A war, especially a large-scale war, is never about lifting a sword.

In that case, it will not be called war, but war.

Although Zhu Di was a loser in India and acted as a wronged leader, in fact, Daming was not without gains, and it can even be said that the gains outweighed the losses.

His actions in India made hundreds of small countries in this land submit to the face of the Ming Dynasty one by one, although these countries were very weak, but they had a large population.

Politically stabilized these countries, and this land became a dumping ground for the Ming Dynasty.

There are many princes and nobles here, and in addition to their fascination with gold, they are also obsessed with the fine porcelain from the Ming Dynasty, soft silk, and tea that can "cure all diseases".

Indians are even more obsessed with tea than Chinese herbs that can actually cure diseases. They believe that tea not only unclogs the intestines, but also purifies the soul.

In the original history, the British occupied India, and it was not until the end of the Qing Dynasty that they began to successfully transplant tea in the mountainous areas of eastern India, making India a tea powerhouse.

But it is still the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, and there is no tea at all in the entire Indian continent except for wild bitter tea, and the tea of the Ming Dynasty has become the best-selling commodity.

Zhu Di's stay in India was not meaningless, because he mainly had to cooperate with the Northern Route Army.

The expedition of the Northern Route Army was scheduled for next year's New Year, and although the offensive of the Southern Route Army would be brought forward a little, it should not be more than half a year.

What's more, the Southern Route Army still has to wait for the recruits who have graduated from Yulin Weixue to establish a sound intelligence system in Central Asia.

Only when the Southern Route Army and the Northern Route Army established contact could the two sides cooperate at that time.

Therefore, this year's Southern Route Army, although it arrived in India. However, in addition to establishing forward positions, preparing grain and grass, military horses, and opening up India's passage into Central Asia, there will be no attack on Timur for the time being.

This kind of large-scale war is never about morale or conspiracy, but about the competition of overall national strength.

What's more, the current Da Ming still has an absolute lead in weapons.

Therefore, Huang Yuan is the busiest one now, except for him, most of the generals are worried about how to find more women and appease their subordinates.

Of course, there were camp prostitutes in the Ming Dynasty, but this expedition required going to sea and taking a boat, and those camp prostitutes did not bring them.

Starting from Nanyang, many traffickers arranged the chicken village next to the military camp of the Ming Dynasty, as Zhu Zhanji had done when he arrived a few years earlier.

But this time the army was too numerous, and those women simply could not meet the needs of the army.

It was not until India that this dissatisfaction eased somewhat, because India lacks everything, that is, there is no shortage of women.

Huang Yuan had to be busy preparing military rations, busy raising fire oil, and arranging craftsmen to help make fire oil bombs. It is also necessary to buy military horses everywhere and prepare for the expedition of the army, which is very busy.

His ability was vividly exerted in this kind of busyness, and even Zhu Di, the emperor, praised Huang Yuan's ability.

From Huang Yuan, you can see Huang Fu's ability, at this time, Zhu Di couldn't help but regret a little, he didn't reuse Huang Fu in the early years.

In the capital, Zhu Zhanji, the grandson of the prison state, met with the old minister as soon as Huang Fu arrived in Beijing.

Looking at Zhu Zhanji, who was sitting on the top, sitting like a clock, and not angry and arrogant, Huang Fu's heart was full of joy.

A few years ago, because his son joined the navy, he had no choice but to take refuge in this little-known grandson at the time.

At that time, he was not thinking about himself, but planning for the future of the family.

In his mind, the emperor is healthy, and although the prince's age is not high, at least for more than ten years, their Huang family will still be marginalized by the civil forces in the court.

However, Taisun took Dongying in one fell swoop, which brought him great prestige, and he took refuge in Taisun, and was soon transferred to the capital, and served as the secretary of the military department.

But the grandson went to sea, and in order to go west, he was squeezed out to the northwest and was responsible for the mobilization of grain and grass. This made him clearly realize that it was not so easy for him to gain a foothold in this imperial court.

