Chongzhen's domineering

Chapter 255 The Empress is Pregnant and the World is Free from Illness (Part 2)

With the sound of firecrackers a year old, the spring breeze sent warmth to Tusu.

Thousands of families always exchange new peaches for old ones.

The Lunar New Year holiday has finally arrived.

The people of the capital were overjoyed.

This is all because everyone has become wealthy, much wealthier than during the Jiajing Restoration and the Longqing and Wanli eras.

With money, people are naturally happy during the New Year. Everyone can buy new clothes, eat as much delicious food as they want, and even enjoy fireworks and firecrackers to their heart's content.

More importantly, the capital city now has passenger railcars, making it incredibly convenient to visit relatives.

Ordinary people generally didn't have horse-drawn carriages. In the past, when visiting relatives during the New Year, they really had to walk, carrying their families and gifts, and walking in the cold wind. It was so tiring; they would be out of breath after walking just a few miles.

Now it's different. They can just take a car and put the kids and gifts in the car. Even if it's a journey of ten or even dozens of miles, they won't get tired at all.

Many people from the surrounding area even traveled to the capital to ride in carriages and enjoy the scenery.

The entire capital was incredibly lively.

The palace was also bustling with activity. Zhu Jue was working hard to have children, and it was lively all day long.

The fifteenth day of the first lunar month, the day of Ji Chou, is the last day of the Lunar New Year celebrations and also the Lantern Festival.

Early that morning, around 5 a.m., Zhu Jue, who had been confined to his room to make a baby, finally went out.

This time, he went on a long trip, taking Wang Chengen, Fang Zhenghua, and others directly onto a passenger railcar and heading straight for the Haihe Shipyard.

The waterways at the Haihe Shipyard have already been dug, and more than 100,000 farmers are even pouring cement on both sides and the bottom of the waterways.

This is because the waterways no longer need to be dredged so often, drainage is much easier, and it's even more convenient to build ships with supports in winter.

As for the dock, it was almost finished, with 80,000 to 90,000 soldiers from the Beijing garrison and more than 200,000 artisans climbing up and down the high scaffolding, busy as bees.

Seeing this, Zhu Jue couldn't help but feel gratified.

The shipyard will definitely be completed before spring, and the Ming Dynasty's shipbuilding capacity will more than double, especially its ability to build ocean-going warships, which will increase many times over.

The waterway at the Beijing Shipyard can only hold two small Weiyuan and Zhenyuan warships, while this waterway can hold ten small Weiyuan and Zhenyuan warships!
After the shipyard was built, the shipbuilding speed of the Ming Dynasty was truly terrifying.

He watched all this with a face full of satisfaction. The passenger railcar soon arrived near the tent where Lu Xiang-sheng, Song Ying-xing, Bi Mao-kang, Yuan You, and Tian Hong-yu were.

This large tent is actually Lu Xiang-sheng's command tent. It can easily hold dozens of people. At this moment, Lu Xiang-sheng, Song Ying-xing, Bi Mao-kang, Yuan You, Tian Hong-yu, and others are still inside, and even Wang Zheng has come.

When Zhu Jue entered the main tent, he couldn't help but exclaim in surprise, "Liangfu, what brings you here too?"

Everyone bowed quickly.

Wang Zheng said excitedly, "Your Majesty, isn't today the Lantern Festival? I just wanted to check on the progress of the shipyard and have a meal with Jian Dou and Chang Geng so that we can all get together."

Oh, so you came all this way to hang out with everyone?

Zhu Jue nodded slightly and said, "That's perfect. I also brought them a lot of delicacies. Quickly order someone to prepare them so everyone can have a good meal together."

Unlike Wang Zheng, who came empty-handed, he brought a whole cartload of delicacies for Lu Xiang-sheng and Song Ying-xing.

Upon hearing this, everyone expressed their gratitude repeatedly.

Zhu Jue waved his hand and asked again, "Liangfu, how are the development of the large Zhiyuan merchant ship and the medium-sized Weiyuan warship going?"

Without hesitation, Wang Zheng replied, "Your Majesty, the hulls of the large Zhiyuan merchant ship and the medium-sized Weiyuan warship are almost fully assembled, and they can be tested in the spring."

Furthermore, the planks for the upper deck are almost finished. I estimate that it will take at most a little over a month to build the large Zhiyuan merchant ship and the medium-sized Weiyuan warship.”

That's just right.

Zhu Jue pondered, "Liangfu, you must have prepared quite a lot of materials for the medium-sized Zhiyuan merchant ship and the small Zhenyuan warship, right?"

When the lockdown here is lifted, we will build a batch of medium-sized Zhiyuan merchant ships and small Zhenyuan warships, filling all the waterways completely, and building more than a thousand of each type.

After this is completed, we will no longer build small Zhenyuan warships. The Beijing Shipyard will focus on building small and medium-sized Zhiyuan merchant ships, while we will focus on building large Zhiyuan merchant ships and medium-sized Weiyuan warships.

"We'll build at least a batch this year, over 600 large Zhiyuan merchant ships and over 600 medium-sized Weiyuan warships. Is that alright?"

Well, shipbuilding isn't that simple, especially building warships, gunboats, and giant ships with a capacity of over a thousand li. Wang Zheng thought for a moment before cautiously saying, "Your Majesty, if I may be so bold, shipbuilding requires manpower, especially building giant ships with a capacity of over a thousand li. Even ordinary carpenters need to learn how to build them properly."

