I Am the Grandson of the Second Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, Earning 100 Million Taels at the Beginn

The grand military parade left a deep memory on people, and at the same time, it was also recorded in the history books.

The historians who specialize in recording historical records, I heard that they have been fighting for several days for this. Dozens of people have used all the literary talents they can use in their lives to write historical records that they think will shock future generations.

Whether it is true or false, Zhu Zhangui is not clear, and he is not interested in watching it. Zhu Zhangui doesn't care how he is recorded in history, whether it is a tyrant or a sage, as long as he lives comfortably.

As the Spring Festival passed, Daming officially entered the first year of Hongxi.

In the new year, the imperial court seemed to have a new look. It changed the state of war in the Yongle Dynasty and started large-scale production and construction, and the people recuperated.

The emperors of old Zhu's family are all workaholics. Ever since he became the emperor and took on the burden of the entire Ming Dynasty, Zhu Pangpang has been busy in the Shang study every day.

That was the day Mrs. Zhang gave birth, he went there, and he didn't even have the time to go back for a meal.

At the end of January, Mrs. Zhang gave birth to another daughter for Zhu Pangpang. Although she was not the grandson the old man wanted, he could accept the granddaughter.

After Mrs. Zhang gave birth, the old man started his free life.

Take a group of veterans out every day to go hunting, or go fishing in Tianjin port.

No, just after February 2, after the old man confirmed that the airship was not in danger, he cheerfully took a group of veterans to visit the great mountains and rivers of Ming Dynasty.

The old man who put down the throne felt relaxed all over his body. After he was free, he started his dream when he was young, and to be precise, it is also his dream now, which is to visit every corner of the Daming Mountains and Rivers, and take the territory he guards. , have left his mark.

On the third day of March, Zhao Ling'er, who was pregnant some time later than Zhang, gave birth to another daughter for Zhu Zhangui.

There was another little padded jacket, and Zhu Zhangui happily named it Miaoyin.

Zhu Pangpang is also very happy with the addition of two children a year in the family. He also loves the youngest granddaughter very much. On that day, he directly gave the little guy who was born less than a day old the title of Princess Jinling.

Jinling is the companion capital, giving this little girl this title, one can imagine how much grandpa Zhu Pangpang loves her.

You must know that Zhu Miaoyan, the eldest daughter of Zhu Zhangui, was named the Princess of Xiangyang.

For the royal family, different fiefdoms represent different degrees of favor.

For example, in the period after Li Shimin, being named the King of Qin was a great favor.

During the Ming Dynasty, it was also a great favor to be named the King of Wu, because Zhu Yuanzhang was the King of Wu before he became emperor.

"Prince Prince!"

Zhu Zhangui, who was holding his little daughter and supervising the other little guys doing their homework, heard a whining cry in his ear.

Hearing this cry, Zhu Zhangui trembled with goosebumps all over his body, and looked helplessly at Zheng He who was sitting beside Zhu Miaoxuan, who was playing chess with Zhu Zhangui's third daughter Zhu Miaoxuan.

"I said, Old Zheng, if you have something to say, there's no need to look at me like that."

"Grandpa Zheng He is here for you!"

Just as Zheng He was about to open his mouth, Zhu Miaoxuan, who was sitting across from him, dropped his chess pieces. Seeing that Zheng He hadn't moved, he hurriedly reminded him loudly.

"Oh oh oh sorry, sorry, I forgot!"

Zheng He, who was preoccupied with his own affairs, hurriedly accompanied a smiling face, pretended to think about it, and dropped a piece on the chessboard.

"My lord, don't you know what I'm thinking? It's not about the ships and artillery. It's been almost two years, and my fleet has not moved at all. I will be old in a few years, so I will run away." Don't move the boat."

Zhu Zhangui was speechless.

He just said, this guy Lao Zheng has been running here every day for the past two days. His relationship is not to accompany him, but to come here to ask for boats and guns.

In fact, Zhu Zhangui was also quite tangled.

When the navy saw a new ship with new artillery, it sent people to wait in the shipyard and gunyard every day. When a ship came out, they didn't need the help of the people in the shipyard, and they drove it to test the voyage by themselves.

The artillery is more exaggerated.

In order to compete for the new artillery, people from both the navy and the army almost fought in the artillery factory.

Although Zhu Zhangui told them that the new warships don't use artillery like the army, their habitual cognition still thinks that this kind of fast-loading short gun is more reliable.

The cannon factory saw that the two parties were making a lot of noise and affecting their work, and they couldn't afford to offend both parties, so they reported the matter to Zhu Pangpang.

