Feng Quan came back to his senses a little and immediately came to his senses. Regardless of whether the emperor wants to elevate the status of the soldiers, now he needs to win the emperor's favor before he can regain a foothold in the court.

Feng Quan, who was quick to react, immediately complimented Chongzhen with a smile: "Your Majesty is really intelligent, and he can say such eloquent words in a moment, and the agility of his thoughts makes the minister really feel ashamed..."

Hua Qifang, who was still in a daze, was suddenly woken up by Feng Quan, and immediately joined in the praise of the emperor.

For the praise of the two, Zhu Youzhen was quite ashamed at first, but soon he woke up, and no one in this era should expose his plagiarism.

After a little smugness, Chongzhen stopped the two from continuing to tout. He began to ask Feng Quan what problems he had encountered in taking over the Daming Times these days.

Feng Quan has mainly done one thing in the Daming Times these days, relying on his status as a former cabinet elder and leader of the gentry of the Shuntian Mansion, he recruited a group of scholars from Beizhili.

These northern scholars are basically hopeless to rely on the imperial examination to enter the official career, but they disdain to engage in other industries, and their families have small assets and do not worry about life. On weekdays, he either met friends with poetry or met with famous local gentry leaders, trying to make an official position for himself.

When the Daming Times was first opened, although a recruitment notice was published, the personal reputation of the chief writer Liu Jingting was too low, and the vague connection between the Daming Times and the former Dongchang made these northern literati suspicious and unwilling to apply.

After Feng Quan took over as the chief writer of the Daming Times, he first changed the reporter's name to a collector, and hyped that the Daming Times had nothing to do with the East Factory, but just borrowed the old residence of the East Factory.

Feng Quan's role as the former cabinet chief assistant for the Ming Times propaganda and advocacy immediately dispelled the doubts in the hearts of most literati. The name of the Caifeng envoy sounds very historical, and it is more like the official title set by the imperial court than the unknown title of the reporter.

Therefore, when Feng Quan personally wrote a letter to recruit several more famous literati in Beizhili, these literati also put down their reserve and accepted the employment of the Daming Times.

With the exemplary role of these local literati leaders, scholars in the north began to favor the positions recruited by the Daming Times.

And with the addition of these well-known scholars in the north to the Daming Times, the Daming Times also began to be valued by the northern gentry, and it was no longer a story that people in the market used to pass the time after tea and dinner.

Regardless of whether Chongzhen recognizes it or not, the right to speak in this era is always in the hands of the local gentry, even if the Daming Times and the local gentry say the same thing, those local people are more willing to believe the interpretation of the local gentry on this matter.

For example, Chongzhen has been shouting that he wants to cure the Haihe River, which has been published in the newspapers and conveyed by the local county government. However, the people of Beizhili were not happy about this, but were very worried, and this was a means for the imperial court to try to increase taxes and levies.

When Feng Quan came forward to call on the local gentry to support the imperial court's decision to rectify the Haihe River, the people of Beizhili let go of their worries and began to enthusiastically cooperate with the local survey team to investigate the geography of the Haihe River.

After listening to Feng Quan's report on the work of the Daming Times, Zhu Youzhen also had to praise Feng Quan, but he still reiterated to Feng Quan: "Bachelor Feng's work is very good, but I still want to remind you that you must not relax in the promotion of vernacular Chinese and pinyin letters." ”

Feng Quan immediately bowed down and said, "The minister will definitely continue to advance, and Master Liu will write the work left in this regard." ”

Zhu Youzhen felt a little satisfied, and he continued to ask: "Then you organized the activities of the Hebei gentry to visit the railway, did you gain anything?" ”

Feng Quan hesitated for a moment and then replied cautiously: "The minister summoned the gentry near Gyeonggi to visit the railroad in the arsenal, and everyone thought that this mode of transportation called the railway was very interesting.

However, they were not interested in investing in the Jingxi Railway from Mentougou to Beijing, and these gentry explained to His Majesty that if the imperial court was willing to invest in the railway from Beijing to Zhuozhou, then they were willing to donate the land for the construction of the railway and bear half of the construction costs. ”

"This group of turtles who only care about their own one-third of an acre." Zhu Youzhen secretly complained in his heart, he didn't have to think about it to know that most of the gentry gathered by Feng Quan should be people from the vicinity of Zhuozhou.

Zhu Youzhen asked a few words, and it was about clear that the distance from Zhuozhou to the capital was about twice the distance from Mentougou to the capital.

Seeing that the emperor did not show any dissatisfaction, but fell into thought, Feng Quan finally breathed a sigh of relief.

In fact, the gentry, although they found the way the railroad operated was very novel, they always felt that it was not very safe for the carriage to run for a long time on two iron bars.

In particular, it is used to repay the principal of the investment in the railway by collecting the freight of the railway. This looks good, but they are also not convinced that the railroad will be able to carry as much freight as advertised in the plan.

Coupled with a huge investment of nearly 150,000 yuan, they didn't actually pass by in their hometown, and if something happened, they were obviously a little out of reach.

