The Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was extremely rebellious

Chapter 250: Prepare to Hit the Imperial Clan
The thousand-ton Fu ship built by Longjiang Baochuan Factory was completed.

Early in the morning at around noon, the sun was rising and a gentle breeze was blowing over the Longjiang River.

The ten navy centipede ships were like palm-leaf fans, pulling the thousand-ton giant warship slowly out of the pond. The passing ships slowed down and made evasive gestures.

The boats on the river were not just trying to avoid the enemy. Many of them slowed down even though they could have passed smoothly. Many people did so just to see what was going on.

This is not the Hongwu or Yongle Dynasty, and giant ships like the Ming Dynasty's thousand-ton ships are rare.

If they are doing illegal overseas business, you may see them frequently, but if they are doing inland shipping, you may rarely see them a few times a year.

Because even if the Baochuan Factory could produce such a giant ship weighing thousands of tons, it would be pulled out of the pond and immediately float downstream and go out to sea at high speed. Those who were unlucky would not even see it.

This time, the thousand-ton giant ship was a bit strange. After the ten centipede ships pulled it out of the pond, the thousand-ton giant ship did not turn and go downstream, but slowly headed towards the other side.

There used to be a huge sandbar on the other side of the Baochuan Factory, which is known to everyone who frequently travels through this waterway.

However, there were originally few people on this sandbar and no dock.

As to why the sandbar was suddenly filled with people, and why so many docks were built and so many water trucks were installed, not many people know.

Those who had heard of it vaguely began to brag about it to others.

It is rumored that the young emperor has come to Nanjing, and the people on the sandbar were summoned by the young emperor. It seems that the young emperor wants to build warships for the navy.

At this moment, Wanli was actually at the dock opposite, but he was wearing the uniform of the imperial guards, so people who had never seen him naturally couldn't recognize him.

He was holding a telescope and gazing at the thousand-ton lucky ship with great interest.

To be honest, a thousand-ton ship is different because its structure is completely different from that of a clipper ship.

In order to reduce water resistance, clipper ships are built low and narrow, with the part exposed above the water being less than a person's height.

The deck of this giant ship alone is nearly ten feet above the water surface, and there are two layers of cabins in the front and back, which together are more than two feet high. It looks like a moving city wall.

Therefore, this kind of ocean-going giant ship weighing more than a thousand tons has another nickname, called a giant ship with a tower.

There was no strong wind on the river at the moment, and the sails that were more than two meters high did not seem to have much power when they were raised. Basically, the eight centipede boats were being pulled by human oars, so you can imagine how slow the speed was.

He waited for nearly two quarters of an hour before the giant ship was pulled to the elevated and reinforced dock in front of him and docked.

Immediately afterwards, the ladder was lowered, and he could not wait to lead everyone to climb up.

This giant ship is really big, with a width of more than three meters and a length of more than ten meters. In other words, the deck is more than three hundred square meters in total.

The front and rear cabins are probably about 100 square meters each, and they are very spacious inside.

Wanli looked at the newly decorated bedroom and living room at the stern, nodding his head repeatedly. "Yes, that's good. Now it will be much more convenient for meetings and resting."

When they came here, they felt a little uncomfortable squeezed in the narrow centipede boat, especially at night, when they had to find a place to camp and rest, which was very troublesome.

This is good, finally I don’t have to get off the boat.

When he wanted to get off the boat, the imperial guards had to work for a long time to arrange guards.

This giant ship has another advantage: it is easy to install cannons, which can be installed at the bow, stern and both sides.

He was just thinking about how many cannons to install and how big they should be when a fleet of 800-ton grain boats suddenly came upstream and slowly rowed towards him.

There are not only many grain transport soldiers on this fleet of grain ships, but also many Jinyiwei.

After a while, the father-in-law Zhang Zhen led a young man in a dragon robe onto the boat.

The young man looked to be in his twenties, young and well-mannered.

However, he immediately followed the father-in-law Zhang Zhen and bowed, saying, "Grass Transport Commander Wang Chengxun pays respects to His Majesty."

Wang Chengxun, the Earl of Xinjian, was the grandson of Wang Yangming and had just inherited the title a few years ago.

Originally, he was not going to be appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Grand Canal Transport so soon, because those civil officials with ulterior motives wanted to abolish the Commander-in-Chief of the Grand Canal Transport and have the Governor-General of the Rivers directly take charge of military affairs.

This was also a focus of the dispute over canal transportation.

Those civil servants with ulterior motives wanted to completely control the grain transport and gain huge profits from it, so they kept delaying his position as general and prevented him from taking the position.

Historically, Wang Chengxun was the last commander-in-chief of the Grand Canal in the Ming Dynasty. After him, the Grand Canal was completely under the control of civil officials.

Wanli approved him to the position of commander-in-chief of the grain transport after hearing his father-in-law Zhang Zhen say that the boy was gentle, respectful, not greedy, was good to the grain transport soldiers, and did not embezzle much money from the grain transport.

The profits from the grain transport were indeed huge. There were more than 10,000 grain ships and 100,000 grain soldiers. The annual grain consumption was as high as more than 20 million dan. Even a little bit of embezzlement would result in a huge loss.

