Daming 1805

Amidst the uproar, the moon slowly rose to the middle of the sky, and then slowly arrived the next day.

On the morning of the new day, Zhu Jingyuan sat down on the throne, and after announcing the start of the morning court, several ministers immediately played.

Wrote a very formal memorial and submitted it directly to the emperor in the early court.

In fact, other middle and low-level officials, and even more memorials, are being sent to the palace through the Secretary of General Administration.

The thinking and mentality of most traditional bureaucrats are actually very similar to folk literati.

The first thing they pay attention to is the calendar itself, and they will also explore whether the arrangement of the new calendar is reasonable.

Some people feel novelty about the new calendar, while others feel that the new emperor is too conceited.

They actually want to risk the world's bad opinion, change the time of the beginning of the year that has been fixed for 2000 years, and subvert the traditional calendar rules.

But at the same time, they are all direct stakeholders.

As the emperor's courtiers, he eats the imperial salary and enjoys the bureaucratic treatment. To eat the emperor's salary is to be loyal to the emperor.

Officials seek their own government in their positions, and unless they are ready to resign, they will basically not express their views at folk gatherings.

But they can write memorials, submit them to higher-level bureaucrats, and express their opinions and ideas through channels within the system.

Low-level officials wrote to their superiors, while the most senior officials wrote directly to the emperor Zhu Jingyuan.

At this stage of Ming Dynasty, there are no ministers and ancient officials who deliberately exaggerated opposition and criticism of the emperor's orders.

At the same time, the emperor will basically not do anything out of the ordinary.

Most of the exchanges were fact-based, with clear concerns and tactful persuasion regarding the new calendar announced by Zhu Jingyuan.

This is also the rule set by Emperor Shizu.

The memorial to the emperor is not allowed to ramble, not empty emotion and admiration, but to have something to say.

It is not allowed to show off your literary talents, but use the simplest words possible to explain clearly what you want to say.

If something is really complicated and needs to be explained in detail, write an "overview" at the beginning as well.

The emperor's office hours are very important, and it is impossible to waste them on factors that have nothing to do with actual government affairs.

Zhu Jingyuan received a lot of memorials.

They didn't put them all aside, but looked through them on the spot.

The main point of view of these ministers is that the large-scale adjustment of the law will have a huge impact on the policies of the court and the habits of the people.

After the implementation of the new calendar, there will inevitably be various forms of confusion in various official and civilian affairs involving dates.

Some ministers gave examples. There are many people who are not familiar with government affairs, and there are also people who don't care about government affairs and news at all.

It is likely that they will not notice the revision of the calendar, or be unable to adapt to the revision of the calendar.

When the imperial court implements various laws and regulations according to the new calendar, it is likely to have conflicts with such people.

There are also ministers who are worried that there may be extremely conservative courtiers and folk scholars who will publicly contradict and criticize or even deliberately cause trouble.

Zhu Jingyuan took these worries and assumptions in persuasion as reminders.

After looking through several memoirs, I found that most of them are similar reminders in two aspects, but there are many specific details.

These experienced bureaucrats used their past experience in politics to cite various examples to remind and persuade Zhu Jingyuan.

After Zhu Jingyuan read a few books, he put them down first, then turned around and told the great scholars next to him:

"Carefully extract all the confusion and omissions mentioned in everyone's memorials.

"After you go back, you should also diverge your thinking, use your brains, and analyze the problems that may be encountered in the implementation of the new calendar.

"Sort out the categories, bind them into a manual, and distribute them to each yamen, so that they can prevent and prepare in advance.

"In addition, it is reminded in the manual that non-governmental literati and scholars simply criticize the new calendar verbally, and there is no need to take special care of it.

"For political affairs, the imperial court does not criminalize speech, so it does not deal with their verbal criticism.

"However, the official institutions of the imperial court must follow the time of the new calendar in dealing with anyone and in any form of formal affairs.

