I am Emperor Wanli

Chapter 960: Your Majesty, Are You Off Topic?

The Great Hall of the Huzhou Provincial Government in Shanghai City.

The sign on top of the gate has just been changed. It used to be the Great Hall of the Huzhou Government Office, but now it has been changed to the Great Hall of the Huzhou Provincial Government.

According to the emperor's edict published in "Huang Ming Dynasty News" and "China Political News" a few days ago, the government offices of the two capitals and all direct-controlled prefectures will be treated the same as those of the provinces, and all will use the three departments of provincial administration, provincial supervision and military preparation.

After entering the arched gate, there is a cement floor with lawns on both sides, each with a row of slogans.

On the left is "Long live the great Chinese nation!".

On the right is "The working people from all walks of life in the Ming Dynasty are united as one!".

A row of slogans was erected above the main entrance of the Great Hall.

"Long live the Ming Dynasty! Long live the Emperor!"

The gate of the Great Hall was guarded by soldiers and the inspection was very strict. Everyone coming in had to be checked repeatedly.

There was a temporary tent nearby, and people coming in were searched inside. There were also female officers and soldiers present, because there were more than 200 female workers, nurses, students and other women coming in for inspection.

After entering the gate, the representatives of agriculture, industry, commerce, students and soldiers who were summoned to the meeting walked along the cement floor for 30 meters and climbed ten steps to the platform.

There is also a checkpoint at the main entrance of the Great Hall, which is staffed by the Jinyiwei Fengchensi and the General Security Bureau.

After passing the inspection and entering, everyone gathered in the empty hall and then dispersed in twos and threes, talking about things.

Chatting here.

"Why did you gather so many people today?"

"I don't know. It is said that the emperor wants to convene representatives from all walks of life in Huzhou for a meeting."

"It's been eleven years since the Wanli New Deal. Aren't there new things every year?"

There's some murmur over there.

"Has the wind changed direction again recently?"

"Yes, it was reported in the Nanjing Political News, Southeast Political News and other newspapers that in July of the tenth year of the Wanli reign, hundreds of weapons were stolen from the arsenal of the Coastal Defense Corps in Dongning County (Kaohsiung), Liuqiu County, Donghai Province. This was a major crime committed by collusion between the inside and outside, taking advantage of the typhoon and mudslide.

Thousands of people were arrested.”

"It is said that this case is also related to the Shandong Shushan Lake treason case, and Wu Baojin, chairman of the Industrial Bank, is one of the main culprits."

"Wu Baojin? I've heard of him. Isn't he one of the famous Twelve Heavenly Kings of the Shaofu Supervisor?"

"Four of the Twelve Heavenly Kings were arrested, and hundreds of people from the Shaofu Supervisor were also arrested. Dozens of old people from the Coordination Office alone were arrested."

"I never thought that this wind would eventually blow to the head of the Shaofu Supervisor."

The man's tone was full of gloating.

"I knew this day would come!"

"What do you mean?"

"When the bird is dead, the bow is put away; when the rabbit is dead, the dog is cooked!"

"Nonsense! There are bad people in the conservative party, but all the new party members are good people? Impossible. There are good and bad people in the world. Now that the lineage of the Shaofu Supervisor has been arrested, I think some people are just like this by nature."

"What is human nature? Human nature is evil?"

"There is no good or evil in human nature! It's just that some people can't suppress their greed and arrogance. They become arrogant when they are proud."

"Okay, everyone, stop talking about this." Seeing that the argument was getting more and more heated, someone came out to smooth things over, "Look, the people who came today are really diverse."

"That's right. In addition to our business community and literary and academic circles, there are also farmers, workers and soldiers."

"Yes, those are from the Chongming Farm Reclamation Bureau, those are from the Jinshan Farm Reclamation Bureau, and those are from the Dianshan Lake Farm Reclamation Bureau. There are also sixty or seventy village heads, village elders, and counselors from Huating, Qingpu, Fengxian and other counties."

"Those are dock workers, those are female workers in the spinning mill, those are sailors, those are workers in the machine factory, those are teachers, those are doctors and nurses in the hospital, and those are the sales clerks in our supply and marketing cooperatives and department stores. There are women among them too."

Someone shook his head and sighed, "What kind of thing is this? Why were all the people called in? What kind of meeting is this?"

"Perhaps the Emperor wants to share the joy with the people."

