Listening to Zhang Pu's analysis of his situation before, it was still the first thing, which made Cui Chengxiu feel a lot less resistant, and listened carefully to the other party's words. But hearing that the solution given by Zhang Pu was to find someone to replace him, Cui Chengxiu was suddenly a little disappointed.

Regarding his current situation, in fact, Zhang Pu doesn't say it, Cui Chengxiu is also very clear in his heart. Since he joined the emperor's side to support the imperial court to implement reforms, he has become the leader of the reformists along with Huang Liji, Feng Quan, Xu Guangqi and others.

Although everyone is in favor of reform, there are many differences between groups. For example, the group he represents, Huang Liji, and Feng Quan should belong to a mixture of the disbanded eunuchs and the northern gentry, and their attitude towards reform is not resolute, but in order to avoid political liquidation after the new emperor ascends the throne, they have to vote to the emperor to support reform.

In the view of Cui Chengxiu, Huang Liji, Feng Quan and others, although supporting Chongzhen's reform harmed the interests of the gentry class, the consequence of not supporting the emperor was that they would be directly expelled from the gentry class. When the two powers harm each other, it is natural to choose the lesser of them.

However, by the time the Ming Dynasty's reforms continued to this day, the gentry behind them had reaped enough benefits from the imperial court's reforms. With the inside story of the imperial reform, they were always able to stay one step ahead of the policies promulgated by the imperial court, so as to enjoy the dividends brought by the reform.

By the fourteenth year of Chongzhen, most of the northern gentry who supported the reform had broken away from the tradition of relying on the land for food, and entered the era of investing in industry and commerce or relying on dividends as the main source of livelihood.

In this era, it takes about 20-25 years to buy a field and recover the cost, which refers to the harvest of a normal year, excluding famine years and harvest years. If it is a field in some areas of the south of the Yangtze River, it will even take 30-40 years to pay off.

However, investing in various mines other than gold, silver and copper will pay for itself in 5-8 years. As for the various cotton textile workshops, it will take about 3-5 years to recover the cost. And a large iron-smelting plant like Tangshan will not recover its costs for more than 10 years. As for overseas trade or whaling, which is extremely risky to invest in, as long as there are no accidents on the ships, the investment can basically be recovered in the same year.

Of course, in addition to these industries, there is a safer investment, and that is the construction of railways. In the last year alone, the railway between Shanghai and Nanjing made a profit of 33 yuan per kilometer of railway every seven days. That is to say, last year's profits alone will be enough to build a brand new Shanghai-Nanjing railway.

At this time, it is only three or four years before the completion and opening of the Shanghai-Nanjing Railway, and the franchise of the entire Shanghai-Nanjing Railway has been delayed to 35 years after several changes, which is equivalent to the next nearly 30 years, for the shareholders of the Shanghai-Nanjing Railway, it is a net income.

Although the Shanghai-Nanjing Railway is currently the best railway operated by the Ming Dynasty, this low-risk and high-return construction business immediately won the attention of the Ming gentry and businessmen. Even the old-fashioned gentry, who had always held on to the land and refused to let go, began to propose to safeguard the interests of the people of the province, and that the railways of the province should be invested by the gentry of the province, rather than handed over to the people of other provinces for profit.

For the northern gentry, who relied on reform policies to set foot in industry and commerce first, the narrow rural concept put forward by the old-fashioned gentry in these places was obviously difficult for them to accept, although this argument was extremely appealing to the traditional Ming society.

As a result, these northern gentry, who had invested in industry and commerce and liberated themselves from the land, changed their attitude of passively promoting reform policies, and began to actively seek to continue to spread the current reforms of the Ming Dynasty to the south and penetrate into the grassroots of society.

In this way, Qian Qianyi, the first assistant, who stood on the position of reformists in the past but acted too weakly, was naturally impatient by the northern gentry driven by these interests. They hoped that Qian Qianyi would be replaced by a more determined reformist official, and that the local conservative officials and gentry would be severely punished, so that the industrial goods they produced would be able to enter the local areas without hindrance, just as they relied on the warships of the Ming Dynasty to import their goods overseas.

With Huang Liji's retirement, Feng Quan and Cui Chengxiu are the only ones who can lead these gentry, and these forces that support the two of them are also one of the main reasons why the two of them can avoid political liquidation and gain a foothold in the court. Without the support of these northern gentry, they could only hide in their homes and survive just by virtue of the emperor's protection.

Therefore, as long as Cui Chengxiu doesn't want to go back to the countryside to count the stars, he can't lose the support of these gentry behind him. As for what Zhang Pu said, finding someone to replace him, Cui Chengxiu didn't think about it, but the people who can replace him and get the approval of the gentry behind him are basically objects that he can't control, and he can't work hard to make wedding clothes for others.

