[Ming] Wuzong's Chronicle of Rebirth

Thanks to Zhu Houzhao's efforts, the royal family is no longer as unattainable as before.On the road of growth, both Zhu Houwei and Ai Cao are looking for the true meaning of their lives, which is also one of Zhu Houzhao's greatest comforts.Among ordinary people, the prince and princess began to exert their positive influence, which also made Zhu Houzhao feel a little relieved.Enlightenment at the technical level is not enough for this country to develop rapidly.But once it comes to reforms at the political level, the royal family is the first to be impacted.

Whether it is the sense of identity given to him by his surname Zhu or the warmth of truly integrating into the royal family, it is impossible for Zhu Houzhao to watch the Zhu family slip into the consequences of reform or revolution.Whether it was the fate of Louis XVI in the French Revolution or Puyi's lonely life in the end, Zhu Houzhao did not want to bring to the Zhu family.In Zhu Houzhao's mind, the most ideal state is still the last state of existence of the British royal family, so he is also gradually narrowing the distance between the royal family and ordinary people, and slowly cultivating this kind of common people's sense of identity with the existence of the royal family.

After bidding farewell to Mrs. Zhang who was inexplicably enthusiastic about him, Du Ruo still had to follow Zhu Houzhao to deal with some matters.Du Ruo had been away for more than half a year, and there was news of isolation for three months, and many things were not clear in the letter.If Zhu Houzhao can solve it by himself, he can solve it by himself. If he is not in a hurry and can't solve it by himself, he can only postpone it until Du Ruo comes back.This includes Wei Jiati's plan to find the Pacific Ocean. Of course, there is no such thing as the Pacific Ocean in this era, and they still call this vast expanse of sea the South China Sea.

To Zhu Houzhao's surprise, it was Wei Jia who grew up the most in the whole plan to develop the ocean.Perhaps it was Wei Jia's persistent attachment to the unknown that made him leave behind all the people that Zhu Youtang and Zhu Houzhao had deliberately cultivated, and seized many development opportunities by himself.Whether it is the plan to bypass the Ottoman Turkish Empire to directly reach Europe or the choice of abandoning gold and silver to sell wine and bring exotic utensils, he has made a lot of money. As a rising star, Zhu Youtang has surpassed his focus. He has cultivated a family of sea trade, and now it has only been four years since he started sea trade with a large sum of money from Du Ruo.

The opening of the sea ban in the Ming Dynasty was such a small event that it changed the development pattern of the entire world.Daming originally had no desire to do business with these so-called barbarians, but under Zhu Houzhao's loose industrial and commercial policies, non-mainstream businessmen with a desire for money promoted the development of Daming's maritime power.Under the impact of Eastern and Western ideas, changes are happening at a speed visible to the naked eye.The Muslim monopoly on the East-West trade route was interrupted early, and the exchanges between Western Europe and the East were almost 300 years earlier than in history.Columbus' lie that the New World was India was also exposed early, and everyone knew that it was a New World, not Ming Dynasty or India.

After Wei Jia came into contact with a series of western sciences, including the theory of the circle of the earth, he developed a plan to explore the South China Sea.It is every man's dream to expand the territory and establish a career. Now there is a huge opportunity in front of Wei Jia, and of course Wei Jia will not miss it.

His idea was derived from the idea of ​​Columbus.Columbus miscalculated the diameter of the earth and found a new continent.Then Wei Jia, who had accepted the new idea, naturally thought of Nanhai.If there is a new continent between Europe and Ming Dynasty, does that mean Wei Jia can also find the other side of this new continent starting from the South China Sea of ​​Ming Dynasty?When he knew that the crops he had brought back had indeed played a role, Wei Jia had already begun to look forward to the vision of the New World.

The promoters of human history are always adventurers full of desires, no matter whether this desire is based on power, money, belief, or just the desire to find out in their own hearts, only those who dare to do will succeed, and those who are timid will only succeed will miss the opportunity.Zhu Houzhao worked so hard to win a first-mover advantage for Daming.Posting this word later has already cost Huaxia too much, and Zhu Houzhao doesn't want to let this piece of land he loves go through again.