Among the Wenchen, he has no real enemies, but the fault is that his prestige is too high,

In the twenty years of Hongwu, when most of the ministers of the current court had not yet come out, he had already served as a squire of the Ministry of Works at the age of twenty.

At that time, Jian Yi and Xia Yuanji were still his juniors.

When he arrived in the Yongle Dynasty, he was appointed by Zhu Di as the secretary of the Ministry of Industry, and he held a high position.

In the following ten years, he has had several ups and downs, and has been serving as an official abroad. And his juniors are in important positions one by one, and they don't want a minister in the court who is not the same as him, but is highly respected.

When he received the news in the northwest, the emperor actually put aside the prince and directly let the prince supervise the country, and he knew that he finally rejected Tai.

Because this matter also means that the crown prince, who is close to those ministers, is excluded from the center of power.

Taisun took power early, which is a good thing for his Huang family and Huang Fu.

Subsequently, his son was appointed as the commander-in-chief of the rear army of the Western Expeditionary Army, which reflected his idea, and both father and son were both the commander-in-chief of the two armies, which was extremely rare in all dynasties.

Of course, he knew what to do at this time, the father and son were in charge of power at the same time, even in order to avoid suspicion, he should write to resign as the head of the rear army of the Northern Route Army.

Then, he waited for Fang Bin and Jin Youzi to go to the northwest to replace him.

This is the first adjustment of Taisun's power, and it is also the first step for him to really enter the center of power after Huang Fu.

Since Fang Bin was sent to the northwest and transferred him back to Beijing, it also meant that he should be the palm seal of the entire military department.

So he handed over the work to Fang Bin in the fastest time, and recommended all the officials to Fang Bin, and set foot on the road back to Beijing.

When he returns to Beijing this time, he will no longer be a passerby, even if it is just because his son went out with His Majesty, before His Majesty did not return to Beijing, and before Huang Yuan still served as the commander of the rear army of the Southern Route Army, he would definitely sit firmly in the position of the head of the military department.

So the feeling of his return to Beijing this time was very different from the past, and when he landed on the land of Yingtianfu at Yuejianglou Wharf, he encountered his first surprise......

Ma Qi, the eunuch who once served as the chief procurement officer of Jiaozhi, is just a middle official, and he can only be regarded as a middle and high-level official in the entire internal supervision system.

But because he is an inner servant who can serve the emperor closely, because the internal supervision system and the civil official system are completely unified. He, who is not a eunuch at all, is a servant who is a scholar, and serves as the political envoy of Jiaozhi Chengxuan, the political envoy of the political envoy, and the probationary envoy, and he is disgraced.

Officialdom is sinister, and many times, the more inconspicuous the little people, the more they can create huge trouble.

Ma Qi, the lieutenant of the town guard, was extreme, tyrannical, and mistreated civilians, and triggered a large-scale popular uprising in Jiaozhi.

However, this person turned out to be a wicked person who sued first, secretly believed to His Majesty, and falsely claimed that he had rebelled. Fortunately, His Majesty was wise, and after the other party verified it, he confirmed that this incident was caused by Ma Qi, and he did not punish himself.

And Ma Qi was also able to get away with the crime because of his mediation in many ways, and created a great enemy of life and death.

No one knows how dangerous the Huang family was in those years, on the surface, he Huang Fu was the first person in Jiaozhi and had a high position, but only he knew that the Huang family was in danger.

He Huang Fu didn't know how to be flexible in the early years, and offended many civil servants, so he was framed and dismissed from his post and imprisoned from the post of secretary of the Ministry of Industry.

Later, although he was released from prison and made meritorious contributions, he Huang Fu offended most of the civil officials and has been difficult to return to Beijing.

Now he has offended the eunuch system, which is equal to the three major systems of the imperial court, he has already offended two, and there is no one in the court to speak for him.

As the political envoy of Jiaozhi Chengxuan, the political envoy and the probationary envoy, it seems that he is out of the limelight, but in fact he is in danger.

It was also under such pressure that the eldest son, Huang Yuan, resolutely joined the Rong and entered the only military general system with friendly cooperation, and became a big soldier.

