Chapter 74 Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi
"Blinded your dog's eyes."
As the saying goes, the emperor is not as anxious as the eunuch. Liu Afu on the side immediately frowned angrily: "Our young master has plenty of money."
As he spoke, he took out a stack of banknotes from his pocket.
"With this money, you can buy the entire bookstore."
"Okay." Zhu Yixi stopped his chatter, and he bowed his hands to the astonished scholars to preserve his dignity.
He glanced at Liu Afu, who immediately shrank in fear.
Didn't this flood wash away the Dragon King Temple?
"Just look, just watch!"
The waiter shrank his neck. Knowing that he was a big shot, he immediately showed great respect.
In response, Zhu Yixi waved her hand and continued to watch.
In addition to the physics trivia, the other most eye-catching novels are "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", "Water Margin", "Journey to the West" and other novels.
Although the Ming Dynasty banned Water Margin and Journey to the West several times, it was useless. The more banned it became, the more popular it became, and it was even taken for granted in official circles, so much so that it became a common saying.
The popularity of imperial examinations made popular culture more and more popular. Common people did not like poetry and songs, but liked novels.
In the Ming Dynasty, three kinds of novels were popular: stories about ghosts and ghosts, historical romances, and realistic popular novels. Among them, ghosts and gods are such as Journey to the West, Journey to the East, Journey to the South, Journey to the North, etc.
The historical novels include Generals of the Yang Family, The Biography of Di Qing, The Heroes of the Emperor and Ming Dynasty, Romance of the Sui and Tang Dynasties; the popular reality includes The Plum in the Golden Lotus, Feng Shilong's Three Words, etc.
The heyday of the novel was the Jiajing and Wanli years, which was the result of the development of the commodity economy and the prevalence of market culture.
But this is a symptom.
Zhu Yixi stroked the book and rubbed it, her mind wandering.
If we look closely at the root of the popularity of novels, it lies in the development of productive forces.
The Ming Dynasty is known as the peak era of feudalism, and it is not false. Its silk industry, ceramics industry, iron smelting industry, etc. have reached the peak of handicraft industry as far as the Tang and Song Dynasties.
For example, in the papermaking industry, in the Song Dynasty, a piece of paper usually cost seven or eight cents, and the worst cost was three or four cents. However, in the Ming Dynasty, the price was directly lowered, and the average price of a piece of paper was around 0.3 cents.
Even the official document paper used by the government only costs 0.8 cents per piece, which is ten times less than that in the Song Dynasty.
Bamboo paper became the mainstream in the Ming Dynasty, and hemp paper withdrew from the stage of history.
Rice paper was developed in the Ming Dynasty.
For example, "Mencius" has about 36,000 words and fourteen volumes.
During the reign of Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, in order to encourage reading, the government hired people to copy. Just copying one volume cost 1,000 liters. Not counting the paper for 14 volumes, the cost of copying alone was 14,000 liters.
In the Song Dynasty, one volume was as low as one hundred texts, while Mencius's fourteen volumes totaled 1,400 texts.
In the Ming Dynasty, at the end of Wanli and Tianqi, Shu Chongfu of Jinlu Bookstore in Suzhou published "The Romance of the Gods", a total of 20 volumes, with 50 illustrations, about 700,000 words, and each volume only cost 2 taels of silver.
The "Collected Annotations on Chapters and Sentences of the Four Books" with Zhu Xi's annotations costs about 1-2 taels of silver per set.
It is an exaggeration that a copy of "Mencius" from the Song Dynasty can buy a set of the Four Books and Five Classics with annotations from the Ming Dynasty.
Under such circumstances, there are so many scholars in the world, how can the power of civil servants not flourish?
""Xue Pinggui and Wang Baochuan"?"
Picking up the book, Zhu Yixi was stunned: "Did this story become popular at this time?"
"My lord, recently dozens of theaters in Beijing, large and small, are rehearsing and singing this play. From last year to now, it has become even more popular."
The clerk said with emotion: "Everyone scolds Xue Pinggui and pities Wang Baochuan. Even the story books in our bookstore are on sale. Everyone loves to read them."
"Isn't there a theater to watch?"
"There are thirteen scenes in this play, including surrendering the horse in the kiln, giving money in the garden, three high-fives, three strikes by mistake, matching in the colorful building, surrendering to the army at the other kiln, Hongyan repairing books, mother and daughter meeting, going to three passes, calculating military rations, and silver
Empty mountain, grand entrance to the palace..."
The clerk knew all the treasures and said with endless aftertaste: "After this pass, even the cheapest standing and sitting will only cost a few cents, which is not worth it."
"Do you think that sometimes you miss a scene or forget what happened before, so you can't buy a book to reflect on it?"
"That's true."
Zhu Yixi suddenly realized.
This is just like the successful adaptation of TV series in later generations can make the original book popular, forming a linkage.
He smiled knowingly and inexplicably remembered his past life. This book is really good!
He reached out to pick up the book, flipped through it casually, threw it directly to Liu Afu, and continued to wander in the gallery.
