During this southern tour, the Son of Heaven is expected to stay in Yangzhou for four days. On April 30, before dawn, Li You got up and hurried to the palace to ask for a ride, thinking too much at night, and he only slept for a few hours.

In the garden side pavilion set up a folding table, in addition to the internal supervisor to prepare more than a dozen meals, on behalf of Yangzhou, Lord Li presented crystal elbow, bird's nest tofu, bad duck, crispy chicken, rolled sand buns, chicken cakes, silver plate side dishes.

Such a luxurious breakfast, the Son of Heaven will definitely not be able to eat it, and the rest will be given to the queen and the virtuous concubine, which is called a reward.

After using it earlier, the Son of Heaven began to inspect Yangzhou City. On the first day of this station, don't think about touring the mountains and rivers, you must fulfill the duties of the emperor's job, otherwise you will probably see the three dazzling words "Emperor Yang of Sui" in the twists and turns.

Yangzhou City is relatively small, the road is not as wide as the Beijing Division, and it is very inconvenient for the Son of Heaven to display all the honor guards of the Halo Book, so he issued an order to follow the simplicity, and only hundreds of pro-soldiers accompanied the guards.

The first is to inspect the civil and military forces, and the first stop is the newly renovated Dongzi Temple ordered by Li You. Jinghe Tianzi and the accompanying minister gave this Confucian master 2,000 years ago a few pillars of incense, and left a piece of writing, ready to be made into an imperial monument.

After that, he came to Jiangdu County School to visit and comfort the instructors and students in the school. More than a dozen people entered the palace, and Jing and the Son of Heaven raised their eyes to see a huge stone in the court, with four big characters in the book "The Day of Chenshi", I don't know why, so I asked left and right: "What does this mean?" ”

The ministers accompanying the driver didn't know that no matter how thick-skinned Li You, the magistrate who greeted him, he was embarrassed to explain, so he had to play the right word: "You can ask the county to learn and teach the instructions." ”

A minister reprimanded: "Lord Li doesn't know? Have you not been to the county school inspector in person for one year in office? Unintentional education, this is a great dereliction of duty, please Your Majesty! ”

Li You thought it was Li Denggao who didn't know what to do, so he turned his head to look. It was the Ministry of Rites who spoke.

The Ministry of Rites is in charge of the school, and An Shilang's reprimand is also within the scope of his duties. However, Li You always felt that he could smell something different from it.

This person knelt down at the gate of Li Denggao's palace yesterday. Embarrassed and angry? Or is the minister who drives him unaccustomed to seeing him in the limelight, and has the psychology of hating the enemy?

The county school Pang is a non-mainstream instructor who doesn't even have a grade, and he was on the periphery of the crowd, but at this time, he was lucky to be among the places in front of the Son of Heaven. His voice trembled and replied: "This is Li Taishou's words of encouragement to the students when he first arrived in Yangzhou. Li Taishou's meaning. All beings are the foundation of the country's cultivators, and the sun has shone like the sun, but it still needs to be diligent and learned. In this way, it can be as good as the sky. ”

Immediately, the monarch and the minister were slightly stunned. From the Son of Heaven to Lin Yuma, all scholars who have read poetry and books are guessing which sage's words these four words are, and they are thinking hard about which classic they come from. As a result, I guessed for a long time, and it turned out to be the famous words of Li You, a big living person...

Li You was a little nervous, ideological stuff. It's never been scoreless. After a while, I heard the Son of Heaven cheering: "This is very good! You can write a picture and put it in the Wenhua Palace, and I should encourage myself. ”

The Son of Heaven spoke. The nature is set. Yuan Ge, the scholar of Wenhuadian University, was speechless about this, Li You's luck was really speechless, just what he saw with his own eyes, I don't know how many times. I can also think that the reason why the Son of Heaven appreciates it is probably because this "day of the hour" is very much in line with his thoughts.

The young son of heaven was in power at the beginning, isn't it the "day of the hour"? After the day of the hour, it is like the sun in the sky, and it is not as straightforward and explicit as the sun in the sky, of course, let the Son of Heaven like it.

Li You, who had been silent for a long time, spoke at this time, and sincerely bowed his hand to this An Shilang: "Xiaguan is indeed incivilized, and his language is vulgar, which makes Uncle Shaozong laugh." ”

An Shilang's face turned cold, and he turned his head to look away.

Li You didn't bother to continue to pay attention to him, there was still an important matter that had to be seized. He also asked the Son of Heaven to play: "The county school has the responsibility of teaching the locality, but there is no grade or rank, and it is only an official who does not enter the stream, and is often regarded by the officials who are promoted by the fight. Therefore, if the top and bottom are reckless, and the teacher does not stand, how can he be a teacher? The minister is respectful, the county school of the world should be taught in the ninth grade, and the professor of the government should be promoted to the eighth grade. ”…,

The Son of Heaven glanced at Sect Pang a few times, and sure enough, he found that he was only wearing a scholar's shirt, and asked Yuan Ge Lao sideways: "The instructor has no grade?" ”

Yuan Ge Lao said: "I am a county school teacher who is not a streamline official, and a professor of government school is from the nine grades. ”

"What Li You said is extremely true, how can the dignity of the teacher be neglected, I should accept it, in order to show respect for the teacher." After confirming it, Jing and Tianzi decided that this matter was not difficult to do, so there was no need to hesitate at all.