At that time, he and his son had already made up their minds to protect the continuation of the family, but no one thought that this move would be revived because of His Royal Highness the Grand Sun.

Because of the attention of His Royal Highness, Huang Yuan was promoted from a small general to a garrison all the way to the rank of Fu'anzi. After that, as a viscount, he was directly promoted to marquis, and before the earl, he became the chief officer of His Majesty's imperial expedition to the Southern Route Army.

And Ma Qi, who had been with the Huang family endlessly, was now escorted to the execution ground next to the Yuejianglou Wharf as soon as he arrived in Yingtianfu.

Of course he knew what all this was about, and that Maggie's death was his own destruction, and no one would sympathize with him.

But to be able to be scheduled at such a time, and to be executed in front of him, the meaning behind this is even more important.

He followed the lively people, and saw with his own eyes that the executioner went down with a knife, and Ma Qi's head fell to the ground. What I felt was not fear, but an indescribable emotion.

Seeing Zhu Zhanji sitting above, there was only one kind of agitation in his heart that a soldier would die for his confidant.

Listening to Huang Fu analyze the current situation in the northwest with him in front of the map, Zhu Zhanji also had the clearest and most intuitive understanding of the military and political situation in the northwest by comparing the information in his hands.

"So, although Wu Yuncheng and Chai Bingcheng are both of different races, they are trustworthy?"

"Yes, Chai Bingcheng's original name is Lunduer Gray, this person is brave and unscrupulous, it is enough to defend one side, but it is not enough to entrust the heavy responsibility. But Wu Yuncheng is brave and resourceful, and he is ambitious, so he can be reused. ”

Zhu Zhanji asked people to bring the identity information of the two again, and after reading it, he said with some surprise: "I never thought that this Wu Yuncheng's second son would actually study in my Yulin Weixue." Let someone report on his assessment status......"

After the order, he looked back at Huang Fu and said: "Qianjiu was recommended by Gu to the imperial grandfather, and some time ago he also received information from the Southern Route Army, and now he is trusted by the imperial grandfather, and all trivial matters are entrusted to him. He can still be like a fish in water in front of the imperial grandfather, and you and I don't have to worry about him. ”

Huang Fu said modestly: "Qianjiu is fortunate to be favored by His Royal Highness and His Majesty, it is really the luck of my Huang family, and the old minister thanks His Highness." ”

Zhu Zhanji waved his hand and said, "No need to be polite. Huang Shangshu, your father and son are loyal to the country and deserve this praise. It's just for your Huang family's plan, and I can only recall you back to Beijing. ”

"It's all His Highness's favor......"

Zhu Zhanji restrained the smile on his face and said seriously: "Don't talk about these useful and useless, now it's just you and me, and I don't mind spreading out some words." Fang Bin has now been sent to the northwest by me, he is corrupt and bribed, and I am afraid that he will not be able to come back in the future.

The situation in the northwest is important now, and he can't be given the opportunity to break a big thing, so how to prevent him from being resentful and hateful and breaking a big thing, we still need to take some precautions.

Secondly, you helped me guard the military department in the capital, and by the way, I gave me a good sort out. Taking advantage of the fact that the army is now on the march, nearly half of the officials from all walks of life are not in Daming, can you help me control the military department? ”

"The Minister's Wish to Establish a Military Writ ......"

"That's not ....... Now in the Western Expedition, the military department is very important, and the center has shifted to the Western Expedition. However, this is also a good time for the military department to reorganize, and it is desperate to dredge up all the chronic diseases accumulated by the military department over the years, so that the military department, the governor's office of the five armed services, and the navy can form a balanced triangular relationship. All of this has to be entrusted to Shangshu. ”

Huang Fu was shocked and said: "Your Highness, there is no room for failure in the Western Expedition, everything should be said when the overall situation has been decided." ”

Zhu Zhanji said with a smile: "Don't worry, Lone will not hurt himself." What you have to do is to arrange everything, and only wait for the great victory of the emperor's grandfather's side to reorganize the military department. ”

Only then did Huang Fu put his mind at ease and arched his hand: "The minister is driven by His Highness, and I also ask His Highness to give him a reorganization strategy." ”

Zhu Zhanji has been thinking about the reorganization of the military department for a long time, and he wants to restore the previous political structure.

