prosperous age

"With 60,000 troops attacking the Japanese, is the shipping fleet sufficient for transportation?"

Zhang Ke looked at Yu Dayou and Xu Qiaoan and asked.

Since learning that the cabinet intended to attack Japan, Zhang Ke, like Wei Guangde, carefully studied the course of the two Mongol Yuan naval expeditions and summarized the lessons learned from their failures.

In both amphibious operations, the Mongol Yuan dynasty was poorly prepared. They provided enough transport ships for their soldiers, but the supplies they carried were pitifully small.

Such operations, if they are surprise attacks, can also maintain supplies by plundering when the enemy is unprepared, thus sustaining the war effort through warfare.

However, if the enemy is prepared and adopts a scorched-earth policy, continuing in this manner could very likely lead to defeat due to insufficient supplies.

The so-called typhoon only accelerated this process.

The typhoon disaster caused significant losses of food and supplies. Commanding officers were indecisive and even deserted their posts, lacking the determination to seize large cities and replenish supplies in one fell swoop.

In fact, the first Mongol invasion of Japan was the most likely to succeed, but because a Japanese daimyo led his troops in a desperate charge, the Mongol generals made a misjudgment, believing that the Japanese resistance would be very strong, and changed their mind from "quick war" to considering a long war.

This was the biggest mistake of the first Mongol invasion of Japan. If they had pressed their advantage, the main force of the expeditionary force would not have been destroyed by the typhoon.

Zhang Ke inquired about the navy's transport capacity not only because he wanted to send the 60,000 troops prepared by the Ministry of War to Japan in one go, but also because he wanted to bring enough food and other military supplies for three months. This was no small matter in terms of maritime transport capacity at that time.

Zheng He's fleet was less than half the size of this number; the entire fleet was built using the resources of the entire nation.

"Some of the navy's Fujian ships are still anchored in the camp. This year, I will arrange for people to maintain them and select sailors so that they can provide some transport capacity for the army."

If that's still insufficient, large and medium-sized Fujian-style ships from Daimao City, Jiugang, and even the Western Fleet should be recalled to strengthen the navy's transport capacity.

Yu Dayou stood up and clasped his hands in greeting.

Although the Western Sea Fleet is one of the Four Sea Fleets, due to its special location, it is actually completely dependent on the South Sea Fleet.

The Ministry of War also explicitly stated in its earlier document on the establishment of the West Sea Fleet that it would be under the command of Yu Dayou, the Admiral of the South Sea Fleet.

After the North Sea Fleet is established, it will most likely become a vassal of the East Sea Fleet and be subject to its control.

"During wartime, the navy can requisition merchant ships anchored at ports such as Yuegang and Songjiangfu to transport supplies, with the imperial court paying the transportation fees."

Wei Guangde said, "For ships that refuse to be requisitioned, the court will revoke their permits and prohibit them from engaging in maritime trade."

Upon hearing this, Tan Lun looked at Wei Guangde, seemingly wanting to say something but then stopping himself.

Ultimately, however, he didn't say a word.

In ancient times, it was quite normal to conscript manpower and resources from the people when fighting wars. During wars, large numbers of laborers would be conscripted to undertake the task of transporting supplies.

Horse-drawn carriages and other means of transportation used by civilians would also be requisitioned, and if there were waterways, civilian boats would naturally be included as well.

Tan Lun thought that those who owned ships and their licenses were all wealthy and powerful, and that rashly conscripting them might cause them to be dissatisfied.

However, after considering the significance of this battle, he chose to remain silent.

Both the Grand Secretary and the Second Grand Secretary were in charge of "collecting money" for the court, and the boat licenses, in the end, were also used to collect money for the court.

As long as they agree, the palace's stance will be very clear.

In such an environment, those people dared not cause any trouble.

The next step involves specific implementation measures, including the navy calculating the carrying capacity of ships such as Fujian ships in advance, and the Ministry of War roughly allocating the ships needed for transporting troops and grain.

These are just preliminary plans; actual implementation should begin in the second half of next year.

However, the Embroidered Uniform Guard needs to strengthen its intelligence gathering on Japan, especially the time it takes to send back intelligence, in order to ensure the timeliness of the intelligence.

After leaving the Ministry of War, Wei Guangde did not rush back to the cabinet to handle official business, but instead had him carried to Chongwenmen Inner Street.

At the intersection of Chongwenmen Inner Street and East Chang'an Street, in a street-facing location belonging to Chengqingfang, the Wei family acquired more than a dozen shops of various sizes in one go, along with the courtyard behind them.

This is naturally the location where Wei Guangde built the Western-style buildings in Beijing.

Mario and his apprentice Panpassatanani surveyed the stone mountains near the capital and, after determining the type of stone, produced a design blueprint for a five-story building.

