Zhu Youzhen is an impatient person, and he will do it when he thinks of it, and when he writes an edict, he orders someone to send it to the cabinet, announcing that he will visit the south to worship his ancestors.

Then, unsurprisingly, the court exploded.

The cabinet elders gave up their prejudices against each other, and unanimously signed a joint petition to ask Zhu Youzhen to withdraw his fate.

Huang Liji, a scholar of Shoufu University, personally came to the Qianqing Palace on behalf of the cabinet and admonished him in person.

"Your Majesty's trip to worship your ancestors is really a great filial piety, and it stands to reason that being a courtier should not be blocked, but Your Majesty is a Ming Dynasty and cannot easily leave the national capital, and the ancestors can be sacrificed by the princes and nobles." Huang Liji persuaded.

Facing Huang Liji, Zhu Youzhen didn't want to excuse himself, so he said: "I have made up my mind, and Yuanfu doesn't need to persuade him." ”

Huang Liji sighed and said, "Although the old minister doesn't know why His Majesty insists on the Southern Tour, with His Majesty's character, he must not be greedy for the prosperity of the south of the Yangtze River. In this case, Weichen is willing to guard the cabinet for His Majesty. ”

Huang Liji knew that he was not the emperor's confidant, and he was only able to stay in the cabinet because he was honest and obedient, so he didn't persuade him more. As for things like accompanying the southern tour, it is not his turn. He took the initiative to express his willingness to stay in Beijing to preside over cabinet affairs.

Zhu Youzhen was slightly moved and said, "There is Lao Aiqing." ”

"So the micro-minister retired." Huang Liji said.

"Motosuke, how is it, what did Your Majesty say?" As soon as he returned to the cabinet, Sun Chengzong, Wen Tiren, Zhou Yanru and other cabinet elders surrounded him and asked one after another.

Huang Liji shook his head: "I persuaded you, Your Majesty insists on touring the south......"

"How can Your Majesty be like this?" Sun Chengzong said angrily, "State affairs are like stalks, natural disasters and man-made disasters, people's livelihood is difficult, the treasury income is beyond its means, Your Majesty does not think of thrift for the people, but has to spend a lot of national money to carry out the southern tour, don't you hear the Yin Jian of Sui Yang?" ”

This is to compare Chongzhen to Emperor Yang of Sui, all the pavilion elders looked at each other, and they all secretly sighed at Sun Chengzong's boldness. Of the people present, only Sun Chengzong dared to speak like this.

"Shoufu can't persuade Your Majesty, I'll go, I'll explain the pros and cons to Your Majesty. Elder Zhou Ge, Elder Wen Ge, are you with me? Sun Chengzong looked at Zhou Yanru and Wen Tiren. Huang Liji returned to the cabinet so quickly, which made Sun Chengzong suspect that he did not seriously advise, and even took the initiative to cater to the emperor, after all, Huang Liji has always been the emperor to do whatever he says, without the backbone of the first assistant.

"Those who are ministers should persuade the king to be kind, and I will go with Sun Ge Lao!" Zhou Yanru said without thinking.

Wen Tiren hesitated.

"Since Elder Wen Ge refuses to go, let's go." Glancing at Wen Tiren contemptuously, Sun Chengzong sneered.

Wen Tiren sighed: "It's not that I don't want to go, but I'm afraid that Your Majesty won't see us if I go." ”

After that, I went with him.

In fact, as Wen Tiren said, when the three of them came to the Qianqing Palace to ask for a meeting, a eunuch came out and told them that the emperor already knew their intentions and asked them not to meet them.

"The southern tour to worship the ancestors, it will take at least half a year to come and go, how can state affairs be delayed? When the Son of Heaven travels, his entourage guards tens of thousands of people, how much does it cost to the people, and how can the people afford it? Let's go back now, mobilize the ministers, and all go up to advise. Sun Chengzong flicked his sleeves and said coldly.

The news spread quickly, and in just one day, the music sent to the palace was piled up, all of which dissuaded Zhu Youzhen from giving up his southern tour to worship his ancestors. Zhu Youzhen didn't even look at these notes, and ordered them to be sealed directly.

These civil officials always want to enclose themselves, the emperor, in the palace forever, and it is best to never contact the people, just as an ornament in the palace, and be a puppet that can only be stamped is most in line with their minds. But how can I do what they want?

Some people Zhu Youzhen directly refused to see them, but some people he couldn't see, such as Xu Guangqi, a scholar of Wenyuan Pavilion University and a member of the Academy of Sciences.

In another time and space, Xu Guangqi, who had been a cabinet scholar for less than a year, was dismissed, and after returning to his hometown, he devoted himself to research, and died three years later. At this time, Xu Guangqi has been in the cabinet for three years, but his cabinet scholar is more like a nominal name, and he focuses more on the Academy of Sciences. From time to time, some people impeached Xu Guangqi's corpse and should not occupy the cabinet position, and Xu Guangqi also resigned many times, but Zhu Youzhen refused. Only by serving as a member of the Cabinet as the president of the Academy of Sciences can the importance of the Academy of Sciences be demonstrated!

However, even so, there are very few scholars who are really willing to enter the Academy of Sciences to study science, after all, reading is to be an official, except for a few real enthusiasts, who wants to put their time and energy on useless things?

"Your Majesty, the matter of the southern tour must not be feasible......"

Xu Guangqi also came to advise, he is a scientist, but he is still a scholar after all, and he is still a cabinet scholar of the Ming Dynasty, so he naturally cannot turn a blind eye to such a "labor and money" thing as the Southern Tour.

