Listening to Xu Guangqi's words, Zhu Youxiao did not have an unhappy look on his face, but looked at him with a smile.

Of course, Zhu Youxiao knew what Xu Guangqi meant by the construction of the palace.

This matter is actually not his own pot, if you really want to chase it, you can just catch it up to your grandfather Emperor Wanli.

In the 25th year of Wanli, the three major halls of the Huangji Palace, the Jianji Palace, and the Zhongji Palace, and the Huangji, Huiji, and Guiji, and the three gates were burned down.

Since then, the palace has been building these places intermittently.

During this period, there were many quarrels between the emperor and his courtiers, the most famous of which was that the timber needed for these halls needed to be harvested and transported from the deep mountains of Guizhou, Yunnan, and then transported to the capital through Huguang and other places. It can be said that this journey cost a lot of money, and there were many casualties.

After his father Emperor Taichang ascended the throne, the Huangji Palace project finally continued to start, and it was the father who took out 1 million taels of silver from the treasury to promote the construction period, but it was only half of the construction.

That is to say, the place where Zhu Youxiao lives, discusses the court, and meets on weekdays is only half of the original three halls.

Regarding the behavior of Emperor Taichang of his father digging out the inner library to repair the palace, the Donglin Party raised his hands and feet in favor of supporting it.

Since Daddy took the throne, the Donglin Party has been fooling Daddy with the money in the inner treasury, which is often a million taels.

Daddy's inner library went out for millions of taels back and forth, and Zhu Youxiao was very distressed when he thought about it now.

Even in the original history, Wang Huazhen was still engaged in Liaodong, asking for 1 million taels of silver to bribe the Mongols to make them work for themselves, and the purpose of such a military policy was to make his father pay another million taels.

Now that Xu Guangqi said such things, he was obviously eyeing the matter of repairing the three major halls.

In fact, according to the normal development of history, this construction will stop next year.

But in the fifth year of the Apocalypse to the seventh year of the Apocalypse, it will be restarted again, and the Ming Society will invest 6 million taels of silver in these two years to complete the construction of these three halls.

Many people in later generations said that the construction of the three major halls was a manifestation of the mediocrity of the Emperor of the Apocalypse. The country has been in such difficulty that you, an emperor, actually spent so much silver to build three major palaces for your own comfort?

However, if from the perspective of a country, it can come up with so much silver to repair these three major halls, and it is taken out in just two years, then it proves that the country still has this silver.

Moreover, during the same period, all parts of the Ming Dynasty were reducing taxes, Shaanxi was providing disaster relief, many river workers were working, and the military salaries in Liaodong were also relatively sufficient.

But after the death of the Emperor of the Apocalypse and the ascension of Emperor Chongzhen, all the situation took a sharp turn for the worse, and the court could not take out any money.

The situation in eastern Liaodong has deteriorated sharply, and there have also been popular uprisings in Shaanxi, and there have been many uprisings and disturbances among displaced people in various places, and things have entered an uncontrollable situation.

It can be seen that it is not that the money that the Emperor of the Apocalypse should not spend to repair the three major halls, nor how important this money is to the Ming Dynasty at that time, but that it is useless for the Ming Dynasty to have this money at that time, because it is not a matter of money at all.

After his father ascended the throne, he went out four or five million taels back and forth, all of which were the silver from his own treasury.

Now Xu Guangqi and Zhu Youxiao said that this matter is clearly measured in advance, because if he continues to cultivate, he may not use the silver in the inner treasury again.

Because of the last raid, Zhu Youxiao returned all the silver to the state treasury, so it is necessary to use the silver from the state treasury to continue construction.

Xu Guangqi is talking to Zhu Youxiao in advance, and at the same time, he also hopes that Zhu Youxiao will not invest too much money and energy in the historical legacy of these three palaces.

"Aiqing, don't you hear that it is not magnificent and powerful?" Zhu Youxiao looked at Xu Guangqi with a smile, and asked with a bit of playfulness in his tone. He also looked at Xu Guangqi with a bit of banter in his eyes, wanting to hear what he said.

"Your Majesty, the minister thinks that if there is no cornerstone of the country, no matter how magnificent the palace is, it is just a castle in the air." Xu Guangqi bowed down and said respectfully, his voice was not loud, but it made everyone hear it clearly.

As soon as Xu Guangqi's words came out, the surroundings were even more silent, and no one dared to speak.

You Xu Guangqi dare to talk to the emperor like this? It's just deadly!

Everyone looked at Xu Guangqi differently, this little old man really dared to speak.

Because if you speak like this, there is a sarcasm that the Ming Dynasty is a castle in the sky. Are you dying?

Zhu Youxiao didn't care, because he also agreed with Xu Guangqi's words.

What's the use of a palace no matter how good and beautiful it is?

In the words of later generations, this is a typical image project. In later generations, the better and more beautiful the local government office building, it will be scolded by the people.

However, after listening to Xu Guangqi's words, Zhu Youxiao thought of a thing, and he seemed to be able to take this opportunity to do something.

"But Aiqing, the world pays attention to the fact that the people must have their own houses. Although I am the emperor, I must have a place to live; On weekdays, I work with the ministers, and I also have a place to talk, so where will I go if this palace is not repaired? After Zhu Youxiao finished saying this, he looked at Xu Guangqi again.

