Zhejiang, Haining Acropolis.
When the court officials thought that Zhang Zhou was escorting the prince north to succeed Ma Wensheng as Minister of War, Zhang Zhou instead headed south, taking Zhu Houzhao to Hainingwei to participate in the foundation laying of the "Jiangnan Shipyard".
In addition to the two figures who were determined to participate in the great cause of "Jinghai", Tang Yin and Xu Yan were also accompanied by the new Nanjing garrison minister Zhu Fu, who came on his own initiative. In addition, there were also some local officials, Hainingwei generals and others. , and there are 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 boat. Can I go up 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 hasn't been built yet, but the ship already exists.
The Ming Dynasty had sea-going 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-going ships for the Jinghai Sea, but each ship was forty years old. Even though the above old boats have been renovated, they still give people the feeling that they will fall apart if the wind blows.
Zhang Zhou didn't need to remind him, Yang Peng on the side reminded him: "Your Highness, you can't get on the boat, it's dangerous."
Zhu Houzhao said with disdain: "How dangerous can it be just on the coast? Besides, there are so many people, even if I fall into the water, can they still drown me?"
Zhang Zhou said: "Prince, do you still remember that I told you that there is a disaster in your life?"
"Tch..." Zhu Houzhao was unhappy.
Xu Yan walked over and said, "Mr. Lai Guo, what are you planning to do with this ship? Isn't it to use this ship to recover so many islands on the sea one by one?"
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 but polite smile.
Zhang Zhou said: "This ship is used as a model for shipbuilding. However, the side stiffness of this ship 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. It will be built here every year." Dozens of boats, large and small.”
After hearing this, Xu Er couldn't help but look at Zhu Fu aside, probably asking Zhu Fu to raise a difficulty.
But Zhu Fu turned his head to one side, pretending not to see his hint.
Xu Yan could only say it himself: "I am not pouring cold water on this. This boat costs at least 18,000 taels of silver. It is still an ordinary ship. Our government has not allocated money and food to build ships for many years. If we build dozens of them a year." Article...then...doesn't it mean that at least four to five hundred thousand taels of silver should be prepared a year to spend on building ships?"
Zhang Zhou sighed: "What you said makes sense."
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 that the imperial court cannot 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: "Do you want to fish?"
Zhu Houzhao also pointed to a white area not far away and said: "Sir, what is that? It's shiny. Is silver still produced here?"
As Zhu Houzhao spoke, everyone present followed his finger and looked at the beach in the distance.
But I saw that there were puddles on a wide beach, filled with seawater, and the puddles were three or five connected together. The farther you went back, the less water seemed to be, and under the sunlight, the reflection Emit silvery white light.
Xu Jing said quickly: "This is what Master Zhang proposed earlier. The method of drying sea salt on the beach is to use terraces on the seaside to transport seawater to high places by water trucks, and then step by step from It flows from high places to low places, and somehow... the further down it flows, the whiter the salt that can be precipitated in the water, which is comparable to the best well salt."
Hearing this, Xu Yan's face looked awkward.
During the Ming Dynasty, there were two Zhejiang salt fields in Zhejiang. They used the method of frying salt in the kitchen, that is, using firewood to cook the salt. As for the method of drying salt, it has been used since ancient times. However, the salt produced by drying has too many impurities, and the salt drying cycle lasts for more than ten years. 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 promoted.
The beach drying method is said to have been first popularized and used by the Fujian people in the Changlu Salt Area in 1522.
In the early Qing Dynasty, in the Gu salt area of Han Dynasty, a two-person Liudou method was invented to lift seawater.
In 1844, the magistrate of Ninghe County taught households how to use a water truck instead of a two-person willow bucket to fetch water. The water-lifting capacity was increased tenfold, and a hundred acres of water could be lifted at a time. From then on, the beach-drying method was completely used. Replaced by cooking method.
Yang Peng asked: "Are there salt farms and kitchen households in Hainingwei?"
Zhang Zhou said with a smile: "No, I will work as a member of the military household and cooperate with the local people to open a small salt farm. I will produce and sell it myself to cover the cost of the shipyard. Because of insufficient preparation, and many things were complicated. I need to be in charge personally, and it won’t be implemented until this year. Hasn’t it just been completed, and I can personally come and supervise it?”
Yang Peng said: "With such a place, I'm afraid it won't produce much salt. If it's windy or rainy, it will be completely destroyed."
Zhu Houzhao pouted 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.
Moreover, the principle of the beach drying method is to build three to five pools, and send seawater to the highest pool first. When the sun reaches a certain level, impurities with low solubility, such as sediment, calcium sulfate, etc., will be precipitated out first. .
After reaching a certain degree of saturation, the edges are dug out to allow the brine to enter the second pool, where it will be exposed to the sun for a few more days, then downwards in sequence... and finally sent to the crystallization pool.
