Chongzhen Chat Group

After the review, Emperor Chongzhen took the train back to the capital with all the civil and military officials. It was not dark and it was more comfortable than riding a carriage. The improvement of transportation is also obvious.

Emperor Chongzhen issued an order to hold a big morning dynasty tomorrow. In other words, all qualified officials in Beijing will attend the morning meeting tomorrow.

Most officials guessed that it was probably related to today's inspection of the steam ironclad ship. While going back, I was also thinking about what to say in the morning tomorrow morning.

Their guess was actually correct. At the beginning of the morning court the next day, Emperor Chongzhen's opening remarks were to say to his ministers: "Whether you went to Tongzhou yesterday or not, you should know something about steam armored ships, right?"

Upon hearing this, there was no surprise. The ministers immediately responded and flattered Emperor Chongzhen.

"The steam engine invented by Your Majesty is truly a treasure of the Ming Dynasty! Not only can it pull a series of goods from north to south, but it can also drive armored ships across the water. It is really powerful!"

"I learned a lot yesterday. Only Your Majesty can have such a wonderful idea and succeed!"

"..."

In the face of these flatteries, Emperor Chongzhen did not say anything in particular. Instead, he waited for them to talk for a while and then said with a serious face: "What I actually want to say is, what you saw yesterday, steam armored ships, steam trains, etc." Wait, there is no doubt that these have changed the Ming Dynasty greatly! And this is the power of technology! Think about it, what would happen if you use these items created based on technology to compare with the past? "

"For example, if artillery is installed on a steam ironclad ship, what's the use of the previous warships, no matter how many there are? Cannons can't destroy them, and fire can't burn them out. But steam ironclad ships can knock over previous ships just by ramming them. This is a victory of science and technology, an epoch-making victory, do you think so?"

"Also, now most of you have only experienced the benefits of the train from the capital to Tongzhou. I believe you should already know that taking the train is not only faster but also much more comfortable than taking the carriage before. If you change Cheng Jingshi to Yingtian Mansion, then I can tell you that the gap between these different means of transportation will only be greater! And I can tell you that trains can continue to be improved based on new technology, and the existing ones can be changed. Some shortcomings, such as loud noise, not fast enough, etc..."

In the morning, I could only hear Emperor Chongzhen talking. Many of the ministers below were nodding their heads. Even those experienced ministers could see from their faces that they agreed with Emperor Chongzhen's words.

As Emperor Chongzhen was talking, his voice suddenly rose a little, and he concluded: "In short, I have just one sentence, science and technology has changed the Ming Dynasty! I send this sentence to you, I hope you will remember it! In addition..."

Having said this, he slowly glanced at the ministers below and announced in public: "The Department of Science and Technology Cleaning will be promoted to the Ministry of Science and Technology..."

Hearing this, many civil and military officials below expected this, but also a little unexpected.

Unsurprisingly, the Ministry of Communications has taken precedent. The emperor emphasizes technology so much, so sooner or later the Department of Science and Technology will upgrade the standards. No one doubts it.

Unexpectedly, they did not expect that Emperor Chongzhen would directly announce it in this morning meeting.

Almost everyone, after listening to Emperor Chongzhen's words, subconsciously turned their eyes to a middle-aged man standing behind the Minister of Industry. There was envy in their eyes.

Sure enough, I heard Emperor Chongzhen say next: "Where is Song Qing, the former Chief of Science and Technology?"

Song Yingxing had not been notified in advance, but at this moment, he vaguely knew what the emperor was going to say, and he suddenly became excited. He quickly stepped out of the queue and respectfully replied: "I am here!"

Emperor Chongzhen looked at him, his eyes softened a little, and he said with a hint of solemnity: "Song Qing organized science and technology in the Department of Science and Technology, sorted out all aspects of science and technology, and established research institutes in multiple directions to contribute to the development of our Ming Dynasty's science and technology. He has made great contributions. "Tiangong Kaiwu" written by Song Qing summarizes the current scientific and technological foundation of our Ming Dynasty, so that I and the people all over the world have a clear understanding of the science and technology of the Ming Dynasty. Therefore, I have decided to appoint you as the Minister of Science and Technology. I hope that you can continue to work hard and continuously improve the level of science and technology for the Ming Dynasty. Are you willing to bear this heavy responsibility?"

The materials for "Tiangong Kaiwu" were almost sorted out before Song Yingxing met Emperor Chongzhen. After serving as a doctor in the Science and Technology Bureau, he obtained more information, supplemented it, and published "Tiangong Kaiwu", which is more comprehensive and detailed than the original historical book.

