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The Ministry of Industry Yamen is not far from Dong'an Gate, close to the Ministry of War, and is an inconspicuous building complex. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

Since Emperor Hongzhi succeeded to the throne, the door of the Ministry of Industry Yamen has been crowded, and there is no longer the former liveliness, the Ministry of Industry, as the name suggests, is a contract foreman, but the important customer is not someone else, but the palace.

In previous years, the emperors repaired the palace and built the mausoleum, which can be described as very lively, the whole of the Ministry of Works, all like a spinning top around the palace, and even every eunuch in and out, but now, Emperor Hongzhi does not seem to be too concerned about the construction of palaces and mausoleums, and the functions of the Ministry of Industry are gradually decreasing.

In addition, the Ministry of Industry is also in charge of the Bureau, but these years have been quite peaceful, there are no major wars, the armament is relaxed, the cabinet is not willing to use the army, naturally, the Bureau is also a little idle, just last year, the Bureau of Crafts also resigned a group of craftsmen.

But now it is different, the imperial court wants to build roads, the amount of work is really not small, from Nantong Prefecture to Lianzhou, it is a journey of thousands of miles, along the way to split mountains and build bridges, the money spent, equivalent to the annual income of the imperial court in previous years, mobilized labor force of 100,000 people.

In order to pave this road, the bluestone slabs required are enough to rebuild a Yanjing City, in addition, a large amount of clay and lime require a lot of investment.

It stands to reason that now the Ministry of Industry should be satisfied, after all, it has been idle for so long, and there is finally something to do, more or less, and it can also make some oil and water, but unfortunately, these are all foolish dreams.

The Qincha who built the road was Shou Ninghou and Jian Changbo, these two don't look stupid, but they are particularly concerned about building roads, and they have also invested a share of the money for road construction, how can they let the people of the Ministry of Industry make oil and water? So, Shou Ning Hou and Jian Changbo can be described as a big package, everything is involved, two people are not enough, so they directly from the Jubao firm to transfer manpower, Jubao firm, naturally willing to work, after all, it is related to the traffic of the landing road, if the road is not well repaired, the loss of the Jubao firm is very great, many major shareholders jumped out one by one, began to point fingers, if you want to fool the ordinary people, the Ministry of Industry is naturally handy, but want to fool these budget-conscious businessmen in this huge project, but it is as difficult as ascending to the sky, No matter how you report the account, when people look at the account book, they can see the little Jiujiu in the account book, and Shou Ninghou and Jian Changbo come forward to intimidate again, and the only remaining greed will be put away immediately.

So building roads for the Ministry of Industry, is really a thankless task, the road is not repaired, they can't eat and walk, but the oil and water, but not a little bit into their pockets, Shou Ninghou and Jian Changbo are all babbling people, if you slack off, people can shout all over the capital knows.

Xu Guan, the secretary of the Ministry of Works, was angry, and the surname Suo gave the matter of building the road to the servants and principals below. In fact, this Lord Xu Guanxu is not a bastard foolish official, he is also a capable minister in the Hongzhi Dynasty, and has presided over the construction of the Su and Song River embankments several times, and he is meticulous and effective.

However, Lord Xu is concerned about the river embankment, that is because the floods in the Su and Song areas are serious, and the people along the way are deeply affected. But for him, the construction of the road is for the service of the merchants, hmph, why are the merchants the cheapest? Because these people are opportunistic and talkative, Lord Xu looks down on them. Coupled with the fingers of Shou Ninghou and Jian Changbo, Xu Guan was furious, and the surname Suo was out of sight.

And the person in charge of building the road became the left waiter Xi Min, this Lord Xi's face is always long, but when Shou Ninghou came to negotiate, he didn't dare to slack off, so he could only endure it, blame him for being just a waiter, not Shangshu, Shangshu can be a hands-off shopkeeper, but his waiter can't.

Seeing that the weather was gradually getting cooler, early in the morning, Xi Min went to the public hall on duty, sat on a chair, and was not in a hurry to read the official documents, but first picked up the school and reported to take a look, it is strange to say, this treasure building and the study and newspaper are Liu Chengfeng's industry, but the treasure building and the businessmen are in a pile, but the study and newspaper is a clear position on the side of the reader, and even issued several articles, all of which are to reprimand some businessmen for stealing and playing slippery, although it is not painful, but it makes this Lord Xi look very comfortable.

Some people even wonder if this Liu Chengfeng is crazy, on the one hand to serve the businessmen, on the other hand to run newspapers and periodicals to criticize the businessmen, in fact, people who really understand Liu Chengfeng know that everything this guy does is for the sake of profit, if you follow this line of thought, you will know what kind of person this guy is, the main audience of Xueerbao is the reader, of course, you must stand on the side of the reader to speak, otherwise the newspaper will be printed, who will it be sent to? The audience of Jubaolou is businessmen, so it is natural to solve problems for businessmen, otherwise what treasures will be gathered, copper coins will not be gathered, Liu Qianhu has no position, some are only interests, and what he will always stand on is the side of silver.