Raising his head and glancing at Zhu Youxiao, Xu Guangqi opened his mouth and said: "It's not that the minister doesn't want His Majesty to repair the palace, the minister just thinks it's not suitable now." The state is in difficulty, the court is in difficulty, and the people are living hard, so at this time, we should concentrate all the money and do some big things. ”

"Once the army is strong and the country is sufficient, please build a new palace for Your Majesty."

After saying this, Xu Guangqi knelt directly on the ground and said respectfully: "Your Majesty, what the minister said is all heartfelt words, for Your Majesty and for the Ming Dynasty, please check it carefully." ”

Zhu Youxiao quietly looked at Xu Guangqi who was kneeling on the ground.

Xu Guangqi said the last sentence, please Your Majesty to investigate it carefully, which means that what I said is true, Your Majesty can check it, but the results of the inspection will be handed over to Your Majesty.

This is not a statement of persecution of the emperor, but a statement of request,

Putting away the smile on his face, Zhu Youxiao stretched out his hand to help Xu Guangqi up, and said, "I remember what Aiqing said. I'll think about it when I get back. Aiqing, hurry up. ”

Xu Guangqi was helped up by Zhu Youxiao, and said respectfully: "The minister is straightforward, if there is a place that collides with Your Majesty, please forgive Your Majesty." ”

"Aiqing is serious." Zhu Youxiao waved his hand and continued: "I naturally know that Aiqing is for my good and for the good of Daming. I feel in my heart, how can I blame it? As long as Aiqing has something to say, I will definitely not be angry. ”

After the people around saw this scene, they looked at Xu Guangqi differently.

I had heard that this cabinet deputy was deeply favored by His Majesty, and everyone didn't have a personal experience, but after seeing this scene at this moment, everyone had a new understanding of Xu Guangqi's favor.

After saying that, His Majesty was not angry, and said that he would seriously consider it, this Xu Guangqi was simply extremely favored!

"What about this matter, I will go back and think about it, Aiqing should take a good look at this place now. Is that the place in front of you where the hydraulic press works? Zhu Youxiao pulled Xu Guangqi and continued to walk forward.

"Back to Your Majesty, it is. Some parts are now being stamped there. Xu Guangqi hurriedly said, and then walked to the workshop with Zhu Youxiao.

There was a clattering sound in the whole workshop, Xu Guangqi reached out and took a stamped finished product in the bamboo basket, and said, "Your Majesty, this is the finished product." ”

Zhu Youxiao picked up the finished product and looked at it over and over again, but he didn't see what it was, so he put it aside.

Zhu Youxiao was not interested in this thing, and he didn't understand it, he just glanced at it, expressed his support for the officials working here and his condolences to them, and then turned around and walked out.

You must know that it is impossible to really go to this place to see when you want to see a place, you have to bring your care and condolences.

This is the reason why when higher-level officials come, they usually bring some policies or some benefits. You can't come in vain.

The last group of people finally came to the place that Zhu Youxiao was interested in, that is, the firearms research and development department.

New artillery and new firearms are being developed here.

There are many artillery pieces in the Ming Dynasty, but the types are also more complicated, which is not conducive to the use of soldiers, so it is necessary to cast a new type of artillery, and it is best to be able to spread all over the use environment of various soldiers to form a series of artillery.

This is also Zhu Youxiao's order to Xu Guangqi and Bi Maokang.

Now it has moved from the drawing stage to the trial production stage, and the imitation prototype is Napoleon's cannon. As for when it will be built, I don't know.

But now that the process has improved, the cost should be lower.

In addition, Zhu Youxiao gave the order to Xu Guangqi and them to find a way to use steel to cast cannons, so that they could find a way to make steel reach the point of qualified casting, which is very, very crucial.

Because the cost of bronze cannons is too high, the cost cannot be lowered, and there is no capacity for large-scale mass production.

Weapons are always consumables, and all you need is cheap, skinny, and easy to use.

Among them, cheap is a very, very important point, and the production cost must be reduced.

Just like the ak series of later generations, the more famous AK47 is simple in structure, durable and low in cost.

In addition to the cannon, Zhu Youxiao is more concerned about the flintlock pistol, because this thing is a kind of firearm that he needs very, very much.

It is impossible to mass-produce arquebuses on a large scale, that thing is actually a backward product, and the research and development of weapons must be new and epoch-making.

Even Zhu Youxiao proposed a front-loading rifled flintlock pistol, but now the flintlock pistol is still on the drawings, but it seems that it is ready to start making.

The craftsmen of the Ming Dynasty were all empirical types, and they were better at finding and correcting mistakes in practice. Therefore, it is more beneficial for them to develop some samples to come out, even if it is just a failed product.

When Zhu Youxiao went to the firearms research and development department, he also saw some steel cannons tried by craftsmen, but they all failed.

In addition, there are some arquebuses made by craftsmen, all of which are forged with the latest technology, which can be said to be the pinnacle of Daming Palace technology in this era.

Reaching out and picking up an arquebus, touching the cold body of the gun, Zhu Youxiao's heart was already rippling.