The Ming Dynasty started with caution

Emperor Hongzhi saw that there were only a few silkworms and did not find anything different.

Li Dongyang and Liu Jian did not notice anything unusual either.

Xie Qian, however, noticed something different. Many people in his hometown of Jiangnan raised silkworms. He was surprised: "How come these silkworms are so fat?"

"This is exactly what I want to say. When the silkworms were still eggs, they were soaked in brine. They are not only cold-resistant, but also produce more silk!"

The three people in the cabinet could not stand it.

Many silkworms were frozen to death in Jiangnan, resulting in only 500,000 catties of silk being stored at the end of the year, which was 200,000 catties less than the previous year.

If this screening method is implemented for silkworm farmers, wouldn't it be...

"The French love our silk, and even raw silk is very popular. If the silkworm farmers improve, there will be no worries about no silk this year." Zeng Jian said.

Emperor Hongzhi's face became interesting, and when he looked at these silkworms, he no longer looked down on them.

"Do you know that I was discussing the selection of the Minister of Works with the Cabinet just now?"

Zeng Jian's expression changed drastically, and he knelt on the ground: "I did not deliberately come to the palace to offer silkworms because I heard the news."

"I know."

Li Dongyang stood up: "Since ancient times, people have promoted talents regardless of their kinship. Since Mr. Zeng is the person your majesty has chosen, why should you deliberately not use him to avoid suspicion? Please use him based on his talents!"

Zeng Jian's forehead was covered with sweat.

Emperor Hongzhi looked at Zeng Jian and felt that what Li Dongyang said made sense. For the sake of the country, he even bore the bad reputation of being henpecked, so why should he be afraid of adding the name of selecting talents based on kinship: "This Minister of Works will be a burden for you, my dear minister."

Zeng Jian was suddenly shocked, but fortunately he came to report the news early, and was full of excitement: "I am not tired!"

Yan Chengjin heard that your majesty had issued an imperial decree to promote Zeng Jian to the Minister of this department, and Zeng Jian also set up several tables in his house to invite him and Wang Yue and others to have a drink.

Wang Yue complained to Yan Chengjin: "My dear nephew! Do you know how great the merit of improving the silkworm method is? You don't know how to report it yourself. You are so stupid. What a good opportunity!"

Yan Chengjin didn't care: "I don't want it."

"Silly!" Wang Yue was so angry that he walked away.

Yan Chengjin naturally had his own considerations.

Today, I went to Zeng's house for a banquet.

There were not too many guests in Zeng's house, just some civil servants from the Ministry of Works.

I heard that the three Hanlin remonstrators had recently set their sights on Zeng Jian and were ready to get some performance from him, so Zeng Jian was very low-key.

Zeng Jian is now one of the nine ministers, with a high position and power, and is about to be promoted to a foreign relative. Ordinary officials are no longer worthy of the three Hanyuan remonstrators, so it is normal to set their sights on a big fish like Zeng Jian.

"This is the calligraphy I promised to give you. They are all the first drafts of the books written by the gentlemen. They were written by hand and spent countless efforts. You should keep them well."

Yan Chengjin took out the first drafts written by his father, Cheng Minzheng, Wang Yue and others, and placed them in front of Song Jing one by one.

Song Jing's eyes widened: "All these... are for students?"

The three gentlemen are famous, and these handwritten manuscripts have attracted countless readers. The value of them naturally needs no further explanation.

Song Jing's shining eyes are like a primary school student who has collected all the cards.

"I have a small request. I can only give them all to you if you agree."

"Sir, please tell me."

Yan Chengjin said: "Are you willing to be a craftsman in addition to studying?"

Song Jing looked at these manuscripts. If his wife was here, she would definitely say that he was not doing his job properly and would not allow him to take them. But now, he can make his own decision, so he asked again: "Are you really going to give these manuscripts to students?"

"I keep my word."

"Students are willing!"

The banquet was in full swing, but Zeng Jian did not see Yan Chengjin and Song Jing, so he came out to look for them. In the corridor in the backyard, he saw the two muttering something.

"Do my nephew and Yixian need anything?"

It was just in time.

Yan Chengjin said: "What I said to you before, why don't we let Song Jing try and let him go to Wanggongchang to be a craftsman."

Wanggongchang makes firearms, so it's natural to smelt iron.

"Since my nephew is so persistent, let's give it a try." Zeng Jian smiled.

