On February 9, 1628, the examination for the tenth year of the Great Tomorrow began.

"Teacher, this disciple has already sent Yun Da and Xian Zhi to the examination room."

"Well, thank you for your hard work, Ruyu. You sent them to the examination room without disturbing the people in the examination room, right?"

"Teacher, don't worry. I'm going in casual clothes. Besides, it's dark in Beijing at Mao hour in winter. Except for the spot illuminated by the lantern, you can't see anywhere else."

"That's good, it's enough to achieve this level. Although Yunda and Xianzhi are all heroes of the moment, fairness in examinations is one of the fundamentals of the country and must not be touched."

"Yes, my disciple thinks so too."

"Okay, speaking of which, the emperor's letter has recently arrived. Tomorrow, I will submit a proposal for you and Youxuan's new positions to the Ministry of Civil Affairs for the division meeting. It is estimated that it will be approved at the next state meeting. You go and call Youxuan.

As a teacher, I want to explain everything to you first."

"yes."

The so-called 'teacher' is naturally Yuan Keli, the examiner of the fourth-year examination of Tianqi in this plane. Ruyu and Youxuan were both Jinshi this year. Although the imperial court clearly stipulated that all Jinshi are disciples of the emperor, but

, following hundreds of years of habit, the Jinshi scholars of that year have always been apprenticed to the examiner of that year.

It is normal for such a situation to occur: when a new Jinshi enters the officialdom for the first time, he needs a big boss to lead the way and take care of him. What about the big bosses in the court? They also need a group of juniors to help them. This thing is not based on the will of the emperor, and has nothing to do with loyalty or traitor.

It is purely a necessity of the officialdom ecology.

In the fourth year of Tianqi (1622), the examiner for this subject was Yuan Keli, and the number one scholar that year was Wen Zhenmeng, who is now one of the teachers of the emperor’s eldest son Zhu Ciyi. And among the candidates in this class, after many years of contact and observation

, Yuan Keli’s favorites are Ni Yuanlu (Ruyu) and Huang Daozhou (Youxuan).

In terms of history, these two are great calligraphers, calligraphers and painters, and academic scholars. Among them, Ni Yuanlu served as the Minister of Household Affairs in Beijing during the Chongzhen period. Faced with a treasury with warehouses that could starve rats to death, he boldly employed the arithmetic expert

, but the civilian masters with no fame counted the accounts of the Ministry of Household Affairs and produced millions of taels of silver out of thin air. Unfortunately, the Ming Dynasty during the Chongzhen period could not be saved. In 1644, Beijing was conquered by Li Zicheng.

He committed suicide by hanging himself for his country.

As for Huang Daozhou, in terms of historical standards, he was the chief assistant of the Longwu regime in the Southern Ming Dynasty. He refused to surrender after the defeat of the Qing Dynasty and was captured, and finally died heroically for his country.

Yuan Keli likes such disciples, it can only be said that birds of a feather flock together.

In this dimension, the two of them were promoted to Jinshi in 1622. During the six years, they mainly moved around in various ministries and served as low-level officials. Six years later, both of them were still only in the sixth rank.

"Ruyu and Youxuan, our masters exchanged letters with the emperor a few days ago and specifically recommended you two to the emperor. In the emperor's reply, he also said that he has been paying attention to you in recent years."

"Ah? Disciple, thank you very much, teacher."

"Is the Emperor also paying attention to us? This is really frightening."

"Hahaha, talented people are just in the pocket." Yuan Keli stroked his beard and said with a smile: "In the past six years, you two have been working in the General Affairs Department and the Sixth Department of Beijing, and you have often just become familiar with each other.

You were transferred to another place after you finished your job. During this period, did you ever complain?"

"Teacher." Huang Daozhou stood up and said, "I did not understand it at first, but later on, as more and more departments watched the government, the disciple gradually understood it."

"Teacher, disciple and Youxuan have the same idea."

"So, this is a smart man." After laughing for a while, Yuan Keli looked serious: "Ruyu, I am going to recommend you to the Ministry of Personnel to be the prefect of Huai'an."

"Ah? This..."

