Chapter 275
"I want to take Cixi with me to Liaodong. After staying in Liaodong for a while, I can learn from General Cheng how to govern the place and handle political affairs. I also want to see the customs and customs around Liaodong. It will be of great benefit to Cixi. , is always better than being locked up in a deep palace every day, reading those articles left behind thousands of years ago day after day."
When Emperor Chongzhen told Empress Zhou about Fu Zonglong's idea, Empress Zhou's first reaction was not opposition, but support. When Cheng Shijie met the emperor, he once discussed the economy with Emperor Chongzhen, which left a deep impression on her. .
To be fair, Emperor Chongzhen inherited the great treasure as a young man and worked very hard himself. In order to deal with state affairs, he studied under the guidance of many people. However, no matter how hard Chongzhen worked, state affairs not only did not improve, but became increasingly difficult.
When Emperor Chongzhen asked Cheng Shijie why he could open up the situation in Liaodong, Cheng Shijie told Emperor Chongzhen that he was forced to do so. There was too little military land, so he tried every means to build canals and dig irrigation wells, turning wasteland that was originally unsuitable for farming into Fertile land; for example, he would rotate crops according to seasonal changes, plant a variety of crops a year, and make full use of the land; for example, he would find ways to raise more livestock, accumulate manure, and increase the fertility of the land instead of Blindly fighting for land power.
Cheng Shijie thinks more, reads more books, and understands more. Emperor Chongzhen was very surprised. He also read a lot of books, but there was nothing like what Cheng Shijie said in the books. Cheng Shijie told Emperor Chongzhen at that time, because the people who teach you to read are nerds who don’t eat the fireworks of the world. They don’t know how miserable the people are, let alone how hard it takes to eat a bowl of rice or a bowl of noodles. Of course, they don't bother to know that they only have the so-called way of saints in their minds.
Empress Zhou took Cheng Shijie's words to heart: "As an emperor, you must know how to recognize people, how to employ people, how to educate people, and how to drive people. These sage articles cannot teach you, they can only tell you." You want to be close to a virtuous minister and stay away from a villain. But the question is, what is a villain? What is a virtuous minister, and where is the boundary?"
Emperor Chongzhen was confused by Cheng Shijie's question at that time.
Emperor Chongzhen asked Cheng Shijie what he could do to govern Liaodong well. Cheng Shijie told Emperor Chongzhen that as a leader, he must understand
To understand basic financial management, you must at least be able to read the accounts submitted below and have an intuitive understanding of daily expenses and inventory.
As a high-ranking official, you have to know how to select the talents you need most, trust each other with them, and work together in times of trouble.
As a high official, you should know a little about overall command. Once a natural disaster occurs in a place, how many people, money and food should be allocated for disaster relief, and how to use these things in practical ways.
There were also some drunken remarks at that time, which were all very deviant: "As long as the emperor cultivates his moral character, is respectful, honest and frugal, he will have good weather and peace in the world. This is even more nonsense among nonsense. As the king of a country, he must be ruthless and thick-skinned." ! None of the emperors who created a peaceful and prosperous age were able to learn from these saints' articles!"
Empress Zhou recalled how Emperor Chongzhen was manipulated by the gentlemen of the Donglin Party when he first came to the throne. He was exempted from the commercial tax, tea tax and mine tax without knowing the importance of it, and the country's situation plummeted. She felt the same way. She believed that the prince could no longer behave like this. I used to make a living by reading these articles from thousands of years ago. I must learn some practical skills from the side of capable people, so as not to be like Chongzhen after he ascends the throne and be played like a monkey!
Emperor Chongzhen was a little hesitant about Queen Zhou going to Liaodong: "If the Queen and the Crown Prince go to Liaodong together, I'm afraid..."
Before Emperor Chongzhen finished speaking, Queen Zhou smiled and said: "If Emperor Jianwen had not cut down the vassal vassal, would Emperor Taizong have launched an army to appease the emperor?"?
"No, Emperor Taizong had no thoughts of rebellion back then!"
"Then, why did Emperor Taizong raise troops to appease Jingnan?"
Empress Zhou continued: "If Emperor Jianwen does not cut down the vassal vassal, even if Emperor Taizong wants to rebel, he will not succeed. After all, Emperor Jianwen had great righteousness in the first place!"
Emperor Chongzhen understood what Empress Zhou meant. Emperor Jianwen cut down the vassal vassal by forcefully cutting off the vassal kings without any fault. In the process of cutting down the vassal vassal, he forced Uncle Wang to death. Out of self-preservation and the feeling of sorrow for the death of a rabbit, all the local kings were forced to do so. Becoming the opposite of the emperor, Emperor Taizong rebelled and rebelled, while the kings stood aside and watched. Jianwen's ability was low, and there were huge omissions in strategy and tactics, which made Emperor Jianwen's success in reducing the vassal state fall short.
