I am the prince of the Ming Dynasty, I don't give up

Chapter 177 Jinzhou Guard

"His Highness's matter is important, sister, why don't you go find His Highness?" Chen Hong said hurriedly.

"What? I just got here and haven't even talked to you for a few words yet and you want to chase me away?" Mrs. Chen raised her eyebrows.

"No way." Chen Hong retorted.

"Okay, I won't tease you anymore. I know you have things to do." Mrs. Chen had already noticed that someone was waiting outside the tent.

"Yeah, yeah," Chen Hong nodded repeatedly, "This is the first time we have organized so many people to build such a large project. We don't have enough experience, so we have to pay more attention and think more."

"Okay, sister got it. I won't bother you any more. But no matter how busy you are, remember to write to the old man at home." Mrs. Chen reminded.

Chen Hong nodded continuously and escorted Madam Chen out of the tent.
Mrs. Chen looked at Chen Hong who was immersed in his work, then turned and walked towards the largest tent to ask for an audience with Zhu Houxuan.

Zhu Houxuan had been controlling the progress of the project here. When he heard that Madam Chen wanted to see him, he let Madam Chen in directly.

"Greetings, Your Highness!" Mrs. Chen bowed to Zhu Houxuan.

"Madam Chen, there's no need to be so polite. We are old acquaintances," Zhu Houxuan said, waving his hand and asking someone to find a seat for Madam Chen.

Madam Chen sat down without any hesitation and took the initiative to say, "There is something I want to thank Your Highness for."

"Oh?" Zhu Houxun raised his eyebrows, not understanding what Mrs. Chen was going to say.

"I just went to see my younger brother Chen Hong. He has only been with Your Highness for less than half a year, but compared to when he was at home, he seems to have been reborn. This is all due to Your Highness's good teaching. So on behalf of the Chen family, I would like to thank Your Highness for his teachings," Mrs. Chen stood up and said solemnly.

"That's it. You sent Chen Hong to me to show your trust in me. In that case, I will definitely teach Chen Hong well." Zhu Houxuan said with a smile.

"This is also because Chen Hong has worked hard and has the potential. It is not an easy task to work under me. Chen Hong can withstand the pressure time and time again and get things done one by one. Only then will I give him more opportunities." Zhu Houxuan continued to add.

When Mrs. Chen heard Zhu Houxun say this, she laughed even more happily.

"How was the inspection?" Zhu Houxuan brought the topic back.

"Jinzhouwei is a good place! The harbor is wide and the water is deep, it is not silted or frozen, and it is located on a major transportation route. It's just that there are too few people, and the shipyard needs a large number of manpower, so I'm afraid it's not suitable," Mrs. Chen replied after a moment of hesitation.

"Mrs. Chen, are you not optimistic about Jinzhou Guard?" Zhu Houxuan asked, raising his head.

"Well, I still think it's better to build a shipyard in Songjiang Prefecture!"

"Songjiang Prefecture will build a shipyard, but not now. I will only consider building a shipyard in Songjiang Prefecture after the shipyard in Jinzhouwei is developed," Zhu Houxuan said affirmatively.

Mrs. Chen considered Zhu Houxuan's attitude in her heart and said carefully: "The relocation of the shipyard is a serious matter, and the Chen family has to be cautious. I need to have enough reasons to convince the elders in the family. Please give me your instructions, Your Highness." Zhu Houxuan nodded slowly, "I know your difficulties, but Jinzhouwei is the most suitable place."

"You have already mentioned the advantages of Jinzhouwei. Jinzhouwei is located at the southernmost tip of the Liaodong Peninsula. It has an extremely advantageous geographical location. In fact, its small population is an advantage. A small population means that it is a blank sheet of paper. It is easier to paint on a blank sheet of paper."

Zhu Houxuan found a map from the table and hung it on the wall behind him.
"The small population means that there are no clan forces in the local area, and no one will interfere with us building a shipyard. We can easily get the place we want."

Madam Chen could not help but nod. Clan power was something that needed to be considered. Songjiang Prefecture was the most densely populated place in the world. Although it had a superior geographical location, all the places were already owned. It would take a lot of effort to find a place to build a shipyard.
"Since the population is small, we can immigrate there and move the people we need there. It is very convenient to go to Jinzhouwei from Shandong Prefecture or Zhili. These two places are densely populated. There will be no obstacles if we immigrate to Jinzhouwei." Zhu Houxuan said, pointing to the map on the wall.

The map on the wall is a map of the area surrounding Bohai Sea. With Bohai Sea as the center, the various prefectures of Liaodong, Zhili and Shandong are clearly marked, and the directions of various rivers and islands are marked very accurately.

It was the first time that Mrs. Chen saw such a rigorous and accurate map. Looking at this map, Mrs. Chen's understanding of the area around Bohai Sea deepened.

"The most important thing is to build a shipyard in Jinzhouwei. We can obtain shipbuilding materials at a very low price, which can greatly reduce our shipbuilding costs."

"A very low price? What do you mean?" Mrs. Chen immediately became interested.

Zhu Houxuan looked at Mrs. Chen in confusion, thinking, isn't this common sense?

But the next moment he realized the crux of the problem. Mrs. Chen was not a time traveler. She was just an ancient person, and a southerner at that. Naturally, she had no idea about the distribution of resources around Liaodong.

Then he pointed at the map and said, "Mrs. Chen, you don't know that due to the cold weather in Liaodong and the north of Liaodong, the population is sparse, so there are a lot of virgin forests in Liaodong that have not been developed."

Although many dynasties had actually controlled Liaodong for a long time before the Ming Dynasty, the development of Liaodong had never been significant because they simply did not have the technical conditions to develop Liaodong.

Because before the Ming Dynasty, cotton had not yet been introduced to China, and ordinary people's clothing was mostly made of linen, a fabric with poor thermal insulation properties. In addition, the technology for large-scale poultry farming had not yet been mastered, so down was rarely used for warmth. The mainstream warm clothing at the time was animal fur.

The cost of this method of keeping warm is undoubtedly very high, so there has been no large-scale development in the Northeast region before the Ming Dynasty.

But after the Ming Dynasty, as cotton was promoted nationwide, this cheap way of keeping warm provided the foundation for the Ming Dynasty to develop the Northeast.

But at this time, the pressure from Mongolia on the Ming Dynasty was increasing, and the Ming Dynasty's increasingly worsening financial situation also meant that the Ming government had no resources to organize a large-scale development of Liaodong.

Therefore, Liaodong still retains a large amount of virgin forest at this time.

"Most of the trees in these primeval forests in Liaodong have grown for decades or even hundreds of years. Many of these trees grow by the water. We can organize people, whether they are Han people in Liaodong or uncivilized savages, and use Qizhou's goods to organize them to cut down trees for us."

Zhu Houxuan pointed to the rivers on the map and continued: "After these trees were cut down, they were pushed directly into the water and floated downstream."

(End of this chapter)