"Your Majesty, I have an idea!"

When Emperor Chongzhen heard Zhang Mingwei say this, of course, he said without hesitation: "Sir, do you have any ideas, even if you say so!"

"That's right!" Zhang Mingwei heard this and said bluntly, "Agriculture should be the basis of everything. Only when agriculture is stable can the country be stable! But nowadays, agriculture is mainly under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Industry, but the relevant fields are also under the Ministry of Revenue. I think with the current situation, the responsibilities of this yamen should be adjusted."

The Ministry of Personnel, Ministry of Rites, Ministry of War, Ministry of Revenue, Ministry of Works and Ministry of Justice are six ministries, which have existed since ancient times. They can be traced back to the Zhou Dynasty and were established in the Tang Dynasty. By the Ming Dynasty, the six ministries were directly responsible to the emperor.

Specifically, the Ministry of Personnel is responsible for the appointment, removal, assessment, promotion, transfer, verification of titles, and honor, handling of official duties for officials, assigning official positions for new imperial examinations, and assigning official positions for Jinshi, and handling retirement procedures for officials who have retired and returned home;

The Ministry of Revenue is in charge of national household registration management, land survey, refugee management, taxation, money and grain and other financial matters;

The Ministry of Rites is in charge of etiquette, sacrifice and other matters, and is responsible for managing national school affairs and imperial examinations. It is also responsible for dealing with vassals and foreign affairs;

The Ministry of War is in charge of the appointment and removal of military officers across the country, recruitment, weapons, logistics, issuance of military orders and other matters;

The Ministry of Justice is responsible for the operation of judicial institutions across the country and the promulgation of laws, and often directly hears major cases;

The Ministry of Industry is responsible for various projects, craftsmen, military farming, water conservancy, transportation and other matters.

As Zhang Mingwei said, the agricultural affairs involves the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Works. If it were the past, it would be nothing, and it would not be refined management at all.

Because the Ministry of Revenue is related to money, and land is the direct source of taxation, it is normal for the Ministry of Revenue to be attributed to it.

The Ministry of Industry is actually related to engineering, and water conservancy projects related to agriculture are also engineering, so it is no problem to be subordinate to the Ministry of Industry.

However, the situation is different now.

With the flapping of Zhang Mingwei's butterfly wings, the national taxation began to tilt towards commercial taxation. Although land tax is equally important, it is not as outstanding as before.

Another one is that the most painful food crisis experienced in the late Ming Dynasty, and the importance he attached to food was unparalleled. Zhang Mingwei also focused on focusing on specific crops to solve the food crisis in the Ming Dynasty.

At this time, when Emperor Chongzhen heard Zhang Mingwei's words, he couldn't help but think seriously.

Seeing his serious expression, Zhang Mingwei continued to say to Emperor Chongzhen: "From the previous promotion of sweet potatoes and potatoes, it can be seen that if the court deepens its attention and participation in agriculture, the rewards will be very great. At present, there is indeed no shortage of food for the time being. However, this is only temporary. After all, in today's peaceful and prosperous times, the population will surge again, and the issue of food is always a very important issue..."

After hearing this, Emperor Chongzhen felt a chill in the bottom of his spine for some reason, and a stream of air conditioning came up.

That's right. In the peaceful and prosperous times, the court also encouraged childbirth and took various measures.

The husband said that he had already tried to promote the growth of cowpox, and the results were very ideal. This means that the smallpox problem in the Ming Dynasty will basically be solved in the future, which will greatly improve the premature death of children in the Ming Dynasty.

Also, everyone praises the hospital model, especially for giving birth, there are many fewer people who die of difficult labor. After the Ming Dynasty is pushed open, it will be clear that many people will die less.

Although the husband didn't say anything about the food problem now, he knew very well that too many people died in the past few years was also a reason.

After experiencing all kinds of rebellion due to hunger and thinking about the past when he almost hanged himself, Emperor Chongzhen didn't want such a thing to happen again.

For this reason, this food issue must be taken seriously!

Thinking of this, Emperor Chongzhen immediately interrupted Zhang Mingwei's speech and said in a very firm tone: "Sir is right. This food issue is definitely the top priority! As long as it can be beneficial to this point, Mr. Just say it!"

Hearing this, Zhang Mingwei was very pleased. He could feel Emperor Chongzhen's fear of the food issue, so he continued: "To promote good crops nationwide, it must be inseparable from the efforts of the court. For these crops brought back from the Americas this time, the crops that Zheng Zhibao brought back from the Americas are suitable for promotion and what crops should be done, which cannot be solved by an imperial edict. It requires the court to spend more energy!"

