As soon as he came back from the cannon casting institute of the Ministry of Industry, Jiang Xinghuo was constantly preparing to continue the inspection, but he was squatted by Zhu Yong, who was squatting at the door of the president's law change affairs yamen.

"Principal Jiang."

"When you run errands, you have to call your position."

Looking at the young man in front of him, Jiang Xinghuo was serious.

"National teacher."

"Hmm."

Jiang Xinghuo reached out and touched the sleeves of his somewhat thin clothes, pulled them in, and asked, "Isn't it cold?" ”

"Those of my generation who practice martial arts. Ahh ”

Seeing this, Jiang Xinghuo took him into the house, picked up his coat hanging in the closet and put it on for him, went to fetch him a thick blanket, stuffed it for him, and said, "Put it on first, you wear so little, what if you get frostbite?" ”

After taking the coat and blanket, Zhu Yong was a little flattered and instinctively wanted to shirk it.

"Don't move!"

Looking at Zhu Yong, who wanted to return the padded jacket to himself, Jiang Xinghuo's face suddenly became serious, and his tone became tougher.

Zhu Yong didn't dare to move again, put on it honestly, and folded his original coat again.

Looking at his well-behaved and obedient appearance, the corners of Jiang Xinghuo's mouth curled slightly, poured a cup of tea in front of him, and then sat down without speaking.

Outside the window, a little snow was falling, and the whole courtyard was very quiet, except for the breathing of two people, and the little footsteps of the little officials walking outside.

As he experienced more things, the more Jiang Xinghuo felt that the young man's spirit was really difficult to maintain, he actually didn't know what was going on, but as time slipped away day after day, he always felt that he was not the same as before.

This kind of difference is not even something he can intuitively feel all the time, but when he saw Zhu Yong, a teenager waiting for him in the snow, he suddenly realized Oh, it turns out that a long, long time ago, I would be stupidly dressed and rarely stood in the snow and didn't feel cold at all, but now I just want to sit in the house with a wolfberry teacup and watch the snow.

In fact, when this thought flashed from his mind, Jiang Xinghuo finally had a feeling of "I'm really old", not because of age, but because of mentality.

- The twilight is far away, and the twilight has sunk.

However, this kind of thought is only a momentary thing, even if Jiang Xinghuo Xuan cheers up, there are still many things to do, and there is still a great cause to be completed, so he should always work hard.

"Is your father well?"

Chengguo Gong Zhu Neng has been ill for more than half a year, and every time Jiang Xinghuo visits him as the "attending physician", he feels that he is okay on the surface, he is still very strong, but he is a little weak inside.

Zhu Yong's eyes were a little evasive, but he still said: "The imperial doctor is not able to get good in a short period of time, after all, it takes a long time to recuperate, and these internal organs can be restored to the same as before." ”

"Oh."

Speaking of the imperial doctor, Jiang Xinghuo only remembered that among the various tasks he was concerned about, there was also the work of medical care reform.

These tasks related to people's livelihood and well-being are not as immediate and effective as the industrial sector, nor are they like administrative reforms, which involve so many fundamental interests, but they are also things that must be done consistently.

Life expectancy and literacy rate are based on people, and these are the things that reflect the results on the people.

Unfortunately, the vast majority of feudal rulers didn't care about these things that required a lot of resources and time to invest little effect, or rather, for some rulers, these trends for the better were not so wonderful for them.

Looking at this stunned boy, with a wilted and wizened look, Jiang Xinghuo suddenly remembered that when he first met him on Yanziji, Zhu Yong was still quite arrogant, and at this time, people will really change.

"Why are you waiting for me at the yamen today?"

Seeing that the other party didn't speak, no matter how he said it, he was also his own student, Jiang Xinghuo opened his mouth and asked.

Zhu Yong took a sip of hot tea and shook his head: "Come and try your luck." ”

"You've been out a lot lately, so you're in luck."