"Anyone who violates public affairs and private contracts because of his insistence on using the old calendar will be severely punished.

"Even if someone disapproves of my orders in their hearts, they must obey them physically, and what I punish is disobedience!
Most of the bureaucrats and academicians were a little confused by Zhu Jingyuan's arrangement. They didn't expect Zhu Jingyuan to make such a decision.

Everyone raised all kinds of difficulties and problems, and of course the intention was to hope that the emperor would take back his order.

It's just that most of the courtiers feel that this possibility is unlikely.

So the actual point is to blame the problems that may occur in the future in advance.

Cultivating the calendar will definitely lead to chaos, so the chaos in the future is not because of my inability, not because of my lack of dedication.

It's because Xiuli will always be like this...

As long as the emperor has such a subconscious mind, he can be a little more relaxed when doing things in the coming year.

When something really goes wrong, the punishment will be lighter.

As a result, the emperor asked to make a list of all the "possible chaos" they thought of, and let them all prevent it in advance...

The effect is completely reversed.

Since you all thought of these problems in advance, the emperor also asked you to prevent them in advance. What if the problem still occurs?
Isn't it more sinful?

Many people feel a little bitter in their hearts.

Shen Fu even vaguely remembered what happened more than ten years ago.

When His Majesty was 15 years old, what he did in his grandfather's court often made the officials at that time feel dizzy.

The person who was able to go to the early court 15 years ago, and can still go to the early court now, is now the only one.

The colleagues around me, whether they are older or younger than me, are actually my juniors.

They have only heard that the current emperor is the most lenient to his subordinates...

But they don't know how unique the idea of ​​the current Holy Majesty is...

Often not on the same channel as ordinary people.

I am afraid that similar things will happen frequently in the future...

But no matter what everyone thinks in their hearts, now that the emperor has ordered directly, they have to listen now.

Especially when the emperor yelled out directly, the punishment is disobedience!
So the great scholars headed by Lin Zexu, and the foreign ministers headed by Shen Fu, now bowed neatly and agreed:
"I will obey your orders!"

Zhu Jingyuan felt that he was actually very tolerant, and he didn't deliberately torment ordinary people.

In terms of the implementation of the new calendar, a compromise plan has been made.

In fact, it can also be regarded as a coincidence. The first New Year in the new calendar happens to be the second day of the first lunar month in the old calendar.

That is, two New Years are adjacent.

The new year of the old calendar is in front, and the new year is in the back.

At the same time, the new calendar stipulates that the lunar new year every year in the future will be the first new day after the solar new year.

That is, the first day of the next lunar month after the solar new year.

If the day before the lunar new year is the first day of junior high school, of course it cannot be counted, and it will certainly not be counted in the future.

In the future, the first day of the new year will be the first day of the thirteenth month of the previous year.

If the plan is strictly followed, the Lunar New Year in the Era will be postponed to January 29th in the Era.

If Zhu Jingyuan wanted to deliberately torment people, he would demand such strict enforcement.

Forcibly postpone the traditional New Year this year by one month.

Zhu Jingyuan did not choose to do this, and decided to let the New Year of the 16th year of the old calendar be healthy and live according to the old calendar.

In the second year of the Grand Duke's reign, the first day of the Lunar New Year after the Gregorian New Year was implemented.

The old and new New Years are next to each other, and they are both during the Chinese New Year holidays, so there should be basically no troubles.

It should not be a French April Fool's joke.

Then, as the solar calendar has fixed 30 days per month, the lunar calendar has an average of 29 and a half days per month with a difference of half a day.

In the future, the lunar calendar will be one day earlier than the solar calendar every two months.

At the end of the year of the Great Era, the first thirteenth month will appear.

During the period from the 15th year of Ankang to the first year of the Great Duke, the biggest event in the world was of course the enthronement of the new emperor of Ming Dynasty.

However, the sudden death of the King of England and the official coronation of the new King George IV brought another sub-level event to the world.

The new calendar officially promulgated by the Ming court has become a higher-level event before this.