When a butterfly flaps its wings, it might create a storm.Zhu Houzhao has always believed that as long as he keeps doing it, there will always be some changes.Facts have proved that Zhu Houzhao's efforts have paid off. Even if the change of Ming's position in the world environment is not counted, even if someone who is familiar with Ming history is now, what he has learned is basically useless.Everything is developing in a direction that is beneficial to China.

"So, do you think it is possible for his plan to be implemented now?" Zhu Houzhao knew that he had a first-class grasp of the overall political situation, and Du Ruo had to make a final decision on matters that depended on business wisdom.

"What's the result of the report from the shipyard in Fuzhou?" What Du Ruo thought about most was technical issues. Daming's ships were not suitable for ocean voyages. I don't know how many years have passed. To what extent has it developed under the impetus of "Have you talked to Wei Jia here? What does he think?" A few years ago, Daming's ships were only suitable for large-tonnage transportation in calm weather, and they were still much worse for ocean voyages.Even with Zheng He’s treasure ship from Chengzu’s time as a reference, after losing almost all the information, their guiding role to the shipyard is almost zero. In fact, everyone has already started from scratch.

"It's not bad. After opening to the public and accepting so many orders, they have finally made great progress. The hull's ability to resist strong winds and waves has been greatly improved. Several new ships equipped in Wei Jia's fleet have responded well. .” These few boats are already last year’s work, and this year must have been improved to a certain extent.This is more to Du Ruo's liking, he nodded, "The hull is still getting smaller?" This is unavoidable, in order to be flexible, there must be a certain trade-off in size, and Du Ruo already has the answer in his heart.

Zhu Houzhao has already been prepared for this, and he still knows the basic common sense. In order to survive in the ever-changing ocean, when the technology has not reached the level, it is indeed the general trend to sacrifice size for flexibility.Naturally, he would not foolishly point fingers at the shipyard in pursuit of looking stronger. "Fortunately, at least it is much better than the few Portuguese merchant ships we saw." As a representative of three-masted ships, Zhu Houzhao was extremely impressed by the thinness of Portuguese merchant ships.

"Then let him try it. It should be closer if he starts from the north. Don't go too far north. Isn't the current in Japan more complicated?" After so many years, Du Ruo has long forgotten those things in his previous life. Almost, it is not easy for him to combine Japan and ocean currents.

Zhu Houzhao also worried about his question. He is just good at geography in middle school.As a computer geek, how could he still remember such complicated things as ocean currents? The only thing he has an impression of now is the general direction of the Indian Ocean currents and the Gulf of Mexico currents coming down from the United States. This is because he has read such geography books. .Now let him make a plan for the specific route of the fleet, how does he know what to do.

"I'll find out the map first." When he drew a map for Ma Wensheng last time, Zhu Houzhao found that he couldn't remember many details clearly. Later, he had to draw several maps for emergencies, and one of them was put on display. In the study of Qianqing Palace.The new little eunuch is called Jing Lian. He was originally named Jing Lian by Gao Feng, but Zhu Houzhao thought it was too girly, so he changed it to Lian Zi.He was quick-witted and diligent, and quickly gained Zhu Houzhao's initial trust. When he heard Zhu Houzhao talk about the map, he quickly found out the things.It was the first time Du Ruo saw this little eunuch, and said with a smile, "What a handsome kid, who trained him."

"His master is Gao Feng's apprentice, he can be regarded as Gao Feng's apprentice and grandson." Zhu Houzhao replied casually, turning over his map, and at a glance he saw the immeasurably far distance between Daming and America.Du Ruo didn't focus on this, but he saw the long journey from Daming to Europe at a glance, and a feeling of admiration suddenly surged in his heart.

Zhu Hou watched him stare at the other side, and asked, "What's wrong with this side?" Du Ruo came to his senses: "It's too far away, I just realized that Wei Jia and the others have gone so far." What Zhu Hou took care of was a small map obtained from Luo Zhijian, which was not as impactful as the map drawn by Zhu Houzhao. Now, looking at such a large map, Du Ruo realized that Wei Jia and the others were facing Such a long journey.