But thinking of this, Cui Chengxiu suddenly looked at Zhang Pu in surprise and said, "You tell me this, is it possible that you want to recommend yourself?" Is it because I drank too much, or if you are unconscious, or are you just a lifter, or a sinner exiled abroad, do you dare to seek the position of first assistant? ”

Looking at the frightened and angry Cui Chengxiu, Zhang Pu always remained calm and replied calmly: "Do you think that today's Daming is still the Daming who followed the rules and ranked seniority in the past?" Since Xia Yizhong can book the position of the cabinet minister more than ten years later, can't I, Zhang Tianru, compete for the current cabinet minister's position? What's more, Zai Xia didn't plan to compete for this year's Ming Shoufu, isn't the bachelor optimistic about Zaixia's ability at all? ”

Cui Chengxiu stared at Zhang Pu for a long time before smiling: "I have never underestimated Your Excellency's ability. It's just that you have always been inseparable from us eunuch remnants, and how can we believe that you will not cross the river and tear down the bridge? Besides, Your Majesty doesn't seem to have a very good impression of you, how do you convince Your Majesty to help you jump into the quagmire you are in? If Your Majesty doesn't like you, everything we do will be in vain. ”

Zhang Pu picked up the teacup in front of him, shook it lightly in his hand, and watched the tea in the cup slowly form a whirlpool, and then he slowly spoke: "So I just asked the bachelor, hoping that the bachelor will recommend me to His Majesty to replace you in charge of the land reform."

As long as I push for land reform in the south, why should I be worried about crossing the river and demolishing bridges? Wouldn't I kill myself if I offended the gentry in the south first, and then dealt with the bachelors with my backhand? As for His Majesty, as long as His Majesty can accept it and let me take over the work of land reform in the hands of the Bachelor, His Majesty will naturally help me.

Therefore, as long as you can recommend me to Your Majesty, then how to convince Your Majesty is my business. ”

Cui Chengxiu's eyes flickered at Zhang Pu for a while, and then he stood up with a sigh and said, "It's rare to be arrogant to the extent that you're like this." It seems that you haven't learned much in your years overseas. ”

After finishing speaking, Cui Chengxiu turned around and walked towards the door without hesitation, while Zhang Pu was still sitting in his position, motionless. Cui Chengxiu put his hand on the door, and finally stopped and said, "You can rest in the apartment for a few days, and after I make arrangements, I will send someone to inform you." ”

Then Cui Chengxiu walked out of the door without hesitation, at this time Zhang Pufang felt that his back was a little wet, he breathed a long sigh of relief, and then took a sip of the tea in the cup, and then got up and walked out. At that time, the moonlight was just right, and the sound of silk and bamboo in other cross-courtyard faintly came, which was the most prosperous time for Daming nightlife.

The next day, in the back garden of a house located in the north of the imperial city and on the edge of Haizi, shouts of "drink, drink" were constantly heard from a Japanese-style longhouse surrounded by flowers and trees. This is the kendo hall opened in Beijing by the Japanese Miyamoto Musashi, a swordsman hired by Chongzhen.

At this time, Miyamoto Musashi and the disciples of the dojo were watching intently, and two samurai dressed in leather and wooden armor in the dojo competed. The two samurai on the field, one wearing red armor and the other wearing black armor, the black armor wearer rarely moved, only holding the bamboo sword in both hands to make a small movement, while the red armor wearer constantly wandered around him, as long as he saw an opportunity, he would attack with a wide open and closed door.

It seems that the samurai wearing black armor only has the power of defense, and when the disciples of the gym who watched could see that the martial arts of the black armor warrior were far higher than the red armor warrior, otherwise they would not be able to deal with the attack of the red armor warrior so easily, if it were not for such an occasion, the black armor warrior would have been able to take advantage of the situation to counterattack and interrupt the attack of the red armor warrior.

As for now, with the momentum of continuous attacks, the attack of the red-armored samurai became more and more aggressive, and the black-armored samurai finally had no time to react, and was slashed off by the bamboo knife in his hand by the red-armored samurai, and had to retreat and admit defeat. When Miyamoto Musashi saw this scene, he immediately applauded and praised loudly: "Good, so good." Your Majesty's few blows, there is no trace of an axe and chisel to connect the flowing water split and the thoughtless split, even if it is a minister, it is difficult to do it..."

Stretched out his hand to pull up the black-armored warrior who was chopped to the ground by himself, and then stood in place and the guards stepped forward to remove his armor for him, and the sweaty Zhu Youzhen was revealed from the mask he had removed. Although he knew that Miyamoto Musashi was patting himself on the back, he was still very comfortable listening to it.

After wiping the sweat with a hot towel, Zhu Youzhen said to Miyamoto Musashi: "I think it's better for Shengxin to cooperate." In such a short time, the appropriate distance can be judged and the angle can be matched. In my opinion, Shengxin should be able to become a teacher. Miyamoto, let's find a quieter place to have a cup of tea. ”

Miyamoto Musashi immediately waved his hand to the disciples and asked them to practice on their own, and then followed in Chongzhen's footsteps and walked towards a pavilion outside the dojo.

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