According to the emperor's order, Xia Yunyi, Niu Jinxing, Chen Zilong, and Zhang Dai followed the officials to the imperial secretariat to report. Although the four of them were the first batch of new science and technology scholars to arrange their positions, they all behaved calmly and self-controlled in front of the officials and officials, without the slightest frivolity.

In order to show respect, the official Lang Lang who personally came forward to receive the four people, after a small conversation with the four people, also felt that among the countless new science and technology scholars he had seen, these four people were also rare outstanding figures, and it was no wonder that the emperor would value them and directly transferred them to the imperial secretariat.

The predecessor of the Imperial Secretariat, the Chinese Scholar Kesheren, was in charge of writing edicts, edicts, silver books, iron coupons and other things. In fact, it is to give the inner court a hand, do some chores, and do not have the power of the previous dynasty. Even in some cases, as long as you spend money, you can hang up the official position of a middle scholar, which is really a place to support idle officials.

However, since it was changed to the Imperial Secretariat, the original Zhongshu Sheren is no longer a miscellaneous official. The Imperial Secretariat not only obtained the right to go directly to the study of the Qianqing Palace, but also became the place where the emperor understood the six departments, the governors of various places, the prefectures and counties and the people's feelings, and the news censorship power of the Daming Times was in the Imperial Secretariat.

The Imperial Secretariat was not only a place for the Emperor to listen to news from all parts of the Empire, but also a place for the Emperor to speak to the outside world. Although the Imperial Secretariat did not bypass the cabinet to command the six ministries and local governors, it did have the power to issue a document through the Daming Times to condemn the administration of the six ministries and local governors.

To some extent, most of the power that Chongzhen cut from the celebrant was transplanted to the imperial secretariat. This made the Imperial Secretariat an extension of the power of the Inner Court. Compared with the eunuchs in the palace, who had difficulty understanding the actual situation of each region and department, the imperial secretariat had a variety of channels to learn about the situation in each region and department, as well as the implementation of central policies at the local level.

The celebrant can fully evaluate or interfere with the policies issued by the cabinet through the Imperial Secretariat, and the Imperial Secretariat, as a part of the civil service, has greatly alleviated the contradictions between the inner court and the outer court, and has not made the civil official group feel that the eunuchs in the inner court have climbed on their heads.

By the sixth year of Chongzhen, the power struggle between the Chinese official group and the palace eunuchs began to transform into a power struggle between the imperial secretariat and the cabinet, which was supported by the palace eunuchs. If the former type of contradiction is that the civil officials feel that they have studied hard for ten years and cannot let a group of eunuchs who have cut off their eggs ride on their heads, it is a contradiction between the two groups.

The latter type of struggle, then, is clearly a bit of a contradiction among the people, with a group of civil servants who have waited for years to take power in the cabinet, and a group of young officials who have just entered the ranks and want to dictate to themselves. However, this disdain is disdainful, and the cabinet ministers have no intention of offending them to death.

After all, these officials of the Imperial Secretariat are different from the dead eunuchs of the celebrant eunuchs, they all have to take over their own shifts in the end, and they will offend people ruthlessly, and they will have to worry about retaliation from others in the future. Basically, with the emperor's attention to the Imperial Secretariat, everyone has realized in their hearts that the Hanlin Academy, which will be the national reserve in the future, may have to give way to the Imperial Secretariat.

The officials of these secretariats first understand the real situation of the entire Ming Dynasty and how the entire state apparatus operates under the position of overseeing the overall situation, and then arrange for them to govern the people at the local level, and then return to the central government step by step to preside over the overall situation, which is much more reasonable than the previous system of putting people in the Hanlin Yuan for decades and then suddenly soaring to the sky and becoming cabinet ministers.

As a result, the position of the Imperial Secretariat also began to be in high demand. Xia Yunyi, Niu Jinxing, Chen Zilong, and Zhang Dai were personally ordered by the emperor to be transferred to the Imperial Secretariat, so they had no reason not to pay attention to the ministry.

In front of the gate of the Qianqing Palace, the officials who led the way finally stopped, and said to Xia Yunyi, Niu Jinxing, Chen Zilong, and Zhang Dai behind them: "You wait here for a while, and this official will go to say hello to Secretary General Zhang first." ”

The four of them bowed their hands one after another, and then stood in place and observed the Qianqing Gate. This is where the imperial gate listens to the government, but with the completion of the Xiyuan Jingshe, the emperor has not listened to the government for a long time. But whenever there is anything, they only summon the officials of the various ministries in the Xiyuan Retreat.

Compared with the other three, Niu Jinxing is the most serious one, the Qianqing Gate is located on the white marble Sumeru seat more than half a person high, and the steps are surrounded by carved stone railings. There are three steps in front of the door, the middle of the road is the royal road stone, and the two sides are lined with a pair of bronze gilt lions. After going up the steps, you can see that the Qianqing Gate is actually three connected gates, the door is located in the back eaves, after opening the door, the whole entrance hall is very bright.

The whole building is similar to the pattern of the three major halls, showing the magnificence and grandeur of the Forbidden City everywhere. Niu Jinxing couldn't help but admire in his heart, but it was a pity that the owner of the Forbidden City didn't seem to like this pattern so much, and instead established a fine house in Xiyuan as a permanent residence.

