Ming politicians

The Forbidden City, the Hall of Mental Cultivation.

Emperor Chongzhen Zhu Youjian was watching the secret performance.Although the Emperor Chongzhen's reputation in history is not very good, he is rare in hard work, and his life is not extravagant, not to mention that he has many women.

It is said that such an emperor has become the king of subjugation, which is somewhat unfair.

Beside Zhu Youjian is the eunuch Wang Chengen, the supervisor of ceremonies and Bingbi. This Wang Chengen is also well-known. In March of the 17th year of Chongzhen, after the city of Beijing was captured by Li Zicheng's peasant uprising army, only Wang Chengen accompanied Zhu Youjian in the huge palace. By Jian's side, they committed suicide together.

Zhu Youjian is a rare industrious emperor, but it is a pity that the stall left by his ancestors is not for those who are talented and bold, and it is difficult to bear and rejuvenate, but Zhu Youjian is not such a talent.

Zhu Youjian ascended the throne at the age of 16. Since he succeeded to the throne, the biggest thing he has done is to kill the eunuch Wei Zhongxian. The history, the supervisory censor, and the six departments are all in charge. These officials who have always liked to make noise and pick bones in their eggs are unanimously applauded.

Zhu Youjian has been the emperor for five years, and there is nothing outstanding about the rest of the things. On the contrary, the post station, which is now the post and telecommunications office, was dismantled and tested, causing Li Zicheng, an employee of the post and telecommunications office, to lose his job, and he rebelled. Now it has become a climate, which makes Zhu Youjian a headache.The imperial court has no money, and there are many things, even if they want to handle them, there is no way.

Historical evaluations say that Zhu Youjian was a talented man with little ambition and a suspicious nature. Although he was hardworking, he would inevitably be a king of subjugation.

Zhu Youjian watched the secret performance for less than half an hour, and it was already dark, so Wang Chengen carefully reminded him.

"Your Majesty, the night is getting late, and it will be midnight soon. You should rest, and this servant will serve you to bed."

"Don't worry, don't worry, Eunuch Wang, I remember this Su Tiancheng, who I commended at the beginning of the year, by the way, who was the one who went to Shanxi to announce the decree, I can't remember."

"Your Majesty, it is the chief inspector of ceremonies accompanying Qin Sande."

"Oh, I remembered, this Qin Sande, after he came back, also said that Su Tiancheng is good, father-in-law, what do you think of this Su Tiancheng?"

"My servant congratulates the emperor on his arrival. There are young and talented people in the court. This is the great blessing of the emperor. The servant thinks that the emperor's filial piety and diligence have touched the heavens. This is a blessing from the heavens."

"Father-in-law, I'm afraid you already know the contents of this secret memorial. This Su Tiancheng is about to take part in the general examination and palace examination. Let's see how his talent is."

Wang Chengen stood aside and did not speak.

"Su Tiancheng performed very well in annihilating the bandits. The poems he wrote were superb. He was also a provincial examination Jieyuan. He must have both civil and military skills. That Xu Eryi has always liked to criticize. He is an old stubborn man. You actually think Su Tiancheng is good, and strongly recommend him, father-in-law, that's how you look at this matter."

"Your Majesty, this servant has spoken bluntly. Master Xu is stubborn, and everyone in the court knows that anyone who wants to recommend him is good. Su Tiancheng is only 19 years old. Compared with the civil and military men of the Manchu Dynasty, he is very young. The servant thinks that as long as the emperor Take it seriously, Su Tiancheng must be grateful and serve the emperor."

"You said that, and my mood suddenly improved. I also have the same idea. The court is short of talents."

Wang Chengen was a little anxious, wondering why the emperor thought about the court again.

Fortunately, Zhu Youjian quickly changed the subject.

"These secret rehearsals are very interesting. I think this Su Tiancheng is not easy. If he can participate in the palace examination, I will take a good examination of the school. After the morning court tomorrow, I will send a decree to Weng Tongzhang, the right-hand envoy of the Metropolitan Procuratorate. Come to Wenhua Hall to meet me, Weng Tongzhang is Su Tiancheng's teacher, he used to be the magistrate of Pingyang Prefecture, I want to ask, see what Weng Tongzhang thinks of Su Tiancheng. Su Tiancheng came to the capital, didn't he visit Weng Tongzhang?"

After the early court the next day, Weng Tongzhang received the order and stayed behind. He followed Wang Chengen and went to the Wenhua Hall to meet the emperor.

The Wenhua Hall is where Zhu Youjian and the cabinet ministers discussed matters. After the early court, if Zhu Youjian wanted to summon a minister, after the discussion was over, Wang Chengen would bring the ministers directly to the Wenhua Hall.

When they arrived at Wenhua Hall, after Wang Chengen went in to report, he took Weng Tongzhang into Wenhua Hall.

"Chen Weng Tongzhang pays homage to the emperor, long live the emperor..."

"Pingshen, Weng Qing's family doesn't have to be like this, this is not above the main hall."

Inside the Wenhua Hall, only a pot of charcoal fire was placed, and the huge palace seemed chilly.

After Zhu Youjian ascended the throne, financial resources were tight, and the court was so short of money that it could not be increased. He even sold some ginseng in the palace to supplement the treasury.

