Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 97 Longjiang Shipyard
"What you said today is considered treasonous. How dare you say it..."

Nanjing, inside Prince Yan's Mansion...

As Zhu Gaochi walked back and forth with cold sweat on his forehead and kept mumbling incomprehensible words, the surrounding guards also looked at each other and did not dare to speak.

In this situation, Zhu Gaosui just sat in his seat and ate fruit like a normal person.

Seeing his appearance, Zhu Gaochi was very angry and wanted to go up and teach Zhu Gaosui a lesson, but he thought of Zhu Gaosui's usual rebelliousness, so he could only pretend he didn't see it.

He was anxious as he walked back and forth, but he did not dare to go to the front guard square to meet him, for fear that Zhu Yuanzhang would associate Zhu Gaoxu's words today with Prince Yan's palace.

It's okay to have suspicions on him, but there are quite a few people in the court who want to get hold of his father, and he has to think about Prince Yan's house.

Thinking of this, Zhu Gaochi felt even more sorry for Zhu Gaoxu.

With such guilt and mental anxiety, Zhu Gaochi couldn't hold on for long and sat on the side, breathing heavily.

Upon seeing this, the guard stepped forward to fan him, but the wind could not dissipate Zhu Gaochi's anxiety.

Only then did he feel that his status as the heir apparent of the Yan Mansion was not very important. At least when it came to major matters related to national affairs, his imperial grandfather would not listen to him. And when he faced his imperial grandfather, he also He is just a "common man".

Zhu Gaochi was silent for a long time. It was not until a palace guard came anxiously from outside that he suddenly stood up.

The appearance of this guard made Zhu Gaosui, who was eating fruit, look at him involuntarily.

"Your Highness, the news has arrived..."

The guards bowed and reported, telling Zhu Gaochi everything that happened in the front guard square of the general's army.

The palace walking token is withdrawn, and it is prohibited to go to the two countries’ official residences to study...

It has to be said that the emperor's oral instructions are indeed heavy, but at least Zhu Gaoxu himself has not been punished with any grounding, which can be considered a blessing among misfortunes.

"Huh..." After hearing the result, Zhu Gaochi breathed a sigh of relief and sat slumped on the chair.

Zhu Gaosui, who was not far away, couldn't help but curled his lips when he heard the content of the punishment. He obviously looked down upon such punishment.

In his opinion, the punishment of not allowing his second brother to go to the government offices of the two countries and not allowing him to manage politics was indeed very severe, but these things were not that important to his second brother.

Even though the crown prince position of the Yan Mansion has not yet been determined, his second brother will always be a county prince at the lowest level in his life.

As long as he is not deprived of this identity, he can enjoy a lifetime of glory and wealth.

Of course, Zhu Gaosui is still young and does not understand the seriousness of these two penalties on Zhu Gaoji's personal future, but Zhu Gaochi is very clear.

Sitting on the chair, Zhu Gaochi knew clearly in his heart that his grandpa Huang was really reluctant to leave Zhu Gaoxu.

If my second son really made Grandpa Huang angry, I'm afraid he is either at Fengyang Gaoqiang or packing his bags and heading back to Peiping.

"My grandpa probably did this just for some people to see..."

Zhu Gaochi looked out the door with a little worry, looking at the dim sky, feeling very powerless.

But he didn't know that there were many people in Nanjing who didn't want Zhu Gaoxu to leave, and many of them had wanted him to leave.

"Fortunately, at least there are people left."

In Taichang Temple, when a familiar voice sounded, Huang Zicheng in a study room breathed a sigh of relief.

In this study room, Huang Zicheng was sitting, with many government affairs that needed to be handled by Taichang Temple in front of him, and the bookshelf behind him contained many classics from the early Han and Southern Dynasties.

Zhu Gaoxu may be familiar with the person in front of him, but he cannot see this scene at the moment.

"Leader Li..." Huang Zicheng pondered for a moment and then spoke to the eunuch of the East Palace in front of him, and he was the eunuch of the East Palace who led people to Zhu Gaoxu's residence to deliver the order.

Seeing Huang Zicheng read his name, Li led his team to bow in return. Huang Zicheng also took advantage of the situation and said:

"Now my grandson still needs the ability of Yan's second son, Zixu, to look at mountains and mines. Therefore, when you go back, please tell your grandson that you will have a good reputation in front of your majesty these days."

"In addition, Taisun can use the mouth of his direct descendant Chi to question the second descendant of Yan, Zixu, so that he can find out all the mines in the south of the Yangtze River."

