After leaving the Ordnance Bureau, Anren went to the Gunpowder Bureau again and handed over the gunpowder formula to two gunpowder ambassadors, and the gunpowder ambassadors were with the rank of seven-rank official.

Later, he summoned the iron-making envoys and told them to immediately gather the workers and build the blast furnace.

Daming's shaft furnace ironmaking was already the world's leading at that time.

Piston blowers can be used, and refractory bricks are also available, which can fully meet the technical specifications of blast furnaces.

It only needs to be improved slightly.

……

Ministry of Commerce.

Shang Shu Shen Wansan was also holding a regular meeting, and at this time he already had more than a dozen subordinates under him. The subordinates are in charge of a kind of daily business, some are in charge of food, some are in charge of silk, and some are in charge of daily necessities......

The division of labor is clear.

And himself, in charge of overseas trade.

The official position of the subordinates is called the director, and the rank of six ranks.

Under each principal, there are four divisions: Baohui, Average, General Art, and Accounting.

The officials of the four divisions, from the seven grades.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the emperor is now preparing to train steel, and the holy decree has been issued, so our Ministry of Commerce must fully cooperate with the emperor's measures." Shen Wansan said, "At the same time, this is also a good time for various merchants to make money." ”

Shen Wansan used to start by doing business with the imperial court, and he knew that there were big business opportunities in it.

Doing business with the imperial court not only made money, but also facilitated the affairs of the imperial court, which was a win-win situation.

"We want the world to see that we businessmen don't just make money." Shen Wansan said, "We want the world to see that the greater role of businessmen is to transfer and allocate resources from all over the world. ”

"Not bad."

"Not bad."

The crowd said.

"The emperor's move to make steel can be said to have revitalized the country's economy and greatly promoted domestic sales." Shen Wansan continued.

"Not bad." The crowd used to be veterans of business, and Shen Wansanyi said that they understood, "For example, the operation of iron ore requires a large number of vehicles, and workers need a large number of mining tools......"

"Mining coal in Shanxi requires a lot of labor, and those laborers need all kinds of living materials."

"We need to send a lot of daily necessities and coal digging tools to Shanxi, otherwise they will be very slow."

"The iron of the people needs to be purchased by our merchants and then sold to the government. It is impossible for Guanye to have so many people to go to the countryside one by one. ”

"In the past, the imperial court wanted to carry out any big initiatives, but it was difficult to carry out, and many even died halfway. The biggest reason is that the transportation is inconvenient, and it is difficult to purchase all kinds of daily necessities and necessary tools. "Wailang, a member of the Ministry of Commerce, Chen Shaolin said, "At this time, the value of the merchant is reflected, and in the past, the merchant was under the status of the merchant and he was too lazy to help the imperial court." ”

"Even they gloat, who told you to look down on the merchants so much?"

"Now that the emperor attaches importance to us, we will fully cooperate with the emperor and let the emperor's measures be implemented and get twice the result with half the effort."

"Not bad, not bad!" The crowd said.

"Merchants are very important, without merchants, it is very difficult for the imperial court to do anything."

"Don't say it's difficult, it's even inconvenient to have food, clothing, housing and transportation."

"We want the emperor and the people of the whole world to see this, realize the importance of our merchants to the imperial court, and no longer think that we just get something for nothing." Shen Wansan said, "The emperor's steel smelting this time is a great opportunity for us. ”

Under Zhu Yuanzhang's vigorous and resolute actions, the activities of steelmaking and coal mining in the Ming Dynasty were launched.

The business of manufacturing a god machine gun is also going on in an orderly manner.

In these activities, the cooperation of the businessmen also played an indispensable role.

After the first batch of magic machine guns is created, Zhu Yuanzhang will immediately equip them in the army. Zhu Yuanzhang prepared to assemble the first batch of divine machine guns into the Jingwei, and the second and third batches were transported to Goryeo and the Tibetan Deng Yu Division.

I believe that it won't be long before the Ming army's army will undergo a radical change.

……

The next day, in the imperial study.

Zhu Yuanzhang recruited Liu Bowen, and Gao Qi and the two met for the sake of the matter of Southwest Enke.

"Your Majesty, the students from the southwest have arrived in Yingtian one after another, when will the scientific examination start, and the candidates for the main examination and deputy chief examination also need to be determined." Liu Bowen asked.

Because this Enke is specially added for students in the southwest, it is not a normal Enke, so the time is different from the past.

"We've been so busy lately that we almost forgot about it." Zhu Yuanzhang said, "I just remembered this, so I summoned you to discuss." ”

"Please show the emperor."

"Have the students' household registrations been ascertained? It must be southwest, and don't let students from other places get involved. Zhu Yuanzhang said.

"All of them have been checked, and there is no pretending to be a household registration." Liu Bowen said.

"Hmm." Zhu Yuanzhang nodded, he still believed in this matter, now the three southwestern provinces are implementing the integration of the gentry and the payment of food, and the local students do not have any privileges even if they pass the examination, unless they are fools, they will pretend to be registered in the southwest.

There are fewer students pretending to be registered in the southwest, and there are more people pretending to be people, because the people's lives are better.

Even in other provinces, there is an underground business that specifically changes the household registration in the southwest.

"This time, Enke will be the main examiner by you Liu Bowen, after all, you are the most famous among the students, and Gao Qi will be the deputy examiner." Zhu Yuanzhang said.

"Obey the order, thank you." The two of them were overjoyed when they heard this.

Since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, Enke has only been held twice, and the two main exams and deputy examiners have not been Liu Bowen and Gao Qi's turn, which makes him unhappy.

After all, he is a Confucian master in the minds of students, and if he can't even be the main examiner and deputy chief examiner, it will be too faceless.

Moreover, the main examination of Daming's first Enke was Li Shanchang, which made Liu Bowen and Gao Qi unhappy. Li Shanchang was not admitted to the imperial examination of the Yuan Dynasty, and both of them were Jinshi of the Yuan Dynasty.

The two of them were admitted to the Jinshi and were pressed on the head by a person named Sun Shan.

Now that Zhu Yuanzhang has let the two of them be the main exams, it is an opportunity for them to raise their eyebrows.

In addition, the position of the main examiner and the deputy examiner is also very important, and after the students have gained fame, they usually go to the two examiners, claiming to be students and calling them teachers.

In other words, the civil officials selected by Enke this time will be his protégés in the future, and they are in the same party.

This is a good way to win over civil officials.

And the reason why Zhu Yuanzhang used the two of them as the main exams was to balance. He originally wanted to promote the officials in the southwest, so that he could compete with the Huaixi Party in the court in the future, so as to facilitate the implementation of apportionment and acre throughout the country.

Therefore, the candidates for the main examination this time first excluded Li Shanchang and Hu Weiyong.

"Is there a famous student in Southwest Enke this time?" Zhu Yuanzhang asked again.

"Yes." Liu Bowen said, "Luo Guanzhong and Shi Nai'an are both famous students in the world. ”