Wen Zhenmeng is a native of Changzhou, Suzhou Prefecture, Nanzhili, and Chen Renxi is also a native of Changzhou, Suzhou Prefecture, Nanzhili, one of these two people is the champion of the second year of the Apocalypse, and the other is Tanhua in the second year of the Apocalypse. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

Because the two of them are not only fellow villagers, but also have a relationship of the same year, although in terms of age, Wen Zhenmeng is much older than Chen Renxi, but the friendship between the two is irreversible.

The most incredible thing is that these two people are also friends of Xu Hongzu, and they are rare confidants in his life.

And Xu Hongzu's two friends have now been reused by the emperor, one is the imperial history of the Jingying Supervision Army, and the other is the imperial history of the Liaodong Supervision Army, both of which have established their own achievements.

This point especially made Xu Hongzu sigh, he had no intention of fame and fortune, but he also wanted to achieve his own achievements.

Xu Hongzu took his servants and took a boat along the canal all the way north, and finally arrived at the Shuimen Wharf in Tongzhou on the bright afternoon of the tenth day of the fourth month, bid farewell to the boatman's house, boarded the riverbank, held the official document of the imperial court, and checked in to the Luhe Station in Tongzhou.

Today's Tongzhou City, the east gate of Beijing, is no longer the Tongzhou he passed by a few years ago, the tall and sturdy outer city wall, the rows of shops in the north and south, and the crowded bustling street market all remind him of the prosperity of the south of the Yangtze River.

On the night of Xu Hongzu's check-in at Tongzhou Luhe Station, this situation was reported to the palace by Jinyiwei and Dongchang almost at the same time.

In the north-south traffic arteries like Tongzhou, the personnel of Jinyiwei and Dongchang can be said to be everywhere, especially Luheyi is the object of attention of these two institutions.

The officials, nobles, and even the fleets that transported large quantities of goods left and arrived when they left, when they arrived, and what they were transporting, all of which were recorded briefly or in detail, and every once in a while, after being screened by Jinyiwei or Dongchang, they would be sent to the emperor's desk in the Qianqing Palace.

Characters like Xu Hongzu, who was named by the emperor to be transferred to Beijing to serve, naturally received special care.

Therefore, as soon as Xu Hongzu had breakfast on the morning of the second day of his arrival, he received an edict from the emperor brought by the Jinyi guard, ordering him to enter the palace to face the saint on the same day.

Xu Hongzu also wanted to stay in Tongzhou for two days to see the changes in Tongzhou in recent years, and to see the novelties mentioned by Wen Zhenmeng in his letter to him.

But the emperor summoned such a major event, and he could not delay it for a moment.

Hearing that the emperor was going to summon him today, Xu Hongzu simply packed his bags, changed into the low-grade official uniform he had newly obtained when he was an assistant teacher in Nanjing, took the three volumes of "Travels" that had been written, and took the carriage that came to deliver the decree and answer, and rushed to the city of Beijing.

Speaking of which, Xu Hongzu is now just a secretary of the military department who runs errands, and Emperor Chongzhen is not guilty of summoning such an official at all.

In normal times, such a person would not have the opportunity to enter the Forbidden City to meet the emperor in person.

However, Emperor Chongzhen's summoning of Xu Hongzu had little to do with his official position, because he had other plans.

Besides, the size of Xu Hongzu's official position is, in the final analysis, just a sentence from the emperor.

It's just that Xu Hongzu himself is also a scholar, but after all, he is not even a showman or even a child, is there any credit that others can see at the moment, if Emperor Chongzhen suddenly promotes him, it will break the rules of the imperial court.

However, such a person, once he enters the emperor's field of vision, it is a matter of time before he makes a contribution, and then he will be promoted and reused, which is a matter of course and a matter of course.

The reason why Emperor Chongzhen was in a hurry to summon Xu Hongzu was that he was determined to establish an Imperial Ming Geographical Society under the Ministry of War.

Later, in the 19th century, before the Western powers carried out colonial plunder, it was customary to send or fund missionaries, explorers and other figures to Asia, Africa, and the Americas to carry out so-called expeditions.

