I am Emperor Wanli

Chapter 963 My Ming Dynasty Dream!
Yang Lingde and Li E landed at Guazhou, and from there took an official ship north along the canal back to the capital city of Yangzhou.

Li Zhi, Hu Zongpu and others landed in Nanjing and returned to their respective capitals.

Only Zhu Yijun's family and entourage were left on the ship.

The Jiangning continued to sail on the river.
The sun is warm and the river breeze is gentle.

Zhu Xuanni, Zhu Changhao, Zhu Xuanwan and Zhu Changhan were on the deck, lying on the railing and making a lot of noise.

"'The mountains end with the plains, and the river flows into the wilderness. The moon is like a flying mirror, and the clouds form a sea tower.' Isn't this the river view we saw last night?

Li Bai never deceived me! "

"Your line is not as good as Du Fu's 'Stars hang low over the vast plains, the moon rises over the great river.' It's just one sentence, but the artistic conception is much better than your two lines."

"Compared to the poems you mentioned, I prefer Li Bai's 'The lone sail disappears into the blue sky, only the Yangtze River is visible flowing across the horizon.' We took a boat out of Wusongkou and saw the scene of the river and the sea connecting to one line over Chongming Island.

There are also some lonely sails of fishing boats, which is really beautiful. "

Zhu Changhan suddenly said, "'I lament the brevity of my life, and envy the infinity of the Yangtze River.' I still like this sentence the most."

Zhu Xuanni, Zhu Changhao and Zhu Xuanwan, who were arguing, turned their heads, stared at him for a few seconds, and said in unison.

"Young people really don't know what sorrow feels like, so they force themselves to express sorrow in order to compose new poems!

boring!"

After saying this, the three siblings all burst into laughter at the same time, and Zhu Changhan touched the back of his head embarrassedly.

The sunlight shines on the four people, making them look lively and vivid, like river birds flying in the wind under the morning sun.

Zhu Yijun, who was sitting on the other side, looked at them with a smile, then turned to Xu Zhenming, Pan Yinglong and Hu Gongru who were sitting next to him and said.

"It is a good thing for children to learn more Tang and Song poems. These are the marks flowing in the blood of our Chinese nation and are also an important reason why Chinese civilization has lasted for 5,000 years.

We are only against the old Confucianism that restricts thought, not against all old things. Even Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism, we should identify the good parts and continue to carry them forward as part of our Chinese civilization.

After chatting for a while, Xu Zhenning seemed a little tired as he was old, so Zhu Yijun asked Hu Gongru to help him back to the cabin to rest.

Zhu Yijun and Pan Yinglong sat on the deck and continued to enjoy the river breeze.

"I have basically completed all the important matters of my southern tour. The rest is entirely up to you."

Pan Yinglong replied respectfully: "Your Majesty is a man of great talent and vision, and has pointed out the direction for us. We will work diligently and will never dare to fail His Majesty's will."

"Your Majesty's will?" Zhu Yijun waved his hand. "It is not easy for the Ming Dynasty to reach this point. I have contributed to this, but even more to yours.

I'm just using my brain, you guys are the ones who do all the real work.

The locomotive of the Industrial Revolution was spewing smoke and puffing, pulling the Ming Dynasty forward.

The construction of spiritual civilization to revitalize the Chinese nation and create the glory of Chinese civilization is also proceeding in an orderly manner.

Now the House of Representatives has also started to implement it on a trial basis.
To be honest, I have done most of what I should do, and I don’t know what the Ming Dynasty will look like in the future.

But I am looking forward to it.”

Pan Yinglong said happily: "Like the emperor, I am looking forward to it."

After hesitating for a while, Pan Yinglong decided to ask the questions in his mind.

This is not just a question he wants to ask, there are many people behind him who want to ask this question.

"I would like to ask, will Your Majesty bring the Fourth Prince with him on his next tour?"

Zhu Yijun turned his head and stared at Pan Yinglong with his starry eyes.

