Zhu Yijun sent Prince Zheng to the Prince's Mansion and had a meal there before returning to the Imperial Palace.
This was the last time Zhu Yijun left the Imperial Palace in Wanli's 15 years. After that, he basically didn't go to the court.
There was one thing that happened here. No one impeached Zhu Yijun for not going to the court at all.
Obviously, the ministers didn't want the emperor to go to the court either. The emperor was really good at making trouble. After a year of hard work, it was good to take a break.
At this time, everyone was obedient and didn't want to provoke the emperor.
The holidays, the closure of the yamen, the New Year, and the Imperial Court Conference. Zhu Yijun had been doing all this for fifteen years, and there was nothing much to say.
In the blink of an eye, it was the second month of the 16th year of Wanli's reign. It was a chilly spring day.
The Forbidden City, Wenhua Hall.
Zhu Yijun looked at Wang Xijue in front of him with a smile on his face. He, the Grand Secretary, had really worked hard.
After staying in Shanxi for a year, he finally settled the vassal ban for Prince Jin.
Which prince's mansion would be moved first, and how to redeem the property of the prince's mansion? After all this was done, Wang Xijue returned to the capital.
Compared with when he went to Shanxi, Wang Xijue was much thinner.
However, Zhu Yijun liked his fighting spirit very much. The opening of the vassal ban in Shanxi was basically a foregone conclusion. The next step was the migration of the vassal kings, and the first one to leave was Prince Jin.
"You have worked hard!" Zhu Yijun helped Wang Xijue up and said with a smile.
"This is the duty of a minister!" Wang Xijue quickly bowed and said.
Zhu Yijun nodded with a smile and said, "It's the duty of a minister. If all the officials in the world could remember the word 'duty', that would be great!" Zhu Yijun said, "You are very good."
"I will leave the vassal ban to you. Take your time in three years!"
Wang Xijue quickly bowed and said, "Yes, Your Majesty!"
After Wang Xijue left, Zhu Yijun said to Zhang Jing, who was beside him, "Are you ready?"
"Imperial Majesty, I'm ready!" Zhang Jing quickly said.
"Then let's go!" Zhu Yijun nodded and said.
Today, Zhu Yijun was preparing to leave the palace. He wanted to visit a few places. The first place was the egg hatchery.
Since last year, the hatchery had been hatching eggs and selling them, but they didn't make much money.
After leaving the palace, Zhu Yijun's carriage quickly left the city.
Walking on the concrete road, Zhu Yijun was in a good mood even though it was still early spring.
The horse carriage stopped outside the hatchery. Zhang Jing brought his men to look for the manager while Zhu Yijun alighted from the carriage.
The hatchery was not far from the capital. It was considered to be in the suburbs of the capital, so the transportation was very convenient.
After Zhu Yijun alighted from the carriage, he looked around. This was his first time visiting the hatchery.
The area was not small, and there were quite a lot of people. There were people coming in and out of the hatchery from time to time.
A middle-aged man in his forties ran out of the hatchery. When he saw Zhu Yijun, he immediately knelt down.
"Your subject, Li Qi, greets Your Majesty!"
Zhu Yijun nodded and said in a deep voice, "Get up!
I'm here to take a look. Bring me around. "
"Yes, Your Majesty!" Li Qi quickly agreed. His heart was about to jump out.
Li Qi never thought that the Emperor would come here. He carefully led the way in front.
At the same time, he introduced to Zhu Yijun, "Your Majesty, the hatchery has a total of three areas."
"This area is for hatching eggs, and that area is for hatching duck eggs."
With Li Qi's introduction, Zhu Yijun walked around the hatchery in detail. He even chatted with the workers in the hatchery. Then, he brought them to the hatchery's duty room.
"Since last year, how many chicks have been hatched in the hatchery?"
Li Qi quickly answered, "Your Majesty, since the hatchery's first batch of chicks was hatched, a total of 23,628 chicks, 14,678 ducks, and 8,432 geese have been hatched."
After hearing Li Qi's words, Zhu Yijun nodded his head in satisfaction.
To be able to accurately report the numbers, it was obvious that Li Qi had put in a lot of effort.
"Your Majesty, previously, it was because there were not enough eggs, and the hatchery could not cook without rice. After the new year, things will be different.
The first batch of chicks sold should be laying eggs soon. "
"Once these chicks start laying eggs, the number of eggs will increase greatly."
"I have already sent a document to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, requesting for the expansion of the hatchery. The higher-ups have already approved, and the money has also been sent.
This time, I plan to build a hatchery that can incubate 200,000 chicken eggs, 100,000 duck eggs, and 80,000 goose eggs annually. "
Zhu Yijun glanced at Li Qi and said with a smile, "Not bad, not bad at all." He turned back to look at Zhang Jing, then said with a smile, "Reward him. Raise him by one rank when we go back."
Li Qi quickly knelt down to express his gratitude. "Thank you, Your Majesty!"
After leaving the hatchery, Zhu Yijun's expression was one of relief. Although the number of chicks was still far from Zhu Yijun's expectations, it was a good start, wasn't it?
"Go back and send a decree to the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Let them open a few more hatchery."
"I want the hatchery to be spread all over North Zhili, so that the people of North Zhili can afford to buy chicks."
