You have truly caused me great suffering!

After arriving in Jinling, Qu Duan and Guo Hao went straight to the outskirts of the imperial city without even going home.

While waiting for the eunuch to go in and report, the two were already outside the palace discussing the Northern Expedition.

The two of them drew a rough diagram on the ground with sticks.

Then they used small stones to build mountains, almost identical to the terrain of the Mongol tribe, showing that they had also put in effort.

They discussed enthusiastically how to search the mountains, how to pursue and surround the enemy, and how to exploit the relationships between the tribes.

When Chen Chong arrived, he coughed lightly, which woke the two who were engrossed in their plan.

"His Majesty has summoned the two generals to an audience in the Funing Palace."

Qu Duan stood up, clapped his hands, and said to his subordinates with a rare smile, "Let's go!"

Every time Qu Duan entered the Funing Hall, he felt a sense of solemnity, while Guo Hao was here for the first time.

But none of them were intimidated, because the emperor here was originally their superior.

We all ate together in the large pot in the military camp.

However, after so many years, when Guo Hao saw Chen Shao again, he found that His Majesty looked really good, and he couldn't help but feel relieved and happy.

"Your subject pays respects to Your Majesty."

"Please take a seat." Chen Shao waved his hand and then said, "My two beloved ministers have been stationed overseas for a long time. You have worked hard. Our Great Jing has only been established for four years. Everything requires manpower. I had no choice but to send you to Japan."

"Thanks to your individual efforts, the Chenghai Navy has been built into a pillar of the Great Jing Sea. In the future, you will continue to explore these vast seas."

The two men sensed something was off. They had no intention of building any kind of lousy navy; they were both originally from the Northwest cavalry.

Guo Hao joined the army as a young man and was known for commanding cavalry. He was a true general who had raided thousands of miles.

Qu Duan did indeed create the navy of the Great Jing Dynasty, but his purpose in creating the navy was to land in Liaodong, open up a second front, and directly attack enemy rear areas.

Now, however, they're stuck here.

His Majesty's meaning was quite clear and not hard to guess: he was saying that the Great Jing Navy was very important and that they needed to continue their efforts.

In recent years, the Jingdezhen Navy has indeed developed rapidly, but the battles it has fought have all been minor skirmishes.

The most powerful enemy was a small country like Srivijaya, which was easily wiped out by simply sending a navy to transport Annamite troops there.

As for Japan, they were utterly crushed. Guo Hao and Qu Duan both used very few troops to smash the warriors of the powerful Japanese clans.

Chen Shao then rewarded them with a large sum of money, allowing them to spend more time with their families in Jinling, and even to return home after a month.

Qu Duan had indeed mentioned going to the northern desert for an expedition.

At that time, Chen Shao was drunk and had long forgotten, or rather, hadn't remembered it.

This kind of thing can easily breed discontent, but unfortunately they were all the emperor's confidants, so they could only grumble in their hearts.

After leaving the Funing Palace, the two were dejected. When they saw the small sand table piled up outside the palace, Guo Hao couldn't help but stomp it flat.

Qu Duan remained silent, his face as still as water.

From the emperor's perspective, the Great Jing Dynasty is currently developing rapidly, and the longer it waits, the more advantageous it will be.

He wished that everything would develop in a reasonable, orderly, and gradual manner, the more solid and stable the better.

However, for military officers, military merits are becoming increasingly scarce, and they have no idea where future military merits will come from.

Therefore, the more aggressive they were in battle, the more popular they were with their soldiers.

They couldn't wait to wipe out all the enemies.

This also shows how valuable Li Xiaozhong is.

Although Qu Duan criticized him for being ignorant of military affairs, Chen Shao felt that Li Xiaozhong truly understood the national situation and was worthy of being the person who laid the foundation with him.

In fact, of the eleven states that were to be settled, the most important was Xia State.

Xiazhou was created by Li Xiaozhong.

Even the fortified village system, which is now widely used, was gradually improved and perfected by Li Xiaozhong, Chen Shao, Zhu Lingling, and Wei Li.

Han Shizhong was the first person to achieve military merit in the campaign to quell the rebellion, but he was really only involved in fighting; his achievements were purely military.

When he was hunting down the Western Xia royal family and besieging Helan Mountain, it was these few people in the rear who completed the construction of the Dingnan Army.

Of course, when Chen Shao was granted a title, he still adhered to the principle of prioritizing military merit.

Han Shizhong ranked second only to Liu Guanglie, and was implicitly the number one general of the Great Jing Dynasty.

After seeing Qu Duan off, Chen Shao thought of his navy again.

Wang Bing is currently in charge of the South China Sea Fleet.

He wasn't from the Dingnan Army, but he was a veteran, and he belonged to the Western Army faction.

Among Chen Shao's troops, the Western Army was an unavoidable topic. Many soldiers of the Dingnan Army, such as Han Shizhong and Wu Jie, were originally from the Western Army, and Chen Shao himself also came from the Western Army.

He was able to obtain Yinzhou because of his marriage alliance with the Zhong family; this was considered Zhong Lingxi's dowry.

