Jingming

Chapter 453
Sun Lan stood in front of the emperor with his head lowered.

She was no stranger to this palace and the emperor in front of her.

It can be said that her existence is also because of the emperor.

If her sister had not been elected as the queen back then, then Sun Jiao would not have gone to Guangdong as the head of the state.

If Sun Jiao didn't go to Guangdong, how could her mother appear in front of Sun Jiao and be taken as a concubine?
When she was born, she already had a sister who was a queen.

When she grew up, her elder sister often asked her aunt to take her into the palace.

Without the Queen's decree, how could she, the younger sister born from a concubine, be allowed to enter the palace so often?

It turns out that everything is for today.

But Sun Lan didn't resent being manipulated, nor was she dissatisfied with being treated as a shadow or substitute for her sister.

After all, that is the position of the queen of the mother world.

Zhu Houcong looked at her silently, and actually had many questions in his heart.

He wanted to know what Sun Ming told her in the past, but that... I'm afraid he would have to wait until later.

"Let's wait in front."

"Yes, Your Majesty." Sun Lan responded crisply and moved her steps.

Zhu Houcong glanced at her back from behind, and then continued to walk.

Scholars, farmers, industry, commerce, military arts, and those from a noble family had already been decided. With the remaining five people, Zhu Houcong looked around again.

In his mind, he recalled the secret report that Lu Binghe had received from the internal inspection factory: Although everyone in various places seemed to be very conservative, they actually saw this matter more clearly.

Compared with the many restrictions imposed by his maternal relatives in the past, Zhu Houcong can now entrust his maternal relatives with important responsibilities.The direction of the Huangming Assets Bureau can be said to control the economic lifeline of the Ming Dynasty, and its real power is not necessarily less than that of an important minister.

Therefore, it seems that there is no harm to the public because of the selection of women, but in fact, the senior officials from various places have taken such opportunities into their own hands.

This time, the overall level of the six people they recommended to the palace was obviously much higher than that of 20 years ago.

Especially for these women who originally came from the humblest "Lehu", the submitted recommendation files stated that they were only trained to be good students and had never performed on the stage.But it can be seen that if they really get there, there is no doubt that they have the ability to become the local top names and pillars.

The same goes for the original military households.The system of the Department of Public Security has been in place since the fifth year of Jiajing. They are already similar to civil affairs officials and do not have too much pressure to kill and work in military camps for Shangguan.Living in a stable city, what is the difference between the daughter of an old military family who was recommended by the police and the daughter of a scholar?
Those who are businessmen are even more dedicated, and they all recommend themselves.Once selected as a concubine, she can immediately enter the core interest circles of state-owned enterprises directly.

Even the daughter of a farmer and a former craftsman didn't know how they could find such beauty without disturbing the people.

Zhu Houcong looked at the people with such outstanding average appearance, and sighed in his heart that he would use this to test the emperor.

What is intriguing is how they accomplished this in just two to three months without disturbing a large number of people.

It seems that at the local level, state-owned enterprises, businessmen, village sages, officials... due to the many corvee labor and projects and public property purchases in the past many years, each has a well-informed network.

"His Majesty?"

After hearing Huang Jin's reminder, Zhu Houcong came back to his senses and laughed dumbly.

He was obviously choosing a lovely person, but his mind was unconsciously distracted by state affairs.

Now he was only hesitating in the "Business Registration Formation", and then looked at the person in front of him: "What is your surname? Where is your surname?"

"Your Majesty, my surname is Fang, a girl from Jiangning, Nanjing."

"Fang? From Jiangning?"

Zhu Houcong looked at her carefully, and some impressions came to his mind.

Jiajing itself seems to have a queen named Fang, who was one of the nine concubines selected in Jiajing 19 years, and she was also from Jiangning, Yingtian Prefecture, Nanjing.

Zhu Houcong remembered this because it seemed that Empress Fang's ability to handle the maid's palace incident in Jiajing prevented the disaster, but later there seemed to be rumors that the empress was burned to death by letting the fire go.

