In the Tianjin Shipyard, Zhu Youxiao, Sun Chengzong, and Shen Yourong took their seats one after another.

"... After staying in Nagasaki for a night and disposing of the spoils of war to local merchants, the general returned with the fleet. As for His Majesty's decree, the general not only conveyed it to the officials in Nagasaki, but also I left a paper document with the local injured merchants and asked them to go and negotiate."

Shen Yourong concluded with a final sentence, roughly describing the bombardment of Nagasaki.

"Businessman?" Zhu Youxiao was beaming when he heard it, and he couldn't help nodding, but the last sentence made him frown immediately. It's not that he looked down on businessmen, but that businessmen in this era really didn't have any moral integrity. None of the Jiangnan merchants and Shanxi merchants represented by the Lin Party are good and have no national integrity at all.

He doesn't think it's reliable to hand over government documents to businessmen for execution.

"Your Majesty, the two people in charge that day were one of the chief disciples of the Grand Governor, and the other was the cousin of General Xiliu. They were not ordinary businessmen, so the last general left a document. There are no unnecessary words in it. His Majesty said that Japan should resume paying tribute and remove the title of emperor and other things." Shen Yourong explained quickly.

"The governor's family?!" Zhu Youxiao was surprised, and then looked at Sun Chengzong thoughtfully.

Sun Chengzong was worthy of being a governor. Faced with such a sudden situation, he still showed no expression on his face. He looked calm and allowed Zhu Youxiao to check.

"Interesting!" Although Zhu Youxiao didn't see anything, he was not disappointed at all. Instead, there was a mysterious smile on the corner of his mouth.

"Does this show that some of the gentry of the Ming Dynasty have finally embarked on the path I planned?" He was secretly happy in his heart.

Unlike later generations of civil servants who were not allowed to do business, Zhu Youxiao did not impose this rule. Except that officials themselves were not allowed to appear directly, his standards were similar to those of the Song Dynasty.

The three major problems of the Song Dynasty were redundant officials, redundant soldiers, and redundant expenses, but there was no corruption problem. But the Ming Dynasty was different. It could be said that corruption was rampant. From top to bottom, everyone took money from the public under various names. The emperor's Gold flowers and silver, various officials' annual ice ceremony, carbon ceremony, fire consumption, etc. are all.

Instead of forcing officials to become corrupt officials with policies such as low salaries and no business, it is better to let go of commercial matters and let officials use their status to do business to ensure that their families and relatives live a prosperous life so that they do not become corrupt. Stretch your hands into various project funds and relief funds.

Although this may lead to the concentration of wealth and the collusion of capital politics, from the perspective of the Song Dynasty, this result is quite good. It is not completely partial to businessmen, and it is often considered for the people. Of course, in this aspect, , we must rely on the role of Confucianism, and try to cultivate some officials with high moral quality, a sense of responsibility and a sense of mission.

"Since we are the Grand Governor's family, I can rest assured. I believe that based on the Grand Governor's words and deeds, there will definitely be no clan members who would betray the country and seek glory." Zhu Youxiao laughed and set the tone. Let's get this thing out of the way.

"Thank you for your consideration, Your Majesty." Sun Chengzong did not panic and saluted calmly and thanked him.

He is not worried about the emperor's blame at all. Unlike Shen Yourong, he has a higher status, has seen more, and has a deeper understanding. He knows that what he is doing now is actually what the emperor expects, and he is going to do it now The most important thing is to take this lead and set a benchmark for future officials and businessmen.

What makes a good official and businessman, what should and should not be done by an official and businessman, what kind of money can and cannot be made, these all need to be set by him, the most powerful minister today.

"Haha, it doesn't matter." Zhu Youxiao smiled, then changed the subject and stopped talking about this matter, "General Shen, how many officers and soldiers are there in the fleet in front of you?"

"There are about 11,300 sailors and gunners on each battleship. If you include the personnel stationed at various ports, there are about 20,000." Shen Yourong gave a relatively vague number.

"What's the current morale and discipline of navy soldiers?" Zhu Youxiao nodded and asked again.

"This..." Shen Yourong pondered, not knowing how to answer for a moment. Seeing this, Zhu Youxiao understood everything, it must not be very good.

"Since Your Majesty has expected it, the general will not hide it anymore." Shen Yourong smiled bitterly, "The three thousand cores brought out before were fine. They took a long time to receive training and had a strong sense of discipline. But those who were trained later, plus the reception The pirates caused the morale of the entire army to deteriorate for a while, and various bad habits gradually developed, and the general didn't know what to do for a while."

Next, Shen Yourong gave some more examples, such as being lazy, sleeping on duty, sneaking out at night, etc. Although there were no major violations, there were indeed many small ones that had almost become a habit. If not curbed, things would continue like this. , will definitely cause the entire military discipline to collapse and lead to even worse disciplinary violations.

