I am Emperor Wanli

Chapter 941: Strange Ship Emitting Black Smoke
Nanwang Lake is actually divided into three lakes: Nanwang Lake, Shushan Lake and Mata Lake.

The canal flows down from Guangping Lake, first passing Mata Lake, and then passing through the middle.

The lake to the west of the canal is called Nanwang Lake, and the lake to the east is called Shushan Lake. There are many small rivers connecting the three lakes.

The three lakes have a combined area of ​​97 square kilometers, of which Nanwang Lake accounts for half of the area and now belongs entirely to Nanwang Lake Farm.

The surface area of ​​Shushan Lake is not as large as that of Nanwang Lake, but the area around the lake is covered with mud flats where reeds grow lushly for more than ten miles, like an endless forest.

Deep in the reed marsh, there were more than forty small boats hidden. Kong Xiuwen, Chen Daya, Tong Xiucai, Liang Dongliang and more than four hundred followers were sitting on the boats.

There was silence all around and the water was as calm as a mirror.

The sudden cry of the bird is like a stone hitting the water, making people feel uneasy.

"Fuck you! I'm going to catch all these birds and pluck all their feathers."

"You idiot, the bird didn't provoke you, why are you playing with the ball?"

"This bird's chirping is making me feel numb!"

Chen Daya came close to Kong Xiuwen and asked softly.

"Boss, why is there no movement? Could it be that the old emperor is a god? There is no definite news."

"There is a definite news! Don't worry."

"Brother, could it be that those people are making random appointments and are unreliable?" Liang Dongliang asked in a shrill voice, "Now all of us brothers are stuck here, it's not a good idea."

Tong Xiucai said: "Don't panic, the sage said, if God wants to give a man a great responsibility, he must first make his heart and mind suffer and his muscles and bones work hard. We are all people who want to do great things, so what's the point of waiting!
But Boss, if time goes on for too long, something unexpected might happen."

Kong Xiuwen glanced at a few people and felt uneasy.

Assassinating the emperor means the entire nine generations of the clan will be executed!
He talked about clearing out the emperor's entourage and punishing treacherous officials, but he and his confidants knew that these words were meant for those accomplices who were unaware of the inside story, in order to comfort them and give them a reason to persevere.

Kong Xiuwen and his confidants knew very well that the actual target was the incompetent and immoral Emperor Wanli!

If the news of this leaked out, the life that had been escaped with great difficulty would probably be ruined all over again.

"I have sent someone to inquire about it, and there should be a reply."

After more than two hours, a speedboat finally quietly rowed into the reed marsh.

"Boss, something bad has happened."

"what happened?"

"The emperor did not come to Nanwang Lake, but went to other places instead."

"Oh why?"

"I do not know."

"Where did it go?"

"I do not know either."

"How can you be a spy if you don't know anything?"

"Boss, I'm just a spy, not a know-it-all!"

The spy spread his hands, feeling very aggrieved.

Kong Xiuwen was so angry that his veins were bulging. He raised his foot and wanted to kick the spy off the boat, but he was wearing Confucian clothes and almost fell off the boat with one step.

"Boss, I have found out some news."

"what news?"

“People at Nanwanghu Farm said that the emperor would come again, but it was just postponed.

But I don’t know when it will be postponed to.”

Kong Xiuwen waved his hands irritably, "Get out! Get out! Get out!"

Tong Xiucai stroked his rat-like beard and said, "Brother, maybe the Emperor Wanli went somewhere else for something and was delayed.

But Emperor Wanli is stubborn and will not change his mind easily. He said he would come to Nanwang Lake, so he will definitely come to Nanwang Lake. Let's wait a few more days."

Kong Xiuwen thought about it, but he had no idea what to do. "We can wait a few more days. We just have to stay here to avoid being noticed and alert the enemy."

Chen Daya said with a bitter face: "Brother, if we stay here all the time, what will we do with food and drink? We haven't prepared anything in advance."

