I want to be emperor

Luo Zhixue did not immediately reply to Han Deyuan's letter from the Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs, nor did he send it to the ministers for discussion as usual, or call back for Han Deyuan to revise, let alone reject it immediately.

Instead, a very special 'stay in China' is adopted.

It is actually relatively rare in the Great Chu Empire to stay in the middle and not send out this kind of situation.

Because it is different from the traditional feudal dynasties, when the Great Chu Empire handles various government affairs, it has very clear channels and procedures. After submitting various suggestions or reports, they either agree or disagree, or hand them over to various departments for discussion. Then make a decision, or make changes and so on.

The mode of staying in the middle and not sending out this kind of non-discussion and non-reply is actually relatively rare in the Great Chu Empire.

But now, Luo Zhixue has taken the measure of not paying Han Duk-won's minimum wage standard and the proposal of the longest working hours.

It's because this kind of thing is too sensitive.

It is impossible for Luo Zhixue to directly agree or refuse, and it is even impossible for Luo Zhixue to hand it over to the ministers for discussion now.

The main reason is that this matter is too important, if it affects the whole body, a little carelessness will cause huge waves.

As for Luo Zhixue, on the one hand, he hopes to set minimum wage standards and limit the maximum working hours, so as to fundamentally improve the living standards of workers.

But on the other hand, he did not hope that such measures would affect the momentum of the thriving industrial and commercial economy of the Great Chu Empire.

Because once the minimum wage standard and the maximum working hours are formulated, the welfare protection measures such as the maximum working hours will certainly allow the empire to gain the support of more workers, but it has to be said that people are greedy, and if they have this, they will want that. , and demand more and more.

I gave it this time, but if I don’t give it next time, people will not be happy!
Of course, this is not the point. The point is that higher wages for workers and fewer working hours mean that the production cost of the enterprise is higher. This will have a great impact on many industries with relatively low gross profits, and even lead to disastrous results. Few companies suffer losses or even go bankrupt.

So this kind of thing has a good side and a bad side, and the follow-up impact will be very large.

Do it, it must be done, but when to do it and how to do it, this is a question worth discussing.

In fact, Luo Zhixue himself was not sure about paying attention to it. He affirmed the importance of the workers and improved the living standards of the workers in his public speeches. What he expressed was just an attitude.

But how to do it and when to do it, Luo Zhixue still needs to listen to more opinions, and make a decision after having a deeper understanding of the internal situation of the empire.

Therefore, in the face of Han Deyuan's letter, Luo Zhixue took the extremely prudent decision not to publish it.

Luo Zhixue's mind is not difficult to guess for a group of old bureaucrats who have been immersed in officialdom for decades.

They knew very well that after Luo Zhixue chose to stay in China, it was time for each of them to write a letter to state their different ideas.

As a result, different memorials quickly flew to Luo Zhixue's imperial court, and Luo Zhixue always chose to stay in the middle and not publish them.

Under such circumstances, Luo Zhixue completed his inspection in Tianjin.

Luo Zhixue stayed in Tianjin for about half a month and inspected various light industries, private enterprises, national defense industry, iron and steel chemical machinery and other heavy industries. Steam locomotive.

Speaking of the steam engine of Tianjin Machinery Company, to be honest, although their steam engine level is very good, there is a huge lack.

Just with Guangzhou Machinery Company and Dangtu Machinery
The company's steam engine is the same!
They each have some good technologies and patents, but because of competition with each other and patent restrictions, they cannot use the good things of their competitors.

In the end, the steam engine products produced by each are not complete.

If you want to see a complete steam engine, except for those non-commercial steam engines that can only be used for research and personal use, you can only go to the United Steam Engine Factory in Songjiang.

At present, in the Great Chu Empire, only the Songjiang United Steam Engine Factory, which was vigorously promoted by the navy, has the exclusive advantage patents of the three major steam engine manufacturers and some other small and medium-sized steam engine manufacturers, and integrates them to develop a joint steam engine for performance.

