In early May, a mighty army was moving forward in Shanxi.

In the center of the army, there is a luxurious dragon chariot. The dragon chariot is driven by six horses, and the body is carved with dragon and phoenix patterns, showing the royal dignity and luxury.

Zhu Ciyang's itinerary to return to Beijing was escorted by 8,000 elite soldiers from the Western Army Governor's Office. The route was also adjusted. He changed the route north and inspected Shanxi and Shandong. He was expected to go south through the Grand Canal in Shandong.

This is Zhu Cilang's fourth tour since the Northern Expedition in the second year of Tianwu, and his fourth tour since he became emperor.

Originally, he planned to go to Xiangyang and return to Beijing along the Yangtze River, but he thought that since the Northern Expedition, several northern provinces have been in a state of recovery, and he could only learn about people's livelihood from the Seben and Dongchang information. In addition to the matter in Shaanxi, Zhu Cilang felt it was necessary to go to Shanxi and Shandong and see it with his own eyes.

Along the way, Qianlong Guard spies came out everywhere and searched for information for several days in advance to prevent local officials from making fraud.

In general, Zhu Cilang is quite satisfied with the people's livelihood in Shanxi, the people live in peace, and the roads are usually solid. Even the railway plan was just issued last year, and workers were often seen laying railway tracks from time to time.

When passing by Taiyuan City, Zhu Cilang specially praised Shanxi Governor Zhang Huangyan, praising his good governance.

In late May, the imperial guards arrived in Jinan Prefecture, Shandong. Xiong Wencan, an 80-year-old governor of Shandong, came to welcome him and handed over the resignation memorial.

Xiong Wencan was an old minister of the five dynasties who had experienced Wanli, Taichang, Tianqi, Chongzhen and Tianwu. I heard that my old eyes are now so blurred that I can’t even see clearly, so my grandson wrote the memorial for resignation.

Looking at this old minister who even struggled to walk, Zhu Cilang sighed in his heart.

In history, Xiong Wencan surrendered Zheng Zhilong, worked as the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi and the governor of the five provinces to suppress the enemy. Later, because Zhang Xianzhong surrendered, he rebelled again and was beheaded by Chongzhen.

Now, he has lived for more than ten years and made a fortune! (At the beginning of the tenth year of Chongzhen, Prince Zhu Cilang replaced Lord Xiong as the governor of the five provinces and went south to suppress the enemy)

Zhu Cilang gave Xiong Wencan a few words of condolences and approved his retirement on the spot.

The feudal dynasty's retirement system was a bit casual. There was a saying in the Han Dynasty that "the doctor retired at seventy years old", but the actual operation was a bit complicated. Even if the official reached the age of 70, if he was in good health, he could continue to be an official.

During the Tang Dynasty, officials above the fifth rank and above worked until they were 70 years old and wanted to retire, they had to go to the emperor to personally approve it. If the emperor thought you were still capable, you would have to work for a few more years.

In the Ming Dynasty, the Ming Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang followed the Tang Dynasty system and ordered that "officials at home and abroad who were seventy years old would retire according to orders, and those who had special orders would not be bound by this example."

The meaning is very simple. You can retire at the age of seventy, but the emperor specially approved it without caring about this age limit, and it was later changed to 60 years old. (The Ming Dynasty Collection stipulates: "All civil and military officers over 60 will be admitted to retirement.")

But overall, the retirement system of the Ming Dynasty was based on personal wishes and did not necessarily have to retire at the age of 60.

If an official does not want to retire, he just needs to report to the emperor and say: I am still capable and want to continue working! I will usually continue to serve.

Some ministers valued by emperors will not be approved even if they want to apply for retirement on their own initiative. Unless they really get "dirty" like Xiong Wencan and don't want to do it, they can only retire.

Of course, the Ming court also had an assessment of officials, especially in the Tianwu Dynasty, the political performance appraisal was implemented. Even if you were not old, the court felt that you could not keep up with your ability and would be ordered to retire in advance.

