Li Zhen overestimated his importance. He did not understand that he came to Ming Dynasty not as a lobbyist, but as a hostage. Considering Li Qi's identity, it was not appropriate to humiliate the royal family, so the Security Bureau was ordered to imprison Li Qi in the Zongren Mansion.
When Gu Zongxiu and Li Wufang saw that the Ming Dynasty was really serious about it and even the prince was captured, they ran out of the capital without caring about Li Congmao and his ilk, intending to inform Li Fangyuan of the news.
Daming didn't stop these two people. If you want to go back, you can leave. No one will keep you.
Li Congmao did not leave, but asked to see the Ming Emperor as the deputy envoy of North Korea. After being rejected, he ran directly to the Meridian Gate and knelt down to ask for an audience.
As a last resort, Zhu Yunwen allowed Li Congmao to enter the palace.
Li Congmao knelt down and saluted, and solemnly said: "King Li Fangyuan was deceived by the Japanese envoy. He made a wrong move and angered the Celestial Dynasty. Knowing that he was guilty, he sent his son Li Bao to lead an envoy to apologize and asked the Celestial Emperor to be generous and forgive the king. North Korea Be cautious, reflect day and night, and avoid doing it again.”
Zhu Yunwen looked at the sad Li Congmao and thought of the bad things Li Fangyuan had done. He couldn't help but said: "As a vassal state and a king, he did such a ridiculous thing. If I don't punish him severely, what will other vassal states think? Go back and tell Li Fangyuan, If he wants to calm down my anger, why should he come in person? Why not send a bastard son?"
Li Congmao secretly breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that Zhu Yunwen just wanted to take this opportunity to beat Li Fangyuan and establish rules at the same time, and had no intention of venting his anger on North Korean soil.
It will be easier to deal with people and not the country.
However, this is not a good time.
Li Congmao said solemnly: "The foreign minister heard that Japan intends to conquer North Korea and use North Korea as a springboard to attack the Ming Dynasty. This is a critical period to prepare for Japan's invasion. I am afraid that the king cannot leave easily. Can the Emperor of China be more tolerant? In time, when the northwest wind blows, the king will come here in person to apologize."
Zhu Yunwen took out a document and threw it in front of Li Congmao: "Please take a look at this document!"
Li Congmao picked it up, opened it and looked at it, his face was a little ugly.
This is a document on the northeastern border defense of the Ming Dynasty, written by the Liaodong Dusi. The content is very clear: North Korea mobilized its troops and gathered near the Ming Dynasty border.
Zhu Yunwen said coldly: "Ask Li Fangyuan, did the Ming Dynasty send him a document to warn him that Japan might invade? But what he is doing now is to defend against Japan or against the Ming Dynasty? The main force of the army has been transferred to the northern border , tell me, when Japan invades North Korea, will it directly attack the north of North Korea, or the south of North Korea?!"
Li Congmao felt bitter.
Li Fangyuan was scared out of his wits by Daming, and was afraid that Daming would deal with him. But he didn't want to think about it. Even if he transferred all his troops to the north, would he be able to withstand the Ming Dynasty's attack?
This is nonsense!
Zhu Yunwen looked at Li Congmao and continued: "Let him come here, so as not to affect his defense against the Ming Dynasty! I heard that your nephew is Li Yifu. You can also take these people back. As for Li Cong, let him stay in the Ming Dynasty for a while. .”
Li Congmao kowtowed to thank him and left Wuying Hall.
Zhu Yunwen let Li Yifu and others go to tell Li Fangyuan that the Ming Dynasty was not intolerant, so that he could come to plead guilty with peace of mind. The purpose of keeping Li Bao was to tell Li Fangyuan that it was not appropriate for your son to resist the mistake you made, and he wanted him to go back. You'd better come in person.
Zhu Yunwen didn't care about North Korea.