Because the impact of the new calendar on the world is more important than the enthronement of the Ming emperor, let alone the coronation of a certain king in Taixi.

According to Zhu Jingyuan's request, under the auspices and arrangement of Shen Fu, Daming's propaganda organization was fully fired.

The official broadcasting system of Ming Dynasty released a special program to introduce it, and the official newspapers and periodicals also published special issues and special issues.

All government yamen, all government-run manufacturers, imperial consortium manufacturers, personnel from Huangzhuang and the Dashi system were quickly notified.

With these communication channels, related news spread rapidly among the people.

Different people have very different views on these news, mainly because everyone has different buttocks, and their focus is also completely different.

Daming people have their own ideas, and Taixi people also have their own ideas.

After the traditional institutions of the Ming Dynasty were activated, related news quickly spread to the Western countries.

Senior officials of the royal families and courts of various countries received official reports through the official information channels of diplomatic envoys and intelligence personnel.

The common people got the news through newspapers, radio and rumors.

The best informed were the English and the French.

King George IV of the United Kingdom, after reading the intelligence summary report, was shocked, and immediately asked his servants to find his daughter Charlotte.

Charlotte came to George IV's office, and George IV immediately handed the intelligence paper to his daughter:
"Come and take a look, the news of Daming's new calendar..."

Charlotte took the document, read it roughly, and then asked very calmly:
"Well, what does the father want to say?"

George IV was a little surprised by his daughter's reaction, but he was soon relieved. She must have known the news in advance.

George IV adjusted his mood and asked a small question with a very obvious sense of expectation:

"Charlotte, did you say that the Emperor Ming set this new solar calendar with reference to our Taixi calendar?"

Zhu Jingyuan's idea of ​​cultivating the calendar was not completely kept secret, and people who were close enough to him knew more or less.

In particular, Zhu Jingyuan set the enthronement ceremony on the day of Lichun, which made many people who knew some news confirm this guess.

So when Charlotte saw the official news about Daming's calendar, she didn't feel surprised.

It just feels like it really is.

On the contrary, it was George IV's question that made Charlotte stunned tomorrow.

Charlotte really didn't expect that her father's most concerned issue turned out to be from this angle?

Because Daming referred to Taixi's stuff, so Taixi is extra honored?

Charlotte couldn't help but smiled:
"Father, the solar calendar has 360 and five days in a year, as long as you use the solar calendar, you will have this cycle.

"We can't say that the sun belongs to the West? The rules of the sun's operation are set by the West, right?
"Instead of saying that Ming refers to the Julian or Gregorian calendars of Western Europe, it is more appropriate to say that it refers to the earliest solar calendar in ancient Egypt.

"There are also twelve months in a year, and each month is fixed at 30 days, leaving five days at the end of the year as festivals, which is the practice of ancient Egypt.

"Can ancient Egypt be regarded as Taixi people? The Egyptians used to be the territory of the Great Food Kingdom, then the Ottoman territory, and now they are also the people of the Ming Dynasty.

"The Gregorian calendar that Tessie uses now is messy with big moons and small moons, and there are two extra days missing in February, so there are too many customizations.

"Leap every four years, no leap for a hundred years, and 400-year leap repair methods, it seems that it is not very accurate now.

"If the people of Ming Dynasty have learned this method, then they can be regarded as referring to the Taixi calendar.

"Now simply looking at the plan drawn up by Daming, it can only be said to be a normal and ordinary solar calendar.

"To be proud is also the pride of the Egyptians. The current Egyptians are pagans and have nothing to do with us Tessi."

Following Charlotte's chanting, George IV's expression changed from anticipation to regret:

"So it's Egypt...well...

"Then let's not talk about this, let's talk about a more practical question, why does Daming add holidays?

"Two days of rest in a month is not enough? Four days is not enough? How to add all the way to six days...

"Charlotte, what do you think the Emperor of Ming Dynasty thinks?"

