Chapter 166 This is actually also a foreign affairs matter

When Zhu Jingyuan arrived in his vassal state, in a sense, he became a vassal state.

Then the first formal palace meeting was held, which was actually the first formal morning court meeting in Dashi Kingdom.

First of all, the future development direction of the food country was determined, and the most important task at present was the construction of a seawater desalination plant.

After unifying his thoughts, Zhu Jingyuan arranged some other things:

“I will write some detailed suggestions later, and when building more desalination plants in the future, we can try whether these ideas are feasible.

"There is another thing. The Royal Palace is preparing to take over all the schools in Dashi Country and establish complete primary and secondary schools.

"In the future, private schools will no longer be allowed. The royal family will set up a school department to directly manage all schools. All schools will use the textbooks unified by the Ming Dynasty.

"We and the workers' children must be managed and educated, and we can't just sit around doing nothing.

“If there are not enough teachers, hire them locally in Ming Dynasty. If no one is willing to come, then add more money.

"The escort troops are training, and I will ask Guan Town to send veterans to help.

“The money earned from selling oil is spent in any way possible.

“Of course, it has to be spent in real terms.

“This practical purpose is not only to return actual things, but also to give them to actual people.

"Starting this month, the salaries of all officials in the palace will increase by 30%, and will increase by another 30% every year for the next three years."

Things arranged by Zhu Jingyuan are considered normal, and it is even more unlikely that anyone will object to a direct salary increase.

Therefore, all the ministers of the Great Food Kingdom stood up and bowed in high spirits to respond.

Zhu Jingyuan finished arranging the work and let the ministers go about their work.

He returned to the inner hall and asked Dianbo to write a reply to his father for him, accepting the second arrangement given by his grandfather.

Then they summoned several clothing craftsmen headed by Chu Yuqiang.

The "Governor" of the Ming Dynasty is not a position, nor can it be used as a title for an official. It is actually a verb.

They are all written in the form of "Governor of a certain place or something", which means to oversee certain places and things in general.

Similar titles include chief executive, prime minister, manager, governor, admiral, etc.

In essence, it doesn't matter whether they are big or even hierarchical. Unless the imperial court makes arrangements, there is no clear superior-subordinate relationship between them.

What you do specifically depends on the scope of power given by the court.

What Zhu Jingyuan wants to be the "governor" is not only military and political affairs in the Great Food, Great Qinhai, and Mozhou regions, but also foreign affairs.

In fact, it means that the diplomacy with Thailand and Spain will continue to be led and managed by itself.

Foreign affairs are not just official negotiations. In fact, there are many levels of affairs, and there are also many private activities.

Many diplomats are essentially open spies.

Zhu Jingyuan now feels that the things Chu Yuqiang is responsible for can even be included in foreign affairs.

If you are not in your position and do not seek to do your job, if you do not have a relevant position, then the clothing issue is just a social experiment.

Now that I want to take on this title, I have to be a little more careful.

Zhu Jingyuan personally wrote a simple "letter of introduction".

Explain that you want to open a clothing store and operate customized clothing and ready-made clothing businesses in Thailand and Spain.

Chu Yuqiang is the shopkeeper of the trading company he hired. He hopes that the royal families, nobles and court officials of various countries in Thailand and Western countries can provide convenience.

Then sign your name and stamp your seal.

If nothing else happens, this letter of introduction will allow Chu Yuqiang to travel smoothly in the West.

He should also be a guest at banquets of Thai and Western nobles.

The letter of introduction did not state the specific range of clothing types sold.

Although Chu Yuqiang's business focuses on new clothes designed by Zhu Jingyuan, it cannot only sell those clothes.

The original Daming clothing will continue to be sold, and there will be updated styles in the future.

Zhu Jingyuan handed the letter of introduction to Chu Yuqiang, and then gave a rather serious instruction:

"The things you have to do are still the same. The specific thing you have to do is to sell the clothes I designed and observe what impact it can have in Taipei.

"I would like to remind you that in promotional photos and pictorials showing clothes, the men must be from Ming Dynasty.

"We mainly choose those who are tall and powerful, physically strong but not obese, and have a stable, dignified and domineering temperament. We should follow the standards of the honor guard.