In the end, the two parties were called over by Zhu Pangpang for a training session, and the operation of grabbing the cannon came to an end.

Although the two parties are no longer blocked in the artillery factory, they both have informants in the factory. As long as a batch of artillery leaves the factory, these two groups will find Zhu Pangpang and ask for the distribution of artillery.

As for why you didn't find Zhu Zhangui, it was because Zhu Zhangui had ordered.

Now is the era when his father is in charge of the house, and Zhu Zhangui has already made an arrangement with his father. The internal affairs and logistics are handled by the father, and he is responsible for the management of foreign operations.

Therefore, as long as it is not about war, Zhu Zhangui will not choose to intervene. This is a respect for the old man, and he also wants to be lazy.

Since he came back a few years ago, he has hardly been idle. He was either fighting abroad, or he was not accompanied by his wife and children on the way to fight abroad.

So he wanted to spend more time with his wife and children while his father was in good health, to make up for the mistake of not being with them a few years ago.

Seeing that Zhu Zhangui fell into silence, Zheng He thought that Zhu Zhangui was thinking about taking care of the army and navy first, and wanted him to wait for a few more years, so he said urgently: "Your Highness, I am getting older now, plus I am also disabled, and my body is getting worse day by day. I have been dreaming these days, about those brothers who died in the west, and they have been asking me when I will pick them up, what a heart!"

As he said that, Zheng He's eyes were slightly red, and he thumped his chest in pain.

Zhu Zhangui sighed helplessly when he saw the painful look of Zheng He, who was also a teacher and friend.

"alright, you win!"

Zheng He's eyes lit up.

Zhu Zhangui handed his youngest daughter to the maid next to him, went to the table next to him, wrote a warrant, and handed it to Zheng He.

"In June, Quanzhou Shipyard will launch two ironclad warships. Originally, the navy was keeping a close eye on them, but I'm making the decision now to approve them to you."

"In addition to the navy, I will approve 10 more warships and 20 transport ships with you. The Marine Corps will dispatch a corps to you and follow your command. These are enough!"

Unexpectedly, Zhu Zhangui gave so much at once, Zheng He stood up in surprise, reached out to take the warrant, and nodded repeatedly.

"Enough is enough!"

"By the way, Your Highness, I heard that a batch of new muskets will also be issued to the army. See if you can..."

When he folded the warrant and put it in his arms, Zheng He felt a little embarrassed and made another request.

Zhu Zhangui waved his hands angrily, "All for you, all for you..."

"Hey, thank you Your Highness!"

Zheng He was so excited that he almost knelt down, and after taking the warrant for the new-style rifle, Zheng He didn't care about playing chess with the little girl, and turned around in a hurry and left.

He wanted to go to Quanzhou as soon as possible, and those brats in the navy were keeping a close eye on him. If they snatched the boat away late, it would be hard for him to come back.

"Let's go again in August, you go to Quanzhou first and wait, I may go with you."

Trotting out, Zheng He, who was afraid that Zhu Zhangui would regret it, waved his hand without looking back, indicating that he knew.

Looking at the back of going away, Zhu Zhangui shook his head helplessly, picked up the little daughter next to him, picked up the ruler and yanked it fiercely, Zhu Qirui who was distracted and couldn't do his homework well.

"I heard that today you approved some ships and weapons for Zheng He!"

During dinner, Zhu Pangpang confirmed the news he received today while eating.

Maybe it's because the family is used to eating together, Zhu Pangpang doesn't have such big rules as the old man.

When eating every day, as long as Zhu Pangpang is not busy, the whole family will gather to eat together. In Zhu Pangpang's words, eating like this is lively.

"He has been running away from me for several days. If I don't promise him again, he will probably live in the East Palace."

After taking the rice handed over by his wife, Zhu Zhangui nodded and answered while enjoying the delicious dinner.

"So, you're planning to go to sea." Zhu Pangpang nodded slightly, and asked his guess.

"We use more and more oil-based machinery. Although Daming has oil production, it is something left to us by our ancestors. We can't waste it all, and we have to leave some for our children and grandchildren."

"My idea is to use the ones from outside first, so as to save the ones at home."

"After all, if we can hold such a large country, future generations may not be able to hold it. We have to leave some property for them, some cards for them, so that we can turn things around in the future."

While Zhu Zhangui was talking, he also looked at Zhu Qirui who was lowering his head to cook rice.

Zhu Qirui grinned when he noticed his father's gaze, as if he was not talking about me, he continued to eat with a thick skin.

Zhu Pangpang slightly nodded in agreement, then hesitated, and whispered: "The imperial court has no money."

