Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

Since the imperial court established a customs office in Tianjin and made it the maritime trade center of the north, Tianjin has prospered visibly.

The Navy Office is also located here, and naval warships often travel here.

On this day, a fleet arrived off the coast of Tianjin. They looked tattered and seemed to have suffered a shipwreck.

When the people on the boat saw the coast of Tianjin, they couldn't help but shout, rejoicing that they had returned to the Ming Dynasty.

Standing on the boat, Shang Kexi recalled with emotion his experience of exploring North America.

As a subordinate of Mao Wenlong, he didn't know how the emperor knew his name and transferred him out to be in charge of the navy's exploration fleet.

After helping Prince Qing explore the route to the Ice and Fire Peninsula last year, they took a ship this year and followed the archipelago in the east to explore North America, which was named by the emperor.

Along the way, they encountered danger several times and lost several ships. Even he himself almost couldn't come back.

Fortunately, the results of the exploration were good. After they arrived in North America, they found the Yukon River mentioned by the emperor along the coastline, and successfully discovered gold in the upper reaches of this river.

Shang Kexi came back this time to report the good news to the emperor. His achievements this time may earn him a title.

Thinking of the emperor's promise before departure, Shang Kexi said:
"Bring out the charts and the gold, and follow me to the Navy Office."

"The others will rest in Tianjin for a few days, waiting for the imperial court's reward."

After getting off the ship, Shang Kexi rushed to the Navy Office with the nautical charts he drew along the way and the gold he picked up from the Yukon River.

When he got off the boat, he found that the Tianjin dock was obviously better. Not only was it built bigger, but the ground was also leveled with cement.

The ground is so flat that many dock workers no longer carry cargo on their shoulders, but instead use carts to stack standard cargo containers.

There were even some large boxes that were lifted by the workers using a pulley system, directly from the ship to a four-wheeled carriage, and pulled out by horses.

This made him sigh that Tianjin was becoming more and more prosperous, and he wondered how much customs duties he could collect.

"The more tariffs there are, the more money the navy will spend."

"Next time we go out to sea, we must bring a few large boats suitable for ocean voyages."

Thinking about this, Shang Kexi was most thankful that he was assigned a large sailing ship for this voyage. This type of ship, which imitated the Manila sailing ship, was very suitable for ocean voyages.

Shang Kexi figured out many of the ship's designs that he had not understood before during this voyage, and wrote suggestions for improvement in accordance with the requirements of the Ship Research Institute.

He hoped that he could bring a few more large boats with him next time he went out to sea, so that the ocean voyage would be safer.

With this matter in his mind, Shang Kexi quickly arrived at the Naval Office.

As one of the highest-level government offices in Tianjin, the Navy Government Office has been built into a very magnificent building three years after its establishment in the city.

Admiral Yu Zigao often worked here, and would only go to the capital when the court needed him.

Upon learning that Shang Kexi had returned from his exploration of North America, Yu Zigao immediately put aside other matters and personally came out to greet him:

"You've been gone for almost a year!"

"The Emperor thought you were in danger and ordered the navy to send a ship to search and rescue you."

"Tell me, how is the exploration of the North American route going? What difficulties did you encounter?"

Obviously, he could tell from Shang Kexi's tattered clothes that this exploration of the North American route had been a difficult one, and there was even a possibility that the exploration would fail.

However, Shang Kexi's answer gave him a big surprise.

Shang Kexi opened a black box with a key and reported:

"This is the black box on the admiral's flagship. It contains a complete logbook and navigation route."

“The route to North America is recorded here.”

This was a system set by Zhu Youjian, modeled after the black boxes of later aircraft and ships. Each ship was required to record the navigation log and route, which would be copied by a special person every day and put into a black box to determine the ship's navigation track.

If a ship encounters a shipwreck, we must try our best to salvage the black box to determine the cause and responsibility of the shipwreck.

The Navy strictly enforces this system, and falsifying records will result in trial by military court.

After Shang Kexi returned to the Navy Office, the first thing he did was to hand in the black box to prove that he had completed the exploration mission.

Yu Zigao flipped through the records and found out that the route to North America was recorded here. Just as he was delighted, he heard Shang Kexi say:

"We also discovered the Yukon River that the Emperor spoke of, and the gold in the upper reaches of the river."

"Admiral, look, this is the gold that was mined from the upper tributaries of the Yukon River."

"That river is indeed full of gold mines, just as the emperor said. The whole river is golden, and gold can be easily mined."

He opened another box and showed Yu Zigao the large pieces of gold nuggets and gold sand he had washed out from the river.

When Yu Zigao saw the bright yellow gold, his eyes lit up immediately, because he knew that the emperor sent Shang Kexi to explore North America in order to look for gold.

He originally thought it was a fantasy, but he didn't expect Shang Kexi to actually find gold. And judging from the gold nuggets he picked up and the gold sand he fished out, this gold mine was very large and easy to mine.

This made him smile, and he was also shocked by the emperor's prediction:

"Your Majesty, you are truly blessed by Taizu and Chengzu!"

"Otherwise how do you know where the gold is?"

He patted Shang Kexi and laughed:

"Good! Good!"

"General Shang has made great contributions."

"I will now recommend you for merit and bring you to the capital to see His Majesty."

He immediately sent a carrier pigeon to the capital, requesting to be allowed to attend an audience with the emperor.

As a general from outside the province, Yu Zigao could not enter Beijing at will. But he was actually an official of the Navy Department, so it was very easy for him to enter Beijing. As long as he reported in advance, there was basically no problem.

After receiving the application, the Navy Department in the capital quickly replied in agreement. At the same time, the matter was reported to the emperor, asking him to arrange a time.

Zhu Youjian, who was in the palace, soon learned the good news. He was so happy that he also smiled and ordered:

"Ask Yu Zigao and Shang Kexi to come to the capital and see him immediately."

"Also, the entire exploration team will be awarded an additional three years of collective merit, and each member will be promoted one level and granted the status of a public official."

"We will give each of you 10 silver dollars from the inner treasury to enjoy a holiday in Tianjin."

"The rest of the rewards that should be given will be arranged by the Privy Council."

The return of the North American exploration team made him realize that the development of North America could be put on the agenda.

Not to mention other places, the gold mines in the Yukon River can be mined vigorously.

The Governor's Office of North America must also be established from now on, and will first be responsible for gold mining.

The choice of this governor made Zhu Youjian hesitate:

"It's not easy to choose the Governor General of North America!"

"This person must be able to lead troops and be willing to go overseas."

"The most important thing is to be honest and bring the gold back."

There were very few officials in the court who met this requirement, and most of them had already been used by Zhu Youjian.

Now he doesn't even know who to send to North America to be responsible for the strategy of this place.

"If it really doesn't work, then we can only leave it vacant and send a eunuch from the inner court."

"If nothing else, they can at least guarantee their loyalty."

"Many of those eunuchs in the eunuch party want to get a chance to be reinstated."

"Ge Jiusi and others have gone overseas and beyond the Great Wall. They should also be willing to go to North America."

Order the Imperial Household Department to immediately select eunuchs to see who is willing to go to North America.

At the same time, word spread in the imperial court, asking the ministers to recommend a candidate for the Governor of North America. (End of this chapter)