Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 194 Shaofu Temple

The raid was unsuccessful, and Zhu Youjian's expression did not change.

The longer he is emperor, the thicker his skin becomes. The failure of this kind of raid was no longer enough to embarrass him.

The hope that the Wensi Academy would be included in the inner court was not great, and Zhu Youjian himself did not hold out much hope. I just want to use this attitude to show how much I value the Academy of Arts and Sciences——

He wanted the craftsmen to know that the emperor valued them and wanted to reuse them. It was just that he was blocked by civil servants and could not be promoted in important ways.

After this attitude was revealed, the craftsman didn't say what he was thinking, but the civil servant was very worried.

The existence of Chuanfeng officials has always been deeply hated by civil servants. Whenever a new emperor ascends to power, there will definitely be civil servants who advise the emperor to dismiss Chuanfeng officials.

Now the new emperor not only did not abolish the craftsmen of Wensi Academy, but also expressed his respect for Wensi Academy. In their opinion, this is a very bad sign. Maybe he will be like Emperor Chenghua who appointed ministers on a large scale.

Out of the mentality of guarding against possible dangers, the ministers all remonstrated and asked the emperor to remove the rogue officials from the Academy of Literature and Thought.

Of course Zhu Youjian disagreed. At this time, Yuan Keli said:

"His Majesty said before that he would not use the Central Order to issue edicts."

"It is said that the appointment of Fengfeng officials comes from the central decree. Your Majesty should bear this in mind."

This promise did exist, and Zhu Youjian used it in exchange for the martial law system. If he wanted to appoint catechists, he would obviously be breaking his promise.

Of course, Zhu Youjian will not do anything that damages political credibility. There are not so many talents among the Chuanfeng officials who are worthy of Zhu Youjian's doing this.

Thinking of appointing science and engineering talents and giving special gifts to academicians, Zhu Youjian immediately said:

"Of course I will not use the imperial edict to appoint ministers."

"But although the craftsmen and officials of Wensi Academy are miscellaneous people, they are also officials."

"According to the Mokan Law, officials who are not Jinshi officials move every six years."

"These people have been ninth-grade officials for a long time and should be promoted according to the Mokan method."

Hearing what the emperor said, the ministers almost collapsed.

More than 3,000 ninth-grade craftsmen and officers were all promoted according to the grinding and surveying method, which was a big shock to the civil servants whose total number was less than 10,000.

Yuan Keli had previously worried that there were too many low-grade officials and that promotion according to the Mokan method would bring great changes to the officialdom, so he was unwilling to set up eighth- and ninth-grade officials in urban government offices.

Now the emperor wants to promote even the craftsmen of the Wensi Academy according to the grinding method, which he cannot accept even more, saying:
"How to arrange these craftsmen and officials, please leave it to your Majesty to decide."

Take the initiative to ask the emperor to decide this matter, and stop asking for high prices.

More than 3,000 craftsmen and officials were promoted according to the grinding and surveying method, and their salaries alone were worth hundreds of thousands of dan. The emperor, who was worried about Jiubian's unpaid wages, could not really want to do this.

The reason for raising this point is just to ask for a high price.

Yuan Keli saw this and knew that the emperor would not give up until he achieved his goal, so he gave the decision-making power on this matter directly to the emperor.

The ministers also thought about it one after another at this time, and some continued to ask the emperor to abolish the officials of the Academy of Wensi and make him a wise king according to their ideas. Some, like Yuan Keli, asked the emperor for a decision.

Because the grinding survey law has been passed by the ministers, it cannot be changed easily. If the emperor really designated the craftsmen as officials with mixed backgrounds and transferred them according to the Mokan method, they would have no reason to stop them. In this way, civil servants will face competition from three thousand craftsmen, and many official positions will be lost.

It can be said that Zhu Youjian created conditions out of thin air to exchange with his ministers by asking for high prices.

This was really helpless for Zhu Youjian, because he had not paid attention to the ministerial officials before and blocked the way to appoint the ministerial officers. Without creating new conditions, how could he get the ministers to agree to his adjustments to the Academy of Literature and Thinking?

