The eldest grandson of Emperor Ming Dynasty!

The successful navigation of steam ironclad ships meant the successful use of steam engines.

This is the technology tree that Zhu Ying forcibly raised. In fact, outside of the application of steam engines to steam armored ships, no one has realized that this can also be applied to other fields.

In fact, when steam engines began to become more and more popular, others would think of it even if Zhu Ying didn't say it.

It's just that Zhu Ying can completely shorten this time.

After staying one night here in Shanghai County, the grandfather and grandson took the Dinghai ship back to the capital again.

After returning to the capital, Zhu Ying was not in a hurry to start coal mining, but called Liu Sanwu over.

"Meet His Royal Highness Taisun."

Liu Sanwu's face looked a little haggard.

Zhu Ying asked with concern: "I have been too busy preparing for the university recently. There is no need to be in such a hurry. I can't eat hot tofu in a hurry."

Liu Sanwu bowed and replied: "Thank you for your concern, Your Highness Taisun. I have been compiling textbooks with other bachelors recently, so I have wasted a lot of energy."

Zhu Ying nodded. It is really troublesome to compile textbooks.

After all, what Zhu Ying requested was not the previous Four Books and Five Classics, but also many textbooks on other subjects.

As the president of the university, Liu Sanwu needs to be somewhat familiar with all subjects. At such an old age, he will naturally be a little tired.

"The reason why I called Liu Shangshu here this time is related to the steam engine. I guess Liu Shangshu already knows about it."

Zhu Ying asked.

Liu Sanwu now also belongs to the ranks of ministers, so he changed his name from Liu Hanlin to Liu Shangshu.

Liu Sanwu nodded and replied: "I heard that your majesty and grandson went to Shanghai County yesterday and returned to the capital today. The speed of this steam armored ship is really evident."

"In the future, our Ming Dynasty will have this steam-armored ship. The transportation speed will be faster and the national power will rise. This is a sign of a prosperous age."

The steam ironclad ship was an uproar throughout the capital. Although officials in the imperial court were not involved, no one had heard of it.

In particular, the Jingshi Di Bao is a must-read publication for all officials.

Now, whether it is Zhu Yuanzhang or Zhu Ying, they have begun to gradually decentralize power to the court meetings. It is no longer like before, where many things are discussed at the court meetings.

For example, regarding the matter of going to the army, other officials can no longer discuss it casually, and only the Ministry of War can report to His Majesty or the Grandson alone.

Things like people's livelihood are similar. Basically, each ministry digests it on its own. If it is brought to the court like before, not only will it be ridiculed by other officials, but it will also be reprimanded by His Majesty for not doing things well.

Under this transformation, the emperor became more and more mysterious to his courtiers.

On the contrary, the majesty is constantly deepening.

At the same time, there are also many fewer opportunities to listen to the divine grace.

To figure out the holy will is what all ministers who can go to Fengtian Palace have to do, and the trend in the capital's residence newspaper undoubtedly represents the latest policy direction.

Zhu Ying said: "The role of the steam engine is not only reflected in the ship. You can regard it as a tireless servant. As long as there is a suitable way, he can always help to do things."

"For example, mining, weaving, spinning, and even agriculture can also play a great role."

"The current steam engines still have considerable flaws in many aspects, such as consuming too much coal, emitting too much heat, etc., so I need more talents to improve the steam engines."

"The steam engine not only affects the current era, but will also play a great role and improvement in the next hundreds of years."

"So I decided to open a subject about steam engines in the university. This is the top priority of the university now."

"I called Liu Shangshu here this time just to supervise this matter."

Liu Sanwu is getting older and his ability to accept new things has become worse, but he knows that this is something that His Highness Taisun attaches great importance to and must not be ignored.

He immediately replied: "Your Majesty, please rest assured that I will do my best to supervise this matter."

Zhu Ying nodded, and then said: "You don't need to worry too much. You can't handle everything well if you have everything in hand. This is just like the previous court meeting."

"Liu Shangshu can set up a working group to solve matters related to the steam engine discipline. Liu Shangshu is mainly responsible for grasping the direction and progress."

Zhu Ying gave a few words of advice. He was also worried that at Liu Sanwu's age, he would die suddenly if he spent too much time.

Liu Sanwu naturally understood, and immediately replied: "Thank you, Grandson, for caring, I understand."

Zhu Ying's heart moved, she frowned slightly, and then told Guo Zhong: "Go and call Concubine Jin."

Concubine Jin is Xu Miaojin.

Guo Zhong immediately took the order and went to the back hall to call for someone.

Liu Sanwu was a little confused. He didn't know why the grandson suddenly called Concubine Jin at this time.

