Daming: At the start of the showdown, Lao Zhu was stunned

Chapter 47
Just when Zhu Su and Zhu Biao brothers were choosing their servants, in Jinshen Palace, Emperor Hongwu Zhu Yuanzhang summoned the officials of Zhongshu Province, Liubu and the Metropolitan Governor's Mansion to discuss a major event.

"Your Majesty, you... want to train an elite navy?" Liu Bowen, the banner figure of the Qingliu faction, was stunned and wanted to rub his ears to see if there was something wrong with them.

Behind him, the officials of the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Households were even more surprised and looked at each other in blank dismay.

"That's right. Let's think about it, this sea area is also my Daming territory. How can I abandon it at will."

"Although there were one or two Japanese riots, how can we abandon the sea and the territory because of a few Japanese pirates?"

"Please, Your Majesty, please think again!" The Minister of the Ministry of War straightened his knees and knelt down to Lao Zhu. "The Northern Expedition has a new defeat, Yunnan is not peaceful, and Tubo and Xifan are ready to move. It is really inappropriate to provoke war again."

"What's more, my Ming Dynasty has a lot of coastal areas, and there are coasts everywhere. It's not like the north has many geographical advantages to rely on. The forbidden sea can barely support itself. If you gather troops in one place and take the initiative to attack, the vast sea will have nowhere to find enemies. , if the enemy bandits take advantage of the vacancy and enter, it will be a big disaster in an instant!"

"Besides, the Japanese are just one or two outlaws, and their country hangs alone in the vast sea. If our army marches to conquer them, it only takes one or two storms, and the whole army is in danger of being wiped out."

"This is a quagmire! Your Majesty!"

The Minister of the Ministry of War cried blood.

"Hmm." Old Zhu hesitated.It's not like he doesn't know that although Daming is mighty now, there are still barbarians in the west and south.

But the "God Seed" that Zhu Su mentioned was like a carrot hanging in front of Lao Zhu's eyes, which tickled his heart.

"We don't want to start a war, but we just want to train a navy to explore the sea route for us..." Lao Zhu tried to persuade these ministers, but he couldn't tell the matter about the "God Seed". Those ministers will definitely think that he wants to learn from Qin Shihuang and go to find some Penglai fairy mountains.

In two days' time, the prophecy that Daming will die in the second generation will start to circulate in the court.

So I had to choose to be unreasonable.Old Zhu waved his sleeves and said forcefully: "My intention has been decided! You don't need to say more."

Seeing that the emperor started to address him as "Zhen", the ministers understood his determination.The Minister of the Ministry of War looked at Hubu with a tangled expression.Ask him with your eyes: Your Majesty organizes the navy, do you pay for it?
The Ministry of Accounting has a fart of money, and the Minister of the Ministry of Accounting, who had just replaced Haiyuan for a few days, looked helpless. He walked to the Minister of the Ministry of War with a bitter face, and knelt down towards Lao Zhu with a "slap".

The two old men knelt side by side, the meaning was obvious.

This job can't be done!
It's really not that the two of them put eye drops on the emperor. The newly appointed Minister of the Ministry of Households managed to get away from Haiyuan. The family was still playing and beating last night. How could he have the courage to disobey the emperor as soon as he took office?
In fact, this work is beyond the ability of the imperial court.Rather than waiting to be decapitated for not doing a good job, it's better to be slapped by Lao Zhu right now!
Lao Zhu is a handsome man on land, but he really doesn't understand the twists and turns on water.The army on land can at most be a sign for poor people, distribute some rice and noodles as military rations, scrape together some ordnance, and send a good general to train for a few days, and it will be considered an army.

But how can it be so easy for an army on the water?Then build a ship!What the emperor wanted was a ship that could go to sea.

It also has to be built tall and thick so that it can withstand the wind and waves.God, where are they made of wood? All the boats are made of silver!

This can't be blamed on Zhu Yuanzhang for being unrealistic.After all, today's Daming Navy is actually picked up off-the-shelf.

When he was still in Haozhou in the past, the Chaohu navy came to seek refuge with Lao Zhu, and Lao Zhu directly picked up a ready-made and prepared navy.It directly owns the second largest naval fleet in this era.

It is also because of the Chaohu Navy that Lao Zhu has the capital to compete with Chen Youliang on the water.Otherwise, Lao Zhu's men don't even have a few decent boats, so what kind of water battle is going on at Poyang Lake!

After defeating Chen Youliang with fewer victories and more defeats in Poyang Lake, Lao Zhu directly incorporated the remnants of Chen Youliang's navy, and in one fell swoop had the most powerful navy of this era.Then Lao Zhu destroyed Zhang Shicheng again, and even directly incorporated the navy with sea-going ships under Zhang Shicheng's subordinates who could go to sea.

It can be said that today's Daming Navy has never built a single ship by itself, and it is all based on wars.Lao Zhu himself didn't know that boats cost a lot of money, so it was only natural.

It wasn't until the founding of the People's Republic of China that the Ministry of Households calculated the assets of the imperial court, and they realized that every boat in the navy was outrageously expensive!

Just like this, most of the boats are wandering in the river, and the existing seagoing boats are just a little out of the sea.

If you want to go ocean, you have to build another big ship!
Lao Zhu's goal was the American continent. From the map, the distance was shocking, so he ordered the Ministry of War to build a treasure ship that was even bigger than the existing sea ships.

The Ministry of War and the Ministry of Finance just got together, and after a rough estimate, only one ship would cost at least 8000 taels of silver!

That's all, it's just the money for a single ship, not counting various supplies, equipment, weapons, military pay, and other bulky miscellaneous items.The silver in the Hongwu period was not in the late Qing Dynasty when the large-scale import of silver caused severe inflation.

At this time, silver is still very purchasing power.At this time, the taxation of the imperial court was still mainly grain collection, silk, cloth, porcelain, etc. could all be taxed, and silver only accounted for a small part.

But even if all the grain, silk, cloth, porcelain, etc. collected in a year are converted into silver, it will be more than 300 million taels!
play?If all the money is used to build the navy, should the court be transferred?

Hearing the grievances poured out by the officials of the Ministry of Household and the Ministry of War, Lao Zhu rubbed his brows with a headache, raised his head suspiciously and asked:

"It's just to build a few ships. Is it really so expensive?"

"Your Majesty! How many heads does this old minister have, how dare you use this to lie to you?" The Minister of the Household Department almost confessed his will on the spot.

"The imperial court is in a difficult situation now, and it is absolutely impossible to spend this sum of money, Your Majesty!"

"Hmm..." Old Zhu's face sank like water.He didn't expect that it would cost such a high price just to send a few ships across the ocean to try to verify the existence of "America" ​​and "God Seed".

Before, he still thought that Daming had a vast land and rich resources, and he would never worry about money shortage, but only lack of food.

Now he suddenly felt that Daming was indeed too young.The foundation of the family...is not strong enough!
I need to buy more property... The old farmer Zhu Yuanzhang thought with a headache.

(End of this chapter)