While feeding the elephant, Zhu Zaiyi said: "Both the Ministry of Household Affairs and the Ministry of War are opposed to building steam ships. Please stop begging me."
"A hundred years from now, steamships will definitely be the general trend. Your Majesty, please plan for eternity!" Ling Xia, a member of the Railway Department of the Ministry of Industry, kowtowed.
Zhu Zaiyi patted the dust on his hands, turned around and smiled: "You get up first and talk."
Ling Xia got up and followed Zhu Zaiyu. He was just an ordinary craftsman, and he had not obtained any honors. Just because he took the lead in inventing steam engines and steam trains, he was continuously promoted by Wang Yuan. Now he has reached the top of the rank of Yuanwai Lang of the Ministry of Industry.
If you are promoted, you will inevitably be impeached by hundreds of officials.
Zhu Zaiyi patiently explained: "Steamboats are really of no use, at least not now. But a person who has really studied physics, how can he not know what is good and bad? You work hard, I always keep it in mind, and I will allocate five silver dollars in my own money.
Ten thousand yuan, you continue to improve the steamship. It must be far better than the sailboat, so I have reason to build more ships."
"Your Majesty, Your Majesty!" Ling Xia was overjoyed.
The first generation steamship was really useless, the engine was heavy and big, and the navigation efficiency was not very high.
A 200-ton sea-going ship is converted into a steam ship. The weight of the engine and coal has already consumed half of the ship's load, and it cannot carry much cargo at all.
If you build a steamship with more than 400 materials, the coal consumption will be greatly increased, and the sailing speed will be as slow as a turtle. This kind of steamship, whether it is presented to a naval officer or to a Ming maritime merchant for evaluation, is an outright
joke.
After Ling Xia left Xiyuan, he was taken to see the eunuch in charge of the inner treasury by the eunuch who was in charge of the internal treasury, and received a document instructing him to receive fifty thousand taels of internal money.
Then, he went to the eunuch Qian Shu to deliver the money and cash it.
Eunuch Qian called the eunuch Treasurer, and after some operations, Ling Xia successfully received 40,000 silver dollars.
You can't take the money yourself, you have to have internal treasury employees help transport it. The distance of half the capital requires a freight fee of 1,000 silver dollars.
When Wang Yuan and Yang Tinghe suppressed the eunuchs, the eunuchs behaved most honestly.
In the years after Zhu Zaiyi ascended the throne, he also strictly investigated eunuch corruption and made eunuchs more honest than civil servants.
But more than ten years later, the eunuchs have figured out the emperor's temper and adapted to the new internal official supervision system. Although they did not dare to be as cruel as their predecessors - Zhang Yong directly moved hundreds of thousands of taels of silver home, but
Or should we re-form a set of unspoken rules for winning and taking cards?
For example, for the 50,000 taels of research funding given to Ling Xia by Zhu Zaiyi, as usual, 10,000 taels were taken away first, and divided among the palm print, the attendant, the bookkeeper, and the treasurer. As for the other minions, they were divided from the one thousand taels of freight.
.
The internal reward of 50,000 taels was actually 39,000 taels, which is actually quite conscientious.
Ling Xia was also helpless about this. In today's civil and military dynasties, except for Jin Lei, Chang Lun and other gangsters, who would dare to go and get into trouble with the eunuch?
Jin Lei is still serving as the Minister of the Ministry of Punishment, while Chang Lun has been promoted to be the Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs in Nanjing. It is estimated that he will never be able to return to the central government in his lifetime.
The next day, Ling Xia received the invitation and saw that it was Wang Yan's famous assassin, so he quickly asked his servant to make an appointment.
Two days later, Wang Yan, president of the Physics Club and dean of the School of Physics, came to visit him in person. Ling Xia stood in front of the hall to greet him.
After some small talk, Wang Yan mentioned the purpose of his trip: "I heard that the Linggong Department built a steamship?"
Ling Xia explained: "It has been created, but it has no practical value for the time being. It needs to be improved."
Wang Yan smiled and said: "Isn't the Linggong Department still unwilling to go to Tianzhu?"
Ling Xia wondered: "I don't want to go to Tianzhu, not because I am greedy for the wealth of the Ming Dynasty, but because Tianzhu is not convenient for machine research. When my husband went to sea, he had a long talk with me and agreed to go to Tianzhu ten years later.
"
"I see," Wang Yan nodded and said, "Can you give me a copy of the steamship drawings, sir?"
Ling Xia said: "This is a matter of course."
The drawings of the first-generation steamship were flown across the sea and sent to Wang Yuan, where they were given to Tianzhu’s physics disciples for improvement.
The transplanted rubber trees in Luzon have been tapped for several years and are mainly used for steam looms and trains.
Wang Ce, the king of Luzon, is extremely rich. He owns many gold, silver and copper mines, blocking one of the two shipping routes of Southeast Asian spices. Now he has a strategic product like rubber. Of course, the rubber forests in Luzon
, it has not yet formed a large scale, only a few hundred trees have been transplanted one after another.
After years of immigration, reproduction, and naturalization, the registered population of Luzon finally exceeded the 4 million mark.
At the same time, Wang Ce began to invade the Sulu Sultanate.
Sulu has a total of three sultans, which can be called the "United Emirates of Sulu Sultans".
These three sultans were officially called the East King, the West King and the Dong King by the Ming Dynasty.
The territory of the Eastern King is the western part of Mindanao and its affiliated islands.
The territory of King Xi is Palawan Island and its affiliated islands.
The territory of King Dong is located on the northern coast of Kalimantan.
During the Yongle period, the three kings went to Beijing with Zheng He to meet the Holy Spirit. On the way back, King Dong died of illness in Dezhou, Shandong. The eldest prince returned to China to succeed to the throne, and the princess and other children all stayed in Dezhou to settle down. Most of their descendants have the surnames An and Wen.
