Just when Wang Tu was running around in the mountainous areas of northern Guangdong for the development of local industrial and commercial economy, the Jinling City Palace.
Cheng Yongfeng had also just finished meeting the emperor and left the palace. He had just got into the carriage after leaving the palace. After lowering the curtain, he couldn't help but smile.
Years of hard work and months of planning finally paid off.
Just now, His Majesty summoned him, but instead of asking him about some important matters of the Secretariat as usual, he discussed with him the development issues in Guangdong.
And they focused on asking about his views on the development of the industrial and commercial economy and people's livelihood in Guangdong.
Cheng Yongfeng, who had been preparing for this for several months, naturally responded appropriately, and explained in detail to His Majesty his views on local economic and people's livelihood affairs.
Cheng Yongfeng believes that Guangdong is located on the southern coast, which not only has the advantages of maritime transportation and convenient exports, but also has the Pearl River Basin that can penetrate into northern Guangdong and even Guangxi. It can rely on sea transportation and river transportation to further develop industry, based on the currently well-developed defense manufacturing and mining industries. Steel, comprehensive machinery manufacturing, shipbuilding, and textile industries will further expand the advantages of these advantageous industries, and at the same time strengthen the upstream and downstream supporting local advantageous industrial chains to reduce the supply chain supporting costs and material transportation costs of enterprises.
Following the empire's general policy of overseas expansion, Guangdong will take advantage of Guangdong's geographical advantages close to Southeast Asia and its own industrial base to further develop foreign trade. In addition to continuing to develop the foreign export defense industry, it will also further focus on the development of cotton textiles, wool textiles, porcelain, and tools. The export of civilian consumer goods industry, represented by the iron products, hardware, soap and other daily chemical industries, has fully seized the civilian markets in Southeast Asia, India and even West Asia.
Finally, Cheng Yongfeng also emphasized the importance of railway development, believing that railway development is an important tool connecting Guangdong and other neighboring provinces, and is also an artery for improving the economy of Guangdong and surrounding provinces.
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For this reason, he proposed to build another railway line from Guangdong to Chunan, that is, the Guangheng Railway from Guangzhou to Hengyang, in addition to the already determined Guanghu Railway (Guangzhou-Hukou, Jiangxi), so that Guangzhou, Chunan, and Chubei Regional connections can become closer.
In Guangdong, industrial hubs such as Guangzhou can continuously obtain various industrial raw materials from Chunan and Chubei. At the same time, Huguang area can also more conveniently obtain industrial commodities, funds, etc. from Guangzhou.
This time, the prelude lasted for more than an hour. Cheng Yongfeng talked about a lot of content, but all of it centered on local economic construction.
It's not just industry and commerce, but also agriculture, fishery, etc. Especially in agriculture, Cheng Yongfeng spent a lot of time explaining his ideas.
He believes that although many places in Guangdong are mountainous and agricultural farming is somewhat limited, the Pearl River Delta Plain and Leizhou Prefecture and Gaozhou Prefecture in western Guangdong have relatively flat terrain and rich water resources, making them very suitable for growing rice. .
At the same time, in other places, even if there are many hilly and mountainous areas, there are often some small basins suitable for farming among the hilly and mountainous areas. For example, the Heyuan Basin under the jurisdiction of Heyuan Prefecture in Huizhou Prefecture is very suitable for farming, and the food it produces is not only It is suitable for personal use and can be transported south to Guangzhou.
In the huge Guangdong, the current agricultural industry is actually relatively well developed in the Pearl River Delta plain. In fact, the development in other places is still relatively primitive, especially in western Guangdong.
The geographical conditions and climate of Leizhou Prefecture and Gaozhou Prefecture are very superior. Not only can they grow a large amount of food, but they are also very suitable for growing sugar cane because of the climate.
Currently, sugarcane is a very important economic crop. It is the largest raw material for sugar production in the Chu Empire. It is widely grown in many places and even overseas colonies.
Facing Cheng Yongfeng's statement, Luo Zhixue did not express too many opinions at the time, and did not even listen carefully. In fact, Luo Zhixue had already understood Cheng Yongfeng's thoughts and actions.
