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

Chapter 99: Generals Gather at the Palace
"By the way, A-Biao, I remember that Jeju Island used to be a horse breeding area during the Yuan Dynasty, right?
The Northern Yuan Dynasty was driven out of the Central Plains, so how did this place fall into the hands of North Korea? "

During the discussion among the three, Yang Chen suddenly asked.

He knew that Jeju Island could serve as a transit station for the Ming Dynasty to travel to Japan, but he didn't know that this good piece of land would eventually fall into the hands of North Korea.

In the end, it even became a transit station for Japan to send troops to Korea and the coastal areas of Central China.

"I remember it seemed to be related to my father."

Zhu Biao pondered for a moment and then said awkwardly:
“Originally, Jeju Island was the territory of the Ming Dynasty, but after my father’s maritime ban, North Korea took a fancy to this place.

They made several attempts and only arranged for people to stay on the island after they were sure that the Ming Dynasty no longer wanted it."

Zhu Yuanzhang was the epitome of small peasant thinking, but he was actually very short-sighted.

In his opinion, Korea is just a small country, Jeju Island is not actually very close to Ming Dynasty, and sending people there to raise horses would be a thankless task.

So even if the reward was given to Korea by default, Korea still admired the Ming Dynasty very much.

Even requesting to be given royal clothing as an honor.

As long as the Ming Dynasty gives the order, the horses raised by Korea on Jeju Island will be sent to the Ming Dynasty obediently.

It can save money and gain benefits at the same time, this is what Lao Zhu thinks.

"Hey, your father is like this. Let me tell you the truth, Abia. A hundred years from now, the world will enter the Age of Exploration.

Then came the Industrial Revolution, which is so complicated that you don’t understand.

Anyway, it means allowing the people to vigorously develop all kinds of strange and tricky skills that your father thinks are useful.

It's a bit like the Hundred Schools of Thought during the Qin Dynasty. This change happened four times!"

Yang Chen thought for a while and found that what he said was not entirely correct, so he added:
"To be exact, it's three and a half times, because before I came to Daming, the fourth time was still in the exploratory stage and had not yet achieved significant results."

From the other party's tone, Zhu Biao knew that if the Ming Dynasty wanted to have a bright and great future, it must enter the industrial revolution!
The only prerequisite is to lift the maritime ban and start the Age of Discovery.

Thinking of this, Zhu Biao smiled and said:
"By the way, Brother Yang, didn't you say there are many treasures in America?
A few days ago, I raised money on my own and sent people to recruit a group of sailors from the Guangzhou area over a period of 20 days.

He formed a fleet and set out from Southeast Asia in the name of business, heading towards the Western world.

If all goes well, they will first reach the European region you mentioned, and then use it as a springboard to explore the Americas in the wider world.”

Yang Chen was very surprised to hear the news.

He looked at Zhu Biao in disbelief and asked:
"What? You've already sent people to look for America? Isn't that too soon?"

Yang Chen told Zhu about the rich crops himself, and he knew that the imperial court would find them at all costs in the future.

I never expected that Zhu Biao’s execution ability is so strong!

During the month he was busy, he had already sent people to Southeast Asia.

For a moment, Yang Chen found it hard to accept.

"It's not fast. It's already the end of July. Soon, the grain will be harvested. We should recruit sailors and send people there while there is still some food left.

If you don’t arrange it before the end of the year, you’ll have to wait until the spring thaw next year.

Some things do not allow for hesitation. If I were a little late, the people would have to suffer for half a year.

Besides, the fleet that set out this time includes not only my people, but also merchants from Mingzhou and Quanzhou."

Zhu Biao smiled lightly:
"It's interesting to talk about this time. When these sea merchants heard that they could go out to sea to do business, they were all attracted by the money.

In the past, we had to go out to sea secretly, but now we can go out openly.

Finally, in the shortest time possible, we recruited a team of no less than four or five hundred people and dozens of boats.

They travel, and I don't hold out the expectation of finding food to grow.

