Eagle-eyed and wolf-watching

Chapter 1543: Ministry of Industry Trouble (2)

Ye Mingsheng's rage was within Chen Fu's expectations, but in this situation, Chen Fu somehow felt that Ye Mingsheng was just making a lot of noise but doing little, and was trying to smooth things over!

Seeing that Chen Fu didn't speak, Chen Changgui said anxiously:
"Master Chen, please forgive me this time! Just treat me like a piece of shit. From now on, I will definitely work honestly and dutifully under you!"

When Chen Fu heard the word "from now on", his eyelids jumped, and then he instinctively looked at Ye Mingsheng who was sitting in the seat.

Chen Fu looked at Ye Mingsheng's expressionless face, and he immediately realized that his feeling was not wrong. Ye Mingsheng had no intention of transferring Chen Changgui from the First Manufacturing Bureau!
Chen Fu was also very sad and angry about this. In his opinion, things had come to this point and he and Chen Changgui could not coexist no matter what!
Even though Chen Changgui looks miserable now, as long as he is still in the First Manufacturing Bureau, he, as the Minister of Industry, will lose face and have no prestige, and he will not be able to do his job well!
Thinking of this, Chen Changgui also made up his mind and said:

"Your Majesty, the reason I'm resigning is not because of the dispute with Minister Chen. I really feel that I'm old and weak, and my energy is insufficient. Yi Jing is no longer competent for the work of the Ministry of Works, so please allow me to retire and return home!"

Hearing Chen Changgui still insisting on this set of rhetoric, Ye Mingsheng also realized Chen Changgui's thoughts. After frowning slightly, Ye Mingsheng said in a deep voice:

"Chen Changgui is committing treason, drag him out and give him thirty strokes of the cane!"

As soon as Ye Mingsheng finished speaking, two guards walked to Chen Changgui's side.

Chen Changgui realized that he was going to be beaten. He looked at Chen Fu in front of him and said nothing more. He turned around and followed the guards out...
Because Chen Changgui had his back to Ye Mingsheng at that time, Ye Mingsheng did not see Chen Changgui's eyes clearly. However, Chen Fu, who was facing Chen Changgui, saw Chen Changgui's eyes clearly. He could feel the resentment in Chen Changgui's eyes!

This also made Chen Fu more resolute in wanting Chen Changgui to leave. In his opinion, Chen Changgui was not really regretting his mistake at the moment, and he still did not submit to him. If he took a step back now and let His Majesty succeed in smoothing things over, and Chen Changgui still stayed in the First Manufacturing Bureau, then Chen Changgui would definitely return to his old ways, and he would be in big trouble!

So Chen Changgui must leave! If he doesn't leave, I will leave!

Your Majesty, you must choose between me and Chen Changgui!

With this thought in mind, Chen Fu did not wait for Ye Mingsheng to ask, and took the initiative to speak again:

"Your Majesty, I am old and weak, and I am not energetic enough to perform the duties of the Minister of Industry. Please allow me to retire and return home!"

When saying this, Chen Fu, whether intentionally or unintentionally, emphasized the word "responsibility", as if he was emphasizing something to Ye Mingsheng.

At this time, Ye Mingsheng also understood that Chen Fu insisted that he choose between him and Chen Changgui. Ye Mingsheng was a little annoyed about this!

Ye Mingsheng felt that he had given Chen Fu all the face he deserved, but Chen Fu was still forcing him, which was really a bit too much...

Thinking of this, Ye Mingsheng made a decision in his heart. Since you insist on making me choose one of the two, then I will give you a choice!

"Since you have made up your mind, Minister Chen, I will not keep you any longer. I remember that you are from Guanzhong. I will let Qi Dechao build a big house for you in your hometown and reward you with 1,000 taels of silver. Then you can go home and retire!"

Chen Fu, who was expecting Ye Mingsheng to choose to keep him, was stunned when he heard that Ye Mingsheng actually wanted him to go home and retire. He could hardly believe what he heard!

But looking at Ye Mingsheng's serious expression, Chen Fu realized that he had not heard wrong. Ye Mingsheng really asked him to go home and retire!

At this moment, a feeling of regret suddenly lingered in Chen Fu's heart. If time could be made into a regret pill, Chen Fu wanted to take it and take back what he had just said!

