Su Chen frowned and said: "The empire's territory is so large, of course this is the case. In the future, wars will definitely be far away from the Central Plains."
"But there's nothing we can do about it. It's better than having the enemy attack us at our doorstep, right?"
Cheng Yaojin looked at Su Chen: "But your navy is different!"
"A few days ago, His Majesty suddenly organized the navy in Denglai into the Royal Navy. We, the Sixteenth Guards, were all confused."
"To be honest, we, the Sixteenth Guards, still look down upon that navy. Back then, Lai Hu'er led that navy across the sea to attack Goryeo. The result was a disastrous defeat and heavy losses. After that, it was left there without anyone taking care of it.
"
"But Lao Cheng, I suddenly heard yesterday that your big ship is so powerful. It can travel across vast oceans and reach Japan in three days from Yangzhou!"
"That's just you, brother. If it were anyone else, I wouldn't believe it, Lao Cheng!"
"After hearing the news, Lao Cheng, I realized that His Majesty wanted to attack Tianzhu by sea!"
Cheng Yaojin looked at Su Chen with a proud look on his face, "Thanks to my cleverness, I must put the third child into the navy today."
Looking at the proud Cheng Yaojin, Su Chen didn't know what to say.
He definitely can't talk about going to Dashi for the time being. Since he said he was going to Tianzhu, let's go to Tianzhu. Anyway, it's on the way.
"So, Duke Lu wants his children to come to the navy to gain some credit?"
Cheng Yaojin laughed and said, "That's what I mean. My youngest wants to be a pawn under your command."
"But brother, there is no need to be embarrassed. There are no cowards in my old Cheng family. All the merits are obtained by actual killings. As long as you can give him a chance to go to the battlefield, brother, don't worry about the rest. Life and death are all matters of fate!"
Su Chen nodded. Cheng Yaojin, an old rogue, was a bastard, but he never surrendered in battle. His sons were not weak in ability either, and they were quite qualified in terms of bravery.
Su Chen sighed, shook his head and said: "Actually, Duke Lu doesn't have to be like this at all. The navy is currently short of major generals. I don't think there will be any brave men to come. The more the better!"
"Originally, I was worried that the young men in the military would look down on the newly established navy. I didn't expect that your son would take the initiative to join the navy. Su Chen thanked Duke Lu."
"But one thing needs to be made clear in advance. When your son arrives in the navy, he must strictly obey military orders, and he needs to start from a small soldier and be trained from scratch. Then, based on his training results, he will be assigned a position!"
"It's not that I underestimate your master's ability, it's just that naval warfare is not as good as land warfare. It's useless to be skilled with bows and horses, and the military tactics he usually learns are of little use."
Cheng Yaojin slapped his chest: "It goes without saying that on the battlefield, if his skills are not good enough, he will harm others and himself. If he can't train well, just send him back. Not only will Lao Cheng not blame you, but you will also thank you.
It is better to be driven back than to die outside."
"In this case, Lu Guogong asked him to go directly to Yangzhou to report to Liu Rengui after the year. I have ordered the navy to leave Laizhou and go to Yangzhou for training."
Cheng Yaojin smiled and said: "Okay, my brother is really happy!"
Su Chen smiled and said, "There is something else I would like to do to help Duke Lu."
"Brother, is there anything else you can do for me, Lao Cheng, to help you with?"
"I also ask Mr. Lu to go back and tell his colleagues in the military that I welcome any kid who wants to go to the navy, but they all need to start training from scratch. Whether they can stay in the end depends on their ability."
Cheng Yaojin laughed loudly: "This is a good thing. It is becoming increasingly difficult to earn military honors on land. I have found a new way for the children in the army."
"Don't worry, there are many young men in the army who are passionate and hungry for military success!"
Su Chen stood up: "Okay, that's it!"
"Master Lu is resting here now. I'm going to see how your majesty is doing?"
Cheng Yaojin waved his hand: "I'll go with my brother!"
"It's been a while. If I don't invite His Majesty into the village, those civil servants will be scolded. With their bodies, if they drink the cold wind for a while longer, they will probably fall down, haha!"
Cheng Yaojin was right. At this moment, a group of civil servants had already begun to tremble.
But seeing Li Er still studying the steam engine there with great interest, they did not dare to leave without saying goodbye.
Li Er has almost understood the principle of the steam engine now.
This is not something profound in the first place, it just requires exquisite skills to realize it.
"To put it bluntly, it means boiling water in a closed furnace and letting the water vapor that has nowhere to escape push the piston..."
Li Er summed it up very well.
Fang Xuanling and others also understood that the principle of such a magical thing is actually so simple!
Wei Zheng was still doubtful: "Is this water vapor really as powerful as Su Chen said?"
"He said that a real train can at least carry tens of thousands of tons of cargo."
Du Ruhui said: "Just let him try it out. It's useless for us to guess here."
"Even if it doesn't have 10,000 dan or 1,800 dan, it's still worth building a railway. How much cargo can a big ship in the canal carry?"
Everyone thinks about it: Steel will be worthless in the future anyway, and with the national power of the Tang Dynasty, it is not impossible to build a railway!
Li Er nodded and said: "Then let's find a time to discuss it in a few days to see how long the first railway should be built and where should it be built?"
Changsun Wuji suddenly frowned and said, "It seems that the price of coal will increase in the future!"
"In the past, no one would use it because of the charcoal poison. Now the coal stove and briquettes made by Su Chen are being snatched by people all over Chang'an. In the future, trains will burn them. I heard that the Guanzhou Iron and Steel Plant also uses coal for making iron..."
"Your Majesty, you should hurry up and ask the young master to make statistics on the coal production of the Tang Dynasty."
Li Er glared at Changsun Wuji: "You just realized it now?"
"I asked the young master to do the statistics a long time ago, but I still let this boy Su Chen take the lead. All the good coal mines were bought by that boy!"
Wei Zheng frowned and said, "Don't we have a lot of this charcoal in the Tang Dynasty? I remember there is one on the north side of the Weihe River."
Li Er was very depressed and said: "We do have a lot of coal in the Tang Dynasty, but this coal is divided into good and bad, depending on the difficulty of mining."
"All the coal mines in Guanzhong that are good in quality and easy to dig out are in Su Chen's hands. The rest are either buried in inaccessible places and cannot be dug out, or they are low-quality coal that emits black smoke when burned."
Everyone smiled helplessly: He bought the coal mine reasonably and legally, and he was the consort of Princess Changle. Even if Li Er was greedy, there was nothing he could do.
Fang Xuanling suggested: "Since this coal will be popular in the world in the future, it would be better to set the policies for mining, trafficking, and taxation early."
Li Er nodded: "You and the auxiliary machine should draft some regulations as soon as possible on this matter. I will ask the Shaofu and the Ministry of Industry to set up a department similar to the Iron Smelting Supervision to manage it."
Changsun Wuji pointed to the distance: "Su Chen is back, why is he talking and laughing with that old scoundrel Cheng Yaojin?"
"As for the railway, don't tell him that I agree. Let him wait for a few days before talking about it."
Everyone looked helpless: Your Majesty, what’s the point of this!
