The wax on the wax table has a soft glow, and although dozens of candles are lit in the study, its light is limited compared to the electric light.

"Hey, I really should get an electric light......

Rubbing his eyes, which were a little sour due to poor vision, Zhu Mingzhong sighed again.

Looking at the candles, he wished he could make electric lights right now and replace them.

Although it has been more than 20 years since he came to this era, Zhu Mingzhong still misses the life of another time and space from time to time, at least the convenience of life in that era, and it is precisely because of this convenience of life that he continues to introduce various "inventions", such as spring mattresses and other inventions, at least to improve his life and the lives of many people.

However, until now, he has not invented an electric light that is more convenient for life. It's not that it can't be manufactured, after all, whether it's glass or vacuuming or bamboo charcoal filament, there is no difficulty for Daming. However, he has been somewhat hesitant to invent the electric light.

What's after the electric light? It is the second industrial revolution with electricity as the core, and now the Ming Dynasty has just entered the age of steam.

However, compared to Britain in a period of time, the promotion and use of Daming's steam engine is amazing, although there will be occasional news of steam engine explosions, but in the past ten years, the steam engine has rapidly gained popularity in Daming, the reason is probably because of the weather - affected by the Xiaoice period, the winter of Daming is long, the rivers in the north of the Yangtze River and even some parts of the south of the Yangtze River will have a freezing period of up to three to six months, which directly affects the use of water conservancy equipment.

The emergence of the steam engine changed all this, starting from the north, in just ten years, the steam engine that is not limited by the weather has been rapidly popularized in the country, even if the cost of the steam engine to produce one horsepower, until now it is still higher than the cost of water power to produce one horsepower, but under the influence of the weather, the manufacturing industry of the Ming Dynasty still uses a large number of steam engines.

In Europe, it was not until nearly a century after Watt's improvements that the steam engine had a cost advantage over water. Because the previous steam engine did not have enough pressure, too much coal had to be burned to produce the required driving force. After 1850, a new type of vortex furnace was improved, which could provide high-pressure power, reduce coal consumption, and improve horsepower efficiency, so that the steam engine became competitive in the industry. But the cold of the Xiaoice period changed everything.

In the sixth year of Xingqian, Daming had 301 steam engines with 4,712 horsepower, and in the sixteenth year of Xingqian, it soared to 15,743 units and 376,850 horsepower.

While surprised by the rapid acceptance of new technologies by people in this era, what surprised Zhu Mingzhong even more was their invention and innovation. In addition to factories for power, mines for pumping, ventilation and other purposes, steam locomotives, ships...... A series of inventions related to the steam engine have been continuously invented in the Ming Dynasty.

Now the Ming Dynasty is fully entering the steam age, and even Zhu Mingzhong vaguely feels that in another twenty years at most, the scholars of the Ming Dynasty are likely to enter the era of electricity by themselves, after all, the emergence of the telegraph has long made some scholars turn their attention to electricity, to the invisible and intangible mysterious power.

"Hey, just wait......"

With a long sigh, Zhu Mingzhong shook his head regretfully, only God knew that his heart was very eager to "invent" electric lights, not to mention anything else, at least to improve his life.

After resting his eyes for a while, Zhu Mingzhong continued to flip through the recitals on the table, although now in many cases, under the handling of government affairs by the cabinet, he has long been accustomed to being a shopkeeper, but it is inevitable that he still has to deal with some government affairs.

"Huh?"

Flipping through one of the recitals, Zhu Mingzhong's brows jumped, it was the recital of the head of the Ministry of Rites. Looking at the twists and turns, Zhu Mingzhong's mood couldn't help but become a little dull, and even his face became a little ugly.

Li Yurui, who had just taken over Ning Yunting's position, saw His Majesty's tightly knit brows, so he asked tentatively.

"Why is Your Majesty bothered?"

"It's a family affair!"

Zhu Mingzhong shook his head and sighed, and then sighed.

"I finally know what parting is a bitter ...... today",

The excerpts of the Ministry of Rites are simple, the third prince Zhu Heyuan and the fourth prince Zhu Hekui are still a few months away from turning sixteen years old, according to the "Emperor Ming Sect Regulations" they need to go out of the palace to open a mansion and stand on their own, in other words, two more sons are going to leave themselves.

The emperor is not in a hurry, and the eunuch is in a hurry.

Shaking his head and sighing, Zhu Mingzhong sighed helplessly.

