Da Tang: Father, can I resign?

Chapter 423 The ship must float on the sea!

"Cuck, uck, uck, come and eat the rice... Oh! Don't peck at me, I didn't steal your eggs! I didn't even know you laid eggs...

"Alas! You are pushing me too far. I also have a temper!"

Baekje Kingdom, Sabi Castle, the royal garden of the palace.

King Buyeo Yici drew his sword in anger and looked around in confusion.

There were no concubines or maids in the garden, but chickens were everywhere, and the sound of birds singing and flowers blooming was everywhere.

What about the concubines and palace maids?

They were raising chickens in other parks and had no time to take care of the king.

King Yici smelled the pungent smell of chicken shit and put his sword back in a cowardly manner.

"I can't kill him. If I kill him, what can I offer to the Emperor of Ming? Myself?"

As a dog of the Ming Dynasty, it is good to please the master.

However, the master's care was like a mountain pressing down on him, making it difficult for this little king to breathe.

For some unknown reason, the demand for Baekje black-bone chickens surged in the Ming Dynasty, and the city was unable to feed enough of them.

First, His Majesty the Divine Emperor personally specified that a certain number of black-bone chickens should be offered as an offering every month.

Then, all the major government offices in Tangzhou also came to ask for it.

Finally, the trend of eating black-bone chicken quickly spread from the official level to the general public.

The wealthy people in the capital flocked to it, and if a Baekje black-bone chicken was served at a banquet, the guests would feel like they were being treated like a minister.

Moreover, the people of the Ming Dynasty also eat chicken in a very... unique way.

Do not take the small and expensive chicken tongues, do not eat the crispy and chewy chicken gizzards, but only pick the cheapest and largest pieces of chicken breasts.

No matter how tender the black-bone chicken is, the chicken breast is dry and tough, making it hard to swallow.

All I can say is that the people of Baekje cannot understand the thinking of the city people.

The Baekje people don't need to understand it either.

When a dog is like this, the dog only needs to satisfy all the reasonable and unreasonable demands of the owner, but the dog owner has to consider a lot more in order to swallow the dry chicken breast.

Now, the entire Baekje Kingdom is almost becoming a huge chicken farm.

Regardless of north or south, young or old, everyone was holding chicken feed in their hands, trying to make the black-bone chicken man happy, fearing that he would be unhappy and lose a few pounds of weight.

But this kind of bird is very delicate.

After a year of hard work raising the sheep, they are finally about to be slaughtered, but they might suddenly die just because you take the first left step when you walk in the door today.

Therefore, the Baekje people worshipped these birds as their ancestors, and even wanted to hold them in their arms and feed them spoonful by spoonful.

It is conceivable how much manpower such sophisticated breeding work will take up.

Baekje was not a large country with abundant population and resources.

What’s even worse is that these chickens are jumping around in the garden.

Only one in ten people could survive the thousands of miles of transportation and reach the Ming Dynasty alive.

You can't just give a dead chicken to Lord Ming to eat, right?
They cannot be slaughtered and pickled in advance either, because His Majesty the Divine Emperor has decreed that pickled foods are "unhealthy" and must be eaten fresh.

So we had the scene at the beginning. Because there was a severe shortage of manpower for raising chickens, even people in the palace were mobilized.

Not only is there no one to take care of the king, but even the king has to take care of these bird ancestors himself.

This is what a small country with few people is like.

"Asiba! Is Sibi City the home of the black-bone chicken? If this continues, our country will become a laughing stock in the international community!"

King Yici was extremely angry.

It's really frustrating for him to be a king.

If I don't ask myself to be like the emperor of the Central Plains who speaks the law of heaven, then I should at least be like an ordinary stupid son of a landlord, who has everything provided for him, right?
What is the reason for mobilizing the whole country to raise chickens?
"Could it be that the Ming Dynasty wants to use heavy tribute to drag down our country?

"Then, they used the excuse that our small country did not pay tribute on time and was dishonest to the big country, and brazenly sent troops to our country, and then this and that, that and that..."

The more Buyeo Yici thought about it, the more frightened he became, and cold sweat gradually crept up his forehead.

After all, the Han Dynasty had done such things before.

By then, the whole country will be like a black-bone chicken, because when you enter the door, you step left first and get hit...

"Your Highness."

Suddenly a voice came from behind, frightening King Yici so much that his body trembled.

When he turned around and took a closer look, it was the old face of his uncle, the eunuch Zuo Ping.

“Um…what’s the matter, my dear?” King Yici calmed his beating heart and asked as calmly as possible.

Buyeo Biru replied:

"The Ming Dynasty issued an edict..."

