Daming: My boss Zhu Yuanzhang

With the cooperation of Lai Fu, Shen Jing and others, batches of ore, timber and other resources were continuously sent to the capital, first processed in the Military Equipment Bureau, made into various steel bars and wooden boards needed for shipbuilding, and then sent to the shipyard for construction.

In addition to producing the materials needed for shipbuilding, Tao Sheng and others certainly did not forget their most important business. They were producing firearms and ammunition with all their strength and stockpiled as much as possible.

In addition, they are also studying the new things that Li Wei gave them, and the progress is encouraging.

Since the chance encounter with Abu that day, Li Wei has added another job in addition to his daily inspections of the progress of the shipyard and the Arsenal, which is to "care" about Zhu Yuanzhang's health.

On the imperial platform outside the Qianqing Palace, Zhu Yuanzhang had his dragon throne moved out and placed in a sunny place to bask in the sun. He also changed his dragon robe into a comfortable cotton-padded coat, looking like an ordinary old man.

Zhu Yunwen stood obediently aside, holding a thick book in his hand with the words "Imperial Ming Ancestor's Instructions" written in large letters.

"I have observed that since ancient times, the establishment of the legal system in a country was always under the first ruler. At that time, the law was already established and people followed it, so grace and power were bestowed on the country, and the people lived in peace and prosperity. At the beginning of their establishment, they experienced many hardships, met many people, and were familiar with the affairs..."

Zhu Yunwen read aloud, and Zhu Yuanzhang squinted his eyes and listened quietly while lying on the dragon chair.

As he was reading, Zhu Yunwen's voice suddenly paused, and he began to stutter: "The people... the people have experienced... the chaos of the world, and they want to prepare for war... and after the famine, they must learn to be cunning..."

Zhu Yuanzhang, who was enjoying the sun, frowned unhappily. He opened his eyes and was about to scold him, but he saw Li Wei walking towards him from a distance. He immediately understood why Zhu Yunwen was like that.

"Humph!"

He snorted first, then said to Zhu Yunwen: "Alright, alright, stop reading!"

"Yes."

Upon hearing this, Zhu Yunwen closed the book, lowered his head and did not dare to look at Li Wei, but could not help but steal a glance at him.

Li Wei came up to Zhu Yuanzhang and said with a smile, "Old man, are you basking in the sun?"

Upon hearing this, Zhu Yuanzhang glared at him unhappily.

During this period, Li Wei's way of addressing him changed from time to time. Today it was Your Majesty, tomorrow it was Old Zhu, and later it became Old Man, Old Man, and so on.

In the past, he would have had someone drag the bastard out and give him a good beating for such a disrespectful title, but now he couldn't do that anymore and couldn't beat him.

"What are you doing here again?" Zhu Yuanzhang asked with a sullen face.

"I am concerned about your majesty's health, so I came here specially to visit you." Li Wei said.

"Hmph, I eat well and sleep well, and I'm in good health. There's no need for you to worry about me!" Zhu Yuanzhang snorted coldly.

"Being good now doesn't mean it will always be good. If your Majesty passes away suddenly one day, I have to make preparations early, right?" Li Wei said carelessly.

Zhu Yunwen, who was standing next to him, couldn't help but shudder when he heard his outrageous words.

Zhu Yuanzhang was not angry at his offensive words, but just frowned and asked: "You have nothing to do, right? Have you finished building your boat?"

"It will be done soon. With Lu Hong and the others here, I don't have to worry about it. There's no rush anyway." Li Wei said casually.

"Hmph," Zhu Yuanzhang rolled his eyes at him, thought for a moment and said, "That's perfect. You're free anyway, why don't you help me take a look at this book I wrote called 'Imperial Ming Ancestor Instructions'? I plan to have future rulers of the Ming dynasty follow this to govern their country, and it will surely ensure the eternal stability of the Ming dynasty!"

As he said this, he waved to Zhu Yunwen, took the "Imperial Ming Ancestor Instructions" from his hand, and handed it to Li Wei.

Li Wei glanced at the book "Imperial Ming Ancestor Instructions" and did not reach out to take it. Instead, he said disdainfully: "Don't read it. It's definitely useless."

Zhu Yuanzhang's face darkened instantly when he heard this, and he angrily said, "How do you know it's useless when you haven't even seen it yet?"

Li Wei curled his lips and said, "Times have changed, don't you understand? The world is changing, but your crappy book is unchanging. It would be strange if you could use unchanging laws to govern a world that is constantly changing!"

Zhu Yuanzhang's expression froze, and he looked at him in surprise: "I didn't expect you to have made progress!"

"cut!"

Li Wei rolled his eyes and turned away.

Zhu Yuanzhang smiled, took the book back, and muttered to himself: "Your words have reminded me. It seems that we need to revise our ancestral precepts."