I have been looking forward to the position of Minister of Works all my life, but now, after only one year, I have to leave!
Thinking of this, Chen Fu opened his mouth, as if he wanted to say that he was no longer old and frail, and that he was no longer lacking in energy, and that he could perform the duties of the Minister of Works. But reason told Chen Fu that if he really said that, he would be committing the crime of deceiving the emperor!
But the crime of deceiving the emperor is a serious crime!
So at this moment, even though Chen Fu was regretting his decision, he had no other choice but to kneel on the ground and kowtow:

"Thank you very much for your consideration, Your Majesty! Long live Your Majesty!"

Ye Mingsheng looked at Chen Fu who was reluctant to leave and said with a smile: "Chen Fu, you should enjoy your retirement after you go home! The court will not forget your contribution!"

After comforting Chen Fu with a few more words, Ye Mingsheng let the former Shangshu of Daqian leave...

Looking at Chen Fu's distraught back, Ye Mingsheng shook his head with some regret. To be honest, Chen Fu was indeed a talent with rich experience in engineering construction, water conservancy and military farming, otherwise he would not have appointed him as the Minister of Works.

During the year he served as the Minister of Works, Chen Fu did a good job, and several projects were progressing step by step. Ye Mingsheng was also quite confident in Chen Fu's work in the past year, but unfortunately Chen Fu failed to recognize the situation and forced himself to make a choice between the two!

Ye Mingsheng cannot let Chen Fu succeed. As an emperor, Ye Mingsheng will not accept any form of coercion!

Moreover, after experiencing this incident, Ye Mingsheng also understood that the identity of a traitor was indeed Chen Fu's Achilles' heel. Even if he compromised and transferred Chen Changgui away, Chen Fu still could not get rid of the identity of a traitor in the court, and he still had no prestige!

With the departure of Chen Fu, the Ministry of Industry is also facing a reshuffle. Except for the vacancy of Chen Fu, the position of Minister of Industry, Chen Changgui, the Vice Minister of Industry and Director of the First Manufacturing Bureau, can no longer continue to work!
In fact, after realizing that Chen Fu decided to resign because of the conflict with Chen Changgui, Ye Mingsheng understood that Chen Fu was playing retreat to advance. As long as he demoted or transferred Chen Changgui, Chen Fu would not be old and weak, and would not lack energy, and would be able to perform the duties of the Minister of Works!

However, Ye Mingsheng really admired Chen Changgui's abilities and felt that he did a great job in the First Manufacturing Bureau. Under his overall planning and command, several projects had achieved good results recently, especially the steam engine project. Although there had not been any rapid progress, every time Ye Mingsheng went to inspect, he could feel that there had been progress compared to the last time...
Although he was reluctant to admit it, Ye Mingsheng knew that the current situation between Chen Fu and Chen Changgui was essentially due to his own decision back then!

When the Yijing court was established, there were no suspense about the positions of Minister of Revenue Cui Shao, Minister of Personnel Gu Sansi, and Minister of Punishment Li Jian. The suspense was about the positions of Minister of Works and Minister of Rites!

There were many discussions about these two positions within the court. The person with the highest voice for the position of Minister of Works was Murong Yuliang. Murong Yuliang, who was the governor of Hebei and Henan at the time, wanted to enter the central government. Since the Ministry of Revenue, Ministry of Justice and Ministry of Personnel all had people in these three departments, only the Ministry of Works and the Ministry of Rites had a chance!

Compared with the Ministry of Rites, Murong Yuliang believes that Ye Mingsheng will promote the development of industry and commerce in the future, and the Ministry of Industry will have better development than the Ministry of Rites!

Ye Mingsheng did consider Murong Yuliang, but due to some political reasons, Ye Mingsheng gave up the possibility of letting Murong Yuliang enter the core!
After the court realized that Ye Mingsheng would not allow Murong Yuliang to enter the core, the most popular candidate for the Minister of Works was Chen Changgui!

Chen Changgui was a capable subordinate of Zhang Dehui, the first director of the First Manufacturing Bureau. He independently presided over several projects, all of which were completed extremely well. Therefore, after Zhang Dehui was arrested for being framed, Chen Changgui was promoted by Ye Mingsheng to be the head of the First Manufacturing Bureau.

