Bringing the Railway to Daming

Chapter 156: Railway Bureau Duties, Father and Son Decide on State Affairs [Request for Submission]

Science and Technology Department.

In the lobby of the office building.

A middle-aged official in a young robe bowed to Su Quan and Liu Kuan.

"Your humble servant Zhang Jinrao greets Doctor Su and Deputy Doctor Liu."

Su Quan smiled and said, "Master Zhang, there's no need to be so polite. Please take a seat."

Zhang Jinrao nodded and sat down on a stool nearby, with his upper body straight, looking quite majestic.

This person was the chief official of the Railway Bureau selected by Liu Kuan after many rounds of selection.

Zhang Jinrao's father and mother were jinrao hands who helped people with weddings and funerals. Zhang Jinrao was influenced by them since he was a child and learned to play several folk instruments. Later, he joined Zhu Yuanzhang's army and became a flag bearer.

Later, Zhang Jinrao was transferred to logistics due to injury. Because he learned to read and was conscientious and capable in his work, he stayed in the civil service. He served in the Ministry of War, the Ministry of Revenue, the Ministry of Works and other positions, and had rich experience in grassroots work.

Liu Kuan saw this person's information in the official files of the Ministry of Personnel. Zhang Jinrao happened to be in the capital, so he had a face-to-face interview with him and recommended him to Zhu Yuanzhang along with several other prospective officials.

In the end, Zhu chose to appoint Zhang Jinrao as the head of the Railway Bureau.

Zhu Yuanzhang approved the document, which was quickly sent down from the Ministry of Personnel. Zhang Jinrao, who was in the capital, reported to the Science and Technology Department the day after receiving the document.

Because they had met before, Liu Kuan didn't exchange pleasantries. After Zhang Jinrao sat down, he took out a prepared booklet and handed it to him, saying, "This is my preliminary conception of the railway bureau's organizational structure."

The booklet was very thin, less than ten pages. Zhang Jinrao took it and quickly read through it.

In the booklet, Liu Kuan planned to set up six departments under the Railway Bureau, namely: office, personnel, finance, railway operations, railway construction, and railway research and development.

Zhang Jinrao felt that the General Affairs Department was like the clerks in the six ministries before, specifically responsible for trivial official duties, except that the authority had been greatly expanded.

As for the remaining five departments, their responsibilities can be understood from their names.

It can be said that although the Railway Bureau is a third-level government agency under the Ministry of Industry, it can be said to be "small but complete".

This shows that the imperial court attaches great importance to the Railway Bureau.

Based on this speculation, Zhang Jinrao, as the chief official of the Railway Bureau, felt even more burdened and under great pressure.

When Liu Kuan saw Zhang Jinrao finished reading, he asked, "Director Zhang, do you have any questions about the Railway Bureau's organizational structure?"

Zhang Jinrao hesitated for a moment and said, "Since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, the staff of various government offices has been quite streamlined. The Railway Bureau has six departments under its jurisdiction, so it must require a lot of officials. Isn't it a bit bloated?"

After all, Zhang Jinrao had never seen the railway transportation scene in later generations, so it was not surprising that he had such doubts.

Liu Kuan patiently explained, "Although the Railway Bureau is a subordinate department of the Science and Technology Department, it has a heavy responsibility and is related to national affairs."

"Its main tasks after its establishment are threefold: first, to operate the existing Pinghu Railway; second, to train railway construction teams and workers to build new railways; and third, to research and improve railway construction techniques."

"Every task requires a significant number of officials to organize and coordinate, and the current structure is already the result of streamlining. Once it's officially operational, there might still be a shortage of staff, so how can it be considered bloated?"

Zhang Jinrao asked, "Vice-Law Liu means that these duties are necessary, not redundant?"

Liu Kuan nodded, "Not bad."

"Then the next major task for the Railway Bureau must be to fill the gaps in the staffing needs of various departments."

Liu Kuan nodded again, "That's right."

