On 17 June, the fourth convoy of grain carriers set sail.

Dinghai City East Wharf, it is still close to noon at the flat tide, this batch of a total of 369 large and small ships, more than half of which are 500 ships built in the near future.

Or 200,000 stone of grain and 100,000 quintals of fish.

This time, Wu Zhen, the deputy governor of the navy, personally escorted and led 7,000 elite soldiers of Zhenhaiwei and Dinghaiwei, as well as 9,000 people, a total of 16,000 people.

Moreover, the destination of the fourth batch of grain convoys is no longer Jiaozhou, but Laizhou on the other side of Shandong.

After arriving in Laizhou, as usual, 1,000 soldiers will lead 6,000 people to return, and the remaining 6,000 elite soldiers and 3,000 people will stay to participate in the Northern Expedition.

For the sake of the secrecy of a certain raid plan, the second group of Yinghaiwei Chang Xuan Department who arrived in Jiaozhou and the third group of Dinghai Wei Zhangcun Dao Department who arrived in Jiaozhou have been ordered to rush to Bohai Bay on the other side of Shandong to carry out the blockade plan.

The two ministries will send a naval force to intercept all ships entering and leaving Bohai Bay, and block the news in the direction of Dadu as much as possible.

In short, Emperor Yuan Shun cannot be scared away in advance.

After many consecutive communications with the direction of Jinling, Lao Zhu has become more and more clear that the primary strategic goal of the next stage of the Northern Expedition is to take down the father and son of Emperor Yuan Shun, and everything else is secondary.

At the same time, Lao Zhu had already ordered several generals on the front line.

On the navy's side, only Hua Gao, Wu Zhen and Zhu Yuan clearly knew about a certain plan.

However, this time to the north, the leader of the army will be Wu Zhen, Hua Gao has no idea of further earning military merits, he just wants to be safe and stable, so he stays in Dinghai to guard his home. Zhu Yuan wanted to go to sea, but unfortunately, up to Lao Zhu, Hua Gao, and down to the group around him, they were resolutely not allowed.

It's a pity that there is no way to really 'lupine scarf, and the canopy will be wiped out', so you can only practice in the barracks.

Everyone stood at the dock and watched the fleet go away, but Hua Gao, who was beside him, spoke first, patted Zhu Yuan on the shoulder, and glanced around: "Go back, there will be a batch of them the day after tomorrow, you have to hurry up." ”

The plan was to send all 15,000 troops by mid-June.

The next group, the last 5,000 people, was led by Chen Su, an old subordinate of Hua Gao who returned from the front line in Guangdong some time ago, because of the rush of time, this group of people will no longer be responsible for transporting grain, and will only bring 2,000 people and part of the provisions.

The Battle of Dadu is not expected to start until the seventh month of the leap month, and there are still 40 days to go.

It stands to reason that 40 days is more than enough for a one-way voyage in the previous seas, but the voyage is too unpredictable to give enough time, and if it doesn't arrive, it will be bad.

Everyone left the dock one after another.

Zhu Yuan, who was sitting in the sedan chair, waited for the sedan chair man to travel for a while, lifted the curtain, signaled Zhao Xu, who was accompanying the guard, to come closer, and said: "You should also prepare, 500 people, draw out another 200, and follow Chen Su to the north the day after tomorrow." ”

Zhao Xu immediately shook his head: "Petty officials, you can't do it." ”

"What can you do, it's decided," Zhu Yuan said: "The best opportunity, if you miss it, you may not have it in this life, I know that you are a good martial artist, and you can't stay with me and waste it." ”

Zhao Xu wanted to say more, but Zhu Yuan interrupted again: "Just take a look at the front line for me, and you should also be angry." ”

After saying that, he lowered the curtain.

I went back to the city, had lunch, didn't take a nap today, and went directly to the outer courtyard to start busy.

Fu Shou, Shen Mao and others with a group of maritime merchants were already waiting in advance.

A meeting arranged in advance is still a variety of sea trade trivialities, and then, inform each company that the Maritime Division will pay the cost of going to sea according to the proportion of 20% of the shares.

Since the 10 foreign maritime trading companies, the Yinghai Division directly received 20% of the shares, if you can't afford to pay, maybe you can only play tricks, since there is money, although, it is basically the silver money handed over by the maritime merchants themselves, but what should be given, or to give.

The meeting lasted half an hour.

