Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

After reading the report from the Imperial Household Department, Zhu Youjian discovered something interesting:

"A craftsman from the Tongzhou Arsenal proposed to improve the valve-type gun. Lu Xiang accepted his suggestion and requested to improve the valve-type gun."

"Great! That's really great!"

"This is the craftsman of our Ming Dynasty!"

Zhu Youjian was disappointed with the shipbuilding craftsmen of the Shipbuilding Group, but very happy about the suggestions made by the craftsmen of the Tongzhou Arsenal to improve the valve gun.

Because this meant that under his policies, the Tongzhou Arsenal began to show vitality, and the design of Ming Dynasty firearms no longer relied on just a few talented craftsmen, but the collective efforts of all.

Zhu Youjian was very happy and said to Wang Chengen:

"What is the origin of this Xu Litie?"

"This person must be rewarded handsomely!"

"I want all craftsmen to know that they will be rewarded for their contributions to the Ming Dynasty."

Wang Chengen knew the emperor's preferences, otherwise he would not have specially reported this matter. Seeing that the emperor was so happy, he smiled and said:

"Xu Litie's background is not simple. He was recruited from North Korea by the sniper team last year."

"Because of his meritorious service on the battlefield, he was awarded the rank of Senior Officer, and is now a mid-level engineer."

"The muskets he trained have always been sought after by snipers and sharpshooters."

"After Lü Gong improved the valve-type gun according to his suggestion, the smoothbore valve-type gun could also shoot more accurately."

Korean craftsmen were the objects of the Ming Dynasty's special protection, and most of them were transported to the Ming Dynasty when the Jianlu invaded last year.

After the Jianlu retreated, some of these craftsmen found it difficult to leave their homeland and return to Korea, but more of them chose to bring their families to Ming Dynasty.

Xu Litie, who holds the title of Lord of the Ming Dynasty, is one of them. As a good citizen in Korea, he has no chance to make a name for himself.

So he naturally stayed in Ming Dynasty and obtained the status of Ming Dynasty official——

This term "gongshi" includes not only those who have donated money to become officials, but also all those who have obtained honors, titles, official positions, and fame, and can also be called gentry.

The public officials who had the right to be elected were distinguished from the citizens who only had the right to vote, the residents who did not have the right to vote, and the untouchables when the yellow book was compiled for household registration. They were the scholars who were the first of the four classes of people in the Ming Dynasty.

Xu Litie holds the rank of Shangzaoshi, and is naturally a public official in the Ming Dynasty. He not only has the right to be elected, but also the right to be an official. His Shangzaoshi status is equivalent to that of an eighth-rank official.

With such a future, he certainly would not return to Korea. Especially after his brother Xu Qifu came to Ming Dynasty, he had no relatives in Korea. Naturally, he had no attachment to Korea and chose to submit to Ming Dynasty, the suzerain of Korea.

Because of this, he passed the rigorous review and was able to join the Tongzhou Arsenal to create the most advanced firearms in the Ming Dynasty.

The precise model of the valve gun was what he had thought about when he was manufacturing firearms. Without increasing the cost much, the accuracy of the fire gun was greatly improved, which made Lu Xiang admire it.

Because of this, Lü Xiang suggested that the breech-loading musket type 2 be improved to type 3 based on the feedback from military use. In addition to him, Xu Litie and others were also among the designers.

Zhu Youjian certainly approved this and thought that Lu Xiang's approach was very good and should be institutionalized:

"One person's plan is short, two people's plan is long."

“Ordinary workers may not be as good as technicians in design, but they also have many creative ideas.”

"In future technological reforms, we must implement the principle of combining enterprise management personnel, technical personnel, and workers, and hold a three-in-one meeting at least once a month to discuss how to carry out technological reforms." "This should be institutionalized, just like the sergeants elected from the soldiers' committee can participate in the military assembly."

This is the three-in-one system he established with reference to the Anshan Constitution of later generations.

As for the two participations and one reform, he also put forward requirements:
"Junior-level officers are required to participate in training with soldiers, and junior-level managers in enterprises should do the same."

"Senior officers should participate in training in the barracks from time to time and care about the soldiers. Senior managers and technicians in enterprises should also take at least one day a month to experience the work of workers and appreciate the products they produce."

"Workers should form unions, elect union members and worker representatives, and participate in enterprise management like sergeants in the army."

"For unreasonable rules and regulations, workers' representatives can make suggestions at the assembly and request changes."

"Ordinary workers can also put forward suggestions if they have ideas. If a certain number of people sign their names, a general meeting must be held to discuss them."

"But before any changes are made, we still have to abide by the original rules and regulations to avoid production disruptions."

In the name of promoting collective consultation, we encourage workers to participate in management and reform unreasonable rules and regulations.

Managers and technicians are required to work at least one day per month.

When Wang Chengen heard this request, he mourned for the eunuchs who managed the enterprises. But he would not speak for them. As the emperor's confidant, he could not interrupt the emperor's interest when he was in high spirits.

In order to show his own value, after writing these down, he also referred to the military system and asked:
“How are workers’ representatives determined?”

"Is it like in the army, where the officers select from among the soldiers' committee?"

Zhu Youjian thought about it for a moment and rejected it:
“It cannot be directly chosen by company executives, otherwise the workers might not be convinced.”

"In this case, let the union members draw lots themselves, sorting the surnames by the number of strokes, from lowest to highest."

“Those who are drawn will be the workers’ representatives for that month and will be excluded from the draw next month.”

"This will be repeated in turn so that every union member will have the opportunity to be a representative."

This is what he has been thinking about recently, using a combination of voting and drawing lots to avoid the emergence of an oligarchy.

This method of relying on luck may seem a bit childish, but it is actually very popular:
The Ministry of Personnel of the Ming Dynasty selected officials by drawing lots.

The appointment of a Grand Secretary, also known as a Meibu -

In history, when Emperor Chongzhen selected his cabinet ministers for the first time, he actually turned divination into actual selection. He used the method of drawing lots from a golden urn to select six people as cabinet ministers from the twelve people recommended by the court, namely Qian Longxi, Li Biao, Lai Zongdao, Yang Jingchen, Zhou Daodeng, and Liu Hongxun.

An interesting thing happened in the middle. Wang Zuoyuan had been chosen, but was blown away by the wind and fell behind Shi Fenglai's clothes and was not found at that time.

Wang Zuoyuan, who missed the opportunity to join the cabinet, was therefore very anxious, and was later dismissed from office because he was eager for promotion.

Zhu Youjian thought about this matter, and in order to prevent the drawing of lots from being controlled by others, he specifically instructed Wang Chengen:
"Go tell the craftsmen at Wensi Academy to develop a gold bottle. The material can be pure gold, gold-plated, or even brass, and it can be mass-produced."

"Put glass beads of the same size but different colors in the golden vase, and agree that a certain color represents a certain person, or that drawing a certain color represents winning the lottery."

"To prevent cheating, glass beads should be clamped with special tools and not allowed to be touched directly."

"This election method is called the Golden Urn Method. It was first tried out in the Tongzhou Arsenal. After the workers elected the union members, they drew lots to select the representatives."

“If the implementation is effective, half of the union committee members should be selected by lot in the future. Anyone who is recognized by more than half of the workers can participate in the lot drawing.” (End of this chapter)