Urban Sims

"Cousin Yunhua, long time no see. How are you?"

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, her somewhat plump and plump body after becoming a married woman, the smile that often appears at the corner of her mouth, and her elegant appearance, one knows that she must have lived a relatively happy life in 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 courtesy name was Kangming, was known for his virtuous name and dignified appearance. What was more difficult was his single-mindedness in love. After they got married, he treated Cui Yunhua as if they were guests, and they soon had a son... They became a member of the marriage alliance between aristocratic families. , a famous model couple.

Speaking of which, this couple was able to get together thanks to Zhou Ming, because Cui Yunhua's husband Li Da is also a die-hard fan of Mr. Zihua. He highly admires Mr. Zihua's articles and poems, especially the comics, and he likes them to the point of obsession. Degree.

It's just that Zhongzhou is too far away from Qingzhou, and there are too few "Collected Works of Zihua" and "Comics" circulated. After searching desperately, he couldn't find the complete collection of Mr. Zihua's works. There are many missing in between, which is extremely regrettable.

Just in time, Cui Yunhua, who received a complete set of works as a gift from Zhou Ming, brought these works to Zhongzhou and quickly became the most popular person. Not only did these works become popular among 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 an edict to express the eagerness of His Majesty the Emperor Ming and the Empress of Heaven to meet him, and urged him to stay less and hurry up. some to Beijing.

Zhou Ming nodded and made some preparations. He ordered the motorcade to set off early the next morning. Along the wide and straight official road, he put up a plaque with the words "I was ordered to meet the Holy Spirit" without making any stops in the middle. , arrived at Luojing City, the imperial capital of Zhongzhou.

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 18th.

In the imperial capital, Daming Palace, 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.

"Step, 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, graceful and unparalleled great man!

Is he the world-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 ministers, 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 down when you see His Majesty and the Queen?"

The eunuch in charge of the ceremony in front of the palace was furious, pointing at him with floating dust 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.

"Thank you, Your Majesty Minghuang!"

Zhou Ming bowed deeply again. Just as he had guessed, Emperor Li Zhi was indeed a generous and humane emperor who could understand some truth.

If the one sitting at the top was Queen Wu Mei alone, he would not be able to escape from kneeling and kowtowing 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 the small interlude, the palace was slightly silent for a while, but Emperor Li Zhi took the initiative to open up the conversation and asked some questions that interested him.

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, the interesting things he encountered, etc.

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 made laugh several times, like a girl, she covered her mouth and smiled happily.

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

A white-haired old civil servant suddenly asked him.

Zhou Ming pondered for a while, then spat out sixteen words: "With the Western Region in hand, the country is at peace and the people are safe. If the Western Region is lost, the war will continue!"

"That's nonsense!"

The old civil servant refuted: "In order to manage the Western Regions, the imperial court mobilizes more than 300,000 troops every year, recruits millions of civilians, and wastes tens of millions of money and food! The losses are so huge that the people are already exhausted, and the world is already boiling... …The plan to explore the Western Regions should be ended as soon as possible. Don’t let that barren land go!”

Obviously, this civil servant had great opinions on the imperial court's vigorous management of the Western Regions. Especially after reading Zhou Ming's "Stone City War", he could not be aroused 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 barren land. The huge investment from the court is better used to improve people's livelihood and relieve the pressure of the people. Rest with the people.

As for the threat of aliens...as long as everyone understands the principles of the sages and inspires them with morality, there is no need to use weapons, and the threat will disappear on its own.

"Hehe, short-sighted, extremely stupid!"

Zhou Ming sneered, and then elaborated on the importance of the Western Regions to the Great Zhou from military, economic, cultural and other aspects. He even asserted: Without the Western Regions, the Great Zhou Dynasty, which has lost its northwest barrier, will definitely face Turks and Tufans every year. The military threats launched by the Zhou Dynasty led to more troops and more money; without the Western Regions, the Zhou Dynasty, which had lost its important source of gold and silver currency, would have stagnated its economic development; without the Western Regions, the grand occasion of all nations coming to Korea would no longer be seen, and the diplomatic ties with other countries would It will also be forced to stop, the panic-stricken Zhou Dynasty will not be known to foreign countries, and cultural exchanges will come to a standstill.

