In mid-February, the weather in Beijing has begun to warm up, and the temperature in the early morning has almost returned to freezing. In a small courtyard on Gulou East Street, Zhang Chonghui got up to wash up according to his previous habits, then went to the bedroom next door and asked his uncle Zhang Yunxiu to say goodbye.

Although the Emperor of the Apocalypse rehabilitated Zhang Juzheng for some charges, he did not completely overturn the case for him, and although the assigned Zhang Juzheng's family members were pardoned, they were not restored to their official positions.

After Chongzhen ascended the throne, Zhang Juzheng's charges were finally completely rehabilitated, and the official positions of the eldest son Zhang Jingxiu and the second son Zhang Maoxiu were also restored.

Although Zhang Chonghui's mother Gao didn't want her son to go out, she couldn't resist her son's request and agreed to let him accept the emperor's edict and follow his uncle Zhang Yunxiu to Beijing. As for Zhang Maoxiu, he had no intention of going out and rejected the emperor's edict. After Zhang Yunxiu arrived in the capital, he was appointed as the head of the ministry.

Although Zhang Yunxiu is in his early fifties, and his years of exile have made him look older than he really is, his body still looks quite tough.

When his nephew came to say hello to him, he had already gotten up and washed. When the two of them packed up and walked to the front of the hall, the servants were ready to be early.

A bowl of steaming white rice porridge with a few pickles is the daily breakfast of the uncle and nephew. After Zhang Yunxiu sat down, he didn't go to serve the bowl, but first picked up the newspaper placed in the corner of the table and read it.

After a long period of exile in a remote village, what pained Zhang Yunxiu the most was not the harsh environment of the exile area, but his inability to obtain external information in the local area. Therefore, the years of exile have made him develop a good habit of focusing on gathering information.

Since discovering the Daming Times, he has immediately used this newspaper as the main channel for getting the latest current political news. Every morning, as long as it is the date of the newspaper's release, he must first turn a few pages to read the latest news before starting to eat.

The Zhang family is a family of eunuchs, and "sleeping without saying a word, eating without speaking" is also the most basic family education for the uncle and nephew. However, after decades of exile, the rules they had cultivated since childhood have almost worn away.

For example, now, Zhang Yunxiu looked at the newspaper and chatted with his nephew who was dining on the side, and he didn't follow the rule of "sleeping without saying anything, eating without speaking".

After chatting for a few words, Zhang Yunxiu asked his nephew: "Your Majesty has been back in Beijing for a while, are you still used to staying in the Imperial Secretariat?" ”

Zhang Chonghui stopped his movements and replied to his uncle: "In fact, the Imperial Secretariat does not have any major matters, except for contacting the Cabinet and the General Staff, the main business is to read the letters sent to Your Majesty from all over the place, and then summarize and briefly report to Your Majesty. What I do every day is just reading letters, not anything I am not used to. But yesterday His Majesty summoned me, and I had wanted to talk to my uncle about it last night, but I was out for a banquet last night, so I didn't have time to talk to him about it. ”

Zhang Yunxiu put down the newspaper, leaned forward, and asked his nephew, "So what did Your Majesty talk about when he summoned you yesterday?" ”

Zhang Chonghui thought about it for a while, and then said: "Your Majesty said that although my knowledge is good, I still need to communicate with people from time to time to make progress, so I plan to teach at Yenching University for a while."

In addition, His Majesty also talked to me about family affairs and persuaded me to send Tongchang to the capital to go to school. This year, Yenching University will set up an affiliated middle school to recruit students with a certain level of education and cultivate qualified students for various universities in Beijing. It is said that in the future, such middle schools will be opened in various localities, and the selection of students at each university will gradually be dominated by graduates of these high schools, and the current phenomenon of recruiting students directly from the public will be reduced.

I was also a little hesitant about this, my mother has always loved her eldest grandson, and if I went to Beijing with Chang, I was worried that it would make my mother more sad, so I didn't know whether I should invite Tongchang to go to school in Beijing. ”

Zhang Yunxiu thought for a while and said: "Tongchang is already seventeen this year, although there is a brother in Jingzhou who personally teaches, but after all, the elder brother is old and frail, and he broke his body when he was exiled, I am afraid he can't spare much energy to teach Tongchang."

I have had a lot of dealings with Qu Pelio these days, and I think this person is a rare figure in character and learning, and Pelio's master is Qian Qianyi, the leader of the New Donglin Party.

My father and eldest brother were discredited because of the injustice, although they relied on the protection of the first emperor and His Majesty to clear the grievances of my Zhang family. But my father has passed away for too long, and if there is no outstanding son to reorganize the family, the prestige of my Zhang family will not be re-recognized by the world after all.

