Chongzhen's domineering

Chapter 154 Civil and Military Achievements: My Choice of Martial Arts (Part 1)
The military examination is about to begin, and countless horsemen from various border towns and even provincial and regional military commands are gathering in the capital.

The atmosphere in the capital city suddenly changed, and thousands of imposing and valiant men appeared on the streets, their masculine energy was overwhelming.

The Ming Dynasty seemed to have returned to the Hongwu and Yongle reigns, transforming from a scholarly and refined state into one of unparalleled might and power.

At least from the perspective of the capital, that was the case.

The Ming Dynasty has not held a large-scale military examination for a long time, and the people of the capital seem to have forgotten that the Ming Dynasty was once a place where martial arts were prevalent and unparalleled.

During the Hongwu and Yongle reigns, the Ming Dynasty was truly incomparably powerful.

At that time, the northern barbarians were utterly defeated by the Ming army, fleeing north in panic, and countless surrendered at the mere sight of them.

But things are different now. Since the Tumu Crisis, the northern barbarians have been raiding the border almost every year.

Anda Khan and even the Jurchens have attacked all the way to the capital.

Such a thing would have been unimaginable during the Yongle reign.

At that time, it was already a good thing that the Ming army did not go to conquer the northern barbarians. If the northern barbarians dared to come to the capital region, they would be courting death.

Since the civil officials came to power, the Ming Dynasty seemed to have become increasingly weak and easy to bully. The northern barbarians dared to bully it, the Japanese pirates dared to bully it, and even the vassal states in the southeast and the chieftains in the southwest often jumped out to challenge the court.

The people of the capital had not witnessed the might of the Ming Dynasty for over a hundred years.

The people of the capital city of the Ming Dynasty had never witnessed the Ming Dynasty's campaign against the Northern Barbarians. In their minds, it seemed that the Northern Barbarians or the Jurchens were about to attack, and every time they did, they were filled with trepidation and even trembling with fear.

There was no other way; the average lifespan of ordinary people was only around forty years at that time, and it had been nearly one hundred and eighty years since the Tumu Crisis!
In other words, ordinary people have gone through at least four generations, and some have gone through five or six generations.

Who still remembers the might of the Ming Dynasty?
What they witnessed were weak scholars, civil officials governing the country, and even rampant corruption!

Therefore, when the people of the capital suddenly saw thousands of mighty and strong men appear on the street, they were all extremely surprised, and their surprise was even mixed with a bit of expectation.

Will the Ming Dynasty suddenly become mighty?

Those military candidates who came to the capital to participate in the imperial examinations were also extremely surprised.

In their memory, the capital of the Ming Dynasty was not this big. Now, it would take them almost an hour to ride into the inner city to sign in at the Ministry of War!

How big is this city?
Although you can't ride too fast in the city, you can still travel at least forty or fifty miles in an hour!

Is there such a large city in the world?
Many martial arts graduates have also been to Jinling City. Even including the outer city, that place doesn't seem to be half the size of the current capital!
When did the capital city get so big?

The sheer size of the capital city was astonishing enough, but the densely packed factories, the enormous chimneys, and the hundreds of thousands of able-bodied men gathered in the south of the city to dig the moat were even more astonishing.

Every day, they couldn't help but wander around, looking at the strange things and broadening their horizons.

Zhu Jue now goes to the south of the city every day.

He also saw those imposing and powerful martial arts candidates.

However, he didn't have time to worry about the martial arts examination at the moment.

This was all because he needed to quickly open up the waterway from the Yongding River to the Tongzhou South Canal Wharf.

This is a major event that will affect the production of steel ingots, glass, mirrors, and porcelain for the next six months.

The production of steel ingots, glass, mirrors, and porcelain is also related to the huge profits of overseas trade.

The key issue is that the capital of the Ming Dynasty will be frozen over in November, at which point the waterways will be blocked, raw materials cannot be brought in, and manufactured goods cannot be transported out.

He ordered the steel ingots from the Dongcheng Steel Plant to be transported eastward. The production of boilers and steel rolling machines has been suspended. Thousands of young men have been conscripted to mine coal along the Yongding River. Iron mines in Zunhua and Santunying are also being mined and smelted at a frenzied pace.

If he cannot open up the waterway from Yongding River to the Tongzhou South Canal Wharf as soon as possible, the coal he mines will not be able to be transported. When the East City Steel Plant freezes over, it will have to stop production due to the lack of coal, which will affect the production of muskets and cannons.

