Chapter 847 936 Royal Wheat

"If Minister Fu is transferred away, the opposition in the Ministry of Revenue will be reduced. As long as Minister Guo insists, there will be no obstacles to the sea transportation of grain in the Ministry of Revenue.

At this time, Wang Guoguang still treated him like a three-year-old child and said to Wei Guangde with confidence.

Wei Guangde was actually angry and even wanted to throw his hands on the matter.

He thought that under the current situation, it was right to support the sea transportation of grain. Not only could it save a lot of transportation costs for the court, but most importantly, it could avoid the impact of the Yellow River floods, ensure that the southern rice was transported to the capital in time, and stabilize the north.

Besides, Wei Guangde did not want to abandon the grain transport, but just let merchant ships go through the canal, and the water gate fees collected would maintain the smooth flow of the canal, so that the river workers on both sides would have a way to make a living and would not rise up to save their lives.

Moreover, Wei Guangde thought he had already made concessions, That is, most of the grain is still transported through the canal, and only a small part of the grain is transported by maintaining the sea route.

Even with such a policy that benefits the country and the people, Yang Bo and Wang Guoguang's party still hope to gain benefits from themselves, so Wei Guangde has to rethink the relationship between the Shanxi Gang and the South, especially the big merchants in Suzhou, Hangzhou and Yangzhou.

However, it is not a matter of one day or one night to loosen the maritime ban policy that has been implemented in the Ming Dynasty for more than a hundred years. It can only be done slowly.

Coming from the future, he knows that the significance of opening the sea to the country is not only to improve the economy, but also to look at the world squarely and break the country's closedness.

The Ming Dynasty was an open dynasty. It was not as self-contained as the Qing Dynasty, but was still willing to absorb the most advanced technology of this era.

In fact, if the Ming Dynasty could last for a hundred years, perhaps it would take advantage of the wave of the Western Industrial Revolution. , and it can develop smoothly.

Wei Guangde only focused on three tasks when he came here. One was to open the sea, let the Ming Dynasty integrate into the international order of this era, and become the maker of the Eastern order.

Western affairs are too far away to take care of at all given the current transportation and communication conditions.

As for learning from Portugal, Spain and Britain to occupy colonies all over the world, it is better to go to bed.

The Ming Dynasty has so many problems of its own that it can't take care of them. If you still want to fight abroad to grab territory, the civil servants around you can spray him to death.

As for the second one, it is to find the so-called root that supports the "Kangxi and Qianlong prosperity", that is, sweet potatoes. This thing has a huge output. It is precisely because of the large-scale planting of sweet potatoes in the country at that time that people did not starve to death, which made those hundred years of prosperity. During that time, the world was peaceful and was praised as the so-called "golden age".

Except that people could not afford to eat in the late Ming Dynasty, the "golden age of sweet potatoes" could barely be called a "golden age".

Since he came here, Wei Guangde naturally hoped to find that thing as soon as possible. He already had peppers, so he thought sweet potatoes and corn would soon appear.

Wei Guangde had attracted a lot of attention to sweet potatoes and corn before. One was that they were easy to grow. It was said that they would survive easily as long as they were planted, and the yield was large. Corn was suitable for growing in mountainous areas and under arid conditions. It was really the best food crop in the late Ming Dynasty.

However, Wei Guangde was not an old scholar who studied history after all. He did not know that what he was looking for was actually far away and close to him. It was growing not far from him and was also used as an ornamental plant, just like the peppers at the beginning.

Because of Wei Guangde's intervention, there are now large areas of pepper fields in Jiangxi and Nanjing, and Wei Guangde has already satisfied his appetite.

In fact, Wei Guangde's third task was naturally to want to live a good life in this life. The small goal of enjoying comfort had been completed long ago.

Now he eats well and sleeps well, which is better than the living standard of most people in the Ming Dynasty. It is already the top quality of life.

Of course, in Wei Guangde's opinion, it seems that the living conditions of ordinary people in later generations are still not as good as those of ordinary people in later generations, because the current technical level is like this.

Wei Guangde finally agreed to Wang Guoguang's request. He proposed Fu Yi to be the right censor of Nanjing Metropolitan Procuratorate and take charge of the affairs of the institute, just to complete the goal of opening up the sea step by step.

Although Fu Yi went to Nanjing Metropolitan Procuratorate as he wished, served as the right censor and took control of Nanjing Metropolitan Procuratorate, what he didn't know was that his name had been recorded in Wei Guangde's little notebook, and his career was destined to end. Wei Guangde would never allow him to go further, even if he had torn his face with Zhang Juzheng and Wang Guoguang for this.

Days passed, and the government was carried out in an orderly manner with the assistance of Zhang Juzheng, Wei Guangde and others.

There was no court meeting on this day, and it was the day when the little emperor Zhu Yijun went to class.

