Late Yuan Dynasty: I am the true emperor

Chapter 437 Yuanwang No.

Outside the city of Suzhou, Tao Guangyi and his son Tao Jingming, the captured Zhejiang East Inspector Yang Hui, and the surrendered Ning Anqing and Li Xiang, were waiting for the escort personnel to arrange a ship to Jiankang.

At this time of early July, people who grow double-season rice are already busy harvesting. Double-season rice in Jiangnan is usually sown and raised in March, transplanted in late April, and harvested in early July. Then the land is quickly turned over and late rice is planted, and another harvest can be made in October. The total yield of the two seasons per mu can reach nearly 600 kilograms. This is the most fertile land in the Taihu Plain.

It was the beginning of July, the time when people harvested early rice.

Tao Guangyi and others were standing under a roadside tree to enjoy the cool air, and discovered that in the farmland beside the official road, the farmers who should have been busy in their fields were now gathered in one field. Hundreds of people were gathered together, chattering about something, and officials in green robes could be seen next to them, and it was unclear whether they were the county magistrate or the chief clerk.

Tao Jingming immediately asked curiously, "Dad, why are they not working in their own fields? Why are there officials there?"

Tao Guangyi glanced over there and said, "How should I know? Since you are so curious, why don't you go over and take a look?"

Then he looked at a junior officer of the Internal Guard who was escorting them and asked, "Inspector Liu, can we go over and take a look?"

The officer called Liu Xunjian looked at the official road in the distance and saw that the men who were looking for the boat were still nowhere to be seen, so he said, "Let's go and have a look. Don't stay too long. Maybe we can find the boat soon."

"Okay, let's go take a look."

The group immediately walked towards the crowd. Coincidentally, at this moment, an old man and his young son came over to the side of the road, holding a shoulder pole and a sickle in their hands. Tao Jingming stopped the father and son and asked.

"Excuse me, old man, whose field is this?"

Seeing that they were dressed in extraordinary clothes and accompanied by soldiers, the old man did not dare to neglect them and immediately answered, "Sir, this land you are talking about used to belong to the Shen family in Wu County. The Shen family was the richest family in Jiangdong, with hundreds of thousands of acres of land. Later, when Marshal Gongshu's army came, the Shen family donated all the land to the new government. Now it is the official land of the new government."

The group looked at each other in shock. My goodness, hundreds of thousands of acres were donated to the government???

Tao Guangyi asked again, "Then the father-in-law is also a tenant of this official field?"

"Yes, the new government is very good. As soon as this land became government land, they reduced the rent for us by 10%. Now the government land is divided into 40% and 60%, with the tenants taking 60% and the government only taking 40% of the rent. We, the common people, can live a better life."

Everyone was even more shocked. Hundreds of thousands of acres of land, even if the rent was only 10%, that was not a small amount. How could Marshal Gongshu just say he didn't want it?

Tao Guangyi asked again, "It should be the busy season for harvesting rice now. Since the rent has been reduced, shouldn't we work harder? Why are there so many people gathered there? Father-in-law should be going there too, right?"

This time, before the old man could answer, his son said, "I heard that the commander of Jiankang sent a threshing machine to each county and gave it to each county to try out in the official fields. If it works well, it will be promoted and copied in all counties. We all went to see the threshing machine."

"A threshing machine? That's interesting."

The group quickened their pace and rushed over, and found that not only was there the magistrate of Wu County, but also the chief clerk of the neighboring Wujiang County, who was accompanied by two craftsmen. A competition was being organized in the farmland in front of them, and the people watching nearby were taking the initiative to help count.

The content of the competition is to thresh rice. The traditional threshing method is to prepare a large wooden barrel, surround the front of the barrel with a half circle of straw mat, then hold a bunch of cut rice high up, and knock it against the edge of the barrel to shake the millet off the rice ears. The half circle of straw mat is to prevent the millet from being thrown away.

This job is very tiring and difficult. A farmer's arms are often too tired to lift the rice after only a few hundred swings. The competition, or control experiment, in front of them is that one group uses traditional rice buckets to thresh the rice, while the other group uses a pedal-powered thresher.

This thing has a wooden trough at the bottom, which is used to hold millet, and its function is the same as that of a wooden barrel. There is also a splash-proof cover on it, which functions in the same way as a straw mat. The difference is that a wooden roller with iron bars nailed on it is added between the trough and the cover, which is connected by gears and pedals. Just stepping on the pedal can make the roller rotate rapidly, and the cut rice can be placed on the roller. The iron bars on the roller, or the iron comb, can comb the grains off the rice ears. The efficiency is more than five times that of previous rice bucket threshing. The key is that it is not so tiring.

