Zhu Youzhen, who came back from the inspection of the place where the craftsmen studied, had a very ugly face, and in addition to Wang Chengen, who came back with him, there was also Tu Wenfu, who was responsible for granting Chongzhen's order to manage the craftsmen in the palace.

Tu Wenfu, who was following behind Chongzhen, was uneasy in his heart, he crossed his hands and pressed his abdomen, bent his body, and walked quickly with Chongzhen's pace, lest he be left behind by Chongzhen, who was walking quickly.

After His Majesty ascended the throne, the living habits of the previous Ming Emperors were very different. The most special thing is that no matter where Chongzhen goes to the palace, he will never take the chariot carried by a few strong chamberlains.

In the past, when the emperor walked in the palace, there would inevitably be seven or eight attendants, either carrying the chariot or clearing the road. The emperor's travel is quite quiet, and the eunuchs and palace maids in the palace can clean up the unclean places before the emperor arrives, and collect the things that are not suitable for the emperor to see.

But the newly enthroned young emperor has changed his behavior from the old customs, which makes these eunuchs who act according to the old rules blind.

For example, this time Chongzhen inspected the place where craftsmen learned to write words, His Majesty did not say hello, and took Wang Chengen straight to the inner official prison, and Tu Wenfu was not at the scene at all.

The number of craftsmen in the court serving the emperor should be fifteen thousand eight hundred and eighty-four according to the provisions of the Ming Huidian.

These craftsmen can be classified according to their genus and can be divided into civilian craftsmen and military craftsmen. According to the classification of the way of service, it can be divided into two categories: sitting craftsmen and class craftsmen.

The origins of the craftsmen who live in the capital are attached to the capital, Daxing and Wanping near the capital, similar to the day students of the university. The classwright is rotated to Beijing to serve for 3 months at intervals of five, four, three, two, and one year.

Theoretically, the craftsmen who served the emperor should be the top craftsmen in each industry. But in the seventh year of the Apocalypse, when the craftsman system was bad, this theory had long been bankrupt.

After the officials of the Ming Dynasty invented the method of exempting craftsmen from military service, highly skilled craftsmen were exempted from their service in this way. Only in economically underdeveloped places, or craftsmen who are not very skilled, will choose to serve themselves.

Now the most outstanding craftsmen in the Ming Dynasty are all in the Jiangnan and Guangdong regions. Jiangnan is because of the developed economy, and the skills of craftsmen can obtain good benefits, so naturally they do not have to go to the capital to serve. And Foshan, Guangdong is the iron capital of the south of the Ming Dynasty, and seventy or eighty percent of the most outstanding blacksmiths of the Ming Dynasty are gathered there.

If Zhu Youzhen wanted to promote the industrial development of the Ming Dynasty, he must improve the cultural level of craftsmen, and craftsmen without cultural knowledge could not promote the technological innovation required by the industrial revolution.

For this reason, he asked the palace to set up a literacy school for craftsmen, and selected eunuchs with certain cultural knowledge from the inner study hall as teachers, hoping to change the lives of craftsmen in the palace.

However, a few days ago, he was busy discussing the reform of the official system with Shoufu, discussing the reform of the Guozijian with Xu Guangqi and others, and he was also distracted by the affairs of the Daming Times, so he handed over this matter to Tu Wenfu, who was said to be an excellent supervisor of ceremonies.

Today, Zhu Youzhen had a little free time, and then he thought that he should care about the affairs of the craftsmen's study. However, more than 300 craftsmen, young and old, crowded into a courtyard to listen to a young eunuch reciting a thousand-character text, without even a stool.

Most craftsmen are either drowsy or chatting with the people around them, which is a class, it is simply a tea party.

Zhu Youzhen looked at the scene in front of him with a blue face, and the eunuch on duty in the internal official prison finally found Chongzhen standing at the door.

After Tu Wenfu, who was hiding in the room and being lazy, received the reward from his subordinates, he hurriedly rushed out of the room and came to meet Chongzhen's inspection.

For Chongzhen's anger, Tu Wenfu also felt deeply aggrieved. He complained slightly in his heart: "If it weren't for Your Majesty, you are so light-hearted, I know that Your Majesty is coming to inspect, wouldn't you let them straighten out?" These despicable people are not worthy of learning words, if they can really learn to write articles, they will not be craftsmen here, but to take the Xiucai test. ”

However, although Chongzhen's face was cloudy, he did not attack Tu Wenfu on the spot, but glared at him and asked him to follow him back to the Qianqing Palace to report about the craftsman's study.

After returning to the upper study, Zhu Youzhen leaned back on his chair, put his hands together on his chin, and looked at Tu Wenfu for a long time before calming down and said: "Let's talk about it, after you are appointed as the eunuch of the seal of the internal official supervisor, do you have any other thoughts about the future of the craftsmen in the palace?" ”

Tu Wenfu's head was a little big suddenly, from the real power position of Si Li Bing's pen in charge of the imperial horse supervisor, the governor Taicang and Jieshen Erku, to a eunuch who procured palace utensils and managed craftsmen, his power can be said to have been greatly attenuated.

After feeling marginalized by Chongzhen, Tu Wenfu naturally had no interest in managing the learning problems of any craftsmen. For him, now he is waiting for when Chongzhen will speak and let him go to Nanjing to retire.

Now Chongzhen suddenly asked him about his thoughts on the management of craftsmen in the future, which suddenly made Tu Wenfu dumbfounded and didn't know how to answer, a question he had never thought about.

