The 15th to 17th centuries were the Age of Discovery, when Western navigators discovered the American continent that had been isolated for thousands of years, and then used African manpower to plunder the resources of the Americas. In the early stages, of course, gold and silver, and eventually most of this silver flowed into China, making the Ming Dynasty a country with silver as its main currency.

During this time, Zheng He, who participated in the early Ming Dynasty and was praised by countless people in later generations, was talked about when he went to the West. Some scholars have verified that Zheng He first went to Australia and the Americas, which also won the support of the local government of Zheng He's hometown.

Later generations of Chinese have some inferiority in their bones, just like Ah Q in Mr. Lu Xun's novel, proud of their ancestors. 5,000 years of civilization at every turn, how the four great inventions were. Even the introduction of missiles says that rockets were invented in ancient China, and the principle is the same.

However, it is undeniable that ancient China has indeed been ahead of the world in all aspects for more than a thousand years. Huge human resources and a huge empire have made a huge contribution to this ancient country.

However, after Zheng He, because of the decline in the strength of the Ming Dynasty and the inherent drawbacks of the perennial tributary system, the government stopped this kind of activity that cost the people and money. China's great voyages are for demonstration and to promote national strength, which is fundamentally different from the plundering of resources and colonization everywhere in the West.

Wang Tao asked Zhu Youxiao to attach importance to shipbuilding, of course, not to promote national strength in the future, but to grab territory everywhere. Everyone in later generations knows that this is the best time to occupy the territory, and it is almost the last chance.

Not to mention the distant places, the islands of Southeast Asia and the mainland of Australia, the meat at the door of this house is to be eaten in the mouth. If possible, cold and rich Siberia, Wang Tao is not ready to give up to the Russians.

Of course, Zhu Youxiao didn't know that Wang Tao had this kind of thought, what he was thinking about was how to surpass the level of his predecessors and build bigger and better ships.

This is a good idea, but due to the loss of technology and the hasty launch. Even though there are some clues of technology and drawings circulating, shipbuilding is not all smooth sailing. Fortunately, the emperor has countless people who work hard for him, and there are many skilled craftsmen. Although the largest treasure ship of the year could not be built, the smaller one had a plan.

Of course, Zhu Youxiao asked Wang Tao to come not to see the built ship, but to see the keel that had been laid.

The timber used for shipbuilding was cedar transported from HN Tongbai Mountain, and Zhu Youxiao did not want to build the largest treasure ship of the year in one step, but chose the treasure ship that was only second-class that year.

There has always been controversy about the size of the Ming Dynasty's big treasure ship, but the vast majority of people believe that it is basically impossible to build a ship with a width of 44 zhang and a width of 18 zhang. The wooden warship, which is more than 140 meters long, is difficult to achieve even with modern technology, not to mention ancient times.

For example, the keel of the ship in front of Wang Tao is about 40 meters. Wang Tao, who didn't know anything about ships, didn't feel anything about it, but he didn't know that if this ship could really be built, it would be the largest wooden warship in this era.

"Master Wang, please see, this ship is eighteen zhang long and six zhang wide, and the big ship of the Three Treasure Eunuchs going to sea back then is even bigger than this. But the craftsmen were not sure, and they still had some confidence in the ship. Zhu Youxiao said with a little regret, but he was more happy, after all, there was no such a big ship in the Ming Dynasty.

Wang Tao estimated that the conversion of eighteen zhang into the rice of later generations is also 60 meters, and such a ship should not be small.

"Technology is progressing step by step, the upper realm shipbuilding is now made of steel, and wooden boats are used as pleasure boats. However, it is also very remarkable that the emperor can lead people to build a ship of eighteen zhang, and it should not be a problem for this ship to be equipped with cannons, and it should not be a problem to cross the ocean. Wang Tao first popularized the ship of later generations, and saw that Zhu Youxiao was a little lost, so he immediately praised him twice.

"The upper realm is indeed a fairy method, and it is unbelievable to build ships with steel." Zhu Youxiao was not disappointed, but shocked by what Wang Tao said, steel shipbuilding sounds very powerful.

"It's not a fairy method, but the steel smelting technology is more developed than the Ming Dynasty. When a steam engine was built in the future, the ship would not need a mast, and the steam engine would drive the wheel, and the speed of the ship would not only be fast, but it would not be a problem to sail against the wind. Wang Tao listened to Zhu Youxiao talk about immortal means, and smiled at the moment, of course, the ships of later generations are not immortal means.

