Zhu Houzhao naturally knew Chu Yi very well. Looking at Chu Yi's reaction, Zhu Houzhao knew that Chu Yi had really made up his mind. Even if he tried to persuade him, it would be difficult for him to change his mind. Of course, if he said
If he forcibly issued an order requiring Chu Yi to obey his orders, then Chu Yi would not go against his will, but that would definitely damage the relationship between the monarch and his ministers.
With a wry smile, Chu Yi just nodded and said: "Well, since the big companion has made up his mind, it is not inconvenient for me to persuade you. I only hope that everything will go well for you, big companion. I don't ask that the big companion can conquer the land of Japan. I only hope that the big companion can conquer the land of Japan."
It’s good to be able to come back safely. I don’t care about the mere Japanese. If my companions are harmed in the process of conquering Japan, I will be extremely sad.”
Chu Yi couldn't help but smile and said: "Your Majesty, even if I want to personally lead troops to conquer Japan, I would not choose to do so at this time of year."
Hearing what Chu Yi said, Zhu Houzhao couldn't help but his eyes lit up. Chu Yi had just come back not long ago and had not stayed in the capital for long, and this happened.
Now listening to Chu Yi's meaning, it seemed that the troops were not to be sent out immediately. Zhu Houzhao smiled bitterly for a moment, and he actually forgot that sending out the troops obviously could not be so hasty.
Even if Chu Yi wants to personally lead an army to conquer Japan, he must be fully prepared.
In particular, the expedition to Japan will inevitably involve crossing the ocean. The most critical issue is logistics. If logistics is not done well, even if the troops and horses are actually transported to Japan, it will not last long.
Seeing Zhu Houzhao's expression, Chu Yi smiled and said: "Your Majesty, crossing the ocean is by no means an easy task. You must be fully prepared. Otherwise, if you send troops rashly, you may repeat the mistakes of the Meng Yuan Dynasty.
.”
Since Chu Yi had decided to personally lead an army to conquer Japan, and Zhu Houzhao could not change Chu Yi's decision, what he wanted was to ensure that Chu Yi's expedition would go as smoothly as possible.
Zhu Houzhao was heard saying to Chu Yi: "My dear friend, I have also read the history books. It is recorded in the history books that the Meng Yuan Dynasty sent large armies to attack Japan twice, but they were defeated due to various reasons. Although there are man-made disasters, natural disasters cannot be ignored.
.”
The two attacks by the Mongolian and Yuan Dynasties ended in failure. A considerable part of the reason was that the internal struggles among the generals sent by Kublai Khan were too fierce. The coalition was composed of generals from the Southern Song Dynasty, Korean generals, and Mongolian and Yuan generals.
It can be said that there is a deep rift between the North Korean generals and the Mongolian and Yuan generals. In addition, they both wanted to compete for credit, but they did not cooperate at all. In the end, the fighter plane was delayed. Finally, due to misjudgment of the weather, the sudden typhoon was like a crushing death.
Like the last straw for the camel.
Zhu Houzhao could know this, and obviously Zhu Houzhao had really read the records about the Mongolian Yuan's attack on Japan.
Compared with Zhu Houzhao's understanding of the two Mongol and Yuan conquests against Japan, Chu Yi had naturally collected various records.
To be precise, the reason why the Mongolian Yuan invasion of Japan failed was due to improper employment of personnel and natural disasters.
As the saying goes, a lesson from the past is a guide for the future. There is a precedent of the failure of the Meng Yuan attack on Japan. Even Chu Yi did not dare to be careless in the slightest.
Although the island country in Japan is not large in area, it has given birth to a warlike ethnic group, but Chu Yi is not too worried.
Not to mention that the Ming Dynasty's national power is getting stronger and stronger and is in a period of rise. A large number of sea-going ships are being supervised and built. New ships are launched almost every day. In addition, the national treasury is full. Even if the Ming Dynasty's massive ships were recreated when Zheng He, the eunuch of the Three Treasures, sailed to the Western Ocean The team is not a problem either.
When Wang Shouren pacified the south of the Yangtze River, he followed Chu Yi's plan to confiscate his family and exterminate his clan. However, all local families who had connections with the remnants of King Ning were included in the ranks of rebels.