Jiang Xinghuo was telling the truth.

At the end of the year, it stands to reason that he should be very busy, but the actual situation is that the interests involved in the two things of the test Chengfa and Jingcha are too great, and the people who want to visit him can line up from Zhongshan to the yamen, so Jiang Xinghuo will go out frequently and randomly, and he will inspect the progress of which aspects of work he cares about.

Jiang Xinghuo himself didn't know where he was going tomorrow, so naturally he wouldn't be harassed.

And on the side of the president's law-changing affairs yamen, the unlucky guy Xie Jin is still recuperating from his injuries. His injury didn't heal for half a year, so the burden fell on the old monk's bald head.

Thinking of this, Jiang Xinghuo looked at the bag containing ginger slices on the table, and wondered if he should send some to the old monk.

Of course, these ginger slices are used to ward off the cold, but the old monk should be able to grow hair?

It's strange to say, it may be because he hasn't had hair for decades, even if the old monk is still vulgar, this hair doesn't grow anymore, so Jiang Xinghuo doesn't understand why people's beards, eyebrows and hair don't grow together?

Jiang Xinghuo thought wildly, but never asked Zhu Yong why he came to him, Zhu Yong was too young to hold his breath, and took the initiative to say: "Please also ask the national teacher to take him in, give him an errand, and the student will not complain about the saddle before and after the horse." ”

"I can't take you in."

Jiang Xinghuo refused very simply, and picked up the teacup again.

This is not the meaning of serving tea to send guests, but when I came back to the city from the iron smelting yard under the Ministry of Industry outside, the cold wind blew for a long time along the way, and my stomach was a little uncomfortable.

"I just took in a little beggar a while ago, but I still entrusted Rong Guogong to find a job for him, and then keep you, I don't have so much heart to take care of the child."

"I'm not a child." Zhu Yong said with some stress.

Jiang Xinghuo looked at him and just smiled.

People are like this, when they are eighteen years old, they think that twelve or thirteen years old is a child, when they are twenty-eight years old, they feel that they are also children in their early twenties, not to mention later, in essence, it is a kind of self-comfort for themselves and contempt for others, this contempt may be unconscious, but it does exist. Of course, younger children are not happy to be treated as children, but older people are often the ones who have more resources and dominate in this kind of social relationship with each other, so in most cases, children are naturally helpless.

At this time, Jiang Xinghuo remembered the little beggar he took in, saying that he had become a monk in the Tianjie Temple, and because of his cleverness, he was recently sent to the prince of Japan who came to Daming to become a monk, and went to visit the handicraft workshop in Jiangnan together, accompanied by the prince of the Ryukyus, Luzon students and others, all of whom were foreign friends selected from the national prison.

Zhu Yong immediately became depressed and said, "I want to go to the battlefield, but my father doesn't allow it." ”

Jiang Xinghuo put down the teacup at this time and asked in surprise: "Where is there a war now?" Annan is all over, why, to be transferred to the north? ”

"I want to go overseas, I heard that Wang Gang of Runan County has made a great contribution, almost to destroy the country, and has built a new Xuanfu envoy for the Ming Dynasty in Luzon."

Zhu Yong paused, and then said: "I heard that when the fleet is repaired in the port, the country will send communication ships to find the fleet, and I want to follow next time." ”

Previously, Jiang Xinghuo notified Zheng He of Zhu Gaosui's request in this way, and it seems that Zhu Yong's news is quite well-informed.

It's no wonder, after all, Zhu Yong was originally a child of a top noble family, and he has been in the military academy for so long, so he must be very well-informed.

"So your father won't let you go?"

"Yes."

Zhu Yong was very frustrated, because of the expedition to Annan, when he set off, he originally received the task of leading the cavalry to conduct reconnaissance in the north of the Fuliang River, which was a very easy job, but unfortunately because Zhu Neng was seriously ill, he could only give up.

