Datang Nongsheng

Chapter 360 The Mine Problem
Sun Xiangfu was once again impressed by the virtues of a famous city through the ages. It is no wonder that in history, Li Shimin would give Xiao Yu a poem "The strong wind knows the grass, the tough minister knows the honest minister, the brave man knows the righteousness, and the wise man must be kind" to Xiao Yu. He is really a wise man who has both benevolence and morality and is loyal to the country.

Of course, the purpose of Xiao Yu's doing this is not only to take the blame for the new imperial examination system, but also to take advantage of the situation to retreat again, so that more of Li Shimin's hardcore can have the opportunity to take the position, or to give Li Shimin a chance to adjust personnel. A kind of political tacit understanding among them, according to records, this is the master who has passed away for six degrees.

We still need to continue talking about the business. After understanding Xiao Yu's thoughts, Sun Xiangfu said again, "In this way, in the name of Prime Minister Xiao, the lower officials will announce the entire imperial examination system in advance, so that candidates from all over the country can follow the system as soon as possible. Get ready for the exam."

"Well, everything is implemented according to your ideas. It's best to design the test questions as well. I'm not as good as you in this relatively new strategy, so I just need to be responsible for the execution."

Xiao Yu had already fully recognized Sun Xiangfu's talent. If he used the style of other ministers, he would definitely not be as arrogant as him. They would consider the reactions of all parties, and choose some compromises or A balanced approach, but Xiao Yu, who has been ups and downs for a few times, is not afraid, and it is his usual style to do it thoroughly.

In history, he has always been a pioneer on the issue of reform. Even Fang Xuanling and Du Ruhui couldn't persuade him, and some contradictions have arisen. This can be regarded as one of his characteristics!As long as he believes that it is a good thing, he will resolutely implement it, regardless of the impact on his own fame and fortune. This is also one of the reasons why Li Shimin likes to use him.

"If that's the case, please ask Prime Minister Xiao to ask all departments of the imperial court to report the number of manpower, majors, and special requirements that are lacking as soon as possible. In this way, we can select talents according to the lack of talents in each department. It’s different, let’s just limit the equipment to a standard, and let the candidates who have obtained the diploma choose their own internship location, so we can have a reasonable explanation to the outside world.”

To make the imperial examination into a job fair for the society based on the positions of various ministries of the imperial court is Sun Xiangfu’s goal. As long as it is carried out well, it will be like the phenomenon of being dragged down by redundant officials in the Song and Ming dynasties. It shouldn't have appeared.

If there is a shortage of people, they will recruit whatever they want. Everyone is like this. It is reasonable and no one else can find fault.

Once this kind of system is formed, it will be normal for scientific examinations not to be held when the number of officials is full and there are no vacancies in the future.

Don't let everyone put their hope of getting promoted on the imperial examination, then the channels for getting ahead in other aspects will become more important, so that a hundred flowers will bloom in the workplace.

After the implementation of this system, the imperial court only supports a small number of interns, and only pays for their basic necessities, food, housing, and transportation. In fact, the treatment is similar to that of an ordinary worker. Even if there are more than a thousand scholars in one session, the cost is so low that it can be ignored. .

Afterwards, interns who want to become officials first need to be recognized by the leaders of various departments, and local officials also need to be recognized by the local people. Then, when most officials take office, they already have a certain ability to work and a mass base. , This will make all the functional departments of the imperial court run more efficiently.

In order to maintain the foundation of the masses, local officials do not dare to wantonly corrupt the law and oppress the people. If the management of officials is done like this, there will basically be no problems in the general direction.

Sun Xiangfu still has to ponder over the exam questions slowly. To meet the demand of various professionals, he needs to set different levels of difficulty.

Like liberal arts officials, there is definitely a shortage in the imperial court, but there will be a lot of people applying for the exam. If the questions are set to be more difficult, most people will be excluded. Just like the Xiucai subject, which was popular at the beginning of the scientific examination in the Tang Dynasty, but was later abolished, the winning rate was too low, and naturally no one took the test after a long time.

