Ming Dynasty: Tanks blocked the door and you said to me, "Long live Ming Dynasty"

Another person also nodded repeatedly: "I have seen it too! I heard that it was captured from Southeast Asia, and several lives were lost for it!"

Zhu Youxiao:..........

It was a blessing that not all the fishermen’s small sampans were killed by this guy!

He frowned and thought for a long time, and finally waved to the craftsmen.

"Okay, you all go back!"

After sending everyone away, he turned back and went into the bedroom.

Concubine Cheng was wearing a silk pajamas and was about to lie down on the bed. She turned sideways towards the wall, her body shaking.

Zhu Youxiao curiously leaned over to take a look, only to find a water mark on the woman's pillow.

"what happened?"

He reached out and turned Concubine Cheng's body over.

The next second, Concubine Cheng threw herself into his arms and choked with sobs.

"Your Majesty, I am useless. After so many days, I still cannot conceive a dragon seed."

"Your Majesty, is it true that I will never be able to have children again..."

Zhu Youxiao's heart skipped a beat.

He didn't care too much about it before, but now that he thinks about it carefully, it's not just Concubine Cheng in his arms, but also Concubine Rong!

Liu Yue took their pulses almost every day. According to Zhang Jingyue, as long as conception occurred, it would be possible to tell whether it was a pregnancy within three days at most.

But it has been a month and neither concubine has been able to conceive, which is a problem.

Damn it, is there something wrong with my body?

If this is the case, then the problem is serious!

For a moment, he didn't know whether he should comfort Concubine Cheng or comfort himself.

Seeing that he hadn't responded for a long time, Concubine Cheng raised her head and looked at him with tears in her eyes.

"Your Majesty, how about you take Qiu'er in?"

Qiu'er was her personal maid, who had been selected through many rounds of selection to enter the palace. There was nothing to be picky about, whether it was her looks and figure, or her upbringing. At this moment, she was resting in the side room.

Zhu Youxiao frowned, feeling a conflict between his conscience and his conscience.

For the palace maids, being favored by the emperor was a great blessing, and they even looked forward to it every day.

Therefore, there is no psychological pressure in taking in a palace maid.

But he was hesitant. If it was really his problem...

He looked at Concubine Cheng with some uncertainty.

"Then... just accept it?"

When Concubine Cheng heard this, she felt mixed emotions.

For a woman, it is somewhat cruel to give up such a thing.

But she also knew what the consequences would be if the royal family had no descendants!

She nodded, gently stood up and put on her clothes.

"Your Majesty, wait a moment. I will go and fetch Qiu'er."

Seeing her like this, Zhu Youxiao suppressed the thought.

"Forget it! We'll talk about this later!"

"sleep!"

A quarter of an hour later, Concubine Cheng listened to the snoring beside her, gritted her teeth, and crawled out of his arms.

Put on your clothes, get out of bed quietly and open the door.

When she closed the door again, Qiu'er, with a pretty and slightly blushing face, was beside her!

"Do you want me to teach you?"

"Thank you for your support, Madam. I will do it myself."

"Go ahead. I will sit here and watch. If you can give birth to a dragon son, neither I nor the Queen will treat you unfairly."

"My slave understands."

After the two of them spoke a few words in low voices, Concubine Cheng moved a chair and sat down beside the bed.

Qiu'er climbed onto the bed with a nervous look on her face and reached out to touch Zhu Youxiao's body.

Zhu Youxiao had some vague feeling and thought it was Concubine Cheng, so he said it casually.

"You've been exhausted from distributing porridge these days, so you should rest early."

Qiu'er's body tensed up and she felt a little overwhelmed.

Concubine Cheng, who was sitting on the side, spoke to Zhu Youxiao in his ear with tears in her eyes.

"Please grant me your grace, Your Majesty!"

After saying that, she covered Zhu Youxiao's face with the silk handkerchief.

Chapter 140 Raise the sails, row the oars, and set out to sea!

The next morning, Zhu Youxiao woke up in a daze, feeling that something was wrong.

I reached into the quilt and felt around. Huh?

Doesn’t feel right?

He quickly turned around and saw that the palace maid Qiu'er had crawled into his bed at some point.

But Concubine Cheng, who was supposed to be lying there, had disappeared.

I'm going to...

No wonder I had such a dream!

There was still a hint of lingering emotion on Qiu'er's sleeping face, and he couldn't bear to disturb her.

Forget it, that’s it!

If she could get pregnant, he could get rid of the worries in his heart.

I rolled over from the bed and just as I put my feet into my boots, the door curtain was lifted from the outside.

Looking back, it was Concubine Cheng.

"Your Majesty, are you awake? I will help you change your clothes."