As long as we can confirm the existence of America, this place will definitely be controlled by Ming in the future!"

Zhu Biao revealed his ambition for the first time, and Yang Chen also understood that Prince Yiwen was far from being as kind as recorded in history.

Whether it is his attitude towards Japan just now or his vigorous and decisive way of dealing with things, it is enough to prove it.

When it comes to controlling timing, Zhu Biao is able to do it quickly, accurately and ruthlessly.

"The world is bustling with people, all for the sake of profit; the world is bustling with people, all for the sake of profit.

Ever since your father issued the maritime ban, these sea merchants have been like dried pickles. Once they get a chance, they will naturally do their best to dive into the sea.

Now that you, Prince, have given them this opportunity, perhaps this matter will go much more smoothly than we thought.

When grain can be grown in Ming territory, soldiers won’t have to worry about running out of food when they go on expeditions.”

As soon as Yang Chen opened his mouth, he revealed the truth behind the matter.

With Zhu's lack of foresight and his self-righteous character, he had no idea how powerful the maritime merchants were.

These people may just be wealthy businessmen in the Ming Dynasty, but when they go overseas, they may become kings.

There were countless bandits from the Central Plains who fled overseas to become kings, not to mention the shrewd and calculating merchants.

"Hehe. As long as I have food and an army, don't worry, brother, I will definitely be able to wipe out the Northern Yuan Dynasty for the Ming Dynasty!

I want to be a general who can drink from the vast sea and seal the wolf's lair! I want to be the most powerful weapon of the Ming Dynasty!"

The two men paused for a moment in their discussion, and then Zhu Di stood up and patted his chest to make a promise.

After taking a look at his younger brother, Zhu Biao smiled helplessly and shook his head.

"Fighting a war is not that simple, you should learn more from Uncle Xu and the others.

When you have the ability in the future, try to show it to your father, at least to make him change his opinion of you."

"Don't worry, big brother! I will definitely change my father's opinion of me!"

Thinking of Zhu Yuanzhang's attitude towards him last time, Zhu Di still felt a lingering fear.

This is what it is like to be in the royal family. If you are not careful, you will arouse the suspicion of those in power, and it will be difficult to escape such discerning eyes.

“The people in the north are all nomads. After crossing Lake Baikal, which you call the Little Sea, you will enter a primeval forest.

These places are full of resources. The only drawback is that it is cold. But it doesn’t matter. I will teach you how to turn wood into charcoal.

We cut trees and burned charcoal along the way to ensure we could survive the severe cold weather safely."

Yang Chen had watched many wilderness survival videos and knew how to use dry distillation to turn felled wood into coal.

The principle is very simple. By placing the burning wood in an oxygen-free or low-oxygen environment, the wood will gradually carbonize.

Someone once used this method to obtain iron-containing sand from river mud in the primeval forest and smelted it into iron, thus advancing from the primitive age to the Iron Age.

Compared to burning wood directly, burning charcoal not only lasts longer, but also burns at a higher temperature.

Hearing this, Zhu Biao couldn't help but sigh.

"Alas~ The northern nomadic peoples have been confronting the Central Plains for thousands of years, and have been harassing the border since ancient times.

If you can't win, just run north, it will be difficult to conquer.

Lao Si, when you go north in the future, you must be careful."

In response to his elder brother's instructions, Zhu Biao nodded vigorously.

Yang Chen smiled and said:

“Actually, you don’t have to fight the North with such determination to die every time.

If we fight against those who ride on horses and run away when they cannot win, we will definitely be at a disadvantage if we use the same weapons as them.

Who can blame them for having been fiddling with horses ever since they learned how to ride? Their experience is unquestionable and they are definitely the best in the world right now.

What can cause them harm is artillery. The deafening sound when cannons and muskets are fired can scare horses.

But the weapon that can really make them dismount and perform their singing and dancing for us is actually the Maxim heavy machine gun.

This thing only needs five people to cooperate, and it can sweep away a thousand cavalry!
If those guys who like to charge on horseback saw such a weapon.

