Just when brothers Zhu Su and Zhu Biao were selecting their chamberlains, Hongwu Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang summoned officials from Zhongshu Province, the Six Ministries and the Metropolitan Governor's Office to discuss a major matter.
"Your Majesty, you... want to train an elite naval force?" Liu Bowen, the banner figure of the Qingliu faction, had a look of astonishment on his face. He wanted to rub his ears to check if there was something wrong with them.
Behind him, the officials from the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Household looked at each other in surprise.
"Yes. After much thought, this sea territory is also the territory of our Ming Dynasty. How can we abandon it at will?"
"Although there were one or two Japanese rebellions, how could we, the great Ming Dynasty, abandon our sea territory and ignore it because of a few Japanese pirates?"
"Please, your Majesty, please think twice!" Minister of War, straightened his knees and knelt directly in front of Lao Zhu. "The Northern Expedition was newly defeated, Yunnan was not at peace, and the Western Tibetans were about to start a war. It was really not appropriate to provoke another war."
"Moreover, our Ming Dynasty has a lot of coastal areas, and there are coasts everywhere. It is not like the north where there are many geographical advantages to rely on. Forbidden sea defense can barely cope with it. If we gather our troops in one place and take the initiative to attack, there will be nowhere to find enemies in the vast sea. , if the enemy invades by taking advantage of the situation, they will be in serious trouble in a matter of seconds!"
"Moreover, the Japanese are just a few desperadoes, and their country hangs alone on the vast sea. If our army uses a large number of ships to conquer them, it will only take one or two storms, and the entire army will be in danger of being wiped out."
"This is a quagmire! Your Majesty!"
The Minister of War cried blood.
"Hmm." Lao Zhu hesitated. It's not like he doesn't know that although the Ming Dynasty is now in great military power, there are still barbarians to the west and south, and the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty is still eyeing them in the north. It would be good if the south coast does not cause chaos, but it is really not the time to take the initiative.
But the "divine seed" that Zhu Su called was like a carrot hanging in front of Lao Zhu's eyes, tickling his heart.
"We don't want to start a war, we just want to train a navy and explore the sea routes for us..." Lao Zhu tried to persuade these ministers, but he couldn't tell the story about the "god seed". If he did, Those ministers would definitely think that he wanted to imitate Qin Shihuang and seek some Penglai fairyland.
In two days, the prophecies that the Ming Dynasty will die in his second generation will begin to spread in the court.
Therefore, I had no choice but to be unreasonable. Lao Zhu waved his sleeves and said forcefully: "I have made up my mind! You don't need to say more."
When the emperor saw him, he began to call him "I", and the ministers understood his determination. The Secretary of the Ministry of War glanced at the Ministry of Finance with a troubled expression. He asked him with his eyes: Your Majesty will organize and train the navy, will you pay for it?
Hubu had a lot of money. Shangshu of Hubu, who had just replaced Haiyuan for a few days, had a look of helplessness on his face. He walked to the side of Shangshu of Military Affairs with a bitter look on his face, and knelt down towards Lao Zhu with a "pop" sound.
The two old men knelt down side by side, and their meaning was obvious.
This job is impossible!
This is really not the two of them giving eye drops to the emperor. The newly appointed Minister of Household Affairs finally survived Haiyuan. The family was still playing and beating last night, so how could he have the courage to disobey the emperor as soon as he took up the post?
In fact, this job is beyond the capabilities of the court. Instead of waiting to be beheaded for not doing good things, it would be better to be fucked by Lao Zhu right now!
Lao Zhu is a handsome man on land, but he really doesn't understand the twists and turns on the water. The army on land can at most sign off on poor people, distribute some rice and flour as military rations, scrape together some ordnance here and there, and send a good general to train for a few days, and then it can be considered an army.
But how can it be so easy for an army on the water? Then you have to build a ship! The emperor still wanted a ship that could go to sea.
It must also be built tall and thick to withstand wind and waves. Lord, why are they not made of wood? Every boat is made of silver!
This cannot be blamed for Zhu Yuanzhang's impracticality. After all, today's Daming Navy is actually picked up ready-made.
In the past, when I was still in Haozhou, the Chaohu Navy came to join Lao Zhu, and Lao Zhu directly got a ready-made navy at a low price. Directly owns the second largest naval fleet in this era.
It was precisely with the Chaohu Navy that Lao Zhu had the capital to compete with Chen Youliang on the water. Otherwise, Lao Zhu's men don't even have a few decent boats, so why not start a water battle in Poyang Lake?
After defeating Chen Youliang with less and more at Poyang Lake, Lao Zhu directly integrated the remnants of Chen Youliang's navy, and suddenly he had the most powerful navy of this era. Then Lao Zhu defeated Zhang Shicheng again, and directly recruited Zhang Shicheng's navy who could go to sea and owned sea ships.
It can be said that today's Ming Dynasty Navy has not built a single ship by itself, but relies entirely on war and recruitment. Lao Zhu himself didn't know how expensive boats were, and that was natural.
It was not until the founding of the People's Republic of China that the Ministry of Revenue calculated the assets of the imperial court and realized that every ship in the navy was ridiculously expensive!
At this point, most of the ships are just strolling in the river, and the existing sea-going ships only go offshore a little bit.
If you want to go to the ocean, you have to build another big ship!
Lao Zhu's goal was the American continent. From the map, the distance was frightening, so he ordered the Ministry of War to build a treasure ship that was even larger than the existing ships.
The Ministry of War and the Ministry of Household Affairs just got together and made a rough estimate. Only one boat would cost at least 8,000 taels of silver!
That's it, it's just the cost of a ship frame, not counting various supplies, equipment, weapons, military salaries and other large miscellaneous items. Silver during the Hongwu period was not the era of the late Qing Dynasty, when large-scale imports of silver caused severe inflation.
Silver at this time still has very purchasing power. At this time, the court's taxation was mainly based on grain collection. Silk, cloth, porcelain, etc. could all be taxed, and silver only accounted for a small part.
But even if all the grain, silk, cloth, porcelain, etc. harvested in a year were converted into silver, it would only amount to more than three million taels!
How about playing? If all the money is used to build a water division, will this court still be transferred?
Listening to the complaints from the officials of the Ministry of Household Affairs and the Ministry of War, Lao Zhu rubbed his brows with a headache, raised his head in doubt and asked:
"This is just to build a few boats. Do they really cost so much?"
"Your Majesty! How many brains do I have, how dare I lie to you with this?" The Minister of the Ministry of Revenue almost confessed his feelings on the spot.
"The imperial court is in dire straits right now, and there is no way it can afford this sum of money, Your Majesty!"
"Well..." Lao Zhu's face was as dark as water. He also didn't expect that just sending a few ships across the ocean to try to verify the existence of "America" and the "God Seed" would cost so much.
Before, he thought that the Ming Dynasty was rich in resources and would never have to worry about money shortage, it was just a lack of food.
Now he suddenly felt that Daming was indeed too young. The family foundation... isn’t strong enough!
We need to buy some more property... Zhu Yuanzhang, an old farmer, thought with a headache.
