The Ming Dynasty’s Prodigal Son - Chapter 1240

[1240.Chapter 1184 Dragon Heart is Joyful]

Emperor Hongzhi visited almost every location on the ship.

Oh, it turns out that the sail is not raised because there is no need to rely on wind power for the time being. This time, it is to try the power of steam power.

Also… It turns out that ships can also use inertia to sail to a certain extent. When the boilers are burning at first, the ships are slow. When they gradually pick up speed, the speed may be further accelerated.

There were also those strongmen in the boiler room, all of them were shirtless, but they were covered in sweat, and their skin turned white as if they had been steamed by sweat.

Helmsmen need to study nautical charts, and ships must follow a relatively fixed route, because unknown waters and unknown hydrology are prone to the risk of running aground, of course, especially in offshore waters.

Navigation in distant seas mostly relies on ocean currents.

There is also wind power, which is limited because the wind direction can change at any time.

In addition…

Emperor Hongzhi looked at these sailors and sailors in the turbulence. Here, he felt unsteady and his head was a little dizzy, but they all performed their duties tirelessly.

It’s really not easy.

Emperor Hongzhi sighed in his heart.

It is conceivable that those who traveled across the ocean experienced many hardships on the way across the ocean.

The voyage to the West was a national policy. With his own decree, tens of thousands and hundreds of thousands of people changed their lives and destiny, but he… almost ignored them.

Fang Jifan also started to chat: “Your Majesty, if the sea trials are completed, I sincerely request that the Ming Dynasty need to organize a large-scale steamship fleet.”

“Well.” Emperor Hongzhi said thoughtfully: “It must cost a lot of money. “Okay.”

Fang Jifan gritted his teeth and said, “I heard that the Francois have a fleet called the Invincible Fleet. They are all over the world and are full of evil.”

From Fang Jifan’s point of view, this is no longer full of evil.

Emperor Hongzhi became cautious: “Really? After the sea trial, please come up with the charter. Among all the ministers, who can take charge of this fleet?”

“If your majesty believes in your minister, your disciple Tang Yin has been in charge before. With the experience of the navy, it is most safe for him to train the personnel and take charge of the fleet.”

Emperor Hongzhi heard Fang Jifan mention the word ‘believe’.

Emperor Hongzhi smiled bitterly, “Your father died in battle thousands of miles away. Your Fang Jifan is my son-in-law. You, Fang Jifan, have trained the emperor’s grandson to be both civil and military, which is impressive.” You, Fang Jifan, amassed wealth in Xishan and gave so many shares to me and the prince for nothing. This guy has offended countless people for the New Deal. If you say that you still have no trust in him, then there are others in this world. Who can be trusted.

Emperor Hongzhi nodded: “Tang Yin is a man who is soft on the outside and strong on the inside. He can be of great use.”

He looked pleased. In any case, Fang Jifan was finally willing to communicate normally, which was an excellent sign.

Emperor Hongzhi continued: “These Francois deserve to be damned. They dare to claim to be invincible. In the whole world, are they not the king’s land? Are they the king’s ministers, rebellious ministers and traitors? Sure enough, everyone will punish them. Fan, does this fleet have a name?”

Emperor Hongzhi regretted it as soon as he said it.

Let Fang Jifan choose the name, this is like a car accident scene.

Fang Jifan tilted his head: “We, the Ming Dynasty, stand in the east, our country is in heaven, and a mere Franji dares to claim to be undefeated. It is really treason. I thought of a name for the fleet specially designed to restrain them. We might as well call it Dongfang Undefeated. They are invincible and we are invincible. The name of this fleet is just like this fleet. It is your majesty’s magical weapon. We are looking for opponents from all over the world and only want to be defeated. But, no matter what, we are unrivaled in the world, so we have no choice but to be undefeated.

” The name… is too arrogant.

It is not in line with the spirit of Emperor Hongzhi.

However… Emperor Hongzhi was actually relieved. In any case, this name had far exceeded his expectations for his successor.

This is much more normal than the names of “Wang Bushi, the scum of the world” and “Xiao Zhu Xiucai, the bad guy”. The previous ones looked like they came out of a lunatic asylum.

People can be a bit mean sometimes.

Even the emperor of tomorrow is not exempt from vulgarity.

When someone breaks through the lower limit in his heart again and again, even if it is just a slightly normal name, Emperor Hongzhi can get a little psychological comfort, and then, he will give birth, and it will grow up, and it will make people look at him with admiration. Such strange psychology.

“Okay, as you said.” Emperor Hongzhi found that for Fang Jifan, it seemed that… only when it came to the issue of Franco, the taciturn Fang Jifan would be a little more normal.

After the sea trial, the giant ship began to return. When the giant ship returned to the harbor, all the officials on the shore let out a long sigh.

Finally…back.

It didn’t sink.

Sure enough, God bless our emperor.

Long live my emperor.

People scrambled to take out their telescopes and looked in the direction of the giant ship.