"If we can master these mines, what Taisun wants to do will be much simpler."

Huang Zicheng got up and walked to Li Daiban in the middle of speaking, and said emphatically: "In today's world, there is a shortage of copper coins in both the north and the south. As Yan's second son Zixu has this ability, he must not be allowed to return to the north prematurely."

"At least he cannot be allowed to go back until the policy of 'paying taxes with banknotes' is implemented in Jiangnan, Beijing and three provinces."

Huang Zicheng's eyes were blazing, and Li Yiban bowed repeatedly when he heard the words, to show that he had listened and would speak for his grandson.

Seeing him like this, even Huang Zicheng, who regarded himself as noble, rarely bowed to the eunuch in return.

Li Daiban ducked sideways, and then left the Taichang Temple Yamen under Huang Zicheng's numerous instructions.

In just half an hour, he returned to Chunhe Palace in the Forbidden City with Huang Zicheng's intention, and brought all the words to Zhu Yunwen word by word.

It was already Haishi, and Zhu Yunwen also took off his regular clothes under the service of the palace attendants. After bathing, he waited for his hair to dry.

He sat on the Babu bed wearing a Chinese coat, and after listening to everything Li Daiban said, he squinted his eyes and explained to Li Daiban:
"When Mr. Huang goes on duty tomorrow, tell him on my behalf. Just say that I already know the matter and will do it truthfully, but..."

Zhu Yunwen pondered for a moment, then continued after thinking:

"The affairs of Su Song's Second Mansion must be advanced quickly. There is only one month left before the autumn tax is paid."

"My slave, I accept your order." Li led his team and bowed in response. Seeing this, Zhu Yunwen also pondered again.

After a while, he spoke again: "Send some people to deliver some things to Gao Xu tomorrow, as long as they are practical."

"Yes..." Leader Li agreed. Seeing that Zhu Yunwen had nothing to explain, he returned the gift and left the palace.

After he left, Zhu Yunwen looked at a lantern in the hall, his eyes flickering, and he didn't know what he was thinking of.

After a long time, many of the lights in the palace were blown out, leaving only a few to protect him.

"Clang...clang..."

The next day, when the morning bell rang, Zhu Gaoxu also groped his way up in a daze.

It seemed that he was freed from the burden of governance and study. He slept deeper and longer than ever before that day.

He slept for a full five hours, and after waking up from his daze, he felt much more energetic.

"It's easy to feel safe when you have nothing to do..."

After walking out of the house and washing his face with the warm water prepared before going to bed, Zhu Gaoxu said this very easily.

After wiping his face like a cat, he went to the backyard as usual and added beans, fodder, water, etc. to Chi Huan in the stable, and also cleaned the stable for it.

This was the same behavior as usual, but it seemed slow and unhurried when there was no interruption.

He was at ease and did not pay attention to Zhu Yuanzhang's punishment.

After so many days of studying, he learned nothing else. The only thing he learned was not to be so unreasonable, especially after what happened yesterday.

He was worried about the Battle of Jingnan and his future after the Battle of Jingnan, but these things were in the future and it was difficult for him to interfere now.

Only by being down-to-earth step by step can he gather a force and finally use it where it needs to be used.

If he was worried every day, he might not be able to survive his eldest nephew who had not yet appeared and would die in Nanjing.

"drive!"

After packing everything, Zhu Gaoxu put a saddle on Chi Huan and rode it out of the alley of Fujun Qianweifang.

At the entrance of the alley, he told the familiar restaurant that he would not be eating at home at noon, and asked them not to prepare meals, so as not to make the trip in vain.

The young waiter smiled and bowed in agreement, his eyes filled with envy at the red glow under Zhu Gaoxu's crotch.

Zhu Gaoxu didn't stay too long and rode towards the outer city. During this period, he could feel that someone was following him not far away.

Needless to say, these people are probably the Jin Yiwei who have switched from the bright side to the secret side.

However, facing their surveillance, Zhu Gaoxu was not worried. Instead, he followed his plan last night and rode towards the Jubao Gate in the southwest.

"Boss, why are the Second Highnesses going southwest? Shouldn't they be going to the cathedral?"

"Follow it!"

Just as Zhu Gaoxu thought, he was indeed followed by Jin Yiwei, and there were quite a few of them.

Seeing Zhu Gaoxu rushing towards Jubao Gate, they were all very confused.

During their half-year surveillance, they knew very well who Zhu Gaoxu knew and which places he was familiar with.