"Send someone to buy secretly," Kong Xiuwen instructed, "Don't go to the nearby town. The town is so small, buying food for 400 people will definitely arouse suspicion. Go to Jining Prefecture to buy it."

"Brother is really thoughtful!"

"Brother, you are so smart and wise, you are worthy of being the Zhuge Kongming of the Ming Dynasty!"

Zhu Yijun left a large group of troops and slowly moved south along the canal. Accompanied by Yu Dayou, the right servant, military governor and governor of the Navy, Xiao Wenkui, the right servant, military governor and chief of staff, Li Chao, the military governor and deputy governor of the Navy and deputy chief of staff, as well as Song Gongliang, Xue Yi and others, he took a horse-drawn carriage back to Jinan, and then took a special train along the Jijiao Line. After six and a half hours of driving, he arrived at Qingdao Port.

At Qingdao Port, he reviewed the Third Patrol Fleet of the Gyeonggi Patrol Maritime Command.

The Jingji Patrol Maritime Command and the First Patrol Fleet were located in Qinhuangdao Port, and the Second Patrol Fleet was located in Liaodong Nanpu Port.

Also reviewed were two motor-sail battleships that had recently returned from sea trials and officially joined the Third Patrol Fleet.

This was an improvement on the Class A battleship, reducing some artillery and configurations, and adding a Gonggong III marine steam engine and a Shenbi II marine transmission system to drive two sets of propellers at the stern.

It can reach a speed of twelve knots when there is no wind and no waves, and a speed of twenty knots when there is a favorable wind and favorable water.

In addition, the outer shell of the motor-sail battleship was covered with a two-centimeter-thick zinc-iron alloy skin, which increased its defense by 120. Riding on the Endeavour, a 3,500-ton motor-sail battleship, under the escort of four battleships and ten frigates, Zhu Yijun braved the wind and waves and headed north.

The feeling of the motor-sail battleship is still not as good as that of the steel monster dreadnought-class battleship.

But now that the Ming navy has developed to this point, it is already invincible in the world, so just hold on.

When those Western countries were trying their best to catch up and thought they were on par with the Ming Dynasty, we took a step forward and they fell behind again.

When they have exhausted their national strength to catch up, we take one more step forward, causing them to fall behind again.

If we control the pace well, after a few walks they will definitely become desperate and behave themselves in the world order established by the Ming Dynasty.

Either sitting at the dining table or at the dining table.

At present, only the Ming Dynasty is sitting at this big dining table in the world, and the rest of the countries are on the menu.

Let’s order slowly!

In the sea southeast of Yanzhen Island (Shidao Bay) in Jinghaiwei, the imperial fleet met with the first squadron of the Xuanwu Fleet that was ordered to come to greet them.

Zhu Yijun observed on the Endeavour a fleet consisting of six Class A battleships and twelve Class B battleships conducting artillery exercises on the sea.

The sound of the cannons was like thunder, shaking the entire East China Sea.

Under the escort of the first squadron of the Xuanwu Fleet, the imperial fleet bypassed Chengshan Cape and arrived at Weihai Port.

This is the starting point of the Ming Dynasty’s new navy and is currently the main port of the Xuanwu Fleet.

The advance detachment of the Qinglong Fleet's rotation fleet returning from Genzhou anchored here.

In the Ming Dynasty's naval sequence, the Qinglong Fleet is the strongest, accounting for one-third of the four major overseas fleets.

The second is the Suzaku Fleet, which is responsible for the South Pacific region, from the Sam Po Strait to Guixu Island (New Zealand); the third is the White Tiger Fleet, which is responsible for the Greater South Ocean.

The weakest is the Xuanwu Fleet, which is responsible for the outer waters of Gyeonggi Province, from the east of Busan Port to the North Pacific region of Huangzhou (Alaska).

Since the Qinglong Fleet is stationed thousands of miles overseas all year round, rotation is necessary.

One third of the headquarters will be rotated every three years, and the entire headquarters will be rotated every five years.

