In the Qianqing Palace on October 17, the 25th year of Chongzhen, Zhu Youzhen sat behind a table full of concerts, crumpled a piece of paper on the table with an expressionless face, and threw it into a porcelain vase a zhang away.

The waste paper ball did not hit the mouth of the porcelain bottle, smashed on the outer wall of the porcelain, and bounced to the ground.

Wang Chengen trotted over, picked up the waste paper ball, and ran back to hand it over to Zhu Youzhen.

Zhu Youzhen looked at the ball of "waste paper", suddenly opened the "waste paper", and began to read the words on the waste paper.

So where is the waste paper? It was clearly a recital from the governor of Huguang to Zhu Youzhen. Like the other pieces of music on the table, this one was also a heart-wrenching attempt to persuade the Son of Heaven not to abolish the imperial examination.

"The imperial examination system is related to the safety of the community, and it affects the whole body at one moment, and the Son of Heaven must not be changed easily."

Zhu Youzhen looked at it, a little helpless, and slapped the crumpled piece on the table with a snap.

Then Zhu Youzhen sat silently in the chair and never spoke.

Wang Chengen stood next to him and didn't dare to speak.

There was silence in the Qianqing Palace, as if waiting for something.

In fact, Zhu Youzhen has not been to court for 20 days. Since Cui Changwu read Li Zhi's recital, Zhu Youzhen has been hiding in the Qianqing Palace, as if he was busy dealing with the recital, and as if he was avoiding Cui Changwu, as if he was waiting for the reaction of all aspects of the world, and more like escaping reality.

In short, Zhu Youzhen has been silent for the past 20 days, and he has a lot of worries.

And in the past twenty days, the entire Ming Dynasty has been fried. After the civil and military officials and gentry in various places learned of Li Zhi's request to abolish the imperial examination, they all played to the Son of Heaven, citing various scriptures and classics to explain the importance of the imperial examination to the country, expounding the importance of the imperial examination, and explaining that the imperial examination must not be abolished.

Li Zhi's dozen words caused a violent chain reaction throughout the Ming Dynasty.

There are too many concerts, and Zhu Youzhen doesn't even have time to read all the concertos once.

However, those chapters are just those few sentences, and Zhu Youzhen knows what is written on them even if he doesn't read them. So in the back, he didn't bother to look through the chapters one by one.

He simply looked at the name of the musician and set the piece aside.

Zhu Youzhen closed his eyes.

After a long time, the silence of the Qianqing Palace was finally broken by the sound of footsteps from outside the hall, and Wang Dehua ran into the Qianqing Palace with soap boots.

"Emperor, the more than 2,000 civil officials in the capital have all gathered at Xizhimen and kowtowed to petition."

Zhu Youzhen opened his eyes and looked at Wang Dehua.

Wang Dehua knelt in front of Zhu Youzhen, kowtowed, and got up. Wang Chengen saw that the Son of Heaven didn't ask Wang Dehua about the details, and couldn't help asking: "What do the Beijing officials ask?" ”

Wang Dehua arched his hand and said: "The Beijing officials unanimously opposed the concert of the King of Qi, and kowtowed in front of the Xizhi Gate in support of the imperial examination, saying that Confucianism cannot be abandoned and the imperial examination cannot be abolished. ”

Zhu Youzhen looked at the gate of the Qianqing Palace expressionlessly and did not speak.

Wang Dehua said: "Holy Lord, the civil officials said that although the King of Qi has 100,000 tigers, the Ming Dynasty is not weak. The Ming Dynasty still has 200,000 border troops and a million guard troops. If the king of Qi persecuted the Son of Heaven by force, the Son of Heaven could break the cauldron and mobilize the army of the world to fight with the king of Qi. ”

When Wang Chengen heard this, he looked at Zhu Youzhen.

Zhu Youzhen sneered when he heard this.

"200,000 border troops, million guards? I'm afraid I can't stand it for a quarter of an hour in front of the Tiger Army. ”

When Wang Chengen saw the expression of the Son of Heaven, he couldn't help but smile awkwardly, echoing the ridicule of the Son of Heaven.

