Zhu Yijun quickly approved the question script submitted by the Ministry of Personnel.
As soon as the decree was promulgated, it quickly caused a stir in the entire officialdom.
Many officials who wanted to hang out suddenly felt like they were mourning for their heirs.
Some began to secretly curse Wang Lin for his personal advancement and his harsh treatment of bureaucrats.
"Wang Bazhou is so embarrassed by all the officials in the world, isn't he afraid that the officials in the world will also make things difficult for him and his descendants?!"
"Wang Bazhou is so busy in the temple, isn't he afraid that he will have no friends in the future when he retires to the forest?!"
"This Wang Bazhou is so unkind, I really regret pushing him during the trial!"
…
Zhu Yijun looked at the scolding remarks sent by Jin Yiwei and was not angry. He just smiled and then asked Zhang Jingxiu:
"After officials are prevented from resigning arbitrarily, are there any other situations that may arise?"
"Returning to your Majesty, another situation is that many scholar-bureaucrats have threatened that they would rather not be an official, take the imperial examination, or pursue an official career than join the ranks of treacherous ministers like Otsuka Zai."
"Because of this, there are indeed many fewer literati who signed up for official election and participated in the imperial examination. Many literati really began to give up their official career and start other professions, and even threatened to only write plays and scripts as their career in this life."
Zhang Jingxiu replied.
"This doesn't mean that I don't want to join the others, I just don't want to work so hard."
Zhu Yijun said.
Zhang Jingxiu replied: "Your Majesty is right!"
"This is also related to the fact that the world has become very prosperous, so many talents are not keen on taking the official career and economic path. Now that the imperial court has issued a decree not to allow officials to resign at will, there are more scholars who are not willing to take the road. This path is more willing to awaken the people to the Tao. Anyway, in today's Ming Dynasty, if you are an ordinary scholar or even an ordinary citizen, you will not feel any oppression, you don't have to serve and the taxes are small."
"It's a good thing not to be keen on being an official. This way, more people will be willing to devote themselves to improving various kinds of knowledge and skills."
Zhu Yijun replied.
"What your Majesty is saying is that more and more people are coming to Jiangzuo Temple to obtain the technical title of craftsman designated by His Majesty. Many of them are scholar-bureaucrats with official status. They are no longer keen on working for official positions in the Ministry of Civil Affairs, but are keen on going to the Ministry of Civil Affairs. Will be doing temple running technique."
Zhang Jingxiu replied.
"This is even more of a good sign!"
"Fewer people who work hard and more people who study hard will be conducive to the long-term stability of the country."
Zhu Yijun stood up and said, "I will also go to Jiangzuo Temple to have a look. Speaking of which, I should also go and see for myself how well the steam engine spinning wheel is made, and ask the first assistant, the prime minister, and the second assistant to go with me." "
"According to the order!"
…
Since Zhu Yijun decided to promote steam engines on the market, Jiangzuo Temple was ordered to add a machinery factory for government-made steam engines, and to assume the responsibility of the Ming Dynasty Central Commercial Bank, he issued a steam engine purchase order to the official office of Jiangzuo Temple under the order of the cabinet Jun. Machinery factory.
As Zhu Yijun said to the ruling ministers in the Imperial Palace before, because the steam engines of the Ming Dynasty were not spontaneously produced and improved by the people, but were produced and improved by the imperial government agencies, it is destined that the application of steam engines was also forced by the imperial government's commercial preparations. Implemented in the city.
Naturally, both the organization that produces steam engines and the organizations that are about to use steam engines are government-run commercial organizations of the imperial court.
After Zhu Yijun came to Jiangzuo Temple, he saw the first steam-powered spinning wheel trying to spin yarn here.
"Suddenly, people are no longer needed for spinning. Before this, it was really unthinkable."
Amidst the rumbling sound of machines running, Qi Jiguang, Li Chengliang, and Wang Xijue, the three governors, already knew about the steam engine. However, after following Zhu Yijun here and seeing the steam-powered spinning wheel with his own eyes, Qi Jiguang still couldn't help but be suspicious of these two people. The person sighed.
