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Chengquan was obviously shocked, and it took him a long time to come back to his senses. He took a step closer to Su Minggang and asked with a little uneasiness and nervousness: "So, my mother... my mother is still alive? "

Su Minggang nodded after hearing this and said with a smile: "Live well. By the way, your brother has also married a daughter-in-law, and his son is almost ready to do so!"

Chengquan still seemed to be in disbelief. After standing still for a moment, he suddenly reached out and grabbed Su Minggang's arms and said, "You just said...that the emperor would pardon me? What about my brothers?"

"It's all the same!" Su Minggang let him catch him and continued with a smile, "And the emperor also said that if you perform well and perform meritorious services, you might be able to return home in glory!"

"Returning to the hometown in splendid clothes?" Chengquan let go of his hands and repeated in a daze, "Returning to the native place in splendid clothes..."

Ever since he escaped to Nanyang, ever since he was ostracized by other pirates, he had dreamed of going home more than once, and dreamed of returning home in glory one day. Of course, no matter how much he thought about it, he never thought about returning home in glory!

After a while, he turned around, stared at Su Minggang and asked, "Do you think the emperor can really pardon us?"

"Well, the emperor said it himself, and both Governor Sun and Commander Zheng saw it." Su Minggang nodded and replied, "The emperor said that Liu Xiang and other thieves are bound to be arrested by the court. The other criminals must change their ways. , can be exempted from prosecution.”

"Then... what do you want us to do?" Chengquan asked quickly with hope on his face.

"Just listen to what the old man says." Su Minggang replied, "For now, please cooperate with the boss to fool the Dutch and delay the construction period as much as possible!"

The news that the Ming army will come to rescue cannot be told to anyone at this time. If you become Quan here, naturally you can't say that.

Chengquan will definitely have to bear the pressure from the Dutch side to delay the construction period, but as long as they unite to fool around, the pressure will not be too great.

Chengquan thought for a while, then nodded and said, "That's no problem. Is there anything else we brothers need to do?"

"In order to avoid leaking the news, it is best not to tell your brothers about this matter. It is not too late to announce it in the future." Su Minggang said with a slightly more serious face, "In short, the most important thing for us at the moment is to delay the construction period. After a while, there will be new things to do. As long as you do it well, you will be rewarded based on your merits!"

After hearing this, Cheng Quan nodded with a serious face and said, "Okay, I understand. Just for my sake, even if you lied to me, I did it!"

Obviously, he still didn't believe it. However, in order to go home, he chose to believe.

After taking care of these pirates, Su Minggang couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. In this way, the best problem is solved. Even though the emperor is thousands of miles away, he can still solve Batavia's difficulties. It's amazing!

Sighing secretly, he reported to Emperor Chongzhen. Things on Batavia's side were handled secretly.

At this time, the Chinese New Year is about to begin in Ming Dynasty. The days are getting better and better every year, and the sound of firecrackers is getting louder and louder every year. But at the same time, the amount of sulfur dioxide is increasing year by year, and there are even fires. This may be accompanied by pain and happiness!

In the year of the Ming Dynasty, Mobei was swept away, and only a few remnants of the three tribes in Mobei fled to the west. Oirat Mongolia surrendered and became a new part of the Ming Dynasty. This year, even if the territory of the vassal state is not included, the territory of the Ming Dynasty itself has been greatly expanded. At least the entire north of the Ming Dynasty, right up to the Arctic Ocean, belongs to the Ming Dynasty.

In the south, three more vassal kings were sealed off, namely King Yi of Luzon, King Fu of Annan, and King Zhou of Nanzhang. As a result, a lot of grain fields were freed up in the country for tax collection, and the burden of the three clans was thrown away, which in turn boosted the economy between the vassal state and the mother country.

I always thought that the Ming Dynasty had a large number of people, but after the four vassal states were sealed off, many Ming people from the provinces close to the vassal state, many of whom were not doing well in the country, went to the vassal state to seek life.

As the Ming Dynasty expanded its territory and divided vassal states into feudal states, the floods in the south and drought in the north, which had always had a serious impact on the Ming Dynasty, were now a bit insignificant. Ming Dynasty has become increasingly capable of solving these problems. The victims of the disaster can be easily relocated to other places, and at least they will not starve to death.

