Luo Zhixue did not reply immediately to the letter from Han Deyuan, the Minister of Household Affairs, nor did he hand it over to ministers for discussion as usual, or call it back to Han Deyuan for revision, nor did he refuse it immediately.
Instead, a very special "stay in the middle but not send out" approach was adopted.
This kind of situation is actually relatively rare in the Chu Empire.
Because it is different from the traditional feudal dynasty, the Dachu Empire has very clear channels and procedures when handling various government affairs. After various suggestions or reports are submitted, they are either agreed or disagreed, or are submitted to various departments for discussion. Then make a decision, or revise it, etc.
However, this model of staying in the center and not making any comments, without commenting or criticizing, was actually relatively rare in the Chu Empire.
But now, Luo Zhixue has taken measures to stay in China and not pay in response to Han Deyuan's proposal to set minimum wage standards and maximum working hours.
It's because this kind of thing is too sensitive.
It is impossible for Luo Zhixue to directly agree or refuse, and it is even impossible for Luo Zhixue to hand it over to the ministers for discussion now.
The main reason is that this matter is too important, and it can affect the whole body. If you are not careful, it will cause huge waves.
As for Luo Zhixue, on the one hand, he hopes to establish minimum wage standards and maximum working time limits to fundamentally improve the living standards of workers.
But on the other hand, he did not hope that this measure would affect the current booming industrial and commercial economic development momentum of the Chu Empire.
Because once minimum wage standards and maximum working hours are established, welfare measures such as this will certainly allow the empire to gain support from more workers, but it has to be said that people are greedy, and if they have this, they will want that. , and want more and more.
If you give it this time, if you don’t give it next time, they won’t be happy!
Of course, this is not the point. The point is that higher wages and fewer working hours for workers mean higher production costs for enterprises. This will have a huge impact on many industries with relatively low gross profits, and may even lead to unemployment. Few companies suffered losses or even went bankrupt.
So this kind of thing has a good side and a bad side, and the subsequent impact will be very large.
It must be done, but when to do it and how to do it are debatable issues.
In fact, Luo Zhixue himself was not sure whether to pay attention to it. In his previous high-profile public speeches, he affirmed the importance of workers and improved their living standards. He only expressed an attitude.
But on how and when to do it, Luo Zhixue still needs to listen to more opinions and have a deeper understanding of the internal situation in the empire before making a decision.
Therefore, in the face of Han Deyuan's letter, Luo Zhixue took an extremely cautious approach and remained silent.
Luo Zhixue's thoughts are not difficult to guess for a group of veteran bureaucrats who have been immersed in officialdom for decades.
They knew very well that after Luo Zhixue decided to stay in China, it was time for them to write letters stating their different ideas.
As a result, different memorials quickly arrived in front of Luo Zhixue, but Luo Zhixue always stayed silent.
Under this circumstance, Luo Zhixue completed his inspection in Tianjin.
Luo Zhixue stayed in Tianjin for about half a month for inspection. He visited various light industries, private enterprises, defense industry, steel chemical machinery and other heavy industries. He also visited the Tianjin Machinery Company to see the new type of trains specially developed for trains. Steam locomotive.
Speaking of the steam engines of Tianjin Machinery Company, to be honest, although their steam engines are very good, they have huge shortcomings.
Just like Guangzhou Machinery Company and Dangtu Machinery
The same as the company's steam engine!
They each own some of the best technologies and patents, but due to competition with each other and patent restrictions, they are unable to use their competitors' good stuff.
In the end, the steam engine products each produced were not complete.
If you want to see a complete steam engine, except for those non-commercial steam engines that can only be used for research and personal use, you can only go to Songjiang
of the United Steam Engine Works.
At present, in the Dachu Empire, only the Songjiang United Steam Engine Factory, which was vigorously promoted by the navy, has the exclusive advantageous patents of the three major steam engine manufacturers and some other small and medium-sized steam engine manufacturers, and has integrated them to develop high-performance combined steam engines.
