Zhu Yijun has only given out a signal not to abolish the New Deal and to continue the restructuring. However, the big bureaucrats and big landlords in the world only allow the emperor to make profits from abroad, but do not allow them to abolish the New Deal and wantonly annex and exploit domestic production through lending and other methods. The people are still skeptical or opposed to the holy will of the people.
After all, the strong inertia of the small-scale peasant economy cannot be changed by the emperor sending a signal.
More needs to be done to get rid of the habit of big bureaucrats and big landowners who would rather exploit their own people than engage in external expansion and technological revolution.
Including Zhu Yijun himself, the emperor.
He had many concubines and maids to support, and a large group of domestic slaves to maintain their loyalty. He also needed a large amount of money to satisfy his luxurious and comfortable life, and enough gold and silver to maintain his military morale.
In addition, Zhu Yijun also had to find a way to make money if he didn't want his harem to suddenly catch fire or be strangled while he was sleeping due to lack of money.
Undoubtedly, it is most convenient to increase rents from the tenant farmers of the imperial village, or open imperial shops to take advantage of the small traders, or even directly take money from the national funds, and let the foreign officials find ways to increase taxes from the people to make up for the loss of the national funds. of.
But easy is easy.
But Zhu Yijun, who understood the consequences, was still a little reluctant.
Because he knows that doing so is a typical landlord mentality that would rather force his people to survive than work harder to make the cake bigger.
Although Zhu Yijun is absolutely fine, because of this choice, a large number of people will die, and it will only happen a hundred years after he returns to his homeland, and no matter how many lives the monstrous flood will swallow in the future, Zhu Yijun still wants to try to see if he can use improved technology. way, making the profit of colonizing the world more convenient than the profit of enslaving the people of the country.
Therefore, Zhu Yijun also specially issued an order to change the war bureau of the inner court to the general supervisor, and set up an ordnance design institute and the Huangming Industrial School under the general supervisor, and also spent one million taels of silver every year for the general supervisor to serve as the supervisor. Support the senior craftsmen recruited by the Ordnance Design Institute to develop new weapons, and train technical talents at the Huangming Industrial School.
As a result, the status of the general prisoner among the twenty-four yamen of the inner court is undoubtedly much higher than when it was still a military battle.
"Your Majesty, this is the new warship presented by Liu Ming, the young eunuch of the general. This warship has lowered the poop and forecastle, increased the number of floors, and covered the bottom with copper, making the entire The hull is more curved, and a sail is even added behind the warship to adjust its direction."
this day.
It's the time when the autumn sun is shining.
The sparkling waves on Taiye Pond reflect the yellow leaves on both sides.
Zhu Yijun, accompanied by Chen Zheng, the eunuch of Xin Bingbi, the Superintendent of Ceremonies, came here specially to check out the new warships developed by the General Supervisor according to his requirements.
After hearing this, Zhu Yijun asked: "So, this warship is more suitable for long voyages?"
Liu Ming immediately came over, knelt in front of Zhu Yijun and said: "Back to the emperor, I think this ship is indeed more suitable for long voyages."
After hearing this, Zhu Yijun nodded: "In this case, let the Chief of Ceremonies send Liu Ming to take this warship to Fujian, and let Fujian Governor Jin Xuezeng lead the navy to try this ship and test the effect. If it works, All will be rewarded greatly! In addition, let the people sent by the Supervisor of Ceremonies patrol the sea territory for me and allow them to do things conveniently, so as to avoid the situation where the new warship is robbed by pirates and unable to retaliate."
"According to the order!"
Chen Zheng, Liu Ming and other eunuchs all looked excited.
Since the land clearing, Zhu Yijun's Imperial Manor has also been forced to clear out a lot of hidden land.
In addition, in order to prevent more royal tenants from fleeing, Huangzhuang also had to reduce rents and interest rates, which caused many eunuchs in the inner court to lose a lot of financial resources.
In addition, since the Jiajing period, the eunuchs' income has been greatly reduced since they began to abolish the garrison officials. Therefore, in addition to the formal salary and incentives and subsidies, the eunuchs' income behind the scenes has mainly come from foreign officials. of bribery.
And this has a result, that is, the eunuchs will have more frequent contact with the scholar-officials of the outer dynasties, and they will be more easily bribed by the scholar-bureaucrats of the outer dynasties.
This phenomenon actually began to intensify in the late Jiajing period.
Even reformist civil servants such as Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng were able to take power in the first place because they colluded with internal eunuchs and formed an alliance of interests with them.
