If I fail to overcome the tribulation, I can only return to the Ming Dynasty and become a prince.

Chapter 54 Building the Canal

With the help of Yang Pu and the help of his fat father, Zhu Zhanchun's military training stall was quickly set up and started to operate.

With the help of Jin Zhong, the Minister of War, all kinds of approval documents and material deployment were naturally smooth. Not only was a land near the river outside Nanjing city approved to build a new military camp, but Zhu Zhanquan also requested craftsmen to cast armor and artillery. All skilled craftsmen were deployed to meet Zhu Zhanchun's needs.

As for the Ministry of Household Affairs, perhaps because of the good relationship between Zhu Zhanquan and Xia Yuanji last time, the payment of various money and food was also very smooth. In addition to the jade and medicinal materials for refining jade medicine, Zhu Zhanquan wanted various things. In addition, Xia Yuanji picked the best ones from the Ministry of Revenue warehouse and sent them to Zhu Zhanqun.

It has to be said that in-kind tax also has the benefits of in-kind tax. At least when a large amount of materials need to be allocated, they can be transferred directly from the warehouse instead of purchasing.

From the perspective of mobilizing supplies, this is indeed much more convenient and relatively saves money.

After all, these materials are theoretically taxed by the court, which saves a lot of "middleman price difference" compared to buying them from merchants.

After getting what he needed from various warehouses of the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Household Affairs, and the remaining medicinal materials, jade and other items, Zhu Zhanquan took the craftsmen assigned by the Ministry of Industry to the land approved by the Ministry of War and began to build the military camp. .

Nanjing City has had a large number of military camps and garrisons since Zhu Yuanzhang began to build it. After all, Zhu Yuanzhang was not the emperor of the entire Ming Dynasty at that time. Nanjing was his base camp, and it was normal for a large number of troops to be stationed there.

After Zhu Di and Jingnan came to the throne, a large number of Jingnan soldiers and horses were stationed in Nanjing, which not only occupied the original military camps of the Nanjing garrison, but also required the expansion of many new military camps.

The world only knows the Jin Yiwei, but they don't know that there are 26 guards who belong to the Emperor's personal army like the Jin Yiwei, and the Jin Yiwei is just one of them.

It is conceivable that with so many troops stationed in Nanjing, the good places in the city had already been occupied by the generals when Jingnan conquered the city.

Therefore, the land granted to Zhu Zhanquan by the Ministry of War was in Jiangning County outside the city, close to the Yangtze River. Next door was the famous Longjiang Shipyard, where Zheng He built treasure ships.

Zhu Zhanchun is still very satisfied with this piece of land. In addition to the flat terrain and convenient land and water transportation, what makes Zhu Zhanchun most satisfied is that the military camp is next to the Yangtze River. He can use the river water to build hydraulic workshops to produce swords and armors. and muskets and artillery.

Zhu Zhanjun did not need to do the specific planning of the military camp himself. The officials and craftsmen sent by the Ministry of Industry were all experienced veterans. He only needed to make a request, and they would naturally know what to do.

It's just that Zhu Zhanchun's request can't help but make the officials of the Ministry of Works speechless, because in addition to normal military camps and workshops, Zhu Zhanchun also asked the Ministry of Works to help plan a canal!
Of course, it is not a national project on the level of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, but a small canal to divert water from the nearby Qinhuai River for use by workshops.

There is no problem in building such a canal for the future use of the foundry. However, this is not the configuration that a military camp should have, so officials from the Ministry of Industry did not dare to make a decision. They just helped Zhu Zhanquan plan and sent people Go back and report to Song Li, Minister of Industry.

Song Li served as an official during the Hongwu period as a supervisor of the Imperial Academy. He went through official positions such as Shanxi's Ancha Si, Chief of the Household Department, Shaanxi's Ancha, Yuanwailang of the Criminal Department, and Minister of Rites. In the second year of Yongle, he was an old official who paid homage to the Minister of Works. Therefore, He did not directly regard Zhu Zhanchun's request as a child's nonsense, but carefully read the military camp plan and report sent back by officials from the Ministry of Industry before reporting the matter to the emperor.

Although building a small canal is not a big deal, it is not a small matter that does not need to be reported.

You must know that the military camp selected by Zhu Zhanquan is next to the Longjiang Shipyard, and next door is Dinghuaimen and Wai Qinhuai. The construction of the canal in this place involves Nanjing's urban defense issues.If you don't report it to the emperor, if you are investigated later, it will be a minor matter. Anyone who has experienced the Hongwu Dynasty knows that the emperor really likes to chop off his head when he is unhappy.

Although Zhu Di didn't like looking at heads as much as his father, Zhu Yuanzhang, he still had a lot of chops when he was in trouble!Everyone had some psychological shadow in their hearts, so Song Li did not dare to make the decision without authorization and give it to Zhu Zhanqun for approval.

Even if the emperor has ordered officials from various ministries to cooperate with Zhu Zhanquan in training troops, the money to build a canal is not small money, and the emperor may not approve it.

Sure enough, the matter was not beyond Song Li's judgment. After Zhu Di saw that Zhu Zhanyu said that he wanted to build the canal, he was a little reluctant to let it go.

It's not that I'm reluctant to build the canal, but I think it's not worthwhile to spend so much money just to train a guard horse.

Zhu Di himself knew the military, so he naturally knew how much it would cost to train a guard and horse. The things Zhu Zhanquan asked for from the Ministry of Household Affairs and the Ministry of War were quite reasonable. Although some things were a little more expensive than Zhu Di estimated, they were not. Exceeded his expectations.

But a canal is an overrun in any case. It can even be said that the money spent to build this canal is enough to train another guard horse.

So Zhu Di couldn't help but murmur, feeling that Zhu Zhanquan was far better at spending money than his father, Zhu Gaochi.

"Did that brat Zhan Yun tell you why he wanted to build this river?" Zhu Di refused deliberately, but was worried that this might be a necessary expense for Zhu Zhan Yun's military training, so he asked Song Li about the specific situation.

Since Song Li wanted to report to the emperor, he naturally investigated the matter, so he said: "Back to the emperor, His Highness the Second Emperor Sun said that the new army uses new training methods and military formations, and the weapons and armor used are much the same as the equipment in the army today. are different and need to be manufactured separately.

This canal is for workshops. He plans to build a water forging workshop for making armor and cannons. The new workshop will use new techniques, which can greatly shorten the time for making armor, muskets and cannons, and improve the efficiency of making ordnance. efficiency.

If this canal is not built, the workshop can still operate, but compared to borrowing water power, the efficiency will be [-]% lower, and the cost of producing weapons and armor will also increase by [-]%. "

Hearing Song Li's answer, Zhu Di's eyebrows suddenly wrinkled.

This is not because he was dissatisfied with Zhu Zhanjun's desire to make weapons and armor. The Ming Dynasty's garrison system allowed each garrison to make its own weapons and armor. Although the Yongle period had basically been unified by the central government, it was also true that Zhu Zhanchun wanted to make his own weapons and armor. That makes sense.

What Zhu Di struggled with was whether it was worthwhile to spend money to build a canal.

Finally, after careful consideration, he said to Song Li: "He can be allowed to build it, but the court will not allocate funds and will not collect corvees. The Ministry of Industry will only give him a workshop to build the canal. Let the brat figure out his own solution for the canal."

(End of this chapter)