Volume 4: Hot! The whole world is a warring state Chapter 745 Commonalities of Local Officials
Unlike Wanli who deliberately started a dispute over the foundation of the country in order to regain the personnel, financial, and military power that was eroded or even controlled by the civil officials, Zhu Youdong now firmly grasped all the power and did not need a fierce struggle among the civil officials. Therefore, when the dispute over the foundation of the country in the Tianqi Dynasty just showed signs, he made a prompt decision and quickly decided on the candidate for the crown prince.
On May 12, 1643, the 25th year of the Tianqi reign, the emperor officially issued an edict, clearly naming the eldest son Zhu Ciyi as the crown prince, the second son Zhu Ciyan as the king of Song, and the third son Zhu Ciyan as the king of Ding, and the third son Zhu Ciyan as the king of Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay and Chile in South America.
Of course, although the status of the three brothers as monarch and minister has been determined since then. But on the one hand, South America was roughly settled at this time, and the Ming Dynasty could not immediately send the two princes there to take up the throne - this would be too ugly and would disgust the newly born Inca Kingdom and the vast Indians in South America. Therefore, the two brothers Zhu Ciyan still stayed in Beijing. On the other hand, everyone's psychology is not so easy to control. Zhu Youdong never thought that he could make all the ministers support Zhu Ciyi wholeheartedly with just one word from him. Therefore, the open and secret struggles below may not be completely stopped.
However, no matter what, the status between the princes has been determined. If anyone dares to make trouble again, the emperor will definitely not show mercy. Besides, the royal family policy of the Ming Dynasty is completely different from before. Those who fail to compete for the throne will no longer be kept as pigs in their own fiefdoms, but will still be the king of a country. In such a situation, even the person involved will find it difficult to muster the courage to burn his boats and take risks.
In short, although Zhu Youdong established the crown prince, as long as the two princes did not take the throne, or the crown prince did not succeed to the throne, there would be fighting. But at least it could be controlled within a certain range and would not cause too much harm to the country.
After doing all this, he called Zhu Youxiao back from Tianjin Port: "I am going to tour the northwest, Ciyi has just been conferred the title of Crown Prince and still needs to study. Youxiao, please serve as regent for me once more. I promise, this is the last time."
As for why he had to go on a tour of the northwest, it was of course because with the development of Ming technology, coal, saltpeter, cotton and even oil in the northwestern provinces had become indispensable for the development of Ming industry. In recent years, the drought in the northwest has become more severe. What is the situation there? As an emperor who holds the power alone, he cannot just listen to the reports of his subordinates. Sometimes, he must go there in person and take a look.
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Just when Zhu Youdong decided on the crown prince and asked the Imperial Household Department to prepare for his tour, June 1643, Lanzhou, Gansu.
In the early summer in the northwest, the already dry air is even hotter. In the production workshop of Lanzhou Steel Plant, the temperature is much higher than outside. As a result, most of the workers working here are shirtless.
"Attention, attention." A human voice was clearly heard from the loudspeaker above the steel plant after two hisses: "Molten steel is out of the furnace. All the masters in the yellow zone, please pay attention to safety."
Following this reminder, a huge crucible was slowly transported to the designated location by a crane. Then, with the operation from a distance, it slowly tilted, and the red molten steel flowed into the guide groove, and under the guidance of the guide groove, it quickly flowed into the mold.
After the molten steel was poured out, the workers who had been waiting nearby came forward in an orderly manner and started their new work.
In the midst of all this orderly, busy, yet dangerous work, on the suspended ladder above the steel plant building, a group of middle and low-level officials in purple official uniforms surrounded a senior official in red official uniform and watched the entire process.
"Good, good. With the support of electricity, the production efficiency of my Lanzhou Steel Plant has been greatly improved. Hey, I come here often. Before there was no electricity, such a large crucible had to be lifted by a steam engine. The speed was slow, the control was difficult, and it was also very dangerous!"
