Xiao Yi and Nian Fu are both capable people promoted by Shen Yichen, plus Yu Qian is already thunderous, it only took a month, hundreds of thousands of stone of rice grain and one million taels of military salaries were transported to the frontier with the appointment of Li Jin, the uncle of Xiangcheng.

Regarding the treatment of border soldiers, Shen Yichen has always adhered to the concept that the emperor is not short of hungry soldiers, as long as he is paid double salary in wartime, and various pensions have more than quadrupled compared with before.

The most fundamental change brought about by heavy pay and bereavement pension is that the soldiers have no worries, and they have changed from the muddy life in the previous military household state to the desire to make great achievements on the battlefield to fight for a better living environment for themselves, their wives and children.

At this time, the northernmost acropolis of southern Mongolia, the Dingxiang Marquis Guo Deng, who had a white beard, was immediately at the forefront of the military array. Behind him are densely packed with Ming soldiers, and the goose feathers and heavy snow fall on the armor stomach reflecting the cold light, giving people a strong sense of visual oppression, presenting a picture full of violent aesthetics.

Dingxiang Marquis Guo Deng pulled the reins, and the front hooves of the war horse under him jumped into the air, letting out a loud horse roar.

I saw Guo Deng turn around, his face was full of fortitude, and he roared angrily at the Southern Army of the Great Ming Desert behind him: "Sons, Ben Hou has defended this territory for five years, during which he has faced countless provocations by the Tartars, including the acropolis behind you, which has also fallen into ruins in the attack of the Tartars!" ”

"You and I are both dignified men, and no one wants to be a shrunken turtle, hiding in the city forever and waiting for the Tartars to invade. Now that Shen Yuanfu has finally given the order, the iron cavalry of the Ming Dynasty will step into the grassland to punish the unsubordinate. ”

"Benhou Lao Ji is still aiming for thousands of miles, and as my bloody man, do you have the confidence and courage to make the Tartars bow down and beg for mercy!"

Don't look at Dingxiang Marquis Guo Deng, who is nearly sixty years old, but he still sounds like a bell, which makes everyone present deafening.

After all, the old man who came from the Yongle Dynasty has experienced the glorious era of the Northern Expedition of the Ming Dynasty, and has also gone through the era of retreat of the Renxuan and Xuan dynasties, and has experienced the darkest moment of the Orthodox Dynasty.

Only by watching the rise and fall of the dynasty can we deeply understand the difficulties of reorganizing the rivers and mountains and reorganizing the "Northern Expedition" in less than ten years. Guo Deng was glad that Shen Yichen appeared in the darkest moment of the Ming Dynasty, and he was even more pleased that there was a group of Han family sons and daughters who stood firm in the nine sides.

Now it's time for them to show their dragon fangs!

"Da Ming! Da Ming! Da Ming! ”

A thunderous cry came out of the throats of tens of thousands of Ming soldiers, and the soldiers who could select the opportunity to participate in the raid were the most elite brave men in the Nine Sides. They don't need to use too many words to prove their morale and fighting spirit, they just need to shout the name of the Ming Dynasty and make the entire grassland tremble.

"Very good, worthy of being my Da Ming Erlang."

"Let's go!"

Guo Deng, Marquis of Dingxiang, roared angrily and led the elite of 10,000 Mo Nan Army to the north.

This scene is also playing out in Liaodong, where the new commander-in-chief of the army, Xiangcheng Bo Li Jin, is personally leading the elite soldiers westward, intending to sweep the Horqin Mongol tribes.

Compared with the tenacity of Dingxiang Marquis Guo Denglian, Li Jin, the uncle of Xiangcheng, is more full of the spirit of a newcomer, and at the same time, he still has a sense of gratitude and hesitation for Shen Yichen in his heart.

To be honest, he didn't know why Shen Yichen, the first assistant of the cabinet, would choose him, a young relative who was a knight, to come to Liaodong to take over the post of chief military officer of Fengrun Bo Caoyi.

You must know that Liaodong is one of the most important military towns in the Nine Sides, and this time it is of great significance to take the initiative to conquer the Mongol Khanate, and it is speculated that a veteran should be sent to the town, but Shen Yuanfu chose the infamous himself to command the Liaodong Army.

No matter what Shen Yuanfu's considerations are, this appointment is a kind of recognition for Li Jin, the uncle of Xiangcheng, as the saying goes, a Taoist priest dies for his confidant, Li Jin secretly made up his mind in his heart, even if it is a horse leather shroud this time, he must achieve the strategic goal!

The blood-boiling departure ceremony at the border did not affect the quiet years of the Beijing Division, Shen Yichen sat at the desk, silently read the military intelligence report sent back by Yu Qian, the secretary of the Ministry of War, and then put it aside.

