At the same time,
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Prince Yu's Mansion.
Xu Jie and Li Chunfang were present. Tan Lun had also returned from Jiangnan to report on the details of combating pirates and the reforms. Prince Yu repeatedly questioned him, and Tan Lun spoke for over an hour before finally clarifying everything.
Prince Yu was most worried about the reforms in the imperial estates. He thought that Zhu Mo's "count-based recruitment" plan was clearly designed to bleed the feudal lords, which would also cause anxiety among the nobles. The general situation would inevitably become unstable. Furthermore, Zhu Mo, despite being able to take Zhoushan, chose to surround and not attack it, while still allowing trade and smuggling. His intentions were unclear.
After pacing a few times,
He finally couldn't help but complain:
"After Zhu Mo did all these things, why didn't the Emperor do anything? Historically, feudal lords have been barriers. If he's draining the foundation like this, he's acting against the royal family! If the gentry of the world see that even the royal family can't protect their property, won't they become uneasy? Although the land donations were problematic, they shouldn't have been done like this!"
Tan Lun had always supported the reforms and was a close friend of Zhang Juzheng. They had discussed the royal family's land acquisition many times, but he truly didn't understand Zhu Mo's actions. He had privately spoken to Zhang Juzheng about it, but Zhang Juzheng had said that if it was to be done, this was the only way. The two had almost argued.
He was also very talented and knew that Zhu Mo's actions in reforming the royal family's practices would inevitably lead to major trouble. He had wanted to have a long talk with Prince Yu but had never found an opportunity.
At this moment, hearing Prince Yu express his thoughts so openly, even mentioning feudal barriers, which was the crux of the matter, he was particularly eager to know what Xu Jie and Li Chunfang thought. So, he casually said:
"Elder Xu, the royal family taking the lead in reforms was originally the Emperor's intention. But the way Zhu Mo is doing this might have future consequences... I heard in Jiangnan that the people in the official kilns and ironworks are already spreading rumors that Zhu Mo has malicious intentions... It's quite unsettling, and we must pay attention to it..."
What kind of person was Xu Jie?
At this moment, he naturally wouldn't dwell on such sensitive matters. He simply smiled faintly and said,
"Zi Li, His Majesty has his own plans... For now, we still need to discuss the etiquette for the Huangji Hall... This matter was conveyed from the palace to the Grand Secretariat this morning. I've thought about it, and it's quite tricky... Your Highness, consider this, Oda is just a minor warlord, not the Shogun. If the court handles his envoy improperly, the various Japanese domains will accuse us of bullying them, which could easily lead to other issues..."
Mm-hmm,
Li Chunfang also nodded and said:
"His Majesty sent word through the palace to Elder Xu, which means we are to smooth over this matter. We must neither offend the Japanese Shogunate and its domains nor fail to declare the defeat of the Wako pirates, which would inspire the people... The title must be thought through carefully..."
Prince Yu, having been in training for over thirty years, naturally understood this point—
The Emperor had issued a decree and then sent someone to discuss a title. Clearly, he was worried that Yan Song and his faction would refuse to write poems praising the victory, so by proposing a legitimate title, he could silence them.
However, after thinking for several hours, he hadn't come up with a good theme. Seeing Tan Lun return, knowing his intelligence, he said,
"Zi Li, tell us your thoughts..."
Tan Lun thought for a moment and said slowly:
"The Wako pirates have always been brutal. I've seen many tragic scenes in Jiangnan. Tracing the root of the problem, these Wako pirates are all ronin from various Japanese domains. Since Oda has raised an army to punish them, it can be considered a righteous act... It is only natural for the people of various countries suffering from Japanese piracy to rejoice upon hearing the news, and there is nothing improper about it... In the final analysis, the Shogunate and the domains are also not innocent for their lack of supervision... Uh, in my opinion, the title should lie within this sentiment..."
Mm-hmm,
Prince Yu's mind suddenly lit up, and he blurted out:
"Yes!"
