The next day, Zhou Xian summoned all the civil servants who passed the examination to the Great Hall, and the cadres of Xingjing also came to the Great Hall.

By the time everyone arrived in the General Assembly Hall, there were no more seats in the General Assembly Hall, and hundreds of people were standing.

Seeing that everyone was coming, Zhou Xian said: "First of all, welcome everyone who has passed the exam to become civil servants. ”

After speaking, Zhou Xian took the lead in applauding, and everyone below also applauded.

After a while, the applause stopped, and Zhou Xian continued to speak: "Civil servants who have passed the exam need to take an oath to join the Star Club, and if you don't want to join the Star Club, you can stand up now." ”

After waiting for a while, no one stood up, and Zhou Xian said with satisfaction: "Very good, no one has opted out, I'm very happy...... The monthly income of each of our officials starts at 20 taels, and the higher the official, the higher the monthly income, and the better the management place, the higher the monthly income. Zhou Xian gave these civil servants some motivation.

The crowd below applauded when they heard this.

Zhou Xian knew that it was impossible to keep civil servants from corruption, and that only by using both soft and hard measures, giving them the highest salaries and the most severe punishments, could large-scale corruption be prevented.

After the applause stopped, Zhou Xian continued: "All civil servants have to go to the newly established academy to study for a month, and then take the exam, and after passing, they can go to various places to become officials. ”

When the civil servants heard that there was still an exam, they became nervous again, and if they failed the exam, it would be embarrassing.

After talking about the affairs of civil servants, Zhou Xian said to Zhang Qing: "Zhang Qing, your production team will start to plant cotton in a large area from this year, and our demand for cotton is too great now, and we can't solve the problem by buying it alone, only planting a large area by yourself is the king." ”

"Yes, President, I will organize people to start planting cotton as soon as I go back." Zhang Qing hurriedly stood up and said.

"Zhao Bugui, your steam engine workshop should speed up the production of steam engines, our steam engines will be used in the entire territory of Shanxi Prefecture now, and will be used in the whole territory of Shandong in the future, and even in the whole territory of the Ming Dynasty, if you can't make it, recruit some more people!" Zhou Xian said to Zhao Bugui again.

"Yes, President, I'll recruit more people as soon as I get back." Zhao Bugui also stood up and said.

"Now we are going to fully enter the steam age, let the steam engine enter all parts of our jurisdiction, and you will work hard to speed up production." Zhou Xian emphasized again.

After arranging the work tasks, Zhou Xian announced the dismissal of the meeting.

At the same time, the imperial court issued an edict to confer Zuo Liangyu as Ning Nanbo, and asked Zuo Liangyu to send troops to Jingzhou Mansion to attack Li Zicheng, and promised to let their father and son guard Wuchang for generations after the great success was completed.

Unexpectedly, Zuo Liangyu supported his troops and openly rebelled, occupied Jiujiang Mansion and was unwilling to send troops to Jingzhou Mansion, and said that he would no longer obey the dispatch of the imperial court.

After Chongzhen got the news, he was so angry that he slammed it to the ground, "This Zuo Liangyu mercenary has self-respect, let him deal with Li Zicheng, he actually dares to resist the order, it is really unreasonable." ”

Seeing Chongzhen making so much fire, Wang Chengen didn't dare to squeak, but just lowered his head silently.

After a while, Chongzhen's anger disappeared a lot, and then he said to Wang Chengen: "Wang Chengen, you said that you want to send troops to attack Jiujiang Mansion, so that Zuo Liangyu knows the fate of disobeying the imperial court." ”

"Your Majesty, now that our treasury is empty, there is silver to be paid to the soldiers." Wang Chengen said.

Chongzhen heard that the treasury was empty, and he suddenly became decadent like a deflated ball, and last time he asked the civil and military officials to donate military salaries, but he only received more than 100,000 taels of silver, and Chongzhen, who was angry, couldn't eat for a few days.

