eldest son of Ming dynasty

Chapter 335 The Man Behind
Gu Zuo didn't know how to answer this question.

For him, this kind of non-technical question is actually a bit difficult to answer.

Many people have said that he is not suitable to be an official, because in his decades-long career as an official, there will be many times like now, and he cannot distinguish which is good and which is bad. clear.

So my heart is very tangled.

"Great Sima...Your Majesty always thinks that it should be what it should be. And since the matter is not serious, why can't His Majesty know?"

Wang Bing pursed his lips, his gray beard fluttered by the spring breeze leaking in from the window.The Gu Liqing in front of him was not the capable Gu Liqing he was familiar with, but his face was full of doubts, like a Jinshi who had just entered the officialdom.

"Liqing, I believe that Da Situ must have told you. Right now, your situation is actually more dangerous than ours."

"Yes, a person who has made no mistakes is more dangerous than a group of people who have made mistakes. It is a fact that it is more absurd."

Wang Bing pressed his index finger on the table, "Who said you didn't make a mistake? You just asked why your Majesty can't let His Majesty know about small things, because letting His Majesty know is not good for you or me, especially you. If you say it differently, maybe you will I understand. That is, when you were so young, Gu Liqing wanted to let His Majesty know? What do you want others to think of you?"

Don't give me any face.

But Gu Zuo naturally hated these things, and after listening to it for a long time, his head hurt, so he got up and bowed, "Da Sima, there is no way for the lower officials to ask for this love. How other people think of me is their business, and the lower officials don't care." No. Farewell."

Wang Bing was taken aback for a moment, he didn't expect this guy to walk away so recklessly.

He was left alone in the box, speechless.

"...Young children cannot be taught. Once Han Guandao leaves, he will be embarrassed."

Then another person came into the room. This person was in his 40s and was still young. His name was Lu Linchi, and he had a powerful official position.

For senior officials like them, even if this incident was brought to the imperial court, it would definitely not kill them.Because Gu Zuo didn't completely collude with them back then, and he didn't have any typical plot of greed for ink.

But as an official of Qingliu, once the reputation is tainted, it is basically the end of political life, and it is difficult for the gods of Daluo to save.

In fact, it would be fine if it was really a big deal, but in the end, no one wants to just admit to such a small thing.

"No oil and salt?"

"En." Wang Bing sighed, "Actually, it's good for him and not bad. Just asking for a favor, regardless of His Majesty's permission, will help his current situation, but he just doesn't want to do anything."

"Then what should we do? Then Li Dongyang and Xie Qian went to check the grain storage with a word of mouth. It can be seen that His Majesty doesn't want to touch them at least for a few months."

"What do you think?" Wang Bing also had a headache for a while when he met such a powerful person as the emperor.

Lu Linchi also frowned deeply, "Doing things is inherently easy to make mistakes."

"No." Wang Bing raised his eyelids, "Your Majesty hates political struggles affecting practical affairs the most. There may be a catastrophe this year, and food reserves are related to the lives of the people. Once something happens, it's not as simple as reprimanding you and me, and it will be forever. "

"How could Your Majesty know?"

"If you say you can't do it, you can't do it." Wang Bing firmly disagreed, "Your Majesty is not an unknown person who can be fooled."

In fact, what Lu Linchi meant was that when Li and Xie went to check the grain storage, there were many things that could be manipulated in the process. For example, after they checked it, there was no food when something happened, so the emperor would definitely blame them.

Once there is such a big event, who cares about the small things in the city that never sleeps.

"Great Sima, you should never stop being disturbed by him."

"Break your head off? Don't you know how powerful your majesty is? This old man would rather go to the king to plead guilty and receive punishment than take such a risk."

Now it's hard to jump out of this pit, so you have to dig another one for yourself?

……

……

After Li Dongyang and Xie Qian left, the hall was quieter.

It seems that someone did deliberately manipulate it.

Zhu Houzhao's heart is like a bright mirror, but he doesn't care too much for the time being, he is studying other things.

The Gewu Academy in the academy now has more than a dozen people, all of whom have been looking for these years to find the kind of knowledge seekers with weird personalities and enthusiasm for research.

These people are actually the support staff of the emperor's private treasury, and they receive food and drink every month. If they want to join this team of 'eating and waiting to die', they not only need to pass some assessments, but also need the unanimous consent of these dozens of people. You join, and finally report to the emperor, who will be approved by the emperor.

It has been seven or eight years since Gewu College was established, and there are only a few people now.

And so far, the expanded personnel have all come from among the students every year, who are the smartest among them and the most interested in various natural problems.

It was not the first time for them to visit the palace today. The emperor would see what they were doing when he was free.

The results of the recent period are actually two books.They made it up, saying that teaching can be more convenient.

One is all about nine chapters on arithmetic, and the other is about natural learning.

Zhu Houzhao expressed his appreciation for this, "Although these two books are very thin now, they have been studied one generation after another. When my grandson comes to the world, he can directly obtain this knowledge. In this way, 100 years later, future generations There are always people who can do critical research.”

These people are now two teams, that is, the people who compiled the two books respectively. The mathematics team has seven people, the leader is Liu Zhimin, and the Gewu team has nine people. The leader is Kou, and his name is Kou Ruiqiang. There are old, middle-aged and young people.

