Daming Yuanfu

Chapter 2390: Unusual Movement (IX) Shocking Discussion

Since returning from Nanjing a few months ago, Shen Yiguan has become silent in the court, and seems to be dispensable in the cabinet, rarely expressing his opinions. I don't know if it is to cooperate with this self-isolation, he also sold his original luxurious mansion and moved his residence to the southeast corner of the north city near the Mingshifang Armor Factory, leading a semi-secluded life.

As the name suggests, the Armour Factory was originally an official armour manufacturing institution of the imperial court. Later, due to the privatisation of the military industry, the place gradually became desolate and has been abandoned for many years. However, since it was a military production site of the imperial court, no one dared to covet it, so the surrounding area was quite quiet, attracting some people who like to buy property nearby.

However, not long ago, Gao Youshi transferred the authorization of the new firearms production technology to the government-run factories, allowing the government-run military industry to resume production, which changed the new situation of the court in the direction of the military industry.

Although the armor factory was not a firearms industry, Jinghua also transferred some metallurgical forging related technologies to them, allowing them to produce armor with lower cost but better quality based on the steel produced by Jinghua. As a result, they gradually recovered and started production in full swing again.

In short, a group of private military enterprises, led by Jinghua, began to interact with state-owned enterprises, forming a kind of industrial cluster with complementary advantages. Some people may ask, why do we have to bring in state-owned factories to share a piece of the pie when private military enterprises can obviously do a good job?

In addition to Gao Youshi's emphasis at the time on the fact that private military industry was prone to monopoly - that is, the lack of competition would lead to slower technological iteration, and the possibility of private military industry groups holding the court's finances hostage and becoming politically difficult to control, there was another consideration, which was to reduce costs and increase efficiency.

What? The government-run factories can also reduce costs and increase efficiency by joining in? It is true, because the original craftsman system of the government-run factories has not been abolished, and as we all know, the treatment of craftsmen is extremely low. This means that handing over relatively simple work to the court craftsmen in the government-run factories can greatly reduce production costs.

So, how do we ensure quality? This is actually simple. We can ensure it by strictly checking the finished products, determining the appropriate reward and punishment system and strictly enforcing it.

Taking the production of the barrel of the standard Wanli Type 3 musket as an example, Jinghua handed over the technology and raw materials to the official workshop and was responsible for the final assembly. Then Jinghua was responsible for accepting the qualified barrels. The barrels produced by the official workshop were required to be accompanied by digital numbers, and the number could be traced back to the craftsman who produced the barrel.

At this time, Jinghua established a system management for producers. Assuming the yield rate was required to be 95%, craftsman A in the official factory produced 100 gun barrels, and 96 of them were qualified. Then, based on the standard of rewarding 1 cent of silver for each qualified gun barrel, craftsman A could be rewarded with a reward of taels and cents of silver.

Under the same requirements, if Craftsman B produced 100 gun barrels and only 94 of them were qualified, then according to the standard of being fined one tael of silver for a yield rate below 95%, the government-run factory would deduct one tael of silver from Craftsman B's wages.

The key point here is that Jinghua is only responsible for awarding prizes, and the official factory is only responsible for deducting money. The two cannot be managed by the same party. In addition, in addition to Jinghua Ordnance, Jinghua headquarters will also check the accounts and investigate the craftsmen in the official factory from time to time to ensure that there is no tacit understanding between the labor and capital, etc. In short, there will be a series of supporting systems.

Having said that, if someone were to ask, as a time traveler, Gao Youshi, don’t you think that these court craftsmen are being exploited too harshly and that you have a moral obligation to save them from their suffering?

Well, he does feel that he has this obligation, but as a pragmatic reformer, he knows that some things can only be done step by step. Just like a hungry person, if he suddenly overeats, he will really die suddenly.

At the current stage, private military industry has developed well and can start to drive more "employment". Therefore, rewarding conscientious craftsmen according to the yield rate is itself providing them with higher labor income than before. Gao Yousi asked himself that he did not violate his moral conscience.

