Volume 4: Hot! The whole world is a warring state Chapter 751 Daily Life of Princes
"Your subordinates are here to see the governor."
"No need to greet colleagues."
After coming down from Coal Hill and resting for a night, Zhu Youjian finally felt his neck relieved when he went to work at the Censorate the next day.
Sitting in his seat, looking at the censors below, Zhu Youjian cleared his throat and said, "Everyone, at yesterday's State Council meeting, the Emperor passed on very important information to us, which involves the revision of national policy... In view of this, the focus of my work in the Censorate will also be adjusted accordingly in the next few years."
Is this, is this going to be a war? Well, that's true. Who are we? The Ming Dynasty! It would be fine if we didn't get India, but we obviously got it but it was snatched away by the Western bandits. The Western bandits also ran to the Central and Southern Governor's District and plundered it. If we don't fight back, are we still the Ming Dynasty?
"I understand, please give me your instructions, General."
"The focus of our work in the past was to investigate corruption and bribery, especially collusion between officials and businessmen. But now that the national policy of our Ming Dynasty has been adjusted, the focus of our work will shift to the use of various national special funds and military industry. However , we cannot supervise the quality of military products, so we leave it to the military to do it. We mainly supervise the quality of military products.
Specifically, the court will inject a large amount of funds into the military field starting from the second half . The troops need to expand their forces, and the factories need to expand their capacity. Various large quantities of military supplies, such as clothing, canned food, and medicines, must be purchased from the civilian population. So what I mean is that, first, a corresponding working group should be formed to enter and stay in several arsenals, shipyards, pharmaceutical factories, and factories of several major civilian military contractors, and keep a close eye on the financial accounts of these factories. And assist the military representatives sent by the Imperial Horse Administration to spot-check the product quality of these factories.
Secondly, we need to set up several new military service inspection teams. The main responsibilities of these teams are to inspect the conscription situation in various provinces and regions and the formation of new troops. In the past, the treatment of soldiers in our Daming was a little better than that of workers, and even more than that of farmers. Therefore, the number of men who wanted to join the army every year was always much greater than the number of recruits in the army. In order to ensure that they could join the army smoothly, some people often paid money to bribe officials of the Military Service Bureau. Now, Zhang Shize's six major newspapers will soon start the propaganda machine. If the people knew that our Daming was going to fight a big war... well, if they still paid money to bribe the chief of the Military Service Bureau in order to join the army, although I would also beat these officials, I would be very relieved in my heart. But now, I am afraid that someone is paying the local chief officer to beg for exemption from military service! So we have to keep a close eye on this area. Bribers and bribe-takers will all be severely punished!"
"I understand. We will set up a permanent team and an inspection team later. But Chief Justice, if this happens, the manpower of my Censorate will be very tight."
"That can't be helped. If you give in a little, they will give you a few feet or even a few meters. So although the focus of my work has shifted, I can't relax my daily supervision of officials at all levels and in all places. Let's put it this way. I will go to the emperor later to see whether to increase the establishment of our Censorate or get more funds. In this way, either add more people or more money. I can't let the censors of my Censorate work hard but get no benefits at all."
"Thank you, General, for your consideration of me."
"Then let's do this. You guys go and form the various working groups first. When the draft is ready, bring it to me for review. With this, I can go to the emperor to ask for money and people."
"I will obey your orders."
After years of being in the Ming officialdom, Zhu Youjian, who was originally extreme in character and could not think comprehensively, gradually became more mature. At least, when he first entered the officialdom and served as the director of the Audit Office, it really made the officials under him feel frustrated: they worked frantically but did not know how to ask for money from the higher-ups. After a long time, the officials under him were actually full of resentment.
But now, at the age of 33, Zhu Youjian is much more experienced than when he first joined the company in his twenties. He has understood a truth: giving the subordinates a little bit of favors in exchange for their sincere hard work is much better than simply high pressure in the past...