She comes from a business family?
Zhu Houcong didn't know whether it was originally like this or because he had relaxed the ban on business, so her family went into business.

In fact, this Fang family did come from a wealthy family.

Zhu Houcong took a closer look at her with her head slightly lowered. Thinking that Jiajing had been rescued by her even though she was so imbecile, he nodded and said, "Let's go to the front."

At this point, he had selected all six of them, and Huang Jin and the female officials in the palace arranged for the others to be added to each palace as reserve female officials.

On the cloud platform in front of the Qianqing Palace, six people stood in a row.

Zhu Houcong sat down, looked at Sun Lan first, and then said: "This selection of girls is actually to establish a new queen. This new queen, the Holy Queen Xiaojie has another last wish, hoping that I will make her sister the queen. Xiaolan, you come over."

"……Yes."

The other five people watched Sun Lan slowly step forward and then lowered their heads. They didn't know what they were thinking.

"There are many disputes in the harem. The new queen is young. Most of the other concubines in the palace were in the palace 20 years ago. I am worried that the new queen is young and there are not many people of the same age to accompany her." Zhu Houcong came up and said, "You five Everyone is first concubine. In the past 20 years, there have been very few disputes in my harem. I am very tired of overt and covert fights. I hope you will bear in mind."

"...I thank Your Majesty for your kindness. I will remember it."

"There are many more things to say, I will tell you one by one. Today we will arrange to go to the palace first, and the five of you will go to rest first and choose a day to give the treasure book. Xiaolan, you go back home first and prepare for the wedding ceremony. "

Sun Lan was overjoyed: "Your Majesty, do you have any concubines... too?"

Zhu Houcong smiled: "How can it be such a big event without ceremony?"

"I obey your order and thank you for your kindness..."

Zhu Houcong stood up and looked at the other five people again: "The palace is probably different from what you think. I am diligent in running the government, and everyone in the world knows it. I put aside state affairs and went to the harem to relax my mind. Before you enter the palace , maybe many people have told you something, but when you enter the palace, you all listen to me and the queen. I still have things to do, so I won’t say more to you now. After settling down later, I will go to Zhuzhou first. I would like to pay my respects to the two noble concubines and other concubines. Huang Jin, please make arrangements."

"The servant understands."

Zhu Houcong left first, and Sun Lan returned to the Jing'an Marquis Mansion after receiving a courtesy from them. Huang Jin arranged for the other five to go to the side hall of the palace where they were assigned.

They were all in the courtyard of the two noble concubines and the new concubine, which made them a little nervous and uneasy: Could it be that His Majesty arranged this so that they could help the new queen pay attention to the movements of these most noble concubines who also had princes?
But when Huang Jin faced Lin Qingping, Wen Suyun and others, he just said respectfully: "Your Majesty, your Majesty is busy going to the Heavy Industry Park. I will trouble you to explain and teach you about the rules and principles in the palace." "

"Don't worry, father-in-law." Around the Chinese New Year, Zhu Houcong actually had a heart-to-heart talk with them again.

The situation in the Ming Dynasty has changed. All the princes have made proper arrangements in the future. They are to be the masters of a country and the kings of vassals with solid soil and troops.

In their minds, since there will be no hidden worries in the future due to the dispute between the crown prince, then why should they be worried?

On the contrary, in the past 20 years, they have also learned what the emperor likes and dislikes.

The concubine who caused trouble now seems to be living in a cold palace.

"Sister, sit down, don't be so nervous." Lin Qingping sat there dignifiedly and said to Mrs. Fang, "I don't know my sister's name yet..."

"...back to the imperial concubine, my sister's surname is Fang, and she is from Jiangning, Nanjing."

"Nanjing, that's a great place..."

There were six new people in the harem and a group of female officials who still had hope. Zhu Houcong satisfied the enjoyment he wanted and started working like a social animal again.

