Emperor Ming Dynasty

Chapter 484 The Ship and the King

After comforting the two daughters and a son and a daughter, the emperor returned to the palace, and it was already late at night.

And early in the morning, Huang Zongxi and Zheng Sen came to the palace, waiting to perform their duties.

Unexpectedly, when the hour of Chen arrived, the eunuch notified: "Your Majesty was too tired yesterday, you two will stay here for a while, here are some refreshments, please enjoy them—"

In astonishment, the two had no choice but to sit down and have some tea.

As a living man, there is this advantage, you can enjoy the food of the palace at will, and have a little leisure time.

I don't know how long it took until the lunch was served before the little eunuch spoke, and the emperor got up.

Zheng Sen had no choice but to write: I was bothered yesterday, and I will get up at noon...

When the two met the emperor, they no longer had the same red robe as yesterday, but wore a cloak and a single shirt inside, looking chic and unremarkable.

Quietly waiting for the end of the emperor's meal, followed closely, if not for the clothes, he would be exactly the same as an ordinary eunuch.

Emperor Zhu ate the after-dinner snack freely, and when he saw the two people coming, he restrained himself a little.

"Let's go, let's go play outside the city today—"

After saying that, they changed into their regular clothes, and the two had no choice but to keep up.

"This trip has something to do with your Zheng family."

At the request of the emperor, the three got into the carriage together.

Although they were in micro-services, the total number of people and horses exceeded a thousand, and they were heading out of the city in a mighty manner. The emperor looked at Zheng and Huang with nervous expressions, and couldn't help saying.

"Xiaochen?" Zheng Sen hesitated, then bowed his head hurriedly.

"When you leave the palace, don't be too polite."

Zhu Yixi waved his hands, letting the two of them relax slightly.

Seeing that the emperor was so gentle, Huang Zongxi opened his mouth, but stopped talking.

Zheng Sen, who was on the side, saw it, and it suddenly dawned on him.

Before they could open their mouths, Emperor Zhu himself said: "Don't talk about the world's heavy burdens, precious things, etc. I told the cabinet about this trip, and I won't be afraid of being seen in the history books when I bring you out."

Then, he continued the topic just now: "This time we are going to the shipyard."

Shipyard?
The two of them were inexplicable, they didn't know what's so good about building a ship, but they didn't dare to ask, they could only hold it in their hearts.

I don't know how long it took before the carriage barely stopped.

The three got out of the car and saw two huge ships.

One of them is roughly in the shape of a lucky boat, in the shape of a man with a big belly, about [-] materials ([-] tons), and the scale is very large. The sail is in the style of a Westerner, and two cannons are added to each wing, which is a combination of Chinese and Western.

The other one is smaller, only [-] materials ([-] tons), which is almost the same as the Spanish galleon. It is a large three-masted sailing ship with two decks.

It carried five cannons on each wing, with rams at the bow and one cannon at the stern.

"Western ship?"

Zheng Sen was taken aback, and couldn't help blurting out.

"Yes."

The emperor said with a little excitement: "Since last year, I have asked the craftsmen to renovate the lucky boat, install some artillery, etc., and then let the craftsmen build the ship together with those shipwrights hired from Macau."

Zhu Yixi pointed to the Chinese and Western Fuchuan on the left and said:

"This is a cargo ship, roughly in the shape of a blessing ship, but it has adopted the advantages of Franji's sails and cannons. Its size is [-] materials, which is enough to serve as a sea tanker."

"The other is a frigate, which can also be called a battleship. It is completely imitated from the Fran robot, and it is [-] materials."

"With these two kinds of ships, why worry about poor shipping?"

Speaking of this, Zhu Yixi suddenly asked again: "Zheng Sen, you should be familiar with shipping. How many Western ships does your family have?"

Zheng Sen was taken aback, and said: "Your Majesty, my family is mostly used for business. This kind of Western ship costs tens of thousands of taels, but it is equivalent to ten Daming Fu ships, so my family only has two or three captured ships."

