Idle courtiers

Chapter 373 Teacher Zhou's Daily Life

Having found the meaning of life, Zhou Nan became busy instead of being casual and lazy in the past.

Even though he was sent by the emperor, he didn't have to go to the early court, and he was on duty in front of the palace to get a salary in a name. Who would think that he had little money?But Mr. Zhou still got up early every day, and went to the Daolu Department to finish the official duties at hand.

Then go to Xiyuan Emperor to drive.

Some people may say that when you go to Jiajing, you will be mentally nervous, and there is nothing to do when you go to Jiajing.

In fact, this statement is wrong.

After a few days by the emperor's side, Zhou Nan realized that this was a hard job, and also discovered the trouble of superstitious little old men.

Comrade Jiajing has become a bit of a chatterbox. Whenever he encounters a problem, he will count it out, and then ask Zhou Nan to explain it with the Book of Changes.

Poor Zhou Zimu has a limited level of Chinese studies, and at this time he has to force himself to study "Book of Changes" to give the emperor a satisfactory answer.After coming down, he also ruthlessly made up for this knowledge.In addition, he himself has to prepare for the imperial examination next month, and he is always in a tense state mentally.

At this time, Zhou Nan was a little annoyed, knowing that Ru should have studied "Book of Changes" instead of "Spring and Autumn".

In addition to divination, old comrades in Jiajing also set up an altar from time to time to pray to God.Naturally, Mr. Zhou will inevitably write a poem to suit the occasion.

This is the happiest time for Zhou Zimu. He prepared many useful articles early on, read them according to the scriptures, and then burned the sacrifice to heaven and earth.

It has to be said that the Daoist Association of the later generations still has many talents. After all, the human resources and information conditions of the later generations are much more advanced than those of the Ming Dynasty, and the Qing Ci they wrote is also excellent.In particular, several works by Chen Yingning, the leader of modern Taoism, made Jiajing's eyes brighten.I praised it: "It's better than Yan Song's writing."

Zhou Nan was proud, Chen Daochang's things were naturally very good, and he was respected by the Taoist circle as the contemporary Supreme Lord, the person closest to the gods.

Immortals are not immortals, and Zhou Nan doesn't think so.However, the academic attainment of this [-]th century Daoist Association chairman was indeed the best at that time.

Jiajing did not burn Zhou Nan's Qing Ci to the torch as usual, but transcribed another copy for the bottom line, so I can read it when I have nothing to do.

In addition, because Chen Yingning's works won his favor, he also rewarded a lot of things.

For example, fragrant leaf crowns, dust whisks, incense burners, incense sticks... These things are worthless and have no practical value, but they are rewards from the emperor, and you don't dare to throw them away, so they must be provided properly.

Other things are good, the fragrant leaf crown is on the desk, once withered, it is no different from firewood, and it looks funny, which caused Zhou Nan a headache.

Boss, even if you want to reward, can you give me some gold and silver? What's the point of giving these things that are not suitable for eating or drinking.

In addition, Jiajing took medicine indiscriminately and his eyesight was not good because of his age.There was no way to read the memorial of the minister who drafted the bill sent by the cabinet, so Huang Jin had to read it to him word by word.After listening, the emperor would usually say "yes" or "no", "according to the cabinet's vote."

Huang Jin's purpose for letting Zhou Nan go to Xiyuan to accompany him is very clear: to let Zhou Nan quietly persuade Jiajing to take less of the so-called longevity medicine.

Eunuch Huang has served the emperor for more than 20 years, and no one in the world knows the emperor's emotions better than him.Only Zhou Nan could admonish the emperor.Because Jiajing really liked Zhou Nan's Qing Ci, and the emperor also regarded him as his future son-in-law.

The son-in-law is half a child, and the two dragons don't meet each other, but seeing the son-in-law can also make up for the lack of family affection in his heart.

Since the son of Yuxi Palace sued Zhou Nan and Concubine Li for having an affair last time, the little prince has not been accepted into the palace by the emperor for a long time. It is estimated that Jiajing also has opinions on Prince Yu's Mansion.

He is such a moody, unpredictable person.

Zhou Nan also compiled a Taoist theory to persuade Jiajing to take less longevity medicine, but it didn't help.

Our Lord Zhou doesn't care about Jiajing's life or death at all. People who take drugs are looking for death, and no one can save them.

According to Zhou Nan and Huang Jin's analysis, Jiajing's longevity medicine contained aphrodisiac ingredients, and after taking it, the body reacted violently and felt extremely uncomfortable.Jiajing is getting old, and he is not keen on the affairs of men and women. Every time he takes medicine, he will meditate and practice Qi.It's about using skills to dissolve antidote, and moving dragons and tigers, in fact, it's using the body to carry it hard.

This meditation usually takes two hours, and this is Zhou Nan's most leisurely day.

