There was such a big commotion in the barracks, and Su Hao naturally wanted to give an explanation to Han Wen. Previously, he asked Xiao An to go back and report that it was Tianlei, which was just used to fool outsiders, and he also knew that Han Wen would not believe it.

After settling down the affairs in the barracks, Su Hao returned to the county seat alone, and he didn't even care about going home, so he went to the county office first and reported to Han Wen.

"It's changed back, it's been hard all the way, right?" After Han Wen saw Su Hao, he didn't rush to ask about the things in the barracks, but greeted him first.

"Back to the county, the road is quite smooth, the students are fortunate to have fulfilled their mission and have found the gold mine. Gonggong Li promised to withdraw all the craftsmen from the Yuanli Gold Mine and transfer them to the Tonggushi Gold Mine in the near future. Su Hao replied.

After finding the Tonggushi gold mine, Su Hao had already sent someone back to Fengcheng to deliver the letter, so Han Wen already knew about the matter, but he didn't know about Su Hao's trip to Nanchang to meet Li Long. He asked, "Change, did you see Gonggong Li in Nanchang?" ”

"See." Su Hao said.

"Does Gonggong Li have any orders?" Han Wen asked.

Su Hao said: "When Gonggong Li heard that he had found a big gold mine, he was very happy and rewarded the student with 10 taels of silver. In addition, he wanted students to do things for him. ”

"Oh?" Han Wen replied softly and asked, "What does he want you to do for him?" ”

Su Hao said: "Gonggong Li said that he was also from a poor family, and as a mine supervisor, he couldn't bear to force the people to go bankrupt with harsh taxes and miscellaneous taxes. He wanted the students to find a few good mines for him, so that he could help the inner court increase his income without harassing the people, which was the best of both worlds. ”

Han Wen laughed and said: "Gonggong Li's reason is also high-sounding. However, judging from his actions after arriving in Jiangxi, what he advertised was not false, and there were few eunuchs who could be as sympathetic to the people's feelings as Gonggong Li. How did you reply to him? ”

Su Hao said: "Gonggong Li spoke, and the students naturally didn't dare to disagree. However, he also said that this matter still needs to be considered in the long run, and that when he quarries the gold and gets the emperor's approval, then he will have more power to transfer students to him on errands. ”

"Well, if it can really be as Gonggong Li said, it will be a way to promotion." Han said meaningfully.

Su Hao said: "Students don't dare to expect any promotions, students just want to do something for the court and the people." ”

"There's no conflict between the two." Han Wen said, "Being in a high position, you have more opportunities to report to the court and the people." If you can really get the favor of Gonggong Li and be recommended by him, you can save the pain of ten years of cold windows. ”

"The students are ashamed." Su Hao replied. Han Wen said it so bluntly, no matter how much he covered it up, he made it up. The students in the academy study hard every day, also in order to be able to rise to the top once they are in the rankings. If he can really get through the road of Li Long, it will be a shortcut. Attaching to the eunuch is quite disdainful in the mouths of many scholars, but when there is a real opportunity, how many will refuse?

In the Ming Dynasty, civil officials entered the official ranks, including imperial examinations, schools, recommended examinations, and shadow descriptions. The so-called recommendation means that the magistrate feels that a person is talented, directly recommends him to the imperial court, and after a special assessment, he is awarded an official position.

This method of recommendation was more common in the early Ming Dynasty, when the country was short of talents, and it was difficult to find enough virtuous officials by the imperial examination alone, so Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhu Di and others attached great importance to discovering talents through recommendation.

However, the good times did not last long, and with the corruption of the officialdom atmosphere, the quality of the talents recommended by various localities continued to decline, and the phenomenon of "many people who were not the ones who were promoted" appeared. Those who are really admitted to official positions on the basis of their ability are quite disdainful of those officials who are recommended by favors, and young people who are truly talented and learned are also ashamed of being recommended, and are more willing to take the road of the imperial examination and seek an upright background.

As a result, the method of recommendation is gradually declining. After the Tianshun Dynasty, this method of recommendation only had some embellishment in the entire Ming officialdom, and the imperial court occasionally promoted a few recommended talents to show respect for meritocracy, and the rest of the time, it was still only focused on the imperial examination.

However, after all, recommendation is still a way to enter the official recognized by the imperial court, and a young man like Su Hao, who has real talent and learning, but is not good at the imperial examination, if he can go through the upper route and enter the officialdom through the recommendation channel, it is also a very good choice. In any case, at least ten years less struggle.

Han Wen is well versed in officialdom, so he hinted to him before Su Hao went to see Li Long. Now that he heard that Li Long really had the intention of soliciting Su Hao, he was both a little happy for Su Hao and a little sorry for Su Hao. Those who have ascended to the position by taking the eunuch route will always be unable to raise their heads in the civil official circle in the future.

"Over there, did you go and walk around?" After talking about the matter on Li Long's side, Han Wen asked about Zhang Hong's side of the Jiangxi Metropolitan Division again.

