Ming Dynasty: Domination of the World from the Imperial Examination

Chapter 223 You are right, something happened in Jiangnan!
Xia Zhibai blew the ink dry.

He hung the calligraphy on the bookshelf behind him.

After all, there are still not enough scholars in the Hanlin Academy, and the content they compile contains too many subjective ideas. Although any history is contemporary history, not everyone will really engage in contemporary history. Scholars like Dong Guan prefer to show off their literary talent, and also like to secretly put down and praise others.

Given the current situation, it will take several months to complete the writing.

Xia Zhibai was not in a hurry.

You can't rush to edit books, especially for this kind of popular education. There is a lot of resistance from both top and bottom, and it is rare to be able to push forward with difficulty. It will have to be reviewed three times and proofread four times. It will be impossible to finalize it without more than half a year.

Xia Zhibai stopped writing.

He blew out the candles in the room.

Looking at the sparsely populated Hanlin Academy, he pulled himself together and walked out of the academy.

Late at night.

It's time to go home and rest.

During this month or so, Yingtian Prefecture was very peaceful.

The salt industry in Kyoto also stabilized.

There were people spreading rumors from time to time before, but after Xia Zhibai came back, these rumors disappeared all of a sudden. Even those who had left Kyoto Salt Industry no longer walked around outside the Kyoto Salt Shop.

The city fell into a rare silence.

But Xia Zhibai knew that this tranquility was only temporary.

The Ming Dynasty was a brand new dynasty. With the overthrow of the old Yuan Dynasty, the new Ming Dynasty gradually gained a firm foothold. The atmosphere in the court had changed. More and more people would seek to profit for their own families, because many people believed that a change of dynasties meant you step down and I take over, you finish your song and I take the stage.

Many of the Ming Dynasty's "officials" took office just to make money and become superior.

They won't build.

When they come to power, they just think that good things will happen to them.

Because the officials of the Ming Dynasty had even less aspirations.

Zhu Yuanzhang had created so many major cases over the years, issuing the "Great Edict" and establishing the "Jinyiwei", and he wanted to eradicate all corruption and decadence in the world, but such changes were difficult to reach the deep end.

Before the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, the generals and advisers under Zhu Yuanzhang were all united and worked together. But after the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, they all had their own thoughts. This personal desire and greed had long overwhelmed many fears.

The Game of Thrones has always been cruel.

Zhu Yuanzhang might gradually figure out that gaining power does not mean gaining everything.

But lost everything.

Therefore, there is no time to rest in the game of thrones. Once you get involved, you have to keep playing until failure or death. Zhu Yuanzhang could not accept failure, and was not even willing to face death. He could only move forward without turning back.

Because he is the Son of Heaven.

As the son of God, I follow the way of Heaven and rule the world!

He has no, and will not have, a way out.

"The mountains and rivers cover the land of China, and the sun and the moon reopen the great sky." Xia Zhibai sighed softly. The deeper he went into the world, the more he could feel the exhaustion of personal strength. This was not because of exhaustion of human power, but because of lack of strength.

So what if the sun and the moon are equal in the sky.

It will eventually land.

Only the stars in the sky will not fall.

These stars are not others, and they cannot become others.

They are just the largest, most inconspicuous and even the most despised people!
Xia Zhibai stopped and looked up at the starry sky. The starry sky was like a net, dotted with countless stars. Only a full moon hung high in the blue sky, looking elegant and proud. But how many people can see the stars around the full moon?

Half an hour later.

Xia Zhibai returned to the salt shop.

As soon as I entered the shop, Jing Man came over.

He handed over two blueprints and said excitedly, "Grand Secretary, we have developed a new steam engine and a textile machine with a flying shuttle. Although it has not been actually manufactured yet, with some leftover pig iron from the craftsman's room, Governor Zhou and his team have made a smaller version, which has greatly improved the efficiency of salt production."

"The speed of weaving on the loom is amazing."

"The shuttle goes back and forth, which saves a lot of fiddling. Governor Zhou and his colleagues said that according to preliminary estimates, it can at least increase the speed of cotton weaving by half, and if you become skilled, it may be even faster. It's all made of wood, so the cost is extremely low, and the output is still cloth."

"Grandmaster, we are going to get rich."

Jing Man was so excited that he couldn't stop smiling.

As the few clerks under Xia Zhibai, they were under a lot of pressure because Xia Zhibai spent money too quickly. After finally making some money from salt making, they went straight to pay the interest to the Ministry of Revenue. Now, there was less than 3,000 taels in the account of the Kyoto Salt Shop, and they also had to support coal plants, iron plants, etc. in various places.

They lost a lot of hair in order to raise money.

Now that the flying shuttle loom has been invented, a lot of the cotton they harvested last year can be put to use.

Cloth is hard currency, real money!
And because they were made of wood, even if they made hundreds of textile machines, it wouldn't cost too much money. This was much more economical than making a steam engine. As long as they could build a textile factory, they would have two ways to make money in the future.

One sells salt and the other weaves cloth.

It's all huge profits.

