"The fourth daughter-in-law, tonight there is a lot of anger outside the palace, the child is still young and can't hold on, it just so happens that your mother has been talking for several days, and the child you take tonight will talk to your mother."

"I also have some things to discuss with the fourth, and we will go back tomorrow morning."

After the celebration feast, the ministers dispersed.

The old man shouted, hugged Zhang Yue, who was already asleep, and asked her to talk to Queen Xu.

When the other three daughters-in-law heard this, their eyes were full of envy.

The little guy who can be kept in the palace by Queen Xu, except for Zhu Zhanji when he was a child, the other grandsons have not been treated like this.

It can be seen from this that the old man and Queen Xu are favored, the eldest son of the fourth son.

Zhang Yue glanced at Zhu Gaoyu, and after seeing him nodding, he bowed slightly.

"The daughter-in-law takes the order."

Queen Xu on the side happily took the little guy, nodded to the other three daughters-in-law who saluted, and led Zhang Yue to the Qianqing Palace with the little guy in her arms.

"Dad, what about us?"

As soon as he heard that the old man was looking for Zhu Gaoyu, Zhu Gaoyu hurriedly asked.

"After drinking so much, let's go back to bed early."

The three brothers' expressions darkened, and they saluted and left with their daughter-in-law.

"Little cub, go back and rest too!"

The old man waved his hand again and drove Zhu Zhanji, who was going to stay with him, back.

Zhu Zhanji, who didn't want to stay here for a long time, responded and hurriedly followed his father and mother.

"Let's go, let's go to the study."

When everyone left, the old man took the confused Zhu Gaoyu back to the study where he usually worked.

"Dad, is something wrong?"

When he came to the old man's study, Zhu Gaoyu drove away the little eunuch who was going to serve, and personally helped the old man take off his formal clothes.

After the old man sat down, he helped the old man take off his boots, and asked in a low voice while beating the old man's legs to relax.

The old man, who was enjoying his son's filial piety with his eyes closed, let out a light "um" and said slowly: "Sanbao is back today, he came to me for a trip, guess what he is looking for me?" ”

"What else can it be? Isn't it just the fleet. Zhu Gaoyu didn't raise his head, he beat his father's leg hard, and replied casually.

The old man took a sip of the tea next to him, and pondered for a moment before asking, "I see that you don't want to give him the fleet, what are your plans?" ”

Zhu Gaoyu paused for a moment, didn't hide it, and replied directly: "My son plans to take over the matter of going to the West." ”

The old man was silent for a moment and said, "Actually, he is quite suitable. ”

Zhu Gaoyu did not answer this question, but talked about other things.

"The West is actually quite complicated, and some things cannot be done by reporting, so making a decision on the spot is the best choice."

"Huh!"

The old man chuckled lightly, reached out and knocked on Zhu Gaoyu's head.

"It's the Three Treasures who are delaying your errands."

"Also, Sanbao is a rule-abiding person, and among your four brothers, his heart is for your eldest brother."

"You now have the navy in your hands, and you have already zoned the entire Western Ocean into your territory in your heart."

"Let Sanbao, a person who has nothing to do with you, or even a person who is not on your side, with a huge fleet wandering around the Western Ocean, if it were me, I wouldn't want to."

Zhu Gaoyu didn't speak, and chose to acquiesce.

Don't look at the old man in the deep palace, in fact, he knows the things in the world better than anyone else.

The four sons have their own plans in their hearts, and he can also guess them, after all, he has also come from this stage.

"Well, I can stop him from going and go back and arrange for him to go somewhere else."

Seeing that his son was silent, the old man sighed and decided to let Zheng He give up going to the West and hand over the entire Western region to the fourth son.

Zhu Gaoyu looked up in surprise, "Thank you, Dad." ”

The old man raised his hand, "Don't be in a hurry to thank me first, listen to what I have to say." ”

Zhu Gaoyu nodded hurriedly.

He raised his hand and waved it, and let all the eunuchs in the room leave.

The old man was silent for a while before he said: "I can give you absolute authority in the Western Ocean, and I don't care what the navy does, but I have only one request, and it is the only request for you in this life." ”

Zhu Gaoyu hurriedly knelt on the ground, "Listen to the holy words!" ”

didn't care that he didn't wear shoes and socks, the old man got off the soft couch and squatted in front of Zhu Gaoyu.

"Father's only request to you is that your eldest brother didn't make a move on you, and you can't make a move to the court."

