask Zhu Zailei: "If it's really that simple, then why should there be an emperor in the future, let a virtuous person preside over the country's affairs and elect a virtuous person, isn't it okay, why do you need an emperor to elect." ”

Zhu Houzhao involved the topic on the value of the emperor's existence, which was the first time he began to make people think about the value of the emperor's existence.

Nowadays, a group of Western Renaissance artists and scientists such as Leonardo da Vinci have just come to the Ming Dynasty, and they have not been long in promoting ancient Greek thought under the encouragement of Zhu Houzhao, and the natural science of the Ming Dynasty has just started, and the thinking of using reason to scientifically analyze the observed things and phenomena has just started, such as the qi science proposed by Wang Tingxiang before, so in today's Ming Dynasty, many people have not yet begun to learn to use logical thinking and scientific analytical thinking.

Just like now, in the entire Ming Dynasty, it is still full of empiricist thoughts, no one thinks about why there is an emperor, the emperor must exist, of course, according to historical experience, the ruler of the Ming Dynasty will say that the country cannot be without a king for a day, but no one has ever considered why the country can not be without a king for a day.

Now Zhu Houzhao asked Zhu Zailei this way, which can be regarded as enlightening Zhu Zailei's new way of thinking, that is, rational thinking, which can also be called scientific analysis.

Since Zhu Zailei wants to be the emperor, Zhu Houzhao now wants him to think about what the emperor's responsibilities are, why the emperor has these powers, whether the emperor must exist, and what is the value of the emperor's existence.

These questions may still be difficult for a teenager, but Zhu Houzhao is not in a hurry to ask him to answer now, he hopes that Zhu Zailei can think about these questions.

In the eyes of the Confucian courtiers, the emperor was a symbol of etiquette, as the person with the highest ethical status founded by the Institute of Confucianism, after all, according to the thought of Confucianism, etiquette is reason, and the ethical relationship formed by morality and etiquette is the foundation for maintaining the rule of the country.

In the family, the father is the key, and the entire empire should also be based on the father, and this father naturally becomes the emperor and the monarch's father.

Therefore, many times, Confucian theories only establish the legitimacy of the existence of the emperor morally, and even add some idealistic thoughts, such as the reason why so-and-so is the emperor is because he is the mandate of heaven, and the monarchy is divinely granted, and he is the true dragon son of heaven, so he should be our monarch's father.

However, Confucianism did not justify the existence of the emperor through rigorous scientific theoretical analysis, let alone a rigorous logical deduction on who could become the emperor.

But after all, people are not animals that can be fooled casually, in their hearts, no one will believe in the real so-called mandate of heaven, even the Confucians themselves do not believe in it, and they are silent and confused, and it has become an excuse for some people who surrender and betray the country.

The emergence of a new dynasty and a new emperor is called the end of the fortunes of the previous dynasty and the destiny of heaven has returned to the new emperor.

So much so that they look at the danger of the country very lightly, and only think that the rise and fall of the country is just the rise and fall of a family.

In history, it was only in the late Ming Dynasty that with the progress of thought, people like Gu Yanwu began to distinguish between the dead country and the dead world.

Right now.

Zhu Zailei heard Zhu Houzhao say this, and he also began to be a little puzzled: "Father is right, it seems that according to what the gentlemen said, there is no need for the emperor to have it, but in fact, the emperor has it, and the gentlemen said that the country cannot be without a king for a day, so it seems that the emperor has other values!" Please make it clear to your father and solve your doubts for your sons! ”

"The empire needs decision-makers, just like there must be a person in the family who can make decisions, the emperor is the person who can make decisions in our country, I don't have time to tell you word by word, you think hard for yourself, read a lot, listen to all the words of the gentleman, but don't believe it directly, when you are older and learn a new course, you may understand more!"

