Amid the commotion, the moon slowly rose into the sky, and then slowly reached the next day.
On the new day of the morning court, Zhu Jingyuan sat down on the throne and announced the start of the morning court. Immediately, several ministers came to announce.
He wrote a very formal memorial and presented it directly to the emperor in the morning meeting.
In fact, other mid-level and low-level officials and more memorials are being sent to the palace through the General Affairs Department.
The ideas and mentality of most traditional bureaucrats are actually very similar to those of civilian literati.
The first thing they pay attention to is the calendar itself, and they will also explore whether the arrangements for the new calendar are reasonable.
Some people were curious about the new calendar, while others felt that the new emperor was too conceited.
He actually wanted to risk the disapproval of the world, change the time of the beginning of the year that has been fixed for two thousand years, and subvert the traditional calendar rules.
But at the same time, they are all direct stakeholders.
They are the emperor's ministers, enjoying the salary of the imperial court and the treatment of bureaucrats. To eat the emperor's salary is to be loyal to the emperor.
Officials are in their positions to pursue their own affairs. Unless they are ready to resign, they will basically not express their opinions at private gatherings.
But they can write memorials and submit them to higher-level bureaucrats, and use channels within the system to express their opinions and ideas.
Lower-level officials wrote to their superiors, while the highest-ranking officials wrote directly to the emperor Zhu Jingyuan.
At this stage of the Ming Dynasty, there are no longer ministers and ancient critics who deliberately exaggerated to oppose and criticize the emperor's orders.
At the same time, the emperor rarely does anything particularly outrageous.
Most of the exchanges were matter-of-fact, with clear concerns and tactful persuasion raised regarding the new calendar announced by Zhu Jingyuan.
This is also the rule set by Emperor Shizu.
The memorial to the emperor is not allowed to ramble on, and it cannot be filled with empty emotions and praises. It must be meaningful.
You are not allowed to show off your literary talents in parallel and Liliu, and you must use the simplest words possible to explain what you want to say clearly.
If the matter is really complex and requires detailed explanation, then write an "overview" at the beginning.
The emperor's office time is too important to be wasted on factors unrelated to actual government affairs.
Zhu Jingyuan received a large number of memorials.
Instead of just putting them aside, I started reading them on the spot.
The main point of these ministers is that large-scale adjustments to the law will have a huge impact on the court's policies and folk habits.
After the implementation of the new calendar, various forms of confusion will inevitably occur in various official and civil affairs involving dates.
Some ministers gave the example that there are many people among the people who are not familiar with government affairs, and there are also people who do not care about government affairs and news at all.
It is possible that they did not notice the revision of the calendar, or were unable to adapt to the revision of the calendar.
When the imperial court implements various laws and regulations according to the new calendar, it is likely to have conflicts with such people.
Some ministers are worried that there may be extremely conservative ministers and private scholars who will publicly resist and criticize or even deliberately cause trouble.
Zhu Jingyuan took these concerns and assumptions in his persuasion as reminders.
After reading several memorials, I found that most of them were similar reminders from two aspects, but there were many specific details.
These experienced bureaucrats used their past political experience to give various examples to remind and advise Zhu Jingyuan.
After Zhu Jingyuan read a few books, he put them down, then turned to tell the bachelors next to him:
“I carefully excerpted all possible confusions and omissions mentioned in everyone’s memorials.
"After you go back, you should also spread your thoughts, use your brains, and analyze the problems you may encounter in the implementation of the new calendar.
“Compile the categories, bind them into manuals, and distribute them to various yamen so that they can prevent and prepare in advance.
“In addition, it is reminded in the manual that civilian literati and scholars simply criticize the New Calendar verbally, and there is no need to specifically deal with it.
“For political matters, the court does not punish speech, so it does not deal with matters they verbally criticize.
"However, the official institutions of the imperial court must comply with the time of the new calendar when dealing with anyone and any form of formal affairs.
“Anyone who violates public affairs and civil contracts because of his personal insistence on using the old calendar will be severely punished.
