May is the season of labor, the time to sow hope, the fields are as green as the sea, the mountains are full of flowers, and everything seems so full of life.

Early in the morning, at about the hour, a convoy poured out from Chaoyangmen in the capital and went straight to Tongzhou.

The size of the team is not huge, but the lineup is quite terrifying.

In front of the convoy, there are hundreds of brocade guards to open the way, they are all dressed in flying fish suits, embroidered spring knives on their waists, riding high-headed horses, holding various flags, majestic, and the front leader is the Jinyi guard commander with the knowledge of Qi Panzong;

Behind the convoy, there are hundreds of Dongchang fans, although their clothes are not as bright as the brocade guard, but the momentum is not lost to the brocade guard, and the leader of the team is the red man in front of the emperor, the new celebrant and eunuch Wang Chengen;

In the middle of the convoy, there are only more than ten carriages, but there are a lot of people guarding on both sides, and there are hundreds of people, and these people don't know which way the elite of the Ming army is, and they all look more powerful than Jinyiwei and Dongchang Fanzi.

Of course, it is impossible for Chongzhen to leave the capital at this time, the five northwestern provinces are tight, and he is busy.

So, who is it that can make Chongzhen mobilize so many Jinyi guards and Dongchang fans to protect them?

This is naturally the little prince Zhu Cihong, and it may be a little inappropriate to call him the little prince at this time, because he is ten years old, and he is a serious prince, and the word "small" seems to be removed.

However, he was still excited like a child at the moment, sitting on the horse, dancing with his hands, if it weren't for Zhang Bin and Zheng Chenggong holding him left and right, he probably couldn't help but beat the horse and galloped.

In order to go to Fuguang with Zhang Bin to raise donations, he cried, made trouble, and dispatched the emperor's aunt, so Chongzhen had no choice, so he agreed.

The crown prince of the Ming Dynasty is not unable to go on patrol, nor can he travel far, during the Yongle period of Chengzu, the prince Zhu Gaochi has been in the southern capital several times to supervise the country, but at this time the prince Zhu Cihong is too young, Chongzhen is not worried that he will travel far away.

This is naturally Zhang Bin's idea, he just wants to take this opportunity to let the prince go out for a walk, see what the current Ming is like, see what the world is like now, don't be like Tianqi and Chongzhen, who have been nesting in the capital all his life, just like a hillbilly who has no knowledge.

Of course, he didn't go to Chongzhen to say, he just told the crown prince Zhu Cihong that he wanted to go back to Fuguang, Zheng Chenggong, Zhang Xiang, Zhang Yang, and Chen Xiuxiu all had to go back to Fuguang with him, and it was estimated that he would not be able to come back for a few months.

Zhu Cihong immediately got into the trap, crying and shouting to go with him, he was reluctant to Zhang Bin and Zheng Chenggong is one aspect, on the other hand, he wants to go out and see, for more than half a year, Zhang Bin has been taking him around the capital, he has long been addicted to shopping, and he can have the opportunity to go outside the capital to see, or even go to the far south, the temptation for him is simply too great.

If he wants to cry and shout to go to the northwest, Chongzhen naturally won't agree, but it's not so exaggerated to go to Fuguang, Fuguang is still very safe at this time, under his soft grinding and hard bubbles, Chongzhen is still accurate.

This group of people is almost all on horseback, even if they are not riding horses, they are also sitting in the carriage, so the speed is still relatively fast, and within an hour, the group will enter Tongzhou County.

At this time, the scenery on both sides of the official road slowly changed, and there were no busy farmers on both sides of the road, and the fields were no longer as green as the sea, but barren!

Maybe it was the excitement at the beginning, or maybe it was affected by the surrounding scenery, Zhu Cihong no longer danced, and even the excited expression on his face was gone, he looked around curiously, and couldn't help asking: "Master, why is there no one around here, why is there no one planting the land here?" ”

Zhang Bin looked around and sighed: "Alas, the Jiannu invasion, the lives are ruined, the people here are either captured by the Jiannu, or killed by the Jiannu, there is no one at all, from here to Tianjin Wei is basically the same, the entire Shuntian Mansion, except for the people within more than ten miles around the capital, hid in the capital in time, other places, except for the city, the countryside outside is basically deserted, and the entire Shuntianfu is like a big cemetery." “

When Zhu Cihong heard this, his face changed, he glanced left and right, and said with some doubts: "Cemetery? I didn't see the grave. ”

Zhang Bin asked solemnly, "Do you want to see it?" ”

Zhu Cihong didn't speak, just nodded with a complicated face.