"So fast?!" King Yici couldn't help but exclaim.

Huh?
The king was so shocked that I was a little confused. I continued cautiously:

"Uh... yes, Your Highness. The Ming Dynasty's rewards to our country are indeed very quick..."

"Oh, what should I do, what should I do...reward?" King Yiji scratched his scalp and suddenly realized that things seemed a little different from what he thought.

"Yes, a reward."

Fuyu Biru probably guessed the leader's little worry and said:
"Our country has a respectful attitude, and the Ming Dynasty is very satisfied. His Majesty the Divine Emperor has personally approved and awarded 100,000 strings of cash. It has been shipped back to the capital. Please review it, Your Highness."

"One hundred thousand strings of cash?" King Yici opened his eyes wide.

This amount of money is enough to buy back half of Baekje, right?

Wow, the Celestial Empire is really rich!

It's just a few chickens, but the reward is 100,000 strings of cash...

King Yiji suddenly seemed to have thought of something and immediately turned and walked towards the palace.

"Your Highness, is there an urgent matter?" Buyeo Biru was puzzled and followed closely.

King Ui-ja said hurriedly:
"The chickens are fed, I'll go back and get some more."

Don’t disturb me while I feed the chickens… No, don’t disturb me while I serve the great country!
…………

"Really? That's good."

Li Ming sat in the carriage and slowly unfolded the secret report sent from Baekje.

The reward of 100,000 strings of cash greatly stimulated the enthusiasm of the Baekje people for raising chickens. Now the whole country was crazy about chickens. Not only was military training slack and all industries declined, but even farming was stopped.

After all, people are not stupid. How much money can you make from farming? Can the income from working hard for a whole year be compared to offering a chicken to Lord Ming?

As a result, the entire country almost came to a standstill - except for the deformed poultry industry.

It has become a veritable Daming chicken farm.

However, even so, Baekje did not experience a humanitarian disaster such as a food crisis.

Because food can be bought, and the international metropolis of Pyongyang is not far from Baekje!
Isn’t this how the money rewarded by the Ming Dynasty is used?
“I just printed some more paper and a country completely accepted my currency. I controlled the economic lifeline and even their jobs.

"There is something in the thousands of years of tribute system."

Li Ming was calculating in his mind with some pride.

If these hundreds of thousands of strings of cash were printed and placed in the country, it would cause inflation.

But in a foreign country, it can actually buy an entire sovereign country——

Baekje was even strangled by the Ming Dynasty in terms of food supply. It can be said that it was completely integrated into the Ming Dynasty's economic system. It was only a matter of time before it was officially delisted as a state of the Ming Dynasty.

Similarly, Silla, another fellow sufferer at the southern tip of the peninsula, went through much the same process as Baekje—treating guests, raising chickens, and taking them in as dogs.

The successful surrender of these two brothers means that the continent's territory has been officially unified.

From the peninsula to the Western Regions, from Heishui to Danzhou, the Ming Dynasty truly achieved the feat of taking all the land suitable for human habitation in East Asia.

Except for one place.

"Allowing the Three Han barbarians to be incorporated into our Celestial Empire painlessly is the greatest mercy of the Ming Dynasty.

"As for the other group of barbarians, they won't have such great blessings."

Li Ming crumpled the secret report in his hand into a ball and stuffed it into the incense burner.

The carriage convoy slowly stopped.

"Your Majesty, we have arrived at Tangshan Port. Be careful of the rain."

The eunuch with a goatee opened the door and held an umbrella for His Majesty, all in one go.

Tsk, this rain has probably been going on for a month or two, why doesn’t it stop… Li Ming complained in his heart as he walked forward step by step on the wet muddy ground, facing the howling wind mixed with raindrops.

In the harbor area, the wind and rain were particularly strong.

And in the heavy rain, the outline of a huge creation gradually emerged.

That's a ship.

A warship is about to sail to the end of the East China Sea and land in Japan.

In order to attack the Japanese, Li Ming made a lot of deployment preparations in advance, among which warships capable of ocean voyages were the most critical link.

This behemoth is even larger than the inland fleet, and its structure is obviously different.

The bottom of the ship is not flat, but is cut down like a blade, with a backbone-like beam running through the entire hull.

龙骨。

In order to improve the seaworthiness of ships, the genius Emperor Li Ming proposed the epoch-making idea of ​​the keel.

It's just a proposal.

As for how to build it, it depends on the specific situation. Are you a shipbuilder or am I a shipbuilder? I am very busy governing the country!
Then, after the skilled craftsmen of the Ming Dynasty sacrificed countless of their hair, they actually made the first keel ship with practical significance by hand.