This kind of joint steam engine, which is produced in a limited time and can only be used in the military field, is the product that truly reflects the strength of the steam engine industry of the contemporary Great Chu Empire.

The rest are basically short of weight!
Even the products of strong and weak Tianjin Machinery Company are the same.

Their multi-expansion steam engine is very well done, and the performance is quite good.

But their water tube boilers also have a cylinder-piston structure, and high-pressure connecting pipes are not so good.

Because Guangzhou Machinery Company first developed the water tube boiler, and built a lot of patent barriers around the water tube boiler, so that when the later Tianjin Machinery Company developed the water tube boiler, it could only adopt other technical paths, and the cost was high. Said and also low performance.

Of course, the same situation also appeared in Guangzhou Machinery Company and Dangtu Machinery Company.

The three major steam engine manufacturers are uncompromising and competing with each other. It can be said that they spare no effort to suppress their opponents, let alone open their patents to competitors.

The Songjiang United Steam Engine Factory was able to be compromised because the senior officials of the military and the Ministry of Industry, and even a few ministers were able to speak out, and directly used administrative means to forcibly suppress it.

Otherwise, the navy wouldn't even be able to use the best steam engine... because that stuff couldn't be manufactured and applied due to patent restrictions.

And Tianjin Machinery Company was also the last large and important enterprise that Luo Zhixue inspected in Tianjin. When Luo Zhixue saw the latest steam engine of Tianjin Machinery Company, which used the most advanced and best three-expansion cylinder, but the attached water tube boiler was horrible, At least two generations behind Guangzhou Machinery Company.

I almost couldn't help but say something...

But in the end I held back.

The patent system was a law advocated by Luo Zhixue and supported by various departments.

At the same time, government-run enterprises operate completely in accordance with marketization, which is also the rules and regulations that were finalized when the government-run enterprises were established in the early years.

Nowadays, the three major steam engine manufacturers are strictly following the laws and regulations and the framework of market competition. Unless it is absolutely necessary, neither Luo Zhixue nor the ministers under him will easily use administrative means to change it.

No matter what the rules are, first of all, you have to abide by and maintain them at the top, and then you can expect the people at the bottom to follow them too.

Otherwise, the upper beam is not straight and the lower beam is crooked.

Therefore, let's use this steam engine that is short of weight and two, anyway, it is not impossible to use it, and the warships of the navy can also use the complete combined steam engine.

As for the use of a complete steam engine in the private market, it can only wait for some core patents of the three major steam engines to expire in the past ten years or so.

After seeing the Tianjin Machinery Company, Luo Zhixue's special train continued north.

The next stop is Youzhou, the capital of the former Ming Dynasty.

Today's Youzhou is not considered a strategic or economic center. In the early years, due to political influence, the Great Chu Empire almost burned the city down.

In the past 20 years, the Great Chu Empire has carried out repeated campaigns to clear Youzhou City in order to completely erase the influence of the former Ming Dynasty and suppress those old and young.

The combat tigers were repeatedly eliminated, and the remaining local population was forcibly relocated to other places. Most of them were relocated to Liaodong for reclamation, and a small part were relocated to Monan and northern Shanxi for reclamation.

Some people migrated from Shandong, Jiangbei and other places to carry out reclamation in Youzhou Prefecture to restore local people's livelihood.

At the same time, a large number of troops have been stationed in Youzhou City for a long time. After the former Forbidden City was demolished and burned, the remaining buildings became military camps.

Until now, Youzhou City is still an important military base of the Great Chu Empire in the northern region. In the Third Army, there is a second-class infantry division, a cavalry division, an independent artillery regiment, and a third-class garrison division. stationed here.

In addition to the military strength, the local population is not large, and the population of the entire Youzhou Prefecture is about 80.

It is worth mentioning that the current Youzhou Mansion is not the same as the Shuntian Mansion in the pre-Ming Dynasty, and it is far less big than the Shuntian Mansion in the pre-Ming Dynasty.

After successive reforms in recent years, mainly due to the establishment and expansion of Tianjin Prefecture, many areas in the south of Shuntian Prefecture were placed under the jurisdiction of Tianjin Prefecture.