Seeing this, Zhang Bin glanced left and right, and then pointed to a village not far from the official road and said, "Zhao Ru, take someone to check it." ”

Zhao Ru obeyed the order, and directly led his team to gallop away, and after a while, he ran back with someone and said, "My lord, there is no one over there, it's safe." ”

Zhang Bin immediately ordered the entire convoy to stop, and then asked Qi Panzong to take more than 50 Jinyi guards to open the way, and ordered two teams of personal guards to escort Zhu Cihong to the village.

It seems normal to look at this village from a distance, but when you walk in, it is not like that, the whole village is in a mess, there are weeds everywhere, the doors and windows of every house are in tatters, and many of them have been kicked on the ground, it is not difficult to imagine how Jiannu broke into here at that time.

Zhu Cihong's face had become extremely ugly when he saw these destroyed doors and windows, and when he saw the rows of graves behind the village, he finally couldn't help but say angrily: "Why are Jiannu so cruel, and the common people have no weapons." ”

Zhang Bin shook his head and sighed, explaining: "Jiannu is murderous, but most of the invaders will do this, what they invaded the Ming Dynasty for, it is nothing more than for land, food, money, beauty, goods, etc., in the face of the common people who have no ability to resist, they naturally have no scruples and wantonly bully." ”

Zhu Cihong was still a little puzzled: "Why did they invade the Ming Dynasty, and the Ming Dynasty didn't offend them." ”

This is really a bit unclear, whether Daming offended them or not is actually not the point, Zhang Bin analyzed: "Jiannu originally lived in the bitter cold land of Liaodong, with no food and no clothes, and Daming sat on thousands of miles of rivers and mountains, rich in food and clothing, and picturesque rivers and mountains, and everyone would be red-eyed." When the Ming itself is strong enough, they have no chance to take advantage of it, they will naturally not invade, once there is a problem within the Ming Dynasty, the national strength is weakened, corruption is rampant, the army's combat power is seriously reduced, and it is not enough to protect themselves, they will not hesitate to pounce. You should have heard the story of the innocent and guilty of the crime, this is the case between people, and the same is true between countries, when you are not able to protect the good things in your hands, others will come and rob them. “

Zhu Cihong said as if he didn't understand: "Master, do you mean that if there is no problem within the Ming Dynasty, Jiannu will not dare to invade the Ming Dynasty?" ”

Zhang Bin nodded and said: "Of course, if there is no problem within the Ming Dynasty, there are more than two million guards alone, and they can pull out an army of four or five hundred thousand casually, and at that time, the total population of Jiannu was less than four or five hundred thousand, how dare they come to invade the Ming Dynasty." ”

After seeing this village that was turned into a cemetery by Jiannu, Zhu Cihong's mood was obviously a lot lower, and he didn't show a smile along the way, until he arrived at Wuqingyi in the evening, Zhang Xiang and Zhang Yang got out of the carriage and played with him, and he was in a better mood.

Through this incident, Zhang Bin made him deeply understand the truth that he will be beaten if he is backward, he naturally does not want to be beaten, but Daming has been beaten now, since he can remember, Daming has been beaten, and has been beaten by Jiannu until now!

How can he not be beaten, he didn't come up with a clue for a night after thinking about this question.

Early the next morning, the convoy continued to set off, all the way was still wilderness, uninhabited, Zhu Cihong's mood was very heavy, and he was so bored all the way that he didn't even have the interest to speak.

It wasn't until the evening, when he arrived at Dagu Port, that he saw the sea and saw the Zhenyuan cruiser anchored in the port, that he became extremely excited again.

What the sea is like, he has imagined, referring to the inner lake of the Imperial City Xiyuan, magnifying countless times is the appearance of the sea, this is not much different from what he imagined, but the huge Zhenyuan cruiser is beyond his imagination, and the ship of Xiyuan is only a few zhang long at most, which is like this Zhenyuan cruiser, which looks like a palace on the sea.

Standing in the harbor, looking at the huge Zhenyuan cruiser, he couldn't help but exclaim: "Master, the ship, can you still build such a big one?" ”

Zhang Bin said proudly: "There are bigger ships than this, when Zheng He went to the Western Ocean, the large treasure ship was more than twice as big as this." ”

The reason why he showed the Zhenyuan cruiser in front of Zhu Cihong was to arouse the ambition of the prince, and sure enough, Zhu Cihong couldn't help but be surprised when he heard this: "Is there a bigger ship than this in the Ming Dynasty?" “

Zhang Bin sighed regretfully: "No, Zheng He's trip to the West was more than two hundred years ago, what treasure ships can last for more than two hundred years without rotting, at this time all the treasure ships are rotten scum left." ”

Children have a bit of unrealistic extravagant expectations, and Zhu Cihong is the same, he said innocently: "There is no reconstruction." ”

Zhang Bin shook his head and said: "There is no way to build it, in the past two hundred years, the shipbuilding technology of the Ming Dynasty has not advanced but retreated, and it has fallen for thousands of miles. ”

He was obviously lying, but this lie was well-intentioned, and the reason why he deceived Zhu Cihong was that he was afraid that Zhu Cihong would talk nonsense in front of Chongzhen after he went back, which would arouse Chongzhen's suspicion, and second, to stimulate Zhu Cihong and arouse his competitive mentality.

