The monsoon in the East China Sea of the Ming Dynasty is a northerly wind in March and April, and this season is not the best time to sail from the lower reaches of the river to the country, and the ships are sailing against the wind; If the monsoon turns southerly in May or June, and sails into a tailwind, then the best time is it.

However, the imperial court took into account other factors, and in mid-March ordered that the first division of the sailors of the country should prepare to leave the country. Despite the headwind, the fleet was still able to sail in a zigzag pattern, albeit at a slower speed.

Longjiang Port, west of the Waijinchuan Gate, is very lively today, not only the army and people in the court, but also many onlookers. Zhu Gaoxu also came outside the city to bid farewell to everyone.

The sailors who set sail first today were the fleet headed for their own country, and they carried only a few thousand officers and men. The fleet with the most ships is the sailors heading south, who will go to Annam and the Western Ocean, and will also sail this month.

Zhu Gaoxu first met with Hou Xian, the envoy who led the fleet, and Zhou Quan, the envoy of his own country, at Jinghai Temple, both of whom were eunuchs.

What Hou Xian had to do was to escort the envoys of the Xian Kingdom to return to China, and then escort the envoys of his own country and the Ming Dynasty delegation to his country.

After the officials of the Ministry of Rites consulted with the envoys of their own countries, the two sides have reached an agreement; The Ming navy was not allowed to approach the coast of his own country lightly, and should first send someone to report to the officials of his country, and then let the fleet approach after obtaining permission, or let the mission go ashore on the ship according to the instructions.

There are three public missions of Zhouquan, one is to mourn the dead Yuan Yiman in the name of the Ming court, the second is to canonize the new king Yuan Yizhi, and the third is to submit a request to the Ming Dynasty to say that the government of the country should eliminate the Japanese as soon as possible. But Zhu Gaoxu told Zhou Quan some other secret instructions.

First of all, it is necessary to thoroughly investigate and understand the context of power, the will to resist, and the armament situation in the country; The second is to collect the distribution of local gold, silver, copper, and sulfur mines.

Therefore, the mission led by Zhou Quan is thirty people, and the personnel are more complicated. There were civil officials in the mission, merchants of the Shen family (Yao Fang was actually the leader), craftsmen, officials who had been in charge of mining in Yunnan, and guards who were good at fighting.

Zhu Gaoxu talked with the eunuchs and officials in Jinghai Temple for a while, rewarded wine, and led the crowd to the port.

The wind was blowing from the river in the harbor, and there was a lot of noise around it. Thousands of officers and men of the naval division, most of whom had already gathered ashore, and the officers and men of the Beijing battalion brought fine wine, and each soldier could get a large bowl of wine. There were still many onlookers and wharf workers nearby, but the guards set up sentry posts to prevent idlers from approaching.

Zhu Gaoxu led the crowd to the front of the army with a wine bowl, he raised the bowl and shouted: "I wish the officers and soldiers a smooth journey!" ”

There was a commotion in the crowd, and the soldiers shouted words such as thanksgiving and long live, and they all held wine bowls and saluted.

At this moment, the military music on the ship played, and everyone looked back one after another. I saw that on all the warships, the "Tuanlong Sun and Moon Flag" with a blue base and a yellow pattern was raised, and the dragon picture was almost exactly the same as the Tuanlong embroidered on Zhu Gaoxu's robe, and the dragon was coiled into a circle; And in the middle of the dragon picture, there is a pattern of the sun and the moon, symbolizing the character "Ming". The blue flag can be regarded as the color of the Ming Dynasty as the emperor was ordered by the heavens, or as the color of the sea.

This is the first time that such a flag has appeared

。 Because Zhu Gaoxu felt that the fleet was on the sea and needed a more eye-catching official and military logo, he designed such a national flag himself.

After a while, something even more strange happened. On both sides, there were many children as young as seven or eight years old, probably hundreds, and they were walking in a line.

The boys wore one-color dresses and were custom-made at the Shen family weaving factory. They wore a kind of large-brimmed hat, and wore a cyan garment (cyan for the sailors, gray for the landowners) separated from the tunics, with straight lapels and cloth buttons; Soap boots worn on the feet. The spring and summer materials are cotton and linen blends, ironed with irons, and white lining, so that the boys look very neat.

On the other side came all the little girls, they were wearing peach-colored gauze high-waisted skirts, combing small sideburns, and some bangs on their foreheads, looking very beautiful and cute. People have seen a group of singing and dancing girls gather together, but it is very strange that so many little girls are dressed up and standing together.

Zhu Gaoxu and others stood on the sidelines and watched, he was very satisfied with the children's dress today, and also thought that the soldiers and the onlookers would not feel bad; After all, people don't see it, the children are clean and tidy, and they are wearing good materials.

At this time, a green-robed civil official walked to the front of the queue of sailors and said loudly: "The orphans of the fallen soldiers of the Northern Expedition, for the officers and soldiers of the Daming Navy, present the song "Spring Cold", I hope that the soldiers will live up to the trust of the saint, be loyal and dutiful, and protect the land and the people......."

The civil official took out a piece of paper from his sleeve pocket, looked at it, and continued to say loudly: "Soldiers who have made meritorious contributions in battle, died or were disabled in battle for the country, according to the will of God, their families will be beneficialized by the imperial court.

At the request of the government of Jiangning County, Tianfu, a town was built by the Ministry of Industry and Construction Department to build a house for each family. Parents, widows, and children of fallen soldiers can move here.

