Ming Dynasty: Ask Zhu Yuanzhang to abdicate at the beginning

Chapter 221 The problem of another road!
Zhu Yunhuan shook the paper slightly, and the page in his hand almost fell to the ground.

what's the situation?
The person who submitted a paper to the editorial department of Science journal was named "Zhu Yuanzhang"?
Apart from his own royal grandfather, there could absolutely be no other person in heaven named Zhu Yuanzhang.

Even if someone had given it such a name before, it would have been changed long ago.

Taboo is one of the most basic etiquette and order of this era.

Keep silent about the names of respected people, relatives and wise people.

Common people are not allowed to call the monarch's name directly when speaking or writing; they must use other words instead.

Zhu Yunhuan looked at the handwriting carefully again and his expression suddenly became strange.

next to.

When Yang Shiqi saw that Zhu Yunhuan had a strange expression, he could not help but move closer to take a look and was also stunned.

The two of them immediately started reading the article written by Lao Zhu.

After reading it, Yang Shiqi sighed: "This article is incisive and to the point, which is admirable."

below.

Lai Wen'an said quickly: "His article is certainly well written, but the key point is the 'signature' at the end... Such a rebellious person, even if he has talent, should..."

He stopped.

Because Lai Wen'an suddenly realized that only His Royal Highness the Crown Prince could decide how to convict this person who was so audacious and offended His Majesty, and he should not say too much.

Zhu Yunxun asked with a smile: "How should we deal with it?"

"Their property should be confiscated and their clan should be exterminated, and they should be beheaded in public." When Lai Wen'an saw the Crown Prince asking him, he expressed his thoughts.

"Cough cough..." Yang Shiqi coughed twice and laughed so hard that he fell forward and backward.

He had been helping Zhu Yunhuan handle state affairs and had seen the Emperor's calligraphy.

You can tell at a glance that the handwriting was written by Lao Zhu himself.

Lai Wen'an felt a little confused.

How could such a disrespectful thing happen and Yang Shiqi was still laughing?
Sudden.

His body froze.

Could it be that... it's not that someone is disrespectful to Your Majesty, but that the person who wrote the article and submitted it is the current Emperor?
Did he lose his real name?

"This was written by the Emperor himself." Zhu Yunhuan did not play hide-and-guess with him and quickly responded to his doubts.

Lai Wen'an was completely stunned.

His Majesty the Emperor personally submitted an article to the journal Science?
It was delivered via ordinary mail, and no one notified me...

At the beginning, someone in the editorial office suggested that since this matter was of such a serious nature, there was no need to bring unnecessary trouble to the Science journal, and it would be better to just quietly burn the articles and letters.

Unknowingly.

Just pretend that you have never received this submission!
This proposal was supported by most editors, and everyone vowed not to reveal the matter to anyone else. Lai Wen'an was also somewhat attracted to Zi.

After all, in this era, disrespect is a serious crime.

If the truth is traced back, all submissions to Science journal may have to be reviewed again.

The editors also have to interrogate them one by one to find out whether similar incidents have happened before.

This was undoubtedly an unprecedented blow to the newly established journal Science.

Keeping quiet and pretending nothing happened is an extremely tempting suggestion.

Fortunately, after much thought, Lai Wen'an decided to report the matter to the Crown Prince.

It was the Crown Prince who decided to publish the Science journal. His Royal Highness attaches great importance to this and will probably protect the Science journal well.

On the contrary, hiding the truth may lead to even greater disaster.

But he never expected that it was not someone who offended His Majesty, but that the current Emperor himself submitted an article to the Science journal.

"Your Majesty was probably so emotional when writing the article that he accidentally wrote his own signature," Yang Shiqi analyzed.

Zhu Yunxi nodded.

Lao Zhu's original intention should be to submit the article anonymously.

He carefully read the content of the article written by Lao Zhu again.

In the article, Lao Zhu used a large amount of detailed data to conduct an in-depth and easy-to-understand analysis of the economic situation of the Ming Dynasty, and pointed out that the Ming Dynasty must pay special attention to food security at present.

"Uh... I didn't expect that Grandpa Emperor would start studying 'economics'." Zhu Yunhuan sighed softly.

In his memory, Lao Zhu was a complete idiot when it came to economics.

Otherwise, the introduction of the Ming Baochao would not have caused such big problems.

There are also many economic policies of the Ming Dynasty, all of which are influenced by the profound and simple old peasant thinking.

Many of them can only be described as beautiful fantasies, and completely ignore basic economic laws.

From this we can also see that although Zhu Yuanzhang had outstanding abilities and amazing talents in conquering the world, he did not understand any economics.

This is normal.

Everyone has his strong and weak points.

Lao Zhu is very strong, but he is still a human being, not a god.

Everyone has shortcomings.

But now, Lao Zhu has actually written an article analyzing the operating principles of the national economy.

This is truly the case of “after not seeing each other for three days, one should look at each other with new eyes”.

economics?
Yang Shiqi and Lai Wen'an both fell into deep thought.

I don’t know what the “economics” that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is talking about is.

Your Majesty, is this article studying economics?
"Your Highness, should His Majesty's article be published in the journal Science?" Lai Wen'an asked.

He was a little undecided.

This is a contribution from His Majesty the Current Emperor. If we refuse to publish it, wouldn’t that be disrespectful to His Majesty the Emperor?

