The First Gongsheng of Ming Dynasty

Chapter 435 Creating Productivity
Zhejiang, Haining Acropolis.

When the courtiers thought that Zhang Zhou was escorting the crown prince north to succeed Ma Wensheng as Minister of War, Zhang Zhou turned south and took Zhu Houzhao to Hainingwei to participate in the foundation laying of the "Jiangnan Shipyard".

In addition to Tang Yin and Xu Yu, who were destined to participate in the great cause of "Jinghai", there were also the new Nanjing garrison officer Zhu Fu who came here on his own initiative, as well as some local officials, Haining Wei generals, etc. , there are also a few special personnel, besides Xu Jing who has always been a follower, there are also three new "disciples" of Zhu Houzhao, Sun Che, Gong Yeping and Hu Feng.

"Sir, it's a big boat, can I go up and have a look?"

When Zhu Houzhao arrived at the beach, he got excited and pointed at the ships moored in the sea, excitedly.

The shipyard hasn't been built yet, but the ships are there.

Daming had sea-going ships in the south of the Yangtze River. Before Jiajing, the shipping department of Daming City had close contacts with small countries in Southeast Asia. Daming also built some sea-going ships for Jinghai, but each ship was over 40 years old. The old boat, even though it has been refurbished, still gives people a feeling that it will fall apart when the wind blows.

Without Zhang Zhou's reminder, Yang Peng on the side reminded: "Your Highness, you can't get on the boat, it's dangerous."

Zhu Houzhao said with disdain: "Just on the coast, how dangerous can it be? Besides, with so many people, even if I fall into the water, can I still drown?"

Zhang Zhoudao: "Prince, do you still remember that I told you that there is a flood in your life?"

"Cut..." Zhu Houzhao was sullen.

Xu Yu strolled over and said, "Grand Lai, what are you planning to do with this boat? You don't want to use this boat to take back so many islands in the sea one by one?"

Zhu Houzhao said: "I answered for my husband. He wants to send a ship to the ocean. It seems to be in the east, far, far away. There is a piece of land with all kinds of treasures on it."

"Hehe." Xu Chu could only respond with an embarrassed yet polite smile.

Zhang Zhoudao: "This ship is used as a shipbuilding model, but the ship's sides are not rigid enough and need to be further improved. I have already asked Your Majesty that Hainingwei will be the center of Ming's shipbuilding in the south of the Yangtze River, and will be built here every year in the future. Dozens of ships, large and small."

After hearing this, Xu Wu couldn't help but look at Zhu Fu who was aside, probably asking Zhu Fu to raise difficulties.

But Zhu Fu turned his head away, as if he didn't see his hint.

Xu Wu could only say in person: "It's not that the old man poured cold water. This boat costs at least 8000 taels of silver. It's still an ordinary boat. I haven't transferred money and food to build a boat for many years. If I build dozens of boats a year ...Then...doesn't it mean that four or five million taels of silver should be prepared for shipbuilding at least a year?"

Zhang Zhou sighed, "You make a lot of sense."

Xu Wu was taken aback, and Xu Wu felt a little flattered by Zhang Zhou's praise that he was reasonable.

"I also know that it is impossible for the imperial court to allocate too much money and food, so we can only use local materials..." Zhang Zhou pointed to the sea in front of him.

Xu Wu asked, "Fishing?"

But Zhu Houzhao also pointed to an area of ​​white flowers not far away and said: "Sir, what is that? It's shiny, is there still silver produced here?"

Following Zhu Houzhao's opening, all the people present followed his finger and looked at a beachhead in the distance.

But on a wide beach, there are puddles filled with sea water, and the puddles are connected in threes and fives. The further you go, the water seems to be less, and under the sunlight, the reflection Shines silvery white.

Xu Jing said at this time: "This is what Master Zhang proposed earlier. The place where the sea salt is dried by the beach drying method is to use the terraced fields by the sea to send the sea water to a high place by water truck, and then step by step. Somehow it flows from a high place to a low place...the more it flows down, the whiter the salt that can be precipitated in the water, which is comparable to the best well salt."

Hearing this, Xu Chu's face was full of embarrassment.

In the Liangzhe Salt Fields of the Ming Dynasty in Zhejiang Province, salt was boiled by stove households, that is, salt was boiled with firewood. As for the method of drying salt since ancient times, there were too many impurities in the dried salt, and the drying cycle of salt exceeded ten years. It is difficult to guarantee that there will be no weather changes for more than ten days, so that the method of drying salt has not been promoted.