Nominally, these activities are civilian, personal, and spontaneous, but in reality most of them have official or even military backing.

One of the most famous and accomplished in history is the Royal Geographical Society.

The expeditions of geographers, archaeologists, and other figures supported or funded by the Royal Geographical Society eventually became the precursors and justifications for the British army to occupy and colonize and plunder.

In the second year of Chongzhen and the historical time and space before it, the explorers of the Taixi countries had already discovered North and South America, and discovered the shipping route to any corner of the world.

Even the famous Royal Geographical Society of England will not be officially established until two hundred years later, but the great geographical expeditions funded by the royal families of Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, England and other countries have already been in full swing.

In the so-called Age of Geographical Discoveries, the explorers such as Columbus, da Gama, Magellan, and Drake who emerged one after another in the Tessie countries were able to achieve brilliant success because behind each of them stood a country and a royal family.

At that time, China's conditions were many times better than those of these Western European countries, but the Chinese emperors did not look overseas or even the surrounding areas of China, except for the Yongle Emperor, and there was never an emperor who firmly supported Chinese explorers to explore the whole world, even if it was only the surrounding areas of China.

This time, Emperor Chongzhen is ready to make a change, to use the power of the royal family, the power of the country, to fund explorers who are interested in exploring the family, to explore all the unknown world.

And the first thing he wanted to do was to recruit Xu Xiake, the most accomplished explorer of China of this era, whom he knew, and let him take the lead in establishing an Imperial Ming Geographical Society funded by the emperor himself.

Xu Hongzu was taken to the gate of the Wuying Hall in the Forbidden City, and then he was led by Wang Chengen, who was waiting outside the Wuying Gate, and soon came to the Wuying Palace.

In the main hall of the Wuying Palace, there is a throne for the emperor to summon the ministers of military aircraft, nobles, and military ministers to discuss military affairs, but when Xu Hongzu came in, there was no emperor on the throne dragon chair in the depths opposite.

At this moment, Emperor Chongzhen is standing in front of a topographic sand table that was supervised by the Ministry of War not long ago, with Li Guohao, the first assistant of the cabinet, Xu Guangqi, the minister of the cabinet, Sun Chengzong, the minister of military aircraft, and Zhang Weixian, the minister of military aircraft.

Emperor Chongzhen was watching quietly, while Sun Chengzong, the Minister of Military Aircraft, was whispering something.

Xu Hongzu had not yet recovered from the magnificent shock generated by his first entry into the Forbidden City, and he was stunned by the terrain sand table in front of him again.

There is still such a skilled craftsman in this world, who can concentrate the famous mountains and rivers, the Great Wall and other forms and victories that he has witnessed in a miniature way in a square sand table!

The moment he saw this terrain sand table, the countless famous mountains and rivers he had witnessed flashed from his mind one by one, and suddenly evoked countless memories of hardship and happiness.

Just as he was stunned and looking at the terrain sand table in front of him, he suddenly felt that someone was pulling his sleeve, so he suddenly came back to his senses, and hurriedly knelt on the ground to salute the emperor standing in front of him, and said: "Xu Hongzu, the new secretary of the military department, knocks on Your Majesty, long live my emperor, long live, long live!" ”

Xu Hongzu's previous reaction, of course, was also seen by Emperor Chongzhen.

And the fanaticism and intoxication revealed in Xu Hongzu's eyes when he saw the sand table also made Emperor Chongzhen feel at ease.

This is a Chinese who has a fanaticism for geographical exploration!

And such a person is also the person that Emperor Chongzhen needs most at this moment.

Seeing Xu Hongzu, who was in his forties and had a thin figure, kneeling on the ground and kowtowing, Emperor Chongzhen hurriedly said: "Xu Qing is exempt from courtesy, flat body!" Come to me! ”

Hearing this, Xu Hongzu got up, first bowed to the several important ministers standing beside the emperor, and then stepped forward, approaching the Ming terrain sand table, which was already a square foot, with wide eyes and watched carefully.