"The Propaganda Department raised all the affairs of the reporting agency and was also the editor-in-chief of the Daming Pao."

"Just an eighth-rank official?" Qian Qianyi was a little disappointed when he heard this.

He thought that since Zhu Mai kept Liu Rushi for lunch, how could he give him an official position of sixth rank or above?

Isn’t this the case in Chongzhen back then? He summoned someone to the platform to ask questions, and it became popular and gave high-ranking officials a lot of support.

Why didn’t the empress learn from the late emperor?

Liu Rushi smiled and said, "Your Majesty has been promoted to the first level, from the seventh rank, and is the first official in the Propaganda Department, in charge of the first department. He has already received a great favor from me."

"The official newspaper of the Propaganda Department?" Qian Qianyi was puzzled, "Is Your Majesty dissatisfied with the Tongzheng Department and wanted to leave the Tongzheng Department to run another newspaper?"

Liu Rushi smiled and said nothing.

Qian Qianyi immediately realized that Liu Rushi wanted to keep the matters that His Majesty told him confidential.

Although this is a reasonable thing, Qian Qianyi is still unhappy.

He didn't show it, but smiled and said, "Madam didn't eat at noon, right? I'm asking the kitchen to make some food for you."

Liu Rushi said, "I have eaten enough. I still need to sort out what Your Majesty has told me today, so I will go to Jiangyun Tower first."

After saying that, Liu Rushi bowed slightly to Qian Qianyi and left.

Qian Qianyi frowned at Liu Rushi's back, and vaguely felt that Liu Rushi's official position may not be a good thing for him.

···

July 20th, the first year of Zhaowu.

The team that went to Hangzhou to hold an auction finally returned to Nanjing.

Because Zhu Ma had not had a high control over Zhejiang before, there were many people sent there at the time.

The secretariat secretariat Zheng Sen, the eunuch of the Interior Affairs Office, Zhao Fugui, female official Duan Yunmiao, and a team of female soldiers from the Vermilion Bi Zhu led by Bi Zhu.

And Liu Wenxiu led two battalions of troops from the Second Town of the Imperial Guards to escort them.

Of course, these people need to do more than just hold auctions in Hangzhou, but also something else.

In Wuying Palace, an old man in his fifties paid a great ceremony to pay homage to Zhu Ma.

"Long live my emperor!"

"Flat."

"Long live thanks!"

When the old man stood up, Zhu Ma looked at him and thought to himself that he had finally recruited another real capable minister.

This person's name is Zhang Guowei, whose courtesy name is Yuxiu. He was born in 1595 and was a Jinshi in the second year of Tianqi.

Zhang Guowei was from Dongyang, Zhejiang. The Hongguang Dynasty was not used by Ma Shiying, so he returned home to visit relatives. One of the purposes of Zhu Ma's sending people to Zhejiang was to order him to go to Nanjing to listen to it.

If you give the ministers in the late Ming Dynasty, you will get a question mark if the average score of the ministers in the Chongzhen Dynasty can reach 50. However, Zhang Guowei's level of governance is at least 75 points, which is the top group in the late Ming Dynasty.

A capable minister who understands local governance and was the last water conservancy expert in the Ming Dynasty!

In addition, Zhang Guowei was still loyal and wise in later history. Although his military level was average, he died heroically in Zhoushan.

"In the seventh year of Chongzhen, Mr. Yuzhao appointed the governor Yingtian, Anqing and other ten prefectures. He then spent six or seven years sorting out the waterways of several prefectures north of Taihu Lake, developing water conservancy and repairing cities in various prefectures in the south of the Yangtze River, and writing the "Wuzhong Water Conservancy Complete Book"

》, in fact, it is a century-long achievement for the benefit of the people of Wuzhong."

Originally, Zhang Guowei was somewhat jealous of the empress who seemed to have emerged out of thin air. But as soon as he met, he heard Zhu Mei tell him two major things he had worked hard for his career as an official, and even gave such a high level of

After evaluating, he couldn't hold back immediately, and all the grudges dissipated.

His eyes were wet and he bowed, "I just did my duty, and I feel ashamed to have such praise from His Majesty."

"What is the matter of duty..." Zhu Mai was very moved when she heard this, "If my civil and military officials of the Ming Dynasty could do their duty as well as Mr. Yuzhao, there would be no Jiashen national crisis, and there would be no chaos in the world.

The Qing emperors once occupied half of the country."

Thinking of the Jiashen National Migration, he happened to be ordered to go to Jiangnan to supervise food and pay, and he left the capital for ten days. Thinking of Chongzhen's trust and heavy use, Zhang Guowei could not hold back and could not help but burst into tears.

Zhu Moe-chan signaled Lian Qiao to hand Zhang Guowei a novice handkerchief.

Zhang Guowei wiped away his tears, then he bowed and said, "I have lost my manners in front of me, please forgive me."

Zhu Ma said: "No obstacle."

Zhang Guowei sighed again: "The last emperor has a spirit in heaven. I know that Your Majesty has defeated the bandits one after another, and the Qing army has stabilized most of our Ming Dynasty. I will definitely be relieved."

Zhu Mai said: "This is nothing. I will soon drive the Qing emperors back outside the pass, pacify the world, let the Ming Dynasty be strong and prosperous, and let the people live a good life."

