Chapter 607 You are the heroes of the Ming Dynasty
However, Zhang Juzheng reacted very quickly. Following Zhu Yijun’s suggestion, he first bowed to the audience and then walked to the iron speaker and said loudly: “It is a great honor to follow the emperor to the Fengrun Woolen Factory to visit everyone.”

He paused for a second or two, then an idea suddenly occurred to him, and he said loudly: “My fellow workers, thank you for your hard work. On behalf of the cabinet, I would like to express my condolences to you all!”

When Zhu Yijun saw Zhang Juzheng talking so eloquently, he was also stunned for a moment.

Self-taught without a teacher!

As a former senior civil servant, I am very familiar with this stage, so I can handle it with ease.

Zhang Juzheng relied entirely on his talent. After a brief surprise at the beginning, he immediately adjusted his attitude and found the right position, and his words were natural and sincere.

In this world, some people succeed through hard work, some succeed through talent, but Zhang Juzheng succeeded through both hard work and talent. No wonder he left his name in history books.

As soon as Zhang Juzheng finished speaking, thunderous applause rang out again, and the eyes of the people in the audience flashed with a different light.

It is really unexpected that the Emperor and the Prime Minister are so approachable.

After Zhang Juzheng finished speaking, he consciously started to introduce others.

We can’t let the emperor be the host and introduce his entourage.

“The one who came with the Emperor to visit us is also the Chief Secretary of the Cabinet, Zhang Xueyan.”

Seeing the doubts flashing in the eyes of the people below the stage, Zhang Juzheng’s heart moved, and he continued to introduce, “The chief historian of the cabinet, according to the emperor, is the secretary general, the chief steward of our cabinet.”

Oh, the Cabinet Chief Steward!
It’s exactly the same as the inner court’s chief steward, Eunuch Yang Jinshui.

Zhang Xueyan understood immediately when he received the look from Zhang Juzheng.

He walked forward with a smile and bowed to the people in the audience. Without saying a word, he stood aside.

now it’s right.

I also said, and you also said, how to reflect the difference between superiors and subordinates?
“Those who have accompanied the emperor to visit us include Li Tongzheng, the left envoy of the Ministry of Public Administration, Gong Zhifu, Liang Tongzhi, and Yan Zhixian, the magistrate of Fengrun County.” Zhang Juzheng introduced the officials who came with him one by one.

They were not very adaptable to this new situation, but they knew they just had to follow Zhang Xueyan’s example.

After the introductions were finished, Zhu Yijun waved his hand and said, “Everyone, please take a seat.”

He sat down first on the chair in the middle, Zhang Juzheng sat down on the chair just behind him, and the rest, including Zhang Xueyan, sat down in the third row of seats one after another.

After everyone sat down, Zhu Yijun smiled and waved his right hand, gesturing a few times in front of him, “They said they want to add a table in the front, a long table, and cover it with a red flowered cloth, so that we can put water cups on it.

I said no, I want to be honest with the heroes of the Ming Dynasty. “

The synagogue became extremely quiet.

Yang Jinshui’s eyes lit up. He thought the emperor was right. He would arrange it like this in the future to prevent people on and off the stage from being too “frank”.

“You are the heroes of the Ming Dynasty,” Zhu Yijun emphasized, “Those who sacrificed their lives in the front are heroes, and those who silently contributed in the rear are also heroes.

I heard that since the first year of Longqing, your factory has been responsible for the winter uniforms of the border troops, producing one million meters of woolen cloth every year. Our soldiers can hold the border in the wind and snow to defend the country, and you have made an indelible contribution!

I also heard that the Imperial Household Department issued a “Commendation Order for Ensuring Military Supplies” to your factory in the third year of the Longqing reign. I know that the Imperial Household Department only gives out this commendation order to five of the two or three hundred military supply factories each year. It is rare for you to receive it.”

Zhu Yijun chatted with the workers in the audience for more than ten minutes as if he was just chatting about family matters. He kept praising them the whole time, and the people in the audience blushed and were very excited.

Among the hundreds of factories in Luanzhou, who has the honor to be praised in person by the emperor?

As soon as Zhu Yijun finished speaking, warm applause broke out and lasted for a long time. The huge sound waves almost blew the roof off.

Next, Zhang Juzheng, on behalf of the cabinet, delivered an enthusiastic speech, which was also mainly encouraging.

After the speech, ten annual model workers were brought to the stage by the Jinyiwei Military Academy, and Zhu Yijun personally awarded them commemorative medals.

“This medal is called the Labor Medal. Labor is glorious. Our Ming Dynasty is strong and prosperous because of your hard work.”

During this eastern tour, Zhu Yijun had a plan to distribute medals along the way in order to improve the social status of the workers.

This group of workers includes former craftsmen, current ordinary workers, technicians and engineers.

However, the awards given in the early stage were commemorative medals, not formal awards.

