Cannon Fodder is King [Quick Transmigration]

After sending Xiao's group away, Meng Zezhi summoned Zuo Changshi: "Go, invite Lu Dao and Mr. Lu to the study."

"Yes."

Lu Daoyi was the son of the Lu family who went to Nanchang Prefecture to take the provincial examination together with Meng Zezhi.Like Meng Zezhi, he also went smoothly in the scientific examination.In Guangde's 21 year palace examination, Lu Daoyi won No. 20 and six in the second class, and then he was successfully selected as a good scholar in the imperial examination hosted by the Ministry of Rites.

According to the usual practice, if the top scorer in the Imperial Examination is awarded, he will be appointed as the editor of the sixth-rank Hanlin Academy after the list is released;The rest of the second- and third-class new subjects need to take the imperial examination again. Those who are in the top are awarded Shu Jishi, and those who are ranked in the lower ranks are used as the chief ministers of various ministries, Zhongshu or local magistrates.

Jinshi selected as Zhongshu Jishi needs to study in the Hanlin Academy for two and a half years, and then pass the final exam after the expiration of the period. Those with excellent results in the final exam will be awarded the second-class Jinshi and the seventh-rank Hanlin Academy editor, and the third-class Jinshi will be awarded the editor Seventh-rank Hanlin Academy review, this can be regarded as officially becoming a member of the Hanlin Academy.

Since the founding of the Dayang Dynasty, there has been a practice: non-jinshi are not allowed to enter the Hanlin, and non-Hanlin are not allowed to join the cabinet, so officials who can be selected for the Hanlin Academy have the opportunity to rise to the top.

Those who did not perform well in the examinations of the disbanded halls were awarded the titles of subordinate chiefs or local magistrates. From then on, they were cut off from the Imperial Academy, and their official careers were also greatly affected.

Lu Daoyi just took the exam last month, with excellent grades, and now he is waiting to be appointed by the Ministry of Officials.

It's just that this year's distribution of Shu Jishi is different from previous years.

The Shuji scholars in this subject were all in the same year as Meng Zezhi (those admitted in the same list), so the relationship is naturally extraordinary.

The Ministry of Industry was originally the site of the second prince. After the fall of the second prince, almost all the officials under the Ministry of Industry were cleaned up.

Meng Zezhi thought over and over again, and rejected Emperor Guangde's suggestion of entering the Ministry of Household Affairs to observe politics, and chose the Ministry of Industry as his base.

The household department has always been firmly in the hands of Emperor Guangde.

——Not only because Meng Zezhi wanted to give himself the maximum room to develop, but most importantly because the Ministry of Industry not only took charge of civil engineering, water conservancy projects, mining, metallurgy, textiles and other government-run industries across the country, but also took on the responsibility of machine manufacturing , Including military weapons, ammunition, military utensils, etc., then there is a lot of room for manipulation.

Emperor Guangde also wanted to test Meng Zezhi, and after thinking about it for a while, he agreed to Meng Zezhi's request.

Therefore, among the more than 30 concubines in this department, except for a few who were sent to Henan to be county magistrates due to lack of preparations for positions, the rest were to be filled into the Ministry of Industry to do the main work.

For these aristocrats, although doing so would undoubtedly cut off the great avenue of the Imperial Academy, it is also a blessing to be able to work under Meng Zezhi's command.

The current minister of the Ministry of Industry is Lu Zengxiang, the former governor of Huguang, the grandfather of Lu Daoyi.Most of the Qing officials and ministers were served by Fangshi (examiner) and Zuoshi (examiner) when Meng Zezhi was taking the exam. This is the power assigned to Meng Zezhi by Emperor Guangde.

"Your Highness." As soon as he entered the study, Lu Daoyi knelt down and saluted.

"No." Meng Zezhi put down the teacup in his hand, pointed to the chair next to him: "Sit."

Both got used to the change of status as quickly as possible.

