My father is Jiajing

Inside the Wenhua Hall, light and shadows are slanting and sandalwood incense is lingering.

After sending Emperor Jiajing back to the Wanshou Palace in the Western Garden, Zhu Zaigui returned from the Western Garden and went back to the Wenhua Hall.

At this moment, Zhu Zaigui was free and had no busy political affairs to deal with personally.

He also sat leaning on a rosewood chair with a dragon pattern, which was a rare occurrence, reading a copy of the latest issue of "Da Ming Feng Hua" magazine in this month.

This issue of the magazine was published before he was crowned, so there were no detailed text or illustrations reporting on his official enthronement as the Crown Prince.

However, this does not prevent the spread of the news that he was officially named the Crown Prince, because from tomorrow onwards, both the "Da Ming Fenghua" magazine and the official gazette under the Cabinet's Tongzhengsi will officially publish and disseminate this top-notch news in the form of a special issue.

What Zhu Zaigui is reading for entertainment now is a political commentary article written by Li Chunfang at Zhu Zaigui's request after Li Chunfang took office as the Prime Minister of the Cabinet, about his policy philosophy as the Prime Minister of the Cabinet.

Originally, Zhu Zaigui wanted to use a question-and-answer journalistic format and let Li Chunfang write this article.

Later I thought about it and felt that it was a bit too advanced, so I gave up.

However, with this new beginning, important officials in the future will be able to explain their policy concepts in this way, allowing more people to see their administrative thinking. Overall, this is a good thing.

At least it allows the people to understand some of the decision-making concepts of the court's policies, and allows the people to understand and expect some of the court's new policies and laws at certain levels, thereby completing the reverse supervision of grassroots and middle-level officials, so that the court's policies and orders can be more smoothly implemented through provinces, prefectures, states, and counties, instead of being too hypocritical as before.

"Your Highness, Mr. Gao has arrived."

Meng Chong, who was guarding the gate of Wenhua Palace, waited for Gao Gong to arrive, then went into the palace and reported quietly.

Zhu Zaigui nodded slightly, folded a page of the magazine "Da Ming Feng Hua" in his hand, turned it upside down on the table in front of him, looked up at Meng Chong and said, "Announce."

Meng Chong responded with a "yes", bowed and left, then turned around to summon Gao Gong into the hall.

After being summoned by Meng Chong, Gao Gong couldn't help but get excited. He had really waited for this moment for too long.

Although he only got a position of Second Assistant after returning from Nanjing, Gao Gong knew in his heart that he was able to reach the position of Second Assistant in one step because of Zhu Zaigui's deliberate promotion.

Otherwise, given the current situation in the cabinet, Zhao Zhenji is no more qualified than him to take this step first.

However, Zhao Zhenji did not take the step forward, but instead returned from Nanjing and ascended to the high position of second assistant.

From this we can see that Zhu Zaigui valued him much more than ordinary ministers!

Now Gao Gong was summoned by Zhu Zaigui alone to the Wenhua Palace, and his feelings were naturally beyond words.

After entering the palace, Gao Gong bowed respectfully upon seeing Zhu Zaigui: "Your Highness, Gao Gong, pays respect to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince."

"Mr. Gao, you don't have to be so polite."

Zhu Zaigui raised his hand to signal Gao Gong to stand up, with a faint smile on the corner of his mouth.

After Gao Gong stood up, Zhu Zaigui said to Meng Chong, "Go and bring a chair over for Mr. Gao."

Meng Chong went to move the chair, and Gao Gong bowed to express his gratitude.

After the chairs were brought in, Gao Gong also sat down below Zhu Zaigui.

Zhu Zaigui said: "Mr. Gao, I was officially enthroned today, and you are the first minister I have summoned alone."

When Gao Gong heard this, he couldn't help but feel nervous and excited.

Gao Gong bowed and said, "Your Highness, your grace is profound. I am extremely grateful!"

Zhu Zaigui chuckled and chatted, "Since your majesty and I summoned you, Mr. Gao, to return to the capital, I have asked you about Jiangnan in detail. Today I have some free time, so instead of talking about politics, you can tell me some interesting stories about Jiangnan."

Gao Gong bowed again and then picked out some interesting stories that happened in Nanjing and other places in the south of the Yangtze River and analyzed them with Zhu Zaigui.

Zhu Zaigui was also happy listening to the interesting stories told by Gao Gong.

After all, the current Ming Dynasty is not as good as the era before Zhu Zaigui traveled through time. In his era, as long as you had a smartphone that could connect to the Internet, you could almost stay at home and get all kinds of information from the world anytime and anywhere.