Zhu Youjian is only 21 years old, a young man to the letter, but he is on the throne of the emperor, he is exhausted every day, and he has to deal with many troublesome things, preventing party struggles and corruption among the ministers of the DPRK and China. Jin's molestation and rogue bandits have troubled him, but these years have been plagued by disasters, and he seems to be prematurely aging.

"Weng Qing's family, I came to you today to ask about your student Su Tiancheng."

Hearing what the emperor said, Weng Tongzhang breathed a sigh of relief. He was uneasy when he didn't know what the emperor had summoned.

"Your Majesty, I think that Su Tiancheng is pure and pure, and he is a rare talent."

"Oh, tell me why."

"When I was the magistrate of Pingyang Prefecture, I had some conversations with Su Tiancheng. I felt that he was not simple. At the age of 19, he was able to be flattered or humiliated. He behaved in a low-key way, spoke decently, and was neither overbearing nor humble. He was already different from ordinary people. I have met many young people who are full of ambitions after high school, but when I talked with Su Tiancheng after the high school rural examination Jie Yuan, Su Tiancheng actually thought that the rural high school examination is not worth celebrating."

Zhu Youjian nodded. There is nothing strange about it. After the provincial examination and high school, they all wanted to take the national examination and palace examination. Su Tiancheng's actions showed maturity. Judging from his age, he had some advantages.

"Since last year, Su Tiancheng has done two things. The first is to support his own tenants. Pingyang Prefecture suffered a disaster and the tenants' lives were difficult. He provided the tenants with food, salt, seeds, etc., so that the tenants survived the difficulties. The second is Developed agricultural production, taught farmers to grow corn and sweet potatoes, the yield of corn reached more than two stones per mu, and the output of sweet potatoes reached ten stones per mu, which greatly alleviated the famine."

"The production of sweet potatoes has aroused the surprise of the gentry and wealthy households in Pingyang Prefecture. What is commendable is that Su Tiancheng donated two thousand shi of sweet potatoes to the government to promote the technology of sweet potato cultivation. I predict that Pingyang Prefecture will vigorously promote the cultivation of sweet potatoes this year. .”

Zhu Youjian was very surprised. Su Tiancheng was only 19 years old, and it was really not easy to do such a big thing. Don't look at many ministers in the court. They say that they are high-sounding, but they are actually doing something else. At this time, Su Tiancheng took the guards in the mansion to kill three hundred rogues, and wiped out all the rogues, how powerful it must be.

Scholars are generally not familiar with the farm work in the field.

In the secret note, there are some situations that are not clearly stated.

Zhu Youjian even thought about meeting this Su Tiancheng immediately.

"The Qing family has such a high opinion of Su Tiancheng, and Su Tiancheng is your student. It seems that the Qing family can find talents, so we should pay more attention to this Su Tiancheng."

"The minister obeys the order."

After leaving the palace, Weng Tongzhang was very surprised. He didn't know why the emperor paid so much attention to Su Tiancheng. The emperor's meaning was very clear. Su Tiancheng had to pass the general examination and take part in the palace examination. The emperor wanted to meet Su Tiancheng very much.

Weng Tongzhang couldn't figure out what kind of ability Su Tiancheng possessed to be so highly valued by the emperor, and Su Tiancheng wasn't the only one who had Jieyuan. Besides, Su Tiancheng was young after all, he had no hair on his mouth, and he was not good at doing things. Prison requires a lot of experience, of course, the emperor is an exception.

Weng Tongzhang was still a little happy. Su Tiancheng was his student, and it would be his honor if he could be the top student in high school. Moreover, Su Tiancheng was promising in the future, so he could follow suit.

The chief assistant of the cabinet, Zhou Yanru, entered the Hall of Mental Cultivation.

"Zhou Aiqing, the situation of the test, how are your preparations going?"

"My lord, everything is ready."

Zhou Yanru was worrying about the matter in Dengzhou, Shandong. The Dengzhou mutiny was a major blow to the imperial court. As a logistics base for fighting against Houjin, Dengzhou played a pivotal role. There were many military supplies stored there. Now all of them have been taken captive by the rebel general Kong Youde, the governor of Shandong and the officials of Dengzhou have all been captured.

Of course, Sun Yuanhua, governor of Shandong, was recommended by Wen Tiren, so he was not responsible for negligence in employing people.

But Wen Tiren went up to the emperor and impeached him for his ineffective rescue. Because Sun Yuanhua was not an official recommended by him, he ignored Dengzhou.

Although the emperor didn't say anything, Zhou Yanru was still a little uneasy in his heart.

For some reason, the emperor asked about the examination, but did not mention the Dengzhou mutiny in Shandong.

"Zhou Aiqing, the examination is to select talents for the imperial court. You are the chief examiner, so you must do your best, and you must not neglect outstanding talents. The invasion of late gold, the harassment of bandits, the successive years of disasters, and the occurrence of such a big event in Dengzhou, I am very sorry It's anxiety, the imperial court needs talents."

"I must do my best to select talents for the court."

Zhu Youjian looked at Zhou Yanru, thinking about what to say, but in the end he didn't speak.

Zhou Yanru is familiar with this kind of situation. The emperor must be thinking of recommending someone, but considering the seriousness of the test, he will not open his mouth. Under such a situation, it is impossible for him to ask. He needs to find out the details secretly up.

Zhou Yanru looked at Wang Chengen beside the emperor.