Far from mentioning, in the Tang Dynasty, Wenchen was not qualified to meddle in the military at all. In the Song Dynasty, there was also a special agency, the Privy Council, which was responsible for the military, and Wenchen had almost no chance to intervene.

But the Song Dynasty set a bad precedent, that is, the power of civil officials was too great, so big that a high-ranking general, he had to grovel when he saw them.

The functions of the Privy Council were gradually driven by civilian power and lost its independence.

Now the military department of the Ming Dynasty is in charge of the selection of military attachés and military registration, ordnance, military orders, etc., and the Ming Dynasty military department is still called "this soldier", which has the heaviest power.

Although there is now a Governor's Office of the Five Armed Services and a navy specially set up by Zhu Zhanji, most of these titles are fictitious, and there are titles but no posts.

Except for leading the army to fight, the military department is in charge of almost everything.

This is very bad, because laymen lead insiders and often end up with problems.

Zhu Zhanji's impression has been blurred, but he still remembers reading history books and saying that Qi Jiguang had to call Wenchen his grandfather in order to train his troops.

I don't know if this is true or not, but by the late Ming Dynasty, the generals had completely become vassals of Wenchen, which is a fact.

In order to maintain the independence of the armed forces, Zhu Zhanji must also be reorganized. Logistics, ordnance, military orders, of course, these aspects are still under the control of the military department, and the military generals are restrained.

However, military registration and training should be managed by the Governor's Office of the Five Armed Forces and the Navy itself, and civilian officials should not be allowed to keep stuck in the neck of the generals.

Of course, he will not be in a hurry about this matter, just sort it out slowly and take a few years to complete this work.

Staying in Huangfu for lunch, Zhu Zhanji asked him to participate in the morning dynasty tomorrow, and then let him go home from the palace, and he also set off to the Mechanical Research Institute.

Compared to installing a steam engine on a ship, it takes no more time and effort to put a steam engine on a car.

To install a steam engine on a ship, it is only necessary to reinforce the deck and connect the rollers.

But it is not an easy task to install it on a car, just to build a car that can withstand a steam engine.

The most critical issue here is the wheels.

The weight of the steam engine is several hundred catties, plus the linkage gear and pneumatic equipment, the weight is more than a thousand catties.

Coupled with the weight of the car itself, it is unrealistic to want to use such a car to load goods or people.

An ordinary carriage often breaks its wheels, and such a large weight, combined with greater speed, will only make the wheels fall apart.

Therefore, Zhu Zhanji asked the craftsmen to take the lead in considering trains.

Not because of anything else, but because the wheels of the train can cast iron.

If you don't consider the complex structure of the train in later generations, it is like a mine cart that transports ore in a mine, but the structure is actually very simple.

Because these minecarts are four wheels supporting one body, they don't require too complicated construction.

Moreover, the earliest trains were not rails, steel rails, but wooden tracks, and then a layer of iron sheets was added to the wooden tracks.

Zhu Zhanji had seen such a "historical site" with his own eyes, so with his guidance, the craftsmen of the Ministry of Industry quickly realized Zhu Zhanji's intention.

The track is very easy to build, requiring only a carpenter to follow the drawings and sawn out a standard square log with a hydraulic saw, and then inlay a layer of anti-wear iron sheet on top of the square wood.

And the construction of the train itself did not encounter much difficulty, because now the wheels can be cast directly, and then there are lathes, which can manufacture wheels with consistent standards.

There are bearings, there are wheels, and after several months of exploration, the Mechanical Research Institute finally built the first sample car.

When Zhu Zhanji arrived at Xiamaqiao, not only the people from the Machinery Research Institute had already gathered at the test site of the Xiamaqiao Farm, but even many people from other research institutes came to see the excitement.