In Xiyuan and Eunuch Huang ate a royal meal without any nutrition and no vitamins, he took the time to memorize a few texts and write a stereotyped article in the imperial study.

Huang Jin is an old man who seldom sleeps and does not take a lunch break, so he would come over to read Zhou Nan's essays and order a few sentences casually.

In the hands of the Supervisor of Rituals, the knowledge of the Wai Hanlin is not built. If it weren't for his disability, Mr. Huang would be a good man, and Zhou Nan would gain a lot every time.

With world-class figures like Wang Shizhen and Huang Jin as teachers, Zhou Nan's strange encounter was the first in the Ming Dynasty.

If you fail the Jinshi exam again, it will be unreasonable.

After the emperor finished his meditation and dispersed the five stone powder and the aphrodisiac in his body, there was nothing wrong with it at this time.Zhu, Huang, and Wednesday usually walk around Xiyuan casually, chatting.

When it was time to apply, Zhou Nan could leave Xiyuan after get off work.

But he can't go home yet, so he has to go to Wang Shizhen to hand in today's essay, correct and comment on it, and then be severely criticized by Teacher Wang.

No matter how good Zhou Nan's composition is, as a strict teacher, Wang Shizhen will not be polite: "Zhou Nan, why do you enter the examination room for an essay like this, and why do you win the Jinshi? You are the worst student I have ever taught. One of you, my reputation, Wang Shizhen, will be completely ruined by you!"

What else could Zhou Nan say, so he had to bow his head and admit his mistake.

There are still [-] days to go to the examination room, not only Zhou Nan, but even Wang Shizhen is impatient, and the supervision is extremely strict.

By the time I returned home from Wang Shizhen's class, it was already midnight, and after a rough estimate, it was twelve o'clock midnight Beijing time.

After returning home, Zhou Nan immediately fell asleep and had to get up before dawn. He was seriously deprived of sleep, his face was full of pimples, and his appearance plummeted.

In the past few days, Zhou Nan went to Neishutang to give an economics lesson to the eunuchs.

Economics is a rigorous science that cannot be taught indiscriminately.The first class is the general outline, and from the second class onwards, they have to be systematically instilled with practical knowledge.

Zhou Nan drew up a teaching syllabus in advance, and now I will start with the first subject of productivity and production relations in detail.

This groundbreaking new knowledge, this "dragon slaying technique" naturally shocked the eunuchs.

In addition to going to the inner book hall, reading memorials to the emperor, and accompanying the emperor in superstitious activities, Zhou Nan, as a close minister of the emperor, also participated in the sutra banquet.

The so-called Jingyan refers to the imperial lecture hall specially set up by the emperors since the Han and Tang Dynasties to lecture on the scriptures and history.It was formally institutionalized in the Song Dynasty and followed by the Yuan and Ming.

Lectures are held three times on the [-]nd, [-]th, and [-]nd of each month, in the Emperor’s Wenhua Palace, and are temporarily exempted in case of cold or heat.The opening of the scriptures is a grand ceremony for the imperial court. It is a feast for one person to know the scriptures, a cabinet scholar who knows or knows the scriptures together, six ministers and other officials and attendants, and there are also people who exhibit books, wait for ceremonies, offer ceremonies, and praise ceremonies.

Zhou Nan has experienced two Sutra banquets successively. The first one was given by Zhang Juzheng, and the second one was by Xu Jie.As a person who is about to take the provincial examination, Mr. Zhou feels that he still has a lot to gain.

After the banquet, Zhang Juzheng took Zhou Nan to discuss with him the taxation system of the imperial court, especially the nature of currency that Zhou Nan talked about in the first class in the inner school.Especially the phrase what is money, money itself has no value, the value of money lies in the guarantee of national credit, which refreshed and inspired Lao Zhang.

The two talked about the issue of replacing the true nature of real objects with monetary taxes, which already has the shadow of a later whipping method.In fact, in the affluent areas in the south of the Yangtze River, the government has begun to refuse to accept the true color when collecting taxes, and only collects the color, in order to reduce unnecessary expenses and losses.

In Zhou Nan's view, a whip is a good way to prolong the life of Ming Dynasty. If Wanli and Tianqi continue to implement it for several dynasties, the treasury will be full, and even if there is a natural disaster, it will have the ability to provide relief. Naturally, it will not be as good as Li Zicheng and Huang Taiji. It's over.

It's a pity that Zhang Taiyue's government is harsh, especially the hidden land and the examination method of Qingzhang's folks offended the entire bureaucratic and gentry group, so that people died and the government was extinguished.

This is indeed a sad sigh!
If the future Zhang Shoufu was not so concerned when he governed, Xu would be the plan; if the Wanli Emperor hadn't hated Zhang Juzheng so much because of his rebellious psychology as an adult, history might be different, right?

There are no assumptions in history, but what if the file can be retrieved and restarted?
Thinking of this, Zhou Nan felt insane.

