Ming Dynasty: Traveling through the harem, Zhu Yuanzhang was dumbfounded

Chapter 231 Southeast Asian Pirates

Zhu Biao thought what Yang Chen said made sense.

Accept this decision.

Afterwards, he continued to lead his life and manage the entire court as usual.

Time passed like a stream, and in the blink of an eye it was February of the fifteenth year of Hongwu.

This year is the most lively Spring Festival since the establishment of the entire Ming Dynasty, because Zhu Yuanzhang was always very stingy about giving holidays in the past. In his opinion, as a minister of the Ming Dynasty, how could he take a holiday?

Holidays are time for the dead to rest, so under his strong request, most officials in the Ming Dynasty were busy all year round.

But this year is different. Zhu Yuanzhang miraculously gave the whole country a long holiday.

The holiday starts from New Year’s Eve to the fifteenth day of the first lunar month!
A total of eight days, without any adjustment or rest, all of it was pure vacation.

When all the ministers and officials heard the news, they were all shocked. They thought that Zhu Yuanzhang might have drunk some low-quality horse urine, which caused his health problems. Otherwise, how could it be his style to give them such a long holiday?
After repeated confirmation, we finally learned that they were indeed given eight days of vacation.

All the officials in the capital were shocked! It is no exaggeration to say that the whole country was jubilant.

It should be noted that since August of the 14th year of Hongwu, after officials from the capital visited Yang Chen's Zhenjiang Prefecture, major reforms began to take place in the court.

First of all, there are the capital city and some wealthy areas in the south of the Yangtze River.

All of them implement the 'official document system'.

What is the official document system? It is somewhat similar to the system of later generations.

The official rank is still the same, but it is divided into many different "bureaus". In other words, all the work of the six ministries is subdivided into many categories.

It is not like before, when there was only one Shangshu, plus his left and right deputies, and the left and right deputies had other subordinates afterwards, which is a troublesome thing.

Instead, we refer to various branches, and each bureau has assigned full-time persons in charge who are responsible for handling various work contents.

Of course, in order to prevent anyone from having disloyal thoughts, Zhu Yuanzhang would also send personnel to monitor the situation.

One light and one dark.

Ming Dynasty called it "court secretary"

The secret ones are called Jinyiwei.

Yes, it’s still the Imperial Guard.

The two sides jointly monitor the director to prevent local directors from showing signs of favoritism and fraud.

This was because the Ming court had grown a lot in bureaucracy, but now the Ming treasury was full with endless silver and gold, so there was no need to worry about not being able to pay wages.

As for the anchor of silver and gold, food was chosen.

After nearly two years of training, the three American warriors Guan Bao have already been able to adapt perfectly to the land of Ming Dynasty, not to mention that most areas of Annan are planted with rice.

Mu Ying defeated the Chen Dynasty and captured an astonishing number of 600,000 members of the Annan minority ethnic groups.

We only need to send 100,000 soldiers and 50,000 Ming Dynasty civilians to completely control this area.

Now that the Annan region has only had its first harvest, it has already contributed a terrifying number of 20 million shi of grain to the Ming Dynasty.

Combined with the grain produced locally in the Ming Dynasty, the amount of food that the national treasury has remembered would have exceeded expectations.

Anyway, there is no need to worry about being able to support so many people.

Not only did all the officials in the court return to their homes, but even the Zhenjiang Prefecture began to have a holiday.

Although the Spring Festival has not officially arrived yet, the smell of gunpowder from firecrackers has begun to permeate the air, making people feel the strong "New Year atmosphere".

Yang Chen finally announced the work tasks for the coming year at the Academy of Sciences. He was the last one to walk to the gate after the crowd had all left.

Standing outside the door, looking up at the seven big characters "The First Academy of Sciences of the Ming Dynasty" on the top of the door, these characters were jointly carved by several masters with the most exquisite carving skills in the Ming Dynasty at that time. It can be said to be natural and unrestrained, vigorous and agile.

When Yang Chen locked the door himself, he patted it and there was a collision sound between the doors.

"I don't know when I'll come next time, but I hope it will be as soon as possible."

"Master Yang, have you made your decision?"

When Yang Chen was concentrating, he heard a voice behind him. Turning back, he saw that the person was none other than Tao Chengdao, Wen Huabiao and other senior scientists of the Ming Dynasty.

Compared to his previous rough and unkempt appearance.

Now this group of people are full of energy and spirit. Although they are quite old, research is something that consumes brain power. Yang Chen is surprised that they can hold on.

Except for the two old men, most of the people standing there were young people, and everyone looked at Yang Chen with admiration and respect.

They knew very well that they were where they are today because of Yang Chen's appreciation.

As for the news that Yang Chen was leaving, they just found out and they all wanted to see him off.

