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

Chapter 232 Audacity
A year or two ago.

During the time when the Japanese waters officially became the territory of the Ming Dynasty, Chen Zuyi was still curious about how his former partners were inexplicably recruited by someone?
What about the agreement to plunder the Ming Dynasty together?

Anyway, Zhu Yuanzhang doesn't know how to manage coastal affairs.

Afterwards, Chen Zuyi refused to repent and continued to send troops to harass Fujian and other places.

Why didn’t the Ming Navy send anyone to deal with them?
Because at that time, the Ming Dynasty's attention was almost all on Japan, so how could they have expected that this guy would be so bold.

Taking advantage of the absence of the Ming navy, they actually took advantage of the opportunity to invade and cause severe trouble to the coastal areas. Fortunately, this incident lasted less than half a year.

At that time, Zhu Gang had not yet disappeared. He often went to the South China Sea to look for guano islands, and for this reason he also took on some duties in the Nanyang Ming Navy.

He also has military power.

Although the Ming navy's combat effectiveness was not mature enough at that time, it was not something that ordinary pirates could deal with, not to mention that the people recruited by Chen Zuyi were all a mob.

Before taking the initiative, they will definitely fight more and more courageously. Once they are hit by the Ming cannons, these guys will all show their cowardice.

From then on, Chen Zuyi never dared to violate the border again.

Until recently, the matter that Li Wenzhong had been investigating in the South China Sea finally showed some clues.

Yang Chen looked at the map showing the current distribution of forces in Southeast Asia.

The whole of Southeast Asia can be roughly divided into two directions.

To the east is the chaotic country represented by Srivijaya, which was Malaysia, Singapore and other territories hundreds of years later.

Srivijaya was still a country in the early years, but now King Manajewuri has become an overseas version of the 'Son of Zhou' who has been completely sidelined by various forces.

Take the Bolin State occupied by Chen Zuyi for example. This small country used to be a tributary state of Srivijaya, but now Chen Zuyi has more than 10,000 pirates.

Manazhe Wuli had no choice but to bow to Chen Zuyi. Not only did he not dare to ask for tribute from him, he also conferred the title of 'General of the Dragon King of the Sea' on Chen Zuyi. This resounding title was one of the many reasons why Chen Zuyi was so arrogant and refused to submit to the Ming Dynasty.

To the west is the country closest to the South China Sea, which later became the Philippines.

The Philippines is also in chaos right now.

Luzon in the far north is mainly inhabited by some Han Chinese from the Ming Dynasty who are doing business with good intentions. Half of them are of pure Han descent, and the other half are descendants of immigrants from the Song Dynasty who married into the local ethnic groups.

It should be noted that the Philippines is not a large island country, but a separate island country from Japan.

Therefore, the northern part is close to the Han people, while the southern part is ruled by another regime.

The name of this country is 'Sulu Sultanate'.

The first nation in Philippine history was established by the Minangkabau people, immigrants from Sumatra.

The main territories are in Mindanao and Leyte Island to the north.

Of course, this country cannot be called a country now, but more like a larger force.

These are countries in Southeast Asia that have little contact with the Ming mainland. Because the Ming Dynasty is now relying on external resources to strengthen itself, it does not put too much energy outside.

If you want to fight a war abroad, you must first ensure that your people are well fed in your own country.

If one cannot even feed his own family but travels around overseas, that would be purely militaristic behavior. Zhu Yuanzhang would not allow such a thing to happen.

Zhu Biao is even more the same as before.

Touching the map, Yang Chen looked at Brunei occupied by Chen Zuyi, which was also the Bolin State.

According to Li Wenzhong, I searched for information about these days.

The last time Zhu Gang appeared was in the strait between Singapore and Kuala Lumpur.

At that time, Zhu Gang sent the last team from Southeast Asia to occupy and station around the Guano Island in Wanli Shitang, and told them to guard the resources of the Ming Dynasty and not let anyone else take them away at will.

The Ming Navy would have a transport ship passing by every ten days or half a month. As long as they saw the Ming flag on the island, the navy would send people to transport supplies to these islands.

These islands are not small islands, but medium-sized floating islands with virgin forests and many animals.

After giving his instructions, Zhu Gang left, intending to go to the Indian Ocean via the Strait of Malacca.

If nothing unexpected happened, he would definitely pass it smoothly, but it was obvious that an accident happened next.

Chen Zuyi originally lived in his own Bolin state, which is the island of Brunei, and enjoyed the life of a mountain king. But one day, he suddenly returned victoriously from some small countries in Srivijaya, which were the territories of Kuala Lumpur in later generations.

