Before the revival of Renwu, the Ministry of Industry had the lowest status among the six bureaucracies. Transferring from the Ministry of Industry to other ministries to become a bureaucrat at the same level could be regarded as a promotion.
After the Renwu restructuring, the importance of the Ministry of Industry increased rapidly, and soon surpassed many of the original Qinggui yamen, becoming the most important and largest department.
Mainly in the process of industrialization, various engineering construction projects and various industrial and technological development projects are increasing in number and becoming more and more important.
Buildings, cities, mines, docks, railways, factories, shipyards, water conservancy, cannons, warships, science, technology, inventions, etc., are all theoretically under the control of the original Ministry of Industry.
The Qing Li Department under the Yamen of the Ministry of Industry also quickly split and expanded from the initial four of Yingxi, Yuheng, Dushui, and Tuntian to more than a dozen.
As the yamen grew in size, the Ministry of Industry was split and reorganized several times in the following decades.
First, the affairs related to roads, railways, and docks were separated, and together with the post station system of the Ministry of War, they formed the "Huibu", which means Huibu to connect the world.
Water conservancy-related affairs such as canals, dams, reservoirs, irrigation, and water supply were separated, and a separate "Water Department" was established to take charge of the construction and management of all water conservancy projects.
Buildings, palaces, fortresses, city planning and construction-related matters were separated to form the "Ministry of Construction", which is basically the Ministry of Construction.
Minerals and mine-related management affairs were transferred to the expanded Taipus Temple, which became the Ministry of Natural Resources and also supervised the registration of horses, vehicles, and ships.
But at the same time, all the weapons design and production scattered in multiple departments were transferred to the split Ministry of Industry headquarters.
The current functions of the Ministry of Industry are mainly industrial and factory management, weapons and equipment design and production, military and civilian ship design and production, and technology development research and promotion.
However, recently there has been a trend to separate weapons, equipment and ship-related functions into a separate department.
Let the Ministry of Industry only take care of industrial and technological development, because the capacity of the concept of industry continues to expand with industrialization, and it is not too small to establish a separate ministry now.
What's more, it also has the functions of promoting technological development and managing the professional titles of master craftsmen. It would be no problem to have a separate Ministry of Science and Technology.
In other words, the Ministry of Works, which has been dismantled several times, is still a large department.
The main tasks of the Ministry of Industry in this upcoming reform include coordinating industrial affairs in the industries opened by the imperial consortium, coordinating the differences in industrial standards between the empire and the vassal states, and between vassal states in the process of dismantling the vassal state. Coordinate the merger of various rights and benefits between feudal craftsmen and imperial craftsmen, etc.
It’s all work that leads to no end when you’re busy.
Fortunately, matters related to the Labor Bureau are left to the Ministry of Personnel. In fact, this matter can be left to the Ministry of Works and the Ministry of Household Affairs, but the Ministry of Household Affairs may be busier than the Ministry of Works.
They have to deal with the civil rights and household registration adjustment of the people in the vassal state, which involves the future social status of hundreds of millions of people.
However, when it comes to matters related to the Labor Bureau, the Ministry of Industry does not have to completely ignore it. It just plays a supporting role.
It is still necessary to cooperate with the work of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, to submit various materials to determine labor remuneration, working hours and other specifications, and to summarize and forward the suggestions of the craftsmen.
Now, the entire yamen is full of officials holding and carrying various materials, walking, exchanging, and rummaging through various rooms and departments.
All kinds of noises, the ringing of wired phones and voices, mixed together in the entire office area, making it extremely lively and noisy.
Zhu Jianyan and his son walked in. The receptionist, who was obviously a little irritable, tried his best to smile, made the phone call as quickly as possible, and hurried out to receive them.
Although I vaguely felt that Zhu Jianyan and his son were causing trouble by coming here now, no one could neglect a prince, prince or minister-level official.
The reception official invited the two father and son to the reception room, brought tea and patiently chatted with them, and at the same time arranged for someone else to immediately notify the Minister of Industry.
Zou Bingtai, minister of the Ministry of Industry, is 64 years old this year and has reached the edge of the retirement age stipulated in the new Renwu system. He will be able to retire after working for another year at most.
He was originally planning to retire with the old emperor, just in time to make way for the new emperor to have one more ministerial position, but as a result, he encountered such a large-scale reform before retiring.