Although this move made it more difficult to pacify the place, once the families and dignitaries who were entrenched in the place were pacified, the entire place would return to the control of the Ming Dynasty, and an astonishing amount of wealth could be harvested by confiscating the houses.
It was precisely because of this that King Ning had been escorted to the capital and sentenced to death by the emperor for more than three months, but Jiangnan was still not completely pacified.
If Chu Yi had not sent such a strong order to Wang Shouren not to accept the surrender of these local dignitaries and gentry, I am afraid that not long after King Ning was captured, the entire Jiangnan would have been pacified.
However, the Jiangnan that Chu Yi wanted was a Jiangnan that was completely controlled by the imperial court, rather than a Jiangnan that was controlled by the intertwined gentry, maritime merchants and powerful people in the south of the Yangtze River.
Wang Shouren almost pushed through city after city. Although the damage caused to Jiangnan was a bit greater, the effect was very obvious.
In the cities conquered by Wang Shouren, and following Wang Shouren's army in Dongchang, the royal guards had already thoroughly checked the details of the gentry and powerful people in the city. Once the city was breached, they would immediately arrest them according to the roster.
A large amount of wealth was transported from the south of the Yangtze River to the capital. It can be said that the treasury was so full that it was rare in previous dynasties. Officials of the Ministry of Household Affairs even had to build several new warehouses to store the silver coins.
As for the massive amount of silver that Chu Yi wants to build a big ship to throw in, it is nothing compared to the income of the Ministry of Revenue.
After several waves of loot, even after excluding part of the silver that entered the emperor's inner treasury, the entire bank account now has a huge amount of 80 million taels of silver. You must know that this does not include the tens of millions spent from the household department. Various amounts on both counts.
Chu Yi knew that in a few years, the Ming Dynasty would usher in the Little Ice Age, so under Chu Yi's suggestion, the entire court began to carry out large-scale construction, repairing rivers and canals, and even building water canals in various places near the rivers. car.
If it were in the past, Chu Yi's suggestions would definitely be criticized by many people as wasting money and wasting money. However, now the imperial court has used silver to hire migrant workers, and at the same time a large number of prisoners of war have been used to repair rivers. No harm to the people.
Although it only lasted less than half a year, the entire Ming Dynasty actually showed signs of great prosperity. It is conceivable that once the water conservancy projects in various places are completed, even if there are various natural disasters, the harm of natural disasters can be reduced at least to a certain extent.
In the imperial study, Chu Yi looked at Zhu Houzhao and said: "Your Majesty, I sincerely request your Majesty to issue an edict and allow me to build another thousand warships!"
Not long ago, Chu Yi wrote to Zhu Houzhao, begging the court to agree to build thousands of warships, which would cost millions of taels of silver, not counting the later maintenance of these ships.
The warships Chu Yi wants to build are not commercial ships, but real warships used for war. The cost of each warship, including the artillery on the warship, is almost thousands or even tens of thousands of taels. Patterned silver.
When Chu Yi put forward the proposal to build so many warships, many civil and military officials in the court were in an uproar. If Chu Yi had not relied on his own prestige and Zhu Houzhao's support to suppress it, most of the cabinet would have been
Even the elders would not agree.
After all, once so many warships are built, the supporting logistics and maintenance will be a real gold-swallowing beast. I am afraid that the Ministry of Revenue will spend millions of taels of maintenance costs on the navy every year.
You must know that a few years ago, the Ming Dynasty's Ministry of Revenue received only three to four million taels of tax money in total each year. All kinds of expenses of the court required civil and military officials to calculate on their fingers. Slightly larger projects
Don't even dare to open it.
Now Chu Yi actually wanted to add a thousand warships as soon as he opened his mouth. Even Zhu Houzhao couldn't help but raise his eyebrows after hearing this, with a look of surprise on his face. He was obviously shocked by Chu Yi's generosity.
Taking a deep breath, Zhu Hou looked at Chu Yi and said, "Daban, are you sure you want to build another thousand warships?"
Chu Yi nodded slightly, his eyes full of calm, and he looked at Zhu Houzhao.
Others don't know it clearly, but Chu Yi knows it very well. Without him, Ming Dynasty would still have the dream of going to heaven, but it has no idea what Ming Dynasty missed due to the national policy of banning the sea.
Apart from the Ming Dynasty, the two great maritime powers of the Western world, Portugal and Spain, even signed a treaty more than ten or twenty years ago in an attempt to divide the entire world into two.