This inquiry was just a formality. Luo Zhixue had already decided to let this person go to Guangdong. Even Cheng Yongfeng himself knew... Otherwise, if Cheng Yongfeng had nothing to do, why would he collect so much information about Guangdong? Try your best to come up with various development plans.
Because... Luo Zhixue had hinted to him a few months ago that he might be sent to Guangdong to serve, either for other purposes or as chief envoy.
There is no transitional period as imagined by the outside world. After being promoted two levels in a row, he will be the chief envoy of Guangdong to the third rank.
Because Luo Zhixue is about to transfer Li Qihua, the current governor of Guangdong, to Beijing, there is not much time for Cheng Yongfeng to transition.
Li Qihua served as chief envoy in Guangdong for three years and governor for five years. During his eight years in office in Guangdong, he led the development of industry and commerce in Guangdong and made great contributions.
For meritorious officials, Luo Zhixue has never been stingy with his rewards.
When Li Qihua's five-year term as governor expired, Luo Zhixue was ready to transfer him back to Beijing, just in time to take over the post of Minister of Industry and Commerce and enter the imperial study room as co-organizing minister.
Well, in order to make room for Li Qihua, the current Minister of Industry and Commerce, Zhang Wenqing, has submitted the memorial for the third time... Luo Zhixue holds the third memorial in his hand and can approve it at any time.
It’s not that Zhang Wenqing was begging for bones because he was excluded or failed in the struggle, but because he was already old and in poor health. He fell ill a few months ago. Although he was no longer a Huhu, he was no longer able to function normally. Director.
It was also at that time that Luo Zhixue prepared to transfer Li Qihua to Beijing and let Cheng Yongfeng go to Guangdong as chief envoy, which in turn triggered a series of changes in the positions of high-level imperial officials.
The most influential one was naturally Li Qihua's entry into Beijing.
According to Luo Zhixue's arrangement for him, he will first be allowed to work as a co-organizer in the Imperial Study Room for three to five years. If this person can handle things properly, then Luo Zhixue will also consider letting Li Qihua join the Imperial Study Room as counselor for military and political affairs, comprehensively Participate in imperial strategic decision-making.
The most senior and most influential minister in the Chu Empire was not a minister or a minister, but a counselor.
To be precise, it is not a position, but a dispatch. The full name is "to join the imperial study room to discuss important military and political affairs", or it can also be referred to as a counselor.
As for the Minister of Counselor... this title has never existed in official documents, and it is not called that way within the officialdom. It is the name among the people. People in the officialdom generally call the Minister of Counselor "Senior Affairs", and the officials below him To show respect, there are also titles such as Privy Councilor, Cabinet Minister, etc. Well, Privy Council does not count.
The word privy minister... in other dynasties, this thing may refer to cabinet ministers, powerful ministers and so on.
However, in the Dachu Empire, it generally refers to the dozens of formal first-class, second-class, and third-class secretaries in the Secretariat of the Hanlin Academy. This comes from a warning at the gate of the Secretariat: "The Secretariat is an important place for the Privy Council and is not unique. According to the imperial edict, no unauthorized entry is allowed."
Why does Wang Tu, who is a small county magistrate in the mountainous area of northern Guangdong, say that he has a profound background... Because this man is a former 'Privy Councilor' and has a very special political status.
It is Luo Zhixue's initial idea to make Li Qihua one of the counselors in the future. Whether it will succeed or not will depend on Li Qihua's performance in the next few years.
Now, naturally, I will not reveal any inner thoughts to the outside world.
Li Qihua was meritoriously transferred to the capital, and the candidate for the new governor in Guangdong was also easy to handle. That is the current chief envoy of Guangdong, Tang Tiangui, who has also done a good job in recent years.
A thin old man with a very short stature, but a very good ability to do things. Guangdong's industry and commerce have developed rapidly in recent years. Although Li Qihua is in charge of the overall situation, it is Tang Tiangui who implements it.
When it comes to economics, Tang Tiangui is the professional...
For the sake of policy continuity and the fact that Tang Tiangui was really capable, Luo Zhixue planned to promote Tang Tiangui to governor of Guangdong.
But for the sake of balance, he chose to parachute a chief envoy from Gyeonggi Province.