"It is true that we should share the joy and benevolence with the people. But today is a meeting. How can we let these people attend? Can they understand? How many words can they read?"

Someone immediately retorted, "You know what? His knowledge is not necessarily lower than yours."

The man immediately became unhappy, "What do you mean? I was a scholar back then."

"Those teachers and doctors are either from normal schools or medical schools; those sailors and seamen are either from maritime colleges or shipping schools; those sales clerks, factory workers, and even the female workers in the spinning mills are all graduates of various technical schools.

Even the hard-working dock workers are forced to attend night school for a certain period of time every year, and only after three years can they get a higher salary.

You are just a little scholar, you are nothing in front of others."

Someone immediately responded, "They may not be as good as you in memorizing the Four Books and Five Classics, but you are not as good as them in arithmetic and production. Under the Wanli New Deal, the Four Books and Five Classics became miscellaneous studies, while science and engineering that can be produced became popular."

Hundreds of people gathered together, like hundreds of sparrows having a meeting, and the hall was filled with buzzing sounds.

"Dangdang!"

The three doors of the hall were pushed open, and a staff member shouted loudly: "Dear delegates, please come in for the meeting."

Everyone immediately stopped talking, split into three groups, and walked through the gate into the synagogue.

The hall is a standard modern-style hall with rows of seats whose seats can be closed and unfolded. Each area has a wooden sign with the name of each unit written on it.

The delegates were led by staff to their respective areas.

The eight great companies, namely Jiangnan Shipbuilding Bureau, Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau, Shanghai Weaving Bureau, Shanghai Textile Bureau, China Merchants Steam Navigation Company and Ocean Shipping Bureau, are in the front position.

Several agricultural reclamation bureaus and representatives from various counties and villages were at the front, followed by representatives from supply and marketing cooperatives, department stores, major trading companies, hospitals, primary and secondary schools, and major colleges and universities.

After most people were seated, we saw artists from several Kunqu Opera troupes and Haiyan Opera Troupe, along with Taoist priests, monks and others, finally come in.

There really are all kinds of people.

Everyone sat down quietly and saw the podium in front of them. There were four rows of long tables covered with clean printed towels, vases of flowers and water cups on them.

There was a long banner hanging above the rostrum with a line of words written on it.

"The First Political Consultative Conference of Representatives from All Circles in Huzhou, Ming Dynasty."

Behind the rostrum are two rows of red flags, spread out like a fan on both sides, with a huge emblem in the middle.

The background is round and red, with yellow sun and moon on it, like ancient seal characters.

In the middle is the majestic Chengtian Gate, supported by the majestic green mountains and blue sea below. The mountains are divided into five peaks, and the sea is divided into four seas.

There is a golden circle on the outside, the upper two-thirds are cloud patterns, and the bottom one-third is thicker than the upper one, and is made up of rice ears and gears.

This is the latest national emblem of the Ming Dynasty.

Below are two crossed Ming Dynasty flags, with the background colors of blue, red, yellow, white and black, representing the five directions, with a large and symmetrical golden five-pointed star in the middle.

Five stars rising from the east bring good luck to China.

This is the latest one. The previous flag with the Chinese character Ming was a bit too simple, so they asked for opinions and decided on this national flag.

After a while, starting from somewhere, the delegates stood up and applauded enthusiastically. In less than half a minute, everyone in the venue stood up and applauded loudly.

A group of people surrounded Zhu Yijun and walked in. Everyone was wearing black and navy blue uniforms. Zhu Yijun was wearing a dark gray uniform, which was unique and particularly eye-catching.

Everyone stood in their seats in tacit agreement. Zhu Yijun was in the middle of the first row. On his left was Xu Zhenming, on his right was Zhang Siwei, and on both sides were Pan Yinglong, Yu Dayou, Hu Gongru, Lin Zeyou, Li Zhi, Yang Lingde, Ye Mengxiong, Li E, and Zhao Guancai.
Except for some of Zhu Yijun's entourage and officials from Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui and Nanjing who were present as observers, the rest were officials from the Huzhou Provincial Administration, the Censorate and the Military Preparations Department, as well as officials from the Siliyuan and the Procuratorate.

Everyone turned sideways, clapped, and looked at Zhu Yijun.

The applause lasted for about a minute. Zhu Yijun put his hands down. First from the rostrum, then from the entire venue, the applause gradually subsided.

Zhu Yijun sat down first, and the others followed suit. The sound of seats being turned over could be heard in the meeting hall.

