On the magnificent sea, the seven ships lined up in a triangle were slowly moving forward, led by a treasure ship, Li Ba and Tang Ming stood on the bow of the ship and looked into the distance. Yesterday, after a long conversation between the two in the big tent, they solved each other's misunderstanding. Tang Ming also really understood the current state of the Ming army.

In Tang Ming's view, the Yongle prosperity of the Ming Dynasty should be strong and world-minded, but it can be learned from Li Ba's mouth that this is not the case. Now is the early stage of Yongle, the domestic industry is waiting to be developed, and the calculation time should be more than a month when Zhu Di's troops came to the city of Nanjing, Li Jinglong opened the Jinchuan Gate to welcome the surrender, and Emperor Jianwen disappeared and won a complete victory in the battle of "Jingnan".

At this time, the war had just stopped, but the foreign enemy was eyeing each other, and Shandong, Beiping, and Henan had gone through the baptism of the civil war during this period of time, and the people were already struggling to make a living. In this context, Li Ba's Weihaiwei should be able to have such results as it is now. At least he can be self-sufficient and not drag Zhu Di back.

Li Ba saw that Tang Ming had been in deep thought since he got on the boat, although he didn't know what he was thinking, he didn't mean to disturb him, and ordered the guards around him to take care of it, so he turned around and went back to the ship.

If this trip to sea can really pull back a large number of horses and cattle as Tang Ming said, in addition to Weihaiwei's own needs, dedicate the rest to the superintendent and let him transfer it to Zhu Di, this will undoubtedly be a great achievement. What the country lacked most at this time were cattle for farming and horses for war. With these two things, Li Ba knew that it was not difficult to become an official and become a knight.

Tang Ming set sail to the sea, but Zheng He had already arrived at Dengzhou Mansion, and after receiving Zhu Di's secret order, he didn't even have time to enter the mansion, but met the fleet at the dock and marched to Tianjin Wei non-stop.

On the treasure ship, in Zheng He's study, a well-mannered man in a robe sat on his main seat, with a broad face and big ears, white eyebrows and beardlessness, holding a string of Buddhist beads slowly moving, lowering his eyes as if he was asleep. This person is the black-clothed prime minister who assisted Zhu Di to ascend to the throne, and the eminent monk Yao Guangxiao.

Zheng He no longer had the majesty of being a naval inspector in front of him, and stood beside him and waited, and after a while, Yao Guangxiao stopped moving the Buddha beads in his hand, opened his eyes slightly, and said a Buddha name: "Amitabha!" ”

"Disciple Sanbao greets Master!" Zheng He, who was waiting quietly, heard Yao Guangxiao's Buddha horn, and immediately knelt down and sang a promise.

Yao Guangxiao raised his eyes and looked at Zheng He, then nodded and said, "Sanbao, how is your fleet going on trial?" Your Majesty is ready to send troops to recover Nanjing next month, and then our Ming Dynasty will complete the reunification in the true sense, and in another year and a half you will go to sea to hand over to our Ming neighbors, so that they will not be hostile to our Ming Dynasty. This matter is related to the life and death of my Ming Dynasty, but you can't be careless! ”

Zheng He stood beside him and replied: "The Three Treasures know that this matter is very important, and they never dare to treat it sloppily. Sanbao is also fortunate not to be dishonored, the fleet has more than 100 fats, and there are no major accidents when going to sea for three sea trials, as long as the sailors who have completed the voyage are trained and talents, and then 30 treasure ships can really go to sea! ”

"Well, that's very good!" Yao Guangxiao nodded with satisfaction, and a smile appeared on his round face.

The internal court has been basically unified, as long as Zhu Di sends troops to recover Nanjing, the country will complete the situation of unification, and then it will be able to deal with external pressure wholeheartedly. And Zheng He's going to sea to diplomatic neighbors is to give the Ming Dynasty, who has just quelled the civil strife, a chance to breathe.

Yao Guangxiao, as Zhu Di's first adviser, assisted Zhu Di to ascend to the throne from the Jing disaster, and his contribution was indispensable. But now that the world is peaceful, his official position has reached the highest, and his lifelong pursuit of his wish has almost been completed, and the battle in the officialdom has made him tired, and he has long had the heart of retreating.

Zheng He was also happy when he was praised by Yao Guangxiao, from when he was on an errand by Zhu Di's side, Zheng He was favored by Yao Guangxiao and accepted him as a disciple, and he was promoted all the way to his current status as a reborn parent. Although Zheng He was reluctant to be sent out to form a navy, he was praised by Yao Guangxiao at this moment, and the negative emotions in his heart immediately disappeared.

"Master, on the way back, Sambo rescued a boy on an uninhabited island, and this boy improved a kind of dry food for our navy. This item is easy to store, nutritious and easy to make, and the Three Treasures feel that if it can be popularized in my Ming army, it will definitely have a great effect. ”

After speaking, Zheng He presented a food box, took out a plate of pancakes made by Tang Ming, and placed it on the table beside Yao Guangxiao.

Yao Guangxiao glanced at the pancakes on the table, there were no emotional fluctuations, this pancakes were available in the north, but they were as easy to store and nutritious as Sanbao said, he didn't believe it. looked at Zheng He with doubts and asked him to answer.

Yao Guangxiao's performance seemed to have been expected by Zheng He, that is, he picked up one unhurriedly and handed it to Yao Guangxiao, and said slowly: "Please master taste one first." ”

Although he didn't know what kind of medicine was sold in the Sanbao gourd, Yao Guangxiao didn't shirk it, he took a bite and took a bite, the outside was crispy and the inside was tender and fragrant, one bite after another, Yao Guangxiao unknowingly ate the whole pancake.