Zhu Youzhen grabbed a piece of music on the table with some irritability, crumpled the piece into a ball, and threw it towards a porcelain bottle farther away.

The waste paper still didn't hit the mouth of the porcelain bottle.

Wang Dehua looked at the actions of the Son of Heaven, raised his head and asked, "Emperor, more than 2,000 Beijing officials are kneeling there!" Pavilion Elder Jiuqing is here, only to see a black black gauze hat! The emperor doesn't want to take a look? ”

Zhu Youzhen shook his head.

Wang Dehua and Wang Chengen glanced at each other and were very surprised.

Zhu Youzhen stood up, walked to the edge of the porcelain vase, picked up the paper ball that was thrown away by himself, and opened it to look at it.

"I don't go to Xizhimen to know what they're going to say... Sure enough, it's the same, and there's nothing new. ”

After reading the piece of paper, Zhu Youzhen angrily crumpled the piece of music and threw it into the porcelain vase.

Wang Chengen arched his hand and said: "Holy Lord, King Qi's recital has been presented for twenty days, and I have to give an answer anyway." It's not a way to drag it out like this. ”

Zhu Youzhen opened the glass window of the Qianqing Palace and let the cold wind outside the window blow in.

Shivering in the cold wind, Zhu Youzhen said: "Wang Chengen, you go to Tianjin and try King Qi's tone." ”

"Let's see what King Qi means. Is it really determined to force me to abolish the imperial examination, or just say it casually. ”

Wang Chengen arched his hand and said, "The slave and maid will go and prepare." ”

Zhu Youzhen added: "It is bound to find out King Qi's hole cards, and how many garrisons King Qi has in Tianjin now." Find out how the King of Qi will react if I am unwilling to abolish the imperial examination, and all kinds of things must be figured out. ”

Wang Chengen replied respectfully: "The slave and maid accept the order." ”

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On October 21, Wang Chengen was riding in a carriage on the asphalt ground in the western suburbs of Fanjiazhuang, and his face could not hide his uneasiness.

When Wang Chengen went to Tianjin this time, Li Zhi did not immediately meet him, but asked Wang Chengen to go to the suburbs to inspect the Tiger Ben Army. However, Hu Benjun hadn't seen it yet, he first saw the asphalt road in Fanjiazhuang.

This black asphalt road gave Wang Chengen a great shock. Compared to concrete roads, asphalt roads are more resilient, making them feel flatter and more comfortable for people sitting in horse-drawn carriages.

And if you compare the asphalt road with the stone road, it is even more heaven and earth. The asphalt road does not have a single protrusion or joint, and the road for dozens of miles is natural, far smoother than the stone road.

Outside of Fanjiazhuang, Wang Chengen has never seen such a road surface.

Every time he comes to Tianjin, Wang Chengen is always shocked. However, Wang Chengen can't expose the shock in his heart, because he represents the Son of Heaven and the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, and he must not make a fuss and lose face.

However, the purpose of coming to Fanjiazhuang is not to experience this asphalt road, the first priority is to understand the hole cards of King Qi.

Wang Chengen bowed his hand to Gao Ligong, the acting governor of Tianjin Town, who received him, and asked, "Governor Gao, how many garrisons does the Tiger Ben Army have in Tianjin now?" ”

Gao Ligong arched his hand and said: "Noble people, now my Tiger Ben army has expanded to 250,000 people. Of these, 20,000 were stationed in Korea, 30,000 in Japan, 20,000 on Luzon and Mindanao in Luzon Province, 20,000 in Nanjing, 60,000 in Indochina, and the remaining 100,000 in Fanjiazhuang. ”

Hearing the number of 100,000, Wang Chengen's eyes widened, and he was speechless in shock.

100,000 Tiger Benjun, what is this concept?

At the beginning, more than 40,000 tiger troops were able to sweep the caves of the Manchu plough court outside the pass, and 100,000 tiger troops could not be defeated even by the two imperial courts.

Wang Chengen's body couldn't help but tremble.

Gao Ligong looked at Wang Chengen's reaction and asked, "The noble man has a bad face, how is it?" ”

Wang Chengen hurriedly said: "Don't worry, governor, this is staying in the Forbidden City for a long time, just blow more wind." ”