Zu Dashou heard the sound, looked over, and saw houses in the distance across the Tongzhou River. There are so many that it can be said to be a town, but there are no walls.
"Strange, when did it appear here?" Zu Dashou also asked in surprise.
Wu Sangui knew a little bit about it, and replied to Zu Dashou: "I remember this is the Ming Dynasty Capital Academy opened by Xingguo. How come there are so many houses?"
After saying this, Wu Sangui said to himself in confusion: "Could it be that I remembered it wrong? The Ming Dynasty Capital Academy is not here? But what's going on with so many houses?"
There are naturally other pedestrians on the official road. Even though you are farther away from them, you can still hear their conversations. There was a young man who was not afraid of officials like them, and replied with a smile: "This military master remembered correctly, this is the Ming Dynasty Capital Academy, but it has been expanding in the past six months."
Upon hearing this, Wu Sangui clenched his fists in return, then turned back to look at the large building in the distance, and said with emotion: "The speed of construction is too fast!"
Seeing Wu Sangui's polite appearance, the young man replied: "Didn't the Duke of Guo invent that cement? As long as the ability can keep up, building a house will be very fast."
"That's it!" Wu Sangui nodded after hearing this. He really didn't understand these things.
Zu Dashou was confused again and asked his nephew: "What cement? What is this?"
I didn’t expect that when I came back three years later, I didn’t know so many things. It was really strange!
Wu Sangui briefly answered Zu Dashou's question, then turned to ask the young man: "It's just an academy, why build so many houses?"
This young man obviously paid more attention to the academy, so he happened to know it, so he answered Wu Sangui: "There are few places to study in the academy, and there are not many students. The most important thing is the laboratory, and other things related to the laboratory. Workshops were built nearby because the academy's laboratories needed them. In addition, the craftsmen and their families also moved here, so there were more houses."
Zu Dashou beside him couldn't understand it at all. Why is there any laboratory in the academy? What the hell is this laboratory? Why does it have anything to do with the workshop?
Wu Sangui was talking to the young man, slowly getting closer and closer to the academy, and finally saw the main entrance. He suddenly found that there were many people on the other side of the door, either holding horses or leaning against the carriage. Waiting.
"What's going on?" Wu Sangui looked surprised and asked again.
But this time, before the young man could answer, Wu Sangui saw many people pouring out of the gate of the Ming Capital Academy. And those waiting at the door immediately greeted him, either to help them mount their horses or to help them get into the carriage.
"Today is the day of the academy exams. These people should have just passed the exams." The young man explained casually.
Upon hearing this, Wu Sangui couldn't help but ask him: "Didn't you say there aren't many students?"
As far as he could see, there were at least two hundred students pouring out, which was definitely too many for the academy he knew.
"Not many!" The young man listened and replied with a smile, "The academy has announced that it will recruit more than a thousand students next time. By comparison, do you think there are many students now?"
"More than a thousand?" After hearing this, Wu Sangui pointed in the direction of the academy and said, "You all study here?"
"Yes!" The young man nodded and said, "According to the academy, the main reason is that there are too few people who know how to learn new things. For the group of people who just came out, some of them who pass the examination will enter the laboratory, and most of them will go to the laboratory. I will serve as a teacher in the academy, so I can recruit more students. It is estimated that by next year, the academy may recruit more than 2,000 people."
Speaking of this, the young man sighed and said: "It's a pity that I came from Jiangnan and couldn't catch up with the first batch. Otherwise, I might be able to enter the laboratory and make some achievements, and then I can go The Ministry of Science and Technology or the Finance Department, this is another path besides the imperial examination."
"..." Wu Sangui was also confused and didn't know what to say next.
So, he decided to inquire about the relevant situation from his father after arriving in the capital.
Near evening, Zu Dashou, Wu Sangui and others finally arrived at the capital. During this period, they had seen the steam train from before and had already returned to Tongzhou.
The great victory of the sudden attack on the eastern grasslands had by this time no longer caused much excitement. Not only because there has been a great victory across the grassland, but more importantly, in the hearts of the people of the Ming Dynasty, the Mongolian Tatars are not that powerful. They have defeated the most powerful Jianqi before, so other great victories will naturally not be so great. Shocking.
But no matter what, this was always a great victory, and the imperial court sent the Minister of War to greet him.
In the past two years, Minister of War has not been in good health and has spent most of his time at home recuperating.
If it were in the original history, he would have actually died of illness at this time. It may be that in this dimension, good news is constant, there are no worries, and the mood is good, so the body can last longer.
Early the next morning, Emperor Chongzhen received them both.
"Long live my emperor, long live, long live!" In the Wuying Hall, Zu Dashou was so excited that he lay on the ground and shouted loudly, with a choked voice.