Jing Man even had a vision that these industries could bring in an annual income of over 100,000 yuan.

Xia Zhibai smiled and nodded.

He took the drawing, unfolded it and looked at it carefully.

He knew why the textile machine was made, but he looked at the steam engine carefully, and after watching it several times, he gradually understood why it was made so quickly. The main reason was that the quality of the steel produced by Zunhua Iron and Steel Smelting had improved. The steel produced by the Ming Dynasty before had many pores and holes, which led to uneven pressure in the steam cylinder and a lot of heat was wasted.

Now that I own an iron smelter, I have higher requirements for steel quality, and the iron smelter can only keep improving.

We are only seeing initial results now.

See this.

Xia Zhibai smiled.

He has begun to look forward to whether Zunhua Iron and Steel Co. can produce seamless steel pipes in the future. If they can, many future "guns" and artillery will be able to come out one after another. By then, with a few rounds of firepower, even the earthen buildings in Yunnan that can only be filled with human lives can be quickly flattened.

The Ming Dynasty’s borders can also be completely stabilized.

However, Xia Zhibai was still somewhat dissatisfied with the improvements to the steam engine.

This is just an improvement in materials.

The improvement on the steam engine itself is not much.

He actually mentioned Watt's improvement in private, but neither Zhou Ning nor the craftsmen from King Zhou took it seriously and still focused on the old drawings, which made Xia Zhibai quite helpless.

He has thought it through.

Wait a few days and go to the salt factory to ask about it.

You can't just focus on one direction.

Xia Zhibai said: "As for the steam engine blueprint, let them test it again. If there are no major problems, we will ask Zunhua Iron and Steel to produce a certain batch. However, we will not give priority to supplying Yingtian Prefecture, but to the north. The population in the north is small, so we will satisfy the needs of the north first."

"Take five hundred taels of silver and buy some materials to build a loom. Give it to the female workers in the salt and coal factories first."

"The sooner this happens, the better."

Jing Man nodded.

Then, Jing Man said, "Grand Secretary, a steward just came to tell me that he is the steward of the deputy steward of the Salt Transport Department and the Land Department. Their master wants to invite you over."

Tian Jing?

Xia Zhibai frowned slightly, a smile appearing at the corner of his mouth.

He has been waiting for Tian Jing for some time.

The last time the two met, they did reach some agreement, but Xia Zhibai didn't think that Tian Jing could convince the local governor. It was indeed the case that officials in the Jiangnan region would not give up until they saw the rabbit. How could they be willing to make certain concessions unless something happened?
The position of the Salt Transport Commissioner was not low.

But the county magistrate is not as good as the current one.

They could not convince the local governor, nor could they persuade the vested interests. Even Tian Jing might not be able to persuade the officials within the Kyoto Salt Transport Bureau. The salt administration involved the interests of too many people and had too many stakeholders.

However, the reason Tian Jing came to see me now was probably because something happened in the south.

Xia Zhibai said: "I understand."

"It's getting late, you should go to bed early."

"I'll go over to Vice President Tian Yun."

Xia Zhibai returned to his bedroom, locked the drawings in the cabinet, and went out.

Just two more followers.

One is the flower sparrow and the other is the 'Er Gou'.

Xia Zhibai gave them names that were quite elegant. One was called Chunzhi and the other was called Lu Cang. However, they didn't like to use them very much and preferred to be called by such 'nicknames'. Today, Huaque and Ergou have grown a lot taller than before. One is graceful and elegant, while the other is chubby and strong.

He actually doesn't like being followed.

He was appointed as the Grand Secretary of the Hanlin Academy, and the court also assigned four clerks to him.

But he didn't let them follow him and sent them all to read.

It was just because his official position had indeed been promoted and more and more people in the city knew him, so Chunzhi and Lu Cang were worried that something might happen, so they basically followed him. For this reason, Chunzhi and Lu Cang even went to practice some boxing, but most of the time they were just fighting for power.

Originally, Jing Man wanted more people to follow.

Only to be harshly rejected.

Not long after.

Xia Zhibai arrived at Tian's house.

Tian Jing's residence is very simple, even a little shabby.

There is no sign at all that it is the residence of a fourth-rank official.

Lu Cang went to knock on the door.

Soon, an old man came to open the door. Seeing that it was Xia Zhibai who came, he did not dare to neglect him and welcomed Xia Zhibai in respectfully. At the same time, he winked at the servants around him, asking them to call their masters.

Led by the butler, Xia Zhibai arrived at the lobby.

As soon as Xia Zhibai sat down, a voice came from afar: "Master Xia, you are really as good as a god. I, Tian Jing, really admire you."

As soon as he finished speaking, Tian Jing's figure appeared outside the door. He walked into the house and winked at the servants around him. The servants immediately understood and hurried away. Chunzhi and Lu Cang hesitated for a moment and then retreated as well.

Only Xia Zhibai and Tian Jing were left in the room.

Tian Jing sat on the main seat, smiled bitterly and said, "Grandmaster, you are right."

"Something happened in Jiangnan!"

(End of this chapter)