Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

Another reason why Liu Si was so confident was that he heard officials mention during a training session at Taipu Temple that the Ministry of Works was going to further renovate the roads in the capital and build various pipelines.

After using Jingxi Courtyard for more than a year, everyone has felt the convenience of running water, sewers, and heating and cooling pipes.

Even though it had some defects due to immature technology, officials from the Ministry of Works believed that it was better than the previous drainage ditches and should be fully rebuilt.

In the area of ​​the royal palaces in the west of Beijing, the newly built palaces and other aristocratic residences were basically all laid with new sewer pipes, and some even built separate water towers to use spring water drawn from Yuquan Mountain.

In particular, the attraction of the heating and cooling pipes made some princes and dignitaries who originally thought that western Beijing was desolate run to western Beijing to escape the heat during the hot summer.

After they returned to the capital, they called for laying underground pipes in the city. Even some wealthy families had already started laying their own pipes, building water towers and setting up water pipes and heating and cooling pipes.

They can build all these by themselves, but the sewer pipes are more difficult. It is easier for houses near drainage ditches, as they can directly discharge sewage into them.

If a house is not located near a drainage ditch, there is no way to drain sewage even if you have dug your own sewer system.

So they called in the newspapers for the construction of pipelines throughout the capital.

In the past two years, officials from the Ministry of Works have been planning various large-scale projects in order to absorb disaster victims into work when disasters occur.

In addition, there was a need to build roads in Taibusi, so the renovation of the capital was put on the agenda.

They plan to transform the main streets first, and then go deeper into the alleys.

Liu Si knew this, so he was very confident in the rickshaw industry.

As the reconstruction of the capital's roads progresses, there will be more and more places where rickshaws can run, and in the future they will be able to travel through the streets and alleys everywhere.

Qian Qianyi certainly knew this, and he was even one of the people who called for the construction of a comprehensive sewer system in the capital. So he was more aware of the potential of rickshaws in the capital, and previously thought about whether they could be used in other cities as well.

Now that he has discovered the limitations of rickshaws, he knows that he can only drive them in the capital. People from other places will not ride rickshaws because they are uncomfortable on dirt roads.

Feeling a little regretful, he let Liu Si continue to pull the cart around.

He hadn't strolled around the capital for a long time, and found that the capital had begun to change dramatically in the two years since the new emperor ascended the throne.

Not to mention the clean and tidy roads, the market in the capital has also regained its vitality. Various new and novel goods have emerged one after another, many of which are made by the Imperial Household Department.

In particular, the area next to the Lantern Festival, where the original Rong government was located, was transformed into a department store after the emperor moved away.

This mall is so huge that it even allows people to drive in. Some rickshaw pullers specialize in this business.

Qian Qianyi and others drove into the department store and found that the goods inside were dazzling. Goods from all over the country were concentrated here.

Of course, for a well-informed person like him, most of them did not interest him. What interested him most were the children's playground and toy store in the mall.

There are not only traditional seesaws and swings, but also human-powered carousels, extremely smooth slides, tricycles for children to ride, and giant dolls made of fur...

It attracted many children to play in it.

Qian Qianyi, who is about to have his next child, looks at these with a smile, hoping that his own child will grow up as strong as them and play with these in the future.

While watching, Qian Qianyi suddenly heard someone calling out:

"Mr. Mu, are you here to shop at the mall too?"

Qian Qianyi turned his head and recognized him as an official from the Taichang Temple, Mao Qizong, who worked in the same yamen as him.

There was also a young man next to him, who looked handsome and dashing, exuding a heroic spirit.

Thinking of Mao Pijiang, who had recently become famous in the Beijing public opinion field, Qian Qianyi guessed that this person was most likely it.

He said with some envy:

"Brother Mao's son is already this old, and he is still so talented."

"I really envy others!"

Mao Qizon is eight years younger than him, and his son is almost twenty years old this year.

But he didn't have any children, and the three sons he had previously born all died young.

This made him extremely envious, and he looked forward to the child that his concubine would give birth to.

He has lived in poverty and practiced the theory of permanent property over the past year, doing a lot of good things for the world. God bless him, and he will definitely have a son to inherit the family business.

After talking with Mao Qizon for a while and examining Mao Pijiang's poems and essays, Qian Qianyi praised him highly and even took the initiative to ask him to contribute some articles.

Mao Qizong heard this and said with a wry smile:
"This child has some talent for poetry and prose, but he can't walk the right path."

"I didn't even get into the Imperial College this time. I can only go to a school outside the city."

Qian Qianyi comforted him:
"The Imperial College only enrolls 100 students through the exam. It is normal that you cannot pass the exam."

"Mr. Sun from the Normal School is proficient in Neo-Confucianism. He is a martyr and a senior scholar praised by the emperor, and was specially granted the status of a Yuanshi."

"With him teaching your son, he will surely win the first prize in the future."

This was also Mao Qizong's previous plan, but what embarrassed him was that Mao Pijiang failed to even get into the Normal School and had no chance to become Sun Qifeng's apprentice.

