In July of the sixth year of Chongzhen, Chongzhen, who was hiding in Haidian Spoon Garden to escape the summer, heard two good news. One is that the 1,000-ton warship built by Tianjin Shipyard for 18 months has finally been completed, with a total length of 52.2 meters, a width of 11.6 meters, a depth of 5.85 meters, a displacement of 1,320 tons, a canvas area of 2,969 square meters, equipped with 18 21-kilogram guns and 20 12-kilogram guns, an effective firing range of meters, and a rated crew of 210 people.

In Chongzhen's eyes, this is the first transoceanic warship that can be called a warship, and the previous Ming-class warships are just naval toys used to train crews in the near sea. He couldn't wait to attend the launching of the new ship.

Just when he instructed the palace people to prepare their bags and prepare to return to the palace, he heard a second piece of good news. The project was finally completed and passed the test of the first flood season after completion. The whole project took nearly 4 years, used 220 million catties of rice, and the project cost was about 1.65 million yuan.

Behind such a huge cost, nearly 600,000 laborers were mobilized in different regions and at different times, and these laborers formed militia organizations in villages, townships, towns, and counties to work. At the same time as the completion of the water control work, it also stabilized the local law and order in southern and northern Jiangsu, and strengthened the control of the imperial court over this area.

The completion of such a huge water conservancy project has trained a large number of water conservancy talents for the imperial court. After all, when the Haihe River was governed, it was only the central government that supervised it, and the localities fought their own battles. However, the particularity of the project made the construction and implementation of the water conservancy project in the hands of the general project department at the beginning, and the unified measurement, planning, and construction provided a rare experiment and study for the water conservancy officials of the Ming Dynasty to plan large-scale water conservancy projects.

This has provided a very important experience for the water conservancy projects that are being implemented in the north and south of the Ming Dynasty. It also made the Daming water conservancy officials raise their attention from the management of rivers to the level of water system management. The initial doubts about the establishment of the Ministry of Water Resources began to fade, and the qualifications of professional technocrats in the Ministry of Water Resources were finally taken seriously.

Of course, the most important thing is that the completion of the diversion and rectification project has made 14 million acres of fields in southern Shandong and northern Jiangsu no longer suffer from the scourge of ordinary floods. This is millions more than the projections before the construction of the project. This extra land not only resettled the Cao workers diverted from Shandong Caoyun, but also caused the local bandit Xiangma to start farming again.

If this project can be completed, then there will be tens of millions of acres of land in Lunan, Luxi, Xuzhou, and the lower reaches of the Huai River, which can greatly reduce the flood damage. After the completion of these two projects, the increase in grain production can almost exceed the 4 million Shijing Cao grain transferred from Jiangnan every year. Of course, the cost estimation of the second step project is also extremely amazing, almost three times the cost of the Daoshu rectification project, about 5 million yuan.

Since there is no large area of wasteland to be reclaimed, it is unlikely that the land lease will be sold in exchange for water management funds. Zhu Youzhen had to ask the Ministry of Internal Affairs to raise 1.5 million yuan from the spoils of war in Malacca City for the preliminary work of the eastward transfer project.

But even so, Zhu Youzhen felt that it was worth it. If this area can become a base for the production of commercial grain, it can not only greatly reduce the pressure of transporting grain from the south to the north, but also transfer grain to the northwest and Hebei regions nearby, reducing the influence of the Jiangnan gentry on the imperial court.

Zhu Youzhen rushed back to the capital, as for several concubines and children were left behind by him, compared to the boring and strict Forbidden City, the spoon garden is a rare place for these concubines to feel less restrained. Especially for Zhou Hou and Concubine Tian, this place is more like the scenery of the southern hometown, every time I bring them over, I can obviously see that they are much more lively.

Zhu Youzhen obviously didn't have a habit of locking his family in the Forbidden City, and he himself felt that the Qianqing Palace was not as suitable for human habitation as the Xiyuan Jingshe, not to mention the palace where these concubines were located.

It's just that after returning to the capital, he didn't have time to go to Tianjin, Chongzhen hoped to personally hold the launching ceremony of the new warship, and he had been intercepted by Sun Chengzong in the Xiyuan Essence.

Seeing the old gentleman's solemn expression, Zhu Youzhen also had to put down the affairs in his hand and invited him to sit down and discuss slowly. After Chongzhen personally poured a cup of tea for Sun Chengzong, he sat back in his chair and asked, "Mr. Sun came to the door with such a serious face, but is there something wrong with my country's borders?" ”

Sun Chengzong held the teacup in both hands and thanked the emperor before replying: "For now, the border of my Ming Quartet is quite stable.

At present, there is a slight friction, one is that the two warships of our Ming Dynasty stationed in Hoi An cooperated with the naval division of Quang Nam to repel the Zheng family naval division in the north, and perhaps the Zheng family in the north will probably protest to our DPRK.

The head of the Dzungar tribe of the Oirat Ross clan, Halakura, submitted a letter of state to our country, saying that last year Gushi Khan Tulu Baihu entered Tibet to boil tea, and when he heard that something was captured by our Ming Dynasty, he asked our country to release Gushi Khan Tulu Baihu in order to maintain peaceful relations between the two countries.

