King Luhuang of the Ming Dynasty: My father, Ming Taizu

The next day, Zhu Tan had someone send the ideas and detailed drawings of the battleship reconstruction to the Supervision Office.

He himself entered the city and strolled around leisurely, but sent Ma He to the Supervision Office.

On the surface, Ma He is Zhu Tan's personal bodyguard, and seems to be in charge of supervising the work of the Inspection Office.

In fact, Zhu Tan wanted Ma He to broaden his horizons and learn more.

Of course, with Ma He there, he can naturally play a supervisory role. The supervision department will surely perform its duties conscientiously and speed up the progress.

Zhu Tan booked a hotel in the city, not in the name of a royal family, but in the name of a merchant.

Six days after arriving in Liaoning Dusi, Tang He arrived, and his arrival was quite sudden.

When the old Duke came in from outside, exhausted, Zhu Tan was drinking and eating meat, and was surprised to see Tang He.

"Father-in-law, why are you here?"

Zhu Tan stood up and helped Tang He sit down. Looking at Tang He's expression, he knew something had happened.

"There is an emergency military situation."

Tang He first took off his leather armor, then took out a letter from his arms and handed it to Zhu Tan, saying, "Read it for yourself."

After saying that, Tang He started drinking and eating meat with relish.

It can be seen that the old Duke galloped all the way and had hardly any rest.

Zhu Tan did not dare to delay and opened the envelope directly. There were several reports inside.

After reading the content of the report, Zhu Tan couldn't help but frown and his heart skipped a beat.

The content involves the coastal areas of Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian and Zhejiang. Recently, the Japanese pirates have become more and more rampant and have fought several battles with the coastal defense forces.

In the past, these Japanese pirates who were looking for profit would immediately flee once they saw the regular army of the Ming Dynasty, but now, they seemed to be attacking in an organized manner.

During one incident, they even attacked the Haiwei Border Camp in Quanzhou, Fujian. They were truly daring.

After looking carefully, Zhu Tan finally understood why Tang He came to see him in such a hurry.

According to the confessions of the captured prisoners, they had their own accomplices within the Ming Dynasty.

These internal supporters almost covered all the coastal provinces, including traveling horse caravans, local merchants, and gentry with long histories.

"After all the intelligence was handed over, I carefully analyzed it and found that almost all the clues pointed to Fujian."

Tang He took a gulp of wine, took a long breath, and said in a deep voice: "Quanzhou, Fujian, the Pu family, a local gentry."

"Park family?"

The news was a bit vague and Zhu Tan didn't react for a while.

"The local residents of Quanzhou have been rich for four generations and have been engaged in business all the time. Even during the Yuan Dynasty, they were well-known local gentry."

Tang He took another bite of meat, looked at Zhu Tan and said, "The Japanese pirates have been rampant recently, and they seem to be organized and fighting against the coastal defense army. It should be related to the Park family."

Zhu Tan frowned upon hearing this, put the report on the table, looked at Tang He and asked, "A country gentleman has such great power?"

"I'm afraid it's just a shield in front."

"It's possible." Tang He said, "But the specific details have not been verified. After I received the news, I immediately came to see Your Highness."

"Your Highness is going to send troops to wipe out the Japanese pirates, which will definitely affect the interests of the people behind, so this matter..."

Tang He didn't finish his words, but his meaning was already very clear.

No matter how capable a local gentry is, it is impossible for him to control all the Japanese pirates.

But now it seems that the Japanese pirates that appeared along the coast are organized. There must be a big shot behind the scenes fanning the flames, and he must be someone in the court.

Who is the one……

Zhu Tan frowned and thought for a while. This showed that the old man probably knew long ago that the Jinyiwei of the Ming Dynasty were not just for show.

But he didn't hear any news about such blatant collusion with foreign enemies, and it seemed wrong no matter how he thought about it.

"I'm afraid that officials in Fujian, even the military marquises there, as well as bureaucrats and gentry in the coastal provinces, were involved to some extent."

Seeing that Zhu Tan was silent, Tang He continued to analyze, "Your Highness, this matter can be big or small, but overall, it is not as simple as simply eliminating the Japanese pirates."

Based on the memories of my previous life, at this point in time, it seems that there has not been a large-scale gathering of Japanese pirates to confront the regular army of the Ming Dynasty.

But this kind of thing happened now, why?
Is it also caused by the flapping of his wings by this butterfly from another world?
Or did the Japanese pirate issue already develop to this point in previous lives, but it is not recorded in history books?

Zhu Tan felt that something was not right, so he looked at Tang He and asked, "What do you think?"

