The wind blew in from outside, and the flame in the carbon furnace suddenly flickered.
Ling Han squinted his eyes, the long beard on his chin swayed slightly, and the wrinkles on his face were as motionless as hills.
A middle-aged student wearing a brown Confucian scholar's cotton robe slowly came out from the side and saluted respectfully, "Teacher!"
"Well!" Ling Han opened his eyes and looked at the other party. A smile appeared on Gujing Bubo's face, "Shou Xin, sit down!"
After the student saluted, he sat down next to Ling Han in a polite manner.
"You haven't entered the palace to see the emperor yet?" Ling Han asked.
He asked the trustworthy student to hand over his hand again and said, "The sign has been handed over and it is scheduled for tomorrow, tomorrow morning."
"Your holy family is in full swing!" Ling Han grinned, "Niangen underground, the generals of the provinces are commanding, and the chief ministers and inspectors are taking turns to come to see you. Some people have been waiting for more than ten days and have not yet had their turn. You
I just came back from Zhejiang, and my schedule is tomorrow. And it’s still morning." He said, pondering for a moment, "I guess the emperor will leave you all tomorrow morning, so please be careful with the prelude!"
"The students will tell you whatever the emperor asks. Don't talk nonsense about what the students did or didn't do." Shouxin smiled, "Don't talk nonsense if you don't understand. Tell the emperor your plans honestly!"
"Well, Han Shouxin, you have become a sharp talker in the past year as a local official!" Ling Han laughed.
This Han Shouxin is none other than Han Kezhong, the official of the Zhejiang Supervisory Envoy and the Metropolitan Procuratorate.
After more than a year of experience, the introversion and nervousness on Han Kezhong's face have turned into maturity and stability. Environment can change people, and status can even change people. But doing things can temper people.
"When you come to Beijing to report on your work this time, are you planning to stay in the capital or return to Zhejiang?" Ling Han asked again.
"The students don't know, it all depends on the emperor's will. However, the students feel that there is little hope of returning to Beijing. The students have just started to build islands in the sea in Zhejiang, and there is still a lot of work to be done in the follow-up." At this point, Han Kezhong looked cheerful.
Feiyang said, "Zhejiang has a lot of people but little land, and there is not enough food to eat. Once this uninhabited land with a radius of 700 miles is turned into fertile land, it will not only suppress the price of food, but also increase the tax revenue of 25,000 shi for the national treasury every year."
!”
When he spoke, Ling Han's eyes were on Han Kezhong's hands. They did not look like a pair of scholar's hands, but rather like the hands of an old farmer. The nails were bare and the fingertips were bulging with calluses.
"I think there is really little hope for you to stay in the capital!" Ling Han said with a smile, "You are a practical person, and you are a rare young and practical official. The emperor is just hiring people, how could he keep you in the capital?
How about being a member of the Imperial Academy?"
As he spoke, Ling Han sighed, "That day you submitted a letter to reclaim the sea and renovate the island. After reading it, the emperor said to the ministers that it is not that no one has thought about it, but that no one is willing to do it. The so-called difficulty is not that it is impossible, but that it is impossible.
It is too tedious and thankless. Officials all think that it is better to do less than to do more. It is better to manage people than to do things. The most important thing is to control the people."
Hearing this, Han Kezhong just smiled honestly.
Seeing this, Ling Han asked again, "How are Tiedingshi and Jingqing doing in Zhejiang?"
Tie Xuan, Chief Minister of Zhejiang Province.
Jingqing, inspect the envoy.
These two men were in the emperor's heart, and there were a mountain of memorials to impeach them, but they remained as stable as a mountain.
"The two adults are officials, students don't dare to judge!" Han Kezhong said in a low voice.
"Who asked you to judge them?" Ling Han smiled, "These two people have a black face and a white face. They have dealt with a lot of people in the past few years!" He said, looking at the other party, "I heard that you
There are also a lot of big businesses to deal with there! I heard that because you wanted to enclose the sea, you mobilized civilians to collect money and food without permission. Some people made noises to sue you, but you sent people to arrest you before you even left home? "
"They wanted to sue the students, and the students asked them to sue. But they deceived the public with their lies, gathered people to cause chaos, and wanted to punish the people, so the students naturally could not let them go!" Han Kezhong stretched out his hand to feel the heat of the charcoal stove, "Students work for the welfare of the people.
, and the squires only know their own small profits, and if they are not caught, they will inevitably make further progress."
"Even so, it must be appropriate!" Ling Han said with a smile, "Back then, I was just like you, full of passion, but yet I was bleeding in front of the court and almost lost my life!"
"Is there such a thing?" Han Kezhong said blankly.
"It was the Yuan Dynasty of the previous dynasty..."
"Oh!" Han Kezhong said with a smile, "Teacher, now that I, the Holy Lord of the Ming Dynasty, am on the throne, times have changed!"
"Still too young!"
Ling Han secretly thought to himself that he had no worries as he was about to resign. He also cherished Han Kezhong's character and talent, so he decided to say a few more words.
"You were sitting next to me just now. Did you hear everything I said?"
"Yes!" Han Kezhong replied.
"Then do you know why I gave them a few books?"
"The students are asking this question!" Han Kezhong pondered for a moment, "Students have read those books..."
"What do you think?" Ling Han asked.
"Except for the Zhenguan Minutes, various schools of thought may have conflicts with each other."
"Life is like this, contradictory." Ling Han opened his mouth and said solemnly, "The Tao Te Ching talks about Tao. Human beings have human nature, and heaven has heaven's way. But what exactly is Tao? When should we use it and when should we not use it? What is the opposite of everything?
?What is tranquility and inaction?”
Han Kezhong fell into deep thought.
"The Tao Te Ching talks about Tao. I think it is nothing more than two words, nothing and something. As officials, we are nothing before becoming an official, and we are everything after becoming an official. And things in the officialdom cannot be dealt with.
Use black and white to distinguish between right and wrong. In the two words "between" and "nothing", there are also taking and discarding, as well as what can and cannot be done, what can and cannot be done."
"To understand these is to understand the truth!" Ling Han took a sip of tea and continued, "You are still young, so you can't understand what I am saying for a while. But in a few years, when you get older, you will understand what it feels like."
"Furthermore, the book Guanzi is the foundation of the state of Qi's dominance in the pre-Qin period. It not only contains the heroic chapter of dominating the world, but also has good economic strategies for herders to support the people."
"Warring States policy, vertical and horizontal alliances. Zhenguan Minutes talks about various policies during the Taizong period of the Tang Dynasty."
"These books seem to be contradictory, but they can complement each other!"
"The Tao Te Ching talks about governing by doing nothing, but if our huge China really governs by doing nothing, wouldn't it fall apart? This is to seek the Tao and get good strategies for governing the country. Today's emperor and Taizong are somewhat similar. As the Zhenguan Minutes said, the idea of valuing the people,
Seek truth from facts, seek governance pragmatically, vigorously produce, etc.”
"In the future, officials who only know how to study will not last long. The emperor's Ming Dynasty needs people who understand both economics, people's hearts, and pioneering."
Speaking of which, how could Han Kezhong not understand the other party's good intentions?
He stood up and said gratefully, "Student, thank you very much for your guidance!"
"It's not that I want to dial you!" Ling Han waved his hand, "It's that you are young and have a long way to go in the future. If a person wants to go further, ethics and character alone are not enough, but also talent and scheming.
.”
"Besides, you will have more difficulties than me in the future!"