The original three brothers, Zhu Yong, Xu Jingchang, Zhang Anshi, and now Xu Jingchang has become the Duke of Dingguo, responsible for import and export trade in Jiangnan, holding the money of the royal family, the clan, and the nobles in one hand, and earning the money of Japan, Annan, Korea, and Champa in the other. And Zhang Anshi dropped out of the military academy, it seems that he has extinguished his mind to join the army, which is not difficult to understand, his sister and his brother-in-law have no military resources, and even to a certain extent, his identity into the army is a negative effect, and on the contrary, Zhu Gaochi has a terrifying energy in the temple, and this energy is even expanding more and more irrepressibly over time.

Only Zhu Yong, a year has passed, and he seems to be still standing still, which can't help but make him feel lost.

"I'm your father, and I won't allow it."

Jiang Xinghuo smiled and said: "Those who go overseas are all unfavored children of the family, and if they want to make a name for themselves, your father must have his own arrangements for you." ”

"Isn't the national teacher willing to offend my father?"

Jiang Xinghuo explained seriously: "Overseas is very dangerous, in addition to fighting, there are also storms that can engulf ships at any time, unsuitable environments, and strange illnesses that may not have an antidote at all, you are still too young." ”

Zhu Yong keenly grasped the loophole in Jiang Xinghuo's words: "So the national teacher wants to help me, but it's too dangerous overseas to let me go." ”

"Yes."

Jiang Xinghuo didn't mean to be held by him: "I support you to have some ideas of your own, but you can't completely make decisions for yourself yet, so it's always good to think through everything." ”

The entire Ming army is a very complex system, of course, on the surface it is a whole, but the Yan army has the Yanshan system, the Ulzhou system, the Daning system, the Hebei system, and there are many factions in the southern army, and even the word "southern army" is extremely inaccurate to describe the other Ming armies in addition to the Yan army, such as those Songpan fine cavalry, as well as the troops of the Sai kings, it is difficult to get close to the "south", and the major local divisions have been developed for more than 30 years, and the internal is even more intertwined, and it is not clear at all.

For example, Li Jinglong, who is now the emperor of Annan, and the troops under his command who are still stationed in Annan can be clearly divided into at least five factions with only tens of thousands of people.

"Then the national teacher can help me find an errand."

Looking at the students who were looking for jobs to find their heads, Jiang Xinghuo asked, "What are you studying in the military academy now?" ”

Zhu Yong also realized that this was a critical moment, and replied obediently: ""The Art of War", "The Art of War", "The Art of War", "Liutao", "Sima Law", "Three Strategies", "Wei Xuanzi", "Li Weigong Asks Right". ”

"How long does it take to finish? Have the completion criteria changed now? Jiang Xinghuo hadn't paid attention to the affairs of the Daming Military Academy for a while, so he asked.

"There is still half a year, the standard has changed compared to before, the martial arts test requires twenty steps and ten middle three (because it is not accurate), lunge step shooting one stone, arrow one shot three, horse shooting seven buckets, and five kinds of martial arts under the horse, three kinds of martial arts on the horse; In the literary examination, it is required that the "Seven Classics" (that is, the "Art of War" and other seven textbooks) are ten and seven, the five ways of literature and science are excellent in current affairs and border defense policies, and the law is ten and seven are righteous; In practice, the squad confrontation must be 'excellent', and at least one of the two items of logistics and engineering must be 'qualified' or above. ”

Generally speaking, although the old handsome Qiu Fu's brain is still relatively rigid, and there are more traditional things in the military academy, the things mentioned by Jiang Xinghuo are still basically adopted.

According to Jiang Xinghuo's six dimensions of war policy, commander-in-chief strategy, generals' tactics, sergeants' tactics, logistics, and engineering, although the specific implementation is not so precise, there is always a future-oriented change, and this is a good thing.

In fact, the history of Jiang Xinghuo's previous life has proved that Daming is still quite advancing with the times in many cases, at least there is no psychological barrier at all when he is learning from Yi's long skills.