"Sir, my inner treasury will soon receive a large amount of silver, I want to set up an engineering college on the basis of the engineering department of the Academy of Sciences, and set aside a piece of land outside the north gate as the site of the engineering college, from this year, the college of engineering can expand its enrollment, and it can recruit more than 1,000 students a year, I wonder if the faculty may keep up?" Zhu Youzhen replied.

"Really?" Xu Guangqi's attention was immediately attracted and he forgot about the advice. In the past few years, the business school has recruited students on a large scale, and the number of students in each class has increased from more than 100 to hundreds, which is much more than the students found by the engineering department of the Academy of Sciences, which makes Xu Guangqi quite dissatisfied. After all, he studied real techniques such as mechanical mathematics, so he naturally hoped that his knowledge could be passed on to more people to learn. And the business school cultivates so many small merchants and hawkers, which makes Xu Guangqi quite disdainful. It would be great if we could separate engineering and set up an engineering school that specializes in astronomy, calendars, mechanics, arithmetic, and many other disciplines.

"Of course it's true." Zhu Youzhen smiled. With Haimao Silver, expanding a school is a breeze.

"But Your Majesty, recruiting so many engineering students, what will they do after graduation in the future?" Xu Guangqi said worriedly.

After graduating from the business school, students can go to the tax department, go to the royal comptoir, and even go to private firms to find jobs, and the graduates are easy to place. But the students of the engineering college can only be technical, and there are not so many good places to go after graduation, so they can't all be made craftsmen.

"Rest assured, there are places to settle." Zhu Youzhen said with a smile.

Although engineering students learn specific technologies, mathematics has been learned after all, and it is possible to be a grassroots official. What's more, in the future of the Ming Dynasty, more workshops will be opened and more industries will be built, and only by industrial development can we compete with Xiyi. Royal Institute of Technology, must open!

"When you go back, you can think about it, what disciplines are offered in the School of Engineering? Xiyi shipbuilding and artillery technology is ahead of the Ming Dynasty, the Institute of Engineering can study more shipbuilding and casting guns, I heard that there are many talents in the country of Xiyi, and you can also attract Xiyi talents to the Ming Dynasty as much as possible through the Catholic Church. Zhu Youzhen said.

Although the soul has been traveling for 400 years, he does not understand technology at all, but Zhu Youzhen knows that in the next few hundred years, Xiyi's technology will advance by leaps and bounds, and it will be ahead of Huaxia in an all-round way, which has caused Huaxia to be backward and beaten.

"Wechen obeys." Xu Guangqi hurriedly said.

"In this way, Aiqing will go back, and the affairs of the College of Engineering will be handed over to Aiqing, how much silver is needed, and the fold will be handed into the palace, as long as there is silver in the inner library, it will give priority to meeting the College of Engineering." Zhu Youzhen said. Ten years of trees and a hundred years of people, it is urgent to cultivate real talents.

Xu Guangqi left the palace with excitement, and it was not until he left the palace gate that he suddenly remembered that he had forgotten the purpose of entering the palace, looked back at the closed palace gate, and could only smile helplessly, and then walked quickly towards the Academy of Sciences.

......

"Weichen dares to ask His Majesty what are his plans?" Hong Chengchou asked.

Among the civil and military forces of the Manchu Dynasty, the one who understands Zhu Youzhen's thoughts the most is Hong Chengchou. He knew that Zhu Youzhen would not do anything to worship his ancestors for no reason. As a confidant, Hong Chengchou needs to know Zhu Youzhen's true intentions.

In recent years, Hong Chengchou has been very low-key in the DPRK and China, and there is no struggle for power and profit. But in the heart of the understanding person, he knows how much he has done.

In the past few years, there have been major wars in the Ming Dynasty, the invasion of Jiannu, the three-way attack of the Praetorian Guard on Liaodong, the trilateral army to conquer Mongolia, one after another, tens of thousands of soldiers and horses were dispatched at every turn, and the people who transported grain and grass were doubled, and the requirements for logistics were extremely important.

The cotton clothes that the soldiers urgently needed, the food they needed, all kinds of baggage, and even the forage for the war horses, all the logistical supplies, and many matters after the war, Hong Chengchou, the secretary of the military department, needed to deal with too many things.

Many times, the war is about logistics, and if Hong Chengchou does not properly handle these logistics matters, it is almost impossible to win this victory.

"I want to start from the southern tour, gradually solve the stubborn diseases in various parts of the Ming Dynasty, and lay the foundation for the final realization of Juntian." Zhu Youzhen said, there is nothing to hide from a confidant like Hong Chengchou.

Hong Chengchou sighed secretly, knowing that the emperor finally had to choose the most difficult path.

Juntian, this is to deprive countless fields from the hands of the gentry, is to subvert the current system of the Ming Dynasty, and it will be opposed by the vast majority of the gentry. Once the news of Juntian spread, it is hard to imagine how the gentry officials would react.

Compared with Juntian, it is much easier for the gentry to pay grain together, and once the gentry pay for grain as a whole, the court will have sufficient money and food from now on, and the national strength of the Ming Dynasty will far exceed that of the previous dynasty, which is the real Zhongxing.

There were relatively easy ways to get to, but the emperor chose the most difficult, and seemingly impossible path. But Hong Chengchou didn't dare to persuade him.

At this time, he was completely bound to the emperor, and he could only accompany one way to the dark.

"Your Majesty wants to start with where to start, Shandong?" Hong Chengchou guessed.

Zhu Youzhen smiled slightly: "It started from Shandong." Some time ago, a clan came to Beijing to sue the royal court, suing King De for forcing the clan to death, and I was ready to start in Shandong first, starting with the discovery of King De. ”

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