Of course, Niu Jinxing has also heard that it is not that no one has written to advise the emperor in Xiyuan, but now no one can resist the prestige of Chongzhen. After Chongzhen seized the jade seal of the Northern Yuan Dynasty, the emperor's power began to stem from his own prestige and talent, and he rarely needed to rely on the authority of the Son of Heaven to consolidate his position, which also made the emperor's deviance gradually increase.

However, for Niu Jinxing, he doesn't care if the emperor obeys the tradition, he only cares if the emperor will entrust him with important tasks. If it were tradition, it is estimated that he would not have been able to get here at all.

Just when Niu Jinxing was thinking nonsense in his mind, the officials of the Ministry accompanied Zhang Chonghui, the person in charge of the Imperial Secretariat, and the four of them hurriedly stepped forward to salute. Although Zhang Chonghui himself does not have a literary name, they respect Zhang Jiangling, the grandfather of the secretary general.

After Zhang Chonghui waved his hand to excuse the four of them, he talked with the officials around him for a few words, which was regarded as handing over the management of the four new science and technology scholars. After watching the officials leave, Zhang Chonghui greeted the four of them: "Come with me, I will introduce you to the environment here, and then take you to meet Your Majesty..."

Although the official room of the Imperial Secretariat is a little room on the left side of the Qianqing Gate, after Chongzhen gradually regarded the Xiyuan Retreat as his permanent residence, the Imperial Secretariat also set up an office on the edge of the Xiyuan Retreat.

After Zhang Chonghui took the four of them to understand the two offices and daily work of the Imperial Secretariat, he took them to the Xiyuan Retreat, and Zhu Youzhen summoned them in the living room.

After Chongzhen and a few people in the living room greeted him, he asked Zhang Chonghui: "Has this year's title promotion list been decided?" When is the ceremony? ”

Zhang Chonghui bowed his head to the emperor again and said: "Back to Your Majesty, the list of Jin Jue has been drawn up, but the representatives of the Senate still have some objections to giving several representatives of the peasant association and the chamber of commerce knighthoods, so I ask Your Majesty to think twice.

There are also many representatives who think that Zheng Zhihu's title has been promoted too quickly, and it has overwhelmed his brother's title, which is inevitably a bit disordered and unreasonable. They suggested that it would be better to spread the credit to the crew members who traveled together, so as to reduce the reward for Zheng Zhihu...

In addition, the promotion ceremony will be held on the 18th of next month. ”

Zhu Youzhen just stood in place and thought for a moment, and then resolutely ordered Zhang Chonghui: "You take the list and go to discuss it with the Marquis of Toyotomi, the British Duke and the Prince of Fuwang, and tell them that this is what I mean." ”

Zhang Chonghui nodded in agreement, and then gently exited the room. Only then did Zhu Youzhen greet the four new jinshi who were standing a little restrained on the side: "Sit down and talk, relax, since you have come, I naturally want to talk to you about your future work and my thoughts..."

The four of them were sitting on the benches, and after listening to the emperor's arrangement of them into the newly established State Planning Commission, Chen Zilong couldn't help but ask the emperor at first: "After listening to Your Majesty's description of the planned economy just now, the minister has some questions in his heart and wants to ask His Majesty to solve his doubts, I don't know if it is possible?" ”

Zhu Youzhen's body leaned back and said, "Say, what do you have questions about?" ”

Chen Zilong immediately said: "The minister remembers that since ancient times, only by resting with the people and letting the government not interfere with the people's production can the world's financial resources be gradually restored.

And Your Majesty's so-called planned economy is not the opposite? Let the government interfere in the economic production of the people, and the minister is worried that the local officials and officials know nothing about production, and what kind of plan they forcibly carry out, it will only lead to the people becoming victims..."

Zhang Dai, who was sitting on his side, obviously disagreed with him, and without waiting for the emperor to speak, Zhang Dai argued with him, "You can't say that, even if it is a small family living a life, the people of the main family must be careful to avoid the whole family drinking the northwest wind." What's more, if it is such a major event as governing the country, how can there be no plan?

This is like controlling water hazards, if you don't know whether it is blocked or sparse before construction, how much earth and stone should be dug up, how much manpower and material resources should be used, it will either waste money and food in vain or bring disaster to the local area. The minister thought that there was still merit in this planned economy, and it could not be beaten to death with a stick. ”

Zhu Youzhen turned his head to the other side, and Xia Yunyi and Niu Jinxing, who were sitting there, were still silent, and couldn't help but say to the two: "The two of you also talk about your views on the planned economy, starting with Niu Jinxing." ”

Niu Jinxing glanced at his companion who was still thinking about it, and then looked into the emperor's eyes and said: "The minister doesn't know much about the planned economy, but the minister has read the article on the economy written by Mr. Su Changqing in the Daming Times.

The minister has a deep memory of one of the sentences, saying: No farming, no stability, no work, no wealth, no business, no life. According to these data, a farmer's income from a year's farming, regardless of the issue of taxes, is already a very high standard for one person to feed five or six people.

However, the social wealth created by an ordinary worker in a year can support at least 15 or 6 people, and workers in some industries can even support 50 or 60 people.

As for the merchants, although they do not create wealth, they can promote the exchange of goods between industry and agriculture, so that the goods produced by both sides can be circulated in the market.

Therefore, the planned economy should be a rational arrangement of the proportions between agriculture, industry, and merchants. If the ratio between the three gets out of control, then it will also undermine the progress of the economy..."