The Ming Dynasty started with saving the eldest grandson

Chapter 350 The Needs of the Times

After returning home, Chen Jingke recorded the entire incident in detail.

After learning about the incident at Temasek, he has been reflecting on it.

He also has responsibility for this matter, and his biggest responsibility is naturally hiring the wrong people.

It wasn’t because Xu Chailao was recommended, there really were no particularly good candidates at the time.

The real problem is that after recommending Xu Chailao, Cen Xintong was asked to cooperate.

At that time, he thought that both of them understood Nanyang and had a good relationship, so they could cooperate better.

The implementation of new policies will offend many people, but with the Jinyiwei as a tiger skin, those people can be intimidated.

Another part of the reason is due to the movies, TV shows and novels that one has watched in previous lives.

When two leaders have conflicts, they often hold each other back and make simple things complicated.

At that time, he was wondering if the higher-ups would need anyone.
Don't you investigate someone's character before hiring him?

Why put two people who can't pee in the same pot together? Isn't this just looking for trouble?
Later he thought that the screenwriter had deliberately arranged it this way to create conflict and confrontation.

In real-life employment, this situation is unlikely to occur.

However, he forgot one thing: art comes from life.

When two people get along well with each other, when doing practical things, the effect of one plus one being greater than three can indeed be achieved.

However, when it comes to corruption, the effect is that one plus one is greater than one hundred.

This is the case with Xu Chailao and Cen Xintong. Although they did not engage in corruption and exploit the people, they covered up for each other when the other made mistakes.

Turned a small mistake into an irreversible huge mistake.

Just imagine, if the two of them had no relationship, would Cen Xintong hide it for him?
If two people don't get along, they may hinder each other because of internal strife, but as long as they don't turn the table over, things will be accomplished sooner or later.

At most it will just be a little trouble.

After all, they have people above them who are putting pressure on them, so if they want to get promoted or make money, they have to do their job well.

This is called the art of employing people. It is the experience left by our ancestors and you cannot refuse to accept it.

People who have received systematic political education since childhood would most likely not make this kind of mistake.

Unfortunately, Chen Jingke did not receive any relevant education.

At that time, Zhu Yuanzhang and others did not understand this, because he had always been far-sighted and overestimated his abilities.

As a result, this mistake was made accidentally.

As for how to deal with the two people, he has not yet figured it out.

However, he had no intention of shirking responsibility and would certainly not put all the blame on the two of them.

Let’s talk about it after they come back.

It’s not that he is so noble, in fact he is also a vulgar person.

Still a very vulgar person.

In his previous life, whenever he saw an elderly person fall down, he would check whether there were any cameras around before deciding whether to help the person.

When he sees a beautiful woman, he will look at her a few more times and fantasize about it in his mind.

After traveling through time, I became like a saint...

It wasn’t really because the time travel cleansed his soul, but because he had greater pursuits.

Money? Beauty? Food?

Compared to being recorded in history, these are too low-level.

If you are faced with an opportunity to become a saint, will you turn a blind eye to it or seize it?

Now, Chen Jingke really has such an opportunity in front of him, and he chooses to give it a try.

It is precisely because he has greater ambitions that he behaves so restrained.

That's why he holds himself to high standards.

In fact, what he didn't know was that when he subconsciously chose to hold himself to high standards instead of holding others to high standards.

That means at least he's not a bad person.

I checked the notes and corrected a few of the flaws.

These are all his experiences and insights in politics. Whether he leaves them to his children or makes them public depends on how the Ming Dynasty will develop in the end.

Just then, Fuqing came in with a small book box:
"My dear, the Fantasy Journey has been finalized. Can you take a look and see if there are any parts that need to be revised?"

Chen Jingke took the book but did not open it. Instead, he put it aside and said with a smile:

"We have Fuqing, a world-famous novelist now, so there will definitely be no problem."

Fuqing smiled happily: "It's all thanks to you, my dear. I just made it more beautiful, I dare not take credit for it."

Chen Jingke smiled and said, "Husband and wife are one, there is no need to distinguish between you and me."

Fuqing walked behind him, glanced at the notes, and said angrily:

"That Xu Chai is so useless. It's a pity that you trust him so much."

Chen Jingke shook his head and said, "It's just the weakness and compromise of the merchant group. Xu Chai Lao was born in a merchant family, so it's inevitable that he will be infected with this character."

"I hope that after this experience, he can come to his senses."