Hearing this, Tang He lowered his voice and said, "I wonder if your majesty is deliberately fanning the flames."

"If we investigate this matter in detail, I'm afraid it is related to certain people in the court. Your Majesty is doing this in order to borrow your help..."

"I don't think so."

Zhu Tan shook his head: "Who is my father? If he knew about this, he would be extremely ruthless and would directly wipe out the foundation of these people with thundering means. He would definitely not be so hesitant."

"There must be someone else behind this incident."

Tang He thought about it and didn't say anything.

In fact, he was just guessing about this matter and had no real evidence. According to normal thinking, the most likely possibility was that the person above gave the order.

But Tang He also knew Zhu Yuanzhang very well and knew the temper of his superior. If he really knew about this, as Zhu Tan said, it would be absolutely impossible for him to endure it.

"Let's not worry about who is behind this for now."

Zhu Tan pointed at the report on the table and said softly, "As long as we take down the Pu family, we will know the answer after questioning them."

"Your Highness, you should plan carefully before doing this."

Tang He said, "The Pu family is just the ones exposed to the outside world. Behind the scenes, they are related to the bureaucrats of our Ming Dynasty. As His Highness, you..."

No matter how favored Zhu Tan was or how high his reputation was, he was only a prince, not a crown prince, and had no right to touch upon the political affairs of the Ming Dynasty.

In other words, even if Zhu Tan investigates the matter thoroughly, the final decision will still be made by the old man, and he cannot act arbitrarily.

Thinking of this, Zhu Tan roughly understood what this trap was, and then smiled.

"It's okay. This time, I'm not the only one who will lead the army to wipe out the Japanese pirates. There are others behind me."

Tang He was startled when he heard this, and subconsciously asked, "Who?"

"My dear fourth brother, King Yan."

……

Tang He only stayed with Zhu Tan for one night and hurried back to Shandong Dusi the next day.

According to Zhu Tan's plan, the troops of Shandong Dusi had already begun to mobilize, gathering towards Haijin Prefecture (now Haijin), and boarding ships at the local port of Haijin Prefecture, heading south to wipe out the Japanese pirates.

However, before Tang He left, Zhu Tan deliberately told him not to mobilize troops too quickly.

After Tang He left, Zhu Tan stayed in the city for a few more days until Ma He came back to report that the warships he wanted had been prepared.

Therefore, eleven days after Zhu Tan arrived at the Liaoning Dusi Shipyard, he finally saw the ironclad battleship he had imagined.

At this moment, he was standing on the warship, looking at the cannons fixed on the deck, the wide deck and the heavy armor, and his heart was filled with excitement.

According to his design, the shipyard craftsmen arranged the cannons in three layers, two rows of twenty-eight guns in total, plus the cannons at the bow and stern, for a total of thirty-six guns.

If such a ship were to go out at full firepower, it could raze a small city to the ground in an instant. This kind of firepower was at the pinnacle of the era.

When Zhu Tan was inspecting the warships again, Yang Zheng, the head of the Supervision Department, followed behind him and carefully introduced various details of the warships.

Although there are still some flaws, being able to transform it into this state in a short period of time has exceeded Zhu Tan's expectations.

"You did very well."

Zhu Tan smiled widely, looked at Yang Zheng and said, "I will take away the fifteen modified warships and the sailors today."

"You are ordered to build the remaining fifteen ships within three months."

As he spoke, he stretched out his palm, patted the railing of the battleship's surveillance, and said, "The quality cannot be lower than this one."

Hearing this, Yang Zheng hurriedly bowed and said yes, not daring to be negligent in the slightest.

For the construction of warships, not only did the imperial court allocate the corresponding money and materials, but Zhu Tan himself also invested heavily. The purpose was to build the Ming navy and roam the blue ocean.

On this point, Zhu Tan and the old man have a tacit understanding and have never argued about it.

At noon, the sky was blue and cloudless.

Zhu Tan stood at the front of the deck and gave the order to set sail.

Five ironclad warships slowly sailed out of the dock and headed towards the boundless blue sea.

The previous war against Goryeo was just a small-scale battle. At that time, ironclad ships had not yet been formed and their combat power was limited, but they were still able to easily blast open Goryeo's gates.

But now, the combat effectiveness of the ironclad ships is no longer what it used to be. When the enemy sees its power, as long as they have a little bit of brains, they have only two options: surrender or escape.

In the face of absolute force, any conspiracy or trickery is useless.

On the main ironclad ship, Zhu Tan sat on the deck, facing the fresh sea breeze, feeling extremely good.

As for who was setting him up with the Japanese pirates, he didn't care at all. As long as he could successfully wipe out the Japanese pirates and not reach out too far, no one could do anything to him.

