Ming Dynasty: Ask Zhu Yuanzhang to abdicate at the beginning

Chapter 126: What is Lao Zhu's deep meaning? The tide of the times, hidden worries!
Tianjie Temple, whose full name is "Tianjie Shanshi Temple", is commonly known as Tianjie Temple.

At that time, there were many temples in the world. In order to facilitate management, the Ming Dynasty court established the Five Mountains and Ten Temples General Administration.

The Tianjie Temple is ranked above the Five Mountains and Ten Temples, and governs all monks and nuns in the world.

In his early years, Zhu Yuanzhang became a monk at the Huangjue Temple in Fengyang. After he ascended the throne, he inevitably treated Buddhist temples differently.

A few years ago, a fire broke out in Tianjie Temple, burning down many houses.

For this purpose, Zhu Yuanzhang specially took money from the treasury to rebuild it, which shows how much he valued it.

In order to manage monks and Taoists throughout the world, Zhu Yuanzhang set up the Monks Registration Office under the Ministry of Rites to manage Buddhist temples throughout the world; and also set up the Taoist Registration Office to manage Taoist temples throughout the world.

Among them, the Taoist Records Office was located in Chaotian Palace, and the Buddhist Records Office was located in Tianjie Temple.

The Monks Registration Office was a sixth-rank government office, under which were positions such as the Left and Right Shanshi, the Left and Right Chanjiao, the Left and Right Jiangjing, and the Left and Right Jueyi, and eminent monks were selected to hold such positions.

As a result, Tianjie Temple became the first Zen temple in the Ming Dynasty.

It was no small matter for the emperor to leave the palace to worship Buddha.

Early in the morning, the Imperial City Administration, the Embroidered Uniform Guard, and other imperial guards imposed martial law on the streets that the emperor would pass through and cleared out any idlers.

Officials in the DPRK were also deeply shocked.

Since the last assassination of King Wu, Your Majesty has been staying in the deep palace for a long time, claiming that he has not recovered from his illness, and has not met with officials or taken care of state affairs. However, I didn't expect that he would have to leave the palace to worship Buddha today.

Could it be that Your Majesty's health has recovered?
Then is it still necessary for King Wu to be regent?

Many high-ranking officials in the court went to visit him, but they were all stopped by the Embroidered Uniform Guards.

Old Zhu doesn't want to see anyone.

Even to Wu Wang Zhu Yunhuan, a special decree was issued, allowing him to concentrate on handling state affairs and not to go to the emperor for an audience.

This immediately left the court officials a little confused.

I always feel that there must be a deeper meaning behind the Emperor's move, but after thinking about it, I still don't know what it means.

……

Ming Manufacturing Bureau.

Zhu Yunhuan arrived here early in the morning.

"Your Highness, the workshop of the Manufacturing Bureau outside the city is now under construction and is expected to be completed in two months."

Zhao Rui reported to him the progress of various tasks.

The headquarters of the Ming Manufacturing Bureau is still in Jinling City, not far from the Prince Wu's Palace.

But Zhu Yunhuan had a far-sighted vision and knew that the scale of the Ming Manufacturing Bureau would continue to expand in the future.

At this time, we must lay a solid foundation and prepare for future development, and we must establish new workshops.

"Have you made any progress on the things I asked you to study?" Zhu Yunhuan asked calmly.

"Yes!" Zhao Rui's face showed an extremely excited look.

Then he asked the craftsmen to bring a bag of things.

"This is the cement that Your Highness mentioned."

“It is made after repeated testing and calcination by craftsmen.”

"The servants used it to pave a short section of the road. It is extremely strong. After it is formed, it is like rock. It can also stick together bricks, making them inseparable. It is very useful and can be called a magical object!"

The cement was made so quickly?
Zhu Yunhuan was slightly surprised.

The use of cement has a very early history in human beings, and can even be traced back to ancient times before Christ.

But its development has gone through a long historical process.

Although modern cement and ancient cement have the same name, they are actually two completely different things.

Zhu Yunhuan had only a rough understanding of cement and was not familiar with the specific production methods.

Therefore, when asking the craftsmen to make cement, I only gave them a general explanation and let them try the specific method themselves.

I thought it would take a long time to try, but I didn’t expect it to be done so quickly.

Zhao Rui brought Zhu Yunhuan to the road they paved with cement.

Zhu Yunhuan picked up the hammer and knocked it hard, but there was no crack at all. It was indeed extremely solid.

"Not bad!" He was delighted: "Being able to produce cement so quickly shows that you put a lot of thought into it."

"This is all thanks to your command." Zhao Rui smiled and said, "If your Highness hadn't told me, I wouldn't have believed that there was such a magical object in the world, let alone that it was made."

Zhao Rui's admiration for Zhu Yunhuan had already reached its peak.

