Jiajing Chengming

Chapter 249 Reform of Naval Academy and Official School Education!
"I've said it before, you can't both want to stop your majesty from building ships and want to overthrow Zhang!"

"Now, what we gain is more than what we gain! These Zhejiang nobles have helped Zhang Fujing a lot!"

Yang Yiqing complained to Mao Ji with a gloomy face and disappointment in his eyes, after learning that Zhang Cong had seized a large amount of bamboo and wood in Zhejiang and had investigated the case of the burning of bamboo and wood himself.

Mao Ji just sighed and said, "Why are you still talking about this now? Let's report the good news to His Majesty!"

Mao Ji said this and went to the inner court with Zhang Cong's urgent letter.

Fang Feng then stopped in front of Mao Ji and said, "Prime Minister, please stay!"

"And Elder Yang!"

Fang Feng then bowed to Yang Yiqing and said, "Excuse me, my two elders, do I need to go to Hangzhou?"

"What are you going to do? To implement Zhang Fujing's achievements?!"

Yang Yiqing asked sourly.

Mao Ji was calmer, and said to Fang Feng: "Go back and listen to the order first!"

Fang Feng nodded in agreement, and then said, "But this time, we from Nanzhi paid a full two million."

"Do you still want to go back?"

Yang Yiqing asked Fang Feng at this time.

Fang Feng was at a loss for words.

Yang Yiqing then said:
"Two million for a cabinet position is not a loss!"

It is said that not long after that, Zhu Houcong saw Zhang Cong's urgent letter from Mao Ji.

"it is good!"

Zhu Houcong naturally applauded.

"I said that the monarch and his subjects should trust each other, and ministers should also trust each other."

"Look, the Hangzhou Bamboo and Wood Extraction Factory fire was not caused by Zhang Fujing as some people say. In fact, Zhang Fujing not only found out the truth, but also seized a large amount of illegal and privately stored precious bamboo and wood!"

Zhu Houcong said a few words about this in front of Mao Ji.

Mao Ji also smiled and echoed: "Your Majesty is right. The monarch and his subjects, and the ministers themselves, should not hate and be hostile to each other, and then attack each other."

"This time, Zhang Fujing inspected the bamboo and wood in Hangzhou, and his contribution was great. You cabinet should discuss how to reward him."

immediately.

Zhu Houcong gave another order.

Mao Ji bowed and agreed.

In the first place, there were 2 million silver dollars donated by the gentry of Nanzhi, and in the second place, there were large quantities of high-quality bamboo and wood seized by Zhang Cong, also known as Zhang Fujing.

For Zhu Houcong, this meant that the mission of building warships was halfway successful.

The only thing that needed to be done now was to arrange officials to organize shipbuilders and build warships.

"The main warships built by the dynasty now are Fuzhou ships, Guangzhou ships and Shazhou ships. Among them, Fuzhou ships are easy to steer, Guangzhou ships are more solid, and Shazhou ships are good at navigating the North Sea and inland river shoals and waves, but not good at navigating the South Sea..."

The next day, Yang Yiqing specifically reported to Zhu Houcong about the current situation of Ming Dynasty warships.

The Shipbuilding Bureau is now under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Revenue.

After Zhu Houcong put Fei Hong in charge of the General Office of Observation and Rectification of Morals and Customs, he let Yang Yiqing take charge of the General Office of Revenue concurrently.

Therefore, when Zhu Houcong needed to inquire about the situation related to warships, he would directly summon Yang Yiqing to ask questions instead of asking the Ministry of Works.

Yang Yiqing actively supported the emperor in building large numbers of warships, and he had done some investigation in advance, so he was naturally able to give clear and coherent answers in front of Zhu Houcong.

After hearing this, Zhu Houcong asked, "Can you replicate the treasure ship that Zheng He used when he sailed to the West?"

"Your Majesty, it can no longer be copied. The Ministry of War's drawings and documents about this ship have been lost." Yang Yiqing replied.

After hearing this, Zhu Houcong couldn't help but feel it was a pity.

In his opinion, since the treasure ship could reach the Red Sea, it meant that it was very good at ocean voyages.

As a result, this ocean-going navigation technology was lost, and the entire Ming Dynasty now has to learn ocean-going shipbuilding and navigation technology from the Western barbarians.

"It seems that the only way for warships to fight in the open sea is to imitate the warships of the Portuguese."