The participants in the experiment were a pair of brothers named Pan. The second brother used a wooden barrel and the third brother used a thresher. After only working for half a day, the second brother was already exhausted.

The people nearby immediately started to make a noise, "Pan Er, are you still good enough? Look at your third brother. You have been working for half a day and have only threshed less than two mu of rice, while your brother has already threshed an acre of rice. Hurry up and continue working."

Pan Er was so tired that he sat down on the edge of the field, panting and waving his hands weakly, "No need to compete, no need to compete. I can't compete with that thresher. One day of work with this thing can do what four people used to do in three days. How can I compare with it? When we sell the grain and have money this year, my family will definitely hire a carpenter to make one of these things."

When everyone saw that the competition was over, they immediately swarmed over the thresher, and some even wanted to try operating it themselves.

The Magistrate of Wu County had already achieved what he wanted, and asked the two craftsmen beside him, "It shouldn't be difficult to imitate this thing, the key is that it can't be too expensive, so that ordinary people can afford it."

Carpenter Qin said immediately, "The materials used for this thing are similar to those used to make two tables. We use the cheapest willow wood, which is not much more expensive. It is simpler than making a waterwheel."

Blacksmith Zhang also said, "It's not difficult to make the roller. First, hammer in some long iron nails, bend them and nail them to the wooden strips. But the two iron gears are probably not easy to make. They need to be cast with clay molds, and you need an iron smelting furnace. It's not easy to make them yourself, so you can ask an iron smelter to make a batch for you."

Carpenter Qin waved his hand and said, "Well, I don't think it's that troublesome. The key to this thing is the roller. The faster it turns, the faster the grain can be threshed. The rest is just a wooden trough, which is very simple. The two gears are not impossible to have. We can directly change it to a spinning wheel and make a large hand-cranked wheel. It's nothing more than changing the foot pedal to a hand-cranked one. It only requires one more person to crank the wheel, but we can save the two iron gears."

The magistrate said immediately, "Then make a few more quickly and try them out while the grain is being harvested. If they work, make more and promote them. It would be best if we make them before the late rice is harvested this year so that the people of Wu County can use them.

"When the time comes, no matter how many threshers you make, the government will buy them all and sell them to the people, who will pay for them in installments with grain. You don't have to worry about not getting paid. Just get the job done for me, and you will definitely get some benefits."

"Thank you, sir. I will do my best."

"I'll call my two apprentices to help." The two craftsmen quickly agreed.

When Tao Guangyi and his party saw this scene, they looked at each other. Ning Anqing immediately said with emotion, "This thresher is really good. It can save the people a lot of effort and thresh the grain faster. Once it is fully promoted, it will take only three to five days to harvest ten acres of land, which used to take half a month. This General Gongshu is really a benevolent king who can be so considerate of the people and pay attention to farming."

Tao Jingming was also amazed and said, "This thing is so simple. Just use an iron comb to comb out the rice easily. Why didn't anyone think of it before?"

Upon hearing this, the captured Zhejiang East Inspector Yang Hui immediately teased, "A saw for sawing wood is even simpler. How come no one thought of it before Lu Ban? I heard that the rebel commander is a descendant of Gongshu Ban, so it's not surprising that he could come up with this thing. Maybe this is the family tradition, and he is a good carpenter."

Ning Anqing immediately advised, "Say less. If you continue like this after going to Jiankang, I'm afraid your life will be in danger."

Yang Hui snorted coldly, "You can die if you want, what are you afraid of? You eat the emperor's salary, but you don't do anything loyal to the emperor. You betray the country and surrender to the enemy. If it weren't for you traitors, how could the court fall to this point now?"

Ning Anqing was also angry when he heard this, and immediately retorted, "Don't you know how the court has fallen to this point? If the traitors in the court had not framed Prime Minister Tuotuo and disbanded the army on the front line in Huaibei, if there was a main force of the court in Huaibei to support, I would not be willing to surrender. At least it is meaningful for us to resist desperately, and we can buy some time for the prime minister.

"But now the imperial court is destroying its own Great Wall. Even if I fight to the death and kill all the soldiers and civilians in Wuzhou Road, what will happen? Can I bring back Prime Minister Tuotuo? Can I get rid of the treacherous officials in the court? Can I call back the 200,000 troops in Huaibei?"

