Brother Zhu Youxiao

Chapter 276 Industry in the Old Port

"put!"

"Bang bang bang-"

The seventeenth day of the twelfth lunar month in the fifth year of the Apocalypse...

Accompanied by the familiar mandarin and the sound of artillery, along the coast of Dongshan Prefecture in the eastern part of the Nanyang Old Port Province, the Ming Navy is bombarding the aborigines who do not accept Wang Hua.

The Kunlun slaves, who were no more than four feet tall, fled in all directions, but when the Ming army began to rush to land on the beach, they turned back and tried to stop them.

It's just that when the stone spear used to fight sea beasts pierced the armor of the Ming army, it not only failed to penetrate, but also directly collapsed the vines used to fix the stone spear.

"Pfft!"

With the knife in hand, the silver-white steel knife took away fresh lives, and then a large number of natives began to surrender.

In less than half an hour, this land-state with thousands of natives was declared destroyed. The land-states that surrendered were tied up and locked in the wooden city, while the Ming army also began to clean up the battlefield.

All the corpses were thrown into the sea to feed the fish, and then some military craftsmen began to disembark to plan a new city for the army.

"Captain! This place in Dongshan Mansion is not very good. The island is full of dense forests and there are many poisonous insects. The cost of reclamation is too high. It seems that we can only build some strongholds along the coast."

On the deck of the Kunlun ship, when a commander came with complaints, he shut his mouth the moment he saw Huanglong's expression.

At this moment, Huang Long's expression was very ugly, and he was holding a letter in his hand. He didn't know what it was about, which could make this mighty Nanyang Navy Commander of the Twelve Guards lose his composure.

"Just build a stronghold, you can help..."

Huang Long issued the military order with an ugly expression on his face, and the commander hurriedly bowed and retreated when he saw this.

After he stepped back, Huang Long looked at the letter in his hand.

This is a handwritten letter written by Man Gui. After two and a half months, it was finally delivered to him.

It's just the content of this letter that made Huang Long's mood drop to the bottom.

In the letter, Man Gui mentioned that King Qi wanted to go to Levia, and this incident was undoubtedly a heavy blow to Huang Long.

He never thought of self-reliance, nor did he think of raising the flag to rebel.

His idea is very simple, that is to let King Qi stay in Daming, because besides King Qi, there will be no one else who values ​​them as a group of warriors so much.

Will the emperor pay attention?Won't!
Since Jiajing in the Ming Dynasty, few emperors valued military generals. The Qi family army with great military exploits was also killed at will, and it was even more normal for soldiers to be owed money.

What's more important is the attitude of civil servants towards generals.

What Daming lacked was never civil officials who spoke for the people, but people who spoke for their generals.

A group of civil servants in the court pretended to speak for the common people, and then worked for their own welfare.

In comparison, generals are not only useful when wars come, but other times they are just tool people driven by civil servants.

The appearance of King Qi now makes people like Man Gui, Sun Yingyuan, Lu Wenzhao, He Shixian, You Shigong, etc. who have seen the failure of the Ming Dynasty to control martial arts with literature and the military generals are pulled out to feel at ease.

Therefore, what Man Gui wrote in the letter is not something to raise the flag to rebel.

He only said one thing, that is to tell Huanglong not to send a fleet to Leviathan, and finally lied that with the current supply of Ming Dynasty, he could not reach Leviathan.

However, after all, Mangui fought on land and did not understand shipping.

Huang Long was sure that if he really dared to say that, then His Highness would definitely be suspicious of him.

Very simple, why Zheng He can go?Europeans can come, but Ming's fleet can't go?
This is a problem that needs to be solved, but this problem is not difficult for Huanglong.

He only needs to send one ship to Levia due to insufficient supplies, and then let the sailors collude to say that Levia is a place not suitable for reclamation.

Anyway, His Highness has never been to Levia, and people from all over the world in Europe have the impression of Levia as wild and savage.

At that time, even if His Highness asked someone to ask, he would only get the same answer.

Thinking of this, Huanglong made a decision in his heart, and at this time the commander who retreated earlier also returned to the deck, and bowed to Huanglong:

"Captain, another Nanyang barbarian tribe has been discovered in the east."

"Then continue marching..." Huang Long returned to reality, hid the handwriting in his arms, and then calmly issued the military order to continue the encirclement and suppression.