The southern vassal states basically harvested grain fields three times a year. Ming people took the lead in planting, and this grain has been fed back into the country.

In addition, the Great Tomorrow is changing rapidly. Not to mention that the imperial court has become a science and technology department, and there are new official yamen like the Ministry of Communications. Just say that in Yingtianfu, the hot air balloon took off and floated over the entire Yingtianfu. The dream of people being able to fly in the sky had an unparalleled impact on the people of the Ming Dynasty.

After this incident, the people of Ming Dynasty, especially the people in Jiangnan, all remembered what the emperor said: There is nothing impossible, only unimaginable! This sentence is domineering and smooth enough that even a three-year-old child can say it.

In addition, new projects are being carried out on the cement roads in Beijing and Tongzhou to lay subway strips on the ground. It is said that there will be a new means of transportation in the coming year. I don’t know what the train is called. What the hell? Many people are thinking about this and want to see it as soon as possible.

In the seventh year of Chongzhen, that is, 1634, scientific and technological knowledge, with the emergence of new things, has become more and more popular among the people. There were even some voices from both the government and the opposition, suggesting that the court include scientific and technological knowledge as part of the imperial examination. There are also voices saying that we should learn from the system of the Pre-Tang Dynasty and reintroduce the imperial examinations such as Mingfa, Mingzi, Mingshu, etc., etc., but they are not mainstream yet, and they are not accepted by most scholars.

But no matter what, the reform of the imperial examination content has already surfaced. Many discerning people speculate that the court will officially discuss this matter next year.

In addition, there are some things that are only spread within a certain range. For example, Qian Qianyi, a great Confucian scholar, was dragged down by his clan members and was sent to Guihua City. It was said that he would go further. This story was only circulated in Jiangnan Shilin. After hearing about it, some great scholars or friends secretly warned themselves to take care of their families or tribesmen.

Another thing was only spread among the scholars in the south of the Yangtze River. It was said to be the Confucian family in Shandong. The Confucian sage later made it clear that Confucianism and science are two feet in the same body, and one cannot exist without the other. When today's emperor is a sage, science is born!

This incident was actually quite surprising to Jiangnan Shilin. Because many of them know that the Confucius family previously expressed support for the restoration of society and went to the court to abolish fallacies and heresies, but now they have turned the other way! Many people can't understand why the Confucian school's position changed, and why it changed so completely, even saying that science and Confucianism should be given equal importance! Faintly, many people can't help but worry, based on some of the remarks made by the current government and opposition parties, that maybe next year's imperial examination will really change.

Regarding this situation, very few people actually know the inside story. When Emperor Chongzhen sent factory guards to Shandong, it was also a secret investigation, and they obtained a lot of evidence against contemporary Yan Shenggong. After an interview, if Yan Shenggong did not declare so, the court would replace him with Yan Shenggong and send him to accompany Qian Qianyi to the distant north.

As expected, Duke Yan Sheng was convinced, but he was not done yet. Emperor Chongzhen decided to use Yanshenggong again next year.

The New Year is coming soon, so the capital is naturally very lively. Many yamen have also closed their offices to prepare for the New Year, such as the Science and Technology Cleaning Department.

Since Song Shigui came to the capital with his father, he has been helping in the Qing officials department, but he was also gifted to study in the Imperial Academy of the capital. No, after the Science and Technology Cleanup Bureau was granted the title of Yamen, he went to a restaurant with Wang Dele, who was in the same year as the Imperial College, for a small gathering.

It has to be said that Song Shigui's status is quite special. He made friends in the same year. He is not a pedantic person and has a certain understanding of technology. This allowed them to get closer, eat happily, and chat happily.

After leaving the restaurant, the two of them walked down the bustling street, their faces glowing red.

"Brother Song's talent and knowledge are beyond the reach of others!" Wang Dele said with a smile, "If the content of the imperial examination is restructured starting next year and science and technology knowledge is added, Brother Song will definitely win the first prize!"

Song Shigui was filled with joy when he heard this, but he still said modestly on the surface, "That's not necessarily the case. We have a lot of talented people in the Ming Dynasty. Maybe there are even more powerful people there! Besides, whether there will be a restructuring next year, I don't know yet. Definitely! You haven’t seen how many people in the Imperial College are against it!"