"They're taking revenge on me!"

Those who had to be separated from their sons under the persecution of the Primogeniture Act began to take revenge......

"Your Majesty, isn't it a few months before you turn sixteen?"

"They've been waiting for more than ten years......"

With a wry smile, Zhu Mingzhong threw it away, then got up and said.

"Go to Kunning Palace tonight."

According to the system of the Ming harem, only the residence of the queen and the imperial concubine is called "palace", and the other concubines, Zhaoyi, Jieyu, beauties, and talented people live in a place called "residence", which is actually a courtyard with different styles. And Kunning Palace is the queen's bedroom.

Kunning Palace is hidden in the dense woods, as the palace of the lord of the harem, this palace is rich and solemn, the surrounding scenery is unique, even if there are dozens of concubines now, but Zhu Mingzhong will come here every few days, which also proves that the queen has never fallen out of favor.

It's early autumn and the weather is getting cooler. After settling her little daughter who had fallen asleep to sleep, Zheng Ling seemed to have something to say although her face was tired.

"You speak first."

Zhu Mingzhong was lying on his side, his fingers running through his daughter's long hair, this was the seventh child Zheng Ling gave birth to him. For a father with 39 children, Zhu Mingzhong will still find time to spend with them. I still love the kids very much.

Regarding Zheng Ling's understanding, Zhu Mingzhong knew that she also had something to say to herself today.

Zheng Ling lowered his head apologetically, and said in a low voice as much as possible.

"Originally, I was going to invite someone to invite His Majesty......"

Hearing the word "Your Majesty", Zhu Mingzhong grinned.

"I've told you a few times that when you're alone, you can talk like an ordinary person."

What "I", "concubine", "Your Majesty" and "Empress" should not appear at home in Zhu Mingzhong's opinion.

"Hmm...... I wanted someone to call you over, and this morning, a telegram came from Yi'er......"

Zheng Ling looked at him with a smile on his face.

"Pell is pregnant."

Pei'er is Hejia's wife, and she also has a crown princess in Daming, and is the daughter of Wuweibo Gan Hui, and Gan Hui is an old general of the Zheng family. He understands this, and he doesn't object to it. He is not worried about the emergence of any foreign relatives group, because times are changing. And the royal family itself should be close to the nobles, they are natural allies. And civilians ...... In terms of standpoint, it is actually the opposite of the royal and the noble, one is personal struggle, the other is born rich, and the class position of the two is different.

"Oh!"

Zhu Mingzhong's eyes widened,

"So, I'm going to be a grandfather?"

Looking at Zheng Ling in surprise, Zhu Mingzhong said again.

"That's a good thing, this is my first grandson, and of course, I like my granddaughter too!"

Looking at Zhu Mingzhong, who was full of joy, Zheng Ling said again.

"So, I think, I want to take Pei'er back to Zhongdu, so that I can take care of him, and also, Yi'er, I want Yi'er to be transferred to Haizhou, so that their husband and wife can get together often......"

Nodding his wife's small mouth, Zhu Mingzhong smiled.

"It's no problem to pick up Pei'er, but Yi'er ......"

Looking at Zheng Ling, Zhu Mingzhong shook his head and said.

"You should know that he is stationed in Beijing to guard the border for me......"

When mentioning this "guarding the border", Zhu Mingzhong couldn't help grinning, thinking to himself, that Zhu Di is quite good at pit his descendants, Nanjing doesn't sleep well, so he won't be down-to-earth, and if he has to make a "Son of Heaven guarding the country", he will give his descendants to the pit, and what's worse is that Cao Yun has dragged down the Ming Dynasty for hundreds of years.

They have guarded the gate of the country for more than 200 years, and they have not been able to eliminate the border troubles in the north. In contrast, I did not defend it, but I still cleaned up the border troubles in the north, tamed the Mongols into sheep, turned the raw girls into lumberjacks, expanded the land for thousands of miles, and even built fortresses on the eastern shore of Lake Baikal. Thinking of this, Zhu Mingzhong couldn't help but feel a little satisfied.

"Zhilong Tang and Song Dynasty", "Far Mai Han and Tang Dynasties", no matter from any point of view, the current Ming Dynasty is definitely worthy of these eight words.

"I ...... I understand the painstaking effort of wanting Yi'er to enter the navy for training, and Yi'er also likes the sea, so I will definitely seize the opportunity to hone myself, and I will definitely become an excellent crown prince in the future......"

