Hearing that the princess was coming to the Ordnance Bureau for inspection, Old Wang's dull expression finally became more vivid, but he showed a little nervousness.

He called his two sons to a corner and told him, "Don't talk nonsense about the affairs of the bureau. Do you know?"

The two sons nodded.

Old Wangtou asked again: "How much work have you done given by the bureau?"

The second son said: "The work assigned to the firearms laboratory by the bureau is actually not much. The work assigned to me has been completed long ago. I will go out to find work tomorrow."

The eldest son said: "Dad, you only know how much work I have done. I can definitely deliver the work on time."

"Then there will be no problem." Lao Wangtou breathed a sigh of relief and reminded: "Please be alert all the time."

"know."

After the old Wangtou gave instructions to his two sons, the bureau was still in a state of panic until he heard a shout from outside.

"The supervisor is here!"

Many people looked at each other in confusion after hearing this, thinking: Didn't it mean that the princess came to inspect? What kind of supervising country is this?

What is this prison state?

The ambassador of the bureau hurriedly led everyone to greet him. Before anyone outside came in, he turned around and said to everyone: "Jian Guo is Her Royal Highness the Princess, but you can only call her Jian Guo, do you understand?"

"know."

The response was sparse.

The ambassador, deputy envoys and other minor officials were even more worried.

Lao Wangtou stood in the crowd, and soon he saw a group of soldiers walking in first, checking everywhere.

Later, a girl wearing a crimson dragon-patterned brocade robe and a woman's bun came in, surrounded by a group of soldiers.

Beside him were two officials in Fei Pao and Qing Pao, as well as a scholar with a simple appearance and rough skin.

The ambassador and deputy envoys of the bureau took the lead in kneeling down to the girl and kowtow, shouting, "See the prison country!"

Hundreds of people including Lao Wang immediately knelt down and shouted in unison: "See the prison country."

Seeing this, Zhu A'ao and the officials such as Long Wenguang who were following him all had normal expressions.

The people in front of me were all craftsmen, not generals in the army, so it was normal for me to show my lack of aura when saluting.

Zhu Yasuo smiled and nodded, saying: "Pingshen."

Hundreds of people stood up one after another, appearing even more chaotic than before.

Zhu Yurao quickly glanced at the people in front of her, had an estimate of their number, and asked: "Does the Ordnance Bureau only have these hundreds of craftsmen?"

The Chief Secretary, who was wearing a green robe, took out a book, checked it, and said: "Reporting to the Supervisor, the Chengdu Ordnance Bureau has 1,028 registered live craftsmen and 311 registered shift craftsmen.

Fifteen people. The shift workers all work in silver, so they should not be in the bureau."

Regarding the craftsmen of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yusao had long heard Hao Guangming talk about it.

The Ming Dynasty inherited many systems from the Yuan Dynasty, including the craftsman household system.

In the early years of the Ming Dynasty, most of the craftsmen were captured from the Yuan Dynasty or forcibly recruited.

Mainly divided into two types: shift craftsmen and live craftsmen.

Shift craftsmen go to a certain place to serve for one year every other year or every three to five years, which is similar to corvee work. The government only takes care of food rations.

Most of the live-in craftsmen served in the local area and worked in official workshops for free for ten days every month.

Most of them came from captured craftsmen's households, and even the whole family was required to serve the court, which was impossible to survive.

Therefore, during the Hongwu period, a large number of craftsmen households escaped from service and fled from their households. Even if they were captured and beheaded, they could not stop them.

During the Chenghua period, the Ming Dynasty had to change its policy and allow shift craftsmen to use silver instead of labor.

It's just that the silver payment is very high. The southern craftsman has to pay nine qian per month, and the northern craftsman has to pay 6 qian per month.

Therefore, although the craftsmen can barely survive, their lives are still miserable.

During the Jiajing period, the Ming Dynasty made further reforms and ordered that each shift craftsman only had to pay four cents and five cents of silver each year to be exempted from service.

The shift worker system thus existed in name only.

However, craftsmen who live in the city still need to serve as errands every month, but they can pay one penny to be exempted from the service.

During the Wanli period, craftsmen who were on duty could pay to hire someone to serve on their behalf. During the period of service, the court would also provide a certain amount of money and food, and the craftsmen's households were further freed from the constraints.

However, due to the continuous battles in Sichuan in the first half of the year, the Chengdu Ordnance Bureau recruited many craftsmen to serve, and the number of registered personnel exceeded thousands.

···

After hearing what he said, Zhu Aao glanced at the crowd in front of her and said: "There should be more than a thousand craftsmen in the bureau, but the number of people in front of me may not be 500, not to mention some of them are officials."

