April 21 is the day of the palace examination, and the location of the palace examination is in the Imperial Palace. Before the palace examination began, Zhu Youzhen said to Wang Zheng and Fan Jingwen, the two examiners who presided over the palace examination: "Can I temporarily add a small question in addition to today's policy questions?" ”

Wang Zheng and Fan Jingwen glanced at each other, and Fan Jingwen stepped forward and said: "The time for the palace examination is only today, and I also ask Your Majesty to consider one or two when giving questions, so as to leave enough time for the scholars." ”

Zhu Youzhen nodded and said: "The topic I want to come up with is very simple, every scholar writes a piece of what he saw and heard on the way to Beijing, regardless of the genre of the text or the number of words. ”

Fan Jingwen was slightly stunned for a moment, and went out with Wang Zheng to pass the emperor's imperial decree. The scholars who were already seated in the main hall of the Emperor's Palace complained greatly about the emperor's sudden temporary addition of a test question.

After all, after two rounds of rigorous examinations, the final palace examination is only a formality, and generally speaking, the results of the palace examination even have few changes in the rank of jinshi.

For the scholars who finally sat here after two rounds of difficult exams, they originally thought that today was just a formality, but they never thought that the emperor would set another threshold for them.

The scholars who can be on the top of the main hall all have profound cultural literacy and the eight-strand composition habits cultivated since childhood. When it comes to exam planning, the level of writing essays is generally in the middle of the middle.

However, the level of observation in life and the ability to write essays outside the category of the eight strands of literature is uneven. Therefore, most of them were suspicious of the topics added by the emperor, lest they would affect their Jinshi ranking.

When the two brothers Song Yingsheng and Song Yingxing took the exam, they barely entered the qualified line because an article about filial piety was very well written.

Although these two brothers are not outstanding in the attainments of Baguwen, they have gone to Beijing several times to catch the exam, and they have traveled thousands of miles by water, and their breadth of knowledge can be said to be far beyond everyone. What's more, whenever Song Yingxing goes to a place, he likes to explore local famous products and handicrafts, and chat with craftsmen and farmers.

Therefore, for the question added by the emperor, the two of them wrote more wonderfully than answering the question of strategy.

Although the students in the hall resisted the emperor's new questions, they finally quietly entered the examination state under the pressure of several invigilators.

More than a dozen invigilators in the front hall of the Huangji Hall were walking back and forth, monitoring the 322 scholars who were buried in the exam, and Chongzhen was summoning Tu Wenfu, who had rushed back from Xishan, in the apse to listen to his rectification of the Mentougou Coal Mine.

“… With the help of the medical team sent by the medical school, the workers of the Mentougou Coal Mine, which was invested by the Imperial Palace, quickly trusted us, and the various affairs of the coal mine production and rectification went smoothly after that.

After the three-shift rotation system, the daily output of the coal mine increased to more than 210,000 catties. In one of the mines, small railroad tracks have been installed to transport coal by donkeys, and the ministers and others have found that they can save two laborers carrying coal and increase the transportation capacity by three times.

Originally, the biggest problem of coal mines was that the speed of transporting coal from the mine was too slow, and the labor cost of carrying coal was too high. However, after the coal was transported by railroad tracks in the mine, the efficiency of coal mining could no longer keep up with the speed of coal transportation.

The ministers and others plan to convert all the mines to rail coal transportation, which is expected to double the daily coal production and reduce labor by half.

However, to transform these mines into a state that can run the rail trolleys, it is necessary to expand the mines and support and strengthen some areas, which is also a big investment..."

Zhu Youzhen waved his hand and said: "The investment that is conducive to the production and safety of coal mines must still be guaranteed, as long as the output of coal mines can be increased, this investment is nothing."

However, I hope that you will record these technical transformation measures in production one by one, so that they can be used as standards for future coal mine production. Also, how did you handle the matter of establishing a union? ”

Tu Wenfu quickly replied: "According to His Majesty's instructions, the minister selected a few coal miners who were more prestigious in the coal mine and asked them to take the lead in forming a miners' union.

Through the unions, a number of workers' welfare facilities were built, such as canteens, workers' schools, bathhouses and medical rooms.

Among these workers, there are several people who are quite capable, such as Zhao Wufu and Cheng Dashi. Not only did they organize the workers in their own coal mines, but they also developed many members in the small coal mines nearby.

Moreover, Zhao Wufu also organized workers to work for the construction of canteens and bathhouses for free, saving a lot of construction costs for the coal mine. ”

Zhu Youzhen smiled slightly and said, "This Zhao Wufu is very good, you can take care of it more when you go back." In addition, the mine should praise such voluntary labor activities, and the workers who participated in the voluntary labor should be commended.

For example, set up the title of model worker, and then evaluate it once a month, convene a general meeting of all workers to praise and issue certificates, and award some prizes.

Priority should be given to training and promoting workers who have won the title of model workers. At present, at least one-third of the management positions in coal mines are given to managers who are born as workers. ”

Tu Wenfu was a little surprised, and he couldn't help but cautiously admonish: "Your Majesty, these coal miners will only sell some strength, and they don't even know a word, so will it backfire if they let them manage the coal mine?"

