After sending off the Xiao family, Meng Zezhi called Zuo Changshi: "Go, invite Lu Daoyi Lu to the study."

"Yes."

Lu Daoyi was the son of the Lu family who went to Nanchang with Meng Zezhi to take the township examination. Like Meng Zezhi, he was also quite successful in his scientific examination. In the 21st Guangde Palace Examination, Lu Daoyi won the 26th place in the top two, and then he was successfully selected as a Shuji in the imperial examination presided over by the Ministry of Rites.

According to convention, the first-scholar of the new division in the imperial examination will be awarded the post of editing and editing from the sixth-rank Hanlin Academy after the list is released; The rest of the second and third top-ranked new jinshi need to take the imperial examination again.

The jinshi who are selected as the shoguns need to study in the Hanlin Academy for two and a half years, and after the expiration of the period, they will pass a separate examination. Those who have good scores in the examination will be awarded the seventh grade for the editing of the Hanlin Academy, and the same as the third grade. Seventh grade Hanlin Academy review, this is officially becoming a member of the Hanlin Academy.

Since the founding of the People's Republic of China, the Dayang Dynasty has had a custom: those who are not scholars will not be admitted to the Hanlin, and those who are not of the Hanlin will not be admitted to the cabinet. Therefore, officials who can be elected to the Hanlin Academy have the opportunity to rise to the top.

Those with poor scores in the sanctuary examinations were awarded subordinate chiefs or local magistrates.

Lu Daoyi had just taken the sanctuary exam last month, and his grades were excellent, and now he is waiting for an official appointment from the Ministry of Personnel.

It's just that this year's distribution of custards is different from previous years.

The sages in this department are all from the same year as Meng Zezhi (people admitted to the same list), and the relationship is naturally extraordinary.

The Ministry of Works was originally the territory of the Second Prince. After the fall of the Second Prince, almost all the officials under the Ministry of Works were cleaned up, and three out of ten.

Meng Zezhi pondered over and over again, and rejected Emperor Guangde's suggestion of entering the Ministry of Households to observe politics, and chose the Ministry of Industry as his base.

The Ministry of Household has always been firmly in the hands of Emperor Guangde.

——Not only because Meng Zezhi wanted to give himself the greatest room to play, but also because the Ministry of Industry was in charge of civil engineering, water conservancy projects, mining, metallurgy, textiles and other government-run industries in the country, and also was responsible for machine manufacturing. , including weapons, munitions, military utensils, etc., then the space for operation here is large.

Emperor Guangde also had the thoughts of Meng Zezhi in the examination school, and after a little thought, he agreed to Meng Zezhi's request.

Therefore, more than 30 sages in this department, except for a few to go to Henan to serve as magistrates because of insufficient positions, the rest must be filled into the Ministry of Industry as the head of the work.

For these sages, although doing so would undoubtedly cut off the avenue to the sky in the Hanlin Academy, it was a blessing to be able to work under Meng Zezhi's command.

The current minister of the Ministry of Industry is the grandfather of Lu Zengxiang, the former governor of Huguang, and Lu Daoyi. Most of the Qing officials and ministers were filled by Fang Shi (the examiner) and Zuo Shi (the chief examiner) who had been taking the exam by Meng Zezhi. This was the power assigned to Meng Zezhi by Emperor Guangde.

"Your Highness." As soon as he entered the study, Lu Daoyi knelt down and gave a salute.

"No." Meng Zezhi put down the tea cup in his hand and pointed to the chair next to him: "Sit down."

Both of them got used to the change of identity as quickly as possible.

Meng Zezhi said, "I remember Brother Yucai, you once said that Ling Zun was in charge of the Weihe Shipyard."

Weihe Shipyard is located in Changle County, Fujian Province. It is the largest branch under the name of Qingjiang Shipyard, one of the three major shipyards in Dayang Dynasty.

"If you go back to His Highness, that's right," Lu Daoyi said.

"How many ships can Weihe Shipyard build in a year?"

"More than a hundred ships, but most of them are water ships (grain ships)."

Meng Zezhi asked, "Can you build ships?"

Lu Daoyi thought back carefully: "Yes, when other shipyards can't complete the task of covering ocean ships, Weihe Shipyard will help build a few ships if they have spare capacity."

After speaking, he paused and asked, "Why did Your Highness suddenly ask these questions?"

"It's nothing, I just want to ask Ling Zun to help me build a batch of ships."

With that said, Meng Zezhi pushed the wooden box at hand to Lu Daoyi.

As soon as Lu Dao opened it, what caught his eye was a thick stack of blueprints of sea ships. He picked it up and unfolded it and took a deep breath: "So big?"

You must know that the longest warship of the Great Yang Shui Division is only fifteen feet long, but the ship on this drawing is marked with a total length of forty-four feet.

These drawings were harvested by Meng Zezhi who lived in Duanben Palace for more than three months. They were modeled on the treasure ship of Zheng He in the Ming Dynasty in the present world. Some flashy things were trimmed and the storage capacity was expanded.

——When he was in college before, he took the modern maritime history as an elective because of his interest, so he dabbled in these.

Thinking about it now, it’s always good to learn something more, and I’m sure you will use it one day!

"Yeah." Meng Zezhi pointed to the wooden box: "There are still 500,000 taels of silver bills here, ask your father to build 20 ships of each type according to these drawings, if the money is not enough, ask me for it, and I will Let the estimator prepare the wood for you to build the ship. Just one point, the confidentiality work must be done well."

Weihe Shipyard is far away in Fujian. As long as the work is done properly, it is not a problem to hide from the capital.

