Start with Baihuguan

Just when Li Huan was distracted, Zhu Houzhao, who was walking back and forth suddenly, paused, with a smile on his face, and said with some certainty: "Yes, I thought of a name, I must It couldn't be more appropriate."

Li Huan couldn't help being shocked when he heard the words, he looked at Zhu Houzhao with some curiosity and said, "Oh, I don't know what name your majesty wants!"

With a strange look in Zhu Houzhao's eyes, he looked at Li Huan and said slowly, "Hongwu, I named that treasure ship Hongwu. Power, what does Li Qing think of this name?"

To be honest, Li Huan really did not expect that Zhu Houzhao would choose Hongwu as the name of the Ming Dynasty treasure ship, but if he thought about it carefully, even Li Huan had to admit that the name Hongwu was really suitable .

The reign name of the founding emperor Taizu of the Ming Dynasty is the name of this treasure ship. I am afraid that only the emperor of today can think of it.

Taking a deep breath, Li Huan paid homage to Zhu Houzhao with a serious expression on his face, "Your Majesty is so wise and mighty that you can think of using the Emperor Taizu's year name as your title. Even if you want to break your head, you can't think of this."

Seeing Li Huan's admiration, Zhu Houzhao's vanity was infinitely satisfied, and he couldn't help laughing.

Soon after Zhu Houzhao walked back to the imperial case, he spread out a piece of rice paper by himself, then picked up the brush on the side and dipped it in ink, and immediately wrote the word Hongwu on the rice paper in one go.

I have to say that Zhu Houzhao deserves to be an emperor who has undergone perfect royal education. Although his handwriting cannot be compared with that of calligraphy masters, there is a brilliant emperor's spirit in the brushwork.

After taking out the personal seal and affixing the seal, Zhu Houzhao handed it to Li Huan with great satisfaction and said, "Let's go, Li Qing!"

Li Huan went south by boat, along the Grand Canal, and arrived in Nanjing City in less than ten days.

This is the second time Li Huan went south to Nanjing City in the sixth year of Zhengde. The last time he came, the treasure ship named Hongwu was still under construction. Now that he is in Nanjing again, the Hongwu has been built and will be delivered soon. navy.

After resting for a while at the left-behind mansion in Nanjing, Li Huan went to the Longjiang Shipyard in person early the next morning, accompanied by Xu Chu, Feng Tai and other Nanjing officials.

On this day, Longjiang Shipbuilding Chuang was draped with red silk everywhere, and it looked like a happy scene.

Su Wang, who was by Li Huan's side, was much more capable than before, and explained to Li Huan: "Thanks to the Lord, today all the craftsmen in the shipyard have a rest for a day. It can be said that it has been several months. Their rare day off."

Li Huan couldn't help raising his brows when he heard the words. Looking at the Longjiang Shipyard that had obviously expanded, he could see many more docks around him. Li Huan even saw many large ships under construction in the large docks. If there are no accidents, the ships built in those docks should be the treasure ships of the Ming Dynasty.

Hearing Su Wang's words at this time, Li Huan withdrew his gaze, glanced at Su Wang and said, "Although I have asked you to build big ships as much as possible, it doesn't mean that all the craftsmen don't even have time to rest. , the combination of work and rest can better stimulate the passion of craftsmen."

Su Wang heard the words and said hurriedly: "What the Lord said is very true, but it's not that I can't wait to give these craftsmen a rest time, it is that these craftsmen are working too hard one by one, after all, according to the reward standard of the Lord, every time they make For a treasure ship, the shipbuilders can get a thousand taels of silver according to their respective contributions. If you do the math, even the person who gets the least can earn at least one tael of silver. It is possible to get as many as dozens of taels."

Because of Jin Yiwei's supervision, Li Huan knew the Longjiang Shipyard very well, and knew what Su Wang said was true, otherwise, he wouldn't have talked to the other party so nicely.

While speaking, Li Huan and his group arrived in front of a dock.

And in this closed dock, I saw a large ship with a height of several feet docked steadily in the dock. Only from the freshly painted varnish, it can be seen that this is a new ship that has just been built. .

The closer you get to this treasure ship, the more you can feel the size of this treasure ship. People are really like ants in front of it.

Li Huan looked up, and he could clearly see the cannons shining with a faint cold light protruding from the cannon muzzles around the cabin. As far as he could see, there were as many as fifteen cannons on one side of the ship's side.

