The Ming Dynasty started with caution

Li Dongyang sat on a stool carved from an old tree, playing with his grandson.

The first element of negotiating with a criminal is to get him to open up. Although the negotiation with Li Dongyang was not so serious, the father-in-law was always on guard against him.

"Why did you come to me?" Li Dongyang knew that his son-in-law had something to ask.

This official?

He didn't even call him father. It seemed that he was a little short. Yan Chengjin looked at Yan Fanglai and said, "Recite a poem for your grandfather."

"I was drunk alone, and I mistakenly paired the beauties..."

"..." Li Dongyang stared at Yan Chengjin with wide eyes.

Yan Chengjin patted Yan Fanglai's little head, and said with regret: "How did you recite the secret code of the mansion gate?"

Li Qing'e knew that her husband and father had something to discuss, so she took Yan Fanglai and Yan Qianlong to the backyard.

"Why did you come to me? Even if you let Fang come to coax me, I will not be soft-hearted."

From the moment he stepped into the mansion, Li Dongyang saw through Yan Chengjin's trick.

It's just that he played the trick against him.

"Duke Wei came to me and advised me to allow the children of military meritorious service to participate in the imperial examination."

Li Dongyang frowned slightly, "Why did you agree to Duke Wei? The court has finally rectified the feudal system, and you allow your children to be officials. Isn't it just to increase the power of military meritorious service?"

The court has checks and balances between civil and military.

He was a little confused about his son-in-law's mind.

I wanted to reject it outright, but when his son-in-law spoke, he knew that there were several plans waiting for him behind the scenes.

"The court can issue a road permit certificate. In exchange, the military meritorious service will return a thousand hectares of good land to the court, which is actually a weakening of the military meritorious service." Yan Chengjin considered it.

Most of the useful good land in the world is concentrated in the hands of military meritorious service, adding up to thirty or fifty.

The population is increasing, and the military meritorious service needs to give up this part of the land.

As compensation, the non-hereditary descendants of military meritorious service can participate in the imperial examination, become a seventh-rank official, and be granted fiefdoms in various places overseas.

They can also leave their fiefdoms to do business and run businesses.

Military meritorious service gets freedom and a way out, and the court takes back the land.

It is good for both the court and military meritorious service.

Li Dongyang thought that Yan Chengjin wanted to help Duke Wei and arrange a job for his son Xu Yingsu. Now it seems that he wants to kill Duke Wei.

"Aren't you taking back the land in the name of Duke Wei?"

"What do you think of this plan, Lord Li?"

"Very good."

The road permit certificate is a small profit issued by the court to the surrounding small countries. With the certificate, you can enter the pass to do business.

Military meritorious service and vassal kings are restricted from leaving their fiefdoms. The same principle applies to the surrounding small countries to issue road permits to their descendants.

"I am afraid that the military meritorious vassal kings in various places will scold Duke Wei."

...

Fangshan, Nankang.

Gu Dayong led the black-haired yellow cow, whose strong belly muscles almost touched the ground. The tail whip was raised, and the bowl gradually filled up.

"This, this is beer?" Zhu Houzhao licked his lips.

Zhang Xian looked at himself. At first, he suspected that Yan Chengjin was crazy, but every time Lord Yan had an incredible idea, he always came up with it.

The engineers around him also looked anxious.

"I don't drink beer, so I don't know."

Yan Chengjin knew that in the previous life, a certain country used cow urine as a beverage, and had a vision: to become the world's largest beverage giant.

He stole this idea in advance, made it bigger and stronger, and sold it back to the foreigners overseas.

I wonder if I can make money?

"Brewing wine wastes a lot of corn, and using horse urine to make wine is unheard of. This is a good policy." Wang Qiongmu, the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, took a day off and followed Yan Chengjin to Liangxiang.

Liu Ren, who sold his father for glory, stood aside. He was quite knowledgeable about celestial bodies and farming, and brewing wine was also among his skills.

As the deputy chief engineer, he stepped forward and said, "Let the students try it?"