Therefore, after a dispute, Zhu Youjian obtained the right to dispose of the Wensi Academy and decided:

"In the previous dynasty, there was a Shaofu, who was in charge of the administration of hundreds of craftsmen and skills."

"I intend to establish a Shaofu Temple to take charge of the Wensi Academy, the Weaving and Dyeing Institute, the Miscellaneous Manufacturing Bureau, the Firewood Department, etc."

"Let the Shaofu Temple take care of the craftsmen, workshops, factories and mines and other miscellaneous matters."

"The Ministry of Industry is busy with the government affairs and cannot worry about these trivial matters."

Xue Fengxiang, Minister of the Ministry of Industry, heard the emperor's words and his heart skipped a beat, knowing that the emperor's adjustment to the Ministry of Industry had finally come. If he disagrees, he may be dismissed from office on charges of treason.

This made him ignore the civil official position and the criticism of the world, and immediately echoed the emperor:
"What your Majesty said is absolutely true. At the beginning of this dynasty, Taizu had a general department under the Ministry of Industry."

"The establishment of Shaofu Temple now is in line with Taizu's original intention."

Seeing that he was so righteous, Zhu Youjian was very impressed and immediately responded:

"The Shaofu Temple is supervised by the Ministry of Works, and the Temple Minister and Shaoqing are jointly selected by the Ministry of Works and the Ministry of Personnel." "At least one of the positions is held by a craftsman official, and the internal subordinate officials are also given priority by their background as craftsmen officials."

This means that craftsmen officials can serve as Shaofu Temple officials or even Shaofu Temple ministers. The ministers instinctively wanted to object, but they heard Yuan Keli say:
"Your Majesty, you mean to say that an official born as a craftsman cannot be transferred to any other position except the official position of Shaofu Temple?"

"In the future, they will not upgrade their grades according to the grinding method, but will look at the official positions in Shaofu Temple. Will there be any vacancies?"

This is what Zhu Youjian means. First let the civil servants cooperate and promote industrialization. In the future, when great talents appear among the craftsmen and officials, he will naturally give special birth certificates to Yuanshi and let them step out of Shaofu Temple.

Now, let’s set up the base camp of Shaofu Temple for the craftsmen and let them develop there. With the cooperation of civil servants, resources from all aspects were mobilized to improve industrial technology.

At the same time, Zhu Youjian also had another consideration in establishing Shaofu Temple, that is, the government's management methods are not suitable for enterprises, and government-run enterprises will have great flaws.

Classifying workshops, factories and mines into Shaofu allows them to be under the jurisdiction of a relatively independent yamen and use different management systems. Use a model similar to the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission to manage factories, mines and other enterprises.

Naturally, the ministers did not know this consideration. They just expressed that the emperor was wise after he said that he would not appoint craftsmen outside Shaofu Temple.

As long as these three thousand craftsmen and officials do not promote according to the grinding method and do not compete with civilian officials for official positions, there will be no obstacle. After Wensi Yuan was placed under Shaofu Temple, the craftsmen officials were restricted there.

For civil servants, this is a dream come true. If future emperors want to appoint ministers who were originally craftsmen, they can also use this system to limit the ministers to Shaofu Temple.

It can be said that after the establishment of Shaofu Temple, Wensiyuan, an institution that they regarded as a great harm, will no longer become a great harm.

Of course, the ministers welcomed this good thing of passing on the craftsmanship to the official position and eradicating it. They all expressed their approval of the establishment of Shaofu Temple.

In order to prevent them from going back on their word, Zhu Youjian also voted at the court meeting. Let them agree to establish the third-level Yamen Shaofu Temple, and integrate the Wensi Institute, Leather Making Bureau, Saddle and Bridle Bureau, Pigment Bureau, Weaving and Dyeing Institute, Miscellaneous Manufacturing Bureau, Firewood Department, Yizhou Shanchang of the Ministry of Works, and Nanjing Wensi The hospital, weaving and dyeing institute, as well as shipbuilding institutions such as Datongguan Tiju Department, Longjiang Tiju Department, and Qingjiang Tiju Department were all placed under the jurisdiction of Shaofu Temple.