Although the sister-in-law dotes on the eldest grandson, what she never forgets in her heart is probably the reputation of the eldest brother. For her, if Tong Chang can learn something, the lintel of the glorious big brother will probably make her happier than if Tong Chang can stay by her side. ”

Zhang Chonghui nodded thoughtfully and said, "What my uncle said is that my nephew will write back in a few days and let Tongchang come to Beijing." ”

Zhang Yunxiu suddenly thought of something at this time, and said to his nephew: "Your Majesty just convened the officials of the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Officials a few days ago to discuss, and the examination rules for the general examination should also be changed, saying that it is necessary to become more fair and reasonable. In my opinion, the revised rules are more beneficial to the students of Yenching University, and it seems that His Majesty has asked you to teach at Yenching University, perhaps with some other meanings. ”

Zhang Chonghui was a little puzzled when he heard this, and asked, "What uncle said about the rules of the examination?" What kind of changes will make the rules work in favor of Yenching students? As far as I know, although Yenching University's miscellaneous studies are excellent, when it comes to the art of the eight-strand system, I am afraid it is difficult to compare with the academies in other places, right? ”

Zhang Yunxiu thought for a while and said, "Okay, anyway, the new rules will be announced today, so I'll tell you a few words in advance." His Majesty believes that the current scoring method of the imperial examination is too arbitrary, and that the ranking of the imperial examination is far from the candidate's individual talent, but has to do with the examiner's preference and the candidate's temporary performance.

Therefore, it has also caused rumors of fraud in various examination halls, even if some examiners have indeed not done fraud, but because the quality of the admitted candidates is uneven, they are often suspected of fraud in impeachment.

Therefore, His Majesty convened the officials of the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Officials to discuss how to reduce the interference of the examiners in the marking of the examination papers, so that the examination can more truthfully reflect the real talents of the candidates.

After discussion, the officials present at the meeting and His Majesty agreed that the system of comments on the examination papers should be changed to a grading system, and that the candidates of the provinces should be ranked according to the scores on the papers.

In addition, the number of subjectively graded questions is reduced, and objective questions with standard answers are added. In addition to this, additional exams on miscellaneous subjects such as mathematics and physics will be added. If the scores of the previous examinations are the same, then the scores of the additional examinations will be used to determine the ranking of the imperial examinations.

From this point of view, it may be of great benefit to him in the future if he is allowed to come to Beijing to study in Beijing as soon as possible and get in touch with the secondary education of Yenching University..."

After eating breakfast with his uncle, Zhang Chonghui went out and got into the carriage prepared by the servants, and went down the avenue towards the palace. When he arrived at the duty room of the imperial secretariat in the palace, he had just beckoned the servant to make a pot of tea for himself, when he saw a little eunuch walk in the door and said to him: "Secretary Zhang, Your Majesty plans to go to Wensi Academy, let you prepare and accompany you." ”

Zhang Chonghui hurriedly got up and said, "The minister has an order..."

As a place where various novel machines were invented and developed in the capital, Zhang Chonghui had also heard of the name of the Wensi Academy after he went to Beijing, but it was the first time he entered this place. Unlike his colleagues, who disliked the dirty area, Zhang Chonghui had also worked in the fields and repaired farm tools during his exile, so he was not bored with the working places of the craftsmen, but rather had a sense of affection.

However, Rao was still startled when he followed Chongzhen to see the monster composed of a cauldron more than a person tall and a pipe iron frame. In particular, after the water is heated and boiled, the white mist that spreads above the water vapor makes this ugly machine look like it is going to collapse at any moment, which is worrying.

However, Chongzhen walked around the machine without worry, as if he had found some great treasure. For this reason, Zhang Chonghui also carefully looked at this machine for a long time, wanting to find out what secrets were in this machine.

However, after studying for a long time, he found that this machine had no other purpose than to draw some well water. Moreover, the process of drawing well water is still discontinuous, and the efficiency of the machine in lifting water is quite low in terms of the fuel used. However, there is an advantage, that is, the labor intensity of people is greatly reduced. After all, adding coal to the bottom of a cauldron is much easier than carrying water from a wooden barrel.

After studying this machine, Chongzhen finally retreated to the side of the entourage officials, smiled at everyone and asked, "Do you know what this machine can be used for?" ”

The other people's answer was naturally to draw well water, but when it was Zhang Chonghui's turn, he thought for a while before replying to the emperor: "The minister thinks that this machine is suitable for well salt mining in Sichuan, which is directly heated by local fire gas, and then used to absorb underground brine, which can greatly improve the mining efficiency of well salt." ”

Zhu Youzhen glanced at him in surprise, and then nodded and said: "Yes, except for the mining area of the coal mine, it is obviously not economical to use this machine in other areas.

Natural gas is available in the Zigongjing salt mining area, which can replace coal as fuel. Manager Xu, you record it, send people to Sichuan Lane two steam water boilers, and test whether they are effective for those salt merchants.

In addition, in Gyeonggi, Shaanxi, and Shanxi, several boilers have been installed near coal mines to prepare for possible drought in spring ploughing. In particular, in areas where surface water sources are scarce such as Shaanxi, more should be set up.

The necessary funds are allocated by the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the testing of the machine..."

On this day, Zhang Chonghui followed Chongzhen to many places in Beijing, and when it was getting dark, Chongzhen let these accompanying officials leave first. Zhang Chonghui, who was already exhausted, saw that Chongzhen was still full of energy, and was still discussing with Lu Qi beside him to see Deng Yuhan, who was recuperating at home...