Of course, there is another problem here, which is to prevent the situation where Jinghua gave the award but the official workshop secretly deducted the basic salary of the craftsmen. However, this is a supervision problem of the court, which can only be solved at the level of court policy and execution, and Jinghua Ordnance cannot help.

As the armor factory resumed operations, Grand Secretary Shen Yikuan's residence could not be quiet, and many people in the residence complained and hoped that the master would move out quickly.

Unfortunately, this time Shen Yikuan seemed to not care about these things. He refused to move even though the armor factory occasionally worked overtime at night, and even said privately: "Retirement is near, why rush?" He acted as if he was waiting to be dismissed at any time, which made everyone in the mansion lose their spirits and just wait to follow the master back to his hometown in the south to spend the rest of his life in peace.

However, just tonight when the residence of Grand Secretary Shen was already lifeless, an unexpected visitor suddenly came quietly, causing Grand Secretary Shen to get up in the middle of the night and carefully receive the visitor in the back study. He also issued a gag order to all the servants and maids who knew about this, strictly demanding that the news not be leaked.

In the study, the visitor drank half a cup of hot tea very comfortably, and chuckled slowly, "The location of your new residence is really not good. It's almost midnight, why is it still so noisy?"

Shen Yi Guan looked as dignified as usual. He just smiled when he heard this. "The imperial court's factories have been in decline for years. It is a blessing to have them regain their vitality. I am ashamed to have been an assistant minister and have not been of any help. Now that I see them recover, I should congratulate them. How can I complain?

As for why they rushed to work at midnight, it was said that the Western Region cavalry urgently needed equipment to reduce casualties, so they imitated the Beijing regulations and made a system called "three shifts" to expedite the manufacture of cavalry armor and horse gear to quell the dangers on the border."

The visitor laughed and said, "I heard that since Lord Shen returned to the capital, he has been a 'hand-raising Lord' and has not been involved in government affairs for a long time. But I didn't expect that all matters of the court are still under his control... Tsk tsk, it seems that the Lord is not what others think. I really admire that Regent!"

"What the guard said is absurd. Although I am not involved in the matter, I am still in the palace. How can I be completely in the dark?" Shen Yi Guan shook his head slightly and paused before saying, "The guard came to visit me at midnight. I don't think he came just to ridicule me, right?"

The two "guardian"speakers revealed the identity of the visitor. The so-called "guardian" was derived from the elegant title of "guardian lieutenant" in the Tang Dynasty. In the middle and late Tang Dynasty, this position often referred to the "guardian lieutenant of the Shen Ce Army", and the Shen Ce Army was the central imperial guard of the court at that time. By analogy, the eunuchs who controlled the so-called "central imperial guard" in the Ming Dynasty were also elegantly called "guardian".

Who is the eunuch who controls the Central Imperial Guard? It is naturally the eunuch who holds the seal of the Imperial Horse Administration. Therefore, the identity of the visitor was revealed in the two calls of "Guardian", and it was Li Wenjin.

Li Wenjin laughed and said, "Although Elder Shen has suffered a little setback recently, his students and former officials are all over the world. Why should he be so self-deprecating? In fact, it is our family that should be self-deprecating."

Shen Yiguan raised his eyebrows slightly, but immediately shook his head and said, "What the guard said is really surprising... You are in charge of the imperial guards, the imperial store, and the horse farm. You can be said to have control over the military and financial power. Moreover, the guard is the uncle of the current emperor and the favorite brother of the Empress Dowager Cisheng. Your self-contempt really leaves me speechless."

"Ah, the elder only knows one side of the story." Li Wenjin sighed, pretending to be extremely worried, and said sadly: "Although I have no great ambitions, I am so old that I still want to take one last step so that I can retire peacefully. Unfortunately, this old face is no longer useful now..."

Li Wenjin sighed and sighed for a while, then continued: "That regent would rather bring a young man from Nanjing than let my family be called a factory supervisor. It's really a waste of my helping him many times in the past.

