Ceng Shengwu wasn't an inflexible person. Otherwise, he wouldn't have become a member of the Reformist Party. But this time, Ceng Shengwu was hesitant. Would something happen to him?
But soon, Ceng Shengwu threw this thought to the back of his mind.
In fact, if he didn't do this, something bad would happen.
"Manager Li, I think we can still talk about the land price!" Ceng Shengwu looked at Li Zhonghang and said faintly.
Hearing this, Li Zhonghang was relieved. This was because Ceng Shengwu didn't oppose him. As for money, it wasn't a big problem.
However, Li Zhonghang still didn't want to give in.
Perhaps the land here would be very valuable in the future, but now it was worthless!
After pondering for a moment, Li Zhonghang said, "Sir Ceng, things aren't that simple!"
Li Zhonghang explained to Ceng Shengwu, "Although this land was bought by the Ministry of Internal Affairs in name, it was actually bought by the merchants."
"If the land price is too high, the Ministry of Internal Affairs can't explain to them."
"This is one of the reasons. Secondly, if the land price is too high, it will lead to an increase in the overall cost. Building houses and making looms all cost money."
Speaking until here, Li Zhonghang sighed and said, "Although everyone is optimistic about the woolen mill, no one can say for sure what will happen in the end!"
Ceng Shengwu was silent, he thought for a moment and said, "Then why don't you buy less!"
Ceng Shengwu's idea was good. Keep the land in your hands, and when it was successful in the future, the land price would definitely rise. At that time, you could sell it for a lot of money.
Hearing this, Li Zhonghang sighed and explained again, "Sir Ceng, in fact, it's not like this. Now that it's just a barren land, if there aren't enough benefits to attract people, no one will throw a lot of money there."
"Only by holding the surrounding land in your hands, will the merchants work hard to manage it, and the land price will rise."
Anyone in the future could understand this logic, but in this era, it was very difficult to understand, even for Ceng Shengwu.
For an official who was used to solving problems with a piece of paper, these things were too complicated.
Ceng Shengwu glanced at Cao Yuan, then at Li Zhonghang, and said, "Is this the only way?"
Without waiting for Li Zhonghang to begin, Cao Yuan interjected, "Commissar, if the large market and the woolen mill are established, there are many places in the Datong Wei that can earn money, not just from land sales."
Of course, it wasn't just land sales. Everyone in the future knew that when an industry was built, it would definitely boost the local economy.
From the number of jobs to the price of land, to the influx of people, and so on, the Great Unity Guard Association had become the commercial center of the northwest.
Just the tax alone was enough to make countless people envious.
Hearing Cao Yuan's words, Ceng Shengwu looked at Cao Yuan deeply.
In fact, this was not the right time for Cao Yuan to open his mouth. Other than him being immature and reckless, it could only be an order from the higher-ups.
It went without saying who was above the Department of Taxation and the Ministry of Internal Affairs. It was naturally the Emperor.
Ceng Shengwu nodded and said, "I will report this matter to His Majesty and ask for his decision!"
Ceng Shengwu made up his mind. No matter what they were thinking, he would know once he asked the Emperor.
In any case, he didn't have much time now. He still had to hold a public hearing and clean up the city guard office.
Li Zhonghang and Cao Yuan nodded. In fact, they had also expected Ceng Shengwu to do this.
This was a major matter. Without the court's permission and the Emperor's approval, Ceng Shengwu would definitely not do it.
This time, the two of them had come only to reach an agreement with Ceng Shengwu. As for whether the court would allow it, neither Li Zhonghang nor Cao Yuan were worried.
In fact, the two of them knew that His Majesty had great control over the court.
Especially after the northwest war, His Majesty had won the support of some officials, who were certain that His Majesty was the ruler of the Daming Dynasty.
After sending the two of them off, Ceng Shengwu began to write his memorial. Ceng Shengwu also knew that his memorial would cause some ripples when it reached the capital, but it wouldn't be too big and would soon disappear without a trace.
Capital, Wenhua Hall.
Zhu Yijun stood in front of the window, looking out at the gloomy sky. The expression on his face wasn't bad. In the past few days, his two pregnant concubines had given birth one after another. He had a princess and a prince.
The eldest prince was born of a concubine, but this wasn't a big deal. In this life, Empress Wang's body was fine, and she could give birth in the future.
In fact, regarding his successor, Zhu Yijun also hadn't thought of how to do it. Two days ago, someone had already sent him a memorial to build a tomb for him.
Although Zhu Yijun knew that this was the rule, he still felt a little disheartened.
"Your Majesty, the people from the Academy of Sciences and the Imperial Astronomer are outside requesting an audience!" Zhang Jing came to Zhu Yijun's side and bowed.
Zhu Yijun was slightly taken aback, but when he heard that the two people from the yamen had come together, he instantly understood. The large grandfather clock was ready.
In fact, after thinking about it for a long time, Zhu Yijun felt that he was still a little conflicted.
