Chapter 483 Breaking into Guandong and going to the East
"Dividing land? What are you thinking about? Didn't you read the report on the North Korean people's livelihood survey that was published in Mingpao?"
"Hey, Lao Tian, when did you learn to read?"
"Hey! My fourth child knows it! I never miss an issue of this newspaper. After I bought it, I asked this kid to read it to me word by word, so he knew it by heart!"
"Hey! Good guy... Is it possible that the old Tian family will produce the top pick in the future?"
So Lao Tian turned into a storyteller and showed off endlessly.
According to the figures reported by the Ming Dynasty's diplomatic envoys, before the civil strife, there were more than 4 million people living in North Korea and more than 1 million landowners.
Speaking of this, there is another difference in the North Korean measurement standards. North Korea divides fields into grades one to six. This knot is not an area unit, but is equivalent to a field that can produce twenty shi of grain in the old Ming Dynasty system.
Calculated as a whole, I'm afraid there are about 400,000 hectares of land. As for the registered population, unlike the Ming Dynasty, which had already counted the unregistered slaves and unregistered slaves in North Korea, there are probably the same number of unregistered slaves and uninhabited households, and the population is actually close to a thousand.
Ten thousand.
"It's roughly the size of a province, with nearly 10 million people. Is it enough?" Lao Tian said his conclusion, shaking his head repeatedly, "There are many mountains and little land, and the weather is freezing. Taizu said that he would not conquer Korea, but that's not the case.
Makes sense.”
"Isn't it still a fight? Besides, most of the land is in the hands of their powerful and powerful families?"
"You won't die much, but it's still not enough!"
Ordinary people see it this way, but some well-informed businessmen and people from Chinese universities don’t think so.
"You only granted the title of Duke An Dong, and you also selected so many civil and military personnel to aid Korea. Your Majesty is determined to change Korea's future! What is lacking over there is not people, but stewards and businessmen to help the officials manage the people!"
"
From the top to the bottom, the people in between are indispensable.
Reshuffling the cards is inevitable, and there are endless opportunities here.
How can you underestimate a province?
"It's a little too early to go now, isn't it? The war is still in chaos."
"At least go to Liaodong first."
Since the Ming Dynasty began to set up border cities in Liaodong and the imperial court determined the strategy of slowly developing the Northeast, this time it was this time that the craze for entering Guandong was really aroused.
The first is the current peace of Korea, and then there is the fight against Japanese aggression. At least in the next few years, the opportunities brought about by material transshipment are considerable.
In addition, Ming Dynasty's attitude towards how to deal with North Korea in the future is gradually becoming clearer, so this opportunity is even greater.
The Zhigu area has been changing rapidly because it is equipped with a steam ironclad shipyard. Many young people from neighboring provinces have come there to make a living. Now the most important port in the northern part of the Maritime Bureau has even greater tasks, and more and more people have gathered there.
Now, Treasure Ship Supervisor President Shen Qi rushed outside the dock. When he saw Liu Tianhe, he saluted first: "Old man, I'm late..."
Liu Tianhe waved his hand: "There is no need to be polite. You reported that the trial production of the ironclad ship is nearing completion. I am responsible for the Ministry of Industry and should come and take a look in person. If the construction period is estimated, we must make preparations. Your Majesty has a decree.
Please visit the dock when launching your boat."
"Please, Mr. Guo..."
Shen Qi has been busy here for more than a day, and now he has indeed supervised the trial production of the armored ship until it has a general outline.
It was originally a transitional ship type, with both sails and wheels. The volume is indeed larger, but now Daming has greatly improved its steel production and production capacity response. It even built a heavy industry park specifically for the shipyard here. Zhigu is 100 meters away from the Beijing Heavy Industry Park. It's not that far away. Based on the large wooden battleships that have been accumulated in the past, we can use the entire treasure ship supervisor's strength to trial-produce a prototype ironclad experimental ship.
The huge shipyard is still extremely busy at this moment.
Liu Tianhe has worked as a supervisor in the Prime Minister Hedao Yamen and the former Ministry of Works for many years, and is no stranger to various construction sites.
After taking a look at the workers here, he nodded to Shen Qi: "President Shen is attentive. Your Majesty has entrusted you with this person."
"The old man praised me..."