The huge navies of Portugal and Spain roamed the seas, plundering the wealth of the entire world, and had already left the aging Celestial Kingdom behind.
The age of world navigation has arrived. Missing this era will be a great disaster for the entire Eastern civilization.
Decades later, the maritime power of Portugal, which annexed Spain, reached its peak. It owned more than a thousand ships and nearly 200 main warships. It roamed the seas and was known as the Invincible Fleet. It even invaded several times and later became a Japanese force.
The British Empire, known as the Fallen Empire.
In Chu Yi's view, both Portugal and the Empire on which the Sun Never Sets are not even remotely inferior to the Ming Dynasty.
Portugal and the United Kingdom are typical small countries with only a few million or tens of millions of citizens. Even if they use all their strength, they can only gather hundreds of warships and a navy of hundreds of thousands.
However, the Ming Empire, with its huge territory and vast number of people, not to mention the power of the whole country, even if the national power is slightly poured into the navy, it is not comparable to that of some small countries.
Building thousands of warships in a few years is an unimaginable thing even for naval powers like Portugal and Spain, which are now at the peak of their national power and dominate the sea.
These countries have been developing maritime power for hundreds of years, but they have only accumulated a small amount of maritime power. Even at this time, the combined efforts of several countries may not be able to gather thousands of ships.
However, as a large country in the East, the Ming Dynasty had enough confidence to build a huge maritime fleet in just a few years with its huge manpower, material resources, and financial resources.
If maritime powers like Portugal and Spain knew that the Ming Dynasty could build thousands of warships in just a few years, they would be shocked.
As a result, the shipbuilding silver allocated by the Ministry of Revenue had just been received not long ago, and now Chu Yi actually proposed to build a thousand more ships. No wonder Zhu Houzhao had a look of astonishment on his face.
"Daban, aren't we building too many warships? Even for this expedition to Japan, there is no need to build a thousand more warships."
In fact, the fleet that Chu Yi wanted to build was too large. Zhu Houzhao really didn't know what the purpose of building so many warships was.
Zhu Houzhao, who had seen the model of the ship that Chu Yi wanted to build, could imagine the destructive power of those huge warships on the sea, even if he had never seen it.
In Zhu Houzhao's view, Japan could not handle dozens or hundreds of warships in a mere Japanese land, not to mention a thousand warships.
Chu Yi stood up, walked to the edge, stretched out his hand, and saw a huge map appearing in front of him.
This is a rather crude map, but it can be clearly seen that it is a world map.
This map is centered on the Ming Dynasty. The surrounding countries, especially those large and small countries on the sea, are depicted with reference to the records left by Zheng He’s voyages to the West in the past. As for Africa, these are actually the places where Zheng He visited the West in the past.
The place of arrival.
And Chu Yi just slightly improved this map of the world.
Chu Yi still remembers the deep shock he gave Zhu Houzhao when he dedicated this map to Zhu Houzhao.
Chu Yi didn't say anything, but pointed at the vast sea that occupied nearly 70% of the entire map. Zhu Houzhao couldn't help but show a bit of fanaticism and excitement in his eyes. He took a deep breath and looked at Chu Yi and said: "As long as you have a companion
If I can convince the cabinet as well as the civil and military forces of the DPRK and China, I will grant whatever the great companion asks for!"
The next morning, when Chu Yi proposed building a thousand more ships, he never thought that the first person to stand up and object would be none other than Jiao Fang, the chief minister of the cabinet.
It's not that Jiao Fang and Chu Yi are on opposite sides, but in Jiao Fang's view, Chu Yi's construction of a thousand ships is already shocking. Even so, everyone agreed because of Chu Yi's prestige.
However, not long after this, Chu Yi suddenly opened his mouth again and wanted to build thousands more ships. Even Jiao Fang felt that Chu Yi was too crazy and even a bit militaristic.
Almost all the civil servants and even some military generals opened their eyes wide and looked at Chu Yi with disbelief.
After hearing Chu Yi's words, Yang Yiqing, the Duke of Jin who was in charge of the Ministry of War, almost pulled off his beard with a shake of his hand and looked at Chu Yi in shock.