The beach drying method is said to have been first promoted and used by the Fujianese in the Changlu Salt District in 1522.

In the early Qing Dynasty, in the Hangu salt area, it was invented to use two willow buckets to lift sea water.

In 1844, Jiaozao households in Zhixian County, Ninghe County, used water trucks to lift water instead of two willow buckets. Cooked instead.

Yang Peng asked: "Are there saltworks and kitchen households in Hainingwei?"

Zhang Zhou said with a smile: "No, I'll use a member of the military household to cooperate with the people recruited from the local area, and open a small salt field by the way. I will produce and sell it myself to solve the cost of the shipyard. Because of insufficient preparation, and many things are too late. I need to sit in the town in person, and it will not be implemented until this year, isn’t it just completed, and I will come over to supervise it in person?”

Yang Peng said: "It's just such a place, I'm afraid there won't be much salt. If it's windy and rainy, it will all be ruined."

Zhu Houzhao curled his lips and said, "Will it rain today?"

The biggest problem in Jiangnan is the rainy season, but now it is October in the lunar calendar, and there is very little rain.

And the principle of the beach sun method is to build three to five pools, and send the seawater to the highest pool first, and when the sun reaches a certain level, impurities with low solubility, such as sediment and calcium sulfate, will be separated out first. .

After reaching a certain degree of saturation, dig the edge and let the brine enter the second pond, wait for a few more days, and then go down one by one... Finally, send it to the crystallization pond.

The sea salt obtained at that time is no longer the ordinary sea salt obtained by drying in the sun or decocting.

In the past, the salt obtained by the sun-dried salt method was not good, because all the impurities were together after the sun-dried salt method, and it would be strange if the salt could be cured.

Some "industrial products" needed by Zhang Zhou can still be left in the bittern of salt dried by this method. Zhang Zhou will also let people re-dry them and transfer them to other places for the production of chemical raw materials. .

"It's just a small project, earning some money to make up for the shortfall, but it makes everyone laugh." Zhang Zhou said with a smile.

Xu Yu said: "Mr. Lai Guo wants to preside over the salt administration. At most, he will mention it to His Majesty. It's okay to hand over the salt fields in Zhejiang and Huaihe Rivers to you. Do you have to find another way? I'm afraid I can't do much with this amount of manpower. thing."

Zhang Zhou said with emotion: "After all, I am not in charge of the affairs of the salt farms. No one will be convinced if I take over the salt farms. Daming's salt production is so much, and there are still many princes and nobles occupying their nests, so much salt. The merchant’s salt quotations can’t even be exchanged. The Northwest military supplies of the Ming Dynasty also depend on the income from these salt quotations, so I’d better be more practical and try it myself first.”

Xu Jing couldn't take it anymore, he said: "The ones that come out in the sun are all good salt."

Zhang Zhou said with a smile: "That's right, when you go back, each of you will give a few bags of salt, and it will be my gift. Try it out."

Except for Sun Che and the others who are probably rare in those few bags of salt, the other people present are all from officialdom. There is no place for grievances.

In Ming Dynasty, because they couldn't afford salt, they ate "coarse salt" obtained from seawater sun-dried salt, and there were not a few people who were poisoned, got sick and left sequelae, and even died because of it.

……

……

Zhang Zhou will stay in Hainingwei for two days.

The main thing is to call craftsmen and hold a shipbuilding mobilization meeting. He will provide the blueprints. In addition, Tang Yin will supervise the repairs. As for Xu Jing, he is currently only responsible for drying the salt.

In addition, Zhang Zhou still has a task to complete, which is to teach Zhu Houzhao to swim.

Be prepared.

"Sir, can I really float in the water? That's so interesting." Zhu Houzhao is still quite enthusiastic about swimming.

But since ancient times, there have been very few kings who knew how to swim, and two emperors of the Ming Dynasty died of illnesses caused by falling into the water.

And in front of Zhang Zhou, there was one standing alive.

Zhang Zhoudao: "If you drown, you will be able to swim. If you learn how to swim, at least you can get some chances of survival in the face of water disasters, and you won't choke on the water. First, suffocate in the water for twenty counts."

Zhang Zhou is like a strict swimming instructor, guiding Zhu Houzhao to dive.

Yang Peng quickly pulled Zhang Zhou's clothes and said, "Mr. Lai, it is too dangerous for the prince to enter the water."

Zhang Zhoudao: "The water in this pool has been tempered, and it has not reached his waist. Are you worried that he will get a cold, or that he will be drowned?"

"Hehehe...it's no good, just a few counts." Zhu Houzhao poked his head out of the closed "swimming pool".

