Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

After coming out of the palace, all the high-ranking Jinyiwei officials were very excited.

Because they could clearly see from the emperor's attitude that he wanted to reuse the Jinyiwei. The power of the Jinyiwei would no longer be limited to intelligence, but could be expanded arbitrarily in terms of security.

So after leaving the palace, they gathered at the Jinyiwei Yamen in front of Chengtian Gate for a while. Zheng Shiyi said:
"The 'Security News' ordered by the Emperor should be published early. We should take this opportunity to publicize security needs and the security affairs that the Royal Guard is responsible for."

"This way we can intervene more in future affairs and leave those officials speechless."

Liu Qiao smiled and said:

"Of course, the 'Safety Newspaper' must be published early and on a large scale, so that all the military guards, public security offices, and police stations will subscribe to the newspaper."

"From now on, the Jinyiwei's announcements will also be released through the Anquan Newspaper, and officials in the capital and those involved in the case must subscribe to the Anquan Newspaper."

Then he turned to Qi Changguo and said:

"Your Nansifang is in charge of the Safety Academy's affairs, right?"

"What's the current situation of the news and public opinion major?"

Qi Changguo smiled bitterly and said:
"The Safety School is said to be managed by the Southern Department, but in fact, His Majesty is the Dean of Education."

"The teaching materials in it were all set by His Majesty, and many of them are classified as confidential."

"Outstanding students majoring in journalism and public opinion have long been recruited by the Newspaper Association and are led by the Propaganda Committee of the Imperial Capital Committee to review newspapers and periodicals every day."

"I don't know more about what's going on here than you do. The emperor regards the Anquan Academy as the inner study hall of the Jinyiwei."

What is Neishutang? It is an institution for training future high-ranking eunuchs.

When the senior officials of Jinyiwei heard these words, they all realized that the senior officials of Jinyiwei in the future must come from the Security Academy.

They are not worried about being replaced by students from safe schools now, but when their descendants join the Jinyiwei in the future, they will have to compete with these people.

Therefore, many people have already made up their minds to send their offspring in, and they must obtain the status of a safe school no matter what, so that they can integrate into the school in the future and gain the trust of the emperor.

After a discussion, the general consensus was that the Jinyiwei would shift to security work. In addition to their original intelligence duties, they would take on security work entirely.

The next day, Zheng Shiyi brought Fang Hongzan and others to discuss the establishment of the Intelligence Committee with Yuan Keli, the Privy Councilor.

When Yuan Keli learned that it was the emperor's order, and thought that it would be convenient to exchange intelligence with the Embroidered Uniform Guard after the establishment of the Intelligence Committee, he naturally agreed.

The National Security Commission has not been established yet. Zheng Shiyi plans to establish the National Security Commission after the Intelligence Commission is stabilized.

The same was true for the Public Security Committee that Liu Qiao was in charge of. The first thing he did was not to launch a severe crackdown. Instead, he went to Huangjintai in disguise to recruit a spokesperson for the Weiwei Temple.

After realizing the importance the emperor attached to public opinion, he knew he had to pay attention to this.

The reason why the emperor praised him yesterday was because he recognized the power of public opinion.

In this crackdown, he planned to let public opinion take the lead, exert public opinion supervision, let the people make demands on security work, and then establish a Public Security Committee.
-
The Golden Terrace is located in Jintaifang. It was a platform, or a forum, set up by the emperor after he canonized King Zhao of Yan as the god of Jintaifang, imitating the fact that King Zhao of Yan once spent a huge sum of gold to buy horse bones.

Anyone who thinks he has talent, regardless of his social status, can go up to the Golden Stage to speak and debate with others.

As long as one can remain unrefuted for ten consecutive days, he will be able to leave his name on the Golden Platform and become a talent that attracts attention from all sides.

Some government offices would also set up agenda items on the Golden Platform and recruit talents such as press spokespersons.

The spokespersons for the Ministry of Works, the Shaofu Temple, and the Wensi Academy all came from this perspective.

Because the Ministry of Industry pioneered this, the Jintaifang Temple also enshrined people who made contributions to time and tools. Therefore, most of the stories told on the Golden Terrace were about craftsmen, and these people often displayed real objects and demonstrated their inventions on the stage.

The people of the capital city were curious and often came to see if there were any new things.

When Liu Qiao, Wu Mengming and others arrived, they saw a young man demonstrating on the stage:

"When Guo Shoujing of the Yuan Dynasty made the armillary sphere, he installed four small cylinders between the two rings of the armillary sphere to reduce the mutual resistance."

