Gu Zuo didn't know how to answer this question.
For him, this non-technical question is actually somewhat difficult to answer.
Many people have said that he is not suitable to be an official. This is because in his decades-long official career, there will be many times like this. He cannot tell at once which is the advantage and which is the disadvantage. clear.
So I was very confused.
"Da Sima... I always feel that it should be what it is. And since the matter is not serious, why can't you let His Majesty know about it?"
Wang Bing pursed his lips, his gray beard fluttering in the spring breeze that leaked in from the window. The Gu Liqing in front of him was not the capable Gu Liqing he was familiar with. Instead, his face was full of doubts, like a Jinshi who had just entered the officialdom.
"Li Qing, I believe that Da Situ must have told you. Right now, your situation is actually more dangerous than ours."
"Yes, people who have not made mistakes are more dangerous than a group of people who have made mistakes. It is a fact that it is even more ridiculous."
Wang Bing pressed his index finger on the table, "Who said you didn't make a mistake? You just asked why you can't let His Majesty know about small things, because letting His Majesty know is of no benefit to you or me, especially you. If you say it differently, maybe you will I understand. That is, when you were so young, you and Li Qing had to let His Majesty know? How do you want others to see you?"
Don't give any face at all.
But Gu Zuotian hated these things. After listening to them for a long time, his head hurt, so he stood up and bowed, "Da Sima, I have no way to ask for this love. What other people think of me is their business, and I don't care." No. Farewell."
Wang Bing was stunned. He didn't expect this guy to walk away so recklessly.
He was the only one left in the box, speechless and choked.
"... A child cannot be taught. As soon as Han Guandao leaves, he will not be able to hold on to his big job."
Then another person came into the room. This person was in his forties and looked young. His name was Lu Linchi. He had a powerful official position. He was a Hanlin bachelor from the Hanlin Academy, and he was also a Qingliu official.
For senior officials like them, even if this incident reaches the imperial court, it will definitely not cost them their lives. Because Gu Zuo didn't completely collude with them at the beginning, and there was no typical plot of greed.
However, as a Qingliu official, once his reputation is compromised, his political life is basically at an end, and it is difficult for Daluo gods to save him.
In fact, if it is really a big thing, forget it, but in the end, no one wants to admit it to such a small thing.
"Can't you get enough oil and salt?"
"Yes." Wang Bing sighed, "Actually, this has no disadvantages for him. Just asking for mercy, whether His Majesty approves it or not, will help his current situation, but he is just unwilling to do anything."
"Then what should we do? Li Dongyang and Xie Qian went to check the grain reserves with a verbal order. It can be seen that His Majesty does not want to touch them for at least these few months."
"What do you think?" Wang Bing also had a headache for a moment when he met such a powerful person as the emperor.
Lu Linki also frowned deeply, "It's easy to make mistakes when doing things."
"No." Wang Bing raised his eyelids, "Your Majesty hates it when political strife affects practical matters. There may be a major disaster this year, and food reserves are related to people's lives. Once something goes wrong, you and I can't just reprimand you. It will be doomed." "
"How could Your Majesty know?"
"If you say no, you can't." Wang Bing firmly disagreed, "Your Majesty is not an unknown person who can do anything."
In fact, what Lu Linchi meant was that when Li and Xie went to check the grain reserves, they could do a lot more things in the process. For example, if they checked the grain reserves but there was no grain when something happened, the emperor would definitely be angry with them.
Once there is such a big event, who will care about the small things in the city that never sleeps.
"Da Sima, you should stop suffering from the chaos."
"Are you going to cut off your head? Don't you know how powerful His Majesty is? I would rather go to the King to plead guilty and receive punishment than take such a risk."
Now it's hard to get out of this pit, why do you want to dig another one for yourself?
…
…
After Li Dongyang and Xie Qian left, the court was indeed a little quieter.
It seems that someone did it deliberately.
Zhu Houzhao felt like a bright mirror in his heart, but he didn't care much about it for the time being. He was studying other things.
The Gewu Academy in the academy now has more than a dozen people, all of whom are the kind of knowledge seekers with eccentric personalities and eagerness to study that they have been looking for over the years.
These people are actually the emperor's private treasury support staff. They receive regular food and drink every month. If they want to join this team of 'eating and waiting to die', they not only have to pass some assessments, but also need the unanimous consent of these dozen people. You join and finally report to the emperor for approval.
It has been seven or eight years since the establishment of Gewu Academy, and there are only so few people there now.
And so far, the expanded personnel have come from every year's students, who are the brightest and most interested in various natural problems.
It was not the first time that they came to the palace today. When the emperor had free time, he would see what they were doing.
The recent results are actually two books. They made it up, saying that teaching could be more convenient.
One contains nine chapters on arithmetic, and the other contains chapters on natural phenomena.
Zhu Houzhao expressed his appreciation for this, "Although these two books are very thin now, they are studied one generation after another. When my grandson is born, he can directly acquire this knowledge, so that one hundred years later, future generations will There are always people among them who can do critical research."
This group of people is now divided into two teams, that is, the people who compiled these two books respectively. The mathematics team has seven people, and the leader’s surname is Liu, and his name is Liu Zhimin. The Gwu team has nine people, and the leader’s surname is Kou, and his name is Kou Ruiqiang. They are all old, middle-aged and young.