After the eastern tour is over and we have a clear understanding of the factories and mines in Luanzhou and Kaiping, we will select a number of outstanding workers and craftsmen and officially award them medals with different treatments.

After the awards were presented, Zhu Yijun, Zhang Juzheng and their entourage left the venue amid warm applause and under the gaze of thousands of pairs of tearful eyes.

Accompanied by Director Wu and others, Zhu Yijun and his party visited the entire woolen cloth factory.

The first thing that catches your eye is the red brick buildings.

The factory is tall and spacious, and the six-story office building has windows all made of glass, which sparkle crystal clear in the sun.

The wool gathers from the grasslands in the middle and upper reaches of the Luan River, flows down along the Luan River, and gathers here.

First soak in a pool of lime water. From a distance, workers wearing cotton masks can be seen stirring the wool with wooden sticks beside the pungent cement pool, so that the wool can be soaked in lime water as much as possible to remove impurities and grease.

The wool that has been soaked for a few days is drained and dried in the shade, then loaded onto a conveyor belt and transported to the combing workshop, which contains a carding machine that first finely combs the wool to make it straight and tidy.

It is then sent to the combing machine for further fine combing to further improve the wool quality.

The wool is then sent to the dyeing workshop, first into a weak acid pool to soften the wool, and then into a dyeing pool to dye it into different colors.

Downstairs is the spinning workshop, where the dyed wool is sent to the spinning machine, stretched, twisted, and spun into woolen yarn. It is then sorted, stretched, and dried to further improve the quality of the yarn.

In the weaving workshop, the spun fine wool thread is sent to the water-powered loom, and the process is similar to but different from weaving cotton cloth, into woolen cloth of appropriate thickness.

Finally, it is pressed, stretched, dried, and continuously rolled around a log shaft into a thick roll of woolen cloth.

Zhang Juzheng, Zhang Xueyan and others were dumbfounded as they watched the mountains of wool undergo a series of processes right under their eyes, first turning into endless wool yarns, and finally into rolls of thick, warm and smooth woolen cloth.

Zhu Yijun looked at the expressions of suppressed surprise on their faces with great interest.

I just like to see you guys looking like you have never seen the world!

This prototype model of large-scale industrialized production is shocking to you. If I develop the steam engine technology tree and use steam engines on a large scale, and have this stable power, the mechanical equipment technology will make a large-scale leap. By then, the primary state of large-scale industrialized production will make you vomit blood like a pig’s intestines being pierced.

Next, Zhu Yijun and his party visited the power workshop of the woolen factory.

Here, Zhang Juzheng and others learned why water is also important for factories. First of all, wool washing requires a lot of water.

The second is motivation.

A dam was built more than two miles away from here, cutting off the Bing River in half to form an artificial lake. The water level of the artificial lake is nearly ten meters above the ground, and then the water is led to various factories through channels, and then flows down from the heights. The huge water flow drives rows of water trucks.

The waterwheel rotates, driving rows of turntables, which transmit power through gear sets to drive combing machines, transmission belts, spinning machines, and looms.
Director Wu introduced: “Your Majesty, Prime Minister Zhang, and other superiors, the power of our factory generally comes from animal power and water power. After two or three years of operation, we still chose water power, and animal power can only be used as a backup.

Because as long as there is water, water power can be continuous and never stop. Animals are different. They need to rest when they are tired, drink water when they are thirsty, eat when they are hungry, and seek medical treatment when they are sick, just like humans. “

County Magistrate Yan interrupted: “Director Wu, you have stored so much water upstream, can’t you give some of it to the farmland on the west bank?”

Director Wu spread his hands and said, “We don’t want to delay the farming season. The autumn harvest will start in the second half of the month, and we know that the wheat fields are just short of water.

But we have no other choice. The reservoir upstream looks full of water, but the water level must be high enough to drive the machines. If it is not high enough, the water flowing down will not be strong enough to drive so many machines.”

“We have to find a way to solve it. Farmland has no water, wheat production has decreased, and people have no food to eat. This is a big deal.”

Director Wu was silent, and everyone else was silent too.

Zhu Yijun said, “There are ways.”

Everyone looked at him, and Zhang Juzheng asked excitedly: “Your Majesty, do you have a solution?”

“There are always more solutions than problems. I took a look around and have a general idea in mind. But Master Zhang and I came here only to solve a water problem, which is a waste of our talents.”

Yes, the emperor and the prime minister came together to solve the problem of water disputes between workers and farmers. He was indeed holding the sword of the Heavenly Sword to kill the New Year pig.

Zhu Yijun continued, “I learned about the dispute between the villagers of Yahongqiao Town and the woolen cloth factory. Master Zhang told me that the dispute between workers and peasants exists in Fengrun, Kaiping, Luanzhou, Taiyuan, Shanghai, and everywhere.

There are times when teeth and tongues fight, and when factories and villages are in the same place, there will definitely be disputes. How to resolve the conflict between them is a major problem that the cabinet urgently needs to solve.