Of course he didn't know that Zhu Ying's calligraphy was not good. When issuing orders, he basically relied on oral instructions. Only then did he suddenly realize that this was not very good.

Oral communication is prone to errors and can easily be misused.

Writing in black and white on paper and stamping it should be the correct process.

However, these maids and eunuchs in the palace, including Guo Zhong, are basically illiterate. Even if there are some who know a little bit, their writing is probably not as good as Zhu Ying's.

This is Taisun's order, how could it be so casual.

So Zhu Ying thought of letting Xu Miaojin ghostwrite.

In terms of calligraphy and painting, even Ye Yueqing's writing is not as good as Xu Miaojin's.

Not long after, Xu Miaojin came over.

"Your Highness."

When Xu Miaojin saw outsiders present, he saluted Yingying.

"Come here and write an edict for me. Guo Zhong, I will serve you with pen and ink."

Guo Zhong hurried to get the silk.

There are special dark lines on the silk, which is a special anti-counterfeiting mark in this era, and there are such anti-counterfeiting marks on Daming banknotes.

"Awarded to Liu Sanwu, Minister of Education, with full authority to supervise matters related to the steam engine discipline in the university."

"The 32nd year of Hongwu, June [-]th."

Zhu Ying dictated it, and Xu Miaojin immediately wrote it down, using regular script.

Regular script has a square shape and straight strokes, but Xu Miaojin's writing is even more beautiful.

"Well written." Zhu Ying praised.

"Thank you for the compliment, Your Highness." Xu Miaojin replied with a smile.

Liu Sanwu glanced at it and remained silent.

He is a true master of calligraphy. In his eyes, of course, this font still has many flaws.

But he would not be stupid enough to engage in teaching and educating people at this time.

That's not teaching, it's courting death.

Even though the top of his head is going to be buried in the ground, Liu Sanwu still wants to live for two more years.

Liu Sanwu led the order and left.

Zhu Ying smiled and said to Xu Miaojin: "From now on, you can stay by my side and write me orders."

Xu Miaojin was very happy when she heard this: "Okay." Suddenly she thought: "But will this make other sisters think that I am taking up His Highness's time?"

Zhu Ying smiled and said: "What does this have to do with it? You just wrote me an order, but you didn't guard it every day. Besides, this is a day thing, not a night thing."

Then he ordered Guo Zhong: "You all go out."

Guo Zhong obeyed the order, and then went out with the maid and eunuch.

Seeing that everyone was gone, Xu Miaojin didn't hide it and stuck directly to Zhu Ying's body.

"So comfortable."

Xu Miaojin couldn't help but said softly.

Everyone knows that the great-grandson's body is the most comfortable as it is warm in winter and cool in summer.

Hugging Xu Miaojin and Zhu Ying, she asked, "What gossip is going on in the harem recently? Tell me."

Xu Miaojin thought for a while: "Most of them are trivial matters, but recently everyone has said that His Majesty's grandson does not manage the government very much, and I don't know if it will affect the majesty of the royal family."

Zhu Ying shook her head and said: "They don't understand that military power is the key in the emperor's hands. Now that the military and government are separated, civilian officials no longer have the ability to interfere with military power. This is different from before."

"But to put it this way, it is really necessary to strengthen the control of military power recently."

Zhuying thought as he spoke.

He had previously prepared to organize a conference for the commanders of various military posts in the Ming Dynasty.

This is mainly an education and training for existing generals, and it is also the key to ideological construction.

The army of the Ming Dynasty was mainly composed of the Beijing army and the local army.

The soldiers in the capital have basically evolved into the concept of a professional army under the reforms of the past few years. Their military salaries are paid by the national treasury. They only need to continue to drill and do not need to go to the fields.

This is also the most elite army of the Ming Dynasty.

Especially after the implementation of the retirement system, many elderly soldiers in the Beijing Army went to the public security departments and public security stations in various regions.

For example, more than [-]% of those who retired from the Beijing Army have been well resettled. Even those who cannot be resettled due to personal circumstances, the allowances are quite generous.

After all, most of those who can serve in the Beijing army are those who have made meritorious service in the founding of the country, or whose parents have made meritorious deeds.

In the early Ming Dynasty, the Beijing army had a total of 48 guards. In recent years, as the national treasury has become abundant, the number of troops has been continuously expanded, and there are already 72 guards.

The first guard was composed of 40 people, and the capital was guarded by [-] soldiers.

But in fact there are no more 40.

Forty thousand were sent to the overseas vassal kings, fifty thousand to Tubo, nearly thirty thousand to Annan, and more than ten thousand to the ocean-going fleet.

