Jingming

Chapter 489: The additional benefits of expanding territory

To the south of Beijing, a horizontal straight road runs from Liangxiang Heavy Industry Park through Jingshi Station to Tongzhou, and then directly to Tianjin.

Today, there is only one trial train line that is actually put into operation in Ming Dynasty, and it is usually used for freight.

It’s not even April until it actually starts running.

At this time, this line was temporarily closed - it was already the twelfth lunar month, and it was already the time when many people were going back to their hometowns to celebrate the New Year.

But this Beijing-Tianjin freight line is now running a specially customized train with three carriages at the front and rear, and the middle carriage has a bright yellow wooden cornice.

On both sides, there were cavalry guarding them.

This is Zhu Houcong's new "imperial chariot". Now he is sitting on the carriage and asked Liu Tianhe helplessly: "Isn't this nonsense? Who urged it?"

Liu Tianhe was a little embarrassed: "The news of the victory in Korea came back, Marquis Jinghai was really intolerable, and Marquis Yangwu also handed the letter back from Incheon..."

"Then don't yell about what's going into the water!" Zhu Houxuan frowned, "I thought the water conditions were different at the dock. Now there is thin ice in the shallow sea area. In order to go into the water, we sent people to dig out the water every day and prepared to burn it. Isn’t it nonsense to pour hot water from time to time to prevent the water from freezing?”

He said two nonsense words in a row, and Liu Tianhe could only remain silent for a while, and then said: "It was originally planned to be launched in September or October, but now it has been inspected for more than one month just to be on the safe side. The treasure ship supervisor is also afraid that the mistake was made." The imperial court has a big plan and wants to complete this matter before the year."

"It's right to be on the safe side. I would rather Shen Qi continue to be on the safe side and wait until next spring before going into the water."

After Zhu Houcong said this, he thought about it again and reacted: "Is it because of the money from the newly issued national debt that he is rushing to free up the shipyard to build an improved model?"

"...Your Majesty is aware of everything. The military affairs meeting has this idea." Liu Tianhe no longer hid it, "The two queens of Korea and Ryukyu will be enfeoffed. The navy will not be limited to coastal suppression in the future. . The idea from the General Armament Department of the Military Affairs Conference is that each of the three naval divisions should have at least one flagship."

"...It's not like there's not enough."

Zhu Houcong muttered something and didn't delve into it further.

Although the current wooden battleships are indeed sufficient, Shen Qi is a specialist, and continuing to improve the new steam iron-clad battleships is also in line with Zhu Houcong's long-term needs.

Speaking of the issue of the launch of warships in the Bohai Bay in winter, it is nothing more than a quarrel between the frontier army, the Beijing camp, and the navy to share the cake in this round of national debt.

Currently, there are only two newly dug docks that can build such warships.

By freeing up one, the money for building a third ship can be settled first to prevent it from being used elsewhere.

Guo Xun is already quite old. The most he can do during his term is whether he has digested North Korea and Japan, so he will naturally support the Navy more.

Shen Qi is now in charge of the treasure ship supervisor. Whether it is out of his own personal enthusiasm or for the sake of his subordinates, he would rather take the risk of being complained about by the emperor and do something in the twelfth lunar month.

"Forget it, let's just inspect the railway, the Dagu Heavy Industry Park and the Xuanlong ship, and mobilize the Beiyang Navy's troops to conquer Japan."

Zhu Houcong stopped worrying and looked at Prince Rui, Zheng Kui and others.

The driving was still smooth and the speed was naturally slow. Zhu Houcong estimated that he could go more than ten or twenty miles in an hour.

But it’s better to last.

The journey in the car is also equivalent to an annual summary meeting of steam engine application research.

Zheng Kui was mainly in charge of the improvement of the steam engine. Prince Rui was more willing to work with Tao Zhongwen to establish a systematic basic chemical system and study microorganisms and medicine. However, this guy was young and had more active thinking after all, so he was not completely separated from this project.

Now the new achievements of more than a year are the steam locomotives installed on the Beijing-Tianjin freight line and the marine type on the Xuanlong ship, in addition to those used for drainage in mines.