After informing about the payment of the fee and discussing the plans of each family to go to sea, Zhu Yuan finally took out a list: "One more thing, I saw that several caravans have books in their cargo lists, and books can be preached and edified, which I have no objection to." However, I recently asked them to make a list, which is roughly that you can bring Confucian classics and history books of various dynasties, but books such as mathematics and engineering will be prohibited from being exported in the future. ”

Zhu Yuan said, glanced around, and said with a serious expression: "Don't think I'm just saying it casually, this is a very important thing, the Yinghai Division will conduct a strict investigation in the future, if someone carries the corresponding books without permission, even if it is unintentional, correspondingly, that boat, and everyone on board, depending on the situation, one to three years, don't think about going to sea again." If you knowingly commit a crime, you will not change your ...... repeatedly"

Zhu Yuan raised his hand and pointed to His Majesty the Emperor's saber behind him: "...... I don't mind chopping off a few heads to stand up. ”

When Zhu Yuan spoke, a proclamation had already been handed out.

Waiting for everyone to pick it up and read it carefully with the same serious face, Zhu Yuan continued: "If you think that the scale is not easy to handle, teach you a stupid method, anyway, the export of books will not make a few dollars, then simply don't bring a single book." As for the truth, I don't bother to tell you, you think for yourself, if you think about it, you will understand, if you don't understand it, just do it. ”

The hall should be one after another.

At the end of the meeting, when the maritime merchants left one after another, Wu Liang, who was sitting on Zhu Yuan's left hand, still held the proclamation in his hand, and said suspiciously: "Hanlin, the lower officials don't understand, why do you have to do this?" ”

"Follow me."

Zhu Yuan got up, came to his office, and gestured to Wu Liang and Hu Weiyong, who followed him, with a small globe on his desk: "Decades ago, the Mongolian cavalry marched westward, all the way to the edge of the sky, invincible, do you know what is the key to their victory in a hundred battles?" ”

Both of them shook their heads for a while.

Zhu Yuan said: "Heavy cavalry." ”

When the two heard Zhu Yuan say this, they still didn't react.

Zhu Yuan said: "There are many records, or thirty percent, or forty percent, and even sixty percent, but, one thing is certain, the proportion of heavy cavalry of the Mongolian expeditionary force is very high, far more than the previous dynasties, it is relying on the invincible heavy cavalry, the Mongols almost laid a small half of the world." ”

Wu Liang and Hu Weiyong already knew the concept of the earth, and when they heard Zhu Yuan say this, Hu Weiyong still didn't quite understand, but Wu Liang was thoughtful.

Zhu Yuan saw that they probably hadn't grasped the point yet, so he said directly: "The problem is that the Mongols, like many northern barbarians, not to mention the heavy armor of the cavalry, and even the iron pot can't be made, where did they get the hundreds of thousands of cavalry heavy armor?" ”

This time, without waiting for the two of them to say anything, Zhu Yuan fiddled with the globe in front of him with a sigh of embarrassment, and said softly: "It's all made by our Han." ”

The two were silent for a moment.

Zhu Yuan said: "These days, you two should have seen my knowledge, what do you think, if these things are spread overseas, what will happen?" ”

Still without waiting for the two to answer, Zhu Yuan had already said to himself: "So, I will give you a new concept today, which is called 'technical blockade'." Overseas barbarians should let them stay in a state of barbarians forever, and such barbarians are good barbarians. In the future, when you go south to take up your post, remember, you must also firmly implement this item. ”

Hu Weiyong nodded approvingly.

Wu Liang was still a little hesitant, but he couldn't say anything to refute for a while.

While talking here, someone came to report, and Wen Zao, who had gone to Jinling before, walked in together.

I met with the three adults, and I heard that I was getting down to business.

In addition to Lao Zhu's letters, Wenzao also brought a group of bearings and a group of craftsmen over this time.

Since the appearance of small bearings, not only in Mingzhou, but also in Jinling, Lao Zhu has become more aware of the application of this thing in many places, so he has been constantly urging the general to make more.

Wenzao brought 2,500 bearings this time.

Compared with the later industrial age, 2,500 is really not much, but in this era, whether it is a ball or a coat, all are handmade or semi-handmade, and there can be 2,500 at a time, which is quite considerable.

And then there are the craftsmen.

All of them are coin minters.

Zhu Yuan had asked Wen Zao to escort 1 million taels of silver back to Jinling, and this time, Lao Zhu was very pleased to praise his baby twenty-third grandson, and also promised that all the money would be used as a reward for the army.

Again, one more thing.

Xia Xun's sea fishing is coming to an end, Zhu Yuan plans to give Ying Hai Si a reward, after all, it is only less than half a year, Ying Hai Si not only completed the shipping task perfectly, but also opened the era of sea fishing.

Zhu Yuan believes that rewards are a must.

However, although Yinghai Si has enough silver, for example, the low-level people directly give silver, which is not easy to consume, so Zhu Yuan hopes that Jinling can allocate a batch of copper coins to him.

Wen Zao arrived, and after saying something, Zhu Yuan knew.

Or because of the bearing thing, Lao Zhu a few days ago that the money is too copper-consuming, in March just ordered to cast Hongwu Tongbao, this time, in order to avoid 'waste', more copper to make bearings, simply ordered again, stop casting money.