Zhu Ma's tone was faint when she said this, as if she was saying something that would happen. Her strong self-confidence made Zhang Guowei both frightened and heartbroken.

At this point, he had no doubt about the empress who was said to be "satisfied with heaven and had great supernatural powers."

Zhu Mai Yuze also said: "I want to be the governor of the river affairs of Henan, Shandong, and Jiangbei, as well as the Minister of the Processing Department to prepare for the future rectification of the Yellow River. I wonder if Mr. Yusu is willing to accept the order?"

Zhang Guowei did not directly accept the order, but said: "Your Majesty, how much does it cost to sort out the Jiangbei River, especially to rectify the Yellow River in the future? Now when the Ming Dynasty is using troops in an upright manner, if we want to rectify the Yellow River, is the money enough?"

Zhu Meiyu smiled slightly and said, "Why does Mr. Yu Xie think it will take to rectify the rivers and the Yellow River in Jiangbei?"

Zhang Guowei said: "There is now high food prices, so it is inevitable that there will be more silver to manage rivers. It takes at least 10 million taels of silver to sort out the rivers in Jiangbei. If you want to manage the Yellow River, it will also cost at least 50 million taels of silver."

When Zhang Guowei said this, he spoke without hesitation, and he obviously had a good understanding of this aspect.

When talking, Zhang Guowei took a look. He thought that even if Zhu Mai was not surprised, he would frown. After all, this was really huge than silver. Even if it was taxed before Chongzhen 15 years ago, it would take several years of full tax revenue.

OK.

But in fact, it is impossible to use all the taxes in the Ming Dynasty for river affairs. Military expenses should always account for the largest number, followed by the salaries of officials and royal families.

During the Chongzhen period, the annual tax revenue exceeded 20 million taels, but the amount of the money was almost all divided by military expenses, officials and royal salaries.

When Zhang Guowei was summoned by Chongzhen, he was also asked about the rectification of the Yellow River. When he learned that it would cost at least 50 million taels, Chongzhen looked shocked and immediately changed the topic.

At this time, Zhu Ma's expression was like a calm lake, calm and calm. He just nodded lightly and said, "It's only 60 million taels of silver in total, not much. Mr. Yu Xie just did it.

In addition, I can still produce cement in the Ming Dynasty. Mr. Yuzhao can learn about it. It is a powerful tool for building river embankments and will definitely make the river business project twice the result with half the effort."

cement?

Zhang Guowei felt a little moved when he heard this.

He actually met some "magic weapons" brought by eunuchs and female officials in Zhejiang, so he had no doubt about Zhu Ma's words, but was just curious about how magical cement was.

So he bowed and said, "I will accept the order."

Zhu Mai said again: "Mr. Yu Xie, let's go down to rest first. I will send the imperial physician to see the teacher later. If there are any patients or discomforts, we should treat and treat them as soon as possible. When the body is well, we will go to Jiangbei.

It's not too late."

Zhang Guowei was moved again when he heard this, and bowed again, "I thanked the emperor for his kindness!"

When Zhang Guowei left, Zhu Macai ordered Zheng Sen, Zhao Fugui and Duan Yunmiao to inquire about the specific situation of the Hangzhou auction.

Hangzhou was a city in Linhai at the end of the Ming Dynasty, and Hangzhou Bay was an excellent harbor. Its geographical location was far superior to later generations. It was also the capital of Zhejiang Province, so it was also a gathering of powerful and wealthy businessmen.

In a word, there is no shortage of rich people.

Zhejiang is also affected by disasters every year, with wind disasters along the coast, droughts in the mainland, and floods in some places. However, there have been no major natural disasters in the past two or three years, but only minor disasters continue.

Therefore, although most poor people cannot survive, gentry, landlords, and wealthy merchants all have surplus grains, and many have stored food.

In addition, Hangzhou is farther away from Nanjing than Suzhou, and the rich are less afraid of the court. With the Zheng family’s connections in Zhejiang, Zheng Sen made a gathering of wealthy people at the Hangzhou auction, and there were as many as 200!

However, Zhejiang has many mountains and few lands, and most people have mulberry tea, so the total grain production is actually not large, so you need to buy grain from other provinces every year.

Therefore, this Hangzhou auction only received 800,000 shi of rice, but received more than 20 million taels of silver!

Considering that Zhejiang was short of food, Zhu Ma asked Zheng Sen and others to return to Nanjing with the money, but the food had not been collected yet.

Even if they were collected, they were stationed in Hangzhou according to Zhu Ma's will, and were temporarily supervised by the two battalions of the Second Town of the Imperial Guards stationed in Hangzhou.

Because soon, if there is no major war in the north, Zhu Ma will take action against Zhejiang.

If you want to control a place, you must first control its troops.

Although Zhejiang is not in warlord separatist territory now, it has already had this tendency in the Hongguang Dynasty. After the demise of the Hongguang Dynasty in later history, many small warlords appeared, but they were not able to become a climate in the end.

Now Zhu Mai succeeded to the throne as a woman and changed the reign of Zhaowu. If he wants to deal with Zhejiang, he must first deal with the troops of various Zhejiang...

After Zheng Sen and the other two reported the Hangzhou auction and left, Zhu Ma said: "Come here after the message, let Zhu Dadian and Yang Tinglin come too."

Lian Qiao, who was accompanying her, replied: "Yes."
Chapter completed!