Charlotte also answered as a matter of course:

"Your Majesty's idea is very simple, to maintain the cycle of production and consumption.

"Technology is constantly being upgraded and production speed is constantly accelerating.

"The same number of people, in the same amount of time, will produce more and more products.

"Under such circumstances, if the consumption rate of the entire market does not accelerate, won't these products pile up?
"If the goods produced by the factory cannot be sold, it is impossible to continue to increase production, or even reduce production.

"Won't the speed of industrial development slow down like this? It may even go backwards.

"Isn't this happening in Western countries now?

"The emperor of the Ming Dynasty wanted to maintain the simultaneous growth of consumption and production, so he insisted on continuously increasing the income and holidays of the Ming people..."

George IV listened and nodded for granted, and then asked a natural question:
"Yes, the factory will continue to produce until the things are sold.

"So I wanted to make the coronation a bit more grand.

"But what does that have to do with giving workers holidays?"

Charlotte was obviously stunned for a moment again, and once again realized her father's way of thinking:

"Father, in the eyes of you and the so-called scholars from Western and Western countries, the main force of market consumption is nobles and businessmen, so you have such an idea.

"However, in the eyes of the Ming emperor, simply looking at nobles and businessmen, their spending power is limited.

"The huge number of ordinary people is the absolute main force in the market, so Daming wants to increase the spending power of ordinary people.

"The current new mechanized textile factory can produce the amount of cloth in a day, so that the nobles all over the country can't use up a change of clothes every day.

"Now, let's compare the still prosperous market in Ming Dynasty with the increasingly difficult markets in the western and western countries.

"In your opinion, are the views of those Taixi scholars correct, or the views of the Ming emperor?"

George IV seemed conflicted:
"If you compare it with the current market situation, then the Emperor Ming must have done the right thing.

"However, is there really a direct relationship between the Ming Emperor's order and the prosperity of the Ming market?

"I remember that the newspapers analyzed that the prosperity and strength of Ming Dynasty was due to Ming's leading technology, and had little to do with the system.

"The development of the Thai-Western market stagnates because of the greedy, stupid, selfish, short-sighted nature of the Thai-Western people...

"Whether workers are given more wages and holidays has nothing to do with the prosperity of the market.

"If these statements are all wrong, why do most newspapers say so, and officials and scholars also say so on the spot?

"The newspaper editors, those economic scholars, they are all smart people.

"If the Ming Emperor's theory is so simple and effective, why don't they sell the Ming Emperor's theory to me?"

Charlotte was silent for a few seconds:
"I think it's precisely because those so-called scholars are smart people that they won't promote the Ming Emperor's theory.

"They want you to recommend Emperor Ming's theory, will you fully believe it? Will you fully implement it in the UK? Do you have the ability to fully implement it?
"You yourself used to think that their theory was correct, right?

"The country's technological development and market prosperity have nothing to do with ordinary people's wages and holidays, right?"

George IV frowned and thought for a while:

"I shouldn't, at least I didn't before, I really thought that way before..."

George IV wanted to say this, but immediately after saying it, he added:
"However, from the very beginning, before I showed any inclination, not many ministers and scholars wanted me to promote the policies of the Ming Emperor?

"A long time ago, neither before nor after the end of the world war, there were not many words of this kind in the newspapers.

"Even if there were, they were all low-level tabloids, and there were no serious newspapers to promote them...

"If Emperor Ming's theory of balance between production and consumption is correct, and the reasoning is so simple and natural, why is no one promoting it?"

When Charlotte heard this, she also pondered for a while, and then sighed leisurely:

"Father, what you said before may be true, and what those scholars said is also true, the Taixi people are indeed stupid and short-sighted.

"Those so-called scholars also want to live, and they also need money to maintain a decent life.

"The people who can provide them with a decent life are the officials of the imperial court and the bosses of the factories.

"At the same time, most of the court officials are actually the spokespersons of the bosses.

"Their interests are highly aligned, so they are effectively the same group of people.

