Late Ming Dynasty: Oops, I am surrounded by the Donglin Party

In an instant, more than 2,000 craftsmen who had once worked hard were stunned.

Most people automatically ignored most of Zhang Shikang's speech and only remembered the last sentence.

This medal will be awarded by His Majesty himself in front of all the civil and military officials in the court.

The craftsmen who were once trampled under the feet of landlords and bureaucrats and gentry are now not only liberated serfs who can sing, but also have the opportunity to be appreciated by the current emperor.

At this time when authoritarianism is deepening, the status of the emperor in the eyes of ordinary people is self-evident.

It is no exaggeration to say that he is a god-like existence.

“Of course, the medal recipients are not only awarded by the current emperor himself, but also receive other generous treatment.

For example, His Majesty will announce it to the whole country in the form of an imperial edict, and the Eastern Investigation Bureau will also report the winner’s name and experience in detail through the "Da Ming Monthly Report", so that everyone in the world will know the winner’s contribution. "

If being awarded a medal by the emperor himself in front of all the civil and military officials in the court is only a primary form of honor, then letting the whole world know your contribution and your glory will be the highest spiritual pursuit for an individual.

Mo Chou has no confidant in the way ahead, who in the world does not know the king?

“In addition, recipients of the Order of the Empire will receive lifetime benefits in areas such as medical care and education.

For example, if he fell ill, he could go to Beijing to be treated by famous doctors in the Imperial Medical Bureau, and the necessary expenses would be reimbursed by the court.

On the educational level, direct descendants of recipients of the Imperial Medal will receive extra points if they participate in the imperial examinations, whether they are for Jinshi, science, engineering, or agriculture.

In short, if a person who participated in the imperial examination was only at the level of a scholar, but his direct father was a recipient of the Imperial Medal, he would be promoted to a higher rank, from a scholar to a juren, and from a juren to a jinshi.

The Imperial Medal emphasizes honor, and people at that time cared a lot about reputation, and many people even regarded reputation as more important than life.

After hearing Zhang Shikang's words, the whole audience fell silent. Even the bigwigs of the General Administration of Manufacturing, such as Song Yingxing and Bi Maokang, were dumbfounded.

Because they don't know about it either.

In fact, Zhang Shikang had told Brother Chongzhen a long time ago about the method of using medals to motivate people all over the world.

At that time, it was Zhang Shikang who suggested relaxing the restrictions on conferring titles. Emperor Chongzhen believed that conferring too many titles would make the titles worthless. Zhang Shikang then proposed a medal reward system as a supplement to conferring titles.

But later Zhang Shikang discovered a way to increase the value of the title. Although the medal was also very honorary, it was still inferior to the title, so Zhang Shikang gave it up.

As for the methods of increasing the value of the title, I will not discuss them for now. The Imperial Medal is undoubtedly the highest embodiment of personal honor besides the title.

After all, there was an imperial edict announcing it to the world, and there was also the Daming Monthly News which notified the whole country. You have to know that even if a minister was awarded the honor of being one of the Three Dukes, it was rarely announced to the world.

Not to mention a series of preferential treatments, especially for children in the imperial examinations, which simply allowed future generations to win at the starting line.

And in a way that is ten blocks ahead of others.

Too domineering!

“As for the Great Invention Award, it is still open to the whole country and is evaluated every three years. If there is no great invention that promotes the revival of our Ming Dynasty in three years, there will be no evaluation.

The winner of the Great Invention Award will be promoted to the rank of Imperial Honorary Count, awarded the Imperial Silver Medal, and rewarded with 10,000 taels of silver, and will also enjoy a special allowance from the Ming Dynasty Imperial Manufacturing Bureau for life!" Zhang Shikang continued.

Everyone present was confused again. If the Innovation and Progress Award had already surprised everyone present, then the Great Invention Award was even more surprising.

If the whale just now was a killer whale, then the whale this time was a blue whale, the largest whale on the entire earth!

Promoted to Imperial Honorary Count!

Title!

Imperial Silver Medal!

How can you have the best of both worlds? Yes!

For a moment, the people present burst into cheers again.

Although these two awards are open to craftsmen from all over the world, craftsmen in the General Manufacturing Bureau all believe that they are among the best craftsmen.

In other words, everyone has the opportunity to compete for this award!

Zhang Shikang then asked everyone to be quiet again and announced the judging criteria for the two awards.

There were two main reviewers, Zhang Shikang and Emperor Chongzhen, and the seven directors of the General Administration of Manufacturing served as assistant reviewers.

The core criteria for judging are very clear, and the core is how much this invention can promote military, agriculture, industry and other aspects.

For example, taking the handicraft industry as an example, the new spinning machine improved by Song Yingxing increased the spinning efficiency several times. In the long run, it can greatly promote the rapid development of the entire Ming Dynasty handicraft industry.

The development of industry is the result of many aspects. For example, the improvement of spinning efficiency will inevitably drive the progress of related industries. The two industries are complementary.

Therefore, if Song Yingxing announced a new spinning machine after the establishment of this award, he could compete for or even win the Innovation and Progress Award and receive a bronze Imperial Medal.

Of course, Song Yingxing's improvement on glass can also be regarded as a technological advancement.

Fortunately, cement has not yet been successfully trial-produced, otherwise the first Great Invention Award would almost have been settled.

It goes without saying how important cement is to the development of modern industry.

The instantaneous firearm that Bi Maokang improved on the basis of the Rumi gun, as well as his improvement of black powder, can be considered as innovative progress.

If the paper shell fixed ammunition can be put into production and obtain actual feedback on the battlefield, it will also be eligible to compete for the Innovation and Progress Award.

If the century-old problem of the rifled gun could be solved and the power and accuracy of the musket could be greatly increased, Zhang Shikang believed that it would not be an exaggeration to award a great invention award.

At present, the highest reward for scientific and technological progress is only the Imperial Silver Medal, which can be promoted to honorary earl, that is, life earl.

As for the highest grade of the Imperial Order - the Gold Medal, it will naturally be awarded to soldiers with great military merits.

If the General Manufacturing Bureau is more theoretical, then using the output of the General Manufacturing Bureau and winning a large-scale war at the cost of blood and fire is absolute practice.

Moreover, military achievements should be higher than other achievements. After all, in the era of autocracy, conquering cities and expanding the territory for the empire is the ultimate goal of vigorously developing all industries, agriculture and other technologies.

The Innovation and Progress Award is evaluated once a year, with a maximum of three winners; the Great Invention Award is evaluated every three years, with a maximum of two winners.

Compared with the hundreds of thousands or even millions of craftsmen in the world, this is certainly not easy.

But precisely because of this, the value is high enough to maximize the enthusiasm of people all over the world in previously neglected disciplines such as engineering and agriculture.

Zhang Shikang's speech undoubtedly aroused the emotions of the craftsmen present to the highest point.

But he still felt there was room for improvement, so after everyone calmed down, Zhang Shikang decided to add another piece of firewood to the craftsmen's spirits.

"I have one more thing to tell you. This year's spring examination will include agricultural science and engineering science. Anyone with the second-level craftsman title can participate in this year's spring examination.

Oh, just so you know, I am the chief examiner for the agricultural and science and engineering subjects in this year’s spring exam.”

……