Chapter 193 Five-Year Plan
After leaving Lanling Palace, Zheng Yi indulged himself.

He was secluded in the underground palace for three months. Although he was accompanied by several concubines, Concubine Cui and the others were all pregnant and they could not have sex.

As for Jie'er and Yu'er, they were at a critical moment in their cultivation, so he did not disturb them too much.

Only after he is released from confinement can he enjoy himself.

And in the past few days, I have been thinking about the words that Concubine Lan said in my mind.

Is it really impossible to cultivate immortality without spiritual roots?

On the one hand, they want to keep me company, but the bigger reason is probably that they want to live forever.

There are also Queen Lu Lin'er, Xu Qingluan, Yang Huan, Bihe, Li Changle, Concubine Wan, Concubine Miao and others, who have more or less secretly inquired about these things.

such a pity……

Without spiritual roots, it is impossible to practice Taoism.

Thinking of this, the image of the Nine Infants Fruit of Reincarnation appeared in Zheng Yi's mind.

“Once the Nine Infants of the Reincarnation Fruit matures, I wonder if it will help them awaken their spiritual roots?”

"Unfortunately, the Samsara Nine Infants Fruit will take at least nine thousand years to mature, unless I can offer a blood sacrifice and then use my blood essence to ripen it!"

"Nine thousand years of time, that is, nine thousand drops of blood essence..."

The corner of Zheng Yi's mouth twitched. He would decide on this matter after his next retreat, when he would offer a blood sacrifice of the seeds of the Nine Infants Fruit of Reincarnation.

After resting for a few more days, Zheng Yi met with Liu Chengen, the cabinet and others.

"We pay our respects to Your Majesty! Long live Your Majesty!"

Liu Chengen, Lu Xiangqing, Wang Anshi, Zheng Xuanyue and others stood on both sides, knelt on the ground and shouted "Long live the emperor".

"Get up~"

Zheng Yixu raised his hand and motioned for the adults to sit on both sides.

"Thank you, Your Majesty."

"My dear ministers, I have been in seclusion these past few days seeking the path of cultivation and have neglected state affairs."

Zheng Yi said: "But fortunately, with the help of several adults, I can sleep peacefully."

"By the way, has anything major happened during my recent retreat?"

"While I still have a few days to go, let's solve them all at once."

Several people looked at each other, and Lu Xiangqing stepped forward and asked, "May I ask your Majesty, are you really cultivating immortality?"

"Then there is still a holiday?"

Seeing the few people who didn't quite believe him, Zheng Yi didn't explain and said, "If I succeed in cultivation, I will give back to the Great Yu court."

"Now that the court is stable, we still need your help!"

"The ministers obey the order."

Wang Anshi stood aside and said, "Your Majesty, I have a report to make."

"Go ahead, my dear."

"Your Majesty, our Dayu army has suppressed the rebellions in Yongzhou, Bingzhou, Shuzhou, Yunzhou, Yuezhou and other places. Haizhou Yuanhe Mountain has also been conquered by General Xu. The recovery is just around the corner."

"Now the people in these states are exhausted, starving people are everywhere, many defeated soldiers have gathered together to become bandits, and the people are having a very hard time surviving."

"In addition, after the rebellion, the imperial court was destroyed and there were very few officials. I request that the imperial court send more officials to serve in various states and counties to govern the country."

"Have you chosen the right officials?"

"I, my colleagues in the cabinet, and the Imperial Household Department have completed the discussion. Your Majesty, please review it."

After saying this, he took out a memorial from his sleeve and handed it out.

Liu Chengen walked over quickly and handed it to Zheng Yi.

Leaning on the dragon throne, Zheng Yi opened it and started to check.

Meanwhile, in the audience, Lu Xiangqing, Zheng Xuanyue and Liu Chengen glanced at each other and then looked away.

Only Wang Anshi, Yuan Qichang, Cai Dashi and others were silently waiting for something.

There was very little content on the memorial, just a list.

It is about the arrangements of officials to recover these six states.