Once it was released, paper in Luoyang suddenly became expensive. After reading this book "Tiangong Kaiwu", many people connected the scientific and technological knowledge promoted by Emperor Chongzhen with the specific things existing in the Ming Dynasty. They suddenly realized that technology is all around them! For the people of Ming Dynasty in this era, technology has lost a sense of mystery to them. It plays an important role in promoting the development of science and technology in Ming Dynasty and cannot be underestimated.

For example, people who were originally engaged in iron-making learned that technology can also solve the problems they encountered in iron-making. I couldn't figure out the difficulty at first, but through "Tiangong Kaiwu", I finally understood what it was about. In this way, they are naturally interested in related technologies and want to learn more about them.

This is true for ironmaking, and it is true for other industries as well. At least it has made many people interested in mathematics, physics and chemistry.

Song Yingxing, who came to court earlier, didn't expect that he was just a civil servant. Although the emperor had mentioned this before, today, he has really become the second-rank minister, one of the highest official positions among civil servants. How could he not So excited!

At this moment, Song Yingxing forcibly suppressed the excitement in his heart, and responded loudly and forcefully: "Weichen is willing to devote all his energy to strengthening Ming's technology, and he will die without regrets!"

While speaking, the scene of his first encounter with Emperor Chongzhen outside Yingtianfu City flashed in his mind. The emperor's words at that time rang in his ears again.

Now, the emperor has fulfilled his promise, and the Department of Science and Technology has been promoted to the Ministry of Science and Technology. And he, a mere civil servant, has been specially promoted by the emperor to the second rank of Minister of Science and Technology. Then, the next step is to repay the emperor with 200% of his efforts, so that he can live up to the emperor's kindness!

From the six ministries since ancient times, by the time of the Ming Dynasty, there were two more ministries, namely the Ministry of Communications under Liu Mao as Minister, and the Ministry of Science and Technology under Song Yingxing as Minister, making a total of eight ministries.

Many ministers were envious and looked at Sun Yuanhua, the Minister of Rites, who was standing in front. Because Sun Yuanhua also serves as a new yamen, which is the Education Department! According to the emperor's previous practice, a new yamen will be established first, and the level will be lower. After achieving results, the standards will be improved and it will become a new department. Will the Department of Education become the Ministry of Education in the future?

Many ministers gave a positive answer to this. In this way, wouldn't Sun Yuanhua occupy two positions?

Thinking of this, some ministers began to make plans for the Department of Education. Six ministers, no, now eight ministers, is the ultimate goal pursued by civil servants all over the world (of course, the cabinet is also), but there are only so many positions, and now they are all occupied. But can the Secretary of Education use his brain? A new yamen has just been established, and people can jump through the ranks and get promoted.

Liu Mao didn't mention it, but Song Yingxing wasn't even a Jinshi, just a mere civil servant. But just because he knew more about technology than others, good luck came to him. If I engage in education and contribute more in this area, will I have such good luck in the future?

Many ministers feel that there is hope for this! Especially those who feel that they have experience in education, such as those who have opened academies, feel that they can consider taking this path of education.

Then something happened that Emperor Chongzhen didn't expect.

A few days after the end of the morning court, he received a lot of memorials, probably offering suggestions and advice on how to expand the current children's school, or how to supplement the deficiencies in education, such as opening academies for officials to become officials, etc., which can facilitate them. The subject content of the academy is stipulated and brought under the jurisdiction of the Education Department, and it can be called a private children's school.

Emperor Chongzhen was very happy with these memorials, so he wrote a batch of them and forwarded them to the cabinet for serious consideration. He discussed them with the Supervisor of Rites and came up with specific regulations.

After finishing all this, Emperor Chongzhen was a little troubled. The foundation of Ming Dynasty's science and technology was still too weak.

He has been experimenting with the application of electricity, but the results are not satisfactory. It's not that electricity can't be generated. To generate electricity, it is easy to achieve using electromagnetic induction. It is about the storage and use of electricity, which requires too many supporting basic industries.

For example, when using electricity for lighting, Emperor Chongzhen knew that using tungsten wire was the best choice. However, with the current technological foundation of Ming Dynasty, this tungsten wire cannot be produced! The basics of chemistry need to be accelerated! The thickness of the copper wire used for conduction is uneven, which is also quite troublesome. This is also related to physics.

All in all, Daming's technological level is far from enough, and we need to continue to work hard!