Qian Qianyi felt a little embarrassed after hearing him talk about this. He really didn't expect that Mao Pijiang couldn't pass the entrance exam to the Normal School, which had nearly a thousand students. It seemed that Mao Pijiang had little chance of passing the imperial examination, let alone becoming a Jinshi.

He asked Mao Qizongdao:

"What is your plan, Brother Mao?"

"Should we send your son back to his hometown to study hard, or to another school?"

Mao Qizong, who really had no confidence in his son, said:
"I plan to send him to the Foreign Language School, which is run by the Translation Bureau of the Taichang Temple."

"Even if I fail to pass the imperial examination in the future, I can still enter the officialdom as a translator."

This is indeed a way out, Qian Qianyi said:

"Translators are not bad either!"

"Since His Majesty ascended the throne, he first accepted the tribute from the Shunli Dynasty, then Ryukyu became a vassal, and he also appointed the King of Japan."

"Nowadays, local customs and overseas free trade zones need translators, who will be able to work directly in the General Administration of Customs in the future."

"If you make achievements, you may be promoted to the Lifanyuan."

"And if college students are allowed to take the Shuncheon provincial examination, the Foreign Language School will be included."

Mao Qizong was surprised when he heard this:
"Is this matter settled?"

"Your Majesty will not stop it?"

Upon hearing this, Qian Qianyi said seriously:
"When did the Emperor stop you?"

"I am just worried that if the number of juren is increased, local governments will abuse the preferential treatment and exemptions, and the court will not be able to collect taxes."

"Now, after discussion, the gentlemen have decided to change the exemption to a military service fee, which everyone will pay together."

"Then the court returned the extra salaries to officials, and the localities gave subsidies to scholars."

“This will replace the exemption and prevent abuse.”

This was decided after several days of debate in the court.

After the emperor's statement that he would not grant broad quotas for the provincial examinations unless the issue of preferential treatment and exemption was resolved, Prime Minister Han Yu and officials from the Ministry of Revenue made a painful decision to abolish preferential treatment and exemption completely.

Whoever is assigned corvée labor will be the one to perform the labor service. If one does not want to do so, he or she will have to pay an exemption fee or hire someone to perform the labor service on his or her behalf.

After the court collected the money, it would return it by increasing salaries and subsidies, etc. Even if there were losses in the process of collection and return, it would not be directly exempted.

As the Minister of the Ministry of Rites and the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites, Qian Qianyi knew how controversial this matter was. The most common issue mentioned by officials was "enslavement of the gentry."

After all, how could an official appointed by the imperial court serve like a commoner?
It is really inappropriate to impose corvee labor on officials.

However, if officials are exempted from the labor service or land responsibilities, this exemption may be abused.

Ultimately, under the pressure of the large number of candidates for the provincial examination, this change was barely approved.

The emperor ordered that the system be implemented immediately in both northern and southern Zhili, and that the number of juren candidates be increased in places where implementation would be completed next year.

The issue of college students taking the provincial examinations was also resolved when the number of candidates for the provincial examinations was increased. Next year, Shuntian Prefecture will add 100 additional places for candidates in the Ming Dynasty Law and Ming Dynasty Mathematics examinations, allowing college students who have passed the preliminary examinations to take the examinations.

The universities in Nanzhili and other places were not well built and therefore did not have this privilege. Only students from the nine universities in Beijing, the Imperial College, and the Military Academy could take part in the provincial examinations in Shuntian Prefecture.

Mao Qizong was naturally overjoyed when he heard that the Foreign Language School was among them. He hurriedly took his son to thank Qian Qianyi and decided to let Mao Pijiang go to the Foreign Language School.

Qian Qianyi accepted his thanks and was about to go shopping in the toy store. Suddenly, a family member came over and shouted:
"Master, it's born, it's born."

"Aunt Zhu gave birth to a big fat boy in the Maternal and Child Health Hospital."

Qian Qianyi was so happy that he didn't even go shopping in the mall and just wanted to go out directly.

Liu Si was even more tactful in pulling the car over, asking Qian Qianyi to get in, and then drove towards the Maternal and Child Health Hospital.

After hearing the conversation between Mao Qizon and Qian Qianyi and knowing that his guest was the current Minister of Taichang Temple and Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites, Liu Si knew that he had encountered the greatest opportunity of his life.

She used all her strength to pull the rickshaw quickly and steadily and sent Qian Qianyi to the Maternal and Child Health Hospital.

In the hospital, the people from the Qian family who were accompanying them all looked happy.

For the Qian family, who had difficulty in having children, it was a happy event no matter who gave birth to the child.

What's more, Zhu gave birth to a son, giving the Qian family an heir.

Qian Qianyi happily gave red envelopes to the doctors and midwives, and named his son Sun Ai, hoping that he could grow up safely under his love.

He even wrote a poem for his son in the opposite direction of Su Dongpo's poem about washing his son:
Mr. Po’s adopted son was afraid of being smart, and I have wasted my whole life because of my stupidity.

I also wish to give birth to a son who is smart and clever, and who can suddenly become an official.

I hope my son will be smart and become a noble in the future. (End of this chapter)