There are two types of officials in the Ming Dynasty. For example, the imperial envoy patrolling the sea is not an official position, but a title.
Such a title has no rank, but it sounds loud!
At least those small foreign countries will feel very high-level when they hear it.
For example, Zheng He, the former Sanbao eunuch, was known as the "Eunuch General of the Imperial Envoy".
Zhu Qizhen granted Peng Qing the title of "Imperial Envoy to Patrol the Sea". The implication is very clear that from now on, he will take over Zheng He's mantle and strive for the Ming Dynasty's maritime career throughout his life.
However, if you want to go to the Western Ocean, a title alone is not enough.
This time to explore the waterway, Peng Qing only brought three ships, all of which were converted private merchant ships. The entire fleet only had a hundred sailors and officers and soldiers.
Things will be different next. The size of the fleet will be expanded to at least several thousand people. With the continuous expansion of shipping routes, it may even reach the scale of tens of thousands during the Sanbao Eunuch Period.
For such a large armed force to go overseas, if it wants to convince the public, the head coach must have sufficient power.
Not only that, but if you don’t have enough level to negotiate with other countries along the way, you may be afraid of doing so.
Therefore, Zhu Qizhen not only gave Peng Qing the title of imperial envoy to patrol the sea, but also announced that he would join the cabinet!
Since Sanyang, the power of the cabinet has gradually expanded, and it has gradually grown from a team of secretaries to a prime minister who holds real power.
Since you want to give Peng Qing enough power, then go ahead and give him a cabinet bachelor directly.
The original Dongge University scholar Gaobo's house was confiscated, and there was no suitable candidate for this position, so it remained vacant.
Later, Cao Nai and Zhang Yi successively recommended several candidates, but Zhu Qizhen rejected them all.
Because in his plan, Ming's cabinet will gradually develop into a parliament, and future cabinet members will be equivalent to senators, the people with the most real power besides the emperor.
Cabinet ministers are different from vassal kings. In the future, vassal kings will go abroad, expand territories, guard one side, and defend the center.
The cabinet will become the most important political hub of the Ming Dynasty.
Zhu Qizhen and Zhu Yuanzhang are also different. Zhu Yuanzhang has a strong desire for control. He wishes that everyone in the world must strictly control what time they go to bed and what time they get up to work every day.
It is precisely because of this that he abolished the two thousand-year-old prime minister system and placed the emperor directly in charge of the six ministries, taking care of both big and small matters. It is said that he sleeps less than three hours a day and is a complete workaholic.
However, not everyone is made of iron.
A man as strong as Zhu Di cannot handle such a frenzied workload.
It was also from then on that the cabinet gradually took real power.
Zhu Qizhen came from a later generation and naturally knew better than anyone else that with the development of the times, imperial power would one day withdraw from the stage of history.
Whether this process will be a smooth transition or whether you will revolutionize my life will affect the fate of all people in the world.
As the emperor, as the absolute controller of the Ming Dynasty, you cannot interfere with everything in detail. You should delegate power when it is time to delegate power. The emperor has done everything, so what do the civil and military officials of the dynasty do for a living?
The affairs of the staff department should be handled by the staff department, and the affairs of the household department should be handled by the household department. The best situation is for each to perform his or her own duties.
The emperor's mission is to coordinate and strategize.
For example, what should we do if the Yellow River keeps flooding and bursting its banks?
What the emperor has to do is very simple, just issue an imperial edict to regulate the river!
Next, the Ministry of Accounts will go back to verify how many laborers and materials are needed, calculate the various expenses, and then allocate the money.
The Ministry of Works is responsible for the specific process, who should be sent to take charge of the work, who should recruit workers, who should be responsible for logistics...
Then, the local government led the people to build river embankments.
If the emperor personally went to the scene, ordered people to move stones, and supervised the calculation of accounts in the accounting room, wouldn't it be a mess?
In fact, Zhu Qizhen took action very early.
His first step in decentralizing power was to train his younger brother Zhu Qiyu.
It is reasonable for the emperor to lead the expedition in person and leave the vassal princes to supervise the country.
However, who has seen the emperor sleeping in the palace and leaving the vassal prince to preside over the morning court?
If you don’t know this, you might think that the Ming Dynasty has changed!
During this period of time, Zhu Qiyu also grew up very quickly. From a wise king who was knowledgeable and courteous, he suddenly led his troops and horses to Annan to fight. He successively captured Annan, occupied the city, and the three kingdoms of Luzon conquered the entire Nanyang.