Today's discussion in the Heavy Industry Park is aimed at the specific application research and development after the steam engine came out before the Longevity Festival last year.

Currently, the most mature applications provide mechanical force that is not limited to water or wind power in a fixed position.

For example, mines.When mining, the mines are dug deep and water accumulation is a very troublesome problem.Using a steam engine to pump water can solve a lot of troubles.

There are also smelting, forging, and manufacturing, plus the lathe that has been initially developed in accordance with Zhu Houcong's requirements.

In the past, the Huailai Ordnance Park had the hydraulic power of the Sanggan River Reservoir's discharge embankment, and the Heavy Industry Park had the hydraulic power of the Yongding River Reservoir's discharge embankment.Steam engines can provide continuous power in fixed locations, which greatly reduces the constraints on the location of new industrial parks.

However, the power and size of steam engines are currently difficult to fully apply to mobile things.

The previous steam locomotive was usable only because the track from Liangxiang to Jingshi Station was extremely flat and maintenance was never slack.

But if you really want to go over the mountains and ridges, you can't guarantee it now.

There are even more problems encountered on board the ship.

"The Treasure Ship Supervisor has recorded a lot of data over the years." The engineer from the Treasure Ship Supervisor reported, "The main problem is the durability of the paddle wheel. If it is to be compared with the sail, the paddle wheel can only be made of fine iron. This fine iron paddle wheel is originally made of fine iron. It's extremely heavy, and today's steam engines are also extremely heavy. Just one, but I'm afraid it won't be of much use. If you want two or three, plus the coal must be stored on the ship, the ship needs to be bigger. "

"If you want to build it bigger, not to mention that the giant wood is hard to find, but the keel is too big, and the ship cannot withstand the wind and waves. If, as Your Majesty said, the keel is made of steel, then even if the iron armored ship is just a wooden side covered with iron, then the ship will not be able to withstand the wind and waves. It’s too heavy. Even if it works, the draft is extremely deep, so most of them can only be used in the ocean. And if you want to go to the vast ocean, you need to store more coal. In addition, seawater corrodes, how to store coal well so as not to catch fire... …”

Zhu Houcong kept frowning as he listened to his rambling list of technical problems that must be solved now.

It is indeed easy for him to put his upper and lower lips together, but it does not depend on his will.

This armored ship can naturally only be a battleship.

The current warships have begun to break away from the battle mode of joining the side and jumping gangs, and instead engage in artillery bombardment.

The ability of wooden ships to withstand artillery fire is naturally inferior to warships clad with iron or even pure steel.

Because of this, Zhu Houcong felt that other applications of steam engines could be developed slowly, but trains and steam ironclads were probably the most important legacies he could leave to the Ming Dynasty in the rest of his life.

With these two things, internal transportation and governance efficiency, and external force deterrence, we can ensure that we will be at the forefront of the world for at least two to three hundred years.

Thinking of this, Zhu Houcong said: "It doesn't matter if there are many difficulties, just do it one by one. I said that the ironclad ship is not the final pure steel and pure steam engine in one step. Now, the first thing is to go on the right path. The steam engine is not powerful enough, and it is still Supplemented by sails. The outer sides are too heavy to be covered with iron, so only the waterline is covered to prevent water from being blasted by cannonballs. How to prevent moisture and fire when storing coal can also be studied specially. "

After looking around, Zhu Houcong said: "The Academy of Sciences is going to set up two special project teams, steam trains and steam ironclads. Spending more effort now will benefit the future. By connecting these two paths, Ming Dynasty will be a truly great nation from now on." Even though we are different, there is truly hope for world unity.”

Zhu Zaiyan was also called, and he said: "Your Majesty, in the past few months, the new prince has often discussed with me how to improve the steam engine. I have discussed with the doctors from the Polytechnic Institute for a long time, and I have come up with a few ideas. Method. If we want to trial-produce it, we need the Baojin Bureau and the Bingzhan Bureau to trial-produce some more suitable steel and parts."

