At the end of the 15th year of the reign of Wanli, Zhu Yijun issued his last imperial edict. Prince Zheng, Zhu Houdan, entered the capital and was rewarded with 10 shops, 1,000 hectares of farmland, and 100,000 silver coins.
Other people might not think much, but 1,000 hectares of farmland was definitely a generous reward!
Zhu Yijun did not care much about it. 1,000 hectares of farmland was not a lot, and the yield was not much either.
On the contrary, the 10 shops were Zhu Yijun's reward. Those were the shops that Daming the CBD of the capital.
Soon, it was winter. Although there were many things to do, everything was going according to plan.
The restructuring of Shun Tian Prefecture was also going smoothly. The officials from the Ministry of Rites also started to travel around Shun Tian Prefecture to carry out educational reforms.
Schools were also quickly built in various places at a very fast speed.
The imperial court had paid for the land to build the schools, but the expenses were all donated by the local wealthy families.
Not only the businessmen from the Ministry of Internal Affairs were very active, but the other wealthy families were also very active. It was very simple, they wanted to show off.
In addition, the wealthy families had donated to build schools, so it was not difficult.
The teachers were assigned by the civil servants. There were a total of 223 teachers.
Some schools only had one teacher, and some had two students.
As for the teaching materials, the imperial court had printed them. Of course, these teaching materials had to be used repeatedly.
To put it bluntly, it was a teaching material that was used up for the next batch of students.
It was not like the future generations, where you could only sell the books after using them.
Why didn't the future generations have free teaching fees? It was because the investment was too big, and the country could not afford it.
There were so many books for every batch of students, and they had to replace the books after they were used up.
If the country were to waive the teaching fees, how much money would be thrown into it?
The schools had prepared a writing room. It was a large square wooden table with fine sand inside. The students would practice writing in the room instead of writing on paper.
Even for writing lessons, the students would use water instead of ink.
Although the rooms were very simple, to the people of this era, it was already a blessing to be able to study for free.
Of course, there were also some wealthy families who could not stand it anymore. The local people who donated to the school also came out to change the situation.
As for the free lunch program, it was rice, flatbread, and potatoes.
Don't even think about milk and meat in the future. You can eat meat twice a month, once on the first and fifteenth day of the lunar month.
There were no school buses, and students had to walk ten miles to get to school.
Compared to the people of the future, who had to take a bus to walk a hundred meters, the children of this era could walk ten li at the age of seven or eight.
The conditions were very simple, but this was the best that Zhu Yijun could do.
Even so, Zhu Yijun's reputation among the people of Shun Tian Prefecture was like the sun at high noon. The saying that he was wise and wise had already been accepted by the people.
Going out to work and raising chickens, ducks and geese at home, this was the biggest change that Zhu Yijun had brought to the people of Shun Tian Prefecture.
Student recruitment also began soon, and classes would officially start at the beginning of next year.
Zhu Yijun asked his men to prepare a lot of clothes. They were all made of coarse linen and the style was terrible. However, this was the school uniform.
This was also prepared by Zhu Yijun for poor children. At the same time, there was also a scholarship for the needy.
The various county schools were also reorganized to accept students from the public schools.
As for those who could not pass the exams, they learned some mathematics and could read. Their future was no longer as poor as before.
Even if they joined the army, they would be better off than others.
Just the education in Shun Tian Prefecture alone cost Zhu Yijun more than a million silver coins.
At the end of the year, the Civil Service Examination started again. This time, 3000 people were recruited, but the examination was much more difficult.
All the Elementary Scholars from all over the country had gathered in Beijing. The final count of the applicants was over 40,000.
This shocked Zhu Yijun, and also shocked the officials of Daming City. This also meant that the civil service system was being accepted by the scholars.
In November, the Daming City started to snow. The King of Zheng and his entourage entered the capital.
The 70-year-old King of Zheng, Zhu Houtan, was brought into the palace to meet Zhu Yijun.
Seeing that Zhu Houtan was about to kneel, Zhu Yijun hurriedly walked over and supported him.
This King of Zheng, in terms of seniority, was Zhu Yijun's grandfather.
"Pass down the decree. In the future, the King of Zheng will not need to be courteous in front of the Emperor. There is no need to report when entering the palace.
Before the King of Zheng could speak, Zhu Yijun had already passed down the decree. Zhang Jing, who was standing behind Zhu Yijun, hurriedly said, "Yes, Imperial Majesty, I will get someone to prepare!"
"Men, give the King of Zheng a seat!" Zhu Yijun nodded his head and ordered again.
The King of Zheng, Zhu Houtan's expression did not change. He had experienced too many things in his life, and had long reached the stage where he could not show his emotions.
However, he raised his head and looked at Zhu Yijun with a smile on his face.
After nineteen years in prison, Zhu Houtan's edges and corners had been worn away.
However, when he saw Zhu Yijun, he was still a little excited. After all, this young Emperor was praised as a wise Emperor by the world.
His reputation was catching up to Taizu and Chengzu, and he had already put on the hat of a wise emperor.
Based on his actions towards her, just this attitude alone was already much stronger than the Emperor of the World Sect.
"This subject thanks Your Majesty!" The King of Zheng said slowly.
Zhu Yijun nodded, then smiled and said, "King of Zheng, you don't have to be so courteous. We are related by blood and the King of Zheng is a vassal king. I have wanted to meet the King of Zheng for a long time."
