The Imperial Historical Observatory and the officials in the Sixth Division, in view of this strange situation, did not dare to refute one by one. Only a few officials who chatted with little talked about it proposed that the implementation of three-year compulsory education in the whole country cost a lot, and now the Ming Dynasty is really unable to spend, so it is better to postpone it for a few years.

Li Kuilong, the grizzled and dusty-faced left deputy capital of the imperial history who was attacked by everyone last time, immediately stood up energetically to support Xu Guangqi's proposal, and refuted the benevolent government of several subordinate imperial historians who obstructed His Majesty's education.

With Li Kuilong taking the lead, several subordinates who had always been the only one to look forward to the horse suddenly stood up. Zhu Youzhen did not give these officials, who were still making eye contact, a chance, and praised Xu Guangqi's proposal as a move by Lao Cheng to seek the country.

"I often hear people say that ten years of trees, a hundred years of people. Today, I am worried about internal and external troubles, and we should cultivate virtuous talents and revitalize the country. To build the country by education, this is exactly the national policy that I need in the Ming Dynasty, we can slowly find a way if the money and food are not enough, if it is not possible, we will start to implement it from the two capitals and the rich places in the southeast, and then implement it in the future.

As for Guozijian being converted into a university, this can be done immediately. It just so happened that several gentlemen in the cabinet advised me to set up a sutra feast and learn how to govern the country. I don't think I need to open any sutra feasts, I should be a student of this newly opened university, and I will also enter the university to study. After the court meeting, the Ministry of Rites Shangshu Lai Zongdao and Xu Guangqi stayed and talked to me about the constitution of this university. ”

Looking at Chongzhen happily appreciating Xu Guangqi's compulsory education policy, Shoufu Huang Liji felt that his head was a little big, although this son of heaven was smart, but his personality was very jumpy, not at all like the rumored old and stable character.

It's just a matter of changing the Guozijian to a university, anyway, it's just a change of name, and the great thing is to replace the teachers in the Guozijian with the bachelors of the Hanlin Academy. But in the past three years of compulsory education, although Xu Zixian's intentions are good, where else can this Ming get such a large sum of silver?

Huang Liji couldn't help but look up at Guo Yunhou, the head of the household department beside him, and sure enough, the financial housekeeper of the Ming Dynasty also shook his head and smiled bitterly.

In order to attract Zhu Youzhen's attention from the compulsory education law, Huang Liji had to stand up and say: "Your Majesty summoned Xu Guangqi, Wang Zheng, Li Zhizao and others and Western monks to Beijing, originally to correct my Ming Dynasty calendar in the way of Western revision of the calendar. The minister asked to set up an almanac bureau and appoint Xu Guangqi as the chief to oversee the revision of the new almanac. ”

After listening to Huang Liji's words, the other six officials seemed to wake up and agreed. Originally, most officials did not approve of using Western French to revise the Ming almanac, but now it seems that it is better to let Xu Guangqi revise the almanac than to let him toss some compulsory education law.

At the end of this dynasty, most officials were holding the attitude that more things are better than less things, and this Xu Guangqi proposed to run a university and implement the compulsory education law, which shows that he is a restless person, and he sent him out early to revise the almanac, so as not to make everyone uncomfortable.

Zhu Youzhen summoned Xu Guangqi and others to Beijing with a revised almanac, but it was just a pretense. At this time, he didn't want to hide it anymore.

He waved his hand and said, "What kind of almanac is set up, isn't this overkill." Today's unifying calendar is inaccurate, and the fundamental reason for this is that there was an error in the way the grand calendar was calculated in the past, and if we want to revise the unified calendar, we must first find out the errors in the calculation method. The ancients said that if you want to do a good job, you must first sharpen your tools. The fundamentals of the revision of the almanac are: first, the correctness of the calculation of mathematical formulas; second, the authenticity of the records of astronomical observations; The third is the magnitude of the error of various instruments for observing astronomical phenomena.

It can be seen that the revision of the almanac is not finished by sitting in the room and flipping through the book. We must not only revise the mistakes of the calendar, but also be able to find out when the almanac will make errors at any time, and then improve ourselves, which is the most important thing.

I thought that a special institution should be set up to unify the study of natural sciences, summarize the theoretical knowledge discovered, and formulate a unified standard for the various measuring instruments used in the Ming Dynasty. In this way, it is a long-term strategy. ”

Huang Liji was suddenly a little frightened, this young genius's idea was really too far. But he can't object at will now, because in addition to formulating the calendar, Qin Tianjian's job is also the duty of divining the fortunes of the Ming Dynasty.

As a minister, he could not object to the emperor's proposal to be more accurate when he wanted to divinate the fortunes of the country. Although the saint once said, worship the ghosts and gods and stay away. However, the catastrophic changes in the heavens were the means used by the Ming civil officials to restrain the imperial power.

As the head of the civil officials, he can't directly tell Chongzhen that this celestial warning or anything is a trick to deceive people. In this way, where did he put the predecessors who beat the emperor with celestial phenomena in the history of the Ming Dynasty, not to mention Chongzhen's young and impulsive, once he really thought that the changes in the celestial phenomena had nothing to do with whether the emperor had done something wrong, how could he restrain him in the future.

When Huang Liji muttered speechlessly, Zhang Ruitu suddenly came out and said: "Your Majesty's intentions are very good, I don't know what kind of organization Your Majesty plans to establish?" Is this institution under the management of the Ministry of Rites? ”

Zhang Ruitu believes that Chongzhen's proposal is about the impulse of young people, and instead of blindly opposing it, it is better to bring this new institution under the management of civil officials, even if it is harmful, it is limited.

