My Portable Ming Dynasty

Chapter 242: Setting an Example

However, before that, Su Ze looked at the settlement report first.

The memorial requesting the establishment of a Grand Minister in charge of the Grand Canal was passed, and Lei Li, the former Minister of Works, became the first Grand Minister in charge of the Grand Canal.

The appointment of the Grand Canal Commissioner as Prime Minister marked the beginning of the full-time ministerial system and is considered by later scholars to be the starting point for the professionalization of modern administrative officials.

The system of full-time cabinet ministers has made the administrative official system more professional and has also provided a pathway for technical officials to enter the cabinet.

[National fortune +5.]

[Prestige +500.]

Good heavens, this has actually become the starting point for the professionalization reform of administrative officials.

That makes sense when you think about it. In the past, it was rare for the Minister of Works to be able to enter the cabinet. Lei Li himself was the kind of official who did not form cliques and focused on the affairs of the Ministry of Works, which is what is known as a "technocrat".

In the past, the highest rank an official of this type could reach was Minister of the Six Ministries.

He himself was the first to propose the establishment of the Prime Minister's Special Minister for Waterway Administration, which provided a channel for these technical officials to participate in national affairs.

Su Ze also discovered that as the national fortune grew, it became increasingly difficult to increase it further.

Such a far-reaching reform only extended the reign of the nation by 5 years.

However, the increase of 500 prestige points was a pleasant surprise.

With the people in place and the authority established, the biggest challenge in constructing the Subei Irrigation Main Canal was finding the funding.

Su Ze's solution was to expand the scope of commercial tax reform and levy commercial taxes in more places.

However, this is also a difficult thing.

The most prosperous area for merchants in the Ming Dynasty today is the Southern Zhili region, so the difficulty of levying commercial taxes here is self-evident.

This isn't under the emperor's nose; the emperor and the six ministries of the cabinet are all in the capital keeping an eye on things.

Take Su Ze's hometown of Suzhou Prefecture as an example; in the previous timeline, there was constant resistance to taxes.

Let alone tax increases, the region that owes the emperor the most money in the imperial treasury is now the Jiangnan region.

The current governor of Yingtian, Hai Rui, receives a mountain of impeachment petitions every month, and this is only because Hai Rui is conducting a land reclamation campaign in the ten prefectures of Yingtian.

If a commercial tax is levied, who knows what kind of trouble it will cause.

The difficulty in collecting commercial taxes in Southern Zhili was mainly due to the fact that it was not only local powerful families who occupied the area.

With the development of the Ming Dynasty's economy, Southern Zhili had formed an intricate interest group that combined retired officials, incumbent officials, scholars, local powerful families, artisans, and landlords.

A craft business owner may hold one or more of these identities.

For example, the Xu family of Songjiang consisted of retired officials, as well as officials still in office. They were also a family of scholars for generations, the most powerful family in Songjiang Prefecture, and owned a large amount of land. They were also the largest cotton textile owners in Songjiang Prefecture.

Among them are literary leaders, masters of classical studies, local celebrities, and many other identities.

These families also form interest groups through marriage and other relationships, and taxes cannot be collected simply by issuing an imperial edict.

However, tax reform is something that must be done.

Taxation is the most important tool.

If the rentiers who control the largest profits in the most prosperous areas of the Ming Dynasty don't pay taxes, are we supposed to make the poor people pay them?
Su Ze's solution was to start with improving the administration.

Clerks, this inconspicuous group, are the key to penetrating the deeply entrenched interest groups in the entire southeast.

Local powerful figures who wanted to evade taxes always had to rely on a group of clerks and scribes.

Local officials also need to control their localities through their clerks.

What Su Ze needs to do now is to inject some sand into the seemingly monolithic interest group in the southeast.

Although much of this sand will be assimilated and absorbed by the local population.

However, if enough sand is added, the sand will also form its own group's needs, and new changes will occur.