But if it is to be published, how should it be published and who should sign it?
Do you want to revise and polish it?
Also, Science was originally a research journal, but once the Emperor's article was published, there was no room for discussion. Who would dare to oppose the Emperor's opinion?

Zhu Yunhuan took the envelope and looked at it, then said with a smile, "The address for sending the letter is written on it."

"How about this, leave the manuscript with me first, and I will write back to Grandpa Huang later."

Lai Wen'an felt relieved when he heard this.

It's great that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is taking charge of this matter personally.

The editorial department of Science journal is really unable to shoulder such a heavy responsibility.

Zhu Yunxun asked with a smile: "How is the journal Science going now? Are there any difficulties? Since you are here today, tell us about it."

"Thanks to His Royal Highness, everything is going smoothly for Science." Lai Wen'an said, "After the discussion in Science over the past period of time, I think the difficulties in manufacturing steam engines have basically been solved."

"Now, the Daming Manufacturing Bureau is stepping up production."

"The mission given by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince to build a steam engine is about to be completed."

"But..." He paused.

It was because Lai Wen'an studied how to manufacture steam engines and wrote down improved methods that Zhu Yunhuan recognized his talent and promoted him to the editor-in-chief of Science journal.

Therefore, in his view, building the steam engine has always been a heavy responsibility on the shoulders of Science journal.

Even later, under the repeated instructions of His Majesty the Crown Prince, the journal Science gradually embarked on the path of specialized development.

But Lai Wen'an dare not forget this fundamental task for even a day.

Upon hearing this, Zhu Yunhuan couldn't help but feel ecstatic.

Is a perfect and usable steam engine about to be built?
Is the Industrial Revolution Coming?

"Do you have any other questions?"

Seeing Lai Wen'an hesitating, he quickly asked.

Lai Wen'an hesitated for a moment before saying, "His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has promised that whoever can build a steam engine that can be used normally will be named 'Duke'."

“Now the steam engine is about to be built, but it is not accomplished by one person alone, but by everyone working together.”

"There were more than 300 people who submitted articles to the journal Science proposing useful improvements to steam engines."

"There are still some people in the Daming Manufacturing Bureau who have not written any articles, but have also made considerable contributions to the manufacture of steam engines."

"I once asked the young prince, and if we count the merits and reward them, the total number of people who made contributions in the manufacture of steam engines is probably no less than 500."

"Who should His Royal Highness the Crown Prince reward?"

Zhu Yunhuan was stunned.

When he saw the steamship built by Zhu Gaochi, he was so excited that he promised that whoever could make a normal and usable steam engine would be made a duke.

Because Zhu Yunhuan remembered that it was Watt who improved the steam engine in history, he naturally thought that with a huge reward, a figure similar to "Watt" would appear in the Ming Dynasty.

However, he did not expect that with his strong support, the technological development of the Ming Dynasty would take a completely different path.

Especially the emergence of the journal Science.

The final steam engine was not invented by a genius, but the crystallization of the wisdom of everyone.

Then who should be given the title of Duke that he had promised before?

Leader?
The leader in steam engine manufacturing was undoubtedly Zhu Gaochi, who was in charge of the Ming Manufacturing Bureau.

But on the one hand, he was not the main member of the technical research team, and on the other hand, he was a member of the royal family. Even if he was downgraded to hereditary succession according to the new clan system, as the eldest son of the Prince of Yan, he could be conferred the title of a prince, which was one rank higher than a duke.

Thirdly, if the credit is really attributed to him, it will definitely make many people dissatisfied.

They felt that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince was teasing them, and in the end he was just rewarding a royal relative.

It would be better not to reward at all.

Zhu Yunhuan asked: "What suggestions do you have?"

Lai Wen'an said, "I think that since this was accomplished by everyone's joint efforts, we should not reward only one person."

“Instead of conferring the title of Duke on one country, it is better to reward all those who offer advice and suggestions, and everyone will be rewarded according to their merits.”

"Furthermore, I heard that the officials in the court were quite dissatisfied with the title of Duke given to the man who made the steam engine."

“Many people even openly opposed it.”

"Take it back while the situation permits. It will also be beneficial to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince."

"Everyone has been rewarded and is happy, so why not do it?"

Upon hearing this, Zhu Yunhuan nodded slightly.

In fact, after he promised the title of Duke, he felt a little regretful.

At that time, I was too excited, my heart was pounding, the promises were too great, and the rewards were too great.

Once the Industrial Revolution begins, subsequent inventions and creations will explode.

The steam engine is very useful, but there are many other inventions whose functions are just as useful as the steam engine, or even better.

For example, in the current Ming Dynasty, if someone could invent a pesticide similar to "DDT", his contribution would be even greater than the creation of a steam engine.

After all, this means that Ming Dynasty's grain production can increase by more than 40 to 50 percent.

The Ming Dynasty will be free from the crisis of food shortage from now on.

Now the person who invented the steam engine has been conferred the title of Duke. So what title should be given to those who make the same or greater contribution later?

It’s not easy!

Now that he has the opportunity to take advantage of the situation, it is exactly what he wants.

Zhu Yunhuan was about to speak.

Unexpectedly, Yang Shiqi next to him said, "No!"

"Since His Highness has promised to confer the title of Duke, then it must be conferred!"

……

(End of this chapter)