Chapter 494 Please give your majesty a name for such a sharp weapon
But what the Ming Dynasty is most indispensable for now is manpower. As for craftsmen, as long as we adopt a multi-pronged approach, we can cultivate a large number of craftsmen.
After all, with the current national strength of the Ming Dynasty, as long as there is enough money to throw it at it, it can definitely create a miracle.
Logs were transported to the shipyard one by one. Within a few days, dozens of logs that were several feet long and dried in the shade were recovered in Nanjing City alone. However, compared to the wood that was sold, these were probably
Not even one percent.
Some local tycoons or officials had used some of the wood. Facing Li Huan's power, these people could only offer high prices for rewards. Suddenly, many poor people in the south of the Yangtze River went into the mountains and forests to look for those century-old trees in exchange for them.
A lot of money.
Li Huan left behind a huge sum of two million taels of silver, and also left several personnel from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Jinyiwei, and Dongchang to oversee the use of the money.
A vigorous major expansion has officially kicked off. At least a dozen large and small shipyards are expanding, digging and repairing new shipyards. Taking Longjiang Shipyard as an example, originally Longjiang Shipyard only had six shipyards that could be used to build treasure ships.
, but after receiving Li Huan's order, Longjiang Shipyard went straight to the target and opened ten more docks, striving to produce more than thirty treasure ships annually.
At the same time, folk craftsmen suddenly became in demand and became the most sought-after existence. A large number of craftsmen were recruited into shipyards everywhere.
At Li Huan's request, each skilled craftsman led a newcomer to teach the craft while building the ship. If it were in the past, perhaps these old craftsmen would definitely treat their craft as a treasure and not pass it on.
But the temptation of Li Huan's high rewards was too great. Every master craftsman who could bring out a qualified craftsman would be rewarded with fifty taels of silver. You can imagine what kind of temptation such a reward would have for these skilled old craftsmen.
.
In Li Huan's view, even if these old craftsmen could train him 10,000 skilled craftsmen, it would only cost him hundreds of thousands of taels of silver reward.
However, the value of tens of thousands of craftsmen cannot be compared with hundreds of thousands of taels of silver.
Li Huan was a man of two generations, and he knew better than anyone else that the importance of industrial development would only become higher and higher in the next few hundred years. If he wanted to promote industrial development, the most important thing was industrial talents. In the Ming Dynasty,
That is a famous craftsman.
Whether it is building giant ships and cannons, developing the textile industry, or researching and manufacturing steam engines in the future, building railways, or even iron smelting, alchemy, etc., it can be said that everything is inseparable from a large number of craftsmen.
Before heading south to Nanjing, Li Huanke first inspected dozens of ordnance-related factories and bureaus, including the firearms manufacturing bureau, armor and stick manufacturing bureau, gunpowder manufacturing plant, steel smelting plant, etc. under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Industry.
These places can be said to have gathered the most advanced industrial technology of the Ming Dynasty, and gathered a considerable number of skilled craftsmen. Li Huan made a tour and emptied his memory of all kinds of information related to these factories and bureaus.
Whether it is cement firing, steam engines, artillery casting, high-speed iron steelmaking, or muzzle-loading guns, muskets, rifled guns, etc., Li Huan indeed has no research on these, more of the massive amount of materials in his previous life.
A brief introduction to his experience and reading information. With his current memory, Li Huan recalled it clearly. Then Li Huan compiled these records into volumes and handed them over to the most skilled craftsmen one by one, ordering them to study them.
.
It can be said that these involve all aspects. Even if these craftsmen can study a small part, it will definitely be of great help to the Ming Dynasty.
He ordered people to recruit craftsmen, and then asked these old craftsmen to lead the new ones with high rewards. Li Huan's determination to cultivate craftsmen was extremely determined. The overall situation of Jiangnan was decided, but Li Huan had left quietly.
Longjiang Shipyard returned to the capital.
After returning to the capital, Li Huan just quietly entered the city to meet the emperor, reported the affairs in the south of the Yangtze River to the emperor, and then rested for a while in the capital. However, a few days later he rushed non-stop to Tianjin Wei, a hundred miles away.
As the gateway to the capital, Tianjin Wei borders the Bohai Sea to the east and the Yanshan Mountains to the north across the Haihe River. It is a transportation hub from the capital to the northeast and east China. Because it is adjacent to the Bohai Sea, it is also an important ocean port.
The mouth has always been known as the hub of rivers and seas and the gateway to Jifu.