"This is the bearing the emperor mentioned. I have now reproduced it."

"If you are interested, you can come and have a look."

"I have obtained a patent for the invention of rolling bearings used in rickshaws. If you are interested in cooperation, you can come and discuss it."

As he spoke, he showed the bearing he made, placed it on a wheel, and showed it to a rickshaw driver.

The rickshaw driver pulled the cart and easily moved a vehicle fully loaded with goods onto the platform.

The onlookers applauded when they saw it, thinking that the bearing was a good thing.

Liu Qiao was also quite interested, because he knew that the rickshaw industry was supported by the emperor, who also gave special policies to allow them to operate after curfew.

Because of this, rickshaw pullers had a lot of dealings with the Weiwei Temple, and many of them were even intelligence agents of the Jinyiwei.

These people drove carts around the capital, were very familiar with the roads, and would come into contact with all kinds of people. The Weiwei Temple sometimes needed their help to obtain information and handle cases.

Seeing that this young man had invented a bearing that made rickshaws more labor-saving, he said with great interest:
“This person has talent!”

"I just don't know if I can get through the questioning of others without being discovered."

“If he can successfully use it on a rickshaw, maybe he will be like Fang Yizhi last year, who was specially granted the status of a Yuanshi.”

Wu Mengming was about to agree when he suddenly heard a laugh. An audience member who had been listening nearby and knew the identity of the young man on the stage said:

"You don't know, right?"

"The man on the stage is Fang Yuanshi."

"After he invented the rickshaw, he was often criticized by some people for treating people like animals."

"So I have been improving the rickshaw, and this year I have invented several more labor-saving devices, hoping to build a self-propelled vehicle."

"Unfortunately, just like this bearing, it is just good-looking but useless."

“If rickshaw pullers can afford to buy bearings, why do they pull rickshaws?”

When Wu Mengming heard someone interrupting, his eyes narrowed and he was about to scold that person.

Liu Qiao stretched out his hand to stop him and said with a smile:
"Brother, from what you said it seems that you know a lot about Fang Yuanshi. Can you tell us about it?"

"How many things did this Fang Yuanshi invent? Why do you say they are only good-looking but useless?"

The man saw that Liu Qiao and Wu Mengming were not ordinary people, and the followers behind them seemed to be good fighters. He immediately stood in awe and bowed, saying:

"You two are not ordinary people, right?"

"Is it some government office that's here to recruit people?"

"Nice to meet you!"

Find out the identities of the two.

Liu Qiao made up a random identity of a guard and said:

"Aren't we going to restructure our guard station in the capital? We want to work hard on the imperial examinations and recruit a few teachers to see if there are any literate people on the Golden Terrace." "If we can recruit a few great sages, it will be a great relief for our ancestors and we can have a few more successful candidates."

The man laughed and said:

"Then you've come to the wrong place. The most suitable people to be teachers in the capital are students from the Normal School."

"Fang Yuanshi is from the Normal School, but now he is closer to the students of Wensi School."

"If you want to train your children for work, you can recruit teachers here."

"If you want to study hard for the imperial examination, you still have to go to the Normal School for recruitment."

Liu Qiao nodded repeatedly and chatted with this person about the situation of various schools. He learned that in addition to the Jinyiwei Security School, the Normal School, Wensi School, and Industrial and Commercial School were all thriving.

Moreover, the Safety School does not stand out among them, at least not the most eye-catching one.

Judging from the results of this year's provincial examination, among the nine major colleges, the Normal School stands out. The Agricultural School of Sinology Temple and Shanglinyuan, the Astronomy School of the Imperial Astronomical Bureau, and the Translation School of the Lifanyuan are close behind. The Safety School and the Naval School, the Wensi School, the Industrial and Commercial School, and the Medical School are at the bottom of the list.

These schools are usually regarded as schools for children of wealthy families, and only those whose families are engaged in these industries can be admitted.

Liu Qiao listened to this person's story and thought that most of the students in the Anquan School were indeed from the Jinyiwei. Most of the students in the Wensi School were children of craftsmen, and most of the students in the Gongshang School were related to the eunuchs in the inner court.

This made him nod his head and agree with this statement. Then he heard the man say:
"Since you are from a guard post, you should let your sons enter the military academy and strive to enter the martial arts school and pass the examination to become a military scholar."

"It's still too difficult to pass the civil service exam. It's better to recruit teachers for the martial arts school."

Liu Qiao nodded, agreeing with this statement. He bowed and thanked him:
"Thank you for your explanation, brother, but I still want to recruit a few people who are proficient in the imperial examinations."

