Three days later, on the banks of the Min River in Fuzhou.

Shen Yichen stood on the bow of a lucky boat, the river breeze blowing on his cheeks, enjoying the rare peace after coming to Fujian.

The cabin on the ground floor was filled with large boxes containing 500,000 taels of silver that Shen Yichen had "extorted" from officials of the Third Division of Fujian.

To be honest, when three days passed and the requested amount of "donations" was sent in exactly the same amount, Shen Yichen felt a faint regret in his heart.

I still underestimated the degree of corruption of the officials of the three divisions in Fujian, and knew that they could easily get together, so the quota should be set higher at the meeting.

After all, the project of "building ships", whether it is placed in ancient times or in modern times, belongs to the gold-swallowing monster, and it is no problem to restart the Fuzhou Bao Shipyard with 500,000 taels, but it is still far from enough to maintain the next fleet across the seas.

In addition, the silver money and materials counted from the warehouses of various yamen in Fuzhou were sent to Fuzhou Sanwei stationed on the outskirts of Quanzhou City, and the promised double military salary was paid in advance.

Now that the Luchuan war has resumed again, Shen Yichen is really not sure whether Deng Maoqi will be able to abide by the previous conditions when the news spreads throughout Fujian. After all, the military strength of the southeast of the Ming Dynasty has been withdrawn, and the balance of strength between the two sides has been reversed.

If the worst situation of Deng Maoqi's repentance happens, Fuzhou Sanwei will be the last force in Shen Yichen's hands to rely on, and their morale and combat effectiveness must be guaranteed.

Except for a very small number of ancient armies that were stimulated by foreign enemies, such as the nine-sided army that faced the Mongolian iron cavalry all the year round, the fundamental guarantee of the combat effectiveness of other inland guards was to distribute money and food.

The cult of personality cannot be eaten, and there can be brave men under heavy rewards!

Shen Yichen can paint all kinds of cakes on Xining, but he can't consume the admiration of the Fuzhou Sanwei soldiers for himself, and the benefits that should be given must be in place.

The Fu ship went down the Min River and came to Fuzhou Bao Shipyard only half a day later.

It is not only a shipyard where the Ming Dynasty built the next fleet, but also one of the important voyage ports of the Ming Dynasty.

But with the promulgation of the Ming Dynasty's ban on the sea, Fujian Bao Shipyard gradually declined and withered, coupled with the recent impact of the southeast civil unrest, so that Shen Yichen's eyes everywhere he looked, except for the Zheng He treasure ship docked at the harbor wharf from a distance, it was still so majestic, and other places were dilapidated!

The ship slowly docked at the inland wharf, and there were already a number of shipyard officials standing on the shore, and Guo Yan, the same governor of Fuzhou, was in the leading position, waiting for Shen Yichen's arrival.

Guo Yan was born in the second year of Yongle (1404), and entered the forty-third year of his life in the twelfth year of orthodoxy (1447).

It stands to reason that they are in the prime of life, and as an official and scholar, their living conditions are far better than those of ordinary people. But now Guo Yan's beard is all white, if he didn't know the identity and age of the other party, Shen Yichen would probably mistakenly think that it was a local village elder who greeted him.

"Xiaguan Fujian Fuzhou Mansion knows Guo Yan and has seen Admiral Shen!"

"Guo Tongzhi has worked hard to build the next treasure boat, and his mother needs to be polite."

Shen Yichen took Guo Yan by the hand, and took the opportunity to carefully look at the officials and craftsmen of Fuzhou Bao Shipyard.

In addition to Guo Yan's old age, the spirit of other officials is not much better, and the craftsmen are a group of dying and decrepit in their twilight years, giving people the impression that they can't see a trace of vitality.

Is this the birthplace of the fleet that dignified the four seas?

"Guo Tongzhi, this official was secretly ordered by His Majesty to take over the matter of supervising the construction of the treasure ship, I guess you know, right?"