Although the political reform could not benefit the whole of North Zhili, the hatchery would not be a problem.
Three eggs in exchange for a chicken would allow the people to do a lot of things.
Raising 30 to 50 chickens would allow the people to live a good life.
Zhu Yijun's next stop was Quanjude in the western suburbs. Zhu Yijun originally wanted to change the name, but after thinking about it, he continued to use the name as a memento.
The owner of this business was the Empress's maiden family, the Wang family. This was a business that Zhu Yijun handed over to the Wang family.
When Zhu Yijun arrived in the western suburbs, it was just in time for dinner.
Although the vassals had not entered the capital, the shopping street here had already opened.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs had gathered a lot of goods here, including soap, perfume, and so on. In fact, the Ministry of Internal Affairs had already begun to expand its factories.
For example, the soap factory. The Shun Tian Prefecture had a hard time hiring workers.
There was no need for Zhu Yijun to guide them, and the capital directly went to find a place that was beneficial to them.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs had also begun to order pigs, which meant that the Ministry of Internal Affairs would buy the piglets and then buy back the pork.
Zhu Yijun heard that the Ministry of Internal Affairs had built a slaughterhouse that could kill hundreds of pigs every day.
In this era, this scale was very large.
Although he had created the economic circle of the Shun Tian Prefecture, in fact, it had already radiated to the North Zhili.
In the second half of the year, Zhu Yijun would expand the reform to the entire North Zhili.
But before that, Zhu Yijun still had a few things to do.
"Imperial Majesty, the private room on the second floor is ready!" Zhang Jing said with a smile as he came out from the inside.
Zhu Yijun nodded. For Zhang Jing, it didn't take much effort to get a private room.
Under the guidance of Zhang Jing, Zhu Yijun went up to the second floor and entered a very simple but elegant private room.
The dishes were quickly served. Zhang Jing ordered a roast duck, roast chicken, and roast goose.
"There are so many people here!" Zhu Yijun stood at the railing on the second floor and looked down.
"It's all thanks to His Majesty!"
Zhang Jing smiled and said, "This Quanjude is using the royal palace's secret recipe. The royal chefs that the Emperor gave are all authentic royal chefs!"
In this era, the status of the royal family was self-evident.
Quanjude's royal palace's secret recipe naturally attracted a lot of people. In addition, the food was really delicious. This Quanjude had just opened for less than half a month, and it became very popular.
In addition, the surrounding commercial streets had a gathering effect, and this place naturally became even more popular.
This street had a lot of products that couldn't be bought anywhere else, and the prices were also very expensive.
Of course, Daming didn't lack rich people, and this place was originally built to be a high-end place.
After dinner, Zhu Yijun and Zhang Jing strolled around the streets before returning to the palace.
As night fell, Zhu Yijun stood in front of the blackboard in Wenhua Palace. He looked at the two words on the blackboard emotionlessly. Commercial tax!
Commercial tax was a hurdle that Daming couldn't get around. Land acquisitions could not be stopped, and Zhu Yijun also didn't want to stop it.
After the government and the gentry shared taxes, it was a good thing that the government could collect the commercial tax.
If the government could collect the commercial tax, then Daming's national treasury would be stable.
As for the commoners who lost their land, they could move to other industries. Just the egg hatchery alone, after the expansion, could employ more than 7,000 people.
This does not include the other professions, such as egg collectors and chicken sellers.
Including the small traders, there would be more. The roads also needed manpower, and Shun Tian Prefecture had a shortage of manpower.
It was the same in the northwest. Imitation goods were very popular in Beijing, and the Honours were crazy about hiring.
Basically, the 7 provinces in the north were hiring workers, and the conditions offered were very good.
There were even some companies that advertised to go to the northwest, and they would give houses and women.
As for the source of women, it was the slave trade of Zhang Jing's younger brother, Zhang Xun.
Zhang Xun's slave trade could be said to be in full swing. All the male slaves were sent to the cement factory.
The supply could not meet the demand, and they would buy as many as they wanted.
There were Japanese slaves, northeastern barbarians, and Kunlun slaves. Zhang Xun was now the biggest slave trader in Daming.
Next was the female slaves. Xinluo slaves were the easiest to sell. They were actually from Korea, and then there were the female slaves from the Japanese Empire. There were also a lot of people buying them. Zhu Yijun even saw many female slaves in the south. They looked like they were from Vietnam and Thailand. The biggest demand for female slaves was in the northwest.
The people there were crazy about snatching people, and they were risking their lives to produce them.
After hearing this news, Zhu Yijun knew that he had to find a market.
Not to mention other things, just the imitation goods alone, if they continued to expand their scale, they would definitely be unsalable in two or three years.
He also planned to build a new trading base in the Zhang family, and the wool textile industry would definitely be big.
"It is imperative to open the port in the north!" Zhu Yijun murmured.
"Open the port, collect business taxes!"
Zhu Yijun knocked on the blackboard. "Developing industry and farming in the 7 provinces in the north is this year's task!"
Zhu Yijun was full of fighting spirit. He was ready.
After calming himself down, Zhu Yijun turned around and returned to his bedroom. He needed a good rest before going to the morning court tomorrow.