Li Chengliang then smiled at Qi Jiguang and said, "Your Majesty is still capable of making such a magical car."
"I just don't know if this future is a good one in the eyes of the world."
Qi Jiguang replied.
“I really don’t know how much this steam engine will make cotton cheap again, and the number of cotton fields that need to be expanded will also increase.”
At this time, Wang Xijue frowned and said something else.
Zhu Yijun did not hear the conversation between Qi Jiguang, Li Chengliang, and Wang Xijue at this time. He was only listening to Qi Changguo and Zhao Shizhen introducing him to the specific structure of the steam engine spinning wheel.
Zhu Yijun listened carefully and asked some questions.
What Zhu Yijun had to admit was that Qi Changguo and Zhao Shizhen already knew and understood the specific steam engine structure better than he did.
"very good!"
"With this steam-powered spinning wheel, I don't have to worry about not being able to quickly make new winter clothes for the soldiers to wear after increasing the number of troops. But just creating a steam-powered spinning wheel is not enough. You also have to create steam-powered chariots or trains. Or warships could come out, which would open up more territory for cotton fields.”
"After all, once the steam spinning wheel appears, there will undoubtedly be an even greater shortage of cotton. If you need a lot of cotton, you need a lot of cotton fields. Naturally, no one will dare to say that opening up new territories is useless."
After that, Zhu Yijun smiled and talked about how the Ming Dynasty might open up more territory for cotton fields in the future.
"What your Majesty is saying is that as soon as the steam spinning wheel appears, the demand for cotton will definitely surge, and naturally more cotton fields will be needed. But after thinking about it just now, I feel that more importantly, we must allow more cotton fields to be produced in the future. People are willing to buy so much cotton from Guochao."
"Because it is certain that the emergence of the steam spinning wheel will make the country's cotton production higher. The people of this dynasty cannot buy so much cotton. Even the overseas areas that trade with our Ming Dynasty cannot buy so much cotton. The court must open up New places trade with the dynasty and buy cotton cloth from the dynasty, so that these cotton cloths can be turned into silver or food. Otherwise, a large amount of cotton cloth will only be backlogged in the treasury. At that time, these cotton cloths will be easily moldy and damaged, and will also cause The imperial court had made the steam spinning wheel consume so much coal and expend so much steel for nothing.”
Wang Xijue, Qi Jiguang, and Li Chengliang happened to come to Zhu Yijun at this time, and after hearing Zhu Yijun's words, he expressed his own opinions.
After hearing this, Zhu Yijun said: "What Mr. Wang Ge said requires more people to buy our Ming cotton cloth. It can be called a commodity market. That is to say, our Ming Dynasty needs a larger commodity market. Otherwise, this steam spinning wheel will not benefit the people of this dynasty." , and it will only waste national funds.”
"Your Majesty's statement that this is a commodity market is quite appropriate, and that is exactly what I mean."
Wang Xijue replied with a smile.
"Let the Cabinet Policy Division discuss how to increase the commodity market without leaving this steam engine useless."
Zhu Yijun then gave another instruction.
Qi Jiguang, Li Chengliang, and Wang Xijue all said yes.
Ever since Zhu Yijun asked Wang Lin to further reform the civil service system so that officials could no longer resign easily and become lazy, few bureaucrats in the DPRK dared to resign casually, and they became more serious about their work than before.
Because if you are not serious and are lazy, you will not only be dismissed from office, but you will also be denied honors in life and death, and you will be demoted and retired.
After Qi Jiguang was ordered to preside over the policy department to discuss the application of steam engines, when new policies were to be formulated, no official from the cabinet policy department dared to be absent from work anymore, and all were present.
"Tell me, what problems will this steam engine spinning wheel have to deal with once it starts producing cotton yarn?"
After Qi Jiguang sat on the Central Grand Master's chair in the new policy-making department meeting room of Wenyuan Pavilion of the Cabinet, he glanced at the cabinet officials and started talking.
