Since Wuchang Mansion got on the building ship of this inner prison, the weather became gloomy, and at dawn the next day, I saw snowflakes floating in the sky.

Although the temperature was cold, Sunan did not feel the slightest chill, opened the window of the oil-paper wooden lattice, and let the cold wind hit his chest.

"Lao Su, you are crazy, you froze me to death." Duan Renzhi, who was still shrunk in the quilt, scolded with a smile, and retracted into the quilt again, even covering his head.

Sunan looked at the carefree Duan Renzhi with some envy, put on his robe, got up and went out to wash.

He and Duan Renzhi were both from Jingzhou, because their families were poor and couldn't afford to support them, so they joined the army together at the age of sixteen.

From the Dongting Naval Division to the New Jiangkou Naval Division, and then to the First Fleet of the Navy of the Taisun Army, their identities have been changing, but the two brothers have never been separated.

As the eldest brother in the family, Sunan has been used to taking care of others since he was a child, but Duan Renzhi is the fourth in the family and has always been heartless.

Because the two have lived by the river since childhood, they are familiar with water, and they are not bad in the army.

Southern Jiangsu fought bravely, raised the general flag earlier, and has always taken special care of this brother who is not a brother.

This is not only because Duan Renzhi is out of the same person as him, but also because although Duan Renzhi is greedy for life and afraid of death, he is a blessed general.

The suppression of bandits during the Dongting Water Division was Duan Renzhi's discovery, and they caught a group of water thieves before he was promoted to the general banner.

He also believed that Duan Renzhi was his lucky general, so when he was transferred to the First Fleet, he found a relationship to bring the originally unqualified Duan Renzhi to Xinjiangkou.

When they arrived at the First Fleet, they were the first batch of soldiers to change their muskets, and in the battle of the Eastern Expedition to Dongying, Duan Renzhi, a lucky general, really made a great contribution.

When the Shenji Battalion attacked Kyoto, they were originally staying behind to guard the battleship, but because Duan Lizhi had diarrhea that day, they and Ma Dezhong from Shandong went to the shore with him to.

But they never thought that they ran into a group of nobles hiding in the mountain col, and they were still the royal family of Dongying.

The three men hurriedly killed two people, and the group surrendered, which was a great achievement.

Returning to the capital, the three of them actually entered the palace and met the emperor, although they didn't say a word, but they were able to kowtow a few times in person, which made Sunan feel like a dream.

After meeting the emperor, Sunan was promoted to the captain of Zhengliupin Zhaoxin and promoted to the general manager. This is equivalent to the captain of a first-class battleship in the naval division.

Duan Renzhi and Ma Dezhong were also awarded the title of lieutenant of Zhongjing and promoted to general manager.

Returning to the capital, in order to prepare for going to sea next year, their first fleet was reorganized. After a two-month delay in the capital, the training of the new army took shape, and only then did he get family leave.

Wealth does not return to the hometown, just like a brocade night walk.

Of course, Sunan and Duan Renzhi will not give up this opportunity to go home, not to mention, after being promoted to captain Zhaoxin, they will also distribute eighty acres of official land, the Su family is poor, and these eighty acres of land can make the whole family live a good life.

The two country boys at the beginning became official masters in a few years, and the sensation caused by returning to their hometown was naturally not small.

Even the county lord, who could only watch from afar, can only go down one by one when he sees them now.

The eighty acres of paddy fields allocated to his family are all the best fields, and they are connected to the Duan family's fifty acres of paddy fields, not to mention how exciting it is.

However, his parents are old, his health is not good, and his younger siblings are still young, so they can't help much. These responsibilities were pressed on his heart, making him uncomfortable.

But fortunately, the Duan family has a lot of labor, and Duan Renzhi follows him, and they are willing to help. The family left 30 acres of paddy fields, and the other paddy fields were tenant out, and they would not be wasted.

His parents are insightful, and he has been busy clearing the land for more than a month, and he has built a blue brick house for his family with the silver coins he brought home, and even if he wants to find a mother-in-law, he has been delayed.

But now that my family has become a big family, as long as I work hard, a good life is ahead.

"Mr. Su Qian, I went to the capital here, saying that I was going to sea after the New Year!"