Chen Shao understood what Lao Zhong meant: the Western Xia was about to be destroyed, and their Western Army was afraid that the court would discard them after they were no longer useful, so they were looking for a way out in advance.

However, it cannot be denied that being the son-in-law of the Zhong family did give Chen Shao a much-needed reprieve, allowing him to thrive in the Northwest.

Therefore, the Western Army could be considered half of the Dingnan Army, and they were very close to each other, with no strong xenophobic sentiment among them.

The navy that Wang Bing built in the South China Sea was needed in many places because it was deployed to the southern wilderness.

For example, escorting caravans, protecting mines, transporting troops, and fighting pirates.
Therefore, they later surpassed the Chenghai Navy and showed signs of becoming the best.

Moreover, the North only has Mizhou Shipyard that is presentable, but the South has shipyards in Annam, Mingzhou, Quanzhou, Xiaoliuqiu, Guangzhou, and Qiongzhou.

Perhaps only when Da Jing conquers Goryeo and Japan and continues sailing eastward to the Americas will the potential of the Chenghai Navy be unleashed once again.

After all, the recent shipping route utilizes the North Pacific Circulation, following the "Kuroshio-Oyashio-Alaska Current" line.

In the southern part of Honshu Island, Japan, it moves northward along the Kuroshio Current, turns northeast east of Etorofu Island, and drifts across the ocean with the help of the westerly winds (North Pacific Current) along the southern edge of the Oyashio.

Following the Alaska Current southward, after reaching the west coast of North America, it continues southward along the Alaska Current in search of a suitable landing point.

This is the closest possible route, and theoretically the most likely to succeed.

Of course, to reduce the difficulty, you can also use the Aleutian Islands island-hopping method: similar to the Vikings' method of exploring Greenland.

Starting point (Japan) → First jump (Kuril Islands) → Second jump (Kamchatka Peninsula) → Third jump (Western Aleutian Islands) → Fourth jump (Central Aleutian Islands) → End point (Alaska/West Coast of North America).

But Chen Shao prefers direct flights.

His craftsmen were installing steam engines on the ships, which gave him the confidence to wait.

Qu Duan and Guo Hao were unaware of their emperor's grand plans and strategies at this time. In the future, they would surely thank Chen Shao for keeping them in the navy.

As long as the fleet's voyage continues to the Americas, they will surely find Australia, and then the whole world will be under their control.

Now hiding in the mountains, fearing the extermination of the Mongol tribes, they were able to sweep across Eurasia in the original history.

Given their relatively small size, if the Great Jing Dynasty were to develop for a few more years, it could completely replicate the Mongol achievements, and perhaps even surpass them. Therefore, it could also take control of Eurasia.

What Chen Shao was worried about was never being unable to defeat or conquer the enemy, but rather that even if they conquered the entire enemy's productive forces, they would have no way to manage them.

It's inevitable that they'll fall apart eventually, and it's not impossible that they might use Da Jing's advanced technology to turn around and attack Da Jing.

If you don't believe it, you can see how Britain and the United States are like a father and son to each other.

The situation in the Central Plains is different from that in European countries; here, the monarch's authority must be unlimited.

If it were ten years ago, when Chen Shaochu first arrived, someone told him that he could develop a steam engine within ten years.

Chen Shao would definitely scoff at it.

But at this time he had great faith in the wisdom of the craftsmen of the Central Plains.

It won't be long before he witnesses a massive change.

The pace of development of the human species will also be greatly accelerated.
-
As the height of summer approaches, the weather becomes hot.

Chen Shao moved to the Zhongshan Summer Palace with his concubines, princes, and princesses in a very low-key manner.

The biggest achievement this winter and spring was Yang Cheng's excavation of the canal, and in the spring, the rainfall was significantly more normal than last year.

According to the report from the Ministry of Agriculture, except for a few isolated areas, this year is generally predicted to be a bumper harvest.

This put Chen Shao's mind at ease.

In the third year of Jianwu last year, the imperial court actually accomplished many important and practical things.

However, due to the irregular seasons and constant natural disasters, the quality of this year was somewhat diminished.

This year is also a year of great development for Dajing, and I hope that such things will not happen again.

If the autumn harvest goes smoothly, Chen Shao has already made a wish in his heart to offer sacrifices at the Imperial Ancestral Temple.

So this kind of thing is actually very mysterious. Regardless of whether Chen Shao believed it before, after becoming emperor, he also began to offer sacrifices to Heaven and Earth.

God is the one who can bring peace of mind.

What you believe to exist in your mind does exist, at least in your mind.

Inside the Zhongshan Summer Palace, everyone was happily tidying up their own courtyards.

Following His Majesty, one can experience the joy of moving two or three times a year.

Many palace maids and concubines gathered together, feeling genuine joy and delight as they watched the flowers planted last year still thriving and blooming again this year.

This joyful atmosphere also infected Chen Shao.

He took Crown Prince Chen Wang fishing in a mountain stream.

The little prince, though only five years old, is not very naughty and is usually quite quiet.

