The Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was extremely rebellious

Chapter 591 I Want the Jiannu to Disappear
Wanli actually wanted to mobilize nearly two million troops to encircle and suppress the Jiannu.

This is really an exaggeration.

At least, people these days don’t understand why.

The Jiannu army had not yet developed at this time, and at most they had only 30,000 to 40,000 troops.

If 200,000 troops were mobilized to encircle and suppress the enemy, that would be normal. But why would we mobilize nearly 2 million troops to encircle and suppress 30,000 to 40,000 troops?
Wanli did not explain.

He just wants to make the Jiannu disappear!
This hidden danger must be eliminated.

Under his arrangements, all kinds of supplies were continuously flowing into the Nurgan Regional Administration.

The newly built Beiwang City has not yet started selling shops for business, but the storerooms of the shops are filled to the brim one after another.

In the Hundred Households, Thousand Households and Citadels on both sides of the Songliao Grand Canal, firewood was piled up like mountains, and no one knew how much was stockpiled.

There were also cattle and sheep from the major border towns, dried and fresh seafood from the vassal state of Korea, smoked fish from the Dongyang Regional Administration, and so on, all converging to the Nurgan Regional Administration like a hundred rivers flowing into one.

Time flies, and it is already September, the golden autumn.

The grain harvest in the capital was about to come, and Wanli also had an unexpected gain.

Around noon that day, he had just arrived at the side hall of the Cining Palace, carrying little Zhu Changxun, when Song Yingxing came up to him, his face full of excitement as he bowed and said, "Your Majesty, Your Highness, the steam loom is ready."

When Wanli heard this, he couldn't help but show a hint of surprise.

This kid is really extraordinary. He developed the steam loom at the age of thirteen.

Although this has a lot to do with his occasional reminders, this kid's talent is truly incredibly high.

Steam looms are extremely complicated. Most people these days probably can't even understand them. This guy was able to develop it so quickly. He's a genius!

He walked quickly to the loom and saw that several craftsmen were threading cotton there.

When Song Yingxing saw that the dense cotton thread was threaded, he immediately picked up the wooden hammer and hit it with one hammer.

With a "puff" sound, the steam was connected and the loom really began to weave automatically.

The shuttle seemed to be flying, carrying the warp thread and shuttling back and forth between the weft threads. The cotton cloth was falling down at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Soon the cotton was hanging down onto the rotating log below.

Song Yingxing personally went forward and worked for a while, and the cotton cloth began to roll up automatically on the log.

This speed is at least ten times faster than manual weaving.

It takes at least four or five days to weave a piece of cloth by hand, but this steam loom probably only takes less than half a day.

The weaving speed is actually not that fast, because a piece of cloth is only four zhang long, which is more than thirteen meters. The speed of ordinary looms in later generations is dozens of meters per hour, and the speed of high-speed looms is dozens of meters per minute!
If calculated as half a day, that would be six hours, or twelve hours. In other words, the speed of the loom is only a little over one meter per hour.

Compared with the speed of looms in later generations, this speed is as slow as a snail.

However, it is much faster than manual weaving.

The key is that the steam loom is tireless and can weave non-stop for twelve hours a day.

By this calculation, one steam loom is equivalent to at least twenty workers.

Moreover, the steam loom only consumed a little coal. Although labor was required to change the spindles, the labor cost was at most one twentieth of the previous cost.

If we calculate the cost of materials and labor in half, the profit from weaving with a steam loom is almost twice that of weaving by hand. Multiplying by the efficiency, the profit that a steam loom can create is twenty times that of a manual worker.

He was silently estimating the profits from steam looming when Shan Sinan suddenly came over quickly and said with a bow, "Your Majesty, General Li and Lord Wang are here."

Li Guozhu and Wang Zheng?

Did these two guys make an appointment to come together again?

Wanli was stunned for a moment after hearing this, and then he said loudly: "Announce."

Soon, Li Guozhu and Wang Zheng walked in quickly.

As soon as Wang Zheng saw the running steam loom, he was instantly attracted and forgot to salute.

Li Guozhu tugged at his sleeve, and he finally reacted and bowed quickly.

After this guy finished his greeting, his eyes seemed to be attracted again, staring straight at the steam loom.

Seeing this, Wanli smiled slightly and then asked, "Liangfu, have you developed an 800-ton steamship?"

Oh, I almost forgot about the important matter.

Wang Zheng nodded repeatedly and said, "Yes, Your Majesty, I have developed an 800-ton steamship. Its speed has also been increased. It can travel over a hundred miles in an hour."

That would be great.

Steam looms can only make money, but steamships are the key to dominating the seas.

Upon hearing this, Wanli asked with great interest, "Have you sailed the boat to Taiye Lake?"

Wang Zheng nodded repeatedly and said, "It's here, parked at the Yuhe Bridge Wharf."