He knew what was the most suitable way to do it, but he always felt that he should be more independent. However, there were many things that were inconvenient.
Later, he wanted to find Xu Guangqi and tell them about this matter, but he didn't know why he had forgotten about it.
But now, Zhu Yijun was curious to see what they had made.
"Let him in!" Zhu Yijun smiled and nodded, then said.
Not long after, Xu Guangqi walked in with a few guards behind him, laboriously carrying the large grandfather clock that Xu Guangqi had made.
Looking at the large round dial, Zhu Yijun was a little dazed. He felt as if a lifetime had passed.
There were 12 scales on the dial, and each was engraved with Arabic numerals.
Although Zhu Yijun didn't deliberately promote Arabic numerals, it had spread in the past few years that the accountants in Wu Qingbo's mansion used Arabic numerals.
Seeing that Xu Guangqi was about to salute, Zhu Yijun waved his hand and said with a smile, "Come, tell me about it!"
Xu Guangqi quickly came over and said with a smile, "I and the officials of the Imperial Astronomer have studied it for a long time and feel that changing the time is a very tedious matter. It's better to make a new one on the original basis."
"We will use numbers here and completely change the hours to numbers."
Zhu Yijun looked at the numbers on the dial. The engraving was very clear and beautiful. He smiled and nodded.
"Your Majesty, please look here!"
Xu Guangqi pointed to a position under the dial and said, "We made a small wooden sign here and divided the hours into day and night. During the day, there will be a 'white' character here, and at night, there will be a 'night' character here."
"With this, we can engrave half of the things on the dial."
"To make it easier to distinguish, we engraved 12 hours on the dial. In the middle of each hour, there is a small grid that represents an hour.
Then, it is divided into eight parts, and each part represents a quarter of an hour. "
In fact, it was one hour and 15 minutes. Zhu Yijun understood at a glance.
"Every hour, the big needle on the periphery will make a circle, and then the small needle will move a grid, which is an hour." After Xu Guangqi finished speaking, he stood up.
In fact, Xu Guangqi's thing was not perfect. It was still very tedious. This time, Zhu Yijun didn't plan to let them study it, although Xu Guangqi was very close. He walked to the dragon writing table, picked up a pen, and began to draw.
Soon, a picture of the dial appeared in Zhu Yijun's hand.
"Since it jumps every hour, then don't bother with the 24 hours. Abandon the 24 hour counting method and set the hour as a new counting method. It will be called half an hour or an hour."
"In this way, there will be 24 hours in a day, which is 24 and a half hours."
Looking at Xu Guangqi's bright eyes, Zhu Yijun began to talk unconsciously. When he finished, Zhu Yijun handed the paper to Xu Guangqi. "Okay, take it back and do it!
Do as I say. "
"Yes, Your Majesty!" Xu Guangqi answered, then turned around and left with his big clock.
Zhu Yijun watched Xu Guangqi leave. He didn't know what to feel. He didn't know whether Xu Guangqi was right or wrong to take this path.
However, this thought only flashed through his mind. Looking at Zhang Jing, Zhu Yijun ordered, "Make the arrangements. I will leave the palace tomorrow."
"Yes, Imperial Majesty!" Zhang Jing answered, then turned around and went to make the arrangements.
The next day, Zhu Yijun woke up early. He had many things to do when he left the palace today. He had to go to a few places, so he had to wake up early.
After a simple breakfast, Zhu Yijun left the palace with his people.
First stop: the civil servant training school!
Zhu Yijun was very concerned about this civil servant training school. Two days ago, he had received a memorial from Lu Shenxing that Li Zhi had come out of seclusion.
Li Zhi was the representative of the Taizhou School of Psychology that Zhu Yijun had found from Jiangnan. Previously, he had been visiting and working with civil servants. It was said that he had persisted in farming for several months before finally returning to seclusion.
Originally, Zhu Yijun thought that this fellow would drive him crazy. He hadn't heard from him for a long time.
Who would have thought that Lu Shenxing would suddenly report that Li Zhi had come out of seclusion? Moreover, he had changed greatly. It seemed that he was preparing to start lecturing at the civil servant training school.
This was a bit frightening. Lu Shenxing didn't know what Li Zhi wanted to say.
Lu Shenxing didn't dare to casually let Li Zhi start lecturing. As a result, he reported this matter to Zhu Yijun.
In reality, Zhu Yijun also didn't dare to let Li Zhi speak carelessly. Who knew what Li Zhi would say?
In the past, the Ram Faction advocated for the "Emperor's Title of Nobility." They believed that the Emperor was the same as the Dukes, Marquises, Earls, and Sons. They were all titles of nobility, not something bestowed by the heavens.
As a result, they were suppressed to the bottom. Zhu Yijun was also afraid that Li Zhi would shout out some slogan. As a result, Zhu Yijun decided to meet Li Zhi and listen to what he had to say.