Wang Xijue's words made Guo Zhengyu speechless.

"In this way, all of this is related to the expansion of the imperial examination."

"It's no wonder that now there are more than two hundred more Jinshi than the Ancestral Dynasty every time, and it has directly doubled!"

Yushi Wang Ming couldn't help but say to the civil officials present at this time.

Wang Xijue frowned slightly after hearing this, and said: "Scholars can't be expensive, and this matter can't be prevaricated to the expansion of the imperial examination!" Otherwise, is it still wrong to become the world's thirst for talent and increase the number of scholars? ”

Because Zhu Yijun increased the number of jinshi, lifters, and students, it was considered a conspiracy, so the ministers really couldn't say that this was wrong.

For a while, Wang Ming was also speechless.

"The expansion of the imperial examination is due to the fact that more and more people are studying in the world."

"The reason behind this is that the Holy Son of Heaven is in power, making great efforts to govern the country, creating benefits for the people, benefiting the people, and making the people of the country richer.

Therefore, if we don't expand the enrollment, it will make the road to fame for scholars more difficult than that of the ancestors! In order not to discourage the world's scholars, and even take risks to do things that disrupt the world, His Majesty had no choice but to expand the recruitment, so that the court and China could choose more talents, in order to show his grace. ”

When Wang Xijue said this, he asked Wang Ming and other officials:

"Having said that, we can't think that Your Majesty is working hard to benefit the people of the world, right?"

Wang Ming had no choice but to say yes at this time: "What the elder said is that the subordinates have lost their words!" This is a good thing, reading is to serve the country, glorify the lintel, and fulfill the way of loyalty and filial piety, how can it be for yourself! ”

"That's right!"

"My emperor's holy virtue is like the sky, and he will never be exempted from the servitude of the four people in the world, which should be a good government worthy of praise for a thousand years!"

"We can't not allow the people of the world to get richer and richer for the sake of the future of our scholars, and we can't allow them to study and become scholars because they are getting richer."

Guo Zhengyu also echoed at this time, and bowed his hand to Wang Xijue: "It's the subordinates who have seen it!" ”

Subsequently.

Guo Zhengyu asked Wang Xijue again: "It's just that the elder of the pavilion, many people may not be willing to go out, they just want to be idle mediocre, so wouldn't it be more difficult to persuade them to study?" ”

"In the past, when the hungry people were all over the field, it was even more difficult to persuade them to learn!"

"Now that the people of the world have enough food and clothing, we can not only persuade students with fame and fortune, but also persuade them with aspirations, in fact, persuasion is easier and more in line with the way of saint education!"

"As for those who want to be mediocre, he wants to be a mediocre person in poverty, which is also his choice, his ambition, and it is rude to take it!"

Wang Xijue retorted.

Guo Zhengyu was speechless again, so he had to say yes.

Shen Cheng took a special look at Wang Xijue because of this, and then silently returned to the official compound with Wang Xijue.

Night.

When Li Dai, a servant of the Criminal Department of his in-laws, came to visit him, Shen always mentioned the matter to him, and said: "With Taicang here, we need to urge our children to serve the country even more, otherwise only the will to study, without the heart of dedication to the country, it is not expensive." ”

"Dogs have always been stupid, and I am afraid that they will disappoint Uncle Zong."

Li Dai said with a helpless sigh.

Shen Yi said: "It doesn't matter, if today's extremely prosperous world, it is more comfortable for the people than for the officials, and it is also a good choice to live in peace, but it also saves you the effort." ”

"This time it is not a public entry into the cabinet, Shenwu County should have guessed His Majesty's mind before recommending Zhang Xinjian."

Li Dai said again.

Shen always said: "It's the same for everyone! ”

"Your Majesty is the Holy Lord and Benevolent Monarch, who does not take profits from the people and bless all the people, who dares to seek personal gain?"

"So, in fact, entering the cabinet is just seeking truth from facts, and the difference between who is the cabinet minister is actually not big, and at a certain time, he will return to his hometown, and let the latecomers come up, but he will be happy to be at ease."

"After all, the ambition of a scholar is nothing more than the peace and security of the country and the people, and the peaceful and prosperous world, which has now been realized, even if it is not realized by himself, but it can be regarded as complete."

"Gong can think about it!"

"You must know that Zhang Xinjian has now set off for North Korea, and he has said that after Middle Earth, there are opportunities to make a name and make a fortune everywhere, and the Son of Heaven likes to take foreign benefits, and even his career is easier; In the future, I am afraid that as soon as Zhang Xinjian comes back, he will be even more beautiful because he is the cabinet minister who knows the most about the education of foreign domains. ”

Li Dai said with a smile.

Shen never said anything, just looked out the window silently, and the sky was gloomy with the veins of autumn rain outside the window.

And Zhang Wei has indeed set off for North Korea.

On the way to North Korea, the frost forest is dyed, and the autumn mood is strong.

After Zhang Wei crossed Shanhaiguan, Guangning, Liaoyang and other places in this late autumn season, he saw the rich and rich people in eastern Liaodong.

This made Zhang Wei sigh with emotion, and said to Li Song, a cabinet scholar who accompanied him:

"Before I became a scholar, I traveled to Liaodong, and it was late autumn when I came, but Liaodong at that time was not as prosperous as it is now."

"At that time, these places were still very depressed, there were many deserted people in the military households, many villages were few and only crows flew around, and there were many homeless people living in shacks in big cities such as Guangning and Liaoyang."

"Who would have thought that since the emperor tried to rule for 20 years, there are also towns and cities all over this Liaodi, brick houses have been rising one after another, and there are no displaced people outside the big town."