Zhu Zhangui's hand that was picking up the vegetables stopped in place, and looked at his father's innocent look with a look of astonishment.

"How is it possible? At the beginning of the year, the Ministry of Households still had 2000 million taels of silver in deposits. After only two or three months, you have spent all the money. This is too prodigal."

Zhu Pangpang sighed helplessly, put down the chopsticks in his hand and said worryingly: "Can you not be defeated? There are so many railways to be repaired, and the roads in Shandong are leveled, the roads around the capital, and the mausoleum of your mother and me. There is your grandfather’s record of emperors, the navy is clamoring to change ships and guns, and a lot of people in the army are waiting to change firearms. All of them don’t cost money, and they all spend a lot of money .”

Zhu Pangpang looked at Zhu Zhangui, "Do you know how much the National Defense Force's military expenditure is this year?"

Zhu Zhangui shook his head. This is a political matter of the court. According to the agreement between the two fathers, this is the father's responsibility, and he didn't worry about it.

Zhu Pangpang sighed again, stretched out his index finger and thumb, and made an eight.

"800 million taels, this still does not include the replacement of weapons and equipment. If weapons and the supplement of training ammunition in the later period are included, this amount must be at least doubled."

"Oh, by the way, there is also the Sanbengzi mechanized unit proposed by you and your grandfather. If it is formed, it will cost more money."

"As far as the imperial court's more than 2000 million taels of silver is concerned, this is a simple calculation, excluding the formation of the three Bengzi troops, the army alone can take more than half of it."

Scratching his head worriedly, Zhu Pangpang said tiredly: "Millions of troops seem mighty and powerful, but they are all paid for by money. We can't just let the soldiers eat food and not give them salaries! What's more, there are The gold swallowing beast in the navy is waiting there, as well as your airship formation plan, all of which cost money like flowing water and can't be blocked."

"In the past two days, I have been remembering with Xia Yuan Jihe to see if we can save some money. As a result, we broke our fingers for a long time, and we were only a few feet away. We couldn't even save a tael of silver."

"When I think about the money that will be spent this year, as well as the military expenses that will be advanced in the future and various court expenses, I feel very worried. Now I finally realize that your grandfather wanted to use the money at the beginning, and said to my son Good mood."

Seeing that his father was so worried that he couldn't even eat, Zhu Zhangui asked helplessly: "About how much do you need, if the quantity is not much, the chamber of commerce can make up for it."

Zhu Pangpang didn't show any excitement on his face, he spent all his own money, so there's nothing to be excited about, he's not an old man.

"Xia Yuanji gave me calculations. If the plan of the imperial court and the reorganization and training of the army are followed, excluding the Sanbengzi mechanized troops and airship troops, at least 6000 million taels of silver will be needed."

"If you want to add your Beiju Luzhou development, you need to make up another 500 million taels of silver."

"The imperial court's autumn harvest and commercial tax this year, after deducting various expenses and basic budgets, can leave about 3000 million taels of silver. If you want to make up for it, you must give me at least 3500 million taels of silver, otherwise the court will have nothing to do next year." move."

Hearing this number, Zhu Zhangui frowned and thought.

Now the imperial court can make money, but it also spends a lot.

The construction of railways and cement roads in the capital and Shandong area, and even the popularization of major roads across the country in the future, all require money.

That is to say, the chamber of commerce and the colony have left some money in the past two years, otherwise the court may not be able to afford such a big disturbance.

Although there was money in the bank, neither the father nor the son wanted to touch the money there.

The bank has just been established for a few years, and the trust in the hearts of the people is not high. If the imperial court spends the money in it, once the news spreads, it will easily cause turmoil.

If there is a run on the bank, the trust that the bank has built up with great difficulty will collapse in an instant, thus affecting the rule of the imperial court.

Once the trust in the hearts of the people collapses, it will not be so easy to bring it back.

Therefore, the money in the bank will not be used by the imperial court unless it is absolutely necessary.

"I'll give you 3000 million taels of silver from the Chamber of Commerce and myself. In August, I will go to sea with Zheng He to see if I can go to the West to make a fortune. No matter how much I can earn, at least The expenses for the past two years must be sustained.”

"The railway cannot be stopped. This is the capital of our old Zhu's family to control the world, and it is also the confidence of the imperial court to control the world. Even if the tombs of your old man and my mother are stopped, this cannot be stopped."

Now the court belongs to his own family, and Zhu Zhangui didn't make calculations as clearly with his father as he did with the old man.

As the first prince in history to hold the military power of the whole country, Zhu Zhangui's position can be said to be the most stable.

