After Zhu Yijun received the prince's letter, he was very happy, and said to Tian Yi:

"Your Dongchang has done a good job over the years, and finally those with ulterior motives can no longer influence public opinion."

"This is all the work of the emperor."

"If it weren't for the emperor's good governance and making the people rich, even if the people of Dongchang had an incorruptible tongue, it would be difficult to really move the people."

Tian Yi replied with a smile.

Zhu Yijun said: "Having said that, your Dongchang has indeed contributed, especially you Tian Yi, I know that Dongchang is in your hands, and you are really doing things seriously." ”

"It is the duty of the ministers to do things faithfully for the emperor."

Tian Yi replied again.

Zhu Yijun nodded, and said: "However, what you just said is not wrong, as long as the life of the people in the world has been thriving, the people of the world will always be willing to believe in the imperial court, even if someone splashes the dirty water of the imperial court, it will not succeed." ”

Zhu Yijun looked at Qi Jiguang as he spoke: "Yuanfu! ”

"The minister is here!"

Qi Jiguang immediately got up and replied.

Zhu Yijun instructed at this time: "Has the county where the prince is going to go to the training have been decided?" ”

"Back to Your Majesty, it's settled."

"Now that there is a vacancy in Xiuning County, His Highness can go to Xiuning incognito to be the magistrate."

Qi Jiguang replied at this time.

Zhu Yijun nodded after hearing this: "That's good!" ”

Afterwards, Zhu Yijun glanced at the official Shangshu Wang and said:

"Your cabinet and officials will do a good job in this matter, and the royal family and nobles will all have to undergo training, and now it will start with the crown prince."

Qi Jiguang and Wang Xuan hurriedly said yes.

It turned out that although Zhu Yijun asked the prince to go to the southern capital to supervise the country, in fact, after the prince went to the southern capital, he did not directly control the entire central government affairs in the southern capital, but first went to a county to receive training, starting from understanding the situation at the grassroots level.

The person who really oversaw the government affairs of various ministries in Nanjing was actually Shen Li, a bachelor in the south who followed the prince.

And Shen Li still reports directly to Zhu Yijun, but he will copy a handling opinion to the prince.

As for why this is so.

Naturally, it was because he was not worried that the prince would suddenly deal with larger affairs, which would cause too much damage to the country, and at the same time, it also allowed the prince to familiarize himself with the grassroots level and have a deeper understanding of the Ming Dynasty.

To know.

Many of Nanjing's yamen are idle yamen.

But this is not to say that all the yamen have nothing to do and have no practical effect.

As a matter of fact, the Nanjing Military Department was in charge of many affairs related to the defense of the river and the coast, and the household department of Nanjing was also in charge of money and grain, including the population survey and land survey related to the Yellow Book.

Then there is the fact that many cultural works and many vassal kings were also here, coordinated by officials in Nanjing.

In addition, after the large-scale opening of the sea and overseas expansion of the Ming Dynasty, many overseas government affairs will also be handled directly in Nanjing, after all, Nanjing is closer to the East and the South Seas.

Therefore, it is easy to make mistakes by directly letting the prince supervise the state to handle many affairs in Nanjing.

Therefore, at present, according to the intention of Zhu Yijun and his ruling ministers, it is to first let the southern capital nominally have a prince sitting there.

In fact, the prince first went to the grassroots level in the south to become a pro-people official, and thoroughly familiarized himself with the people's customs at the bottom and what the situation of the squires and virtuous people in the county was.

"Xiuning?"

The prince looked at the secret decree that was urgently delivered from Jingshi, smiled slightly, and then said to Shen Li:

"Elder Shen Ge, Nandu will be handed over to you, if you need me to show up, remember to let someone report to me in advance, and I will come back to deal with the etiquette of the scene."

Shen Li said yes.

Then, the prince whispered to Shen Li: "Xiuning! ”

Shen Li's jaw shook after hearing this.

In order to avoid letting more people know where the prince actually went, the prince only whispered to Shen Li.

Half a month later.

The prince really came to Huizhou Mansion, and with the name "Zhu Changming", he was appointed as the magistrate of Xiuning County, Huizhou Prefecture.

The information that the officials of Xiuning County saw on the bright side was Zhu Changming, and they could only know that Zhu Changming was a new science and technology jinshi, and naturally they didn't know that Zhu Changming was the prince.

But after the prince arrived in Huizhou Mansion, he did not go to Xiuning County first, but went to Wuyuan County, Xiuning County.

Because Qi Baoguo is serving as a magistrate here, and is now about to be transferred to Zhejiang as an official.

It's just that the prince specially gave him a secret letter before he came, asking him to wait a little longer in Wuyuan.

Therefore, Qi Baoguo did not leave Wuyuan County in a hurry, but on the outskirts of Wuyuan County, he met the prince.

"When I first came to the place, I only knew that the mountains and rivers were beautiful and the people were simple, but I was at a loss on how to be a pro-people official, and since you have been here for a few years, you might as well give me some advice."

"There is no prince here, only friends."