"Don't change it, it's useless." Li Wei said impatiently, "Think about those books of sages, which one is not a classic, but what's the use? In the end, they all become reference books for hypocrites. No matter how well you write this ancestral precepts, it can't stop your descendants from being lame."

As he spoke, Li Wei glanced at Zhu Yunwen. Zhu Yunwen bit his lip, feeling dissatisfied but not daring to refute.

Zhu Yuanzhang was also somewhat displeased after hearing this: "Our descendants will not be so incompetent. As long as they have the guidance of this set of ancestral precepts formulated by us, they will be able to govern the Ming Dynasty well!"

Hearing his words, Li Wei couldn't help but chuckle and said with a smile: "Then you are wrong. Your descendants are all weird. There is a Cricket Emperor who loves to fight crickets, a Carpenter Emperor who loves to do carpentry, a Taoist Emperor who loves to cultivate immortality, and even one who hasn't attended court for 20 or 30 years. He is even lazier than me!"

"Cough cough cough..."

After Zhu Yuanzhang heard what he said, he couldn't catch his breath and kept coughing. It took him a long time to catch his breath. He said angrily: "Nonsense! Our descendants can't be such bastards!"

"Believe it or not." Li Wei said nonchalantly.

Zhu Yuanzhang stared at him with a sullen face. After a moment's silence, he suddenly said to Zhu Yunwen, "Yunwen, go get us some writing brush and ink!"

"Yes!"

Seeing that he looked unhappy, Zhu Yunwen did not dare to ask more questions. He just responded and hurried into the hall to get pen and ink.

After a while, Zhu Yunwen took out the pen and ink and handed it to Zhu Yuanzhang. Zhu Yuanzhang immediately turned to the end of the "Huang Ming Zu Xun" and wrote while muttering:
"No playing with crickets! No practicing Taoism! No carpentry..."

Zhu Yuanzhang wrote quickly and added a long list of items at the end, banning all the strange behaviors of the emperors of the Ming Dynasty mentioned by Li Wei one by one. Only after he finished writing did he feel a little relieved.

However, after reading the words above, he gradually frowned and asked softly: "Is our ancestral precepts really useless?"

Li Wei glanced at him and said nothing.

Zhu Yunwen saw the opportunity and said, "Grandpa Emperor's teachings will definitely be remembered by me, and I will govern the world according to your teachings!"

Zhu Yuanzhang and Li Wei turned to look at him and shook their heads secretly.

They all knew that even if Zhu Yunwen successfully ascended the throne, he would not be able to keep the country. Zhu Yuanzhang chose him only as a stopgap measure to balance the kings. With his ability, he would definitely not be able to suppress the kings.

Now Zhu Gang and Zhu Di are restraining each other, so there will be no problem for the time being. But if it is true as Li Wei said, Zhu Gang also died young, Zhu Di would inevitably rise up against the throne without restraint. By then, with Zhu Yunwen's ability, he would definitely not be Zhu Di's opponent.

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded indifferently and did not explain these to him. Instead, he continued to talk to Li Wei about the system of governing the country.

After all, Li Wei has been in government for many years, and he traveled through time from the era of Internet information explosion in the future. He might not be able to do it if he really took action, but Jian Zheng, who was in charge of the country, spoke very logically and gave him a lot of inspiration.

The two chatted for a long time. At the end, Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't help but sighed: "In fact, after governing the country for many years, I have seen that no matter how good the system is, it cannot stop the evil of human nature. No matter how well our ancestral precepts are written, they will not be able to control the rulers and ministers of future generations in dozens or hundreds of years." Li Wei nodded in agreement: "Yes, there are no broken systems, only broken people."

If people are bad, loopholes will be found in even the best system. If people are good, even if the system is not good, it will gradually be corrected.

The two men expressed their feelings for a while, and then fell silent. Zhu Yuanzhang felt helpless about the incompetence of his descendants, while Li Wei was also worried about the system after going to sea.

The sun was setting in the west, and the red sunlight dyed the roof of the palace into a red gold color, which was magnificent. Li Wei looked at this beautiful scene and suddenly chuckled. He said to Zhu Yuanzhang: "Your Majesty, the sun is about to set. Why don't you order it to stop!"

Zhu Yuanzhang glanced at him and said, "Humph, do you think I'm old and confused?"

Li Wei raised his eyebrows slightly when he heard this, took a deep breath, and felt a little disappointed.

If he was like Zhu Yuanzhang on TV, who died after shouting at the sun to set, he wouldn't have to worry about it anymore.

"Okay, I'll go first, you can take your time to bask in the sun."

Li Wei said this casually, then turned around, walked down the imperial platform, and left the Qianqing Palace.

While building ships and making weapons, Li Wei began to adjust the generals under his command. Important positions were gradually taken over by students such as Lu Hong, Xie Feihu, and Zhang Tie, while veterans such as Chen Su and Jiang Long were gradually marginalized.