There is nothing wrong in the nature of people chasing profit. As long as the policymakers guide them well, the problems can basically be solved.

After talking about the imperial examination, Sun Xiangfu and Ma Zhou talked about the Weinan New City. He didn't go to the scene to see it. Sun Xiangfu didn't know the specific progress of the entire new city. Of course, he was not the person in charge of Weinan New City. It's not his turn to take care of the matter. He just negotiates with Ma Zhou on some requirements according to the imperial court's enlistment task.

"Governor Ma, I won't ask about the overall progress of the new city. Now, tell me when the smelter can start production at the soonest. Only the Weinan Smelter can quickly meet the weapons and equipment for an army of more than 20 troops. gone."

"If more skilled workers from Xingfu Village can be sent over, the smelter can start production before the Spring Festival. However, our factory is so big that we may not be able to supply all kinds of metal ores by then." Ma Zhou said Difficult way.

The Great Smelting Workshop in Weinan New City has been named Datang Smelter after the completion of the main building. It is the first project to start construction in Weinan New City. It has lasted for more than half a year from the beginning of construction to the present. The basic production workshop houses All of them have been built, and the production line in the workshop needs to be explored and built slowly. In fact, most of the facilities and production lines in the smelting workshop in Xingfu Village are enlarged and increased. It is just because there are too few skilled workers. As far as building a house is concerned, the progress is much slower.

Sun Xiangfu knew that no matter how large the smelter was built, in the first two years, only one or two production lines would be used, because craftsmen needed time to train, and with the cultural level and learning ability of people in this period, it is possible to cultivate a steel factory. The production workers of the factory may need to spend double the time in future generations.

Therefore, there is no need to be in a hurry. Simply speaking, in terms of social needs, it is not as big as the later generations. Being able to make things twice as fast as before is enough to make the world tremble.

"Governor Ma, the matter of the mines can be resolved by publishing a message in the newspaper. You say that the imperial court wants to sell the minerals in the territory to the outside world, no matter gold, silver, copper, iron, aristocratic families with certain mining capabilities, or prefectures and counties. Collectives, even collectives organized by the people spontaneously, can come to bargain. In addition to using the mined ore to offset the mining rights, they can also directly buy minerals and mine them by themselves. However, the sold minerals need to be reported to the court Sign some supply agreements."

As soon as Sun Xiangfu said this, Ma Zhou suddenly had the feeling that he had seen Shanyang's investment promotion plan, and hurriedly asked, "Sun Dudu, this mineral is the resource of the imperial court, the state's public property, and it will be sold to private individuals. Would it be wrong?"

"How can it be wrong! Those things are left on the shelf, and they are sold to the people for mining. Needless to say, the court will have them immediately, and they can also earn a large amount of income. The governor has His Majesty's requisition order. The minerals that go out should be regarded as one of the items that the governor confiscated from the imperial court!"

Li Shimin gave Sun Xiangfu the privilege of expropriation, which he used for the first time on the royal property.The second time it was used on court resources. So far, there is no intention of extending a hand to the people, but it made Du Ruhui anxious for a long time.

Then, Sun Xiangfu talked about his own suggestions on the specific operation of the mining project, and Ma Zhou and Xiao Yu's faces were filled with joy.

Due to the technical reasons of this period, mineral mining was a very time-consuming and labor-intensive project, which was generally controlled by the government or powerful families. It did not play a role in enriching the people. On the contrary, it would harm many ordinary people because of the lack of mining labor from the government or the aristocratic families.

The imperial court now needs tens of millions of ordnance, most of which are steel, so the demand on mines is bound to increase sharply. Sun Xiangfu put the entry point on mines, not only to solve the army's ordnance problem, but also to use this Opportunities, formulate rules for the mining industry, and turn it into a resource industry that can bring benefits to the people.