After all, Tang Tiangui and Li Qihua have been partners for many years. Li Qihua will still have great influence on Guangdong after entering Beijing. As his old subordinate Tang Tiangui was promoted on the same spot, this will easily cause problems in the long run.
However, Luo Zhixue felt that this person was quite suitable to be the new governor of Guangdong, and it was a pity to abandon him.
Therefore, Luo Zhixue chose to promote Tang Tiangui to the governor of Guangdong, and at the same time parachuted a chief envoy from the capital.
The deputy director of the Secretariat is also the first secretary, and the lecturer Cheng Yongfeng has just reached the age when he needs to go abroad, and he himself also has the willingness to go abroad, so Luo Zhixue inspected him for a period of time in the early stage and felt that this person is still feasible. So it was decided.
Let Cheng Yongfeng go to Guangdong to partner with Tang Tiangui.
This way there is no need to worry about the emergence of localism.
After all, everyone in the world knows that the people in the Secretariat are isolated ministers, and at worst they call themselves a faction. There is no need to worry about them colluding with local officials or officials from various ministries.
The adjustment in the selection of governors and chief envoys in Guangdong is one of a series of adjustments Luo Zhixue has made in the recent appointment and dismissal of senior officials. In addition to the job adjustments of the four people mentioned above, in fact, Luo Zhixue also has to make adjustments to the governors and chief envoys in many provinces in the near future. The envoys and the personnel of many ministers and ministers were adjusted.
This is not to say that Luo Zhixue is planning something, it is purely a normal operation.
After all, in the Chu Empire today, not counting the military, there are more than ten second-level institutions in Gyeonggi, such as ministries, supervisory offices, courts of justice, and Hanlin Academy, and there are also seven or eight independent, chief officials. From the second-grade level.
There are more than thirty local governor's offices.
This means that there are dozens of current officials at the two levels of first and second grade.
This does not include some important positions with additional titles or inferior positions.
If you include those with third-level positions, there will be even more. There are various third-level directors and directors in Gyeonggi, local envoys, provincial inspectors, directors of the taxation department, provincial judges, etc. There are hundreds of people. Woolen cloth.
With so many senior officials, a large number of people would have to be transferred every year for normal personnel transfers. The transfer of these senior positions requires Luo Zhixue's decision-making.
In the Great Chu Empire, there was no such thing as Ting Tui. The appointment of all senior officials was decided by Luo Zhixue. At most, he only asked the Ministry of Civil Affairs to jointly provide resume materials for candidate officials.
Although this will allow Luo Zhixue to focus a lot of energy on personnel adjustments, even so, Luo Zhixue has never thought about decentralizing personnel power.
Because this is related to the most core power: personnel rights.
As an emperor, how did Luo Zhixue rule this huge empire?
How did he make this huge empire move forward according to his own will?
After formulating various macro strategies, how do you promote the implementation of these strategies?
All he did was meet with ministers, review memorials, and hold meetings all day long. To be honest, I didn't see him doing much.
Not to mention that like some time-travel protagonists, they would immerse themselves in various research and development, go to the front line and fight the enemy to death, play a wave of special operations, and then have an affair with a female spy from the enemy country.
In the research and development of steam engines, he actually provided some information on ideas in the early days. The specific research and development work was still done by the scientific researchers. At most, he just asked people to ask for money and give money...
The battles were fought by the generals. Luo Zhixue usually took charge of the overall situation from behind and sent people and weapons to the front lines.
When he was fighting with Dongluo, Luo Zhixue never even got close to Shanhaiguan. Even more than ten years after destroying Dongluo, he had never been to Dongluo!
To be honest, all the Eastern captives were wiped out by the imperial soldiers, but until now, he didn't even know what the Eastern captives looked like, and he had never seen a rat-tailed braid with his own eyes...
The capital of Nanyang has expanded thousands of miles, and the province of Malacca has been established, but Luo Zhixue has never seen the sea a few times. He only looked at the seaside from a distance when he went to Wusong Naval Base in Songjiang Prefecture... Even strictly speaking, it was not there. It's not really a sea, but at most it's the estuary of the Yangtze River. It's still dozens of kilometers away from the real sea.