"Haha, what's the use of their objections!" Wang Dele sneered after hearing this, "This scientific and technological knowledge is so useful. It is the general trend. Sooner or later, the emperor will include such important knowledge in the imperial examination."

At this point, he glanced at Song Shigui, pointed at him, and said with a smile: "I don't believe it, Brother Song doesn't know this. Your father is a doctor in the Science and Technology Cleanup Division, and you are also helping there, so you should It’s the clearest, right?”

Hearing this, Song Shigui smiled and walked a few steps, seemingly admiring the lively scene on the street, then turned around and whispered: "I asked my father privately, I guess it won't be next year. That will be the year after tomorrow. The imperial examination system will definitely be reformed within the next few years. Dear brother, you also have research on scientific and technological knowledge. When the system is reformed, you will definitely be better than others in the same year!"

When Wang Dele heard this, he and Song Shigui glanced at each other, and then they both laughed. The movement in the imperial court was obvious. Only those sour scholars who refused to change their ways clung to the Four Books and Five Classics. How can the current trend be stopped by those bitter scholars just shouting? How childish!

The two of them were talking about important things to themselves while walking on the street, which was quite pleasant.

After walking for a while, Wang Dele said to Song Shigui with a little envy: "It's New Year's Eve soon, but Brother Song is doing well. The family is reunited in the capital. Unlike me, who is thousands of miles away to study in the capital. It’s been deserted during the Chinese New Year.”

"Yes, I miss my family even more during the festive season!" Song Shigui also lamented about this, "When you say that, I miss my grandma a little bit!"

Speaking of this, the atmosphere is somewhat affected, but there is nothing that can be done about it. Both of them were silent for a while, just walking forward.

Suddenly, I saw a large group of people gathered in front of me, and it looked very lively.

The two of them were curious and looked up, only to see many people talking there, vaguely listening to words like "It's impossible" and "True or false".

When the two of them heard this, they were a little curious and their pace quickened a little. There happened to be onlookers, it seemed like two scholars were walking over here. Wang Dele clasped his hands and asked, "Excuse me, brother, why is there so much excitement in front of here?"

"The imperial court has established a new yamen. It has just opened!" One of the scholars shook his head and replied, "What an instant messaging yamen? It sounds so awkward!"

When Song Shigui and Wang Dele heard this, they looked at each other. When I heard this name, I thought that Good Technology might be a government office related to science and technology. At this time, they didn't know what others were doing, so the two of them immediately became interested. After thanking him immediately, he walked over quickly.

As we got closer, it turned out that there were a bunch of people surrounding us, discussing and doubting.

"If I say something here, Yingtian Mansion will receive it. Isn't it too outrageous that such a thing can happen?"

"Who knows if it's a scam, and we don't know if Yingtian Mansion will really receive the message!"

"This is a yamen, you won't lie to people, right?"

"It's too expensive. One tael of silver a time, and it's only limited to Yingtianfu City. Otherwise, you can give it a try?"

"..."

Listening to the discussion of the people next to them, Song Shigui and Wang Dele also squeezed in to take a look. It was just as they heard. There was a notice posted at the door of the yamen. The content written on it was similar to what they were discussing. There was The yamen servant stood there and shouted a little unhappily: "Don't hang around people who are fine. It's the New Year. Go wherever you need to go!"

After Song Shigui read the notice carefully, he couldn't help but sigh: "It would be great if Nanchang Mansion also had this. It's only one tael of silver. I have to give it a try. I wish my grandma a happy new year and good health."

The salary of the Science and Technology Cleaning Department is relatively high among many similar yamen. Song Shigui helped in the Qing Dynasty Officials Department and also received a salary, so he also had a little money.

After he finished speaking, he turned to look at Wang Dele and said, "Brother Xian, isn't your home just in Yingtian Mansion? How about going and giving it a try?"

The people nearby heard their conversation and couldn't help but stop talking and turned to look at them. Since the Yamen opened, no one has tried it. Now that I heard that someone wanted to try it, everyone was very curious and started to encourage.

Compared to others who lacked confidence, Song Shigui and the others were very close to things related to technology. When Wang Dele heard what Song Shigui said, he also missed his relatives far away, so he smiled and said, "Okay, I'll give it a try!"

The next chapter will have to wait until tonight.