Concubine Cheng walked over in small steps, took her casual clothes from the hanger next to her, and put them on Zhu Youxiao.

Zhu Youxiao pointed at Qiu'er and said, "Give her the title of concubine first, and then perform the ceremony after we return to the palace."

Concubine Cheng nodded: "Everything is up to the emperor."

There were twelve ranks of concubines in the Ming Dynasty, and imperial concubines were considered the fifth rank. It was rare for a palace maid to be promoted directly to this rank.

After washing up, Zhu Youxiao went to the porridge stall.

It was mid-morning when Qiu'er slowly woke up.

Hearing her voice, another maid of Concubine Cheng, Lan'er, brought Liu Yue and four other doctors into the room.

When she reached the bed, Liu Yue bowed deeply.

"Madam Qiu, let me check your body first, then change your clothes!"

Hearing this name, Qiu'er's face turned red all the way behind her ears.

At this time, Zhu Youxiao was already in a porridge stall outside the city.

Youtong and the four Xuanwu Langs, holding notebooks, walked among the people.

They were registering the fishermen and boat builders among the people.

Every grain of relief grain is gone, and now it is not even the New Year. According to the situation in recent years, it will take at least until February next year before crops can be planted in the fields.

Although Daming now has three rice seasons, the first season cannot be harvested until May at the earliest, and that is assuming the temperature rises to an ideal level. If the temperature does not rise, the harvest will only be later.

During this period, there is still nearly half a year left, and it is simply impossible to rely solely on relief from the court. They must find ways to become self-reliant.

Not only the porridge stall here was registering information, but the other three city gates were doing the same thing. Even the Jinyiwei were sent out, led by yamen runners, to the various townships below.

Relying on mountains to eat mountains, relying on water to draft water.

In Zhangzhou, in addition to the fishermen who rely on the sea for their livelihood, there are also a large number of people who rely on the Longxi River for their livelihood.

The registration work lasted for two days and the results were very satisfactory.

In the whole of Zhangzhou, there are more than 10,000 fishermen alone!

Although there were few shipwrights, there were still several hundred of them.

In addition, there are four privately-owned shipyards, the largest of which can actually build Haicang ships independently.

Fuchuan is not just the name of a kind of ship, but also a general term for a type of ship, which is divided into five models.

The first and second types are both called Fuchuan, which are the main ship types of the Ming Dynasty navy.

However, the draft of both types of ships is more than three meters, which will limit their operations in shallow waters.

The third type is called a patrol boat, also known as a grass-skimming boat.

The fourth type is the Haicang ship, also known as the winter ship, with a draft of about two meters. It uses sails when there is wind and oars when there is no wind. It is about 25 meters long, 6 meters wide, 2.7 meters deep, and has a displacement of about 200 tons.

The fifth type is the bird boat, also known as the wave-opening boat.

With the ability of a private shipyard, they were able to build the Haicang ship on their own, which is enough to show their extraordinary strength.

The shipyard was called Shu’s Shipyard, and was located on the bank of the Xixi River, fifty miles southwest of Zhangzhou. The owner was called Shu Ya, and he had three hundred shipbuilders under him.

After Zhu Youxiao learned the news, he immediately placed orders with these shipyards.

There was only one sentence on the order form.

Just make as many as you want!

Not only that, a team of Jinyiwei was sent to each of them to keep an eye on them and prevent any trouble.

Three days later, more than 10,000 fishermen were summoned to Yuegang. In addition to the personnel, they also brought more than 400 fishing boats of various types.

Of course, most of these fishing boats are small sampans.

In the past, they always went out to sea alone or in groups of more than a dozen boats. Now, looking at the ships connected to the sea, everyone was guessing what Zhu Youxiao wanted to do.

Zhu Youxiao’s purpose was very simple, which was to keep them from being idle!

On the beach outside the harbor, fishermen huddled together. From Zhu Youxiao's perspective, they looked like a dark mass.

He cleared his throat and shouted.

"Folks!"

"When it comes to fishing, I heard that you are all top-notch experts!"

"So I asked someone to call you all here. There's nothing else to do but go fishing!"

"Of course, don't think too much about it. This doesn't count as military service. It counts as me hiring you!"

"If you agree, you can go to sea with me and receive 200 coins per day."

"Those who don't want to go out to sea can stay on the shore. We will give you other things to do, but you can only get fifty cents a day."

"I'll give you one stick of incense to think about it."

Every time he said a word, the Jinyiwei would ride on horseback to pass on the message to ensure that every fisherman could hear it.

As soon as he finished speaking, Youtong stepped forward and inserted the lit incense stick into the ground.

The fishermen were stunned.

Two hundred coins a day!

Four days is one tael of silver!