Soon, the fleet headed towards the sea to the east, and at the same time, in the palace of Prince Qi, Zhu Youjian was also dealing with the military report irritably.

While he was restless, Lu Wenzhao also walked into the study, and bowed to Zhu Youjian who was dealing with the military newspaper:
"Your Highness, the Armament Research Institute has made some new progress, Bi Shilang invites you to go..."

"Understood." Hearing Lu Wenzhao's words, Zhu Youjian stood up, and at this moment a young girl standing behind him also began to dress him.

The big fur and the fox fur were put on one after another, and the girl said in a tone different from that of ordinary maidservants:

"Ai'er, go get the hand warmer."

"Yes..." Hearing the girl's words, a young girl who was only seven years old hurried out, and the girl said with concern to Zhu Youjian:
"Your Highness, it's cold outside, don't walk around in the snow again."

"Hehe, Yuan Ai, you are now acting like a female official of Prince Qi's Mansion." Zhu Youjian smiled lightly, looking at the girl from Jiangnan who was fat in front of her eyes and glaring at her eyes, she sighed in her heart.

Back then, when Yang Lu sent this aunt and nephew to Xuqin Palace, the two of them were still very shy, but now they have grown up...

"Your Highness, the hand warmer..."

Yang Ai's voice sounded, Zhu Youjian looked down, and then saw Yang Ai who was as high as his abdomen holding out a hand warmer with both hands, looking at him with crystal clear eyes.

Zhu Youjian no longer wondered whether Yang Ai was Liu Rushi. For him, the relationship between a man and a woman can only be regarded as a condiment. Right now, he needs to devote more time and energy to how to solve the problem between Da Ming and Da Ming. on the issue of drought.

"Thank you……"

Zhu Youjian stretched out his hand and pinched Yang Ai's face, then took the hand warmer, and walked out of the study wearing a big fur.

Yang Yuanai followed behind him with Yang Ai, while Lu Wenzhao held an umbrella in front.

The snowflakes of the twelfth lunar month kept falling from the sky. For Zhu Youjian, who had been in the snow scene for the first half of the year, seeing the heavy snow at this time, he couldn't help but think of the people in Shaanxi.

I don't know if the common people can have enough food and clothing with just that little relief food...

Thinking of this, Zhu Youjian couldn't help being silent, and unknowingly walked out of the palace and boarded a four-wheeled carriage.

"Your Highness, remember not to play in the snow—"

Seeing that Zhu Youjian was about to leave, Yang Ai gave orders belatedly.

It's just that Zhu Youjian didn't seem to have the intention to respond to her. Yang Ai didn't get a response from him until Zhu Youjian left, so he couldn't help showing grievances on his face, and his mood fell.

"Let's go, Your Highness is off to work on things, and it's time for you to do morning classes."

"Ok!"

One word from Yang Yuan'ai pulled Yang Ai out of her depressed mood.

But when she turned to leave, she couldn't help but look at the back of the carriage that was about to disappear.

The gate of Prince Qi's Mansion was closed, and Zhu Youjian also picked up the military newspaper on the table and began to read it.

Fortunately, this military report is mainly a report on the traces of the voyage fleet, and nothing major happened.

It has been a month and a half since the Western Fleet brought the envoys of the various vassals to the south from Tianjin Port at the beginning of winter, and the Western Fleet also arrived at the South Port of Ryukyu Prefecture for supplies.

If there is no accident, they will arrive at the Old Port Mansion and Palembang Mansion in February next year, and then wait for the fleet arranged by Huanglong to escort them and patrol along Tianzhu.

As for the kings, they each left their sons and sons to study at Yanshan Military Academy, and then returned to their domains.

During this period, Zhu Changxun, the king of blessings, made many small moves, but Cui Wensheng told Lu Wenzhao all of them, and Lu Wenzhao told Zhu Youjian the news.

Generally speaking, Zhu Youjian looked down on Zhu Changxun's methods.

He also wanted to hook up with the Wenchen Group, and felt that the Wenchen Group had hindered him from ascending the throne, so he had a tepid attitude towards the Wenchen Group.

In addition, he did not seldom hook up with generals at all levels in Shangzhi, but for Zhu Changxun's hookup, Zhu Youjian told the generals at all levels to take the money and not to do anything.

Therefore, Zhu Changxun spent tens of thousands of taels of silver in vain, and finally had to return to Luoyang in despair.

