Young Yan Shifan has not seen his father for a long time, so he is very excited now.
He was not only excited that his father had been promoted very quickly and was already the governor of Zhejiang, but also excited that he felt that he had grown up a lot and wanted to show off.
"Everyone is talking about His Majesty changing the names of the three main halls." Yan Shifan said with a glint in one eye, "My son feels that this is His Majesty telling the people of the world the importance of practical matters."
At the age of thirteen, Yan Song looked at his son who was growing taller and knew in his heart that his son was more and more eager to become an official.
His Majesty placed him in the Jinyi Guard School, and Yan Song did not take him with him.
Now that it is rare to come back, Yan Song also wants to seize the opportunity to mention him more.
"Practice is only an insignificant aspect of this matter."
Hearing what Yan Song said, Yan Shifan couldn't help but be stunned.
negligible?
But who is Yan Song?
His ability to figure out what is best for him is almost among the best in Manchao.
He had to think carefully about what he said to mention his son, and he must not say the wrong thing - the housekeeper in the capital had a letter to report that the son had been hanging out with the Jinyi captain for a long time, and now he was no longer bothered by the eye disease.
In other words: your son is becoming more and more assertive now.
What if the big mouth spreads?
Therefore, Yan Song thought about it for a long time and just said to his son: "The key lies in the Chinese character."
Yan Shifan didn't understand.
What happened to the country?
…
Yang Tingyi has been serving as the minister of the Ministry of War for six or seven years. Now he has finally been promoted to the second rank of governor.
"After serving in Jiangxi for three years, I will ask you to become an official, or just find a position as a military staff officer." In Yang Tinghe's study, he said to Yang Tingyi, "In your generation and mine, the Yang family can no longer try to get involved. Jingzhi has an old friendship with me, but Wei Zhong is my disciple, and you are my biological brother. With the help of the four of us, we will go to the south of the Yangtze River to peel off cocoons. From now on, the Yang family can only rely on the Xiu generation and your majesty to protect them. On."
Yang Tingyi was still a little confused: "Then Prime Minister and Minister of State, why do you want to give in? It's His Majesty..."
Yang Tinghe immediately shook his head: "This is the best choice!"
After a pause, he said solemnly: "The names of the three major palaces have been changed, and all of them emphasize the word "国". The emperor is the father of the king, and the world is one family. For thousands of years, the monarchs of all dynasties have been the family of the world. Now your majesty wants to let everyone in the palace The strategy of purchasing by spending money required the clan to develop business and work to achieve self-sufficiency, and even more, it established a powerful prime minister and assistant. Your Majesty is so majestic, but I remembered what your Majesty once said in the imperial study."
Yang Tingyi, who had never attended the Imperial Study Room, suddenly asked attentively: "What are you talking about?"
"In the 16th year of Zhengde, Tuenmen was defeated." Yang Tingyi explained the background, and then said, "Your Majesty said that the war in Guangdong was caused by people in Guangdong and Guangxi having small families but no country, being afraid of defeat and timidly fighting, and pursuing selfish desires and forgetting their roots! This is not the rule of officials. These two words can be summed up in a nutshell. In fact, the land of the Ming Dynasty was shared by the Zhu family, and each of them had his own interests. The people of Dongguan still knew that they would lose their lives to defend the land, but most of our officials in the Ming Dynasty had family and forgot about the country. People who don’t protect private land!”
Yang Tingyi was horrified.
Yang Tinghe must convince his younger brother.
I have already served as the chief minister, so whether I become the prime minister or not, it really doesn't make much difference. But because of his presence, Yang Tingyi could only stay outside Jiuqing. He still wanted to reach the first rank one day.
Yan Song did not dare to tell Yan Shifan, but Yang Tinghe could, because Yang Tingyi had also been in officialdom for a long time.
"The imperial power is supreme, and the power of the prime minister reappears in the world. How will the struggle between the emperor and the prime minister change? The emperor will naturally still sit on the world, so who will carry the country? The most important thing is to put the country first, then the heavenly family Isn’t it the next best thing?”
After asking three questions in a row, Yang Tingyi finally understood the danger.
In the past, the relationship between monarch and ministers was "father and son". There is also a "father and son" relationship between the emperor and the people of the world. The emperor, as the head of the family, naturally has complete control over the world's property and even the lives of his subjects. It is said that thunder, rain and dew are all for the king's favor, and the son cannot blame the father for his fault.
Now that the emperor puts country before family, what exactly is country? How to deal with the relationship between the country and the Tianjia?