"What we should face first is the problem that the cotton yarn produced by private workshops cannot be sold due to the lower price of government-owned cotton yarn caused by the emergence of steam engine spinning wheels. This is equivalent to taking advantage of the people and will make some private workshops operate If we don’t go on, many spinners will not be able to make a living.”
Academician Shen Li said something first at this time.
Qi Jiguang nodded after hearing this: "This is something we should be worried about. It doesn't matter if private workshops cannot continue to operate. The key is that the livelihood of many yarn workers and even workshop owners must be considered."
"In this case, we can only expand the army and increase the scale of government-run commercial banks, and absorb them into the army and government-run commercial banks, regardless of men and women."
"If we just increase the number of troops, we have to set more goals to open up territory. After all, we can't let the troops be raised in vain. Especially after the increase of troops reaches a certain scale, if we don't open up the territory to the outside world, a lot of national money will be wasted."
"In addition, as government-run commercial banks expand in scale, they must also open up more commodity markets. After all, expansion cannot be in vain. If the market is not opened up, losses will occur."
Grand Scholar Zheng Luo also put forward his own opinions.
Wang Xijue said at this time: "How about opening up steam engine spinning wheels to the public and allowing merchants to buy them?"
"Yes, it is possible, but steam engine spinning wheels are expensive to build and repair, and there are few talents who can operate steam engines and repair them. Even if private merchants can buy them, they will not be willing to buy them. First, it costs too much money, and second, there are risks. Third, he had to forcefully dismiss a large number of spinners despite the grievances of his employees. In comparison, it would be better to reduce the wages of his own spinners or directly lay off some spinners."
Cabinet bachelor Zhang Jiayin also stated his opinion at this time, and said: "So, even if private merchants are allowed to purchase steam engines from the imperial court, they will probably not be willing to do so. They will still have to recruit them into the army as Mr. Zheng Ge said. Or recruit into a government-run commercial firm."
"There is another place that can be absorbed, and that is the large-scale training of normal students required by His Majesty. Since the imperial edict clearly requires your army to carry out five-year compulsory universal education for military households, you need more normal schools that specialize in teaching and educating people. students, especially female normal school students.”
"After the implementation of the new etiquette, it has been clearly believed that 'a woman's lack of talent is a virtue' is the dross of the old etiquette and is not suitable for the current reality. Therefore, women also need to study. However, in the past, there were many women who did not study, so there was an urgent shortage of female normal school students. "
Qi Jiguang also started talking at this time.
Wang Xijue nodded: "What Yuan Fu said is that, first, we need to expand the army and prepare for war, second, we need to expand factories and increase production, and third, we need to expand the enrollment of normal school students."
"Expanding the enrollment of normal school students only requires increased expenditures. Expanding the military and war preparations and expanding factories and production will inevitably lead to continued wars. The best war to start now is to conquer the Tokugawa clan. The key is that there is no news about the Tokugawa clan."
Zheng Luo said at this time.
Qi Jiguang stood up at this time and said: "Why don't we wait any longer! Let the Privy Council issue a decree to Japan and find a reason to start a war first. Anyway, the Japanese have repeatedly invaded our Ming Dynasty's maritime territory, and they have done so since the founding of the country. Now that it is necessary To raise troops, we might as well directly formulate a strategy to destroy the Japanese, which means that the imperial court has no Baigui army."
"This requires an order to convene a political hall meeting and ask for His Majesty's sanction."
Wang Xijue said at this time.
Qi Jiguang nodded, and in the afternoon of the same day, he requested an order to convene a political affairs hall meeting.
In response, Zhu Yijun also came to the political hall to listen to the opinions of these ruling ministers on the matter of destroying the Japanese.
"Your Majesty, if the Japanese pirates are not eliminated, the steam engine will not benefit the people but will only harm the people. Therefore, if the steam engine is to benefit the people, the Japanese pirates must not be eliminated."
After Zhu Yijun arrived, Wang Xijue spoke first. (End of chapter)