According to the schedule arranged by the Ministry of Rites, Wei Guangde went to the cabinet in the morning to check and deal with a few memorials, then walked out of the duty room.

After leaving the cabinet door, Wei Guangde went directly to the Wenhua Hall in the north.

The cabinet is not far from the Wenhua Hall. Wei Guangde had already walked outside the Wenhua Hall in less than half a cup of tea.

At the door of the Wenhua Hall, Wei Guangde stopped the eunuch on duty at the door and asked, "Has His Majesty arrived?"

"Reply to Wei, His Majesty has just arrived and is eating breakfast inside."

The eunuch was stopped by Wei Guangde and immediately answered respectfully.

Wei Guangde nodded and then stepped into the Wenhua Hall.

At this time, the little emperor Zhu Yijun, who was already sitting in the south of the Wenhua Hall, was yawning, and he was obviously not awake.

This scene was seen by Wei Guangde who walked to the door. When he stepped into the Wenhua Hall, the little emperor instantly became energetic, his fatigue disappeared, and he immediately sat up straight.

After entering the palace, Wei Guangde saluted the young emperor first. After the ceremony, he stood up and asked the young emperor Zhu Yijun loudly without waiting for him to speak: "When did your majesty rest last night? Why did you see your majesty yawning when you entered the palace?"

"Master Wei, last night..."

Zhu Yijun was suddenly asked by Wei Guangde, and was a little speechless, not knowing how to answer.

"Wei Gelao, yesterday He Luowen and He Jiangguan assigned the emperor a heavy homework to copy and study. The emperor copied until very late."

The eunuch on the side explained for the young emperor.

Wei Guangde was too lazy to ask the eunuch's name, but looked at Zhu Yijun and said: 'I think your majesty was playful again during the day, otherwise the homework assigned by the lecturer would never affect your majesty's rest. '

In this era, the homework assigned by the daily lecturer to the emperor was nothing more than reciting or copying the books of sages or the imperial Ming ancestral precepts. If you say it's a lot, it's definitely not a lot.

If the young emperor really affected his rest in order to complete his homework, then it can only be said that he must have delayed his homework time because of his playfulness.

"Your Majesty, when the late emperor was here, you had the late emperor to shelter you from the wind and rain, so you were very free and easy in the palace during those years.

But now the situation is different. You have ascended the throne and become the emperor. Even if you are young, you are still the emperor, the master of the world, and you must shoulder your own responsibilities.

You are young now, so you don't have to do this for the time being, but you have to study hard and lay the foundation for your future personal rule."

Wei Guangde did not do anything else next, and taught the young emperor Zhu Yijun according to the content that had been discussed long ago.

The little emperor's course was decided by the three people in the cabinet and the Minister of Personnel Lu Shusheng. Because there was no imperial examination, the teaching was different from private school teaching.

Private school teaching is to make students learn to read, and to prepare for the imperial examination, so the Four Books and Five Classics are required to be studied, so that they can answer the questions in the eight-part essay.

The profession of emperor is very special. It is a hereditary system, and one can hold power without taking the imperial examination.

Of course, there are similar military positions, such as hereditary hundred households, thousand households and commanders, which can also hold power when they reach a certain age.

From the perspective of power, hereditary military positions seem to be better than hereditary titles, because they have real power, while titles have no real power. The emperor will arrange the official position based on the closeness between the inheritor and the emperor.

The courses of the young emperor Zhu Yijun mainly focus on studying "University" and "Book of History". According to the arrangement, he should read "University" ten times first, then read "Book of History" ten times, and then the lecturers will give lectures.

This was not actually decided by Zhang Juzheng and Wei Guangde, but was based on the study courses of Emperor Yingzong at the time.

Wei Guangde studied "Book of History", which met the requirements of lecturing the young emperor.

However, "Book of History" is the most troublesome book among the Four Books and Five Classics. Very few people were selected, and although the number of words is small, it is daunting because it requires extremely strong memory.

The vocabulary used in the Book of Documents is very ancient, and the writing style is very different from today. Based on this, most people will not read it.

The Book of Documents was called in the Han Dynasty. It was previously called the Book of Documents. As a historical book of recorded words, the Book of Documents is one of the earliest official archival documents in China. It is unknown how many chapters it originally had. It is said that it was edited and compiled by Confucius.

Qin Shihuang burned books and buried scholars, prohibiting the circulation and study of the Book of Songs, the Book of Documents, and the works of various schools of thought.

Fu Sheng, a native of Jinan, was a Qin doctor. When the book burning order was issued, he hid the Book of Documents in the wall. In the subsequent wars, Fu Sheng was exiled everywhere. It was not until the beginning of the Han Dynasty that society settled down. He went back to look for the book, but more than ten chapters had been damaged, leaving only 29 chapters.