And Feng Quan was anxious to make meritorious contributions in front of the emperor, so he couldn't just go to see the emperor empty-handed, so he had to come forward to persuade these fellow villagers of his to do something for the emperor.

After some persuasion, the gentry finally changed their minds and were willing to invest in a railroad experiment. However, they did not choose the Jingxi Railway, which the emperor was going to build, but demanded that the railway be used to connect the capital with Zhuozhou.

These gentry felt that even if the railroad could not be completed, the rails would still remain on their own land anyway, and they could recover some of the losses by picking up the rails.

And if the railroad succeeds, then the benefits for them are even greater. Zhuozhou has fertile land and many rivers, so agriculture is still developing quite well. However, the rivers in Zhuozhou do not flow directly to Beijing, but first enter Baiyangdian Lake and then turn to the canal.

The cost of transporting grain and other goods from Zhuozhou to the capital is similar to that of land transportation. However, if he wants to transport it to nearby areas for sale, his surroundings are all relatively developed agricultural areas, and he can't sell them at a high price.

If this railway is really as good as these craftsmen say, then after the opening of the railway, not only will the time they spend in the capital will be reduced. It also reduces the cost of transporting goods to Beijing.

Zhuozhou is close to Shanxi, and many of the people here are immigrants from Shanxi, so they are not so resistant to doing business. Since investing in railways may not be worth all their money, they were reluctantly persuaded by Feng Quan.

After Zhu Youzhen was silent for a while, he said to Feng Quan: "The construction of the railway from Zhuozhou to the capital is estimated to be between 30-400,000 yuan. As long as you raise no less than 150,000 yuan, then I will make up the remaining shortfall.

Before the construction of the railway, it was necessary to survey, and without the completion of the Jingxi Railway, the rails made by Mentougou could not be transported, so the railway would be delayed in the second half of the year. ”

Feng Quan did a little mental calculation, he estimated that he would raise 100,000 yuan, and then find the gentry to serve 50,000 yuan, then the emperor's request would be completed.

After thinking about it, Feng Quan said to the emperor with a firm face: "Please rest assured, Your Majesty, the minister will definitely complete this matter as soon as possible..."

As soon as Feng Quan and the others left, Wang Chengen walked in with a document and handed it to the emperor, and said, "The Great Sikou wants to see Your Majesty." ”

Zhu Youzhen took the document and flipped through it, and found that it was a list of cabinet personnel adjustments, and he read it out with a slight frown: "Ni Yuanlu entered the Ministry of Rites, and Huang Daozhou promoted the Zhan Mansion Shao Zhan Shi?" ”

Zhu Youzhen put down the list, was silent for a moment, and then said to Wang Chengen: "Summoning the chief secretary Kou Jinjian, and you go to check, what have all the gentlemen in the cabinet done recently?" ”

Wang Chengen agreed, and went out to pass the word for Chongzhen. A moment later, Yuan Keli walked in with a piece of paper.

Zhu Youjian stood in the outer room to greet the chief priest, and then invited him to go into the inner room to talk. After Yuan Keli sat down, he said to Chongzhen: "After Your Majesty talked with the minister last time, the minister went back and thought about it for a few days, and finally came up with a plan for the reform of the Criminal Department, please take a look at it. ”

Chongzhen carefully read the reform plan of the criminal department drawn up by Yuan Keli, and found that most of the contents in it were referenced, and the idea in his last conversation with Yuan Keli divided the criminal department into one division and two courts, that is, the patrol police superintendent, the procuratorate, and the court.

After Zhu Youzhen put down the document, he raised his head and asked Yuan Keli sincerely: "The plan drawn up by the Great Priest is very thorough, and I have no opinion. I want to ask, in the mind of the Great Priest, who are the candidates suitable to preside over the Second Academy? ”

Yuan Keli pondered for a while, and then said: "The minister thinks that it is more appropriate to let Liu Hongxun preside over the court and Yang Suoxiu preside over the procuratorate. ”

Among the two candidates proposed by Yuan Keli, Liu Hongxun was a member of the Donglin Party who was deprecated by the Emperor of the Apocalypse, and Yuan Keli wanted to help the party recover, but there was nothing to doubt.

However, this Yang Suoxiu is not a member of the Donglin Party, but a confidant of Shoufu Huang Liji. Linked to the cabinet personnel adjustment document just now, Chongzhen seemed to understand something. However, he didn't say anything, but continued to talk enthusiastically with Yuan Keli.

The two carefully discussed the content of the reform plan of the entire Criminal Department, and when Chongzhen sent Yuan Keli out, he suddenly said to him: "Is Liu Mocheng really suitable to preside over the work of the Central Court?" I think it would be more appropriate to have fewer people to serve as judges. ”

Yuan Keli was stunned, quickly reacted, and replied to the emperor: "Liu Mocheng has the courage to do things, and on the occasion of the reform of the Criminal Department, it is precisely to use his responsibility." ”

Chongzhen bowed slightly, smiled at Yuan Keli and said: "I will definitely consider the golden and jade words of the Great Sikou, and strive to give the Great Sikou an answer in the next two days." ”