I want to be emperor

In the spring of the forty-eighth year of Chengshun, Luo Zhixue, who had circled the earth, finally returned to his native Wusong Naval Base, and then took a special train back to Jinling City.

During this overseas inspection, Luo Zhixue first went to Southeast Asia, then to India, West Asia, and Africa, and then headed north to Cadiz in Europe, where he visited the Mediterranean. During his stay in Europe, he also took in a group of European princesses. The legitimate daughter of a noble is regarded as a show daughter.

Then he went to North America and inspected many cities in East America and North America along the North American East-West Railway. He then spent the winter in Jinshan City on the west coast of North America and spent the Spring Festival there.

Then he boarded the Royal Princess again in Jinshan Castle, and accompanied by hundreds of ships, returned westward. He successively arrived at the Sandalwood Islands and Fuso Province, and inspected major cities such as Edo in Fuso. Then he boarded the Royal Princess. Arriving at the Wusong Naval Base in Jiangnan Province, this round of global inspection ended.

The whole process lasted for nearly a year... During this year, although most of the time was actually spent on ships and trains, the overall schedule was quite busy and there were not many places that could really be inspected.

But it still gave Luo Zhixue a clearer understanding of the overseas territories of the empire under his rule.

The biggest feeling is that the localization work in many overseas directly administered territories is very good. At least Luo Zhixue did not see any other indigenous residents in these overseas directly administered territories except indigenous labor dispatch workers.

This means that the people living in these overseas territories directly under the Central Government are all Chu people...and these places have become the places where the Chinese nation has been since ancient times in the true sense, and the places where the Chinese people will live and work in peace and contentment in the future!

Even if it is another hundred or two hundred years, even if society changes and the empire is destroyed, these places mentioned above will still be the land of the Chinese people.

It will not happen in ordinary colonies. After a year has passed and the strength of the sovereign country has weakened, the local indigenous people will argue for independence and expel the colonists.

Of course... there will definitely be a possibility of independence in these overseas territories in the future, but it will be the independence of the Chu people in these overseas territories themselves... not the independence of the indigenous people.

The former is at most a family conflict, and they choose to live separately... But the latter is a rebellion that wants to drive away the owner and seize the house.

The nature is different.

Luo Zhixue actually has an indifferent attitude towards the former...but Luo Zhixue deeply hates the latter!

And based on the current population situation of the empire's overseas territories, the latter is impossible to happen... After all, if the indigenous people want to rebel and seek independence, they must exist!

However, in Chu's overseas territories directly under the jurisdiction of the State, there is no such thing as an indigenous population. They are all Chu people.

On the other hand, those overseas administrative territories still have a large indigenous population, and there will be a high probability of colonial rebellion and independence in the future... But that doesn't matter.

Because there is a high probability that it will happen decades or even hundreds of years after Luo Zhixue's death, Luo Zhixue doesn't want to worry so much. Later generations will naturally deal with these matters by then.

With a good mood, Luo Zhixue returned to Jinling City and rested for a few days. After getting rid of the fatigue caused by the long journey, he had to get back to work and began to deal with the many piled-up matters.

During his global inspection, although there was a prince to supervise the country, there were also many ministers staying behind, who could directly handle some ordinary matters; at the same time, some urgent matters that they could not handle would also be transmitted to them through the global telegraph network. Luo Zhixue handled it.

Only things that are important but not urgent will be squeezed out.

But even so, there are a lot of squeezed things, and Luo Zhixue needs to deal with them one by one.

Ever since, after Luo Zhixue started to work, he would hold a royal council meeting almost every day, meet with dozens of high-ranking officials, and settle many matters.

Especially for personnel issues involving senior or key positions, in the past year, except for a few special Luo Zhixue who dealt with them on the way, many of them have actually been squeezed to this day.

Several local governors have expired, but because the new governor has not been finalized, the original governor has to postpone his transfer and continue to be in charge of the local area in the name of trusteeship.

But this kind of trusteeship cannot last too long. After all, the official appointment and removal system of the Great Chu Empire adopts the official turnover system, and officials have term limits in a position.

For example, the governor's term is fixed at a maximum of five years... As for the shortest term, there is no provision for this. If a crime is committed, it is possible to take office today and step down tomorrow, but the maximum term is five years...

Once every five years comes, he will either be transferred to another place as a governor, or transferred to the capital to serve as minister of various ministries, or promoted to the position of left minister of a powerful department, or even a second-rank position such as minister of various ministries.

There are various options...but none of them can stay in the local area and continue to serve as governor.

The same situation also occurs in other positions... This kind is limited to management positions, that is, officials in a narrow sense.

