Chapter 116 - Chief Commander of the Maritime Command

Zhu Qizhen also learned to be cunning.

Yang Pu said, Cao Yun is the policy, and the sea is the preparation policy, in fact, the rules in the specific implementation have a bit of a sense of convention, and there is no holy decree from the emperor.

Zhu Qizhen insisted that it was Emperor Taizong's decision.

It's just that I want to use the endorsement of Emperor Taizong. Let Wenchen not oppose the policy of shipping.

After all, it's not the same as before.

Before, Zhu Qizhen only needed to persuade Yang Shiqi that nothing could go wrong. But Yang Pu does not have Yang Shiqi's authority, and it is estimated that there will still be a toss at sea in this matter of shipping and transportation.

Yang Pu could naturally see Zhu Qizhen's careful thoughts, but said, "What Your Majesty said is extremely true. ”

In fact, Yang Pu himself was not very opposed to shipping, or he was not particularly opposed, and in a certain case, the opposition to shipping in the early Ming Dynasty was not large.

As Yang Pu said, in the thirteenth year of Yongle, the sea was only built after the canal was built, and there was no need.

But with the development of the canal, along the canal line, it has rapidly prospered, and many cities on the canal line have been helped with the canal.

When the canal is dismissed, their opinions must be taken into account.

Even though Yang Pu knows that the cost of shipping is much lower than the cost of transportation, and it is said that the cost of shipping is high, the loss rate of shipping is about 3%.

But in many places, Caoyun uses a slender man. The maintenance cost of the entire transportation is more than one million taels per year, and this is still this time.

In the future, as the Yellow River overflowed, the canal became very bad. The cost of maintenance is even more expensive, I don't know how much.

But sea freight still hasn't gotten off the ground.

It was because of the bundling of interests that the canal line at that time could no longer be without the canal.

Zhu Qizhen said: "In this case, is it not to order the shipbuilding, I look at what Wang Ying said, turning over and over, it is a problem of a ship, if the ship is big enough, why not be afraid of the wind and waves, the ship is big enough, how dare the Japanese invaders approach?" ”

Yang Pu said: "Your Majesty, the minister thinks that this ship cannot be built too big, because the bigger the ship, the more expensive it is, such as a foreign boat, a hundred materials, about a hundred taels of silver, the minister has not asked for a long time, it is not bad, but a ship of a thousand materials, but not a thousand taels." ”

"If Your Majesty wants to rebuild Zheng He's treasure ship, 2,500 materials, it will cost tens of thousands of taels, and it will take several years. And none of the ministers will agree. ”

Zhu Qizhen frowned and said, "Why?" ”

This is capriciousness with money.

Although the Empress Dowager saved 32 million taels for Zhu Qizhen, there are only more than 10 million taels left now, and with the water control project, this number is still shrinking

But with only a few hundred thousand taels, Zhu Qizhen can still get it.

Yang Pu said: "Your Majesty said at the beginning that he would not restart the matter of going to the West, but now he will go back on his word. ”

Zhu Qizhen immediately said: "How can I be like this, if I don't go to the Western Ocean, I won't go to the Western Ocean, it's just to build a ship, why do I need to do this." ”

"The foreign minister will worry about Your Majesty, and the plank road will be dark." Yang Pu said: "Even if Your Majesty wants to ship by sea, Zheng He's treasure ship is a little too big, and the sea outside Tianjin is shallow, and it can't be a big ship." The minister thought that a thousand ships would be enough. Enough for a boat to carry ten thousand stones.

And although Zheng He's treasure ship is gone, there are still a lot of ships back then, and it is enough to search for some and then build a batch. ”

In fact, the stone unit is not large.

One stone of rice is about ninety-two kilograms, ten thousand stones, nine hundred and twenty tons, which is almost enough.

As Zhu Qizhen expected, Yang Pu didn't expect to transport many more meters by sea, if it was only one million stones, dozens of ten thousand stone ships would be enough.

Yang Pu didn't have Zhu Qizhen who wanted to use new ideas for anything, as a Qing official, he wanted to save money for the imperial court.

At the beginning, although Zheng He's fleet was distributed to various guards, and Zheng He's treasure ship was not wanted, the specifications were too high, and the specifications of Zheng He's treasure ship were almost royal ships, and it was also because when Zheng He went out, it was Qin Cha that could be used.

In ordinary seasons, who dares to use it.

So the ship has been parked for decades, and it has long ceased to be the same.