Dragon bones are not some black technology. They were widely used in the Song Dynasty. After His Majesty the Divine Emperor creatively proposed the correct development direction, the technical difficulties were quickly overcome.

Of course, the current keel technology is still very primitive and cannot be built and installed in sections. The length of a tree determines the length of the keel, and the ship as a result.

Fortunately, during the Ming Dynasty, there were plenty of tall trees in the sparsely populated Northeast forests.

With a keel and the ship sailing on the sea, the Ming craftsmen did not need to consider restrictions such as inland river navigability, and they were able to let themselves go in shipbuilding.

Take the giant ship in front of Li Ming as an example. Although it is still a semi-finished product, it has surpassed all other ships on the earth today and is as majestic as a peak.

And many such super battleships are being built at the same time.

Although it was still raining heavily, it did not dampen the workers' enthusiasm at all.

Everyone held up a huge rain curtain and waited for His Majesty's arrival.

"Let me just say a few words."

Facing this kind of scene, Li Ming was already familiar with it. He cleared his throat and said:

"A ship must float on the sea..."

"Long live!!!" Before the words were even finished, thunderous cheers broke out from the audience.

The workers cheered loudly, and the majestic voices even drowned out the noisy sound of rain.

As expected, this speech was once again interrupted by the enthusiastic crowd.

Li Ming curled his lips and stuffed the thick stack of speech manuscripts he had prepared in advance back into his pocket.

Given the enthusiasm of these fanatical fans, he probably wouldn’t be able to finish his “two simple sentences”.

There is no need to finish.

Everyone's enthusiasm for work is bursting, do we still need to mobilize?

"Okay, as long as everyone is motivated..."

Li Ming stepped down from the platform with some reluctance and shook hands cordially with the audience one by one.

When going to war with Japan, "harmony among people" is the last thing you need to consider.

As long as they are under Li Ming's command, no matter what their previous positions are, they will eventually be united.

Although a certain Prime Minister named Fang might make a sharp explosion, although the funds are a little insufficient.

However, attacking Japan merely increased the funds originally prepared for attacking Baekje by a few billion.

It should be fine, right?
Compared with the harmony of people, the "advantage of location" is a bit difficult.

It is separated from Japan by the entire East China Sea, which, based on the navigation level of the seventh century AD, was no different from a natural barrier.

It was difficult enough to transport soldiers to the island, but it was doubly difficult to keep them supplied.

After all, the Chinese are not a herbivorous people like the Japanese. "Dependent on the enemy for food" has no realistic basis in that barren island country. If the troops have no supplies, something bad will happen.

Of course, geographical factors can be overcome through technology and hard work.

The biggest problem, however, is timing.

"What a bad luck! When will the rain stop?"

On the way back to the palace, Li Ming looked up at the sky worriedly.

Since the day I returned to Tangzhou, the rain has been falling intermittently.

It's not just Tangzhou where it's raining.

According to reports from various regions, both the Yangtze River and Yellow River basins have experienced unprecedented long rainfall weather.

Although it is good to help relieve the heat, rain will cause a big problem -

flood.

This is also the reason why Li Ming mobilized the whole country to build dams frantically during this period.

Compared with the powerful forces of nature, the resistance that humans in the agricultural age could offer was really limited.

Flood disasters of varying sizes continued to occur across the country, and urgent bulletins reporting the disasters came in like snowflakes.

If these shipbuilding craftsmen were not so valuable, and if transportation in the disaster area was not inconvenient and they were unable to absorb more labor, Li Ming would have wanted to stop these large-scale constructions and send the craftsmen to various places to fight floods and provide disaster relief.

Fortunately, Li Ming pushed for the public ownership of land in the early stage, so that one brigade and several brigades could help and support each other.

Therefore, there was no tragic scene of refugees everywhere and starving people in the wild.

In an ordinary dynasty, if a natural disaster of this magnitude occurred, the people would probably have started rebelling long ago.

However, Daming was almost stretched to her limit.

No matter how hard Li Ming and his people try, the objective level of productivity is there.

After all, the Ming Dynasty was still an agricultural society. In the face of natural disasters, it could only use social engineering to try to prevent society from collapsing.

If this horrible weather continues like this, it will undoubtedly become more and more difficult...

"When the rain stops, it will stop eventually, there's no reason for it to rain for so long.

“When the rain stops, I will take care of Japan.

"But before that, you have to be patient..."

Li Ming gritted his teeth and couldn't help but stick his head out to look at the vast East China Sea behind him.

On the other side of the sea, what is Japan planning?

(End of this chapter)