Zhejiang, Haining Acropolis.
When the courtiers thought that Zhang Zhou was escorting the prince north to replace Ma Wensheng as Minister of War, Zhang Zhou went south instead, taking Zhu Houzhao to Hainingwei to participate in the foundation laying of the "Jiangnan Shipyard".
In addition to Tang Yin and Xu Yan, who were determined to participate in the great cause of "Jinghai", there was also the new Nanjing garrison minister Zhu Fu who came on his own initiative. In addition, there were some other places. officials, Hainingwei generals and others, as well as several special personnel. In addition to Xu Jing, who has always been a follower, there are also three new "disciples" that Zhu Houzhao has accepted, Sun Che, Gong Yeping and Hu Feng.
"Sir, it's such a big ship, can I get on it and have a look?"
When Zhu Houzhao reached the seaside, he became energetic and pointed at the ships moored on the sea with excitement.
The shipyard has not been built yet, but the ship already exists.
The Ming Dynasty had sea ships in the south of the Yangtze River. Before Jiajing, the Shipping Department of the Ming Dynasty also had close contacts with small countries in Southeast Asia. The Ming Dynasty also built some sea ships for Jinghai, but every ship was It is an old ship that is more than 40 years old. Even though it has been renovated, it still gives people the feeling that it will fall apart if the wind blows.
Without Zhang Zhou’s reminder, Yang Peng on the side reminded him, “Your Highness, you can’t get on the boat, it’s dangerous.”
Zhu Houzhao said with disdain, “Even on the coast, you can How dangerous is it to talk to so many people? Even if I fall into the water, it will still drown me."
Zhang Zhou said, "Prince, do you still remember that I told you that there is a water disaster in your life? "
"Tie" Zhu Houzhao was unhappy.
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Zhu Houzhao said, "I answered for my husband. He wants to send a ship to the ocean. It seems that there is a piece of land in the east, far, far away, with all kinds of treasures on it."
"Haha." Xu Yan could only respond with an awkward yet polite smile.
Zhang Zhou said, "This ship is used as a model for shipbuilding, but the ship's side rigidity is not enough and needs further improvement. I have already asked your Majesty to make Hainingwei the center of Ming Dynasty's shipbuilding in Jiangnan. From now on, Dozens of large and small ships are built here every year."
After hearing this, Xu Fu couldn't help but look at Zhu Fu, probably asking Zhu Fu to raise a problem.
But Zhu Fu turned his head to one side, pretending not to see his hint.
Xu Yan could only say in person, "It's not like I'm pouring cold water on this. This boat costs at least eighteen thousand taels of silver. It's still an ordinary boat. Our government has not allocated money and food to build a boat for many years. If we build dozens of boats a year, doesn’t it mean that we have to prepare four to five million taels of silver a year to spend on building ships?" Zhang Zhou sighed, "You make a lot of sense."
p>Xu Yan was startled. Zhang Zhou praised him so much and said that he was right. Xu Yan was a little flattered.
“I also know the courtIt is impossible to allocate too much money and food, so we can only use local materials." Zhang Zhou pointed to the sea in front of him.
Xu Yan asked, "Are you fishing?"
But Zhu Houzhao also pointed to Not far away, there was a white area and he said, "Sir, what is that shiny thing? Is silver produced here?"
As Zhu Houzhao spoke, everyone present also followed his finger. , looking at the beach in the distance
On a wide beach, there are puddles filled with sea water, and the puddles are connected together, and the farther they go. As we walked back, the water seemed to be less, and under the sunlight, it reflected a silvery white light.
Xu Jing said at this time, "This is what Master Zhang proposed earlier, to use the beach to dry it." The place where sea salt is dried is to use terraces on the seaside to transport seawater to high places by water trucks, and then flow from high places to low places step by step. Somehow, as it flows further down, the water can analyze The salt that comes out becomes whiter and is comparable to fine well salt. ”
Hearing this, Xu Yan’s face was filled with embarrassment.
The Ming Dynasty had two Zhejiang salt fields in Zhejiang. The method of boiling salt and drying salt has been used since ancient times. However, the salt produced by drying has too many impurities, and the salt drying cycle exceeds ten days at a time. It is difficult to guarantee that there will be no weather changes in more than ten days, so the salt drying method has not been used. Promotion.
The beach drying method is said to have been first promoted and used by Fujian people in the Changlu Salt District in 1522.