"Even if some people don't agree with my orders, they must physically obey them. What I punish is disobedience!
Most of the bureaucrats and academics were a little confused by Zhu Jingyuan's arrangement. They did not expect Zhu Jingyuan to make such a decision.
Everyone raised various difficulties and questions, and of course their original intention was to hope that the emperor would take back his life.
However, most of the ministers felt that this was unlikely.
So the actual point is to take the blame for problems that may occur in the future in advance.
Cultivation will definitely lead to chaos, so if chaos occurs in the future, it will not be because of your own incompetence or lack of dedication.
It’s because this is how the academic calendar is supposed to be...
As long as the emperor has such a subconscious mind, he will be able to be a little more relaxed when doing things in the coming year.
When trouble does occur, the punishment will be lighter.
As a result, the emperor requested that they make a list of all the "chaos possibilities" they thought of, so that they could prevent them all in advance...
The effect is completely reversed.
Since you have thought of these problems in advance, and the emperor also asked you to take precautions in advance, what should you do if the problem still occurs?
Isn’t it an extra sin?
Many people feel a little bitter in their hearts.
Shen Fu even vaguely remembered what happened more than ten years ago.
When His Majesty was fifteen years old, the things he did in his grandfather's court often made the ministers at that time feel dizzy.
I was the only one who was able to go to the morning court fifteen years ago and can still go to the morning court now.
The colleagues around me, whether they are older or younger than me, are actually my juniors.
They have only heard that the current Holy Emperor is the most lenient to his subordinates...
But they don’t know how unique the current Holy Emperor’s ideas are…
Often they are not on the same channel as ordinary people.
I'm afraid similar things will happen more often in the future...
But no matter what everyone thinks, now that the emperor has given the order directly, everyone must listen.
Especially since the emperor directly shouted out that disobedience is the punishment!
So the academicians headed by Lin Zexu and the foreign ministers headed by Shen Fu bowed neatly and agreed:
"I obey the order!"
Zhu Jingyuan felt that he was actually very tolerant and did not deliberately torment ordinary people.
In terms of the implementation of the new calendar, a compromise plan has been made.
In fact, it can be regarded as a coincidence. The first New Year under the new calendar happens to be the second day of the first lunar month of the old calendar.
That is to say, the two New Years are adjacent.
The New Year in the old calendar is in the front, and the New Year in the new calendar is in the back.
The new calendar also stipulates that the Lunar New Year every year will be the first new day after the Solar New Year.
It is the first day of the lunar calendar next to the solar calendar new year.
If the day before the solar calendar New Year falls on the first day of the Lunar New Year, of course it cannot be counted, and it will certainly not be counted in the future.
From now on, the first day of the lunar month will be the first day of the twelfth lunar month of the previous year.
If the plan is strictly followed, the lunar new year of the AD year will be postponed to January 29 of the AD year.
If Zhu Jingyuan wanted to deliberately torment people, he would require such strict implementation.
This year’s traditional New Year is forcibly postponed by one month.
Zhu Jingyuan did not choose to do this, and decided to let the New Year of the 16th year of Ankang in the lunar calendar be celebrated normally according to the lunar calendar.
In the second year of the Grand Duke's reign, the plan of the Lunar New Year being the first day after the Gregorian New Year was implemented.
The new and old New Years are next to each other, and they are both during the Chinese New Year holiday, so there should be basically no trouble.
It shouldn't be a French April Fool's Day joke.
Then with the solar calendar being fixed at thirty days per month, the lunar calendar averages twenty-nine and a half days per month with a half-day difference.
From now on, the lunar calendar will be one day ahead of the solar calendar every two months.
At the end of the AD year, the first twelfth month will appear.
From the fifteenth year of Ankang to the first year of AD, the biggest event in the world was of course the enthronement of the new emperor of the Ming Dynasty.
However, the sudden death of the King of England and the official coronation of the new King George IV added a second-level event to the world.
The new calendar officially promulgated by the Ming Dynasty became a higher-level event before that.
Because the impact of the new calendar on the world is greater than the accession of the Ming Emperor to the throne, let alone the coronation of a certain king in the West.
