After more than a dozen prison students were brought into the royal study, they all bowed excitedly, but none of them knelt down and bowed.
In fact, except for ceremonies in the Huangji Palace or important occasions, civil servants and generals in the Ming Dynasty did not have to kneel. Of course, it is another matter if you insist on kneeling to show loyalty.
"No need to be polite, just sit down. Today is an academic exchange, no need to be restrained!" Zhu Cixiang waved his hands and said with a smile.
These dozen students all followed Li Banghua, Ni Yuanlu and other civil servants and took the initiative to carry swords to protect and kill thieves, so Zhu Cixiang had a good impression of them. Although he never met them, he secretly wrote down their names one by one.
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"Thank you, Your Majesty!"
Seeing His Majesty say this, all the supervisors relaxed a lot and sat down one after another, acting neither humble nor overbearing.
"You are all rare young talents of our Ming Dynasty, and you are loyal to me and the Ming Dynasty. Nowadays, the country is in dire straits, and it is the time for the court to employ people. I originally wanted to use you, but the court has its own official selection system.
I can't make an exception. I will open Enke next year, are you sure?"
Zhu Cixiang looked at them and said slowly, compared to those civil servants, he finally saw some vigor and ambition in this group of people.
"His Majesty favors me. When the time comes, the students will do their best to fight for high school and serve His Majesty!"
"Students must also try their best..."
When everyone heard what His Majesty said, they became even more excited. They all stood up to express their determination and vowed to go to high school.
Zhu Cixiang poured a ladle of cold water on it.
"So, we are not sure anymore? What should we do?"
Everyone immediately lowered their heads in embarrassment, thinking to themselves, Your Majesty, shouldn't you be encouraging at this time? Why do you say such destructive words instead?
"Well, let's do it this way. Soon I will personally conquer the rebels and traitors in Xuanfu and Datong. If you are willing, you can follow me and gain military merit. If you fail, I can arrange a job for you.
How is the military career?"
Zhu Cixiang said after thinking about it.
"If Your Majesty does not despise that we are unable to restrain a chicken, we will naturally be willing to follow the Holy Master to the death."
"But there is no need for a military position. If a student fails the exam, he or she will have to study hard and wait for the next exam. Even if he spends his whole life, he must go to high school and serve His Majesty!"
"Students also swear an oath..."
Except for one or two people, almost all others were unwilling to give up their civil service and pursue military positions.
Obviously, even though Zhu Cixi now values military personnel and despises civil servants, the culture of being noble and military has been penetrated into the bone marrow for more than a hundred years, and it cannot be changed in a short time.
What's more, although Your Majesty now puts emphasis on military men, when the world is peaceful, he will definitely suppress the military men and continue to put more emphasis on civil servants.
And everyone knows their own abilities, and the Jinshi can still give it a try, but it is almost impossible to be crowned a general based on military merit.
Zhu Cixiang frowned when he saw that they were so reluctant to join the military. After cleaning up the evil spirits in Datong Xuanfu this time, he planned to implement the new policy in the two places, check for omissions, and make preparations for the future.
Soldiers and generals alone could not do it, and a large number of literate literati were required to assist, so he targeted the graduates of the Imperial College.
After all, these people have not yet been polluted by the officialdom of the late Ming Dynasty. Most of them still have ideals and ambitions in their hearts, but they are often used as weapons by civil servants.
"Let's do this. I have made a special arrangement and allow you to continue studying for the imperial examination after you have a military position. Once you are in high school, your grade will not change and you will be directly transferred to the local government as an official, and you can be a prefect at most!"
"But it will take three years before you can take the imperial examination. You are not sure anyway, so why not study and do things first?"
Although Zhu Cihong could not give them military positions and let them do things, but after all, the reputation was not justified. He could also force them to give up the imperial examination and work for him, but the effect would not be as good as voluntary ones?
"Thank you, Your Majesty!"
Everyone looked at each other and were all overjoyed, but they still didn't understand that this was simply a great divine grace.
It's easy to become a fifth- or sixth-grade military attaché in three years. Once you're in high school, you can directly become a prefect or county magistrate. If you're lucky, you can even become a magistrate directly.
"Then you go back and talk to your classmates. Anyone who wants to can sign up to participate, Wei Jin, you will be in charge of the statistician."
"It's your Majesty!"
Wei Jin replied excitedly, while the others looked envious.
After everyone left, just as Zhu Cihong was about to write a pen to continue improving the new policies in the two places, Princess Kunxing came to see her.
"Greetings to the Imperial Brother, please ask the Imperial Brother to make the decision for my sister!" Princess Zhu Ayu of Kunxing knelt down as soon as she came in.
"Holy sister, get up, you're so outrageous. You said, whoever bullied you, I have to take off his skin."
Zhu Cixiang was furious and quickly helped her up.
"It's the Queen Mother..." Zhu Aao lowered her head and whispered.
"What? Mother?"
Zhu Cixiang looked embarrassed, and then reprimanded: "Nonsense, how could my mother bully you? You must have been naughty and disobedient, and made your mother angry, so you were punished, right?"
"Brother Emperor, my sister is already an adult, how can she still be naughty? She is the queen mother and she wants to find a consort for my sister..."
Princess Kunxing lowered her head again after speaking.
"Isn't this...isn't this a good thing? The imperial sister seems to be fourteen, right?"
Zhu Cixiang was stunned for a moment, then looked at her, and then he realized that this imperial sister was already tall and graceful, and she had indeed reached the age of leaving the imperial court in ancient times.
"But my sister doesn't want to find a consort yet. She still wants to continue helping the emperor. Brother, you love your son the most. Can you go and talk to the queen mother?"
Princess Kunxing looked at Zhu Cihong with a pleading look on her face.
