Chapter 1077, Liu Jin, who wants to take a vacation
The capital of the Ming Dynasty, the residence of Liu Jin.
It was already the tenth month of the golden autumn, and the sixteenth year of Hongzhi was about to pass.
"Time flies so fast!"
Lying on the old man's chair, Liu Jin looked at the yellowing leaves in the yard and couldn't help but sigh.
One year has passed in the blink of an eye, and it will soon enter the seventeenth year of Hongzhi.
If you think about it carefully, the sixteenth year of Hongzhi passed by really quickly.
Throughout the sixteenth year of Hongzhi, the Ming Dynasty was very busy both inside and outside the country.
Internally, the Ming Dynasty continued to carry out in-depth tax reform, military reform and administrative reform. At the same time, it continued to vigorously immigrate and carry out infrastructure construction. It built several important cement roads, the most important of which was the cement road leading to the Western Regions.
, but this road will continue to be built and will not stop until it reaches the Black Sea in Nanyun Province.
With this cement road, the Ming Dynasty's control over the Western Regions, Hezhong, and Nanyun Province will be unprecedentedly strengthened, greatly facilitating travel, making it easier to dispatch troops, generals, and supplies.
Externally, the most important thing is the war with the Ottoman Empire. At the beginning of the year, they were attacked by the Ottoman Empire. The Ming Dynasty's 200,000 troops attacked the Ottoman Empire. They were invincible and invincible. They taught the Ottoman Empire a severe lesson and also for
Ming Dynasty gained huge benefits.
The huge war reparations allowed the Ming Dynasty's emperor, the Ming Dynasty, and the Ming Dynasty's soldiers to gain huge benefits. The economy driven by the war was also extremely huge.
The manufacturing of weapons and equipment, the transportation of goods, as well as the large number of slaves, property, etc. obtained in the war also allowed a large number of Ming factories, trading houses, etc. to make a fortune and develop rapidly.
The huge and fertile land in Nanyun Province is also a huge wealth. The soldiers who participated in the war received a large amount of land rewards here. At the same time, many dignitaries, business houses, etc. in the Ming Dynasty also quickly entered here and began to work in Nanyun Province.
A large number of plantations have been built here in Yun Province.
Of course, the most important thing is that the Ming Dynasty's territory suddenly expanded to the edge of the Black Sea, and at the same time it obtained colonies in the Mediterranean, which was equivalent to controlling this extremely important transportation line.
With the road to Europe opened, trade between the Ming Dynasty and Europe will be more convenient and larger in the future, and without middlemen, the benefits that the Ming Dynasty can gain will be even greater.
It can be said that the foreign war in the 16th year of Hongzhi continued everything in the past. Ming Dynasty gained too many benefits from the war. Not only did its own strength not suffer losses due to the war, but it became stronger.
"I'm so tired. I really want to find time to go out and have fun."
The development of the Ming Dynasty was booming, but for Liu Jin, the sixteen years of Hongzhi were really tiring.
In the past few years, Liu Jin could take some time off every year, ranging from twenty days a month to several months in a row.
But this year, Liu Jin has not had a few days of good rest since the New Year. In this era where there are no statutory holidays or weekends.
I got up at three or four every morning to prepare for the morning court. After the morning court, I was called by Emperor Hongzhi to go to the Chancery's study room for a small meeting. This life was simply not a human life.
Sometimes when there was something urgent, Liu Jin would go to the palace to discuss the matter. He was already busy with affairs of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, and he also had to establish a complete examination system.
Overall, Liu Jin is really tired this year.
"I finally understand why the ancient ministers wanted to let the emperor rule by doing nothing, because it would be too tiring to run a country according to the way of future generations."
Lying on his chair, Liu Jin couldn't help but sigh.
The system of later generations is relatively sound and has huge influence and control in almost all aspects. Naturally, more officials are needed and the work intensity is greater.
It was a little different in ancient times. Those who were officials in ancient times actually had a pretty easy life.
The hardest part is going to court in the morning, but that’s because life at night is relatively plain, simple, and unpretentious. Apart from going to bed early and making people, there’s nothing else to do, so going to bed early and getting up early won’t help.
What.
Except for this morning, which was a bit hard, to be honest, life is really easy at other times, especially in most things, there is nothing to do and there are too few things to take care of.
This is also the reason why the mobilization ability of the ancient court was very poor. Whether it was a famine or an invasion from outside, the ancient court was rarely able to mobilize strong forces to respond. Of course, this is compared to later countries.
The current situation is that the Ming Dynasty is developing towards capitalism and colonialism at a high speed. Under several reforms, the Ming Dynasty court is also slowly developing towards the system of later generations.
