Mixed with salted fish in Hongwudang

Chapter 218 Congratulations to His Majesty, Congratulations to King Wu!

Chen Zongli was squeezed by Zhu Yunxi for a while, and his face suddenly became a little uncomfortable.

No matter how you say it, he is still the Minister of the Household Department, and in front of so many court officials, King Wu dared to treat him so mercilessly. Yes, if there is any disagreement, push him out and chop him up!

The other civil servants were also a little dissatisfied, feeling that King Wu was too arrogant and had no respect for the courtiers at all.

Even a brutal person like the old emperor had to pretend to say "Ai Qing" when he needed someone, so as to coax them to work hard for him.

His Royal Highness King Wu is fine, this is not polite at all!

"Your Highness King Wu, what you said is wrong. This old man is also thinking about the imperial court and the country and society of the Ming Dynasty. As the vassal king of the Ming Dynasty, how can you aim at making money in everything?"

"The agricultural tools made by the imperial court are indeed not as good as yours, and the price is a little bit more expensive. But this matter is related to the basic national policy of Ming Dynasty. Craftsmen are responsible for making tools, farmers are responsible for farming, and military households are responsible for defending the country. , the merchant is responsible for the delivery of goods to the world..."

"Whoever does what, has already been determined in the household registration."

"You sold agricultural tools privately, resulting in a backlog of goods in government-run workshops everywhere, and the government has no money to pay for the artisans. How can the livelihood of hundreds of thousands of artisans in the Ming Dynasty be maintained?"

As soon as Chen Zongli said this, all the officials in the hall nodded, and some of the young and vigorous ones applauded on the spot.

"Master Chen is right!"

"Since ancient times, scholars, farmers, businessmen and commerce have their own division of labor. As a royal family, His Royal Highness has a high status. How can he do things like competing for the interests of the people and the country!"

When Chen Zongli heard that everyone supported him unanimously, he became more courageous in his heart.

"Furthermore, Wuwangdian, you are too unkind in this matter, aren't you?"

"The imperial court purchased a hydraulic workshop in the southern outskirts of the city, but it cost a full 60 taels of silver!"

"In order to make up enough money, the entire Ying Tian Mansion and the officials in Beijing only received half of their salaries this month!"

"However, the imperial court paid such a high price. You actually sold the imperial court an unusable workshop. Not to mention the frequent problems with the machinery, the level of the craftsmen is not good, and the products produced are all defective products. Let alone compare to yours. At the time of supervision, compared with the past weapon bureau, it was a big difference!"

The officials in the main hall were furious when they heard this. You must know that the money to buy the workshop was deducted from their salaries!

Moreover, the Minister of the Household Department promised at that time that after buying the workshop, the court will make money in the future, not only will it make up for the salaries owed to them, but it will also pay them an extra few months...

Now when they heard that the new workshop couldn't even produce decent farm tools and weapons, they were so anxious that their eyes turned red.

"His Royal Highness, you are going too far!"

"The imperial court bought your workshop for a lot of money, how can you hide it and keep it when it's over!"

"Your Majesty, please order His Royal Highness King Wu to hand over the secret recipe of the new workshop, otherwise the court's 60 taels of silver will be in vain..."

Old Zhu's face flushed with embarrassment when he heard the angry voice from below.

Because in this transaction, he is also a vested interest...

The imperial court spent a total of 60 taels of silver on the acquisition of the workshop, of which 30 taels were taken to the palace by that woman Guo Hui!
Lao Zhu has always acted upright and sat upright all his life, so he dared to face all officials and was not afraid of anyone's gossip.

However, the 30 taels of silver entered in the account this time made him feel uncomfortable like a thorn in his heart, and he felt a little guilty.

Otherwise, in normal times, if an official dared to question him in court, he would have ordered someone to drag him out to beat the board!

"Cough cough..."

"Dasun, come and explain to everyone, did you hide your secrets when you sold the workshop?"

When Zhu Yunxi heard Lao Zhu's question, he shook his head firmly on the spot.

"No!"

"Even the craftsmen are carefully selected by my grandson. They are absolutely capable of handling hydraulic workshops, and they can also deal with general mechanical failures..."

Zhu Yunxi was also a little guilty when he said this. It is true that he carefully selected the craftsmen, but it was only after he carefully selected the remaining ones that he left them to the court.

A truly good craftsman, let him be bound as a guest of Wu Wangfu, no one can take it away from him!

But even so, the remaining people are enough to cope.

After all, this is just a hydraulic workshop, and all the transmission parts are visible to the naked eye. It is nothing more than changing a gear or adjusting the transmission rod. You can learn it by just grabbing two people and staying in the workshop for a month.

Minister Shuru of the Ministry of War often heard Zhu Yunxie say this, and jumped out of the crowd on the spot.

"You bullshit!"

"The old man took over the new workshop for half a month, and he stayed in the workshop and stared at it every day, but he didn't produce a suitable weapon!"

"Besides, those machines get stuck at every turn, and if one part gets stuck, the other parts stop working. It's slower than the old workshop!"

This is the key to the production of hydraulic workshops. If one link is linked to another, if a link fails, the efficiency will be seriously reduced, which is not as fast as the traditional production method.

"The old man now seriously doubts the production during the supervision period of His Royal Highness King Wu. You will not buy it from other places and sell it to the court, saying that you produced it yourself?"

When the other people heard this, they immediately exploded, accusing Zhu Yunxi of being unkind and deliberately deceiving the court.