Yan Chengjin stepped back, and Zhu Houzhao followed suit.

Liu Ren took a sip and shook his head, "It won't make me drunk, it shouldn't be alcohol, I'll... Excuse me."

But before he left, a strange voice came out from under him and said to the engineer next to him:

"...Send me to Huimin Pharmacy."

Yan Chengjin didn't know how the future would deal with it. It seemed that he could only sell it when the technology was mature, but he remembered the pattern on the beer can.

"Try it with wheat, sorghum, etc. This official remembers that this wine is difficult to get drunk, the color is slightly yellow, and there are bubbles."

...

Early in the morning.

Wei Guogong Xu Yu frowned and thought for a while, then looked at the direction of the Forbidden City.

It was time to go to court. It was the last day to stay in the capital. I didn't know if the petition to the new emperor would be successful. If it was successful, the second and third sons could stay in the Imperial College to study and pass the imperial examination.

Although the rank of a seventh-rank official is small, it is not much different from that of a hundred households of the Jinyiwei, and it can be considered a livelihood.

"Dad, I want to be a civil servant."

Xu Chu sighed, but he didn't say much when the words came to his throat. He was ready to go to the Wumen to attend the court. I think today's court will be very intense.

The officials passed through the Wumen Guangting one after another, walking and stopping, and soon arrived at the Fengtian Hall.

"I have convinced Lord Yan."

In the hall, Duke of Wei Xu Chu looked up at Zhu Houzhao on the throne, and spoke after entering the hall.

Zhu Houzhao hummed and found that the officials were also looking in this direction, so he looked at Li Dongyang below and saw that he was silent.

"Allow me to beg."

Xu Chu felt a little strange. Why did the officials just look at him, but no one argued?

Although Jiang Mian and others wanted to speak.

But they went to the cabinet to hold a small meeting early in the morning. After weighing the pros and cons, they decided to give up the benefits and take back the fiefdom.

"Pass on my decree that the Marquis of Wuxun hand over a thousand hectares of land, and the court will issue a travel permit."

"Wait, a thousand hectares of land?"

Xu Yu finally found something wrong, as if waking up from a dream, "I didn't say I would hand over a thousand hectares of land!

Please forgive me, my duke discussed with Lord Yan to help him sell wine in Guangdong and Guangxi, and he helped my duke to ask the court for permission to allow non-hereditary children to study in the Imperial Academy and become seventh-rank officials..."

The voice gradually became smaller, and he found that he was deceived by Yan Chengjin...

The court's true intention was to take the opportunity to reduce military honors. He was careless and didn't guess this.

"Duke Wei also knows that the court has reclaimed a lot of wasteland.

But most of the good farmland in the world is concentrated in the hands of military honors. This is an unresolved malpractice of the court. In exchange for the freedom of his descendants, it is actually not a loss."

Yan Chengjin looked calm, knowing that Li Dongyang had agreed, so he was not panicked at all.

Land is like silver, no matter how much.

The Ming Dynasty cannot fight against the local tyrants and divide the land, and redistribute the land.

We can only recover some of it first, reduce the concentration of land, and take a small step towards prosperity.

When the time is right, we can move the princes and nobles overseas with the same area of ​​land to free up the territory of the Ming Dynasty.

"I have never promised this to Lord Yan."

One thousand hectares?

Does each military merit have one thousand hectares?

It is better to divide the land among the descendants to cultivate than to become a seventh-rank official in the court. The court is still thinking about the land in their hands.

"Duke Wei, why do you think the court would allow the children of military merit to participate in the imperial examination for no reason?"

"But... but it is not worth it. Being an official is to buy good land. Now selling good land is not putting the cart before the horse?"

"At first glance, it is so, but the descendants will not be restricted by the fiefdom for generations, and they can be officials and trade freely. Isn't it a good thing?"

Yan Chengjin asked back.

Duke Wei's heart moved slightly. If he could do business, he could buy back the land. It seems... it seems that it is not a loss.