Therefore, Luo Zhixue did not do many things personally, and he only found out about many things after ministers reported them: Oh, it turns out that something has been conquered and something new has been created.
For example, the original iron-ribbed wooden hull ships, and even the current high-pressure steam engines and trains.
When Luo Zhixue learned about the iron-ribbed wooden hull, the navy had already conducted several tests and was preparing to conduct a formal test ship.
Luo Zhixue knew that when the train was successfully developed, the Guangzhou Machinery Company had built the train and tested it internally many times.
But this does not prevent him from ruling this huge empire!
How did he get through the reigns?
It’s actually very simple to say: hire people!
Firmly control the power of employment and put the right people in the right positions to ensure that your rule is firm and that the macro strategies under your leadership can be smoothly implemented.
If the strategy does not go smoothly, then Luo Zhixue will replace him and continue to implement it!
Of course, sometimes the strategy itself is not good enough, so Luo Zhixue will continue to advance in another direction.
And all of this requires employing people.
Through the power of personnel, ministers are allowed to do things according to their own ideas.
If you do something wrong, just replace him.
It's that simple!
In Luo Zhixue's opinion, personnel power is a more important power than financial or even military power itself.
Because financial power and military power are actually controlled through personnel. After all, Luo Zhixue cannot directly manage a huge tax and financial system, let alone command more than one million soldiers.
He needs someone to help him manage his money bag and help him command his army.
This again involves personnel power.
Therefore, he can let go of other rights, even if it is some strategic matters, he does not need to participate, but he has always firmly grasped the power of personnel, and does not allow his ministers to interfere.
Of course, it was only limited to the appointment and dismissal of officials above the third rank. He couldn't even take care of the appointment and dismissal of officials from the third rank. After all, there were too many people.
Just for the third-rank officials in each province, there are one to two hundred people in total. If you add in the various deputy directors and other third-rank officials in Gyeonggi, there are hundreds of people at least.
If they were also managed, Luo Zhixue would directly manage thousands of people, which would be too difficult for him.
Therefore, he mainly manages officials at the two levels of the second-rank and second-rank officials. The third-rank officials are basically limited to chief envoys of important provinces, directors of important departments, and other ordinary third-rank positions. Sometimes he would let the Ministry of Personnel recommend candidates, and he would then select suitable people.
As for Cheng Yongfeng, the fourth-rank deputy director of the secretariat, he was a bit special. He was a close official of the emperor, and because of the special nature of the secretariat, he was a typical low-ranking official.
Although it is only the rank of the fourth rank, it cannot be regarded as the fourth rank. Its actual political status is similar to that of the third rank.
In addition, the position of chief envoy of Guangdong is relatively important, so Luo Zhixue will arrange it personally. If it were replaced by chief envoys from other provinces, Luo Zhixue would not bother to deal with it.
——
Not two days after Cheng Yongfeng's face-to-face meeting, a decree was conveyed. Cheng Yongfeng was immediately relieved of his current duties as Deputy Director of the Secretariat and First-Class Secretariat, Minister of the Secretariat, and immediately transferred to Guangdong Province to participate in politics. He was promoted to the third rank, temporarily. Assigned the post of Chief Envoy of Guangdong Province.
Because Cheng Yongfeng's rank was relatively low, although he was actually promoted two levels in a row, there still had to be a transition, so he was only given the rank of third-grade political officer, and he acted as chief envoy with his official rank.
After a few months of transition, he can be promoted to Chief Envoy and promoted to the third rank at the same time.
This can also be regarded as a dynasty management with leapfrog promotion. It is said to be a leapfrog promotion, but it is usually in the name of temporary administration or in the name of additional title. Cross-level promotions, especially cross-grade promotions, will not directly occur.
After receiving the appointment decree, Cheng Yongfeng was high-spirited and went to Guangdong to take up his post, accompanied by a director of the Ministry of Civil Affairs. Generally speaking, when a chief envoy takes office, there is no need to dispatch the director of the Ministry of Civil Affairs. The deputy director level is almost the same. .