When the capital is short of men, it will naturally recruit troops. Including those who are being recruited and trained, the capital now has about 30 soldiers.

Whenever there is a war, the Beijing army usually sends out a small number of elites, while the local army makes up the bulk.

For example, when Xu Huizu went there, the capital arranged for 20 elites to go first. He himself brought thousands of personal guards and officers, and then the local army gathered more than [-] troops, and they were combined in this way.

Zhu Di and other four vassal kings were similar. The Beijing army was equipped with 1 people, and then the local army was equipped with tens of thousands of people.

The local army is mainly divided into three parts: guards, frontier soldiers, and militia.

The guards were mainly located in important military areas in the interior of the Ming Dynasty. Most of them were field soldiers, participating in wars during wartime and busy with farming during farming season.

Generally, when there is a war, the main personnel mobilized are the guards.

Border soldiers refer to the soldiers stationed at the border gates of the Ming Dynasty. They can be said to be the elite of the guard army.

The garrison troops that defended the Mongolian cavalry in the north were deployed in nine military towns starting from the Yalu River in the east and reaching Jiayuguan in the west. These were the frontier soldiers known as the "Nine Borders" in history.

This is relatively famous and is also the most important frontier soldier of the Ming Dynasty.

Others, such as Uzang, Guangxi, and Yunnan, also have border soldiers in the border areas.

All that remains is the militia.

Most of these are irregular arms established legally by local forces.

Later generations called the Militia, and now they are called the Volunteer Army.

There are native soldiers in the northwest region, Miao soldiers, wolf soldiers and other chieftain soldiers in Yunnan, as well as monk soldiers from Shaolin Temple, mining soldiers, and salt soldiers from the Salt Division.

They are not in the military household system, but they can be recruited when there is war. They pay for their own food and pay for daily training. They do not have military pay, but they can also get rewards for their military merits.

And sailors.

This area is similar to the guard station. The court did not pay attention to it before. Now with the development of maritime trade, it has gradually expanded and has surpassed the local army.

The current total strength of the navy is around 20, and Zhu Ying plans to expand it to 50.

That is more than double what it is now.

The reason why so many people are needed is naturally related to Ming's control of the sea.

The navy is different from the army. Many armies cannot be directly regarded as the navy. Otherwise, the Mongols would have conquered the Japanese country.

At that time, the Mongols simply forced soldiers who did not understand water and were seasick onto ships and forcibly conquered them.

In this way, when the soldiers arrive at their destination, their combat effectiveness is severely reduced.

Therefore, the navy that Zhu Ying wants to recruit must first understand the nature of water and develop certain knowledge of maritime emergencies, such as emergency response drills when encountering storms, drills for boarding battles, etc.

Zhu Ying's military restructuring was mainly focused on the Beijing army.

Although the local army is currently undergoing many reforms, there is nothing that can be done about farming.

The issue of food is also an issue that Ming Dynasty needs to consider at present.

Directly abolishing the guard station system is something only a fool would do. You must know that in addition to soldiers, there are a large number of military households in the guard station.

At present, there are more than [-] foreign guards in the Ming Dynasty, and more than [-] thousand households.

Of course, not all health centers are fully staffed with 600 people, but there are nearly 200 million people. Including military households, there are more than 700 million people.

Their lives depended on the guard system, and rashly carrying out major reforms would most likely destabilize the entire Ming Dynasty.

This is not something that happens overnight.

At least for now, with Zhu Ying's constant intervention, corruption is no longer rampant in the guardhouse as before, and the lives of military households are much better.

"Why is Your Highness frowning? What's bothering you?" Xu Miaojin, who was accompanying Zhu Ying, asked softly.

He saw that Zhu Ying was a little lost in thought, and then frowned slightly.

Zhu Ying said somewhat depressedly: "I am planning to convene a military meeting of all the households in the Ming Dynasty, but at least a thousand people will participate."

"When there is a meeting, I will have to shout at the top of my lungs. It will be too much trouble for people to convey the message, and it will delay things."

This is the pain of not having a speaker.

Xu Miaojin heard this and said, "I have some ideas here. Before I entered the palace, I often went to the theater to listen to plays. Due to the relationship with the female family members, I could only stay in the private room upstairs, which was relatively far away."

"There are hundreds of people at the first show in a large theater, sometimes more than a thousand. The actors are not shouting at the top of their lungs, but I can hear them clearly."

"Maybe we can refer to it."

Zhu Ying's eyes lit up when he heard this and said: "What a good idea. I will go take a look tomorrow. If it is feasible, I will renovate the East Palace."