Zhu Houzhao touched Zhu Zailei's head and then ordered: "Draft the decree, set up the Royal Academy, and order Zheng Shanfu, a disciple of Wang Shouren, and Da Vinci, a doctor from Beijing Normal University (this is an official position), to teach the new course of the elder prince!" ”

Since, Zhu Zailei wants to be the emperor, he naturally wants Zhu Zailei to get the education that he needs more as an emperor, at least the Ming Dynasty's rise of the "unity of knowledge and action" mind and the ancient Greek thought that laid the foundation of modern civilization in later generations are to be studied, science for the emperor, little significance, if the emperor believes that he is the destiny of heaven, then the emperor will only become a tyrant who acts unscrupulously!

Gu Dayong didn't know much about learning, and he didn't know which one to learn, but what he could be sure of was that now His Majesty the Emperor personally taught the eldest son of the Emperor, so it meant that the eldest son of the Emperor would be as wise as His Majesty in the future, and he boasted: "Your Majesty personally taught Your Highness, and Your Highness will definitely be as holy as Your Majesty in the future." ”

"Shengming or not Shengming can only be determined by future generations, besides, whether the eldest son of the emperor can become the emperor is not yet certain, Lei'er, you have to understand, whether you can become the emperor or not, you can't just think about it, you have to prove to your father and the people of the world that you are more suitable to be the emperor than other emperors, otherwise even if you become the emperor, it will only make people doubt whether the world you govern is the best! Do you understand? ”

Zhu Houzhao's remarks are tantamount to directly negating the so-called Confucian system of establishing succession and establishing long-term succession.

Of course, Zhu Houzhao is the emperor, and he has the final say on whether he is a successor or a virtuous person.

"Erchen understands!" Although Zhu Zailei now says that he wants to be the emperor, he has not really cared very much, so he has not realized that his father does not intend to follow the meaning of establishing a successor.

Gu Dayong listened to Zhu Houzhao's words, but he didn't care so much about whether Zhu Zailei could become the emperor, he cared more about Emperor Zhu Houzhao's thoughts, as the current master of ceremonies, he would not invest himself too early on the side of a certain prince, after all, the current emperor Zhu Houzhao is still in his prime, and he has more time to make profits for his own party.

Now Gu Dayong just regretted that he had sent his own person Miao Ning to the emperor's eldest son too early.

Zhu Houzhao is not as complicated as Gu Dayong thought, he just hopes that he will pave a way for the future emperor of the Ming Dynasty, if the Ming Dynasty will establish the emperor in the form of a family hereditary system for a long time, he hopes that the elected emperor can really become a relatively qualified emperor of this empire.

Now there is no major trouble outside, there is no big worry inside, and he has only just passed the year of establishment, most of the princes are still relatively young, and it is the best time to formally establish the prince's education system.

The Ming Dynasty can be said to be relatively bad in terms of the cultivation of princes, and even in the later stages of history, emperors such as Taichang, Tianqi, and Chongzhen have not undergone systematic imperial education, and even being able to become emperors is very sudden, not to mention whether there is a political conspiracy, but there is no systematic system of cultivating princes, which will lead to disasters for the entire empire and the entire Chinese nation.

Daming pays attention to on-the-job training, that is, to give the emperor a feast, but Zhu Houzhao really doesn't want to complain about this feast, this feast is not to a large extent not for the emperor to train, but to take a form, to add a qualification to his own promotion.

Since Zhu Houzhao issued an edict that the sutra banquet was no longer specially held in the Wenhua Hall, but only changed to the order of the sutra banquet lecturer, like the author of the starting point Chinese website in later generations, he updated 10,000 words a day and submitted it to his own imperial court, and after he studied it by himself, no official asked the emperor to hold a sutra banquet, and the few sutra banquet lecturers who remained in the court could not say 10,000 words a day, and even 5,000 words a day could not be done, and Zhu Houzhao had to dismiss them and return to their hometowns.

There was only one banquet lecturer named Tang Gao who wrote 20,000 words of lecture notes and articles for Zhu Houzhao every day to study, Zhu Houzhao admired his perseverance and writing speed, and specially added a cabinet bachelor, and let him also lead the cabinet bachelor, and the official residence from the second grade.