On the other side, Tianjin, Binhai Shipyard.
"Hey, Chief Engineer, where are you? Your trip to Beijing was quite long this time."
Like Zhu Youjian, Zhu Youxiao didn't like being called His Highness when he was in the factory. In his opinion, the title of Chief Engineer sounded much more comfortable than His Highness the King of Lai. And compared to Zhu Youjian who always called himself "Gu", he even called himself more civilian.
"Hey, you know, my brother likes to go on inspection tours all over the country when he has nothing to do. He always arrests me when he goes out, which is so annoying. But now the country has a prince, so I won't be arrested anymore. Here, Zhang Laosan, these are canned Beijing marinated pork. Take two cans back for your wife and children to taste."
"Hey, thank you, Chief Engineer. But even though we are familiar with each other, if you want to enter the factory, please take out your ID and check it."
"Of course. No matter how familiar you are with it, you can't mess up the procedures."
After completing the entire verification process, Zhu Youxiao entered the factory and boarded the factory's exclusive train. After crossing the entire huge factory, he arrived at the family quarters about six or seven miles away from the production dock.
His chief engineer's dormitory is a single-family villa with a sea view. In front of the huge French windows, one can directly face the vast sea - this is a building that Zhu Youdong drew a sketch based on his memory before the time travel, and then Zhu Youxiao personally improved it, and Princess Zhang Yan of Lai supervised it. It is a magnificent building with a 21st century style.
"Where are you coming back from? Have you eaten yet?"
"I had lunch in the car, so I'm not hungry now. But I have a factory meeting tonight, so I'll have dinner early."
"knew."
Princess Zhang Yan of King Lai was 38 years old this year. Thanks to good maintenance and more importantly, she had fewer worries and sorrows in this plane. So at this age, her figure was still very good and she was still extremely beautiful.
"Where's Ran'er?"
"Practicing marksmanship at the range outside."
"Send someone to call him over and talk to him."
In this plane, Zhu Youxiao and Zhang Yan had few children, only one son and one daughter. However, thanks to the advancement of medicine in this plane and the fact that he was not an emperor, he was far away from too many internal conspiracies. Therefore, unlike the six children in this plane who all died young, his two children are now not only alive, but also very healthy.
After a while, the fifteen-year-old Zhu Ciran ran in sweating, walked to the electric fan in the hall and blew for a long time. After drinking the iced sour plum soup brought by the maid, he groaned comfortably: "Oh, I'm finally cool. Father, this electric fan is not very good at cooling. When will the air conditioner that uncle mentioned before, which can keep the temperature of the whole house constant all year round, be developed?"
"My father is a shipbuilder and has only a little knowledge of electricity. How can I know this? However, during my regent period this year, I went to visit the people in Fangshan during the first month of the lunar year and heard about it. They have been able to compress air for cooling. However, the refrigerants are all toxic gases. Once leaked, it will cause serious casualties. Therefore, it cannot be put into practical use until a safe refrigerant is found. All right, come and sit down. Well, I haven't seen you for nearly a year. You have grown taller. How have you been in the past year? How is your study?"
"My studies are still the same. I am ranked second in Binhai Children's Middle School. My sister who always ranks first can't do anything about it. But in terms of physical skills, my sister is far behind me. By the way, father, my son shot 90 out of 10 at the shooting range today."
"Hmm? Not bad."
"Haha, father, how about you help me get into the special forces unit? I'm not bragging, my gun skills are definitely not much worse than Wang Shunwen's!"
"Tsk, Wang Shunwen took the head of the Spanish crown prince in the midst of thousands of troops. He was able to escape unscathed from the search and pursuit of many Spanish soldiers. You? Well, no more small talk, sit down, and please sit down, madam. I have something serious to tell you."
"Yes." Hearing that they were talking about serious matters, the fifteen-year-old prince quickly put away his relaxed expression and said, "Please give me your instructions, father."