The salaries of the soldiers of the regular army who were killed and wounded were converted into rations, supplemented by treasure money, until the eldest son was sixteen years old. This military quartermaster is the responsibility of the Ministry of War, and the Governor's Office of the five armed forces is aware of (supervises).

The wives of dead or disabled sergeants can be given priority to work in the nearby Shen Weaving Factory to subsidize their families; The royal family appointed the Lady of the Decree to lead the way.

The imperial court also set up the Mongolian Academy, the Academy, the Military Academy, and the Xianshu Hall. The children of fallen soldiers can come here for free to study, and they are exempt from the teacher's thanks, clothing, paper and ink. The hall and courtyard were built by the Ministry of Industry and Construction Department, operated by the Ministry of Rites, and known to the Governor's Office of the Five Armies. Scholars have completed their studies, and they can choose to study in academies and participate in the imperial examinations of Yingtianfu and Jiangning County; You can choose to study in the military academy, participate in the military department, or pass the military department examination, and be appointed as an officer and army soldier.

The little lady studied in the Xianshutang, and the queen sent female officials to teach literacy, female morality, etiquette, weaving and other skills, and grew up to fifteen, and could choose a good family to marry, and the inner government subsidized the dowry. ”

For a while, the sailors and soldiers were in an uproar, and everyone looked at the children in front of them. Those lively children who are brightly dressed and have no worries about food and clothing undoubtedly make all soldiers envious. In the past, the military households of the Ming Dynasty were somewhat similar to serfs, and most of them were poor; The treatment promised by the court officials just now is obviously very high for the military households.

Zhu Gaoxu stood silently and watched, he felt that the officials of the various government offices in the DPRK and China were fighting for power and benefits, even if most of the illiterate military households were not most concerned about benefits. I am afraid that the bereavement of the soldiers will be more effective than saying 10,000 impassioned words to boost morale.

The soldiers should be very grateful to the royal family, because the Ming Dynasty was a system of small government, and tax revenues were mainly used for military expenses and official salaries. There are basically no public welfare, and even the construction of roads and bridges is not undertaken by the government, and the gentry who want to be famous have to raise funds to build them; Education could not be popularized, and Mongolian education mainly relied on private schools, and the county education officials were only responsible for the scholars who had already made a name for themselves, which was called the county school, and the number of people benefited was very small.

The low-level soldiers and civilians have no concept of welfare, and the imperial court suddenly added this item, which is obviously equivalent to grace and gifts for the soldiers.

In order to balance the additional expenses of the various yamen, Zhu Gaoxu promised to successively abolish half of the palace maids, leave the palace to marry, and reduce the number of eunuchs and show girls entering the palace.

But these compromises did not support his innovative ideas; Such a huge expenditure is obviously not saved, and new profits need to be opened.

The sound of the musician's silk and bamboo orchestra gradually sounded, and the children began to sing a little song in unison. The song fluttered in the wet wind on the riverside: "The plum fragrance fills the post road, and the wild geese soar into the line." Chun Han leaned in the pavilion and looked at the direction of the expedition. Recalling the first time I saw in the rain, Hongyan sent Jiao Niang to think. Warriors are loyal to the monarch and protect the country, and the spring cold will not forget ......"

This little song was simple and easy to sing, and many officers and men in the army learned it, and after a while, thousands of officers and soldiers of the Navy Division also sang along. The magnificent singing seems to have resounded throughout the land of Gyeonggi.

And the silent Zhu Gaoxu looked at the scene at this time, looking at the dragon sun and moon flag fluttering on the battleship, what he imagined was: under the roar of guns and iron horses, the scene of brave Ming soldiers sweeping the four seas, the dragon sun and moon flag planted all over the mountains and seas...... Boatloads of gold and silver were brought here.

Under the orders of the generals, the officers and men of the naval division began to board the ship one after another. Hou Xian, Zhou Quan, and a group of civil and military officers walked in front of Zhu Gaoxu, knelt on the ground one after another, and said goodbye with tears.

Zhu Gaoxu helped them up and said, "Don't be disappointed, when you return, I should hold a banquet in Fengtian Hall to celebrate your achievements." ”

Hou Xiandao: "Slaves and maids will not hesitate to live up to the emperor's trust." ”

Everyone clasped their fists and bowed again, and Zhu Gaoxu waved his hand.

When everyone turned around and left, Zhu Gaoxu took the reins of the horse and turned over on the horse vigorously. After a long time, there was a strange cry on the river: "King Han is our king!" ”

When Zhu Gaoxu looked back, he saw eunuchs and officials on a treasure ship, who were clasping their fists and saluting this side.

During the Yongle period, Zheng He led the fleet to sea once, so the officers and soldiers of the sailors who went to sea followed the old people and were more experienced; However, those officers and soldiers of the sea ships actually took refuge in the "Battle of Crime", and they surrendered to Zhu Gaoxu at the end of the war. Therefore, when the officials talked about the bereavement just now, they only mentioned the meritorious soldiers who fought in foreign wars, in order to take into account the feelings of the sailors and soldiers; In fact, the meritorious soldiers of the Han Dynasty who died in the "Battle of Crime" received the same pension, and they were the basis for Zhu Gaoxu to obtain the throne, and they had to be wooed.

At this time, the officers and soldiers of the Navy Division shouted the words of the Han Wangjun in the "Battle of Crime", which was really a bit weird.

However, it seems that Hong Xichao's troops have gradually returned to their hearts. A civil war is always just a civil war.

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