However, Chongzhen thought about it for so long, and only then took advantage of the suggestion he put forward today, which was an unprepared impulse. He just smiled slightly, and said calmly: "This institution is called the Daming Academy of Sciences, and it is not under the jurisdiction of the Six Ministries and the Cabinet. All researchers of the Academy of Sciences are called academicians, and they enjoy the treatment of six squires, but there is no official rank. Personnel expenses are paid by the household department, and research funds are paid from my inner treasury. What do you think? ”

Zhang Ruitu chuckled in his heart, he hadn't figured out how to reply. Guo Yunhou's brows were already relaxed, and he hurriedly lined up in support: "Your Majesty's words are very appropriate, if it is only to spend personnel funds, then the household department can probably support it." However, His Majesty will not forget his promise to make no other expenses to be incurred by the household. ”

Zhang Ruitu could only stare at this Hubu Shangshu, who stood on the emperor's side in order to save some money, which was really unseemly.

Guo Yunhou didn't care about Zhang Ruitu's gaze, how could these Beijing officials who had been staying in the Hanlin Academy in the capital understand the people's suffering. The Ming Dynasty's Hubu Shangshu is the best and most difficult official position in the world.

Say it's good to do, as long as you close your eyes, the little Taicang silver in the household department is not enough for half a year of the Ming Dynasty. It's hard to say, and people who really want to do something, when they get to the position of the head of the household, they will find that you can't do anything except tear down the east wall and make up the west wall.

When Guo Yunhou took office, he still thought about preparing for water control. As an expert who has made great achievements in water conservancy, when he was in the local government, he believed that the water conservancy of the Ming Dynasty had reached the point where it could not be managed, otherwise there would be drought if there was no water in the north, and waterlogging if there was water in the south. But after serving as the secretary of the household department, he found that it was very difficult for the household department to maintain the silver of the household department every year until the next tax collection, let alone water control.

In order to maintain the finances of the Ming Dynasty, he would rather befriend Wei Zhongxian, who was known as the Quan Eunuch, than have anything to do with the Donglin Party. In Guo Yunhou's view, at least half of the wealth looted by Wei Zhongxian went to the treasury. And those self-proclaimed honest Donglin Party members, who are worth more than one million, are still unwilling to pull a hair for the country, and they have to resist the state's tax burden on businessmen all day long, which is simply ridiculous.

These Donglin Party members preached every day that taxing merchants was tyranny, and it was the court competing with the people for profit. But when it came to taxing the peasants, they were unrelenting.

The strangest thing about the Ming Dynasty is that a group of low-level people with an annual income of less than 2 or 30 taels bear the finances of the entire Ming Dynasty, as well as the forced labor levied by the government. The merchants, landlords, and gentry, who earned tens of millions of dollars a year, not only did they not have to bear the state taxes and forced labor, but also took advantage of the famine to seize from these peasants the food rations that they depended on to support their families.

Although Guo Yunhou knew that the maladministration of the Ming Dynasty was there, he did not have the courage to challenge this unfair system, because he was also a member of the vested interest class. The last official who challenged the interests of the gentry was attacked by the gentry after his death, and the whole family was liquidated by the emperor, and all the policies he formulated were put into practice, leaving only one policy that favored the gentry and paid taxes with silver.

Although Guo Yunhou wants to do something for Daming, he is not so great that he can put himself or even his family into it. What he can do is to use Wei Zhongxian's power to scavenge some money and grain from the Donglin Party to make up for the deficit of the Ming Dynasty.

The reason why Guo Yunhou is willing to stand up and support Chongzhen today is, on the one hand, he feels that the compulsory education law proposed by Xu Guangqi is beneficial to the Ming Dynasty;

On the other hand, at the court meeting the day before yesterday, everyone criticized Li Kuilong, the left deputy capital of the imperial history who proposed to revise the commercial tax and abolish the preferential exemption of scholars and nobles, and when the body was incomplete, Chongzhen, who could obviously stand by and watch, jumped out to block the attack for Li Kuilong. This kind of emperor is really rare in the Ming Dynasty.

In fact, it should be said that no matter which dynasty it is, in order to ensure the reputation of the emperor for his wisdom and martial arts, it is basically the ministers who take responsibility, and the emperor gives some compensation afterwards. Thunder, rain and dew are all Jun'en. However, not long after Zhu Youzhen ascended the throne, he not only did not flinch from the fierce court discussions, but also took the throne and the courtiers on his shoulders.

Chongzhen's actions were not only not regarded as child's play by the courtiers, but made some civil officials feel that His Majesty was still quite good, and Li Kuilong was even more loyal to Chongzhen.

It is precisely because of this that Guo Yunhou is willing to stand up and support the emperor. Anyway, this majesty will carry something by himself, so there is no need to be afraid to support the emperor, and finally under the attack of other civil officials, he was thrown out to take the blame.

In fact, in Guo Yunhou's heart, there is still a faint feeling. Now above this court, everyone is not a righteous gentleman, and the Donglin Party members who claim to be righteous gentlemen have been cleaned out of the court by Father-in-law Wei.

If you really want to force this young son of heaven to be in a hurry, he simply supports the Donglin Party to settle old accounts with everyone, which is really not a good thing. I had already stopped it once the day before yesterday, and today I should have given in a little bit and let Chongzhen dissipate his anger.