"They themselves are unwilling to give workers more wages and holidays, and their goal is to invest all their money in reproduction.

"So they will ask those scholars and editors to advocate the justice of their own practices in newspapers and in public, in order to prevent the father and the court from making laws that force wages and holidays to increase."

George IV froze for a few seconds:
"But...don't they worry that what they produce won't be sold?"

Charlotte smiled and said:
"Their thinking is that they use all their income to expand production and squeeze the physical strength and time of workers to the limit.

"At the same time, I hope that other manufacturers will give workers more wages and holidays to consume the products they produce."

George IV was a little bit big:

"Then if everyone thinks this way and all the factories do this, wouldn't there be no one buying anything in the entire market?
"All the people are toiling to death in the factory, where can they sell the huge amount of things they produce?"

Charlotte went on laughing and said:
"The ideal goal is to sell to Daming, and the next best thing is to sell to the workers of the Daming factory.

"Among the countries in Thailand and the West, we are in the best condition in England and France.

"Isn't it because, within the borders of our two countries, Daming controls and manages more manufacturers? Is our trade with Daming the deepest?

"Are there still businessmen and scholars advocating to continue to lower the exchange rate between the British pound and Ming Dynasty and the gold and silver banknotes?
"If Daming completely opens the market to us, then the products of our British factories really don't need to be consumed by our own people.

"The massive market in Daming can easily absorb our products produced in the UK.

"The gold and silver bills obtained from Daming can continue to be used to increase production capacity without worrying about things not being sold.

"The problem is that Ming Dynasty has not fully opened the market to us, and there are only a few free trade zones at present."

George IV's mind was a little confused:

"This...how should I put it...since, Daming's market can fully accommodate our productivity.

"Then when Daming wanted to sign a free trade agreement with us, why did our officials and businessmen disagree?"

Charlotte laughed dryly and said:
"So we Taixi people are selfish, our merchants want us to unilaterally export to Daming, but not allow Daming to export to us.

"However, it is impossible for Da Ming to accept this method, unless our armed forces can defeat Da Ming.

"If we Thais and Westerners had won the World War 15 years ago and Ming had lost, we would have achieved the result they wanted.

"Since you can't win on the battlefield and want to unilaterally export it, it will be impossible to achieve it."

George IV felt that things in his mind gradually became clear:

"Since that's the case, Charlotte, do you think now that we have closer contacts with France and Daming, and the scale of our cooperation and investment between us has become larger, is it a good thing or a bad thing for us?
Charlotte rightly said:

"Of course it's a good thing, the key is to help the British get rid of their stupidity and selfishness.

"And then there's helping to stabilize our markets, which in turn helps to keep the Crown stable."

George IV was silent for a while, and raised a whimsical topic:
"Then if, I said, if we, the UK, propose to fully open the market with Daming, will Daming accept it?"

Charlotte considers it for a few seconds:

"Based on what I know about His Majesty, he should be able to accept it, but there will definitely be various additional conditions.

"All I can think of right now is that we will definitely be required to implement the same labor system as Daming.

"We are required to do the same as Daming, raise the minimum wage, limit the maximum working hours...

"That is to say, let our people's consumption potential be brought into play, so as to truly achieve mutual benefit.

"Instead of our unilateral production and unilateral dumping to Daming, that will not benefit both of us."

George IV shook his head when he heard this:

"This is too difficult..."

Charlotte smiled and said:
"It's not difficult, as long as we continue to expand the royal estate.

"When most industries are managed by the royal family, it will be able to gradually catch up with Ming Dynasty's market policies.

"Da Ming set a ten-year plan, we can set a 20-year plan, or even 30-year plan.

"As long as you are willing to do it, even if you really can't catch up with Da Ming, you can definitely shorten the distance as much as possible.

"At least I won't be thrown further and further away by Da Ming."

George IV sighed, then nodded slightly, and finally shook his head again:

"It still depends on the situation..."