Instead, he threw Zhu Yousong to Yanshan Military Academy before leaving, and Zhu Yousong's learning ability can only be said to be average.

In Yanshan military school, he belongs to the lower middle level among thousands of clan disciples.

On the contrary, the brothers Zhu Yujian of Tang Fan, Zhu Changqing of Huai Fan, and Zhu Yihai of Lu Fan performed well.

But Zhu Youjian didn't pay too much attention to them, because in terms of their abilities, they really didn't deserve his attention.

Compared with them, Zhu Youjian's eyes are mainly on the Armament Research Institute and Yanshan Academy, especially Li Zicheng, Cao Bianjiao and others in this period.

The learning ability and talents they showed are really good, and the majors they chose did not disappoint Zhu Youjian.

They all chose the military...

"In this way, Da Ming has no shortage of generals. What is lacking now is the chief assistant who governs the country..."

Looking at the military newspaper in Yanshan, Zhu Youjian sighed, then frowned and recalled the farce of the past two months.

Generally speaking, after Gu Bingqian took office, the officials sent down by Qi Wangfu could take office safely, and Cui Chengxiu of the Ministry of Officials did not dare to offend him.

However, after the officials of King Qi's faction were devolved, they were still targeted by local subordinate officials.

Although they don't have military power, they do things like disgusting people wearing small shoes.

But they didn't dare to go too far. After all, the soldiers, horses, and yamen servants were all members of the Qi royal party.

It was Cui Chengxiu, after Zhao Nanxing stepped down, he began to retaliate vigorously against the Donglin Party.

Although under Zhu Youjian's suggestion, Gu Bingqian would protect Zuo Guangdou, Yuan Huazhong and other Donglin officials, but most of the Donglin officials were dismissed and exiled by Cui Chengxiu and Wei Zhongxian by various means such as framing.

The situation changed from what Zhu Youjian originally thought about Donglin and the eunuch dog to bite the dog, to a situation where the eunuch defeated Donglin.

If things go on like this, I'm afraid the Qi Royal Party will collide with the Eunuch Party...

Thinking of this, Zhu Youjian began to think in his heart how to use the accounts left by San Niangzi to bring down the officials of the five parties of Qi, Chu, Zhejiang, Xuan, and Kun who were hidden among the eunuchs after sweeping the north.

But just as he was thinking, Lu Wenzhao showed embarrassment, and directly knelt on the carriage and said:

"Your Highness, I have something to hide from you..."

"Huh? What?" Zhu Youjian frowned at Lu Wenzhao's behavior, and Lu Wenzhao also bowed and said:

"Long live left the palace a month ago, and now he has been in the Armament Research Institute for a month..."

Lu Wenzhao said this in embarrassment, but Zhu Youjian was speechless when he heard it.

The situation is so complicated right now, and my brother ran out at will...

"Oh, forget it, when I go later, I'll go and persuade my brother to go back."

Zhu Youjian shook his head, and didn't blame Lu Wenzhao for not reporting it, but looked down at the military newspaper.

Seeing this, Lu Wenzhao carefully got up and sat back in his seat.

The carriage was bumpy, and the distance from the capital to the Armament Research Institute was [-] miles. It took nearly two hours. It would be too fast. Lu Wenzhao could only take a book from the shelf and read it restlessly. .

Time passed little by little, and Zhu Youjian was also reviewing military newspapers little by little.

Compared with the traditional two capitals and sixteen provinces, there are more affairs in the current five-army governor's mansion.

After destroying Hetao and recovering Duogan, the number of idle military horses of the Ming army reached more than [-] horses, and the number of idle horses and draft horses reached more than [-] horses.

At present, the governors of all armies are very aggressive in their demands for horses. The governors of the northern army in Mangui and the governors of the eastern army in Sun Yingyuan are mainly competing for horses, while the governors of the western army and the southern army are mainly competing for horses.

However, draft horses and rough horses, the Northern Army and the Western Army, are all needed in Shangzhi.

Among other things, according to the expedition, a pawn must have at least one rough horse, and a team of soldiers must have at least twelve civilian men and thirty-six draft horses.

Therefore, the competition for horses is more intense in military newspapers.

In this regard, Zhu Youjian still chose to add Shangzhi.

Although the number of draft horses and non-horse horses in Shangzhi has been sufficient for so many years, after the battle of Hetao, the Ming army lost a lot of draft horses, non-horse horses, and army horses.