After reading the report, Xi Min drank a cup of tea, took a nap slowly, and then slowly started to work, now the Ministry of Industry seems to be a little empty, Lord Shangshu took sick leave, and the rest of the officials released a large number of people to go to various prefectures and counties to survey the terrain manually, this Ministry of Industry lobby, Xi Min is left to call the shots.

Xi Min didn't care about building roads, unless it was the Zhang brothers who came to urge him to do what to do, he slowly went to do things well, if he didn't urge there, he would grind foreign workers, with a non-violent and non-cooperative posture.

I read a few official documents without a pair, and an errand officer came in quickly, Xi Min was already absent-minded, so as soon as he heard the footsteps, his brows couldn't help frowning, under normal circumstances, the errand officer would not come in without permission, unless someone visited, or there was an important official document, what he was not pleased with was this, most likely the Zhang family brother came again.

"Your Excellency......" The messenger came in and saluted respectfully.

Xi Min suppressed the displeasure in his heart, raised his chin calmly, glanced at the errand officer, and said slowly: "What's the matter?" ”

"My lord, there's someone visiting outside."

Presumably it is the Zhang family brother again, when he thinks of Zhang Heling and Zhang Yanling, Xi Min dares to disgust, these two guys are kraft candy, no matter what face you give him, what hints you give him, they turn a blind eye, and blindly talk about their road construction, sometimes Xi Min can't wait to give them two slaps directly.

"Who is it?"

"Back to the words of the adult, it is said that it is a secretary of the Jinyi Wei Thousand Households Office of Jubao Commercial Bank, named Wang Tao."

"Is that him?"

Xi Min remembered, what kind of official has been here a few times, all of them are urging the Ministry of Industry to supply ordnance to the student army as soon as possible, what kind of Rausch student army, it's really ridiculous, dignified scholars, but let them go to be big soldiers, this is okay, since they are hung in the name of the Jubao firm, then let the Jubao firm keep it, but they have to ask the court for ordnance, it stands to reason that the student army palace did issue a decree to let the court supply ordnance, but when the Wang priest came to ask for it, the Ministry of Industry was not polite, Tell the official directly that this matter is not under the control of the Ministry of Industry, if you want to ask for it, go to the Ministry of War to ask for it, and the Ministry of War is in charge of this matter.

He sent the king's priest away, but now the king's priest is here again.

Xi Min's mood became even worse, and with a calm face, he said to the errand officer, "Call in and talk." ”

He didn't say please, which shows that he didn't have a very good impression of this royal official.

After a while, Wang Tao, who was a little bit immature as a scholar, walked in, he was a little darker than before, although his face was immature, but his eyes showed a trace of sophistication, following Liu Chengfeng's side, after so long of tempering, he finally had a little bit of the shrewdness of an old official, after entering the hall, he respectfully saluted Xi Min.

Xi Min deliberately lowered his head to look at the official document on the case, pretended not to see it, and then said lightly: "What is the king...... Isn't it a priest? Why are you here again, didn't the official say it? If you want ordnance, that's a matter for the Ministry of War, the Ministry of Engineering only negotiates with the Ministry of War, and the Ministry of War has made a note, and the Ministry of Industry will send the required ordnance over, and the Ministry of War will deal with you, why are you here again now? ”

This kind of means of kicking the ball is a common way in the officialdom, and the officials, which are not selected by thousands of people, are the smartest people in the Ming Dynasty, and after decades of Huan Hai career, they can be described as human spirits, and they don't want to take care of things, kicking them to others is, anyway, there is a reason.

Wang Tao said politely: "The student listened to the words of the adult, and did go to the Ministry of War, but the Ministry of War said that the student army is not under the control of the Ministry of War, and it does not belong to the military horses of the imperial court, so even if it is distributed, it does not have to go through the Ministry of War, and it goes directly to the Ministry of Industry to deliver." ”

The military department, obviously not willing to negotiate with the student army, kicked the ball back.

Of course Xi Min knew the thoughts of the officials of the Ministry of War, and he couldn't help sneering in his heart, these guys would make excuses. He didn't look up, continued to look at the official document with his eyes, and said slowly, "Oh? Is that so? But then again, the Ministry of Industry directly handed over to you, which doesn't make sense in theory, this is the rule of the imperial court, and you are like this, which makes the official embarrassed. ”

Wang Tao said even more respectfully: "My lord, the soldiers are in urgent need of armament training, and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and the Marquis of Lianzhou are also anxious at this time, no matter what, please be accommodating." ”

(To be continued)