At this time, Ma He was standing behind Zhu Tan, looking into the distance, looking at the endless blue sea, and his heart was filled with joy.

In the past few days, he witnessed the production process of ironclad ships, saw the cannons being moved onto the warships one by one, and also saw the warships firing at full power, blasting the distant ocean into a boiling state.

He had never even dreamed of such a steel behemoth.

But now, he was standing on the shoulders of this giant beast and joining the army on an expedition.

He had never thought that he would be in such a situation, and at this moment his blood was boiling and he was very excited.

But deep in his heart, there was still a trace of doubt.

Prince Lu Zhu Tan seemed to trust him very much and handed over the supervision of the shipyard's manufacturing office to him, but he didn't know where this trust came from.

Prince Lu did not talk much to him, nor did he ask about Prince Yan's affairs in Peking. He just gave him an errand to do.

The less Zhu Tan said, the more nervous he became.

After a series of turbulent times, Ma He knew very well that there is no favor without reason in this world. There must be a reason why His Royal Highness Prince Lu treated him like this.

But Zhu Tan didn't tell him the reason, and he didn't dare to ask.

The fleet headed straight for Haijin. Zhu Tan sat on the deck for a while, then returned to the cabin. Seeing Ma He's expression changing continuously, he knew that he had some concerns in his mind, so he asked with a smile.

"Ma He, how do you feel about these days in the shipyard?"

Upon hearing this, Ma He immediately bowed and said, "Your Highness, it is amazing."

“What you see is just the tip of the iceberg.”

Zhu Tan picked up the teacup, took a sip, and said, "After that, the Ming Dynasty will have countless ironclad warships, which will sail thousands of miles and encompass the entire universe."

Ma He didn't know why Zhu Tan said this to him, but when he heard these words, he felt a surge of excitement in his heart.

This was clearly his first time going out to sea, but he felt that he belonged to this sea and to these surging waves.

"Are you still wondering why I want you to come around?"

Zhu Tan spoke again, and Ma He paused, and quickly replied, "I don't know."

Zhu Tan smiled and said, "I went to Fourth Brother to ask for money. I originally wanted his general, but he was reluctant to give it to me."

"I suddenly thought of you."

"I was chatting with Marquis Yongchang before, and he mentioned to me that he led his troops to Beiping last year. Of all the palace servants, he was the only one who remembered your name."

"My trip to Fourth Brother's place can't be in vain, so I want you to be by my side."

"You are smart and clever, and most importantly, loyal and capable. Now it seems that it is right to hire you."

At this point, Zhu Tan smiled again and changed the subject: "Do you still want to return to Beiping in the future?"

Hearing this, Ma He's heart was moved, but he didn't say anything. He just knelt on the ground and kowtowed heavily.

Zhu Tan said this, of course, to reassure Ma He.

Who is Lan Yu? How could he remember the name of a little eunuch? But there is no harm in doing him a favor.

Zhu Tan couldn’t tell Ma He that he wanted it because he came from another world and knew you had a talent for sailing.

Now, Ma He's attitude says it all.

If he really had the right to choose, why would he return to the palace and be willing to be a slave?

His heart belongs to the sea, and nothing can stop this inner impulse.

"Okay, get up."

Zhu Tan smiled and said, "If you want to stay, then do it well."

"This time we will eradicate the Japanese pirates along the coast and try to kill their generals to gain merit. Then I will have an excuse to keep you here."

Hearing this, Ma He's heart was moved, and he immediately kowtowed and said, "I thank your Highness Prince Lu!"

In fact, Prince of Yan Zhu Di was quite nice to Ma He, and he lived a good life in the Prince of Yan's Mansion.

But even so, the King of Yan was so high and mighty that he never took a servant like him seriously.

But now, Zhu Tan has given Ma He enough recognition, allowing him to find his life goal. This recognition makes him excited.

One day later, Haijin Port.

Before the ironclad ship docked, Zhu Tan saw soldiers lined up neatly near the dock.

Zhu Di stood at the front with his head held high, looking into the distance with a look of shock and excitement on his face.

He had already left.

When he learned that Zhu Tan was leading his team to Haijinwei, he came to Haijin Port and waited.

He had his own concerns in his heart, but now the arrow was on the string, he could only move forward, with no way to retreat.

This time, we will go out to sea together with Zhu Tan to wipe out the Japanese pirates. Victory is the only option, defeat is not allowed.

In fact, Zhu Di was still a little worried about going to sea to fight.

But now, after seeing the five steel behemoths appearing on the sea, the worries in his heart completely disappeared, and only shock and pride lingered in his heart. (End of this chapter)