In addition, on behalf of the Oirat Ministry, he also questioned the legitimacy of the Kuritai Conference presided over by Your Majesty last year, and the legitimacy of Your Majesty's rule over the Mongol tribes. He said that even if Lin Dan Khan disappeared and died, Lin Dan Khan still had a younger brother and son, and he should not become the Heavenly Khan of the Mongolian tribes from the Ming Dynasty.

As for the three Khans of Transkhalkha, Tushetu Khan, Zasaktu Khan, and Chechen Khan jointly wrote a reply letter to the Kuritai Assembly, claiming that they did not collude with Houjin to attack Lin Dan Khan together, but only asked Hou Jin to send people to mediate the conflict between Lin Dan Khan and them, but they did not expect that Hou Jin would actually send troops to attack Lin Dan Khan's camp.

In addition, they did not detain or put under house arrest Lin Dan Khan, who has disappeared since the war. Mobei is not as large as Monan, not only the place is vast, but also the wind and sand are greater. If Lin Dan Khan was lost in the Gobi Desert, then only Changshengtian could find him.

In the end, the Three Khans wrote in the letter that the Kuritai Assembly was an old Mongolian custom and a legitimate meeting for the election of the Mongol Great Khan. However, the tribes of the Kuritai Conference held last year were at most only two-thirds of the total number of the southern tribes, and there were neither the northern tribes nor the Oirat tribes, so I am afraid that such a meeting resolution would be difficult to convince the public.

Therefore, it is difficult for them to accept the resolution of last year's Kuritai Congress for the time being, but they are willing to send representatives to participate in this year's Mongolian local council and communicate with their brothers in the Mongol tribes in Monan..."

After listening to this, Zhu Youzhen said in surprise: "That's all? After consultation between the General Staff and the Cabinet, it seems that these problems are not difficult to solve, right? ”

Sun Chengzong put down the teacup in his hand and said: "Of course, it's not just these questions, this is just to let Your Majesty understand the situation around our country." The next thing is the matter that the minister has to report. ”

After Sun Chengzong opened the document on the coffee table, he pushed it in front of Chongzhen and said: "According to the news from Shenyang, the Houjin side, around the end of August or early September, is expected to send troops to conquer North Korea. One is to plunder people and property; The second is to make the Korean kingdom completely vassal and become a vassal state of Houjin.

It is said that Huang Taiji attached great importance to this expedition, and not only would he go out in person, but the number of troops mobilized would not be less than 50,000, which was about a quarter of the domestic military strength of Later Jin. However, there is no definite news from Shenyang about the specific dispatch and the troops left behind. ”

Zhu Youzhen sat up straight, looked at Sun Chengzong and asked seriously: "Then how does the General Staff plan to deal with Houjin's expedition to North Korea?" ”

Sun Chengzong hesitated for a long time before he said: "The news from Shenyang has already mentioned that Jin will send troops to North Korea after this year, but it is not very certain.

At that time, the General Staff was ordered to make a deduction on how Japan should react to the situation of Houjin's expedition to Korea. Before the arrival of exact intelligence, the General Staff already had a conclusion.

That is, if the Great Khan of the Later Jin Dynasty personally went to Korea and mobilized more than a quarter of the troops of the Later Jin State, then by mobilizing all the new armies of Hebei, Gyeonggi, Chengde, Liaoxi, and Xuanda, as well as more than half of the Mongolian self-defense armies, we could attack the city of Shenyang in one go.

Then mobilize local troops in the outer city of Shenyang City, and ambush the Huangtaiji Department that rushed back from Korea with the main force, so that it is possible to break through Houjin in one fell swoop and recover the Liaodong region. ”

Zhu Youzhen calculated in his heart, and then replied with a calm expression: "According to this plan, the field troops plus the auxiliary troops will mobilize more than 350,000 troops, and the civilian population will be about no less than 100,000.

The daily consumption of materials is not less than 50,000 yuan, which does not include the materials lost in transportation on the road. With the current material supply capacity of the north, the people of the north will start to starve after more than three months of war, and the economy of the north will collapse after more than four months.

It will take us a month to assemble such an army, and it will take a month to move this army to Liaoxi, and then attack from Jinzhou to Shenyang City, and defeat the main force of Houjin, which cannot take more than a month and a half.

Having won this war, our country naturally went to a great calamity in the north. But if something goes wrong, all these years of hard work will be in vain. Mr. Sun, what is your view on the operational plan of the General Staff? ”

Sun Chengzong was silent again for a long time before he opened his mouth and said to the emperor: "Although the minister really hopes to see the day when Liaodong is recovered, the minister thinks that it is indeed not the time to attack Houjin now.

The restructuring of our army has only just been carried out in an all-round way, and the combat effectiveness of the various field armies is uneven. Under the control of the General Staff, the field army near Gyeonggi had the strictest drills, which were only once every two days.

However, the field armies in other border towns are still equipped with officers and set up a training system, and for the training of non-commissioned officers, there is a drill every three days for good and every five days for poor ones, and their combat effectiveness is not enough to make rapid changes.

Moreover, even if we are really lucky to win, I am afraid it will be a lose-lose pattern. As a result, the Mongol tribes in the steppe will once again lose control. Once they are united, the Mongol soldiers who have been trained by us and Houjin will become an even greater hidden danger to our dynasty..."