It has entered October, and Xue Chongxun has been sitting in that position for a whole year. This year's snow hasn't fallen yet, and the river hasn't started to freeze, but the weather is noticeably colder. Princess Taiping felt that the dry and cold winter in Daming Palace was very bad for her skin, so she decided to go to Huaqing Palace early to spend the winter. Prior to this, Empress Li Yan'er had been "diagnosed" to be pregnant and went to Huaqing Palace to recuperate. Xue Chongxun was still left in charge of the inner court, but he rarely asked about the affairs of the harem, so Princess Taiping asked Princess Jincheng to manage internal affairs before leaving.

Previously, when Xue Chongxun was not in Chang'an, Princess Taiping made several major decisions, one of which was to withdraw the military power of Du Xian, the general manager of the Hebei march, and now Du Xian has returned to Beijing; The other was the transfer of military power to the general Zhang Wulang of Jinwuwei. Xue Chongxun and the minister of the Southern Ya were both acceptable to her, and the minister of the Southern Ya, in accordance with the compromise with Xue Chongxun a few months earlier, acquiesced in the pre-plan for the construction of the Great Wall and fortresses in Hebei. However, Xue Chongxun has not clearly ordered this to start doing this, and the ministers naturally will not mention this stubble, because everyone themselves does not agree with the overhaul of the fortifications, and no longer opposes the exchange and compromise of the removal of Du Xian.

Of course, one cannot expect him to suddenly wake up and cancel his previous decision, and the favor that Du Xian received when he came back proved that Xue Chongxun had never intended to change his mind; It won't be the reason for forgetting or procrastinating, Xue Chongxun often doesn't go to the court to accept worship, but the officials are still quite neat. He's waiting for a message.

One day, the eunuch Yang Siqiao went to the greenhouse hall to meet him, and finally brought the news he was waiting for.

Yang Siqiao handed over a file from the Wugong County Shenji Bureau, sprinkled with dozens of pages. Xue Chongxun flipped through it casually, and had to ask Yang Siqiao, "Did Xiao Dan finish the errand I gave him?" ”

"Returning to Your Majesty, it has been done, and the details are all written in this dossier." Yang Siqiao replied, his tone was very relaxed, and he had no pressure to bring good news.

Xue Chongxun's fingers lightly knocked on the stack of papers below, and his heart said that he wanted to read so many words? He pondered for a moment and then handed it back to Yang Siqiao: "You are supervising the Divine Machinery Department, you can just take a look at this thing." Let Xiao Dan send someone to send a car of 'cement' and a car of 'coke' to Chang'an. ”

He thought in his heart that he could determine the success or failure of that thing by looking at the real thing, and maybe it would be more reliable than looking at the description of so many words.

Yang Siqiao received the order to hurriedly transfer the forbidden army from the Xuanwu Gate to Wugong County to pass the message, this kind of specific matter that the Son of Heaven personally asked was very efficient, and he just sent someone to pass the decree in the morning, and the thing arrived at the forbidden military office in the Xuanwu Gate in the evening. Yang Siqiao used two more boxes of things in a box and took them to the greenhouse hall for Xue Chongxun to see.

Seeing that there was a box of gray-black powder and a box of black lumpy things inside, Xue Chongxun took out a piece of something that might be coke and looked at it carefully, in fact, he had never seen coke before...... I've seen cement, but it's obviously not the same thing as the one I saw before.

He picked up a pinch of powder with his fingers and rubbed it between his fingers, then picked up a towel and rubbed it and said, "Order the forbidden army to build a small wall outside the Xuanwu Gate with that cart of cement bonded masonry, and then send the coke to the Jiafang Department, let them bring the molten iron, and you will come and report when it is done." ”

Yang Siqiao hurriedly said: "The slave can go and preach." ”

Others don't quite understand why Xue Chongxun is so concerned about such a specific trivial matter, and always asks in person; And those government affairs related to the central place do not pay much attention, usually the government hall gives a way to deal with it, the cabinet reviews and approves the construction of yì, and finally it should be approved by Xue Chongxun, but he basically asks people to use the seal directly, and there is almost no prohibition to play, so the government affairs handled by the two official offices of the Nanya are actually equivalent to the holy decree. Xue Chongxun is very open to the imperial power, of course, the ministers will not be tired, and they are very willing to do those things, so that their ambitions and talents can be realized.

The next day, Yang Siqiao reported the results of the Jiafang Department, "coke" can be melted iron, and Xue Chongxun judged that the car may be coke; A low wall outside the Xuanwu Gate was also repaired, but Xue Chongxun waited for another three days to estimate that it was almost dry before he was ready to go over to inspect it.

Early in the morning of the fourth day, he didn't go to the inner court to see the chapter, but went directly to the Xuanwu Gate by car, and then changed horses and took a team of forbidden troops out of the palace gate to a grassland outside, and sure enough, he saw a low wall erected on the edge of the grassland. Xue Chongxun was dressed in a robe, still vigorous on horseback, and ran to the wall with a team of armor soldiers, and the eunuchs of the Inner Chambers Province and the bureaucrats of the Jiafang Department behind him also rushed over. He sat on the horse and looked around, and saw a general he knew on the horse next to him, Chen Dahu of the Yulin Army, who had played polo with him before, so he pointed at the wall in front of him with a horsewhip and said, "Chen Dahu, you go and try to knock it down." ”

Chen Dahu's face was embarrassed, but he still hugged his fists and said, "The minister has an order." So saying, he jumped off his horse, took off his helmet and saber and handed them to his general, and after holding his breath, he suddenly rushed towards the wall, rushed to the wall and shouted, and kicked sideways at the brick wall.