This kind of combined steam engine, which is produced in limited quantities for a limited time and can only be used in the military field, is the product that truly embodies the industrial strength of the steam engine industry of the contemporary Dachu Empire.
Everything else is basically lacking!
This is true even for products of strong and weak Tianjin Machinery Company.
Their multi-expansion steam engine is very well done and has excellent performance.
But their water tube boilers also have cylinder-piston structures and high-pressure connecting pipes, which are not very good.
Because Guangzhou Machinery Company was the first to develop water tube boilers and built a lot of patent barriers around water tube boilers, so that when the latecomer Tianjin Machinery Company developed water tube boilers, they could only adopt other technical paths, which were very costly. It is said that the performance is also low.
Of course, the same situation also occurs in Guangzhou Machinery Company and Dangtu Machinery Company.
The three major steam engine manufacturers are uncompromising and compete with each other. They spare no effort to suppress their opponents, let alone open their patents to competitors.
This compromise led to the establishment of a Songjiang United Steam Engine Factory only because the top brass of the military and the Ministry of Industry, and even several ministers of staff, were able to speak out and directly use administrative means to suppress it.
Otherwise, the navy wouldn't be able to use the best steam engines... because those things cannot be built and used due to patent restrictions.
Tianjin Machinery Company was also the last large and important enterprise that Luo Zhixue inspected in Tianjin. When Luo Zhixue saw the latest steam engine of Tianjin Machinery Company, it used the most advanced and best triple-expansion cylinder, but the accompanying water tube boiler was terrible. At least two generations behind Guangzhou Machinery Company.
I almost couldn't help but say something...
But in the end I endured it.
The patent system was a law that Luo Zhixue strongly advocated and received strong support from various departments.
At the same time, government-run enterprises operate entirely in accordance with market-oriented rules and regulations that were finalized when government-run enterprises were established in the early years.
Nowadays, the three major steam engine manufacturers operate strictly in accordance with laws, regulations and market competition framework. Neither Luo Zhixue nor his ministers will easily use administrative means to change things unless they have to.
No matter what the rules are, you must first abide by and maintain them at the top, and only then can you expect people at the lower level to abide by them as well.
Otherwise, the upper beam is not straight and the lower beam is crooked.
Therefore, let’s use this weak steam engine first. It’s not unusable anyway, and the warships in the Navy can also use a complete combined steam engine.
As for the private market using complete steam engines, they can only wait until some of the core patents of the three major steam engines expire in the next ten years.
After seeing Tianjin Machinery Company, Luo Zhixue's special train continued north.
The next stop is Youzhou, the former capital of the Ming Dynasty.
Today's Youzhou is not a strategic location or an important economic town. In the early years, due to political influence, the Chu Empire almost burned down the city.
In the past twenty years or so, the Great Chu Empire had carried out repeated purge operations against Youzhou City in order to completely eliminate the influence of the former Ming Dynasty and suppress the old and young.
The fighting tigers were repeatedly eliminated, and the remaining local population was forcibly relocated to other places. Most of them moved to Liaodong for reclamation, and a small number moved to Monan and northern Shanxi for reclamation.
Some people also migrated from Shandong, Jiangbei and other places to settle in Youzhou Prefecture to restore local people's livelihood.
At the same time, a large number of troops have been stationed in Youzhou City for a long time. After the Forbidden City was demolished and burned, the remaining buildings were turned into military camps.
To this day, Youzhou City is still an important military garrison of the Chu Empire in the northern region. There is a second-class infantry division, a cavalry division and an independent artillery regiment in the Third Army.
, and a third-class garrison division will be stationed here.
Except for the military strength, the local population is not large. The population of the entire Youzhou Prefecture is probably more than 800,000.
It is worth mentioning that today's Youzhou Prefecture is not the same as Shuntian Prefecture in the pre-Ming Dynasty, and is far smaller than Shuntian Prefecture in the pre-Ming Dynasty.
