In the middle of the first month.

The ships sent by Zhang Zhou to the South Seas returned smoothly.

Tang Yin and Xu Li jointly played the performance, and reported the "results" of this trip to the sea to the court in detail...... In addition to bringing back 160 taels of gold and 6,000 taels of silver, he also brought back more than 10,000 catties of spices and other spices, plus all kinds of strange products, as well as more than 300 Nanyang prisoners brought back...... The guaranteed income of this trip to sea is 25,000 taels.

After deducting the rewards of the officers and men on the ship, as well as the loss of guns, the net income exceeded 20,000 taels.

This news was announced by Li Rong to the minister in the court, and it was not surprising that Zhang Zhou still did not come on this day.

Zhang Zhou went to the court, saying that it was three days of fishing and two days of drying nets, but in fact, it was closer to one day of fishing and ten days of screening, anyway, no one forced him to go to court one day, and Zhang only appeared in the court once after the anniversary.

Zhu Youzhi said with a look of relief: "When Bingkuan said that he would send troops to the sea, I was still a little worried, thinking that this would not bring any results, but now it seems that I underestimated the income from going to sea. ”

When the emperor likes to send ships to sea, whether it is Zheng He's voyage to the West at the beginning, or Zhang Zhou's sending ships to sea this time, it is what the emperor is keen on.

Before in Chenghua, Xianzong also wanted to send a ship to the sea, which led to the rumor that Liu Daxia burned Zheng He's navigation chart, which is not accurate, as for whether it is true, it is difficult to determine, but it also indirectly shows that the emperor is still very keen on conquering overseas, including getting back overseas goods.

Ma Wensheng, the secretary of the ministry, came out and said: "Your Majesty, if you go to sea with ships equipped with soldiers and artillery, plunder people's children and rob overseas wealth, it is equivalent to robbing a thief, and it is not enough to take it. ”

It should be objected to or opposed.

The income from going overseas is so high, can it be guaranteed to be so high every time?

The first time you went, people were defenseless, you plundered 20,000 taels of silver in a boat and came back, complacent, I am afraid that the next time you go to sea and catch nothing, you may also be considered by those small countries in the South Seas, the big Ming Dynasty actually likes to do some pirate things, and at that time, the loss of the prestige of the Ming Dynasty is not tens of thousands of taels of silver can be settled.

Zhu Youzhu asked: "In recent years, have there been any precedents for those vassal states in Nanyang to pay tribute?" ”

Ma Wensheng said: "Your Majesty, the trade of the Nanyang, the city is still doing, if you rashly change the rules of trade, I am afraid that it will cause the resistance of the Nanyang people, so that the Ming Wang Hua can not advance." ”

"No need." Zhu Youzhu said, "I believe that if you want to preach to the four seas, you should not use benevolence and righteousness, and for those Fanbang people in Java, they will not know what the way of Wanghua is. The best thing to do is to conquer them with artillery and make them submit...... I don't think that relying solely on religion can bring long-term peace and stability. I think Bingkuan has done a good job in this matter. ”

When Ma Wensheng saw that the emperor had such an attitude, it was difficult to say anything.

Zhu Youzhu said: "Wei Guogong and Tang Yin also mentioned in the prelude that the first batch of three ships is almost ready, and I have ordered to transport artillery and other things from Yongping Mansion and other places to the south, in addition to suppressing Nanjing, there are also ships to equip them for overseas use. I hope to harvest something in half a year...... I don't know exactly what it is. You shouldn't have any objections, right? ”

Once is not enough.

This time I went to the South Ocean, and next time I will go directly to the Western Ocean, go farther and farther, and directly cross the Pacific Ocean.

Although it was too late to discover the American continent, it was not difficult to conquer the Americas and bring the mines and goods of the Americas back to the Ming Dynasty.

More importantly, the Americas are vast, and that will be an important territory of the Ming Dynasty overseas, and the grain, minerals, etc., will greatly supplement the lack of resources of the Ming Dynasty, especially Zhang Zhou to develop the industrialization of the Ming Dynasty, the American continent is almost indispensable.

Liu Jian said: "Your Majesty, you should be cautious about going to sea. It is not advisable to make hasty decisions. ”

There is no opposition, but the traditional Wenchen thinks that it is better not to change it easily.

Zhu Youzhu looked very confident and said: "You don't know anything overseas, you don't even know where there are islands and people, what's the point of saying this?" I let it go and handed it over to Bingkuan, I believe that in a few years, the goods that can be obtained from overseas can be fully replenished to the Ming military needs, so that it can not only calm the people, but also calm the northern Xinjiang, why not? ”

Aren't you Wenchen always beeping, saying that it is Bingkuan's strategy of using troops in the north, and it is a reckless force?