They happened to encounter Zhu Gang's fleet.

Zhu Gang didn't want to provoke the other party, but when Chen Zuyi saw that the ship he was on was so luxurious, he finally thought of robbing it.

After all, they are more numerous and powerful, and they want to crush the other side with human wave tactics.

The two sides then fought a great battle in Malacca.

Zhu Gang had already left most of the Ming navy at Wanli Shitang.

The team around him at the time, plus two supply ships, had less than eight ships at most. Compared with Chen Zuyi's hundreds of ships, it was not a good opportunity at all.

Even equipped with more than a dozen cannons, they could not withstand the suicidal charge of Chen Zuyi's men.

In the end, all the members of the Ming navy fell into the water, and Zhu Gang's whereabouts were unknown.

It took Li Wenzhong half a year to inquire about this news. He finally learned the situation from the remnants of a kingdom called Xinhasali living on the coast, from the surviving members of the Ming navy.

The soldier had already planned not to return to his homeland, but one day he saw a small boat sent out by Li Wenzhong on the beach. He recognized the Ming flag flying on the boat, so he ran directly to the cliff and lit the signal bonfire he had prepared.

Let people know of his existence, otherwise this truth will be kept secret for who knows how long.

During these six months, the Ming court mainly did five things.

The first thing is to stabilize internal affairs.

The imperial court departments underwent a major overhaul, and all the eight dukes and nine ministers, as well as all the offices and temples, changed to Yang Chen's official document format.

Second, strengthen control over the territory that the Ming Dynasty has gained in recent years to prevent anyone from interfering and causing infringement of the Ming Dynasty’s territorial sovereignty.

Japan, Mongolia, and the "Northern Forest", the area around Lake Baikal, all have castles and cities built.

Let all idle members in the Ming Dynasty move out.

Third, strengthen the construction of railways and increase the transportation capacity of Daming. At present, Daming has realized two horizontal and vertical transportation networks, and the total railway mileage can add up to nearly 10,000 kilometers!
This is a groundbreaking fact, which is enough to prove that Yang Chen's original proposal to Zhu Yuanzhang to let the imperial army recruit railway troops was the right direction.

At present, in addition to 3.5 million land forces and 700,000 naval forces, the Ming Dynasty also has nearly 500,000 railway engineers.

These railway engineers have only one mission, which is to build and maintain the normal operation of the Ming Railway.

Basically, there is a guard post every two steps and a sentry post every three steps to prevent any problems from occurring on the rails.

Anyway, the Ming Dynasty has money and there is no certainty. Since there are no technological means, they have to use the most primitive method.

Fourth, the Ming navy was continuously dispatched to station on the island of Luzon.

A total of 300,000 civilians and 100,000 Ming Dynasty naval forces were transported to this place for development.

Two large cities have been successfully built.

It is very convenient for reclaiming wasteland, expanding cultivation, and storing bird droppings.

Fifth, Li Wenzhong was stationed in a place called Riau Islands near Zengmu Shoal to monitor Chen Zuyi's every move, waiting for Zhu Biao to go there personally to avenge his brother!
Yes.

Zhu Gang was hit by Chen Zuyi and others, and his body was never found.

At present, this news has been intercepted by Zhu Biao, and he dare not tell his mother and father at all.

Although according to Zhu Yuanzhang's intelligence system, he must have known about it, but he could not tell Queen Ma under any circumstances.

Over the years, Empress Ma's health has been getting better and better, and she no longer coughs and gets sick easily like before. If she is told the bad news that her third son died outside, no one can bear it if Empress Ma Huan can't bear it.

Therefore, all the male members of the Zhu family agreed that they must find the other party's whereabouts.

Even if we have to turn the whole Malacca upside down, we must find his bones!

dong dong dong~
While Yang Chen was thinking, there was a knock on the door.

"Come in."

As the door opened, a weathered man appeared in the room.

He was none other than Zhu Chong.

Some time ago, when Zhu Chong learned that his third brother had suffered this disaster, he refused to believe it. He never expected that his brother's fate would end up like this.

You know, when they first discovered the world map, they wanted to divide the world into different territories, you go to the American continent, and I go to the Australian continent.

But unexpectedly, the Ming Dynasty’s strength had just begun to grow, but in the blink of an eye, the brothers disappeared.

Zhu Chong could not accept this in any way.

Unfortunately, things have come to this point and he can't change the facts no matter what.

For this reason, Zhu Chong decided that he must personally kill Chen Zuyi, this daring guy.

This is also the reason why Li Wenzhong did not take action.

"When will your elder brother come?" Yang Chen took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, took out a cigarette and lit it for Zhu Chong.