"And this kind of ship needs a lot of artillery, and it also needs skilled sailors. Whether it's artillery or sailors, my family always lacks..."

Zhu Yixi shook his head slightly and stopped talking.

In the final analysis, it is still a question of cost.

Just like the firearms in the Ming army, no matter how good the Lumi blunderbuss are, they can't stand the cheapness of the bird blunderbuss, so they can only be equipped with shotguns on a large scale.

And it's the same at sea, Zheng Zhilong relied on the large-scale blessing boat, and the ants killed many elephants. At present, Galen's boat is not high enough to overthrow the advantage of the number of people.

But in the [-]th and [-]th centuries, this method did not work. A salvo of hundreds of cannons at one time was enough to kill an entire colony of ants.

For Zhu Yixi, anything that can be solved with money is nothing.

The cost of a lucky boat with 3000 materials is only about [-] taels. The labor is cheap and the wood is expensive. It can deliver [-] taels of grain in one trip. If the wood is not hard to find, he really wants to build a hundred or so ships, and the water transportation can be completed in a few trips. Mission gone.

"Master should be rich in wood, right?"

Suddenly, Zheng Sen was caught off guard, and heard the emperor's question again, he couldn't help but said: "You have a lot of wood——"

"That's fine."

The emperor nodded: "Let the Ministry of Industry hand over to your family!"

Huang Zongxi was a little confused, where is the boss?How to ask Zheng Sen, is there a Zheng family that the court does not have?
After careful inspection, Zhu Yixi was quite satisfied, and when he was about to leave, there was a sudden sound of hurried footsteps.

Soon, there was a burst of inquiries.

"Your Majesty, there is news from the Ministry of Industry that Mr. Wang has fallen..."

Tian Ren came in small steps and said in a low voice.

"Huh?" The emperor frowned, and said incredulously, "Why did you fall all of a sudden?"

As she said that, she was in a hurry: "Quick, go to Wang Lao's mansion—"

The frame of the carriage lifted up, the guards and eunuchs felt the wind under their feet, and Zheng Sen and Huang Zongxi also quickly chased after them, but their faces were covered in dust.

"Brother Zheng?" Huang Zongxi was surrounded by circles, his mouth was full of dust.

"Why are you standing still, chase after—"

Zheng Sen ran away, waving the pen and paper in his hand, desperately chasing after him.

Huang Zongxi was chasing after him with a big beard and a toga, suffering unspeakably.

After a while, the two cavalry turned back and took the two of them directly onto the road. Obviously, the emperor thought of them.

When they arrived at the palace, the carriage slowed to a stop.

Because of his contribution to equipment, Wang Yan was also named a baron by the emperor, and he was named Jingyang Nan after his hometown Jingyang.

Therefore, it is not a house but a mansion.

As soon as the carriage stopped, Zhu Yixi jumped suddenly, and ran into the mansion amid a burst of concern from "ancestor" and "grandfather".

As soon as I was admitted to the hospital, I smelled a strong herbal smell again.

"His Majesty--"

When everyone in the mansion saw the emperor, they immediately knelt down and wept.

His adopted son even knelt beside the bed and called: "Father, Father, Your Majesty has come—"

"Your Majesty?" Wang Yan woke up quietly, his slightly parted lips were completely opened, a little saliva flowed out, and the emperor's face appeared in front of his eyes.

"Kui Xingong, I'm here!" Zhu Yixi held his hand tightly, trembling in his words.

"The veteran was born in the fifth year of Longqing (1571), and grew up in the Wanli period. He witnessed the prosperity of the Ming Dynasty to its decline. Unfortunately, he didn't know much about it. He was able to become a Jinshi in the second year of Tianqi, and he believed in Nestorianism..."

Wang Yan's lips parted slowly, almost chanting word for word.

(End of this chapter)