Zhu Yuan: "......"

No way.

Regarding the currency, I haven't talked to Lao Zhu carefully.

However, I heard that Zhu Yuan is asking for money here, and Lao Zhu does not include the lake, he wants money, no, there are many people, and he has just lost his job. So, the craftsmen who were originally from the Jinling Baoquan Bureau directly sent 500 people over, which means that if you want money, make it yourself.

Zhu Yuan: "......"

Hold back, endure it, after all, your ancestors are a little lower and don't know the importance of currency, how can you say that this kind of thing can be said to be made casually?

You can't just do it!

The question is......

Forget it, let's make a cameo appearance as the governor of the Central Bank of Daming first.

It's true.

Zhu Yuan found that Lao Zhu ordered to stop minting money and sent people here, which means that in the entire Ming Dynasty, only Yinghai Division has the power to mint money.

After Wen Zao finished talking about this in Zhu Yuan's office, Wu Liang and Hu Weiyong's expressions were a little strange again.

The main thing is still envy.

Both of them knew very well that although they were appointed as the deputy envoy of Yinghai, they were only one level lower than Zhu Yuan's envoy of Yinghai, but the authority they had was really much worse than that of this little master of Yinghai.

After all, the series of titles on Zhu Yuan's body is not an ornament.

Now, even minting money has become the only part of Daming.

Or just make it!

Even if the two of them didn't understand Zhu Yuan's later knowledge of currency, they also felt that His Majesty the Emperor really trusted him a little too much.

However, it is understandable.

In just a few months, this little boy who shouted that he wanted to 'send five hundred years of national honor' to His Majesty the Emperor has indeed made enough merits, but there are only two things in shipping and sea fishing, and no one can question the series of titles on his head at this time.

It's just that it's still too good, right?

It's like your own child.

Their...... Child......

Well.

Can't compare, can't compare.

The following June 17.

Chen Xu, the deputy envoy of Dinghaiwei's command, led 5,000 elite soldiers to set off again, including 200 personal guards of Zhu Yuan led by Zhao Xu.

When Zhu Yuan was assassinated, Zhao Xu was demoted from 1,000 households to 100 households by Lao Zhu, this time, Zhao Xu was considered to have made meritorious contributions, and with the position of 100 households, he was expected to lead a team of 1,000 people.

Speaking of which, the 5,000 people of Dinghaiwei could have gone to sea with Wu Liang two days ago.

It is dispatched in stages, mainly to avoid risks.

Chen Su's 5,000 people were sent away, and on the Dinghai side, the fifth batch of grain convoys also began to prepare.

This time it's not so anxious.

As long as all the previous four batches are delivered, in fact, there have been three batches, that is, as long as the fourth batch is delivered, it will be enough for the front army to support four months, and the grain transportation channel to the north is not only the sea, at present, the central and western parts are transporting grain to the north, even if Lao Zhu is constantly increasing his troops, grain and grass are no longer a problem.

Next, it's a matter of playing with confidence.

June 20.

Yinghai Division announced that the summer flood sea fishing was officially over.

According to statistics, from late April to mid-June, in two months, Yinghai Si led the official and non-governmental fishing fleets, and caught a total of about 430,000 quintals of fish, that is, 43 million catties, which is more than ten times the amount of fishing in normal sea fishing years during the reign of the Yuan court.

Among them, 230,000 quintals were arrested by officials and 200,000 quintals were arrested by citizens.

A total of 410,000 quintals of fish were collected. Most of the private fishing is directly purchased by the Yinghai Division.

As a result this time, along the coast of Zhejiang, many boat households and fishermen have made a profit.

According to the statistics of the Yinghai Division, the private fishermen who participated in the sea fishing with the official only received about 13 taels of silver for each strong laborer in two months this season.

This money is enough for a family to feed for a year.

Not to mention that it was only two months.

After the fishing season is over, the remaining ten months, the laborers will not be idle, and they will definitely look for all kinds of work. Therefore, the living standards of the entire coastal area, especially the fishermen, will be greatly improved in the next year, because of these two months.

Some officials of the Yinghai Division are even worried that with such good treatment, the fishermen in the other states will no longer be willing to be absorbed by the Yinghai Division.

Zhu Yuan was not worried.

Because, in comparison, the fishermen under the Mingzhou Fishery Production Company are actually treated better.

Just the basic treatment of one stone of rice per month per household is already equivalent to the harvest of private labor in this sea fishing. What's more, Zhu Yuan also plans to give rewards on a large scale, and will also allocate real estate.

More importantly, stability.

After the end of the sea fishing, the camp issued a notice directly.

This year, the volume of sea fishing is not large, and the official also happens to have demand, and the Ying Hai Division can cover up for private sea fishing, but next year, we need to prepare in advance and control risks. In other words, a good thing like 1 tael of silver and a load of fish will not be there again next year.