Included in the territory of the Ming Dynasty.
This is like a good boy who loves to study and is obedient since he was a child. One day, he suddenly picked up a knife from the kitchen, then went out to fight with the gangsters, and chopped down three of them in one go...
The vassal king of the Ming Dynasty has entered the pig-raising mode. As a result, everyone saw that there was a pig that did not enter the pen and lived very freely outside. How could you not be moved?
Those who moved quickly, such as King Xiang, had already expanded their territory.
Others are also eager to try and are making preparations.
Zhu Qizhen believes that in the near future, building a Ming Dynasty on which the sun never sets will not be a dream.
The key now is to sail to the West.
Although the Ming Dynasty has controlled Nanyang, there are still wider oceans and continents in the world.
On that map, there is still a huge continent missing, America.
However, in this world, that continent is likely to appear under another name.
For example, Zhu Qi Zhenzhou, or... Zhuzhou?
Or call them Peng Qingzhou, Zheng Hezhou, Zhu Yuanzhangzhou, Damingzhou...
It doesn’t seem to sound good...
In short, one thing is certain, it will not be America.
Regarding the naming of America, we have to start with Columbus.
Because this continent is isolated overseas, before the level of navigation was developed, in people's perception, there were only three continents in the world: Asia, Europe, and Africa.
Among them, Europe and Africa are separated by the Mediterranean Sea. You can reach North Africa by sailing from southern Europe. The most mature route from Europe to Asia is to cross the Bosporus Strait and enter the land passage through Asia Minor into West Asia and the Middle East.
Later, the rise of the Ottoman Empire blocked this route. With the fall of Constantinople, the Ottomans began to impose heavy taxes on passing European merchants. Therefore, the Europeans had to open new routes from the sea.
There are roughly three routes from Western Europe to East Asia. The first is to cross the Strait of Gibraltar and enter the Mediterranean, and then enter the Indian Ocean via the Suins Canal. This is the most convenient and fastest route. However, of course, it is impossible for Europeans to take this route because
The Su Yinshi Canal was not opened until three hundred years later.
The second route is to go south along the west coast of Africa, around the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa, then enter the Indian Ocean, and finally sail to India or East Asia. This was the route chosen by the Portuguese back then.
The third route goes straight west from Europe, crossing the Atlantic Ocean to the West Indies, then passing through the Panama Canal, crossing the Pacific Ocean, and finally reaching East Asia.
At that time, the third route only existed theoretically, and no one tried to verify it.
Because the premise for the existence of this route is to recognize that the world under your feet is a ball.
In the fifteenth century, the debate in the West about whether the world is a sphere or a flat surface has been settled. If this is the case, then one can definitely reach Asia from Europe all the way west. Although many people agree with this theoretical statement, it is not
No one dared to risk sailing until Columbus appeared.
There is no need to go into details about this person’s growth experience. The important thing is that he opened a third route.
When Columbus's fleet finally arrived in India after going through all kinds of hardships, they saw many indigenous people and called them Indians.
At this time, people did not know that there was an American continent.
The news that Columbus sailed westward and successfully arrived in India spread back to Europe, which immediately caused a sensation, and the Western Age of Discovery officially began.
However, a navigator named Amerigo Vespucci realized that the "India" discovered by Columbus was not really India, but a new continent, and he drew a map of the new continent.
Because the names used in other continents were all feminine Latin, from then on, this new continent had a new name, America.
Zhu Qizhen's thoughts returned from America. As for how to name this new continent, let the Ministry of Rites consider it. They are professionals.
Peng Qing slowly bowed down and said, "I thank you for your holy grace!"
It was surprisingly quiet above the main hall.
Cao Nai looked at Zhang Yi, the two exchanged glances, and immediately understood what the other person was thinking.
When Peng Qing entered the cabinet, the emperor did not inform him in advance.
This decision may have been made on a whim, or it may have been deliberate.
It is still difficult to guess the emperor's thoughts. He may even launch surprise attacks and sneak attacks on old comrades without respecting martial ethics.
However, there is absolutely no problem with Peng Qing joining the cabinet.
There are currently three people in the cabinet, but Yu Qian is the only one who travels around every day and rarely stays in the capital. All the burdens fall on the two of them.
If it had been before, forget it, just be more tired, but what era is it now, the New Deal!
Under the raging New Deal, new problems have emerged.