In front of Lin Zeyou's seat was a silver-gray iron lump with a base as heavy as a box and a long support rod as thick as a chopstick, bent into an arc, with a small eggplant cut in half facing his mouth.

There is also a long black line under the base, running along the ground to both sides of the rostrum.

This is said to be the latest speaker.

Lin Zeyou patted the little eggplant in front of him, and there was a banging sound in the venue, which scared everyone.

Looking up, I saw two large speakers hanging high on the walls on both sides of the rostrum. Each speaker was as big as a washbasin and emitted a huge sound.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the first political consultation conference of representatives from all walks of life in Huzhou, Ming Dynasty, has officially been convened. I, Lin Zeyou, the governor of Huzhou, am the host of this conference.

Now, His Majesty the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty will give a speech to everyone."

Lin Zeyou went straight to the point.

There is also a similar speaker placed on Zhu Yijun's desk.

He tapped on the speaker's little eggplant-like pickup and laughed.

"This electronic speaker was made by Shanghai No. 1 Electronics Factory."

Zhu Yijun's voice was very loud and clear, echoing throughout the hall.

"In the seventh year of the Wanli reign, the Sixth Research Bureau and the Fourth Research Institute of the Imperial Observatory successively developed electronic equipment such as wired telegraphs, AC motors, AC generators, electric lights, electromagnetic pickups, coupled amplifiers and electromagnetic speakers that could be mass-produced and put into commercial use. In the tenth year of the Wanli reign, the Huzhou Provincial Administration immediately joined hands with the Shaofujian to establish the Shanghai Electronics Industry Bureau Group and the First Electronics Factory and the First Motor Factory, two months earlier than the Tianjin Electronics Industry Bureau and three months earlier than the Beijing Telegraph Bureau Equipment Factory. With lightning speed, they grabbed the first spot in the electronics industry.

Very sharp! "

"This set of Chaoyang brand electronic loudspeaker equipment was produced by Shanghai No. 1 Electronics Factory. The hundreds of incandescent lamps on the ceiling of the venue were also produced by the light bulb workshop of Shanghai No. 1 Electronics Factory.

But now it is called Shanghai Light Bulb Factory, and the light bulbs it produces are called Caixia brand.

Twenty years ago, a small town called Shanghaiwu in Shanghai became Shanghai County. Since then, it has been at the forefront of the economic development of the Ming Dynasty. It is like the head of the Yangtze River, carrying the entire Yangtze River to the vast East China Sea.

Today, Shanghai is once again at the forefront of the Ming Dynasty, being the first to convene a political consultation conference for representatives from all walks of life.”

Warm applause broke out.

Half a minute later, the applause slowly died down.

"Today's meeting includes me, the left chancellor of the cabinet, Mr. Xu, the senior councilor, Mr. Zhang, the right chancellors, Mr. Pan and Mr. Hu, the three officials of Shanghai, the judicial officials, and 676 representatives from Shanghai's agriculture, industry, commerce, and education, as well as people from all walks of life in medicine, education, literature, and religion.

Among them, representatives from agriculture, industry and commerce account for 60%, representatives from military science, medicine and education account for 30%, and representatives from other sectors account for 10%. It can be said that it brings together representatives from all walks of life in Huzhou and also brings the most comprehensive voice. "

At this point, Zhu Yijun paused and continued, "But I know that the delegates attending the meeting, including many officials on the rostrum and representatives from all walks of life below the stage, do not know why such a meeting is being held.

Some people are disdainful and think it is nonsense.

Some were confused and thought it was a new way to share happiness with the people.

Therefore, I feel that the significance of holding such a conference must be made clear. If it is not made clear, whether it is held ten or a hundred times, it will all be formalism and empty talk! "

The meeting room became very quiet and everyone was listening attentively.

"This time I went south for inspection, and I traveled along the Jinpu Line all the way south to Pukou, then took a ferry across the Yangtze River into Nanjing City, and paid homage to Emperor Taizu at the Xiaoling Mausoleum.

In the square city of Xiaoling Mausoleum, looking at the top of the mausoleum of Emperor Taizu and Empress Gao, I was filled with emotion.

Everyone was a little confused. What does the worship of Emperor Taizu at the Xiaoling Mausoleum have to do with holding this consultation conference of representatives from all walks of life in Shanghai?
Your Majesty, are you getting off topic?

(End of this chapter)