"To take the military examination, one must be familiar with the Four Books and Five Classics. If you don't have this knowledge, you won't pass."

"What's going on with Fang Yuanshi? Can we ask him to come over and teach?"

"He is a student at the Normal School. After he finishes his studies, he should be able to become a teacher, right?"

The man laughed and said:

"Don't even think about recruiting Fang Yuanshi. His future has already been decided. He has established a research institute with the Imperial Household Department and the Imperial Household Supervision Department to specialize in vehicle equipment research."

“If his previous inventions had not been unsellable after being put on the market, he would not have looked for partners on the Golden Stage.”

"The rolling bearing sounds good, but the steering wheel and rack from last time sounded better, but they didn't sell either, right?"

"These things are too difficult to make. It's impossible to sell something that costs so much."

Liu Qiao didn't know much about this and after asking carefully for a long time, he realized that Fang Yizhi had previously "invented" a device that used a combination of gears and racks to drive the wheels to turn.

This steering device is used on a four-wheeled carriage, allowing the two front wheels of the carriage to steer freely, solving the steering problem of the four-wheeled carriage.

However, it did not sell well because the steering system had a disadvantage: it required both hands to turn the steering wheel.

In this way, it takes another person to whip the carriage, and the two coachmen need to work in harmony to drive the four-wheeled carriage.

Therefore, this kind of steering device is only used in some large-sized luxury four-wheeled carriages. Ordinary people prefer three-wheeled carriages that can be steered by pedals.

The steering devices that the Imperial Household Department and the Imperial Household Department spent money to manufacture were ultimately not sold in large quantities.

So after Fang Yizhi "invented" the bearing based on the model made by the emperor, neither company wanted to monopolize the shares, but wanted to raise some funds from outside.

Liu Qiao thanked the man and whispered to Wu Mengming:
"A four-wheeled carriage with a bogie. I seem to have some impression of it."

"Isn't there a person steering the big carriage in our government office?"

Liu Qiao usually didn't pay attention to it, but after hearing the explanation about the steering device, he immediately thought of a large carriage in the Jinyiwei, which was equipped with a bogie.

Wu Mengming was responsible for more specific matters and said with a smile:

"It's the big carriage sent by the Imperial Household Department. They said they wanted us to experience it so that it would be easier to formulate traffic regulations."

"That carriage is comfortable to sit in, but it's a little too big, and it's not convenient to go out."

"Our driver is not a good driver, so we rarely use it."

"I heard that after just a few uses, the driver broke the gear and rack, and had to ask the people from the Imperial Household Department to repair them several times."

Liu Qiao thought about the situation of the big carriage and shook his head. He felt that the steering device was indeed large and useless, and it looked good but was not practical.

This bearing requires many small cylinders inside, and is no easier to manufacture than gears and racks. It may also break easily, and is a thing that looks beautiful but is not easy to use.

Sure enough, someone on stage quickly pointed this out.

Fang Yizhi said calmly:

"Not only cylinders can be used in bearings, but also balls, that is, ball bearings made of steel."

"This type of steel ball was rarely used in the past, so very few were made."

"But after using them more and more, someone will eventually figure out how to make strong and durable steel balls."

"Then the cost of bearings will drop rapidly, making them affordable for every driver."

As he spoke, he took out a chess piece and said to everyone:

"Look at this chess piece. How is it made?"

"If even such smooth and round chess pieces can drip out, how difficult is it to make steel balls?"

"You all agree, isn't this the truth?"

Go pieces are made by hand, and many people who play Go know this.

Everyone thought about those smooth and round chess pieces, and then looked at the steel balls needed for bearings, and it seemed that it would not be that difficult to make them.

Just as Fang Yizhi said, as long as people work hard to figure it out, someone will soon be able to make strong and durable steel balls, and the cost will come down.

Therefore, some people with spare money began to be tempted. They felt that after solving the most difficult problem of steel balls, the other bearing parts would not be that difficult to make.

This makes them more patient in watching others question each other intellectually and point out the shortcomings of this invention bit by bit.

Many people who wanted to become famous began to think hard and look for the shortcomings of the bearings invented by Fang Yizhi.

Various questions came one after another, which broadened Liu Qiao's horizons when he first met him:

"It turns out that craftsmen can also debate, and they have to produce real objects."

"This Golden Stage is really good. Those who can stand out are not boastful people."

"It's a pity that we need people who are good at speaking, not these people who are good at work."

"We need to set up a special topic and select the necessary talents." (End of this chapter)