"Your Majesty, Tao Chengdao!"
Tao Guangyi, who is in his fifties, has been respectful since entering the Huagai Hall, lowering his head and not daring to raise it.
Tao Guangyi is his real name, and his enlightenment was given by Zhu Yuanzhang. As for Wanhu, it is an official position inherited from the old Yuan Dynasty. Now it has become a vacant position, leaving only Thousand Households and Hundred Households.
But somehow his name Wanhu spread, and it became louder than his real name.
"Tao Guangyi."
The Holy One, who was sitting behind the desk, called him by name.
Tao Guangyi smiled apologetically and corrected: "Your Majesty, you have forgotten that you gave me a name to achieve enlightenment."
"Tao Guangyi."
The Holy One still called him by his first name, causing cold sweat to break out from his back, and he knew something was wrong.
"I heard that you have met a god before?"
"..."
Tao Guangyi knelt on the ground and did not dare to move. His mind was spinning wildly, but he really couldn't figure out why the Holy One knew about this.
"Is that true?"
Zhu Yuanzhang said calmly: "Invite him over, and I will see with my own eyes whether your Taoist Zhizhi, who ascends to the poor stars and distinguishes the mountains and rivers below, is more powerful, or the Yingtian Protector of the Country, whom I respect, is more mysterious. "
In layman's terms, let your master, Taoist Zhizhi, come and fight with the Master Chu whom I conferred.
"His Majesty--!"
Tao Guangyi kowtowed and begged for mercy with a trembling voice:
"I deserve to die. I have not met any gods. I have a master, but he is not called Taoist Zhizhi, let alone a god! It is completely incomparable to Master Chu's mysterious act of bringing out lychees in winter!"
At this point, he can only tell the truth about what happened back then.
In fact, the process is very simple. Tao Guangyi met an old Taoist priest in Yiyi Temple. This old Taoist priest was proficient in alchemy and familiar with gunpowder refining.
Tao Guangyi initially stayed in the Taoist temple to assist the old Taoist in refining elixirs. However, after seeing his master turn purple and die with foaming at the mouth after taking elixirs, he no longer dared to refining elixirs.
Converted into a fire refining weapon.
When the world was in chaos, he came down from the mountain and joined Zhu Yuanzhang's anti-Yuan team as a firearms craftsman.
"Not a god?"
Zhu Yuanzhang took out a book and motioned to the eunuch to give it to him: "Who is the Taoist in Huang Guanxuan's clothes and blue eyes and long beard that you met in the book?"
"In the book?"
Tao Guangyi gingerly took the book from the eunuch's hand, opened it and looked at it. His face suddenly turned pale, and he finally raised his head and looked at His Majesty.
Zhu Yuanzhang almost lost his composure and laughed out loud. This guy's face had obviously just been scrubbed. He was probably studying firearms when he was forcibly called into the palace by the eunuchs.
"His Majesty!"
Tao Guangyi kowtowed again and said respectfully: "Zhenren Chu really has boundless power. I haven't finished writing this book yet, but it is in the hands of His Majesty. This is really..."
"You did leak the secret, right?"
"I deserve to die!"
How could Tao Guangyi dare to explain even a single sentence?
He didn't recognize Taoist Zhizhi in the preface of this book, but the various firearms in the book were his masterpieces, and some of the previous content was also written by him.
Anyone who leaks military secrets should be punished.
But His Majesty called him to the palace for questioning, which proved that he still had some hope of survival.
Sure enough, His Majesty reprimanded him first, and he kowtowed to beg for mercy. Soon, His Majesty said:
"I originally wanted to kill you, but because of our past friendship and the fact that Master Chu saw your book and recommended you to me, I will spare your life."
"I thank you, Your Majesty, for your grace!"
Tao Guangyi kowtowed again, finally relieved of his worries.
Zhu Yuanzhang gave him a book again: "This is the book passed down to me by Master Chu. It records the methods of purifying, manufacturing, and transporting gunpowder, as well as the correct ratio of gunpowder. You go back and develop it, and see who is better than Master Chu." Stronger."
"His Majesty!"
Tao Guangyi said hurriedly, "How dare I compare myself with Master Chu?"
The unfinished book was taken out by that Master Chu, how could he dare to compete?
Tao Guangyi took the book respectfully, kowtowed and resigned. He was escorted out of the palace by two eunuchs and went to the Ministry of Works to copy the book. If anyone leaked the secret in the future, he would be punished.
In addition, he was actually a blessing in disguise. His Majesty was "promoted" from an idle third-grade official position to the head of the Ministry of Works, responsible for supervising the manufacture of gunpowder.
This is so in line with his wishes!
