On October 24, the fifth year of the Qingli calendar, it was already early winter and the weather had turned cold. Although it had not snowed, frost had already formed.
However, Bianliang and Kaifeng are still full of vitality.
At the end of the morning at Chenshi, that is, at nine o'clock in the morning, Prime Minister Zhao Jun and other ministers were working in the office. They were all looking at the documents reported by their respective departments in recent days.
The door of the house was closed and the window was only open a crack. The layout of the house had already undergone new changes, the most obvious of which was the heating table.
This table is an ordinary eight-immortal table, and a bit like a mahjong table. The difference is that it is made entirely of steel and has a lid on it. After opening it, you can put burning honeycomb coal in it.
There is also a steel pipe below connected to the outside to discharge carbon monoxide outside to prevent gas poisoning.
This kind of heating table is not difficult to manufacture, but the difficult part is the honeycomb coal inside. However, after Zhao Zhen found the formula of honeycomb coal and the court built a honeycomb coal factory in the suburbs, heating tables and coal stoves gradually became popular.
At this moment, a group of old men were sitting around this iron table talking about official business in recent days.
"These are the internship reports of the newly admitted Jinshi from each academy this year. This one, Feng Jing, is worthy of being the top scholar, and even one of the top three. He performed well while observing government affairs at the Ministry of Taxation and received high evaluations."
"This one named Jia An is not bad either, but he's a bit too stubborn, so he was ranked second. Otherwise, in a normal year, he would have been the top scorer."
"Pick out the more outstanding ones and have them serve as county magistrates in various places during the probation period at the beginning of next year to see their achievements. Good performance during internship doesn't guarantee good performance in local government positions; they still need some time to hone their skills."
Zhao Jun was buried in official documents and said without raising his head.
Although the imperial examination is still the most valuable ticket to officialdom in recent years, he plans to formally incorporate certain physics and biology knowledge starting from the year after next.
Confucian classics won't teach you how to be an official, nor will they teach you about mathematics, physics, or chemistry. But officials must know a little about everything, and basic knowledge of science is essential.
Otherwise, if ideas cannot be expanded, there may be a phenomenon where conservatives resist science, regard science as a gimmick, and are immersed in the backward ideas of the past and unable to get out of it.
Therefore, the competition pressure of the imperial examination in the past two years is still very high. Many people heard about this and had to take the imperial examination in advance. For example, Feng Jing took the imperial examination in the eighth year of the Qingli period in history, and Jia An took the imperial examination in the sixth year of the Qingli period in history. Now they have taken the imperial examination in advance.
However, their level is still strong enough, and they won the top and second place respectively, which obviously did not disgrace their abilities in history.
"Hanlong, this is the note from the Ministry of Industry and Commerce today. Take a look."
Yan Shu, who was standing next to him, handed the document to Zhao Jun.
Zhao Jun took it and glanced at it, then said with a smile, "Sure enough, merchants only follow suit when it comes to profit."
"Han Long's trick really worked. Now the whole city is under construction. Canals are being opened, and new houses are being built. When the merchants see this, they will naturally come to ask about it."
Li Di stopped the paperwork in his hand, turned his head and patted his horse inconspicuously.
"Houses made of reinforced concrete are still more solid. While they may not be beautiful, they are much more fireproof than wooden houses. If a big fire broke out in Bianliang, I don't know how many people would die."
"Yes, if I were a businessman, I would also ask how to build this house. Businessmen are all profit-driven, and when new things appear, they will follow the trend."
"Is this what Han Long said? If the imperial court sets an example first, then those with capital will also follow suit?"
Lu Yijian, Wang Zeng and others spoke one after another.
Zhao Jun nodded and smiled, "Yes, that's how capital works. As long as we spread the word next year that the court will purchase large quantities of steel and cement to build river embankments and city walls, it won't be long before steel mills, cement plants, and brick factories are everywhere."
"This kind of thing really needs national guidance."
Everyone praised it.
In the past, they could not understand that there were no suitable iron, coal, or limestone mines in Bianliang.
There are clay mines, but if you want to make steel and cement, they have to be transported from other places every time, which is time-consuming and labor-intensive. So what's the point of building a factory?
It was not until now that they understood Zhao Jun's foresight.
After the factory was built, the imperial court needed to build a large number of public housing to solve the problem of rising housing prices, so a number of low-rent housing buildings similar to tube-shaped buildings sprang up.
It just so happened that the population of Bianliang increased rapidly, the city began to expand outward, and the suburbs outside the city were gradually incorporated into the urban system, which required even more extensive construction.
As a result, the built steel and cement plants were put to good use. The construction of official residences, officials' dormitories, palace renovations, etc., alone used up the entire production capacity of the Bianliang cement and steel plants, and also supported several brick and tile factories.
When the merchants saw that the steel and cement plants seemed to be quite profitable, many wealthy businessmen who were familiar with the officials came to inquire about them. Even the tycoons supported by the Ministry of Industry and Commerce wanted to get involved.
Zhao Jun naturally understood that the court alone could not build an industrial system so quickly, and it also had to rely on the subjective initiative of capital, so this was also part of his plan.
"That's perfect. By the end of this year, we'll draft a document promoting the construction of private steel mills, cement plants, textile mills, and brick factories. We'll have the Ministry of Industry and Commerce organize discussions with more major domestic businessmen to establish a certain industrial system in major cities."
Zhao Jun thought for a moment and said, "For example, places like Chengdu, Guangzhou, Zhejiang, Daming Prefecture, Henan Prefecture, and Yingtian Prefecture. We can also ask the Ministry of Natural Resources to conduct an on-site investigation to see if there are any places close to the canal with sufficient resources."
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