But a considerable number of the remaining ships of Zheng He's fleet are still in service.

Don't underestimate the longevity of a sailboat, as long as it is well maintained, it is not for nothing that a boat can last for hundreds of years. However, the appearance of Da Mingwei's escape, whether he can maintain the ship well is also a mystery.

But no matter how you say it, it is impossible to use up all the ships in more than ten years, after all, the last time Zheng He went to the Western Ocean was during the Xuande period, which was only ten years ago.

Even Yang Pu felt that by checking around, the money for shipbuilding would be saved.

Zhu Qizhen secretly said in his heart: "This minister is you." "But come to think of it, he didn't have anything to say.

It's not that he doesn't want to go back on his word, what, you say Chrysostom? Zhu Qizhen never thought of himself as an emperor, but as a politician, as an aspiring politician, it was not right to go back on his word.

Of course, the times are different.

The emperor's personal image, that is, virtue, is also very important.

He weighed one or two in his heart, and felt that it was too cost-effective to ruin his image because of this one thing. said: "According to Mr.'s intentions, but Mr. also said that this Wang Ying is a usable person, can he be made the chief officer of the sea and specialize in this matter." ”

Yang Pu said: "What Your Majesty said is extremely true, but Wang Ying was promoted too quickly, which is not conducive to Wang Ying's future. ”

Although in the unspoken rules, the imperial guards around the emperor are one level higher than the guards outside, and the brocade guards are also one of the imperial guards, but not all.

Therefore, Wang Ying was promoted from the Jinyi Guard, so that he could become a commander.

But after all, I jumped a lot of steps. It would be too high to go any further.

"Why don't you do it." Yang Pu said: "Send a heavy minister to lead this matter. Let Wang Ying handle the specific affairs, and after three or five years, if Wang Ying does a good job, let him be promoted to the chief military officer. ”

The official position of chief soldier became worthless in the Qing Dynasty. But in the Ming Dynasty, it was still very valuable, the highest official position of the military in a province was the commander of the envoy, and the commander of the soldiers and horses of several provinces was the general soldier.

Almost equal to the commander of the front. And at the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, the general commander-in-chief was honorable, although it was unwritten, but as long as you counted carefully, all those who hung the chief military officer were either nobles or knights.

Therefore, Meng Ying fought Luchuan, as the Marquis of Baoding, and was the general of Pingman, the chief military officer of Yunnan. And Cha Muang also has a knighthood.

Of course, the same is the chief officer. Naturally, shipping cannot be compared with the Yunnan General Army.

However, it was Zhu Qizhen who wanted this fleet, which had always been in charge of shipping, to be of a higher standard, and the most important thing was that the highest official of Caoyun was the chief soldier of Caoyun.

Since it is necessary to juxtapose sea transportation with water transportation, why can't there be a general army of sea transportation?

Zhu Qizhen also understands that even if Wang Ying is promoted like a hero, it is too fast, it is like taking a plane. said: "Since this is the case, let Fengcheng Hou be in charge of shipping affairs, Fengcheng Hou can't be separated from Nanjing, let Wang Ying handle this matter." ”

Yang Pu said: "The minister thinks that it is best to use the Duke of Wei to sit in Nanjing and lead it remotely. ”

When Zhu Qizhen heard this, he said, "Wei Guogong also took the path of Mr.?" ”

Yang Pu said: "How about the old minister, Your Majesty doesn't know, the words and deeds of the old minister are for the sake of the world, and there is no selfishness. ”

When Zhu Qizhen saw Yang Pu like this, he immediately apologized and said, "It's me who lost my words, it's me who lost my words." ”

Only then did Yang Pu restrain his anger and said: "Your Majesty's heart, the minister also understands that it is not a secret that the Duke of Wei seeks to get out of Nanjing, and it is not a secret in the Manchu Dynasty. ”

As Yang Pu said, the Xu family of Wei Guogong does not want to be in Beijing, and it is not a day or two. Even between the two families of Wei Guogong and Dingguo Gong, the family has long been divided.

Xu Da, the king of Zhongshan, owned all the land, and returned to the Duke of Dingguo in the north and the Duke of Wei in the south. Since Xuande, Wei Guogong has wanted to return south.

It is precisely because of the long time that all secrets are no longer secrets. There was even a matter of Wei Guogong bribing the official to speak for him.

Zhu Qizhen said: "In Mr.'s opinion, is it better to let Wei Guogong go south, or not let Wei Guogong go south?" ”