The sea salt obtained at that time was no longer the ordinary sea salt obtained by sun-drying or decoction.
In the past, the salt obtained by the sun-drying method was not good because all the impurities were mixed together after drying, so it was strange that the salt was good.
The bitter brine of the salt dried by this method can still leave some "industrial products" that Zhang Zhou needs. Zhang Zhou will also have people dry it again and transfer it 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. It will make you laugh." Zhang Zhou said with a smile.
Xu Ru said: "If Duke Lai Guo is to take charge of the salt administration, the worst case scenario is that I would like to ask His Majesty to hand over the salt fields in Zhejiang and Huaihe to you to take care of. Do we have to find a new way like this? I'm afraid I can't do much with this little manpower. thing."
Zhang Zhou lamented: "After all, 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 production of salt in the Ming Dynasty is so large, and there are many princes and nobles occupying their nests, so that there is a lot of salt." Even the salt quotations from the Shang Dynasty cannot be redeemed. The Ming Dynasty’s northwest military supply mainly relied on the income from these salt quotations, so I’d better be pragmatic and try it myself first.”
Xu Jing couldn't stand listening anymore and said: "Everything that comes out of the sun is good salt."
Zhang Zhou smiled and said, "By the way, when you go back, each of you will give a few bags of salt, and treat it as a gift from me, so you can try it out."
Except for Sun Che and the others who were probably curious about the few bags of salt, the people present were all officials. They did not lack the money for the few bags of salt, and they rashly ate the dried salt, just like white mice, and they would die from eating it. No place to redress grievances.
In the Ming Dynasty, because they could not afford salt, they ate "coarse salt" obtained from seawater and sun-dried salt. Many people became poisoned and suffered from sequelae, and even died from it.
…
…
Zhang Zhou will stay at Hainingwei for two days.
The main task 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 would be so interesting." Zhu Houzhao is quite enthusiastic about swimming.
But since ancient times, very few kings knew how to swim, and two emperors of the Ming Dynasty died of illness after falling into the water.
And in front of Zhang Zhou, there was one standing alive.
Zhang Zhou said: "You will drown if you know how to swim. If you learn how to swim, it will at least give you some chance of survival when facing water disasters without choking on the water. First, hold your breath in the water for twenty counts."
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 go into the water."
Zhang Zhou said: "The water in this pool has been tempered and has not reached his waist. Are you worried that he will catch a cold or that he will drown?"
"Grrrr... It won't work anymore, just a few numbers won't work." Zhu Houzhao poked his head out of the closed "swimming pool" again.
Zhang Zhou said: "Keep practicing, I will teach you the essentials, and today I will treat you as a bath! Add two buckets of hot water to him."
Zhang Zhou also lamented that it was troublesome to teach the prince how to swim. If Zhang Jun wanted to practice, he could just throw the person into the water. It didn’t matter what the weather was like outside, but now there was actually a group of people surrounding a naughty kid.
Zhu Houzhao spent a day, from the beginning he liked to go into the water, to the end he didn't want to go into the water until he died.
Finally, I reluctantly learned... dog pawing.
Zhang Zhou also wanted to teach this boy more swimming postures, but he also found that this boy's skin was a little wrinkled, and it was enough to learn just one.
"Leave back to Beijing tomorrow and arrange the driving." Zhang Zhou said, "Call the troops here and I will draw a few maps. You will follow my instructions on what route to take when going to sea in the future!"
…
…
Zhang Zhou currently only has a slightly larger sea-going ship on hand.
Going directly to America is obviously beyond the mission of this ship. Then go to Southeast Asia first and transport back some items that may not seem to be of much use in this era, but are actually very crucial to him.
Just as Zhang Zhou was preparing to return to Beijing.
Zhu Youtang was in dire straits again.
The third son of the emperor, now the "second eldest son", Zhu Houxuan, fell ill. He had a high fever that would not go away and started crying. This made him finally have a "double insurance", but suddenly he was afraid that "all four things would 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 interested him slightly: "... Cai Guogong and Zhang Zhou presented a memorial to Haining. New salt fields will be opened around Wei, and hundreds of acres of salt fields will be opened using the so-called salt-drying method, and the salt fields will be gradually expanded. The salt will be used for shipbuilding and military supplies."
Zhu Youtang had already wanted to dissolve the court meeting. Hearing this, he raised his head and said with a bit more sparkle in his eyes: "I have known about this for a long time, and I allowed him to do this."
Zhong Zhong said: "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 the same as private salt, and it is really inappropriate to set this precedent."
Zhu Youtang frowned and said, "If you have something to do, let's wait until Bingkuan returns to Beijing. Retreat from the court!"
It was rare to get 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 didn't bother to listen to Zhong Zhong's reasons.
He had to go back to check on his son's condition and had no time to deal with this group of people.
…
…
The court meeting was dissolved.