The Azure Dragon Fleet rotates its warships back to the home port for a half-year break, and then is assigned to the Black Tortoise or Suzaku Fleet. Three years later, it is rotated to the White Tiger Fleet.

The rotating warships that replaced the Azure Dragon Fleet were all drawn from the Black Tortoise and Suzaku Fleets. Basically, a mature naval officer would serve in the two fleets from the beginning of his service until he could retire after fifteen years.

Naval officers can retire after serving for fifteen years. Almost one-third of them will choose to retire and then join various shipping fleets and become captains of armed merchant ships.

At Weihai Port, Zhu Yijun met with the naval officers and soldiers who had rushed back from Genxunzhou and awarded them the Sail Medal.

All officers and soldiers on naval warships who have been stationed overseas for more than five years will receive such a medal.

Overseas service only counts if you are stationed in Southeast Asia, the South China Sea, and the Atlantic Ocean.

From the Sanbao Strait to Guixu Island, all are considered the domestic territory of the Ming Dynasty. Patrolling and stationing in this area are considered domestic service.

Zhu Yijun also obtained a detailed report on the development of Gen and Xun continents written by several important ministers of Liang Menglong.

We need to select a group of capable officials to replace them.

Starting from the fifth year of Wanli, 350,000 men and women from the Ming Dynasty immigrated to Genxunzhou over a period of five years. All of them were recruited from Shaanxi, Shanxi and the south of the desert.

In contrast, during the past five years, the Ming Dynasty has sent more than 2.6 million immigrants to the South China Sea region. Now even Guixu Island and Fuso Islands have opened ports and stationed personnel.

Honolulu in the Fuso Islands has now become the most important transit port in the Pacific Ocean and is thriving and growing prosperous.

Zhu Yijun inspected Weihai Port.

He had always wanted to come here since it became the first main port of the new Ming Dynasty navy, and today he finally got his wish.

After a day of inspection, Zhu Yijun, Yu Dayou and his entourage took a special train back to Jinan along the Jiwei Line that evening.

The Jiwei Line runs along the northern side of the Shandong Peninsula, passing Ninghai (Muping), Qishan (Yantai) to Penglai County, the seat of Dengzhou County.

There is Dengzhou Port here, which has a shipping route to Jinzhou.

Once the Shenjin Railway is completed, Central Plains and Shandong can reach the hinterland of Northeast China directly through this land-sea transport line.

At the same time, Dengzhou Port is also the main port of Shandong connecting Pyongyang County of Liaodong Provincial Administration and Hanyang County of Xiongjin Provincial Administration by sea.

Zhu Yijun inspected here for a day, and then the special train continued its journey westward.

Passing Huangxian, Laizhou County's county seat Yexian, Changyi County, return to Weixian, then the Jiwei and Jijiao lines merge into one, continue westward, pass Qingzhou County's Changle County, county seat Yidu County, Jinan County's Zhangqiu, and return to Jinan city.

Zhu Yijun did not get off the train at Jinan Station. He just changed the locomotive, added water and coal to each carriage, carried out routine inspections, and then rested for 35 minutes before continuing south.

The special train continued southward, passing Tai'an and arriving directly at Rencheng Station in Yanzhou County.

Zhu Yijun got off the train there, took a horse carriage to Jining, took a grain boat north, and met up with the southern tour team at Nanwang Lake Farm, returning to his previous southern tour plan.

After inspecting Nanwang Lake Farm, Zhu Yijun and his party continued to travel south by boat along the original route, inspecting Zhaoyang Lake Farm on the border of Shandong and Jiangsu, and then went straight to Xuzhou.

Along the way, he also inspected the operation of the canal.

It was just that Zhu Yijun suddenly changed his mind and took six days to visit Qingdao and Weihai. This change caught many people off guard.

That morning, a fleet of ships rumbled into Mata Lake. There were six ships in the fleet, and they looked very strange, with a long chimney in the middle, emitting black smoke.

It had no sails or oars, but it was as fast as a galloping horse, and for a moment the people on the grain boats and merchant ships were astonished.

(End of this chapter)