As the crown prince, Zhu Hejia had to learn a lot of things, and the reason why he was asked to go to sea and to the warship was to let him know his responsibilities as a captain in advance. Any decision he makes is directly related to the life and death of the whole ship, and the sea will not tolerate his mistakes, which is similar to that of the emperor, history will not tolerate the emperor's mistakes, even if it is not fulfilled in him, it will be fulfilled in the future.

"That's why you can't show favoritism."

Holding Zheng Ling's hand lovingly, Zhu Mingzhong looked at her and said.

"Ling'er, there is something I must tell you."

Although he knew that Zheng Ling wanted the child to come back because he missed his son, Zhu Mingzhong still had to say something to her.

A sentence of favoritism made Zheng Ling look at Zhu Mingzhong a little overwhelmed and a little uneasy, lest he would be angry.

"I decided to feudalize and the Chu Kingdom, and Kui Korea, they are almost sixteen, it's time to seal the land and build the country, and go to the territory of the country in the future."

This sentence was like a spell that sucked all of Zheng Ling's spirit in an instant, and she lay there stunned, her beautiful eyes firmly focused on the invisible distance, which lasted for a minute, or even longer.

Although she had been prepared for this day for a long time, she didn't expect that it would be so soon, the son she had raised for sixteen years was about to be feudal overseas, and it was a new summer tens of thousands of miles away!

"Ling'er? Ling'er? You okay? ”

Although Zhu Mingzhong knew that his wife would have such a reaction, he was still worried that she would not be able to bear it, and when he saw that she had been motionless for so long, he still had to reach out and push her.

After pushing several times, Zheng Lingcai suddenly woke up from his trance, stared at Zhu Mingzhong for a long time, and couldn't help but shed tears in his eyes.

"The concubine knows, this is the family motto, the concubine knows......"

As a mother, she doesn't want her sons to go to a foreign land, but she also wants them to have their own country, which is better than being trapped in the palace all his life like the old vassal kings of the Ming Dynasty, but just a prisoner.

Zhu Mingzhong knew that she was reluctant, so he was busy wiping away her tears:

"This is also what the courtiers meant, besides, the place in Chu is really good, the land is fertile, and the climate is similar to that of the Central Plains, that is, there is no miasma in the south, and there is no cold in the north, to be honest, if I have time, I will go over and have a look."

"The concubine has no other meaning, please don't have to take it to heart, please don't take it to heart......"

That being said, the tears still fell like beads that had fallen off the line.

"Okay, okay, don't cry, you don't need to cry for this kind of thing, after all, sons have their own country and can achieve a lot of achievements, we parents should be happy, besides, you think, in the future, the whole world will be full of countries of you and my descendants, which is a good thing!"

Rather than persuading Zheng Ling, Zhu Mingzhong is better than persuading himself, after all, he is also reluctant, what if he has dozens of sons? As they grew up one after another, and then, like the third and fourth children, they were feudal overseas, to Australia, to North America, and perhaps, they would never see them in this life, so ......

"Concubines, I just want to, I feel uncomfortable thinking that I won't be able to see them again......"

With her head buried in her husband's arms, Zheng Ling burst into tears again.

"Don't feel uncomfortable, Ling'er, don't worry, I will order people to build a big ship, a big ship made of steel, just like a city on the sea, when the time comes, we can go directly to various countries by boat to see them......"

What are you hesitating about, just to see your sons for yourself, this technology must be further promoted. At this moment, Zhu Mingzhong secretly made this decision in his heart.

"Really?"

Zheng Ling looked at Zhu Mingzhong in disbelief.

"When the time comes, what will the state do?"

"Isn't there Yi'er, and the cabinet, this Emperor Shenzong can not be in court for decades, my Ming is still here, there is Yi'er to supervise the country, I go out to patrol the summer, and promote my Han prestige overseas, why not?"

"Really, really?"

"I am an emperor and can do anything......"

Seeing that Zheng Ling was still a little unconvinced, Zhu Mingzhong knew that at this time, the man needed to make a decision immediately, and the woman did not need and could not be reasonable. When Zhu Mingzhong, who flashed this sentence in his mind, was about to replace words with actions. There's a lady in the chamberlain preaching.

"Your Majesty, the sharp twist that Gu Shoufu sent into the palace"

The excerpt sent at this time?

After taking the fold, Zhu Mingzhong glanced at it, and his face changed slightly......