"The lower officials have received an order from His Majesty and will fully cooperate with Admiral Shen to build the next sea ship."

Guo Yan said yes, he also received the will issued by Zhu Qizhen, and in the future, the construction of the next sea ship in Fujian will be taken over by Shen Yichen.

"This official has always liked to act simply and directly, so he doesn't have to stand on the dock and engage in such false courtesy. I got news from Changle Xuzhi County before, and I heard that Fuzhou Bao Shipyard was affected by civil unrest, and the construction of sea ships has been completely suspended. ”

"Why don't you go to the shipyard to inspect first, and Guo Tongzhi will tell the official about the recent situation on the way?"

And that's where the office begins?

Hearing Shen Yichen's words, all the officials of Fuzhou Bao Shipyard were stunned for a moment.

You must know that according to the practice of officialdom, the boss will come out of the city to greet him, and then put on a guard of honor to enter the city, and finally have a good banquet to catch the wind and wash the dust.

On the one hand, it is to eliminate the fatigue of traveling for a long time, and on the other hand, it is possible to use banquets to let Shangguan get to know local officials, so as to win over the relationship between the two sides in the future.

Even if some officials are capable and like to travel lightly, at least they will go to the yamen to rest and familiarize themselves with the environment before starting to work.

Shen Yichen's non-stop style is really too vigorous.

This situation is in Guo Yan's heart, but it is a mixed blessing.

The good thing is that Shen Yichen, as rumored by the outside world, is a hard-working official, Fuzhou Bao Shipyard has this official to accept the supervision, and the once famous Ming fleet will hopefully see the light of day.

The worry is that the recent situation of Fuzhou Bao Shipyard is full of devastation, and Shen Yichen's character may be angry and punished when he sees this, and he and others really can't deal with each other.

"The lower official obeys the order, and Admiral Shen invites him."

Guo Yan turned sideways to make way and raised his hand to signal Shen Yichen to go first.

"Please."

Shen Yichen also bowed back, and the two walked in the direction of the dock of Fuzhou Bao Shipyard one after the other.

"Guo Tongzhi, I heard that there was a commotion among the craftsmen of the Treasure Shipyard and almost burned down the built treasure ship, what is going on?"

After not taking a few steps, Shen Yichen asked a sharp question, craftsmen are the foundation of a shipyard and will determine the construction progress after the shipyard is restarted in the future.

As far as the shipwrights that Shen Yichen saw just now, almost all of them are a group of white-haired old men, who may have rich experience in shipbuilding, but they are definitely not as good as young people in terms of physical strength and energy, and it means that the shipbuilders are out of generation.

Shen Yichen's goal has never been simply to complete the task of building a treasure ship, what he wants is to open the era of great navigation of the Ming Dynasty. How brilliant Zheng He's seven trips to the West during the Yongle period were, the more it sets off the darkness of being left behind by Western civilization in the middle and late Ming Dynasty.

In just a few decades in history, the drawings and craftsmen of Zheng He's fleet turned into dust, and the magnificent figure of the Daming treasure ship can no longer be seen.

This time, Shen Yichen didn't want history to repeat itself.

"Alas......"

Guo Yan sighed silently after hearing this, and then spoke: "Back to Admiral Shen, Xiaguan Orthodoxy came to Fujian to supervise the construction of the next fleet in the eighth year of His Majesty's order, and the last time Fuzhou Shipyard built a treasure ship was a matter of Xuande six years, a full sixteen years ago, a generation apart. ”

"After Xiaguan took over the treasure shipyard, this place has almost been abandoned, and the craftsmen who have experience in building treasure ships have become a group of old men. So he had to start from scratch, recruit young craftsmen, purchase shipbuilding timber, and repair and build docks. ”

"Originally, everything was going well, but in the past two years, the situation in Fujian has been unstable, and the allocation of shipbuilding funds by the Chief Secretary has been intermittent and inconsistent, and there have been serious deductions. In the second half of the 11th year of orthodoxy, the funds for shipbuilding were completely cut off, and the shipyard craftsmen had no money to pay, resulting in deep resentment! ”