If it is just a general clerk position, even if the grade has reached level seven, you can continue to work in the original unit until retirement.

In the Dachu Empire, positions are positions and grades are grades...

In fact, there are only a few officials who can hold management positions... Most of the so-called officials who join the official life are actually just ordinary clerks all their lives, even if their grades are gradually accumulated to the sixth grade through time... But they cannot hold management positions. The official level is actually to solve the salary problem of ordinary section staff and clerks... To put it bluntly, it is to facilitate them to increase their salaries and arrange retirement benefits... It is not for promotion.

It doesn’t mean that you can become the magistrate of a county when the opportunity comes one day after you have worked your way up to the sixth level in a general clerk position!

This does not exist!

If you want to hold a management position of the sixth grade... well, for example, county magistrate, you must first have held a management position of the sixth grade for at least two years or a management position of the fifth grade for at least five years.

By the same token, other levels of management positions have the same requirements as the previous level of management positions.

The only thing that is not required is to hold a management position from the seventh rank, that is, the deputy position of the town or the deputy section chief of each county department... because the seventh rank is the lowest management position.

In addition, if an ordinary clerk has worked his way up to the sixth-grade level through time and experience, and then has the opportunity to move forward to a management position, he can only hold a management position from the seventh-grade level. Political treatment of seventh-grade management positions.

However, the salary and benefits are still based on the regular sixth grade.

This system was only implemented in the mid-1930s. It mainly refers to the graded treatment system for government-run medical and academic staff... The teachers in the government-run schools of Chu people are also graded. Some old teachers are really It seems that one can have seven or even six grades, but this kind of grade... is only reflected in salary and benefits, and has nothing to do with being an official!

Of course, if you hold a management position in a government-run school or a professor or associate professor in various universities, it is different... Positions such as principals can also be directly regarded as management positions in the officialdom, and they can directly cross Keep going up.

As for associate professors and professors in ordinary universities; teachers and students at the Royal Institute of Technology, they are more special. They belong to scientific research positions, and their grades have relative political treatment... When they reach a certain level, they can be assigned security guards and large villas in the suburbs. , the kind where all living expenses are reimbursed, and the level of scientific research positions can also be directly connected to management positions...can be directly transferred to management positions of corresponding levels.

This is still different from the level of treatment in the two industries of medicine and education...

Later, the empire also referred to this system and introduced this model among low-level officials... Staying up for a long time can also promote you to a higher level, but only your salary will be increased, and everything else will remain the same!

In order to make a distinction, the terms management positions and non-management positions were specially coined.

The Ministry of Personnel is still wondering whether to carry out some reforms in the traditional grade system. For example, in recent years, whether the staff of government-run schools and hospitals can be arranged by another set of systems... Anyway Their grade and treatment are only reflected in their salary and benefits. It is easy to confuse people if they continue to apply the official grade.

Some people say that in addition to the grades, there can be another set of seniority grades for officials to reflect wages and benefits.

Others say that a certain level can be added to the lower grades among the original grades to increase the wages of general staff and reflect their seniority.

However, in the end, because the changes were too big and could easily cause trouble, it is still in the research stage and there are no practical reform measures.

The main reason is that the empire's grade system not only covers traditional officials, but also scientific research, teaching, and medical personnel!

The reason why Luo Zhixue emphasized the above three industries back then was mainly because there were so many wastes waiting to be developed... There were not even many qualified teachers and doctors at that time. In order to allow more talents to enter these two fields and eliminate their worries , specially implemented this system!

As for the scientific research industry, it spares no effort to support, granting grades and political treatment to scientific researchers, in order to improve the political treatment, social status and even income of scientific researchers, so that scientific researchers can become the best people in Chu society, and then Promote the progress of science and technology.

In Luo Zhixue's view, conducting scientific research without giving money, relying only on conscious dedication and love... This sounds very noble.

But after all the talk, anyone who actually does this is a fool...

After all, it is already difficult to find and train a group of talented scientists, and then you also have to select a few moral role models from a group of scientists...

This is choosing IQ and morality. How many scientists can be selected in the end?

Luo Zhixue's philosophy is: Don't talk so much about useless things. As long as you engage in scientific research and have enough ability, you will be a leader in Chu society...money, power, and sex are all available.

Come up with a scientific research result of great impact, get a knighthood in minutes, and then you will become one of the empire's dignitaries... At this point, you will be the true master of the empire.

How is the treatment of scientific researchers, especially political treatment, reflected?

It is reflected in the grades... Through grades, scientific researchers at the Royal Institute of Technology and key scientific research professors in various universities are granted official positions. This is an important way to reflect the political treatment of scientific researchers. It can't be changed randomly.