"Passing by the four continents, it takes a whole year to go back and forth, but it is a big project." Zhu Houzhao described this road, coming out of Quanzhou, passing by the Manlajia Kingdom, which has been managed by officials sent by the Ming Dynasty. The Strait of Malacca, across the Indian Ocean through the Cape of Good Hope to the Strait of Gibraltar into the Mediterranean Sea.In this era where a trip to Gansu takes two months, this is indeed a feat.

Now Du Ruo was not so worried again, "They have traveled such a long way, are they still afraid of such a small distance?" Zhu Houzhao followed Du Ruo's fingers and looked over, the distance between Daming and America is indeed not as far as Europe so far away.Now Zhu Houzhao also laughed. He patted Du Ruo on the shoulder and said with a smile: "This can't be counted like this. If this is the case, it's better to go directly to Australia, which is closer."

Looking at the map, it couldn't be closer. Du Ruo was filled with emotion: "It's still for those who are going to go to Nanyang to explore. It's not so easy to spare so many islands and find the right route."

On the map, Zhu Houzhao only drew a few large islands, but Du Ruo knew that the terrain here was far more complicated than this map. "These things need to be dealt with later. We won't be afraid of others coming after we beat a Portugal away. The easiest thing is to wait until later." He stopped looking at that side and took a closer look at the map on this side. .

After several months of being a valued Jinglian, he still knew that it was time for him to avoid taboos, so he quietly withdrew and saw the master waiting outside the door, Jing hurriedly stopped him. "The two of you are having fun inside, so grandpa should wait."

☆, 130 chapters Hongzhi 20 years

Although it was covered tightly, people like Jiang Cong and Gao Feng in the palace still knew about the relationship between Zhu Houzhao and Du Ruo after such a big commotion.While being amazed, many people were moved, and the beautiful little eunuch in the palace suddenly became popular.Gao Feng himself once had a momentary thought, but he quickly dispelled the thought.He watched Zhu Houzhao grow up. He knew how the relationship between Zhu Houzhao and Du Ruo came about, and he also knew what kind of person Zhu Houzhao was. Knowing that he would not get well, Gao Feng still gave up. thought.

Facts also proved that he was correct, especially after Liu Wei was directly dragged to replace the beheaded He Ding to supervise the construction of the imperial tomb for a young eunuch, he was deeply grateful for his decision.After Liu Jin also went to the Supervisor of Rituals, they each chose a young eunuch to serve Zhu Houzhao personally.After knowing who the other party has chosen, the two of them looked at each other and smiled.

Jing Lian was chosen by himself, needless to say, he is the number one under him for being clever in reading.A young eunuch named Wen Sen selected by Liu Jin has been in the Hanlin Academy. First, he edited foreign general examinations with people from the Ministry of Rites. Later, when he was writing criminal laws at the Ministry of Criminal Justice, he was forced to study by Liu Jian for half a year.It is inferior in terms of serving, but it is also top-notch in terms of knowledge.Both of them are just handsome in appearance, and only then did they see the real kung fu of Gao Feng and Liu Jin.

Knowing that Du Ruo was inside, Gao Feng really waited outside, otherwise it would be bad to disturb something good.It wasn't until Jinglian was about to bring in today's sweet soup that Gao Feng asked him to report to Zhu Houzhao when the time came.When Jing Lian came in, Zhu Houzhao was copying his own charts for Wei Jia on a large white paper.Seeing Jing Lian coming in with a soup cup, he knew it was today's sweet soup.Unhurriedly asked Du Ruo to pull himself up, Zhu Houzhao saw that it was lemon milk soup boiled with lemon slices, and hurriedly gave Du Ruo a cup, drooling hard into the soup cup.

Du Ruo was about to laugh at him when he heard Jing Lian report: "Grandpa Gao is here, will the Holy Majesty want to let him in?" Come in.Du Ruo had made lime milk soup before, but it was a cold drink in summer, and I had never eaten such hot milk soup in spring. I tasted it, it was sweet and sour, and it was delicious.