"Ge Lao doesn't know, most of the displaced people have already moved overseas, and now they are all Han or Yi, and they have all moved away!"

"Now still in Liaodong, in addition to the farmers are merchants, and because the imperial court stationed troops in Korea, there are a large number of military stations along the way, and a large number of roads have been built, and the customs and business are exempt from tax and interest, so the trade along the way is also more smooth and vigorous, and now the traders are more than the farmers, and many of them are still from Luzhou, Huizhou, Wenzhou merchants moved here."

Li Song, who had served as the governor of Liaodong, smiled at Zhang Wei and talked about the situation in Liaodong.

Zhang Wei sighed after hearing this: "This is all the work of my emperor, so that so many people are willing to come to this cold place outside the pass." ”

Li Song smiled slightly: "What the pavilion elder said is that it is indeed cold outside this pass, and now it is about to enter winter again, and the pavilion elders and young must work hard." ”

Zhang Wei smiled helplessly, and only said: "It's okay, the matter of eating the king, the matter of loyalty to the king, this is all as it should be." ”

Having said that, Zhang Wei didn't dare to entrust his life in this cold place, he basically didn't go out of the carriage and the house much in the future, only around the stove to keep warm, and at the same time look outside through the car window or the window, if it snowed, he simply found a town to rest for a few days.

Although Zhang Wei doesn't go out to hang out much, there is actually nothing to go out about, because on this day, the people of Liaodong are also living at home, which makes the whole Liaodong quiet and depressed.

And after such a stop-and-go journey, Zhang Wei still entered the territory of North Korea at the beginning of the twentieth year of Wanli.

Before entering the territory of North Korea, the entire official road was already covered with snow and knee-high, but after Zhang Wei entered the territory of North Korea, he saw that the official road was full of dry soil, and there was no snow, and the vicinity of the official road suddenly became lively.

That's right.

When Zhang Wei entered the territory of Korea in a carriage, he saw many scrawny and unkempt people, densely packed like sparrows, flying close to him, shouting something, very noisy.

Without waiting for the soldiers of the standard battalion to be on guard, the North Korean officers and soldiers who were lined up in the duty room on the side wall rushed out and slashed and killed these people indiscriminately.

However, even so, there were still people behind these crowds shouting at Zhang Wei, and some even raised their own children wearing straw signs and shouted at Zhang Wei.

It wasn't until these North Korean officers and soldiers were killed that the shouters left in a hurry.

Only stayed in the Taiping Dynasty, had not seen a bloody scene in the past sixty years, and had never even seen a chicken killing, seeing this scene, he was stunned on the spot, his face was as white as lime: "What's going on?" ”

"Elder Ge don't need to panic, these are all Goryeo hooligans, who have no fixed place to live, either to be slaves or starve to death in the wilderness, but it is not so easy to become slaves, if you want to join the slaves, you have to climb over the side walls, and these side walls are built because the Li Kingdom is unwilling to let unkind people enter the territory of my Ming Dynasty and harm my Heavenly Empire, and the same is true for sending troops to guard here."

"And every time the officials and people of my Celestial Dynasty pass by here, there will be these Goryeo hooligans who come to buy themselves or buy their own children, after all, if we are willing to buy it, the officers and soldiers of the domain will not dare to stop it."

Li Song replied.

Zhang Wei nodded after hearing this: "I see." ”

Yang Xun, the observation envoy of North Pyongan Province of North Korea, came outside with a group of official gentry of North Pyongan Province at this time, knelt on the ground, and made a big salute: "Observation envoy Yang Xun led the official gentry of North Pyongan Province to greet the old man of Tianchage!" ”

"Yang Observation, please get up!"

Zhang Wei called Yang Xun to him and asked, "Yang Observation, why is there no snow on the official road here, and the soil is dry?" ”

"Back to the pavilion elder, because I heard that the pavilion elder was going to come to inspect, His Royal Highness specially ordered the vassal to organize the people to sweep the snow and sprinkle the soil on the road."

Yang Xun replied.

Zhang Wei nodded after hearing this: "How many people did you use?" ”

"Returning to the old cabinet, a total of 50,000 people were used, of which 30,000 were to sweep snow and sprinkle soil, 10,000 to carry firewood, and 10,000 were left in various military stations to listen to the tune."

Yang Xun replied with a smile.

Zhang Wei asked again: "How much silver did you spend?" ”

"Go back to the elder, no money is spent, they are all forced labor, and there is a difference of 36,000 taels of silver, which is the filial piety of the small clan to the elder, and it has been sealed for the elder, please send someone to transport it back after asking the elder to look at the bill."

Yang Xun replied with a smile.

Zhang Wei and Li Song glanced at each other, then looked outside, and saw that there were corpses in a ravine outside that had not been covered by snow, about hundreds, so they hurriedly asked, "Those are all dead in service?" ”

"Don't dare to hide from the elder of the pavilion, yes, they died before the end of their service, our Royal Highness is afraid that the elder of the pavilion will blame the vassals for poor hospitality, so he issued an order, for the matter of punishing his family, let the vassals ask the elder how to deal with it, so, I don't know if the elder of the pavilion wants them to be slaves, or do they want to pay silver?"

Yang Xun asked.

"I don't have to!"

"I don't want them to be slaves, I don't want them to pay money, but I want them to find a place to bury them!"

Zhang Wei loudly rejected Yang Xun's inquiry, and dropped the curtain of the car, and said to Li Song: "If it weren't for my emperor's good governance and love for the people, my Ming would be like this, right?" ”

(End of chapter)