Therefore, the rank system in the Da Chu Empire was not only the internal hierarchy of officials, but also covered many fields such as education, medical care, scientific research, etc. It is very complicated to carry out reform, which requires very detailed considerations and cannot be carried out. A simple one-size-fits-all approach would easily cause turmoil otherwise.

After all, although the current grade system is quite chaotic, it is still running stably and can meet today's needs after many years of continuous patching. Luo Zhixue means that even if it needs to be changed, it must be done slowly through the boiling frog model. Come on, change it little by little.

Just like the continuous reform of traditional education and the imperial examination system!

The education and imperial examination reforms in the Great Chu Empire were a long reform that lasted for decades. Basically, a little change was made every year, a little more every three to five years, and then slowly it became what it is now.

If Luo Zhixue had directly made a big move to abolish the imperial examination, it might have shaken the foundation... The Manchu Dynasty is a typical example. After the abolition of the imperial examination, it directly pushed itself against countless students. Those students could not pass the imperial examination. When you become an official, your future is cut off. Then you see a bunch of people relying on personal connections to recommend you to become an official. After snoring coldly, you turn around and go hang out with Mr. Sun...

No matter how the education and imperial examination reforms in the Great Chu Empire were changed, the core of selecting candidates for the country remained unchanged...

Students actually don’t care what you test in the imperial examination. They will learn whatever you test anyway... If you take the eight-part essay, they will study the eight-part essay; if you take the science test, they will study science; if you take the poetry test, they will study poetry!

As long as you pass the exam and become an official, everything will be easy!

Through gradual changes, Luo Zhixue finally changed the empire's education and imperial examination system from the traditional to the current typical modern education and imperial examination system.

In the grade reform, Luo Zhixue also plans to follow the same approach.

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While Luo Zhixue was dealing with many squeeze matters, a weapons and equipment exhibition led by the Ministry of Industry and assisted by the military was also going on.

Dozens of defense companies affiliated to the five major arms companies, as well as some companies involved in the defense industry from the Ministry of Industry, have obtained the qualifications to participate, so that there are hundreds of projects finalized to participate in the exhibition... and there are also projects participating in live-fire tests. More than thirty.

In this way, the original live-fire test selection of a new generation of standard rifles eventually turned into such a large-scale defense equipment exhibition!

At that time, not only will Luo Zhi learn to visit and watch the live ammunition test, but generals from the army, navy and Guards will also visit to see what good things are available.

In addition, even the patrol police and the tax department are involved... The patrol police naturally need a large amount of weapons and equipment. The orders from patrol agencies in various places are the orders that many local defense companies rely on for their survival.

Although the tax department is just a tax collector, the tax police are also law enforcement units like the patrol police, not to mention that there are such things as armed tax police among the tax police... The armed tax police are the fourth largest armed force in the Chu Empire. Strength, in overseas administrative territories, they can be easily dragged out to fight.

Therefore, major manufacturers have high expectations for this exhibition... They target different users based on their product positioning, and are ready to take advantage of this opportunity to win more orders.

It is worth noting that although most of the manufacturers participating in the war this time belong to the five major weapons companies, the five major weapons companies have many subsidiaries. Many of these subsidiaries are actually responsible for their own profits and losses. Fierce competition is also very common.

After everything was arranged, Luo Zhixue also took care of all the squeezed affairs before setting off to participate in this large-scale national defense equipment exhibition.

There are many manufacturers participating in this exhibition, and the equipment in many manufacturers is also large. For example, those medium and large artillery pieces weigh several tons or even more than ten tons.

Some shipyards even made models of new warships and brought them to exhibitions.

There are also some large-scale equipment, such as various military vehicles that the military attaches great importance to. These are not small in size, and there are many manufacturers involved in the development of military vehicles. There are at least ten types of artillery tractors alone... …These are R&D projects preparing to participate in the military’s artillery tractor tender.

There is so much equipment, and various projects such as live-fire tests and field tests must be prepared in the future. Therefore, this exhibition is not arranged in the city, but is arranged at the training ground of the Guards in the suburbs.

In this training ground, the venue is large enough, and there is also a large live-fire training ground, which can conduct live-fire tests of various firearms and even artillery.

On May 3rd of the 48th year of Chengshun, Luo Zhixue arrived at the venue with a group of senior officials and generals.

After entering the venue, Luo Zhixue looked at the numerous and various weapons and equipment displayed at the booths of various manufacturers in front of him, including some that looked very tall, such as cars, battleship models, and heavy artillery.

I sighed a little in my heart... This is all accumulated from the empire's development for more than forty years.