- It's easy to use, why do you care so much about him?

Jiang Xinghuo nodded after understanding, he didn't have the shame to give Zhu Yong a whole sentence at the beginning, "One day as a teacher and a father for life", but out of consideration for the other party's future, he gave him two choices that he thought were quite feasible, after all, it was a bit inhumane to send a teenage child to be a seafarer.

"The first is that the troops who participated in the conquest of Annan have returned to China one after another, except for the tens of thousands of people who temporarily stayed in Annan, and the 20,000 or 30,000 people who permanently stayed in Jiaozhi Xingdusi, the rest of the army will be selected to enter the Beijing camp, and those who are not selected will go back to their respective divisions or health centers to screen these dozens of guards in the north and south of the Yangtze River, this is the military reform plan of the three major battalions that has been discussed and begun to implement, if you want to go, you will find an errand in the three major battalions, and some are newly established troops."

Zhu Yong was silent for a while and shook his head.

If it is this road, then wait obediently for half a year, and my father will arrange for him to go, just to get out of the military school half a year early, but there is not much need.

Seeing Zhu Yong shaking his head, Jiang Xinghuo thought for a while, and said: "Most of the tax guards with experience in firearm manipulation have been transferred, and the current tax guards are different from the previous tax guards, they are purely cultivated to collect taxes in the local area, and now after a year of time, they have trained several batches of disabled veterans, saying that there are more than 20,000 guards, and they can basically count and know words, do you want to go?" ”

Zhu Yong was stunned and asked, "Do you want to go to the local government to collect taxes?" ”

"Yes."

The implementation of the tax collector is the most direct measure of the imperial power to go to the countryside, and this matter is also a plan that has been brewing for two years, and now it is about to become a reality.

The reason is naturally that after several sweeps, the power of the gentry in the Jiangnan territory has been partially weakened, and the imperial power has been able to intervene in the place.

If it were not for the previous measures such as cleaning, suppressing bandits, and controlling water, simply sending people down would not have achieved such an effect, but would have been extremely constrained.

In fact, the establishment of a second-level taxation system is one of the key tasks of the imperial court next year, that is, in the second year of Yongle.

The reason why it was not implemented this year is because the number of tax officials trained is not enough.

Now that the number of tax collectors who can read and count is sufficient, it is only natural that these full-time tax collectors should be scattered to the localities to supervise tax collection, and at the same time establish a local tax to relieve the financial pressure on the central government.

After all, the progressive tax of household registration and the payment of notary tax by separation can weaken the gentry, and although this "land tax" is different from the concept of modern people, it can play the same role at some levels.

The local government has its own legitimate financial resources, and it also has its own interests, and it is not surprising that it will have some trouble with the gentry at that time.

As for the follow-up gentry to pay grain in one piece, in fact, the difficulty of implementing it is much smaller than that of apportionment into the mu.

The reason why I say this is that on the one hand, the power of the gentry has weakened, and on the other hand, the stakes touched are not so great. Jiang Xinghuo was also afraid that the policy would take too big a step, so the first knife started with the preferential treatment of food payment obtained by lifting people, showing talents and their affiliated populations.

All in all, the last step of this kind of administrative reform that touched the local government will definitely be completed before the Yan Army completes the military reform next year, officially transforms into the three major battalions of the Beijing Battalion, and then goes north, and the tax collectors will go down to the counties, towns, and even townships in the Jiangnan Prefectures at about the beginning of next year.

But the tax collector is obviously not a very promising job, after all, those who do this job are basically disabled soldiers who have transferred to work.

But Zhu Yong's choice was somewhat unexpected, as the son of Guogong who was destined to have a promising future and a military cadet who was about to graduate, he wanted to become a tax collector.

"Are you sure?"

"I'm sure."