In the early Qing Dynasty, it was invented in the Hangu Salt District. Using a two-person willow bucket to lift seawater
In 1844, the magistrate of Ninghe County taught Zao households to use a water truck to lift water instead of a two-person willow bucket, and the water lifting capacity increased ten times. It can lift one hundred acres of water. From then on, the beach drying method completely replaced the boiling method.
Yang Peng asked, "Are there any salt farms and kitchen households in Hainingwei?"
Zhang. Zhou smiled and said, "No, I will use myself as a member of the military household and cooperate with the local people recruited to open a small salt farm. I will produce and sell it myself to pay for the shipyard expenses." Due to insufficient preparation and the fact that many things require me to be personally in charge, they were not implemented until this year. Not only has the construction just been completed, I will personally come over to supervise it."
Yang Peng said, "With such a place, I'm afraid it won't be implemented until this year. Not much salt can be found in the sun. If it's windy or rainy, everything will be ruined. "
Zhu Houzhao curled his lips and said, "Will it rain today?"
The biggest problem in Jiangnan is that there are rainy days, but now it is the tenth month of the lunar calendar, and there is very little rain. .
And the principle of the beach drying method is to build three to five pools, first send the seawater to the highest pool, and wait until it is dried to a certain extent to remove impurities with low solubility, such as sediment and calcium sulfate. Wait, it will be precipitated first.
After reaching a certain degree of saturation, the edge will be dug out to let the brine enter the second pool, wait for a few more days, and then be sent downwards for crystallization.
The sea salt obtained at that time was no longer the ordinary sea salt obtained by sun-drying or boiling. It was of first-class quality and preserved even when it rained.If you don't protect the bottom, you can even protect a crystallization pool.
In the past, the salt obtained by the sun-salting method was not good because all the impurities were together after drying. It is strange that the salt is good.
In the bitter brine of the salt dried by this method, some "industrial products" needed by Zhang Zhou can still be left. Zhang Zhou will also have people dry them again and transfer them to other places. , for the production of chemical raw materials.
"It's just a small project. I can make some money to make up for the shortfall, but it will make you laugh." Zhang Zhou said with a smile.
Xu Ru said, "If Duke Lai Guo wants to preside over the salt administration, the worst case scenario is that I will ask His Majesty to hand over the salt fields in Zhejiang and Huaihe to you to take care of it. Do you have to find a new way like this? With so little manpower, I'm afraid I won't be able to accomplish anything."
Zhang Zhou lamented, "I am not in charge of the affairs of the salt fields. No one will be convinced if I take over the salt fields. The salt output of the Ming Dynasty is so large. There are still many princes and nobles occupying their nests, so many salt merchants cannot exchange the salt. The Ming Dynasty’s northwest military supplies mainly rely on the income from these salts. I’d better be practical and try it myself first.
Xu Jing couldn’t stand listening anymore and said, “Everything that comes out is good salt.”
Zhang Zhou smiled and said, “By the way, when we go back, give each of us a few bags of salt. Just treat it as a gift from me and try it out.”
Except for Sun Che and the others, who were probably curious about the few bags of salt, everyone else here was from an official background and they did not lack the money for the few bags of salt. , and if you eat the salt out of the sun rashly, you will be like a white mouse, and you will have no way to redress your grievances if you eat it to death.
Because the Ming Dynasty could not afford salt, they ate "coarse salt" obtained from seawater and sun-dried salt. Many people suffered from poisoning and illness, leaving sequelae, and even died from it.
Zhang Zhou will stay in Hainingwei for two days.
The main thing is to summon craftsmen and hold a shipbuilding mobilization meeting. He will provide the blueprints. In addition, Tang Yin will be responsible for supervising the construction. As for Xu Jing, he is currently only responsible for drying salt.
In addition, Zhang Zhou also has a task to complete, which is to teach Zhu Houzhao to swim.
Be prepared.
"Sir, can I really float in the water? That's so interesting." Zhu Houzhao is quite enthusiastic about swimming.
But since ancient times, there have been very few kings who knew how to swim, and two emperors of the Ming Dynasty died of falling into the water and contracting diseases.
In front of Zhang Zhou, there was a living person standing.
Zhang Zhou said, "You can drown in water. If you learn how to swim, it will at least give you some chances of survival when facing water disasters without choking on water. First, sulk in the water for twenty Number."
Zhang Zhou was like a strict swimming coach, guiding Zhu Houzhao to dive.
Yang Peng quickly tugged on Zhang Zhou's clothes and said, "Dong Lai, it is too dangerous for the prince to enter the water."