With the opening of the sea, the imperial court planned to temporarily set up nine major shipping departments, one of which was Tianjin Wei City Shipping Department. However, this time Li Huan came to Tianjin Wei City Shipping Department because there was an important matter that required his personal supervision.
It has been several months since the decree of the Ming Dynasty to open the sea was issued to the local area. Not to mention the large number of merchants from the southeastern coastal areas who went to sea, but to say that Li Huan united a large number of nobles and the emperor to form a caravan.
The emperor personally named it the Ming Dynasty Royal Caravan. You can imagine what kind of influence such a caravan, which gathered the Ming Dynasty noble group and the royal family, had.
It can be said that the Royal Caravan of the Ming Dynasty was frantically impeached by the civil servant group when it was first established. It was said that the emperor should not compete with the people for profit, nor should he give a caravan such a distinct royal name as the Royal Caravan of the Ming Dynasty.
However, why does Zhu Houzhao need to be a human being? How could he be restrained by these civil servants? He even changed his name to Zhu Shou and named himself the general manager of the Royal Caravan of the Ming Dynasty. He named Li Huan, Duke of Qin, the deputy general manager of the Royal Caravan of the Ming Dynasty.
Assistant, British Duke Zhang Lun and others were all deputy general managers. Such a coquettish operation made the officials' jaws drop to the ground.
With the strength of Li Huan and the nobles of various families, one can imagine the scale of a caravan.
The reason why Li Huan rushed to Tianjin Guard this time was because the Ming Dynasty royal caravan had been prepared and prepared to go to sea for the first time. Under such circumstances, it was obviously impossible for Zhu Houzhao, the emperor, to leave the capital, so Li Huan did his part.
There were no two candidates, but traveling with Li Huan was Luo Xiang, one of the Eight Tigers.
Not only Li Huan, but also Duke Cheng, Duke Ying, and several other princes and marquises, it can be said that they all gathered in Tianjin Wei.
On this day, dozens of huge merchant ships were moored in Tianjin Wei's port. A group of people led by Li Huan stood on the pier and watched the merchants and sailors board the ships.
I saw a burly man in military uniform, bowing to Li Huan and others and saying, "Jiang Bin, the last general, has met all of you."
Li Huan couldn't help but raise his eyebrows when he heard this. Could this Jiang Bin be the same Jiang Bin? If so, this person can be regarded as a talent, but he didn't know how he was selected to be the protector of this caravan.
Army command.
After all, it is a royal caravan. Even private merchants traveling on the sea will maintain guards to guard against pirates on the sea, let alone the royal caravan. Therefore, the British Duke, Cheng Guogong and others will use their respective generals as their own.
As the backbone, a group of elite warriors were selected from the army, and Jiang Bin was appointed as the commander of the army to protect the caravan.
The entire caravan consists of dozens of merchant ships, nearly ten large and small warships, more than 200 escorts, more than a dozen large and small cannons, hundreds of muskets, and hundreds of crossbows. It can be said that even if it encounters plunder at sea,
Large-scale pirate forces can also protect themselves.
Zhang Lun nodded slightly towards Jiang Bin and said: "The safety of the caravan going here will be left to you. If you work hard, you may not be able to reach the sky and enter your majesty's sight one day, and you will become a prosperous person from now on."
I drew a big pie for Jiang Bin, which only made Jiang Bin look excited and repeatedly promised that he would ensure the safety of the caravan even if he risked his life.
At this time, Li Huan held a glass of water and wine and said to Luo Xiang: "Prince Luo, please drink this wine. This time you are traveling with the ship, but you have to be careful along the way." Luo Xiang took the wine glass and drank it in one gulp, and then said with a smile on his face.
"Don't worry, Duke of Qin. Our family has been ordered to go out to sea with the ship. We will have a drink with the Duke when we return one day."
Li Huan laughed loudly and said, "In that case, Li will be waiting for the day when Brother Luo returns smoothly."
Accompanied by the loud sound of the horn, ships one after another lifted anchors and sails and slowly sailed out of the port and gradually disappeared into the horizon.
Seeing the fleet disappear, British Duke Zhang Lun couldn't help but sigh with emotion: "The sea is vast, and I don't know if everything will go smoothly for the caravan here."
On the other hand, Cheng Guogong Zhu Fu stroked his beard and said: "Whether it goes smoothly or not, since we have opened the sea, we must set an example. More importantly, the caravan trades with all countries and can collect intelligence from overseas countries for our Ming Dynasty.
That’s the most important thing.”