Gao Feng came in, and greeted Zhu Houzhao first, and then Du Ruo.It turned out that he didn't need it, but now both Zhu Youtang and Zhang Shi have acquiesced in Du Ruo's position. He can no longer treat Du Ruo as an ordinary prince, and only place his position after Zhu Houwei.After all the greetings, and after answering a few questions about the palace's spring personnel arrangements, Gao Feng then spoke out what he wanted to ask for instructions. "Last year's revenue was converted into 500 million taels of silver. The Supervisor of Rituals approved a budget of 300 million taels for the six ministries and the cabinet, plus the remaining 300 million silver from last year, the total is 500 million taels." The emperor said A sum of money will be used to build new libraries and gymnasiums for various academies."

When he said this, he paused again, rethinking his wording. "What the emperor said was to allocate money to local government schools and famous academies. But the budget papers submitted by the Ministry of Rites seem inappropriate." When Zhu Youtang was in power, Zhu Houzhao began to consciously promote the idea of ​​budgeting.Last year, when the various ministries reported their annual expenses, the budget system began to be enforced.

From the Six Departments to Yushitai and Hanlin Academy, the silver taels to be spent every year, and the property to be spent on every major event must be made into budget books and reviewed in advance.Although everyone is very unfamiliar with this system, under Zhu Houzhao's strict order and the strength of the Ministry of Household Affairs, everyone can only obediently abide by it.Now it seems that it is still very effective, and it is very effective in terms of anti-corrosion and speeding up administrative efficiency.

Zhu Houzhao drank the last sip of milk soup into his stomach contentedly, and Zhu Houzhao asked, "Is there more money for the library?" As soon as Gao Feng said, Zhu Houzhao knew what was going on.It's just that everyone selectively ignores the so-called gymnasium.This gymnasium is not a gymnasium like a modern basketball hall or tennis court, but a sports facility such as a Cuju field and a martial arts field that are more suitable for people today to exercise.In Zhu Houzhao's reform of the imperial examination, the reform of physical education is a big aspect. In the future, the examination will not only rely on classics, but also physical education.The grades are not included in the final grades, but failing to pass the exam will definitely not allow you to take the Chunwei Examination Jinshi.

With a wry smile, Gao Feng could only pour bitter water on Zhu Houzhao, "The papers from the Ministry of Rites will not be approved and returned by the younger ones, so they will not mention this matter again. The money will be allocated in March. The work is about to start soon. Gao Feng can only come to the Holy Master for advice." This matter was discussed before, and Zhu Houzhao handed over the full authority to the Supervisor of Rituals and the Ministry of Rites, but he did not expect that he would really argue with each other like this.After not being in the capital for half a year, Du Ruo suddenly felt that he could not understand what they were saying.Compared with Zhu Houzhao who drank his own bowl of milk soup contentedly, Du Ruo, who doesn't like sweets, drank this at a speed comparable to that of ants.After finding that I couldn't understand what they said, I was even less in the mood to drink milk.

"Are they still the booklet they gave last time?" Gao Feng could only nod when Zhu Houzhao asked himself.Now Zhu Houzhao knew why Gao Feng had to come to him. Zhu Houzhao asked for one or two in the library and one or two in the stadium. The minimum that he told the supervisor was three to one or even four to one. , but the Ministry of Rites made a nearly thirteen to one discount.

Zhu Houzhao still probably knew what they were thinking.In the eyes of these scholars, new words such as sports are nothing to them, and what is important to them is the attraction of a library to them.The cost of a library with 1 volumes ranges from 3 taels of silver to 100 taels of silver.Zhu Houzhao planned to spend [-] million taels of silver as soon as it was built.

