Since the emperor ordered the establishment of the Maritime Trade Division, Gao Gong, Yan Shifan, and Zhang Juzheng often stayed after the duty to discuss suitable candidates.

And the whole process is naturally inevitable quarrels and abuse, if it weren't for Zhang Juzheng's mediation, I'm afraid Gao Gong and Yan Shifan would have already fought!

Finally, after several days of repeated discussions, a final list of members of the Maritime Trade Division was officially released.

"Whew~ It's finally done!"

Zhang Juzheng looked at the final list in front of him and breathed a sigh of relief.

The endless insults and quarrels had exhausted him for days, and now he just wanted to hand over the list to His Majesty and go back to get some sleep.

"Hmph, if it weren't for some people wanting to install their cronies in it, I'm afraid this list would have come out a long time ago!"

Gao Gong glanced at Yan Shifan, meaning something.

"What do you mean?"

Yan Shifan, who was originally recuperating with his eyes closed, immediately stood up from his seat and glared angrily after hearing Gao Gong's words.

"Hmph, what do I mean, don't you know? Some people seem to regard this maritime trade division as the back garden of their home! ”

Gao Gong glanced at Yan Shifan contemptuously and said slowly.

"Hmph, when determining the candidates, the official never looks at their background, but only whether they have talent and whether they can do this job!"

"It's you, Gao Gong, look at the list you have drawn up, how many people are on it, are the officials of your Qingliu faction?"

Yan Shifan paused for a moment, then took out the drawn list, pointed to the names on it, and said word by word.

Just as Gao Gong wanted to continue to reply, Zhang Juzheng stood up and said helplessly: "Two adults, don't quarrel anymore!" ”

"Now that the final list has been decided, there's no point in arguing about it right now, so why don't you just use the facts?"

Seeing that Zhang Juzheng stood up and adjusted in the center, Yan Shifan and Gao Gong stopped arguing after glancing at each other.

"Hmph, let's speak with facts then!"

Yan Shifan glanced at Gao Gong and said in a deep voice.

"That's exactly what I mean."

Gao Gong did not show weakness, and answered in a deep voice.

"It's not too early now, let's hurry up and hand over the list to Your Majesty!"

After Zhang Juzheng finished speaking, he carefully put away the drawn up list and said to the two.

"Hmm."

Gao Gong and Yan Shifan nodded and agreed to Zhang Juzheng's proposal, and then the three of them embarked on the journey to the Heart Cultivation Hall together.

……

The Forbidden City, the Palace of Nourishing the Heart.

At this moment, Jiajing was holding the formation cheatbook in his hand and studying it hard, while Lu Fang was standing quietly aside, like a statue.

After continuous attempts, Jiajing has now been able to restore most of the ecstasy array recorded in the books!

Since the formation is not perfect, it needs to be maintained with mana at all times, otherwise, it will soon collapse, which is very different from Jiajing's previous concept.

Jiajing's original expectation was to engrave these ecstasy formations in the banner! In this way, when the two armies were fighting, the enemy would fall into the ecstasy array, unable to extricate himself, and could only be slaughtered by the Ming army.

And the Ecstasy Array that has been restored now requires mana to be maintained all the time, and it can be said that it is completely defective.

"It seems that I still have to wait for my strength to improve a little more before it can be realized."

At this moment, I saw a guard outside coming to report: "Your Majesty, the elders of the Gao Pavilion are waiting outside, saying that they have something important to report to Your Majesty." ”

"Well, let them in."

Jiajing immediately put down the formation cheats in his hand and commanded.

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

The guards answered, and walked away quickly.

After a while, I only heard a sharp voice sound: "Xuan Gao Gong, Yan Shifan, Zhang Juzheng are here!" ”

As soon as the three of them entered the Heart Nourishing Palace, they knelt respectfully on the ground and said loudly: "The ministers knock on Your Majesty, long live my emperor, long live, long live!" ”

"Well, let's all get up."

Jiajing then turned his gaze to a few people and said lightly.

"Thank you, Your Majesty!"

After receiving Jiajing's answer, several people got up from the ground one after another.