Chen Shao enjoyed playing with him, and Chen Wang's birth was of great significance to him.

It was his birth that stabilized people's hearts and made them willing to follow him wholeheartedly. After all, Chen Shao was all alone, without even a clan.

What would happen to everyone if you suddenly died? Who could gather this huge group together?

Because his health regimen had been so successful, Chen Shao seemed to already see a crown prince in his sixties or seventies.
Fortunately, Chen Shao was very different from fathers like Li Longji, Zhao Ji, Kangxi, and Qianlong.

These individuals, because they lived long and were in good health, treated their sons like thieves.

Li Longji goes without saying; he killed three sons in one day, which shows that he completely inherited his grandmother's bad genes. He didn't even flinch when killing his own relatives.

As the saying goes, even a tiger wouldn't eat its cubs, but this branch of theirs is truly vicious.

Emperor Huizong of Song constantly suppressed Crown Prince Zhao Huan, and even put pressure on the honest and unassuming Crown Prince Zhao Huan by elevating the Third Prince Zhao Kai.

As a result, they suppressed Zhao Huan too much.
Historically, it was already quite astonishing for someone to go alone to negotiate with the Jin army camp; now, they've even more daringly handed over their entire empire.

Let's not even talk about Emperor Kangxi and Emperor Qianlong; they weren't exactly good people to begin with, so it's normal that they lacked humanity.

Chen Shao wants Wangzai to grow up happily and become a peaceful prince.
If possible, I can delegate power to him to govern the country. I've even prepared a textbook for Chen Shao, which is essentially my notebook. As long as he can carry out my decrees, that's all that matters.

Chen Shao had no intention of becoming the retired emperor and making his son the emperor.

He believed that as long as he didn't become abstract and didn't deliberately suppress his own flesh and blood, he could completely avoid those tragedies.

Why would a child raised in a normal family in the Central Plains wish for his father to die early?
The individuals mentioned above are all scum of humanity. As human beings, they are utterly failures, and their methods of educating the crown prince are completely inhuman, which is why their sons have become disloyal and alienated.

Old Zhu was so healthy, yet Zhu Biao never seemed to wish for his father's early death.

The Annals of Emperor Xiaoming of the Later Han Dynasty (Book of the Later Han Dynasty):
"In the first month of spring in the seventeenth year... the emperor dreamt of the late emperor and empress dowager as if they were still alive. Upon waking, he was so sad that he could not sleep."

This is the true father-son relationship of the Han Chinese.

Chen Shao valued and respected his eldest son very much. If his son showed great interest in any area, Chen Shao would definitely let him study and play with it.

This is actually not contrary to governing a country.

Everyone needs to have their own interests.

The way Emperor Kangxi educated his crown prince was an extremely contradictory, high-pressure, and emotionally manipulative method of upbringing.

Don't be fooled by novels that romanticize Emperor Kangxi and Emperor Yongzheng as wise rulers. In reality, Emperor Kangxi was a heartless and utterly despicable man.

The tutor he found for the crown prince was named Xu Yuanmeng, who was then a lecturer in the Hanlin Academy. When lecturing to the princes, he had to kneel before them; when speaking to a prince, he had to kneel before speaking; and when listening to a prince recite a text, he also had to kneel.

Once, when he tested the prince's martial arts skills, he asked Xu Yuanmeng to draw a bow. Xu was a scholar and could not pull the bow.

Emperor Kangxi suddenly launched into a tirade:

"You are my teacher, yet you cannot ride or shoot arrows. How can you teach my son?"

He immediately ordered the guards to pin Xu Yuanmeng down and, in front of all the princes, flogged him thirty times, leaving him "a bloody mess, almost to the point of death."

Later, his family property was confiscated, and only 500 taels of silver were obtained. He then ordered his parents to be exiled to Heilongjiang.
Moreover, the very next day, Xu Yuanmeng, who was seriously injured, was ordered to continue teaching as usual, without being allowed to recuperate or have his teaching delayed because of his parents' exile.

Every time he checked the princes' homework and found that they hadn't memorized the material well, he would take his anger out on the teacher.

He ordered the guards of Qianqing Palace to administer thirty strokes of the cane in public, with all the princes, including Crown Prince Yinreng, supervising the execution!

What kind of good son could a person like that raise?
What kind of good son could he possibly raise?

If you truly look down on Han people, then have some backbone. If you're so capable, then don't study these articles and just maintain your ethnic traditions.

To put it bluntly, they still know they are a barbarian race. Their deep-seated inferiority complex makes them even more violent, and they can only cover up this inferiority complex by suppressing and humiliating Han Chinese officials.

Their mentality is like that of a servant in a household. If they suddenly rise in status, they often like to mistreat their former masters to show their power and escape the humiliation of the past.

Chen Shao would never doubt that his son would be unfilial to him in the future because of such examples; that would be an insult to himself and to Wangzai.

Looking at his son's focused eyes and his adorable, competitive look, Chen Shao couldn't help but purse his lips.

He subtly shook his fishing rod to avoid getting hooked. (End of Chapter)