After successive reforms over the years, mainly the establishment and expansion of Tianjin Prefecture, many areas in the southern part of Shuntian Prefecture were placed under the jurisdiction of Tianjin Prefecture.
The northeastern area and part of the area outside the Great Wall were merged into Miyun Prefecture and Jizhou Prefecture, and part of the western area was placed under Baoan Prefecture.
After more than ten years of regional reform and adjustment, Hebei Province's regional area has been much larger than that of the pre-Ming Dynasty due to the addition of a considerable part of the southern Mongolian area outside the Great Wall.
At the same time, the areas of the internal state capitals are also constantly being adjusted. During this series of adjustments, the area of Youzhou Prefecture has gradually become smaller, only about half of the previous one.
Luo Zhixue's royal train went all the way north, and the wilderness of Youzhou Prefecture that he saw was no different from the ordinary wilderness in the north. After arriving at Youzhou City.
Although the walls of Youzhou City are still preserved, so you can still see the scene of this ancient capital of many dynasties in the past, but the permanent population is not large, and it has long been dissatisfied with the prosperity of the past.
There were no large-scale industries in the area, only a few small and medium-sized factories. Luo Zhixue had no interest in seeing it, so he skipped the inspection of industry and commerce and went directly to the former Forbidden City, where the Third Army Barracks is now, to inspect the army. .
It's just that the Forbidden City today can no longer see the appearance of the former palace...the magnificent three halls are no longer even visible...you want to say why there are no...there are many large wooden pillars used in the three halls of the Jinling City Palace of the Great Chu Empire. , it was dismantled and moved from here.
There are basically no ordinary palaces or anything like that anymore!
In order to provide better garrison and daily training, and also because those dilapidated ordinary palaces were troublesome to maintain, expensive and took up space, the military later demolished other buildings one after another and built batches of barracks on the original sites. and warehouse.
Today's Forbidden City is no longer a palace, but a huge military camp composed of a large area of densely packed barracks, office buildings, warehouses and a vast square for training.
In fact, even if the Chu army had not demolished the city and used this place as a military camp, after more than 20 years of desolation, there would probably only be ruins left in this place.
However, although the main building of the palace is gone, some of the royal gardens built during the Yuan and Ming Dynasties to the west of the Forbidden City are still there.
These royal gardens belong directly to the Royal Assets Management Department. For maintenance, some of them are open to the public for free in exchange for local financial support for maintenance, while some are still closed and managed for daily maintenance.
This is usually used as a palace for the royal family.
The Royal Asset Management Department of the Da Chu Empire has royal palaces all over the country, some of which are derived from the royal buildings of the pre-Ming Dynasty, mainly the palaces of vassals in various places.
Some of these palaces were destroyed by war, and some were later used for various administrative buildings, such as some early school buildings. Quite a few of them were converted from the palaces of vassals from various places.
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After all, long-distance travel has become more convenient, and Luo Zhixue is not the kind of person who insists on keeping the harem concubines in the palace.
Sometimes they would directly take the concubines with them for inspections and trips. Sometimes they would also allow the concubines in the harem to accompany the prince and princess to visit their relatives, or go on vacation to burn incense and so on.
The royal family members travel a lot, so naturally they need some palaces and annexes for the royal family members to live when they go out.
When Luo Zhixue inspected Youzhou City, he stayed in the royal gardens of the Ming Dynasty. However, he did not stay in Youzhou City for long. He only stayed for two days. After mainly inspecting the local garrison, he continued Up north.
Because there is really nothing to see in Youzhou City now. It wants industry but no industry, wants economy but no economy. Even agriculture is very average and has no special features... And because it is too close to Tianjin, resources, talents and funds have been lost to Tianjin. Siphoning was done!
Except for the tens of thousands of garrison troops, Luo Zhixue couldn't find anything to see even if he wanted to see others.