Including governors, provincial governors, prefects, county magistrates and others.

Most of them were officials dispatched from the imperial court, a small number were local officials who had managed to survive, and another number were transferred from officials of other states and counties.

Zheng Yi knew some of the people on the list, such as several people who became Jinshi in the special examination in previous years.

There were also quite a few people he didn't know and had never even heard of their names.

However, Zheng Yi knew all the second and third rank officials such as the governor and the provincial governor.

For example, Zhao Chengzhi, a member of the Imperial Party.

Lu Xianghe is from Lu family.

Zhao Jingren, a minister of the Ministry of Rites, etc.

Zheng Yi quickly reacted and discovered the trick.

The positions of governor and provincial governor in the five recovered territories were occupied by the Emperor's Party, the Lu family, the Imperial Household Department, and the Qingliu family respectively.

Among them, the number of Qingliu was the smallest, while the number of people from the Emperor's Party and the Silijian was the largest.

In some ways, people from the Imperial Household Department can also be considered members of the Imperial Party.

He closed the memorial, glanced at Liu Chengen, Wang Anshi, Lu Xiangqing, and Zheng Xuanyue, and said calmly: "The censors Han Yang, Chen Yu, and Sima Kang are honest and upright, and can be the prefects of a place."

The people present were shocked, and none of them could believe their ears.

The three censors Han Yang, Chen Yu and Sima Kang were the three people who were beaten with a stick by Liu Chengen a few months ago.

On that day, the three men tried to break into the palace to persuade His Majesty to be diligent in government affairs, but were caught by the people from the Imperial Household Department.

During the grand court session, the three of them were beaten with the stick fifty times in public.

The three censors were almost beaten to death!
If Wang Anshi had not come to their aid, the three men would have been crippled if not dead.

Now several months have passed, and the injuries of the three men have healed a lot, but they often curse Liu Chengen in the court, making Liu Chengen extremely angry, but he can do nothing about it.

I didn't expect that now, His Majesty would personally grant me the position of prefect!
Of course, the position of a local prefect is definitely not as good as that of a censor, after all, the censor is a Beijing official.

However, this prefect position was spoken by His Majesty with his own words.

The three men were demoted to provincial capitals and would return to the imperial court to become high-ranking officials three years later.

That is to say...

Zheng Yi knew everything that happened at the court session that day!

With a thump, Liu Chengen's legs softened and he fell to his knees on the ground.

"Your Majesty..." "Liu Chengen? Why are you kneeling?"

"Your Majesty, I, your Majesty, punished Han Yang and three other adults with a cane for some trivial matters. I hope..."

"Oh~ that little thing, you did it for me, while Han Yang and the other three did it for the Great Yu court."

Zheng Yi said casually: "I won't take this matter to heart, get up."

"Thank you very much, Your Majesty!"

Zheng Yi threw the memorial in his hand onto the table and said, "Except for these three people, I approve all the names on the memorial."

"I don't care how you place officials, but I want people who can govern the country and help me govern the place well!"

"If I find out that you have committed crimes, corruption, or abused the law, don't blame me for turning ruthless and punishing you with all your crimes!"

"Your Highness obeys your order...!"

Several people quickly knelt on the ground and shouted loudly.

"Okay, anything else?"

Zheng Yi rubbed his temple and said, "If not..."

"Your Majesty, yes!"

Lu Xiangqing suddenly stepped forward again and said, "Your Majesty, in the fifth year of Zhengyong, you discussed and came up with the 'First Five-Year Plan' with me. Now that five years have passed, I have been carrying out government affairs in accordance with the 'Five-Year Plan' established by Your Majesty that day."

"Now that the first five-year plan has come to an end, I wonder if Your Majesty is ready to implement the second five-year plan?"

"Five-year plan... so soon?"

Zheng Yi was a little dazed. Five years had passed so quickly?

Yes, the first five-year plan was promulgated in April of the fifth year of Zhengyong.

It is now the tenth year of Zhengei, and a full five years have passed.

And how much has happened in these five years?