What he used was not a lighter, but matches.

As for cigarettes, a year ago a caravan risked their lives to cross the North Pacific Ocean and transport them back to Central and South America.

The first batch of tobacco was successfully planted in Yunnan Province.

Currently, there is not much fermented and dried tobacco, and it is only sold in some wealthy cities in the south of the Yangtze River and the capital.

It is not circulated among ordinary people at all.

There is no way, Yang Chen has been under too much pressure in recent years.

He didn't want to come into contact with things like Wu Shi San and opium that were dangerous and addictive, so he asked people who were going to America to continue their exploration to find these tobacco plants and transport them back to Ming for cultivation.

After more than a year, cigarettes successfully appeared in the Central Plains hundreds of years earlier.

It won't be a big problem if you inhale this thing.

It can also relieve stress and soon became a treasure that many high-ranking officials always carry with them.

This is also one of the few things that can reap the money of the rich.

Zhu Chong placed the filter on his lips and took a deep breath. Only then did his irritable mood calm down a little.

"Thank you, Brother Yang."

"You're welcome." Yang Chen lit one himself.

The two of them smoked in the room until they finished one cigarette. Then Zhu Chong replied:

"My eldest brother said that he will go with us after the New Year. Wu Zhen is already waiting for us in Haikou. He will let the fleet catch up with us only when we get there."

The plan was still carried out, and everything was done to prevent Zhu Yuanzhang from knowing.

"What's the condition of the ship?" Yang Chen was asking about the 'World' that Zhu Biao saw some time ago.

"It's ready to be launched, and the speed has reached an amazing 20 knots! It only takes us five days to reach the South Seas."

The World will be the first steam-powered ship in the Ming Dynasty. This will be a major breakthrough and will also be the main goal of the Ming Dynasty's warship reform in the future.

Once the Ming Navy was equipped with steam-powered warships.

Although there is still some distance to go before the development of propellers, he believes that steam-powered ships can already outperform most sailing ships.

By then, no one on the sea will be able to match the Ming Dynasty.

"Okay, the plan remains unchanged, let's proceed as usual." Yang Chen extinguished the last cigarette in his hand.

"I understand." The determination in Zhu Chong's eyes became brighter.

After leaving Yang Chen's building, he rushed to Zhenjiangfu Railway Station and took a special train to the capital.

Besides him, Zhu Su was also the same.

The two brothers sat in the royal carriage.

Ever since the steam engine was installed on the train, the people living around Zhenjiang Prefecture and the capital city felt as if they had traveled to another world.

They had to accept the existence of this "armored beast" in front of them.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Yang Chen asked Daming to build Ming Pao to publish the latest situation of Daming in various places.

Although he cannot guarantee that there are scholars everywhere, as long as more and more people know about the current situation of the Ming Dynasty, they will definitely want their children to go to school.

After all, going to school can reduce taxes, which is much better than working hard in the fields.

Through the election, Yang Chen also saw many geniuses.

Although the average age of these children is only about ten years old, they show the intense mental activity that only an adult man can have.

He believed that any genius that Yang Chen noticed would achieve no less than the "first batch of international students" in his memory.

These people are the cornerstones of the scientific world!

If it weren't for Yang Chen's presence, it would be impossible for the Academy of Sciences to have a scientific research facility where people in their sixties and seventies and teenagers could live together.

As the end of the year draws closer, the new year is about to arrive.

When the bell rang, people from all over the country began to leave their homes and go to the streets to light red firecrackers all over the ground.

Standing in front of the French window, Yang Chen looked at the magnificent scene before him and couldn't help but shed a tear.

"The spring breeze blows for ten miles, the orioles sing to announce the new year. The sound of firecrackers rises, and good luck comes for another year."

Xiaochun and others behind him couldn't help but feel curious when they heard the master read out these words.

Lu Xuefei, who was a little older and more mature, was dressed in white. She tiptoed and walked to Yang Chen's side.

Holding his arm, he asked:

"Master, the poem you just read was really good."

The women standing behind her couldn't help but envy Lu Xuefei for being so bold.

There is no way, after all, Concubine Lu Xue is the boss of the six official concubines. If a woman with a mature personality is not courageous, she cannot be called a mature woman.

Yang Chen, who was standing, smiled when he heard the other party call the words he read out as poems.

"Okay, stop standing here trying to comfort me. Let's go set off the firecrackers. I'll come with you." As he said that, Yang Chen grabbed Lu Xuefei's hand and walked towards the crowd.

"By the way, what I just said was not a poem, but lyrics!" Yang Chen added with a smile.

This moment shocked many people.

"lyrics?"

(End of this chapter)