No matter how hard Li Bao eats, drinks, or sleeps in the clan's mansion, or how miserable he is, there is no need to care about him, as long as he is given food and drink on time, as long as he doesn't die.
You really don't need to be too concerned about being a dandy.
Zhu Yunwen devoted his main energy to the navy.
Zheng He assembled a group of naval forces in Tianjin Port, Zhu Neng assembled a group of naval forces in Daliuqiu Island, and Luo Guanying and Yang Rong assembled a group of naval forces in Jeju Island.
Logistics was being replenished, especially gunpowder support. Zhu Yunwen believed that the Second Artillery Bureau's gunpowder ammunition manufacturing speed could not keep up, so he directly emptied 60% of the Beijing Army's gunpowder and ammunition reserves and sent them over.
Tie Xuan, Xu Huizu, and Li Jian were stunned when they saw this posture and didn't know what to say.
At this time, the number of gunpowder ammunition stored by the Donghai Navy and the Southeast Navy has reached an astonishing level. According to statistics, the number of gunpowder shells for the Divine Machine Cannon has exceeded 100,000, and the number of gunpowder shells for the Tiger Crouching Cannon has exceeded 400,000.
Just like this, Zhu Yunwen felt that it was not enough.
Tie Xuan looked at the map of Japan and thought that there was no need to discuss any military strategy. Damn it, you have taken out all the gunpowder and bombs, and you are still considering countermeasures. Are you just planning to blow it away?
Xu Huizu directly reported that he was not feeling well and was going to go back and have a good rest for a while. He didn't even think about asking about the water master.
What's the question? How many troops does Japan have when it's full?
A person has one or two gunpowder bombs hanging on his head, what a worry.
Li Jian smiled like a duck and stayed in the Navy Commander's Mansion quacking all day long. Needless to say, Zhu Yunwen is launching a new battle mode. He does not plan to use sergeants to fight, but plans to use firearms to completely obliterate the enemy.
The concept of full firearm coverage has long been proposed by the Imperial Academy, but there has been no chance to practice it or verify the damage effect.
Well now, the court intends to practice it. Didn’t Dr. Ye of the Yongjia School say that we should practice more and test it with facts...
Japan is mobilizing on a large scale, North Korea is mobilizing troops northward on a large scale, and Ming Dynasty is transporting firearms on a large scale. Everyone is very busy.
The Ming Dynasty's Wu Jinshi selected 200 people, 160 of whom were sent to the Navy, 40 to the Northeast, and no one was retained in the capital.
These signs have shown that the imperial court is preparing to take action, but countless people only see the surface and fail to see the planning and trends behind the surface.
Time flies to mid-March, and new food crops have begun to be planted. This time, the planting area of potatoes and sweet potatoes is larger. Twenty acres of sweet potatoes are planted in the royal farm alone, and there are even more in the area.
The eleventh year of Jianwen was not a smooth one.
Henan reported that it snowed heavily and the temperature dropped sharply. Some people were frozen to death on the roadside, and many crops will be reduced in production as a result.
Shanxi reported that the earth dragon turned over, more than 300 houses collapsed, more than a thousand people died, and countless were injured.
Yunnan reported that the chieftain rebelled and killed more than a hundred officers and soldiers. Mu Sheng led his troops to suppress and slaughter four thousand people.
In the National University, there are always things to do.
But there are many things that are gratifying. The Yongjia School established itself in the Imperial College, and the wind of investigation, practice, and pragmatism is getting stronger and stronger. Talking about mind nature, gathering to talk about Neo-Confucianism, and sitting in front of bamboos just thinking about the bamboos have disappeared.
If you want to study bamboo, it is best to cut a section of bamboo and study it instead of sitting across from it and looking at it. If you want to refute others, you need to at least provide evidence, don't just say something without evidence.
The trend of Neo-Confucianism was blown away, and the most proud people were businessmen.
The concept of business serving the country began to be accepted by the Imperial College, and many of the Imperial College students took the initiative to become businessmen after graduation.