"I've walked around." Su Hao said, "Zhang Dusi said that the Ministry of War has a decree to ask me to go to the Yunnan border pass in a few days to listen to it, and the official document of the Ministry of War may come down soon." ”

"Bingbu?" Han Wen asked strangely, "Didn't you say that this survey battalion was commissioned by Deputy General Deng to train it?" How is it worth the mobilization of the military department and the mobilization of underground official documents? ”

Su Hao said: "This is also where the students are confused, but Zhang Dusi did not give the students an explicit expression. In addition, Zhang Dusi said that the Ministry of War meant that the students would lead the team in person, which was not in line with the situation that had been promised before. ”

"Instead, if the Ministry of War transfers you, I'm afraid it will be a big trouble. You are also one of the hundred households who have filed a case in the Ministry of War, so it will be difficult to take off your military status. Han Wen said.

Su Hao was also full of wonders, not knowing why there was such a change. But he didn't think as much as Han Wen, Han Wen was a literati and never looked down on military attachés, but Su Hao was a person with the thoughts of later generations, and he felt that civilian and military positions were the same thing, and he could really be mixed into a general soldier or a general, which was actually quite majestic.

After talking about these things, Han Wen mentioned the matter of "Tianlei", Su Hao didn't hide anything, and bluntly told Han Wen that he sent people to test ** in the barracks, and an explosion accidentally occurred, but fortunately, only the person concerned was slightly injured. Han Wen frowned and said: "Change, this court has a legal system, firearms and other things are not allowed to be made without permission, and it is really illegal for you to make your own ** in the camp." ”

Su Hao said: "County Zun, the student has considered this matter, and when he was in Nanchang this time, the student asked Gonggong Li for a permit. The student made a firearm, even if it was made for Gonggong Li, if there was any trouble, he would go to explain it to Yousi. ”

"That's very good." Han Wen nodded, since Li Long was behind Su Hao's back, it didn't matter. The imperial court forbade the private manufacture of firearms, also for fear of rebellion, and the detection of this kind of rebellion was completed by Jinyiwei. Li Long lived in the Thousand Households of Jinyiwei, and he said that these firearms were made by his own orders, and who else would crook his mouth?

Although he felt that it didn't matter, Han Wen still persuaded: "Change, you can dig coal and build telescopes, if you do these things well, you will get more than ten thousand profits, why bother to get any gunpowder?" Do you really want to develop in the military? ”

Su Hao said with a smile: "The county lord doesn't know, this gunpowder can also be used for the people. The gunpowder produced by the students this time, called yellow**, is far more powerful than the black powder used in the army nowadays. In the future, we will build a reservoir in Luoshan, and we will have to blow up the mountain and take stones, and then we will be able to use this yellow **. ”

Speaking of the reservoir, Han Wen became interested, he said: "Regarding the Luoshan Reservoir, Ma Yu has already sent drawings to the county, as well as detailed material calculations. According to him, these calculations are all about changing the purpose you once had. The county has sent the drawings to Nanchang Prefecture to apply for the allocation of public money for this construction. I heard that Governor Fan is very enthusiastic about this matter, and it is estimated that this matter will soon be resolved. ”

"Really? That's just great. Su Hao said happily.

Luoshan Reservoir is the first large-scale project planned by Su Hao after coming to the Ming Dynasty, for this project, he has paid a lot of effort, and now everything is ready, just waiting for the Nanchang Mansion and the Political Secretary to allocate money, you can start construction.

The survey of the Luoshan Reservoir was completed by Su Hao himself. On the basis of detailed survey data, Su Hao instructed Ma Yu to complete the schematic design of the reservoir and draw the engineering drawings of each dam. Because he did not understand the relevant calculations of hydraulics, in order to ensure the safety of the reservoir, Su Hao left enough margin for the dam and other buildings of the reservoir, in short, to build the dam as strong as possible, so as to be foolproof.

The cement needed for the construction of the reservoir has also been successfully trial-produced a few days ago. Relying on the ball mill equipped with high manganese steel balls developed by the Hao family and his son, the cement raw meal can be ground to a size of nearly 200 meshes, which meets the requirements of firing cement. Xu Zong led the workers to solve technical problems such as raw material ratio, firing temperature and time control after repeated experiments, and the strength of the burned cement was comparable to that of later generations.

"Anyway, if you lead the survey camp to the border pass, shouldn't the construction of this reservoir be delayed?" Han Wen asked worriedly.

Su Hao said: "The county doesn't have to worry, I recommend one person who can be responsible for the construction of the reservoir on my behalf." ”

"Who do you recommend?" Han Wen asked.

Su Hao said: "Student Ma Yu can take care of this matter, when the student was in Luoshan, he had already introduced various matters of reservoir construction to Ma Yu in detail, Ma Yu's talent is several times better than that of students, he understands these things as soon as he hears them, and he can rest assured that the construction of the reservoir will be entrusted to him." ”

Han Wen nodded and said: "That's good, I see Ma Yuqi doing things steadily, and I was originally a little optimistic about him." When I heard this say, I was completely relieved. Alas, it's a pity that Ma Yu, the head of the county test, was moved by you to give up his studies and do this craftsman's business, which is really overkill. ”

Su Hao said: "This is Brother Duwen's own choice, and the student did not persuade him. However, the students thought that the construction of the reservoir could also go down in history, and it was worth delaying the imperial examination for a few years. ”

Han Wen smiled bitterly: "Changing your actions has always been eclectic. Ma Yu is a simple person, how can he withstand the preaching of reform. After the reservoir is repaired, the county still has to talk to Ma Yu and persuade him to use his mind on the right path. ”