I, Zhu Youjian: the first prodigal son of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 14 Xu Guangqi's Interview

If Wei Zhongxian, Qian Qianyi and others listened to this conversation, they would only smile knowingly.

Those who are emperors are ambitious and self-willed; those who are "scientists" talk nonsense and come up with whatever they think.

To put it bluntly, the two of them have basically no idea about silver, or the taxation of the Ming Dynasty.

Opening your mouth is 1000 million taels or 800 million taels of cash. How much wealth should that be?
Since the Taizu Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang, the taxation of the Ming Dynasty has not been very high. It is divided into land tax and silver, miscellaneous items, etc. In total, the annual income of more than 2000 million shi grains and about 600 million silver is considered extremely high.

In the Northeast and Southwest, soldiers invaded the territory and caused chaos, and began to send additional Liao pay, suppression pay, training pay, etc., but only three to five million taels of silver per year.

However, the monarch and his ministers said they were happy, whether he was right or not...

"Song Aiqing, as far as you know, who else did scientific research in the Ming Dynasty?" Zhu Youjian probably knew some people, but his knowledge was limited after all, so he asked this question.

"Long Live Lord, as far as Xiaosheng knows, there was a Master Xu Guangqi in the Ming Dynasty who was far superior to Xiaosheng in agriculture, astronomy, calendar, firearms manufacturing, etc." Song Yingxing replied truthfully.

"Xu Guangqi? Isn't that the right servant of the Ministry of Rites?" Zhu Youjian laughed.

Moreover, he also knew something about this person. Isn't the famous Xujiahui named after this Lord Xu Guangqi?
It seems that my ascension to the throne is really related to the Ministry of Rites.

"Come here, tell Xu Guangqi to enter the palace for an audience." Zhu Youjian thought that this group of 'big Ming scientists' could waste a lot of money for him, so he couldn't wait for a while, so he directly summoned Xu Guangqi to the palace.

"Song Aiqing, come, come, sit down and chat."

Zhu Youjian was in a good mood and had already started to figure out where to get some money for Song Yingxing, Xu Guangqi and others to squander.

Song Yingxing sat on the yellow silk embroidered pier, but felt a little sad. He didn't sit up straight or bend over. After a while, he was so suppressed that his face was covered with sweat, and he was wearing the blue shirt that Wei Zhongxian lent him, which was wet. a few blockbusters...

……

In less than half an hour, Xu Guangqi entered the palace to have an audience.

The right servant of the Ministry of Rites was about 64 to [-] years old. He was a hale and hearty old man with a gray goatee, which made Zhu Youjian quite disappointed.

This old man... can he do it?
Looks a little too old, will it be extravagant and wasteful, and spend money indiscriminately?Look at his old official uniform, there are three or four patches, this is too disturbing!
The dignified right servant of the Ministry of Rites of the Ming Dynasty is so poor?
"Long live my emperor, long live, long live!" As soon as Xu Guangqi entered the Qianqing Palace, there was a standard mountain shout, long live, three kowtows and nine obeisances.

Then, the emperor didn't see him and said 'Pingshen'.

The old man knelt on the ground, he didn't get up, he didn't get up, he looked quite embarrassed, but he didn't dare to look up to see the emperor's face.

Zhu Youjian was a little lost.

He was secretly thinking, otherwise, the old man would just ask a few words and let him go?What future does the right servant of the Ministry of Rites, who has to patch even his official uniform, have?
Even if he was given several million taels of silver, he probably wouldn't spend it recklessly...

"Uh...Xu Aiqing is dead."

After a dozen or so breaths in the cold room, Zhu Youjian suddenly came to his senses, and quickly said with a warm smile: "I just realized that our Daming has internal and external troubles, and the people suffer from hunger and cold, and they are a little absent-minded for a while. Xu Aiqing should not be offended."

Xu Guangqi paid homage again solemnly, and said in a shy voice: "Your Majesty cares about our great Ming country and the country, and cares about the sufferings of hundreds of millions of people. It's too late for me to be happy, so how dare you take offense!"

The old man kowtowed his head a few times before slowly getting up, the corners of his eyes seemed a little moist, and there was a trace of indescribable trust and respect in his eyes looking at Zhu Youjian.

This scene made Zhu Youjian slightly taken aback.

Immediately, he understood.

This 'old scientist', the right servant of the Ministry of Rites, was very moved when he heard that he, the emperor, was concerned about the country and the people.

It is conceivable how disappointed and heartbroken this old man must have been when he saw the carpenter emperor when he was in Tianqi Dynasty!

