After Zhu Daming arranged for the verification of soldiers and other matters, he finally breathed a sigh of relief in his heart when he saw that the Military Aircraft Department had begun to officially operate, but it could be regarded as someone helping him to do his right thing. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ

The next day it was still not a pilgrimage. The cabinet has Li Guowei to take the lead in dealing with the major eunuch case that the court is most concerned about today, and then the Military Aircraft Department will take the lead in handling the major military affairs that he is most worried about.

On this morning, Zhu Daming, the emperor of Chongzhen, was in the imperial study of the Dongnuan Pavilion of the Qianqing Palace, looking through various old documents and familiarizing himself with the current government affairs.

Zhu Daming was overjoyed when he heard this, and hurriedly called Wang Chengen's successor in.

A few days earlier, as soon as the holy decree that Li Banghua was appointed as the new secretary of the Ministry of Industry and that his post as governor of Tianjin would be taken over by Liang Tingdong, a squire of the Ministry of War, came out, Liang Tingdong received the holy decree to resign the matter the next day.

Zhu Daming had some prejudices and opinions about Liang Tingdong's behavior, so he didn't care too much, but just asked him to take up the post of governor of Tianjin, and to do a good job with Li Banghua.

Liang Tingdong was born as a squire in the military department, and he knew a little bit about military affairs, and he also understood what the emperor meant.

Of course, even if he didn't understand it, since the emperor said so, he had to do it.

Zhu Daming could see that Liang Tingdong was still satisfied with the appointment of the governor of Tianjin.

Zhu Daming also made it very clear to Liang Tingdong, telling him that the prime minister must start from the state and county, and the fierce general must be sent to the army, and in the future, all the squires, if they want to go further in their careers, for example, if they want to serve in the six departments of Shangshu or enter the cabinet as auxiliary ministers, they must have the experience of serving as governors, and people who do not understand specific government affairs will not take the position of the six ministers or cabinet ministers.

This is also Zhu Daming's true plan, there will be no more things like the past in the future, a person who passes the Bagu Wen exam and becomes a Hanlin, and then lives a life of dancing and writing for more than ten years, he can enter the cabinet and become the prime minister. It's not going to work.

Zhu Daming's words to Liang Tingdong were also quickly spread throughout the cabinet and the court through the records of the Zhongshu Sheren.

Except for being slandered by a few Hanlin, most of the court ministers were happy to see this.

If the emperor's statement is really implemented, then it will be good news for the vast majority of courtiers, and the governors who had not had the opportunity to enter the cabinet before will also have a lot of opportunities.

After his majesty's resignation, Liang Tingdong rushed to Tianjin very excitedly to handle the handover with Li Banghua, and secretly made up his mind to work hard and return to the center in a few years and enter the cabinet.

Unlike Liang Tingdong, Li Banghua received the holy decree of appointing himself to be the secretary of the Ministry of Industry, although this is a promotion, and it is from the third rank to the second grade, but he is still a little lost in his heart.

After becoming the governor, he put a lot of energy into the rectification of Tianjin's armaments and naval divisions, and now he has left the cause that he has devoted a lot of effort to become a secretary of the Ministry of Engineering who has not much to do, but is just tinkering everywhere.

For the new emperor, of course, he is indescribable admiration, at the age of seventeen or eighteen, just after ascending the throne, he dealt with Wei Zhongxian and a group of eunuch ministers, cleaned and re-mastered the inner court, Dongchang and Jinyiwei, this looks definitely a heroic emperor, it seems that the Ming Dynasty is promising.

It was with this feeling of apprehension and contradiction that Li Banghua went to Beijing to take office.

But what surprised him was that the Ministry of Works, who he thought was idle and had nothing to do, was not idle at all after he took office, and it could even be said that he was no less busy than the Military Aircraft Department.

Zhu Daming asked Wang Chengen to go out and bring Li Banghua in, and after a while, he saw Wang Chengen come in with a middle-aged official with a burly figure, a Chinese face, thick eyebrows and a short beard. When the official saw the emperor, he immediately straightened his official robe and knelt on the ground to salute, and said, "Li Banghua, the new secretary of the Ministry of Works, will bow to your majesty." ”

When Zhu Daming saw Li Banghua saluting, he also quickly got up and left his seat, bypassed the bookcase, walked in front of Li Banghua, and personally helped him up while saying that he was flat.

Li Banghua was also very moved when he saw that the emperor treated him so politely.

Zhu Daming asked Wang Chengen to move a stool for Li Banghua, and then returned to his chair and began to speak.

Zhu Daming said: "Li Aiqing has served as the governor of Tianjin for more than two years, cleaning up the military cantonment, organizing and training the water division, defending the Beijing division, and responding to Liaodong. I've heard a lot about it since I was in the Hidden Mansion. ”

Hearing this, Li Banghua hurriedly said: "Your Majesty has praised it, this is all within the minister's responsibility, and the minister is just doing his duty." ”

Zhu Daming immediately said: "It's a good thing, do your duty!" If the courtiers of the Ming Dynasty are as conscientious as Li Aiqing, and regard sharing the worries of the monarch as a matter within their bounds, then the Ming Dynasty will definitely prosper, so why not be afraid of the ugliness of the state! ”

After saying this, Zhu Daming looked at Li Banghua and said: "I appointed Aiqing as the secretary of the Ministry of Industry, and it was Aiqing's conscientiousness and dedication that I valued. In my opinion, the function of the Ministry of Industry is very important to the country and the people, and if the post of secretary of the Ministry of Industry is entrusted to a non-person, then everything will be suspended, and if it is handed over to Aiqing, I think that the Ministry of Industry is really a promising place. ”

Li Banghua also looked up in surprise when he heard the emperor say this, it seems that the emperor let himself take over as the secretary of the Ministry of Industry, which was carefully considered, but he looked down on the Ministry of Industry.