Now I'm just asking Bingkuan to help create wealth, if the war in the north doesn't need additional expenses from the imperial court, then you won't be Rory?

……

……

After the conclusion of the court meeting.

Zhu Youzhu was also in a bad mood.

"Going to sea to get so much money, can it still be said to be unkind, if there is benevolence and righteousness, will someone pay tribute to the Ming Dynasty? When will overseas provide taxes to Daming? Zhu Youzhi was filled with righteous indignation.

He felt that it was not interesting to stay in the palace, so he asked Zhang Zhouren to be in the city that day, and he didn't go to Xishan, so he changed his outfit and took Li Rong and others out of the palace to find Zhang Zhou.

Zhang Zhou is in the workshop in the city.

When Zhang Zhou learned that Zhu Youzhu was coming, he personally brought Zhu Feng out to greet him.

Zhu Youzhu smiled and said: "No need to be polite, Bingkuan, I have nothing to do, come and see here, you can make a lot of good things in the past, can there be new objects recently?" ”

"Your Majesty, please." Zhang Zhou got out of the way.

After Zhu Youzhu left the palace, there seemed to be more smiles on his face, and when he walked out of the palace gate, he was in a rare mood.

The monarch and several people entered the workshop together, but saw that there was something like a boiler inside, boiling water on one side, and there was a "click" sound next to it, and a machine was being driven by the boiler, which was the steam loom that Zhang Zhou was working on recently.

There are two craftsmen next to it who are debugging.

The two of them seemed to be like no one around, whether it was Zhang Zhou, Zhu Fenglai, or Zhu Youzhu bringing someone here, they would not come over to salute, but only concentrate on doing what they were doing.

Zhu Youzhu asked curiously, "What is this?" ”

Because the noise was relatively loud, and the machine could be moved without manpower, Zhu Youzhu did not rashly step forward to observe.

Zhang Zhou said: "Your Majesty, this is a loom. ”

"Loom? Is there no one to weave? Zhu Youzhu was curious.

only saw two people walking in front of a bunch of machines, but no one was weaving cloth with feet, hand-held, etc., Zhu Youzhu naturally felt incomprehensible.

Zhang Zhou said with a smile: "This is to drive the shaft with water vapor, and the movement of the shaft makes the loom run, and a bunch of looms only need a few people to take care of them, and they can be remedied at any time when there is a broken thread." In this way, a skilled weaver can take care of five or six looms, and the speed is even faster, and she can weave dozens of zhang of cloth in a day. ”

Li Rong smiled bitterly: "Mr. Zhang, are you smiling?" ”

"Huh?"

Zhu Youzhu glanced back at Li Rong.

You old eunuch, you actually questioned my Bingkuan's opening of the river?

Zhang Zhou smiled and pointed and said: "Gonggong Li, it's really not a joke, the traditional loom also has some drawbacks, I have also improved, this is the shuttle, with the shuttle, the weaving does not need to increase the horizontal line, in the future, it should be worried not about the lack of female workers, or the weaving is slow, you should worry about the lack of grass and cotton." ”

Grass cotton is also cotton.

In Chinese history, when it comes to "cotton", it is actually more kapok.

It was not until after the Song and Yuan dynasties that the grass cotton gradually became the daily use of the people to keep out the cold, but because of the low efficiency of weaving, the cotton was mostly used as a filler, and the Ming Taizu stipulated that each farmer must plant a certain amount of grass cotton to ensure that the military and the people used it daily, and the grass cotton was also a very important cash crop in the Ming Dynasty.

"That's interesting."

Zhu Youzhu knew that the machine was just a loom, and after there was no danger to him, he finally dared to walk over and take a good look.

But seeing that the cloth is produced little by little when no one weaves it, and begins to gradually roll into cloth, Zhu Youzhi will also feel very magical.

……

……

Because the weaving room was very noisy, Zhu Youzhu only made a brief observation, and then went to the laboratory next to the workshop with Zhang Zhou.

"Bingkuan, when are you going to promote this loom?"

As the emperor, Zhu Youzhu certainly knew the needs of the people of the Ming Dynasty for food, clothing, housing and transportation.

It seems that there is no solution to the problem of growing food for the time being, and it is not so easy to reclaim wasteland, and all that remains is to find new crops from overseas, which also takes time.

But if it is in the weaving efficiency, it will greatly improve the restrictions on the dressing of the people of the Ming Dynasty, after all, for ordinary people, it is normal to wear an ordinary coarse linen dress for ten years and eight years, and it is normal to sew and mend for another year, and even someone wears a piece of clothing for a lifetime, and there are many places.

