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Chapter 963: Taking the Court with You
"Your Majesty is wise..." Upon hearing this, the ministers thought it was a misunderstanding and quickly echoed it and took their seats.

"But I still have to go out... to Luzon, Annan, Port of Thalín, and Port of Colombo. It's been so many years, and it's useless to just listen to reports about how the overseas special zones and governor's districts are doing. I won't feel at ease unless I see it with my own eyes.

No one should advise me. This time, not only I will go, but you should also go to broaden your horizons. Don't worry about the war in the north. Wang Jiazhen and Chen Jiashu will stay to assist the General Staff in arranging logistics, Zuo Guangdou will be the regent, and the rest will go with me!"

But they were happy too early. The emperor not only wanted to tour the overseas territories in person, but also wanted to bring almost all the ministers of the General Staff with him. And no one could object because the power was in the hands of the emperor. If he said you were a minister, you were one, and if he said you were not, you were not one at all.

Why did Hong Tao do this? It's not complicated. He wanted the decision-makers of the Ming Empire to take a closer look at the place names and people that usually only appeared in memorials and petitions.

As a top official, he should not just stay in his office in the capital and talk about strategy on paper. If he has not even been to most parts of the empire and has no understanding of the local conditions, how can he make the right judgment when needed?

As for whether the imperial court would be leaderless and at a loss if the heads of various departments were taken away, this was exactly the answer Hong Tao wanted to see clearly.

During this decade, the imperial court added the Ministry of Chemical Industry, the Ministry of Health, and the Ministry of Education in addition to the original nine ministries, with Bi Maokang, a doctor in the Chemical Industry Department of the Ministry of Industry, Han Ping, the head of the Imperial Pharmacy, and Ma Baoguo, a doctor in the Ministry of Rites, serving as ministers respectively.

Together with the Censorate, the Dali Temple and the Tongzhengsi, the heads of most departments have been replaced, and most of them have participated in the promotion of the new policies and are new-school officials.

In addition, the second-in-command, third-in-command and even more subordinate officials of these departments came partly from the Haihu Division and partly from various new policy provinces. They had rich experience in governing and there were no opposing factions in their ideologies.

If they cannot implement government orders step by step and make the state machinery run smoothly after leaving the emperor and their immediate superiors, it means that the system they designed still has great hidden dangers and should continue to be significantly modified.

What if someone plotted a rebellion? Twenty years ago, Hong Tao would not have dared to mobilize so many troops and leave the court; ten years ago, he would not have dared to take away most of the heads of departments. He would have appointed at least three regents to keep an eye on each other.

This is no longer necessary. After more than 20 years of unremitting military reforms, the Ming army has completely gone beyond the scope of being commanded by one person.

If one wanted to mobilize troops on a large scale and in large numbers, not only was an official document signed by the Ministry of War, the General Staff and the Emperor required, but the document also had to be circulated and signed by all officers above the rank of thousand households before it would take effect.

Only with valid official documents would the prefectures and counties along the way provide convenience and necessary supplies. Otherwise, it would be immediately regarded as treason, and although it could not be stopped, the news could be reported to the nearby garrisons.

As long as the message is delivered in time, it will be very difficult for a guard or a dusi to cause chaos alone, and they will soon be surrounded and suppressed by multiple neighboring dusi. When the ammunition they carry is exhausted and they cannot get additional supplies, their combat effectiveness will not even be 50% left.

In this respect, a hot weapons army is easier to control than a cold weapons army. If the garrison's ammunition supply is tightly controlled, the generals will have no use even if they have a thousand tricks.

In the winter of the 1634th year of Emperor Jingyang's reign (500), a small fleet set out from Dagukou and sailed south with full sails in the strong north wind. Unlike previous naval fleet voyages, each ship had a yellow dragon flag on its midmast in addition to the sun and moon flags. The emperor and his ministers began their first long-distance sea patrol. In order to take care of the ministers who were going out to sea for the first time, the fleet specially arranged a Fuzhou-class armed cargo ship to accompany them. Its displacement was 1200 tons larger than that of the Guangzhou-class, reaching 700 tons, and its cargo capacity exceeded tons.

Although the average speed is only 7 knots, the seaworthiness has been greatly improved and it is more stable under the same sea conditions. In addition to transporting cargo, it is also much more comfortable to use as a passenger ship than on a warship.

In addition, the Fuzhou class is more powerful. It has a half-layer gun deck, equipped with 6 100mm short-barreled breech-loading rifled cannons on both sides, and two 100mm breech-loading cannons on the stern deck, making it a veritable armed cargo ship.

In the South China Sea and Indian Ocean, the Fuzhou-class armed cargo ship was not afraid of any enemy warships, even multiple sieges. In fact, the navy used it as a multi-functional warship, which could not only sail and fight, but also transport fleet supplies and carry land combatants, including naval battles and landings.

In terms of warships, the navy has not developed any new models in the past ten years, and the Qin-class and Han-class warships are still the main force. However, the number of warships in service has almost doubled to more than 100.

Together with more than 50 Guangzhou-class ships and more than 10 Fuzhou-class ships, the ocean-going combat radius can cover Enniao Port, and the number of troops deployed at one time can reach two guards and all equipment.

Four days later, the fleet arrived at the Songjiang Shipyard. Emperor Hong enthusiastically took his ministers to the slipway to watch the actual construction of the Fuzhou-class armed cargo ship.

Setting sail on a giant ship was already surprising enough for everyone, but watching the skeleton of a ship taller than the Meridian Gate gradually take shape was even more shocking.

The fleet set sail again that night and docked at the Hainiao Port, a naval base in Xiaoliuqiu three days later. This base was built in the middle of the west side of Xiaoliuqiu Island, guarding the mouth of a large river.

If Hong Tao remembered correctly, this place should be not far from the later Taichung City, or it is. Of course, in the Ming Dynasty, there was not only no city here, but also no town. It was just a small fishing village for locals, and it was in a semi-abandoned state.

After the imperial court encouraged coastal residents to reclaim wasteland on Xiaoliuqiu Island and plant cinchona trees and crops such as sugarcane, corn, and rice, more and more people came from the southeastern coastal areas, and there were three main landing points.

One is located in the north, called Danshui Port, which is a village of local aboriginals, guarding the Danshui River, with a large plain nearby. Ming Dynasty immigrants from Fuzhou, Wenzhou and further north used to land here and go upstream along the Danshui River to find suitable farmland for reclamation.

One is located in the middle, called Wanggang, also known as Mosquito Harbor, named after the many mosquitoes. People from Quanzhou, Xiamen, Zhangzhou, and Guangdong usually choose this place to land, and also go upstream along the river to find farmland on both sides.

One is located in the south, called Takao Port. The name seems to have no meaning, it is just the pronunciation of the local aborigines. Immigrants from Shantou and Chaozhou like to gather here the most.

(End of this chapter)