"Hmm......" Sunan poured the washing water from the copper basin into the river, put the copper basin in the wooden grid, and then wiped the water off his face with a cotton cloth.

"Will there be a war?"

Sunan smiled a little proudly: "Even if there is a war, we will fight others, and whoever dares not to listen to His Royal Highness Taisun, we will fight whomever we want." ”

Several of the little eunuchs laughed, apparently very pleased with his use of the word us.

A little eunuch said: "We will arrive at Jiujiang Mansion soon, there will be no fire on the ship this morning, someone will bring us hot meat buns in a while, and I will send them to you." ”

They originally took the First Fleet's own ship, but they were in a hurry, and they were half a day late, and when the fleet left the port, it would take two days before they had a ship.

Just when they were disappointed and were about to wait for two days in Wuchang Mansion, the fleet of the inner supervisor knew that they were the officers and soldiers of the First Fleet of Taisun's army, and there were only two of them, so they invited them to the ship.

They didn't want to be delayed for two days in Wuchang Mansion, so they got on the boat. But I never thought that the ships of the inner supervisors were much more comfortable than their warships, not only did they have big beds, but they also paid attention to how to get three meals a day.

This trip can be regarded as a blessing.

In addition to them, there were also several officials of the Ministry of Works. Only one of the principals from the fifth rank was a little higher, and the others were lower than him.

Sunan couldn't figure out how the Ministry of Industry could be so close to the internal supervisors, they were secretive about why they traveled together, and they never mentioned it, but on the contrary, they were very interested in the army's eastward expedition to Dongying.

Life on the ship was monotonous, and their greatest pleasure every day was to let the two of them tell them about the Crusades.

Although Duan Renzhi is a little timid and likes to cheat and play tricks, he is sociable and very good at speaking, but he is more liked by a group of people than Sunan.

Especially those little eunuchs, who like to listen to him brag the most. Even if Duan Renzhi made up nonsense and put some credit that did not belong to them on himself, resulting in loopholes, they were willing to listen.

Both of them came from poor backgrounds, so they did not discriminate against the crippled little eunuchs, and during the few days on the ship, they made friends with them.

Especially Duan Renzhi, he and a few little eunuchs only called him brother and brother, and he also left each other's addresses for easy contact in the future.

The north wind was cold, but it also urged the boat to sail, and it was down the river, so the crew could travel four or five hundred miles a day with almost no effort. From Wuchang Mansion to Yingtianfu 1,500 miles, but it has arrived in three days.

The boat stopped at the Navy Water Village on Jiangxin Island, and it was much more convenient to go to the New Jiangkou Water Village Camp from here.

Sunan and Duan Renzhi packed their luggage, and Duan Renzhi got along with a few little eunuchs for a few days, and they were a little reluctant when they separated.

They pretended to be public and private, and also gave a lot of edible things to the two of them that the people in the inner prison enjoyed. These toothbrushes made of bristles, cool tooth powder, and fragrant pancreas have never been seen before.

In particular, Chi Shanzi, the chief of the internal prison, gave him a pair of roller skates because of his relationship with Duan Renzhi, which made Duan Renzhi a little loved.

Since last year, cement roads have been built everywhere in the Ming Dynasty, especially here in Yingtianfu, which has almost become a large construction site, and the road surface everywhere has been built into cement roads. The training ground in the water village is a large area of smooth concrete.

The internal supervisors also began to sell roller skates in their shops, but because of the high price, only some noble children were willing to spend a dozen taels of silver to buy a pair of roller skates.

With all this money, you can buy two acres of land, or build three houses. Although Sunan and Duan Renzhi can afford it now, they are reluctant to buy it.

The ship was about to dock, but everyone noticed that the island seemed to be a little different, with flags waving and many more people than before.

Seeing this, everyone on the ship couldn't help but come out of the deck and look at the island.

That Changsui Chi Shanzi was still joking with Duan Renzhi, but at this time, he couldn't help frowning, and said to the little eunuch beside him: "Bring my clairvoyant mirror and see what the situation is......

In a short time, a little eunuch brought over a well-made binoculars. Chi Shanzi took the binoculars and looked around the island for a while, and couldn't help but exclaim: "His Royal Highness the honor guard...... It was the grandson who came to greet us personally! ”

The people on the boat were excited, and an old craftsman from the Ministry of Engineering couldn't help but kneel down and kowtow to the shore. While kowtowing, I couldn't help but cry. "I can be greeted by His Royal Highness in person, I have no regrets in this life!"