As the mileage of concrete roads further increased, important towns and state capitals were connected, waterways were improved, maritime transportation flourished, and the efficiency of commercial material transfer became faster and faster. Goods traveled from south to north, which promoted the commercial prosperity of the Ming Dynasty.
In addition to the further development of commerce, there is no drought in Fengyang Prefecture, Huai'an Prefecture and other places, which is also good news.
The construction of Beiping New City has entered its sixth year. The three main halls have been completed and the main building has been completed, marking the second half of the construction process. According to the estimates of Yao Guangxiao, Zhang Sigong, Chen Gui and others, the construction of the new capital in Beiping does not need to wait until the fifteenth year of Jianwen, but will be completed three years ahead of schedule in two years.
The rapid progress of the project is mainly due to the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal and maritime transportation, which greatly shortened the transportation time of various materials. Coupled with the introduction of performance construction methods, the craftsmen and migrant workers were full of energy, and tools such as pulleys and triangular hanging towers were also used in the project, which made the construction progress faster.
Of course, the contributions of Yao Guangxiao, Zhang Sigong, and Chen Gui cannot be ignored. Hundreds of thousands of people were deployed in an orderly manner in their hands, which is a huge credit in itself. There are also countless craftsmen...
Zhu Yunwen shook his head.
The territory of the Ming Dynasty is getting bigger and bigger, and some people are always happy and some are sad.
Xia Yuanji entered the palace, saluted, and submitted a document: "The data compiled by the Emperor's Ministry of Household Affairs has been completed."
Zhu Yunwen asked the chamberlain to take it over and asked: "Tell me, how much were the two taxes, commercial tax, and monopoly tax last year?"
Xia Yuanji said slowly: "After calculating all the accounts last year, the two taxes totaled 32 million guan, the commercial tax exceeded the 8 million mark, reaching 8.36 million guan, and the salt and iron tea monopoly tax was 32 million guan. 7.21 million guan, a total of 47.57 million guan."
"What about expenses?"
Zhu Yunwen continued to ask.
Xia Yuanji looked at the numbers on the wat board and continued: "Last year, officials' salaries were 8.62 million yuan, shipyards and smelters spent 4 million yuan, the Imperial College and prefectures and counties all over the world spent 8.62 million yuan. The school spent 3.6 million guan, the Wei Institute spent 11.29 million guan on the new army policy, the new city construction spent 4 million guan, and the Northwest Racecourse supported 700,000 guan... "
Zhu Yunwen looked at the paperwork and listened carefully to Xia Yuanji's report.
Xia Yuanji showed no expression as he reported: "The Navy spent 3 million guan, paid for the fallen soldiers, awarded 6 million guan for titles, disaster relief, immigration, and river dredging, 3.3 million guan, and other tedious expenditures of 1.6 million guan. Wan Guan, the Ministry of Household Affairs currently has a balance of 4.46 million Guan last year, and a cumulative balance of 7.28 million Guan."
Zhu Yunwen nodded and looked at the data table of the Ministry of Revenue, which was clear at a glance.
"It seems that the expenditure last year was still quite high, but I think there should be a lot of financial surplus this year."
Zhu Yunwen said seriously.
Xia Yuanji was not confident. If Zhu Yunwen hadn't spent so much these years, spending money here and there, the Ministry of Finance would have been rich long ago. There is still a lot of money left. When Japan is defeated, won't the Navy need money to reward them?
Who knows what extra money you will spend this year? If you don’t have any balance, you will have to beg for food.
Zhu Yunwen took out a document, handed it to Xia Yuanji, and said with a smile: "The Silk Road has opened, and merchants from Timur, Blue Horde, Nogai, Zhala Yi'er, Black Sheep and other countries have successively arrived in Western Xinjiang. , Rujun reported that the Silk Road will flourish, many Western businessmen will come along the ancient Silk Road, and the prosperity of the Silk Road can be expected!"