To put it bluntly, Zhu Pangpang's mobilization of the army was not as fast as Zhu Zhangui's. If the two gave orders at the same time, the military would probably execute Zhu Zhangui.

After all, which one, the emperor or the prince, is most beneficial to the military support, those in the military can still tell the difference.

Zhu Pangpang didn't care about this aspect, and even told Zhu Zhangui after he became the emperor.

When Zhu Zhangui wants to be the emperor, just tell him, don't bother to rebel, anyway, he doesn't care about the throne, and he can retire early and spend his old age with his wife early, enjoying the family happiness .

Sometimes Zhu Zhangui wondered, with the old man and father as role models, when he gets old in the future, he also chooses to abdicate to his son, will it bring different changes to the throne to future generations.

Zhu Pangpang also nodded in agreement with his son's idea.

Both he and the old man are very aware of the importance of the railway, so no matter how much money is spent on the construction of the railway, they must grit their teeth and support it.

As for the method for his son to go to the West to earn money, Zhu Pangpang can guess the general idea without thinking.

If his son went to other countries to plunder and kill in this way before he became emperor, he might object or even stop him.

But after becoming the emperor, he realized that the people under his name are his people, and those foreign barbarians have nothing to do with him, and he can't get any good by worrying about it.

As an emperor, if he wanted to ensure his status and reputation, he had to get the support of the people all over the world.

But if the people in the world live in hardship and cannot eat enough, then why do you let the people support you.

So for the common people of Ming Dynasty, for the inheritance of the royal family, Zhu Pangpang chose to acquiesce in the fact that his son used the flesh and blood of other countries to nourish Daming.

During a meal, the father and son set the tone for Daming's next steps.

Zhu Pangpang manages government affairs in the country to stabilize the court situation, and by the way allows the people to recuperate and prepare for further expansion in the future.

Zhu Zhangui took Zheng He's naval fleet to the west to earn development funds for the court in the next few decades.

As for how to earn this money.

Hehe, this is Zhu Zhangui's old profession.

In the blink of an eye, in June, after Zhu Zhangui had been with his wife and children in Beiping for half a year, he left Beiping with the reluctance of his wives and the excited expressions of his little ones, and went to Tianjin Wei Wharf, ready to take a boat to Quanzhou .

Quanzhou Shipyard.

Today is the day when the two ironclad ships are officially launched for sea trials.

After a period of accumulation and experience summarization, at the beginning of last year, Quanzhou Shipyard finally began to manufacture large-scale iron-clad warships.

These two warships are the first large pure iron warships manufactured by Daming Shipyard.

Ever since the news of these two ships started to be built, the navy went crazy. Li Hu strolled here whenever he was free, watching these two warships take shape bit by bit, like watching his son.

To be honest, even his own son has never received such a degree of concern.

Watching the warship take shape bit by bit, the mood of the navy officers and soldiers became more and more excited.

But at the beginning of March this year, a thunderbolt from the sky shook the entire body of the navy officers and soldiers.

The two ironclad warships were taken away by others before they were launched.

This time the navy officers and soldiers became angry. You must know that in their minds, everything that can float on the water in the entire Ming Dynasty is under the control of their navy, and whoever has eaten the heart of a bear has actually robbed the navy.

Just when a group of people blocked the Quanzhou Shipyard, and were about to deal with the robber to death, Zheng He leisurely walked up to them, patted Li Hu on the shoulder very calmly, and said, I want the ship, Then I wobbled to see the armored battleship.

The whole navy cried.

There are 5 people in the entire Ming Dynasty, and their navy dare not provoke them. One is the abdicated old man, the other is Zhu Pangpang who has just ascended the throne, and the third is naturally the crown prince who manages them, and their immediate boss Li Hu.

And the last one is Zheng He, one of the founders of the navy.

All the sailors looked at each other, wanting to cry but not crying, Zheng He, who was very happy, was walking around beside the iron-clad ship, not knowing whether to cry or laugh.

What should be crying is that their ironclad ship is gone, and what should be laughing is that the imperial court is going to make big moves at sea.

In the end, Li Hu, who was not reconciled, wanted to use his relationship to see if he could get a ship from Zheng He.

But as soon as he arrived in front of Zheng He, before he opened his mouth to speak, Zheng He looked indifferently and ran away in despair.

Just like that, the aggressive Haijun who was about to talk to the robber was dismissed by Zheng He alone, with a single word and a faint look in his eyes.

"Your Highness!"

Zhu Zhangui, who had rushed to Quanzhou from Peiping, just got off the ship when a large number of navy generals, led by Li Hu, surrounded him with bitter faces.