But in today's Ming Dynasty, even if something happened in the suburbs of Beijing, if there was no special information request, Zhu Zaigui might have to wait for half a day before he could know about it.

It can be seen how precious and closed information transmission is to the Ming Dynasty at that time.

After hearing the interesting story, Zhu Zaigui suddenly asked, "Mr. Gao, do you have any complaints about me letting you take charge of both the economy and technology?"

Gao Gong quickly replied, "I have no complaints. Your Highness trusts me by letting me take charge of these matters. Moreover, whether it is the Ming Federal Reserve, the Customs Office, or the court's trade with the Tatar Mobei region, these are all important matters that concern the court's vital lifeline."

"Your Highness has entrusted these important tasks to me. Apart from being extremely grateful, I am also extremely nervous and excited, fearing that I will not be able to meet your expectations."

Zhu Zaigui laughed and waved his hand, saying, "Mr. Gao, there is no need to be so excited. Although many things are urgent, they need to be taken slowly. I understand all these principles."

"Besides, I summoned you this time because I wanted to chat with you on a free day. I recently heard that a laboratory in Shunyi has developed a new thing called 'electricity'. I think it's very interesting. Have you heard about it?"

When Gao Gong heard what Zhu Zaigui said, he of course knew it.

Because the "technology" area that Zhu Zaigui asked him to be in charge of included these strange new gadgets.

Although these things could not create much actual benefits, since it was Zhu Zaigui's order, Gao Gong still had to know something about it.

Moreover, the name "electricity" was also given by Zhu Zaigui.

It is said that the laboratory that discovered electricity was also inspired by Zhu Zaigui and worked hard for several years before they finally finalized their new gadget.

Although it is still unclear what the electricity will be used for, Zhu Zaigui has high hopes for it, and he even asked Shunyi Industrial Park to invest another 50,000 taels of support funds in them, saying that if it is not enough, there is more!

It can be seen that Zhu Zaigui really attached great importance to this "electricity".

Gao Gong said: "I have heard of this, but I don't understand what this electricity is used for yet."

Zhu Zaigui smiled and said, "This electricity is really useful. I recently heard that an experimenter used carbonized bamboo filaments and a simple transparent glass cover to try to pass electricity through it. He actually created a light source that is brighter than candlelight."

"But unfortunately, bamboo filaments are not resistant to burning, and their research on electricity is relatively limited, so they can't maintain it for a long time. They are also afraid of electrocuting themselves and paralyzing themselves, so there is still no proper solution." "So I was thinking, since Mr. Gao is in charge of science and technology, electricity can be used as a breakthrough in Mr. Gao's scientific and technological work. You should pay more attention to the progress in this area and see if they can make a bigger breakthrough."

"I have a hunch that if Mr. Gao can make a major breakthrough in the study of electricity during the time you are in charge of scientific and technological work, then thousands of households in the future and even countless future generations who will benefit from electricity will remember you."

"By then, Mr. Gao's name will not only exist in a page of history books, but will also become a legend passed down from mouth to mouth!"

Gao Gong listened to the big promises made by Zhu Zaigui, but he was actually not tempted.

After all, he had no idea what electricity was and whether it was reliable.

If Zhu Zaigui had not attached great importance to electricity, he would rather focus his scientific and technological work on the steam railroad cars developed in Xishan rather than on the electricity developed in Shunyi.

After all, steam railroad cars are the real thing that can replace mules and horses and provide the Ming Dynasty with extremely powerful transportation capabilities.

If this thing can be used to pave several key roads during his tenure, it would be a real achievement for Gao Gong!
But now that Zhu Zaigui has brought up the point, Gao Gong certainly cannot lose face for Zhu Zaigui.

Gao Gong immediately bowed and said, "I will definitely pay close attention to this matter and strive to achieve the breakthrough that Your Highness expects!"

Zhu Zaigui looked at Gao Gong and knew that Gao Gong would not care much about electricity.

But there was no way, Zhu Zaigui had to get Gao Gong's attention, because Zhu Zaigui understood too well the role of electricity in the future world.

With electricity, the world will not only have more light, but also more possibilities.

For example, the information transmission problem that Zhu Zaigui just lamented can all be solved through a crucial breakthrough after the advent of electricity, allowing future information transmission technology to reach a level far beyond the imagination of the ancients!

After talking about electricity, Zhu Zaigui turned the topic to Zhang Juzheng.

Zhu Zaigui picked up a memorial from the desk in front of him. It was a memorial submitted by Zhang Juzheng.

The current Zhang Juzheng is the cabinet minister and governor-general of Southern Zhili arranged by the court in Nanjing.