But Guangdong is unusual. It is the third most important province in the empire in terms of economic aggregate, second only to Jiangnan Province and Yingtian Prefecture. Its development speed is much higher than that of Yingtian Prefecture, surpassing the capital of Yingtian Prefecture and becoming the second largest province in the world. This is what A matter of one or two years.
At that time, Guangdong Province will compete with Jiangnan Province for supremacy.
In such an important province, Luo Zhixue would personally check in on the appointment of the chief envoy. The Ministry of Civil Affairs would send a director to accompany him when he took office. After arriving at the place, it would be natural for him to read out the imperial edict.
Accompanied by officials from the Ministry of Civil Affairs, Cheng Yongfeng took a steamship with a displacement of more than 200 tons newly commissioned by the General Post Office from Jinling City, and then arrived at the Wusong Naval Base in Songjiang Prefecture.
Here he and officials from the Ministry of Personnel transferred to an ocean-going steamship of more than 600 tons that still belonged to the Postal Service, and then headed south to Guangzhou.
The Postal Service, which has become independent from the Ministry of Transport and is in charge of all postal services, followed the pace of the times and immediately placed an order for a batch of steam ships after the emergence of steam ships. The vessel was refitted.
Therefore, there are quite a lot of steam ships in the General Post Office. Speaking simply of the number of steam ships, in fact, the Post Office currently has the most.
It's just that their steam ships have a peculiarity, that is, they can neither transport people nor cargo...
The mission of the postal ships is not to transport people and goods, and Cheng Yongfeng took their ships just by the way. The mission of these postal ships is to deliver various official documents as quickly as possible, including various border and even overseas war reports.
Speed is their only mission and pursuit.
All General Postal Service ships have an extreme design, with a relatively small carrying capacity, but generally very fast speeds.
This is still the case in the steam age.
Standing on the Youhai No. 12 Steamship, Cheng Yongfeng couldn't help but sigh. Now that there are steamships, it is really much more convenient to travel between the north and the south.
He left Beijing just the day before yesterday, but now he has crossed Zhoushan, Zhejiang Province. It only took two days to complete the trip.
This kind of speed would have been unimaginable in the past.
The advantage of a steamship compared to a sailboat is reflected here. It can run directly regardless of the wind direction or ocean current.
When there is wind, you hang up the sail to speed up, and when there is no wind, you rely on the steam engine to continue moving forward. It is not like a sailboat that depends on the weather. It is very fast to go with the wind and the current, but it is very troublesome to go against the wind and the current.
Steamship No. 12 was just like the couriers of later generations. It stopped and stopped along the way and passed through many coastal cities. It delivered a large number of official documents and original copies of the Da Chu Di newspaper to these coastal cities.
At the same time, we will also collect some official documents sent to southern cities.
It finally ended its journey all the way to Guangzhou, and brought a large number of official documents from Gyeonggi and other places to Guangdong, as well as their new chief envoy!
When Cheng Yongfeng arrived at the Pearl River Pier in Guangzhou by boat, he was greeted by a large number of local officials on the shore.
Local officials had learned about the relevant appointment and dismissal news a few days in advance. After all, Tang Tiangui had gone to Beijing to meet the saint some time ago, and then returned to Guangzhou to take up the post of governor of Guangdong. At the same time that he took office, the former governor of Guangdong Li Qihua went to Beijing according to the order and served as Minister of Industry and Commerce, and entered the imperial study to assist in handling important military and political affairs.
Under such circumstances, the selection of the new Chief Envoy of Guangdong has attracted a lot of attention.
However, before Tang Tiangui, the newly appointed governor of Guangdong, came back from the capital, he already knew that his future partner was Cheng Yongfeng!
Tang Tiangui stood on the second-story building of the governor's office, looking at the rolling water of the Pearl River outside. There were an endless stream of ships on the river. There were docks and warehouses on both sides of the river. Behind these docks and warehouses were countless factories that were rumbling in operation!
Frowning slightly!
The deputy director of the Secretariat parachuted down...
Such people are all close ministers of the Emperor. I am afraid that they have seen His Majesty more times in one day than I have seen His Majesty in my entire life!
If the other party knows how to behave and cooperates with you, it will be fine.
If the other party refuses to cooperate and takes advantage of his status as a close minister of the Emperor to act recklessly...