Unexpectedly, the wall did not move at all, Chen Dahu screamed in pain and fell to the ground, hurriedly climbed up in pain, and bowed: "Try again!" ”

Xue Chongxun got off the horse, helped him up, and said: "No need to try, General Chen's courage can't kick over that wall, which means that the craftsmen of the Jiafang Department made it with their hearts, and they will ask the Internal Affairs Bureau to reward some money later." ”

An official hurriedly bowed down and said: "Your Majesty's words, the ministers dare not do it untruthfully." A truckload of 'cement' sent by the Divine Machinery Department, the ministers only asked people to build some sand to build the wall, and did not use other materials, so they didn't want it to be very solid. ”

Xue Chongxun suddenly laughed "haha", looking very happy, and the ministers hurriedly agreed: "Your Majesty has this thing to build the pass city, just as the Great Jin Dynasty is unbreakable, and the society will last for thousands of generations." ”

"A few hundred years is good." Xue Chongxun said with a smile.

After hearing this, Zhong Wenwu felt that the Son of Heaven was very pragmatic, but he said verbally: "Your Majesty has no borders for longevity, and the Great Jin Dynasty has a foundation for ten thousand years." ”

Xue Chongxun turned back to the officials of the Northern Ya and said: "The Shenji Department ordered Xiao Dan to do a good job, I am very happy, and I will reward him for his meritorious deeds and promote him to be the warden of the armament and return to the Beiya of the Forbidden Army to serve, and ask him to see me when he comes back." ”

The level of the Divine Machinery Department is the same as that of the Jiafang Department, and the order is under the eight products; The ordnance supervisor is the superior yamen of the Divine Machinery Department, and Cheng is on the seventh grade. Xiao Dan was directly promoted, and he entered Xue Chongxun's sight, and his future was even more impressive than the grade rise in front of him. Everyone is simply envious, jealous and hateful, what kind of person is Xiao Dan, if he wants to be born in the lintel, he used to be just an official, such a person can also hope to get ahead and glorify his ancestors?

Xiao Dan heard that he was going to the palace saint, and he ran very fast, which was an honor in itself. The next morning, he put on a new dress, a low-level dark blue official uniform was made spotless and smooth by him, and his whole body was clean, he was only in his twenties, young and with red lips and white teeth, it was really a spring breeze proud, and he suddenly waited as if he was a minister of the court. He noticed that when the real dignitaries who were able to enter the cabinet passed by the square facing the outside, some of them nodded slightly to him in greeting; Although he has to bend down as much as possible to return the salute, but this is already not easy, if in the past, an official of his level could only stand respectfully on the side of the road and salute when he saw those big people, and people would nod to you when they looked at the sky?

After waiting for a long time, a eunuch took him into the hall, which was a side hall on the side. After entering the door, I saw Xue Chongxun sitting there in clothes of the same color as himself, similar to the last time he saw him in Wugong County. After getting closer, he couldn't look up directly, he fell directly to the floor, his face was on the ground, and shouted: "Weichen knocks on the emperor, long life is boundless!" ”

Xue Chongxun's tone was very kind: "Uncle Wang is one or two years younger than you, and he is already in the center of the cabinet and is the minister of the humerus of the imperial court. As long as the courtiers are attentive to state affairs, they will definitely be able to reduce talents without sticking to one pattern. ”

With an indifferent word, Xiao Dan immediately seemed to see a holy light falling from the sky, full of endless hope, and he hurriedly replied: "Weichen keeps in mind the teachings of His Majesty, and the head of the horse before the saddle is dedicated to his work, and he will not give up!" ”

"Get up and speak." Xue Chongxun said. When Xiao Dan Xie got up and bent down to stand below, he said in a gentle and unquestionable tone: "The significance of coke is important, and in the future, Guanzhong Hedong will use this material for metallurgy, which will play a huge role in farming, river control and other major events." ”

Xiao Dan didn't understand for a while how he could be involved in irrelevant matters such as farming and river control, but he felt that the Son of Heaven was of course unfathomable.

Xue Chongxun continued: "Cement is a visible immediate benefit, which can immediately cut a large amount of expenditure for the state treasury. Therefore, with your merits, I don't think it's enough to only go from the eighth rank to the seventh grade, but it's not good for you to rise too quickly. ”

Xiao Dan said: "Weichen didn't dare to take credit, but just did an errand according to the emperor's will." The emperor cherishes it, and the ministers are even more grateful than words. ”

Xue Chongxun said in his heart that he couldn't really build it if he wanted to build it, he couldn't make something if he thought of something, he could still think of airplanes and tanks, could he make his wishes come true? So Xiao Dan is very meritorious, Xue Chongxun smiled and said: "The credit is all for the officials, what's the use of my credit, who can still promote me?" He pondered for a moment and then said, "The Ordnance Supervisor is an important position in the North Ya. Now the officials in that position are more than stable and not enterprising, and the last time he innovated the standardization of armor and weapons, He Zhizhang made a force from it, and it can be said that the ordnance supervisor has nothing to say for a few years, and he is no longer suitable to stay in that position. Now I have two more things for you to do, and you will be the fourth grade ordnance supervisor when it is done. ”

The Northern Ya Ordnance Supervisor is in charge of repairing the armor and crossbows and handing over the arsenal on time, which is the control of armaments and belongs to the important department. Now that the head of this department has been promised to Xiao Dan, who was originally a nobody, he has only one thought in his heart: the rise is just around the corner. G