Song Jing was busy counting the handwritten manuscripts he got, and he didn't care.

During the drinking, the civil officials were drunk, but few people paid attention to Yan Chengjin. The food in Zeng's house was not to his taste, so he left after a few bites.

Three days later,

The Jingyan was held in Wenhua Hall, and the main lecturer was Liu Jian, who was spitting all over the speech.

Under the stage,

Zhu Houzhao slept with his eyes open. In Master Liu's class, sleeping naturally requires some skills. Master Liu was famous for his hot temper, so he didn't dare to be too presumptuous.

But his snoring betrayed him.

Hu...

Hu...

Extremely light.

The civil servants who were sitting on the side and listening to the lecture almost dropped their jaws in shock. How could he fall asleep like this?

Liu Jian was so immersed in the book that he didn't notice it at all. He was still talking nonstop. The time for the lecture was too short and there was a lot to talk about.

Yan Chengjin glanced in the direction of Zhu Houzhao. He didn't even move his butt, so he knew he was asleep.

Not to mention Zhu Houzhao, Yan Chengjin was about to fall asleep.

If you comment on the lectures of the three people in the cabinet.

Li Dongyang was erudite, Xie Qian was humorous, and Liu Jian was rigid.

Li Dongyang occasionally quoted other knowledge, Xie Qian extended his ideas in various ways, and Liu Jian mostly read from the book, which was really too boring.

The time for the lecture was up. After closing the lecture notes, Liu Jian realized that Zhu Houzhao had fallen asleep, but what could he do? He had already finished the lecture.

"Your Highness? Today's lecture is over."

Zhu Houzhao blinked his eyes, then came back to his senses and smiled: "Lao Gao, why haven't I seen you talk these days? I still think you are interesting when you talk."

You want to sleep openly, right?

"My lecture notes are not ready yet, and it will take some time to start the lecture." There is no fixed order for the imperial lecture. Cheng Minzheng didn't send the lecture notes these days, and Yan Chengjin didn't know what to talk about.

Liu Jian came over with a dark face: "May I ask your highness, what did I say just now?"

Zhu Houzhao blinked his eyes and tried hard to recall, but he didn't listen to the class at all, it would be strange if he could remember.

"I talked about "The Doctrine of the Mean" today, and your highness didn't listen to the class."

Zhu Houzhao didn't refute it, just lowered his head pitifully: "I won't do it again next time."

For some reason, Yan Chengjin wanted to beat him to death...

What's the next time?

Liu Jian was so angry that he couldn't even eat the banquet, and walked away.

Yan Chengjin ignored him. It was fine to have the imperial lecture. He could leave his post after eating. After the recent iron exchange with foreign countries, a large amount of foreign grain was imported, and the banquets were richer.

He didn't dare to hang out with Zhu Houzhao for too long. After eating the banquet, he left the palace at the hour of Xu.

Tonight, the moon was bright and the stars were sparse.

Yan Chengjin took off his coat as usual and lay on the bed to prepare for sleep. Suddenly, there was a loud bang! He could clearly feel the bed shaking!

The ground collapsed?

Yan Chengjin jumped up and rushed out of the door with a whoosh.

He Neng ran over in a panic: "The ground collapsed... The ground collapsed!"

With a loud bang, the loud noise was so loud that many people in the capital ran out.

After waiting for a long time, the ground stopped shaking.

Yan Chengjin couldn't figure out the situation.

Whether it was a landslide or not, let someone move the bed outside the house first, and sleep outside tonight.

The palace was already in a panic. The eunuch Wei Tai outside Kunning Palace was horrified: "The ground collapsed! The ground collapsed! Protect the emperor! Protect the emperor quickly!"

Not long after Emperor Hongzhi lay down, he heard a loud noise, and ran out of the palace barefoot, holding Empress Zhang.

"What happened!"

Eunuch Wei Tai knelt down hurriedly: "I don't know, I just heard a scary sound, like the sky was mad and the earth was angry, I thought it was a collapse... Damn it! I disturbed the emperor!"

Thanks to the book friends Jiubai Ershiwu, Qunyinghui Hollywood, and Qingyu Hanmei for their rewards, and thank you for the book friends Bailian Chengren and Dahan Renyong Xiaowei for their rewards again. Sorry, I deleted a lot of this chapter today and rewrote it, so it's a little late.