Patting his princess's hand, Zhu Youxiao said softly, "After returning to the capital this time, my brother has made up his mind to change the national policy and launch a full-scale military campaign against the Western bandits in three years... In short, from now on, the country's major policies have been changed, and the whole country must prepare for a war."
"Father, what about my son joining the special forces?"
Zhang Yan glanced at her eldest son. She wanted to stop him but couldn't say it out loud. Her anxiety was written all over her face.
"Haha." After laughing softly, Zhu Youxiao said, "Many people from our royal family have joined the army in recent years, and there are also combat heroes like Zhu Congquan. So if you, the prince of Lai, want to join the army, it is not your father's place to stop you. But now it is different, you have more important tasks to perform."
"What is it?"
"This time in Beijing, or to be more precise, on Coal Hill. The Emperor talked a lot with us brothers. One of the most important things was that in recent years, because the country is in a critical period of rebuilding its internal affairs, many departments must be controlled by the royal family, so that he can feel at ease. Therefore, we, the Emperor's brothers, have not been enfeoffed like other princes in recent years. But now it's different. Although it is estimated that before the war with the Western Bandits is over, I, like You Jian and others, cannot be enfeoffed. But our dynasty has a crown prince after all, so our vassal state should also start preparing in advance."
After saying this, Zhu Youxiao asked Zhu Ciran to go to the study and get a world map: "Madam, please take a look. The fiefdom that my brother promised to our family in advance is two large islands in the South Pacific. According to the monographs of Zheng Guangyuan and Xu Xiake, these two islands have a mild climate, beautiful environment, and rich products... If we can develop animal husbandry, it will be a place with unique advantages. Well, your husband has already named these two islands, New Penglai North Island and New Penglai South Island."
"My husband, do you mean to let Ran'er take people there to seek refuge first?"
"That's what I mean. My brother did this to reassure us brothers. It's fine for people like me, Yu (Mu Xue), and Yu Jian who have duties. But Yu Mo and his friends have been pestering the Queen Mother all day long these years, fearing that they will not have fiefs in the end."
"Humph, Uncle Four and Uncle Five, two useless guys, you dare to ask Uncle for a fiefdom?"
"Shut up, he is your elder after all, why are you so disrespectful?"
Zhu Youxiao glared at his son who was not convinced, but did not pursue the matter further. He continued, "The national policy in recent years has been to prepare for war, so it is impossible to allocate too many resources for us to develop fiefdoms. But I think that developing and utilizing the two large islands earlier will also be beneficial to future wars. Apart from anything else, in five or six years, if the Western bandits still refuse to admit defeat, then it will be time to compete with the country's strength. And if both the North and South Islands of Penglai produce by then, they can provide a steady supply of meat and milk for the mainland, which will be a help to some extent."
"I understand what my husband means. Well, over the years, the emperor has never failed to pay us dividends from our shares in the royal industry. I roughly estimated that it is 10 million, which our family can afford."
"Ran'er, did you hear me? I'll give you 10 million. Go and open up a new Penglai for your father. After three years, your father wants to see the output. Can you do it?"
Zhu Ciran, who had been very lively at the beginning, became quiet at this moment. He thought carefully for a while and then smiled bitterly: "Father, I was originally going to be a sniper, and I would kill anyone who stood out on the battlefield. Who knew you would give me such a task. Please give me three to five days to write a plan and give it to you for review."
"Very good, this is how you do something big. Okay, go and prepare first. Please note, don't tell your sister about this for the time being. It is said that there are only some uncivilized but brave natives in New Penglai. Your father is thinking of finding a husband for your sister in the native land, so that she won't go there."
"Yes, father, I understand."
After arranging his household affairs, Zhu Youxiao looked up at the clock in the hall, then stood up and walked to the phone: "Director, I'm Zhu Youxiao, yes, I'm back at the factory. Well, this is what Beijing is saying... Yes, I also think that a factory meeting should be held immediately. Okay, see you at eight o'clock in the evening."