Meng Zezhi said: "I remember Brother Yucai, you once said that your father is in charge of the Weihe shipyard."

Weihe Shipyard is located in Changle County, Fujian Province. It is the largest branch of Qingjiang Shipyard, one of the three major shipyards in the Dayang Dynasty.

"Returning to His Highness, that's right." Lu Daoyi said.

"How many ships can the Weihe shipyard build in a year?"

"There are more than a hundred ships, but most of them are tank ships (grain ships)."

Meng Zezhi asked, "Is it possible to build a sea-going ship?"

Lu Daoyi thought about it carefully: "Yes, when other shipyards cannot complete the task of covering the ocean, Weihe Shipyard will help manufacture a few if it has spare capacity."

After finishing speaking, he paused and asked, "Why did Your Highness suddenly ask these questions?"

"It's nothing, I just want to ask your father to help me build a batch of sea ships."

As he spoke, Meng Zezhi pushed the wooden box at hand to Lu Daoyi.

As soon as Lu Dao opened it, what caught his eye was a thick stack of blueprints for sea ships. He picked it up and unfolded it, and couldn't help but take a deep breath: "So big?"

You must know that the longest warship of the Dayang Navy is only fifteen feet long, but the ship on this blueprint is marked with a total length of 44 feet.

These blueprints are the result of Meng Zezhi living in Duanben Palace for more than three months. They are modeled after Zheng He's treasure ship in the Ming Dynasty, and some flashy things have been cut to expand the storage capacity.

——When he was in college, he took the history of modern navigation out of interest, so he dabbled in these.

Thinking about it now, it is always good to learn more things, and I may use them one day!

"Well." Meng Zezhi pointed to the wooden box: "Here is still 50 taels of silver notes. Ask your father to build [-] ships of each type according to these drawings. If you don't have enough money, ask me for it. The Bureau of Materials and Estimation will prepare the timber for shipbuilding for you. Just a little, and the confidentiality work must be done well."

Weihe Shipyard is far away in Fujian, as long as the work is done properly, it is easy to hide it from the capital.

The reason for such an arrangement is purely that Emperor Guangde didn't know the details of Meng Zezhi, so he hoped that he could take steps step by step, fight steadily, and focus on winning the heir.

But Meng Zezhi knew his own strength, so he obviously thought longer term.Now that you have money in hand, you might as well think more about the future.

The 15-year Northern Expedition in Guangde, although it completely defeated the old enemy Tatar, it also exhausted the money and food of the treasury, so that the people of the Dayang Dynasty, who had finally improved their lives, returned to the dire straits. In the last 22 years, there was a drought in Qingzhou, and the riots of the refugees. In mid-August this year, the Yellow River burst. The situation of the people in the Dayang Dynasty is now better than that in the last years of the Yuan Dynasty.

How many years will it take for such a country full of holes to recuperate before it can return to the prosperity of the Han and Tang Dynasties, 50 years, 80 years, or 100 years?

In order to seek his own government in his position, he must do his best to do it.

Meng Zezhi also had his own ambitions. He did not hope that this country with a population of more than [-] million households could recover on its own in a short period of time, so he set his sights overseas. You must know that maritime trade has always been huge profits.

But if you want to go to sea, you have to build a ship first, right?

Since the treasury has no money, he can only spend it, so it is necessary to hide it from Emperor Guangde.

"Yes."

Meng Ze didn't know much about it, so Lu Daoyi didn't ask too much, who told him that Lu's family and Meng Zezhi are now grasshoppers on the same rope.The higher-ups have sent a message, and the people at the bottom just do what they are told.

After sending Lu Daoyi away, it was already the second watch, Meng Zezhi yawned a little, and then walked to the bedroom led by Zuo Changshi.

When they got there, Lu Li was already lying on the bed.

After soaking in a hot bath beautifully, Meng Zezhi threw off the maids and servants, threw off the quilt and lay down, hugged him into his arms, and let out a long and satisfied breath.