Apart from anything else, a large number of cabinet members have been replaced.

Among the cabinet ministers at that time, there were seven people: Xu Mujun, Lu Xiangqing, Cui Jinghao, Wang Ze, Wang He, Li Yuanhao, and Zheng Zongbing.

And now, Xu Mujun is still there, but unfortunately he lost his left arm, and is leading troops in battle outside.

Lu Xiangqing and Zheng Zongbing are still there, but they are old.

Cui Jinghao and Li Yuanhao retired and lived in seclusion in the local area.

Wang Ze and Wang He were arrested and imprisoned because the entire Wang family rebelled, and they had already committed suicide for various reasons.

The current cabinet ministers are Lu Xiangqing, Zheng Zongbing, Wang Anshi, Zheng Xuanyue, Li Changfeng and others.

Yuan Qichang and Cai Dashi were only cabinet officials and could not make decisions on major issues.

Things change, that's all.

"Mr. Lu, you will be the one to summarize the results of the first five-year plan."

"promise!"

Lu Xiangqing took out a thick memorial from his pocket and said respectfully:

"Your Majesty, there are nine major plans in our Dayu's first five-year plan."

"The first item is to suppress the rioters in the north."

"This plan has already been completed. The six states in the north were suppressed one after another within four years, and my Great Yu even seized the Black Mountain Pass and the Wilderness states."

"Unfortunately, last year, the new emperor of Wu State, Wu Siming, ascended the throne as the first female emperor, and the whole country was mobilized to fight."

"It is rumored that Wu Siming has immortals helping him. Our Dayu cavalry cannot win on the plains and can only retreat to Black Mountain Pass until now."

"But the overall plan has been successfully completed!"

Lu Xiangqing turned a page and continued:
"The second item is that the Ministry of Industry will vigorously develop the military merit industry and recruit 50,000 refugees."

"According to the statistics submitted by the Ministry of Industry, this plan has been fully exceeded."

"Firearms are confidential. The Ministry of Industry is directly under Your Majesty. I don't have any specific data here."

"However, the number of refugees recruited reached more than 80,000, far exceeding the original plan."

"The third item: repel the invading army of Wu State."

"Needless to say, our Dayu Heavenly Army has already repelled the Wu Kingdom and occupied the Black Mountain Pass, the most important pass in the Wu Kingdom!"

"The fourth item: With the capital as the center, the Ministry of Rites will build national schools in every village and county, and strive to educate children of school age."

“This policy…”

Lu Xiangqing hesitated for a moment, but still said: "This policy is presided over by the Ministry of Rites, but in the past five years, my Dayu has been engaged in external wars, especially since the seventh year of Zhengyong, when wars have continued, and the treasury is empty."

"This strategy... has not been fully completed."

Zheng Yi asked: "How many schools have been established?"

"Your Majesty, only twelve were built."

"Twelve?"

Zheng Yi frowned slightly. He knew that books and knowledge were in the hands of big families and high-ranking officials.

It is extremely difficult for people at the bottom of society to change their fate through learning.

But what was unexpected was that the underground officials were so secretly disobeying this policy.

It took five years to build twelve schools!
He suppressed his anger and asked, "How many school-age children can be provided with the opportunity to go to school?"

"Your Majesty, there are less than 800 people."

Lu Xiangqing said: "In addition to the shortage of treasury and the need to support the frontline, the most important thing is that ordinary people are unwilling to send their children to school."

"They would rather let their children work in the fields, or go to Beijing to work in factories..."

Zheng Yi shook his head. Ordinary people had a hard time even surviving, so how could they possibly let their family laborers go to school?

And...enlighten the people.

Do you really want to open it?
Once people's wisdom is awakened, it will be impossible to completely rule them.

Just like the thirty-three taels of silver in the previous life.

This matter needs to be discussed in the long term.

　Begging for a monthly ticket!!!
　　Begging for a monthly ticket!!!

　　Begging for a monthly ticket!!!

　　Begging for a monthly ticket!!!

　　Begging for a monthly ticket!!!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)