"Originally, I said that research should be problem-oriented and use solving problems as a means, so as not to think about it all over the place, like a chicken without a head. Earlier, the Mei Mansion said that it would build a six-story high-rise building, so I asked the Gewu College for help. Do you have any suggestions?"

"Your Majesty, I have been researching for a long time and did some experiments. Later, we determined two points. First, we found that when the height of the object is high enough, some small horizontal winds may also cause relatively large damage to the house. Therefore, we suggest making it as wide as possible to prevent it from being blown down by the wind. The second is that the house should be as symmetrical as possible and not too random.”

Zhu Houzhao understood it with his only knowledge of mechanics, and found that it made sense.

"Actually, there is another point... If you can use a harder material like stone, the house can withstand the wind much better than wood. It's just that the stone is too heavy, and it is not easy to carry during construction."

Zhu Houzhao said: "Then you can study something, like clay, which is fluid and soft when it is built, and hardens when it dries. Of course, it is not clay, which is harder than clay."

These people asked one after another: "Your Majesty, is there such a thing?"

"Maybe there are no rice grains in nature. But just like there are no rice grains in nature, don't people plant them?"

An old man murmured, "Does it need to be planted from the soil?"

"It can't be planted in the soil, but limestone may be able to. If you are interested, you can try it. If so, this material can not only build houses, but more importantly, it can pave roads. Imagine that the official roads in the world are no longer restricted. Under the influence of rainy days, people walking on it is like walking on the stone slabs in Da Nei, isn't this a god that benefits the people?"

"Your Majesty is right, write it down." Kou Ruiqiang instructed the young people around him.

The emperor is well-informed, and after entering the palace a few times, they have such a concept, so they also pay more attention to the reminders made by the emperor.

The monarch and his ministers discussed together for about an hour before they separated. Zhu Houzhao was not a teacher, so he couldn't explain some knowledge in a systematic way.

But there is a problem in this way, that is, there is a fault in the middle of the knowledge, and it cannot be connected.

That can't be helped. In fact, there is a lot of theoretical knowledge that is meaningless in itself, because there is not enough manufacturing capacity to create it.

This is not to mention.

Zhu Houzhao later brought Gu Zuoxuan into the palace.

He originally blamed Gu Zuo for the incident in the city that never sleeps, but after the incident, this guy seemed to know nothing, and carefully worked on the construction site, which made Zhu Houzhao feel that there was no need to blame him.

... This guy doesn't understand.

"Why are you working so hard these days?"

The emperor originally thought he was going to say something about guilt.

Unexpectedly, Gu Zuo said: "Returning to Your Majesty, I will go south to investigate the Salt Law in a few days. The city that never sleeps has just experienced a storm, and I am worried, so I made some new arrangements on the spot."

"I seem to remember someone named Song Heng in the Shaofu. How about this person?"

Gu Zuo replied: "Song Heng was a second-class Jinshi in the 15th year of Hongzhi. Later, he served as a promotion official. Later, he was recommended to be a minister of the Shaofu because of his degree of support. He was in charge of accounts. , and extremely cautious, never made a single penny mistake. He is a capable person."

"Oh? That's quite capable. You go to investigate the Salt Law, don't take this person away, stay here, I have something to entrust to him."

"Yes."

"As for the Salt Law, you should have communicated with some people these days, right? What's the reaction from the DPRK and China?"

Gu Zuo didn't dare to hide it, "The auction method mentioned by His Majesty, the ministers are temporarily acting in their own name, and please Your Majesty punish the crime."

"There's nothing to cure, you just say something."

"Yes." Gu Zuo replied honestly: "As far as I can see, many people are still hesitant. They know the collapse of the salt law, but they are afraid of changing it. It’s out of control. But just judging from that method, I’m afraid that the court’s salt law revenue will be reduced.”

"Why lower?"

Gu Zuo analyzed: "There is only so much silver on the salt. Your Majesty must guarantee the immediate interests of the kitchen households in the future. At the same time, the interests of the merchants must also be guaranteed, so that they will have the motivation to auction. If there is another auction, it will not make people lose money." The government’s corruption has decreased. The merchants paid the money, but in the end it was paid by the court. Well, since everyone benefits, how can the court’s money increase for nothing?”

Zhu Houzhao pondered for a while, Gu Zuo had grown up slowly, and began to think about problems from a macro perspective.

"Where do you think the main source of corruption is?"

"Auction, and saltworks. If the imperial court wants to auction the saltworks, the price must be set according to the output of the saltworks. If the officials of the joint inspection of salt merchants turn a high-grade saltworks into a medium-sized saltworks, then the auction price will naturally not be high."

Conceal output.This problem is also a headache.

Zhu Houzhao rubbed his head, "You're right. I said a long time ago that the reform of the salt law is about millions of people, and we must be cautious. You should investigate more carefully this time. If you really prove that the auction method is wrong Maybe, I won't stick to it."

This is what Gu Zuo admired about the emperor, that is, if it is really impossible, he is willing to change it.

"Your Majesty Shengming!"

"This time, Shengming is gone. Do you have anything else to say to me? If not, then back down."

Gu Zuo froze, he thought of Wang Bing, Shangshu of the Ministry of War.

(End of this chapter)