Although private collusion between eunuchs and civil servants from other dynasties, even private contact, is taboo and will be severely punished by the emperor, but the nature of people seeking profit is difficult to completely stop, not to mention the tens of thousands of eunuchs in the palace. It’s also difficult to control.
Therefore, if Zhu Yijun wanted to curb the collusion between eunuchs and literati from outside the dynasty, he needed to change the main way of income for the eunuchs in the palace secretly, from taking bribes as their main income to undertaking scientific research projects and major projects. to make profits, supplemented by more stringent measures to prohibit private contact between the inner court and the outer court.
Of course, even though Zhu Yijun encouraged inner court personnel to make profits by engaging in R&D and undertaking major projects, he had strict requirements on the results of R&D and projects.
That is, if you want to make money, you can do it, but don't make any mistakes.
Let the general supervise the development of new warships to fulfill this purpose.
Although Liu Ming falsely reported a lot of money for the development of new warships, the warships he built were indeed not just superficial things. He decided to develop this warship after personally asking the opinions of old military officials who had retired from the Ming Navy. A new type of long-distance warship.
In terms of technical mastery of ocean navigation, Ming Dynasty was originally the strongest and the most willing to innovate.
You must know that the stern rudder technology, which is the most critical for ocean navigation, is a Chinese invention.
It's just that this technology originated in China only helped Columbus discover America.
However, as the inventor, China not only failed to discover the Americas, but also actively discarded many advanced technologies. Just like it actively discarded multi-spindle spinning machines and deep drilling technology, Ming Dynasty actively abandoned its own advanced technology foundation for ocean navigation. , and even took the initiative to burn the nautical data on ocean voyages.
But now, Zhu Yijun began to use his status as emperor to intervene and restart the research and development of voyage technology.
Originally, the emperor was the last person who needed to encourage technological revolution.
Because the emperor can completely replace the role of technology with a large amount of manpower because he has supreme power.
It's just that Zhu Yijun is different, because his familiarity with the history of later generations makes him want to live a more fulfilling imperial life by improving his technology.
Because they met such an emperor, Sun Bin, the eunuch of the ceremonial hall and the eunuch of the general eunuch, and Liu Ming, the young eunuch of the general eunuch, were able to take the new warship to Fujian, and they were determined to use this new warship. Make some money.
That's right, anyone can maximize the benefits of the power they have without any guidance.
And Sun Bin and Liu Ming are no exception.
After they came to Fujian and met with the governor Jin Xuezeng, they, with the help of Navy Commander Shen Yourong and his troops, carried out the new warship built by the Ming Dynasty in the name of trial sailing, which was equivalent to the beginning of history in the seventeenth century. A Galenic-style warship popular in Europe went to the vicinity of Luzon Island, where it robbed a Spanish armed merchant ship.
But after Zhu Yijun received a joint report from Jin Xuezeng, Sun Bin, Liu Ming, and Shen Yourong, they happened to encounter a barbarian ship attacking the new warship when they were trying out the new warship. Therefore, they tried out the new warship. The navy of the ship had to fight back and annihilated all the pirates on the barbarian ship and obtained a large amount of pirate funds.
Because Jin Xuezeng and others paid Zhu Yijun as much as 300,000 taels of thief money, Zhu Yijun could only choose to acquiesce, and issued an edict to commend him. In the name of his successful sea trial and his contribution to the suppression of the bandits, he promoted Sun Bin to the position of Superintendent of Ceremonies. Bingbi eunuch, Liu Ming is the general eunuch, Jia Jin Xuezeng is the deputy capital censor, Sheng Sheng Yourong is Qian Zong, the first commander of this new warship, Qian Zong, and he is still worth three hundred thousand taels. For the sake of Bai Yin, Shen Yourong was issued an edict to "suppress the bandits cheaply", which was equivalent to a privateering license.
There was no other way. Jin Xuezeng, Sun Bin, Shen Yourong and others abided by the rules and knew not to forget the emperor when it came to making a fortune, allowing Zhu Yijun to see their loyalty.
Zhu Yijun chose to admit that what they said was the truth.
What's more, Zhu Yijun is now spending a lot of money to encourage scientific research and make life in the inner court more harmonious. The income from internal funds has gradually been unable to offset the expenses. It is when money is needed, and he is unwilling to abolish the New Deal and spit out the hidden land. To take it back and increase the income of Huangzhuang Hidden Field, I took the initiative to choose to be the protective umbrella of these people, otherwise I would not have given Sun Bin the right to do things easily in advance.
