Yun Xi didn't say anything after hearing this, just picked a few freshly made firearms and tried them himself, but found no defective products, praised Lu Fang's management of the firearms workshop in a good way, and rewarded him.

Lu Fang felt that Yun Xi's expression was not happy, but it was obvious that there was no problem with the workshop he was in charge of, so while thinking about why Yun Xi was like this, he knelt down and 'thank Your Majesty for his kindness'.

'Where was the last place Your Majesty inspected?' I don't know yet, but I'll find out tomorrow when I take a look around the workshop around here. Lu Fang thought.

Yun Xi rewarded him, looked at it casually, and was about to leave here.

But before leaving, Yun Xi instructed him again: "You open a small school here, and you must teach all the young craftsmen the same weights and measures, and in the future you must make the same size of fire guns." It doesn't matter if the output is a little less, now that the firearms needed by the upper guards are basically available, there is no need to rush production now. ”

"Also, you have the craftsmen in the workshop dig into it and see if they can be left to the machines instead of the hands. When I turn around, I will also tell Mei Yin to send craftsmen to study. ”

Lu Fang didn't understand Yunxi's emphasis on standardization. It is true that they can certainly understand the benefits of standardization, but now it is enough to use the craftsmen to make firebolts one by one, so why force standardization? However, of course, he would not disobey Yun Xi's intentions, and promised: "Yes, Your Majesty." The minister will do so. ”

Yun Xi glanced at him, didn't say anything, and turned to leave the firearms workshop.

He inspected here for a while, although this is the center of heavy industry in the Ming Dynasty, except for the steel mill, which is a modern chemical factory using blast furnaces, the others are still traditional small workshops, but because there are many craftsmen, the output is not low, which can meet the needs of the royal family and the army.

Yun Xi turned around, it was almost dark, and got into the carriage and returned to the palace.

When he arrived at the palace, it was already dark, but he did not go to the harem immediately, but instructed Wen Yuan: "You go back to your mother first, let your mother tell the imperial dining room to prepare dinner, and your father will go over in a while." Wen Yuan agreed, and returned to Kunning Palace under the service of the little eunuch.

Yun Xi himself sat down and thought about it, while muttering, "Industrialization must be further promoted." ”

Compared with the industrialized factories, the production efficiency of the traditional handicraft workshop is extremely low, and Yun Xi does not know how much the production efficiency of the Western part of the West has increased after the use of machines to produce muskets and artillery, but the production efficiency of the new steel mill built by the Ming Dynasty has increased by more than ten times compared with the original steel workshop.

The improvement of production efficiency, in addition to increasing the number of products that can be provided in a period of time, also reduces the cost of unit products, so that the price of products is reduced, and more people can afford to use a certain product, thereby promoting the living standards of people in the whole society. This is the so-called development of the productive forces.

At the same time, industrialization can also directly bring about social progress. In any respect, industrial societies are more advanced and civilized than agricultural societies. Some people's imaginary idyllic country life exists only in dreams. The yeoman farming system in an agrarian society is quite fragile, and happy events, unfavorable winds, bad rains, and so on can all deplete a family's savings, and if there are natural and man-made disasters for two consecutive years, they can only borrow money to survive, and thus be controlled and exploited by the landlords.

Now not long after the founding of the Ming Dynasty, many places are sparsely populated, and the contradiction is not prominent or even not, people are more important than land, and most of the landlords let the peasants owe debts, and most of them just finally get his land with both soft and hard, and still let the peasants continue to cultivate, and the landlords' oppression of the peasants is not heavy; However, in the middle and late stages of each dynasty, there were more people and less land, and the landlords squeezed the peasants to the greatest extent possible, and most landlords never cared about the life and death of the hired peasants, because some people wanted to farm the land.

Of course, there are also some places where there are no landlords, for example, a famous official surnamed Xi from Shaanxi once said that "there are no landlords in Guanzhong", a large field is cultivated by a family of people, and there are also such villages in Jiangxi in the south. However, in such places, the yield per mu of land is very low, and the total output of the land that can be cultivated by a family can only barely enough for a family to chew after deducting the taxes paid.

Industrialization can change this to some extent. Yes, in the early days of the Industrial Revolution, factory owners also pressed the workers to the extreme, but this was inevitable, and without industrialization, the final result could only be that the peasants and the state would continue to rise, flourish, decline and even perish in this cycle.

At the same time, industrialization can make the country more solid. None of the industrialized countries has been simply overthrown by their own ordinary people. Under normal circumstances, the ruling apparatus of the industrial countries is capable of suppressing those who want to rebel in their own countries. All the countries that have lost their country have ended up because of the unfavorable foreign wars. What the Ming needed was to correct their position at the stage when the relations of production changed from landlords-hired peasants to capitalists-workers (including agricultural workers), and then they did not need to worry about anything.