Zhu Yong nodded calmly: "Although my father and I sometimes don't look at each other, my father once told me that in Daming, whether it is an official or a common person, if you want to protect the family, it should always be stronger from generation to generation, so that there is enough power to protect it, otherwise, if you don't want to make progress, even the slightest mistake is enough to make the entire huge family fall into a state of no return." ”

Jiang Xinghuo bowed slightly, and said, "I'll take the time to talk to your father." ”

Zhu Yongxing saluted and said: "Thank you National Teacher, in fact, I just need a chance, if there is no opportunity to be independent, then I may always live in the shadow of my father for the rest of my life, so as long as I have the opportunity, no matter how difficult it is, I will try." ”

"Since that's the case, then I won't be verbose anymore, and I'll try my best to help you, but if you're really willing to persevere, then please remember that what you said today is not child's play, if I find out that you can't endure this hardship, or do something you shouldn't do, then don't blame the ugly words ahead."

Jiang Xinghuo's meaning is also obvious, it is definitely not smooth sailing for the tax collector to go to the countryside, and there are many dangers and challenges faced here, Zhu Yong is saying loudly now, if he retreats below, it must be not allowed by him.

"I will never break my word!"

Jiang Xinghuo nodded and said, "Let's go home early." ”

Zhu Yong said goodbye and left, while Jiang Xinghuo looked at his departing back and was silent for a long time, then shook his head.

In history, almost all the sons and daughters of noble people who are ambitious and ambitious have a common characteristic - they are not only ambitious, but also daring.

Bold people tend to do risky things that ordinary people can't do.

Most of the time, this kind of adventure can be equated with recklessness, but for others, it will help them build a legacy that surpasses that of their parents.

In fact, it's very simple to think about it, your parents are so good, you don't play with your life, don't find another way, why do you surpass?

But Zhu Yong's boldness seems to be completely different from others, and it can even be said to be unusual.

Because before Zhu Yong expressed his determination to become a tax collector, that is, when he wanted to go overseas, Zhu Yong had been repaired by his father many times, and even once beat him so hard that he almost died.

Jiang Xinghuo's help to him, of course, was not sympathy.

There is no love-hate for no reason in this world, and there is no unconditional support.

In this world, only if you have enough strength can you control the fate of others.

Jiang Xinghuo knew very well what the emperor was most afraid of. For his sons, Zhu Di still has to restrict and balance them separately, and for him, there is naturally a red line.

This red line is military power.

Therefore, at the suggestion of the old monk and others, he resigned as the vice principal of the Daming Royal Military Academy, and had no dealings with officers below the duke.

As for those dukes, they can no longer be regarded as soldiers, but also as important figures in the temple.

Of course, since Jiang Xinghuo can't have direct contact with the army, he has never interrupted indirect contact and exerted influence on the generals, whether it is Li Jinglong, Zhu Neng, or his own eldest disciple.

Thinking of this, Jiang Xinghuo took out a stack of letters from the table in the drawer.

This was all sent to him by his eldest disciple Zhu Gaoxu, Zhu Gaochu obviously had some changes, and even had a tendency to talk a little, although he hadn't seen him for half a year, but every ten days and half a month, Zhu Gaochu would send him letters from Beijing.

The content of the letters is also mostly trivial gossip, including what happened to him in Beijing, such as being ridiculed by a certain bastard and trying to restrain his desire to beat people but finally beating, and then such as which day to support which tribe was attacked, or how many people he brought out of the fortress to cut down the Mongols. In addition to cutting people, Zhu Gaochu will also report on his study, and he can't read the books, but the practical books and some history books are quite serious, especially some history books, Zhu Gaochu looks at the map with relish to look at the battle examples of ancient famous generals, and seems to be able to draw some knowledge or experience from them.

Anyway, the content of these letters is like a report written by Zhu Gaoxu to him, and each letter contains a detailed list of some of the things he encountered and some of the results of his treatment.