What Liu Tianhe could see was that the management in this shipyard was in order. Although there were many shipwrights, the placement of machinery, the stacking of materials, and the passages for personnel exchanges were all well planned.
This Shen Qi won the favor of the emperor because of his book "The Ship Chronicles of the Ming Dynasty" and served as the president of the Treasure Ship Supervisor as a non-honored minister. He was already over 50 years old. He was indeed worthy of professional skills, human sophistication, and internal management of the Treasure Ship Supervisor. Your Majesty has a keen eye for knowing people.
In front of us is a huge ship standing in the dry dock.
Now, in this newly dug large dock, the pulley crane installed here is hoisting the main mast of the ship. This is currently the main work on the deck.
On the scaffolding around the giant ship in the dock, there is a circle of workers covering the ship with iron sheets above and below the waterline.
"Go and see the steam engine and the propeller."
Shen Qi led the way, and Liu Tianhe walked with him from the springboard to the deck first, and then entered the cabin.
"This is a lantern specially adapted for ironclad ships."
After entering the cabin, there is naturally no light. However, a large amount of coal, firearms and ammunition will be stored on the giant ship in the future, and fire protection requirements are very high, and lighting is indispensable in the huge cabin.
Liu Tianhe looked at the lantern nailed to the wall of the cabin passage, smiled and said, "He is indeed a new guy."
Horse lanterns are not new. The Tang Dynasty also set up a special Guanglu doctor to manage the horse lanterns on the royal road. In the Song Dynasty, improvements had been made, including special lamp oil and the addition of letter stones that could reflect the light and make it brighter. .
Nowadays, the horse lanterns on this ironclad ship must not only be able to adapt to the bumps in the waves during long voyages and the violent vibrations during war, but also improve safety. For this reason, special iron hoops are also equipped with cushioning cork and treated rubber. strips, and then the wick wrapped in translucent glass. The lamp oil tank is also specially made to prevent it from easily breaking and scattering and causing a fire after an earthquake.
If it can be used here, it can naturally be used in other ships and carriages.
It’s just that it must be expensive to build nowadays. If the armored ship is an important national weapon that the emperor pays special attention to, how can other warships be equipped with it?
Now the first thing is for the safety of this ship.
There were dull and noisy sounds of construction overhead and around him. Liu Tianhe was led by Shen Qi all the way to the engine room located in the middle and rear section.
"Prince Rui, Xin Shihou and others also come here often." Liu Tianhe pointed to the four improved steam engines in front of him, "If they hadn't been installed here and tested, I wouldn't dare to do it. It was reported that trial production is nearing completion.”
"How about a test run?"
"Now that it's submerged in the water, it's okay to idle." Shen Qi introduced, "Over at the Heavy Industry Park, I tried using the machine there to take the paddle wheel in the water. I heard that it has been spinning for thousands of hours. It was then decided to use this type of steel and style. What the official is worried about now is that the four machines will be driven together. Although this plan has been tested in the heavy industry park, he does not know whether it will work at sea. question."
Liu Tianhe nodded: "No problem. After launching, there is still a sea trial. Now that the civil strife in North Korea has been quelled, there is no need to worry about this ironclad ship."
Shen Qi bent over and said, "If nothing happens, by October, when the official orders someone to start the machine and do some idling tests in the dock, we will be ready to launch it into the water."
"As for the name, Your Majesty told me to ask you what you mean." Liu Tianhe smiled at him, held his arm to help him stand upright, "It also contains your hard work."
"Your Majesty, I am so kind to you..." Shen Qi was surprised, "How dare you take the credit..."
Seeing that Liu Tianhe seemed to be serious, Shen Qi's chest felt hot and he said loudly: "Steel bones and iron scales, spitting fire and controlling the wind! If this ship can gallop across the four seas, I will secretly think that it has the power of a black dragon!"
Liu Tianhe laughed loudly: "It shows that I love Ziyou very much and I have thought about it for a long time! Let's go and explain it to me in detail. After returning to the capital, let me say more good words in front of your majesty!"
With years of persistence by Tang Shu, a disciple, the main project to control the Huanghuai River has been completed. The next step is to further observe the effect and make some additions based on the new water regime caused by the Huanghuai River.
Liu Tianhe is already at his last stop, and he is already an old minister before the emperor. Now he can say these words easily.
Any words of praise were obviously an expression of wanting to support Shen Qi.