Jiao Fang looked at Chu Yi with a worried look on her face and said: "His Royal Highness King Wu, think twice. A thousand ships are enough to traverse the sea. Even Zheng He, the former Three Treasures eunuch, only had more than a hundred ships when he sailed to the Western Ocean..."
Chu Yi was not surprised by the opposition from Jiao Fang and other officials. He even did not discuss it with Jiao Fang in advance, because Chu Yi knew very well that even if he convinced Jiao Fang, he might not be able to convince the civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty.
Seeing that Chu Yi's expression was calm and not affected by Jiao Fang's objection at all, as the Minister of the Ministry of War, Yang Yiqing coughed lightly, looked at Chu Yi with a solemn expression and said slowly: "Your Highness, what the Chief Assistant said is not unreasonable.
, although our Ming Dynasty’s treasury is full now, there are many places to use money in the world, and a thousand ships is already the limit that the court can maintain. If we build another thousand ships according to the chief manager’s words, I am afraid that our Ming Dynasty’s finances will be greatly reduced.
The navy was brought down!"
As the Minister of the Ministry of War, Yang Yiqing, as a newly promoted member of the nobility, naturally hopes that the strength of the military will be greatly increased. The Navy naturally also belongs to the military and will also be subject to the constraints of the Ministry of War. However, Yang Yiqing was influenced by Chu Yi's generosity.
I was shocked.
A thousand ships is fine. The Ming Dynasty's national power is not unsustainable. But if we build another thousand ships, it's not that we can't build them, but it's simply not necessary.
There are no strong enemies on the sea of the Ming Dynasty. Since ancient times, the enemies of the Central Plains Dynasty have all come from foreign races in the north. As for the sea, to be honest, no one has thought that one day, there will be strong enemies coming from the sea.
If this were not the case, the Ming Dynasty would not have exhausted its navy. The former navy was already dilapidated, and Chu Yi had to build another navy.
It can be said that almost no one in the country regarded overseas affairs as a hidden danger to the future of the Ming Dynasty. It is not to blame that the civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty, including Yang Yiqing, a man of literary and military skills, a general and a prime minister, opposed Chu Yi's proposal.
Following Jiao Fang and Yang Yiqing, almost everyone expressed their opposition. Chu Yi seemed to be isolated by everyone for a while.
Chu Yi slowly turned around and stood under the imperial steps of Zhu Houzhao. His calm, water-like eyes swept over the civil and military personnel present. He only heard Chu Yi say: "I once said that the future enemies of the Ming Dynasty will definitely fight against themselves."
Coming from overseas, overseas enemies possess endless wealth, and only powerful maritime power can seize overseas wealth. Why don’t you believe in Chu for once!”
Everyone looked at Chu Yi, and for a moment there was silence in the entire court.
Although Chu Yi was asking everyone to believe him once in his words, everyone could hear Chu Yi's determination. It was obvious that Chu Yi had made up his mind, and it would be difficult for them to stop him.
When everyone turned their attention to Zhu Houzhao, they found that Zhu Houzhao was shaking his head at them with a wry smile. Obviously, even the emperor could not persuade Chu Yi.
Everyone has long been accustomed to this. If it were anyone else, the emperor would have decided it with one word. However, Zhu Houzhao and Chu Yi were not ordinary monarchs and ministers at all. Even Zhu Houzhao could not do anything against Chu Yi.
Jiao Fang looked at Chu Yi, sighed in her heart and said to Chu Yi: "If the general manager insists on building more ships, it is not impossible, but the number must be reduced."
Yang Yiqing's eyes suddenly lit up when he heard this. Since he couldn't stop Chu Yi from building more ships, he should try his best to persuade Chu Yi to reduce the number of ships.
Yang Yiqing was heard saying to Chu Yi: "Building another thousand ships would be too much pressure for the country. How about adding another two hundred ships?"
Chu Yi raised his eyebrows, pondered for a while, looked at Jiao Fang and Yang Yiqing and said: "In that case, let's build another five hundred ships!"
Hearing what Chu Yi said, Yang Yiqing, Jiao Fang and even the civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty couldn't help but feel relieved. Five hundred ships should be five hundred ships. It is already quite rare to get Chu Yi to agree to cut it in half. Even without looking at it,
Even the emperor couldn't make Chu Yi change his mind!
[5,000-word chapter, please give me a monthly pass.].Sogou