Seeing Tu Wenfu's red face and speechless appearance, Zhu Youzhen finally spoke: "Since you don't have an idea, then listen to my thoughts." ”

"The minister is stupid, he has not given much thought to the management of the affairs of the internal officials, supervisors and craftsmen, and he also asks His Majesty for the Hadith..."Tu Wenfu said ashamedly on the ground.

Zhu Youzhen waved his hand to prevent Tu Wenfu from continuing to plead guilty. He said to Tu Wenfu very firmly: "The current craftsman system must undergo a radical change, except for the necessary palace repair and equipment maintenance personnel, other personnel must change this state of rotational service.

In particular, the class craftsman system, which is a system of serving in the capital for three months at intervals, is too laborious and costly. Daming is so extensive, from Guangdong, Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan and other places, it takes one to two months to run to the capital, this kind of waste of manpower and financial resources is simply unnecessary.

Class craftsmen in the south of the Yangtze River, Ningxia, and Shaanxi, unless they are indispensable craftsmen, you will negotiate with the Ministry of Industry, and from today onwards, all will be temporarily suspended. Ban craftsmen who have already served in the capital, those who want to go home after the expiration of their service are allowed to return, but those who are willing to stay, will be given the treatment of resident craftsmen, and they will be allowed to attach themselves to the area near the capital.

The craftsmen also had to change their previous practice of serving for a few months a year, and select some excellent craftsmen to form a tool manufacturing factory. The equipment needed in the palace can be purchased from them at their own expense, and when they are free, they can be allowed to make utensils for private merchants, such as the story of the Eight Bureaus' restructuring.

In addition, all craftsmen should be graded according to the proficiency of their craft, tentatively divided into four grades: apprentice, general worker, craftsman, and technician, and each level should have a different level of money and food. The money and grain of the current craftsmen are regarded as the standard of ordinary workers, and the craftsmen of other levels fluctuate up and down according to this standard.

There is also this craftsman school, which is to cultivate elite craftsmen who can write and calculate in the future, so the students should not be too old. After you go back, you will reorganize these students, and as long as the students who are over 30 years old do not object, they will be persuaded to quit.

In the future, it is better for the craftsmen school to recruit students under the age of 20, and there are also two rooms in the internal official prison to be vacated as classrooms, so that the carpenters in the palace can make benches, desks, and blackboards, and do not let people stand in the courtyard to be punished, understand? ”

Chongzhen said very carefully, and Tu Wenfu also settled down from the panic at the beginning. From the emperor's words, Tu Wenfu suddenly realized that the power of this internal official did not seem to be as small as he imagined.

He only thought for a moment, and then asked: "The total number of craftsmen under the control of the Ministry of Industry, the various supervision bureaus of the Inner Government, and the Du Siwei is about 300,000. Does the terms that Your Majesty have just mentioned only apply to the craftsmen in the name of the various superintendents of the Inner Government? ”

Zhu Youzhen thought for a while, and then said: "First start the reform with the craftsmen under the name of the various supervision bureaus of the inner government, if there is any inconvenience, it is better to correct it quickly, and when the reform of the craftsmen under the name of the inner government is completed, and there is no major problem, then implement the craftsman system under the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of Justice." ”

Chongzhen's answer immediately moved Tu Wenfu's heart, that is to say, the restructuring of the internal official supervision is an experiment for the restructuring of the Ministry of Industry, so the successful restructuring of the internal official supervision means that he can directly interfere in the affairs of the Ministry of Industry, and this power is not small at all.

With Chongzhen's affirmation, Tu Wenfu's mind suddenly became flexible, "Then dare to ask Your Majesty, although the craftsmen under the name of the Inner Mansion are now under the supervision of the internal officials." However, according to the national law, all craftsmen in the world are compiled and managed by the Ministry of Industry. At present, the Inner Government only has the name of use, and has no power to administer. The monthly ration of the craftsmen is issued by the Ministry of Industry, and the Ministry of Industry also sets up stewards and craftsmen in Daxing and Wanping to manage the craftsmen. If the system is to be restructured, is it possible to ask Your Majesty to issue an order for the Ministry of Industry to hand over the list of craftsmen and money and grain under the name of the Ministry of Industry to the Ministry of Industry to the Ministry of Internal Officials, so that the Ministry of Industry will not be allowed to intervene in the future? ”

Zhu Youzhen tapped his fingers on the table, thinking about what Tu Wenfu meant by this, the Ministry of Industry was not allowed to ask, was this for fear that the Ministry of Industry would pull back? Or do you want to take power?

After being silent for a while, Zhu Youzhen said cautiously: "The reform of the craftsman system in the inner government is the first step for the reform of the craftsman system managed by the Ministry of Industry. The reform of the craftsman system in the Ministry of Industry is mainly supervised by internal officials, but the Ministry of Industry must also send personnel to participate in order to serve as a lesson for the reform of the Ministry of Industry in the future. You can negotiate and solve small problems, and I can judge you on big problems. As for the matter of money and grain, it is enough to let the Ministry of Industry send personnel to manage the money and grain of these craftsmen full-time, and accept the supervision of the internal officials and supervisors, and there is no need to hand it over. ”

The inability to obtain the personnel management power and money and grain management power of these craftsmen made Tu Wenfu slightly disappointed. But this conversation made him understand that Chongzhen didn't seem to have any plans to kick him out of Beijing for retirement, which made Tu Wenfu can't help but recover some of his work.