In accordance with Zhu Jingyuan's request and under the auspices and arrangements of Shen Fu, Ming's propaganda agencies were in full swing.
The official broadcasting system of the Ming Dynasty produced special programs to introduce it, and official newspapers and periodicals also produced special extras and special issues.
All government offices, all government-run manufacturers, royal consortium manufacturers, and personnel from the Imperial Village and Dashi systems were quickly notified.
With these communication channels, relevant news spread quickly among the people.
Different people have very different views on these news. The main reason is that everyone has different butts and completely different concerns.
The people of Ming Dynasty have their own ideas, and the people of Taixi also have their own ideas.
After the traditional institutions of the Ming Dynasty were activated, relevant news quickly spread to the countries in Europe and the West.
Senior officials of the royal families and courts of various countries received formal reports through official information channels through diplomatic envoys and intelligence personnel.
The common people got the news through newspapers, radio and rumors.
The best informed were the British and the French.
King George IV of England looked shocked after reading the intelligence summary report, and then immediately asked his servant to find his daughter Charlotte.
Charlotte came to George IV's office, and George IV immediately handed the love paper to his daughter:
"Come and see the news about Ming Dynasty's new calendar..."
Charlotte took the document, read it briefly, and then asked very calmly:
"Well, what do you want to say?"
George IV was a little surprised when he saw his daughter's reaction, but he was soon relieved. She must have known the news in advance.
George IV adjusted his mood and asked a small question with a very obvious sense of expectation:
"Charlotte, do you think that when the Ming Emperor set this new solar calendar, did he refer to our Thai and Western calendar?"
Zhu Jingyuan's idea of pursuing academic qualifications was not completely kept secret. People close enough to him knew more or less about it.
In particular, Zhu Jingyuan set the enthronement ceremony on the day of Beginning of Spring, which made many people who knew some news confirm this guess.
So when Charlotte saw the official news about the Ming Dynasty calendar, she didn't feel surprised.
It just feels like it is.
On the contrary, it was George IV's question that made Charlotte stunned for a moment tomorrow.
Charlotte really didn't expect that the issue that her father was most concerned about would be from this angle?
Because Ming Dynasty referred to Taixi's stuff, are Taixi people particularly honored?
Charlotte couldn't help but smile:
"Father, the solar calendar has a little more than three hundred and sixty-five days in a year. As long as you use the solar calendar, it will always be this cycle.
"We can't say that the sun belongs to the West? The rules of the sun's movement are set by the West, right?
“Instead of saying that the Ming Dynasty referred to the Julian or Gregorian calendar of the West, it is more appropriate to say that it referred to the earliest solar calendar of ancient Egypt.
"There are also twelve months in a year, each month is fixed to thirty days, and five days at the end of the year are reserved as festivals. This is the practice of ancient Egypt.
"Can ancient Egypt be regarded as the Western people? The Egyptians were once the territory of the Great Food Kingdom, then the territory of the Ottomans, and now they are also the people of the Ming Dynasty.
"The Gregorian calendar currently used in Taipei has big and small moons, and there are two extra days missing in February. There are too many customizations.
"There is a leap every four years, there are no leaps every hundred years, and the repair method of leaps every four hundred years does not seem to be very accurate now.
“If the people of the Ming Dynasty learned this, they would be able to refer to the Western calendar.
“Now simply looking at the plan drawn up by Ming Dynasty, we can only say that it is a normal and ordinary solar calendar.
"Being proud is also the pride of Egyptians. Today's Egyptians are pagans and have nothing to do with us in the West."
As Charlotte muttered, George IV's expression changed from expectation to regret:
"It turns out to be Egypt... okay...
"Then let's not talk about this, let's talk about a more practical question, why did the Ming Dynasty add holidays?
"Two days of rest a month is not enough? Four days is not enough? You have to add it all the way to six days...
"Charlotte, what do you think the Ming Emperor thought?"
Charlotte responded naturally:
“Your Majesty’s idea is very simple, which is to maintain the cycle of production and consumption.