After waiting for a long time without seeing Meng Zezhi move, Lu Li pursed his lips, took out an envelope from his pocket, and stuffed it into Meng Zezhi's hand.

"Huh?" Meng Zezhi opened his eyes, picked up the envelope and opened it to see that there were three names listed on the letter paper. He frowned: "This is?"

"Prince Tang (eighth prince)'s people are among the officials who are going to be assigned to the Ministry of Industry," Lu Li said.

This can save him a lot of heart.

The corner of Meng Zezhi's lips curled up, and he kissed Lu Li on the cheek, "Thank you."

Then he closed his eyes again, all he could think about was how to enrich the strength of the Ministry of Industry.

Lu Li opened his mouth, suddenly feeling a little tight in his chest.

The next day, Meng Zezhi officially joined the Ministry of Industry to observe politics.

With Lu Li's help, Meng Zezhi escaped the Eighth Prince's schemes several times without any risk, and even forced the other party to cut off branches several times.In addition, Lu Zengxiang is indeed a good hand in governance. Under his guidance, in just two months, the Ministry of Industry, which was originally poor and empty, was on the right track.

In January of the 24th year of Guangde, the capital snowed heavily, but within a few days, the snow on the ground covered the thighs. Food prices in the capital skyrocketed, and countless houses were crushed by the snow.

When the news came, Meng Zezhi also had to withdraw from the Firearms Bureau and devote himself to disaster relief.

Verifying the disaster situation, counting the extent of the disaster and the affected population, giving relief to the victims, distributing porridge, dispensing medicine, giving maintenance fees to those who collapsed, and distributing pensions to those who lost their relatives... Fortunately, the second prince fell a while ago, and Emperor Guangde copied it. There are few official residences, otherwise the national treasury may not be able to spend so much money for disaster relief.

When gathering the homeless, Meng Zezhi had a whim, and used snow and water to water it into an igloo, which was surprisingly effective in preventing wind and keeping warm.

As a result, the number of deaths from snow disasters this year was less than one-tenth of previous years.

When the news came out, under the deliberate publicity of Emperor Guangde, who was more and more satisfied with Meng Zezhi, Meng Zezhi's reputation among the people instantly rose to a new level.

"King Ning Xian—"

The Eighth Prince's face was livid, and he gritted his teeth.

He Gu Shi'an, He De and He Neng, just because he built an igloo, the folks spread the reputation of a virtuous king.

Thinking of the manpower he had lost in Meng Zezhi's hands in the past few months, the Eighth Prince couldn't help but take a deep breath. He really underestimated Meng Zezhi's methods.

It seems that his good father is determined to support Gu Shi'an to the throne.

Can't wait any longer, the Eighth Prince's eyes dimmed.

He stood up, walked to the bookshelf, picked up the calligraphy and paintings on the wall, opened the hidden compartment behind, and took out a small porcelain bottle from it.

"Zhao Yi."

"Yes." A man in black immediately stepped out of the shadow at the corner.

"Take the 5 taels of silver and hand it over to Tao Neixiang, and tell him that it's time to do something." The Eighth Prince said coldly.

"Yes." The man in black reached out to take the small porcelain bottle.

"By the way," the Eighth Prince asked as if remembering something, "How is the investigation of the firearms bureau that Gu Shi'an built in Xishan?"

"If you go back to Your Highness, the guards there are too strict, and the subordinates can't get in at all."

The eighth prince frowned, and his intuition told him that there must be something tricky in the firearms department, otherwise Meng Zezhi would not have sent all his three hundred guards over there: "Continue to send people to watch, as soon as there is news, report immediately .”

"Yes."

The author has something to say:

Lu Li: Sure enough, men are big pigs, and they don't do anything after receiving money from whoring.

Meng Zezhi: Doesn't anyone think that I am a big golden finger?