On the east side of the building, there will also be a clock tower that is seven stories high.

Mario doesn't need to worry about the clock tower; he just needs to build it in a standard, conventional way.

In fact, before leaving the Ministry of War this time, Wei Guangde had already spoken to Yu Dayou privately, asking him to contact the clockmakers in Haojing to see if they could come directly to the capital and make the clock for him.

Naturally, Wei Guangde would provide them with travel permits to ensure the safety of the watchmakers as they traveled to the capital.

The entire project is scheduled to begin construction early next year. However, apart from the shops facing the street which will remain open until after the Lantern Festival before being demolished, the demolition and foundation work for the others have already begun.

The prepared stones were also brought into the city in batches and stored in those places.

This is absolutely the largest project in Beijing since the construction of the capital, second only to the construction of the outer city wall during the Jiajing reign.

The large amount of stone was transported and installed entirely by manpower. Wei Guangde even considered that people would enter the city through Chaoyang Gate to avoid wandering around the outer city.

Wei Guangde came here this time to check on the preliminary preparations.

The architecture of the Ming Dynasty was very different from that of Western architecture, so the two masters and apprentices had to keep a close watch on it to ensure that no mistakes were made.

At the same time, it also serves the purpose of on-site inspection and improvement of design drawings.

When you reach the end of East Chang'an Avenue, you've arrived at your destination. The area is bustling with people and vehicles, and you can't tell that it will soon become a large construction site.

There was a barrier at the entrance of an alley between the two wooden buildings, prohibiting unauthorized personnel from entering.

Wei Guangde's sedan chair was parked outside the barrier. The lowered barrier had long been removed, and Wei Guangde, led by the Wei family steward who came out to greet him, entered the construction site inside.

"Sir, as you wish, the demolished houses should be repeatedly watered. Fortunately, there are three wells in the area, so it's convenient to fetch water."

Inspired by the dust control requirements of later construction sites, Wei Guangde also instructed his Ming Dynasty craftsmen to water the buildings more frequently when demolishing them to reduce dust dispersion.

It does have some effect, at least it's much better than not using it at all.

"Did Mario tell you that the well should be kept for use in cleaning the Western-style house?"

The availability of sweet water in the capital of the Ming Dynasty was limited, so the people drank spring water from the mountains on the outskirts of the capital. Ordinary people in the capital drank river water, which gave rise to water workers who delivered water to various markets and wards of the capital every day.

Such expensive water is certainly not suitable for sweeping or cleaning.

Therefore, the salt water from the bitter wells in the city is the best water source, which can save a lot of water money every year and avoid waste.

“I’ve already said that Mario has marked the locations of the wells and said he will build them into separate water houses to ensure that the well water is available,” the steward hurriedly said.

These are all things that cannot be conceived through mere brainstorming; only by putting oneself in the shoes of others and adapting to local conditions can the most perfect solution be found.

The surroundings looked very messy, with collapsed walls, scattered piles of wood, and broken tiles, as if the place had just experienced a catastrophe.

In one corner, a group of people gathered.

"What's going on over there?"

Wei Guangde pointed at the group of people and asked.

"That's Mario's apprentice, Panpassatanani, leading a group to build the sewers."

The manager hurriedly replied.

"By the way, have any people from the Daxing County government come to check?"

Upon hearing about the sewers, Wei Guangde immediately took it seriously.

Don't assume that just because Beijing is under the emperor's nose, every aspect of its design should be perfect. In fact, Beijing's drainage system has always had problems, and there are countless examples of floods in the capital during heavy rains.

Whenever there is a heavy rain, the city walls make it difficult for rainwater to drain quickly, turning the city into a waterlogged mess. In the past, the excrement floating on the water was an eyesore.

Therefore, wealthy and powerful families in the capital would often build small hills in their courtyards and construct pavilions on top of them to avoid such weather.

Ordinary families, if they have the means, will build pavilions to shelter from the rain.

During the Longqing era, Wei Guangde made great efforts to coordinate with Daxing County and Wanping County, along with the Ministry of Works and Street Office, to dredge the water channels within the city. This resulted in the completion of the sewer system along the main street of the city, which was paved with stone slabs and regularly cleaned.

Strict regulations were imposed on horse-drawn carriages and mule carts traveling in the city, requiring that manure collection bags be hung on the mules and horses. Some surplus soldiers from the Beijing garrison were selected to be responsible for street cleaning, and manure carriers were arranged to not only transport manure out of the city but also take out all the garbage in the city. Only then did the city of Beijing become clean and tidy as it is today.