Zhang Zhou said: "Continue to practice, I will teach you the essentials, and today I will treat you as a bath! Add two buckets of hot water for him."

Zhang Zhou also lamented that it is very troublesome to teach the prince to swim. If Zhang Jun wants to practice, he can throw people into the water directly, no matter what the weather is outside, now there are actually a group of people around a brat.

Zhu Houzhao spent a whole day, from the beginning he liked to go into the water, and later he didn't want to go into the water when he was killed.

In the end, I barely learned... dog planing.

Zhang Zhou also wanted to teach the boy some swimming postures, but he also found that the boy's skin was a little wrinkled, and it was almost as good as he could learn the same.

"Leave back to Beijing tomorrow, and arrange a car to drive." Zhang Zhoudao, "Call the men who lead the troops over, and I will draw some maps for you. I will follow the route to go to sea in the future, and I will follow my advice!"

……

……

Zhang Zhou currently only has a slightly larger sea boat on hand.

Going directly to America is obviously beyond the mission of this ship, so let's go to Southeast Asia first, and bring back some items that don't seem to have much use in this era, but are actually very important to him.

Just as Zhang Zhou was preparing to return to Beijing.

Zhu Youtang fell into a state of desperation again.

The third son of the emperor, who is now the "second" Zhu Houxuan, fell ill. He had a high fever and cried a lot. This made him finally have a "double insurance", and suddenly he was afraid that "all four would be empty".

Because of his son's illness, Zhu Youtang didn't even have the energy to participate in the early court. It was not until the disbandment of the court council that the new household minister, Zhong Zhong, raised a topic that he was slightly interested in: "...Cai Guogong Zhang Zhoushangzuo, with Haining New salt farms were opened around Wei, and hundreds of acres of salt fields were opened by the so-called method of drying salt, and the salt fields were gradually expanded, and the salt produced will be used for shipbuilding and military supply dispatch.”

Zhu Youzhang already wanted to dissolve the court meeting, but when he heard the words, he raised his head, his eyes became brighter and he said: "I have known about this for a long time, and I allowed him to do so."

Zhong Zhong said: "Your Majesty, the coarse salt obtained from sun drying needs to be purified again, which consumes manpower and material resources. If coarse salt flows into the market, it will be the same as private salt. It is really inappropriate to set this precedent."

Zhu Youtang frowned and said: "I have something to do, let's talk about it after Bingkuan returns to Beijing. Retire!"

It is rare to have a new Minister of the Household Department. I didn't expect that he would still oppose Zhang Zhou's proposition at first, so Zhu Youtang would regard him as a "negative model".

He didn't bother to listen to those reasons.

He had to go back to check on his son's condition, and he didn't have time to talk to these people.

……

……

The court was dissolved.

Because of his previous "excellent performance", Zhong Zhong got a good impression from the traditional civil servants when he first came up.

On the way out of the palace, many ministers chatted up with him, and at the same time expressed their dissatisfaction with Zhang Zhou's unauthorized opening of the salt field.

But Zhong Zhong didn't care whether it was appropriate for Zhang Zhou to open a salt farm. He only cared about whether the salt Zhang Zhou used to dry the salt was just for the sake of making money.

So Ji Zhong went to ask the three members of the cabinet for help, but only Xie Qian stopped and listened to what he said.

Xie Qian said with a smile: "I think there is nothing wrong with Zhang Bingkuan's move."

He became an unscrupulous businessman. If something happened and caused public outrage, then we should be happy for it.

Why not let him take the initiative to rush forward and make trouble for himself?Are we still going to stop him?
He Zhong said: "In order to open a salt factory and divert the money that should belong to the treasury for private use, does Mr. Xie Ge think this is appropriate?"

Xie Qian asked in surprise, "Zhang Bingkuan once said that the salt he made doesn't need to be taxed?"

He Zhong thought about it.

It seemed that Zhang Zhou hadn't mentioned it, nor had the emperor mentioned it.

"Hehe." Xie Qian said with a smile, "It's just that Zhang Bingkuan wanted to use Hainingwei to build a salt field and use it to build ships. He also took the matter of drying salt as a simple matter. After he hit a wall, we will have a lot of fun. gone."

Just as he was talking, Ma Wensheng walked past the two of them quickly, as if he was old and strong, and said, "I don't think so?"

Ma Wensheng is still the Minister of the Ministry of War, and the Minister of the Ministry of Officials is still vacant.

At present, Cheng Minzheng is doing the errands of the Ministry of Officials.