Zhu Houcong waved his hand without hesitation: "Draw out the drawings, explain the requirements, and let them develop it. Now, I can't guarantee anything else related to these two things, whether it requires money or people, I will support it. That steam Even if there are difficulties with ironclad ships, we must first build experimental ships and then figure out how to improve them on real ones. This is a problem that no one has ever encountered before. Now that you can tell me one, two, three, and four, I am very relieved. !”

The Treasure Ship Supervisor breathed a sigh of relief. The pressure during this period of time was really too great.

Then the emperor immediately put more pressure on them: "I am telling you clearly that if these two things can be successfully created during my lifetime and travel smoothly on sea and land, I will have no regrets in a hundred years, which will be enough to comfort our ancestors and Chinese sages!" This is a great weapon of a great country, and I will fully support it with all my national strength!"

In the heavy industry park, people with the most scientific minds and engineering experience in Ming Dynasty continue to discuss technical difficulties and solutions in depth one by one.

As Zhu Houcong said, with his personal attention now, Ming Dynasty's national power can certainly support the development of these two major projects.

He is also very confident that this does not involve the development of more advanced scientific theories, nor does it allow them to try to study electromagnetic, nuclear weapons, or aircraft.Carriages have been around for a long time, and ships have been around for a long time.Now that there is new power, Ming Dynasty's steel is slowing down, coal mines are being mined, and the Mongolian people in Hetao and Mobei are carrying coal and iron back.All that's left is to improve the existing steam engines so that the already large sail warship can have one or two more chimneys and some parts of the ship's side can be covered with iron.

Without the motivation to apply it, how can we obtain more data and improve it?

Zhu Houcong, with the dignity of the emperor, artificially created demands, exerted pressure, and provided motivation.

His housekeeper Yang Shen looked at the list sent by Xia Yan, Liu Tianhe and others in horror.

"What? So much money will be spent on these two things this year?" He looked at Xia Yan in disbelief, "Is it because Ming's current artillery and muskets are not powerful enough, or is it that Ming's warships are lagging behind again?"

Xia Yan smiled and said: "Mr. Yang, your Majesty has said that this is a valuable weapon for a great country. If you see its success, your Majesty will say that there will be no regrets in a hundred years."

"...The world is harmonious! The world is harmonious!" Yang Shen was stunned. "Three million taels a year, and there is no limit on these two things? After the initial results in regulating the Huanghuai River, didn't the major national policy meeting decide to plan and build the Daming Reservoir? , Is it a national policy to ditch the ditch? It has also been decided to use troops against Japan next year, where will the money come from? "

Yan Song saw this and sighed in his heart: Sure enough, it is right to avoid it and let Yang Shen be the chief assistant first.

Ming Dynasty has just been affluent for a few years, and in the next few years it will really cost money.

He coughed and said: "The year after next, the ten-year treasury bonds sold by Jiajing in 12 years will also mature. But in the past few years, a lot more gold and silver have flowed into the Ming Dynasty from sea trade. I will always assist you. If you are in a dilemma, you might as well cash it in advance and sell another issue. Or you can discuss with President Cui to see if you can mint a new batch of silver coins. The best thing is to make money move. Most of these 300 million taels still have to come from various companies. Purchasing. When it comes to paying taxes, companies are the most practical."

The purpose of establishing state-owned enterprises, besides controlling the economic lifeline, is not to use imperial power and the same bureaucratic structure to let them take the lead in enforcing commercial and tax laws?

From the British Duke Zhang Lun to the later Cheng Guo Gong Zhu Feng, and now the consort Yu Chengye, the companies under the Huangming Assets Bureau have experienced several audits, basically one big one every three years.

Last year, they were the focus of the inspection of industry and commerce.

How Yu Chengye walked out of the imperial study room with a sad face that day, and how many people went to jail with a sad face later on.

Yang Shen frowned: "With so much money... wouldn't it be better to spend it on people's livelihood?"

(End of this chapter)