Zhu Gaoyu looked up at the old man violently, and wanted to say that this would never happen, but looking at the old man's serious eyes, he was silent for a moment and knocked his head to the ground.

"The retainers take the order."

"Today, I swear in front of your father and emperor that if my eldest brother has not done anything unjust to me, I will never make a move to the court."

"Get up."

The old man nodded in satisfaction.

Although this stinky boy has a lot of eyes, what he says is still credible.

said that he would not make a move to the court, but he would never go to the court to make a move.

And then again, the imperial court didn't make a move against Zhu Gaoyu, and Zhu Gaoyu dared to act rashly, nominally untenable.

Back then, he made a move on his eldest nephew, and he also used his eldest nephew to destroy the ancestral system, so he started an army.

Otherwise, there is no reason, a vassal king directly rebels, there is no absolute crushing strength, and defeat is ironclad.

"Since the fleet has been handed over to you, I won't keep the shipyard or anything."

"You go back and send someone to the major shipyards to say hello, and whatever ship you want to build in the future, you can arrange it yourself."

After Zhu Gaoyu got up, the old man continued to enjoy the massage of this stinky boy, closed his eyes and handed over the shipyard to Zhu Gaoyu.

"Well, I'll send someone when I get back."

The old man gave himself all the shipyards, and Zhu Gaoyu was even more beautiful in his heart.

Wang Jin did not collect many shipbuilders during this time, and it was not enough to form a shipyard, and he could only reluctantly repair ships for the fleet.

Zhu Gaoyu was still thinking of where to dig people, but the old man generously gave him all the shipyards.

Of course, this refers to the marine shipyards, and the inland river shipyards are still not under his control.

After all, inland river boats are related to transportation and are the lifeblood of the imperial court, and it is impossible for the old man to hand them over to others.

"Lao Tzu can tell you clearly, it's still the same sentence, you can figure out how to build shipbuilding equipment by yourself, and you have to return the weapons and armor you borrowed to me."

"If you dare not return it to me, then what we just said, you will take it as a dream."

Seeing Zhu Gaoyu looking like he was eating bee feces, the old man was tired for a while, and his mind turned, and he suddenly remembered that this stinky boy had borrowed so many armor and weapons when he left, and hurriedly reminded him to return it quickly.

I am still planning this time, and I will go to the north to fight again, so much equipment, but a lot of expenses.

As soon as he heard the old man mention those equipment armors, Zhu Gaoyu was depressed for a while, and pouted: "Dad, I gave you all the silver mountains, so you can't give me those equipment." ”

The old man snorted coldly, "Don't fuck nonsense, what's wrong with a silver mountain, if you don't have Lao Tzu in front of you, the things you did in the country would have been turned upside down a long time ago." ”

As he spoke, the old man pointed to a pile of playbooks in the corner: "Take a look, those are all playbooks for the impeachment of Wu Shan and others, if it weren't for Lao Tzu's suppression, and today's matter, the Wu Shan under you, this time is definitely on the cusp." ”

Zhu Gaoyu walked over curiously, picked up a copy, and flipped through it.

This is an impeachment letter, which is from the Metropolitan Procuratorate, impeaching Wu Shan for killing and killing, in order to find the emperor of the Japanese country, tens of thousands of people actually froze to death, and then tens of thousands of people were killed, and the number of dead in Kyoto alone was as high as more than 100,000.

The above said that he has a nose and eyes, and even mentions the past and the present, comparing Wu Shan to the first demon of the Ming Dynasty, hoping that the imperial court will cancel his title, and severely punish Wu Shan, and give an explanation to the people of the world.

Zhu Gaoyu sneered after reading it and casually threw it aside.

"Don't pretend that Lao Tzu doesn't care, if you don't return the equipment to me, I'll release these pieces tomorrow, and that Wu Shan under your command will wait to be impeached and killed."

The old man who squinted his eyes and tasted tea said lightly.

The corners of Zhu Gaoyu's mouth twitched, "Okay, tomorrow my son will have someone send you back." ”

"But the soldiers of the Fifth Army Camp who went out with me, I feel good, they want to follow me, I want them to go to me."

"Got it."

The old man glared at Zhu Gaoyu angrily.

This stinky boy dug up the personnel of his own fleet, not to mention, and now he has reached into the fifth military camp.

Fortunately, there are not many places left under this kid, if there are still more, I am afraid that his five military camps will be emptied.

"Since you have taken over the affairs of the fleet, then you must arrange for those envoys to leave as soon as possible."

"Raising these idle people every day, the guys in the household department are going to scold their mothers."