And there are all kinds of problems, which appear one after another, making people exhausted and even helpless.
If Peng Qing joins the cabinet, he can at least divide the portion of the voyage to the West.
Otherwise, like maritime trade, navigation colleges, steamships...especially steamships, whenever they see memorials in this regard, the two of them can only stare at each other.
Because... I don’t understand!
The two of them still can't figure out why a piece of iron can float on water?
Not to mention the steam engine wheel, power transmission, anti-rust and anti-oxidation...
Whenever I see these memorials, I have to ask people from the Academy of Sciences for help.
The two of them even had a plan to bring Beilein into the cabinet.
Otherwise, people would think that our cabinet doesn’t understand anything!
Hmm, I really don’t seem to understand...
It's okay now. Now that we have Peng Qing, let him do the hard work. The two of us can save some trouble.
Since the cabinet has no objections, others have no objections even more.
Behind everyone, Hanlin scholar Tang Xiaozhong lowered his head, his face pale and full of annoyance.
Now he’s in the cabinet!
They also went to sea, and they worked just as hard as him, and almost risked their lives. However, the results of the two people were completely different.
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Good news came from the delivery room, she gave birth!
But I can never hold my head up. If someone remembers it, they will only point fingers behind me and laugh at how stupid I am.
Hey, I won’t be able to see anyone anymore...
Naturally, Zhu Qizhen didn’t know that there was such a person in the corner of the hall.
He is in a good mood now, and the vastness of the world is all on this map.
"The Qing family has made great contributions to the dynasty, but there is still a long way to go. The furthest point Ming Dynasty has reached is Kunlun Continent, where all the wooden bones are tied up. So the next time we go to the Western Ocean, we will not only go to Kunlun Continent, but also go around here and search for it in the deep sea."
A new continent!"
Peng Qing had some doubts on his face and asked: "Your Majesty, to the west of Kunlun Continent... are there new continents?"
Zhu Qizhen smiled and said: "How would you know if you don't look for it?"
Peng Qing nodded thoughtfully and saluted: "I have recorded it!"
Zhu Qizhen was full of ambition at this time and suddenly said: "Prince, come closer!"
Zhu Jianshen, who was only five years old, was also in the hall. At this time, he was at an ignorant age. When he saw his father waving his hand towards him, he walked over.
"Father..."
Zhu Qizhen held him in his arms and said: "You must remember what I just said. If I am old and gone, the exploration of the Western Ocean must not be interrupted. The regret of Sanbao Eunuch is a lesson learned from the past. We cannot continue
Leave regrets to future generations!"
"Yes, my son... I obey the order."
Zhu Jianshen's voice was very childish, maybe he didn't understand what these words meant.
Even if he understood, he still couldn't understand why his father had to deal with his funeral affairs at such a young age.
But Zhu Qizhen knew very well that even if one day, within five or ten years, the Ming Dynasty's fleet arrived in America, so what?
It is thousands of miles away from the mainland of the Ming Dynasty. It is necessary to at least establish trade and settlements along the coast, and then migrate a large number of people to slowly go deeper.
This is a long process, which may take decades or hundreds of years.
However, that fertile land is enough to feed countless Han people.
By then, Ming Dynasty will open a new door.
At this time, I heard Peng Qing say calmly: "This time I went to sea and found countless rare treasures from all over the world, and I came here to present them to the emperor."
Zhu Qizhen couldn't help being happy and said: "Okay, take a few samples and show them to me!"
"Yes!"
Peng Qing gave the order, and within a short time, countless treasures were quickly moved in.
There are huge ivory, corals half as tall as a man, and pearls as big as fists, which are overwhelming to see.
Each of these treasures, taken out at random, would be priceless in the Ming Dynasty.
The officials present were dumbfounded. They were all people who had seen the world, but they still felt extremely shocked in front of such a rare treasure.
Peng Qing picked up a few valuable items and briefly introduced them, and then said: "These treasures were brought back by the ministers and presented to the emperor. I wish the emperor long life and the Ming Dynasty to be prosperous forever."
"Okay, I accept this great gift!"
Zhu Qizhen was very excited. He was not coveting these treasures, but mainly because of the influence these things brought.
When others see these rare treasures, will they think that these things are priceless and extremely rare in the Ming Dynasty, but they are easily available overseas. In this way, will everyone's desire to go to sea become stronger?<
/p>
If all the people in the world were like the Pirate King, why would the Ming Dynasty not be strong?