Even if Changshengtian came, it would be useless.

However, at the current level, this thing cannot be manufactured. Now what I have researched for you is enough. "

The two didn't know what the Mark something machine gun that Yang Chen mentioned was.

But just from the description you can understand that this thing is a powerful weapon.

The three of them chatted animatedly as they walked.

In order to attract Zhu Di, Yang Chen also revealed that areas such as Siam in the southwest not only have many jade resources, but also have a unique environment.

If crops are grown in this place, the miracle of three harvests a year can be achieved.

If it can be captured and turned into the granary of the Ming Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty will not shrink back due to lack of food even if it launches a world-class war in the future.

When Zhu Di learned that Siam was so beautiful, he wanted to ask for permission to go out right away.

Unfortunately, he was scolded by Zhu Biao, and was warned to be careful not to be greedy.

Zhu Yuanzhang, who was following behind them and looking at the backs of the three of them, now had his hands behind his back.

Not only was there no negative emotion on his face, but he looked very relaxed.

The emergence of Japanese silver solved at least half of his troubles.

As for Yang Chen, to be honest, he has already determined that this guy will definitely enter the court and stand on their side in the future.

Old Zhu had no intention of stopping what they were discussing.

After these days of experience, he has gradually let it go.

The future of the world belongs to the young, and my son is like the rising sun, full of enthusiastic motivation.

Even though he is powerful now, he is still an old man with silver hair all over his head.

Old Zhu was different from those emperors who were eager to survive.

He could look death in the face, but he couldn't accept that some people he cared about would die before him.

Since you are going to leave, why bother to fight with future generations for some trivial things.

Not to mention that Zhu Biao's performance in recent days has made him increasingly satisfied.

Ambitious, courageous and bold.

He even knew that the other party had secretly teamed up with the sea merchants to go to Southeast Asia to look for trouble.

Mao Xiang's Jinyiwei informed Zhu about this matter that night.

When Old Zhu learned about this, his emotions fluctuated for only a moment.

He couldn't understand why his son would hide things from him.

But I soon figured it out.

If the other party wants to do it, as a father I will definitely support it, but the process will be a little troublesome.

Now Zhu Biao did it without asking any questions, which made Zhu Biao feel that his son was sensible and understood that some things did not require following the rules.

Rules sometimes restrict honest people.

Only those who understand that rules are not alive but dead.

Only then can you create your own career in this world.

He allowed Zhu Biao not to report everything to him, and even allowed him to develop his own power.

I just wanted to see how determined Zhu Biao was to become emperor.

Now it seems that the time is ripe.

As for Zhu Di, he had actually already accepted this son in his heart.

It's just not confirmed verbally.

It turned out that since Zhu Di arranged for Yang Chen to meet Yao Guangxiao.

Yao Guangxiao revealed that Zhu Di still wanted to be emperor. After discussing with his wife, Zhu Di thought that his goal was the world outside the Ming Dynasty.

This is a process that must be experienced. Only by going through blood and fire, life and death, can he truly transform.

Become the holy dragon soaring outside the Ming Dynasty!
'The Zhu family bloodline will fight on the battlefield, and the survivors will stay to conquer the land. In the future, the Ming bloodline will spread and spread to many regions.

Lao Si, Lao Si, you will be the first example among your brothers. I hope you will not let us down in the future.'

Thinking back to the heart that Zhu Di secretly handed over to him, Old Zhu couldn't help but sigh.

All of my sons are talented.

I was too superficial before and failed to realize in time that besides Zhu Biao, the others also had the ability to fight foreign wars.

Before long, Zhu Di took the lead and the rest followed.

Why worry about danger on the Ming Dynasty’s border?

When Zhu Yuanzhang thought of these blueprints, the figure of Queen Ma appeared in his mind.

A smile appeared on his face.

"Sister, just wait. When Biaoer takes power, I will take you to places we have never been to and to see scenery we have never seen.

Let the young people take care of the Ming Dynasty."