Not only that, my eldest nephew has also forgotten our old friendship. He not only ignored my feelings and gave the position of factory supervisor to the regent as a favor, but he even used that little bastard Liu Ping more and more, intending to let him take over my position as the guard...

Look, Lord, compared to you who still has students and officials all over the world, wouldn't it be more distressing for me, a lonely man, to lose the emperor's favor?"

Shen Yikuan was a little surprised. He knew that Tian Yi was recommended by Gao Youshi as the governor of the East Factory, but he didn't know that Li Wenjin coveted this position. According to his usual view, although the governor of the East Factory is very powerful, compared with the seal holder of the Imperial Horse Administration, he is far inferior in terms of financial power. Li Wenjin loves money, so he should be more content to continue to be his guard. Who would have thought that he actually wanted to be the governor of the factory?

However, this was only Li Wenjin's one-sided statement, and it was hard to say whether it was true or not, but he said that the emperor intended to let Liu Ping replace him as the seal holder of the Imperial Horse Administration, which was indeed possible. After all, Liu Ping was now in charge of 80,000 hectares of imperial farmland in Nanyang, and it was said that he contributed a lot to the imperial treasury every year, and it was increasing year by year.

Following this trend, it seems reasonable that the emperor intends to have him replace Li Wenjin as the chief eunuch of the Imperial Horses, after all, the Imperial Horses originally held the financial power of the inner court outside the palace. Shen Yiguan's mind raced, and he suddenly understood why Li Wenjin was anxious. Losing the position of the chief eunuch of the Imperial Horses not only meant losing a huge amount of power, but also a position that was very easy to make money. Moreover, with his style of being a hungry ghost among money, after being the chief eunuch of the Imperial Horses for so many years, who knows how many bad debts the Imperial Horses have that are difficult to settle now.

In this situation, if Liu Ping suddenly replaced him, and Liu Ping checked the accounts without any care... Hey, I'm afraid the Empress Dowager Cisheng would be angry and scold him. As for the emperor, it's hard to say how he would react! After all, the emperor also attaches great importance to money.

"I have been distracted by other things recently, and I really didn't know that there have been so many changes in the inner court." Shen Yi Guan showed a sympathetic look, and said with a wry smile: "However, it seems useless for the guard to come to me and say this. I am now waiting to be deposed, and even if I want to help the guard, I don't have the ability to do so."

Li Wenjin shook his head and said, "Although you and I are both now wanderers in this world, we don't have to sit back and wait for death. Although the regent has great power, he has been changing the old system of his ancestors at will over the years, and he has already made many enemies in the court.

If it were an ordinary time, everyone would be helpless against him and could only allow him to abuse his power and cause chaos. However, there is a great opportunity now. As long as you and I... and some other nobles join forces, we can seize the opportunity to take him down in one fell swoop, and from then on, we can restore order and bring order to the court!"

Shen Yi Guan's eyebrows jumped, but he pretended not to understand, and said in surprise: "What did the guard say? Could it be because he was ill today? I advise the guard not to rush. You must know that this person has always been strong and has been immune to all diseases for many years. Now he is not yet forty, I am afraid that he just caught a cold due to the sudden change in the weather. He will be fine after two or three days of rest. How can it be considered a chance?"

"As for the opportunity, it's either given by heaven or fought for by people. How can we just sit there and wait for a rabbit to crash into us?" Li Wenjin narrowed his eyes slightly and said, "The elder said that maybe he only needs to rest for two or three days and he'll be fine. We should just take it as true. But...what if we can accomplish something within these two or three days?"

Shen Yi Guan's eyes twitched violently, and his heart was pounding, but his face remained tense. He took a deep breath and asked, "Oh? I wonder what magic the guards have to turn the world upside down in these two or three days?"

Seeing that he had taken the bait, Li Wenjin was no longer in a hurry to tell Shen Yikuan about his own wonderful method. Instead, he asked, "Of course I have a method, but please be patient, sir. I have something to ask you first..." After that, he stopped talking and just looked at Shen Yikuan, waiting for him to take the initiative to take over.