However, this work system has not been changed yet, which makes ministers up and down the court feel very tired.
Not only Liu Jin felt tired, but also the three elders of the cabinet. Xie Qian had been sick several times because of being too tired from work. He rested at home for a period of time. At this age, Liu Jian even had the idea of
As for Zhang Mao, he said every day that he couldn't stand the idea of resigning as chief minister of the cabinet and wanted to go home to take care of his grandson.
"We must suggest to Emperor Hongzhi that we change this work system, at least postpone this morning court meeting until after eight o'clock."
"In addition, the system of five days of work and two days of rest should be introduced for future generations. Two days of rest a week is not excessive. In two days, at least you can walk around the Beijing-Tianjin area and relax.
"
Liu Jin thought so in his heart.
At this time, Liu Jin really wanted to find time to walk around and have fun in various parts of the Ming Dynasty. He had a restless heart. After all, he was still young, unlike Liu Jian, Li Dongyang, and Xie Qian, who were already very old.
Now, I have long passed the restless age.
"Eight o'clock~"
Thinking of this, Liu Jin couldn't help but frown, and immediately asked the servant beside him: "What time is it now?"
"It seems like it's too late~"
The servant looked at the sun in the sky and replied.
"It seems to be Wei Shi?"
When Liu Jin heard this, he also looked at the sun in the sky. It was between 1 and 3 o'clock in the afternoon.
In ancient times, the twelve hours were Zichou Yinmao, Chensiwuwei, Shenyouxuhai. Each hour is equivalent to two hours in later generations, and there are many ways to calculate time.
The imperial court had a special Si Tianjian who was responsible for managing the capital's timekeeping, and then by ringing the bells in the bell and drum towers of the capital, the sound spread to every corner of the capital. There were also bells and drums, sundials, hourglasses, clepsydras, clepsydras, etc.
Calculate time tool to calculate time.
But the simplest way is to look at the sun in the sky, and you can roughly know which time of the day it is. In ancient times, the concept of time was not very strong.
Most of the time, I follow the schedule of sunrise and sunrise. As for the specific time, it is not too important.
That is to say, in places like the Beijing-Tianjin area, because officials have to go to work in the morning, factories, workshops, etc. have to go to work and get off work, so they need to know the time accurately.
This is still different from that of later generations. Due to the fast-paced life of later generations, the concept of time is very strong, so almost everyone needs to grasp the precise time. Otherwise, if you miss the bus, subway, etc., your itinerary will be easily delayed.
But now the development of Ming Dynasty is slowly following this trend. More and more places and more and more people need to grasp the time more accurately.
"It seems that it is necessary for people to make clocks that are more accurate, smaller and easier to carry."
Liu Jin looked at the sun in the sky and thought.
The calculation of time is an extremely important thing.
Not just because daily life requires accurate calculation of time and knowing the time.
What's more important is that Ming Dynasty's technological development is getting deeper and deeper, and it is also necessary to know the time accurately, because time is one of the most basic units.
The smallest unit of time calculated in the Ming Dynasty is the quarter. A day is divided into one hundred quarters, and a quarter is about 14 minutes. In addition, incense is lit to calculate time.
Obviously, compared with later generations' timekeeping that is accurate to every second, or even smaller than a second, this moment seems very large, and it is also extremely inaccurate.
This is obviously very detrimental to the development of basic science in Ming Dynasty.
Because science requires very precise calculations, this is why later generations of scientists are always creating smaller units, such as nanometers, picometers, femtometers, and milliseconds, and time units include milliseconds.
, microseconds, nanoseconds, etc., and even extremely small time units like Planck time.
These are of little significance and effect in real life, but they are very necessary for the development of science.
Without a machine that accurately calculates time, this will obviously have a great impact on the development of basic science in Ming Dynasty. Once it develops to a certain point, these things must be developed.
"That's okay. I have nothing to do anyway. Let's take a walk around the Mechanical College to relax. I don't know what Zhu Houzhao is busy with recently. The steamship matter has not been solved yet."
Thinking of this, Liu Jin got up directly, put on his casual clothes and took a four-wheeled carriage to the Capital Mechanical College.
Jingcheng Mechanical College is also a school founded by Liu Jin. It is dedicated to the study of various machinery, such as the now popular steam harvesters, steam cultivators, etc., which were all developed here at the Jingcheng Mechanical College.
.
Of course, the predecessor of Jingcheng Mechanical College was Jingcheng Machinery Factory founded by Liu Jin. The combination of industry, academia and research is a practice that Liu Jin has always adhered to.