Zhu Houcong then spoke.

Yang Yiqing replied: "Your Majesty is right. I have read the confessions of the captured Portuguese. Their ship is called a carrack. According to the blueprint of the ship submitted by the Guangdong officials, this ship has many decks and masts, and is much larger than the Fuzhou ship, so it is very expensive!"

"I asked someone to do a budget. The initial cost of building a warship like this is about 5,000 silver dollars. Fortunately, the Nanzhi nobles donated 2 million silver dollars, and Zhang Butang seized a large amount of smuggled bamboo and wood into the capital. Even if we build a warship like this, we have enough materials and silver."

Zhu Houcong nodded after hearing this.

He had to admit that Zhang Cong had indeed made a great contribution this time.

Otherwise, in order to build warships, it would take a long time just to prepare high-quality wood. After all, a lot of wood had to be transported from deep mountains in Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan and other places, and the manpower and financial resources consumed sometimes often exceeded the original price of the wood by several times.

Of course, the Nanzhi gentry also made a considerable contribution this time, so that the imperial court did not have to spend extra money to build warships.

But thinking that the Ming Dynasty had lost its own ocean-going shipbuilding technology and could only imitate foreign ships, Zhu Houcong ordered: "Check the time when the treasure ship and other blueprints and documents were lost, and hold the Minister of War responsible during this period accountable!"

Yang Yiqing bowed and said yes.

“In addition to shipbuilding, professional shipbuilding talents must also be trained!”

"Establish a naval academy and name it Fujian Naval Academy. Let the Right Censor-in-Chief Wang Hong organize it in Fujian, and the Governor Fan Jizu will assist. The initial expenses will be paid by the Imperial Palace. After Fei Hong and Zhang Cong come to Beijing, your cabinet and the six ministries and nine officials will discuss how to solve this expense."

Then, Zhu Houcong mentioned the intention of training talents in naval administration.

Yang Yiqing was very surprised after hearing this.

Because he found that doing so would affect the status of the imperial examination.

"Your Majesty, may I ask if the Naval Academy is the same as the Great Ming Practical School, the Imperial Academy, and the Xingming Academy, where graduates can be appointed as officials?"

Yang Yiqing asked this question.

Zhu Houcong said: "Of course!"

"Your Majesty, I dare to speak frankly. Establishing various official schools will not only greatly increase the court's expenses, but more importantly, it will affect the status of the imperial examination system, making it more difficult for poor people to succeed. This will be detrimental to the long-term stability of the country."

"Because for the poor, books like the Four Books and the Five Classics are more popular, and Confucian scholars who have mastered Confucian knowledge are more accessible to them. As for knowledge such as shipbuilding and financial management, they do not have the opportunity and financial resources to access them as much as the children of the rich and powerful."

"Therefore, establishing official schools and recruiting scholars through official schools will be more conducive to the children of the rich and powerful entering the government, but will be greatly disadvantageous to students from poor families."

"If we want to avoid this situation, the court should establish community schools to allow children from poor families to receive basic education, such as arithmetic and classics. They can first be taught some general knowledge, and then assigned to different schools for specialized training based on their test results, and then appointed as officials. "

"But this will undoubtedly further increase the financial burden on the court in terms of education!"

"With the current financial resources of the dynasty, it is difficult to provide for the royal family so that they can all be well fed and clothed. How can we guarantee that all children in the world, regardless of their status, can first learn various general knowledge for free, and at the same time support more academic officials?"

Yang Yiqing put forward his own views at this time.

Zhu Houcong admitted that Yang Yiqing was right. Establishing new schools was a challenge to the old education system and the system of selecting scholars, and would especially pose a severe challenge to the imperial examination system.

The significance of the imperial examination was extremely important for the Ming Dynasty, a family-run dynasty. It was so important that every wise ruler in every dynasty, after its inception, attached great importance to it.

In order for the new education system to perfectly replace the imperial examination system, it is indeed necessary for the court to improve its financial resources and be able to bear more education costs.

But Zhu Houcong still brought it up at this time, so naturally he had his own considerations.

Therefore, after Yang Yiqing's words, Zhu Houcong only asked Yang Yiqing: "According to Yang Gelao's opinion, should we focus on tax reform first? In this way, it is consistent with Zhang Fujing!"

I have been busy in the hospital for most of the day and don’t have much time to write, so I can only update 4,000 words first
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(End of this chapter)