You must know that these cannons are newly developed cannons newly cast by the Foundry Bureau. Compared with the previous cannons, their power has been at least doubled, both in terms of range and firing speed.

According to the information obtained by Li Huan, the treasure ship Hongwu carried a total of forty cannons, fifteen on the left and right sides, five on the bow and stern, plus some small cannons such as tiger crouching cannons. There are almost a hundred large and small artillery pieces.

It can be imagined that such a gigantic ship is sailing on the sea, once it encounters an enemy, in terms of its firepower, it is definitely a rare opponent.

Li Huan was in a daze standing in front of the Hongwu, but the officials around him seemed to see Li Huan in a daze, but no one came forward to disturb Li Huan.

After a few breaths, Li Huan came back to his senses and couldn't help admiring: "Okay, okay, it's really an invincible treasure ship."

Hearing Li Huan's admiration, the surrounding officials also showed smiles. They were afraid that Li Huan might be dissatisfied with the treasure ship. Now that Li Huan was so satisfied, everyone was naturally relieved. .

But at this moment Li Huan said to Li Hu who was behind him: "Bring the plaque bestowed by His Majesty!"

After hearing Li Huan's words, many officials were taken aback for a moment, as if they didn't quite understand what Li Huan meant by what he said, and what happened to the emperor bestowing a plaque.

In the eyes of these officials and the staff of the shipyard, such things as the launch of a treasure ship must not disturb the emperor.

Like Li Huan personally coming to preside over the launch of the treasure ship, it was already beyond the expectations of many people. After all, Li Huan's previous visit to the shipyard has already shown that the court attaches great importance to shipbuilding, but for Li Huan to be so powerful No matter how you look at it, the nobles are running around again and again, which is a bit unrealistic.

However, Li Huan really came, and from what Li Huan said, it seemed that even the emperor knew about the launch of the treasure ship.

When some people were secretly guessing, after hearing Li Huan's words, Li Hu and the others immediately took a plaque carved by a skilled craftsman.

What is engraved on this plaque is the word "Hongwu" written by the emperor's own pen, which shows the imperial appearance.

Everyone's eyes fell on the plaque in unison. When they saw the word Hongwu clearly on the plaque, many people were surprised and puzzled.

But at this moment, Li Huan looked at the crowd and said in a deep voice: "Your Majesty is very pleased to hear that Longjiang Shipyard has built Zheng He's treasure ship again after nearly a hundred years, and specially bestows Hongwu's honor on this first treasure ship launched." Name, in order to show the strength of my Great Ming Navy."

While speaking, Li Huan said to Su Wang and several master craftsmen beside him who were in charge of building Hongwu: "This is written by His Majesty's royal pen, and let's embed it on the ship!"

At this time, the master craftsmen were already so excited that they almost trembled after hearing Li Huan's words, and took the plaque from Li Hu's hand, and then the master craftsmen did it themselves, carefully inserting the plaque in the place that was left on purpose. above.

As the word Hongwu was embedded on the big ship, the officials who saw this scene and nearly a thousand elite sailors who were waiting to receive the Hongwu didn't know who was the first to shout Hongwu.

Immediately afterwards, a group of people shouted in unison, Hong Wu, Hong Wu, roars resounded through the sky.

"Go into the water!"

Accompanied by the boatman's loud chant, Li Huan cut the cable, opened the sluice gate, and quickly injected water into the dock. Under the tug of the boatman, the hull of the Hongwu slightly shook, and the sails rose. Slowly drive out of the dock.

The Hongwu sailed slowly along the deep waterway into the big river. Compared with the boats on the river, it looked like a walking hill at a glance.

At the mouth of the river, many people who got the news early gathered here, and from a distance, they saw a big boat like a mountain coming slowly through the mouth of the river and entered the river.

The nearest place is only a few feet away from the Hongwu. As the Hongwu moves forward slowly, the people on both sides of the waterway can only feel a big mountain rushing towards them when facing the Hongwu. The timid people even back away in fright. He exclaimed even more in his mouth.

"What a big ship, it feels like a hill."

"Is this the legendary Zheng He's treasure ship? It's really as majestic and terrifying as in the legend!"

Seeing Hongwu's smooth launch, and seeing the Hongwu's people sighing one by one, I feel that today is an eye-opener.

