That morning, Li Jie had breakfast with his family, and then he asked someone to prepare a carriage to enter the palace. During this period, he had been considering the matter of the Naval School, and Zhu Di could not wait forever, so it was time to talk to Zhu Yunxi.

Li Jie took a bus out, and it was getting late at this time, and pedestrians were everywhere on the streets. Even if Li Jie didn't listen deliberately, he could still hear words like "train, railway" from pedestrians' words.

Speaking of the term train, it actually appeared new. Although later generations have long been used to this term, in this era, the term train has only appeared in recent days. To be precise, it should have appeared after the train trial.

Before, trains have always been called steam locomotives, or simply steam cars. After all, they were originally driven by steam engines, and there were steam boats. These names were originally called out by Guo Zhenglin and Xie Jin, and Li Jie never interfered.

However, on the day of the train trial, it was already evening when I came back, and the train was emitting fires, which looked very conspicuous from a distance. Therefore, many people changed the steam locomotive to trains. In just a few moments, this simple and straightforward name spread. Now, the city is called steam locomotives by trains.

Speaking of trains and railways, although it has been a while since the first trial voyage, the popularity remains unabated, because the train has begun to operate officially. Anyone can take the train as long as they buy a ticket and travel between Beijing and Taijin.

You should know that Taijin is the gateway to Beijing City, and the two gates are very close. Previously, the official roads between Beijing and Taijin were full of goods and pedestrians at all times, and even at night was no exception.

It is precisely because of such a large flow of people and logistics that the first railway was chosen between Beijing and Taijin. However, there is only one train on the railway now, so the train is mainly transporting people. As for transporting goods, it may take a while before other trains will be slowly released.

However, even if the train only transports people, it still caused a huge sensation. The most important thing is that the ticket price is also expensive. The ticket price of 20 cents per person can be taken out even if the poor people grit their teeth. For some people who are not short of money, even if they just simply experience the train, this amount of money is completely enough.

So in this case, it is difficult to get a ticket for the train. There were even scalpers from later generations. Some special people lined up to buy tickets and then sold them to others at a high price. At first, the station was not prepared at all, allowing one person to buy multiple tickets, which led to the extremely rampant scalpers, and even one person bought all the tickets. Later, the station strictly stipulated that one person and one person would vote, which blocked the loophole.

Thinking of the things about railways and trains in his mind, Li Jie couldn't help but fall into deep thought again. New things like trains and railways are always accompanied by good and bad. For example, although trains and railways are convenient for transportation, they will also lead to some traffic accidents, such as the incident of trains hitting and killing people. They happened almost every year in later generations. The Ming Dynasty has not yet happened, but because the time is still short, similar accidents will definitely occur in the future.

But even if there is such a bad influence, we cannot stop moving forward. After all, this world is already in a critical period of change. If the Ming Dynasty stops, it will leave endless hidden dangers and regrets for future generations in the future.

While contemplating, the carriage slowly drove into the imperial city. Li Jie finally woke up from the contemplation, then calmed down and sorted out the thoughts of this period in his mind, so as not to see Zhu Yunqiu later and didn't know what to say.

Soon Li Jie got off the car and then stepped to the warm room where Zhu Yunxi handled government affairs. When he came in, he saw that Zhu Yunxi and several major officials were also discussing government affairs. Li Jie did not disturb him and just stood by and waited.

The cabinet system is being improved. Lao Zhu abolished the prime minister and established a scale. In the future, the descendants of the Zhu family are not allowed to become prime ministers again. In this way, the position of prime minister finally came to an end.

But without the prime minister, the emperor still needs ministers to help him handle government affairs. After all, except for Lao Zhu, an extremely energetic alien, most emperors need one or several helpers to help him handle complex government affairs.

In fact, in his later years, the government affairs were handed over to Zhu Biao for handling, and Zhu Biao did not have so much energy, so the cabinet system had already taken shape, and some officials were selected to become the think tank around Zhu Biao, which was actually the predecessor of the cabinet.

After Zhu Yunyu ascended the throne, he could no longer meet his needs by relying solely on a think tank. After all, the think tank could only give the emperor some advice but could not help the emperor. Therefore, in this case, the cabinet system came into being. Some experienced officials were awarded the position of Grand Secretary and became close ministers around the emperor and could participate in various military and political affairs.

Of course, the cabinet has just been formed and cannot reach the power to suppress the six ministries, but there are already signs of this. After all, the emperor will definitely be more and more dependent on the cabinet, and will grant them more power at that time. In the future, several Grand Secretary will even serve as the six ministries. Naturally, they can order the six ministries to become the de facto prime minister.

Li Jie stood by and listened for a while and found that what Zhu Yunyu discussed with the cabinet ministers was still related to him, because the Ming Dynasty had been advancing towards the northern grasslands, especially in the area north of the Great Wall, and based on these cities, expanding its power around the grasslands.

As the saying goes, the enemy advances and we retreat. The grassland is eroded by the Ming Dynasty little by little. The living space of the grassland people is further compressed. They cannot be beaten and can only escape to barren lands further north. Faced with this situation, many nomadic tribes can only choose to surrender to the Ming Dynasty.

This is also a common trick in the grassland part. If you can't defeat it, you will surrender, and then slowly recuperate with the power of the Central Plains dynasty. When the Central Plains dynasty declines, they will immediately bite back and even enter the Central Plains directly.

However, the situation is different now, because the Ming Dynasty did not have the rule of grasslands like the previous dynasties, and the rule of grasslands could only depend on the grasslands themselves. This time, the Ming Dynasty directly sent people to the main grasslands. Even if the grasslands defected, they had to give up their previous nomadic lifestyle and change to regular grazing.

As for the food issue, there is no need to worry about it. After all, there are high-yield and drought-resistant crops such as potatoes that can already be planted on the grasslands, so grain can also be produced on the grasslands, and the lifestyles of herders will of course change accordingly.
Chapter completed!