He knew that in order to achieve the emperor's goal of "subduing Japan and forcing them to act on the terms of the imperial court," it was necessary to rely on the Foreign Affairs Department, which was the only one who was well versed in the Japanese situation and who could act on cameras. As long as the Foreign Affairs Department takes this opportunity to show its important role and get what he wants for the emperor and the court, then rewards will definitely follow. He even took this opportunity to fulfill his long-cherished wish in one fell swoop, saying that the emperor and the prime minister would upgrade the Foreign Affairs Department to the first part of the cabinet, so that he would also become a member of the cabinet ministers and enjoy the treatment of important ministers.

As soon as he thought of the scene of himself wearing a fancy costume and sitting at the desk of a cabinet meeting, discussing state affairs like other important ministers, Kong Zhang's heart couldn't help but burn, and this fire even dispelled the cold around him and made him feel more energetic.

"Zhihe, this time the prime minister met you in person, I finally won the opportunity, you have to take advantage of it!" He turned around a little excitedly and looked at the young subordinate who was following him, "You should have a piece of Chen, you go through it in your mind, think about how to deal with the prime minister's inquiry, so as not to wait until you see the prime minister and be caught off guard." ”

"My lord, the lower official understands." The young man dressed in black bowed down again and again, "Xia Guan has been preparing for relevant matters in the past few days, and he already has a draft in his heart, although he can't guarantee that he will be satisfied with the Prime Minister, but there should be no problem in dealing with it." ”

"That's good, that's good." Kong Zhang nodded again and again, "Zhihe, I actually read all of your Chen, I personally feel very satisfied, you are attentive." However, you must be clear about how important this incident is to our Foreign Affairs Division. Let me tell you clearly, this is an errand that the emperor has put down, as long as you can do it well, then the day of our Foreign Affairs Department will come, even if it is for you, are you afraid that there will be no chance to rise to the top? Take advantage of it, Zhihe ......"

"Master Xie cultivates!" This young official respectfully thanked Kong Zhang, "In order to do a good job on the emperor's errand, for the honor and disgrace of the company, and in order to repay the trust of the adults, the lower officials will definitely be ruthless, and they will not give up!" ”

"If only you understood." Kong Zhang smiled and nodded.

This young official's name is Zhou Pu, and his name is Zhihe, and he is an official of the Department of Foreign Affairs. He is a native of Dengzhou, Shandong, and his grandfather and father have both worked in maritime merchants and smugglers, and have accumulated some land, so his family has been quite prosperous since he was a child. In his generation, because the elders felt that the family suffered a lot of losses without the protection of officials compared to those who had meritorious names, so they made up their minds to send him to a private school to study, so he learned a lot of knowledge under Mr. since he was a child, and even the name Zhou Pu and the word Zhihe were also chosen by Mr. for him.

He originally dreamed of gaining fame and honoring his ancestors on the gold list, but who knew that at this time, the Ming Dynasty was caught in the last major crisis, natural disasters and man-made disasters continued, thieves swarmed from all over the country, and the Ming court saw signs of precariousness, and his family also lost some money in these turmoil. Under the pressure of this environment, he ruthlessly cut off the heart of fame in the imperial examination and went to the sea to help his father in business. Relying on his active brain, he quickly learned Korean and Japanese, and made a lot of contributions to his family's business career. In those years, he often ran in Seoul and Nagasaki, and he was very familiar with the situation in both countries.

It didn't take long for the rapidly rising Xuzhou power to quickly annex outward, take the whole of Shandong into the bag, and swept the world at the speed of his stunned speed, and soon established a new dynasty, and under the control of the new dynasty, the originally restless world slowly calmed down.

The world is slowly calming down, but Zhou Pu's heart is becoming more and more lively. After all, doing business at sea is a life of licking blood, and life is very hard, he grew up studying, where does he like to live this life? In addition, now they have to compete with Yunshan Xing in doing business at sea, they are small households, how much strength they have, so it is becoming more and more difficult to continue doing business. He is not a person who reads dead books, and he has no idea of loyalty and filial piety for the Ming Dynasty, in this situation, he quickly moved the mind of serving the new court.

He originally thought that the new dynasty would open the imperial examination, so he picked up the scriptures that he had thrown away again and studied, but he didn't expect that the new dynasty did not immediately open the imperial examination to stabilize the hearts of the world's scholars after the Dingding, but never opened the imperial examination, and still reused those old people and the dragon team.

He did not become disheartened or curse the new dynasty openly and secretly like some hopeless scholars, but rushed to the capital to observe the situation and find a way to find an official position for himself.

After many activities, through some fellow villagers, he got acquainted with Kong Zhang, who had become the director of the Department of Foreign Affairs at that time. He recommended himself to Kong Zhang, but he didn't expect that Kong Zhang, who had memorized the sages who had memorized by rote, did not take a fancy to him, but he fell in love with his mastery of Goryeo and Japan, and after several assessments, Kong Zhang recruited him into the Department of Foreign Affairs, making him officially a member of the Han court.