It is not easy to memorize the Book of Documents. Without the text, even a scholar like Fu Sheng could not restore the entire book, so he had to use the remaining 29 chapters to teach in Shandong.

The popular text in the Han Dynasty was official script, and the book that Fu Sheng had hidden before was written in Qin seal script or ancient Zhuan script.

Therefore, when Fu Sheng taught, he had to translate ancient characters into "modern text". The Han Dynasty established doctors of the Five Classics, and used the modern text of the Book of Documents as teaching materials.

How difficult is it to understand the Book of Documents?

In the words of Liang Qichao, a master of Chinese studies, if you read the Book of Documents without reading the annotations, you will not understand it.

There is a sentence in the Book of Documents·Pan Geng: "Di Gao Hou Pi Nai Chong Jiang Fu Xiang."

Do you feel like "I know every word, but I don't know what they mean when they are put together"?

But it is easy to understand after looking at the annotations. "Di" is an interjection and has no meaning.

"Gao Hou" means Gaozu and ancestor.

"Pi Nai" means then and then.

"Chong" means major.

"Fu Xiang" means ominous and punishment.

"Su Yi" means "the ancestors will then bring down heavy disasters."

Despite this, the Book of Documents is an important part of ancient Chinese culture and one of the Confucian classics, recording the politics, military, culture, and system of ancient times.

The Book of Documents is divided into four parts: the Book of Yu, the Book of Xia, the Book of Shang, and the Book of Zhou. Each part records historical events and political systems in different periods.

The content of the Book of Documents includes political systems, legal systems, religious systems, military systems, economic systems, etc. The most important thing is that it records the political and legal systems of ancient times.

Chapters such as "Gan Shi", "Tang Shi", and "Pan Geng" in the Book of Documents are important documents for studying ancient political and legal systems.

In addition, the Book of Documents also contains some philosophical thoughts. For example, the chapter "All Have One Virtue" reflects the Confucian moral thought, which believes that people should abide by moral norms and pursue moral perfection.

The chapter "Hong Fan" expounds the Confucian view of destiny, believing that destiny is sacred and people should follow destiny.

In general, the Book of Documents is an important part of ancient Chinese culture and has important value for studying ancient Chinese politics, military, culture, and systems.

Since it is so important, the obscure Book of Documents has become a compulsory textbook for the emperor. Since the Han Dynasty, it has been the knowledge that every emperor needs to learn.

After the lecture, the little emperor went to the warm room to rest, and the Silijian presented the memorials of various government offices to the emperor for review, and Wei Guangde was waiting by his side.

If it were other lecturers, they would go to the west wing to rest and wait at this time.

Today is Wei Guangde's lecture, so he has to be on the side. If the little emperor has any questions, he can explain the things in the book one by one, so that the emperor will be wise tomorrow and the state affairs will be naturally familiar with it over time.

After reading the book, the young emperor had to practice calligraphy under the guidance of the official who rectified the characters. The emperor's calligraphy level was not required to be very high, but it could not be too bad.

When it was close to lunch time, Wei Guangde had to talk about the excerpts of "Zizhi Tongjian". According to the lecturer's previous lecture, he skipped it and continued to talk about the latter part, explaining the facts of the rise and fall of the previous dynasty directly.

At this time, Zhu Yijun's morning class was over. There was no class arranged in the afternoon, but the lecturer would usually assign homework, such as memorizing a certain article or practicing a certain number of calligraphy.

When Wei Guangde was about to leave, the young emperor suddenly smiled and said to him: "Master, I will not go back to the palace today. I will have lunch here. Master Wei will accompany me.

The imperial kitchen received a dish yesterday. Although it tasted plain at first, it tasted different when I ate it again."

"Then thank your majesty."

When Wei Guangde heard that the young emperor gave a banquet, he didn't care. The imperial meal was not as delicious as he imagined. It was just so-so, not as good as the signature dishes of the big restaurants outside.

However, since the young emperor was willing, Wei Guangde would not reject his idea and accepted it happily.

Wei Guangde put away the paper on which the young emperor had practiced calligraphy before, and he was going to take it back to the cabinet.

These papers were placed in order, so that the emperor's calligraphy progress could be known after a long time, and there would be a comparison before and after.

However, at the banquet, when Wei Guangde saw one of the dishes, his eyes widened. He picked up the chopsticks and picked it up without greeting the young emperor, and looked at it repeatedly.

"Master Wei, you have never seen this thing."

The young emperor on the throne said conceitedly, and Wei Guangde realized that he seemed to be reckless just now.

"Your Majesty, what is this?"

Although Wei Guangde already knew it, he still pretended not to know and asked.

"This thing is called imperial wheat, which is planted in the West Garden. It matured some time ago, so the imperial kitchen was asked to make it."

The young emperor was very happy that Wei Guangde did not know it, so he popularized it for him.

"There has always been this thing in the palace?"

Wei Guangde asked suspiciously.