Yang Tinghe sighed: "The chief minister of the cabinet is better than the Prime Minister and the Minister of State! The emperor and the National Policy Council are responsible for the control, the six state ministers are responsible for the control, and the factory guard, the Metropolitan Procuratorate, and the General Directorate of Public Security are not. Listen to the announcement, there are provinces and people who need to be governed well. I am not afraid of difficulties, but the Yang family is on the top of the huge wave, and we must not make any mistakes or give people the truth. I must open this door to let the wise Chief. Fei Zichong is also smart. After completing his term, he will definitely give way to the more talented."
"...If he serves for several years or even ten years, he is actually a powerful minister, and the emperor will be more suspicious."
In front of her brother, in private, Yang Tingyi was not afraid to speak out.
"That's right. The imperial power is supreme. Although the Prime Minister has great power, he is too hot to handle." Yang Tinghe solemnly said to him, "It is better to do something practical and keep it in His Majesty's heart than anything else."
"……I see."
Both of them were thinking about the situation in the past few years. Now that the emperor has taken the initiative to delegate some power, how could he know that it was not aimed at the situation of the "new party" that had expanded due to the new law in the Ming Dynasty?
The word "guo" is reflected everywhere, and officials all over the world should keep the country in their hearts. So what exactly is the country? Who is the symbol of the country?
If the Prime Minister and Minister of State accidentally bring the people back to their hearts, can your Majesty really give up his supreme imperial power?
There is no day left. What is the first Prime Minister and Minister of State of Ming Dynasty thinking in his heart now?
…
"Thank you behind closed doors!"
Fei Hong had a headache, very painful.
Having served as a cabinet minister in the capital, he knew that he went to Sichuan just to cooperate in acting, so the Fei family's house was naturally still there.
Now he is just a candidate, and other advisers may be reserved, but officials from local provinces and even Nanjing are busy coming to submit their invitations to pay their respects.
Some things must be savored slowly to appreciate more. After Fei Hong was "sneak-attacked" by Yang Tinghe, he finally calmed down from the excitement and excitement of serving as the first Prime Minister and Minister of State.
I was fooled!
How to balance the interests of the six ministers of state, the remaining "old party" and the new law? These are small things, so we should do it slowly.
The biggest problem is the erosion of monarchy by the Prime Minister and Minister of State.
The emperor is still there, young and smart, and his imperial power is stable. Now he has taken the initiative to release part of his government power. The more the prime minister and minister of state thinks about it, the more he feels like a butler who has taken the blame.
Financial planning, people's livelihood, culture and education, internal thieves, external enemies... From now on, whenever something goes wrong, there will be a clear and highest responsible person.
In the past, cabinet ministers only proposed some solutions through votes, which were nominally collective opinions. Now, the Prime Minister and the Minister of State cannot get around it-Zhu Zhu didn't even approve. Isn't it all the decision-making of the prime minister?
If it is not done well, the corpse will be left with nothing to eat and will remain in disgrace for thousands of years.
If you do well, then aren't you equivalent to half an emperor?
What Fei Hong was most troubled about was why the emperor did this.
Now in essence, the chief minister of the cabinet is equivalent to the prime minister. If the emperor wanted to relax, he could just look after the Imperial Study and the Supervisor of Ceremonies, and not criticize or reject the many government affairs that the cabinet was preparing to delegate power to.
Do we really want Ming Dynasty to move toward co-rule by monarch and ministers?
This involves the concern of the courtiers for their own safety and security - after all, there was an ancestral motto in the Song Dynasty called "No scholar-bureaucrats will be killed until the end of the Song Dynasty." What about the Ming Dynasty?
Besides, what are the ancestral precepts? Didn't Taizu make it clear that anyone who further discussed the appointment of a prime minister would be killed.
No one can kill the emperor now.
But the emperor can kill the prime minister and minister of state.
Fei Hong had no other choice. Even if it was just a pretense, he started writing the dictionary all night long.
First of all, you must not just sit in that position happily. The emperor must reveal his true thoughts and provide some protection.
For this official position, participating in the so-called "three major privileges" is really not enough.
The court counselors and the gentry in the capital still only knew that the three major halls had been renamed, and an expanded national policy meeting was about to be held.
They didn't know that in the "preparatory meeting" before the national policy meeting, many major events had already been decided in the name of discussing rough strategies. Those who participated in the meeting in the National Policy Hall were asked to keep it secret for the time being, just like the previous counselors.
No confidentiality? Hu Lilie?
After the Huguang Rebellion, do you still dare to underestimate the strength of the factory guards?