He was not worried about the outcome of this expedition at all, if the elite soldiers who were selected by thousands of people could be defeated in a surprise raid, it would mean that the Northern Expedition of the Ming Dynasty would be far away.

Victory is an inevitable result, and it is nothing more than a matter of profiting.

At this moment, Zhao Ranyuan, a member of the Zhongshu House, walked in and said to Shen Yichen: "Yuanfu, Your Majesty's teaching time has arrived. ”

In the fourth year of entering the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Jianqing reached the age of eight, and according to the ancestral system of the Ming Dynasty, the prince had to go out of the pavilion to study after he reached the age of eight. Although Zhu Jianqing has ascended the throne as the emperor, the essence of his identity as a young child cannot be changed, and he still has to follow the standards of imperial education.

As an imperial teacher, Shen Yichen had to increase the frequency of going to the Wenhua Hall to teach Emperor Mingliang to read, and train him to become a qualified emperor in the future.

"Your Majesty has already taken a few classes today?"

Shen Yichen rubbed his eyebrows and asked Zhao Ranyuan rhetorically.

"Your Majesty got up early in the morning to study, and has been in class for two hours."

Hearing Zhao Ranyuan's answer, Shen Yichen sighed, in a sense, he felt pity for Emperor Mingliang.

The reason is that the imperial education in the Ming Dynasty was extremely strict, especially for the crown prince or the young emperor, the daily study time was as high as more than 12 hours, almost before dawn had to go to the Wenhua Palace to study, and in the evening had to review the day's homework again until they could master it.

In addition to cultural courses, in the early and middle Ming Dynasty, you also had to learn the six arts of riding and archery, and the emperor or queen mother would often be assessed, and if you failed the assessment or did not study seriously, you would be punished.

This kind of heavy study life suppressed the nature of children, resulting in the emperor often began to "let go of himself" immediately when he was an adult and could make decisions, so many strange emperors appeared in the late Ming Dynasty.

Not to mention anything else, take Ming Yingzong Zhu Qizhen as an example, he was under the strict requirements of the Empress Dowager Zhang, so he had a strange psychological dependence on Wang Zhen, and later he was extremely tired of studying and often absent from court meetings, so that he developed into revenge against the civilian group that "oppressed" him.

Shen Yichen didn't want to elaborate on the importance of learning, he hoped that the civil and military officials could put aside Zhu Jianqing's status as emperor and realize that the other party was just a child who had reached the age of eight and had the nature of playing.

But whenever Shen Yichen mentioned this topic to the cabinet minister, he would be unanimously opposed, even if Shang Shi, Xiao Yi, and Li Xian, who were hardcore in the eyes of the outside world, did not support indulging the emperor to "lose his mind".

Shen Yichen is also helpless about this situation, you must know that even in modern society hundreds of years later, the mainstream view is still inferior, only reading is high, and all kinds of cram schools for children are afraid of losing at the starting line.

What's more, in the Ming Dynasty hundreds of years ago, if you want to cultivate a virtuous king in the eyes of the world, then you must be extremely strict in studying and learning, and strict teachers will produce high apprentices, and the same is true for the emperor.

At the same time, there is no shortage of conspiracy theories in the civil official group, and Shen Yichen wants to reduce the study burden of Emperor Mingliang, probably under the guise of the idea of "lustful dogs and horses", so that the emperor will rely on him more when he tastes indulgence.

As a courtier, the civil official will never allow such a thing to happen, the emperor is the hope of the future Ming Dynasty, and the protest is even stronger than Shen Yichen's implementation of the civil official Qingliu foreign assignment.

There was no way, Shen Yichen could only choose to compromise, and not to talk about the complicated content of the Four Books and Five Classics during his teaching time, but more to tell some gonzo with Emperor Ming Liang.

"It's not easy to be a courtier, and it's hard to be an emperor."

Shen Yichen sighed to Zhao Ranyuan, and then got up and walked towards the Wenhua Palace, stepping on the bluestone road of the Forbidden City, you can see the high Emperor Mingliang from a distance, looking forward to Shen Yichen's arrival.

For Zhu Jianqing, many lecturers have been teaching for a long time, and only Mr. Shen can let himself relax for a short time.

"Minister, I've seen Your Majesty."

Shen Yichen stepped into the Wenhua Hall and bowed to Emperor Mingliang.

"Sir, please take a seat, I've been looking forward to it for a long time."

Zhu Jianqing happily gave Shen Yichen a seat, and with the gradual abolition of the kneeling ceremony, the strict etiquette between the emperor and the courtiers was full of mold lakes. However, among the many Jingyan lecturers, except for Shen Yichen and a few old ministers, the other Hanlin attendants still did not have the treatment of being seated in front of the king.

"Thank you, Your Majesty."

Shen Yichen bowed again, and sat on a Taishi chair on the left side of the Wenhua Palace.