"I'll leave when the monsoon comes."

Zhu Gaoyu, who was looking at other playbooks, replied casually.

"You're going back to the fiefdom."

This time it was the old man's turn to be surprised, it was the first time he saw the vassal king, and he hurried back to his fiefdom.

For example, the second and third children, since the second child sealed the fief, he either dislikes it or dislikes it, or he doesn't go to the domain.

And what about the third.

Originally, he was guarding in Beiping, but the last time he followed him to the north, he never left when he came back.

I reminded me many times that these two stinky boys either said that they were reluctant to their mothers, or they pretended to be sick and did not leave, which made the old man helpless and angry.

But this fourth son, he didn't urge it, he just said that he was leaving.

"yes, definitely leaving."

"The Chamber of Commerce's hoarding is almost sold, and the items received are almost the same, and if you don't leave, there will be no goods to sell, and the warehouse will not be able to load the goods."

"By the way, your daughter-in-law is going to clear out the bills in the next two days, and how much money she has earned back, I will let them send it directly to my mother."

When it comes to money, the old man comes directly to the spirit.

"How much money did you earn this one?"

Zhu Gaoyu thought for a while and replied: "The initial investment is relatively large, and the Chamber of Commerce has only made a profit after breaking even last year, that is, about 1 million taels. ”

"Your pepper didn't sell much, less than 1/3, before and after adding up, you probably have about 2 million taels of silver, I don't know how much, go back and let someone send it to you."

"Two million taels."

The old man's eyes lit up, and he nodded with satisfaction.

Earning so much in a year is already a lot.

As for the pepper not being sold, the old man also knows it.

Now the pepper of Daming is not as valuable as before, and some ordinary people can afford to buy pepper as a seasoning when there is a happy event.

In the past, there were more than a dozen taels of pepper per catty, and it was still priceless.

Recently, he heard that it had dropped to 1 catty and 7 taels of silver.

Although the price of pepper is a little low, it is worth a lot of money when it is calculated in the future, and it is not a loss.

"I just heard you say what kind of goods to receive, you don't plan to pull goods from the official camp."

After chatting about his own money, the old man suddenly remembered that Zhu Gaoyu just said that the warehouse where the goods were purchased was full.

Zhu Gaoyu nodded and replied: "I don't plan to close the goods in the official camp, but mainly the private and various production workshops." ”

returned to the old man, poured himself a cup of tea, and saw that there was no stool around, so Zhu Gaoyu sat on the carpet.

"Dad, if we want the people to support us, we must let the people earn benefits."

"You used to go to the West, and you took all the goods of the government, and you earned more and earned less, which had nothing to do with the common people and those workshops."

"After such a long time, the people naturally can't support the attitude of going to the West."

"Once one day in the future, those smuggling family representatives will waste money in the West and mention Grandpa's forbidden sea system, the emperor behind him will not be able to resist it at all, and will definitely ban this project completely."

The old man nodded, he had already expected this.

"If you want these people not to object, and vigorously support the imperial court to continue to open the sea, the way is not nothing, that is, let them make money together."

"This time I went to the West, I not only collected the goods of the people and local workshops, but I also sold the following quotas, so that those family forces who have the ability to go to the sea can go to the sea to make money together."

Hearing this, the old man's eyes widened in astonishment.

Drinking all the water in the teacup in one gulp, Zhu Gaoyu said seriously to the old man: "Dad, our royal family has already eaten the biggest food of imperial power, and we must also give them some soup and water, otherwise the hearts of the people below will be scattered, and the team will not be able to take it." ”

"You just said that you were selling followers?"

Zhu Gaoyu looked at the old man suspiciously, "Yes, I protect their safety and give them the opportunity to go to the sea to earn money, is there a problem with collecting some money from them?" ”

The old man nodded seriously.

"There's nothing wrong with it, we'll split this account fifty-fifty."

Zhu Gaoyu didn't come up with a sigh of relief, "Dad, I am protecting them, why do you still have to share my money." ”

When the old man heard this, he pinched the beard on his chin and said lightly: "Just because Lao Tzu is the emperor or your father, you protect them, Lao Tzu protects you, this reason is not enough." ”

Zhu Gaoyu looked at the old man in a daze, and his lips moved slightly.

The father and son drank tea, ate snacks, and talked all night.

It wasn't until dawn that the old man fell asleep with a smile on the corner of his mouth, and Zhu Gaoyu helped him cover the thin quilt before stretching his waist and leaving the old man's study.

ran to the Qianqing Palace to greet the old lady, and left the palace with his daughter-in-law and son.