Although they knew that sea trade contained huge benefits, these nobles did not care. Compared with the benefits that they had not yet seen, they valued the benefits contained in this caravan more.
A deeper meaning.
However, Li Huan knew that if everything went well with the caravan, just the finest silk, porcelain, tea and other items loaded on the ship would probably shock everyone after returning.
chin.
In September of the sixth year of Zhengde in the Ming Dynasty, a memorial was sent directly to the capital.
In the imperial study, Zhu Houzhao looked at Li Huan with a smile on his face, who was reading through a memorial: "Li Qing, Wei Guogong Xu Youzou, the first treasure ship of Longjiang Shipyard has been successfully completed, and it has passed through
With the cooperation of the Ministry of War, Ministry of Industry and other ministries, all the artillery pieces have been shipped and tested and can be launched at any time."
As he spoke, Zhu Houzhao looked excited and said: "You must know that this is another new treasure ship built by the Ming Dynasty in the past hundred years. Its significance is very important. What Xu means is whether the imperial court should send officials to personally preside over the launch of the treasure ship.
ceremony."
Putting down the memorial in his hand, Li Huan also had a smile on his face.
Li Huan is in charge of Jinyiwei, and Longjiang Shipyard can be said to be the department that Jinyiwei focuses on monitoring, so every move at Longjiang Shipyard is under Jinyiwei's surveillance.
In fact, the construction of Zheng He's treasure ship had been completed a few months ago, but the completion of the hull construction does not mean that the entire ship is completely completed.
After all, the ship still needs to carry large and small artillery, racquet sticks and even trebuchets and other weapons. It took several months to load these weapons on the ship. Only then can the construction of a warship be completely completed.
Go into the water and fight.
Because it was the first prototype, the construction took a full eight or nine months, which was a few months longer than the expected half a year.
However, in Li Huan's view, it is all worth it. With the first ship, the second, third and even more ships can be launched continuously.
With the foundation and strength of the Ming Dynasty, if they wanted to, they could build a huge and amazing fleet within a few years. Various thoughts flashed through his mind. Li Huan took a deep breath and bowed to the emperor: "Your Majesty
, let me go through it myself."
Zhu Houzhao called Li Huan here with the intention of letting Li Huan go. After all, based on Zhu Houzhao's understanding of Li Huan, even if he didn't send Li Huan there, Li Huan would take the initiative to ask for help.
Now hearing Li Huan speak, Zhu Houzhao was not surprised at all, but said with a smile: "Li Qing is here to watch it for me. When the fleet is completed in the future, I will personally inspect our Daming Navy."
fleet."
Li Huan just smiled when he heard this. It was within Li Huan's expectation that Zhu Houzhao had such an idea. If he had not taken his own identity into consideration, and the capital was thousands of miles away from Jiangnan, and the round trip would have taken at least more than a month, the emperor would have been
I went to Jiangnan to personally witness the launch of this treasure ship.
Li Huan looked at Zhu Houzhao and said with a smile: "Your Majesty, according to the craftsmen of the Longjiang Shipyard, this treasure ship has been improved to a certain extent on the basis of the original treasure ship through their hands, and with the addition of newly cast cannons,
The combined performance of the improved gunpowder shells and so on is much better than before, and the capability of sea warfare has almost doubled."
Zhu Houzhao beamed when he heard that call and nodded repeatedly, obviously very satisfied with the news.
At this moment, Li Huan looked at the emperor and said, "These ships are the most powerful weapons of our Ming Dynasty. Please give me a name for this ship!"
Zhu Houzhao's eyes couldn't help but light up when he heard this, and he looked at Li Huan with some excitement and said, "Do you want me to name it myself?"
Li Huan smiled and said: "Shouldn't such a sharp weapon for the country deserve a resounding name? The world is so big, who else is qualified to name it except Your Majesty?"
I have to say that Li Huan's words made Zhu Houzhao smile with joy, not to mention how excited he was. It is true that he could not go to Jiangnan to watch the launch of the treasure ship in person, but he could name this treasure ship.
As Li Huan said, how could such a treasure ship, which can be called a powerful weapon for the country, not have a resounding name?
With a bit of excitement, Zhu Houzhao couldn't help walking back and forth in the imperial study, muttering softly as he walked: "I
You have to think hard about what kind of name you should come up with.”
Li Huan was watching Zhu Houzhaozi spinning around. To be honest, Li Huan was somewhat curious as to what kind of name Zhu Houzhao could come up with.
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