When he was captured in the Battle of Songjin, he never imagined that one day he would be able to return to the Forbidden City and see Emperor Chongzhen again.
Emperor Chongzhen was obviously very excited that Zu Dashou had escaped from Liaodong again. After all, there was one person who escaped from Jianlu in the early years of Chongzhen, and then there was only Zu Dashou. More generals of the Ming army surrendered to the Jianlu and worked wholeheartedly for the Jianlu.
Therefore, Emperor Chongzhen actually stood up, strode to Zu Dashou, helped him up personally, and said at the same time: "It will be good if Zu Qing comes back, it will be good if you come back!"
At this time, he noticed Zu Dashou's leg again. It seemed that the injury was not healed. He was even more emotional. He held Zu Dashou's hand and said sincerely: "If all the civil and military officers of the Ming Dynasty could be as loyal to the emperor and serve the country as Zu Qing, , how could the state affairs be so close to being catastrophic!"
Hearing Emperor Chongzhen's high comments, Zu Dashou felt so grateful that he wanted to kneel on the ground again.
But this time he was supported by Emperor Chongzhen, and he was heard to say to Zu Dashou: "I have discussed with you, Mr. Zu, and you have made great contributions several times. Therefore, I will make you the uncle of Jinzhou, and you will still be the commander-in-chief of Jinzhou!"
When Zu Dashou was wondering which gentleman the emperor was talking about, he heard that Emperor Chongzhen not only reinstated him to his original post, but also made him the Bo of Jinzhou. He was overjoyed and couldn't care less about which gentleman he was. Who is it? He quickly kowtowed to thank Tianen.
Wu Sangui, who was behind him, was very happy to see his uncle being treated so favorably by Emperor Chongzhen. It felt like his uncle took a very big risk to escape, and it was really worth it!
Of course, for now, it is just a verbal statement from Emperor Chongzhen, and there will be a formal imperial edict later.
As for the rewards for other meritorious service personnel in this war, they should follow the regular channels, and Emperor Chongzhen did not need to tell Zu Dashou.
In fact, Emperor Chongzhen was still worried about what was going on with the Dongjiang Army? If they are completely wiped out by the Jianqi, it will be another troublesome matter, and they will need to continue to mobilize troops and generals to rebuild Dongjiang Town.
While they were talking, they heard a message from the chamberlain outside, saying that Duke Xingguo had come to have an audience.
When Emperor Chongzhen heard this, he put aside the matters in Dongjiang Town and quickly asked Duke Xingguo to see him.
According to his wishes, if Duke Xingguo wants to come, he can just come directly without any notification. However, Duke Xingguo always insisted on doing so, and Emperor Chongzhen followed him.
Zu Dashou next to me, since he returned to the Ming Dynasty, his ears have been filled with noises towards Duke Xingguo!
Now that he was about to see the real person Xingguo Gong, he didn't know why. He suddenly felt a little excited in his heart. He wanted to see what this legendary man of God, a capable minister who could hold the sky with one hand, an expert in confiscating houses, and an undefeated god of war, was like. What kind of person?
He heard movement outside the hall, and then a person appeared in his field of vision.
As soon as he saw it, Zu Dashou thought it was not the case, because the man in front of him was so young, probably less than thirty years old. How could he be the legendary Duke Xingguo?
However, this young man is wearing a python suit. If not Duke Xingguo, who else has such an honor?
Is this young man really Duke Xingguo?
When this question popped up in Zu Dashou's mind, Wu Sangui had already cupped his fists and saluted: "The last general has met the Duke!"
Emperor Chongzhen did not return to his seat, but went directly to greet Zhang Mingwei. He smiled and said to Zhang Mingwei: "Sir, how was the academy's exam today? Is it possible to meet the needs of the employer?"
When Zu Dashou heard this, he was sure that the young man in front of him was the legendary Duke Xingguo, who was basically the omnipotent one.
Suddenly coming to such a conclusion, Zu Dashou was dumbfounded. How did this young man do it? Even if he is a genius, it is impossible for him to have such achievements, right?
But after all, Zu Dashou’s age was here, and he quickly came to his senses, and immediately stepped forward to greet him and said: “The last general, Zu Dashou, has met Duke Xingguo!”
When Zhang Mingwei was outside, he already knew that Zu Dashou and Wu Sangui were coming. He was actually curious about Zu Dashou, so he stopped by to take a look.
At this time, he first answered Emperor Chongzhen's question: "Young people accept new learning more quickly. Some of them can still be used, but just barely. The most important thing is to let them continue learning while using it. That’s all it can do for now.”
Upon hearing this, Emperor Chongzhen asked with a little surprise: "Can that kind of electricity be used?"