Under his leadership, everyone also knelt down and kowtowed three times to the shore before getting up again. Then they hurriedly began to wash up one by one, wanting to make a good impression on His Highness.

Duan Renzhi couldn't help but take out the fragrant pancreas that had just been put into the baggage, hung a bucket of water from the river, and washed his hands and face well.

Although they were Taisun's pro-army, they were all just small soldiers, and they had no chance to be on Taisun's flagship. Although I have seen Taisun twice from afar, it is the first time that I have had a close encounter like this.

Sunan's heart is also full of excitement, being able to get close to Taisun once, this is the glory of a lifetime! When you get old, you can also show off with your children and grandchildren.

However, of course, he would not think that the Taisun had come to greet him, and although these people from the internal supervision and the Ministry of Industry were close to them, they had always been hesitant about the purpose of this trip, and refused to say it explicitly, and it seemed that they had an important task.

And at the dock of the sailor on Jiangxin Island, Zhu Zhanji's heart was also full of excitement.

The problem of the source of saltpeter was solved, and the bottleneck restricting the development of firearms in the Ming Dynasty disappeared. At least for a few decades, Daming will no longer have to worry about gunpowder.

As for decades later,...... At that time, Da Ming must have gained a foothold in South America. And the saltpeter mines there are large enough for the Ming Dynasty to not worry about gunpowder for hundreds of years.

As for the future, saltpeter can be directly synthesized chemically, and it no longer matters whether there is a saltpeter mine or not.

Although he didn't see the bowing of everyone on the boat, of course Li Liang and the others would not fail to tell him.

Hearing this, his heart was also full of pride, and in the eyes of everyone on the boat, his grandson personally came to greet them to lift them up.

But in his view, although they were only humble craftsmen and inner eunuchs, their contributions far exceeded those of others.

The ship finally docked, and all the dozens of people on board knelt down on the deck again and bowed to Zhu Zhanji, who boarded the ship.

After Zhu Zhanji got on the boat, he came to the crowd one by one, personally helped them up, and said a few words to each of them.

Those chamberlains often see Zhu Zhanji, and they are accustomed to it, but those shipwrights and craftsmen are very excited, and many of them are crying bitterly and unable to speak.

Zhu Zhanji did not dislike it at all, and he was relieved.

Coming to Sunan, Sunan knelt on the deck, hit his left chest with his right fist, and said loudly: "The First Fleet of the Navy, Xinjiangkou Water Village, Captain Zhaoxin, President Qian, Su Nan greets His Highness." ”

Zhu Zhanji looked at his young face, his face was simple, and although he was wearing new clothes, his appearance did not look like a noble child. "Get up and talk back,...... Seeing that you are not very old and your background is not too high, how can you become a thousand presidents? ”

Although Sunan is a head shorter than Zhu Zhanji, he thinks that Taisun should be mighty and not ashamed. On the contrary, I am quite proud to be able to get close to my grandson.

He said loudly: "In the Dongting Water Division, he killed three enemies and captured twenty-one water thieves, so he raised the general flag. During the Eastern Crusade in June, he took the deputy means of Renzhi, Ma Dezhong, and killed three more enemies, captured 39 people from the Dongying royal family, and more than 200 Japanese soldiers. In mid-August, he was promoted to the general manager of Qian, and was awarded the rank of lieutenant of Zhaoxin. ”

Zhu Zhanji patted him on the shoulder and praised him: "It's really my good man, but can I get married?" ”

Sunan was a little embarrassed, and said with some twists: "The lowly family is poor, and I can't eat enough to become a soldier." Now although I have some family background, I haven't had time to find my mother-in-law. ”

Zhu Zhanji turned back to Li Liang and smiled: "Didn't those clans send a lot of beautiful women to Lone, there are enough Lone women, go back and make arrangements to solve the marriage difficulties for the meritorious soldiers." ”

Li Liang said yes in a low voice, but let Su Nanleng stop, he had never heard that he would be assigned a daughter-in-law as a soldier!