Although the grade is not high, and it is a yamen in charge of foreign affairs, but for the Zhou family, who have been rolling in the sea for generations, Zhou Pu can also be called a glorious ancestor, at least when his father heard the news, he was so excited that he shed tears.

And while Zhou Pu was secretly rejoicing, he couldn't help but have a trace of doubt in his heart, not understanding why the new dynasty had never opened a department to recruit scholars, so that he relied on this way to recruit officials.

It wasn't until he was drinking with his boss Kong Zhang that he didn't hear his explanation.

It turned out that the new dynasty started in Xuzhou, then gradually developed to the land of Jianghuai, then occupied Shandong, and finally swept the whole north and took Jiangnan, so the new dynasty had to take care of the interests of the people in the land of Longxing.

Because of many years of disasters and wars, these places are now not prosperous, if you start the imperial examination now, you will not be able to pass the Jiangnan examination anyway, if you start the imperial examination now, then there will soon be the same situation as the former Ming Dynasty, the Jiangnan scholars through the much better results of the imperial examination to fill the court, and finally squeeze out other forces. The Donglin Party, which arose in the last years of Wanli and later influenced three generations of the Ming court, was based on these Jiangnan scholars and landlords.

In order to avoid this situation, it is simply to stop the imperial examination first, and hire officials with meritorious service (in other words, to give priority to the admission of Xuzhou and Jianghuai Shandong), Zhou Pu was able to smoothly enter the Department of Foreign Affairs, and it was precisely because he was born in Shandong like Kong Zhang.

Of course, this admission method cannot be sustained for a long time, so over the years, the imperial court has been increasing investment in education in various places, especially in the land of Longxing, and when the education level in these places is raised, it will slowly open up the imperial examination, so that the admission of officials will be carried out in a way that is as fair as possible - of course, the scope of the examination will not be limited to the Four Books and Five Classics, as we all know, because of the lessons of the previous Ming Dynasty, the emperor hates the Confucian set very much, and he does not like the scholars who can only talk, maybe the imperial examination in the future, To add astronomy, geography and even the art of war, it will no longer be as limited as the previous Baguwen.

However, now that he has been crowded into the court, Zhou Pu no longer cares about this kind of thing, he just wants to do the affairs in his hands well, win the favor of his boss, and by the way, let his official position be able to advance to a few levels.

Thanks to the care of Director Kong Zhangkong, he was given the authority and responsibility to handle affairs related to Japan as soon as he entered the department, so he has been dealing with Japanese affairs for the past two or three years. It is precisely for this reason that when he learned of the emperor's plan from the prime minister, Kong Zhang immediately remembered his right-hand man, and as soon as he returned to his office, he specially summoned him over and told him to hurry up and collect affairs related to Japan and make a plan of action to subdue Japan as soon as possible.

After the boss explained this task, Zhou Pu naturally felt that this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity in addition to the pressure, so he simply threw away everything else around him, and plunged into this task in the past few days, trying to think of how to complete the above expectations.

I didn't expect to get the opportunity to meet the prime minister in person so soon...... Although this young official is still unfazed on the surface, his heart has long been like turning over the river and the sea. The opportunity to rise to prominence is just around the corner, and how many people can do it without moving?

Calm, calm! Zhou Pu reminded himself while following Kong Zhang into the magnificent and tall Wenhua Palace.

The Wenhua Hall in their mouth is actually the collective name of a group of palaces, the front hall is the Wenhua Palace, south-facing, five rooms wide, three rooms deep, and the top of the Yellow Glazed Tile Mountain. Open six doors in the bright room, and the second room and the tip are all sill windows, and each open four three crosses and six rhombus flower sash windows. The east and west gables each have a window. Out of the platform in front of the hall, there is a road leading directly to the Wenhua Gate. The apse is said to be the main hall, and the regulation is slightly similar to the Wenhua hall and the depth is slightly shallow. The front and rear halls are connected by corridors. The east and west side halls are respectively the Benren Hall and the Jiyi Hall.

And the prime minister summoned them, it was in the east side hall Benren Hall.

This side hall is very spacious, there were originally a lot of imperial objects used by the royal family of the previous dynasty, but the prime minister was afraid of being impeached and transgressed, so he ordered someone to move it away, and rearranged it, only for summoning, and the furnishings were very simple.

Zhou Pu was left outside by Kong Zhang, and he walked in alone.

"See the prime minister." As soon as he saw the prime minister, he bowed and saluted.

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Thanks to "Zhu Wenjie, Duan Yichen, Rotten Land Rover 2015, Jijiliu, Dahan Caomin, Dragon King in the Wind" several old friends for their tips, thank you for your subscription and monthly pass, thank you