At this time, Li Huan and other officials stood on a watchtower, looking at the Hongwu on the river in the distance.

Hundreds of naval officers and soldiers have boarded the Hongwu at this moment, and are beginning to get familiar with everything on the Hongwu.

The launch of the Hongwu is just the beginning. The next step is not only to test the ship for a period of time to ensure that there are no problems with the ship, but as a warship, the Hongwu also needs to test the condition of the artillery and other weapons on board.

Looking at the signal flag raised above the Hongwu from a distance, a naval officer immediately said to Li Huan, "My lord, the officers and soldiers of the Hongwu are ready for the test at any time."

Li Huan nodded slightly when he heard the words, and immediately nodded and ordered: "Order, order the Hongwu to test the gun!"

When the general heard the words, a messenger waved the flag and sent the order, and soon the Hongwu received the signal, and saw the cannons on the side of the Hongwu, which was sailing on the sails, being pushed out, revealing the hideous cannons At the mouth, accompanied by the sound of rumbling shelling, the smoke filled the air, and there was a burst of fire among the piles of rocks on the distant shore, and pieces of broken stones were splashed.

Under the volley of more than a dozen cannons, the area was directly covered, and the flames of the shells exploded everywhere, which looked quite powerful.

Wei Guogong Xu Chu, who was watching from the side, couldn't help being a little surprised when he saw this situation: "Hey, this turned out to be a flower bomb. When did I, Daming, have such a powerful flower bomb?"

The use of firearms in the Ming Dynasty definitely reached the peak of history. At that time, Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang relied on firearms to a certain extent to drive Meng Yuan out of the Central Plains.

It can be said that both artillery and blunderbuss accounted for a very high proportion in the Ming army. It can be said that the research and application of firearms in the first hundred years of the Ming Dynasty was definitely at the forefront of the time.

As for the artillery that is used as a siege weapon, it has naturally been researched to a certain extent. There are not only solid bullets, but also flowering bullets.

It’s just that the artillery in the early Ming Dynasty was mainly based on solid bullets. The impact of the solid bullets was used to kill and injure the enemy. In terms of lethality, to be honest, it's really not that big.

Similarly, the Ming army also had flowering bombs, but the power of the flowering bombs used by the Ming army is actually quite impressive. The hollow iron balls connected with fuzes and filled with gunpowder are fired into a secondary explosion by throwing solid bullets to kill the enemy.

It can be imagined that in terms of the power of gunpowder in this era, the power of explosive bullets can also be imagined.

Normally speaking, it is absolutely impossible for the Hongwu to test the cannon and fire the flowering bullets, and the power of the flowering bullets can reach such a level, otherwise Xu Yu would not be so surprised.

After all, Xu Yu is well-informed anyway, and he can be regarded as veteran in the army to some extent, and he also understands the power of explosive bullets.

However, the situation he saw now obviously did not match the power of the flowering bullet in his impression.

Xu Yu couldn't help looking at Li Huan. After all, the artillery on the Hongwu was brought by Li Huan, so Li Huan must know what was going on.

Hearing Xu Yu's words, Li Huan smiled and said: "I know we can't hide it from Wei Guogong. This is the explosive bomb recently developed by the Gunpowder Bureau. Because of the improved gunpowder, the explosive power of the gunpowder explosion is stronger than before. It has increased several times, so the power of the flower bomb has also greatly increased."

Hearing what Li Huan said, Xu Chu couldn't help but his eyes lit up, and he said with a bit of surprise: "What, Mr. Qin, you said that I have developed a new type of gunpowder that is more powerful than before at the Gunpowder Bureau?"

Looking at Daming, there are few people who are more aware of the significance of the increased power of gunpowder to Daming than Xu Wu, so Xu Wu is even more excited.

Seeing Xu Yu's reaction in his eyes, the corners of Li Huan's mouth twitched slightly. He just introduced some ratios of gunpowder in the later generations that he had seen in his memory to the craftsmen who dealt with gunpowder all the year round in the Gunpowder Bureau, and then these people Relying on his few words, he suddenly created a new type of gunpowder that is far more powerful than before.

To be honest, when Li Huan saw the power of the experimental gunpowder in the Gunpowder Bureau, even Li Huan felt a little unbelievable.

As Xu Chu thought, with the emergence of powerful gunpowder, for Daming, whether it is artillery or firecrackers, it can be said that all firearms will usher in earth-shaking changes.

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