"I said before that research should be problem-oriented and use problem-solving as a means, so as not to think about things here and there like a headless fly. Previously, the Mei Mansion said that it wanted to build a six-story high-rise, so it asked the Gewu Academy for help. You guys Any suggestions?"
"Your Majesty, I have been researching for a long time and doing some experiments. Later, we determined two points. First, we found that when the height of the object is high enough, some small cross winds may also cause damage to the house. Big impact. So we recommend building it as wide as possible to prevent it from being blown over by the wind. The second thing is that the house should be as symmetrical as possible and not too random."
Zhu Houzhao used his only knowledge of mechanics to understand it and found that it made some sense.
"Actually, there is another point, that is...if harder materials like stone can be used, the house can withstand the wind much better than wood. But the stone is too heavy and is not easy to transport during construction."
Zhu Houzhao said: "Then you can study something like soil. It is fluid and soft when it is built, and hardens when it dries. Of course, it is not soil, but harder than soil."
This group of people asked: "Your Majesty, is there such a thing?"
"Maybe it doesn't exist in nature. But just like there are no grains of rice in nature, haven't people grown it?"
An old man murmured, "Does it need to be planted from the soil?"
"You can't grow it in soil, but maybe limestone can. 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 officialdom of the world is no longer subject to Due to the influence of rainy days, people walking on it are like walking on stone slabs in Da Nei. Isn’t this a sacred object that benefits the people?”
"Your Majesty is right, take note of it." Kou Ruiqiang instructed the young people around him.
The emperor is well-informed. After entering the palace several times, they have this concept, so they pay more attention to the emperor's prompts.
】
They discussed it together for about an hour before they separated. Zhu Houzhao was not a teacher, so he could not explain some knowledge in a systematic way. He basically said whatever came to his mind. After they finished speaking, they went back to sort it out before teaching again.
But there is a problem with this, that is, the knowledge is disconnected and cannot be connected.
There is nothing we can do about it. In fact, a lot of theoretical knowledge itself is meaningless because there is not enough manufacturing capacity to create it.
Let’s not mention this.
Zhu Houzhao took Gu Zuoxuan into the palace behind him.
He originally blamed Gu Zuo for the incident in the Evernight City, but after the incident, the guy seemed to work carefully on the construction site as if he didn't know anything. This made Zhu Houzhao feel that there was no need to vent his anger on 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: "To answer your Majesty's question, I will go south to inspect the salt law in a few days. The city that never sleeps has just experienced a turmoil, and I am worried about it, so I made some new arrangements on site."
"I seem to remember that there was a man named Song Heng in the Young Mansion. How is this person?"
Gu Zuo replied: "Song Heng was the second-level Jinshi in the fifteenth year of Hongzhi. Later, he served as a recommended official. Later, because of his ability, he was recommended to serve as a doctor of the Shaofu here. He was in charge of the accounts. He has been serving for several years. Diligent and extremely cautious, he never made a penny mistake. He was a capable man."
"Oh? That's quite capable. You go to inspect 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 must have communicated with some people these days, right? What is the reaction from the DPRK and China?"
Gu Zuo did not dare to hide it, "I will temporarily use my own name for the auction method that your Majesty mentioned, and I also ask your Majesty to punish the crime."
"There's nothing that can be cured. Just tell us what's going on."
"Yes." Gu Zuo replied honestly: "As far as I can tell, many people are still hesitant. They know that the Salt Law has collapsed, but they are afraid of changing it. If the change is not good, it will be ruined. It’s out of control. And judging from that method alone, I’m afraid that the royal court’s annual income from the Salt Law will be reduced.”
"Why lower?"
Gu Zuo analyzed: "There is only so much silver in the salt. Your Majesty must ensure the vital interests of the kitchen households in the future. At the same time, the interests of the merchants must also be guaranteed, so that they have the motivation to auction. Another auction will not make the situation worse." The corruption in the government has decreased. Merchants come and go to pay for the money, but in the end it is still the fault of the court. Well, since everyone benefits, how can the money earned by the court increase in vain? "
Zhu Houzhao pondered for a moment, Gu Zuo was slowly growing up and began to think about problems from a macro perspective.
"Where do you think the main source of corruption will be?"
"Auction, and salt field. If the court wants to auction the salt field, it must set the price based on the output of the salt field. If the salt merchants' joint inspection officials turn a high-grade salt field into a medium salt field, then the auction price will naturally not be high."
Conceal production. This problem is also a headache.
Zhu Houzhao rubbed his head and said, "You are right. I have long said that the reform of the Salt Law is related to millions of people, so we must be cautious. You must be more careful during your inspection this time. If it is indeed proved that the auction method is not Maybe, I won’t hold on to it any longer.”
This is what Gu Zuo admires about the emperor, that is, if it is really impossible, he is willing to change it.
"Your Majesty, Holy Might!"
"Sheng Ming will not be able to do it this time. Do you have anything else to say to me? If not, just step back."
Gu Zuo paused for a moment and thought of Wang Bing, Minister of War.