Therefore, with a swipe of a pen, Zhu Youjian supplemented the more than [-] kinds of horses needed by Shangzhi.

After that, he first met the needs of more than [-] horses of various kinds in the Eastern Army's Governor's Mansion, because after sweeping the north, if he could, he would start to destroy Jianlu after two years of training.

After the allocation, Zhu Youjian transferred the remaining more than [-] army horses to the Governor's Mansion of the Northern Army, and then added [-] draft horses and rough horses.

He transferred the remaining [-] rough horses and draft horses to the Southern Army and the Northern Army Governor's Mansion.

Similarly, in Zhu Youjian's handwriting to Qi Jin, the governor of the southern army's governor's mansion, he asked him to prepare to send ten battalions to the south of the old port. From now on, the old port will belong to the defensive area of ​​the southern army's governor's mansion.

After Ye Xianggao's reminder, Zhu Youjian now has more trust in Qi Jin, Qin Bangping and other two generals, but has a little suspicion of Man Gui and the others.

He was going to see if Huang Long could give himself a satisfactory answer after this voyage, if not...

"..." The brush in Zhu Youjian's hand paused, but it did not fall, but hung in the air.

"Your Highness, we are about to enter the way to the Armament Academy!"

Suddenly, Sun Shoufa, who was driving, yelled, and when Zhu Youjian and Lu Wenzhao heard the sound, they immediately put away the paper, pen and ink on the table.

After they finished guarding, the carriage also started to bump up.

Although the impact on the ride is not great, it is obviously not good for official business.

This kind of bumpy feeling made Zhu Youjian glance out of the window, only to see that the dirt road outside the window had constant small ups and downs, which greatly affected the comfort.

"How is Shen Tingyang's cement plant in Jiugang?"

Zhu Youjian asked suddenly, and when Lu Wenzhao heard this, he immediately took out the thick memorabilia about the provinces from the nearby bookshelf, found the old port, and immediately started to read it.

After a few breaths, Lu Wenzhao said:
"Minister Shen has arranged [-] cement plants in various parts of the old port, which can produce about [-] shi of cement per month and employ [-] people, which can almost meet the needs of the old port."

"As for the iron field, according to Your Highness, Political Envoy Shen found roughly [-] gold mines, [-] silver mines, [-] copper mines, and more than [-] large and small iron mines."

"Since April this year, the cement from the cement field has been used on the roads between various iron mines and wharves."

"Shen Buzheng used the rails sent by your Highness, and ordered the blacksmiths to hand-beat the two-way carriage tracks enough to lay fifty miles."

"According to the news from Nanzhen Fusi, the gold produced in Jiugang this year will not be less than [-] taels, the silver will not be less than [-] taels, the copper will not be less than [-] jin, and the iron will not be less than four Million catties."

Lu Wenzhao uttered a long list of words, but at the end he hesitated for a while and said:

"However, the expenditure of the old port is also very large. This year, the local gunpowder field consumed more than [-] million catties of gunpowder, and the Kunlun slaves below were exhausted to death of no less than [-]..."

"Understood, there is no need to say more about such things in the future." Hearing Lu Wenzhao's words, Zhu Youjian ordered like a normal person.

The industrial system of Old Port was written by Zhu Youjian to Shen Tingyang, telling him how to do it.

From the looks of it right now, Shen Tingyang seems to be doing a good job, and the millions of Kunlun slaves in the old port are enough to cope.

Zhu Youjian is not worried that the old port will become independent overseas after it flourishes, because all he wants is local resources.

The cement construction in the old port is firstly for the local mining industry, and secondly for the scribes to try their hands on using the old port first, and then return to Daming to build the cement plant after they are familiar with the process.

Gold, silver, copper and iron...

These are all things that Ming needs. Silver, gold, and copper can all be reserved for future currency reforms, and the resources in Nanyang are enough for Ming to use for hundreds of years.

"How many captives are there in the southwest? Has Hong Chengchou started the construction of the cement plant and the mine?"

Zhu Youjian leaned against the carriage with his eyes closed, the old god was there.

Hearing this, Lu Wenzhao also took out the documents of Yunnan, Sichuan, and Guangxi to look at, then nodded and said:
"There are more than [-] family members of the prisoners of war. Except for the female family members who were rewarded as soldiers, the remaining [-] males were filled into the cement yards and mines built by the scribes of the old port."