Before Zhu Yuluo could finish speaking, the ambassador and deputy ambassador couldn't bear it anymore, and they all knelt down with a thump.

The ambassador of the bureau explained in a trembling voice: "Reporting to the prison country, since the beginning of spring, due to Zhang Xianzhong's invasion of Sichuan, wars have occurred frequently, and the labor force in the bureau has been heavy.

Moreover, due to the shortage of money and food, the craftsmen were owed two months of money and food. Therefore, many craftsmen paid for their services with silver and did not work in the bureau.

Even so, we have limited the number of craftsmen who can use silver to serve as slaves, and have reserved seven to eight hundred people for the game.

It’s just that people in the city have been panicked in recent days and we have neglected management, so we let some people go outside.”

Zhu Yasuo frowned when she heard this, looked at Long Wenguang, and said: "Didn't Governor Long pay back the official salaries yesterday afternoon? Why didn't the Ordnance Bureau even send any news?"

Long Wenguang was embarrassed.

He actually did not include the craftsmen, after all, craftsmen were not officials.

So yesterday he only reported to Liu Xiaolian the silver needed to replace the two-month salary of Chengdu officials.

After hesitating for a moment, Long Wenguang did not argue with Zhu Ya'ao, but immediately bowed and said: "I apologize to the supervisor, but I was negligent. I didn't know that the craftsmen of the Ordnance Bureau also owe wages."

After saying that, he secretly glared at the ambassador.

He didn't know that the Ordnance Bureau owed money and food to the craftsmen. The Ordnance Bureau ambassador must have known about it. Yesterday afternoon, he learned that the princess wanted to repay official salaries, but she didn't even mention it to him.

Doesn't this trick him?

Zhu Yurao did not immediately say who to punish, but looked at the ambassador of the bureau and asked: "If I order you to increase the number of craftsmen in the Ordnance Bureau, how many people can you increase in three days?"

The Ambassador of the Bureau wiped the sweat from his forehead, knowing that this answer was related to his official title and even his life, so he gritted his teeth and said: "It should be able to increase to a thousand people!"

Zhu Aao's expression did not change after hearing this, and asked again: "How much money does the government provide to the craftsmen every month?"

The bureau ambassador said: "This matter varies from place to place. In recent years, the Chengdu Ordnance Bureau has been supplying each craftsman with ten kilograms of grain and one cent of silver a month."

"So few?" Zhu Ayao frowned even more.

The ambassador of the bureau smiled bitterly and said, "Reporting to the prison country, this supply is already abundant. Please note that if they do not want to serve, they need to pay one dean of silver to the bureau every month."

One denarius is ten cents.

As for food, although food in the north is very expensive, Chengdu is a granary, so the price of food here should not be outrageous.

Therefore, the Chengdu Ordnance Bureau's supply of money and food to the craftsmen is indeed not small.

Of course, this is compared to the original harsh system for craftsmen in the Ming Dynasty.

If we look at it from the perspective of a later generation like Hao Guangming, even after many reforms, the Ming Dynasty was still ruthlessly exploiting and oppressing craftsmen.

People are forced to work, and if they don't want to work, they pay, and the work is calculated on a daily basis, with no fixed quota.

If this had been left to future generations, the workers would have gone on strike and rebelled.

Now there are actually hundreds of people staying in this weapons bureau, even working honestly, which is incredible to Hao Guangming!

When Hao Guangming first discussed the issue of the craftsman system in the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuya also knew about the treatment of workers in later generations.

Comparing the two at this moment, she couldn't help but blush with shame.

The question even arises: "How could the Ming Dynasty enjoy a country for more than two hundred years?"

As the princess and the superintendent of the country, Zhu Yuyao can be said to be watched by everyone at this time.

Therefore, the change in her face was noticed by many people.

When the ambassador and deputy envoy of the Bureau met, they thought that Zhu Yuluo was angry at the lack of craftsmen in the Ordnance Bureau.

Thinking of the rumors I heard about this princess last night, my heart sank and my face became paler.

I thought to myself: Will the princess cast a spell in anger to turn us into cows and horses to work in this weapons bureau to atone for our sins?

The craftsmen were equally uneasy.

They were both local craftsmen affiliated with the Chengdu Ordnance Bureau, and many of them were intermarryed. It can be said that they were all related to each other.

Therefore, many of the craftsmen who are not in the bureau are relatives of those who are present.

Now that the princess is so angry that her face is red, will she kill all those people in anger? Or even vent her anger on them?

Even Long Wenguang and other senior officials were trembling with fear, ready to meet Zhu Yuluo's wrath at any time.
Chapter completed!