The concept of bourgeoisie did not exist in this era, so he simply applied it to businessmen.

This is actually extremely inaccurate, but that doesn’t matter.

In an atmosphere that emphasizes agriculture over commerce, the Chinese merchant community really cannot stand up straight.

Fuqing heard the hidden meaning in his words and said in surprise:

"Are you still going to use him?"

Chen Jingke nodded and said, "Use him. If we give up on him, all our previous investment will be lost."

"But this time he won't be in charge of a region. Let him serve as a deputy to others."

There is still a lack of people to make trouble.

Although Temasek did not do well, it allowed him to accumulate a lot of experience in governance and at least he knew how to run a good business.

And this kind of experience is exactly what the court needs.

"The imperial court is about to set up a special zone and needs some talents who understand business and economics. Let him give it a try."

Although Fuqing was very worried, he still did not object, but said:

"Well, let him serve as someone else's assistant first and see if he has learned his lesson."

"If he really grows up, it will be worth your cultivation of him."

"But you must observe carefully and don't let him fool you a second time."

Chen Jingke nodded and said, "This time, the officials of the Special Zone will be appointed by His Majesty himself, and no one will protect him."

After that, the two chatted about other things for a while.

Naturally, they also talked about Zhu Chong. Fuqing sighed a lot. It is easy to change the country but difficult to change one's nature. This second brother might not be able to change his bloodthirsty nature.

In fact, Chen Jingke was also shocked by Zhu Chong's massacre of 90,000 people at one time.

Then I felt deeply grateful that I had gotten him to Asia Minor, otherwise I don’t know how much trouble he would have caused.

As for whether he would start a massacre when he went there...

Chen Jingke said that was not his business and he only needed to be responsible to the Chinese people.

After that they talked about other things, and the topic unknowingly turned to Zhu Su.

"Fifth brother has been busy lately, organizing people to conduct experiments and compiling medical books. I heard that he is also planning to open a medical school..."

"Speaking of which, he nags you a lot."

Chen Jingke smiled and said, "Why are you nagging me? I haven't offended him."

Fuqing said, "As for the Compendium of Materia Medica, that is your hard work, he dare not not pay attention to it." Chen Jingke felt no guilt at all and laughed, "Haha... Master, if you have something to do, I will do the work for you."

At this point, he was moved and said, "The medical school has been delayed for so long and has not yet opened. It shows that he really can't spare the time."

"How about you go and give him a hand?"

"Me?" Fuqing waved his hands and said, "No, no, I don't know any medical skills, how can I help him?"

Chen Jingke said seriously: "Teaching students requires medical skills, but managing a medical school does not. You only need to be responsible for administrative management."

Fuqing still disagreed. Besides not knowing medical skills, she had another concern:
"It's not appropriate for a woman to show her face in public. People will gossip about her."

Chen Jingke decided to teach her a lesson.

"Women's status is not inherently low, and the requirements of etiquette and law for women are not immutable."

Is this a lesson for me?

Fuqing was very happy.

She had attended several lectures before she got married, but she had never attended one after she got married.

I still miss it very much.

"Based on our research on the social forms of the surrounding barbarian tribes, we have also made some inferences about the evolution of Chinese social forms."

"In ancient times, our ancestors lived a life of men hunting and women gathering."

"Because of low productivity and backward production tools, the food obtained from hunting is unstable and we often return empty-handed."

"The food obtained by gathering is more stable, so the status of women is relatively high... We call it a matriarchal society."

"Even now, many primitive tribes around Daming still respect women as superiors."

Fuqing asked, "What happened next? Why did women's status become lower?"

Chen Jingke replied: "Later, agriculture and animal husbandry emerged, and productivity gradually increased."

"Men's physical advantages were brought into play and they became the main force in production, so the status of both parties began to change."

"Moreover, in times of war, men are also the main force in war, using their lives to protect the fruits of their labor."

"But even at this time, women still have a very high status."

"When men go out to fight, the responsibility of farming falls on the shoulders of women."

"Because of the sharp decline in population caused by the war, the country needs a large number of newborns to replenish the population."

"That's why there are rules about how old women must be to get married, and sometimes even rules that say widows must remarry."

"So, it was normal for women to work in public and remarry at that time, and this continued until the Tang Dynasty."

Fuqing said thoughtfully: "During the Song Dynasty, due to the rise of Neo-Confucianism, the status of women was lowered again, right?"