Yang Hui could not refute this, but he still held on to the loyalty to the emperor, thinking that it was shameful for the men to surrender voluntarily, so he muttered, "You are a third-rank official in the court after all. If you would rather die than surrender, I'm sure the soldiers in Wuzhou would not be so at ease to welcome the enemy army into the city."

Ning Anqing said, "So what if I'm a third-rank official? I helped the country solve its problems, but was framed by traitors. Even a first-rank prime minister could be framed and demoted. I'm just a Privy Council member, so what can I do?"

"You deserve to die!"

"Then you, a third-rank inspector of integrity, should die before me." Ning Anqing retorted without showing any weakness.

"you"

Tao Guangyi had seen enough of the drama and sneered, "Well, what's the point of saying this now? I killed Darughachi Sengzhu, and Nantai Shiyushi Temureisi committed suicide. If you were really loyal to the court and had the courage to die for your country, why didn't you just jump off the top of Jinhua City? I respect you as a man, but you still backed down, aren't you still afraid of death?" Yang Hui was even more furious when he saw Tao Guangyi, "The most shameless among these people is you, a thief. As a hereditary ten thousand households of the court, you actually colluded with the rebels. If you hadn't colluded with the thieves, how could Wuzhou Road be lost so quickly? You still say that I'm afraid of death, that's because you forcibly kidnapped me that day, otherwise..."

"What else can you do? Aren't you not tied up now? There is a tree beside the road. You can go and borrow a hemp rope from that old man. If that doesn't work, just take off your belt and hang yourself on the tree. I think that crooked tree is a good choice. Don't worry, if you want to be loyal to your king and die for your country, just go ahead. If anyone tries to stop you, I promise to stop them for you." Tao Guangyi sneered again.

"You, you, are shameless!"

"Tsk, if you are afraid of death, just stay still. Why are you still trying to be good at talking? You still say I am shameless. After all, I still know that my last name is Tao, and I am of the Chinese ethnic group. I am not like some people who have a Chinese last name but forget their ancestors and think that the barbarians are their masters. They are really a loyal dog."

"You, Mr. Tao, ahhhh, I'm going to fight you!"

With a bang, before Yang Hui could touch the corner of Tao Guangyi's clothes, the officer of the Internal Guard Army who was responsible for escorting them to Jiankang and was watching the show on the side, kicked Yang Hui to the ground, and then stood up and said.

"Alright, stop arguing, stop trying to die here, if you want to die in Jiankang, don't cause me any trouble, hurry up and set off, we've found a boat, we have to go to Liujiagang today."

Yang Hui was a Jinshi graduate, and he usually prided himself on being a gentleman. How could a weak Confucian scholar like him have been bullied like this? However, he was timid and did not have the courage to commit suicide. He did not dare to fight back when he was kicked to the ground by the soldiers. He could only get up and pat his clothes with great grievance. He looked very resentful and even secretly wiped his tears with his sleeves.

Everyone ignored him. Ning Anqing asked the officer curiously, "Inspector Liu, if we want to go to Jiankang, wouldn't it be faster to take a boat across Taihu Lake to Liyang? Or we can go to Jiankang by land. Why do we have to go to Liujiagang?"

Inspector Liu said immediately, "This is an order from above. I heard that it was His Highness's intention that you take a boat from Liujiagang to Jiankang on the Yangtze River, and then let Mr. Tao go to see the shipyard in Jiankang first, and then go to see His Highness."

"Shipyard? What shipyard? Didn't Brother Tao say that His Highness promised you the position of Minister of the Privy Council? Does that mean he wants you to build warships?" Ning Anqing asked curiously.

Tao Guangyi was also a little confused. "I don't know either. Normally, I should be asked to make firearms, but even if I make firearms, I can't beat His Highness. Who knows what it means?"

"We'll know when we get to Jiankang. Let's go."

Inspector Liu took the initiative to end the topic and immediately led a group of people by boat to Liujiagang, and then transferred to a larger ship to Jiankang.

Two days later, as soon as everyone arrived at the Longwan Wharf in Jiankang, they were immediately attracted by the huge ship standing in the No. 1 Dry Dock of the Longwan Shipyard next to it. It was an unprecedented giant ship!

Anyone passing by here will be attracted by it.

The ship is about twenty zhang long and four zhang wide. Not counting the mast, the side of the ship alone is about four or five zhang high. Judging from its size, it is not an exaggeration to say that it is a palace. The shape is also very peculiar. It does not look like a traditional flat-bowl ship, but has a pointed and thin bow like a knife blade!