Therefore, whether it is to improve productivity, or to improve the living standards of the people, or to consolidate the Ming Dynasty, it is necessary to carry out industrialization.

Yun Xi pondered for a long time, wrote his thoughts in simplified Chinese on his most hidden notebook, hid the notebook again, and got up and went to Kunning Palace.

In Kunning Palace, Xi Yao was asking where Wen Yuan had gone today. "Mother, today my father took his son to the mansion of Jingchuan Hou Cao Zhen, then went to Guozijian, and then went to Jiangwutang, and then went out of the city to Meishan, inspected several workshops, one is a steel producer, and a firearms producer, at this time it was almost dark, and Daddy came back with his son." Wenyuan said.

"Steelworks? It's a steel mill, right? Xi Yao said, "Your father took you in to see it?" "The modern iron and steel plant has greatly improved the production efficiency at the same time, once the accident has occurred the casualties have also greatly increased, the year before last there was an accident that killed six people, all of them have no bones, the family members in the factory to make trouble, in Shangyuan County and Ying Tianfu complaints, the trouble is very big, some civil officials also took the opportunity to propose the cancellation of the steel plant, Yun Xi also wasted a lot of effort to solve the matter.

Because she knew that there was such a thing, Xiyao had a very bad impression of the steel factory, and when she heard that Yunxi was still taking her son to inspect, she immediately asked worriedly.

"Mother, my father didn't take his son into the place where the black smoke was emitting, but he just walked around the yard and looked at the steel that had been made, steel, steel and what, yes, steel ingots." Wen Yuan said: "But Daddy himself took the guards into the place where the black smoke was emitting. ”

"That's fine." Xi Yao said while clutching her chest.

"Did your dad ask you anything along the way?" She asked again.

"Not yet, mother."

"Then tell me in detail where your father has gone today, and what he has said to the officials or craftsmen in charge."

Wen Yuan then spoke. When he said that Yunxi was going to reform the appointment system, his eyes moved slightly, but he didn't say anything; But later, when Wen Yuan talked about Yun Xi's summoning of the workers to talk about their daily routines, he interrupted him and asked, "Did your father take you with him to meet the workers?" ”

"Nope. Dad said that he had met ordinary people in the past as the emperor's grandson or emperor, but ordinary people were just scared and couldn't say anything, so they had to be summoned as an ordinary official, and they couldn't take their son with them. ”

"But the son later learned from the guards that it was his father who asked how their family was, and these workers had to come to work because the family owed a lot of money." Wenyuan Road.

Xi Yao didn't say anything, just let Wen Yuan continue to talk about the situation of leaving the palace today; After Wen Yuan finished speaking, she said: "If your father asks about the matter of Guozijian and Wutang, you can say whatever you think, what do you think about the workshop, Yuan'er?" ”

"My son didn't think about anything." Wenyuan said.

"Didn't think anything? You ......" Xi Yao was just about to speak, and a voice came from outside: "Your Majesty has arrived!" She hurriedly stood up and dragged Wen Yuan to the gate of the palace to greet her.

"What are you doing? What about Min'er? What about Wenqi? Yun Xi saw Xi Yao pulling Wen Yuan over to greet him, and asked with a smile.

"Husband, Min'er is playing with Siqi and Xianqin in her bedroom, Wen Qi is also there, and Wen Yin has already fallen asleep. Since the husband came over, the concubine called Min'er and the others to have dinner together. Xi Yao smiled.

Yun Xi nodded, picked up Wen Yuan and asked him, "But have you already taken a bath?" ”

"My mother let her servants serve and wash it." Wenyuan said.

"That's good. I went out of the city today, and stayed for a long time in the heavily polluted place in Meishan, and I had to take a bath when I came back. Yun Xi smiled.

Wen Yuan didn't know what 'pollution' meant, but didn't speak in his arms. Yun Xi reached out and touched his head, and carried him to the dining hall to sit down.

He had just sat down and was about to say a few words to Wen Yuan, when he suddenly heard a voice outside: "Daddy! Yun Xi turned around, and saw a pair of small hands pushing open the half-covered door, running in and grabbing Yun Xi's leg and saying, "Dad." ”

Yun Xi picked up Min'er, smiled and said a few words to her, and answered the greetings of Xianqin, Siqi, and Wenqi and asked them to sit down.

After a while, the people in the imperial dining room brought the meal as quickly as possible, and the maid poured him a bowl of soup, and Yun Xi took it and took a sip of it, announcing that the meal was open.