Zhu Gaoyu, who chatted with the old man all night, did not go home to rest.

sent his daughter-in-law and son to the house, and hurried to the artisan camp.

Yesterday, when arranging things, he asked Lu Fei and Gao Wu, a child of the Mo family, to make something he needed.

After the two looked at the structural drawing, they promised to complete it in one day.

It just so happened that Zhu Gaoyu was fine today, so he thought about charging his engineers.

"Your Highness, everyone is gathered!"

In a large classroom in the artisan camp, dozens of men and women, young and old, sat underneath.

Lu Fei, who was in charge of the arrangement, called his name and reported to Zhu Gaoyu that the personnel had arrived.

was sitting on the chair, squinting his eyes back to Zhu Gaoyu, stretched his waist and took the list to look at it, and nodded.

Since the establishment of the craftsman battalion, Lu Fei has not stopped recruiting masters.

With Gao Wu, a disciple of the Mo family, in more than a year, many Mo disciples scattered all over the country have gathered.

"Guys, today I'm going to tell you about a cross-generational item."

These children of the Mo family have all read the information provided by Zhu Gaoyu, and they are all shocked, and they are also very impressed by Zhu Gaoyu who can write these materials.

As soon as Zhu Gaoyu stood up, everyone quieted down and waited quietly for Zhu Gaoyu's lecture.

"Bring things in."

He motioned to Lu Fei and asked him and Gao Wu to carry out the things that he had studied for a long time and a night.

Soon, a large copper ball was placed on top of a large hearth and was carried in.

Zhu Gaoyu didn't explain what this thing was, but personally took Lu Fei to burn the fire below.

Although the crowd was curious, they didn't ask, just watched quietly and took notes.

Under the cautery of the flames, the two tubes inserted into the huge copper ball began to drip water droplets and wisps of hot gas.

Seeing this scene, many people are even more puzzled.

His Royal Highness is not idle, and he actually summoned everyone to watch the fire and play here.

As the flames stabilized, Zhu Gaoyu patted the dust on his hands, picked up a piece of chalk and wrote down a line of words on the blackboard behind him.

"The end of science is boiling water."

Seeing this line of words, these Mo family disciples were even more confused.

They understand what the word science means, which is another way of saying Gewu.

But they couldn't figure out why boiling water was at the end of the grid?

"I'm sure you don't understand that."

Throwing the chalk in the box, Zhu Gaoyu looked at everyone and said seriously: "Please write down this sentence, I believe that in the future, you will definitely understand what this sentence means." ”

After speaking, noticing that there was already steam coming out of the place where the water vapor was closed, Zhu Gaoyu stepped forward and pulled a gas closure valve next to the furnace hard.

As the shut-off valve opens, steam rushes up the pipe and fills the entire copper ball.

As more and more gas increased, the slightly bent tube began to spew out steam, and the sphere slowly rotated on the shelf.

Seeing such a magical scene, the children of the Mo family who were listening to the lecture all stood up.

Zhu Gaoyu didn't explain, just waited quietly.

As the gas increased, the ball spun faster and faster, and even afterimage appeared in the end.

"Everybody, please come here."

Zhu Gaoyu clapped his hands, attracting everyone's attention, and then pointed to the steam ball: "Everything needs power to run, and we want to make this ball spin, in addition to using our hands, we can also use the power of animals." ”

"However, there is a limit to the strength of manpower and livestock, and there is a limit to the speed, and more importantly, due to the instability of the force, the speed of the sphere is uneven."

"So I thought, what can I do instead of human and animal power, so that the ball spins and spins evenly."

yes, what to do?

The children of the Mo family all frowned, but they didn't have any clue after thinking about it for a long time, and finally noticed the spinning steam ball, and patted their foreheads speechlessly, isn't this someone already made it in front of them, why bother thinking about it?

When everyone looked at it again, Zhu Gaoyu continued: "Once when I saw someone boiling water, I saw that the water vapor that was boiled came out of the mouth, and it was very even. ”

Zhu Gaoyu pointed to the steam balloon that was still spinning, "After many days of research, I have created this method that uses steam as the power to make the power last and rotate evenly. ”

"And I call this method steam power, and I firmly believe that in the future of the Ming Dynasty, the emergence of steam power will change the whole era."

Thanks: 20220802231245125's 100 tip, thanks: 100 tips from the Three Treasures. Thanks: 20230518676-DB's 100 tip! Thank you to the three owners!

(End of chapter)