Wang Ce randomly found a Texas sailor named An and claimed that he was a descendant of Dong Wang, and then questioned the current Dong Wang's impure blood.
Ever since, under the banner of restoring orthodoxy, Wang Ce began to attack western Mindanao - eastern Mindanao, which had long been the territory of Luzon.
While sending troops, Wang Ce wrote to the other two sultans, asking them not to interfere in the internal affairs of the Eastern King.
The three sultans were all in the same spirit, how could they not stick together?
However, Wang Ce blocked the spice route in the north, and bribed the admiral of the Nanyang Navy of the Ming Dynasty with 5,000 taels of gold to block the spice route in the west. With their interests damaged, the Sulu merchants under the rule of King Xi and King Dong forced these merchants to
The two sultans were not allowed to participate in the war.
The two sultans were furious and began to punish domestic merchants.
Wang Ce took the opportunity to send troops, and the army easily occupied the Eastern King's territory of Mindanao, and assembled the navy to attack its archipelago ports. While the Western King and the Dong King were still dealing with internal affairs, the Eastern King had already lost half of its territory, and the palace was occupied. The Eastern King was in panic.
Moved the capital to Jolo Island.
Are you still fighting?
Wang Ce sent an envoy to make peace with King Xi and King Dong.
The two sultans, King Xi and King Dong, could only hold their noses and admit it. They could also continue to send troops, but the elite territory of the East King was occupied, and the Luzon Kingdom had a strong military. In the end, they won at most
If we can maintain the status quo, if we lose, we may all destroy the country together.
As a result, the King of the East was sold, and the King of the West and the King of Dong secretly negotiated peace with the king.
The Sulu Kingdom thus existed in name only. The Western King became independent as the Palawan Sultanate, and the Dong King became the Jianshan Sultanate. As for the Eastern King, Wang Ce continued to fight, and he died within three months and the country was destroyed.
Wang Ce annexed the territory of the Eastern King and did not provoke the other two sultans, because even if he conquered more territory, he would not be able to immigrate a sufficient number of Han people for the time being.
Wang Ce did not engage in loss-making business. After he overthrew the Eastern King, he ransacked the houses of all the Green Sect merchants in his territory, and a large number of Han merchants came to take over the business.
In these newly occupied lands, spices and rubber trees can be planted.
At this time, the king of the Ayutthaya Kingdom died of illness, and the Nanyang Navy of the Ming Dynasty began a large-scale invasion of Ayutthaya.
The Kingdom of Ayutthaya was established by a descendant of Han merchants, also known as the "Ayutthaya Dynasty". According to the administrative division of later generations, the territory of the Kingdom of Ayutthaya included central and northern Malaysia, southern Myanmar, southern Thailand and a small amount of territory in Cambodia.
Ma Xin, the lord of Ayutthaya who had just succeeded to the throne, had not even straightened out the government affairs. He was directly beaten by the Nanyang Navy of the Ming Dynasty. He was forced to cede the entire Malay Peninsula to pray for peace. He was also blackmailed by the admiral of the Nanyang Navy for a hundred thousand taels.
gold.
This military operation was not approved by the Ming Dynasty Cabinet and the Ministry of War. It was purely the Nanyang Navy's own initiative.
The one hundred thousand taels of gold extorted were divided among the Nanyang Navy generals, and the occupied land was distributed among the navy officers and soldiers and their families.
Unlike the border towns in the north, the Ming Navy did not have the tradition of drinking the blood of its soldiers. They took great care of their navy soldiers, because land could be robbed, and so could tenants, as long as they maintained strong military strength.
After the Nanyang Navy of the Ming Dynasty captured the entire Malay Peninsula, they kept it secret from the court for fear that the court would send civilian officials to govern it.
After learning about the feats of the Nanyang brothers, the Toyo Navy could no longer sit still and directly destroyed the Ryukyu Kingdom. The Ryukyu king's treasures were divided among the generals of the Toyo Navy, and the land was distributed to the officers and soldiers of the Toyo Navy and their families.
Immediately afterwards, the Ming Dynasty Toyo Navy sent troops to occupy Japan's Tanegashima and Yakushima, and set up a trade war on these two islands to completely occupy the southern channel of Sino-Japanese trade. The Shimazu family was completely blocked and could only send ships.
I went to these two islands to buy goods and became a second-rate dealer honestly.
Regardless of whether it is the Oriental Navy or the Nanyang Navy, based on the territory they occupy, they can establish a country long ago.
However, today's Ming Dynasty is extremely powerful. From naval generals to ordinary soldiers, no one has thought about independence. They really have never thought about it. They only focus on grabbing land, people and money. All the naval admirals have
I made a lot of money and returned to Beijing to retire.
The Ming Dynasty in another time and space, until the Wanli period, still shocked Westerners with its wealth and prosperity.
For example, Lu Bor, the famous anti-Japanese general of the Jiajing Dynasty, captured a group of Portuguese people. Because Lu Bor was politically framed, some Portuguese captives were released without charge. One of the captives wandered around Jiangnan and wrote a record of his experiences.
Regard Ming Dynasty as heaven.
Today's Ming Dynasty is a hundred times better than the Jiajing Dynasty. Who still thinks about seeking independence outside.
Whether they are naval admirals or maritime merchants, they all want to make enough money when they are young, then go home and return to their roots when they are old, buy land, build houses, and build beautiful ancestral graves.
Underneath these flowers, land annexation became more serious in the Ming Dynasty, and countless landless peasants poured into the city every year.
The number of overseas immigrants is increasing year by year, and there are always those who don’t have enough to eat!