Ming Dynasty: I risked my life to teach the prince, the emperor begged me not to die

Chapter 290: Forcing the Crown Prince
Most people will feel more or less uncomfortable when seeing so many eyes focused on them.

But Zhu Houzhao was different.

He enjoyed the feeling of standing under the spotlight, just like a general killing enemies on the battlefield, achieving a great victory and having his soldiers bow down to him.

How majestic!

Zhu Houzhao spoke slowly, word by word, fearing that the group of people might not understand him. He spoke very slowly, with a mysterious look on his face, looking up at the sky.

Oh, if there is no sky, then just look at the ceiling of the hall. Watch those scholars and writers reading articles like this. I don’t know why, but it feels very impressive. Zhu Houzhao followed suit.

Pretend to be an expert!
"It is better to govern the river with the river than to govern it with people. The river is impatient..."

Zhu Houzhao spoke slowly, enunciating each word. All the high-ranking officials in the hall held their breath and listened attentively.

For someone who could become a high-ranking official in the cabinet or a ministry, he had some basic literary literacy, and he knew exactly what Zhu Houzhao was talking about.

To put it simply, it is better to use the river to control the river than to use people to control the river. Zhu Houzhao's first words shocked everyone. Use the river to control the river? How to control it?
This concept is so novel and something they have never encountered before. How can they not be curious and confused?
"If you want to deepen the north, then build a dike in the south and the north will be deeper..."

If you want to dredge and deepen the northern section of the river, you can build a dam in the south to narrow the river mouth, make the river water more turbulent, and use the fast-flowing energy of the river water to flush out the sand in the northern section. All the workers need to do is to dig out the sand and silt.

By the same token, if you want to govern the north direction, then use it in the opposite way.

"If you want to silt up the beach and strengthen the embankment, then use this method in reverse."

The sand and silt cleared out are not completely useless. They can be used to consolidate the embankments and make the best use of them.

Zhu Houzhao told everyone the method of water-binding and sand-flushing that Chen Ce had told him word for word.

At last, he said calmly: "I will decree this as... hehe!"

He didn't say anything, but looked around and watched the reactions of these trusted ministers in the court.

very good!

This group of old guys were all shocked. Some of them had lost control of their facial expressions. The most exaggerated one was the Minister of Works Xu Guan. His whole body was trembling slightly, like the trembling after finally peeing after holding it in for a long time, one wave after another.

Is it so exaggerated?

Looking at Emperor Hongzhi again, he was trying his best to restrain his excitement. After all, he was the emperor and he had to remain calm no matter how big the matter was.

But the clenched fist hidden in his sleeve still showed his inner excitement at the moment.

Zhu Houzhao smiled slightly and said, "Haha, I haven't thought of a name for this method yet, so you can name it yourself, Father!"

Look how filial I am. I will give my father a share of all the great achievements.

Emperor Hongzhi was silent for a long time. He ignored Zhu Houzhao and asked the cabinet, "What do you think of the Crown Prince's theory? Can it be implemented?"

of course can!

However, the three cabinet elders were always loyal ministers. They clasped their fists together and said to Emperor Hongzhi: "Your Majesty, this matter should be consulted with the Ministry of Works."

After Liu Jian and the other two finished speaking, they turned their eyes to Zhu Houzhao.

This time they were almost completely certain that Zhu Houzhao's words were definitely not taught by the emperor.

Before this, they had always suspected that the amazing national policies occasionally proposed by the crown prince came from the emperor, because the emperor wanted to consolidate the foundation of the country and build up the prestige of the crown prince in advance to lay the foundation for his future ascension to the throne.

But in the past two days, Emperor Hongzhi has been discussing river management strategies with them. The emperor's worries were all shown on his face. He even used money from the treasury to fill the financial gap of the Ministry of Revenue. Even so, the treasury was still not enough.

Not long ago, the emperor looked worried. If there had been a solution earlier, he would not be like this.

In other words, the emperor was not aware of this theory of river management before the crown prince proposed it.

That’s why the Third Cabinet Elder was so shocked. He just didn’t know which master was guiding Zhu Houzhao, or... was it the Crown Prince who came up with it himself?

Not too possible!

Xu Guan, the Minister of Works, stepped out in a hurry, bowed and said to Emperor Hongzhi: "Your Majesty, I have thought about it again and again, and I think that the Crown Prince's plan to control the river... has great potential!" "No! It is absolutely feasible!"

The Minister of Finance Qin Hong hurriedly saluted and said, "Your Majesty, the Crown Prince just said that this plan for controlling the Yellow River has not yet been named. Please name it yourself, Your Majesty."

After Qin Hong finished speaking, the elders from the six ministries of the cabinet looked at him with disdain, thinking to themselves, this old fellow from the Ministry of Revenue really knows how to seize the opportunity to flatter the emperor like this?
So they came out one after another, bowed their hands and prayed to the emperor to give them a name.

Emperor Hongzhi was in a good mood. He looked at Zhu Houzhao with eyes full of doting and said to his ministers, "Well, since it is my son who proposed the suggestion, it is natural for him to name it."

"Hou Zhao, you can choose a name."

"Let the historian write it down." Emperor Hongzhi did not forget to give a reminder.

Zhu Houzhao thought about it and said, "Why not call it the Cezhao River Control Method?"

Hongzhi: “…”

cabinet:"……"

Six Departments: “…”

What's the name of this? A strong smell of unculturedness hits me.

But as long as you are happy.

Emperor Hongzhi said: "Okay! Let's name it that way."

This brat even put Chen Ce first in his name. Emperor Hongzhi felt so distressed that he felt suffocated. What a simple and silly child.

Emperor Hongzhi asked the Ministry of Works, "If we follow the prince's river management plan, how much silver and labor will it take?"

Minister Xu bowed, made a rough estimate, and said, "The silver needed is only tens of thousands of taels, and a few thousand laborers will be enough."

Compared with traditional river management methods, it saves dozens of times of financial and manpower, which is really exciting!
Emperor Hongzhi patted the documents on the table and said with a smile: "Good! Then the Ministry of Works and the Ministry of Revenue will work together, and when the water level of the Yellow River drops, we will quickly use this method to control the Yellow River!"

"According to the order!"

Emperor Hongzhi waved his hand and said, "Dismiss the court."

"I'm waiting to retire."

Household Department.

Qin Hong returned to the guardhouse. He seemed to have thought of something. His eyes suddenly narrowed and he murmured, "The law of river management... Haha! So that's what it is."

Xu Guan, the Minister of Works, came over and saw Qin Hong mumbling something. He asked curiously, "Minister Qin, what's going on?"

"Do you know who is teaching the prince?"

"Yang Tinghe? Fei Hong? Jin Gui? Or someone else?"

Xu Guan naturally did not believe that the Crown Prince could come up with such a great theory. In fact, he also did not believe that the group of old scholars in the Eastern Palace could come up with such a great method of river control.

The reason is simple. This group of old scholars are good at studying and are well-versed in the Four Books and Five Classics, but if you ask them to take care of the things in the Teaching and Work Department, they basically don't understand anything.

Hearing Qin Hong repeatedly saying "So that's what happened", he naturally thought that Qin Hong knew something, so he asked this question.

Qin Hong glanced at Xu Guan and said with a smile, "Well, there is someone else."

hiss!
Xu Guan asked impatiently: "Who?"

Qin Hong: “Guess for yourself.”

Xu Guan: “…”

(End of this chapter)