Empress Ma's birthday is approaching, which is naturally no small matter. Even though Empress Ma is no longer with us, the necessary preparations will still be made, and the necessary activities will certainly take place, on a grand scale.
After all, Empress Ma's status was special, and besides, Emperor Zhu was still alive. People had to show respect and remembrance for her, even if they didn't care about the monks.
Zhu Yunying's status was special, and so was Zhu Wenyin's; both stood behind Zhu Yunying in their imperial robes. One was the current emperor of the Ming Dynasty, and the other was the future emperor—a fact everyone understood.
Therefore, even some princes didn't care about seniority at this time. Whether they were Zhu Yunying's elders or Zhu Wenyin's elders, it didn't matter much. They were just princes, and they had no possibility of becoming the emperor. Everyone understood this.
Old Zhu was somewhat saddened. Although he had many children and grandchildren, his closest relatives were no longer with him.
After offering incense, Old Zhu waved his hand and said, "Now that you've offered incense to your mother and grandmother, you may all leave. The emperor is going to handle state affairs, and everyone else should go back too. They're all gone now, so there's no point in talking about these things."
Zhu Yunying nodded and then said, "Grandfather, let the Crown Prince stay here and teach him more."
Old Zhu nodded, and then said, "The Empress should stay here too, and trace the memorial tablet for your grandmother."
Xu Miaoqing naturally understood this principle. As the legitimate wife of the Zhu family, there were certain things that only she could do because of her status. Especially with the Zhu family, who were extremely sensitive about the distinction between legitimate and illegitimate children, many things naturally required even greater attention.
"Great-grandfather, Father has offerings." Little Zhu, clutching a coal briquette, cried out anxiously, "My father also has a coal stove."
Old Zhu couldn't help but laugh, in a good mood. "Your father is a good boy; he always remembered what he promised your great-grandmother. We have coal briquettes now, and honeycomb briquettes too. These coal stoves are good now; people in the capital use them, and people all over the Ming Dynasty use them."
Zhu Yunying said with a hint of pride, "Our Ministry of Works Academy has done a lot of work. This coal stove is quite good. Many people in our Great Ming can use it. Especially those people in the city, they won't need to use stoves anymore."
Not having to light a stove is a good thing, and burning less firewood is also a good thing. Although charcoal burners or woodcutters seem to have less income, the Ming Dynasty has also gained many more coal briquette makers. In addition to some manual laborers, some people can also make a living in the Ming Dynasty's coal mines.
No new thing has appeared that has caused many people to completely lose their livelihood. Especially now that coal briquettes and coal stoves cannot completely replace firewood and charcoal, at most it just gives the people of the Ming Dynasty another option, which is a good thing.
There was no issue with the offerings being unsightly; honeycomb briquettes, coal stoves, and thick cotton-padded clothes were all for keeping warm. These were all things Zhu Yunying had promised Empress Ma to ensure that the people of the Ming Dynasty were well-fed and clothed. He was doing a fairly good job so far, and many things had indeed given him some confidence and assurance.
He had not broken his promise, and that was the reason why Joo Yun-young could feel proud. Indeed, Joo Yun-young did have some small pride.
After the ceremony to pay homage to Empress Ma concluded, everyone naturally needed to get back to their own tasks. Many people were indeed busy at this time, with numerous matters to attend to.
The cabinet was not present for the time being, or rather, the Grand Secretaries of the cabinet had no real power. They were just a group of people who helped Zhu Yunying with odd jobs and were basically unable to handle any matters.
Zhu Yunying was in a relatively good mood; he wasn't depressed all day just because it was Empress Ma's birthday. After all, it had been more than ten years since Empress Ma passed away, and time truly is the best medicine, capable of healing many people's emotional wounds.
"The muskets still need further improvement, and the power of the grenades also needs to be enhanced." Zhu Yunying looked at the report from the Ministry of Works Academy, stroked his chin and muttered to himself, "It's alright, although the current grenades are mostly just loud and their lethality is relatively limited, it's still not bad."
Playing with the short gun, Zhu Yunying aimed at the entrance of Wuying Hall. "It's starting to resemble a modern gun. It's basically a shadow of a flintlock musket. This is a good thing. I can probably start lining up to execute people from now on. It might be a little difficult to deal with cavalry, but it will come in handy when we go to conquer the southern territories."
While continuously investing resources, including a great deal of human and material resources, Zhu Yunying also provided constructive suggestions and research directions based on his foresight.
These are things that Joo Yoon-young feels somewhat proud of. He does seem to have done a lot and achieved some small successes.
The improvement in military supplies and capabilities is not just about the improvement of firearms. It also includes the increased use of coal and the greater research into ironware. These are reasons for Zhu Yunying to be proud.
Liberal arts students, especially those studying marketing, aren't necessarily useless. At most, Zhu Yunying might not be able to directly tackle some technical challenges, but he could organize manpower and resources to handle public relations.
Wang Chengen carefully placed the musket into the box and said to Zhu Yunying, "Your Majesty, firearms are dangerous objects; it's best to handle them sparingly."
"You old rascal, our firearms aren't loaded with gunpowder!" Zhu Yunying couldn't help but laugh and scold. "These things can't be fired right now, and besides, the ones sent to me were carefully selected; they're not so easy to explode."
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