This means that as long as it is a larger government school, there may be a library.What kind of concept is this? In a wealthy family, as long as there are [-] books, it can become a well-known book collection house, which is a full ten times.In the list of books listed by the Imperial Academy, there are all ancient and modern general histories, various collections of classics and histories, and miscellaneous poems.This is equivalent to the fact that a prefectural school that was only at the level of rural mobile book boxes suddenly has the same resources as Tsinghua University and Peking University, and that scholar will not be excited.

After knowing the news, the whole capital began to move.Those in their hometown who qualify for a library budget want the money to build a library, which is another way of saying it.Zhu Houzhao plans to build a library in Beijing, Nanjing, Hangzhou, Quanzhou, Chengdu, and Datong to collect the books in the hands of scholars from all over the country, print and store them in these libraries, which is equivalent to half of the national library. It's another one, it's the money Zhu Houzhao saved from the Forbidden City in the past two years.

But they don't care where the money here comes from, as long as they have the opportunity to win such a library for their hometown, this is a famous and profitable thing.This means not only the love and respect of fellow students, but also the continuous help in the officialdom in the future.As long as they study in the government schools in their hometowns, they can be regarded as fellow villagers, and the relationship with fellow villagers is much tighter than that of modern alumni.

Those who are not qualified want a qualification, and those who are qualified want greater investment.Everyone is a student of the imperial examination. When the budget is fixed, they selectively ignore the investment in the gymnasium. In their budget, the investment in a single gymnasium is less than 100 taels, but it is just a flat land. price only.The supervisor of ceremonies strictly abides by the bottom line set by Zhu Houzhao, while the Ministry of Rites is limited by the pressure of almost the entire court, so it can only bite the bullet and fight against the supervisor of ceremonies, hoping that Zhu Houzhao can regress on his own.

But Zhu Houzhao will not regress, this is only the first ring.If the investment in education for the first time makes a setback, then the subsequent results can be directly predicted by itself. "Go ahead and say that I have changed my mind. It has been too long and I don't want to spend the money. Then you can read the paperwork they presented. Send a letter to Liu Jian by the way and let him figure it out, but don't worry about it." It’s too much like it is now.” One hard and one soft, it’s really impossible to pull it directly.

After getting an affirmative answer, Gao Feng was about to go back to the Supervisor of Rituals, when Zhu Houzhao suddenly stopped him and told him to call Liu Jin over.Gao Feng's heart skipped a beat, but he went out anyway.Zhu Houzhao didn't know that Gao Feng was thinking too much. He asked Liu Jin to come here just to transfer money to Wei Jia.Although the budget in the palace has been reduced and reduced, but the population in the palace is getting smaller and smaller, and Zhu Houzhao has saved more and more money, which is already a considerable figure today.Holding the great seal of the Supervisor of Ceremonies in Gao Feng's hand, Zhu Houzhao gave Liu Jin the right to manage his internal treasury. Before he knew it, Zhu Houzhao had become an emperor who knew how to check and balance.

As soon as Du Ruo Gaofeng, who had long been impatient to hide himself, left, he dumped Zhu Houzhao politely.The reason, of course, was that Zhu Houzhao didn't know anything about such a big matter.Looking at Du Ruo's expression, Zhu Houzhao knew that he must be feeling awkward again.He knew that Du Ruo, who was very possessive, was just thinking about what he was going to do, but after he knew it, he would do whatever he was supposed to do.For Du Ruo, he must know and support Zhu Houzhao's affairs. As for making trouble, it is only when threatening Zhu Houzhao's safety.As long as it doesn't prevent him from taking advantage of Zhu Houzhao, as long as it makes Zhu Houzhao happy, all problems are fine.

It was still a while before Liu Jin came over, Zhu Houzhao continued to draw the map while lying on his stomach, and at the same time chatted with Du Ruo about spending money.Zhu Houzhao is worried, not because he has no money to spend, but because he is worried about how to spend the money.As a modern person, Zhu Houzhao certainly knows that the more you spend, the more you spend.When Zhu Youtang first took over Daming's mess, Daming's annual income was only equivalent to 600 million silver, but with the introduction of more and more policies to activate the market, last year's annual income was more than double that of when he traveled back. However, Zhu Houzhao began to worry about how to spend the money.