Xie Qian smiled and said: "Why do you worry about the sky? I don't believe it. A person will never make a mistake. We don't expect him to make mistakes when he uses troops in the north. Do we expect him to fail in something he is not good at?" A somersault, can't you?"

Ma Wensheng wanted to say that if Zhang Bingkuan dared to do it, he must have such confidence.

But he expected that Xie Qian would never fail to understand this.

When Xie Qian said this in front of Zhong Zhong, it was obviously just a statement on behalf of the cabinet. In fact, did Xie Qian really think that Zhang Zhou would fail?
Ma Wensheng didn't know exactly what Xie Qian was thinking, so at a time like this, he wouldn't make casual comments.

……

……

Beside Qianqing Palace, inside the newly repaired Xinuang Pavilion.

Zhu Youtang, his virtuous concubine, the second prince Zhu Houxuan, and a group of people from the Imperial Hospital are currently treating Zhu Houxuan.

"What's going on? Haven't you figured out what your illness is? Could it be that only when Bingkuan is around can you make a proper diagnosis?"

Zhu Youtang didn't have a good temper with the imperial physicians.

The hospital envoy Zhong Lan has retired, and I heard that he died of illness immediately after returning.

But now the envoy of Tai Hospital is Wang Yu.

Wang Yu was very fond of drilling. In the fifth year of Hongzhi, he submitted a petition to be promoted to a court judge. He was impeached by the famous minister Wang Shu, who said that he was "uneasy about his position and wanted to be promoted. It is unreasonable and unacceptable to discuss the law." In history, in July of the 12th year of Hongzhi, he got his wish and got the position of Tongzheng Shiyou Tongzheng and the judge of Taiyuan Hospital.

But because of Zhang Zhou's presence, the Taiyuan Hospital has been almost stagnant in the past two years, and Wang Yu has only replaced Zhonglan as the hospital envoy until now.

The emperor's attitude towards the imperial hospital in front of him is very telling.

Seeing that his superior did not speak, the court sentenced Liu Wentai to step out and say, "Your Majesty, the second prince has prescribed the right medicine, and I believe he will recover soon."

Liu Wentai is also a "ruthless person".

He was the key person who put to death the two emperors, Xianzong and Xiaozong. When Xianzong died, his crime was not serious, but he was just demoted to an imperial doctor, but Xiaozong went too far. Xiaozong just went out of the city to pray for rain in the 18th year of Hongzhi, and it really rained It rained a little, and it took only nine days from the onset of illness to death... In the summer, he was given the "medicine for great fever", which caused Zhu Youtang to have a nosebleed on the spot, and a minor illness directly became a national funeral.

If Liu Wentai had said that before, Zhu Youtang might have believed it.

But without contrast there is no harm.

Zhang Zhou can even cure smallpox, just to make a disease that spread in China a few years ago disappear, and you, Liu Wentai, are still here saying that it will be cured soon?Believe me!

"I don't care about it! Go study Bingkuan's book now!"

With that said, Zhu Youtang took out the baby care manual left by Zhang Zhou, and asked Li Rong to pass it over.

Several people from the hospital were very embarrassed.

We treat people's diseases, but we actually depend on other people's prescriptions?Your Majesty really doesn't give face.

But due to the emperor's will, they could only acquiesce, and went back to "research" with the pamphlet.

……

……

Zhu Youtang was upset.

Over there, the Empress Dowager Zhou called him over, probably to ask about her great-grandson's condition, so Zhu Youtang patiently went to see him.

The Empress Dowager Zhou screened everyone around her away, and then she asked her grandson solemnly, "Emperor, you didn't notice anything strange about the prince's illness, did you?"

Zhu Youtang was taken aback.

He seemed to understand what the Empress Dowager Zhou meant.

"The Ai family doesn't like to maliciously speculate on others, but there are some things, it's better to be on guard. It may also be that the Feng Shui of the palace is not good. Your child is too sick. It seems that only the prince..."

When the Queen Mother Zhou said this, she might feel that it was not good to continue this topic, and sighed softly, "It's your fault if you pay Bingkuan. You also know that he can do everything. But you don't know, Bingkuan Did he count the fate of the little prince?"

Zhu Youtang thought about it, Zhang Zhou really never mentioned that the child would have any illness.

"Imperial Grandmother, Bing Kuan once said that this child is something beyond my destiny. For him, maybe even destiny is unpredictable." Zhu Youtang said.

"En." The Queen Mother Zhou nodded, "Don't worry too much, it will always be better. You have to work hard too! If you have more children, why worry so much?"

(End of this chapter)