Because of this, they were curious about what Zhu Gaoxu was doing at Jubao Gate. After all, if he wanted to go to the Grand Teaching Ground to find Yang Zhan and Wang Xuan, he only needed to go to the nearest Zhengyang Gate.

With doubts, they followed Zhu Gaoxu from a distance. They didn't know where Zhu Gaoxu was going until they passed the gate inspection of Zhengyang Gate and left the outer city.

"Your Highness is going to the Longjiang Shipyard, please follow him!"

The little flag officer of the Jin Yiwei who was hundreds of steps away said something, and he and the Jin Yiwei under his command also slowed down one after another.

In the early Ming Dynasty, most of the outer city of Nanjing was farmland and villages, with a very broad view.

If you use the inner city surveillance method in the outer city, it will naturally be full of loopholes, so you can't follow it too closely.

Regarding their tracking and monitoring, although Zhu Gaoxu could not determine the direction, he also knew that someone was following him, but he did not care.

After rushing for two quarters of an hour, Zhu Gaoxu saw the yellow-brown rammed earth outer city and the bustling Jiangdong Gate.

The outer city of Nanjing has a circumference of more than [-] miles, with [-] outer city gates and three water gates.

Such a vast city only houses more than [-] people. Except for the inner city, it is not an exaggeration to say that the other places are vast but sparsely populated.

Such a vast land and sparsely populated area provide the people of Nanjing with basic material needs that can be met without leaving the city. Therefore, many Nanjing people have never left the outer city in their lives.

People who often come in and out of the outer city are either fishermen or merchants and official officials, so the number of people entering and leaving each city gate every day is very small.However, under such a phenomenon, the five city gates seemed extremely lively, with an endless stream of people coming in and out every day.

These five city gates are located in the west of Nanjing, close to the south bank of the Yangtze River.

If we talk from north to south, they are Foning Gate, Loujiang Gate, Yifeng Gate, Dinghuai Gate and Jiangdong Gate.

Among them, the first four gates are prosperous because of daily trade such as firewood, rice, oil, salt, sauce, vinegar, tea, etc. Only the last Jiangdong gate is famous for shipbuilding and ship ordering on both sides of the Taiwan Strait.

Zhu Gaoxu came to Jiangdongmen for the Longjiang Shipyard outside the city.

"May I ask where you came from and where you are going?"

The soldiers guarding the Jiangdong Gate bowed respectfully to Zhu Gaoxu, who was riding a horse. Seeing this, Zhu Gaoxu glanced at the busy Jiangdong Gate, lowered his head and said, "Zixu, the second descendant of Yan, wants to go out of the city to visit the Longjiang Shipyard."

"This..." Upon hearing Zhu Gaoxu's identity, the official guarding Jiangdong Gate immediately hesitated. After all, Zhu Gaoxu's identity was special.

"If you are worried, you can send someone to go with me."

Zhu Gaoxu was aware of his identity, and the officials from hundreds of households breathed a sigh of relief when they saw this, and bowed with peace of mind: "Thank you for your understanding, Your Highness."

After the bow, Baihuguan arranged for two soldiers in their early twenties to follow Zhu Gaoxu to the Longjiang Shipyard.

Due to the scarcity of war horses, the two soldiers could only follow Zhu Gaoxu on foot. Upon seeing this, Zhu Gaoxu dismounted and smiled at the two men: "It's only four miles from here to the Longjiang Shipyard. You and I can just walk there." "

"Yes..." The two soldiers were stunned by Zhu Gaoxu's remarks, and then followed him on foot to the Longjiang Shipyard in the distance.

Looking at their backs, the hundreds of officials guarding Jiangdong Gate couldn't help but sigh: "The Second Highness of the Yan Mansion is really..."

"Shut up!"

Before Bai Huguan finished speaking, he was interrupted by the sound of horse hooves and reining in horses.

He looked back and saw six men on horseback reining in their horses at Jiangdong Gate and showing a sign to the soldiers who stopped them.

Baihuguan didn't dare to delay and trotted forward to take the sign.

After discovering that it was the Qianhu sign from the Fifth Army Governor's Mansion, he returned the sign with both hands and bowed in salute: "Generals, please..."

Without saying much, the six men rode out of Jiangdong Gate and chased in the direction Zhu Gaoxu left.

A moment later, they were startled when they saw Zhu Gaoxu dismounting and walking with two soldiers, and they quickly reined in their horses.

"Boss, why did His Highness get off his horse and go on foot?"