After leaving Youzhou City, Luo Zhixue's imperial special train continued northward, passing through the former border towns all the way into Xuanfu and arriving at Zhangjiakou!
After arriving in Zhangjiakou, Luo Zhixue's special train did not continue northward, but turned a corner and went to Datong, Shanxi.
During this northern tour, due to railway line problems, it was impossible for Luo Zhixue to go to places such as Taiyuan, Shanxi, because there were no trains to those places.
But after all, it was also a northern tour, and it was a rare visit. It wouldn’t make sense if I didn’t go to Shanxi, so I came to Datong.
After all, Datong also belongs to Shanxi. Coming here to inspect and meet local officials such as the Shanxi governor has almost the same effect.
The inspection in Datong was even more boring. Apart from coal mines, there were no other commendable industries there.
And Luo Zhixue had no interest in going down to the coal mine... so he just looked around briefly, and after hearing the reports from local officials, he walked back along the Datong Railway, and then passed through Zhangjiakou and continued north along the Prairie Railway.
All the way to Fengzhou, the provincial capital of Monan Province.
Fengzhou, actually known as Guisui in later generations, is a city on the Fengzhoutan plain with the Yinshan Mountains at its back. It used to be the seat of the Tumote tribe. The Great Chu Empire later officially built a city here and established the Monan Province. , the governor of Monan was stationed here.
This place was the most important city of the Great Chu Empire on the Monan Grassland. Although this place was located in the grassland, the surrounding mineral resources were good, and after the opening of the southern end of the grassland railway, the industrial development of this place was still very rapid. of.
The Fengzhou Steel Plant that was established was a large steel plant.
The industrial development of Fengzhou also means that the Monan Grassland has followed the Central Plains into the era of industrialization, and the nomadic life of the past is gone forever.
I stayed in Fengzhou City for three days, during which I also watched the grassland combat exercises of the local troops and reviewed the local troops.
After the inspection, Luo Zhixue's imperial special train did not continue to the north. Although the Prairie Railway continued to the north for a while, the Prairie Railway was not fully open to traffic, and there were still hundreds of kilometers of railways from Urg, the provincial capital of Mobei Province. Not fixed.
It is more than a thousand kilometers away from the strategically important city of Kuhl in the north.
In the two to three hundred kilometers that continued to the north, there were no big cities or important strategic places. Therefore, Luo Zhixue's royal train did not continue to go north, but began to turn around and return south.
All the way back south, after passing through Zhangjiakou, Youzhou, and Tianjin, the special train did not stop. Luo Zhixue did not even get off the train. After simply adding coal and water, the special train went straight to Shanhaiguan.
The Northeast region is also an important area for Luo Zhixue's northern inspection tour.
Although the climate of this place is not very good, it is a bitter cold place in the traditional sense. The winter is very long and very cold.
But the mineral resources are really rich, and the local black soil is extremely fertile.
Very early on, the Chu Empire began to organize people to immigrate to Liaodong for reclamation, and later gradually began to develop local mineral resources.
Relying on the rich mineral resources in Liaodong region
With the resources and fertile land, and of course the indispensable local Liao River water transportation system, the Chu Empire's initial development in the northeast, mainly the Liaodong area, was successful, making the area one of the heavy industrial bases of the Chu Empire. The output value is second only to the four major industrial zones of Hantian, Yingtian, Susong, Guangzhou and Tianjin.
Relying on the successful development of the Liaodong region, the Chu Empire gradually continued to develop east and north.
The most important of these was the opening up of land on the Songnen Plain.
With the development of the local area, and because the local land is large and the people are small, mechanized farming is adopted, making the Northeast region surpass Jiangnan or Huguang and become the area with the largest net outflow of grain in the Chu Empire.
It has become a veritable granary in the Chu Empire!
The heavy industrial base and the imperial granary, no matter which one they are, are worthy of Luo Zhixue's visit, let alone the two together.