When Chen Changgui was the director of the First Manufacturing Bureau, it was the time when the Fengwu Army and the Luoan Imperial Court were fighting each other. There was a great demand for muskets, cannons, armor, arrows, swords and guns...
The main business of the First Manufacturing Bureau was weapons manufacturing, so when Chen Changgui took office as the director, he faced tremendous production pressure right from the start. For this reason, Chen Changgui directly took his bedding and some spare clothes into the office of the First Manufacturing Bureau!
At that time, Chen Changgui not only worked in the government office and coordinated various resources, but also went to the front line to supervise production from time to time. He put forward an important slogan at that time that the production of military equipment was related to the lives of soldiers on the front line. Therefore, everything we produce must ensure both quantity and quality, and we must never sacrifice quality for quantity!

During the most difficult time, Chen Changgui slept in the yamen for two months. On the day his wife gave birth to their youngest son, Ye Mingsheng found out and ordered him to go home. Only then did he go home to see his wife and child. After staying at home for a day, he went back to the yamen to work the next day!

It can be said that Chen Changgui is a typical workaholic at work. He is capable and serious about his work. It is his work attitude that ensures the supply of weapons to the Fengwu Army and provides weapons guarantee for the Fengwu Army's victory!
Yuan Song, He Jingyun, and Chen Han all praised Chen Changgui, saying that although he did not go to the battlefield in person, his military exploits were no less than those of 20,000 soldiers and horses, and he was the hero behind the Fengwu Army's conquest of the world!

Therefore, after the Fengwu Army seized the world, Chen Changgui also regarded himself as a meritorious official, especially after Ye Mingsheng denied the possibility of Murong Yuliang entering the central government, he was regarded by the outside world as the first choice for the Minister of Works. He became a little arrogant, not only accepting gifts from others, but also holding a grand banquet at home, as if he had become the Minister of Works...

Ye Mingsheng has always admired Chen Changgui's meticulous and serious work attitude, so at that time Ye Mingsheng did regard Chen Changgui as the first choice for the Minister of Works, and then thought of letting Chen Fu be the Vice Minister of Works to assist Chen Changgui!

But after hearing that Chen Changgui held a grand banquet at home, Ye Mingsheng's impression was not so good anymore!
In addition to the matter of holding a grand banquet, Ye Mingsheng actually had more considerations when deciding to appoint Chen Fu as the Minister of Works and Chen Changgui as the Vice Minister of Works.

The first point is the issue of age. Ye Mingsheng didn’t remember it very clearly, but if he remembered correctly, Chen Fu was about 57 or 58 years old at the time, less than 60 but very close to 60, while Chen Changgui was less than 40 years old. The two were nearly 20 years apart, which meant they were a generation apart!
Although in the Yijing court led by Ye Mingsheng, this kind of seniority-based promotion has been reduced a lot compared to the Great Zhou, and the habit of promoting capable people has been established, but after all, seniority-based promotion is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people in the Great Zhou, and everyone will inevitably consider this situation!

Chen Changgui and Chen Fu's sons are about the same age, so Ye Mingsheng feels that letting Chen Changgui lead Chen Fu will make both Chen Changgui and Chen Fu feel uncomfortable, which will not be conducive to their work in the Ministry of Industry...

The second and most important question!
The Ministry of Industry is responsible for engineering construction, water conservancy and military farming, military equipment manufacturing and other fields!

Although Chen Changgui did very well in weapons manufacturing and could be said to have handed in a perfect answer sheet, he had basically no experience in engineering construction, water conservancy and farming!
While the Fengwu Army had already unified the country, although there were still some wars around Daqian, these wars were all local wars and not very large in scale. The reduction in the scale of war also meant that the demand for military equipment was reduced!
The main work content of the Ministry of Industry in the future will be tilted towards engineering construction, water conservancy and military farming, and other areas related to the economy and people's livelihood. These will be the main work priorities of the Ministry of Industry in the future. Chen Fu, who has worked in the Ministry of Industry of the Great Zhou for almost a lifetime, is very good at these. He has rich experience in this area!
And it was precisely because Ye Mingsheng valued this point in Chen Fu that he finally, against all odds, appointed Chen Fu, a surrendered minister, to such a high position as the Minister of Works!
After making this appointment, Ye Mingsheng knew very well that Chen Changgui would definitely have some emotions in his heart and some complaints in his heart, which was very normal behavior!

Chen Changgui must be thinking, damn, I was working for the Fengwu Army to produce products. I didn’t go home when my family members were sick or my children were born. I insisted on working even when I was slightly ill. I ate, lived and slept in the yamen for two or three months. Now that we have finally won and taken over the world, you let a traitor be my boss. Have all my sacrifices and contributions been in vain?
What the hell are the sacrifices I have made for the Fengwu Army and for Your Majesty...