Zhang Zhou said, "The water in this pool is all It has been tempered and has not reached his waist. Are you worried that he will catch a cold or that he will drown?"
"No, no.That's OK, but just a few numbers won't work. "Zhu Houzhao poked his head out from the closed "swimming pool" again.
Zhang Zhou said, "Keep practicing, I will teach you the essentials. Treat it as bathing you today and add two buckets of hot water to him. ”
Zhang Zhou also lamented that it was very troublesome to teach the prince how to swim. If Zhang Jun wanted to practice, he could just throw the person into the water. It doesn’t matter what the weather is outside, but now there is actually a group of people surrounding him.
It took Zhu Houzhao a whole day to learn how to be a dog. Plane.
Zhang Zhou also wanted to teach this boy more swimming postures, but he also found that his skin was a little wrinkled, and it was enough to learn just one.
" I'll leave for Beijing tomorrow and arrange my car. "Zhang Zhou said, "Call the people leading the troops over again, and I will draw a few maps. In the future, it will be up to me to decide what route to take when going to sea."
Zhang Zhou currently only has a slightly larger one on hand.
Going directly to the Americas is obviously beyond the mission of this ship. Then go to Nanyang first and transport some things that may not seem to be of much use in this era, but in fact they are very useful to him. The key item.
Just as Zhang Zhou was preparing to return to Beijing,
Zhu Youtang was in trouble again.
The third son of the emperor was also worried. Now the "second child" Zhu Houxuan is sick. He has a high fever and is crying all the time. This makes him finally have a "double insurance", but suddenly he is afraid that "all four things will be lost"
Because his son was ill, Zhu Youtang didn't even have the energy to attend the morning court meeting. It wasn't until the court meeting was dismissed that the newly appointed Minister of Household Affairs, Zhong Zhong, raised a topic that he was slightly interested in. Open new salt fields, use the so-called salt-drying method, open hundreds of acres of salt fields, and gradually expand the salt fields. The salt will be used for shipbuilding and military supplies. "
Zhu Youtang already wanted to dissolve the court meeting. Hearing this, he raised his head and said with a little more sparkle in his eyes, "I have known about this for a long time, and I allowed him to do this. "
Ji Zhongdao, "Your Majesty, the coarse salt obtained from drying salt needs to be purified again, which consumes manpower and material resources. If coarse salt flows into the market, it is no different from private salt, and it is really not appropriate to set this precedent.
Zhu Youtang frowned and said, "If you have something to do, let's wait until Bingkuan returns to Beijing." "Retire from the Dynasty"
It is rare to find a new Minister of Household Affairs. Unexpectedly, he was still stubborn in opposing Zhang Zhou's ideas, so he was regarded as a "negative example" by Zhu Youtang.
He was too lazy to listen to Zhong Zhong's reasons.
He had to go back to check on his son's condition and had no time to pay attention to this group of people.
The meeting was dismissed. p>
Because of his previous "excellent performance", Zhong Zhong gained a good impression among traditional civil servants.
On the way out of the palace, many people came to chat with him. , and also expressed dissatisfaction with Zhang Zhou's unauthorized opening of the salt field.
Ji Zhongque.He doesn't care whether it is appropriate for Zhang Zhou to open a salt farm. He only cares about whether the salt produced by Zhang Zhou using the sun-dried salt method is just for the sake of making money. Unscrupulous businessmen specialize in defrauding the people.
So Zhong Zhong In the past, he asked three people in the cabinet for help, but only Xie Qian stopped and listened to what Zhong Zhong said.
Xie Qian smiled and said, "I think there is nothing wrong with Zhang Bingkuan's move."
He has become an unscrupulous businessman. If something happens and causes public outrage, then we This group of people should be happy about it.
Why not let him take the initiative to rush forward and cause trouble for himself? Do we still have to stop him?
Ji Zhongdao "In order to open a salt farm, the money that should belong to the treasury will be Do you think Mr. Xie Ge thought this was appropriate?"
Xie Qian asked in surprise, "Did Zhang Bingkuan say that the salt he made does not need to be taxed?"
Ji Zhong thought for a while.
It seems that Zhang Zhou never mentioned it, nor did the emperor.
"Haha." After that, we will have a lot of fun."
As he said this, Ma Wen walked past the two of them quickly and said, "I don't think so."
Ma Wensheng is still the Minister of the Ministry of War, and the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel is still vacant.
The errands of the staff department are currently handled by Cheng Minzheng.
Isn’t it okay to fail in something you are good at?”