At this time, Su Quan said, "The reason we are discussing the establishment of the Railway Bureau is actually because we hope that Director Zhang can recommend a group of grassroots officials who are suitable for these positions."

Speaking of which, Su Quan knew quite a few officials in the court, but most of them were middle and high-level officials.

What the Railway Bureau needs are grassroots officials.

So there are very few people he can recommend.

As for Liu Kuan, he knew even fewer officials. Otherwise, he wouldn't have had to go through the personnel files at the Ministry of Personnel to pick out Zhang Jinrao and other candidate officials.

However, Liu Kuan thought that the official files of the Ming Dynasty's Ministry of Personnel were too rough, and it was difficult to infer whether an official was suitable for a position in the Railway Bureau through the files.

Therefore, after deciding on Zhang Jinrao as the head of the Railway Bureau, Liu Kuan and Su Quan hoped that Zhang Jinrao could recommend a group of suitable grassroots officials.

Because Zhang Jinrao has worked at the grassroots level for many years, he must know more grassroots officials than Su Quan.

As for selecting talents for the imperial examinations, Liu Kuan directly rejected it.

Firstly, the provincial examination would not be held until August, and the metropolitan examination would be held in February of the following year. Even if Liu Kuan recruited the successful candidates to serve as officials, he would have to wait two or three months.

Secondly, even if the content of the imperial examinations has been reformed, the selected juren and jinshi will at most have some theoretical experience in being an official, but their actual ability to do things is unknown and needs to be honed.

Therefore, it is more appropriate to select people from the existing grassroots officials...

Zhang Jinrao was silent for a moment before he said, "I'm wondering what kind of people the Railway Bureau needs in various departments. I'd like to ask Doctor Su and Deputy Doctor Liu to tell me in detail so I can recommend someone based on their abilities."

Hearing this, Liu Kuan and Su Quan both smiled.

What the two were most worried about before was that Zhang Jinrao was unwilling to recommend it.

It's important to note that while recommending someone for an official position might be considered a benefactor, if that person committed a crime while in office, the recommender would also be implicated. The problem was that Zhang Jinrao only had the power to recommend, while the actual decision-making process for the candidate lay with Liu Kuan, Su Quan, or perhaps Zhu Yuanzhang. In other words, those who received a recommendation weren't necessarily grateful to Zhang Jinrao.

For Zhang Jinrao, the benefits of this matter are not proportional to the risks he takes.

Under such circumstances, Zhang Jinrao still agreed, which shows that he is impartial.

Liu Kuan was even more satisfied with the head of the Railway Bureau, whom he had selected from among the many green-robed minor officials in the Ministry of Personnel. He immediately explained one by one the functions of the six departments of the Railway Bureau, the positions in each department, and the type of people needed to be qualified.

By the time Liu Kuan finished speaking, more than half an hour had passed.

Because there were too many positions involved, after listening to the end, Zhang Jinrao simply started taking notes at Liu Kuan's suggestion.

He put away his several pages of notes and bowed, saying, "After some consideration, I will be able to recommend some officials for selection. However, my knowledge of talent is limited, and I'm afraid it's still not enough to meet the Railway Bureau's staffing needs. The two superiors will need to find a way to select more reserve officials."

Su Quan smiled and nodded, "We will consider this matter ourselves."

The meeting ended here, and the three did not continue to discuss together - some things require independent thinking, and discussing together is inefficient.

Liu Kuan had no idea how to select talents, he could only watch and choose people later.

Therefore, after returning to his office in the east, he took out a sketch and thought about another thing - how many train stations should be set up along the Xudan section of the railway that was put into practical use.

The more train stations you have, the better.

First of all, every railway station needs to be equipped with a lot of staff - from the officials in charge to the people who actually do the work, all of them need money and food to support them.

Secondly, given the current situation of the train, each start and stop takes a lot of time, and the possibility of accidents in this process is slightly increased.

So train stations should be streamlined.

But considering that the train needs to replenish coal and water along the way, there cannot be too few stations.