Those eyes were like a deep ocean, seemingly calm, but underneath, the waves were surging and extremely dangerous.

In just a few seconds, Pan Yinglong's back began to sweat and white beads of sweat appeared on his forehead.

After more than ten seconds, Pan Yinglong's legs became weak, and just when he was about to collapse, Zhu Yijun looked away and turned to look at the river.

"I know what you mean.

Now that the Ming Dynasty is thriving and prosperous, the biggest problem left is to appoint a crown prince.

People in the court and the country are speculating about who I will appoint as the crown prince.

The crown prince is related to where the Ming Dynasty will go after a hundred years of my reign. You are right to be concerned. "

Hearing Zhu Yijun's unhurried words, Pan Yinglong couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

"I also know that this is of great importance. If we are not careful, the hard work of thousands of people in the Wanli New Deal will be in vain."

Zhu Yijun closed his eyes comfortably on the recliner and enjoyed the sunshine and river breeze for a while.

"I have already put all the possible strategies for the Wanli New Deal on the table. The next step is to keep practicing, summarizing and revising in the process of practice.

In the next twenty years, most of my energy will be focused on training the crown prince.

The previous custom in the imperial dynasty was that the crown prince would be kept in the palace, surrounded by women, and a few learned old gentlemen would be invited to serve as tutors to fill him with knowledge.

This kind of education method is exactly what the civil officials and scholars want. They are empty talkers who are far from the real things, do not understand the practical matters, and allow themselves to be manipulated. "

Zhu Yijun's words made Pan Yinglong feel a little frightened.

But the emperor is willing to tell me these things, which is an extremely rare trust.

"I want to make some changes. From now on, the princes will go to Donghuamen Yi Nian School for study, and Chongyi High School for high school. If your grades are poor, don't hold others back and go to other high schools.

Then you can go to college or apply for a military academy. You can gain experience in the army for a few years, or work in a factory or farm for a few years after graduating from college, and then enter the officialdom for a few years. I have read history books, and in the pre-Han Dynasty, when the princes came of age, they would have a group of subordinates and would be granted several counties.

If you have no ambition, just lie down and wait for death.

Those who were ambitious took the lead and led their subordinates to encourage innovation, govern the several counties that were granted fiefdoms, and handle all the specific government affairs one by one.

The princes of the former Han Dynasty who were trained in this way were all terrifyingly strong.

I will not grant them a few counties to use as experimental fields for them to practice.

But they can serve in a town, a county, or a prefecture, just like you, and train from the county to the six ministries of the cabinet. Only in this way can they understand what is going on in state affairs? "

Pan Yinglong felt a little scared after hearing this.

The emperor is a natural genius, and he was taught by Emperor Sejong himself since childhood. As a result, he was trained to become a heroic and holy ruler unprecedented in all dynasties.

If the crown prince goes through such training, coupled with the emperor's careful guidance, he will be extremely powerful, and the cabinet and local governments will have a lot of headaches in the future.

But then I thought again, what does another headache have to do with me?
Twenty years later, I have served two terms as Prime Minister and retired with honor. At that time, the crown prince may still be training.

The headaches are caused by the new prime minister and local officials, who are the younger generation and have nothing to do with me.

Zhu Yijun finally said: "Don't worry, I care more about the stability of the government than you do. I will not shake the foundation of the country based on my personal preferences."

"The Emperor's Holy Might."

In the following days, the ship continued to move westward along the Yangtze River.

Zhu Yijun would stop the boat at any time, then take a small boat to go to the shore to inspect the embankments, which would scare the local officials who were summoned from all over the country into breaking out in cold sweats.

"The Yangtze River is our mother river, but it has a bad temper and is very irritable. The imperial court allocates so much money every year to build river bank dams and reserve flood discharge areas.

These are matters of life and death. If we are not careful, it may be a matter of life and death for thousands of people.