Xu Jie was the keynote speaker for the second session of the Jingyan, and Zhou Nan and him were at odds, and it was a little awkward to meet him.

But Lao Xu still had a smile on his face. When he saw Zhou Nan, he took his hand and shouted "Zimu" affectionately, which made Lao Zhou sweat profusely, and his heart was so bored to death.

"Zhou Nan, I have seen the homework you assigned when you were teaching in the inner school. Among them, the standard system is quite innovative." Jiajing finished his meditation in the afternoon of that day.Probably the so-called "qigong" he used failed to dissolve the medicinal properties in his body.There was no other way, and they wandered along the South China Sea under Huang Jin's persuasion.

The two close ministers Zhou Nan and Huang Jin naturally accompanied, followed by a group of eunuchs and guards at a distance.

Zhou Nan didn't expect that the emperor even knew about this, and the secret service organizations of the Ming Dynasty were really pervasive!By the way, isn't the East Factory run by eunuchs? It is inevitable that no one among the students is familiar with the business in advance.

Teaching students miscellaneous knowledge, rather than the words of a sage, if someone really wants to farfetch it, it is really a troublesome thing.Lord Zhou hurriedly confessed: "Your Majesty, I am guilty."

Jiajing smiled coldly: "The servants are all my domestic slaves. Of course, moral articles must be taught, but practical knowledge should not be neglected. I don't want people around me to be useless scholars. I want them to be able to do things and deviate from the norms. You can also teach some things."

Zhou Nan breathed a sigh of relief and explained: "The so-called standard system means that some kind of material is used as the common currency of a country, that is, money. In addition to the credit of the country's court and the emperor as a guarantee, this thing must also have They are of high value and are recognized by the common people. For example, copper coins and silver are also used as standard in foreign countries overseas. Copper coins and silver in our dynasty are based on base metals, while those overseas are based on precious metals.”

As he spoke, he roughly explained the standard system to the emperor.

Jiajing listened to the question, thought for a while, and said: "Actually, it's not right. When the copper coins of my dynasty were minted and issued, they were guaranteed by food stocks in Taicang and other places. It should be based on grain."

Zhou Nan was taken aback, it was true.In ancient China, there has always been a saying that food is the most important thing for the people, and the issuance and recycling of currency are directly linked to food. This Jiajing is really amazing.

Then he said sincerely: "The emperor is holy."

Jiajing: "What a pity!"

Huang Jin asked jokingly, "What's the pity, master?"

Jiajing pointed at Zhou Nan: "It's a pity that you are not an Imperial Academy, but it's a pity that you are too young. If you are the Sixth Ministry, why should I have a headache for the candidate for the first assistant?"

Yes, it's such a pity.Jiajing also got a copy of Zhou Nan's lecture notes in the inner school, and he was fascinated by it.He may not be a big politician, but he can still be ranked among the top few kings in the Ming Dynasty.

Since he succeeded to the throne, so many turbulent waves in the court have been resolved one by one by him with superb means.

In ancient times, the monarchs learned about power and strategy. Apart from the emperor's teacher and the professors of the first emperor, they could only learn from books, learn history, and learn the ways of governing the country from the ancients. This is the reason why Sima Guang wrote "Zi Zhi Tong Jian" for the emperor. .

When ancient scholars wrote history books and taught the emperor how to govern, due to the limitations of the times, some things could not be seen clearly, and they only talked about it from the complexity.

But Zhou Nan only used a simple class division, and only used the sentence "the economic base determines the superstructure" and "productivity determines the production relationship, and the production relationship reacts to the productivity" to completely simplify the problem and explain the truth thoroughly.

This can no longer be summed up by the word "great sage". When you think about it carefully, it is really terrifying, and you have to admire it.

Regardless of this, Zhou Nan's financial management ideas are eye-catching.

Jiajing naturally knew all the problems of the Ming Dynasty, whether it was administration or anti-corruption, in the final analysis, it was all about the word "money". If you have money, you can talk about anything, but if you don't have money, you can't do it.

When he used Yan Song as the first assistant, what he wanted was his financial management methods.

Seeing Zhou Nan in front of him, this person has extraordinary knowledge, knows how to manage money, and can write good poems. He is greedy for money and spends money. He is simply a copy of Yan Song when he was young.

Such a person is born to reconcile yin and yang and communicate with the left and right.

If he was born in Hanlin, and he was a five or sixty-year-old minister, maybe Jiajing really wanted him to be the chief assistant.

It's a pity that he is not even a Juren now, but he is useless.

That's fine, let him be a relative of Xun with peace of mind in the future!Jiajing thought so.

The emperor's words are the highest evaluation for Zhou Nan, which shows the prosperity of the holy family.Mr. Zhou was naturally proud, at this moment, he had a thought, this is a good opportunity to give old man Xu eye drops, should I do it, or should I do it?
(End of this chapter)