Upon hearing this, Wanli waved his hand and said, "Let's go and take a look. Changgeng, you come with us. Just let them watch here." However, Wang Zheng still stared at the running steam loom with some reluctance.

Seeing this, Wanli shook his head and smiled bitterly, saying, "Liangfu, let's go. There will definitely be looms like this everywhere in the future. You will have plenty of opportunities to see them."

After hearing this, Wang Zheng reluctantly followed the group out.

Wanli walked quickly to the Yuhe Bridge Pier and took a look, and couldn't help but nodded slightly.

This 800-ton steam ship has a bit of the feeling of later ships. Although the water wheel is still exposed outside, the boiler has been placed horizontally in the cabin, and there is only a chimney outside.

He walked into the cabin again and was even more satisfied.

There seemed to be a large long table in the middle of the cabin that led straight to the stern. There was a chimney pillar in the middle of the table, and two rows of long benches by the windows on both sides. It was very tidy and nothing else could be seen.

The boilerman and the helmsman were still at the stern, where the coal was also stored, and the middle hold was unobstructed, with nothing in the way.

It was obvious that Wang Zheng had made the boiler into a long horizontal strip, and the steam engine, pipes, axles, etc. were also hidden under the large table and deck.

He looked at it carefully and then asked, "Liangfu, how do I add this water?"

Wang Zheng immediately lifted the table top in front of him and explained in detail: "Your Majesty, this boiler has two sections. The back half burns steam, and the front half stores cold water.

Normally we only need to keep the back half full. If there is not enough water in the front half, cover the fire, open the middle valve, and cold water will flow through.

This not only allows the boat to maintain its overall center of gravity, but also makes it easier for people to sit. When it’s hot, you can just sit in the front section, and when it’s cold, you can just sit in the back section.”

Well, not bad, not bad, really good.

Wanli nodded slightly, then waved his hand and said, "Liangfu, have them drive around Taiye Lake for a while."

This one is simple.

With a wave of Wang Zheng's hand, the naval officers on the ship quickly untied the ropes, picked up the poles, turned around, and then slowly accelerated and headed north.

This ship was modified from an 800-ton centipede boat. Without the oars, it looks like a shuttle.

The speed is as fast as a shuttle.

This guy can circle half a circle of Taiye Lake in less than half an hour!

Seeing this, Wanli could not help but nod repeatedly and said, "Very good, this speed is fast enough, almost catching up with a galloping horse.

Liangfu, have Danyang stop the hand-rowed centipede boats at the Longjiangzhou Treasure Shipyard and the Xinzhou Shipyard. From now on, we will build this type of ship, which is shaped like a flying shuttle. From now on, this type of ship will be called a flying shuttle ship."

Well, these two shipyards can build hundreds of centipede ships in three months.

Upon hearing this, Wang Zheng said cautiously, "Your Majesty, we have enough copper now, but we don't have enough machines to make steam engines.

Right now, the machine tools in Longjiangzhou can only produce 20 to 30 steam engines a month, but the two major shipyards can produce at least 500 to 600 centipede ships in three months."

Isn’t this simple?

Wanli said without hesitation: "If you don't have enough machine tools, ask the father-in-law to make them for you. Also, we can make steam engines here.

Go talk to the father-in-law and ask both sides to expand the steam engine workshop together, starting with the capacity to produce a thousand steam engines a month."

what?
Wang Zheng was surprised when he heard this and said, "Your Majesty, even if it costs a lot of money, it would cost a lot just to build a workshop."

Isn't money a simple thing? Even if I am short of money, I cannot be short of money to build a steam engine. What's more, I am not short of money now.

Wanli said without hesitation: "Just report how much money you need, and I will let the inner treasury allocate it to you."

Oh, I have as much as you want.

That's no problem.

Wang Zheng nodded repeatedly and said, "I understand."

Wanli then asked, "Guozhu, how much gold did you bring back this time?"

Li Guozhu said quickly, "Your Majesty, this time I have collected six million taels of gold and brought it back."

Now there is really no shortage of money. More than six million taels of gold are equivalent to sixty to seventy million taels of silver.

It would be no problem to transfer more troops to the campaign to encircle and suppress the Jiannu next year.

It’s just right to use the Jiannu as training ground.

Wanli thought for a moment, then decisively said, "Liangfu, tell the Longjiangzhou Treasure Shipyard and Xinzhou Shipyard to quickly build shuttle ships. They must build at least one thousand by May next year.

When the time comes, we will send the navy directly to Nurgandusi to participate in the war to encircle and suppress the Jiannu."

If Nurhaci knew that he still had to mobilize troops and ships, he would probably be very upset.

How much hatred?

It’s not enough that you have mobilized nearly two million troops, you need more!

(End of this chapter)