Even if they didn't embezzle the grain, the transport capacity of these 10,000-plus grain ships alone would still generate considerable profits. Most of their iron trade was now carried out by the grain ships. If this guy was a bit more ruthless and made the grain transport soldiers pay him most of the freight, then their work would be in vain, while he could make tens of millions of taels of silver a year.

Fortunately, he did not ask the soldiers of the grain transport army to hand over a penny.

Wanli was very satisfied with this. This kid should be useful.

The reason why he summoned Wang Chengxun this time was to discuss matters, but in fact he also wanted to personally investigate and see if Wang Chengxun was really gentle, respectful, and not greedy.

He nodded slightly, then pointed to the hall on the second floor at the stern and said, "Weizhi, Yunqing, Chengxun, and Guozhang, let's go up and discuss this. Everyone else can go about your own business."

Upon hearing this, Xu Weizi, Deng Zilong, Wang Chengxun and father-in-law Zhang Zhen hurriedly followed him to the hall on the second floor.

There is a large table in the middle of the hall, with two rows of chairs on both sides.

Wanli liked to discuss matters this way. He could stand and look at maps or something, or sit and discuss.

He sat down in the main seat opposite the door, and asked the four others to sit down. Then he said solemnly, "I plan to gradually disband the grain transport troops. Chengxun, what do you think?"

what?
Wang Chengxun was stunned when he heard this. He thought about it carefully, then said carefully, "Your Majesty, I dare to ask you, if the grain transport troops are disbanded, what will happen to the grain transport?"

Wanli said leisurely: "Grain transport consumes too much grain, and consumes at least 60% of the land tax of the Ming Dynasty every year.

Now that the Single Whip System has been implemented, land taxes can be paid with silver and money. Millions of taels of tax silver would not require many ships, but it seems that the amount of grain transported still remains. Where do we mainly transport grain to?

The royal family and the vassal states were the biggest consumers of grain. Every year, more than 60% of the grain transported was the royal family's salary, and the remaining 30% was used to supply the capital and the border troops, which was very tight.

Last year, the situation finally improved. After the feudal lords were reduced in power, the fields they annexed were enough to provide food for the border troops, and the military farms near the capital were also enough to supply the food and rice needed by the court. The current grain transport is actually used to transport rice to the vassal states.

These vassal states were truly outrageous. Not only did they receive rice salaries and fiefdoms, they also continued to embezzle the land taxes from the imperial court by making contributions.

I asked them to give up the land they had donated, but they refused to do so. Since they refuse, I will withhold their rice allowance. Starting next year, those who refuse to give up their land will have their rice allowance reduced by 10% each year until it is completely gone."

His Majesty is going to warn those vassal states!

If we keep beating them like this, I'm afraid those princes and royal family members will cause trouble!

When the four heard this, their faces became solemn.

This is the royal family's own business, and they really dare not interfere.

Seeing that Wang Chengxun was silent, Wanli couldn't help but nodded secretly.

This boy is really gentle, respectful, and not greedy.

If it were corrupt officials, they would definitely find ways to obstruct the abolition of such huge profits from the canal transport, and even instigate the canal troops to cause trouble.

He thought about it carefully and asked again, "Chengxun, do the soldiers of the Cao Army still obey your command?"

Wang Chengxun said with some reluctance, "They are all following orders. Your Majesty, I dare say that after the 100,000 grain transport troops are disbanded, they will probably have no way to make a living."

I have naturally considered this issue a long time ago.

Wanli explained in detail: "Of course I will not let the grain transport soldiers lose their source of livelihood. Yunqing is short of men and horses here, so the dismissed grain transport soldiers can be transferred to the navy.

However, the navy officers and soldiers have to be divided into two groups, one group is dedicated to ship operation, and the other is dedicated to combat.

The soldiers of the Canal Army have been sailing ships their entire lives, so they are definitely proficient at it. As for participating in naval battles and making achievements, that depends on their abilities."

Oh, it turns out that the dismissed grain transport soldiers were directly transferred to become naval soldiers.

Wang Chengxun bowed repeatedly and said, "On behalf of my officers and men, I would like to thank His Majesty for his grace."

Well, this guy is really good. He hasn't considered his own interests until now.

Wanli nodded slightly and said, "Well, you will follow me to do business in the future. Wenbi is preparing to do coal business in the south. You and Weizhi are familiar with the south. If you help him to build up the business here, I will give you 10% of the dividends.

The main purpose of this coal is actually transportation. I plan to transport the coal from the south by ship. In the future, when the navy's speedboats are free, they can haul coal. It can be regarded as training, and I can also earn some hard work pay.

From now on, you will also be appointed as the deputy commander of the navy, responsible for mobilizing the navy warships to transport coal and iron. You will discuss the specific methods of transportation with Wen Bi, Wei Zhi and others.

It turns out that His Majesty wants me to do business with him.

It is rumored that the nobles who do business with His Majesty are all His Majesty's confidants.

Now I have become the Emperor's confidant.

Upon hearing this, Wang Chengxun nodded repeatedly and said, "I will definitely help Duke Wei and Duke Ding to make this business a success."

(End of this chapter)