As soon as Shen Yichen sat down here, Zhu Jianqing over there couldn't wait to ask: "Sir, you told me the day before yesterday that Europa invented a machine for boiling water, which is infinitely powerful and can drive carriages and ships forward. ”

"It has been half a year since the Duke of Zhongguo went west, how long will it take for them to conquer the Western Regions to restore the Silk Road and bring back this steam engine from Europa?"

No matter how many Four Books and Five Classics were instilled in Emperor Zhu Jianqing of Mingliang, the innocence of children could never be extinguished, he always remembered the kind of magical machine that Shen Yichen said, and couldn't help but use a teapot to try it a little.

Hearing Emperor Mingliang's question, Shen Yichen was stunned for a moment, he would tell the story of the steam engine, more to plant a seed in the emperor's heart, so that he would become interested in scientific affairs, rather than thinking about strange skills and tricks like traditional Confucianism.

It's just that Shen Yichen didn't expect that he just mentioned it casually, and Emperor Zhu Jianqing of Mingliang remembered it in his heart, and he also used a teapot to boil water to test it. For this kind of scientific curiosity and exploration and hands-on spirit, Shen Yichen expressed his appreciation.

But the problem is that not to mention how long it will take for Shi Heng to recover the Western Regions and open up the Silk Road, the steam engine did not become popular in Europe until the eighteenth century, and triggered the first industrial revolution, and now Europa is still in the early stages of the Renaissance, but there is no such advanced science and technology.

There was no way, Shen Yichen could only reply euphemistically: "The Tartars are my century-old enemies of the Ming Dynasty, and it will not be an overnight task to conquer them, and it may take years or even decades for the Loyal Kingdom to go west to open up the Silk Road and restore exchanges between the Ming Dynasty and Europa."

"Really?"

Hearing Shen Yichen's reply, Emperor Mingliang Zhu Jianqing's eyes showed a touch of disappointment, he was eager to explore the mysterious and unknown world in his mouth, but it seemed so far away.

"Your Majesty, in fact, boiling water, a steam engine, does not have to be brought back from Europa. The minister has already discussed with the Ministry of Industry Dasikong, and is ready to allocate financial funds to open a Daming Academy similar to Guozijian, so that those students who are interested in arithmetic, equipment, and engineering can study, and the Ministry of Industry, Daming Qianzhuang, and the Ministry of Finance will give priority to selection. ”

"When the time comes, maybe you can see the steam engine built by our Ming Dynasty in advance."

The reason why Shen Yichen promoted Xu Youzhen and tolerated his series of behaviors in forming the Shen Party was that the other party was a cross-era science and engineering genius, coupled with his extremely stubborn character, if he wanted to change the legal system of Confucianism in this era of the Ming Dynasty, it must be Xu Youzhen.

Shen Yichen didn't want to stimulate the scholar class too much, and he didn't want to reform and change the law too much, so that the fate of Wang Mang's new deal was repeated, and he was labeled as a rebel and rebelled from his relatives.

The imperial examination system is the foundation of the rule of the feudal dynasty, and it belongs to the kind that leads to the whole body. Shen Yichen could only cooperate with Xu Youzhen, and took the form of establishing the Daming Academy of Sciences to develop in a roundabout way, and included engineering academics in the career assessment standards.

Of course, this action can't be too obvious, and it can't make people realize that Shen Yichen has an attempt to shake the Confucian state. The priority selection path of the Daming Academy of Sciences is temporarily limited to the Ministry of Industry and the newly created Daming Central Bank and the Ministry of Finance, which can not only open up a new career channel, but also will not have too much conflict of interest with the traditional scholar class.

After all, the disciplines of industry and commerce, which are at the end of the book, have been despised by literati since ancient times, and if you beg them to turn around and study, maybe the other party will feel that they have lowered their "grade".

"Great, sir can do it."

Emperor Zhu Jianqing of Mingliang naturally didn't know that Shen Yichen was really the purpose, he only expressed his happiness that his wish was fulfilled.

After finishing speaking, Zhu Jianqing probably felt that it was not enough fun, so he remembered something and hurriedly confided in Shen Yichen: "By the way, sir, Cao Banban recently donated a few eagle dogs and rare birds and beasts from outside the palace, and I locked them in the leopard room to raise. ”

"When the lecture is over, if Mr. and I go to see it together, with Mr. Erudite, he will definitely be able to recognize the names of those rare birds and beasts."

Leopard room?

As soon as he heard this unfamiliar and vaguely familiar name, Shen Yichen felt a little dazed.

Shouldn't this be the name of the famous place that appeared during the period of Zhu Houzhao of Ming Wuzong, why is there a leopard room at this time, can it be said that Cao Jixiang can't help but come up with any new tricks?