It can be said that among the fragmented institutions under the Ministry of Industry, except for the Baoyuan Bureau, which is placed under the Ministry of Household Affairs and the General Administration of Finance and Law, and the Ordnance Bureau, which is placed under the Ordnance Department of the Ministry of War, there are only a few branches such as the Jieshen Treasury, the Camp Repair Office, and the Bamboo and Wood Bureau. This yamen is still retained, and the others have been assigned to Shaofu Temple.

Regarding these institutions of the Ministry of Industry, Zhu Youjian plans to proceed step by step, first adjusting the fringe institutions such as the Academy of Arts and Sciences, and then moving on to institutions with great interests.

Moreover, the establishment of Shaofu Temple is related to promoting industrial development, which is the most important thing for Zhu Youjian.

In order to increase the importance of Shaofu Temple and show his support for Shaofu Temple, Zhu Youjian officially handed over the city wall construction project to Shaofu Temple. Let the civil servants in the court cooperate with Shaofu Temple:
"Establish a construction research institute in the Institute of Arts and Sciences, mobilize outstanding craftsmen to join, specialize in studying how to build the walled city more effectively, and design relevant templates."

"The Ministry of Industry's Maintenance Station assisted construction and tested these templates."

"This matter is related to the war situation in Liaodong and the future well-field system. It is the first priority after the establishment of Shaofu Temple."

"Future Shaofu Temple officials will be selected from among the meritorious officials of this project."

After confirming this big project, Zhu Youjian specially allocated one hundred thousand taels of silver from the inner government and put it in the Shuntian Bank account as a special fund for the project.

Seeing the emperor's attention, and hearing about the war situation in Liaodong and the well-field system, the ministers expressed their support one after another. Xue Fengxiang even said:

"His Majesty previously told Wei Chen to develop printing technology, and Wei Chen did not dare to neglect it."

"Now that Wensi Academy and Workshop are under the control of Shaofu Temple, I would like to serve as the Minister of Shaofu Temple concurrently and continue to be responsible for this matter."

"I will also fully support the construction of the research institute and let them design a template for the construction of the city wall."

Zhu Youjian nodded in agreement, feeling that with Xue Fengxiang in charge, the Ministry of Industry would be more cooperative, so he immediately agreed to the matter and let Xue Fengxiang concurrently serve as the minister of the Shaofu Temple.

A printing research institute was also established in the Institute of Arts and Sciences to specialize in the study of printing industry technology.

When the ministers saw this scene, they all cursed in their hearts. Just now, I said that I would not let the Ministry of Industry worry about these trivial matters, but now I still let the Ministry of Industry take care of it.

Moreover, Xue Fengxiang was the minister of the Ministry of Industry and the Minister of the Shaofu Temple, which made them feel that he was really flattering and trying to please the emperor.

The Minister of the Ministry of Industry is a second-rank official and one of the nine ministers. Shaofu Temple is just a branch of the Ministry of Works. It can be said to be a subordinate government office.

What does it sound like for a minister to be also the minister of the temple? How could there be such a shameless official?

Xue Fengxiang didn't care about this. After the emperor appointed him to concurrently serve as Shaofu Temple Minister and established a printing research institute, he knew that he had been recognized by the emperor and was extremely happy.

From then on, he was the emperor's confidant and no longer an eunuch.

Zhu Youjian was also very happy about this, feeling that finally a minister came to the throne and attached himself to the emperor.

These people can rely on the eunuchs or Donglin. Why can't we just rely on ourselves as the emperor and cut out the middlemen?

Xue Fengxiang's performance let him know that a minister finally figured this out and began to rely on the emperor.

His position as emperor has been completely secured, and he has become a decisive presence in the court, enough to serve as a backer.

In the future, he will need more people to join him so that the DPRK will be filled with imperialists and centrist officials. Sweep the terms "Eunuch Party" and "Donglin Party" into the trash heap to prevent partisanship from continuing and causing divisions in the court.

(End of this chapter)