"Why? Isn't it normal for me to leave? You will have to walk the rest of the way by yourselves. I can't always accompany you. The affairs of the South China Sea and the overseas affairs of the Ming Dynasty need me to handle them personally."

Yang Chen walked towards the crowd and sighed:
"The Ming Dynasty is now very powerful, so powerful that you don't need me to help you."

"I also believe that with the strength of you young people, the things I leave behind will definitely take a long time for you to digest. I hope that when I come back a year later, I will see that Zhenjiang Prefecture has made great progress."

"Lord Yang, we have no way to obstruct your decision, but we are still very worried. After all, the development of Zhenjiang Prefecture over the years cannot be separated from you. We are worried." A young man behind Tao Chengdao expressed the thoughts of most people.

Seeing this, Yang Chen also smiled slightly. He didn't expect that he had unknowingly become the backbone of many people's hearts.

He was both happy and helpless.

I never thought he could achieve such success alone.

"Xiao Wang, I will leave eventually. The future belongs to you young people. All I can do is let you in. How to move forward from now on depends on your own abilities."

He stood in front of Tao Chengdao and patted him on the shoulder.

"Lao Tao, you are getting quite old, you need to find some successors. Don't forget that in Ming Dynasty, only Zhenjiang Prefecture can provide six-year compulsory education. In the future, there is still junior high school knowledge that needs to be sorted out, and after junior high school, there is high school, and after high school, there is college, and after college, there are master's and doctoral programs.

I'm afraid you won't be able to handle it all by yourself. You must figure out the formulas I left for you as soon as possible, otherwise you won't be able to build a plane that can truly control the direction of the plane in the sky."

After Tao Chengdao gave these final instructions, Yang Chen said nothing and continued to walk behind the crowd.

He was well aware of the impact his departure would have, but he would not regret it because this was the path he had chosen.

Everyone watched him leave, with all kinds of expressions on their faces.

No one spoke until Yang Chen disappeared around the corner.

After a long while, Tao Chengdao stood up and said in a heavy voice:
"Okay, calm down. Lord Yang is only going overseas to investigate the real reason for the disappearance of the third prince. He will also go to Australia to see if it is livable. Then he will cross Malacca to India, go to Europe and finally settle in the Americas. He is not really leaving the world. Leaving Zhenjiang Prefecture for a short time is just a test of whether we can stand on our own.

If he came back at that time and saw the mess in Zhenjiang Prefecture, he would definitely be unhappy.

You don't want Lord Yang to be disappointed in us, do you?"

"No!" everyone answered in unison.

"If you don't want to, go back and have a good rest. When you come back, quickly find a way to calculate the mechanical formula. Otherwise, if you don't even understand mechanics, how can you not want to disappoint Lord Yang!"

Leaving the experimental site in the suburbs, Yang Chen rode a tall horse through the central area of ​​Zhenjiang Prefecture.

He vaguely remembered that before he came here, the ground was all muddy, and there were even rotten corpses eaten by wild dogs on the roadside. It was here that he met Cui.

Compared to two years ago, Zhenjiang Prefecture is now a model city for the entire Ming Dynasty.

As you enter the urban area, the floor begins to change from compacted soil to neatly stacked bricks. Both sides of the road are filled with goods displayed by merchants, including salted fish, honey, dried persimmons, and all kinds of groceries and roasted nuts. The sounds of shouting and hawking can be heard constantly, and it is very lively.

The people still had new clothes to wear, but the tips of their noses were red from the cold wind.

A few children suddenly appeared not far away, holding firecrackers in their hands and throwing them at each other's feet.

The sounds of "bang, bang, bang" scared many women passing by and they wanted to grab the two boys and give them a good beating.

Don’t underestimate the ancient times. As early as the Ming Dynasty, firecrackers had already been used in many different ways.

Things like fireworks and firecrackers have developed to a peak level that is difficult for ordinary people to reach. Various ways to play with them have long been developed by the hardworking people of the Ming Dynasty.

At present, Yang Chen has seen all kinds of styles along the way in Zhenjiang Prefecture.

For example, the one that explodes when trapped in mud is called a mud cannon, the one that is tied up with waste paper balls is called a "flower tube", the one that is wrapped in a bag and fired into the sky is called a "sky-roaring cannon", the one that is placed on the ground and ignited and keeps spinning in circles with fire at the four corners is called a "ground mouse", and the one in the hands of the children just now is about the size of a grape, which emits white smoke when it falls to the ground is called a "smashing cannon", and there is nothing inside it, basically some sulfur, a small amount of gunpowder and flint particles.

After riding past the busiest area, Yang Chen suddenly looked back and the bustling streets seemed to be greeting him.

Thanks to his contributions to Zhenjiang Prefecture over the years, the people can live a happy life.

Yang Chen gripped the reins tightly and patted the horse's neck.

"Moying, let's go home."

Hoosh!!!