Emperor Chongzhen now understood the true meaning of Queen Zhou. Nowadays, state affairs are like burning oil cooking in a raging fire. If you are not careful, the consequences will be disastrous. But the problem is that if Cheng Shijie has no fault, if the court still wants to deal with Cheng Shijie on unfounded charges, the world will The commander-in-chief of each town will definitely stand on the opposite side of the imperial court like the princes and vassals at that time. Even if they are not on the opposite side of the imperial court, they will stand by and watch.
Maybe Cheng Shijie would also raise troops to clear the emperor's side. In that case, the consequences would be disastrous.
In fact, the problem with the reduction of vassal status is that Emperor Jianwen's starting point was correct. Even if Prince Zhu Biao did not die and Zhu Biao succeeded to the throne normally, he would still cut vassal status. From the perspective of Emperor Jianwen, Emperor Jianwen's move to reduce vassal status was It was not imperative, it was the eagerness for quick success that led to the final failure. Emperor Jianwen's method of cutting down the vassal was not clever, and even a bit stupid.
If he started to deal with Cheng Shijie now, he would be even more stupid than Emperor Jianwen.
What's more, even if Cheng Shijie wants to rebel, he has no righteousness, and Cheng Shijie is already a very popular minister. If he really wants to rebel, he should learn from Wang Mang and earn a reputation as a virtuous person.
But, what about Cheng Shijie?
He went tit-for-tat with the gentry all over the world and offended countless people. When he attacked the pirate Zheng Zhilong, a large number of people impeached him. When he suppressed Zhang Xianzhong, he was also impeached by the gentry.
Xu Wenqi, the prefect of Huangzhou, issued two memorials in just one month to impeach Cheng Shijie. The first was that Cheng Shijie sent troops to rob more than 3,000 women in Huangzhou Prefecture and forced them to marry Ning Haijun soldiers. Countless people reported to the prefect. The Yamen and Huangzhou Mansion were unable to resolve the matter and needed the imperial court to deal with it.
The second memorial was about Cheng Shijie competing for profits with the people in Huangzhou, which resulted in the death of tens of thousands of people in Huangzhou and their families and families, and their cries were loud. The memorial to the prefect Xu Wenqi was even signed by more than 300 gentry from Huangzhou Prefecture.
Emperor Chongzhen vaguely understood that Cheng Shijie had no objection now.
If he really rebels, he will definitely have a good relationship with the gentry. Cheng Shijie is now very rich. Although he often complains about his poverty to Emperor Chongzhen, in fact, Emperor Chongzhen also knows that Cheng Shijie is rich.
But the problem is that Cheng Shijie can obviously buy a large number of people to cheer for him and sing his praises for him by spending a small amount of money. However, Cheng Shijie did not do this.
Obviously, Cheng Shijie used this method to show Emperor Chongzhen that he had no objection.
Empress Zhou was very sad when she saw that her husband had grown silver hair at a young age. She thought that as an emperor, he should be as happy as Cheng Shijie, who could easily handle national affairs. Working like this day and night, he was so tired. He is vomiting blood, but the state affairs are getting worse and worse. How does it feel to be in the presence of the emperor?
The octagonal tower in Chibi Mountain has been built. This turret is located at the edge of Chibi Mountain where it extends into the Yangtze River. The octagonal tower is built high and steep, totaling eight feet and nine feet. The topmost column is topped and the four walls are hollow. , an oil lamp is as big as an iron pot, and three wicks as thick as a baby's arms are also lit. It is covered with a glass cover to block the wind. Looking from a distance, it is as bright as a bright moon hanging on the corner of the house.
This turret was built. If there was an attack camp nearby or a night ship docked, the lampkeeper on the turret would use a large concave bronze mirror to focus the light farther away.
In normal times, it can also guide the course and direction of ships sailing at night. It can be said that an octagonal building serves as both a lighthouse and a sentry tower. Limited by the light source and reflective materials, the long-distance lighting distance of the lighthouse is naturally far from being comparable to that of later searchlights, but it can barely illuminate a lighting distance of about 800 steps, which is satisfactory in this world.
The turrets not only improve the safety of the camp, but also make it possible to start work on and off the embankment at night. Since the design of Chibi City is not large and the construction area is limited, it is impossible to increase the labor force indefinitely. It is precisely the shift work that greatly improves work efficiency.
With the emergence of this octagonal building, the Ning Haijun Naval Transport Squadron, which is responsible for transporting ships, realized the beauty of this lighthouse. It can illuminate a position of 800 steps. With the illumination distance of the searchlight, it can completely illuminate familiar waterways. Take a night flight aboard.
