Urban Sims

Chapter 132
"Cousin Yunhua, I haven't seen you for a long time, don't come here without any problems."

Seeing Cui Yunhua again, Zhou Ming greeted her and inquired about her situation over the past few years.

However, seeing the child in her arms, after marrying a woman, with a round and fat body, a smile that often appears at the corner of her mouth, and a noble appearance, one knows that she should have lived happily these years. After asking, I found out that she married Li Da, the legitimate son of the Li family in Zhaojun, one of the six surnames and eight families.

Li Da, whose name is Kang Ming, is known for his virtuous name and dignified appearance. What is even more difficult is his single-mindedness. After getting married, he and Cui Yunhua treated each other with respect, and soon they had a man...they became a married couple of aristocratic families. , a famous model couple.

Speaking of which, it is thanks to Zhou Ming that this couple can come together, because Cui Yunhua's husband, Li Da, is also a die-hard fan of Mr. Zihua, and he admires Mr. Zihua's articles and poems very much, especially comics. Degree.

It's just that Zhongzhou is too far away from Qingzhou, and "Zihua Anthology" and "Cartoon" are too little circulated. He searched desperately, but he couldn't find the complete works of Mr. Zihua. There are many missing in the middle, which is extremely regrettable.

Coincidentally, after receiving the complete collection of works presented by Zhou Ming, Cui Yunhua, who brought these works to Zhongzhou, quickly became the most popular figure. These works were not only circulated and copied in the Cui family, but Li Da who got the news , also came to Cui's house with the cheek to ask Cui Yunhua to borrow Zihua's collection of works.

It's a matter of course that the strange feelings between men and women, together with the common hobbies, finally come together.

……

After staying at Cui's house in Qinghe for three days, Eunuch Ma Dexi, who returned to the imperial capital first, sent someone to send back an oracle: expressing the eagerness of His Majesty the Ming Emperor and the Queen of Heaven to meet him, and urging him to stay less and hurry up. some to Beijing.

Zhou Ming nodded, and made some preparations. The next morning, he ordered the convoy to set off. Along the wide and straight official road, he put up a plaque reading "According to the Order of the Holy Spirit". , and arrived at the imperial capital of Zhongzhou——Luojing City.

It is already March in Yangchun, the season when birds are singing and flowers are fragrant, and thousands of trees are competing for prosperity.

This huge city standing on a flat plain is like a huge square chessboard, with a circumference of more than a hundred miles and a height of twelve feet. Millions, there are multiple urns inside, and there are tens of thousands of acres of vegetable gardens and farmland, which can be self-sufficient, even if it is a million troops, it is difficult to capture.

At this time, the sun is setting, the golden light of the city is diffused, the peach blossoms beside the moat are in full bloom, the dragon flags are fluttering on the city gate tower, the cog-like crenels of the female wall, and the soldiers stand at equal intervals, full of energy.

On the stone arch bridge deck at the entrance of the city gate, tourists are like dragons, shuttling back and forth, very lively.

"The appearance of the imperial capital, just standing in the distance and looking at it, you can feel a thick dragon aura rushing toward your face. It is said that some foreign envoys from the Western Regions, when they saw this city, immediately knelt down and said: This is the city of God. Also, without the power of the gods, this city cannot be built, and those who live in the city must be gods, ordinary people!"

Lu Wencai shook his head and said.

"Luo Jing, known as Shen Jing, is indeed true."

Zhou Ming was also shocked by this city. As long as this city can be preserved for thousands of years without being destroyed in the flames of war, there is absolutely no problem in evaluating it as a "miracle of world civilization".

There is only one ancient city with a population of one million on this planet.

"Mr. Zihua is here!"

"Mr. Zihua has arrived in the imperial capital!"

"Mr. Zihua! Can you stay for a few days at the mansion of my master, Zhang Shilang?"

There was a noise from the stone arch bridge in front of him. To Zhou Ming's surprise, there were unexpectedly many people from the imperial capital waiting for him at the gate of the city.

There were tens of thousands of people gathered here, including those sent by aristocratic families, business representatives, high court officials, and even several princes, each of whom sent a team of capable warriors, saying that Mr. Zihua was invited to visit him. I also hope to appreciate the light.

After Zhou Minghao apologized for these invitations, he declined all of them politely, and went straight to Deyun Tower, an industry founded by his family in the imperial capital.

The rejection of these invitations was not because Zhou Ming was pretending to be aloof and wanted to improve his status, but because, as long as he agreed to the invitation of any family, no matter how noble the owner's status, he would immediately offend countless forces that he declined. become the target of public criticism.

In many cases, face is fame, if you lose face and reputation of others, it is no wonder that they don't hate you so much.