"Currently, there are [-] cement plants, which were only put into production in the middle of last month. According to the report a few days ago, these plants produce more than [-] shi of cement every day, and there should be about [-] shi of cement in a month."

"Some are missing..." Zhu Youjian couldn't help interrupting when he heard this, and then thought about the distance and time of the sea route from Luzon to Guangxi, and then he said:

"There should be more investment in cement plants in Luzon. There should be hundreds of thousands of Kunlun slaves on the big island in the south. It will not be a problem to build hundreds of cement plants."

"The cement that Lu Song couldn't digest was sent to Guangxi, and Hong Chengchou used it to build roads from Guangzhou to Guilin, Lianzhou Prefecture to Guilin, Lin'an Prefecture, and Kunming."

"Then order and grant Hong Chengchou the economic strategy of the five southwestern provinces, and coordinate the five provinces of Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan, Guizhou and Guangdong."

"Yes!" Lu Wenzhao responded, and at this time Sun Shoufa who was driving also said:

"Your Highness, the Armament Academy has arrived!"

Not long after he finished speaking, the carriage stopped, and when Lu Wenzhao saw this, he opened the door of the carriage. The hundreds of days guard cavalry on both sides were vigilant, and Zhu Youjian also got out of the carriage.

The Armament Research Institute, because of its important location, could not be too far from the capital, so Zhu Youjian placed it in Mentougou to the west of the capital.

This place covers an area of ​​more than [-] mu, and the city is two feet high and four miles long. Except for welcoming students who graduate every year, the gate of the city is not opened all year round.

The Daxing Camp in the capital was transferred here by Zhu Youjian to be in charge of guarding it, and the entire city was as solid as gold.

"Dengdengdeng..."

With the pulling of the Qianjin gate, the city gate gradually opened, and Zhu Youjian also walked into the city under the escort of the Xiao cavalry guards.

Except for the city wall, the Armament Research Institute in the city can be said to be a piece of white land, only the center of the central axis has a mansion covering an area of ​​more than [-] mu.

This mansion is the current Armament Research Institute, and in the future, as the number of staff in the Armament Research Institute increases, the number of buildings in the city will gradually increase.

"Your Highness is a thousand years old!"

When seeing Zhu Youjian coming in person, the two teams of soldiers and horses guarding the gate of the general courtyard sang loudly, and Zhu Youjian nodded slightly, and then walked into the general courtyard.

"Your Highness..." The clerk of the Military Armament Academy who had been waiting for a long time came to meet Zhu Youjian, but Lu Wenzhao saw that Bi Maokang did not come in person, so he couldn't help frowning and said:

"Where is Bi Shilang?"

"Bi Shilang, Song Yuanwailang, and Sun Shilang are correcting the blunderbuss, so they can't come to greet His Highness, Your Highness, please forgive me..."

The scribe hurriedly confessed his crime, but when Zhu Youjian heard about the gun chariot, he frowned and said, "The gun chariot?"

"Yes, it's the gun chariot!" Speaking of the gun chariot, the scribe's eyes lit up, and then he led Zhu Youjian to the interior of the general courtyard.

Bypassing the promenade and the courtyards for research, Zhu Youjian saw many Yanshan students during the period. They were all studying some of the theories left by Zhu Youjian, and even beat them by themselves.

Their treatment was very good. Zhu Youjian gave them the official position of doctor of the Eighth Rank and Five Classics, with a salary of [-] taels per year. To conquer a theory, each team was rewarded with [-] taels.

Therefore, they were very grateful to Zhu Youjian, so when they saw Zhu Youjian passing by, they put down their things and bowed to each other.

"Study carefully, don't be too polite." After caring about everyone, Zhu Youjian continued to walk towards the place where the scribe led the way.

While they were walking, after about a cup of tea, they finally came to an empty courtyard, and in the courtyard, more than a dozen people of different ages in ordinary clothes were fiddling with something...

Zhu Youjian looked at this thing, which looked a bit like a wooden broaching bed. There was a steel tie rod slightly thinner than the diameter of the barrel on the broaching bed, and there was a hook-shaped cutter on the tie rod.

"Your Highness Chitose..."

Zhu Youjian hadn't recalled it yet. At this time, his temples were graying, and an ordinary-looking old man in his [-]s bowed to Zhu Youjian:
"Your Highness, this is a gun bed that can cut rifling in batches..."

　Second update around four o'clock
　　
　
(End of this chapter)