After sighing for a while, Emperor Chongzhen entered the chat group and checked the news, especially the news from Japan. One of them comes from Lu Xiangsheng's memorial. He said that the Japanese country would be very stable as long as there was no shortage of food. He proposed to Emperor Chongzhen that it was no longer necessary for him to stay in the original Japanese country that was already a vassal state, and he wanted to return to Liaodong.

Emperor Chongzhen had no objection to this. However, he had already thought about Lu Xiangsheng's arrangements long ago. Therefore, he replied to Lu Xiangsheng, asking him to return to Liaodong first, and there would be orders for him later.

Then, from the information provided by Dongchang, he found out the relevant information about the election of Zuo Ying, the governor of Liaodong. He went through the whole thing, plus what Queen Zhou recorded, and the information about Liaodong in the chat group. By verifying the chat records, we can probably determine the results of Zuo Yingxuan's two years of work.

Overall, not bad. While Lu Xiangsheng was focusing on the military and preparing to attack the Japanese state, Zuo Yingxuan's energy was mainly focused on the people's livelihood in Liaodong. It can be seen that Zuo Yingxuan did his best to make Liaodong, which was originally in ruins, have signs of a new lease of life.

Seeing this situation, Emperor Chongzhen was also very satisfied in his heart. In this case, I can rest assured that Lu Xiangsheng will be transferred away.

Now, all that is left is the east wind.

He was thinking like this, don't say anything, whatever he thinks comes to him!

On this day, Shen Yongmao, Minister of the Ministry of War, wrote to Emperor Chongzhen, saying that he was very old and begging for the Emperor's permission to retire and return to his hometown to take care of himself!

Shen Yongmao, born in 1560, is now seventy-seven years old. His health is not as good as that of Sun Chengzong, but Sun Chengzong had proposed to retire and return to his hometown a few months ago, and has already gone back to take care of himself! Fortunately, the Ming Dynasty is very powerful now. The emperor has intervened in military matters and arranged them very well. Anyway, he is invincible and conquerable, which makes him, the Minister of War, less worried.

In the original history, he could not stand it a few years ago and resigned to Emperor Chongzhen and returned home! Then, in the eleventh year of Chongzhen, that is, he died of illness next year. But no matter what, it is considered a long life.

Regarding Shen Yongmao's memorial, Emperor Chongzhen followed the usual practice and repeatedly tried to persuade him to retain it. After failing, he agreed to his request and approved his memorial.

Soon after, the imperial edict was issued, and the new Minister of War was Lu Xiangsheng, the governor of Liao and Xian.

No one had any objection to this decree, and those who were still looking at this position have given up their thoughts. When it comes to the position of Minister of War, Ming Dynasty is the most qualified to occupy it. Once Lu Xiangsheng comes out, who else will compete with him?

Even the naturalized governor Hong Chengchou, except that he was a little older than Lu Xiangsheng, could not compare with Lu Xiangsheng in other aspects.

Lu Xiangsheng is a native of Yixing County, Changzhou Prefecture, South Zhili. Now he is in the prime of life. His future official career is still long and bright. Everyone understands this very well.

Before the end of the year, a new personnel transfer decree was announced. The naturalized governor Hong Chengchou was transferred to the imperial censor Zuodu of the Metropolitan Procuratorate and returned to Beijing to take up his post. This is also a second-grade official position, and it also has the responsibility of supervising hundreds of officials. It can be said that it has great power and responsibility, and it is also an enviable position.

No one has any objections to this decree. With Hong Chengchou's contribution and his status as a naturalized governor, it was a natural thing to be transferred to this position.

Hong Chengchou's character is relatively calm, he knows the importance and the right measures, and he is not a fool. The supervisory authority suits him very well. If Hai Rui was allowed to act like that, the officialdom of the Ming Dynasty would be turned upside down. Sometimes, you can’t get rid of the sand in your eyes, and it will only become more and more messy!

In addition, Hong Chengchou was from Yingdu, Nan'an, Quanzhou, Fujian. He is also young and powerful, at the golden age of being an official.

Emperor Chongzhen felt that what he had thought about before was almost done, so he privately chatted with Wen Tiren and said: "Wen Qing, you can start to talk about what I told you before!"

No need to say anything, Wen Tiren knew what the emperor was referring to as soon as he heard it. He was immediately happy and agreed immediately.

Thanks for the 500 starting point coin reward for reading Miscellaneous Books, and the 200 starting point coin reward for killing people and playing chess!