"If you have something to say, just say it."

"Yes." Ni Yuanlu stood up: "Teacher, everyone knows that Huai'an is an official hell. Where did the disciples go?"

"Hmph, are you also planning to make a fortune after becoming the local leader?"

"I don't dare. My disciple's family is quite wealthy, and the imperial court has been increasing the salaries for officials in recent years. I have no idea or need to make money at all. It's just that, teacher, I am afraid that I won't be able to serve His Highness King Xin because of his temperament."

"Well...His Royal Highness King Xin, he is a bit cautious in his work. But as long as you uphold your integrity, what can King Xin do to you? Which of the officials captured by King Xin was wronged?

?And in recent years, in addition to removing many officials, His Highness has also recommended many honest and upright officials, clerks and even servants. If you go to Huai'an and be recognized by King Xin, this will not be ordinary for your future career.

There are benefits. After all, King Xin is now known as Tianqi Hairui among the people, and his recognition is the highest affirmation of an official's integrity."

"Yes, disciple understands."

"Well, when you go to Huai'an, you have three main things to do."

"Please tell me, teacher."

"First, before the flood season arrives, we must step up efforts to improve the new embankments on both sides of the Yellow River in Huai'an Prefecture. During the flood season this summer, Huai'an Prefecture must not break the embankments again."

"Teacher, don't worry. When I was observing government at the Ministry of Industry, my disciples have discovered that cement has a very short solidification time and is extremely strong after solidification. The reason why the previous Huai'an prefecture did not do well was that they took money from the contractors below and cut corners on them.

It’s just that I can’t say harsh words.”

"That's it. Only if you uphold your own integrity can you be strict with the people below. Well, for the second thing, the imperial court has agreed. One new middle school will be built this year for Huai'an Prefecture, and three primary schools will be allocated for Huai'an.

.”

"Ah? Ouch, this is really a good thing. The disciple went to Huai'an with this news, and the local people and gentry in Huai'an can be comforted. Teacher, you know that the day of major reform of the imperial examination is getting closer and closer, and various places are facing new challenges.

The desire to learn is getting stronger and stronger. When the disciple was observing the government at the Ministry of Revenue, he saw the chief envoys from many places bringing a group of prefects to the Ministry of Revenue to plead with each other, hoping that the Ministry of Revenue would first arrange the construction of new schools in their places.

At that time, the disciples could clearly see that many of the third-grade officials had almost slid to the ground and rolled around, saying that if they didn’t get a few school projects in Beijing, they would not be able to see the elders in their hometown when they went back..."

"Hahaha, my teacher also knows about this. But what you don't know is that at the State Council, the important officials of the imperial court used various methods to criticize officials from various places for asking for projects to relieve their fatigue."

Well, when Yuan Keli said this, the two disciples were a little stunned: So this is what the daily life of the big shots in the imperial court is like?

"Ahem." Realizing that he had made a mistake, Yuan Keli quickly coughed twice: "Ruyu, building a new school is a good thing. Taking office with these projects will indeed help you quickly win over the local people. However, there is a prerequisite for this.

It’s the flood season and nothing can happen! Otherwise, if the whole of Huai’an is flooded, why build a school?”

"Yes, don't worry, teacher. I have gone to Huai'an and prepared to put the government offices on the embankment. When the embankment is there, people will be there, but when the embankment falls, people will perish."

"It's good if you have this awareness. Next, I will tell you the third thing, teacher, to start a farm."

Taking a deep breath, Yuan Keli stood up and said: "Nowadays, industry and commerce are booming, so that the agriculture of our Ming Dynasty has been greatly affected. Although the emperor implemented the method of dividing farmers into acres, which effectively reduced the burden on farmers. However, the land

The trend of land abandonment is still somewhat unstoppable. Moreover, in the southern Zhili region where there are the most factories, in addition to a large amount of land abandoned, a lot of land has been converted from rice to mulberry."

After Yuan Ke stood up, the two disciples also stood up quickly. After listening to the teacher's words, they also looked solemn.