Just as he was thinking about it, he suddenly heard the emperor say again: "I plan to reopen the Zunhua Iron Works and hand it over to the Ministry of Industry." ”

Zunhua is in the northeast of Jingshi, about 300 miles away from Jingshi, surrounded by the mountains of the Yanshan Mountains, full of iron mines, at the latest from the Tang Dynasty, the Central Plains Dynasty intermittently opened a government-run iron mine and iron factory here.

In the early years of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang had restrictions on the iron-smelting industry in Zunhua on the grounds of disturbing the people, and later Ming Chengzu moved the capital to Beijing, the strategic position of the north was highlighted, Zunhua iron ore began to be re-mined, and the iron-smelting plant also flourished again.

Later, with the policy changes of the imperial court, the iron-smelting industry in Zunhua was also abandoned several times, but it was not until the middle of Wanli that the Wanli Emperor collected the iron ore and other mining rights to the inner court, and sent mine supervisors to all parts of the world, Zunhua's iron-smelting industry was hit, and finally under the various attacks of the court ministers, the Wanli Emperor simply closed the iron mine and iron factory in Zunhua.

Before the closure, Zunhua's iron-smelting industry had been fully developed, with an annual iron-making capacity of 200,000 catties, and a maximum of 300,000 catties, becoming the largest iron-smelting plant in the north during the Ming Dynasty, with more than 2,600 craftsmen in the ironworks alone.

Later, when Song Yingxing recorded the high-quality iron ore in Zunhua in "Tiangong Kaiwu", he said: "Yanjing Zunhua and Shanxi Pingyang are both sand and iron. Where sand iron, a throwing soil film, that is, its shape, take to wash, into the furnace for frying, after melting, and ingots are no different. ”

Unfortunately, in the struggle between the emperor and the courtiers, the Ministry of Industry at that time demanded that the iron factory be shut down, and the Wanli Emperor also wanted his ears to be clean, so he agreed in a fit of anger.

The closure of the Zunhua iron mine and the iron factory was a major loss to the iron smelting industry in the north of the Ming Dynasty at that time.

It was mainly purchased from Foshan, Guangdong, the center of iron smelting in southern China at that time, which was long distances and expensive, and the armament level in the north also began to decline, and qualified weapons and armor began to be in short supply.

What's even more harmful is that without the investment and participation of the imperial court, the overall level of iron smelting in northern China has also begun to decline.

Li Banghua, who used to be the governor of Tianjin, was naturally aware of these situations, and he saw the importance of the government-run iron works very clearly, and at the same time he was also very familiar with the rise and fall of the Zunhua iron smelting industry that was close at hand, and knew where the crux of the problem was.

In the later period of Wanli, one of the fundamental reasons for the closure of the Zunhua Iron Works by the imperial court was that the Wanli Emperor took the Zunhua Iron Works under the supervision of the inner court and operated it under the supervision of eunuchs.

No one wanted to do such a thing, so under the advice of one term after another of the Ministry of Works, the largest government-run iron factory in northern China in the middle and late Ming Dynasty was finally shut down.

Of course, Zhu Daming is clear about this, and at the same time he is very sad. Just look at the developed iron and steel industry in Zunhua in later generations, we know that the closure of Zunhua Iron Plant is purely a mistake, although it has been developed for hundreds of years, Zunhua still has a large number of high-quality iron ore resources, which has not been developed as it should be.

Not long after the Manchu Qing Dynasty entered the customs, Zunhua reopened the iron ore mine, and soon became the largest iron smelting center in northern China, which made the later Zhu Daming sigh at the short-sightedness of the Ming emperors and ministers in the Wanli period.

Zhu Daming talked about his ideas in detail, the main purpose is to rely on the foundation of the Zunhua White Iron Smelting Plant in the Wanli period, gather the original craftsmen, recruit the homeless young and strong to work, open iron mines and steel smelting around Zunhua, and rebuild the surrounding areas of Zunhua into an iron-smelting center in the north of the Ming Dynasty.

Regarding the reopening of Zunhua iron smelting, Zhu Daming had many considerations, such as the need for iron farming tools for the recruitment of people around Gyeonggi, the need for high-quality weapons and armor for the armies of the towns on the nine sides, and the casting of countless muskets and artillery on the spot in the future, all of which require a large amount of high-quality steel.

In this way, the two monarchs and ministers talked for a long time about the reopening of Zunhua Iron Smelting before it ended.

After the end of the emperor's audience, Li Banghua understood the emperor's thoughts, and also recognized the heavy responsibility on his shoulders, with a full of thoughts, and hurried to the cabinet, met with the cabinet ministers on duty, and then went to the yamen of the Ministry of Industry to meet with his colleagues, until the end of this whole set of procedures, the new Ministry of Industry Shangshu Li Banghua is officially inaugurated.

On the second day of taking office, Li Banghua took the officials of the Ministry of Industry who originally managed the Zunhua Iron Works, as well as the emperor's will and the silver allocated by the Inner Treasury, and hurried to Zunhua, 300 miles away from Jingdong, to inspect the old site of the iron factory in Baiye City, and discussed with Wang Yuanya, the governor of Shuntian, who was stationed in Zunhua and was in charge of Jizhou, Kaiping, and Yongping, and the eastern prefecture of Jizhou, Kaiping, and Yongping, to collect statistical craftsmen, recruit miners, build new factories, and arrange supporting projects such as rebuilding mining farms, washing farms, and smelters.

The major event of resuming Zunhua iron smelting has been slowly on the right track since then.