Ma Wensheng wanted to say that if Zhang Bingkuan dared to do it, he must have such confidence.
But he expected that Xie Qian would definitely understand this.
When Xie Qian said this in front of Zhong Zhong, it was obviously just to express a position on behalf of the cabinet. In fact, did Xie Qian really think Zhang Zhou would fail?
Ma Wensheng didn’t know either. Qian didn't know what he was thinking specifically. At this time, he would not comment casually.
Next to Qianqing Palace, inside the newly built Xinuan Pavilion.
Zhu Youtang, his concubine Xian, the second prince Zhu Houxuan, and a group of people from Taiyuan Hospital are diagnosing Zhu Houxuan.
"What's going on? You haven't figured out what the disease is until now? Is it true that only when Bingkuan is here can you diagnose the disease properly?"
Zhu Youtang said to Several imperial doctors don't have a good temper.
The hospital envoy Zhonglan has retired. I heard that he died of illness immediately after returning.
Now the envoy of Tai Hospital is Wang Yu.
Wang Yu liked to work in the camp very much. In the fifth year of Hongzhi, he submitted a petition to be promoted to the court judge. However, the famous minister Wang Shu intervened and impeached him, saying that he was "uneasy about his position and wanted to be promoted to the court judge. He was unreasonable." No, it is difficult to tolerate the law." According to history, in July of the twelfth year of Hongzhi, he got his wish and got the position of Tongzheng Envoy Si Youtongzheng and concurrently as the judge of Taiyuan Hospital.
But because of Zhang Zhou's presence, the Imperial Hospital has been almost a backwater in the past two years. Until now, Wang Yu has only filled Zhong Lan's position as hospital envoy.
The emperor's attitude towards the imperial hospital is very telling.
Judge Liu Wentai saw that his superior was silent, so he took the initiative to come out and said, "Your Majesty, the second prince has been given the right medicine and I believe he will recover soon."
Liu Wentai is also a "ruthless person" ".
He was a key figure in the execution of the two emperors Xianzong and Xiaozong. When Xianzong died, his crimes were not serious and he was only demoted to the rank of imperial doctor. However, it was even more excessive during Xiaozong's time. Xiaozong was just because he was in the eighteenth year of Hongzhi. He went out to the city to pray for rain in person, but it did rain a little. It only took nine days from onset of illness to death. In the summer, Zhu Youtang was directly given "hot medicine", which caused Zhu Youtang to have a nosebleed on the spot, and his minor illness was turned into a national mourning.
If Liu Wentai had said this before, Zhu Youtang might have believed it.
But there is no harm without comparison.
Zhang Zhou was able to cure even smallpox. He made a disease that had been circulating in China a few years ago disappear. And you, Liu Wentai, are still here to say anything and I will immediately believe you, you ghost
"I'll go study Bingkuan's book right now"
As he said that, Zhu Youtang took out the baby care manual left by Zhang Zhou and asked Li Rong to hand it over.
Several people from Tai Hospital were very embarrassed.
When we treat people, we actually have to read other people’s prescriptions. Your Majesty is really not giving you face.
But due to the emperor's will, they could only acquiesce and go back to "research" with the pamphlet.
Zhu Youtang was in a irritable mood.
The Empress Dowager Zhou called him over, probably to ask about her great-grandson's condition, so Zhu Youtang patiently went over to see her.
The Empress Dowager Zhou dismissed everyone around her, and then she solemnly asked her grandson, "Emperor, have you noticed anything strange about the prince's illness?"
Zhu Youtang was startled. .
He seemed to understand what Empress Dowager Zhou was referring to.
"The Ai family doesn't like to speculate maliciously on others, but it's better to be prepared for some things. It may be that the feng shui of the palace is not good. Your children are too sick and it seems that only the prince is the only one."
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When Empress Dowager Zhou said this, she might not feel comfortable continuing this topic, so she sighed softly, "It's your fault if you give Bingkuan away. You also know that he can do everything. But I don’t know if Bingkuan has calculated the fate of the little prince."
When Zhu Youtang thought about it, Zhang Zhou really never mentioned that the child would have any illness.
"The Imperial Grandmother, Bingkuan once said that this child is beyond my destiny. For him, even destiny is unpredictable." Zhu Youtang said.
"Yes." Empress Dowager Zhou nodded, "Don't worry too much, it will always get better. You have to work hard too. If you have more heirs, why worry so much?" Please remember to bookmark, the latest and newest website. Read quickly without anti-theft for free