These are necessary preparations just in case.

In addition to making these preparations, he still "cared" about Zhu Yuanzhang every day, but for the time being, he did not see any signs that Zhu Yuanzhang was about to die.

Time flies, years pass.

As the days passed, ships of various types were completed and put into water for sea trials one after another, and the day of departure was getting closer and closer.

Chen Su and others had already noticed something was wrong and had asked Li Wei several times about his next plan. At first, Li Wei tried to fool them with excuses, but later he told them directly that most of the military power had been transferred to students who were more loyal to him anyway.

These students have received his education since childhood. Unlike veterans like Chen Su and Jiang Long, they do not care about overseas affairs. Instead, they are full of yearning for them.

Which ambitious young man does not yearn for the vast world outside?

Although Chen Su and others strongly opposed his decision to go to sea, they were unable to stop him. They could only watch Lu Hong and others build the ship and prepare the supplies day by day.

In the spring of the 28th year of Hongwu, the festive atmosphere of the New Year still lingered in the capital, and a huge fleet was about to set sail on the Yangtze River outside the city.

Li Wei stood on a high hill not far from Longjiang Wharf, watching his men loading batches of supplies onto the ship. He felt both excited about being freed from the cage and filled with unresolved worries.

"Teacher, the supplies have been loaded onto the ship, and people will be able to board later." Lu Hong came to his side and bowed to report.

Li Wei nodded and asked, "How many people can be transported this time?"

"About 50,000 people." Lu Hong frowned slightly.

The ships he built were all ocean-going steamships, and they were huge enough to carry 50,000 people at a time.

There were tens of thousands of soldiers under Li Wei, plus their families, and the people of Yangzhou who were willing to follow him, totaling about 300,000 people. They had to be divided into six batches to complete the migration.

The destination Li Wei chose for them was America, because it was vast, sparsely populated, and rich in all kinds of resources. In later generations, it was called the Chosen Land, and it did have advantages that other places could not match.

Moreover, in order to obtain important industrial raw materials such as rubber, he had always sent people to America. Even during the period when he was imprisoned, Zhu Yuanzhang did not prohibit these fleets from going out to sea. Many of his men were very familiar with America, so it was most appropriate to go there.

However, the journey to America was long, and even with their newly built, more advanced steamships, a round trip would take about half a year. If combined with six trips, it would take almost three years to complete the migration.

"Sir, how about we build more ships?" Lu Hong asked tentatively.

He felt that three years was still too long, and if more ships could be built, the time could be shortened.

But Li Wei shook his head gently: "Don't worry, take your time. Let's go first with a group of people to explore the way. At the same time, we can also gain a foothold and build some necessary facilities. It will be much more convenient for those who move there later."

After hearing this, Lu Hong thought about it and agreed, so he nodded.

After Li Wei finished speaking, he turned around and looked at the fleet that was ready to set off again, and an inexplicable feeling of annoyance arose in his heart.

"It seems that we need to prepare for some things."

Li Wei muttered to himself in his heart.

Then he told Lu Hong to stay and continue to supervise the boarding, and he turned around and left for the Ordnance Bureau.

In the Arms Bureau, Tao Sheng was also busy directing his men to deliver arms to the Longjiang Wharf. Although there were only a few indigenous people in America now and no serious enemies, necessary force was still needed.

There are 5,000 fully armed troops escorting the ship this time, so the weapons must be fully prepared regardless of whether they can be used or not.

While Tao Sheng was busy, Li Wei came over with Xie Feihu. He quickly handed over the matter at hand to the steward beside him, walked up to him quickly, and bowed: "Teacher."

"Yes." Li Wei nodded slightly and asked, "Did you find the ore I asked you to find?"

Tao Sheng nodded and said, "I found some."

"Take me to see it."

"it is good."

Tao Sheng responded and took Li Wei to the warehouse of the chemical workshop.

Arriving at the warehouse, he led Li Wei to a corner and pointed to a small pile of gray-brown ore a few steps away and said to Li Wei: "It's all here. This kind of ore is very hard to find. The Chamber of Commerce has been searching for several years to find this little."

Li Wei nodded gently: "It's okay, it's enough."

After a pause, he continued, "Well, I'll have someone send you a jade ruyi later. Find someone to make an identical one and extract some of the columnar crystals from the ores and mix them in."

"Ok."

Tao Sheng didn't think much about it and nodded in agreement.

"Remember, you must be careful and try not to touch these things directly. You can make some protective clothing and gloves with metals such as lead and silver and have the workers wear them before working."

Li Wei warned solemnly.

Although this thing is just a natural ore with low toxicity, it is still better to take some precautions just in case.

Although Tao Sheng didn't know the reason, he nodded carefully when he saw his serious attitude. (End of this chapter)