"What's the matter? Why are you all crying and mourning, and you stepped on dog shit when you went out."

Zhu Zhangui joked with a smile, the expressions of these guys, he naturally knew in his heart that it was nothing more than a duck that was full of mouths and flew away.

"My prince, we suffer more than stepping on dog shit."

"We have been looking forward to these two ships for many years. The whole army is waiting for these two ships to enter service. As a result, they have not been docked yet, and the ship is gone. Let us go back. How can we tell our brothers Please tell me."

Li Hu's lieutenant general complained of suffering with a mournful face.

"Come on, what a big man is acting like a bear, isn't it just two ships, and it's not like they won't be built in the future. Anyway, there hasn't been a big battle in the past two years. You just wait for another two years. Your boy is still young now. A chance to pilot an ironclad battleship."

Zhu Zhangui waved his hands at everyone, then smiled and walked towards Zheng He who ran over with a happy face.

The admirals wanted to say more, but when they saw Zheng He approaching, they immediately shut their mouths, and the expressions on their faces immediately changed to smiles.

Glancing at the admirals headed by Li Hu, he knew what they wanted to do. Zheng He was in a very good mood and didn't bother to talk to them. He said to Zhu Zhangui, "Your Highness, these two ships are simply amazing. By the time you come, I'll have someone drive it into the sea."

Zhu Zhangui patted Zheng He's shoulder with a smile, "Can't it be great? If it's average, as for letting some people, it's the same as having your own wife robbed."

"Hahaha…"

Amidst the speechless expressions of the admirals, the two walked towards the shipyard laughing.

These two steel battleships were almost entirely manufactured by Daming's own technical experience. Except for the design and shape of the ships, they did not receive any guidance or help from Zhu Zhangui.

Looking at the steel warships in the dock that were about to be launched for sea trials, Zhu Zhangui felt excited.

Daming Technology Industry, under his cultivation, has finally blossomed and borne fruit.

"Your Highness!"

The chief engineer in charge of manufacturing the steel battleship saw Zhu Zhangui coming, and ran off the ship in a hurry.

"Liugong, please introduce these two ships."

Although he has already seen the information of the two ships, Zhu Zhangui still wants to hear the introduction from the chief executive.

"As ordered!"

Chief Engineer Liu Gong responded, and then introduced with pride: "The two warships are made of pure steel, and they are sister ships with the same data."

Pointing to the ship, Liugong said excitedly: "The hull of the ironclad ship is 79.5 meters long, 14 meters wide, and has a displacement of 5322 tons. There are 18 reserved artillery positions."

"In our forecast, the speed of the warship is about 15.5 knots, and it can carry about 200 people."

After briefly introducing the speed of the ship and its own basic information, Liugong walked to the side of the ship and knocked on the steel hull, and said with enthusiasm in his eyes: "The thickness of the iron armor deck on the water surface is 230mm, and it is 200mm underwater."

"It is driven by three steam engines, with a daily coal load of 500 tons and a limit load of 750 tons of coal."

After talking about the creation of the defense system and delivery system, Liugong excitedly said to everyone: "These two ships, as His Highness said every day, are products of a cross-age era."

"I can tell you responsibly that the defense of this ship, in addition to its own artillery, the artillery of the world and even the army, is tickling it. They are invincible in this world. the power of."

Following Liugong's fanatical introduction, even Zheng He and the members of the navy who knew the information all heard shortness of breath, eager to rush up and immediately take this iron guy away.

Zhu Zhangui nodded calmly, without any excitement or ecstasy in his expression.

In later generations, I am used to hearing large ships of tens of thousands of tons. These ships with a displacement of more than 5000 are really nothing. As for iron-clad ships, well, in later generations, apart from fishing boats, which one is not made of iron? A little surprise nothing.

"Your Highness, please give names to the two ships!"

After being excited and ecstatic, Zheng He turned around and knelt down on one knee facing Zhu Zhangui, asking Zhu Zhangui to name the two ships.

Reaching out to help Zheng He, Zhu Zhangui looked at the ironclad battleships that were still making final preparations, pondered for a while, and said to Zheng He: "Since they are long-distance warships, let's call them Zhenyuan and Dingyuan."

Zhenyuan Dingyuan is the eternal pain in the heart of the Han man who is concerned about the navy, and Zhu Zhangui has felt sorry for the Beiyang Navy more than once.

Now that he had the opportunity, he decided to bring these battleships back into service in the army, let them earn back their former glory, and also hoped that they, with these names, would gain a great reputation in this world.

Zhenyuan, Dingyuan, suppress the enemies of the world, and stabilize the world's well-being.