However, in the face of everyone's accusations, Zhu Yunxi only asked a question lightly.

"Shangshu Ru Chang, I have a question for you. Have you sent money to the craftsmen?"

"Send money?"

Ru Chang was taken aback when he heard the words, and then asked inexplicably.

"Why send money?"

"It's only natural for craftsmen to work for the imperial court. Why do I give them money!"

Ru Chang’s words related to the household registration system of the Ming Dynasty. According to the system of the Ming Dynasty, craftsmen have to pay the court for three months every year, or every three years, they have to work for the court for one year as a tax.

Therefore, whether it was the central court or the local government, when the Ming Dynasty recruited craftsmen to work, let alone sending them money, sometimes they even had to bring their own rations.

Only a small number of very outstanding craftsmen will receive preferential treatment from the court.Meals are provided for free, and there is a small amount of extra cash every month.

This is also the biggest drawback of the Ming Dynasty's craftsman registration system. It can be said that it has reduced the enthusiasm of craftsmen to work to the greatest extent, making Daming's military products inferior to each other.

In the early days of the dynasty, it could still be suppressed by the authority of the founding king.After passing down several generations of emperors, this system will inevitably be difficult to maintain.If it is forcibly maintained, the result will be civil fortresses and various other forms of loss of power and humiliation of the country.

Take the firearms of the Ming Dynasty as an example. By the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the frontier army basically gave up the use of firearms such as firearms.

Because this thing not only launches slowly, but also often explodes, injuring its own people.

It can be seen from this that the quality of Daming's military products has declined significantly.

Zhu Yunxi doesn't understand these things, but he understands that if you want a horse to run fast, you have to feed the horse grass.

You can't even fool a child by just painting cakes, so how can you fool those low-level craftsmen who hide in the dust and face the reality?
Zhu Yunxi felt his lungs were going to explode when he heard Ru Chang said these words confidently.

Although he knew that he couldn't blame Ru Chang entirely, but he had to blame his bad old man, but he still went up with his mouth full of anger.

"Ru Chang!"

"Is what you're talking about human?"

"I just want to ask you, if Grandpa Huang doesn't give you a salary, but makes you work every day, would you like it?"

Ru Chang was at a loss for words when he heard this, thinking this is nonsense, if you don’t give your salary, who will work for your old Zhu’s family!
But this kind of words can only be thought in the heart, or complained in private, but dare not say it in person.

After all, they are all court officials, so they still have to talk about decency and face...

"We serve the country and the people, even if we don't have a salary..."

Ru Chang wanted to sing a high-profile song, but before he could finish speaking, he was interrupted by Chen Zongli.

He knew the old emperor's temper so well, if the old emperor really believed it, he would dare not give salaries to court officials!

"His Royal Highness, how can we scholars be compared with craftsmen?"

"Craftsmen work in government-run workshops in order to pay taxes in their spare time. They can still make farm tools and other things to support their families..."

"You know, the craftsmen usually work to make money, but the court has confiscated them a penny. Letting them pay taxes with their work is also a grace specially given by His Majesty to the craftsmen in order not to increase the burden on the craftsmen..."

Chen Zongli shut up when he said this, because he really couldn't make it up.

As the Minister of the Household Department, it is impossible for him to be completely ignorant of the disadvantages of the Ming Dynasty's household registration system.But the old emperor regards this as the fundamental system of the Ming Empire, and no one can talk too much, even he can only try his best to maintain this system.

When Zhu Yunxi heard Chen Zongli's words, he turned back without thinking.

"Master Chen's words are not right. In my opinion, this is not necessarily a grace, but instead increases the burden on the low-level craftsmen."

"A craftsman is different from a farmer, and there is no specific distinction between busy and busy. Maybe they don't open in March, but once they open, they can work for half a year."

"For another example, a certain craftsman took a break for more than half a year, and finally took on a big job, which allowed him to work for two or three months."

"Then just at this time, the imperial court recruited him to run an official workshop, so he had no choice but to turn away the work and go to work for the imperial court. When he finished his work for the imperial court and returned to his own workshop, the work might be gone. How do you let his big family live?"

When Chen Zongli heard this, his heart beat with a "bang", and he exclaimed in his heart that what Zhu Yunxi said was the biggest drawback of the Ming Dynasty's artisan household system?
In fact, this kind of problem can be seen by any official from the court, but no one dares to say it, let alone in front of the emperor!
Now that Zhu Yunxi has pierced the window paper, don't blame me for being unkind!
"May I ask His Highness King Wu, what do you think the court should do to fundamentally solve this problem?"

Chen Zongli's words were obviously digging a hole for Zhu Yunxie, but Zhu Yunxie was already on top, so how could he think of this.

"It's very simple!"

"Convert the taxes that craftsmen need to pay every year into copper coins. If you don't want to work for the court, you can pay the money to be exempted from labor. If you don't want to pay, you can go to the government-run workshop to pay the tax."

"In this way, no one will be delayed. Wouldn't it be convenient for the government and craftsmen?"

Chen Zongli exclaimed in his heart when he heard this, isn't this what the old man has always wanted to say but dare not say?
Since His Royal Highness Wu Wang spoke for the old man, then the old man will not be polite!

"I congratulate Your Majesty, and congratulate King Wu!"

"His Royal Highness King Wu is able to utter such mature words for the country at such a young age. It is really a blessing for Ming Dynasty!"

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(End of this chapter)