About half an hour later, Lu Jiude trotted with Lian Shanxiang to arrive. Looking at the sweaty appearance of the two of them, Zhu Youzhen pointed to the sour plum soup in front of him and said, "Give the two of them a bowl, and go to the summer heat first." ”

Lian Shanxiang looked up at Zhu Youzhen, who was sitting in the shadow under the corridor, and said with some trepidation and a hint of joy: "Thank you Your Majesty for the reward, Weichen is not thirsty." ”

"Drink, it's so hot today, I'm sweating while sitting still, not to mention the two of you running here. After drinking, it's time to do your job. Zhu Youzhen said jokingly.

"I am willing to die for Your Majesty." After taking the sour plum soup in Wang Chengen's hand and drinking it all, Lian Shanxiang said with some excitement after putting down the bowl.

Looking at Lian Shanxiang, whose face was flushed and his emotions were high-pitched, Zhu Youzhen seemed to remember the first time he was valued by his boss after graduation and took charge of a project independently.

It seems that ancient and modern people are almost the same, not everyone has become an old oilman from the beginning, Zhu Youzhen thought secretly.

"Except for Lu Jiude and Lian Baihu, you all stand in the back, and I want to talk to the two of them alone for a while." Zhu Youzhen suddenly said to the surrounding attendants.

In the eyes of envy, jealousy, and hatred of everyone, a group of people soon withdrew 20 steps away, leaving Zhu Youzhen and the other three.

"Let's all stand up and talk, I don't want to keep my head down and talk to you, I'm too tired." Under Zhu Youzhen's orders, Lian Shanxiang and Lu Jiude stood up and approached Zhu Youzhen's side.

"Lian Shanxiang, I want you to go to the south, can you go away from home?" Zhu Youzhen habitually asked his subordinates before going on a business trip.

Lian Shanxiang immediately responded: "There is nothing at home for Weichen, if Your Majesty has a life, Weichen can leave immediately." ”

"Don't worry, this time I went to the south to focus on the pedestrian division. You just bring a pair of eyes and ears and show me the situation in the south..."Zhu Youzhen said slowly.

He asked Lian Shanxiang to transfer a few capable soldiers, preferably able to speak southern dialect. Write down everything you saw and heard along the way, and then the most important thing is to go to Fujian to learn about the situation of coastal defense and overseas trade, and finally to see what kind of people this pirate Zheng Zhilong, maritime merchant Xu Xinsu, and Fujian general soldier Yu Zhigao are.

Next, he inspected the overseas trade situation in Fujian, and the types of grain, plants, and animals imported from overseas, and asked to bring back seeds and food of these species, as well as planting methods, or old farmers with planting experience.

In the end, Zhu Youzhen instructed Lu Jiude: "You go to Fujian to inquire about the reputation of the eunuchs in this city, and then go to know the businessmen who have paid the most taxes in recent years, and ask them to come to Beijing." Then go and meet the eunuch of the city, and ask him to inform the merchants who have gone to sea, that when they return, they will see if there are sweet potatoes, sweet potatoes, potatoes, and corn..."

Zhu Youzhen thought of a sentence, so he instructed. I talked to the two of them intermittently for nearly half an hour, and after I finished speaking, I asked the two of them to repeat it again to see if there were any omissions.

After listening to the two of them roughly understand what they meant, Zhu Youzhen asked Wang Chengen to come over and instructed him to give the two of them 300 taels of silver, one for those who went out to guard the house, and the other for the expenses on the road and the cost of buying crops that were circulated overseas.

When Zhu Youzhen finished chattering, the exam in the courtyard was finally over. Zhu Youzhen looked up and became interested, and ordered to take a look at the scroll of the eunuch who was late at the end.

"Yes, the chickens and rabbits in the same cage are calculated. This cylinder calculates the area of the circle, but does not calculate the volume, which is a bit worse. Zhu Youzhen looked at the topic and commented.

These two arithmetic questions are more difficult for those who don't study mathematics much, let alone the eunuchs in the palace.

The self-description in the back is beautiful, and the words used in the article are also very concise, which makes Zhu Youzhen feel that it is more than enough to be his Chinese teacher.

Looking at Zhang Xingsheng standing below, Zhu Youzhen smiled and said: "The text is good, but the mathematics needs to be strengthened, so let's continue to study when I enter the capital governor." Wang Dehua, transfer him to the Metropolitan Governor's Prison, just enough to help change these papers. ”

Wang Dehua naturally agreed, and after listening to Zhu Youzhen's evaluation of himself, although he was happy, he was still a little unconvinced. "Essay words, he was one of the best in the inner study hall back then, and he thought that even if he entered the celebrant supervisor, there would be no problem. But why does Zhu Youzhen pay attention to the study of degrees that scholars have never paid attention to, is it true that this majesty is like the first emperor, and likes strange tricks and tricks? ”

Until Zhu Youzhen left, Zhang Xingsheng was still silently thinking about what kind of person Zhu Youzhen he saw.

After Zhu Youzhen walked out of the courtyard, he looked at the passage on the left, turned around and asked, "Is that the factory over there?" After getting Wang Chengen's affirmative answer.

He turned and walked to the left, and said, "Just right, go and see if those craftsmen have developed ink." ”

A few days ago, when Zhu Youzhen was about to print the test papers, he found that the printing factory (Jingchang) in the palace was still using engraving printing.

This surprised him a little, after all, there was movable type printing in the Song Dynasty, why did it return to engraving in the Ming Dynasty. He is very clear about the time-consuming engraving and the shortcomings of consumables.

After careful questioning of the eunuchs and printing craftsmen in the management of the factory, Zhu Youzhen found out that it was because of the problem of printing ink. Most of the ink used in ancient Chinese printing is ink, which has insufficient adhesion to smooth metal movable type, and qualified ink suitable for metal movable type has not appeared, which has caused the Ming Dynasty to still use engraving technology.

For this conservative mentality that because the quality of the engraving is better, there is no need to develop ink, Zhu Youzhen is completely dissatisfied. But under the feudal system, this is the best way to do things, after all, the quality is unqualified because of the use of new things, and it is going to kill the head in this era.

Zhu Youzhen comforted the two frightened eunuchs and craftsmen, and asked Wang Chengen to allocate funds for them to develop inks that could be used for movable metal printing.

When Zhu Youzhen walked into the printing workshop, he saw that dozens of craftsmen were making engravings in a bamboo and wood greenhouse.

He suddenly felt much more comfortable among them, and when he saw a nobleman in a magnificent costume walking in with a group of eunuchs, these craftsmen were a little stunned.

Although they often entered the imperial city to work, these people had never seen the emperor a few times in their lives, let alone the Ming Emperor would walk into this cramped and messy workshop.

Zhu Youjian looked at the surrounding environment and found that there were 4 large vats on the edge of the workshop, which seemed to be used for fire prevention, but there were several wooden spoons on the sides of the vats, which seemed to also provide the function of drinking water for craftsmen.