I came here today to be a peacemaker between the villagers of Yahongqiao and the East Coast Factory. You are all my subjects, and I will not favor anyone. I will handle the matter fairly.”

Everyone said in unison: “Your Majesty is wise! We respectfully await your holy judgment!”

“County Magistrate Yan, go and call the village representatives. Director Wu, go and invite the factory directors and worker representatives from other factories on the East Coast.

We sat down in the conference room of the woolen factory and had a good talk. “

An hour later, in the woolen conference room, representatives of the villagers of Yahongqiao Town sat on the left, the directors and worker representatives of the four factories on the east coast sat on the right, and Zhu Yijun, Zhang Juzheng and others sat in the middle.

“Let’s talk about it one by one.

First of all, water. When I first went on an eastern tour and just entered Fengrun County, you greeted me with artillery fire. “

Everyone hurriedly said: “We dare not!”

“Okay, let’s talk about this later. Let’s talk about water first.” Zhu Yijun waved his hand, “Master Zhang, I, and the ministers have visited the woolen cloth factory and their power workshop.

We can see that the water used in the factory, how it comes in and how it goes out, is just using its potential energy. This potential energy is the force of water rushing down from a high place to a low place when it accumulates to a certain height. The higher the water level, the more powerful the rush, and the greater the potential energy.

Zhu Yijun explained briefly and continued.

“What I mean is that the water used in factories is different from the water used in farmland. The water used in factories is not drunk, but remains in the stomach. The water used in farmland is drunk and remains in the stomach to irrigate the wheat.

The two are not contradictory. My opinion is that after the factories on the east bank have used up all the water, the water should be diverted back to the canals on the west bank to directly irrigate the farmland.

We cannot do as we do now, where water comes down from upstream and is used up by factories, and then is simply discharged downstream without any care, leaving the middle section empty, leaving the villagers of Yahongqiao Town on the west bank without water.

I know that it will be difficult to return the water, but you must find a way to solve the problem. If it is impossible, build another dam in the river where you drain water, raise the water level a little, and use the water level difference to divert the river water back to the west bank.
What does your factory rely on for survival? Technology. With so many craftsmen and workers in your factory, you can definitely come up with a solution by pooling your wisdom. “

The four factory directors, together with their respective factory’s top craftsmen, who were also the technical department managers, now called engineers, talked together for a while, and then Director Wu spoke.

“Your Majesty, after your teachings, we have finally seen the blue sky. This method is feasible.”

Zhu Yijun said cheerfully: “That’s good if it works! You are outsiders and are already stealing the water source from the local villagers. Then you should find a way to help solve the water problem.”

“As you wish! We will follow the Emperor’s orders.”

“Okay, the water problem has been solved. Now we have to solve the problem of the incompatibility between industry and agriculture. Factories and villages are not enemies. They should live in harmony and help each other.

Director Wu, I want to ask you, does your factory recruit local villagers?”

“In reply to the emperor, we have recruited, but no one is willing to join the factory. We finally recruited dozens of people to join the factory, but they all quit after working for less than a month or two.”

“why?”

“They said that the landlord in the village had said that if they went to work in the factory, their families would no longer think about renting land. These villagers who were willing to work in the factory were originally from families with little land and many people in the village. In previous years, they rented the landlord’s land to make a living.

When he heard that our factory was hiring, he thought that since he had more than enough young people at home, he could work in the factory to earn more money. But the landlord said that if he continued to work in the factory, he would not rent his land to his family. The whole family depended on renting the landlord’s land to make a living, so he had no choice but to quit his job.

Zhu Yijun nodded.

Zhang Juzheng and Zhang Xueyan looked at each other with flickering eyes.

A group of things that don’t know how to live or die.

Hai Rui wiped out most of the aristocratic families in the southeast in one go. One of their original sins was to prevent the villagers from going to Shanghai to work. He only wanted to tie the villagers to the fields, make them tenants, and use them as slaves for generations.

Now you still dare to do this!
Isn’t this just hitting the tip of a knife?

Zhu Yijun pointed his right hand at a villager representative and said, “Mr. Qian, are you the landlord that Director Wu is talking about?”

Everyone looked at Mr. Qian.

He looked very amiable and dressed simply. He was very low-key among the village representatives and spoke very little. Others thought he was just an ordinary villager who was chosen as a representative because of his good popularity.

I didn’t expect he was a big landowner.

Qian Yuanwai’s face flushed for a moment, and he stood up, clasped his hands and replied, “I have never done this.”

Zhu Yijun smiled and said, “This matter has already passed. There is no evidence to prove whether you did it or not, so it is difficult to point it out.

However, I have asked people to verify that the water-deficient farmland on the west bank totals 7,400 acres, and your Qian family occupies one-third of it, is that right, Mr. Qian?”

(End of this chapter)