Shen Yiguan cursed in his heart, but he couldn't help but ask: "Excuse me, Guard."

"That's right," Li Wenjin nodded with satisfaction, and asked, "If the emperor suddenly has a change of heart that he cannot bear to talk about, and leaves a will before his death, saying that the crown prince is too young... or any other reason, and issues an edict to depose the crown prince and enthronize Prince Fu... how many officials in the court do you think would support this?"

Shen Yi Guan was shocked, stood up suddenly, and waved his sleeves: "Impossible, absolutely impossible... I mean, there is no way anyone in the court would support it!"

Li Wenjin looked at him coldly and asked, "Why?"

"The Crown Prince is the legitimate son, so he is legitimate!" Shen Yi Guan let out a long breath and said helplessly, "The Guard has forgotten that the reason why Gao Rixin was able to win the battle for the throne was because of this word 'legitimate'! At that time, my school of thought strongly promoted the eldest son of the emperor and rejected the third son of the emperor. We had gradually gained the upper hand in public opinion, but it was precisely because of the birth of the legitimate son of the emperor that he reversed the situation in one fell swoop. From then on, we were suppressed by him in every aspect, and finally fell to this point... Can't the Guard see from this that how important this legitimate son is?"

"Oh, I understand." Li Wenjin did not change his expression, but smiled slightly and said, "If that's the case, then let's modify our statement... What if not only the emperor dies, but the prince also dies unexpectedly? At this time, can the elder get all the officials in the court to agree that Prince Fu should succeed to the throne?"

Shen Yi Guan was extremely shocked. He certainly knew what Li Wenjin meant by "if", but even so, he still shook his head after a little thought and said, "No."

"Why?" Li Wenjin asked.

"Gao Rixin." Shen Yi Guan said coldly: "Now the court officials have been purged several times by Gao Rixin. Even if I can convince some of the remaining Xinxue officials, my influence will be far less than his. What's more, if the major events that the guards said really happened, I'm afraid the situation in the court will not be determined by influence alone.

At that moment, the only one who could mobilize the Imperial Guards of the Beijing North Camp was Gao Rixin; the only one who could make the nobles of the Five Military Commandery obey his orders was Gao Rixin; and the only one who could make the major newspapers in the capital manipulate public opinion was still Gao Rixin.

In such a situation, what does the guard think I can do? I even dare to ask, what can the guard do at that time? Can the guard guarantee that the nearly 70,000 elite guards in the world can't break through the gate of the capital? "

Snapped!Snapped!Snapped!Snapped!

Li Wenjin clapped his hands and praised: "The elder is indeed wise and insightful. He saw through the two major points at a glance."

Shen Yi Guan said coldly: "Since the guards also know that as long as Gao Rixin is still here and the imperial guards obey him, nothing can be done, then why do you still make such a joke? Are you trying to make fun of me?"

Li Wenjin snorted and sneered, "What if we dare to say that the Imperial Guards will not make any unusual moves in the next two or three days, and Gao Youshi...even if he is not dead, his voice will not leave the Jingguo Mansion?"
-

PS: My son had a fever and vomited yesterday. We were busy all night. Today he is slightly better, but we are still the ones taking care of him. Unexpectedly, at night, his mother also said she had symptoms and now she is wondering if it is influenza A or COVID-19... I just told her that according to the pattern of the past two years, after you two have a fight, it will probably be my turn.

Oh, no, I was just sick not long ago, it won't happen again, will it?

Thanks to the book friend “this year? How long?” for the support of 8 monthly tickets, thank you!

Thanks to the book friend "Book Friends 20170107012220447" for your support with 8 monthly tickets, thank you!

Thanks to the book friend "Xiao Ai Gu Yue" for the support of 6 monthly tickets, thank you!

Thanks to book friends “云覆月雨”, “无良心的黑狼”, “o尚书令”, and “intiald” for their monthly ticket support, thank you!