Wanli flipped through the secret text for a long time, and there was indeed no word I.

After several years of transformation, the telegraph network implemented by Zhang Juzheng was spread from Jingshipu to Beizhili, and then from Beizhili to various places, and the telegraph cipher of the Ming Dynasty has also been changed many times.

From the earliest Qi Jiajun codebook to today's three sets of parallel Yin and Yang Five Elements codebook for officials, soldiers and civilians, the ciphertext covers almost all the characters, but there is no 'I'.

In fact, it has nothing to do with evasion, and the word evasion must be used in some cases to convey information, but the word I really don't need it.

After Xiao Wanli entered the telegraph room and burned incense, a telegram from the Ming Emperor to the border army that began with 'I am Yijun, remember to add my self-proclaimed name when reading the will to maintain majesty' was transmitted rapidly in the land of the Ming Dynasty.

After sending the telegram, the emperor was in a good mood, and was about to leave the telegraph room with King Lu, when he suddenly thought of something, and turned back to the eunuch and asked: "The telegram can be sent so far, is the telegraph line repaired there?" If I remember correctly, from Jiayuguan to Jiulian City, it is nearly 10,000 miles, not to mention the south, how long is this telegraph line? 100,000 miles? ”

The eunuch didn't know what the emperor meant when he asked what he meant, so he said easily: "Back to Your Majesty, in the past four years, the imperial court has repaired more than 100,000 miles of telegraph lines, and all prefectures, big cities, and important towns have set up telegraph room divisions, and the localities have to go directly to the counties and guards, where is it enough to repair 100,000 li." ”

The eunuch said with a mysterious expression on his face: "The slave maid heard that the cabinet has set a goal for the Ministry of Industry to increase the national telegraph line to 370,000 li next year. ”

As he spoke, the eunuch found that the little emperor had actually raised his fingers there, and finally simply walked out, squatted on the snow and drew with his fingers, clapped his hands for a moment and said angrily: "Okay, the imperial court repaired the telegraph line for more than 300,000 li, and the craftsmen in the palace actually dared to ask me for a price of fifty taels of one mile!" ”

"How shrewd I am, how dare I deceive me!"

The little emperor's sleeves were already rolled up, and he strode out angrily, but was stopped by the eunuch and dragged him: "Grandpa Emperor, don't worry, fifty taels in the palace is normal, it's normal!" ”

"Normal fart! Do you want to be a pure army? The little emperor turned his head and said angrily: "Fifty taels in the palace is normal, but wouldn't it cost eighteen million taels to repair 370,000 li telegrams outside the palace!" Where do I have so much money! ”

Daming is rich, Xiao Wanli knows, but Daming is not so rich, right?

"Your Majesty listened to the slave maid, don't be impatient, don't be impatient!"

"Don't be impatient if you are a little restless, it is a clear matter, the money of the household department is clearly calculated, and there is not so much at all!" The little emperor was angry in his head, and immediately felt that he had revealed some great secret after speaking, so he quickly closed his mouth and looked around left and right, and then continued: "After sending the military salary and Lu Lu rice, there were at most six million taels left last year, and I still have to go to disaster relief, which has been like this for the past few years, where is the telegram so expensive!" ”

"Your Majesty, this telegram is really so expensive, and the money spent by the imperial court on it in the past four years has already been 11 million taels."

"The cost of digging up the floor in the palace to lay the circuit is higher than building a telephone pole, outside the palace on the Hucheng elephant house, the cost of a mile is ninety-four twenty-seven dollars of silver, our palace is full of eunuchs, digging slate grandfather in a word, outside the palace can recruit people to start work, here and outside are all expenses."

This is true, in this era, the construction of such a huge project, and the construction of all provinces, provinces, provinces and counties at the same time, will not be less. Twenty years earlier, even if the courtiers knew that the telegraph was a good thing, they would definitely not have laid it out on such a large scale, and at most they would have built a horizontal and vertical one in the Gyeonggi area.

It was only when the prosperous overseas trade provided the imperial court with large tariffs and the examination law hung a sharp knife over the head of every bureaucrat that this huge project, which could not be carried out in the first place and would have to drag on for years or even more than ten years, was carried out at a rapid pace.

The test method is really a sharp blade, not just stuck behind people's buttocks and making people unable to relax.

As long as Zhang Juzheng thinks about it, the examination method is also a good helper to control the imperial court from top to bottom for his own use, and 'setting limits on examination matters and holding people accountable for things' can break the shortcomings of officialdom in the most efficient way under this historical condition, so it is a sharp blade.

However, where did the so-called 'limit the examination and blame the person with the matter'? This is like a sieve, which not only sifts out officials who do not have the ability to be pragmatic, but can also most efficiently use the means of demotion and dismissal to screen out officials who oppose reform from the officialdom.

Make a rule that won't take you to play.

Wanli's arms slowly wrapped around his chest, frowning and pondering, and said: "There is some truth in what you say, I heard that Shandong has built the most powerful telephone poles this year with work-for-relief, and it seems that there is also a special civil telegraph room, and the counties are allowed to charge for passing on the news - the wages for digging the ground should be the bulk of the cost, right?" ”

The chief eunuch nodded like a chicken pecking rice, and the little emperor's words made his face turn green.

"The eunuch doesn't need to be paid for digging the ground, and the electricity in the palace doesn't need a two-way steam engine in the post station, and next to the telegraph room is the fire engine room, so where did these fifty taels come from? Do you dare to say that no one is greedy for ink? ”

The little emperor hugged his arms and raised his brain, and the whole detective Yijun twisted his eyebrows and said: "Think about it and then answer, it was originally none of your business, if you say no, I will find out and send you to Xiaolingwei first." ”

No disaster!

Where do the chief eunuchs dare to speak, to be honest, the greedy ink in this Forbidden City is only divided into big and small, the eunuchs are not perfect, and naturally they can't be perfect, they are tired and tired after running all day long, looking for opportunities, who doesn't want to ink a stroke?

One mile and fifty taels are definitely moved, but the silver removed is definitely not much, he wants to keep it, that's because at most it's a matter of seven or eight taels of one mile, but let him take his head to protect it?

The chief eunuch stopped talking.

Wanli's age is no longer a child, but his invincible growth environment has not allowed him to learn the restraint that others have already understood when he was a teenager, at least in front of everyone except Zhang Juzheng and Empress Dowager Li, he doesn't need to have the slightest restraint, but he can understand what other people's expressions mean.

"That's what you know someone is greedy."

The emperor's expression was clear, and he once again secretly admired his wit as an emperor, and followed the temptation: "Let's talk about it, how many taels are greedy?" ”

The eunuch in charge had to bite the bullet and tell the truth, but he still hid a little and said, "The slave and maid estimate that there are four or five taels." ”

"Okay, one mile is greedy for four or five taels, and two and a half miles are greedy for ten taels of silver, I don't lack this bit of silver, but I don't give it, I can't take it."

The little emperor bared his teeth, rolled his sleeve and pointed his left hand to the sky: "Zhu Yiyi, take him with me...... Wrong, you didn't fix it, go back and send a telegram, summon Nanzhen Fusi Xu Jue to enter the Qianqing Gate and wait, I will go to the sweet room to get two cakes and go to him! ”

"Those who are not greedy will be rewarded with ten taels per person, and all those who are greedy will go to Nanjing to be a clean army!"