Daming Military Empire

Chapter 565 Serving the Common People
Yang Sichang, Minister of the Ministry of Officials, naturally dared not neglect Zhang Pu when he invited him. He hurriedly walked towards Yang Sichang, but as he walked, he suddenly realized a problem. It seemed that it was inappropriate for him to sit in the second seat from the left.

Not for anything else, just because the third one from the left is Wu Jianye.

You can't sit in random positions these days. If you are not good, you may offend others. Even if you don't offend others, you may leave a bad impression on others and make others think you are too arrogant.

He and Wu Jianye are both Xinweike Scholars, but Wu Jianye is the No. [-] scholar, and he is only a second-class Jinshi. In terms of fame, he is not a star and a half worse than others, and Wu Jianye was born as a Beijing official. He is a local official. Their backgrounds and status are different, even if they are both ministers, he should still sit at the head of Wu Jianye.

In just a few steps, he thought a lot, and when he came to Yang Sichang, he cupped his hands first and said, "Master Yang, please sit down, I'm sorry, I'm sorry."

Hearing this, Yang Sichang sat down with a smile and said: "Master Zhang is joking, we are all ministers, Yang does not dare to call himself a master."

Zhang Pu bowed his hands to Yang Sichang again, then turned his head to Wu Jianye and said: "Master Wu, long time no see, I don't know if Zhuangyuan Lang still remembers mere mere ones."

Hearing this, Wu Jianye quickly stood up and saluted: "Master Zhang, you are polite. How could Wu, the famous "Loudong Erzhang" among the same subjects, not remember? When we were drinking with Mr. Zhang Cai two days ago, we still chatted about it. As for you, Master Zhang’s achievements in Shanxi are truly admirable.”

Hearing this, Zhang Pu said modestly: "Master Wu is too famous. Now everyone in the world does not know the "New Beijing News", especially the articles written by Mr. Wu. Every article is a rare masterpiece. Every time Zhang reads it, he is fascinated. Crazy, can't bear to let go."

Wu Jianye was a little overwhelmed by the flattery, he quickly changed the topic and said: "Master Zhang is too famous, hurry up, please sit down, please sit down."

But Zhang Pu shook his head and said: "How dare Zhang take the seat of the number one scholar, and invite the number one scholar to sit on the top."

Wu Jianye is so embarrassing, sometimes the title of No. [-] Scholar really hurts him, not to mention being touted for no reason, and people always force him to sit on it. He really wants to say that No. [-] Scholar is just a title, not a good grade!

Just when he didn't know how to respond, the eunuch's communication voice suddenly sounded outside: "The emperor is here."

It's all right now, no need to explain, and it's too late to change seats.

Sure enough, when Zhang Pu heard that the emperor was coming, he cupped his hands in embarrassment, then quickly opened the second seat from the left, and stood respectfully beside the conference table.

At this time, the others also stood up quickly, waiting respectfully.

Zhu Cijiong is in a very good mood recently. All the wars have ended with the victory of the Ming Dynasty, and the implementation of the New Deal has been extremely smooth. In addition, the harem concubines have added a few lovely princes and princesses to him. So many good things have piled up together. As a result, his face is full of spring breeze when he walks.

After the monarchs and ministers saw the ceremony, this habit of playing pranks fell again. He couldn't help smiling and said: "Everyone, do you know why I called everyone together?"

Everyone here is indeed very curious, isn't it about discussing the establishment of a new yamen, why did you recruit all the people in charge of the royal business?

The emperor seemed to be about to tell the reason, and everyone couldn't help but open their ears and listen carefully.

In the end, Zhu Cijiong said as if nothing had happened: "I'll talk about this issue later, let's discuss the formation of the new yamen first."

Everyone was taken aback when they heard the words. The emperor's words seemed to be fine, but what everyone wanted to know was why the person in charge of the imperial business was recruited here!
Seeing everyone's astonished expressions, Zhu Cijiong couldn't help but feel secretly proud in his heart, and then, holding back his smile, he continued: "This time we are mainly discussing the formation of the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Communications, so why should this How about discussing the formation of the two yamen together?"

Now the people sitting here no longer waited foolishly for the emperor to reveal the answer, but began to think about it.

However, what is the commonality between the two yamen, or the commonality, everyone really can't think of it for a while.

Fortunately, Zhu Cijiong didn't whet their appetites this time, but directly explained: "These two yamen are actually yamen closely related to the lives of ordinary people. It can be said that it is a time of war, so whether it is transportation or communication, it is mainly in the To serve the war, however, the war will pass, and transportation and communication must ultimately serve the people. The purpose of setting up these two yamen is to better serve the people and let the common people enjoy the benefits of national development. benefit."

This is easy to say, but difficult to do. In history, there are many officials who worry about the country and the people or for the country and the people, but at most they only make a fuss about building water conservancy and reducing taxes. No one really thought about the yamen serving the people. Of course, ordinary officials don't have this power, so they never thought of this level at all.

Zhu Cijiong knew that this was indeed a bit ahead of his time, and he didn't expect these people to be able to understand it at all. Seeing the confused expressions on everyone's faces, he directly guided, "Think about it, how do these two yamen serve the people? , Say whatever comes to your mind, and discussing is to speak out everyone’s thoughts and discuss.”

Everyone knows that the emperor doesn't like boring gourds. The more active you speak, the more he likes it. Therefore, as soon as his words fell, someone began to express their opinions.

The first person to speak was Wu Jianye, the new Secretary of the Ministry of Communications. He coughed and carefully suggested: "The Secretary of General Administration has opened the business of sending letters to ordinary people, so that relatives and friends who are separated by two places can understand each other's situation. , was well received by the people, Weichen suggested that the telegram should also be opened to the common people, so that if anyone has something important, he can immediately notify his relatives and friends who are thousands of miles away."

Zhu Cijiong nodded and said: "Well, Meicun's proposal is very good, and the telegram should be opened to ordinary people."

Immediately afterwards, Zhang Cai, Shangshu of the Ministry of Commerce, coughed again, and suggested: "Now that there are more and more vendors doing business in Kua Province, Wei Chen suggested that some fixed freight lines be opened, like the one between the capital and Dongdaying. Similarly, there are trains coming and going every day, so doing business is much more convenient.”

This really hits the spot, Zhu Cijiong praised: "Well, Shou Xian's proposal is quite good, opening a fixed freight line is one of the purposes of the establishment of the Ministry of Transport."

Immediately afterwards, Zhang Pu, the new minister of the Ministry of Transportation, also coughed, and said with emotion: "It took less than a day for Weichen to catch the special train of the Ministry of Households to raise food and grass from Taiyuan Prefecture to the capital, and it was very easy. I don’t feel any fatigue from the journey. Before, it would take me more than a day to ride a horse-drawn carriage, and the bumps on the way can make people feel sore all over. Therefore, Wei Chen thought, if fixed passenger lines can be opened in various parts of Daming, it must be A great thing to benefit the people.”

(End of this chapter)