First of all, Sun Xiangfu set some conditions for buying the imperial court’s minerals. Buyers can buy minerals, just like those aristocratic families participating in the auction in the Northland. To acquire land, you have to prove that you have the strength to develop the field. Have a certain mining capacity.

Then, the imperial court only accepted the mined ore to offset most of the cost of purchasing minerals, signed a stable ore supply agreement with the imperial court, or directly sold the mined minerals to the smelter.

In this way, without having to do anything, the imperial court can revitalize many mines that have been detected but cannot be mined, allowing them to continuously send ore to the smelter.

Moreover, Sun Xiangfu has a very wide range of audiences. For example, if a county or a state has mineral resources, then the county government or the state government can come forward, or even the local people can organize themselves to sign an agreement with the court, and then In mining, [-]% of the output is used to offset the cost of buying mines from the imperial court, and the other [-]% can be sold into money to distribute benefits to all workers who participate in mining.

This will allow some people in areas with mineral resources to increase their income in addition to farm output. After all, apart from busy farming hours, ordinary people still have a lot of spare time to work, especially now that food prices are cheap. When people go to mines to sell more money than they get from farming, many people will choose to mine and give up farming. This is also a kind of adjustment to the market.

I believe that the children of the aristocratic family must be very interested in this kind of high-quality industry that can be passed down from generation to generation. Look at the Wei family, who just bought a few coal mines in Guanzhong. How rich is it now?
You know, iron is a valuable item that is not worrying about selling, and it is more valuable than coal. Does that family not want this kind of industry?
If you want it, you can, come and fight for it, Sun Xiangfu is worrying about the lack of military expenses!Selling a few mines, getting all the military expenditures out, and then robbing other countries of several times the number of mines back, this business should not be too cost-effective.

Moreover, the abundance of metal minerals will greatly promote the development of this country. These are some invisible benefits.

"I would like to ask more, do all the workers involved in the mining project have to sign a labor agreement like Shanyang did?"

"Governor Ma is really smart and understands everything. In order to let the people who devote themselves to the mineral mining business enjoy the fruits of their labor, all families or organizations that purchase or sign mining agreements with the imperial court should cooperate with the hired workers. , or other forms of labor, sign an agreement to protect their interests and at the same time facilitate the imperial court's management of the entire industry."

"Sun Dudu's talent is unmatched. If this is the case, we have to conduct a comprehensive investigation of the country's mineral resources. This requires Prime Minister Xiao to issue a decree to the local officials as soon as possible. The lower officials think that the sale of mineral resources is also a problem. An auction can be held like Shanyang, not to mention other places, places like Guanzhong and Luoyang that can reach Chang’an quickly, need to be set up first, so that the ore can be transported to the smelter as soon as possible.”

After deciding how to do it, with Ma Zhou's talent, there is no need for Sun Xiangfu to explain more. Sun Xiangfu agreed with his follow-up plan, nodded and said, "Yes, it will be put into operation as soon as possible, preferably before the end of the year. , has been shipped to the smelter in advance.”

"Your official understands, but other than that, other industries in Weinan New City will not start operating until next year, so there will be very limited help for the governor's other tasks of enlisting and dispatching. Please think more about it It’s better to figure it out on your own.”

The various industries in Xingfu Village will indeed be able to start production next year, but after the new year, it will soon enter the busy period of spring plowing and farming, and the people will need to go back to work in the fields for a period of time. Before the summer grain is harvested, there is really not much time to do it. Armament matters.

However, now Sun Xiangfu has solved most of the problems of weapons, clothing, and food, and the rest is not so difficult to complete.

After bidding farewell to the two of them, Sun Xiangfu didn't go home directly, but went straight to the Ministry of War before it was dark. Before he saw the information about the war preparation materials collected by the Ministry of War in the past, he really felt a bit blindsided.

　It’s the last few days of this month. Dazhang asks for recommendations, monthly tickets, and those who have tickets will be wasted if they don’t vote. Everyone must remember to click.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)