Therefore, it is better to cater to one and offend others than to cater to none and not offend anyone.

……

In the twenty-sixth year of Tiansheng, March [-]th.

The imperial capital, Daming Palace, and Tai Chi Hall.

After the headache was relieved, the emperor Li Zhi, who had been to court a few more times recently, appeared together on the dragon seat and phoenix chariot together with the queen Wu Mei today, trembling with energy.

After discussing the daily state affairs, all the ministers in the hall fell silent, especially after hearing the eunuch's shrill voice shout: "Mr. Zihua, a famous scholar in Xuanqingzhou, enter the hall to see you!" Twisting their necks, they glanced at the entrance of the main hall from the corner of their eyes.

"Tread, step, step."

A burst of unhurried footsteps came from far to near, and gradually became clearer.

When a young man with sword eyebrows and starry eyes, high crown and jade belt, white clothes, fluttering sleeves, not very white skin, but full of heroic spirit and incomparably handsome strides into the Tai Chi Hall.

What a handsome, agile, unparalleled man!
Is he the famous Mr. Zihua?

Young, so young!

Under the gaze of countless spotlights, the man in white walked to the end of the hall, stood among the officials, shook his sleeves, bowed his hands deeply, and said in a loud voice: "Caomin Tianjian, I pay my respects to His Majesty the Emperor Ming, and to the Queen of Heaven! "

"Bold! Why don't you kneel when you see Your Majesty and the Queen?"

The eunuch in charge of ceremonies in front of the palace was furious, pointing at Fuchen in his hand and scolding him.

The officials were also slightly surprised and looked at him in unison.

Zhou Ming raised his head and said, "Caomin came here by imperial decree. He is a guest invited by His Majesty. As a guest, it is unreasonable to kneel down to the master whenever we meet."

The eunuch Si Li froze for a moment, then pointed at him and yelled at him: "Bold and unreasonable! Sitting on Naizhen Dragon Emperor and Nine Heaven Phoenix Empress, how can you be a mortal? If you don't kneel down, I will punish you..."

"Okay, Mr. Zihua's words are justified. He was specially ordered by the imperial decree. He is my guest. It is really unreasonable to ask him to kneel down. Let's be excused!"

Emperor Li knew.

"Your Majesty Xie Minghuang!"

Zhou Ming bowed deeply again, as he had guessed, Emperor Li Zhi was indeed a magnanimous and humane emperor, and he could understand some truths.

If the person sitting at the top was the queen Wu Mei alone, he would not be able to escape by kneeling and knocking three times.
At this moment, Zhou Ming didn't pay close attention to the expression on the face of Tianhou Wu Mei. She seemed to have kept that smile all the time, without any fluctuations. Others could not guess her true thoughts at all.

After a small episode, there was a slight silence in the hall, and it was Emperor Li Zhi who took the initiative to open up the conversation and asked some questions he was interested in.

Where is Mr. Ru Zihua from?Who are the parents?How many brothers are there in the family?Who is the teacher?And some time ago he traveled around the world, what he saw and heard along the way, those anecdotes he encountered and so on.

Zhou Ming answered all these questions fluently, without stage fright, and told more than a dozen fascinating little stories in a humorous tone, which caused the court to burst into laughter from time to time, and the atmosphere in the Tai Chi Hall quickly became lively.

Even the queen, Wu Mei, was teased several times, like a girl, smiling prettily with her mouth covered.

"Tian Zihua, you have been to the Western Regions, participated in the Battle of Stone City, and defeated Tupan Lun Zanqin. What do you think of the Western Regions?"

A gray-haired old civil servant suddenly asked him.

Zhou Ming pondered for a while, and spit out sixteen words: "The Western Region is in hand, the country is peaceful and the people are safe. The Western Region is lost, and the war will continue!"

"What nonsense!"

The old civil official retorted: "In order to manage the Western Regions, the imperial court dispatches more than [-] troops every year, recruits millions of civilian husbands, and spends tens of millions of money and food! The loss is so huge that the people are already exhausted, and the world is already boiling... …The operation of managing the Western Regions should be ended as soon as possible, and that barren land is worthless!"

Obviously, this civil servant has a lot of opinions on the imperial court's vigorous management of the Western Regions, especially after reading Zhou Ming's "Stone City Wars", he can't talk about it at all, only disgust from the bottom of his heart.

There is no need to fight the Battle of Stone City. It is meaningless to pay such a high price and casualties to fight for a piece of barren land. The huge investment of the court is better used to improve people's livelihood and relieve the pressure on the people. Rest with the people.

As for the alien threat... as long as everyone understands the principles of sages and sages and influences them with morality, there is no need to use weapons, and the threat will disappear by itself.