Moreover, the leaders selected from these workers have a lot of influence on the workers. If they are allowed to control the management power of the coal mine, will it cause a trend of tail growth? ”

Zhu Youzhen shook his head and said: "The coal mined in the Mentougou Coal Mine in the past was mainly supplied to the palace, so the Ministry of Industry does not care about this.

But now most of the output of the Mentougou Coal Mine is for sale, which has become an important source of wealth in the palace.

Some people in the Ministry of Industry have now begun to advocate that the Mentougou Coal Mine under the name of the palace is competing with the people for profit. Some people even asked the Ministry of Industry to take over the coal mine, and then allocate it every year according to the amount of coal needed in the palace, so that the eunuchs in the palace would not exploit the small people too harshly. ”

The emperor's words immediately annoyed several eunuchs around him, overseas tariffs, mine taxes, but any project with some interests, these civil officials of the foreign dynasty had to jump out and shout nonsense about competing with the people.

However, the eunuchs who are in charge of taxation outside the palace do act a little Meng Lang, so they are often unable to defend themselves under the attacks of civil officials.

But Mentougou Coal Mine has always been an industry in the palace, but in the past, everyone never thought that this coal mining was such a profitable business.

Moreover, there are many private mines in the vicinity of the Mentougou Coal Mine, and although the exploitation of coal miners by those private mine owners is better than that of the previous government mines, it is far less than that of the government mines after the reform.

With this comparison, how could these eunuchs in the palace admit that the official coal mine exploited the small people too much. They are most comfortable with the profits they get from the coal mines.

What's more, after Chongzhen ordered the Huangzhuang to be cleared and restructured, the income from the Huangzhuang in the palace was replaced by the profits paid by various factories, among which the profit of the Mentougou Coal Mine was the most stable and growing.

The officials of the Ministry of Industry wanted to move the Mentougou Coal Mine, undoubtedly to take food from the bowls of these eunuchs. Almost instantly, Tu Wenfu blurted out an objection: "Your Majesty must not listen to the pedantic arguments of these officials, many of the private mines near Mentougou are the property of officials, and the exploitation of these private mines for the small people is outrageous..."

Almost without thinking, Tu Wenfu told the emperor how those private mine owners treated their miners cruelly.

After listening carefully to Tu Wenfu's remarks, Zhu Youzhen said: "Therefore, we must reform the management mode of coal mines as soon as possible and change the current government-run model into a joint-stock business model.

Only by selecting activists from among the workers, and then arranging for them to receive short-term education, and placing these workers around the people sent by the palace, can we refute the argument that the palace is competing with the people for profit. ”

Under Chongzhen's persuasion and the threat of foreign court officials to control the Mentougou coal mine, Tu Wenfu finally agreed, relinquished some of the power to manage the coal mine, and gave it to the activists selected by the workers to gain the support of the workers for the management of the coal mine in the palace.

Subsequently, Tu Wenfu reported to the emperor that the trade union had developed rapidly in other private mines, and had already caused several strikes, and was going to hold a joint strike in May.

Zhu Youzhen thought for a while and said: "You and Wang Banban discuss the time of this joint strike, and then notify the New Army to train a battalion and go to the vicinity of Mentougou to do a field marching training."

If the situation escalates, contact the 1st Training Battalion to calm down. Tell the training battalion to try not to hurt people, unless it is a last resort..."

After the palace examination was completed, Chongzhen asked people to get the articles of the scholars about what they had seen and heard on the road, and the review of the policy issues was all handed over to Wang Zheng and Fan Jingwen.

On this day, Liu Xiang gathered his main fleet of more than 20 capable ships and prepared to set off from the humble port of Xiangdao to the mouth of the Mekong River.

Liu Xiang is a native of Lamma Island near Xiangdao, and his subordinates are basically fishermen from the islands outside the Pearl River Estuary, as well as Xu people living in the Pearl River Estuary.

Xiangdao and the peninsula on the other side were under the jurisdiction of Xin'an County, Guangzhou Prefecture, and according to the agreement with the imperial court, the imperial court set up a garrison on Xiangdao, and established a naval and commercial port to control the port of the Pearl River and protect the inland waterway of the Pearl River.

The Pearl River Estuary is dotted with islands, the coastline is winding, and there are many areas suitable for harbors, so there have always been many water pirates. For example, Liu Xiang's lair is on an outlying island in the southeast of Xiangdao.

Although Liu Xiang was not very accepting of the imperial court's recruitment, whether it was his subordinates or relatives, he was very excited that he could relocate to Xiangdao, which was in a superior location, after being recruited. Therefore, Liu Xiang had to move his subordinates and family members to Xiangdao.

Although full of reluctance, Liu Xiang still took a fancy to the northern area of Xiangdao across the sea from the peninsula. Although there is little flat land here, this wide bay is the most suitable area for a harbour.

What's more, Xiangdao coincides with his name, and Liu Xiang also thinks that this place can prosper himself. He established villages and ports in the northern part of Xiangdao, so Xiangdao gradually became known as Hong Kong by merchants.

The peninsula across the sea from Hong Kong, Liu Xiang named the Kowloon Peninsula after a local legend. The bay between Hong Kong Island and the Kowloon Peninsula was called Daming Bay by an official stationed on Hong Kong Island.