Because of his previous "excellent performance", Zhong Zhong gained a good impression among traditional civil servants from the beginning.
On the way out of the palace, many people came to chat with him and expressed their dissatisfaction with Zhang Zhou's unauthorized opening of the salt field.
But Zhong Zhong didn't care whether it was appropriate for Zhang Zhou to open a salt farm. He only cared about whether the salt produced by Zhang Zhou using the sun-dried salt method was just for the sake of making money, and was an unscrupulous businessman who only cheated the people?
So Zhong Zhong went to ask the three cabinet ministers for help, but only Xie Qian stopped and listened to what 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 he causes public outrage, then we as a group should be happy about it.
Why not let him take the initiative to move forward and cause trouble for himself? Do we still have to stop him?
Zhong Zhong said: "By opening a salt farm and diverting the silver that should belong to the treasury for personal use, does Mr. Xie Ge think this is appropriate?"
Xie Qian asked in surprise: "Did Zhang Bingkuan say that the salt he made did not require salt tax?"
Ji Zhong thought for a while.
It seems that Zhang Zhou never mentioned it, and the emperor didn't mention it either.
"Haha." Xie Qian said with a smile, "It's just that Zhang Bingkuan wanted to use Hainingwei to build a salt farm and use it to build ships. He also made the matter of drying salt simple. After he hits the wall, we will have fun watching it. ”
Just as he was talking, Ma Wensheng walked past the two of them quickly like he was getting stronger with age, 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 Ministry of Personnel are currently handled by Cheng Minzheng.
Xie Qian smiled and said: "Why are you worried about what you have planned? I don't believe that a person will never make a mistake. We don't expect him to make mistakes when using troops in the north. Do we expect him to fail in something he is not good at?" Can’t you even do a somersault?”
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.
And when Xie Qian said this in front of Zhong Zhong, it was obviously just a statement on behalf of the cabinet. In fact, did Xie Qian really think Zhang Zhou would fail?
Ma Wensheng didn't know what Xie Qian 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 were diagnosing Zhu Houxuan.
"What's going on? Haven't you figured out what your illness is until now? Can you diagnose the disease properly only when Bingkuan is around?"
Zhu Youtang didn't have a good temper towards several imperial doctors.
Zhonglan, the envoy of the hospital, has retired. I heard that he died of illness immediately after returning.
And now the envoy of Tai Hospital is Wang Yu.
Wang Yu liked to work hard. In the fifth year of Hongzhi's reign, he submitted a petition to be promoted to court judge, but was impeached by the famous official Wang Shu, who said that he was "uneasy about his position and wanted to be promoted, but he was unable to reason and it was difficult to argue with 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 replaced Zhong Lan as the hospital envoy.
The emperor's attitude towards the imperial hospital in front of him is very telling.
Judge Liu Wentai saw that his superior was silent and 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 two emperors, Xianzong and Xiaozong. When Xianzong died, his crimes were not serious and he was only demoted to the rank of imperial physician. However, it was even more excessive during the time of Xiaozong. Xiaozong only went out of the city to pray for rain in the 18th year of Hongzhi, and the result was that he was actually killed. It rained a little, and it only took nine days from onset of illness to death... In the middle of summer, Zhu Youtang was directly given "hot medicine", which caused Zhu Youtang to have a nosebleed on the spot, and the minor illness was directly regarded as 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, and he made a disease that had been circulating in China a few years ago disappear, and you, Liu Wentai, are still here saying that it will be cured immediately? Believe it or not!
"I don't care about anything else! Go study Bingkuan's book now!"
With that said, Zhu Youtang took out the baby care manual left by Zhang Zhou and asked Li Rong to hand it over.
Several people from the hospital were very embarrassed.
When we treat people, we actually need to read other people’s prescriptions? Your Majesty is really disrespectful.
However, 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.
Over there, the Empress Dowager Zhou called him over, probably to ask about her great-grandson's condition, so Zhu Youtang patiently went over to see him.
Queen Mother Zhou retreated from everyone around her, and then she asked her grandson solemnly: "Emperor, you didn't find anything strange about the prince's illness, did you?"
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 there are some things where it's better to be on guard. It could also be that the feng shui of the palace is not good. Your children are too sick. It seems that only the prince..."
When Empress Dowager Zhou said this, she might not feel comfortable continuing the topic, and sighed, "It's your fault if you give Bingkuan away. You also know that he can do everything. But you don't know, Bingkuan Did he also calculate the fate of the little prince?"
Zhu Youtang thought about it and realized that Zhang Zhou had never mentioned that the child would have any illness.
"Imperial grandmother, Bingkuan once said that this child is beyond my destiny. For him, even destiny is unpredictable," Zhu Youtang said.
"Yes." Queen Mother Zhou nodded, "Don't worry too much, it will always get better. You have to work hard too! If you have more heirs, why do you need to worry so much?"
(End of chapter)