And Zhu Houzhao's purpose in doing this is naturally very simple, that is, to let Tang Gao make a report and summary article for the cabinet at the beginning of each year, a small summary every year, and a big summary every five years.

Turning back, the current Zhu Houzhao only knows that he is now a Taiping Emperor, and the national strength of the empire is still thriving, whether it is the outer court or the inner court, he is now a person who obeys his orders, which makes him feel that the empire has become very calm now, and everything is proceeding calmly and orderly.

The Daming Academy of Engineering is still developing the steam engine, while the Ordnance Bureau is also developing rifled guns and the use of nitrifying explosives, while the Daming Academy of Sciences is still conducting research on astronomy, agriculture, physics, chemistry and so on.

Gold and silver from South America flowed into the Ming Dynasty in a steady stream, and all kinds of products from the Ming Dynasty also flowed to the Americas, and the indigenous people in the Philippines, Sumatra and other regions have given up the development of handicrafts such as textiles and began to grow only food and develop agriculture.

Under the instruction of Zhu Houzhao, Yang Yiqing began to use the experience he had accumulated in the border town to establish the Daming Army Command College and the Daming Naval Command College together with Lin Tingxuan.

Zhu Houzhao did not realize the undercurrent surging beneath the calm, nor did he realize how strongly the reaction from the outside world was to the Ming Dynasty, a productive empire.

Now he is more like an ordinary person living under the sky of Daming, he is taking the initiative to teach his prince to learn bicycles, and he is also feeling the changes brought about by the development of imperial science and technology like people of this era.

Zhu Zailei stopped the Daming version of the bicycle under him, looked at the cement road at the end of the continuous vision, and just wanted to be able to step all the way to the end of the road along this road.

As a native of the Ming Dynasty who grew up in the Zhengde period, he was not so surprised by the cement road.

But standing behind him, the first assistant of the cabinet Wang Qiong is in a completely different mood, as a veteran of the four dynasties who began to be an official in the Chenghua Dynasty, he never thought that there would be this kind of road called cement road in the Ming Dynasty before the Zhengde Dynasty, and the feeling of stepping on this hard ground made him feel particularly down-to-earth as a native of Taiyuan, Shanxi.

He still vaguely remembers the official road he took when he entered Beijing to take the exam, when it was still dusty, muddy when it rained, and he basically had to change a pair of cloth shoes every day.

And now, even if it is still this kind of rainy day, Wang Qiong can still walk, and he has to admit that His Majesty the Zhengde Emperor in front of him has indeed undergone earth-shaking changes after taking office.

Not only the hard cement road, but also the rubber shoes worn by the sergeants, the sound of stepping is indeed clearer and louder than cloth shoes, and it is also more suitable for marching and fighting.

Rao is the people also love this kind of rubber shoes, which are much more convenient than wearing cloth shoes on rainy days.

Ye Heng, the secretary of the Ministry of Works, felt extremely proud at this time, he spent many years of hard work to build this cement road from Jingshi to Datong, over the years, he learned various techniques such as blasting, civil engineering, bridge construction, tunnels and geography, and even studied arithmetic and physics, and he also turned over all kinds of construction books left by the ancients, and even he learned how to manage hundreds of thousands of workers and how to train this craftsman.

Zhu Houzhao actually didn't expect that after more than ten years, the cement road from Jingshi to Datong could really be built, in fact, he asked Ye Heng to be in charge of building this project just to let Daming accumulate some experience in the construction of the project, it doesn't matter whether it can be completed completely, at least it can improve Daming's various engineering technologies.

Obviously, as a super empire, it is possible for the Ming Dynasty to realize this kind of project beyond the century, but it may cost a lot of money, but the last thing that the Ming Dynasty is afraid of today is the high cost, anyway, the wealth and human resources of the world are concentrated in the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Houzhao asked Zhu Zailei to take a look at the completed Jingtong Cement Road, the purpose of which was also to let the future emperor's successor get in touch with the most cutting-edge things of this era.

