"You have more gray hair again."
In the capital city, in a bedroom of a certain mansion, a woman was combing the hair of a man sitting on a chair.
Both of them are quite old. The woman's face is full of wrinkles, and the man's hair is graying and his body is thin.
After hearing the woman's words, the man replied softly:
"There are too many affairs in the imperial court... I have to deal with them all the time. It is inevitable that I will be tired and have more gray hair, which is normal."
"That being said, you still have to pay attention to your body after all. It's not good if you don't take care of it. I'll tell the kitchen to make you some nourishing food later."
The woman said softly, her voice gentle.
"Okay, I will pay attention, and I will definitely live a long life."
Yan Chenhao replied with a smile. He closed his eyes slightly, enjoying his wife's gentle movements. This was the rare silence in his day.
It was already the ninth year of Wuxing.
In the blink of an eye, four years have passed since he became the chief minister and took complete control of the government.
In the past four years, under his governance, the Ming Dynasty had regained its long-lost vitality. The people were stable and the government was stable. And his reputation among the government and the opposition has been further strengthened, almost reaching its peak.
From any angle, he has achieved success.
However, no matter how magnificent a person is, it is still difficult for him to withstand the passage of time. Today, he is also sixty-eight years old.
Time is like a sword slaying the arrogant, and time is like an arrow shooting down the heroes.
So fast! Sometimes when he thought about this, he couldn't help but sigh.
He still remembers the day when he became the top pick in high school. That day he was received by the emperor, dressed in gorgeous clothes, riding a tall horse, and was very happy. He even ran outside his brother's mansion to show off to prove that he was no worse than him.
He still remembered that day when he lifted the bride's hijab and she looked as beautiful as a flower.
It's nothing more than a night of flowers and candles in the bridal chamber, when names are named on the gold medal list.
Unexpectedly, when spring passed and autumn came, the emperor became the late emperor, his brother was buried in the tomb, and he was already old.
And that student of his back then, whom he almost watched grow up, is now the emperor of this empire.
After all these years, only his wife, whom he married when he was fifteen years old, is still by his side.
Perhaps when the Marquis married his concubine to the Duke's concubine, he would not have expected that he would achieve what he has achieved today.
Although she didn't bring much political capital or anything, this warm little home was already his last harbor after going through the bloody storm in the court...
Yan Chenhao turned back and held the woman's thin wrist.
"Madam... In a few years, when the world is in great peace, I will resign and spend the rest of my life with you."
…
"Please." The servant opened the door respectfully and made a "please come in" gesture to the person in front of him.
Zuo Guangdou straightened his clothes and held up his hat before stepping into the room in front of him.
In the room, Yan Chenhao was dressed in casual clothes, with a cup of tea in hand, looking at him with a smile, obviously he had been waiting for a long time.
When Zuo Guangdou saw the old man in front of him, he immediately bowed respectfully and said:
"I've met Mr. Ge."
Although before meeting Yan Chenhao, his servants had told him that there was no need to be formal in the mansion, and Yan Chenhao did not care about these red tapes in private, Zuo Guangdou still completed all the etiquette actions meticulously, and his language was also quite good. For solemnity.
After all, the person in front of him was the person Zuo Guangdou respected the most in his heart.
In the original history, Zuo Guangdou was an important figure in the Donglin Party and one of the famous "Six Gentlemen of Donglin". He eventually died in prison because he refused to succumb to Wei Zhongxian's eunuchs.
However, although Gu Xiancheng and others controlled the government, and the Donglin Party in the later period also had a certain responsibility for the destruction of the Ming Dynasty, it has to be said that among the Donglin Party, there are actually many capable ministers, cadres and loyal ministers. Less.
Such as Yang Lian, Sun Chengzong, Shi Kefa... they are also good ministers of the generation.
Zuo Guangdou is one of them.
In this time and space, although Zuo Guangdou was once attracted by Gu Xiancheng's teachings and became one of the thousands of students who were interested in Donglin at that time, when Gu Xiancheng's affairs were exposed, he left decisively. And by the time he became a Jinshi in the thirty-fifth year of Wanli, his position as prince had already been settled, and his past had long been abandoned in the dust.
Now, he has become a loyal fan of Yan Chenhao.
He himself is a loyal and upright person, and of course he also likes people with similar personalities to him. He has seen all Yan Chenhao's previous governance, and naturally respects Yan Chenhao. At this time, etiquette does not dare There is no imperfection in the slightest.
Yan Chenhao remained calm. After all, because of his current power and huge reputation among scholars in both the government and the public, there were many people who respected him, and it was common for him to do so. He helped Zuo Guangdou up and said with a smile:
"No need to be formal, it's just a private meeting. We can talk casually."
Zuo Guangdou nodded, his expression relaxed a little.
After all, without the great contribution of restoring the throne in history, and without the help of many Donglin Party members, his rise will naturally not be as fast as in the original time and space.
Now he is only a minor official in the Ministry of Industry. He usually doesn't have many one-on-one opportunities with such big figures, but now he is very nervous and excited.
The two chatted some more and then turned to the main topic.
"Your previous letter said that the prosperity of agriculture is closely related to water conservancy. If it is properly rested, the people in the north may not suffer from hunger and create a prosperous age..."
"Please tell me in detail."
Yan Chenhao picked up the tea cup, blew away the tea leaves floating on it, took a sip, and then asked. He didn't usually receive guests in the mansion, but the letter sent by Zuo Guangdou really interested him. If it was feasible, the people's lives might be more prosperous, so he called him here.
"Yes." Since Zuo Guangdou made this suggestion, he was naturally prepared. He took out a map from his sleeves and laid it out on the table. It was the territory map of the Ming Dynasty. The mountains, rivers and rivers on it were lifelike, and the locations of various water conservancy buildings were clearly marked:
"Mr. Ge, please take a look. The distribution of water conservancy on this map shows an obvious pattern of more water in the south and less water in the north."
Yan Chenhao turned his attention to the map. It could be seen that the south of the Ming Dynasty was densely populated with many water conservancy projects, but there were only a few in the north. At this time, Zuo Guangdou also said:
"Agriculture is not booming in the North. In my opinion, it must be because of the extremely imperfect water conservancy measures."
(End of chapter)