In fact, Zhu Gaoxu handled many things inappropriately, such as once he went out of the fortress to cut down the Tatars, well, at this time, the Tatars occupied the Monan grassland outside the mouth, the Warat people were located in the Hetao to the west, and the Uliangha people were in the east of Liaodong, and Zhu Gaoxu felt that it was not too right to kill all the people, in fact, he should have migrated to the tribe.

However, these things are not important, but Zhu Gaoxu's attitude also makes Jiang Xinghuo feel at ease, even relieved.

It's hard to change a person, especially a stubborn, irascible person, and a strong person.

Those who are self-sustaining seldom listen to people's words.

This is also the reason why many buddies who practice block practice have difficulty controlling their temper in the end, and they want to solve it by force as soon as possible.

In this way, Jiang Xinghuo also felt that he had always been relied on and trusted by Zhu Gaoxu, after all, for Zhu Gaoxu, he rarely communicated with people so frankly, for the strong father, Zhu Gaoxu didn't want him to see his weak or hesitant side, and for the queen mother, Zhu Gaoxu simply didn't want her to feel that she was not doing well.

Jiang Xinghuo would also reply to him, and the content of the letters was mostly small talk, mostly nonsense, such as how he was in the north recently, how he was eating, whether he was warm or not, and occasionally wrote an article on Zhu Gaoxu's reading notes.

These letters are all delivered normally through the post station, after all, no one will be okay to use six hundred miles to send letters urgently, so Jiang Xinghuo rarely mentions things in the imperial court, well, it is conceivable that these letters will be read by Jinyiwei.

As for the major policies of the imperial court and various personnel changes, the ties between Nanjing and Beijing are still very close, and the exchange of personnel and information has always been maintained at a relatively frequent frequency, and the "Di Bao" is also clearly written, so there is no need for Jiang Xinghuo to specifically notify anything.

However, Zhu Gaoxu hasn't written recently, and I don't know if he has gone out to fight again, which makes him feel a little worried.

Jiang Xinghuo pondered carefully, and suddenly smiled again, when he is Xiang Yu in the world, Lu Bu is not necessarily much stronger than him when he is resurrected, what is there to worry about.

It's just that in Jiang Xinghuo's heart, Zhu Gaochu is still the disciple he cares about after all, and Zhu Gaochu really hasn't sent him any letters these days, so he doesn't know what he's doing at all, so he can only rely on guessing.

"Concern is messed up."

Jiang Xinghuo patted his forehead lightly, a little crying and laughing.

However, he quickly adjusted his emotions, put the matter aside, and walked out.

Jiang Xinghuo raised his feet and walked down the steps, and instructed Wang Bin at the door: "Prepare the car." ”

On this day, riding a horse was purely to find guilt for himself, and Jiang Xinghuo chose to take a car without hesitation when he went out, as for taking a sedan chair, it was never within Jiang Xinghuo's consideration, because he always felt that he was riding on a person, and his heart responded.

Wang Bin looked at the snowflakes that were getting bigger and bigger, and asked, "Where is the national teacher going at this time?" ”

"I have something to do with Kong Xilu."

The old master Confucius, who has prestige in the four seas, has just been released from the edict prison some time ago, but he has not returned to his hometown, but is still staying in Nanjing with Gao Xunzhi, Cao Duan and others, no one knows what he is studying, anyway, he has been closed to the door, but the mainstream speculation accepted by Shilin is that Kong Xilu was threatened by Jinyiwei in the edict prison, so he did not dare to speak at this time.

"Oh, then I'll send a few brothers to accompany you."

In winter, these attendants were also in shifts, and after Wang Bin agreed, he immediately greeted a few burly attendants from the room where the fire was being roasted, and left the yamen with Jiang Xinghuo in his arms.

Jiang Xinghuo raised his head before getting into the carriage, looked at the snow drifting in the gray sky, and secretly thought to himself: This snow should stop soon.

(End of chapter)