The big horse under his crotch neighed, and began to pedal happily towards the building where he lived.

Mo Ying was a horse that Yang Chen met by chance when he was searching for minerals in the wild two years ago. This guy was very smart. Because something Yang Chen threw at him hit him while he was hiding in the grass to rest, so he directly clung to Yang Chen, determined to avenge the blow on his head.

Finally, Yang Chen lured it to Zhenjiang Prefecture with a barrel of wine and 100 kilograms of fine horse food and tamed it.

Returning to his room and feeling the warmth brought by the heater, Yang Chen began to sort out the documents on the table.

It is a large map with many dots marked on it, the main dot being a place called 'Palembang'.

Obviously, this is not the name of a place in the Central Plains, but a serious place in Southeast Asia.

In fact, this territory is Indonesia.

To be precise, it should be 'Srivijya'.

This country has a great background.

Currently, Srivijaya has a large territory, located in the Greater Sunda Islands, the Malay Peninsula, Brunei and other regions. It can be said that it occupies most of the territory of the Strait of Malacca.

Except for the ancient kingdoms such as Katha and Langya in Malaysian territory that were unwilling to submit to Srivijaya, most of the remaining territorial kingdoms were vassal states of Srivijaya.

According to the historical records available today, Srivijaya has been involved with the Central Plains since the Tang Dynasty.

They began to pay tribute to China in the seventh century.

During the reign of Emperor Xiaowu of Liu Song, envoys were often sent to pay tribute, and several envoys were sent during the reign of Emperor Wu of Liang.

Due to its advantageous geographical location, it became the spice trade center of the Malay Archipelago at that time. With its strong economic power, it was also the center of Buddhism in Southeast Asia at that time and was a powerful country in Southeast Asia at that time.

After becoming powerful, Srivijaya expanded outward and annexed the ancient kingdom of Malyu. In 686, it set out to invade Java. Half a century later, it conquered Java Island and controlled the north and south ends of the Strait of Malacca.

In the middle of the 8th century, the capital was moved to Bharat, and its influence was further extended to the Lukun area of ​​modern Thailand.

In the 8th century, a Buddhist country emerged on the island of Java - the Yuedi Dynasty.

In the middle of the 9th century, the Yue Dynasty inherited the throne of Srivijaya through marriage. The two Buddhist countries merged into one and became a powerful country in the Strait of Malacca. All ships passing through the strait had to pay taxes to it, and its influence reached as far as Ceylon and the east coast of India.

In the early years of the Hongwu period, Srivijaya sent envoys to the Ming Dynasty to present a letter to Zhu Yuanzhang, hoping to establish trade relations with the Central Plains.

Because the local products include plum blossom slices, cloves, sandalwood, cardamom, rhinoceros, pearls, and aromatic medicines.

These are all treasures from the Central Plains, but unfortunately, Zhu Yuanzhang’s maritime ban was very strict.

Except for a few brave people who dared to contact Srivijaya privately, most people did not dare to have any trade with this country.

At present, Srivijaya is in a state of division. Many places in the country are similar to the Zhou Dynasty. The vassal states completely ignore the central king and live their own lives.

Among them was a country marked with a flag by Yang Chen.

This country was called Bolin State.

Located on the left side of Brunei Island, near the intersection of the Strait of Malacca.

People who are familiar with this place should know that there was once a Han Chinese king from the Central Plains in the Bolin State.

This guy is Chen Zuyi!

Yes, that’s right, it’s the famous leader of the South China Sea pirates during the Hongwu period, Chen Zuyi!
Chen Zuyi, whose ancestral home is Chaozhou, Guangdong, suffered from famine in the south in the early Hongwu period because Zhu Yuanzhang was unable to take care of the south. Many people fled to Southeast Asia to make a living, and Chen Zuyi was one of them.

It is not known whether it is because the Central Plains is blessed with talented people or because the people outside the Central Plains are too weak, but during the Southern Song Dynasty, Li Jun, a dragon of the river, left the Central Plains and fled to Siam, where he became an invincible general, and finally married the king's daughter and eventually became the king of Siam.

Chen Zuyi of the Ming Dynasty was originally a beggar, but he ran to Southeast Asia, and then the power of Srivijaya began to grow rich and powerful.

Eventually he became the leader of the South China Sea pirates.

From a poor boy from a poor family to one of the bigwigs who dominates the entire Southeast Asian waters, Chen Zuyi can be said to be a successful man.

In the more than ten years since the beginning of Hongwu, this guy's wealth has been enough to sweep across most of the current small countries.

He had hundreds of warships and tens of thousands of men under his command. He often plundered many kings' Western ships. Even many small countries and tribes in Southeast Asia needed to pay tribute to this pirate.

In the tenth year of Hongwu, this guy often mingled with the Japanese and often invaded the coastal areas of the Central Plains.

(End of this chapter)