When Song Ping heard this, his beard was so angry that sparks appeared: "Shilang Hu, how can you be so arrogant?"
"Becoming an official without taking the imperial examination is a big joke in the world!"
"Not to mention those illiterate farmers!"
"What's the point of letting peasants serve as officials?"
Upon seeing this, some officials from the Ministry of Rites also stood up to support Song Ping.
"Shilang Hu, what you say is inconsistent with etiquette! The Ming Dynasty has been taking imperial examinations to become officials for so many years. How can we change the ancestral system and let peasants become officials?"
"Shilang Hu, please don't have similar thoughts next time. This is a big mistake that goes against the ancestral system!"
However, in the face of everyone's accusations, Hu Changan remained unmoved: "Everyone, what I said seems to be correct!"
"Don't farmers know how to farm better than scholars?"
"Why does my government choose agricultural officials not directly from farmers, but to look far away from the nearest and select literati who have never cultivated an acre of land?"
"Only farmers know how to select and breed seeds and how to find good fields!"
"And in the Yuan Dynasty, wasn't there a precedent for craftsmen to become officials?"
"As long as you are good at craftsmanship, you can be reused by the court just like scholars."
There was an immediate quarrel in the palace.
Some officials who know how to adapt are carefully considering the feasibility of Hu Changan's words.
On the other hand, some pedantic officials are determined to maintain the dignity of officials.
They would rather die than let the peasants live on an equal footing with them.
Under the siege of everyone, Hu Changan fought with the Confucian scholars and did not lose at all.
Just when the quarrel was getting better, a loud shout interrupted the quarrel.
This loud shout came from the eunuch beside Zhu Biao.
When everyone heard the sound, they immediately shut their mouths obediently.
With all the noise, everyone almost forgot that this is the East Palace, not a vegetable market!
Seeing that everyone was obediently walking back to their original positions, Zhu Biao coughed lightly and put an end to the debate: "Since the debate is so lively, why don't you just give it a try?"
"Anyway, establishing the Ministry of Agriculture is a major event and there is no rush."
"Right now, we don't have many potatoes on hand, and it's not enough to distribute them to local areas for planting."
"It will take at least another three to five crops of potatoes before they can be distributed to local areas and planted by farmers."
"It will take at least another year or two for the Ministry of Agriculture to be effective."
"Gu suggested, how about Hu Aiqing and Song Aiqing form a team according to their own ideas?"
"How about we see who can get more high-yielding plants and then make a decision?"
Zhu Biao's trick also borrowed from Hu Changan's previous pilot method.
Since you can't tell the difference in words, wouldn't it be clear after everyone practices it?
Although Zhu Biao was more inclined to the views of veteran Song Ping, deep down in his heart, he also somewhat agreed with Hu Changan's ideas.
Although it is inconsistent with the ancestral system, maybe directly hiring farmers as officials can really give the officialdom a new look?
Anyway, it will take a long time, so there is no rush.
After everyone listened, they had no objections.
Of course, most people on the court were not very optimistic about Hu Changan.
A young boy dares to challenge the millennium-old tradition of selecting officials?
Simply ridiculous!
The matter therefore came to an end for the time being.
Zhu Biao paused, then brought up one of the previous topics and said: "My dear friends, the Heavenly Supervisor of the Qin Dynasty predicted earlier that there will be a severe cold this winter. I wonder if you have any strategies to deal with it?"
In ancient times, Qintian Prison was not a place full of magicians who could only predict bad luck.
The functions of the Qin Tianjian were very wide. Not only could they pretend to be gods and ghosts, but they could also forecast the weather, compile solar terms, calculate calendars, etc. It was quite similar to the weather stations of later generations.
Zhang Heng, who invented the seismometer in the Western Han Dynasty, Li Chunfeng, a famous mathematician in the Tang Dynasty, and Shen Kuo, who compiled "Mengxi Bi Tan" in the Northern Song Dynasty, all came from Qintianjian.
In the Ming Dynasty, there was naturally the Qintian Prison.
Although Qin Tianjian's weather predictions were not as accurate as those of later generations, they still made some sense. At least they could grasp the general direction accurately.
Immediately, everyone put forward their own opinions.
"I believe that we can organize the Five Cities Military and Horse Division to conduct regular patrols and provide timely treatment to the refugees on the roadside."
"I believe that we can mobilize anti-cold supplies in advance, and once a severe cold occurs, we can immediately send the supplies to the people in the city who are affected by the disaster."
Hu Changan also frowned as he listened to everyone's discussion.
It seems that the Little Ice Age of the Ming Dynasty was gradually taking shape.
The Little Ice Age at the end of the Ming Dynasty and the beginning of the Qing Dynasty can be said to have a terrible reputation in history.
Legend has it that during the coldest time, even Guangzhou in the south has three feet of snow in winter, not to mention Shandong, Henan and other places in the north.
It is said that one or two meters of snow is normal.
The sudden drop in temperature has led to a shortage of cold-proof materials on the market. Many people even wrap themselves in straw mats because they cannot buy winter clothes.
It seems it’s time to take out the briquettes and cotton!
These two things are artifacts used to keep out the cold in ancient winter!
Needless to say about cotton, the combustion efficiency of honeycomb briquettes is much higher than that of charcoal currently used on the market.
Hu Changan decided to vigorously promote briquettes this winter!
Of course, Hu Changan also wants to promote cotton, but the cotton sowing season has now been missed.
The cotton exchanged in the system can only produce one or two pieces of clothing at most.
It’s okay to give it to Zhu Yuanzhang for a taste, but if we want to promote it on a large scale, we can only wait until next year.
Having set a small goal for the winter, Hu Changan had a meeting with the others full of fighting spirit.
Of course, the more important thing right now is to deal with those idle bastards in the engineering department.
Now that he has obtained the handwritten letter from His Highness the Crown Prince, Hu Changan will be able to freely let go.
Without any hesitation, Hu Changan galloped towards the Ministry of Works.
At the Ministry of Industry, Hu Changan and Xue Xiang, Minister of Industry, jointly designated a set of extremely detailed reward and punishment measures.
Of course, Hu Changan only announced the incentives to the craftsmen at first.
Hu Changan felt that the current atmosphere of the craftsmen in the Ministry of Works was really bad, and he must scare the monkeys.
Anyway, the prince's handwriting has stated that if necessary, Hu Changan can even send these craftsmen back to their place of origin!
To those craftsmen, this was simply more embarrassing than killing them.
Just imagine, I thought I could get a salary for generations by being selected into the Ministry of Industry, but I didn’t expect that I would be sent back to my hometown in despair within a few years.
It's embarrassing to say this kind of thing.
Of course, Hu Changan did not pity these craftsmen.
Those who come out to fool around will always have to pay back.
Hu Changan decided to be polite before fighting. If incentives can motivate these craftsmen, that would be the best.
But if the encouragement does not stop, there will naturally be severe punishment waiting for you later.