One of the Jinyi guards turned around in surprise, and the leading man frowned upon seeing this, looking like he had a headache.

After a moment, he raised his hand and said, "Wait here for them to go far away before catching up with them. Anyone who needs to feed and drink the horses should hold on tight."

"Yes!"

After hearing this, everyone stood up and dismounted, while the flag officer sat on the horse, watching Zhu Gaoxu's actions, and it was difficult to understand for a while.

Compared to their surprise, Zhu Gaoxu was chatting with the two soldiers like an ordinary citizen at this moment.

At the end of the road in front of them, there were rows of houses. They looked small, but judging from the distance, they were all very tall.

Behind this row of houses is the Yangtze River, and it was this row of houses that Zhu Gaoxu chatted with them about.

"Is this Longjiang Shipyard?"

"Back to Your Highness, yes."

Zhu Gaoxu's tone was relaxed, but the soldiers who responded to him were very stiff, fearing that they might offend Zhu Gaoxu at some point and get a severe beating.

"This road is so luxuriously built. There are many people who want to come and go to do business, but I don't know why there are so few pedestrians on the road?"

Zhu Gaoxu looked around. They were walking on a three-foot-wide road paved with bluestones, leading directly to the Longjiang Shipyard in front.

On the left and right sides of the road are planned rice fields. The rice in the fields has reached the peak of green and yellow, and it can be harvested in more than half a month at most.

Such a scenery must be beautiful when I think about it.

It's a pity that not many people appreciate this scenery. Even on the bluestone road leading to Longjiang Shipyard, only seven or eight motorcades can be seen, which seems much deserted compared to the city gate.

Seeing his curiosity, a soldier also responded: "Longjiang Shipyard has recently taken over the shipbuilding work of the Governor's Palace of the Fifth Army. It is busy building ships for the Governor's Palace every day. Naturally, there is no spare time to build ships for the merchants."

"This news has spread for a long time. Businessmen who need ships have also rushed to Songjiang, Hangzhou, Ningbo, and Yangzhou. Naturally, fewer people are coming to and from Longjiang Shipyard."

"That's right..." Zhu Gaoxu smiled awkwardly. He didn't expect that he was the culprit for the decrease in employees at Longjiang Shipyard.

However, this situation also made him curious about the internal situation of Longjiang Shipyard.

From the words of the two soldiers, it can be heard that the shipbuilding technology of Longjiang Shipyard is obviously the best in the world. Many merchants will go elsewhere only if they cannot order ships here.

It can be said that Longjiang Shipyard represents the best shipbuilding technology in the Ming Dynasty and even the world in this era.

Thinking of this, Zhu Gaoxu couldn't help but speed up his pace, but the two infantrymen were wearing armor and could only follow him hard.

Zhu Gaoxu thought they were walking slowly, so he looked at their stature, estimated their weight and said:
"You two choose one of you to mount the horse, and the other to hold the horse, alternate."

"This is impossible!" After hearing Zhu Gaoxu's words, the two of them shook their heads like rattles. They did not dare to ride the prince's horse.

"You talk so much." Zhu Gaoxu joked with a smile, then loosened Chi Huan's reins and let him stand there while he walked quickly forward.

His actions stunned the two soldiers, who could only quickly pick up the reins and pull Chi Huan to trot after him.

It's just that it's easy to follow for a while, but it won't work if you follow too far.

In desperation, the two of them could only follow what Zhu Gaoxu said and transfer to Chi Huan to rest.

After walking like this for a quarter of an hour, the three of them finally arrived at the gate of Longjiang Shipyard, but the two soldiers were still panting. After all, the armor on their bodies was too heavy.

"You guys have good physical strength." Zhu Gaoxu stood at the door of Longjiang Shipyard, looked back at them, and joked: "What's your name?"

"The villain Li Zhong (Zhang Guang)..." Li Zhong and Zhang Guang bowed in response. Zhu Gaoxu nodded after receiving his name:
"Just find a place to rest at the door. Remember to keep an eye on my horse. I'll go in and take a look."

After that, he didn't give the two of them a chance to refute, and walked into the Longjiang Shipyard.

The two could only watch Zhu Gaoxu pass through the checkpoint of the Longjiang Shipyard soldiers, and then found a cool pavilion to rest.

Not to mention the two of them, Zhu Gaoxu gained some knowledge after entering Longjiang Shipyard.

Longjiang Shipyard was a large government-run shipyard in the early Ming Dynasty. Later generations often said that it was founded during the Yongle period, but in fact it had been in existence since the Zhizheng period and had been building ships for Zhu Yuanzhang.