There is no other way. It is human nature to seek advantages and avoid disadvantages. Under the premise that the factory's sales are guaranteed by the entire Greater East Asia, workers' wages will definitely exceed those of farmers. It is difficult to stop farmers from running to factories.

However, in order to maintain social stability, the Ming Dynasty had to control the market price of grain at a level of 0.5 yuan per stone of grain - this led to the growth of wealth in the face of the emerging factory owners (bourgeoisie), whether they were growing grain or grain merchants.

We are far behind. As a result, private capital is not willing to enter agriculture, but is also trying its best to attract more labor from agriculture.

This made the emperor and the elders anxious: the area of ​​cultivated land in the Ming Dynasty did not decrease, but the actual amount of cultivated land, especially grain fields, continued to decrease.

On a historical basis, British food can be transported from the vast colonies, and the Ming Dynasty's current Greater East Asia tribute system is much more advanced than the colonial system. But with the largest population in the Ming Dynasty, which country can afford to pay for this?

What about the important task of growing food for more than 100 million people in the Ming Dynasty?

Therefore, although the land is now abandoned and the trend of converting rice into mulberry is only blowing in the ten prefectures in southern Zhili. However, to prepare for a rainy day, the entire Ming court must find ways to deal with the huge impact on agriculture after the industrial revolution.

"Ruyu, the land in Huai'an has been abandoned because of the frequent embankment breaches, so there is a lot of unclaimed land. If you go there, after building the embankment, you will be able to get at least 500,000 acres of new cultivated land. What the imperial court means is

We want to build a large farm here."

"farm?"

"Yes, the emperor's letter made it very clear. He said that the main reason why agriculture is less profitable is that production is too scattered and lacks intensification, so that many of the things produced are lost in the production process.

was consumed.

Later, the division meeting will hand you the collective farm operation regulations written by the emperor himself. You go and recruit agricultural workers and carry out intensive production according to the emperor's opinions."

"We? Teacher, disciple, where are we going?"

"Ah, yes, Youxuan, you also want to go abroad. Well, your new position is Hunan Chief Secretary to participate in politics and concurrently serve as the prefect of Changsha."

"...I see. But, hey, teacher, when Ruyu goes to Huai'an to take a job, there are school projects, where are the disciples?"

"Humph, they are all there. There is one middle school in Changsha Prefecture, one primary school in Shanhua, one in Xiangtan, and one in Liling."

"Hahaha, thank you teacher!"

"Don't be in a hurry to thank me. After you go, your task will not be easy."

"Yes, disciple, please give me instructions from the teacher."

"First, Hunan is a newly established province. Since the establishment of the province, only one Jinshi has been produced in the two joint examinations. So when you go there, education is the top priority. This is the emperor's way of teaching you.

This is a point mentioned repeatedly in his handwritten letters.”

"Yes, disciple has noted it down."

"Secondly, the Medical Laboratory of Fangshan Research Institute will send someone to go south with you. The emperor is touring the world this time and is deeply disturbed by the raging schistosomiasis in the Yangtze River Basin. He has already written a guide to the prevention and control of schistosomiasis, which will be sent by Fangshan Medical Laboratory first.

Implement it in Hunan. After you go to Changsha Prefecture, you must work hard to cooperate with their work."

"I have taken note of this. I have seen a lot of schistosomiasis in my early years. It is indeed very harmful. Although I do not know medical skills, I will do my best to cooperate with the doctors in prevention and treatment."

"Well, thirdly, it is natural to promote collective farms. The Xiangjiang River runs north and south in Changsha Prefecture, and the tributaries also have abundant water. In addition, Hunan at this time is vast and sparsely populated, with almost no industry, so it is the most suitable place for reclamation

Wasteland, to establish collective farms.”

"Disciple understands, I have been familiar with Huguang since the Ming Dynasty, and the world is full. Now, the farmland in Hubei has been cultivated almost, and if we want to increase the grain fields, we have to settle in Hunan."

"That's it." Yuan Keli stretched out his hands and put them on the shoulders of his two beloved disciples: "Two eunuchs, the country has generally been prosperous in recent years, but there have also been many problems. And you are the ones who solve the problems.
Chapter completed!