The group arrived at the martial arts arena, and Yang Chen had already started opening the things in the box.

"Prince, there should be black gunpowder in dust form in the palace, right?

Could you send someone to get some?"

Yang Chen lowered his head and counted his things. He found something was missing, so he reached out and asked Zhu Biao for it.

"Don't we already have gunpowder here? Why do you need black powder?"

Zhu Biao took a quick look and found two large boxes filled with various instruments and bottles of granular black gunpowder.

He didn't understand why the other party did this.

"This is all granular black powder. It's extremely powerful. But no matter how powerful it is, if there's no control group, you won't understand how powerful my improved gunpowder is."

Yang Chen did not try to hide anything and directly stated his purpose.

After understanding the whole story, Zhu Biao didn't waste any words and directly ordered people to go to the Arsenal to get it.

“By the way, if possible, remember to send someone to bring some death row prisoners for experiments. The stuff here requires human operation, but human operation is accompanied by accidents.

You don’t want innocent people to get hurt, do you?”

Not long after, Yang Chen made another request.

One after another, Lao Zhu's face suddenly became gloomy.

I thought to myself, I don’t even order my son around like this? How come it’s your turn to order him around?

"Let's say you're really in trouble, right? It's just some weapons, isn't it? Is it necessary to go to such trouble?
If you keep talking nonsense, I'll let you try it yourself later. If you can't figure it out, just keep trying."

Zhu Biao was the dearest to Zhu Xi, and neither he nor Empress Ma was willing to trouble the other.

But let Yang Chen give instructions at will.

This made Lao Zhu feel somewhat unhappy.

How could the three young men know what Lao Zhu was thinking?

After he spoke, Zhu Biao asked softly after a while:
"Brother Yang, do you have anything else to say? How about telling me now?"

“Well, if the prince thinks it’s okay, besides finding someone, can you ask someone to bring some food over?

I can accept fruits, roasted chicken, steamed buns, etc."

"Ok?"

Old Zhu, who had finally calmed down, glared at him.

Yang Chen said, ignoring his anger.

Who cares? It’s not like you’re making any demands on him anyway.

"In that case, I'll make the arrangements now. You just wait here."

"Father, don't worry too much. Yang Chen came to the palace early in the morning. I'm afraid he hasn't eaten yet. His rest time is different from ours."

"Humph! This guy doesn't sleep all day and night, and only gets up when the sun is shining on his butt.

We're having lunch and this guy is just having his first meal. He deserves it! He deserves to be hungry!"

Lao Zhu never stopped monitoring Yang Chen, but he did not send anyone to guard him during the other party's rest time, but during the rest of the daytime activities.

Old Zhu knows everything he does.

Zhu Biao simply chose to ignore his father's complaints and asked Zhu Di on the way to give orders.

"Old Four, you came here with him, are you hungry? If you are hungry, how about I ask someone to bring you some more?"

"no, I'm fine."

As his father was still angry, Zhu Di did not dare to make any demands on his elder brother and repeatedly waved his hands to indicate that he did not need it.

Outside the imperial city, Mu Ying put down his work the moment he received the order.

I changed my clothes and rushed over from home.

At this moment, what a coincidence, I met Lan Yu who also came.

"Mu Ying? His Majesty has also called you here?"

"Yes, my father sent someone to tell me that he needed to discuss something important, so I didn't dare to delay for a moment and hurried over.

I didn’t expect to meet you here.”

Although the two have not participated in any military operations together, their relationship is very close.

They all had close relationships with Zhu Biao, so naturally they had a good relationship in private.

It was just that Mu Ying was very polite to Lan Yu because Lan Yu had an impatient temperament. In his opinion, if such a character encountered an unexpected event, it was very likely that something bad would happen.

The two chatted for a while and were about to enter the palace when they heard the sound of a carriage behind them.

At the same time, he looked back and found that it was Xu Da's carriage.

Not long after, Xu Da, who was forty-seven years old but still strong, jumped directly from the car.

Lan Yu and Mu Ying both bowed in greeting.

