Zhu Houzhao was happy and pulled Fang Jifan into the palace!

Unexpectedly, as soon as he arrived at the noon gate, a eunuch hurriedly came out from inside: "It turns out that Uncle Xinjian is here, hurry, come quickly, Your Majesty is in the warm pavilion and is about to be summoned." ”

Fang Jifan and Zhu Houzhao glanced at each other, and Zhu Houzhao said speechlessly: "You go to see your father, this palace is going to see your sister, let's see you next time." ”

After that, he fled directly.

Fang Jifan shook his head, and had to obediently rush to the warm pavilion, but when he saw this, Liu Jian and Ma Wensheng, the secretary of the military department, and others were here.

Ma Wensheng seemed to be in a good mood, the matter of going to the West was going very well, he had met Xu Jing, and had a long talk with him, and he felt that Xu Jing was much more reliable than Fang Jifan!

At this moment, I finally have a bottom in my heart, Xu Jing is the main envoy, and he will lead the fleet to continue to go to sea to make envoys, which is already a certainty, and what the military department has to do is to assist from the side.

Most importantly.

The map of the world left by the eunuch Sanbao and his old man.

At the behest of Emperor Hongzhi, this map was printed by the Inner Court and distributed everywhere.

At least everyone has a head to know where the legendary country of the Golden Seed is.

At present, the Ming fleet has reached the east coast of Kunlun Continent, and the next step is to bypass the entire Kunlun Continent to the west of Kunlun Continent.

According to the analysis of the news from the human scum Wang Bushi, the accuracy of the world map is extremely high, and there is almost no big difference with the countries explored by the human scum Wang Bushi.

Once you reach the west coast, you'll have to cross an ocean and reach the huge island.

Everything that went to the Western Ocean was preparing for landing on that island.

Of course, there are difficulties.

There are many ships in Kunlun Continent, and many ships are in the routes of that area, and without their help, it is impossible to get supplies!

The plan formulated by the Ministry of War was that there were only two ways to solve the supply problem, one was to reduce the fleet to a minimum, but ...... This is a bit difficult, because once in Kunlun Zhou encountered the attack of the Franco-machine or the big cannibal, the consequences are unimaginable, for the sake of safety, then it is necessary to have a large enough fleet, fully loaded, and try to be fully supplied, with this huge fleet, after arriving at some of the Franco-machine settlements, in fact, there is no need to worry about the other party's refusal to provide supplies, because in Xu Jing's plan, the Franco-machine people's settlements and ports in Kunlun are not strong, at most the size of a hundred people, which is enough for them in Kunlun.

Their firearms are relatively sophisticated, and their combat effectiveness is also very strong.

But...... If there were an elite army of 1,500 men and equipped with birds, I don't think the Francos would choose to take any drastic measures.

This is not a big problem for the Ministry of War, you know, when the eunuchs of the Three Treasures went to the Western Ocean, they maintained a fleet of 20,000 or 30,000 people, and next, the Ministry of War will try its best to build a fleet that supplies thousands of people.

For this, Ma Wensheng is very troubled now.

To be more precise, whether it is Liu Jian, Li Dongyang and Xie Qian, they are actually very troubled.

Seeing Fang Jifan coming, and waiting for Fang Jifan to salute the emperor, Ma Wensheng took the lead and said: "Xinjian Bo, flying ball...... How much grain does it cost to make it? ”

Well, money again!

Sure enough, in this world, money and food are the core of everything.

Fang Jifan said: "Whale skin is more expensive, cough cough, this flying ball, skin down, I'm afraid it will cost hundreds of taels of silver, plus others, probably, three hundred taels of silver is enough." ”

His Majesty wants to make a batch of flying balls to be used in the various border towns.

One is three hundred taels, and these hundred ships are not thirty thousand?

This amount, in fact, is still acceptable.

But Li Dongyang's heart was very distressed, because he knew that there must be more than a hundred, and he said with a cautious face: "What about the usual maintenance?" In addition, I am afraid that only a flying ball requires at least three or five people, so it is also a lot of expenses. ”

Fang Jifan thought about it, he was an upright person, and he didn't want to fool Li Dongyang, so he said: "Not only that, but the most expensive thing is fuel, and the fuel at the moment is refined whale oil, in the sky, at least two catties of refined whale oil are needed, if it is to last for ten hours or even twenty hours, then the whale oil required is even more." However, in the future, we may find ways to replace whale oil with other oils. ”

In Fang Jifan's words, for Li Dongyang, it is almost the same as reaching out to Li Dongyang to say two words, playing money.

Li Dongyang said expressionlessly: "In this way, it is indeed a lot of money, and the nine sides are so big...... If there are fewer flying balls, it will not help, but if there are more, to be honest, the military department has spent a lot of money over the years, and the household department really has no rice to cook. Although His Majesty can spend some internal money, he still needs to raise so many flying balls...... Eh......"

He shook his head.

The household department is careful in planning, so Li Dongyang is understandable to complain.