"'To control brutality with righteousness is the way of Heaven, applicable everywhere... It is perfectly fitting for the people of the Great Ming Empire, the superior nation, to rejoice in righteousness. The title should simply be 'To control brutality with righteousness, to aid the people and punish the wicked'... However, how to entertain Oda's envoy without offending the Shogunate and its domains is still problematic..."
Li Chunfang then interjected:
"Your Highness, etiquette is man-made, and we can be flexible... Uh, we can treat them not as envoys of a nation, but as foreign righteous scholars. This way, we can achieve the best of both worlds."
Clap, clap, clap,
Excellent!
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Several people applauded together.
Prince Yu was immediately filled with emotion, thinking: My faction also has many talented people, and we are not necessarily inferior to Yan Song...
...
Jiangyou,
Jingdezhen.
Zhu Mo and Zhang Juzheng, after inspecting over a dozen official kilns, settled down for lunch at the Imperial Ceramic Factory.
After several days of observation, there were a total of 60 official kilns and over 30 civilian kilns, capable of producing over 100,000 pieces annually, with a maximum output of around 400,000 pieces. In theory, this should be enough. However, most of the ceramics were ritual vessels and imperial wares, which were inconvenient to circulate in the market. In fact, it was far from enough to meet future foreign demand, let alone the domestic market.
This trip also revealed several critical issues. Zhu Mo checked the system, and the data matched perfectly—
[Process: Ceramic Industry Reform;]
[Industry Data: 63 official kilns, average annual output 120,000 pieces, high quality; 22 civilian kilns, average annual output 30,000 pieces, medium quality;]
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[Worker Numbers: 100,000; proportion of artisans 0.5%; proportion of registered households 30%; income level: registered households average 10 taels/year, migrant workers average 5 taels/year;]
[Technology and Craftsmanship: No more advanced equipment of the same period;]
[Industry Potential: Southern Seas 300,000 pieces/year, Huihui 200,000 pieces/year, Western Seas 400,000 pieces/year; but requires improvement in craftsmanship and systems;]
[Recommendations: Pre-orders can be implemented; Possibility 65%; Due to high illiteracy rate among artisans and singular cultural concepts, custom orders are difficult to fulfill;]
And so on.
This information was similar to what they had observed in reality.
The problems in this industry indeed lay in the low commodity rate, as well as the monotonous patterns and forms. Due to the rigid thinking influenced by the Yan family over the years, artisans dared not deviate from the norm and all created works according to stereotyped themes, resulting in high uniformity. This made it difficult to sell them.
Lastly,
There was one more issue that the system hadn't paid attention to, which was—
Why were there so many workers?
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In Zhu Mo's impression, a place like Jingdezhen had at most around ten thousand people during the Jiajing era, but the inspection revealed over a hundred thousand! Besides the registered households, there were sixty to seventy thousand people from various provinces.
This was very troublesome.
Because these people were different from the registered households in the ceramics industry. They were outsiders, not belonging to this household registration. Some came to learn skills, but more came to earn a living. Now, with hundreds of thousands of indentured servants waiting to come and work, wouldn't that lead to trouble?
Zhu Mo felt exasperated—
According to the original plan, at least 200,000 indentured servants were to be allocated to the ceramics industry. Based on the current data, one kiln corresponded to one thousand people. To absorb two hundred thousand people, at least 150 more kilns would be needed. If they were all made into official kilns, it would be a significant investment. Even if this money was spent, many more hands would be needed, and how could the kiln supervisors manage them all? It seemed that Jingdezhen would indeed require a major overhaul...
The two had talked for quite some time. Zhu Mo remembered this matter and sighed:
"Brother Taiyue, an official kiln costs at least a thousand taels of silver. We have the money, but the personnel are difficult to manage. To establish an official kiln, supervisors and knowledgeable people are indispensable. To open up this channel of wealth will require considerable effort..."
Zhang Juzheng, however, smiled and said:
"The kiln supervisors definitely won't be able to manage. I think it's still best managed by government-run banks... See if you have enough personnel. If not, I'll ask Zhang Siwei to take on the role concurrently..."