To get the emperor and the cabinet to agree to hold the civil service examination in Southern Zhili, it would be necessary to prove the "effectiveness" of the pilot area of ​​Shuntian Prefecture.

The best way to achieve results is to establish a few "role models".
-
March 27th.

Shuntian Prefecture, Fangshan County.

Magistrate Lin Bingzheng was a fellow Jinshi (successful candidate in the highest imperial examination) with Shen Shixing and a protégé of Zhang Juzheng.

Lin Bingzheng came from the Lin family of Houguan, Fujian, which was a famous family in Fujian that had passed the imperial examinations.

Although Lin Bingzheng did not rank highly in the imperial examination, he was still promoted to the position of county magistrate in the capital region.

As long as Lin Bingzheng achieves political success in Fangshan County, he can be reassigned to the central government.

The thought that despite his years of hard work, he was still just a minor magistrate in Fangshan County made Lin Bingzheng feel even more strongly that the imperial examination was truly an insurmountable barrier.

After struggling for so many years, I've only just caught up with the starting point of those who stayed in Beijing at the same time.

Shen Shixing, the top scholar of the same year, is now the military commissioner of Zhigu. That's how big the gap is between people.

However, Lin Bingzheng quickly adjusted his mindset.

Even if you don't perform as well as others in the exam the first time, as long as you can achieve real results, you still have a chance to soar to great heights.

The newly appointed Grand Secretary, Lei Li, did not excel in the imperial examinations and started as a county magistrate. He entered the Grand Secretariat at the age of over sixty.

Lin Bingzheng was only in his thirties, so he was not without a chance.

Lin Bingzheng looked at Liulichang in front of him.

The suggestion brought by Zhang Mingyuan, a county official, was to have the county government re-establish the Liulichang (glass factory) and improve the methods for producing the glass that was popular in the capital.

Lin Bingzheng strongly supported Zhang Mingyuan's idea and ordered the gathering of craftsmen from Liulichang, with the county government funding the experiment of manufacturing glass.

Fangshan itself had a foundation in glassmaking, and Su Ze also published the glassmaking techniques in the newspaper. Zhang Mingyuan led the craftsmen to quickly produce glass.

But this is only the first step.

After Suze published the method for making glass, many workshops produced glass.

However, the price of glass in the capital city remains high.

The reason is simple: laboratory products and industrial products are different.

If you disregard costs and manufacture on a small scale, many things can be made by hand.

However, to make money, it is necessary to reduce costs, standardize processes, increase output, and reduce the defect rate in the production process, which cannot be solved by hand-rolling.

To Lin Bingzheng's surprise, Zhang Mingyuan was indeed a talented person.

He led the craftsmen to reopen the official kiln in Liulichang, transforming it from a kiln originally used for firing glazed tiles into a glass kiln for firing glass.

With the factory in place, Zhang Mingyuan purchased coal from nearby coal mines in Fangshan, which is a coal-producing area in western Beijing, thus solving the fuel problem.

The most troublesome thing is the raw materials.

The sand problem is relatively easy to solve, but the alkali problem is a challenge.

The entire capital city is suffering from alkali deficiency.

The wool textile industry needs alkali, the soap industry needs alkali, and the glass industry also needs alkali.

There weren't enough weeds to burn near the capital.

Moreover, during the recent rains, landslides occurred on several mountains in the outskirts of Beijing due to burning grass to produce alkali. Shuntian Prefecture also issued an order prohibiting people from going up the mountains to burn grass at will.

Zhang Mingyuan was also capable; he made several trips to the capital and, through a fellow student from Shanxi, made connections with the Fan family of Datong.

It turns out that there are many salt lakes on the grassland, and there are salt flats around these salt lakes.

The herders on the grasslands originally didn't know what these things were used for; at most, they would pick some up and let their livestock lick them to supplement their salt intake. Humans couldn't eat these bitter salty lumps.

However, the Fan family merchants in Datong soon discovered that this was natural saline-alkali soil.