That Duan Renzhi was a jumper, and when he heard that there was such a beautiful thing, he couldn't help but look at Zhu Zhanji with expectant eyes and asked, "Your Highness, the young general is not married yet......

Zhu Zhanji laughed and said, "All of them, all of you." As long as you can brave life and death on the battlefield and kill the enemy bravely, everything will be there. I'll leave later, Lone still has something to say to you, let's go to the shore and wait first! ”

Sunan and Duan Renzhi knew that it was time for them to leave the scene at this time, so they knelt down again, kowtowed to Zhu Zhanji three times, and then followed a chamberlain to the shore to wait.

Until this time, they were still in a dream. Duan Renzhi couldn't help but slap himself, and then covered his face in pain. "It's not a dream, it's true, His Highness even said that he wanted to find me a mother-in-law!"

His actions also made the little eunuch laugh. "You are blessed, those women who were given to His Highness by the clan are all proficient in piano, chess, calligraphy and painting, and are accustomed to serving people. If it weren't for His Highness's reward, you would have to save up for a few years before you could marry such a woman. ”

The two men who said this laughed again, neither of them could read. After entering the First Fleet, His Royal Highness required all officers and soldiers above the small flag to be literate, able to read sea charts, and be able to arrange troops in formation before they could be promoted. That's why they learned to write after the paperwork in the army.

Now they can only read hundreds of words, and they are still early before the exit is completed. If you can marry a mother-in-law who knows piano, chess, calligraphy and painting, you are not afraid that your children will be blind in the future.

The two of them were beautiful on the shore, and Zhu Zhanji on the boat was also very happy when he saw the bags of yellow and white saltpeter.

The color of saltpeter is diverse, because of the different purity, starting from Ge Hong, there are more than a dozen different purification methods in Huaxia, and purifying saltpeter is not a problem for today's craftsmen.

Although Zhu Zhanji knew that Jiangyou's saltpeter mines had supplied the Qing Dynasty for hundreds of years, the Qing Dynasty's gunpowder production was pitiful. He didn't know how big the reserves of these saltpeters were and how long they could supply Daming, so what he was most worried about was the reserves.

Fan Guangcai, the director of the Ministry of Works, cautiously reported: "The group went upriver along the Han River, and after arriving at the mouth of the Danjiang River, they changed boats and did not go ashore until Huizhou in the south of Hanzhong. According to His Highness's instructions, our group found the commander of Ning Qiangwei, and they sent two hundred men to escort us across the Qinling Mountains and arrive at Jiangyou.

The lowly party did not dare to delay, and divided into four teams to look for saltpeter mines in Jiangyou Laojun Mountain, and found five mine caves, and at least thousands of stone reserves have been discovered. It's just that the mine has not yet been excavated, and it is not known how much reserves there are. He left half of his men to survey the area, and he brought some saltpeter mines back to restore his life. ”

"Can the local health office and the county government take action?"

"Now Jiangyou and Zhangming counties have been closed."

Fan Guangcai was cautious in front of Zhu Zhanji, but when he left the capital, he was also a well-known official from Wupin Beijing, and his majesty was tight.

They also had the help of the inner prison, and they were ordered by the Holy Order. The local county order is the seventh grade, so naturally he is stammering, what he says, the other party will do.

Zhu Zhanji nodded with satisfaction and said, "Compile the experience of this trip into a draft, hand it over to me tomorrow, and I will present it to Your Majesty on my behalf." Your Majesty deserves a generous reward for your great achievements this time. ”

Everyone thanked them one after another, and Zhu Zhanji personally asked for credit for them, and there would be no officials to grab the credit, and it would also be more valued by His Majesty.

Zhu Zhanji is not pro-government, cannot meddle in civil affairs, and cannot directly interfere in the promotion of officials, so everything must be decided by Zhu Di.

However, Zhu Di is also most concerned about the production of gunpowder, and now that this problem can be solved, he is naturally happy, and he will not lose his rewards.

Arrange for someone to carry these dozens of bags of saltpeter samples to the warehouse on the shore, and Zhu Zhanji went ashore.

Looking at Sunan and Duan Renzhi who were waiting on the side, he beckoned to them, and the two of them immediately came to him in flattery.