At first, the merchants were very unhappy about having to pay for cleaning, but over time, the effects became apparent. The capital city was transformed from a place littered with excrement and urine and extremely smelly. Now, no one resisted, and it became easier for the county officials to collect cleaning fees from door to door.

Now, anyone who enters Beijing will give a thumbs up and praise, "It truly deserves to be called the premier city under the emperor's feet."

When the European envoys entered Beijing before, they looked around everywhere and kept taking notes.

It can be said that Beijing was absolutely the most livable place in the world in this era.

This set of materials has been compiled into a book and distributed to various prefectures and cities. Nanjing, Fengyang, Tianjin and Songjiang prefectures have also begun to take action, cleaning up city streets, dredging drainage ditches and establishing urban sewer systems, just like the capital.

Because of the city walls, the sewer system in Beijing could not be built like the massive underground city systems in Europe, where a person is taller than you.

Occasionally, heavy rains can cause drainage problems, resulting in severe flooding in some sections of the road, but the situation is much better than before.

"We've already looked over and are preparing two drainage ditches, one leading to the Imperial River and the other going out through the Chongwenmen underground ditch. Right now, Panpasatnani is supervising the craftsmen to build the sewers with Roman mortar."

That thing is sturdy even when used for laying stones; it's very useful.

The Roman mortar mentioned by the steward is not modern cement, but a cement-like substance widely used in 16th-century European architecture. It is made of a mixture of lime and volcanic ash and is a type of ancient cement.

The volcanic ash was brought from Datong; it took a lot of effort to find it.

After all, Mario and his crew wouldn't use traditional Chinese building materials, such as the kind of mixed materials like lime, yellow mud, and glutinous rice mortar, or the kind of three-in-one soil made from lime, clay, and fine sand.

They still prefer to use traditional Roman mortar from Europe, and this material is indeed very good.

Roman mortar has been used in the West for a long time and has good strength and waterproof properties, but it cannot resist the erosion of seawater. Modern cement was developed by engineers to solve the problem of building lighthouses by the sea.

"Hmm, where's Mario?"

Wei Guangde then asked.

"In that room over there."

Although the buildings behind were mostly demolished, three main rooms were left as office space. When Wei Guangde went in, he saw Mario sitting around a table, sketching with a ruler and occasionally doing some simple calculations on a blank sheet of paper next to him.

Beside him, several young craftsmen were diligently learning Mario's drawing methods and pondering the reasons behind his style.

Mario certainly wouldn't tell them the secrets of the design. In fact, Westerners are no less stupid than the ancient Chinese. In China, there's a saying that teaching a disciple can lead to the master's starvation, and there are customs like passing on knowledge to sons but not daughters. In Europe, there are similar practices.

Everything is something they have to figure out on their own.

Wei Guangde had anticipated this and was not surprised.

The wages he paid did not include training fees, so Mario was certainly not obligated to impart any knowledge.

"Mario, how's the revision of the blueprints going?"

Wei Guangde walked over and asked.

"Lord Wei, the modifications to the underlying layers are almost complete. I still need to double-check them to avoid any oversights."

With the help of an interpreter, Wei Guangde began to communicate with Mario.

Because the well needs to be preserved, the design purpose of three locations needs to be changed, while minimizing alterations to the supporting columns to avoid requiring redesign of the upstairs area.

Wei Guangde stared at the blueprints. The blueprints of this era were much simpler than those of later generations, and the knowledgeable Grand Secretary Wei could still roughly understand them.

"Mario, your design is very good, especially the overall appearance of the building. I am very satisfied with it."

Wei Guangde first offered a compliment, then continued, "But don't you Europeans consider toilets in your architecture?"

Ming dynasty architecture emphasized the hierarchical system and the symbolism of imperial power. Toilets were considered to potentially undermine the overall solemnity of the architecture, especially in the design of royal palaces where spiritual symbolism was prioritized over practical function.

However, while simple toilet designs gradually appeared in folk architecture, especially in the late Ming Dynasty, the imperial palace and large official buildings continued the tradition of not having toilets.

Of course, there were no toilets at all; rather, long arched passageways were built outside the buildings, such as along the sidewalks outside the palace walls.

He installed these things in both the front and back courtyards of the Wei residence; it's for convenience. It's impossible for such a large building to have a toilet-less design.

Public toilets built by the government have been established throughout the city, located on various streets, in order to prevent the recurrence of scenes of excrement and urine being scattered everywhere.

Mario was taken aback by Wei Guangde's words. Just like in the Ming Dynasty, Europe at this time did not incorporate toilets into house design. They were all temporary or independent outdoor facilities built outside the house and would never be mixed with the main building.

"Does Lord Wei have any objections? I've noticed that in the Ming Dynasty, toilets are also placed in wooden huts built outside."

Mario asked, puzzled. (End of Chapter)