"Mr. Fang is right. However, in addition to the use of electricity to improve factory efficiency, this progress in materials science has also further promoted the production of the steel plant. Mr. Fang, please see that the cable that suspends the crucible can not only withstand a weight of 25 tons, but also maintain stable properties at temperatures below one thousand degrees. The new crucible can withstand a high temperature of three thousand degrees, so as to ensure that the molten iron can be heated to the boiling point..."
"Yes, that's why the emperor said that technology can be developed independently at the beginning, but the more it progresses, the more cooperation from various industries is needed. Director Liu, there should be no problem with this year's rail production task, right?"
"Don't worry, Lord Fang. As long as pig iron, coal, and electricity can keep up, the production task issued by the court this year, 3,000 kilometers of standard steel rails, can definitely be completed on schedule."
"That's good. The Western bandits have cut off the maritime trade between our Ming Dynasty and India. All the silk, porcelain and tea have to be transported to the Western Regions via the Lanzhou-Xinjiang Railway. Even spices from Southeast Asia have to be transported to the northwest first, and then shipped to Europe... The Lanzhou-Xinjiang Railway has long been overloaded. Therefore, it is imperative to build a double track. Director Liu, do you have any other difficulties in your factory? I and my colleagues from the Governor's Office are here, and we will do everything we can for you."
"There's nothing else. After all, Lord Fang has ordered Lanzhou City to cut off power and use all the electricity to ensure the operation of the steel plant. It's just that the coal... Lord Fang, I have coal in Gansu, but the output is generally small and the coal quality is relatively poor. In order to ensure the quality of molten steel, we have to pick and choose each batch of coal after it enters the factory... Lord Fang, this production task is so heavy that the factory has to allocate a lot of manpower to do this... I was thinking, should Lord Fang come forward and coordinate with the Shanxi Provincial Government or the Mongolian Autonomous Region for us? The coal there is large in quantity and high in quality."
"Haha." There is a tradition in the Ming Dynasty officialdom: unless it is absolutely necessary, officials should not be addressed by their current positions. For example, the Minister of Personnel should not be called Shangshu, but "Dazhongzai" - this way of addressing officials of the current dynasty by ancient official titles is both elegant and a custom in the Ming Dynasty officialdom.
As for the title of Fangbo, its original meaning is of course a local lord. But in fact, in the Ming Dynasty, it refers to the governor: although starting from the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the governor and governor-general were often the highest officials in a province. But those two were sent by the central government, and their so-called organizational relations were in the Ministry of Personnel. The highest official in the province was still the governor.
This governor of Gansu, whose surname is He and whose name is Tengjiao, is also a celebrity in history.
Of course, in this era, the situation of the Ming Dynasty had been completely reversed by Zhu Youdong. He Tengjiao no longer had to pretend to be friendly with the remnants of the Dashun Army as he did in the original historical plane, let alone die a heroic death for his country.
He was appointed as the governor of Gansu in the 23rd year of the reign of Emperor Tianqi. After taking office, he keenly discovered that God had not given face to the northerners in recent years. Gansu had been suffering from drought for many years. Agriculture and animal husbandry close to the Yellow River were struggling to survive, and the primary industries in other places were almost ruined.
Fortunately, there is a large steel plant in Lanzhou that is directly under the jurisdiction of the Daming Heavy Industry Department. Thanks to the Daming's crazy railway construction in recent years, the steel rails produced by the Lanzhou Steel Plant have always been in short supply. The number of employees in the entire steel plant reached more than 30,000 in the 23rd year of Tianqi.
These 30,000 people, along with their families and children, formed a large factory area with a population of about 150,000. And the various small vendors, schools, hospitals, financial institutions, entertainment facilities, etc., which depended on the factory area, plus the families of these people, totaled about 200,000 people - the urban area of Lanzhou at that time had a total of only about 200,000 people!