During the ten years of the Tianwu Dynasty alone, Zhu Cilang ordered more than 60 officials to retire, and the youngest was only thirty-five years old.

Zhu Cilang is also considering whether to stipulate a fixed retirement period for an official or a term of office...

In Jinan, the capital of Shandong, Zhu Cilang stands under the misty rain pavilion, looking at the vast lake surface from afar.

Since the Qing army entered the pass and marched south in the 12th year of Chongzhen, Dorgon destroyed Jinan City and slaughtered hundreds of thousands of people. Jinan's economy has not recovered. Although more than ten years of development, the level of economic development can only be considered to be a medium-to-high level among the six prefectures in Shandong.

However, Jinan has beautiful scenery and gathers a large number of literati and poets. Especially in the Daming Lake area, a commercial area with cultural characteristics has been formed.

There are many shops of books, inscriptions, antiques, calligraphy and paintings here, and there are many places where houses are concentrated, and various types of business are also everywhere, especially the cotton textile industry is the most developed, with a wide variety of products and high-quality quality.

It is the day of midsummer, and it is the season for lotus viewing. Zhu Cilang is in a good mood, so he disguised himself and traveled to Daming Lake in private.

Seeing that the lake surface was boundless and green in the lotus leaves, and the lotus flowers were red in the sun, he was very happy, and he stopped and wrote a poem from time to time.

When Zhu Cilang walked to the Smoky Rain Pavilion to brew poems, he suddenly heard the melodious and pleasant sound of the guqin coming from the lotus willows. He followed the sound and saw a Ya Pavilion surrounded by water and lotus.

The pavilion is red columns and green tiles, and it comes out of the corridor of the Xiamen. The interior is decorated in an elegant and elegant manner. There is also a woman with light makeup playing the piano and singing.

When Zhu Cilang saw that the woman was born with a beautiful appearance, he walked closer and took a closer look.

Next to the piano platform, the smoke was curling, the woman had willow eyebrows, windy eyes, and red lips. She seemed to be immersed in playing the piano, but no one was found.

After the piano sound was over, Zhu Cilang was very happy, and he praised the fan and commented on it from time to time.

The woman was surprised and realized that a handsome man suddenly appeared beside her, with a look of shame.

The girl is lustful by nature, and the same is true for this girl. Seeing that Shuai was unnatural, she secretly glanced at Zhu Cilang and turned her eyes, but she was not him in her eyes, and all the lights were him.

With Zhu Cilang's textbook-style opening chat, sometimes citing classics and sometimes showing off his knowledge, the two gradually started chatting and began to chat with each other.

Zhu Cilang discovered that this woman knew books and etiquette, and her conversation was elegant, gradually becoming generous from the initial shyness, showing her nature.

The two of them talked about the scenery in front of them, including piano, chess, calligraphy, painting, poetry and articles, and they all had a very close relationship, and they felt that they had met too late.

Next, they recited poems and paintings, played piano and chess, roamed boats and traveled to the lake, enjoyed lotus and watched the rain, and enjoyed the culmination of the culmination. As soon as they came and went, the two sides communicated their names.

Zhu Cilang then realized that the woman's name was Chen Annie, Nian Fang Shiba, was a lady from a scholarly family who lived by the lake for generations and a talented woman in Jinan Prefecture.

When Miss Chen asked about Zhu Cilang's name and profession, Zhu Cilang said without any concealment: "My name is Zhu Cilang, a professional emperor, lucky to be!"

After a brief surprise, Miss Chen was flattered and showed a surprise state of winning the lottery.

Like Yang Guifei, she also admires Emperor Tianwu very much. She no longer has political achievements or military achievements, but is in cultural attainments.

In recent years, Zhu Cilang has copied many famous poems intermittently and flowed to the people, including several classic poems by Nalan Xingde who flirted with girls, and was called the Romantic Emperor by people at that time.

Of course, Emperor Zhu himself has a high cultural attainment and has also created some serious poems to appreciate his meritorious officials.
Chapter completed!