"...I feel ashamed. If I want to be a small business again, I'm afraid it will take more than just a few years. There are still many difficulties to overcome. Now if I insist on using it, it can only be used in large parks as a supplement when water power is insufficient. Guaranteed The operation of some machinery in each factory is enough.”

"It's okay." Zhu Houcong didn't take it seriously. "Next year, let's focus on textiles and papermaking."

He had a vague impression that there are now dedicated people studying the application of steam engines.

The textile industry has long had machinery, either relying on hydraulic power or manual labour. All kinds of cloth are important materials, and Ming Dynasty silk is also a bulk export commodity, so the application power should be sufficient.

The paper industry will have greater demand in the future.

The application of trains and steamships has been realized from scratch to one, followed by a long process of improvement.

The applications in coal mines and iron ores are currently mainly needed for military and major projects, and we will start to really consider civilian applications later.

"The Agricultural College needs to choose more locations to cultivate cotton seeds in areas with a lot of dry land..."

The locomotive's chimney smoked as it traveled across the plains on the outskirts of Beijing.

Zhu Houcong made arrangements on this special train, and the arrangements for the royal driver's personal visit had naturally already arrived in Dagu, Tianjin.

If the arrangements hadn't been made in advance, how could Zhu Houcong have received the report from Lu Bing's people who arranged for him to cut ice and boil water to prevent freezing?

The Dagu side did not build a water conservancy project on a trial basis like the Liangxiang side to prevent floods and provide water power.

The heavy industry park here is a serious attempt to rely on steam engines to provide power. It is almost the 2.0 version of the industrial park that Huangming Assets Bureau independently planned, invested and operated.

If the emperor wants to come for inspection, he will go to full speed. At this time, the efficiency of various blast furnaces and steam engines was only so high, but there was actually a lot of hot water.

Now, Shen Qi arranged for people to use a batch of thick pipes to take it over and place it outside the dock entrance continuously. However, a hole with a radius of more than a mile has melted on the sea surface that has been spread out for several miles, and the water vapor is transpiring.

It seems that the scene is indeed exaggerated.

Those are expensive fine copper tubes, used for condensation systems on armored ships.

Even if you have enough control, you can't do it this way, right?

Not far from Dagu Station, on a hill on the northeast side of the Heavy Industry Park and next to Dagu Port, the Tongyi Bureau built the posthouse here.

This is the result after taking into account the noise, smoke and port views of the heavy industry park.

Naturally, there is no one else here today, and the guards have already surrounded it.

From the post house to Dagu Station, guards were posted along the way.

Not all of these guards were from Beijing, but also the reserve officers of the Beiyang Marine Division who were mobilized here.

They were gathered here for the purpose of conquering Japan. What Xue Han brought to Korea before was only 40% of the Beiyang Marine Division's troops, totaling 8,000. To quell the civil strife in Korea, the Jiliao Frontier Army was the main force, with the Beiyang Naval Division only supporting it.

Now that the emperor is visiting Dagu in person, he wants to review and mobilize them. Naturally, he has to stand energetically in the cold wind. He first escorts His Majesty to Dagu Station and then stops at the Post House.

There is no palace here.

Outside Dagu Station, Shen Qi had come to greet him personally.

His expression was calm, and he was not worried because of the worries of Tianjin Zhizhou just now.

After the boundaries of the provinces were redrawn, most of Shuntian Prefecture was surrounded by Beijing and became Beijing Zhao. Tianjin is designated as a separate state, higher than Miyun, Liangxiang and other counties under Shuntian Prefecture.

In terms of grades, because of the special characteristics of the two northern and southern capitals, Zhaoyin is of the third rank, the county magistrate under his jurisdiction is the fifth rank, and the magistrate of Tianjin is the fourth rank.

The worry of Tianjin Zhizhou is that the Treasure Ship Supervisor will waste people's and financial resources in order to launch the Xuanlong ship within this year. Although the Treasure Ship Supervisor took the lead, didn’t Tianjin Prefecture assist?