In addition to directly supporting more than 200,000 people in Lanzhou, this steel mill also indirectly supported several small coal mines and small iron mines in Gansu. It was also because of this steel mill that the imperial court invested in building a thermal power plant in Lanzhou. Then this thermal power plant supported more coal mines and more people... In short, a steel mill drove the livelihoods of nearly 500,000 people - and at that time, as a new province, the registered population of Gansu was just over 3 million.
The smooth operation of a factory affects the livelihood of one sixth of the population of a province. As a provincial governor, it is not too important to attach great importance to it.
So after He Tengjiao was promoted from the position of councilor of Guizhou Provincial Government to here, this official who was promoted because of his good agricultural development in Guizhou, within two years, he quickly and thoroughly changed his mindset: agriculture and animal husbandry can provide too few jobs and support too few people. Industry, industry is the key to ensure that Gansu can get better and better!
Spain cut off the maritime trade between East Asia and India, which was a big blow to the merchants in the southeast of Ming Dynasty. But on the other hand, the Northwest had a chance to revive again since the Tang Dynasty. With industry as the basis and commerce as the development basis, as long as everything is done properly, Gansu, a province formed on the basis of the Hexi Corridor, will be completely prosperous in the next ten years!
With this understanding, it is no wonder that He Tengjiao goes to Lanzhou Steel Plant every now and then.
Of course, if we look at it from the perspective of future generations. Lanzhou Steel Plant is a state-owned enterprise and a central enterprise. While it has made due contributions to the country's industry, it also has some inherent problems. In this regard, He Tengjiao gave great support to the steel plant: the governor took the lead, and all officials in the entire Gansu Provincial Government were not allowed to arrange their relatives and children into the steel plant. Those who have already been arranged in must withdraw within a time limit. The director of the steel plant has the right to regularly attend the regular meetings of the Provincial Government. At the meeting, all problems raised by the steel plant will be dealt with immediately if possible. Even if they cannot be dealt with, they will try their best to find a solution...
However, when Director Liu said that he did not want local coal in Gansu and wanted to transfer coal from other provinces, He Tengjiao, the governor of Gansu, was not happy.
"Haha." He Fangbo, who was amiable just now, gave a dry laugh, but his face turned a little cold: "Director Liu, is the coal in Gansu so bad?"
Seeing the expression of this senior official, and hearing the voice of Director Liu, who sounded like a completely different person, how could he not realize that he had touched He Fangbo's reverse scale? However, the coal sent by those small coal mines in Longzhong and Hexi was really not good.
"Mr. Fang, there are too many impurities in the coal. Using it directly as fuel will seriously affect the quality of the rails, so we must further process the coal that comes to the factory. But washing and picking up coal every day is too labor-intensive. This year, as the amount of rails required by the court is increasing, the factory has to temporarily recruit 3,000 people to further refine the coal in order to ensure both production and quality. Mr. Fang, my steel plant originally had only 30,000 employees. If it suddenly increases by 10%, the factory's profits will be too thin. At that time, the workers in the factory will feel that they are working longer and longer overtime, but their salaries have not increased much. In the long run, the workers will be in a bad mood. How can we ensure production and quality?"
"Hmph~ Lanzhou Steel Plant is a steel plant directly under the Ministry of Heavy Industry of the Ming Dynasty. We must consider issues from the perspective of the people's livelihood of the entire Ming Dynasty. Director Liu, you have also seen that this Little Ice Age climate does not show any sign of ending in the short term. The agriculture and animal husbandry of Gansu are basically in ruins. There are so many unemployed people. Wouldn't it be good for the steel plant to take this opportunity to take care of them more? I am the parent official of Gansu. I am not only the parent of your steel plant, but also the parent of the three million people of Gansu!"
The two men parted on bad terms. He Tengjiao and the officials from the Provincial Government left without even eating, leaving Director Liu, who was worried, back at the factory to convene a directors' office meeting.