The prince said that he really bowed to Qi Baoguo, and said, "Please also give advice." ”

Qi Baoguo then said with a smile: "In this place, although the mountains are beautiful, they cannot be mined, although the water is beautiful, they cannot be landfilled, the people are simple but also slippery, not to mention the squires and officials, they are all humble and polite in the dark, and there are many martial arts in secret, and there are all kinds of immortals above, if Your Highness really wants to do something, you just have to remember that you must try to benefit the rich and don't mess with the poor, and if you want to lose some people's benefits, let the middle family suffer some grievances." ”

"For the benefit of the rich?"

The prince looked stunned.

Qi Baoguo nodded: "You are now the county master, not the prince, you don't benefit them, do you really want to watch them run away?" ”

The prince nodded as if he didn't understand.

"When the minister came to Wuyuan, there was a feng shui dispute, the squire did not allow the gray household to dig the mountain to quarry lime, but the gray household preferred to dig, I didn't care about the squire at first, just thinking that it was not easy for the gray household to sell some lime to make money, not to mention that Wuyuan was already a lot of mountains and few fields."

"As a result, the squires moved away a lot, so that there were not many people in Wuyuan who taught, and unemployment increased, and the minister was also reprimanded by the boss, saying that the minister did not strictly implement the imperial court's ban on mining, and the official also impeached the minister, but fortunately, there were people above the minister, and he was fined for half a year."

"Later, the minister had to invite the squires back first, saying that they would strictly prohibit mining, protect Wuyuan feng shui, and severely crack down on mining gray households."

"It's just that in this way, there are many ordinary workers under the gray household who besiege the county government because of unemployment, and the minister has to find another way, so he has to write a letter to the minister's second brother, asking him to send a few powerful technicians to Wuyuan to be the minister's staff."

"Then, the minister himself mobilized the large squires to invest in the industry, and was responsible for making some simple parts for the steam engines made by the imperial court, and solved the employment of the workers who used to mine lime under the name of the gray households."

Qi Baoguo said.

"What about the gray farmers who are mining?"

The prince asked.

Qi Baoguo smiled and said, "Consider what they do? ”

"They naturally don't dare to come out directly, after all, they are all medium-sized families with some family property, and they don't dare to play with their lives, once there are people who don't know what to do and dare to mine privately, they will be caught, exiled, and exiled, after the eunuchs participate in the investment, they will only praise you for knowing the county and daring to suppress the strong and make decisions for the people."

"In this way, these people will naturally be honest."

After Qi Baoguo said, the prince nodded, and looked at the red sun sinking in the west, and became silent.

After a while.

The crown prince looked at Qi Baoguo: "This is really different from what my father taught, my father said that the more middle-sized people in this world, the more peaceful and prosperous the world will be, how come it is that when you get to the place, you can only blindly suppress the medium-sized people if you want to reform?" ”

"Your Majesty is actually right."

"But the court is not the same as the place! The imperial court can not be afraid of the eunuchs moving away, anyway, they are all in Middle-earth, but as a county parent official, they are afraid, not to mention a county parent official, that is, Bingxian, Fang Bo and Fu Zhao, they are all afraid. ”

Qi Baoguo continued.

"Since it's true, and it's different, what should I do?"

The prince asked.

Qi Baoguo arched his hand and said: "Your Highness! ”

"Although doing things in the local area is to make the middle people feel wronged, but in the end, the effect to be achieved is to let more and more middle people do it! Why do it otherwise? ”

"There is something to be done and something not to be done, depending on whether there is a need for it; If there is no need for this, then he would rather fall into the name of mediocrity than be a country eunuch lackey; It's just that you may not be able to be a famous minister, but why do people need to be a famous minister? ”

"In the humble opinion of a minister, I would rather not be a famous minister than harm the people in the name."

Qi Baoguo then said again.

The prince nodded, and then also bowed his hand to Qi Baoguo: "Thank you." ”

Qi Baoguo hurriedly returned the salute.

After meeting Qi Baoguo, the prince really went to Xiuning County.

On the way to Xiuning County, the prince listened to the melodious sound of birds on the side of the road and pondered Qi Baoguo's words.

When he first came to the grassroots, especially in this mountain village and countryside, in another capacity, the prince was still very excited in his heart, so his eyes kept wandering between the grass, trees and stones, Rao is an old woman who pounds clothes by the river, and a shepherd boy who grazes cattle on a post can make him linger.

But Qi Baoguo's words made him frown slightly.

He didn't expect that according to Qi Baoguo's experience, if you want to do a good job at the local grassroots level, it is also about luck, and it depends on whether there is an opportunity to reform and do things.

After all.

Qi Baoguo was able to finally solve the problem of feng shui controversy in Wuyuan County, although it was through the establishment of a steam engine parts manufacturing plant to absorb the employment of workers who dug lime for a living, and also made these workers become a middle family because of the rise of the steam industry, but in essence, Qi Baoguo used his identity as the father of today's Daming steam engine and the younger brother of Qi Changguo, Zhang Qiubo, to do this.

If you want to change to other counties, you don't even know much about the steam engine, and you don't know much about it, and even if you do, you can't get the help of Qi Changguo, at least you can't easily make friends with a powerful person like Qi Changguo.

Therefore, the prince is also wondering, does he really want to do things at the grassroots level, or do he need to use his status as a prince? (End of chapter)