Sect Pang immediately kowtowed again and again: "The grace of heaven is vast, and it is difficult to repay the little minister's broken bones!" ”

When he came back to his senses, all the ministers who accompanied him felt heartbroken, such a good thing made Li You steal the limelight again!

The Son of Heaven is in power, just like a new official taking office, of course, he urgently needs to make some moves to show himself. Li You: This is like sending a pillow when the Son of Heaven is sleepy. The promotion of school instructors is a wonderful move!

There are only more than 1,000 prefectural schools and county schools in the country, and each promotion is only the lowest grade, and the income is not high, and the annual state expenditure is only tens of thousands of silver.

But the reputation of the Son of Heaven as a respected teacher has spread greatly, and it is very cost-effective compared to the cost, and there is no emperor who does not like such a cheap and sufficient thing. You must know that the emperor will also pay millions of taels of silver to build a tomb for his own family.

As an important achievement of the Son of Heaven's grassroots inspection of the locality, after this matter was spread, even Li You, who was admonished by the Imperial Advance, could rub oil and brush his fame by the way, and it could be accurately transmitted to every county and every county school in the country.

That's why the ministers who accompanied the driver were heartbroken, this kind of almost profitable thing, why did they turn a blind eye to it and never thought of it, but let Li You pick it up?

The plan succeeded, and Li Taishou, who was a little proud again, secretly instructed the living note: "This benevolent brother is so good-looking, haven't you seen it in the palace?" Hard work, don't forget to record. ”

As soon as he crossed, he was strange, obviously in his impression that the county school teaching should be the same as the main book, why was it not in the national dynasty? In fact, in another time and space, it was not until the early days of the "pseudo-Qing" that the county school teacher was promoted to the rank of inflow official. On this plane, this achievement has finally been picked up by himself.

The Son of Heaven summoned some students again, and learned that the monthly amount of silver issued by Jiangdu County was more than half of the quota of the imperial court, and then after asking a few questions, he gave them the qualification to enter the country to study, and the trip to the county school ended here.

After reading the article. He also went to the school of the government garrison department to inspect the armament. The monarch and the minister went to the general's platform, and all the officers and soldiers of the three battalions of the garrison division lined up below. The order sounded. began to practice martial arts.

The equipment of these 1,500 or 600 battalions was very ordinary, ordinary, and nothing was evident in the battle. However, as soon as the military exercises began, the officers and men became vigorous. Morale is high. Suddenly, the killing sound on the school field moved the sky, which moved the generals and ministers on the stage.

Previously, all the commanders had received orders from Li You. Whoever doesn't work hard today, don't think about investigating illegal salt in the second half of this year.

The Son of Heaven Gu left and right and said: "All the way over, the mainland battalion soldiers rarely have such courage. I've only seen it on the forbidden elites. This Yangzhou has a good way of governing the army. Deservedly rewarded! Where is the garrison officer? ”

Li You was a little embarrassed, and humbly stepped forward to greet him: "It's a minister who is in charge of everything, and I don't dare to ask for merit and reward." ”

The minister couldn't help but burst into foul language in his heart.

The Son of Heaven was speechless, and suddenly remembered that the imperial sister asked him to stamp a seal last year. The appointment of a local civilian official and the management of the battalion turned out to be Li You... and he never spoke again of the reward.

Peek at the expressions of the people around you. Li You rarely found out in his conscience that he might have gone too far.

After reviewing the officers and troops of the garrison department of the government, the Son of Heaven drove back to the palace. After finishing their meals in the afternoon, they continued to perform their duties, and in the afternoon, the main task was to meet with the representatives of local seniors and salt merchants. …,

Since the time of Taizu, the dynasty attached great importance to the role of local elders, and set up the post of the elderly, specializing in dealing with rural disputes, and had very simple judicial powers. It also stipulates that the magistrate regularly holds a village drink ceremony and gathers with the local elders to discuss the gains and losses of governance. At that time, the local elders could even jointly go to the imperial court to protect or impeach the magistrates.

Nowadays, however, many of them are mere formalities, but there are still forms.

This time, the Son of Heaven summoned the old people in the main hall of the palace, most of them were over sixty years old, and after the palace of Pulsatilla Mountain shouted long live, they all received the grace of heaven and were given a seat.

In the face of the Holy Monarch's inquiry, an old man who was nearly 100 years old trembled and said: "The little man was born in the apocalypse, grew up in Chongzhen, and after more than 90 years of the fifth generation, only last year to the present, the most peaceful!" At the beginning, the government and the people were lenient, the government was simple and the punishment was clear, and the benefits of one party were also given, widows and loneliness, social studies in the township, and the construction of bridges and paved roads. ”

The ministers of the palace were in an uproar, this old man Rui, who was born in the Apocalypse Dynasty, was confused, was he talking about the Ming Dynasty? Is this the world of the ancient kings?

