It was still early for Wang Yue to return to Beijing, so let's talk about Li Zhaotong's return to Beijing to see Emperor Hongzhi.

Li Zhaotong's return to Beijing was naturally not only because of the two things of rubber grass and the military academy, but the most important thing for him was actually related to the opening of the sea.

……

Ten days later, Tianjin, Global Harbor Terminal.

The Global Harbor Wharf was built in the area of Dagu in Tianjin, that is, near the mouth of the Wei River, which is the wharf that Li Zhaotong mentioned with Zhu Houzhao last time.

Today, is the day when this wharf was built, in order to celebrate this important day, and the Ming Dynasty will officially start maritime trade, Li Zhaotong invited Emperor Hongzhi, Zhu Houzhao, Liu Jian, Li Dongyang, Xie Qian, Zhang Mao, Zhu Fu, Zhu Hui and others.

This was the most important thing for him to return to Beijing ten days ago.

Because from today, Daming will enter a new era - the Age of Discovery.

"Father, this Global Harbor Pier should satisfy you, right?"

Li Zhaotong went with Li Dongyang to preside over the ceremony, and Zhu Houzhao was responsible for accompanying Emperor Hongzhi and others, exercising the duties of a tour guide, and answering questions and solving problems for Emperor Hongzhi and others.

At this moment, Zhu Houzhao is naturally very arrogant in his heart, so he can't help but show off in front of Emperor Hongzhi in order to seek Emperor Hongzhi's commendation.

However, who Zhu Houzhao is, Emperor Hongzhi knows it clearly, and he doesn't want his praise to make Zhu Houzhao completely float.

Therefore, even if Emperor Hongzhi was extremely satisfied with the Global Harbor Pier in his heart, he still chose to say:

"Big is quite big, but I feel that there are too few ships, and it doesn't show the momentum of my great tomorrow to go to the country, but it has lowered the momentum of my big tomorrow to go to the country, if you let the foreign envoys see it, they will think that my Ming shipbuilding ability is not good, therefore, do you think I am satisfied?"

"Forehead ......"

Zhu Houzhao didn't know how to answer, to say that Emperor Hongzhi was dissatisfied, but he obviously didn't have a trace of dissatisfaction; To say satisfied, but he is indeed criticizing the fact that there are too few ships docked at the Global Harbor Terminal!

The number of ships docked at the Global Harbor Terminal is a hard injury!

Nowadays, when building ships, all the wood used is wood, which can not be used by cutting down big trees, and the wood also needs to be dried and other treatments.

Therefore, due to the shortage of raw materials, the number of ships built will not be too much for the time being.

At present, the timber of Tianjin Shipyard is basically from Shenmu Factory, one of the five factories of the Ministry of Industry, because of this reason, Shenmu Factory has now got rid of the identity of garbage stocks, and the stock price is still rising.

Anyone with a discerning eye can see that the Shenmu Factory, which specializes in timber, has a great future in the future.

Because of the matter of opening the sea, Emperor Hongzhi made up his mind to do it, and some officials threatened each other with the ancestral system, kneeling at the gate of the palace for several days and nights, but they could not shake Emperor Hongzhi's determination.

The opening of the sea is inevitable, then, you have to build ships, and shipbuilding needs wood, so that Shenmu Factory, which has switched to a monopoly on timber business, can its stock price not skyrocket?

The small number of ships docked at the Global Harbor wharf, in addition to the limitation of raw materials such as wood, and the lack of skilled shipbuilders are also an important factor.

And, again, the most important factor!

In fact, Tianjin Shipyard is not particularly short of wood, and there is no situation where shipbuilders have nothing to do, because there are too few people who have mastered professional skills.

Even if Emperor Hongzhi had ordered the transfer of many craftsmen from the Longjiang Shipyard and the Qingjiang Shipyard, the Tianjin Shipyard was still understaffed!

So, in this case, how can the number of ships be large?

After all, Daming hasn't officially opened the sea yet!

In the era of great exploration of the Ming Dynasty, we had to wait for Emperor Hongzhi to personally order and give the flag to the captain of the "Little Zhu Xiucai Dog" who went to sea this time, and then the "Little Zhu Xiucai Dog" sailed out of the Global Harbor Dock before it could be regarded as open.

"Father, there are not many ships here, and there is no way for the sons, it is impossible to make Li Zhaotong pay the price and go to the sage Lao Tzu to make a deal and exchange!"

Zhu Houzhao did not hesitate to sell Li Zhaotong, which made Li Dongyang, who was following Emperor Hongzhi, pale, but he knew very well that Li Zhaotong made a deal with the sage Lao Tzu, which was exchanged for life!

At the beginning, he changed so many medicines and surgical equipment to treat Li Dongming, which consumed a lot of Li Zhaotong's life.

If the emperor really asked Li Zhaotong to exchange ships with the sage Lao Tzu later, then Li Zhaotong would die.

In this era when the monarch wants his ministers to die and the ministers have to die, if Emperor Hongzhi gives an order, Li Zhaotong has no choice but to refuse, otherwise, he will not obey the decree, and it is also a capital crime to resist the decree!

However, Li Dongyang's worries are superfluous.

Emperor Hongzhi is still a reasonable person after all:

"I know that Li Zhaotong can exchange with the sage Lao Tzu, but the price must not be small, because a ship is so huge, and the sage Lao Tzu will conjure it up, and I am afraid the consumption will not be small.

Therefore, to exchange ships with the sage Lao Tzu, maybe, I have to ask for Li Zhaotong's life, and even my Ming Dynasty's national fortune to exchange, that kind of thing, I can't do! Hugh will mention this again! ”

Emperor Hongzhi knew that Zhu Houzhao was shirking responsibility and joking, but Emperor Hongzhi knew better that some people who wished that Li Zhaotong would die would not be joking.

If those people rushed up to find trouble for him and forced Li Zhaotong to exchange, it would be a very headache for Emperor Hongzhi, so Emperor Hongzhi blocked the road as soon as possible.

"By the way, prince, I heard that this time when I went to sea, the 'Little Zhu Xiucai Dog' was equipped with a lot of artillery?"

Emperor Hongzhi suddenly remembered this matter, and he said it now, also to deter some young people, although Emperor Hongzhi didn't know what those officials and wealthy businessmen in the Jiangnan region were planning, but Emperor Hongzhi knew in his heart that those who opposed the opening of the sea would definitely not sit still.

"Yes, father, the ships that went to sea this time are all equipped with artillery, to be precise, the perspective of the Franco cannon, this is the technology that Li Zhaotong exchanged from the sage Lao Tzu!

The Franc cannon is an iron breech-loading smoothbore gun, and the whole gun is composed of three parts: the barrel, the belly, and the sub-cannon.

When firing the cannon, the gunpowder projectile is first filled into the sub-cannon, and then the sub-cannon is loaded into the belly of the cannon, and the sub-cannon fire door is ignited for firing. The belly of the Franc machine is quite thick, and there is usually a steering rod at the tail of the gun, and the barrel has a front sight and a light door.

However, limited to the technical level of our Ming craftsmen, the disadvantage of the Franc machine cannon is that the gap between the sub-cannon and the belly of the cannon is large, which will cause gunpowder gas leakage, so it does not have the long range of the Hongyi cannon.

However, the Furlong cannon is more than enough to deal with some pirates or something! ”