His Royal Highness the Prince of Wu is simply a god!

It turned out that he had known that such a thing as "cement" existed and even gave instructions on how to make it.

Although it is not detailed and specific, it is enough.

Following the instructions of King Wu, Zhao Rui organized dozens of teams, which worked together to conduct experiments in cement production, and soon produced this magical object.

"Now that cement has been developed, we need to prepare for large-scale production." Zhu Yunhuan instructed, "The newly built Daming Manufacturing Bureau will just use this batch of cement."

"Besides that, the research and development of cement must continue and cannot be stopped."

“We must keep trying to make better cement.”

The development of cement does not mean that the problem is solved once and for all.

Because even though they are the same cement, their properties vary greatly.

Continuous improvement is still needed.

Also included is a method for producing cement.

Developing it is one thing, but mass-producing it at a low cost is another.

All of these require constant exploration, experimentation and change.

Cement is a vital item.

With cement, we can start large-scale infrastructure construction, pave roads, develop transportation, build river dams, and build houses...

Cement will fundamentally change the appearance of the Ming Dynasty.

"Yes!" Zhao Rui's voice had just fallen when he heard a deafening "bang".

Zhu Yunhuan walked quickly, and soon he saw a fat man covered in black soot.

His entire face was covered in black soot, like a black cloth, and his nose and mouth were almost indistinguishable. Only a pair of lively eyes were still moving around.

"Success!"

The fat man shouted loudly.

Only then did Zhu Yunhuan finally confirm that the fat man in front of him was none other than Zhu Di's son and his cousin Zhu Gaochi.

"What are you doing?" Zhu Yunxun asked with a frown.

"Making gunpowder! The new gunpowder I developed is several times more powerful than the original gunpowder."

Zhu Gaochi was so excited that he danced with joy.

He completely ignored his dirty face and clothes that were full of holes from the flying sparks.

After he finished speaking, he finally realized: "Greetings to His Majesty the King of Wu."

Zhu Yunxi nodded.

It can be seen that Zhu Gaochi was very devoted to the development of new gunpowder.

However, this kind of thing is still too dangerous.

If he was not careful and his hands and feet were blown off, he would have a hard time explaining to Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Di.

I originally thought that Zhu Gaoxu was the only naughty kid.

Unexpectedly, Zhu Gaochi also had a "bear" in his heart, but it had been locked up before and had not been released.

Now that there is an opportunity, its true nature is exposed.

Sure enough, boys are boys.

Every teenager has a curious and passionate heart and wants to constantly try new and interesting things.

Gunpowder has a great appeal to almost all young people.

Zhu Yunhuan recalled his passion for playing with fireworks and firecrackers when he was young in his previous life.

It is easy to understand why Zhu Gaochi was deeply involved in it.

"Developing new gunpowder is certainly important, but you are a prince, how can you be so careless about the danger and image?" Zhu Yunhuan said sullenly, "You are not allowed to personally participate in the testing and development of gunpowder in the future."

"Ah!" Zhu Gaochi looked up with a dark face in confusion.

Although the expression on his face was obscured by the black dust, the disappointment in his eyes was overflowing and soon turned into pitiful pleading.

"This is all for your own good!" Zhu Yunxun said, "The Ming Manufacturing Bureau was not established simply to develop gunpowder."

"The Manufacturing Bureau still has a lot of things to do. The king asked you to be in charge of the Manufacturing Bureau, so you have to take charge of the overall situation. I don't want you to play with gunpowder."

"If you continue to indulge in playing with gunpowder, you should not stay in the manufacturing bureau."

"No!" Zhu Gaochi almost cried out: "Your Highness Prince Wu, I don't want to play anymore, please let me stay in the Daming Manufacturing Bureau."

Zhu Gaochi was absolutely reluctant to leave such an interesting manufacturing bureau.

Zhu Yunxun snorted coldly and said, "You have been in charge of the Manufacturing Bureau for so long, but what have you done?"

"Yes! Yes!"

Zhu Gaochi wiped the black soot off his face with his hands, and it suddenly became black and white, looking even more ridiculous.

But he didn't care and quickly brought Zhu Yunhuan to another workshop.

There are all kinds of newly developed guns piled up here, displayed on the shelves, forming a dazzling array.

"This is what your Highness calls a 'flintlock'."

Zhu Gaochi picked up one of the guns and loaded the gunpowder with quick movements.

A shot was fired with a "bang", hitting the bull's eye dozens of meters away.

"This gun uses flint to strike to produce sparks, which ignite the gunpowder. It is more than a hundred times more useful than the original fire gun."

"The projectiles have also been improved, wrapped in cloth soaked in grease, so they can be loaded faster, shoot farther and more accurately."