…
The next day, Chang Chao.
Hu Weiyong, a bachelor of the cabinet and minister of the Ministry of Personnel, submitted a memorial, imitating the Song Dynasty's recruitment law and square field equalization tax law, and proposed to measure the country's land, abolish Junyao, Lijia, and Zafan, and replace them with payment of money and grain, and then the government would fund the recruitment. Admission personnel to serve.
"There is no greater suffering for the people than corvee service. Nowadays, every province is assigned a small amount of corvee service. If there is more land, more money and food will be paid. If there is less land, less money and food will be paid. Hiding the farmland can no longer be hidden!"
Hu Weiyong was righteous and awe-inspiring, and he made suggestions for the poor people all over the world, making it difficult for people to find fault.
But there are still many opponents, including many officials who originally followed Hu Weiyong.
Zhu Yuanzhang ordered another discussion and retreated from the court.
The third day.
South Korean Duke Li Shanchang, who had been away from the imperial court for a long time, went to court. He stood at the top of the court and said nothing. He quietly watched the ministers arguing about the allocation of land and the payment of grain by the officials and gentry.
After the morning dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang returned to Huagai Hall to handle political affairs and summoned Hu Weiyong and others to discuss matters.
About half an hour later, Hu Weiyong came out and saw Li Shanchang waiting outside the door, but he did not come forward to see the Korean gentleman.
Half an hour later, Xue Xiang, the minister of the Ministry of Industry, Zhang He, the governor, and others came and saw Mr. Han Guo standing alone outside the hall, his face flushed by the cold wind.
Xue Xiang and others waited with Mr. Han for another quarter of an hour before they saw the commander of the Xinjiangkou Division approaching with ten craftsmen.
Only then did the eunuch walk out of the palace and shouted at the top of his lungs:
"Xuan Guoguo, Xue Xiang, the Minister of the Ministry of Industry, Tao Chengdao, the director of the Ministry of Industry, and the craftsmen of the Navy are here to see you!"
He skipped the Minister of Industry and others and ordered Tao Guangyi and the craftsmen.
South Korea's Duke Li Shanchang said nothing. After bowing his hands to the eunuch, he walked stiffly into the palace.
There is a stove in the Huagai Hall. As soon as you enter the door, the hot air hits your face and relieves Li Shanchang's frozen hands and feet.
Behind the desk, Zhu Yuanzhang was reading with a book in his hand. When he looked up, he looked surprised when he saw it was him. He stood up to greet him and said with a smile:
"It turns out Shanchang is here, sit down quickly!"
"Your Majesty, Li Shanchang, is here to see you."
Li Shanchang saluted, and after the chair was brought, he sat down.
Zhu Yuanzhang glanced at him twice and asked a few words. After Xue Xiang and others came in, they stopped asking.
Ten craftsmen stood at the edge of the hall.
Xue Xiang reported on the results of yesterday’s discussion.
"Can we build a first-class sailing battleship in five years?"
Zhu Yuanzhang asked him again.
Xue Xiang was a little panicked, and quickly replied: "If the progress goes well, it may be built in three years. The shipbuilding book given by Master Chu is very detailed, and the ship diagram is also lifelike."
Zhu Yuanzhang stopped asking him and turned to Tao Guangyi: "Wanhu, you also looked at the battleship map yesterday. How long do you think it will take?"
"...Your Majesty, I don't know how to build a ship."
Tao Guangyi was originally flattered by being called out to thousands of households, but he did not expect that His Majesty would ask him something unfamiliar.
"Forget it, you have done a great job by developing the gunpowder in Master Chu's book."
Zhu Yuanzhang let him go, and turned to ask the craftsmen standing at the end. He first ordered them to come forward and get closer than Li Shanchang, and then asked:
"You are all skilled shipbuilders. According to your estimates, how long will it take to build it?"
Xue Xiang's face looked ugly.
Li Shan looked at these people. From the minister of the Ministry of Industry, to the navy craftsmen, to the governor Zhang He, they all came for one person:
Chu Zhenren.
On the first day of the first lunar month, Master Chu suddenly appeared in Yingtian Mansion. The first news Li Shanchang heard in his hometown was that Queen Ma distributed lychees to the concubines in the harem.
At first he reprimanded the person who reported the news for talking nonsense.
Unexpectedly, more and more news came from Yingtian Mansion, including the ban on foot binding, the introduction of sea bans, the map of the Ming Dynasty, the launch of imperial examinations, etc., all related to Zhenren Chu.
Li Shanchang couldn't sit still.
Even without Zhu Yuanzhang's summons, he still wanted to come to Yingtian Mansion to have a look in person.