Of course, the officer who discovered the problem could not talk directly to Cheng Shijie. They reported it step by step, and finally reported it to Li Zhixiang. Li Zhixiang also felt that he had nothing to do in Liaodong, so he used this reason to come to Red Cliff City.
"Meet the Marshal!"
"Zhixiang, what kind of wind has brought you here!"
Li Zhixiang pointed to the lighthouse and said, "Commander, I wonder how much this lighthouse cost?"
In fact, in the Ming Dynasty, maritime merchants or fishermen raised funds to build lighthouses in some ports and steep gorges along the coasts of Zhejiang, Fujian, Guangdong and Guangxi. Those who couldn't afford lamp oil would just save firewood to light a fire. However, the actual light intensity and distance were limited, and the lighthouse's role in night navigation was not obvious. Therefore, the lighthouse came out relatively early, but it was not popular.
But the design of this lighthouse came from Si Yongqiang, a ninth-rank official from the Ministry of Industry in Nanjing. This was the lowest official position in the Ming Dynasty. Si Yongqiang also came from generations of craftsmen. When Si Yongqiang drew the design, Cheng Shijie I immediately thought of what the lighthouse would look like in future generations.
The lighthouse designed by Si Yongqiang is already very mature. The giant lamppost can store a fuel tank of more than 3,000 kilograms. The windshield glass cover is located in what Cheng Shijie helped Si Yongqiang perfect. In fact, the material of the reflector is In the design, Si Yongqiang used a large concave bronze mirror, and specially made a wooden frame for the concave bronze mirror that can be moved and the angle adjusted.
The only thing Cheng Shijie improved for Si Yongqiang was the glass mirror. To be precise, it was the glass silver plating process. He replaced the copper mirror with a glass mirror and adopted the silver plating process instead of the traditional tin amalgam method of attaching tin foil.
"The cost is more than 3,200 taels of silver. Do you want to build this kind of lighthouse in Lushun?"
"Of course Lushun wants to build a lighthouse, but the most important thing is to install this kind of lighthouse on the ship!"
"If you install it on a ship, you won't need so much silver. The most expensive part of the lighthouse is actually the base. If you only need one light on top, it will cost you two hundred taels of silver!"
"Commander, if our warships are equipped with this kind of light, they can sail at night!"
In the era of sailing warships, warships did not have the ability to sail at night, unless they had a very shallow draft and sailed on lakes or rivers. For example, water transport ships could sail at night if there were people on both sides of the river to guide them.
But on the sea, that won't work.
While Cheng Shijie was talking to Li Zhixiang, a commotion broke out among the bandits on the shore. It was not until Ning Haijun's thunderbolt sounded that the commotion subsided.
Cheng Shijie asked unhappily: "What's going on?"
"This is all caused by this guy Sun Kewang!"
Sun Kewang caught up with Zhang Xianzhong. He was going to trick Zhang Xianzhong and capture Zhang Xianzhong alive, but the problem was that Zhang Xianzhong was too smart. He made a condom and put Sun Kewang in it.
If it hadn't rained at that time, Zhang Xianzhong's gunpowder was damp and unable to fire, otherwise Sun Kewang would have told him. Fortunately, Sun Kewang was lucky and escaped from the encirclement. This grandson was really a thief. He betrayed his good brother Liu Jinzhong, one of the eight commanders under Zhang Xianzhong.
Liu Jinzhong was cruel and easy to kill. After surrendering to Ning Haijun, he found that Ning Haijun's military discipline was strict and he was not happy. However, he did not dare to escape, so he sent people to lure more than 3,000 women in the women's camp under his command to escape.
Liu Jinzhong's work was not confidential enough. The bandits who had been betrayed by Ning Haijun's generous salary had already betrayed Liu Jinzhong. But the problem was that these female campers from Shaanxi were all loyal family members of Zhang Xianzhong and were very uncooperative.
Cheng Shijie is unwilling to support idle people, so the problem becomes embarrassing.
At this time, Han said: "Commander, give them to the slaves!"
"What are you going to do?"
"I have seen this. Most of these women's camps take their children with them and separate them from their mothers. When the mothers work, they have to leave their children in the refugee camp. This way, you don't have to worry that they won't work hard, and even the guards can't. No, just use meat as salary. Children are in need of nutrition, so I believe many people will be willing to work hard."
Hearing this, Cheng Shijie sighed, this is the most poisonous woman's heart.
"You're awesome, I'm suddenly a little afraid of you."
Cheng Shijie didn't mean what he said. He was afraid that it was impossible to be afraid, and he was really powerful.
As expected, women are the ones who understand women best. Cheng Shijie probably couldn't think of this method. For mothers, children are indeed the best reason. For meat, I'm afraid the mothers in the refugee camp will fight for it.
"Commander, if you are too embarrassed to come forward, please do so!"
Han didn't take it seriously. A woman and a widow had no means to survive in troubled times.
(End of chapter)