The Fan family merchants sold sugarcane wine and other goods to the grasslands, and were worried about not being able to bring back any products.

Then the price of alkali in the capital soared, so the merchants paid to buy these alkali blocks from the herdsmen on the grasslands and transported them back to the capital to sell.

Zhang Mingyuan contacted the Fan family and secured a certain share of alkali from their caravan, finally allowing them to begin operations.

Lin Bingzheng watched as smoke billowed from the glass kiln chimney, and the craftsmen shouted:

"It's out of the kiln!"

The craftsman took out the red-hot molten glass and poured it onto the heated copper plate.

Then, craftsmen used rollers to flatten the still-solid glass.

Once the glass has cooled down, the craftsman pushes it onto the cooling iron plate behind it and repeats the process.

The cooled glass turned slightly yellow and its transparency was not as good as the high-end glass that Lin Bingzheng had seen.

He frowned slightly, and Zhang Mingyuan leaned closer and said:

"Sir, the glass kiln has just started construction, and the craftsmen say that there are still improvements to be made in the future."

“I have also inquired in the capital. There is a market for this kind of partially transparent glass. Although it doesn’t fetch a high price, it is available in large quantities.”

Lin Bingzheng quickly understood.

Transparent glass is expensive and only the most powerful and wealthy families can afford to buy it. It has high profit margins but low sales volume.

If this flawed glass is sufficient to replace window paper, even moderately wealthy families in the capital could afford it.

As long as there is profit, there is no need to fear low profit margins and high sales volume.

Lin Bingzheng nodded in satisfaction. Compared with other counties, Fangshan County had the technological advantages accumulated by Liulichang, the fuel advantages of the surrounding coal mines, and was close to the capital, the largest consumer market.

Fangshan County has the advantages of favorable timing, location, and human resources. The biggest problem now is how to promote Fangshan's glass products.

Zhang Mingyuan also had a solution to this problem.

"In the newspaper?"

Zhang Mingyuan nodded and said, "Sir, there is a special section in the Commercial Daily called Advertisement, which means to announce widely. It is dedicated to publishing novel products on the market."

Lin Bingzheng asked doubtfully, "Will the Commercial Daily publish it?"

Zhang Mingyuan made a gesture of blowing on a silver coin, and Lin Bingzheng immediately understood: the Commercial Daily, the Commercial Daily, can be published if you pay.

Lin Bingzheng said, "Take twenty silver dollars from the county government's public account, and get another twenty from Master Lin's accountant for the rest."
-
The next day, Zhang Mingyuan took the silver dollars and went to the office of the Beijing Commercial Daily to pay the silver dollars for the advertisement.

With a try-it-and-see attitude, he once again approached his fellow villager Zhang Chun, trying to persuade Zhang Chun, the field reporter of the Yuefu Xinbao, that if he could also publish a report on Fangshan glass in the Yuefu Xinbao, it would definitely boost the sales of Fangshan glass.

Zhang Chun was taking a tea break in the school dormitory. Today was the day Su Ze was coming to the Imperial Academy to give a lecture, and he was also answering questions during the tea break.

Teaching at the Imperial Academy was one of the only two things Su Ze never neglected; the other was teaching Little Fatty Jun at the Eastern Palace.

In Su Ze's view, Zhu Juntang, Zhang Chun, and the other students who were selected for the Imperial Academy were all promising candidates for the highest degree.

In officialdom, one must be realistic, but not too realistic.

Teachers like Su Ze, who were tutors before their children passed the imperial examinations, were called "private tutors" in official circles.

Generally speaking, after passing the imperial examination and achieving great success, the relationship between the student and the tutor becomes merely a formality.

The tutors who presided over the provincial and imperial examinations, who had never taught a single lesson, became the teachers to be served.

However, the tutor also depends on the situation.

Su Ze and Shen Li are clearly aiming for high-ranking positions in the cabinet; how could any disciple not recognize them?
When Zhang Chun heard that his fellow villager had come to see him, he stood up and asked Su Ze for leave.