“Technology is constantly upgrading and production speed is accelerating.
“The same number of people, in the same amount of time, will produce more and more products.
“Under such circumstances, if the consumption speed of the entire market does not accelerate, won’t these products accumulate?
“If the goods produced by the factory cannot be sold, it will be impossible to continue to increase production, or even reduce production.
"Wouldn't the speed of industrial development slow down? It might even go backwards.
“Isn’t this already happening in various countries in Europe and America?
"The Emperor of Ming Dynasty wanted to maintain the simultaneous growth of consumption and production, so he always insisted on continuously increasing the income and holidays of Ming people..."
King George IV nodded naturally, and then asked a natural question:
“Yes, things have to be sold before the factory can continue to produce.
"So I want to make the coronation ceremony more grand.
“But what does this have to do with giving workers holidays?”
Charlotte was visibly stunned again, and once again realized her father's way of thinking:
"Father, from the perspective of you and the so-called scholars from various countries in Europe and America, the main force of market consumption is nobles and businessmen, so you have such an idea.
“But in the Ming Emperor’s view, simply looking at the nobles and businessmen, their spending power was limited.
“The huge number of ordinary people are the absolute main force in the market, so Ming Dynasty must increase the consumption power of ordinary people.
“Today’s new mechanized textile mills can produce an amount of fabric in a day that the nobles across the country can’t even use to change one piece of clothing every day.
“Now, we compare the still prosperous market in Ming Dynasty with the increasingly difficult markets in European and Western countries.
"Do you think the views of those Thai and Western scholars are correct, or the views of the Ming Emperor?"
George IV seemed very troubled:
“If we compare it with the current market situation, it’s definitely the Ming Emperor who did the right thing.
“But, is there really a direct relationship between the Ming Emperor’s orders and Ming’s market prosperity?
“I remember an analysis in the newspaper that the prosperity and strength of Ming Dynasty was due to Ming Dynasty’s leading technology and had little to do with the system.
“The market development of Thailand and Spain has stagnated because the people of Thailand are naturally greedy, stupid, selfish, and short-sighted...
“Whether or not more wages and holidays are given to workers has no direct bearing on market prosperity.
“If these statements are wrong, why do most newspapers say so, and why do officials and scholars say so on the spot?
"The newspaper editors and the economic scholars are all smart people.
"If the Ming Emperor's theory is so simple and effective, why don't they sell the Ming Emperor's theory to me?"
Charlotte was silent for a few seconds:
"I think it is precisely because those so-called scholars are smart people that they will not promote the theories of the Ming Emperor.
"They want you to recommend the theory of the Ming Emperor. Will you completely believe it? Will you fully implement it in the UK? Are you capable of fully implementing it?
"You yourself used to think that their theory was correct, right?
"The country's technological development and market prosperity have nothing to do with ordinary people's wages and holidays, right?"
George IV frowned and thought for a while:
"I shouldn't know how to do it. At least I didn't know how to do it before. I did think so before..."
George IV wanted to say this, but after saying it, he immediately added:
"But from the very beginning, before I showed any inclination, not many ministers and scholars wanted me to promote the policies of the Ming Emperor?
“A long time ago, whether before or after the World War, there were not many similar remarks in newspapers.
"Even if there are, they are all low-profile tabloids, and there are no serious newspapers to promote them...
"If the Ming Emperor's production-consumption balance theory is correct, and the principle is so simple and natural, why doesn't anyone publicize it?"
When Charlotte heard this, she pondered for a while, and then sighed leisurely:
"Father, what you said before may be true, and what those scholars said is also true. The Taixi people are indeed stupid and short-sighted.
“Those so-called scholars also need to live and have money to maintain a decent life.
“The people who can provide them with a decent life are the officials of the imperial court and the bosses of factories.
“At the same time, most of the officials in the imperial court are actually the spokespersons of the bosses.
“Their interests are highly aligned, so they are actually the same people.
“They themselves are unwilling to give workers more wages and holidays; their goal is to invest all the money in reproduction.