"Secondly, choose a handsome and handsome gentleman with heroic appearance, or a elegant and gentle young man.

"In short, it is to make people feel comfortable when they look at it. Chu Gong should be able to control this standard himself.

"Once again, the men must be from the Ming Dynasty, and absolutely cannot use Western men.

"For women, most of them choose Daming people. They also need to choose a type that has an outstanding image and will definitely be lovable.

"Try to use dignified, elegant and temperamental types as much as possible. The delicate and delicate Xiaojiabiyu is the second choice.

"A small number of women use Xiyi women, but don't look for Xiyi women with the best image, just use ordinary people around you.

"When more than three women show up, an ordinary Thai-Spanish woman can be arranged."

If Zhu Jingyuan had not been in charge of foreign affairs as part of his title, he would not have made so many demands for modernization.

Just use Daming people to show it.

Zhu Jingyuan's special requests made Chu Yuqiang a little confused.

If His Highness Prince Dashi doesn't like Xiyi women, then just use Ming women.

Why do you have to find some ordinary Western women to take photos?

Chu Yuqiang thought about it again and again, but finally did not dare to ask Prince Dashi about his intentions.

Let's discuss it later when we go back to those Boers who are also Westerners.

Zhu Jingyuan looked at Chu Yuqiang who just bowed and agreed without asking for any details, and was a little worried that Chu Yuqiang could not fully understand his intentions.

So Zhu Jingyuan took the initiative and warned him again:

"You just need to know these requirements of mine yourself, and don't discuss them with outsiders, especially those Boer craftsmen.

"If you have any thoughts or guesses, you can come and discuss them with me directly. Don't hide them or speculate on your own.

"If there are problems in implementation because you don't understand the true intent of these requirements, then the gains outweigh the losses."

Chu Yuqiang suddenly felt that his heart had been penetrated, and a layer of cold sweat immediately broke out on his forehead, and he quickly asked directly:

"Why did His Highness specifically look for ordinary Western women to shoot promotional posters?"

Zhu Jingyuan asked rhetorically:

"The women of the Ming Dynasty use beautiful ones, and the women of Xiyi use ordinary ones. If we compare them together, how will people who see this kind of picture feel?"

Chu Yuqiang thought for a while and tried to interpret:

"Then the Western men and women who saw the advertisements may instinctively feel that the Western women are not as beautiful as the Ming women.

"But Xiyi women are not as beautiful as our Ming women. There is no need to make such a special comparison..."

Zhu Jingyuan laughed directly after hearing Chu Yuqiang's evaluation:

"Ordinary people in Western Europe have never seen Ming people, but they may not think so, so this operation is still necessary.

"Furthermore, the comparison of women is only one aspect, it is within photos and pictorials, and the comparison of men is outside of this.

"When Westerners look at the photos of Ming Dynasty men in illustrated magazines, they will naturally compare them with the ordinary Western men around them."

"My subordinate understands."

Chu Yuqiang nodded lightly in agreement, and then tried to draw inferences:

"When displaying different types of clothes, can we have different choices?

"The most high-end clothes, targeted at the wealthy classes such as the nobility and high-end new elites, are exclusively made from Ming Dynasty people.

"If it's clothes for the middle and lower classes, or work clothes and housekeeper clothes, shouldn't we use Daming people?"

After hearing this, Zhu Jingyuan subconsciously wanted to agree, but then he shook his head after thinking about it for a moment:

"That's not entirely true. It's not just the clothes that are aimed at the wealthy class that need to be displayed in the Ming Dynasty.

"As long as the clothes do not have clear identification labels, all ordinary popular clothes should be displayed as Ming people as much as possible.

"Only those you mentioned later may have obvious identity tags, so you can avoid the Ming people when necessary.

"For example, Thai and Western maid costumes, as well as special women's costumes for romantic occasions, cannot be displayed with women from the Ming Dynasty. They should be displayed with Orchid or Western Yi women.

"If there are characters such as drivers, housekeepers, maids, and nuns in the display, they can also be displayed as barbarians.

"If there are lower-end people, such as clerks, laborers, etc., you can find Western men, but there probably won't be any.

"If there are, the selection criteria will be reversed from those of Ming Dynasty people. They can be short and thin, or they can be ugly and distinctive.
To be continued...