He was now fully responsible for the preparation and establishment of the Zhili Shanghai Prefecture, so after the decision was made, Zhang Juzheng submitted a memorial entitled "Memorial on the Preparation and Establishment of the Zhili Shanghai Prefecture", in which he detailed his views on the preparation and establishment of the Zhili Shanghai Prefecture.

Zhu Zaigui said, "This is the memorial on the establishment of Shanghai Prefecture in Zhili sent by Mr. Zhang yesterday. I have read it three times. I think Mr. Zhang's opinion is good. Now you are also responsible for this task, so you can take a look at it as well."

Zhu Zaigui reached out and handed the memorial to Gao Gong.

Gao Gong took the memorial respectfully and read it carefully.

He knew that Zhu Zaigui's purpose in setting up the Shanghai Prefecture directly under the jurisdiction of the government was to drive a nail into Jiangnan and to have the court directly manage the economy and trade in the Jiangnan region.

This move can be said to be aimed at dismantling the original supporting measures of the Jiangnan family.

Gao Gong also fully agreed with this.

After all, what he had done in Jiangnan before had already offended the gentry in Jiangnan.

If they could now be further divided and prevented from continuing to stick together, that would be great for Gao Gong.

Otherwise, if one day in the future these people succeed in forming a group and gain huge influence and voice outside the court and the public, and they bring up old scores with Gao Gong again, Gao Gong cannot guarantee that he can bear it.

Therefore, apart from Zhu Zaigui, he is the most active person in the preparation for the establishment of Zhili Shanghai Prefecture.

After Gao Gong finished reading Zhang Juzheng's "Memorial on the Establishment of Zhili Shanghai Prefecture", he looked up at Zhu Zaigui and said, "I fully support Taiyue's opinion. He is now the cabinet minister in Nanjing and also serves as the governor-general of Southern Zhili. If he supervises this matter over there, it will surely be twice the result with half the effort."

Zhu Zaiqi hummed, "Mr. Gao is right. Since Mr. Gao also thinks that Mr. Zhang's memorial makes sense, you should approve the suggestions in the memorial as soon as possible and let the Nanjing Ministry of Revenue unconditionally support the construction of Zhili Shanghai Prefecture."

Gao Gong bowed again: "I obey your order!"

After talking about this, Zhu Zaigui took out another memorial.

Zhu Zaigui said, "This is Pan Jixun's petition to change the grain transport system. He advocates that part of the grain be transported by sea. This will relieve the pressure on the canal and give him time and space to control the floods in the lower reaches of the Yellow River and Huai River. What do you think?"

After hearing these words, Gao Gong's eyes narrowed. This matter was of great importance!

Not to mention how many canal workers were tied up on the canal, the interests involved were not something that could be easily changed.

If, after the imperial court made a decision, some people with ulterior motives incited the ignorant water transport workers, saying that the imperial court was going to destroy their jobs, the hundreds of thousands of families behind these hundreds of thousands of water transport workers would be affected by a chain reaction, which would be no joke.

But if this can be accomplished, it will not only save a lot of manpower and material resources, but also catch a lot of corrupt officials in the grain transport office.

So after some thought, Gao Gong also said cautiously: "Pan Jixun's suggestion is a good thing, but this matter is of great importance. If those relevant personnel with deep interests take the opportunity to trip up the workers and incite them to cause trouble, it will be troublesome."

Zhu Zaiqi nodded, "Yes, so this memorial has been suppressed for almost a month, and I have not responded to it. Now I just want to ask Mr. Gao for his opinion on how to deal with it better?"

Gao Gong pondered for a moment, his brows furrowed into a frown, which showed that this matter was not something that could be easily resolved.

Zhu Zaigui did not force Gao Gong to come up with a plan for him right away. Zhu Zaigui said, "Take these two memorials back and think about them carefully. When you have made up your mind, come and report to me in private."

Gao Gong respectfully closed the two memorials, held them in his palms, and bowed to Zhu Zaigui again, "Yes, I will take my leave."

Looking at Gao Gong's leaving back, Zhu Zaigui couldn't help but sigh slightly.

These canal workers are just like the tens of millions of deliverymen before he traveled through time. They have neither the skills nor the craftsmanship.

Moreover, the imperial court was unable to provide them with enough jobs at the moment to allow them to withdraw from it and change the employment structure.

Therefore, it is harder than climbing to the sky to move these people!

However, the Yellow River and the Huai River have to be controlled, otherwise they will burst their banks and cause floods every now and then, which would be an unacceptable loss.

Moreover, the Ming Dynasty now has enough cement and steam equipment to carry out a modern Yellow River control project to manage the Yellow River and Huai River systems.

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