After searching for a while, I found a few copies of "Jin Ping Mei", but I couldn't even see the high-quality ones with illustrations.
He couldn't help but shake his head. Sure enough, his mind was slack. No one cared about the above-board sales of this kind of book.
Zhu Yixi had the intention of setting up an organization to control it, but gave up immediately.
This thing will die if you try to control it.
By then the publishing industry will be in recession, but it will ruin the jobs of many people.
After searching in a circle, two quarters of an hour passed.
"It's a pity that "Dream of Red Mansions" will never be seen again!"
Shaking her head, Zhu Yixi left the library and was about to cross the threshold.
Suddenly, pedestrians were hurriedly walking on the street, whispering to each other.
After some inquiring, Liu Afu said: "Sir, it's time for a trial."
"it is finally over."
Zhu Yixi sighed.
Taking exams once every three days and taking exams for nine consecutive days is extremely torturous for scholars.
Staying in a small cube house puts your mental and physical strength to the limit.
But when Zhu Yixi wanted to change, the civil servants in the court objected one after another.
Only by enduring the most hardships can one become the best among men. When heaven is about to grant great responsibilities, people will also wait for them. They are countless.
But in Zhu Yixi's view, this group of people simply endured the hardship themselves and did not want to make things easier for those who came after them.
He then thought about it. In a sense, this kind of difficulty was also a way to screen out those who were physically weak. After all, we were selecting officials, not writers.
Therefore, the emperor only repaired and expanded the Gongyuan. Off-site factors such as huts and rain shelters were eliminated and tried to be consistent.
After getting on the carriage, although the emperor said nothing, Liu Afu still walked around the Gongyuan.
Lifting a corner of the curtain, Zhu Yixi saw a circle of pale, exhausted people walking slowly with the help of servants.
"Thanks to my benevolence, I changed the time to April. Otherwise, in early February, the cold spring would be enough to make them seriously ill. What a shame!"
With a sigh, Zhu Yixi lowered the curtain, and the carriage wisely accelerated and arrived in the capital.
Who wouldn’t want such a considerate eunuch?
Facing the afterglow of dusk, Yu Chenglong, the right minister of the Ministry of Industry, boarded the carriage and took a breath.
Relying on the flood discharge channel, he became the naturalized prefect of Suiyuan. After that, he passed the examination for three consecutive years and was promoted to Hebei Chief Envoy Sizuo Shenzheng (from the third grade).
After that, he got excellent marks in the examination and was successfully promoted to the right minister of the Ministry of Industry (third rank) last year.
The journey was extremely smooth, and it looked like there was someone in the middle of the road.
But in fact, as long as the official rank reaches the fourth rank, the promotion of officials is basically not controlled by the staff, but in the minds of the cabinet and the emperor.
Especially the Holy Grace roll, there must be no difference at all.
Officials of fourth rank or above are the real important ministers of the country.
Why?
Because they can be promoted to the cabinet by the emperor at any time and become the cabinet elders that everyone envies.
Therefore, there is no promotion path for those above the fourth rank, either there are people in the cabinet or the Emperor's Holy Scroll.
"What about me? The Emperor's favor?"
He put down the glasses on his ears, rubbed his eyes, and sighed.
The Ministry of Industry has never stopped over the years, focusing on two things: official roads and river embankments and ditches.
Among them, the official channel is the most important, with hundreds of thousands of dollars spent every year. It has been repaired from Beijing to Gansu, and it is expected that it will reach Urumqi in two years.
Zuo Shilang came to arrest him personally.
As the right minister, he could only be responsible for river embankments and ditches, the Yellow River, Liaohe River, Huaihe River, Pearl River, and Hanjiang River. He even had to supervise and review the karez plan proposed by Gaochang Prefecture (Turpan).
Eucalyptus tablet labor shape.
Sometimes he really wants to go somewhere, be in power and benefit the people.
As for Ruge, he does not have the title of Jinshi or Shujishi, so his hope is extremely slim and the resistance is also considerable.
"Why is it so noisy outside?" Yu Chenglong suddenly asked.
"Back to my lord, it's Gongyuan's release."
The groom said casually.
"That's great!" Yu Chenglong looked envious.
Perhaps he has climbed to a position that many Jinshis cannot reach, but he can only be a Jinshi in his whole life, and it is a gift from the emperor, not a serious one.
In his heart, there was always a certain feeling of inferiority.
The people on the roadside were a little curious for a moment when they saw the carriage deliberately compromising and walking away.
"The carriage is on time and well..."
"Very good, I don't know which noble family it is from——"
Immediately, another shabby carriage passed by without attracting Juzi's attention.
But there was another person who paid some attention.
"Brother Zhang, did you meet any acquaintance?"
Juzi on the side asked.
Zhang Ying's face turned slightly pale, but her voice was still strong: "It looks like it is the carriage of Mr. Yu, the right minister of the Ministry of Industry."
"I heard that he has always been simple, and the carriage is quite shabby in the officialdom. It seems true."