Wang Chengen saw Chongzhen's appearance and hurriedly said, "Why didn't the emperor let the Zhou family army go to crusade against Zuo Liangyu." ”

Chongzhen's eyes lit up when he heard Wang Chengen's words, but after a while, he hesitated: "Last time, I let the Zhou family army attack Xiangyang City, promising to let Zhou Xian be the chief soldier, but because that Daniel Zhang killed Meng Shuang, Shu later only gave Zhou Xian a thousand households, presumably he was also dissatisfied in his heart, I don't know if he is still willing to fight." ”

"Your Majesty, this Zhou family army goes to war and doesn't need us to pay for it, he is really a good thug, as for the last time he only gave him a thousand households, the reason must be clear to Zhou Xian." Wang Chengen analyzed.

After hearing this, Chongzhen felt that it made sense, so he said: "Zhou Xian also arrested Kang Yuan, the prefect of Shanxi, and wrote to me that Kang Yuan was making things difficult for him, and I didn't investigate the matter because of his credit for capturing Xiangyang City, this time he shouldn't refuse to send troops, so he went to Zhou Xian to give him an order, let him go to crusade against Zuo Liangyu, and give him a general soldier after success." ”

When Zhou Xian was teaching the students of the Physics Academy, a teacher suddenly walked in, "Principal, someone from the imperial court has come to announce the holy decree!" ”

"You guys review it first, and I'll take a look." Zhou Xian nodded and said to the students below.

After speaking, he walked out of the classroom, and when Zhou Xian came to the school gate, Gonggong Li was already waiting here.

Seeing Zhou Xian come out, Gonggong Li hurriedly said: "Lord Zhou, the holy decree has come, you can accept the decree!" ”

Zhou Xian reluctantly knelt down after hearing this.

Gonggong Li opened the holy decree and read: "Fengtian carries the emperor, and the edict says: Zuo Liangyu supports the army and respects himself and openly disobeys the imperial court, and I order the Zhou family army to send troops to Jiujiang Mansion to encircle and suppress Zuo Liangyu. Chin this! ”

"The minister takes the order!"

Zhou Xian was in a good mood when he heard that he was going to be the chief soldier for himself, this time he was making himself a chief soldier on the surface, presumably Chongzhen couldn't regret it anymore.

As for Zuo Liangyu, Zhou Xian didn't pay attention to it, although he claimed to have an army of 800,000, but they were all rabble, so there was nothing to worry about.

After Zhou Xian received the holy decree, he said to Gonggong Li: "Gonggong Li went back and told the emperor that my Zhou family army would send troops to attack Zuo Liangyu in three days. ”

"That's very good, let's go back and give the emperor a life." Gonggong Li was overjoyed when he heard this.

Three days later, outside Xingjing City, 50,000 Zhou family troops set off for Jiujiang Mansion.

This time, Daniel Zhang was appointed commander-in-chief, Xiang Shaoyun and Liu Hu were appointed commanders, and Zhang Shan, Li Huaping, Bao Changwu, and Zhang Qingyun were appointed division commanders.

Zhou Xian stood outside Xingjing City and said to Daniel Zhang and the others: "This Zuo Liangyu has done a lot of evil, there is no need for his subordinates to show mercy, his soldiers and horses can be captured and worked for us as prisoners." ”

"Yes, the last time I attacked Li Zicheng, it was a night attack, and I killed many soldiers by mistake, otherwise I could have brought back a lot of prisoners, this time I will definitely catch more prisoners back." Daniel Zhang agreed.

"Okay, I'm waiting for your good news, go early and come back early." Zhou Xian said with a smile.

After Daniel Zhang and the others saluted Zhou Xian, they rode away.

This time, the Zhou family's army marched for a long time, and it took 20 days to reach Huangzhou Mansion.

Yu Chenglong, the prefect of Huangzhou Mansion, had already received the news that Zhou Jiajun would come.

So when Zhou Jiajun just arrived outside the city of Huangzhou Mansion, Yu Chenglong came out with a team of officers and soldiers.