Zou Bingtai, who couldn't put down the phone, suddenly felt helpless when he heard the news from his subordinate officials.
He participated in the imperial meeting last night and knew what responsibilities the two father and son had now. He knew that Zhu Jingyuan had an imperial edict for all yamen to cooperate.
But Zou Bingtai couldn't imagine what the two father and son could do if they came to him. Are they planning to interfere in the industrial affairs of the vassal state?
But no matter how doubtful he was, whether it was Zhu Jianyan who held the title of minister, or the emperor's grandson Zhu Jingyuan, who was favored by the civil and military officials of the dynasty, Zou Bingtai could not leave it alone.
Zou Bingtai finished the phone call as soon as possible, then quickly tidied up his appearance and quickly went to the guest room to greet Zhu Jianyan and his son.
When the two parties met formally, the chief officer and the elders showed a very friendly attitude, greeted each other cordially and made a few noisy remarks with a smile.
However, the Ministry of Engineering is very busy now, so the greeting session ended quickly. Zhu Jianyan directly explained the purpose of his visit to his son:
"I came to bother Da Sikong today because my son Jingyuan has some immature and wild ideas about weapons. I hope Da Sikong will send someone to help verify..."
Da Sikong is the honorific title of the Minister of Industry. This honorific title comes from similar positions in the Zhou Dynasty. Important ministers such as the Six Ministries and Seven Ministers all have corresponding titles. It was also the custom at that time.
As the number of court departments continued to increase, a large number of newly added department ministers did not have similar titles. Officials who occupied the original positions of six ministers and seven ministers preferred this honorific title even more.
After listening to Zhu Jianyan's words, Zou Bingtai finally understood the intention of Zhu Jianyan and his son, but doubts also arose in his heart.
Zou Bingtai knows better than Zhu Jianyan that weapons are becoming more complex and sophisticated now than before, and only highly educated craftsmen can participate in research and development.
Even if Zhu Jingyuan, the fifteen-year-old grandson of the emperor, had some good ideas, they were definitely very immature and most likely just a whim.
But no matter what he thinks in his heart, Zou Bingtai must cooperate with Zhu Jianyan and his son's requirements.
There is no need to quarrel with the two princes in a place like this, and the two princes are so polite.
Anyway, although the Ministry of Industry as a whole is very busy, the personnel related to weapons design are no different from usual.
They usually have a large number of verification projects, and they just need to include Zhu Jingyuan's ideas. At most, they will just waste some experimental materials.
So Zou Bingtai smiled and stroked his beard, and asked Zhu Jingyuan directly:
"Oh, if your Highness Jingyuan has any fantastic ideas, can you tell me so that I can learn more about them?"
Zhu Jingyuan knew that the other party was probably being polite, but being polite also meant accepting him, so he immediately began to describe his thoughts:
"Has the Ordnance Department considered building track-driven military vehicles that carry fixed artillery, are covered with full-body iron armor, and can be used with infantry to conduct positional assaults?"
People in this world may be able to imagine what a tank is, but they probably don’t know the word tank.
Because this word is an English transliteration, its original meaning is "water tank". It was a code name designed to deceive others, but it later became the official name of this equipment.
Therefore, Zhu Jingyuan cannot mention tanks, but can only describe what tanks correspond to in as popular a way as possible.
Zhu Jingyuan was worried that Zou Bingtai wouldn't understand, so he was waiting for the other party's questions before he continued to explain.
But Zou Bingtai seemed to understand immediately:
"Your Highness is talking about a self-propelled armored shield vehicle?"
Zhu Jingyuan paused and was stunned. He seemed to have seen this strange name before. It was in a news newspaper, saying that the frontline army was equipped with this new equipment.
The names of the Ming Empire's own military equipment are all in this style, which has been inherited from ancient times to the present.
Zhu Jingyuan was browsing the news briefly and did not pay much attention to the specific situation of this thing. There was no detailed description in the newspaper, let alone photos.
Zhu Jingyuan instinctively thought at that time that this should be an upgraded version of the shield car.
Now I think about it, it can move on its own, has armor, and a shield. Could it be that this thing is a tank?
"What Da Sikong means is that the Ministry of Industry has already built such a thing?"
Zhu Jingyuan was a little shocked, a little surprised, a little disappointed, and a little embarrassed:
"Do you have any photos of the actual object, as well as basic structure and appearance drawings? Can you show them to me?"