"So they will ask those scholars and editors to advocate the justice of their actions in newspapers and in public, in order to avoid the father and the court from making laws that forcefully increase wages and holidays."
George IV was stunned for a few seconds:
"But... aren't they worried that the things they produce won't be sold?"
Charlotte smiled and said:
“Their idea is to use all their income to expand production and squeeze workers’ physical strength and time to the limit.
"At the same time, we hope that other manufacturers will give workers more wages and holidays to consume the products they produce."
George IV had a bit of a headache:
“Then if everyone thinks this way and all factories do this, wouldn’t there be no one buying anything in the entire market?
"Everyone is working to death in the factory. Where can the massive amounts of things they produce be sold?"
Charlotte continued to smile and said:
“The ideal goal is to sell to Daming, and the next best thing is to sell to workers in Daming factories.
“Among the countries in Europe and the West, we, the UK and France are in the best shape right now.
"Isn't it because, within our two countries, Daming controls and manages more manufacturers? Isn't our trade with Daming the most in-depth?
“Are there still businessmen and scholars advocating to continue to lower the exchange rate between the pound and Ming Dynasty gold and silver banknotes?
“If Ming Dynasty completely opens its market to us, then the products of our British factories do not need to be consumed by our own people.
“The huge market in Ming Dynasty can easily absorb the goods produced in the UK.
“The gold and silver banknotes obtained from the Ming Dynasty can continue to be used to increase production capacity without worrying about things not being sold.
"The problem is that Ming Dynasty has not fully opened its market to us. There are only a few free trade zones at present."
George IV's mind was a little confused:
"This...how do I put this...since the Ming Dynasty's market can fully accommodate our productivity.
"So when Ming Dynasty wanted to sign a free trade agreement with us, our officials and businessmen didn't agree?"
Charlotte laughed dryly and said:
"So we Taixi people are selfish. Our businessmen want us to export to Ming Dynasty unilaterally, but not allow Ming Dynasty to export to us.
“However, it is impossible for Ming Dynasty to accept this method unless our armed forces can defeat Ming Dynasty.
“If we, the Westerners, had won the world war fifteen years ago and Ming Dynasty had lost, we would have achieved the outcome they desired.
"Since we can't win on the battlefield and we still want to export unilaterally, it will be impossible to achieve."
George IV felt that the things in his mind gradually became clear:
"That being the case, Charlotte, do you think now that we have closer ties with France and the Ming Dynasty, and that the scale of our cooperation and investment with each other has become larger, is this a good thing or a bad thing for us?
Charlotte said of course:
"Of course it is a good thing, but the key is to help the British get rid of their stupid and selfish habits.
"And then there's helping to stabilize our markets, which in turn helps maintain the stability of the royal family."
George IV was silent for a while and raised a whimsical topic:
"Then if, I say if, we in the UK propose to fully open our markets to Ming Dynasty, will Ming Dynasty accept it?"
Charlotte thought about it for a few seconds:
“Based on my understanding of His Majesty, he should be able to accept it, but there will definitely be various additional conditions.
“All I can think of now is that we will definitely be required to implement the same labor system as the Ming Dynasty.
"We are asked to raise the minimum wage and limit the maximum working hours like Ming Dynasty...
“In other words, we need to unleash the consumption potential of our people and truly achieve mutual benefit.
"Instead of us unilaterally producing and dumping to Ming Dynasty, it would be unprofitable for both of us."
King George IV shook his head after hearing this:
"This is too difficult..."
Charlotte smiled and said:
“It’s not difficult, as long as we continue to expand the royal family’s estate.
“When most industries are run by the royal family, they can gradually catch up with the Ming Dynasty’s market policies.
"The Ming Dynasty made a ten-year plan, but we can make a twenty-year or even thirty-year plan.
"As long as you are willing to do it, even if you really can't completely catch up with Ming Dynasty, you can definitely shorten the distance as much as possible.
"At least I won't be pushed further and further away from Ming Dynasty."
George IV sighed, then nodded slightly, and finally shook his head:
"It still depends on how the situation changes..."