In summary, Liu Kuan considered again and again and decided to set up six stations on the Xu-Dan section of the railway: Dantu, Jingshi, Chuzhou, Fengyang, Suzhou, and Xuzhou...

···
While Liu Kuan was busy setting up the Railway Bureau, Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao were also busy.

In fact, as they govern such a big country, the father and son rarely have any real free time.

On this day, the two of them sorted out the many important matters that had been arranged recently in Fengxian Hall.

"Although Mei Yin is honest and upright by nature, after these years of training, he has become quite mature and cautious in his work, and has also developed some strategies."

"The yellow mud sugar production method has been proven. Once he goes to Lingnan, he only needs to follow our instructions. He should be able to run a sugar factory within six months, which will then bring in more income for the imperial court."

"But I'm still undecided about who should be in charge of drying salt in the salt fields. Does Biao have any suggestions?"

After hearing what Zhu Yuanzhang said, Zhu Biao pondered for a moment and said, "The area around Haijin was where the ancient Yan State boiled the sea to make salt before the Qin Dynasty. Although this place doesn't have as much sunshine as the south, it doesn't have as much rain as Huaiyou and Jiangnan."

"Since Fourth Brother is training naval guards in Haijin, why doesn't Father have him oversee the salt drying in the salt fields in Haijin?"

"My fourth brother wants to be a vassal overseas. He needs more than just military talent; he also needs to have some understanding of civil affairs and finance. Supervising this matter will be a good opportunity to hone his skills."

Zhu Yuanzhang pondered for a moment and said, "It's fine to let the fourth son supervise the salt fields and drying the salt in Haijin, but this matter concerns the increase in the court's annual revenue in the next few years, so it can't be done in just one place."

"We think it would be best to select two more locations in the south to practice the salt field drying method. It just so happens that the Southwest War is over, and the Sixth and Seventh Brothers have nothing to do there, so we'll have them each be in charge of one location."

Zhu Biao smiled and said, "If that's the case, then of the brothers who have already left the capital, only the fifth brother will be left without a specific task."

Zhu Yuanzhang said, "Let's put him in charge of Henan. Isn't there enough for him to take care of?"

"Henan used to be the granary of the world, but due to repeated wars, nine out of ten houses are empty and the population is sparse."

"The imperial court wants to destroy the Northern Yuan Dynasty and control the Western Regions. In the future, it would be best to collect grain and conscript labor from Henan, Shanxi, Hebei, Shandong and other places."

"Therefore, reclaiming wasteland and restoring farmland in Henan, Hebei, and Shandong, and increasing the population, is a major priority for the imperial court."

"In the third, ninth, and thirteenth years of the Hongwu reign, we have already migrated to the Central Plains three times from Shanxi, Jiangnan, and Zhejiang. Now we are beginning to see results."

"We are planning to migrate again next year or the year after, so we can't allow any trouble to happen. The reason we let the fifth son go to Kaifeng is because he is careful and prudent and can accomplish great things."

"Therefore, if he can take good care of Henan, it will be a great achievement and will be enough to hone his military and political skills. There will be no need to assign him another mission."

Although Zhu Biao knew the importance of the Central Plains, he did not expect it to be so important in Zhu Yuanzhang's heart.

After hearing these words, he suddenly felt that he had made further progress in governing the country, and immediately bowed and said, "Your son will accept my instruction."

Zhu Yuanzhang said, "Wen Zhong has gone to Denglai and personally supervised the construction of the Beiyang Fleet. This Beiyang Fleet will not only be of great use to our Ming Dynasty in the future when we attack Goryeo and Japan, but it will also be of use to the imperial court in the campaign against Nahachu in Liaodong next year."

"Privately, write him a letter every once in a while to urge him to improve the training of the Beiyang Fleet. Do you understand?"

When Zhu Biao heard this, he knew that there was some rift between Zhu Yuanzhang and Li Wenzhong because of the Dragon Boat Festival incident.

Zhu Yuanzhang probably worried that personally urging the matter would backfire, so he handed it over to him.

He sighed inwardly and replied, "I understand."

　First update.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)