Starting from the first year of the Wanli reign, all flood control and water conservancy projects on the Yellow River, Yangtze River, Huai River, Wei River, Pearl River, Liao River and other major rivers adopted the joint responsibility system, accountability system and lump sum system. "

Zhu Yijun stood on the embankment on the river bank, wearing a short-sleeved shirt, a straw hat, and his hands on his hips, talking to local officials and Yangtze River water conservancy officials.

"The joint responsibility system applies to all participants in flood control and water conservancy projects, from survey and design to construction supervision and maintenance and repair. If something goes wrong, all of them will be held accountable.

The accountability system is to trace back the responsibility. For the problems that occurred this year, not only should the people who built it last year be held accountable, but also the people who built it five or ten years ago should be traced back. If a problem occurs on a thousand-mile long dike, it must be the result of various problems that have accumulated over the years.

Only holding those responsible accountable in the near term will not completely resolve the root cause of the problem.”

Zhu Yijun's voice was very loud.

"The contract system is for local officials on both sides of the river bank. Some are the construction parties, some are the supervision parties, but you are all the first responsible persons. The river bank burst and caused a huge disaster. I will look for you first.

You said that the dam was not built by you. Do you think you can escape responsibility by doing so?
impossible!
You are a local official, your duty is to maintain peace in your area. The dam was not built by you, so why didn't you supervise it? It concerns the life and death of the people in your area, are you so indifferent?
So I want to talk about the lump-sum contract system. Whenever there is a problem with the dams under my jurisdiction, regardless of other things, the local officials will be dismissed first, and then they will be held criminally responsible!
Those who deserve to be imprisoned should be imprisoned, those who deserve to be exiled should be exiled, and those who deserve to be beheaded should be beheaded!"

The weather along the Yangtze River starts to get hot in May, especially when the sun is shining directly on your head, which can easily make people feel hot and sweaty.

Zhu Yijun said a few words, his forehead covered with sweat. Yu Qiaolian, wearing neutral work clothes and a hat, stood beside him and handed him a handkerchief.

Zhu Yijun took it, touched his face a few times, and handed it back.

We randomly checked eleven places along the way and found three problems. Fortunately, the problems were not serious and not fatal.

"The Dragon Boat Festival is coming soon, and the summer flood season will begin. This is your big test. If you do well, you will definitely be rewarded. If you do not do well, you may lose your job at best, or even your life at worst. You must cherish every moment of your life!"

The ship continued to sail in the opposite direction. Trees lined the banks and fields were crisscrossed. Farmers were bending over, working in the green fields.

Or they would drive their oxen to graze on the lawn on the embankment, and when they saw a ship passing by, they would cheer and wave their hands.

Zhu Xuanni and others jumped and danced on the deck, waving at them in response.

Houses are scattered far and near, with smoke rising from the chimneys.

Someone was singing folk songs.

"The wind from the north of the Yangtze River turns the south of the Yangtze River green. The lotus flowers that stretch for ten miles make the sky red."

The lingering sound is like the light of the sun shining on the surface of the river, flickering continuously.

"Qiao Lian, we're almost at your Anqing."

"Yes, Your Majesty, this is Congyang, and Anqing is just ahead."

"I want to listen to your Anqing Huangmei Opera and sing a song."

"What song would the emperor like to hear?"

"'The couple returns home together'."

Yu Qiaolian blushed and lowered her head and said, "Okay."

"The birds on the trees are in pairs, and the green water and green mountains are smiling." Yu Qiaolian sang two roles, and her singing was clear and beautiful.

"You plough the fields and I weave cloth, I fetch water and you water the garden. You and I are like mandarin ducks, flying side by side in the world."

Zhu Yijun nodded and said, "When the people of the Ming Dynasty can sing this little tune on their way home to work, my dream of a great Ming Dynasty will come true."

Yu Qiaolian asked curiously: "Your Majesty, is it that simple?"

"Yes, it's that simple."

(End of this chapter)