Just when brothers Zhu Su and Zhu Biao were choosing their chamberlains, Hongwu Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang summoned officials from Zhongshu Province, the Six Ministries and the Metropolitan Governor's Office to discuss a major matter.
"Your Majesty, you... want to train an elite naval force?" Liu Bowen, the banner figure of the Qingliu faction and sincere uncle, had a look of astonishment on his face. He wanted to rub his ears to see if there was something wrong with them.
Behind him, the officials from the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Household looked at each other in surprise.
"Yes. After much thought, this sea territory is also the territory of our Ming Dynasty. How can we abandon it at will?"
"Although there were one or two Japanese rebellions, how could we, the great Ming Dynasty, abandon our sea territory and ignore it because of a few Japanese pirates?"
"Please, your Majesty, please think again!" The Minister of War straightened his knees and knelt directly to Lao Zhu. "The Northern Expedition was newly defeated, Yunnan is not at peace, and the Tibetan and Western Fans are also ready to start a war. It is really not appropriate to provoke another war."
"Moreover, the Ming Dynasty has a lot of coastal areas, and there are coasts everywhere. It is not like the north where there are many geographical advantages to rely on. Forbidden sea defense can barely cope with it. If we gather our troops in one place and take the initiative to attack, there will be nowhere to find the enemy in the vast sea.
, if the enemy invades by taking advantage of the situation, it will become a serious trouble in a matter of seconds!"
"Moreover, the Japanese are just a few desperate people, and their country hangs alone on the vast sea. If our army uses a large number of ships to conquer them, it will only take one or two storms, and the entire army will be in danger of being wiped out."
"This is a quagmire! Your Majesty!"
The Minister of War cried with blood.
This is just the amount of money for a single ship frame, not counting various supplies, equipment, weapons, military salaries and other large miscellaneous items. The silver in the Hongwu period is not the end of the Qing Dynasty, when large-scale imports of silver caused serious currency
The age of expansion.
It can be said that today's Ming Dynasty Navy has never built a single ship by itself, and relies entirely on war and recruitment. Lao Zhu himself does not know that ships cost a lot of money, and that is natural.
But the "divine seed" that Zhu Su calls is like a carrot hanging in front of Lao Zhu's eyes, tickling his heart.
But even if the grain, silk, cloth, porcelain, etc. harvested in a year were all converted into silver, it would only amount to more than three million taels!
How about playing? If you spend all the money to build a water master, will the court still be transferred?
But how can it be so easy to build an army on the water? Then you have to build a ship! The emperor still wants a ship that can go to sea.
At this point, most of the ships are just strolling in the river, and the existing sea-going ships only go offshore a little bit.
Listening to the complaints from the officials of the Ministry of Household Affairs and the Ministry of War, Lao Zhu rubbed his brows with a headache, raised his head doubtfully and asked:
The two old men knelt down side by side, and their meaning was obvious.
When he was still in Haozhou, the Chaohu Navy came to join Lao Zhu, and Lao Zhu directly obtained a ready-made navy at a low price. He directly owned the second largest naval fleet in this era.
It was precisely with the Chaohu Navy that Lao Zhu had the capital to fight Chen Youliang on the water. Otherwise, Lao Zhu didn't even have a few decent boats, so there would be no water battle in Poyang Lake!
If you want to go far across the ocean, you have to build another big ship!
Lao Zhu's goal was the American continent. From the map, the distance was frightening, so he ordered the Ministry of War to build a treasure ship that was even larger than the existing ships.
"Hmm." Lao Zhu hesitated. It's not like he didn't know that although the Ming Dynasty's military power was strong, there were still barbarians to the west and south, and the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty was still eyeing them in the north. It would be good if they didn't cause chaos along the southern coast, but they really weren't taking the initiative to attack.
time.
In two days, the prophecies that the Ming Dynasty will die after its second generation will begin to be circulated in the court.
Seeing that the emperor began to address him as "I", the ministers understood his determination. The Minister of the Ministry of War glanced at the Ministry of Revenue with a tangled look. He asked him with his eyes: "Your Majesty will organize and train the navy, will you pay for it?"
Hubu had a lot of money. Shangshu of Hubu, who had just replaced Haiyuan for a few days, had a look of helplessness on his face. He walked to the side of Shangshu of Military Affairs with a bitter look on his face, and knelt down towards Lao Zhu with a "pop" sound.
It was not until the founding of the People's Republic of China that the Ministry of Revenue calculated the assets of the imperial court and realized that every ship in the navy was ridiculously expensive!
"Your Majesty! How many brains do I have, how dare I lie to you with this?" The Minister of the Ministry of Revenue almost confessed his feelings on the spot.
After defeating Chen Youliang with less and more at Poyang Lake, Lao Zhu directly integrated the remnants of Chen Youliang's navy, and suddenly he had the most powerful navy of this era. Then Lao Zhu defeated Zhang Shicheng again and directly integrated them.
Zhang Shicheng's command was a navy with sea-going ships that could go to sea.
"This is just to build a few boats. Do they really cost so much?"
Silver at this time still had great purchasing power. At this time, the court's taxation was mainly based on grain collection. Silk, cloth, porcelain, etc. could all be taxed, and silver only accounted for a small part.
Therefore, I had no choice but to be rude and unreasonable. Lao Zhu waved his sleeves and said forcefully: "I have made up my mind! You don't need to say more."
"We don't want to start a war, we just want to train a navy and explore the sea routes for us..." Lao Zhu tried to persuade these ministers, but he couldn't tell him about the "god seed". If he did,
Those ministers would definitely think that he wanted to imitate Qin Shihuang and seek some Penglai fairy mountain.
This job is impossible!
This really isn't the two of them giving the emperor eye drops. The newly appointed Minister of Household Affairs finally managed to survive Haiyuan. The family was still making noises last night. How could he have the courage to disobey the emperor as soon as he takes up the post?
Really, this job is really beyond the capabilities of the imperial court. Instead of waiting to be beheaded for not doing good things, it would be better to be fucked by Lao Zhu right now!
Lao Zhu is a handsome man on land, but he really doesn't understand the twists and turns on the water. The army on land can only sign some poor people, distribute some rice and flour as military rations, scrape together some ordnance, and send a good general to train for a few days.
, it’s considered an army.
We can't blame Zhu Yuanzhang for being unrealistic. After all, today's Ming Dynasty navy is actually picked up ready-made.
The Ministry of War and the Ministry of Household Affairs just got together and made a rough estimate. Only one boat would cost at least eight thousand taels of silver!
Then it must be built tall and thick to withstand the wind and waves. My God, why are the boats not made of wood? They are all made of silver!
"The imperial court is in dire straits right now, and there is no way it can afford this sum of money, Your Majesty!"
"Hmm..." Lao Zhu's face was as dark as water. He didn't expect that just wanting to send a few ships across the ocean to try to verify the existence of "America" and the "God Seed" would cost so much.
.
Before, he thought that the Ming Dynasty was vast and rich in resources, and he would never have to worry about money shortage, only food.
Now he suddenly felt that Daming was indeed too young. His family background... wasn't strong enough!
We need to buy some more property... Zhu Yuanzhang, an old farmer, thought with a headache.