Zhu Zhanji inquired about their past experiences and meritorious contributions, and they did not dare to conceal them, so they told them that the two meritorious services were related to Duan Renzhi, so that Zhu Zhanji also called Duan Renzhi a lucky general.

Leaving the two of them was just a whim, and from them, Zhu Zhanji realized that he was still a little too alienated from the lower-level soldiers in the army in the past.

Although keeping a distance is the posture that a grandson should have, Zhu Zhanji feels that he is not doing enough.

It was not that he wanted to rejoice with the people, but because of this alienation, he forgot to set a few examples and examples in the army.

Today's Ming Dynasty does not have a good man who is not a soldier, and most of those noble classes are small soldiers who do not know a single word from a big character, because of meritorious service.

But over the decades, this class has also become somewhat solidified. The approach adopted by Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Di is to kill a group and support a group.

This can't be said to be wrong, because the previous Ming Dynasty was a closed circle. Too many nobles will only cause a huge burden on the country.

However, this is by no means suitable for the stage of development of the Age of Discovery, and if we want to stimulate the courage of the people and generals to develop outward, we must have more effective measures, so that the nobles, generals, and people have the mentality of conquering the four seas and expanding the territory.

Seeing them, Zhu Zhanji wanted to set some examples in the army, and then write a drama to make them stars of this era and attract more people to be willing to serve the country.

That's why he wanted to keep them and ask if their merits were adulterated.

And the result still made him more satisfied.

They have no backing and no support below, and it is a real credit.

Especially because Duan Renzhi had diarrhea, the three of them captured two or three hundred people, and there were dozens of Dongying royal families, such a plot was written into a drama, which could also attract more people to watch it and learn from them spontaneously.

With a plan in his heart, Zhu Zhanji asked people to arrange a boat to send them back to the barracks. I was going to go to the Navy Headquarters the next day to ask Liu Jiang to report all the officers and soldiers who had made great contributions in this battle, and then select some representative soldiers for publicity.

For example, some lecture tours are held to stimulate the mentality of the soldiers to make meritorious contributions, and turn them into dramas, so that the common people can be proud of being soldiers.

If we want to change the atmosphere of the whole society, we should start from now little by little.

But Sunan and Duan Renzhi were like dreams, and until they returned to Shuizhai, they were still confused.

They went to the headquarters first to cancel the leave, and as soon as they came out, they saw Ma Dezhong who was smiling.

Ma Dezhong is a native of Shandong, and his physique is also larger than that of Sunan and Duan Renzhi, because he was born as an orphan, he has never been afraid of death, and he is brave in battle.

He was obedient to southern Jiangsu, but he looked down on Duan Renzhi a little, and always thought that Duan Renzhi was timid. But he has the best relationship with Duan Renzhi, and every time he goes on a mission, he also cares about Duan Renzhi the most.

After a military salute with Sunan, he hugged Duan Renzhi and called him the nickname. "Kitten, what did you bring to Lao Tzu?"

If it was in the past, Duan Renzhi would definitely have a hippie grinning quarrel with him. But this time, he pushed him away and said, "Don't touch grandpa, grandpa's shoulder has just been touched by His Royal Highness Taisun, and I won't take a bath for a month." ”

Ma Dezhong sneered: "I'm afraid you're not dreaming, Your Royal Highness Taisun, last time in front of the commander, you were so scared that you almost peed your pants." ”

"Cut, it's not the same as it used to be. At the beginning, I was just a small soldier, but now I am a lieutenant of Zhongjing, do you know what kind of official he is? ”

Ma Dezhong laughed at him even more, and said with a smile: "It seems that Lao Tzu is not the boss!" ”

He wanted to hug Duan Renzhi's shoulder again, but Duan Renzhi hurriedly dodged and threw the burden to him. "Seriously, don't put your stinky hands on me......"

Ma Dezhong still didn't believe it, but he heard Sunan say: "We really saw His Highness just now, and His Highness also said that in two days, he would arrange for us to have a mother-in-law and start a family." ”

Ma Dezhong's posture was fixed there all of a sudden, and it took a while to react, and he screamed and hugged Duan Renzhi. "I'm grass your grandmother, why don't you have such good luck, let me get a dragon's spirit. I'm going to sleep with you today, and you tell me what's going on!" ”

(Go to bed now, strive for 12,000 words today)