Zhu Yijun was different from Jiajing. Jiajing did not have a sense of security.
After all, he had inherited the throne as a vassal king and was very vigilant towards vassal kings.
This was also why the King of Zheng was imprisoned for nineteen years just because he advised him not to believe in immortality.
Hai Rui scolded Jiajing, but in the end, it was left unsettled. The key was the King of Zheng's identity.
However, in Zhu Yijun's view, the King of Zheng was not an ambitious person. He probably could not bear to see Jiajing Emperor tormenting himself.
He sincerely submitted a memorial and ended up like that.
"Your Majesty, you flatter me!" The King of Zheng smiled and shook his head, "How can my old and broken body deserve Your Majesty's praise?"
Zhu Yijun smiled and chatted with the King of Zheng for a long time. He even arranged a banquet and asked the King of Zheng to stay in the palace at night.
Of course, this was done for outsiders or for the other vassal kings and members of the royal family.
The next day, Zhu Yijun accompanied the King of Zheng to the newly built King of Zheng's Mansion.
This was also Zhu Yijun's first time in the western suburbs.
When Zhu Yijun and the King of Zheng arrived, they got off the carriage. Zhu Yijun pulled the King of Zheng and walked inside with a smile. He introduced, "King of Zheng, look, that is the King of Zheng's Mansion."
"Across the street is the new market that I built. The ten shops of the King of Zheng's Mansion are over there."
The King of Zheng was not very interested in these things. He was a dying man, how much could he eat and spend?
However, the King of Zheng was very interested in the flat cement floor, "Your Majesty, is this the cement straight?"
"Yes!" Zhu Yijun smiled and nodded, "This is the cement straight!"
Zhu Yijun introduced the cement and the cement straight to the King of Zheng in detail. He also mentioned that he had already built the cement straight from the capital to Tongzhou and was about to build the straight from the capital to Tianjin and from the capital to Jizhou.
The King of Zheng smiled happily and nodded from time to time, "Good, good!"
"The Daming ancestors have opened their eyes. The Daming has Your Majesty. I can go and meet the Daming emperors with peace of mind." The King of Zheng sighed and said, "That's great, that's great!"
Hearing the King of Zheng's words and seeing the King of Zheng smile like a child, Zhu Yijun felt his heart being stabbed.
This was the simple patriotism of a Daming vassal king and a Daming old man. This country should not fall, and this nation should not fall.
Zhu Yijun said with a serious expression, "King of Zheng can live a few more years and watch how I create a prosperous Daming."
"I, the Daming, will be strong in the world and go far beyond the Han and Tang!"
The King of Zheng looked at the heroic Zhu Yijun and said with a smile, "Good, Your Majesty is very good. Emperor Taizu must be pleased to see Your Majesty today.
Your subject will wait and see that day. "
The group of people arrived at the entrance of the newly built King of Zheng's mansion. The construction of the mansion was not reduced by Zhu Yijun at all.
Although the material used was cement, it was all built according to the rules of the mansion.
Although Zhu Yijun wanted to lift the ban, he also had to appease the Zong Fan and not let them feel that they were being harshly criticized.
At the same time, this was also to show the world that I did not criticize the Zong Fan.
In this era, the patriarch took care of the clan, which was a universal value.
Perhaps there were cases of people bullying their own clan, but the emperor could not do so. Once the emperor bullied the Zong Fan, he would definitely be labeled as ungrateful.
This was the case for the Wanli Emperor in his previous life. He fixed Zhang Juzheng, and the consequences were unbearable.
Although the fight for the throne was launched, no one was on his side. The ministers all understood that this emperor was not worth serving.
Although many people criticized and cursed Zhang Juzheng, he had made great contributions to the Wanli Emperor.
Ascending to the throne at a young age, Zhang Juzheng saved the building from collapse and turned the tide.
He worked hard for the Daming Reform, but in the end, Zhang Juzheng ended up like that. Qi Jiguang, who fought for the country, also ended up like that.
This also caused Li Chengliang to completely lean towards the warlords and start to nurture bandits for his own benefit.
The civil officials started to group up and form their own parties to fight for power.
Some people said that the death was due to the Wanli Emperor. In fact, Zhu Yijun agreed with this statement to a certain extent.
Some of the things that the Wanli Emperor did completely broke some rules, causing the scholars and generals of the world to be at odds with the royal family.
This was also why the Tianqi Emperor would use the eunuch's party.
Because he had no one to use, the unconventional Tianqi Emperor did rope in a group of people, pulling the Qi, Zhe, and Chu factions to fight the Donglin faction.
After all, the Donglin faction was strong, and the Qi, Zhe, and Chu factions were beaten up badly. Only by pulling them would they work for him.
The eunuch's party wasn't so much the eunuch's party, but the collusion between the eunuchs and the ministers.
Why didn't the eunuch's party exist during the Wanli Emperor's reign?
Many eunuchs were sent to these places, but they were all beaten to death. It was because no one colluded with the ministers, because they felt that there was no benefit to colluding with the emperor. The emperor was too harsh.
This was the most undesirable point, so although Zhu Yijun killed many people and did many things, he always paid attention to this point. He rewarded Zhang Juzheng and Qi Jiguang generously. As long as they did things for him, Zhu Yijun was never stingy.