This waterway is extremely important.

Therefore, after hurriedly reviewing the memorials each day, he would ride his horse to the southern city wall of Tongzhou to supervise the construction. At this moment, he was no longer on the city wall of Tongzhou, but on the southeastern outer city wall.

Around noon, the sun was high in the sky, and the warm sunshine felt exceptionally comfortable on my skin.

This isn't a feeling of heat, but rather a warm and comfortable feeling, which proves that the temperature in the capital has begun to drop. A drop in temperature means we're entering late autumn, and winter is just around the corner.

Zhu Jue raised his binoculars and scanned the moat outside the city. He couldn't help but ask anxiously, "Father-in-law Tian, ​​how many garrison troops and able-bodied farmers have you recruited? How many more days will it take to finish digging this section of the moat?"

Your Majesty, this is a moat that is fifty zhang wide, just like many canals.

This is like digging a canal! You have to dig a canal that's over 40 miles long in a month. There's never been a project this fast in history!

After thinking for a moment, Tian Hongyu quickly said, "Your Majesty, the moat and canal on the west side are almost finished. Tomorrow, I will have all the able-bodied men of the more than 100,000 garrison troops from the capital come over to help, and we will try to complete the moat on this side within three days."

three days?

That's pretty much it.

Zhu Jue nodded slightly and then asked, "Grandfather Yuan, how are you doing with the materials for building the dock? How many days will it take to complete the entire dock construction?"

At this moment, the banks of the moat on the inner side are already filled with all kinds of timber, stone and even steel. These are not for building the river embankment, but for building the dock.

They planned to build the entire dock before filling the moat with water, because it would be simpler to build that way. If they built it after filling the moat with water, the underwater part alone would be very troublesome.

Building a dock when the moat is dry is as simple as setting up a stage on flat ground.

Yuan You quickly explained, "Your Majesty, the materials are almost ready. The key is that the inner channel of the river has not been dug to a sufficient depth. Once the depth is sufficient, I can mobilize a large number of craftsmen to build the dock. It will only take two or three days for thousands of craftsmen to build a dock."

At this point, a deep pit has been dug on the inner side of the moat, which is obviously deeper than the outer side.

Zhu Jue raised the binoculars again and scanned the area carefully before asking, "Father-in-law Tian, ​​the depth inside should be about right, right?"

You're rushing me so fast, I haven't even had time to have someone measure it yet.

Tian Hongyu nodded repeatedly and said, "Your Majesty, it should be about time. Your humble servant and Minister Yuan have agreed to dredge the inner section of the river today and start building the dock tomorrow."

Okay, that's good. It looks like we can fill the tanks with water in three days and the boats will be able to pass through in four days.

Zhu Jue nodded slightly, then asked, "Grandfather Yuan, how much coal has the coal mines over the Yongding River stockpiled?"

Yuan You estimated, "We mobilized able-bodied men to mine the crops about twenty days ago. At a rate of about two million catties per day, we should have stockpiled about forty million catties."

It looks like we'll need to call in more cargo ships to haul coal.

Fortunately, the grain transport boats have already delivered most of this year's tax grain, so we can allocate more to haul coal.

As Zhu Jue was pondering this, Lu Xiangshan suddenly strode over carrying a huge scroll, bowed, and said, "Your Majesty, the list of successful candidates in the military examinations has been released."

The list of successful candidates in the military examinations has already been released?
There seem to be fewer military examination papers than civil examination papers, so it's not surprising that they're graded quickly.

Zhu Jue nodded slightly, then ordered someone to unfold the list of successful candidates and began to look at it with great interest.

Uh, I don't know any of them!

He read it from beginning to end, but he didn't see a single one that would go down in history.

It's not that these military candidates were incompetent; the key issue is that even if they became generals through the military examinations in history, they wouldn't have much of a chance to make a name for themselves in history.

The Ming Dynasty in history was about to perish at this time. Even those who became generals through the military examinations became cannon fodder. If they wanted to be remembered in history, they would have to be able to fight against ten thousand men and turn the tide.

It is obvious that no military general of this caliber appeared during the Chongzhen reign in history, so it is not surprising that he did not recognize any of these military officers.

He thought for a moment, then nodded decisively and said, "Hmm, not bad, let's do it this way. Quickly have someone post it out."

(End of this chapter)