"It's so late, you came to me, do you have anything to report?"

Jiajing rubbed the dragon heads carved on both sides of the dragon chair and asked.

"Your Majesty, this is the list of candidates for the Maritime Trade Division that Weichen and others have discussed recently!"

After Gao Gong finished speaking, he raised the list in his hand above his head and said respectfully.

"Oh, it's going so fast?"

After listening to Gao Gong's words, a hint of surprise appeared on Jiajing's face.

Immediately afterwards, Lu Fang, who had been standing beside Jiajing, stepped forward quickly, took the list from Gao Gong's hand, and respectfully handed it to Jiajing.

Jiajing then opened the list and began to browse through the names of individuals recorded on it.

Whenever he saw a familiar name on the list, Jiajing would begin to recall the person's past deeds and make an assessment to see if he was qualified for the work of the Maritime Trade Division.

After a long time, I saw Jiajing slowly put down the list, and after clearing his throat, he said, "Well, you have done a good job in this matter!" The people on the list are all quite compliant. ”

"Next, according to the list drawn up, the Maritime Trade Division will be formed!"

After reading the list, Jiajing was obviously in a much better mood, so he commanded.

"Yes, Your Majesty, Weichen obeys!"

Seeing that the list he had worked hard to sort out in recent days had been approved by the emperor, in addition to being excited, the stone that had been hanging in everyone's hearts also fell to the ground.

Just when a few people breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that the emperor was going to send them away next.

I saw Jiajing, who was sitting on the dragon chair, waved his hand and ordered: "Come on, give Aiqing a seat!" ”

As soon as the words fell, a eunuch immediately prepared seats for several people.

"Your Majesty, you still have something to tell us!"

Everyone looked at each other and thought to themselves.

Immediately afterwards, I saw him sitting in a precarious position, not even daring to breathe, waiting for Jiajing to speak.

I saw Jiajing turn his gaze to Yan Shifan and asked, "Yan Shifan, you are both an official and a worker!" What is the number of craftsmen recorded in the imperial court at present? ”

"How could Your Majesty suddenly mention this? Could it be that Your Majesty wants to abolish the craftsman registration system? ”

After listening to Jiajing's words, Yan Shifan's face remained unchanged, but there was an uproar in his heart.

In the second year of Hongwu, the imperial court ordered that all occupations such as military, civilian, medical, craftsman, yin and yang, etc., would be recorded by the imperial court and could not be changed at will! The artisan household belongs to the Ministry of Industry, and is divided into two categories: shift craftsmen and resident craftsmen.

Shift craftsmen must take turns to serve in the handicraft workshops run by the imperial court every year or five years, with an average of three months per shift, and the resident craftsmen go to the handicraft workshops run by the imperial court for ten days a month.

After recalling for a moment, Yan Shifan replied respectfully: "Your Majesty, there are currently a total of 369,581 class craftsmen on the record!" ”

After listening to Yan Shifan's report, Jiajing couldn't help but sigh with emotion: "These craftsmen, not only do the whole family have to participate in production, but also have a meager income and low status. ”

"All craftsmen who have been incorporated into the craftsman's register cannot leave the nationality for generations! And this just cut off their hopes. ”

"Therefore, I have decided to formally propose the abolition of the craftsman registration system at the next cabinet meeting! And appropriately improve the treatment of these craftsmen, what do you think Aiqing? ”

After Jiajing finished speaking, he turned his gaze to several people, and then asked.

Seeing that the emperor threw such a bombshell as soon as he came up, everyone didn't know how to answer for a while, and their faces were full of embarrassment.

And Jiajing also seemed to see the look of embarrassment on their faces, and then waved his hand quite generously, and said: "It's okay, I don't want you to give me a definite answer now, you go back and think about it." ”

Seeing that the emperor was so considerate of the difficulties of his courtiers, everyone's thoughts were scattered, and a trace of warmth flashed in their hearts.

After a long time, I saw everyone get up from their chairs and said respectfully: "Your Majesty, the ministers are leaving!" ”

(End of chapter)