Chapter 63: Qingjiangpu

Zhu Yu suddenly came back to his senses and said, "Has Qingjiangpu arrived?" ”

Zhu Houhuang remembered the journey, they had already passed Shandong and arrived in Nanzhili. Counting the distance, it is almost to Qingjiangpu. said: "I really think there are three or four days of water to reach Qingjiangpu." ”

Zhu Yu said: "You said 20,000 taels, can you use it now?" ”

Zhu Houhuang had a bad premonition and said, "Yes." ”

Qingjiang arrived soon.

Qingjiang is the seat of the governor of Caoyun, and it is the most prosperous area on the canal. The grain in the south is collected in Qingjiang and then transported to Jingshi, which also has the reputation of the world's granary. It is known as the four capitals of the southeast by the people of the world, and Yangzhou, Suzhou, Hangzhou, it is the first class of prosperity in the world, the south ship and the north horse, the bustling ships are crowded here, to the vicinity of the Qingjiang River, Zhu Houhuang actually met the modern situation, he is stuck in traffic, not blocking the boat.

Large and small sailboats were connected end to end, crowded in the canal, so that Zhu Houhuang's fleet could not go fast, and could only move south little by little.

Not far from Qingjiangpu. There is also Qingjiang Shipyard, which is the largest shipyard in the Ming Dynasty, when it was in its heyday, it consisted of Jingwei, Weihe, Zhongdu, Zhili four major factories, eighty-eight branches. The factory stretches for twenty or thirty miles on the bank of the canal, just like a modern prosperous industrial area. made Zhu Houhuang stunned.

Although the so-called industrial zone is just a construction shed, which looks very simple and cannot be modernized at all, compared to the industrial system, the people who live in it are also craftsmen who have been recruited from all over the country or served. It looks skinny and life isn't too good. But Zhu Houhuang saw the flash of industrialization from it.

Zhu Yuxing rushed to let Zhu Houhuang come to see here, and said: "Most of the skilled craftsmen in the world are in Beijing, built for the palace, and half are distributed all over the world, and this is one place, but now the Qingjiang Shipyard is not as good as it was at the beginning." When he first became an ancestor, Gonggong Zheng went to the Western Ocean, and most of the ships were built from here. From the first voyage to the West to the end, about 30,000 ships were built in this shipyard. ”

"Thirty thousand?" This figure made Zhu Houhuang staggered.

Even in the Age of Discovery, 30,000 ships was a lot. Although Zhu Houhuang did not know the number of ships built by Western countries during the Great Voyage of Discovery. But in any case, 30,000 ships were enough for him to salivate.

"If I had these 30,000 ships. I am determined to dominate the entire South Sea, even the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean. Zhu Houhuang thought secretly.

"But I'm looking at something that doesn't mean shipbuilding? It's that there are a lot of top carpenters here, and I want to build a lot of astronomical instruments, and there are top carpenters here. Don't I have twenty thousand taels? You first find me a few skilled masters, remember that you must be skillful, otherwise don't. Every time Zhu Yu remembered that he had 20,000 taels of funds at his disposal, he immediately became happy, and he also forgot all kinds of hatefulness about Zhu Houhuang. I want to spend 20,000 taels of silver to build an observatory. Even if it's a little worse than Beijing's, he admits it.

After Zhu Yu told the matter, he left it alone.

Zhu Houhuang immediately called Wu Xingzhi and Wu Fengyi over.

"Dongyong is overseas, and there is a huge need for ships, so we need to have enough shipbuilders. I want you to go to the Qingjiang Shipyard to find those masters who can build ships, and if you can get a few people, don't care about money. ”

Wu Xingzhi was in a hurry, he was appointed by Zhu Houhuang to manage the accounts, known as the household secretary of Yongguo, he had to take on the responsibility of the household department, he knew Zhu Houhuang's family background, but 200,000 taels, the 200,000 taels seemed to be a huge amount of money, but if you really use it three times five divided by two, you can spend it cleanly, not to mention that his master Zhu Houhuang is a poor and generous person.

He actually allocated 20,000 taels to Zhu Yu alone. 20,000 taels, that's one-tenth of all his family dollars.