Furthermore, the warships and gunboats are equipped with too many cannons. More than a thousand Zhenyuan warships would be equipped with fifty to sixty thousand cannons. You also said that we should not make too many cannons weighing two hundred catties. Meng Hou did not make many cannons weighing two hundred catties, and the production of cannons weighing five hundred catties has not yet come up.

Therefore, it is impossible for us to produce 50,000 to 60,000 cannons weighing 200 jin each, and it is also impossible for us to produce 50,000 to 60,000 cannons weighing 500 jin each next year.

Furthermore, building a giant ship with a capacity of over 1,000 tons requires a large number of saws to process timber. Even if we work non-stop throughout the winter, we can only saw enough timber for a maximum of a thousand medium-sized Zhiyuan merchant ships and small Zhenyuan warships.

When the time comes, the timber for building small and medium-sized Zhiyuan merchant ships at the Beijing Shipyard will still need to be sawed on-site, so they definitely can't saw timber for us here. And if we want to saw timber for more than 600 large Zhiyuan merchant ships and medium-sized Weiyuan warships, we'll need at least as many sawing machines as the Beijing Shipyard.

Another issue is timber. Even if we import timber from Southeast Asia, it will only be enough to ensure the Beijing shipyard operates at full capacity. If both shipyards operate simultaneously, building warships at full speed, then there simply won't be enough timber.

There are quite a few problems.

Zhu Jue thought about it carefully before solemnly saying, "Liangfu, you can make some adjustments to the carpentry problem. Most of the carpenters at the shipyard in the capital should be able to build giant ships with a capacity of over 1,000 tons. You can transfer most of the carpenters from there to work with the new carpenters here."

As for the large vacancy at the capital shipyard, sending in new carpenters shouldn't be a problem. They're still building a large number of small 800-ton merchant ships there; new carpenters should be able to learn quickly.

Regarding the artillery, it is indeed not advisable for us to equip ourselves with too many 200-pound cannons, as that would be too wasteful. The production of 500-pound cannons cannot keep up for the time being, so let's convert the small Zhenyuan warships into small Weiyuan warships.

Next year, the first batch of ships to be built here will be over a thousand small Weiyuan warships and over a thousand medium-sized Zhiyuan merchant ships. Although the firepower will be a bit weak, the small Weiyuan warships can still be used to haul cargo, which will increase our cargo volume considerably.

The problem with the saws is easy to solve. If it doesn't work, we can quickly build some factories that specialize in producing saws. We can equip the factory with as many saws as needed.

"The timber issue is easy to handle. When Hongkui returns next time, I'll have him talk to Zixian about large-scale logging in the Americas. There's more timber there than in Southeast Asia, and we won't have to pay anything. We can just cut down the timber directly."

Shipbuilding is indeed not that simple, especially building giant ships with a displacement of over 1,000 tons.

After they finished lunch, they chatted for a while longer before Zhu Jue hurried back to have a reunion dinner with Empress Zhou and Empress Zhang.

He was so busy that it was already dark when he rushed back to the palace.

The kitchen was bustling with activity, not only because of Zheng Chenggong, but also because of the presence of the emperor's uncles, Zhou Jian and Zhou Xuan.

When Zhu Jue walked in and saw what was going on, he couldn't help but ask in surprise, "Xiao Jian and Xiao Xuan, why didn't you bring your wives and children along for a family reunion dinner?"

Uh, we're not here for a family reunion dinner.

Zhou Jian quickly explained, "Your Majesty, we were originally having a family reunion dinner at home, but my eldest sister suddenly felt unwell, so we rushed over. Congratulations, Your Majesty, my eldest sister is probably pregnant."

It turns out that Empress Zhou is pregnant.

It's not surprising that the emperor's brothers-in-law, Zhou Jian and Zhou Xuan, both studied medicine, came to take a look.

Zhu Jue nodded slightly subconsciously, then suddenly realized what he meant.

Empress Zhou is pregnant!

He couldn't help but exclaim excitedly, "Great! I'm going to have a child!"

You must be overjoyed by these words. What children? Yours are all dragon blood!

Upon hearing this, everyone couldn't help but smile.

He couldn't help but sit down next to Empress Zhou and offer her words of comfort and concern.

The emperor's brother-in-law, Zhou Jian, seemed to have more to say, but after his brother-in-law had calmed down, he cautiously asked, "Your Majesty, if I may be so bold, shall we continue to manufacture this medicine?"

Oh, I forgot about the prepared medicines.

The pharmaceutical industry can become a very profitable sector once it develops.

The key issue was that there were no ready-made medicines available at that time, and there weren't many doctors. It was inconvenient for ordinary people to see a doctor, especially in the countryside, where they could only go to itinerant doctors when they got sick.

Many ordinary people couldn't wait for a traveling doctor or didn't have enough money to see a doctor, and even a minor illness could lead to their death.

This is one of the reasons why ordinary people have a low life expectancy nowadays.

If they could manufacture and distribute the medicine, ordinary people could simply buy some medicine for minor illnesses instead of letting it drag on until they die.

Upon hearing this, Zhu Jue slowly nodded and said, "Of course we have to manufacture these prepared medicines. We need to manufacture all the prepared medicines for treating common diseases first, so that most ordinary people will not have to suffer from those diseases."

(End of this chapter)