Zhu Houxi, who entered the Royal Academy at the same time as Zhu Zailei, was also amazed by this kind of cement road that could be so hard that even the carriage could not press rut marks on it, and of course he also hoped to be like Zhu Zailei, riding a bicycle on this cement road.

Zhu Hou only smiled faintly at the novelty of these officials and royal nobles about the cement road, bicycles and rubber shoes, and he believed that some of the products of later generations brought by his appearance would definitely change the vision of these people in the Ming Dynasty.

"Your Majesty! The Daming Engineering Institute realized the role of the steam engine driving the spinning machine, and specially came to report the matter! ”

At this time, Ma Yongcheng suddenly ran to Zhu Houzhao and said back and forth.

After hearing this, Zhu Houzhao directly ordered: "Go to the Daming Engineering Institute immediately!" ”

The civil officials who were about to improvise a poem on the cement road that stretched to the end of the sky and boasted about Zhu Houzhao's martial arts by the way saw the emperor turn around and go to the Daming Engineering Institute, and they were all stunned in place, thinking to themselves what is the steam engine, why does His Majesty be so impatient?

Zhu Houzhao really can't wait to see the steam engine developed by the Ming Dynasty, after all, as a time-traveler from later generations, he knows better than anyone in this era that the industrial revolution brought about by the steam engine will completely subvert the entire human civilization! And now, appearing in Daming is undoubtedly the result he is most willing to see!

The Daming version of the steam engine that Zhu Houzhao saw was still a relatively large steam engine, among which, the boiler accounted for a large volume, indicating that the heat utilization efficiency was still relatively low, otherwise it would not burn such a large boiler to supply heat energy.

But at this time, driven by the steam engine linkage rod, the spinning machine can already start automatic spinning, which means that Daming officially began to have the first all-mechanical power equipment!

"This, how is this achieved, here you can only see coal burning, but over there you can let the spinning machine spin itself, it's really incredible!"

Wang Qiong, the first assistant to the cabinet, secretly thought to himself in surprise.

Ye Heng, who came over, stared straight at the linkage rod, wondering if if this linkage rod could be connected to the water pump to pump water non-stop, not only to pump water, but also to be used for other purposes.

"Congratulations to Your Majesty, congratulations to Your Majesty, although I don't know what the principle is, but I think this thing will change my Ming! It will even change the way of life for thousands of years! The appearance of this thing will definitely make my Ming more rich and strong! ”

At this time, Yan Song had already echoed first.

The emperor's eldest son, Zhu Zailei, has forgotten to speak, and now all his eyes are focused on this machine that can spin automatically without human operation, and this mechanized product that replaces manual labor is also very impactful to him.

This is especially true of Mr. Zhu, who is eager to understand why a coal-fired boiler can make the spinning machine move on its own, and now he can only speculate on what he has learned in class.

"Register the patented technology of this kind of equipment, and report it to me when the time comes, and I will reward your team and award you a knighthood and medal!" In addition, immediately convene a court meeting to discuss how to use this new batch of equipment to create more wealth for the Ming Dynasty, and at the same time, you must continue to research, find a way to reduce this steam engine, and at the same time find a way to use it on other machines! ”

Zhu Houzhao immediately instructed.

Now he knows that this kind of steam machinery that marks the arrival of the industrial revolution will completely change history and bring new changes to the Ming Dynasty, and now he has to think about how to deal with this change.

The appearance of the steam engine soon became a household name, but the company that manufactured and sold this steam-powered spinning machine was still a state-run company of the Ming Dynasty, and it was only sold to the official weaving bureau of foreign trade, in order to protect the traditional textile workshops that now still need to use a large number of workers for spinning operations in the early stage, so as to avoid causing a large number of workers to lose their jobs in a short period of time.