The emperor always emphasized loving the people. Wouldn't doing this in the cold winter really not offend the emperor?

The governor of Tianjin was only from the fourth rank, but the official rank of the Treasure Ship Supervisor was higher than him.

According to today's rules, anyone who serves as the helmsman of such a company other than as a Lord has a second-ranking official rank and is extremely prominent.

Of course, their salaries are paid by the companies themselves, which will not put pressure on officials' remuneration expenditures under the civil affairs system. Although the official rank is high, Tianjin Zhizhouyuan does not need to buy more from them.

Unfortunately, Treasure Ship Supervisor is different. The Black Dragon Ship is the important weapon of the great nation that His Majesty cherishes.

Dagu Heavy Industry Park, Dagu Port and the entire Tianjin are also different. They are now important logistics support bases for the Ming Dynasty's Eastern Expedition shipping direction.

Tianjin Zhizhou buried his head and stood there very obediently.

They are all tall. If the Emperor Long Yan gets angry, someone else will take the blame.

He only used to sing praises and truthfully described the unanimous praise of the people after Tianjin's extraordinary prosperity in the past two years.

This is true. In recent years, how much money has been spent in Tianjin, and how many people and goods have been gathered here.

Who is a native of the old Tianjin Wei and has not enjoyed the dividends?

Flags are flying outside Dagu Station, and there are also many Ming Sanchen flags.

Jinyiwei, Beiyang Marine Division, Shuntian Prefecture, Treasure Ship Supervisor, Baojin Bureau, Military War Bureau, Dagu Port Finance and Taxation Department, Tianjin Prefecture Public Security Bureau, representatives of commercial banks, gentry and rural sages, senior citizens...

Although Beijing is not far away, this is the emperor's first visit to Tianjin, and the welcome lineup is now complete.

As night fell, the horse finally arrived: "more than five miles away!"

Then he reported again after a while: "Four miles!"

Finally, I heard the roar of the locomotive as it slowed down to release excess heat, and the emperor's "chariot" was approaching. In the cold wind and light snow, Zhu Houcong stepped out of the carriage. It was much colder outside.

After all, he was only in his thirties and had a good foundation since he was a child. Liu Tian and the others immediately shuddered.

The warm sedan was ready at the platform again, and Zhu Houcong looked around first.

"It's mainly freight. The Dagu Station is simple. Your Majesty, please forgive me..." Waiting here is Gu Kejiu, the helmsman of the Railway Bureau and a Jinshi in the ninth year of Zhengde.

He was also among those who were selected later, and he was quite upright and practical. Although he became a Jinshi very early, he only entered the enterprise system after being recommended by Huang Zuo.

Zhu Houcong had no idea that Gu Kejiu had some connection with Hai Rui in history. Hai Rui passed the provincial examination when Gu Kejiu was serving in Guangdong. Hai Rui always regarded him as his teacher and built a shrine for him after Gu Kejiu's death.

Things are different now. Hai Rui has another opportunity, and Gu Kejiu has also been entrusted with a heavy responsibility.

Zhu Houcong said with a smile: "The journey here has been quite smooth, which shows that this real operating railway is well built and maintained. I'm afraid Yu Xin is so busy that he doesn't have time to write, right?"

"Reply to Your Majesty and write. You can meditate."

In the original history, Gu Kejiu was beaten with a stick by both the Zhengde and Jiajing emperors. But now Zhu Houcong's behavior is different. Gu Kejiu was also a demoted official of the Zhengde Dynasty who was re-activated after Zhu Houcong succeeded to the throne. From the beginning, he worked as a member of the Ministry of Household Affairs and implemented the New Deal arranged by Zhu Houcong. What is his impression of Zhu Houcong? Naturally different.

One of the things Zhu Houcong knew about him was that Gu Kejiu was a good calligrapher.

Went outside chatting and laughing, only to see the huge welcoming formation.

"Isn't this a long time coming?"

Zhu Houcong had no choice. Who called him the emperor?

This situation was unavoidable, but since he had just arrived, he naturally wanted to express his condolences and encouragement to make so many people feel that it was worth traveling all the way to greet him.