Zheng He's heart blossomed when he saw this, he brought a cup of tea, and after the master finished drinking, he said: "Although the production of this thing is basically the same as that of the pancakes in the north, that kid added some accessories to it, making it fragrant and not greasy to eat!" ”

After a pause, Zheng He said again: "In the past, when marching, dry food was mostly flatbread and was not easy to keep, and many sergeants would have bloated stomachs when they ate it, and there were many sick people, so it was not appropriate to lose troops without a fight. And this cake will not bloate the stomach after eating, it will not threaten the health of the sergeant, and the most important thing is that this cake can be stored for a month without spoiling! ”

"Is this thing really as good as you say? Can it really be stored for a month without breaking? Yao Guangxiao's face tightened, and he asked repeatedly.

"The Three Treasures have been tested, and there are really no drawbacks, and the storage time for a month is still on the sea ship, if it is on land, the Three Treasures believe that it can be stored for a longer time." Zheng He's tone was firm enough to cut off the stone.

Yao Guangxiao pondered for a moment, and asked suspiciously: "Who is this son, and what are the requirements for offering this thing?" Have you ever found out the details? ”

"Returning to the master, this son went to sea with his master to find a friend, but he was shipwrecked and ended up on a desert island. His division may have died in shipwreck, so it is not yet possible to find out the details of it. It was only when this son was not accustomed to the food in the army that he made it to satisfy his stomach. Now the disciple has placed him in the army, and temporarily gave him the position of a clerk, and later, because of my many temptations, I found that this son is a knowledgeable talent, so I have now accepted him as a righteous son, and let him rectify Weihaiwei. ”

Seeing that the master mentioned this matter, Zheng He didn't dare to hide anything, and told the truth for him one by one.

"There is such a genius in the world, from this point of view, his family teacher must also be a master, by no means an unknown person, have you ever found out the name of his teacher, come and hear maybe I also know." Yao Guangxiao's eyes lit up, and he asked urgently. Hearing Sam Bao say this, he realized that this son's tutor might be a former friend.

Zheng He smiled bitterly, and then said again: "This son was raised by his master since he was a child, and he never knew his name, but the disciple has asked him to draw a portrait, and the disciple will take it for the master to see." ”

After a moment, Zheng He took a picture scroll from his bookshelf and slowly unfolded it. The person on the painting is a Taoist image, and the head of the crane face is a fairy wind and Taoist bones, and its deception is somewhat similar to the Taoist 'Xiaoyaozi'.

After Yao Guangxiao looked at it, he lowered his head and pondered, and after a while, he shook his head and said: "This person is a fairy wind and bones, and he must be a hidden master, but unfortunately I don't know him." If this son is really a high disciple of this person, he will definitely not be sent there, and when you return to Beijing, you will thoroughly investigate the true origin of this son, if there is no problem, I would like to see him. ”

Zheng He's conversation with Yao Guangxiao, Tang Ming, who was far away, of course couldn't know about it, at this moment, his and Li Ba's fleet was about to reach the waters of North Korea, and there were no accidents along the way.

On the bow of the treasure ship, Tang Ming and Li Ba sat on two reclining chairs, and Xiao Bai lay in the middle, leisurely eating food and drinking wine.

Draining the remaining wine in the bowl in one gulp, Tang Ming frowned and said dissatisfiedly: "This wine of more than twenty degrees tastes like white water, it is really boring. ”

Li Ba didn't dare to drink as heavily as Tang Ming, so he took a sip of wine and retorted: "You still dislike such a strong liquor like water, I really don't know why your kid drinks so much." And if the Overseer finds out that we have drunk his wine, we will probably be dragged to beheaded. ”

Tang Ming rolled his eyes directly, slowly poured another bowl of wine, put it in front of Xiao Bai, and saw that he was drinking happily, so he said: "What kind of liquor is this, when I have time, brew a few jars of real spirits for you to taste." ”

"Alas, drinking alcohol in the army is always bad, and besides, the war in the country has just stopped, and there is not enough food. You may not know that the imperial court is now in urgent need of food, and there are countless refugees, and in some places there has been a tragic situation of changing people to eat because of years of war, and there are even more people starving to death. My Ming Dynasty is also suffering from a sharp decline in population due to food shortages, and these problems are the things Your Majesty is most worried about now. ”

Li Ba didn't know why the more he spoke, the more excited he became, his honest face was full of pain, a pair of bull's eyes seemed to be covered with a layer of mist, and the porcelain bowl in his hand was pinched so that it squeaked, and it could be broken at any time.

Tang Ming was stunned when he saw this, and the words "Eating and starving" to death had only been seen in the history books in later generations, and he knew that one day he would come into contact with such a scene. But Li Ba's expression in front of him was not fake, a brave military general, who could treat life as a floating cloud on the battlefield and treat death as home, but at this time, his eyes were confused by tears.

A man who has always been a fierce image, Tang Ming was deeply touched by the true feelings that were inadvertently revealed. Looking up at the vast sea, his heart swelled. Perhaps it was infected by Li Ba, and Tang Ming's eyes were gradually covered with a layer of mist.

"Since God has let me come here, then maybe I should have the ability and responsibility to do what I can, food! Maybe I can make people in the world stop going hungry. Tang Ming suddenly muttered to the sky.