However, because there was not much demand for ships during the Hongwu period, its reputation was not well known. It was not until the Yongle period that various ships were built specifically for Zheng He's voyages to the West.

Among them, the largest ship it built is the "Treasure Ship" which is famous both at home and abroad.

In order to build treasure ships, Longjiang Shipyard specially opened a new shipyard. Because it produced treasure ships, it was called Bao Shipyard.

Although the Bao Shipyard was abandoned eight years after Xuande, the Longjiang Shipyard continued to exist. Until the Wanli Aid Period, it worked with the Denglai Shipyard to build many warships for the Ming army.

Walking in the Longjiang Shipyard, Zhu Gaoxu could see more than a dozen long warehouses three to four feet high. In the rammed-earth shipyard square, there were many civilian craftsmen carrying wood. At a glance, there were probably no less than a thousand people.

These long warehouses are about a hundred feet long and twenty feet wide. When Zhu Gaoxu passed by the warehouse and looked inside, he could see the hollowed-out warehouse. In the large hollowed-out pit, there were currently A warship under construction.

Zhu Gaoxu stood at the door to check curiously, and the busy boatmen inside the dock also looked at him curiously.

Since he was wearing ordinary clothes made of silk, no one dared to chase him away. He was just busy building ships.

Zhu Gaoxu just glanced casually and saw hundreds of people in the dock.

Seeing this, he walked into the dock and took a look at the ships being built.

The ships built in this dockyard are typical single-keel sharp-bottomed ships, also known as fuchuan.

Fu Chuan can carry out offshore operations. The entire warship is as tall as a building, with a wide bottom tip, high bow and stern, and guard plates on both sides. It looks very strong.

Zhu Gaoxu looked down from the top and saw that the whole ship was divided into four floors, with a huge space and not as crowded as the Western ships of the [-]th century.

"Your Highness Qianfu!"

Zhu Gaoxu was still looking at the lucky ship, but when he heard someone shouting "Your Highness" from behind, he subconsciously turned his head to look.

At the gate of the dock, an official in his thirties wearing a seventh-grade men's uniform was walking quickly. When he saw Zhu Gaoxu turning around, he bowed again and sang: "Your Highness is a thousand blessings."

"You came at a good time." Seeing that he was wearing patchwork clothes, Zhu Gaoxu didn't ask what official he was in the shipyard. He just pointed at the Fu Ship under construction and asked: "Tell me about this ship."

"I accept your order." The panting official had no time to rest, so he stood up and introduced Zhu Gaoxu:

"This is a great fortune ship ordered by the Governor's Office of the Fifth Army. Its length is twelve feet five feet, its width is two feet four feet four, and it enters the water one foot seven. It has six masts and nine sails and uses [-] materials."

"If this ship is successfully launched, it will be equipped with twelve bronze cannons, eight hundred crossbows, twelve gunpowder crossbows, six hundred rockets and two hundred short-range soldiers."

"There are 74 people on board, including 12 sailors and 62 sailors."

After the officials explained, Zhu Gaoxu only heard the ship's data and equipment.

Needless to say, Zhu Gaoxu was relatively satisfied with the equipment. However, he only got the answer after a little conversion of the ship data.

"40 meters long, 620 meters wide, [-] meters draft, less than [-] tonnage..."

Zhu Gaoxu made a simple calculation and roughly understood the current shipbuilding technology of Longjiang Shipyard. Therefore, he interrupted the official's introduction and asked instead: "Is this the largest warship ordered by the Dudu Mansion?"

"Of course not." The official reacted quickly, and responded to Zhu Gaoxu with a smile after being interrupted: "The largest shipbuilder among the shipyards today is Haicang in the Ninth Dockyard. The shipyard is [-] feet long and uses [-] materials."

The official said this very proudly, but Zhu Gaoxu couldn't help but feel a little disappointed after just doing some calculations.

The so-called warship with a material cost of two thousand and two thousand tons has a tonnage of only more than 700, which is far from the treasure ships that often weigh several thousand tons in Zhu Gaoxu's impression.

Zhu Gaoxu didn't know that he had been deceived by later Internet marketing. He just thought that the Ming Dynasty had not built such a ship yet, so he could only look at the official and ask:
"Can this big ship be built with more than ten thousand materials?"

　There is no holiday during the National Day, and there will still be two regular updates at [-] a.m. every day.
　　
　
(End of this chapter)