The fellow villagers all started talking about it.
For the people in Anhui and Jiangsu provinces, the flood discharge ditch diverted the water from the Huaihe River to the Yangtze River, benefiting both sides of the Huaihe River. Yu Chenglong is worth remembering throughout their lives.
Although Zhang Ying's Anqing Prefecture is located in southwest Anhui, it was still deeply affected and admired Jackie Chan.
When entering Beijing, the princes from the two provinces paid a special visit to his residence to show their respect.
"Okay, let's go back!"
Zhang Ying smiled bitterly and said: "These nine days have been really frustrating. I want to go back and sleep with him for three days and three nights."
"Hahaha!"
Everyone laughed, and then they were helped into the carriage and returned to the inn or guild hall.
Zhang Ying was born in Tongcheng, Anqing Prefecture, Anhui Province. There were officials in the family for generations. They were a first-class wealthy family and had no shortage of money and food.
Therefore, when he was in Beijing, in order to avoid being disturbed, he simply rented a small courtyard, where the master and servants could study in peace without being disturbed by various banquets and cultural gatherings.
He understands this thing clearly. As long as you get into the top two, it will come uninvited.
"Sir, this whale oil candle is really forbidden to be burned, and it doesn't smell strange at all. It even has a bit of fragrance!"
When we got home, it was already dark.
The book boy lit the candle and sighed.
"That's because there are spices in it."
Zhang Ying ate his meal calmly. Several times of failure gave him rich experience. He must not overeat, and could only mix it with millet porridge to calm his stomach.
"However, this candle is indeed white."
The thick, long and muddy white candle, as thick as a baby's arm, only costs thirty cents. It can be lighted for two or three days if you save a little.
This is rarely seen in the south.
"This thing is actually useless today."
Opening the book box, a black leather robe rolled into a bundle was also taken out. It was tight and waterproof at first glance.
"Master, is this made of whale skin?" The book boy said, "How big must this fish be? The skin can be used as a quilt."
"I heard it's bigger than a boat."
Zhang Ying stretched her waist and said with emotion: "I originally thought that I would be assigned a rain number, so this leather robe would come in handy, but I never thought that the number would be neat."
"Even the bad reputation is gone. The changes are huge."
"That's good, the young master will definitely be able to go to high school." The book boy naturally knew the meaning of the smelly and rainy whistles, which affected performance in the examination room. Now that they are gone, it is really a great joy.
"How can it be that easy?"
Zhang Ying sighed and shook his head silently.
In fact, after passing the Jinshi examination, the examiners who could have been fawning and supporting are just a group of old people who are about to become officials, and they have no support at all.
What about future governance and decentralization?
Thinking of this, he couldn't help but have a headache.
I soaked my feet in the tub, and the hot water swept over me in an instant. My whole body felt relaxed. My eyelids unconsciously became heavier and I couldn't lift them at all.
"Huhuhu——"
After placing the sleeping young master on the bed, the scholar shook his head:
"The play tells the story of a young scholar who goes through the motions to find a beauty. Unfortunately, my young master has been married a long time ago, and he is really calm and not like ordinary people..."
The next day, restaurants throughout the capital were overcrowded and drunken people were everywhere.
Until the results were released, these candidates took turns holding a banquet, eating and drinking without any fuss.
If anyone reaches high school, all these accounts will be settled on his head.
Therefore, many Jinshi were already in debt before they became officials.
Zhang Ying couldn't stand such bad habits, but he was cautious and did not object. It was normal to just go with the flow.
After all, being able to use money to communicate with a group of people is worth it.
"Yu Shilang, Your Majesty has summoned you."
On this day, Yu Chenglong continued to be busy working on the river embankment. The eunuch from the inner court suddenly came, making the entire Ministry of Works lively.
The eunuch looked at Yu Chenglong's thin body with scrutiny in his eyes.
The officials were full of envy. Being summoned by the emperor was a blessing in any case.
Yu Chenglong put down the document and followed closely.
Soon he saw the emperor pruning the leaves.
Didn’t it say that the emperor liked fishing? Why did he like pruning trees again?
With doubts in his heart, he walked slowly: "My lord, Yu Chenglong, the right minister of the Ministry of Industry, is here to pay homage to Your Majesty."
"Get up!"
The emperor put down the big scissors in his hand, sat down on the bamboo chair, and tilted his face, which looked as lean and clean as ever, full of energy.
He did not waste any nonsense and said directly: "Since Jingtai, the Dong and Yao people in Guangxi have been in unrest. Although they have been educated in various ways, they are still stubborn and ineffective."
"The chieftain is in the clouds, and the nobles are gradually disappearing. Guangxi is naturally no exception, so I will reset the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi to control the troops of the two provinces."
"Does the Qing family have confidence?"
Guangxi, civil unrest, governor of Guangdong and Guangxi.
These three words rippled in his mind.
Yu Chenglong gritted his teeth: "I will never let down your majesty."
"Okay!" The emperor said happily: "I will leave the two provinces to you."