As soon as I came and went, it became dark.

"I blame you! When I arrived in Tongzhou, I went to see the Tongzhou Pier on the spur of the moment, and was delayed for two or three hours."

Looking at the situation, Zhu Houcong realized that it was not safe to go to the post house at this time, and so many people here would have to be hungry all the time.

"Yu Xin, you are familiar with this area, do you have any arrangements?"

"I have discussed with Commander Lu before. The road at night is difficult and dangerous. If Your Majesty is satisfied, the residence of General Mei Shen will be not far from here."

"General Mei Shen..."

Zhu Houcong was still thinking, and Lu Bing said from the side: "The former hereditary commander of Tianjin Right Guards, a loyal and good man for generations, Mei Dingjia was previously transferred to the rank of Staff General of the Fifth Military Camp, but now he has retired due to old age and illness. General Mei..."

As soon as Lu Bing shouted, one of the old men came forward and said excitedly: "My family has been favored by the emperor for a long time. My ancestor is the great-grandson of Princess Ningguo. He is the sixth generation hereditary commander of Tianjin Right Guards. Your Majesty, if If you don’t abandon it, the humble house will be full of flowers, and I have already sent people back to sweep the house to greet you.”

Zhu Houcong finally picked up the number, thought for a while and nodded: "That's fine, I'll stop disturbing you tonight."

He mentioned Princess Ningguo, and Zhu Houcong understood.

To be honest, he is still a relative of the emperor.

Princess Ningguo is the second daughter of Zhu Yuanzhang, and her consort is named Mei Yin.

This Mei Yin was the nephew of Mei Sizu, Marquis of Runan, the founding hero of the Ming Dynasty.

Mei Dingjia did not clarify all these words because Runan Hou had followed Zhang Shicheng and was a surrendered general. After his death, he was investigated for the Hu Weiyong case and his whole family was killed.

Of course, Mei Yin was his nephew and his consort at the time, so this branch survived.

But during the Battle of Jingnan, it was Jianwen who was assisted by Mei Yin. Zhu Di sent a letter to him to persuade him to surrender. Mei Yin cut off the envoy's ears and nose, and said, "leave your mouth so that you can speak to King Yan about the righteousness of kings and ministers." This made Zhu Di angry. It doesn’t work.

The final result was that Mei Yinke was squeezed into the water and drowned by the Jinyiwei commander and others when he went to court in the third year of Yongle.

There are so many complicated stories between the ancestors and the Zhu family. No wonder Mei Dingjia was vague.

Now that the emperor is willing to stay at their home, Mei Dingjia is only happy.

Zhu Houcong only thought about these old things, but had no more impressions.

When they finally arrived at Mei's house, they confirmed what they had learned from Lu Bing: The Mei family is now a prominent family in Tianjin.

What Zhu Houconn didn't know was that the Mei family in Tianjin continued to multiply until later. The Caochang Nunnery they donated was not only important during the revolutionary period, but the Mei family also produced Mei Yiqi, the president of Tsinghua University.

That is of course not surprising, after all, before the Jiajing Dynasty, their family had been hereditary Tianjin Right Guard commander for many years.

When the emperor comes, everyone in the Mei family is honored, not to mention that there are so many officials accompanying him?

The officials in Tianjin who had been waiting for a few more hours at Dagu Station were all discerning, so they had prepared everything and immediately took their seats to prepare the banquet.

When talking to Shen Qi during the dinner, Zhu Houcong made a joke: "I have to stay here for a while, and I have to go to the naval camp tomorrow. Doesn't it take an extra day to boil hot water at the dock?"

Tianjin Zhizhou felt his heart tremble when he heard this, but Shen Qi replied calmly: "I am not rushing to present New Year's gifts to His Majesty. I am making this arrangement to do more experiments."

"Oh?" Zhu Houcong was a little surprised, "Why?"