Ma Wensheng didn't dare to make a sound, he really didn't have the face to ask for money and food anymore, in fact, he himself knew that the cost was too big.

The Shangshu of other ministries are also here, and everyone is very resentful of Ma Wensheng.

Nine times out of ten, the money and grain of the imperial court went to the military department, and the other ministries were eating soil, and they couldn't live their lives.

"Xinjian Bo."

At this moment, someone stood up, but it was Wang Ao, the secretary of the ministry!

Wang Ao's temper is not very good, after all, he is the secretary of the ministry, and the secretary of the ministry is called a heavenly official, and his status is not under the cabinet bachelor, because he is in charge of the merits of the imperial court and determines the rise and fall of countless officials.

Wang Ao was very angry.

In recent years, the other ministries have stood aside, and every year the household department has moved money and food to the military department when they are in charge of the year's income and exit, and to be honest, it feels distressing to watch.

Wang Ao was the teacher of Emperor Hongzhi, and when he was in Zhan Shifu, he taught Emperor Hongzhi to read, so even Emperor Hongzhi needed to call him Master Wang.

Wang Ao said: "Xinjian Bo thinks that this flying ball can kill the enemy?" ”

Fang Jifan said: "I didn't say that you can kill the enemy, I mean, you can scout." ”

Wang Ao smiled slightly: "You can't kill the enemy, it's useless, the imperial court has set up so many fortresses outside the pass, and built so many beacon towers, the gates are continuous, echoing each other, why rely on flying balls to warn?" I think this thing looks terrifying, but in fact it is useless, it is just a strange and clever thing, or the old way works, the court has had many difficulties over the years, this money and food are taken from the people's fat and people's ointment, and it is spent on this useless thing, it is a waste of people's wealth, Your Majesty and the princes think? ”

The more the court discussions, the more rules, and the more high-level meetings in such temples, they are often closed to express their opinions.

Wang Ao's words have won the approval of many people.

Especially Li Dongyang, Li Dongyang said with a smile: "Of course, it can't be said to be completely useless, but it depends on whether this is so useful." Xinbo's flying ball is certainly a good ......"

Li Dongyang smiled, he was not as upright as Wang Ao, and he still knew how to turn the corner: "However, compared to the expenditure of so much money and grain, what needs to be asked is, is it worth the money and grain?" The prince said that flying balls can't kill enemies, yes, they can't kill enemies, so what's the use? Rather than this, it is better to have more guns and iron cannons in the Guansai, which ...... It's the weapon of the Tatars when they attack. ”

Everyone nodded their heads, feeling justified.

Li Dongyang looked at Ma Wensheng and said with a smile: "What do you think about the negative picture? ”

Ma Wensheng smiled embarrassedly, and didn't know how to say it, so he pinched his beard: "What do you think of the new uncle." ”

It's really tiring to deal with these old guys.

At every turn, it is money and food and people's fat and people's ointment, but it seems that you have spent a penny and become a sinner for the ages.

They are all old ministers, and Confucianism has been passed down to this day, and the thinking of worshipping the ancients is extremely serious, and people generally believe that when a new thing comes out, the ancestors do not have this thing, isn't it still very good? It can be seen that this thing, even if it is not, is not in the way.

As for old ministers such as Li Dongyang, this is even more so, their group itself has a natural conservative temperament.

Fang Jifan thought for a while and said, "You always have to taste everything, if you don't dare to give it a try, how can you know the result?" When Emperor Taizu was there, my Ming Dynasty swept across the desert, but a hundred years later, the Ming Dynasty is still this Ming Dynasty, and the officers and soldiers are still these officers and soldiers, and the firearms, iron cannons, swords, guns, swords, and halberds used are also exactly the same, but why is it only shrinking up now, and being controlled by others everywhere? ”

It can be seen that the biggest drawback in the current horse politics is that the times have changed, and the previous set is no longer useful. The great martial arts of Emperor Taizu Gao and Emperor Wen have made us conservative today. It is debatable whether the flying ball is of great use, but today, the Ming Dynasty must change, and must find a way to sum up a new set of combat methods against the Tatars, but to sum it up, we must continue to try, otherwise, every day only think about this waste of money and food, that waste of money and food. But the imperial court spent countless amounts of money and food, but it still couldn't eliminate the hidden dangers in the border towns, could it ...... Isn't that a huge waste? The amount of money and grain allocated to the border towns every year is astronomical. ”

Ma Wensheng's old face twitched involuntarily.

The worst came out.

Sure enough, as he expected, both sides were not pleasing to him, Li Dongyang and others thought that they had squandered money and food. And Fang Jifan also aimed at Ma Zheng's problem, pointing out that it is also a huge waste to blindly use the old method to distribute money and food.

Anyway, in the eyes of both sides, it is the fault of the military department.

This is tantamount to Li Dongyang and Wang Ao scolding the military department for being a loser, and they also want to use balloons to cheat money.

And Fang Jifan gave Ma Wensheng another slap in the face with his backhand, refuting Li Dongyang and Wang Ao, this group of scum, even if they don't use balloons, they are also losers of the cheat.