Chen Jingke shook his head and said, "It is not that Neo-Confucianism lowered the status of women, it is the result of the lowering of women's status."

Fuqing was very puzzled. Why was that?
Chen Jingke explained: "The social status of men and women depends on the role they play in production activities."

"Before the Song Dynasty, either the population was sparse due to the turbulent times, or the country was strong and had a vast territory."

"For example, the Tang Dynasty had both. Its population was only over 50 million at its peak, but its territory was very vast."

"On average, the land is vast and the population is sparse, so there is still a shortage of people overall."

"In short, the country is short of people so it encourages women to marry early and remarry."

"Because of the shortage of manpower, women also need to participate in production activities and are an important labor force."

"So, although women's status was not as good as men's at that time, it was not particularly low."

"What do you think about the situation in the Song Dynasty?"

"The most powerful Northern Song Dynasty only occupied the Central Plains and Jiangnan, and its population reached 120 million during its peak period."

"The Southern Song Dynasty was even more isolated and had a population of over 80 million at its peak."

"So, the last thing the Song Dynasty lacked was people. What they were worried about was that there were too many people to feed."

"Under such circumstances, the whole social ethos changes."

"The marriage age for women was relaxed. At that time, women were married at the age of 16, and many married at the age of 17 or 18."

"It became something that people looked down upon when a widow remarried."

"Although the imperial court did not explicitly prohibit widows from remarrying, it encouraged widows to remain widows and even erected chastity arches for them."

"It is actually a disguised way of encouraging women to remain widows."

"Also, countries with large populations have no shortage of labor, so the space for women to participate in production activities is compressed."

"If you don't participate in production activities and become a man's dependent, how can you have any social status?"

"So, during the Song Dynasty, the status of women plummeted."

"You know, in the early years of the Northern Song Dynasty, widows could become queens, but soon they were not even allowed to remarry."

"The changes are so great that it is really shocking."

The widow he was referring to was Empress Zhangxianmingsusu Liu E, who was first married to Gong Mei.

Gong Mei sold her because he had no money. After she was passed around several times, she was taken into the harem by Zhao Heng and eventually became the queen.

Although many ministers opposed the matter of conferring the title of queen.

But in the end, she still became the queen, and even took power after Zhenzong's death. She was only a name away from being Wu Zetian.

It is precisely because she did not take the last step, and because of her outstanding political achievements, that people praise her as the female Yao and Shun.

Her reputation is as different as that of Wu Zetian.

At least during the reign of Liu E, the status of women had not yet declined to the point of being demonized.

After that, I couldn’t raise it anymore.

Fuqing, who was standing by, felt extremely heavy-hearted when she heard this. As a woman, she could relate to the situation and naturally felt very uncomfortable and aggrieved.

However, although she was intelligent, she did not have the courage to break away from the secular world.

So I just felt uncomfortable, but didn't realize any profound truth.

Chen Jingke was not disappointed about this. If she could really realize something, it might not be a good thing for him as her husband.

Everyone has selfish desires, and he is one too.

Although he didn't mind letting Fuqing go out to work, he still didn't want to lose his position as the head of the family.

He paused for a while, waiting for Fuqing to digest what he said, before continuing:

"After the destruction of the Yuan Dynasty and the bloodshed at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, the population of the Ming Dynasty is only 70 million."

"But the territory of the Ming Dynasty was several times that of the Northern Song Dynasty, and the implementation of the overseas feudal system also allowed the territory of the Ming Dynasty to expand several times in disguise."

"Seventy million people may seem like a lot, but when spread over such a vast area, it still seems too sparse."

"For the next hundred years, how to increase the population will be the court's top priority."

"In fact, the wind direction of the court has begun to change."

"Although the court has not explicitly required widows to remarry, think carefully. Your Majesty has never erected a chastity arch since he ascended the throne."

"And with the development of productivity, more jobs suitable for women have emerged one after another."

"For example, weaving, or looking after a shop..."

"To run a shop, women are required to be literate and know arithmetic, so it is bound to be a major trend for women to study in the future."

"Also, with the advancement of medicine, more subjects will be subdivided, and there will inevitably be independent obstetrics and gynecology departments in the future."

"Many women with private illnesses are too embarrassed to tell their male doctors, which has led to countless tragedies."

"In the future, there will surely be a large number of women studying medicine."

"This is the need of the times and cannot be changed by a certain doctrine."

(End of this chapter)