"Is this the ship that Your Highness asked me to see?"

"That should be it. Let's go ashore first. I'll send someone into the city to find the Marshal's Mansion, and then ask the people in the shipyard." Inspector Liu said immediately.

So the group went up to the dock and stood on the mound nearby to look at the boat from a close distance. There were also many local people who were curious and stood there to watch.

The hull was surrounded by a circle of scaffolding, on which many craftsmen were busy, and a clanging sound could be heard. Not far from the dock there was a row of steam drying rooms, which were emitting thick steam, like a layer of mist.

Tao Jingming asked curiously, "This ship is so strange. There are three layers of more than 40 windows on the side of the cabin. Aren't they afraid that a wave will hit and flood the cabin?"

"It shouldn't happen. You see, the upper and lower hulls are painted differently. The lower one is red, and the upper one is white. The red part should be the part that is submerged in the water, and the white part is exposed above the water. The windows are all on top. As long as the waves are not too big, water should not get in." Ning Anqing also analyzed while looking at the boat.

Tao Guangyi shook his head and said, "Such a huge ship should not be sailing in the river. It is probably a specially built sea vessel. And the windows on the side remind me of a possibility."

"Dad, what do you think it is?" Tao Jingming asked immediately.

Tao Guangyi stroked his beard and said, "I heard that the navy of the Shengwu Army defeated Fang Guozhen's navy near Chongmingsha before. The Shengwu Army's navy had few ships, while Fang Guozhen's ships were large and numerous. In the end, the Shengwu Army was able to defeat the enemy with fewer ships because they installed cannons on their warships.

"What do you think would happen if a gun was installed in each of the side windows?"

"."

Everyone's eyes widened instantly. Ning Anqing was surprised and said, "This can't be possible. If each window represents a cannon, there are more than 40 cannons on this side. There must be 80 or 90 cannons on both sides combined, right?
"The Imperial Guards artillery regiment we saw in Wuzhou only had more than 60 guns each. Isn't this ship more powerful than a regiment?"

Tao Guangyi immediately spread his hands and said, "Why is this impossible? Haven't you seen the organization of the Shengwu Army? There are no cannons in their ordinary infantry regiments. All artillery is concentrated in the Imperial Guards Artillery Regiment for use.

"Moreover, the Inspector Liu who sent us here participated in the Battle of Crossing the River. He was injured in the Eastern Expedition and retired to become an officer of the Internal Guard. According to him, during the Battle of Xiaomaoshan when Your Highness was crossing the river, two artillery regiments concentrated 128 artillery pieces to fire at the same time, killing nearly of Yue Lu Pingzhang's troops on the spot. This shows that artillery should be used in a concentrated manner. The more artillery pieces there are, the more powerful they are!
"So what's so strange about installing eighty or ninety guns on a ship? If each gun can fire two or three miles away, and the ship is positioned there and the guns on both sides fire simultaneously, enemy ships within a radius of five or six miles won't even have a chance to get close and will be shot into a hive of fire!"

Tao Guangyi explained his understanding of artillery tactics, and everyone who listened was shocked.

clap clap-

At this moment, they heard a burst of applause behind them. Everyone turned around and found that it was a middle-aged official brought by Inspector Liu from the shipyard. This person was none other than Wang Dayuan, who was in charge of supervising the construction of this ship.

"My lord, you really didn't make a mistake. These days many people have been guessing what those windows are. Only Tao Wanhu guessed the truth?"

"May I ask who you are?" Tao Guangyi immediately asked with a bow.

"My name is Wang Dayuan, with the courtesy name Huanzhang. I do not hold a high official position, but I have been entrusted by Your Highness to supervise the construction of this ship here." Wang Dayuan introduced himself.

"It's Mr. Wang. Excuse me, but is this ship really a warship used to carry artillery?" Tao Guangyi asked immediately.

"Yes, according to your Highness, this should be called a 96-gun second-class battleship."

"So many cannons?!" Ning Anqing said in surprise.

Tao Jingming also asked, "Mr. Wang, does this ship have a name?"

"Yes, His Highness personally named it 'Yuanwang No. 1'."

"What a strange name"

Tao Guangyi also asked Wang Dayuan at this time, "May I ask Your Excellency, why did Your Highness ask me to come and see this ship? Since you are here to supervise the construction of the ship, there should be nothing for me to do, right?"

"Hey, how can Tao Wanhu not be involved? It is true that I supervised the construction of this ship, but the 96 heavy guns will fall on you."

"Let me build a cannon?"

(End of this chapter)