Wu Xingzhi said: "Your Highness, we only have 200,000 taels, of which 20,000 taels are allocated to Zhu Ke, and the daily expenses for raising troops must also be set aside for one year's military expenses, at least 20,000 taels, and the rest of the expenses for selling ships, farm tools, immigration, and land reclamation." The expenses for building the city, these expenses have not been used, Your Highness, you can save some money. ”

Zhu Houhuang said: "Lone knows, this time the cost is hanging in Mr. Zhu's 20,000 taels? Wait a minute. ”

Wu Xingzhi and Wu Fengyi glanced at each other and saw a helpless look.

Wu Fengyi was born in Jinyiwei, and he knew some secret hookups, and the group almost didn't stay in Qingjiang. Wu Fengyi brought several families. In ancient times, many things were passed down from father to son, and so did advanced shipbuilding technology. Therefore, as soon as Wu Fengyi brought it, he had a large family, not one person, so that a large family, nearly 100 people, Wu Fengyi had no choice but to hire another boat, and then went to the south.

Although Qingjiang is prosperous, this prosperity is more deformed, and it depends on canals, except for canals, other places are actually not very good. But after the Qingjiang River, it was considered the essence of the Ming Dynasty, Nanzhili.

Both sides of the canal were originally barren grass and lakes, but they have gradually turned into farmland, as well as large and small ponds, and the number of people has gradually increased, not at all like the devastation in Shandong. Yangzhou City is worth visiting, but Zhu Houhuang is not interested. The prosperity of Yangzhou depends on the word "salt." "And most of the businesses that can eat this mouthful of salt are all in the sky, Zhu Houhuang can't intervene at all, so he naturally has no interest, as for Yangzhou Thin Horse, it naturally makes Zhu Houhuang a little itchy.

It's just a shyness in my pocket. The best Yangzhou thin horse, that is less than a few thousand taels of silver. Zhu Houhuang has a lot of money, but in the face of the big project of developing Dongyong, how much money is not enough, where is there anything to play Yangzhou thin horse? Zhu Houhuang comforted himself: "I haven't been to Dongguan back then, and now I don't go to see any Yangzhou thin horses." I'm a serious person. ”

Since he decided not to think about Yangzhou Skinny Horse, he simply did not stay in Yangzhou City at all, but went south directly.

After passing Yangzhou, both sides of the canal are more prosperous, and Zhu Houhuang sees large and small ducks on the riverbank, a large and large area, maybe it is spring, these ducks are still small. But it's already quite large. Moreover, there are almost all ducks in the big rivers, and there are many people who drive ducks, all of whom are heading south. It seems to have been sent to Nanjing.

Zhu Houhuang was very puzzled when he saw the scene in front of him.

Wu Xingyi knew it when he saw it and said, "Nanjing is not far away." ”

Zhu Houhuang said: "How can you see it? ”

Wu Xingzhi said: "Nanjing people like to eat ducks the most, every year someone drives ducks to Nanjing, if it is too far, it is not cost-effective, so when you generally see duck people, it is not far from Nanjing." ”

Zhu Houhuang thought of the snacks of Nanjing in later generations, and it seems that Nanjing people and ducks have a deep hatred like the sea. After eating it all the way to 600 years, it is still not enjoyable.

"Your Highness, you will enter the Yangtze River in a while, how are you going to go when you get to the Yangtze River?"

Zhu Houhuang said: "Do you have any opinions? As soon as he heard Wu Xingzhi, he knew that there was something in his words.

Wu Xingzhi took a deep breath and said: "Your Highness wants to make meritorious deeds in the wilderness, the first thing is to win people, and half of the world's talents are in Jiangnan. ”

Wu Xingzhi's words did not make Zhu Houhuang appreciate, because Zhu Houhuang knew that what he was going to do was too deviant, and he couldn't urinate in the same pot with the physicists. Zhu Houhuang didn't want to invite some Confucians or something to make trouble for himself. Zhu Houhuang needs doers, not people who sit and talk about the Tao. It is a pity that the Ming Dynasty was able to sit and talk about Taoists, and grasp a lot of them, but there are very few people with the spirit of doers.

"Who?" Zhu Houhuang asked.

"Tang Yin, Tang Bohu." Wu Xingzhi said: "Tang Jieyuan is not allowed to enter the company, the people of Jiangnan, all admire, and calligraphy, painting, poetry and writing, at that time, His Royal Highness asked Tang Jieyuan as a teacher, can receive the heart of Jiangnan talents." ”

Zhu Houhuang's brows furrowed slightly, Tang Bohu, but it was like thunder. It's just that Zhu Houhuang didn't want to invite this person.