"At the beginning of the twelfth year of orthodoxy, Yanping Deng Maoqi led more than 20,000 thieves to invade the waterway, so that the transportation of shipbuilding materials was almost at a standstill. Later, some rebellious ministers and thieves mixed into the shipbuilders, and took advantage of the arrears of wages to cause trouble, which eventually led to a riot, and some people even set fire to the treasure shipyard. ”

"Luckily, there was a heavy rain that day that prevented the fire from spreading. And the shipyard officials and the old craftsmen, after all, got along in the past few years, and had some affection with the young craftsmen of the riot, and kept the twenty treasure ships moored in the port. ”

"The lower officials are incompetent, and they are ashamed of Your Majesty's high hopes at the beginning, and please punish Shen Tidu!"

Guo Yan said a large number of words with a sad expression, and he could feel these words that had been held in his heart for a long time.

For Guo Yan, supervising the construction of the next fleet is not only a task sent by the emperor, but also his painstaking efforts over the years.

With years of hard work on the verge of being burned, how can he be emotionally calm?

Listening to Guo Yan's story, Shen Yichen actually understood the other party very well.

Because when he learned from Xu Fengyuan's mouth that Zhu Qizhen ordered the construction of the next sea boat, but was unwilling to give money, he couldn't help but scold his mother in his heart.

The epitaph of Guo Yan unearthed in later generations reads that he was the governor of Fuzhou for six years of orthodoxy, and took over the shipbuilding matter from Jiao Hong, a waiter of the Ministry of Works, in eight years of orthodoxy. And Zhu Qizhen also gave him a high hat and appointed the chief transfer officer of the eight prefectures in Fujian to allocate various resources for shipbuilding.

But Zhu Qizhen forgot one important thing, that is, his holy edict did not go through the process of the six cabinets, and it was a bypassing order!

The local officials were under the majesty of the emperor in the early stage, and even if they knew that this was the central decree, they would definitely not dare to treat it as coldly as the senior officials of the central government, so they could only find ways to squeeze out the shipbuilding funds from the treasury to support.

It's good to say that the Fujian Political Secretary is rich, but in recent years, various uprisings and riots have continued, and he can't hold on, so how can he still have the spare power to allocate shipbuilding funds to Guo Yan?

It is difficult for a good woman to cook without rice, and the shipyard craftsman was only fanned by the outside world to riot when he was in arrears for half a year, and Shen Yichen thought that Guo Yan's governance ability had been demonstrated. In other words, if someone like Song Zhang supervises the construction of the next fleet, I am afraid that if it is in arrears for half a month, it will be rebelled by the people below, and they will not show any mercy.

"Guo Tong knows the difficulties and knows that his mother needs to blame herself too much."

Shen Yichen comforted, he opened his mouth to ask just to find out the ins and outs of the matter, not to hold the shipyard officials responsible.

"Admiral Shen, the lower official ......"

Hearing that Shen Yichen not only did not mean accountability, but could understand himself, Guo Yan was simply infinitely emotional in his heart, and wanted to express some words of gratitude, but he choked up and didn't say it.

"Guo Tongzhi, how many craftsmen are still left in the treasure shipyard, and how can we resume the construction of the next treasure ship?"

"Back to the Admiral, there are now less than three hundred old and weak craftsmen left in the Treasure Shipyard, and if you want to build sixty treasure ships according to the construction schedule, at least the number of people must be more than ten times greater!"

The Ming Dynasty generally had about 120 ships of various types in the Western fleet, half of which were large treasure ships. It took Guo Yan four years to build 20 treasure ships in Fuzhou Port, and if he wanted to quickly complete the construction of the remaining 40 ships, 3,000 craftsmen was already the minimum.