"Marshal Xu!"

"Well, you two have also received the news from Big Brother, right?"

When Xu Da saw that both of them came prepared, he expressed his guess.

"Yes, I just arrived too, and was discussing with Lan Yu what His Majesty wanted to see us about, but I didn't expect that even Marshal Xu would be here.

It must be something very important.”

At this moment, Xu Da's face was not looking good, and he said in a deep voice:
"I hope it's not a bad thing. The Ming Dynasty is in trouble both internally and externally. Let's not talk about it behind their backs. Let's go find Big Brother together."

"Please, General Xu!"

The two men made way for each other at the same time, and Xu Da walked in the middle.

On the way to the martial arts arena, I met Li Wenzhong and Tang He from the road coming from other entrances of the palace.

I was originally worried about what kind of big event it was, but now it seems that half of the Ming Dynasty’s generals are here.

Everyone was very nervous.

You know, the last time military generals were summoned was for the Northern Expedition to fight against the Northern Yuan Dynasty.

Many brothers died in that battle.

I thought it would be a long time before the next time, but I didn’t expect it to start again in just a few years.

It made them excited and anxious.

Along the way, everyone tacitly agreed not to speak and just walked quietly forward.

Just as he was about to approach the training ground, he suddenly looked up and heard a deafening explosion right in front of him.

Then a thick cloud of fog rose from behind the wall.

After a moment, everyone sniffed and spoke at the same time.

"What a strong smell of gunpowder. What's going on? Isn't gunpowder prohibited in the palace martial arts arena?"

“Gunpowder is extremely powerful and can cause casualties if you are not careful. Your Majesty has never allowed black gunpowder to approach the gathering place of royal family members.

This martial arts arena usually has many princes practicing horse riding and wielding spears and swords, but it is strange that gunpowder appeared today."

"From the looks of it, this gunpowder is extremely powerful! I'm worried that Your Majesty is in danger."

"Stop talking, go check it out quickly, His Majesty might be waiting anxiously!"

Everyone just talked for a few words and then ran away.

Only Mu Ying stood there in a daze.

"Why is this noise exactly the same as at my son-in-law's house?"

"It can't be this guy!"

Mu Ying thought of something and suddenly became anxious, and ran wildly to catch up with them.

At this moment, a very funny scene appeared on the palace road.

Several old generals with slightly gray beards and several young and strong generals ran wildly without caring about their image.

Many guards on the road were stunned. They couldn’t understand why this happened.
Isn’t it just His Majesty, the Crown Prince, another prince, and an unknown person playing around in the martial arts arena?

Why did these founding heroes and generals become so panicked?
Less than a few dozen meters away from the training ground, there was another burst of intense artillery fire.

The closer they got, the louder the sound became, and the echoes around them made them feel very uneasy.

The first person to arrive at the martial arts arena was Lan Yu, followed by Xu Da and Tang He.

Several people were panting and holding onto the door, looking into the distance.

But I discovered a shocking scene.

Under the eaves of a house that had been cleared of debris, Zhu Yuanzhang was sitting upright with his hands raised in the air, holding a long, green, thick weapon of unknown origin in front of him.

She looks very pleasant.

The confused people hurried to the side of the house to report to Lao Zhu.

When we got closer to them, we found that in addition to Zhu Yuanzhang, there were also Zhu Biao and Zhu Di. There was no need to say much about the two of them.

Xu Da and others were naturally very familiar with it.

The only thing that confused him was a young man not far away.

Not only does this guy behave strangely, he also has no manners at all.

The emperor and the prince were able to grab a chicken leg with a lotus leaf and eat it with a white flour bun, which tasted particularly delicious.

When he and the other person's eyes met in mid-air, the other person smiled.

All in all, at this moment, there was no danger as they had previously imagined.

It has absolutely nothing to do with it.

"Your Majesty, I am here!"

"Hey! Tiande, you're finally here. I didn't expect you all to arrive at the same time. What a coincidence."

(End of this chapter)