Zhu Yunxi's eyes lit up.

Was the flintlock rifle finally made?

This is probably the limit of what Ming Dynasty's current metallurgical technology can achieve.

He took the gun, loaded the bullet, aimed at the target, and fired.

"boom!"

Sparks flew everywhere.

The bullet whizzed out and hit the target dozens of meters away.

"This gun is good and can be finalized for production."

Zhu Yunhuan was very satisfied.

Although the flintlock rifle was still a child's toy compared to the modern rifle that came later.

But for this era, it is no different from a divine artifact.

Whether it is the range, accuracy, or ease of operation, it has been done quite well.

In modern history, the influence of flintlock rifles is very far-reaching.

After the invention of gunpowder, mankind remained in the era of cold weapons for a long time.

Until the flintlock was invented and became widely used.

From then on, the army's strategy and tactics underwent fundamental changes.

The mobility of the infantry was greatly improved, and there was no longer a need to maintain large-scale phalanxes in order to maintain firepower density and shooting frequency, thus ending the era of cold weapons and ushering in the era of hot weapons.

The successful opening of the colonial era and the modern European conquest of the world were all inseparable from the large-scale use and promotion of flintlock rifles.

In history, the Ming Dynasty did invent the flintlock rifle, but it was not widely promoted and used, so it gradually fell behind European countries.

But now, everything is different.

Not only did the Ming Dynasty invent the flintlock rifle ahead of the rest of the world, but it would also soon become the first country to systematically equip it on a large scale.

The tide of the times is rolling in.

This time, the Ming Dynasty stood at the forefront of the world!

The whole world will prostrate itself at the feet of the Ming Dynasty!

……

"Just draw up the drawings and produce it according to the specifications of this gun." Zhu Yunhuan summoned Zhao Rui and the responsible craftsmen and quickly began to make arrangements.

Production is different from research and development.

During the research and development process, craftsmen can use all their talents, as long as the gun is made.

Each gun is a personalized product.

The craftsmen only focus on making the products and do not care about the subsequent maintenance.

Completing the experiment is considered a success.

However, mass production requires standard sizes and production lines, and the workers must strictly follow the standards.

This will greatly improve production efficiency and reduce production costs.

One worker is only responsible for producing one part, which can greatly improve the yield rate by bringing the operator's proficiency to the extreme.

If spare parts are produced according to standardization, the replacement of gun parts, future maintenance and logistics management will be more convenient and simple.

This is the experience that human society has slowly explored in the process of industrialization.

It is an ability that is gradually acquired after summarizing a large number of lessons and experiences and going through a lot of hardships.

And now, Zhu Yunhuan taught them all in one breath.

He explained in detail and also told them the reasons and reasons for doing so, which shocked Zhu Gaochi and the craftsmen.

His Royal Highness the Prince of Wu is truly a scholar, like a god.

Everything has to be so thoughtful and meticulous.

If it weren't for the guidance of His Royal Highness the Prince of Wu, they would never be able to make the flintlock rifle even if they were just thinking about it out of thin air.

The same is true for the current production methods and various management measures.

It is really hard to imagine why His Royal Highness the Prince of Wu knows it so clearly and specifically.

It was as if he had extremely rich experience.

This kind of thing should be the first time it appears in the world.

What the King of Wu taught was nothing more than the blueprint he had in his mind.

Only then did Zhu Gaochi realize how stupid it was for him to go against Zhu Yunhuan.

It’s so ignorant!

He had secretly sworn in his heart that he would never become an enemy of the King of Wu in the future.

Not only myself, but also my father, my brother... their entire family must not do this!

Anyone who becomes an enemy of the King of Wu is like a mantis trying to stop a chariot and overestimating his own capabilities.

Zhu Yunhuan spent an hour or two explaining everything.

at this time.

Someone outside came to report that the old monk Yao Guangxiao wanted to see him urgently.

Since its official establishment, the Ming Manufacturing Bureau has been designated as a confidential area.

Unless one works at the Ming Manufacturing Bureau and has relevant work credentials, outsiders cannot enter unless they have a special pass issued by Zhu Yunhuan himself.

Even Yao Guangxiao and others were no exception.

Of course, the old monk doesn't take care of the affairs here and doesn't have to come in under normal circumstances.

Zhu Yunxun raised his brows slightly.

If it wasn't an emergency, Yao Guangxiao wouldn't have rushed here.

He walked out immediately, but saw Yao Guangxiao already waiting outside.

As soon as the old monk saw Zhu Yunhuan, he immediately said, "Your Highness, Zuo Shanshi, the monk registrar of Tianjie Temple, has just sent an urgent order, asking me to go to Tianjie Temple immediately."

"I think this trip may not be simple, so I came to discuss it with Your Highness."

……

(End of this chapter)