Since the reform of the inner court, although Zhu Cihong allowed Empress Zhou to continue to supervise the finances, Empress Zhou remembered that the harem would not interfere in politics. The emergency period had passed, and she was determined not to interfere with money and food matters.
The same was true for Zhang Yan, but Princess Kunxing, who was following the two of them to help, was obsessed with it. She still went to the warehouse every day to count the money and check the account books from time to time.
"Since the imperial sister doesn't want to find a consort now, then she can wait another two years."
Zhu Cixiang waved his hand and said that he did not go to high school until he was fourteen years old in his previous life. If the emperor's sister was not willing, of course he would support her.
In his opinion, it's okay for a woman to get married at the age of seventeen or eighteen, but it doesn't matter to a man.
"Brother, I know that you love me the most. Can I continue to go to the warehouse to check accounts in the future?"
Princess Kunxing was immediately overjoyed. Fortunately, she had abided by royal etiquette since she was a child and only showed surprise.
"My dear sister, you can go anytime you want, but my dear brother, why do you think you are so fond of money?"
Zhu Cixiang looked at her strangely. He, the imperial sister, had to count money almost every day, and she was very serious about it. She was like a little money-lover.
"No, Brother Huang, it's just that my father used to worry about money every day, and my sister thought it would be great to have endless money one day, so that my father wouldn't have to worry about growing old, and my mother wouldn't have to sell jewelry...
"
Princess Kunxing's voice trailed off at the end. She also knew that her father and brother were not getting along, so she was worried that her words would make him angry.
"I see!"
Zhu Cixiang also came to his senses. This girl was obviously influenced by Chongzhen's bitter face that worried about money all day long, and she had obsessive-compulsive disorder towards money. Thinking of this, his eyes suddenly lit up and he said: "Since the emperor likes to count money so much, brother Huang
There is really a good job involving money here, and there is an urgent need for trustworthy people to manage it."
"Oh! What kind of job is it? Is my sister qualified for it?" Princess Kunxing's eyes lit up.
"Have you ever heard of the bank's bank account number, my dear sister?"
"Well, I heard it mentioned by the eunuch and the palace maid, but I don't know much about it. Brother, can you talk to my sister?"
Princess Kunxing nodded, then looked curious.
"Of course you can..."
Zhu Cixi smiled and explained the specific operation methods of the bank in this era.
He has long wanted to open a bank, and money begets money, but there has never been a suitable candidate.
After all, the bank was too important, and he wouldn't trust anyone other than the people closest to him to take care of it.
As for the Queen Mother of the Two Palaces, it was definitely not suitable to open an imperial shop. Liu Xinlan was too busy, and he didn't want to sell his body anymore. Now that he heard that the imperial sister didn't want to find a consort so early and liked to count money, he immediately became interested.
Because the cost is too high.
The monthly salary of the imperial staff alone is several hundred thousand, half of which is accounted for by craftsmen. Adding in the expenses for three factories and one bathroom, the monthly salary reaches nearly one million.
The military salaries of the Fifth Army and the Imperial Guards totaled up to 500,000 yuan per month, which was still the salary of civilian officials.
Otherwise, the monthly salary and military pay alone would cost upwards of two million.
Although he got nearly 20 million taels of silver from the house raids, he had already spent nearly half of the half-year military pay reward and Jinyi Weidong Factory salary, and he didn't know how he spent it.
If Empress Zhou and Zhang Yan hadn't been in charge of the money and food personally, he would have suspected that they had been embezzled again.
Only then did he understand Chongzhen's original difficulties.
And whether it is building a college, running a martial arts hall, repairing an outer city, or developing the textile industry, a lot of money will be needed.
There is no need to think about collecting taxes for the time being, and the Imperial Store has no hope of making money in the short term, so we can only continue to attack the remaining nobles. After all, together, they can deduct at least another 30 to 40 million taels.
But now and then, it will definitely not work if we continue to directly confiscate our homes as we did before.
That's why he wanted to set up a bank and let those nobles deposit their money or buy shares.
Then use this silver as the principal and issue treasure banknotes, thus revitalizing the economy.
He doesn't care if all those nobles are rich and powerful. After all, there will always be poor and rich people. This is inevitable.
But he would never tolerate them burying the money in the cellar to get moldy, and even if it was not used, it would still have to be deposited in the bank.
"Brother Emperor, all those nobles regard money as their lives. I am worried that they will not deposit their money in the bank we open lightly!"
Obviously even Princess Kunxing can figure out that this is the emperor's way of asking for money from those nobles.
"Haha, the emperor brother is not the father, they will survive." Zhu Cixi said with a smile.
"Brother, are you going to open it now?" Seeing that he didn't say anything, Princess Kunxing didn't ask in detail, but she was a little eager to try.
"Don't worry, you first go to Aunt Liu and ask her for a hundred palace maids, and then learn these ten numbers and the accounting method above with them. Brother Huang will give you one month. If you fail the test by then, the Emperor will
Brother, I’m going to replace him.”
Zhu Cixiang took out a hand-drawn booklet and handed it to her. On it was a table of ten Arabic numerals, as well as some modern accounting methods and illustrations and text explanations.
It was originally prepared for the prison students, but now it can only be given to her first.
As long as he has a good education, a good memory, and is willing to work hard, he believes that he will be able to master it very quickly.
After all, ten Arabic numerals are too simple.
"Okay! Without further ado, my sister will leave now and go find Aunt Liu."
Princess Kunxing looked through it and said confidently, bowed, and hurriedly said goodbye.
Seeing that she was so anxious, Zhu Cixi just smiled bitterly, and then got up and went to the Baochao Department and the Banking Bureau, ready to arrange some things first.