The reason for such an arrangement is simply that Emperor Guangde did not know the details of Meng Zezhi, so hope he can take a step by step, fight steadily, and focus on winning the heir.

But Meng Zezhi knew his own strength, so he obviously thought more long-term. Now that you have money in your hands, you might as well think more about the future.

A northern expedition in the fifteenth year of Guangde, although it completely defeated the old enemy Tatar, but also exhausted the money of the national treasury, so that the people of the Dayang Dynasty, who had finally improved their lives, returned to the dire straits again. Coupled with the 22-year drought in Qingzhou, the riots of refugees, and the rupture of the Yellow River in mid-August this year, the situation of the people of the Dayang Dynasty is now better than that of the last years of the Yuan Dynasty.

How many years will it take for such a devastated country to recover to the prosperity of the Han and Tang Dynasties, fifty years, eighty years, or a hundred years?

In its position to seek its own government, to do it naturally must be the best.

Meng Zezhi also has his own ambitions. He does not hope that this country with a population of more than 10 million will recover itself in a short period of time, so he turns his attention to overseas, knowing that maritime trade has always been profitable.

But if you want to go to sea, you have to build a ship first.

Since the treasury has no money, he can only pay it, so it is necessary to hide it from Emperor Guangde.

"Yes."

Meng Zezhi didn't say much, and Lu Daoyi didn't ask any more. Who told him that the Lu family and Meng Zezhi were grasshoppers on the same rope. The above has sent a message, and the people below them just do what they are told.

After sending Lu Daoyi away, it was already the second watch, Meng Zezhi yawned a little, and then walked to the bedroom under the leadership of Zuo Changshi.

When he got there, Lu Li was already lying on the bed.

Meimei took a hot bath and waved away the maids and servants. Meng Zezhi lifted the quilt and lay in, hugged him into his arms, and let out a sigh of satisfaction.

After waiting for a long time without seeing Meng Zezhi's movement, Lu Li pursed his lips, took out an envelope from his arms and stuffed it into Meng Zezhi's hand.

"Huh?" Meng Zezhi opened his eyes, picked up the envelope and opened it. Three people's names were listed on the letter. He raised his brows, "This is?"

"The people of King Tang (the eighth prince) are among those officials who are going to be assigned to the Ministry of Industry." Lu Li said.

This saved him a lot of heart.

The corners of Meng Zezhi's lips curved, and he kissed Lu Li's face: "Thank you."

Then he closed his eyes again, thinking about how to enrich the strength of the Ministry of Industry.

Lu Li opened his mouth and suddenly felt a little tight in his chest.

The next day, Meng Zezhi officially entered the Ministry of Industry to observe politics.

With Lu Li's help, Meng Zezhi escaped the Eighth Prince's calculations several times, and even forced the other party to break the branches several times. In addition, Lu Zengxiang is indeed a good player in political management. Under his training, in just two months, the originally poor and white Ministry of Industry was on the right track.

In a blink of an eye, it was January in the 24th year of Guangde. Heavy snow fell in the capital. In just a few days, the snow on the ground was less than thighs. The price of food in the capital skyrocketed, and countless people were crushed by the snow.

When the news came, Meng Zezhi had to withdraw from the firearms bureau and devote himself to disaster relief.

Verify the disaster situation, count the affected area and the affected population, provide relief to the victims, provide porridge and medicine, pay maintenance fees for collapsed houses, and provide pensions for lost relatives... Fortunately, the second prince fell some time ago, and Emperor Guangde copied it. The mansion of few officials, otherwise the national treasury might not be able to spend so much money for disaster relief.

When gathering the homeless, Meng Zezhi had a whimsical idea. He took snow and watered it into an igloo, and the effect of windproof and heat preservation was unexpectedly good.

As a result, the number of people who died from the snow this year was less than one-tenth of that in previous years.

The news came out that under the deliberate promotion of Emperor Guangde, who was more and more satisfied with Meng Zezhi, Meng Zezhi's popularity among the people instantly rose to a higher level.

"King Ningxian—"

The eighth prince had a livid face and gritted his teeth.

He Gu Shi'an, He De and He Neng, just because he made an igloo, the folks spread the name of the wise king.

Thinking of the manpower he had put in Meng Zezhi's hands over the past few months, the Eighth Prince couldn't help but take a deep breath. It was indeed that he underestimated Meng Zezhi's means.

It seems that his good father emperor is determined to support Gu Shi'an to ascend to the throne.

Can't wait any longer, the eighth prince's eyes darkened.

I saw him stand up, walk to the bookshelf, lift up the calligraphy and painting on the side wall, then open the hidden compartment behind, and take out a small porcelain bottle from it.

"Zhao Yi."

"Yes." A man in black came out of the shadow at the corner.

"Take 50,000 taels of silver notes and give this to Tao Neixiang, and tell him it's time to do it." The Eighth Prince said coldly.

"Yes." The man in black reached out and took the small porcelain bottle.

"By the way," as if remembering something, the Eighth Prince asked, "How about the firearms bureau that Gu Shian built in Xishan?"

"If you go back to His Highness, the guards there are too strict, and your subordinates can't get in at all."

The eighth prince frowned, and his instinct told him that there was something wrong with the firearms bureau, otherwise Meng Zezhi would not have sent all his three hundred guards over: "Continue to send people to watch, as soon as there is news, report it immediately. ."

"Yes."

The author has something to say:

Lu Li: Sure enough, men are big hooves.

Meng Zezhi: Does anyone think that I am a big golden finger?