The northeast region and part of the region outside the Great Wall were merged into Miyun Prefecture and Jizhou Prefecture, and part of the western region was assigned to Baoan Prefecture.

After more than ten years of regional reform and adjustment in Hebei Province, its area is much larger than that of the previous Ming Dynasty because it has added a considerable part of the area of ​​​​Monan Mongolia outside the Great Wall.

At the same time, the areas of the internal state capitals are also constantly being adjusted. During this series of adjustments, the area of ​​Youzhou Prefecture has gradually become smaller, only about half of its previous size.

Luo Zhixue's imperial special train went northward, and the wilderness of Youzhou Prefecture he saw was no different from the wilderness in ordinary northern regions, but after arriving at Youzhou City.

Although the city walls of Youzhou City are still preserved, you can still see the scene of this ancient capital of many dynasties in the past, but the permanent population is not large, and it has long been dissatisfied with the prosperity of the past.

There is no large-scale industry in the area, only a few small and medium-sized factories, and Luo Zhixue has no interest in seeing it, so he directly skipped the inspection of industry and commerce, and went directly to the former Forbidden City, which is now the barracks of the Third Army, to inspect the army. .

It’s just that today’s Forbidden City can’t see the appearance of the former imperial palace... The magnificent three halls have disappeared... You can say why there are none... Nowadays, many large wooden pillars are used in the three halls of the Jinling City Palace of the Great Chu Empire , it was dismantled and transported from here.

The ordinary palaces are basically gone!
In order to better garrison and daily training, but also because those dilapidated ordinary palaces are troublesome to maintain, the cost is high, and they take up space, so the military gradually demolished other buildings and built batches of barracks on the original site. and warehouses.

Today's Forbidden City is no longer a palace, but a huge military camp consisting of a large area of ​​dense barracks, office buildings, warehouses, and a vast training square.

In fact, even if the Chu army hadn't demolished the city or used it as a military camp, after more than 20 years of desertion, it is estimated that there is only a piece of ruins left in this place.

However, although the main building of the palace is gone, some royal gardens built during the Yuan and Ming Dynasties on the west side of the Forbidden City are still there.

These royal gardens all belong to the Royal Assets Management Section. In order to maintain them, some of them are opened as public gardens free of charge in exchange for local financial support for maintenance, and some are still closed for management and daily maintenance.

This is generally used as a royal palace.

The Royal Assets Management Section of the Great Chu Empire has royal palaces all over the country, some of which come from the royal buildings of the pre-Ming Dynasty, mainly the palaces of vassal kings in various places.

Some of these palaces were destroyed by the war, and some were later used for various administrative buildings, such as the school buildings of some early schools, and quite a few of them were rebuilt from the palaces of princes from various places.

Others were preserved and used as royal palaces.

At the same time, the Royal Assets Management Division will also build some new resorts in some places with better scenery and royal family members like to go on vacation. They are actually open to the public on weekdays. When necessary, they will be closed for repairs and then used as the royal palace. , to receive the royal palace.

For example, in Huzhou, a summer resort in the south of the Yangtze River, the Royal Family Assets Management Department spent a lot of money to invest in the construction of a resort here, which is open for business daily and has also received many members of the royal family. lived here.

And when the railway network is completed one after another, long-distance travel will become more convenient. At the same time, Luo Zhixue is not the kind of person who insists on confining the harem concubine in the palace.

Sometimes I will take the concubines directly to inspect and travel along the way, and sometimes I will allow the concubines in the harem to let the princes and daughters accompany them home to visit their relatives, or go out on vacation to offer incense or something.

The members of the royal family travel a lot, so naturally some palaces and other courtyards are needed for the members of the royal family to go out and live.

Luo Zhi learned to inspect Youzhou City, and stayed in the royal garden of the Ming Dynasty. However, he did not stay in Youzhou City for long, only stayed for two days. After inspecting the local garrison, he continued went north.