Among the attendants, Yuan Ge was the most familiar with the political situation, and immediately said: "Old man, don't lie and bully the king, exaggerate. ”

He knew that most of the money and grain income of the local government had to be transported, and there was not much left in the local party committee, and after all the expenses were met, there was not much left. According to what this old man said, I don't know how much financial resources it will cost, and it is very fake when I hear it, it must have been taught by Li You in advance in order to invite the name.

In fact, it is normal to make up some good and obedient words to make the Son of Heaven happy, the Son of Heaven must like prosperity and does not want to see withering. But the problem is that the editor can't make it up so absurdly and untrue, it's too insulting to the intelligence of these ministers.

The old man trembled and kowtowed: "The little people don't dare to bully the king. ”

The other elders next to him each took out a stack of lists and presented them: "We have made a list of them before for the holy inquiry. All of them are well documented. ”

There are names and place names in these lists, the names of people are probably the so-called widows and loneliness, and the place names are maybe bridges, maybe roads, maybe social studies. Although it is only within these few townships, it can also be glimpsed of the whole leopard.

And it is accompanied by two silver figures. However, most of them are not fully covered by the government, but only subsidized by the government, and the rest are self-recruited and worked in each township.

The Son of Heaven said to Yuan Ge: "Such a thing that can be done for 50,000 taels for 10,000 taels, Yangzhou is rich, and it is not surprising that it is not surprising to gather silver." ”

Such a sentence of the old man Rui, "widows, loneliness, and social studies in the township, building bridges and paving roads are all given" is a bit exaggerated, but it can't be said to be false, and he didn't say that it was all given by the government.

Yuan Ge glanced at the list a few times, and said: "Jiangdu County's annual money and grain are seventy or eighty thousand, and there are no more than 10,000 of them. The official expenses in this list are not more than 10,000 yuan, and I don't know where to get the silver. ”

An Shilang said: "I once heard that Li You wantonly gathered and extorted places. Probably using this silver to buy fame for oneself is also a treacherous way, so you must not ignore it. ”

Li You, who had no sense of existence for a long time, came out and said to the Son of Heaven: "The minister has always believed that the way to be a minister should be to be attentive and practical. It is necessary to know that empty words mislead the country, and it is useless to talk about it, and Chongzhen national affairs, Thailand is half bad in this generation! ”

Although he did not name names, he knew who he was talking about. People who are familiar with Li You are slandering, and you Li You have less time to talk about it?

The two attacked each other, but the Son of Heaven was noncommittal, and after seeing Qisu, he summoned the salt merchant again. This time the Son of Heaven toured the south, and the salt merchants made great efforts to repay the service and donation, so they should also see it.

This batch of salt merchants is actually more than 20 general merchants, and they are basically the group that has served the most for the southern tour of the Son of Heaven.

The Son of Heaven said a few words, "The court will not know that the court will not know the effective heart, and I can give you the name of the general merchant." I only hope that you will report to the society in the future and go to the township. ..., the salt merchants thanked him, and Yuan Ge asked: "The local government of Yangzhou, can there be any such thing as forcing rich merchants to gather?" ”

He Yunzi, the head of the Salt Industry Association, flatly denied this, "There is no such thing!" We were inspired by Li Taishou to voluntarily pay for the new class and benefit our neighbors, so how can we say that we are coerced? This old man is not going to construct it out of thin air. Even if there are one or two unscrupulous rumors, it is a rumor that stops at the wise! ”

Wait for the salt merchants to withdraw, and it will be convenient to settle today's inspection.

It stands to reason that the Son of Heaven should have encouraged the magistrates at this time. But Li You's political achievements are almost impeccable, and he can only give a full score, which can be called the best of the best, and he almost wrote on his face "If I don't promote me, it's not enough to be angry." Jing and Tianzi have come all the way south, and they have never seen such a situation, and now they don't know how to phrase it.

If someone else is like this, the Son of Heaven will open his mouth, give him a reputation as a capable minister, reward some items, and promise to reuse it. But Li You is really a special one, whether he rewards him or promotes him, it is a very technical job, and the Son of Heaven can't make up his mind for a while.

Don't mention the golden book and iron coupons, it's not as good as the bullfighting suit and it's not easy to take out your hand, can you still reward a python robe for this?

As for the promotion and reuse of Li You, the Son of Heaven felt that this was not completely up to him, but he was afraid that it would affect the minds of many people, from the queen mother to the eldest sister, to the scholars of the palace, and it was not something that could be easily decided. And the young emperor's face is not so thick, and he can make false empty promises without changing his face.

The Son of Heaven is confused, is this the reward that the book says is not rewardable? Li You didn't do anything earth-shattering and shocking in Yangzhou, so how could he be rewarded?

It's really too much, Li You sighed secretly when he saw this, and he should find the steps by himself.