Everyone was smiling. Of course, some people couldn’t help but say something: “It’s too bad. We have tens of millions of taels of silver. With so much money, wouldn’t it be good to do something else? Even shipbuilding is enough to build a ship.” We have built a large fleet to sail to the West, but with these tens of millions of taels of silver, we only built a smoking ship. Alas… young people are not rich, so they don’t know how expensive firewood and rice are.”

Many people nodded.

They know nothing about ships. To them, ten million taels of silver to build one hundred ships or one is of course a hundred thousand dollars.

When people raised their telescopes one after another, they found that there were also people on the huge ship who raised their telescopes to look at themselves. When they took a closer look, they saw that this person… looked very familiar…

and then, their hearts skipped a beat. Damn it, Your Majesty.

Has the emperor seen himself? Did he catch himself spying?

So, he hurriedly took off the telescope with a look of lingering fear.

A moment later, a flag was hoisted on the giant ship, and then a eunuch came: “Masters, Your Majesty invites you to board the ship.”

At this time, the ship had already sailed around the sea. Obviously… this has been proved , the giant ship is safe.

So everyone got on the sampan one after another.

This time, it was even more embarrassing.

Four or five old guys who were eating dry food got on the boat, and the remaining two or three rowed.

Two people paddling, five people watching.

The thumping rikishi felt like his arm had been broken.

On the sampan, the gentlemen pinched their beards excitedly, found some inspiration, and couldn’t help but want to sing poems.

Wait for everyone to board the ship.

On the deck, Emperor Hongzhi clasped his hands behind his back, but heard Zhu Houzhao say excitedly: “Father, father… the results of the sea trial have come out. This round trip, fifty miles, used only twenty and one fuel. If According to this estimate, the fuel is enough to provide a voyage of more than 700 miles. Not only that, the speed is extremely fast… and…”

He took out the dense book and kept reporting the results.

It worked.

Great success.

This first ship is enough to take on a big task, and it is more powerful than all the ship information Zhu Houzhao has seen at the moment.

It is larger, equipped with more complete firearms, faster, and has enough speed to take on big tasks.

My years of hard work have not been in vain.

Fang Jifan also forced out a smile.

He still believes that his father is not dead.

Although he was worried in his heart, he could still be happy as long as he didn’t think about it.

And now…the past few years of hard work have finally yielded results.

Emperor Hongzhi clasped his hands behind his back and nodded happily.

Although he doesn’t know how to pretend to understand, he still doesn’t understand what makes this ship so sharp besides being able to emit smoke if it is faster.

But both the son and son-in-law agreed, so it would be great to think about it.

Emperor Hongzhi said happily: “The prince has indeed lived up to my expectations. Very good. I am very happy.” Emperor Hongzhi looked happy: “I want to use the internal funds to build a steam fleet. What do you think,

gentlemen

?”

You look at me, I look at you.

Finally, everyone’s eyes fell on Ma Wensheng.

Ma Wensheng felt a lot of pressure.

The attitude of the officials is relatively clear.

They pay attention to spending small money to accomplish big things.

Even though it is the emperor’s money, but… doesn’t the emperor’s money also come from the people’s wealth and their anointing?

My own Minister of War had to do something.

If you applaud His Majesty, you will inevitably be looked down upon by your colleagues and think that you are just flattering him, but…

he bit the bullet and coughed: “Your Majesty, I think it is better to be cautious. This steamship looks majestic, but it can be… What’s the point of using it on the sea? The cost of a steamship is too huge. I beg your Majesty to think twice. How about building another one and trying it first? If that doesn’t work, why not build more sailboats? The price…the price of a sailboat is much cheaper…”

Emperor Hongzhi frowned slightly.

He found that these people still had the same thoughts as when they were in the past, and he didn’t have the same thoughts at the beginning.

However… what Ma Wensheng said is not unreasonable. This steamship… is serious…

But at this moment, someone boarded the ship and hurriedly said: “Your Majesty, Your Majesty…”

Emperor Hongzhi panted when he saw that it was a eunuch. He glanced sideways at the eunuch: “What’s the matter?”

“Your Majesty, an express report has been sent from Dengzhou.”

Dengzhou…

people looked surprised. What could happen to Dengzhou?

“Those ships, having escaped from the Ningbo navy, went all the way north, attacked Dengzhou, defeated Dengzhou’s Beiwawei Water Village, and then looted everything and flew away.”

Huh…

Dengzhou is not It is the focus of prevention during the Ming Dynasty, especially after the Japanese pirates subsided.

Those Francois, who had been asking Emperor Hongzhi to summon him but failed, went all the way north, and actually… took this opportunity to show off their power.

Then… think about it again, the invincible fleet attacked Xinjin. Is this another premeditated plan by the Francois? From Dengzhou to Xinjin, this is a warning to the Ming Dynasty. Could the implication mean that the Ming Dynasty If we touch the ocean again, the consequences will be even more severe.

Emperor Hongzhi looked miserable and said sternly: “Where is the pirate ship?”

“They have escaped far away. I’m afraid they can’t catch up.”

(End of this chapter)