"Hehe, short-sighted, extremely stupid!"

Zhou Ming sneered, and then expounded the importance of the Western Regions to the Great Zhou from military, economic, cultural and other aspects, and even asserted: Without the Western Regions, the Great Zhou that lost its northwest barrier would surely face the Turks and Turks every year. The military threat launched, the extravagant soldiers pay more; without the Western Regions, Dazhou, which lost its important source of gold and silver currency, would stagnate its economic development; It will also be forced to suspend, and it will be unknown to foreign countries, and cultural exchanges will come to a standstill.

All kinds of assertions are clear, well-argued, and convincing, but the old civil servant who refuted them was speechless and unable to cope.

Of course, the remoteness of the Western Regions makes it difficult to transport supplies, which has indeed brought a lot of burden and pressure to the country. Zhou Ming timely proposed a good strategy of "traveling food for merchants, and doing business for the army", saying that merchants value profits, and as long as there is 30% of profits, business Activities will become active; with 100% profit, you will dare to go anywhere without fear of any road obstacles; with 300% profit, you will defy all laws in the world and sell the rope that hanged you.

Expropriating merchants to transport grain, even if it allows them to grab up to 50% of the profits, can save countless people's labor.

Soldiers doing business is actually allowing the army to directly participate in the sale of silk, improving the security of the Silk Road and silk sales. By joining the silk business, even if the troops stationed in the Western Regions only earn a few hundred thousand taels of gold and silver every year, the pressure on the common people will be relieved. If there is less, the national economy will also develop soundly.

Of course, there are advantages and disadvantages in everything. Encouraging commerce can bring many benefits on the one hand, but on the other hand, it will definitely bring many disadvantages.

However, Zhou Ming didn't want to go into too much detail about how to try his best to find out the benefits and avoid the disadvantages... He couldn't finish talking for three days and three nights. He just proposed these two highly feasible solutions. don't care.

"It's feasible! It's feasible! These two strategies are good strategies to relieve the power of the people of the Great Zhou Dynasty, and they should be adopted quickly!"

Emperor Li Zhi was very excited. He felt that the second strategy was very feasible, so he adopted it without much thought. Several officials were about to raise objections, but he immediately suppressed them, and the proposal was passed.

"Mr. Zihua is a great talent. I don't know if he has the idea of ​​being promoted to an official, entering the court as an official, and benefiting the people of Dazhou?"

Queen Wu Mei, who hadn't said anything just now, stared at Zhou Mingwen with burning eyes. It was obvious that she was thinking of recruiting talents and using them for herself.

Hearing this, Zhou Ming shook his head, cupped his hands and said, "His Royal Highness, Cao Min is just a scholar in the prosperous age, and has no intention of becoming an official. , really not."

Don't want to be an official?

Everyone in the hall was stunned, including the emperor Li Zhi and the empress Wu Mei who were sitting on the dragon chair and phoenix chariot, and they were very astonished.

These days, there are still people who don't want to be an official, but only want to be a literati in the prosperous age.

As a result, many officials began to persuade him, saying a lot of "talented, should plead for the people", "talented people, should benefit the great Zhou", "self-reliance, no responsibility to serve the country and the people" And so on, from persuasive to critical discourse.

The meaning expressed is basically the point of view of "greater ability comes with greater responsibility".

Emperor Li Zhi also said cordially: "Tian Zihua, are you afraid of failing the exam? Don't worry, I will make an exception to promote you and reward you as a seventh-rank official. How about letting you be the county magistrate first?"

Zhou Ming shook his head again, and said something that caused an uproar in the hall. He said: "It's not that the grassroots are afraid of the imperial examination. If you ask the grassroots to take the exam, you will be the number one scholar. It's like picking something out of a bag. The grassroots just don't want to do it." Officials can’t be officials either! Because, if grassroots people are officials, they will be obedient, corrupt, tyrannical and law-abiding. , be a merry idler!"

"Arrogant! Too arrogant!"

"This kid doesn't know the heights of the sky and the depths of the earth!"

"I'm also disappointed. This Tian Zihua dared to release such nonsense without being an official for a day. We have been officials for decades, why not just say a word?"

"There is nothing wrong with this son's words. If he becomes an official, he will definitely invite death!"

His Highness and his ministers were in an uproar, discussing a lot.

Sitting in the hall, the emperor Li Zhi and the queen Wu Mei also looked at each other helplessly, a little dumbfounded.

Tian Zihua, the No. 1 scholar in the world, is indeed worthy of his name, but he did not expect that he is also the number one madman in the world, young and frivolous, crazy to the limit.

(End of this chapter)