Guo Yan was afraid that if he told the real situation, Shen Yichen would be frightened and retreated, and he might never see the scene of this next fleet, going all over the sea.

"This official brought over 500,000 taels of shipbuilding money this time, and Guo Tongzhi can recruit shipbuilders with his hands and feet. In addition, the artisans who had participated in the rebellion in the shipyard were sent out by the official to pardon all their sins and make up the arrears of wages if they were willing to return. ”

With that, Shen Yichen stopped and turned to point to the shipyard craftsmen who had come to greet him.

"Always stick to the craftsmen of the treasure shipyard, and the previous arrears will be paid twice!"

The old and weak craftsmen of Fuzhou Bao Shipyard were originally worried after Shen Yichen, you must know that the Ming Dynasty implemented the household registration system, and most of the shipbuilders were craftsmen from the same health office.

Although there was no saying that the non-relatives of the Ming Dynasty were not sitting together, it was difficult to ensure that the officials of the court would not be affected by the fish pond due to the large-scale rebellion and flight of the same guard.

But as a result, Shen Yichen not only did not have any punishment, but also said that he would compensate them twice the arrears of wages, and these words sounded as illusory as a dream in his ears.

"I didn't hear it clearly just now, did Admiral Shen say that he was going to pay his salary?"

"Not only will we pay our salaries, but we will also double the amount of money we have in arrears!"

"I have long heard that Admiral Shen is benevolent and righteous, he is really the Great Master of the Blue Sky!"

"We are saved, the shipyard is saved, the treasure ship is saved!"

All kinds of suppressed excited words spread among the crowd, and Shen Yichen gave out not only wages, but also life-saving money.

Saved the few remaining craftsmen in the Fujian shipyard, and also saved the Ming fleet that was close to abandonment!

Shen Yichen was not surprised by the craftsman's reaction, he turned to Guo Yan and continued to ask: "Guo Tongzhi, apart from the silver money craftsman, is there anything missing?" ”

"The lower officials are incompetent, and there is a shortage of shipbuilding timber."

Guo Yan looked ashamed, preparing wood should have been his job, but now he had to ask Shen Yichen for help.

Almost as soon as Guo Yan finished saying this, what caught Shen Yichen's eyes was a black scene.

In fact, it was not that Guo Yan was unprepared, on the contrary, in order to build a treasure ship, he had already purchased giant trees from all over the Ming Dynasty, and even did not let go of overseas wood, cut them and put them in the open space of the shipyard to dry.

But who would have thought that the shipyard would stir up a fire and save the twenty treasure ships that had been built, but they could not save the shipbuilding timber that was dried.

Moreover, compared with the rapid replenishment of silver coins, the wood can be used from harvesting to drying, and it must be stored for at least two years or more. Otherwise, there is no completely dry wood inside, and it is easy to be corroded and disintegrated after going to sea.

"I see."

Shen Yichen nodded, not giving a definite answer on this topic.

He can't change this kind of thing, so he can only think about it in the long run. Xu Fengyuan stored a batch there, and the coastal shipyards in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Guangdong should still be able to find some stock, but if it is not enough, they can only look overseas.

In this way, while walking and understanding the situation, Shen Yichen finally came to the dock, and in front of him was a treasure ship that had not yet been completed. But even so, it is still a behemoth, which is daunting.

Shen Yichen thought that the Xu Fengyuan supporting ships he had seen on the Jinjiang River were huge and spectacular enough, and compared with the treasure ship in front of him, it was a complete trivial.

"Admiral Shen, this is my Daming treasure ship, when the eunuchs of the Three Treasures rode it to the Western Ocean, all the countries of the four seas did not surrender!"

When this sentence was introduced, an indescribable pride appeared on Guo Yan's face, and even his eyes were a little confused when he looked at the treasure ship.

Even if you have seen countless times of getting along day and night, every time you stand in front of this giant ship again, the yearning and charm you bring are still the same.

The cannon of the giant ship is the romance in the bones of men!