Shen Yourong's words made the atmosphere in the room tense for a moment, and Sun Chengzong was also stunned. He didn't expect that the military discipline of the navy had suddenly deteriorated like this.

"It seems that this rectification movement is very necessary." Zhu Youxiao said to himself. Then, instead of discussing it in depth, he took out a document and handed it to Shen Yourong, "General Shen, take a look first. This plan.”

"Yes, Your Majesty." After saying the question, Shen Yourong seemed quite brisk. He took the document and slowly looked through it. As a general, he was literate, and the entire document was written in the recently popular vernacular. Yes, it doesn’t look too strenuous.

However, it seems that after a while, his expression became more and more surprised and excited. There is no doubt that the entire plan reflects His Majesty's military focus on the navy. A large amount of money has been invested, as many as ten The construction of several seaports, the expansion of the Tianjin Shipyard, the Shanghai Shipyard, and the Guangzhou Shipyard all made Shen Yourong tremble with joy.

"Can you estimate how many more people will be needed?" Zhu Youxiao asked after Shen Yourong finished reading.

"Your Majesty, this sea area cruise plan is relatively manpower-consuming, especially the scheduled and scheduled cruises, which require detecting pirates, inspecting passing merchant ships, and responsible for the garrison of various ports, as well as Marine Corps personnel. Based on this calculation, the establishment of the offshore fleet , requires a full strength of 50,000 people, and the ocean fleet depends on how many main warships your Majesty has. With the current number of warships, 20,000 people are enough, but this does not include the members of the Marine Corps."

Shen Yourong gave a specific opinion, which gave Zhu Youxiao a clear idea, "Let's do this. The main fleet will continue to be built in the future. There will never be too many manpower. Let's prepare now. The same goes for the ocean fleet. , the full calculation is 50,000 people, so we need to recruit about 70,000 to 80,000 people."

"The Governor." Zhu Youxiao looked at Sun Chengzong, "After returning to the capital, the Governor's Office will issue official documents to the coastal counties and start recruiting good men who are familiar with water to join the army."

"Yes, Your Majesty, I will take care of it when I get back." Sun Chengzong nodded.

"General Shen, I also know about the issue of military discipline in the naval fleet. I have brought General Hussar here. Tomorrow you will gather all the soldiers and he will take over and be responsible for the rectification training. You will cooperate with the general training. Do a good job in carrying out the recruitment work and subsequent training." Zhu Youxiao finally made the decision.

"Li Tu?!" Hearing this name, Shen Yourong was shocked. Li Tu's title was General Hussar, but in private, he had heard another title - General Rentu. Legend has it that Li Tu was the most powerful What he likes to do is kill people. Whenever there is a war, he will personally join the battle and charge forward. It is said that the murderous aura in his body can frighten all beasts, and no matter how fierce a horse is, he will not dare to make a mistake in front of him.

However, the thought of having such a tough person in charge of training made him happy again. The issue of military discipline in the Navy really worried him. Although he refused to accept his elders, he had to admit that he was not good enough on this issue. At present, He is also partly responsible for the lack of military discipline.

"Yes, Your Majesty." Shen Yourong nodded and responded. He felt a lot more relaxed after relinquishing such a burden. As he got older, he no longer had so much drive and murderous intent. Sometimes he was unable to do many things without the will and determination to carry them out. It would be safer to go down and hand it over to His Majesty. And after this conversation, he also realized that he was indeed getting older and was afraid that he would not be able to work for a few more years, so it was time to consider training a successor.

"There are still a few good seedlings among the dozens of 800 Yulin that His Majesty has sent over, and they can be cultivated well." Shen Yourong secretly thought about the candidates. As for Zheng Zhilong, who has recently joined, although he is very talented, he But he didn't dare to do more contact and training. After all, he was a pirate, and loyalty was out of the question. He would have to suppress him for a few years before talking about it.

In the army, it’s hard to say what talent is, but as long as a slightly smarter person, after systematic study and experience, can’t be called a famous general, but he can be a veteran general, and generals who are trained step by step in this way are often not as good as others. I dare say, at least the loyalty is absolute.

In the position of emperor, loyalty is the most important thing. Shen Yourong, a veteran in the army, naturally understands this and knows the scope of his choice of successor.

After deciding on the navy's plan, several people dispersed, and after a night's rest, they went about their own business. Shen Yourong gathered the troops, ordered everyone, including the captain and sailors, to disembark, reorganize and assemble, and then Then he handed over the personnel to Li Tu who came with a large number of elite officers.

As for Sun Chengzong, after lingering for a few days and thoroughly understanding the progress and construction capabilities of the shipyard, he returned to Beijing with several other cabinet bachelors who had learned about the situation and achieved their goals. It was Zhu Youxiao who If he stays, he will plan the naval base in Tianjin carefully.
Chapter completed!