Because there is really nothing to see in Youzhou City now. If it needs industry, there is no industry, if it needs economy, there is no economy. Siphoned!
Except for tens of thousands of garrisons, Luo Zhixue couldn't find anything to see even if he wanted to.

After leaving Youzhou City, Luo Zhixue's imperial special train continued to travel northward, passing through the towns of the former Border Pass, entering Xuanfu and arriving at Zhangjiakou!
After arriving in Zhangjiakou, Luo Zhixue's imperial train did not continue north, but turned a corner and went to Datong, Shanxi.

During this northern tour, because of the problem of the railway line, it was impossible for Luo Zhixue to go to Taiyuan, Shanxi and other places, because there were no trains in those places.

But anyway, it is also a northern tour, and it is rare to come here. It would be unreasonable if we did not go to Shanxi, so we came to Datong.

After all, Datong also belongs to Shanxi, and visiting here to see the governor of Shanxi and other local officials has almost the same effect.

The inspection in Datong was even more boring. Apart from coal mines, there were no other commendable industries in the area.

And Luo Zhixue wasn't interested in going to the coal mine... so he simply looked around, and after listening to the reports from the local officials, he walked back along the Datong Railway, then passed through Zhangjiakou and continued north along the Grassland Railway.

All the way to Fengzhou, the provincial capital of Monan Province.

Fengzhou, in fact, is the Guisui of the later generations, backed by the Yinshan Mountains, it is a city on the Fengzhoutan Plain. , the governor of Monan was stationed here.

This place is the most important city of the Great Chu Empire on the Monan Grassland, and although this place is located in the grassland, because of the good mineral resources around it, and the opening of the southern end of the Grassland Railway, the industrial development of this place is still very fast of.

The established Fengzhou Iron and Steel Works is a large iron and steel plant.

Fengzhou's industrial development also means that the Monan Grassland has also entered the era of industrialization following the Central Plains, and the old nomadic life is gone forever.

I stayed in Fengzhou City for three days, during which I also watched the grassland combat exercises of the local troops and inspected the local troops.

After the inspection, Luo Zhixue’s special train did not continue to go north. Although there is still a section of the grassland railway going north, the grassland railway has not been fully opened to traffic, and there is still a few hundred kilometers away from Urge, the provincial capital of Mobei Province. Not fixed.

It is more than 1000 kilometers away from the strategically important city of Chur in the north.

And in the two to three hundred kilometers to the north, there were no big cities, important strategic places, etc., so Luo Zhixue's special train did not continue to go north, but began to turn around and return south.

All the way back south, after passing through Zhangjiakou, Youzhou, and Tianjin, the special train did not stop, and Luo Zhixue didn't even get off the train. After simply adding coal and water, the imperial special train went straight to Shanhaiguan.

The Northeast region is also an important inspection area for Luo Zhixue's northern tour.

Although the climate of this place is not good, it belongs to the bitter cold place in the traditional sense, and the winter is very long and cold.

But it can't stand the rich mineral resources, and the local black soil is extremely fertile.

Early on, the Great Chu Empire began to organize people to immigrate to Liaodong for reclamation, and then gradually began to develop local mineral resources.

Relying on the rich mineral resources and fertile land in the Liaodong area, and of course the indispensable local Liaohe water transport system, the Great Chu Empire succeeded in the initial development in the northeast, mainly in the Liaodong area, making the area the center of the Great Chu Empire. One of the heavy industry bases, the industrial output value is second only to the four major industrial zones of Hantian, Yingtian, Susong, Guangzhou, and Tianjin.

Relying on the successful development of the Liaodong area, the Great Chu Empire gradually continued to develop eastward and northward.

Among them, the most important thing is to open up the land on the Songnen Plain.

With the local development, and because of the large amount of land and few people in the area, mechanized farming is still adopted, making the Northeast region surpass Jiangnan or Huguang, and become the region with the largest net outflow of grain in the Great Chu Empire.

It has become a veritable granary in the Great Chu Empire!
The heavy industry base and the imperial granary, no matter which one they are, are worth Luo Zhixue to take a look at, let alone the two gathered together.