Zhang Zhou said: "Your Majesty, if you want to promote, you still have to be able to make so many looms first. The minister's idea was to first recruit female workers to come back for study and training in government-run weaving workshops, and then gradually spread them to the people after they learned and the number of looms increased. In a few years, there will be a weaving workshop in every larger state capital in the Ming Dynasty, and the cloth produced can also be used for military dispatch first. ”

"Yes, yes, first ensure the use of the Northwest soldiers." Zhu Youzhu was very relieved after hearing this, "In the past few years, the Northwest has already proposed to the imperial court to change military uniforms, etc., but how can there be so many manpower and material resources? If you can really weave in large quantities...... Then Daming cloth is not how much you want to use? ”

Li Rong reminded with a smile: "Your Majesty, have you forgotten what Mr. Zhang said? At that time, you should worry that there will not be enough grass and cotton. ”

Zhu Youzhu said: "It is time to make certain improvements. He issued an order to increase the acres of grass and cotton planted in various localities, which would be purchased by the imperial court in the future, so as to ensure that cotton farmers would not suffer losses. ”

Zhang Zhoudao: "Your Majesty, it is not enough to rely on the government to procure, you should send someone to procure." Otherwise, it depends on the words of the magistrate...... I'm afraid it will dampen the enthusiasm of cotton farmers. ”

"Hmm."

Zhu Youzhu probably understood Zhang Zhou's concerns.

This is a fault line between the upper and lower levels, and this separation will be exacerbated if it is all up to the local government.

Only if the emperor directly sends people to improve this situation to the greatest extent, but this is not a one-and-done solution, after all, it is still people who do things, and the so-called system is also implemented by people.

……

……

After talking about weaving, Zhu Youzhu sat down and said with emotion: "Bingkuan, the ship to Nanyang has returned, bringing back a lot of things, there are what you need, it should be sent to the capital in a month." ”

Zhang Zhou arched his hand and said, "Thank you, Your Majesty, for your concern." ”

Zhu Youzhu said: "If you want to send a ship to the West now, do you think it is appropriate?" ”

Zhu Youzhu made a decision first, and then asked Zhang Zhou's opinion.

Zhang Zhou had already planned with him before, letting him know that there was still a large territory overseas, even larger than the territory of the Ming Dynasty, and the land was vast and sparsely populated, and more importantly, the people there were almost slash-and-burn, there were no horses, cattle and sheep, not even wheels, and even some large tribes with a population of millions did not even have their own writing, let alone iron tools, and even bronze tools were only used for aristocratic decoration.

Such a tribe can conquer an entire country with an army of a few thousand people.

Historically, the Aztecs and the Inca Empire were conquered by European colonists by a few hundred people.

That's why Zhu Youzhu has such a deep obsession to include overseas places in the territory of the Ming Dynasty......

Zhang Zhoudao: "With the performance of Jiangnan shipbuilding, the big ship built according to the minister's drawings has not yet been built, but only a few medium-sized ships have been built. But the minister is afraid that in the next few months, it will be the time when hurricanes are rampant at sea......"

If he wants to go to sea, Zhang Zhou must explain all the difficulties of going to sea clearly.

It doesn't mean that if you send a fleet, you will definitely reap the rewards, but if the ships don't return, you won't even hear from me from now on, and then the courtiers will lie on my head, saying that I have harmed them.

Zhu Youzhu nodded and said: "The sea is windy and waves, if you encounter extreme weather again, any accident is possible, but you can't waste food because of choking, Bingkuan, didn't you say that the territory of the Western Ocean has been discovered by some foreigners, and they will conquer it in the future?" Hurry up. ”

Zhang Zhoudao: "Your Majesty, the minister's idea is to go to sea for the first time, mainly to explore the location of overseas places first, and successfully find back the roots and seeds of several food crops proposed by the minister, so as to facilitate the widespread planting of the Ming Dynasty." Prepare for going to sea later. ”

"When will you go to sea?" Zhu Youzhu seemed impatient.

Zhang Zhou saw that the emperor was so simple, so he didn't shy away from it, and said: "Your Majesty, if you have the experience of going to the South Seas with a fleet, with a few new ships, even if the scale is smaller, you can immediately order to go to sea." ”

"Okay."

Zhu Youzhu said, "I have been waiting for a long time, if I can fundamentally change the national fortunes of the Ming Dynasty through a single voyage, and use this to conquer the four seas, it is even more meaningful than conquering the Tatar alien races in the northern Xinjiang." Bingkuan, do you have nautical charts? ”

Zhang Zhou said with a smile: "In fact, before the minister returned to Beijing in the north, he had left a navigation chart, and even left a lot of maps for going to sea, including strategies for dealing with various emergencies. As long as there are enough artillery and guns, and a few hundred soldiers, you need to bring back what you want from overseas...... It depends on whether the gods are beautiful or not. ”

(End of chapter)