"Is this fellow townsman you mentioned the one who took the civil service exam, was assigned to Fangshan County, and started a glass workshop there?"

Zhang Chun never expected that Su Ze would remember the fellow townsman she mentioned in casual conversation.

He said emotionally:

"My esteemed teacher actually remembers his fellow townsman?"

Su Ze said:

"Please let him in; I want to see him."

"what?"

Su Ze was worried about not having a model for new officials, but he didn't expect to have such an unexpected gain from today's lecture.

Zhang Chun, a fellow townsman, developed industries in Fangshan. Isn't he the best example of a new official?
In addition, there was the magistrate of Fangshan County, whom Su Ze remembered as being the same age as Shen Shixing.

If Fangshan County's commercial tax revenue increases significantly due to the development of industry and commerce, it will allow the emperor and his high-ranking officials to see the positive impact of the new official reform on commercial tax revenue, thereby further promoting the new official reform in other regions.

Of course, to establish a role model, that role model must also be of high quality.

If a forced model backfires, it will have a devastating impact on political credibility. That's why Su Ze proposed to meet Zhang Mingyuan in person.

Zhang Chun arrived at the gatehouse of the Imperial College, found Zhang Mingyuan waiting there, and said to him:
"Thirteen Lang, come in quickly, Su Hanlin wants to see you."

"Su Hanlin, which Su Hanlin?"

As soon as he asked the question, Zhang Mingyuan's face showed a look of shock. He quickly slapped himself to make sure he wasn't dreaming.

While urging his fellow townsman, Zhang Chun said, "Thirteen Lang, you've come at the perfect time. Today is the day that Hanlin Su is lecturing at the Imperial Academy. I once mentioned Thirteen Lang's affairs in Fangshan County, and Hanlin Su was very interested, so he invited you to come and meet him."

Zhang Mingyuan was walking with trembling hands. He had originally just wanted to ask for a report in the Yuefu Xinbao, but by a twist of fate, he was granted an audience with Su Ze.

This is Su Hanlin!

Even though he was far away in Fangshan, Zhang Mingyuan knew about Su Ze's two memorials a while ago, which had recommended Lei Li, the Minister of Works, to be included in the cabinet.

Yan Shifan, the junior Grand Secretary during the late emperor's reign, was merely using his father Yan Song's name to form cliques and pursue personal gain.

In the capital's official circles, Su Ze was secretly called "Little Grand Secretary," and it was said that he was a literary star descended to earth. This "Little Grand Secretary" truly had the ability to influence the emperor and his important ministers.

Zhang Mingyuan was filled with anxiety. If he said the wrong thing and offended this "young Grand Secretary," how would he explain himself to the county magistrate?

"Thirteen Lang, don't kneel down when you see Su Hanlin. Su Hanlin doesn't like it when others do that. Just bow."

Zhang Mingyuan cast a grateful glance at Zhang Chun.

The side hall of Minglun Hall in the Imperial College.

After meeting Su Ze, Zhang Mingyuan was even more certain that Su Ze was truly a celestial being, a person who was even less pretentious than a county magistrate.

After Su Ze and Zhang Mingyuan chatted for a few minutes, Zhang Mingyuan gradually relaxed.

Following this, under Su Ze's questioning, Zhang Mingyuan recounted in detail the process of establishing glass workshops in Fangshan County.

Su Ze listened and nodded, feeling even more convinced that Zhang Mingyuan was a capable person.

And Lin Bingzheng, the magistrate of Fangshan County, is another example of a person who can be used as a model.

Su Ze asked, "How much glass can your Fangshan County produce in a day?"

Zhang Mingyuan said:
"If we operate at full capacity, we can produce 50 cubic meters of glass per day."

One side is the size of a standard copper coin, which is one zhang by one zhang, roughly nine square meters in later times.

Su Ze was very satisfied with the output, and he continued:

"I have a few things; can your craftsmen make them?"

(End of this chapter)