"Two main reasons." Shen Qi bent down, "Firstly, Japan is further north, and the war against Japan will probably have to go through the winter, so I have to test whether there are any flaws in the Xuanlong ship in winter. Secondly, , I have to consider the possibility of supply failure during the long voyage. I delayed launching for some time, and I also realized that the steam engine cannot directly use sea water."

"...I see." Zhu Houcong nodded, "Why didn't you make it known before and let the new prince come over and solve it together?"

Zheng Kui was stunned when he heard this, and Zhu Houcong also suddenly realized it.

How can the corrosiveness of sea water be compared with that of fresh water?

Although Zhu Houcong knew this, he usually had so many things to do but couldn't pay attention to such details. It’s useless to pay attention to it, you still have to rely on them to figure it out.

"Then I'm afraid that the entire machine that has been installed on the ship will have to be rebuilt, and the delay will be even longer. I thought about it day and night, and thought of a way, so I took advantage of the favorable location near the sea and tried it first, so that I can explain it more clearly."

"So, you have found a solution?" Zhu Houcong looked at Shen Qi with a new look and asked expectantly.

Since he was invited to participate in the launching ceremony, of course Shen Qi was already sure.

And the little idea behind hiding this matter... was nothing more than increasing his own importance.

After all, it was because of his talent in shipbuilding that he was favored by the emperor. If he could still achieve more in technology, wouldn't it be even better?

Zhu Houcong only cares about the results, not who has done more credit in the process.

Shen Qi smiled and said: "I changed the pipeline on the ship. A machine was used to boil the salt. After the water vapor cooled down, it became fresh water. In addition, when the ship was sailing, the water tank on the ship was filled with 100,000 kilograms of fresh water. If there were supplies on the way, If the water is not smooth, it can barely be self-sufficient for a few months. The hot water is not heated there to melt ice. The water cools from the copper pipe in winter and flows outside the dock. Although it is not boiling hot, it melts ice immediately. After daily testing, it is confirmed that it is fresh water."

"...Excellent!" Zhu Houcong was overjoyed when he heard this, "Xinshihou, tomorrow you will go to the treasure ship supervisor to discuss one or two things. Shen Qing has made great contributions, and he must not forget to study further!"

I have to say that he really threw himself on this boat, observed and thought of more questions.

As long as there are people like this who can help Zhu Houcong solve various minor problems, he welcomes them.

But when he entered the main room that the Mei family had packed up after the banquet, he was no longer welcome. He looked at Lu Bing and asked, "What does this mean?"

"...This place is not as well arranged as the post house, and the Mei family is also worried that His Majesty will be frozen."

"...Is it the Mei family?"

"Handmaid, handmaiden..." Lu Bing explained.

Zhu Houcong looked at the bed-warming girl who got up from the "dragon couch" and stood there shivering in silence, thinking that Mei Dingjia was too courageous.

Aren't you afraid that the emperor will think that the Mei family is too capable and has such a pair of beautiful twin maids?

Of course, a heartfelt intention is just to warm the bed first. If the emperor has a heart, then it is called...

Anyway, it was clear that he wanted to test Zhu Houcong, to show his loyalty and thoughtfulness.

Zhu Houcong frowned. It seemed that after the prosperity of Tianjin, there were more stories hidden under the prosperity.

Bought? Or maybe it’s the mainstays of the “art troupes” that are becoming popular nowadays?

Zhu Houcong looked at Lu Bing, who finally showed a hint of embarrassment, and finally added: "Marquis Yangwu sent it back from North Korea, and the Mei family has a good business relationship with the Shipping Bureau."

"..." Zhu Houcong shook his head, "What do you want me to say?"

God knows if the preparations have been started since there was news that the emperor would personally attend the launch of the Xuanlong ship. I am afraid that when he arrives at the post house tonight, the Korean twins will also appear at the post house.

Mei Dingjia probably had to force himself to do this, so naturally it was Lu Bing and Xue Han who took the initiative to arrange it.

We are all so familiar, don’t you like it? It's not a big deal.

There was no way, Zhu Houcong really found that there was no need to be reserved.

Is this also a side benefit of opening up new territories?

　Forgot to time it...

　　

　

(End of this chapter)