Speaking of this, Zhang Mingwei said with a very serious attitude: "As for ordinary people, they do not have the time and energy, nor the conditions to find out whether crops meet the conditions for national promotion, whether crops are possible to improve, how to improve them, etc. And these require the court to take the lead. Agricultural planting is definitely a very profound science."

After saying that, he turned to look at the others, then turned around and looked at Emperor Chongzhen, and said very sincerely: "I suggest setting up a special agricultural office. First, to research and improvement of crops, second, to be responsible for the promotion and popularization of crops, third, to coordinate the arrangement of water conservancy projects in various places to facilitate crop planting, and fourth, to coordinate the national grain planning and prediction, and that large-scale tragedies such as grain shortage and famine will not occur as before. In short, with such a special agricultural office, we can ensure that our Ming Dynasty's food is worry-free."

Emperor Chongzhen's expression was very serious, and he nodded immediately and said, "Mr.'s proposal is very consistent with my wish. If you want to change the functions of the six ministries, you must change it..."

Before he finished speaking, he heard Zhang Mingwei interrupt him and looked at him and said in a very affirmative tone: "Your Majesty, there is something that can be very certain. As for rice, if someone specializes in research, hybridizes various types of rice, and then cultivates them again, my Ming Dynasty's yield per mu will be increased by three or four times, and there will be no pressure at all..."

Emperor Chongzhen opened his mouth when he heard this and looked very surprised. The yield per mu increased by three or four times. Doesn’t this mean that the grain had increased by three or four times, and will the court’s taxes continue to double?

Unexpectedly, before he could react, he heard Zhang Mingwei continue to say: "... Also, in the chemical industry, even in the newly learned chemistry branch, a kind of chemical fertilizer can be invented, which can greatly improve the fertility of the land and thus increase the yield per mu several times."

Speaking of this, he looked at Emperor Chongzhen and used that special expression to assist him, "Your Majesty, what I said will definitely be fulfilled, you understand!"

Hearing this, Emperor Chongzhen understood immediately. What Mr. said should be something that can be realized in future generations, and it is naturally true.

So he nodded quickly and said, "I understand, yes, I understand!"

Having said this, he said firmly again: "The responsibilities of this yamen must be changed, and they will be changed immediately!"

If it wasn't firm enough before, Emperor Chongzhen at this time was the most firm, and anyone could hear it.

Since he had said this, Zhang Mingwei simply let go. He heard him say to Emperor Chongzhen again: "Your Majesty, I think many things are different now than before. Why not spend them together and see if there is any need to change them?"

In his opinion, by the end of the Ming Dynasty, neither population nor economy nor previous dynasties were comparable. For the central government, the rough management as before was actually a bit in line with the basic national conditions and would hinder the liberation of productivity.

For example, the maritime tax has now a benchmark tax rate of 20%. There are different tax rates for imports and exports based on different commodities, and economic means are used to affect people's livelihood. This was not the case before.

If the sea tax is like this, will other domestic taxes also need to be adjusted? These are worth studying. If these things are just following the ancestors' tricks, there will definitely be problems.

For example, in the salt administration, the previous idea was to limit the output to maintain the salt price so that the salt tax could be higher and the money received could be more.

But now, under the influence of Zhang Mingwei, the salt production is increased and the amount of salt tax can be achieved, which can also reduce the burden on the people in the salt field, because the salt price is cheaper, and economic means are used to eliminate the profit margin of private salt, which makes private salt almost gone. This was an unimaginable thing in the past.

The same is true for military affairs. The change in national policy has enabled the rise of the navy and has restructured the Governor's Office of the Five Armies.

These are different from before. If the functions are not re-planned and adjusted clearly, they will inevitably be confused and will seriously affect the effectiveness of innovation.

Emperor Chongzhen attached great importance to Zhang Mingwei's suggestion and immediately convened a high-level meeting of the Ming Dynasty of the Secretariat, the cabinet and the six ministries and nine ministers to discuss it.

Finally, the first thing to discuss is to establish a new department, namely the Ministry of Agriculture, and the responsibilities are as Zhang Mingwei proposed, and the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Works will be divided into some of them, and the responsibilities will be detailed.

It has to be said that everyone attaches great importance to agriculture, and the opinions reached are the fastest agreement on this. The establishment of the new ministry means that there are seven ministries in the Ming Dynasty, involving the Minister of Agriculture and all the officials at the bottom, which is a very big deal.

As for the current administrative efficiency and bureaucratic system of the Ming Dynasty, this matter is just enough to be busy. Therefore, Zhang Mingwei's other proposals were temporarily put on hold and wait until the affairs of the Ministry of Agriculture are finished first before continuing.

For example, the upgrade of the Ministry of Science and Technology will be postponed before discussing it.

When the court was busy with these things, other things that were already doing were naturally continuing to do. For example, the fight against Japanese descent and aided Ryukyu.
Chapter completed!