"Xu Aiqing, I asked you to enter the palace today because I have something on my mind, and I want to tell you about it," Zhu Youjian said straight to the point after giving Xu Guangqi a seat:

"I got a wonderful book yesterday. By the way, it was edited by Song Yingxing and Song Aiqing, so I called him into the palace. After talking with him, I think there are so many talents in agriculture, astronomy, and firearms in the Ming Dynasty. A lot can be done.

I have just ascended the throne, and some government affairs are still unclear, so I called Xu Aiqing into the palace for this purpose. "

Xu Guangqi heard the words, the tears in the corners of his eyes became more obvious, he quickly got up, bowed deeply to the emperor, and said: "Your Majesty is concerned about the country and the people, and I am willing to do my best before I die!"

Zhu Youjian nodded slightly, and sighed in his heart: "It seems that the scholars of the Ming Dynasty are not all Donglin Party members who talk about harming the country..."

"Xu Aiqing, read this wonderful book first." Zhu Youjian pointed at Song Yingxing and said with a smile, "You two need to get closer to each other and move around more later."

Song Yingxing stepped forward quickly, handed a copy of "Heavenly Creation" to Xu Guangqi, bowed his head and said: "Master Xu, please correct me, Song Yingxing, the late student, is very grateful!"

Xu Guangqi could tell that the emperor attached great importance to this Song Yingxing, so he didn't dare to push him too hard, so he got up quickly, took the book of "Heavenly Craftsmanship" with both hands, dipped his slender fingers in his saliva, and slowly flipped through it. .

In the entire Qianqing Palace, there was only the slight sound of flipping books.

After a long time, Xu Guangqi slowly raised his head, closed his eyes and meditated for a while, then opened his eyes and stood up.

The old man first congratulated Zhu Youjian, then he solemnly walked up to Song Yingxing, bowed deeply, and said, "Mr. Song is really my national treasure of Ming Dynasty!"

This comment not only made Song Yingxing stunned.

Even Zhu Youjian was stunned for a moment, and said with a smile: "Is this book really as Xu Aiqing said, is it of great use?"

"Your Majesty, this heavenly work is not only useful, it can be called my Ming Dynasty's national treasure." Xu Guangqi's face turned red with excitement, and his gray goatee was trembling.

He said seriously: "In my spare time, I also do some research on agronomy, mathematics, astronomy and calendar, and learn some mathematics, geometry and anger production from the Western missionary Matteo Ricci and others;

Originally, Wei Chen was very conceited about this, thinking that the Ming Dynasty had made some achievements in this respect.

But after reading Mr. Song Yingxing's creation of heavenly creations, I have to feel ashamed of my previous arrogance! "

There is one thing to say, Xu Guangqi, the right servant of the Ministry of Rites and an old scientist, really impressed Zhu Youjian, and he naturally respected him more.

It is said that literati look down on each other, and there are exceptions to this!

"I don't know anything about these specific knowledge. From now on, I will have to rely on my two lovers." Zhu Youjian said with a smile.

Zhu Youjian clearly knows that he is a big fool, so if he wants to prodigal, he can only rely on these "scientists".

"By the way, Xu Aiqing," he suddenly thought, it is time to investigate whether this old man will waste money, "I plan to set up a group of schools to specialize in research and teaching of professional knowledge such as agronomy, astronomy, calendar, manufacturing, and arithmetic. How much silver?"

"In addition, I also want to build water conservancy, dredge rivers, repair bridges and repair roads in Shaanxi, Shanxi, Gansu and other places, and transform your scientific research achievements into productivity. How much money will you get?"

Zhu Youjian's eyes were piercing, and he looked at Xu Guangqi expectantly, hoping that the old man could come up with an astronomical figure, so that he would have a goal to fight for.

"Your Majesty, in my opinion, if we really want to fully implement it, I'm afraid it will cost... a lot of money." Xu Guangqi pondered, hesitating to speak.

"Tell me, I won't scare you to death." Zhu Youjian couldn't help being overjoyed when he heard that he needed a lot of money.

"Judging from the current fiscal and tax revenues of our Ming Dynasty, I'm afraid it's not enough to spend one-fifth of the money every year." Encouraged by the emperor, Xu Guangqi simply gritted his teeth and said:

"After all, over the past 200 years, my debts in agriculture, water conservancy and other aspects, if I want to make up for it all at once, even if I have a silver mountain, I'm afraid it won't be enough!"

Zhu Youjian was overjoyed, and said with a smile: "Haha, don't worry about the money, I will find a way for you!"

"The most urgent task is to clear the obstacles for you!"

"Come here, ask Wei Zhongxian to come over."

(End of this chapter)