All the conclusions were clear, well-argued, and convincing. The old civil servant who refuted them was speechless and unable to deal with it.

Of course, the remoteness of the Western Regions makes it difficult to transport supplies, which indeed puts a great burden and pressure on the country. Zhou Ming also promptly proposed the good strategy of "merchants transport food and the army does business." He said that merchants value profits, and as long as they have 30% of the profits, business will Activities will become active; with 100% profit, you will not be afraid of any dangers on the road and dare to go anywhere; with 300% profit, you will defy all laws in the world and sell the rope that hangs you.

Recruiting merchants to transport grain can save countless people's labor, even if they can capture up to 50% of the profits.

When soldiers do business, they actually let the army 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 hundreds of thousands of taels of gold and silver every year, the pressure on the people will be reduced. If there is less, the national economy will also develop soundly.

Of course, everything has advantages and disadvantages. Encouraging business can bring many benefits on the one hand, but it will definitely bring many disadvantages on the other.

However, Zhou Ming didn't want to go into too much detail about how to explore the advantages and avoid the disadvantages... He couldn't finish it for three days and three nights. He just proposed these two more feasible solutions. Whether others adopt them or not is up to him. don't care.

"It's feasible! It's feasible! These two strategies are good strategies to relieve the power of our people in the Great Zhou Dynasty. We should adopt them quickly!"

Emperor Li Zhi was very excited and felt that these two strategies were very feasible, so he adopted them 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. Is there any idea of ​​being promoted to an official position, serving as an official in the court, and benefiting the people of Zhou Dynasty?"

Queen Wu Mei, who had said nothing just now, stared at Zhou Mingwen with burning eyes. It was obvious that she was interested in recruiting talents for her own use.

After hearing this, Zhou Ming shook his head, cupped his hands and said: "Your Highness, the common people are just literati in the prosperous times. They have no thoughts of becoming officials. It's okay to write articles with their mouths. If you ask the common people to become officials and do things, , really not."

Don't want to be an official?

Everyone in the palace was stunned, including Emperor Li Zhi and Queen Wu Mei who were sitting on the dragon chair and phoenix chariot. They were also astonished.

These days, there are still people who do not want to be officials, but just want to be a scholar in a prosperous age.

As a result, many officials began to persuade him, saying a lot of things: "If you are very talented, you should ask for orders for the people." and so on, from words of persuasion to criticism.

The meaning expressed is basically the view that "with great ability comes great responsibility".

Emperor Li Zhi also said kindly: "Tian Zihua, are you afraid of failing in the examination? Don't worry, I can make an exception and promote you, reward you with a seventh-rank official position, and let you serve as a 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 common people are afraid of the imperial examination. If the common people are asked to take the examination, it will be like getting the number one scholar. It's like picking something out of a bag. The common people just don't want to do it." Officials cannot be officials! Because if ordinary people become officials, they will suppress the poor, stop the corruption, make the strong and law-abiding, and the officials will have no life. They will inevitably attract endless resentment and even death... Instead of doing this, it is better to be free and comfortable. , be a happy idler!"

"Arrogant! Too arrogant!"

"This kid doesn't know how high the sky is!"

"I am disappointed. This Tian Zihua dares to make such lies even though he has not been an official for a day. We have been officials for decades, why is it not as good as what he said?"

"What this man said is true. If he becomes an official, he will definitely be killed!"

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

Emperor Li Zhi and Queen Wu Mei, who were sitting in the hall, looked at each other helplessly, somewhat dumbfounded.

Tian Zihua, the number one celebrity 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. He is young and frivolous, and his madness is boundless.