Therefore, Yan Song only talked with his son about the key points of renaming the three halls. Yang Tinghe only talked with his younger brother who had been elected as the governor of Jiangxi and would also attend the meeting later. The people who came to visit Fei Hong were also senior officials who knew about it. .
The main discussion in the capital now is still about the new four-title system, which is the business profiles and job recruitment of 16 state-owned enterprises published in Ming Pao.
Afraid of missing the time, they rushed to the capital before the Chinese New Year and mailed poems and essays to contact their fellow villagers. The disciples of their mentors were all worried about next year's examination: Wouldn't they have to use simplified Chinese characters and a new style of answer sheet? Are you going to take the new exam? Please give me a message from the Ministry of Rites!
The Ministry of Rites just didn’t take a stand.
Zhu Houcong smiled a little evilly after hearing the daily activities of officials in Beijing and major events in the capital reported by Jin Yiwei.
I will still express my position, but it can be slower. At least it will be published in the next issue or even later Ming Pao: I just recently heard that Mingke’s candidates had many doubts about the examination. After discussion and petition, the Ministry of Rites issued a special report saying...
After a few months, given people's intelligence and their concern for fame, they would probably be familiar with the simplified Chinese characters and the new style.
As for the mistake of preparing for the exam? This is a joint examination in which thousands of troops cross a single-plank bridge. Does it depend on cramming for a month or not?
The candidates who are rushing to take the exam are really depressed now.
It's rare that the governor and vassal of your province are also in Beijing at this time. Don't you care about the provincial examination results next year?
If you want to put things aside, there will always be a special banquet, encouragement, and guidance before departure!
Now, I can't even receive a reply to the poems I submitted, let alone meet and hear the news.
Little did they know that these governors, vassals, and senior officials with high positions and connections in their eyes were all focused on the upcoming national policy meeting.
What a big change and how many good official positions have been created! Not every position, like the Prime Minister, Minister of State, newly added Minister of State, Minister of War, etc., currently only has one candidate recommended.
There are less than ten days until the national policy meeting is officially held. Why don't they have a good contact and exchange of opinions?
This was a personnel change with greater impact than the "battle between the old and new parties" in the court in the first year of Jiajing.
Huang Jin is also very busy, but what he is busy with now is different from others.
Among the four great ministers of the palace, namely Zhang Zuo, Huang Jin, Mai Fu and Zhang Zuo, Huang Jin is the only one who still remains in the palace along with Zhang Zuo and Zhang Zuo, but each has its own division of labor.
Zhang Zuo is in charge of the Supervisor of Ceremonies. He is responsible for the management of the eunuchs and the liaison with the local guarding eunuchs and the liaison between the inner court and the outer court. Zhang Zuo is mainly responsible for Huangzhuang and Huangming University, while Huang Jin In addition to the internal affairs department and factory guards, there are also many things related to the sixteen state-owned enterprises and palace construction and procurement.
What is reporting to him now is the news from the supervising eunuch stationed at Mingbao Bank.
"Huang Dajue, can you call in some more craftsmen from the imperial prison and other departments? We need a lot of dictionaries, and there is a shortage of manpower for engraving. The newspaper office has vacated a few temporary houses, but there is no one!"
It turns out that many salt works, copper works, etc. were originally under the responsibility of the inner court, and I don’t know how many of the 16 state-owned enterprises were originally managed by eunuchs. Now that they have become "shares" of the emperor, the emperor naturally has to send representatives. It's just that those who used to be called admirals and promotions are now called supervising eunuchs. They only have the power to audit accounts and have the obligation to liaise.
Huang Jin heard this and asked, "How come you suddenly want so much?"
"All provinces have sent people to order from Ming Pao Company. In addition, the booksellers in the capital are the ones who want the most. It must be because there will be a trial next year."
"...I understand. You go back first and I'll ask His Majesty to play."
Returning to the Yangxin Hall, he explained the situation.
Zhu Houcong put down his pen and thought for a while.
"Every company is competing for craftsmen, right?"
Huang Jin sighed: "That's right. Because of this matter, every family is almost quarreling with the servants and the Ministry of Works. In the past, in the Beijing craftsmen's household, the Jin Yiwei, the inner court and the Ministry of Works had the most control."
Craftsmen who are regarded as voluntary workers and are paid some wages now have to sign formal employment agreements with these 16 companies, determine their salaries, and compile rosters. In addition to recruiting high-end talents from Ming Pao, they are also now competing for jobs. artisan.
They all relied on having some start-up capital at this time, and the craftsmen’s salaries did not need to be paid out now.