On the contrary, it is the Dragon Teng Continent that can really be regarded as a fairy means, with spirit stones as the driving force, and inscriptions of runes to drive big ships and spaceships, which are also immortal means in the eyes of the earthlings of later generations.

"I don't know when the steam engine that the master said will be built, this steam engine is really so powerful?" Zhu Youxiao heard Wang Tao talk about steam engines more than once, and he was a little curious.

"The steam engine in the upper realm has been eliminated, and the decades since the invention of the steam engine have created more wealth than the total amount of wealth created by mankind since the beginning of the world. Take weaving as an example, according to the upper records, the efficiency of a loom is dozens of times that of a skilled weaver, according to this algorithm, a loom can withstand a weaver for a lifetime in a year, so what about a hundred? What about a thousand? You must know that a worker can watch more than a dozen looms work at the same time, which is equivalent to one person doing the work of a dozen people. The output of a few decades ago is worth thousands of years of labor of a person. This is just one industry, and the steam engine can be used in all walks of life, such as mining, transportation, and shipping. When steam engines are used in all industries, the ripple effects are huge. Wang Tao did not think carefully about these issues, but simply explained to Zhu Youxiao the great changes that the steam engine could bring.

"That being said, who are you going to sell to when you produce so much of what you produce?" Zhu Youxiao thought for a while and suddenly thought of this question.

"Of course, it is sold to the people, and I will give the emperor an analogy. When there is a drought, there will be a drought, and there will be a large number of displaced people. Generally speaking, the court directly distributes food to the people, and the people have nothing else to do after eating the food. But if the emperor gathers the victims together and lets them work: for example, to build roads. They work, and the emperor takes care of the food. When the drought passed, the people had something to eat, and the emperor also built roads. Compared to the previous disaster relief, it is an extra road. If the emperor not only takes care of the food, but also distributes silver, then the people will buy things when they have silver, and those who sell things will expand production when they have money, and they need to recruit more people to expand production, and these people can buy things when they have money to work. In this way, the money will come alive, if the emperor keeps the money, then the money is just money, the people will not buy things if they have no money, the people will not buy things, the merchants will not make money, the merchants will have no money to earn, the labor hired will be less, the people will have no money, this money is just dead money. If there is more textile cloth, the price of cloth will be reduced, and more people will buy cloth, and merchants with money will do some other business, and more people will have work to do, and they will buy things after making money. In this way, more and more people are working, and there are more and more businesses, which is a virtuous circle. Wang Tao smiled and explained to Zhu Youxiao.

"What Master Wang said makes sense, I'm afraid this is what the predecessors said about cash-for-work." The talk of cash-for-work has existed since ancient times, and Zhu Youxiao is no stranger to it as an emperor.

"It is indeed a work-for-relief, the people have work to do, there is food, naturally they will not think about other things, if the court does not provide disaster relief, the people have no food, so they will naturally take risks. In the Ming Dynasty, there have been disasters in various places over the years, so we have to build ships to buy food from overseas. The emperor should also know that I have people bring in high-yield crops from overseas, and the yield of those crops per mu is equivalent to several times that of wheat. Even if there is a drought in a few places in Daming, it will not have much impact. Only when the country has money and food can it provide disaster relief. Although Daming has no money, he has porcelain and tea, which can be sold at dozens of times more than the price overseas in exchange for a lot of grain. Take clocks and watches as an example, the income of a few craftsmen in a month is enough to buy tens of thousands of liters of food, which can live thousands of people. Without this horological technology, we would not have been able to buy rice grains. There are many rich families in the Ming Dynasty, but the rich families like to buy land or store it at home when they have money, and this money becomes dead money. The emperor built a big ship in order to be able to transport more things overseas, and when the time comes, he can exchange for more rare utensils, and the rich merchants will use more money, and they will see that porcelain, tea, and clocks make money, so they will naturally make more porcelain and a variety of tea, and the state can also collect more taxes, so that the country will have more money. “

Wang Tao's words let Zhu Youxiao know that his own shipbuilding still has such significance, and he was very happy at the moment.

"After listening to Master Wang's words, I knew what is the way to govern the country, the previous teacher always talked about benevolent government and caring for the people, never as specific and simple as Master Wang said, I understood what was going on as soon as I heard it." Zhu Youxiao said happily.

He is not stupid, but the previous emperors will not teach him these things, because the emperors may not understand these things, and what they teach is to be light, try to disturb the people as little as possible, and let the people live and work in peace and contentment.

Zhu Youxiao, who understood these truths, even found a reason for his own shipbuilding, and decided to let Wei Zhongxian refute those who did not let him build a ship.