Without more than forty years of continuous attention and accumulation, the basic technology of the Dachu Empire would not have reached the level it is today. Without sufficient basic technology support, it would be impossible to produce these technical equipment.

If nothing else, it would be impossible to have just a gasoline engine!

This piece of shit can be said to be the flower of industry that combines metallurgy, precision machining, electromagnetics and other fields of the contemporary Chu Empire. It is much more technologically advanced than the triple-expansion steam engine.

The only technology that can compare with this thing is probably the steam turbine and gear transmission technology that have not yet been developed.

Regardless of gasoline engines, steam turbines, or even large-scale shipboard reduction gears... they basically represent the top technology of the contemporary era and require a lot of basic technology to support it!

These things can't be made with just drawings... If the basic technology is slightly inferior, you can't even make it...

But now... the Da Chu Empire has been able to develop gasoline engines and launch practical large-scale applications. This is already worthy of Luo Zhixue's gratification.

Everyone looked at Luo Zhixue's relieved expression, and many people, especially several senior officials from the Ministry of Industry, were relieved.

Your Majesty is happy, which means that their Ministry of Industry is doing its job well!

At this time, Feng Yingwu, the co-organizing minister and Minister of Industry, came forward and began to briefly introduce today's exhibition to Luo Zhixue.

"This exhibition has created history in terms of the number of exhibitors and projects, and there are also many provincial government-owned enterprises and even private enterprises participating."

“A total of 137 national defense-related companies participated in the exhibition, including 73 companies affiliated with the five major arms companies, 26 companies directly under the Ministry of Industry, 23 companies affiliated with various provinces, and 15 private companies! "

It is actually not unusual for private companies to participate in this kind of national defense exhibition. Although the Dachu Empire has very strict controls on the weapons industry and restricts only the five major weapons companies to produce and sell weapons, national defense products are far more than weapons!

There are many national defense supplies that are actually not much different from civilian supplies, such as ordinary military uniforms and quilts, even cans, lunch boxes, medicines, and even ordinary grains. As long as the military uses them, they are all military supplies...

However, the supply of these military supplies does not mean that they must be supplied by the five major arms companies. Other companies can also supply them. Of course, in order to ensure stability and avoid other troubles, they are generally supplied by government-run companies, but private companies If you have unique advantages, you can participate.

For example, Lee Iron Company... Their company provides the military with a large amount of munitions, including warships.

Although Lee's Shipbuilding Company, a subsidiary of their company, mainly produces civilian ships, it also accepts orders for some warships every year. They build many cruisers and frigates in the navy, and transport ships are more auxiliary warships for civilian ships. , that’s more.

Then there is Su Qin Textile Company, which is also an important supplier to the Navy... About one-third of the raw silk used in the propellant bags used by medium and large naval guns in the Navy is provided by the raw silk companies under Su Qin Method Company. of.

Finally, there is another textile company that has only entered the military supply system this year, and that is the rising star in the textile industry, the largest private enterprise in the Americas, Song Clothing Company!

During the inspection in North America, the accompanying military executives were very interested in the soft canvas produced by Song Clothing Company, because the soft canvas they produced has very good wear resistance and can ensure softness and comfort, which makes it naturally suitable for use as a raw material for military uniforms... ...After all, soldiers are indispensable for rolling and crawling during daily training and combat. Wearing ordinary cotton military uniforms for training and combat can easily break.

So in recent years, the military has actually been having a headache with materials for military uniforms.

Now that I saw the soft canvas of Song's Clothing Company, I came up with this idea... At the same time, Song's Clothing Company itself is still a garment company. You don't have to bother to order military uniforms from them, just order military uniforms directly.

While still in North America, the Army placed an order for a small batch of soft canvas combat uniforms for testing. The test results were quite good. The grassroots soldiers who participated in the testing generally reported that the new combat uniforms were very good... It is more wear-resistant than the previous old cotton combat uniforms, and softer and more suitable to wear than the several canvas combat uniforms I tried before.

At the same time, the designers of Song's Clothing Company, based on their years of experience in making mining work clothes, have also thickened special parts, such as knees and elbows, so that during training, there is no need to worry about wearing out the uniforms and causing damage to them. injured.

The test results of the new military uniforms have received good feedback. The Army intends to promote the reform of the new military uniforms... Song Erniu from the Song Clothing Company hit the snake on the spot and followed the stick, and shamelessly asked the Army for a place to participate in the national defense exhibition. In this way As a supplier of military textiles, they appeared at this year's National Defense Arms Exhibition and exhibited military and police uniforms of various divisions made of soft canvas in an attempt to compete for large orders.