Zhu Cihong looked at the Fu ship in the distance, and then at the Zhenyuan cruiser in the distance, and said in disbelief: "Is Daming's shipbuilding technology so poor now, and it is so far away from Hongmaofan?" ”

The lucky boat was like a small sampan in front of the Zhenyuan cruiser, the contrast was too obvious, but Zhu Cihong didn't doubt it, because the largest ship in the Imperial City West Garden was not as big as the lucky boat, he was just a little unbelievable.

Zhang Bin nodded regretfully and said: "Yes, Daming's shipbuilding technology has been regressing, but Hongmaofan's shipbuilding technology is advancing by leaps and bounds. “

Zhu Cihong's competitive psychology was really aroused, and he was a little unconvinced: "Why, why did it become like this, how could Daming not even compare with the red hair?" ”

Zhang Bin said wisely: "This problem is caused by many reasons, the focus of the Ming Dynasty for more than two hundred years has been in the north, in the remnants of Meng Yuan, plus the fight in the nest often happens, it is not surprising that it has become like this." ”

When Zhu Cihong heard this, he couldn't help but fall into deep thought, this question was a bit too profound for a child of his age, so he didn't think about it for a long time.

At this time, the sailors on the Zhenyuan cruiser had skillfully put down a huge hanging frame, and slowly hoisted the carriage and war horses onto the battleship, and Jinyiwei also began to board the ship under the leadership of Qi Panzong, Zhang Bin gathered all his family members, and accompanied Zhu Cihong to watch the hoisting carriage and war horses for a while, until Jinyiwei had already arranged guards on the deck and cabin, he took his family and Zhu Cihong together and boarded the deck of the Zhenyuan cruiser.

Seeing the huge deck and the artillery on the deck, Zhu Cihong's frightened mouth couldn't close, he walked to the cannon curiously, looked at it carefully, and then asked, "Is this also made by the red hair?" ”

Sometimes, if you tell a lie, you have to cover it up with countless lies, Zhang Bin can only continue to lie: "Yes, the name of this cannon is called the Franc cannon, which was made by Portugal thousands of miles away, and the Ming Dynasty began to imitate the Franc cannon in the Jiajing period, but it was not as good as anyone else." ”

Zhu Cihong circled around the artillery and muttered: "Franco, Portugal, these names are so strange." ”

Zhang Bin lost no time in introducing: "This name is not the pronunciation of Chinese, but the pronunciation of the people on the European continent, the entire European territory is also very vast, almost as large as the territory of the Ming Dynasty, but there is not only one country there, but there are more than ten countries large and small, among which the more famous ones are Portugal, Spain, Franco, England and the Holy Roman Empire." ”

When Zhu Cihong heard this, he couldn't help but be interested, and he asked with great interest: "Oh, is there such a magical place, the territory is about the same size as the Ming Dynasty, but there are more than ten countries, and what other countries, master, do you know?" ”

Of course, Zhang Bin knew, he immediately waved his hand and said, "Come on, take the world map." ”

As soon as he finished speaking, Zhu Cihong asked curiously: "World map?" Master, what does the world mean?

This question really stumped Zhang Bin, he didn't specifically study what the world means, what does the world mean?

He thought for a while, and then muttered: "The name of the world is taken from the "Lengyan Sutra", the world, that is, the meaning of migration; Boundary, refers to the direction. The world refers to this heaven and earth, this world, and everything in this world. ”

The world seemed to be a magical door, slowly opening in front of Zhu Cihong, and he couldn't help but say with longing: "This world, everything in this world? How big is this world? ”

This posture, this expression, has the meaning of the world so big, I want to see it.

To explain how big the world is, even Zhang Bin has to spend a lot of time, but fortunately, at this time, the general on the ship has already taken the world map.

Zhang Bin motioned to the two guards to unfold the world map in front of them, and then introduced in detail: "Hong'er, you see, this is the world we are in, this is the Ming Dynasty, this is the capital, here is the European continent, here is the Franc machine, this is Portugal, and we are in this position now." ”

Zhu Cihong's eyes kept moving along Zhang Bin's fingers on the map, and there was a fiery light in his eyes from time to time, this world is really big!

The reason why Zhang Bin introduced him to the whole world is to broaden his horizons and let him understand how big this world is, don't learn from Chongzhen, nest in the capital every day, I am in the Forbidden Palace, sitting in a well and watching the sky, dreaming of the lord of the world.