Although Chen Ju made it sound nice, Zhu Yijun knew that if he wanted to mass produce wrought iron, he still had to wait.
It seemed like the artillery unit that he wanted was out of the question. Although Zhu Yijun was not a hardcore BB fan in his previous life, nor was he a believer of the Multi-Cannon Tower Religion, Zhu Yijun was still very fanatical about cannons.
Although he would not pursue a large caliber long range, he would still pursue a saturated artillery shell.
The cannon that Zhu Yijun wanted was a mortar. Although the current ones were smoothbore cannons, which were also known as mortar cannons. The mortar cannons were small in diameter and easy to carry, and were later developed into mortars.
Among them, the most representative was Qi Jiguang's Crouching Tiger Cannon. That thing already had the characteristics of a mortar.
When he had wrought iron, he would be able to make an iron Crouching Tiger Cannon. If he could make a metal shell, it would be a real mortar.
Although the process would be long, if he could really make it, it would be invincible.
When that time comes, he would really be able to form an artillery unit. He could even experience the scene of a thousand cannons firing at the same time. Of course, he would need to have enough money. For now, he could only dream about it.
However, Zhu Yijun felt that if he worked hard in this direction, he would definitely be able to do it.
Waving his hand at Chen Ju, Zhu Yijun said, "Alright, I got it. Continue to work hard!"
Chen Ju bowed and retreated to the side. He was a little embarrassed. After spending so much time and money, there were still no results.
However, Chen Ju also knew that this thing could not be rushed!
When Chen Ju first arrived at the Military Bureau, he really did not care about this. Why couldn't he make iron if he had money?
But now, he finally understood that some things could not be done even if he had money.
He had already used the bounty that the Imperial Majesty mentioned, but the problem was still not solved. The rest could only be solved slowly with time.
Zhu Yijun turned his gaze to Xu De and asked, "How are things on your side?"
"Imperial Majesty, the first batch of trained spies has been sent out. They will go to their respective prefectural cities to set up new spy networks."
Xu De hurriedly said, "With the addition of the people from the Pear Garden, the construction of the inner factory will be completed very soon."
"When the time comes, the two capitals and thirteen provinces will all have our informants. This servant has already ordered them to infiltrate the yamens in various places."
"According to what the Imperial Majesty said, starting from the petty officials of the yamen, they would slowly grasp the intelligence of the yamen."
Zhu Yijun nodded in satisfaction. This was the kind of intelligence organization he wanted.
Perhaps its development was still abnormal, but there was no other way. He needed them to do this. He needed them to provide him with this information.
"Complete the structure of the inner factory as soon as possible. Also, have people focus their efforts on Fujian," Zhu Yijun said after some thought.
Although Xu De did not know why the Imperial Majesty wanted people to be sent to Fujian, Xu De knew that this was not something he should ask. He bowed and said, "Yes, Imperial Majesty. This servant will go back and make the arrangements. It will be done very soon."
Zhu Yijun nodded. Fujian was a good place. In the next two years, it would attract the main attention of the Daming Dynasty.
Zhang Juzheng, who had proposed clearing accounts and implementing the One Whip Method, would eventually choose a place to experiment. This place was Fujian.
Zhu Yijun naturally had to pay attention to that place. More importantly, there were things in Fujian that Zhu Yijun was interested in.
For example, the sea merchants in Fujian, the pirates in Fujian, and the wealthy families in Fujian.
Zhu Yijun was very interested in these things. After all, when Zhang Juzheng went to Fujian to clear accounts and implement the One Whip Method, he could investigate these people in the back.
Jiangnan had to be cleaned up. Now was a good opportunity to find out more.
Seeing that Xu De had agreed readily, Zhu Yijun nodded and turned his gaze to Chen Ju. "Chen Ju, how is the matter of finding craftsmen going?"
This matter had been thought of by Zhu Yijun a few days ago. With wrought iron, it would be impossible without skilled craftsmen.
Daming's craftsmen did not have an easy time. Zhu Yijun was prepared to get some skilled craftsmen from the Bureau of Military Affairs.
Making the ideas in one's head into reality required people to operate. In Daming, there was no one more suitable than them.
"Imperial Majesty, the craftsmen are all at the Ministry of Works. I'm afraid it won't be easy for the Bureau of Military Affairs to get them!" Chen Ju thought about it and said with some difficulty.
Zhu Yijun was stunned. Then, he realized that the Bureau of Military Affairs did not have much of a deterrent force. Although the status of the craftsmen was low, to the officials, these craftsmen were treasures.
Usually, most of these people did private work for them. It would not be easy to snatch them away from their hands!
However, professional things should be done by professionals. If the Bureau of Military Affairs and Chen Ju could not do it, then they would get someone who could.
Anyway, Zhang Jing was about to make a deal with Zhang Juzheng. It was not a big deal to get this done.
Glancing at Chen Ju, Zhu Yijun said, "Okay, I got it. I will get people in Dongchang to do this."
After roughly figuring out the situation on the side of Chen Ju and Xu De, Zhu Yijun was ready to pay attention to Zhang Juzheng's new land clearing and whip method.
Sure enough, in the next few days, this matter spread in the capital. Everyone knew that the Cabinet Chief Zhang Juzheng was going to reform, and it was not a small change, but a big one.
Land clearing and hidden land had to pay taxes.
According to the law, what Zhang Juzheng did was completely in line with the law, and it was very justifiable.
However, things in this world could not be done with justifiable reasons. For so many years, everyone had enjoyed this kind of treatment. Now it was suddenly gone. Wasn't this snatching meat from everyone's mouths?
In later generations, there were a lot of people who evaded taxes, not to mention the Daming Dynasty. In an instant, there was a feeling of public sentiment.
These gentry's land was at least dozens or hundreds of acres, and the largest was thousands of acres, even tens of thousands of acres. There were also many people who had tens of thousands of acres.
How much was the tax-free land? It was simply a drop in the bucket!
It would be strange if they could feel good about paying taxes.
What's more, they were not willing to pay the small land!
Everyone used to be like this. They didn't pay taxes, and they lived a good life. Why did Zhang Juzheng have to pay taxes?
In an instant, the number of people who opposed Zhang Juzheng increased, and it was very powerful.
Zhu Yijun knew the situation in the capital clearly through Dongchang and the inner court. Seeing so many people come forward, Zhu Yijun was angry and helpless.
This was the current situation of the Daming Dynasty. This was just clearing the land clearing and finding hidden land. What if it was canceling the tax-free privileges?