Before the steam car was built, the first work of the people in the mechanical research institute was to lay tracks.

This matter cannot be hidden, because from the very beginning of the manufacture of wooden rails, then the wooden rails are dried and treated with asphalt for corrosion. In addition, the laying of tracks at the back requires a large number of manpower.

The wooden track is laid in the south of the Xiamaqiao Farm, starting from the south of the research institute and the north of the residential area, and wraps around the entire residential area. The length of this lap is about three kilometers, which is enough for an experimental track.

Today's trains, of course, are not in the shape of later generations, and look very shabby.

At the front of the locomotive is a flatbed car, the front half of which is equipped with a steam engine, and the back half of which is all coal.

In front of the steam engine, a position about a meter wide was set aside for the driver's place. He can slow down and accelerate by adjusting the gears, but braking is still a big problem.

Zhu Zhanji has not studied the braking system much, and what he sees most is the disc brake disc of the car. But not to mention making a qualified disc brake disc, he doesn't even know what the brake pad material is made of.

As for the air brake, he doesn't know much about it, so today's steam car brake adopts a very backward friction speed reduction.

What is friction deceleration? In fact, there are two people in each carriage, and they will operate a lever in their hands.

When the driver at the front shifts into neutral, the auxiliary driver next to him raises the flag, and then the person behind pulls the lever.

One end of the lever is on top of the carriage, and the other end is close to the wheel, and after the trigger, the wheel is rubbed, and then it plays the role of slowing down.

All in all, the test vehicle was still very primitive and had only four carriages. The carriage does not even have a roof, only rows of seats, and you can fall off the car if you are not careful.

At this time, the most squeezing were the craftsmen of the mechanical research institute, and in the envious eyes of others, they sat in the carriage one by one, extremely proud.

The arrival of Zhu Zhanji also officially started the trial operation of this test vehicle.

There are still many people who are not afraid of death, and when Ma Zhicai announced that everyone can sit on it as long as there is a place and enjoy a free trip, after a while, the carriage was crowded with people.

This carriage was about the same size as the minibuses of later generations, with ten rows of seats, which could only accommodate 40 people, but each carriage was crowded with at least 60 people.

Zhu Zhanji sat under a makeshift tent and announced the official drive, and the driver in charge of driving excitedly closed the control lever, waited for the car to start slowly, and then pulled the gear lever to the first gear position.

Today's transmissions are still mainly geared, but chains and belts, including clutches, have also begun to appear.

The clutch appeared when the steam engine was first manufactured, and it was developed. The current clutch is certainly not the kind of later generations, but the working principle is the same.

Because the steam engine is used in coal mines, whether it is started or stopped, it cannot be relied on hard, which will only break the gears.

The researchers designed a set of closure devices through belt drive, which can basically solve the problem of hanging gear.

On steamboats, such devices were also applied. Although this device is easily damaged due to the material, it is better than nothing.

The front of the car, with four carriages, started slowly, and the people in the car shouted excitedly.

Don't rely on horse-pulling, just rely on machinery to take people away, in this 600 years ago in the Ming Dynasty, this thing is no less magical than a miracle.

The car ran faster and faster, and the smoke burning on the front of the car was pulled into a horizontal line by the wind, and the people sitting in the back were drowned in the smoke.

But no one cared, Zhu Zhanji even saw some craftsmen greedily closing their eyes and smelling the smoky smell.

Zhu Zhanji is not worried about this, he is only worried about the bearing structure of this car, whether it can turn after more than 200 people are installed.

Because in addition to the linkage part, it is here that the real technical problems are in the carriage.

The load-bearing structure and wheelset were the biggest technical problems for trains at the very beginning.

On the one hand, the design concept has not been perfected, and on the other hand, the hardness and toughness of the material are not enough.

The train disappeared from view, and Zhu Zhanji's worries had not been put down, and then after a while, the herald who followed the train on horseback came to report the news.

"Your Highness, it's not good, the car overturned in front."