Those who dare not rob are probably the only craftsmen in the inner court supervisory bureaus who are still responsible for making some utensils for the palace without implementing the procurement policy.
"Then let's send some people there as appropriate. There are some things in the palace that are not in urgent need."
"Your Majesty, the Queen Mother has her own purpose. Princess Yongchun must not miss what she needs for her wedding."
Zhu Houcong was speechless for a moment: "Why are you so anxious?"
His unmarried sister was only fifteen years old.
After the decision is made, some people will be transferred first. They may not be professionally qualified, but after all, they are all skilled craftsmen serving the royal family. It is no problem to do something with a lower professional and technical content in response to emergencies.
"Arrange with Ming Pao Bank and give them a daily salary."
"This slave knows."
"Let's spread the message to the university and Mingbao Bank. In the future, the amount of printing of newspapers and books will be large, which can encourage the research and development of new equipment and new techniques. If it is effective, everyone can report to me and be awarded with honors and even titles for their merits. "
From engraving to movable type, China's printing technology is certainly not bad.
But today's printing technology naturally has room for improvement in terms of movable type casting, ink, typesetting and printing technology.
The needs of other companies in terms of technological improvement have not yet been highlighted, but at this point in time, "Ming Pao" uses simplified Chinese characters and new styles as its printing method, and publishes important government decrees as an irreplaceable carrier, and the demand has suddenly exploded.
Natural thinking is naturally a heap of manpower. Although the new engraving factory has not yet been built, it is easy to make room in the capital, and there are ways to find more craftsmen.
But Zhu Houcong did not forget that in setting up these enterprises, he had another goal besides expanding financial resources.
Zhu Houcong is still writing.
After he finished writing, he would hand it over to Lin Xiyuan for polishing.
The next issue of "Ming Pao" will be released on the day when the National Policy Conference is officially held. Today's typesetting and printing efficiency is limited, so it is natural to leave enough time to prepare.
The editorial department led by Lin Xiyuan has almost prepared other content, but the headlines will be left to Zhu Houcong.
Following the new four-title system, Ming Pao will have another big news on its front page.
This important thing is a letter "handwritten" by Zhu Houcong as the emperor to inform the people of the world.
In addition, there is also "His Majesty the Emperor's Answers to Ten Questions from the Editor-in-Chief of Ming Pao".
At the same time, Lin Xiyuan was still working overtime, reviewing the manuscript he had written again in the editing room.
"Recruitment Notice for Writers of Ming Pao Editorial Department".
It is really difficult for the few original Hanlin bachelors who work full-time in the editorial department to support the content compilation task of Mingpao every fifteen days.
What's more, he did not forget the emperor's original intention of establishing "Ming Pao" - to guide the world's public opinion.
This matter can begin now.
Naturally, the manuscripts of these contributors are not published as soon as they are handed to them. If there are suggestions for revision, it is inconvenient to send letters, and the writer in Beijing is close to the public. Naturally, he can make a better name by relying on his signature.
Lin Xiyuan could already imagine the long-term impact of this incident: the center of gravity of the literary world would slowly shift from the south of the Yangtze River to the north; the northern candidates would gradually have more opportunities to be taught by famous teachers than those in the south of the Yangtze River.
There are many scholars in the south of the Yangtze River, but now the imperial court does not allow local governments to run newspapers unless they are authorized to publish newspapers.
In the long period of time from being a scholar to being a Jinshi, there are so many people who have no intention of pursuing an official career but want to become famous. How many of them will gradually gather in Beijing or the north?
Think again of the plans for the Heavy Industry Park in the southwestern suburbs of Beijing and the Qiaogong Industrial Park in the southeastern suburbs of Beijing that will be published in this issue. This is another sign that His Majesty has gathered the strength of several of the 16 state-owned enterprises to promote industrial and commercial interests in the north and rely on business. Taxation also overwhelms the strategy of Jiangnan taxation, which accounted for the most weight in the Ming Dynasty.
Because I communicated a lot with the emperor about these matters, and because I was originally a leader among the officials and gentry - a Hanlin bachelor, I could see the possible future.
But what about more people?
Lin Xiyuan once again looked at the "Ten Questions His Majesty the Emperor Answered to the Editor-in-Chief of Ming Pao" that he had indeed asked His Majesty the questions given by His Majesty when he met him. Looking at the lines below, His Majesty Lin Xiyuan and Jiajing just felt that My heart is on fire.
After this issue, everyone in the world will know his name Lin Xiyuan!
(End of chapter)
