Chongzhen and I became partners

Chapter 434
I heard Emperor Chongzhen ask Song Yingxing: "How is the transformation of that steam ship going?"

After Liu Weichao mentioned the steamship idea before, Emperor Chongzhen couldn't hold back anymore and asked Song Yingxing to do it.

Steam engines are already in use, driven by paddle wheels, and this transformation is the simplest.

As for the way of paddle wheel driving, in fact, when the Ming Dynasty was founded, in the Poyang Lake War that year, there was a type of small speedboat that used paddle wheels, but it was driven by human power.It is said that this first began in the Southern Song Dynasty.

Now, for Song Yingxing, it's just a matter of changing the human drive to steam engine drive.

At this time, Song Yingxing heard it, and said quickly: "Your Majesty, the steamship must be transformed from a large ship, so that such a huge steam engine will not overload the ship. Two rounds of these experiments have been done, and they are now in Tianjin. The secret experiment in the shipyard in Hong Kong, the steam engine room, how to store coal, what part of the ship is more suitable for the paddle wheel, the steering of the ship, etc., the results have not yet come out.”

One embarrassing thing is that among the existing ships, there are not many ships suitable for transformation with steam engines.Because the imperial court did not pay much attention to the navy before, the demise of the Denglai navy exacerbated the shortage of ships.

In the Battle of Ningyuan, the ships were collected because of the needs of the war. In normal times, if the court lacks something, they can just go and requisition it. How is that different from robbers?
Emperor Chongzhen frowned slightly when he heard this, and then ordered Song Yingxing to say: "On the other side of the ocean, there is a thing called a rubber tree, which has a very wide range of uses and is extremely important in promoting the application of electricity. However, it is too far away. Now, and this steamship will be a good thing to run across the sea, first let them study electric lights, go to Tianjin yourself, and take out this steamship as soon as possible, it will take about half a month, I will use it!"

Hearing that the time is so tight, and Song Yingxing hasn't been to Tianjin for a month, and he didn't know how the progress is going there, he hurriedly said: "Then I will leave immediately!"

If in the past, for civil servants, rushing to Tianjin was regarded as a long trip, but now it is only a one-night journey for a night's sleep, no different from the suburbs of the capital.

For people in this era, many ordinary people spend their entire lives in a place with a radius of hundreds of miles around their birthplace.The appearance of steam trains and the laying of cement roads have greatly improved the scope of human activities.

No, with the steam train, Song Yingxing will have no problem going to Tianjin.

This matter is so settled.

About half a month or so, Zheng Zhilong, Zheng Sen and his son, accompanied by Zheng Hongkui, finally rushed to the capital by order.

Because of Zheng Sen's meritorious service in presiding over the procurement office in the south of the Yangtze River, Emperor Chongzhen ordered him to be the Commander of Jinyiwei, and he came to the capital to see Xie En.

As for Zheng Hongkui, he waited for the father and son of the Zheng family in Tianjin Port, and then accompanied them to Beijing. Of course, this was also done by order. Otherwise, he, a deputy general of Denglai, could not leave the station privately!

From these things, Zheng Zhilong also felt the signal sent to him by Emperor Chongzhen.At the same time, he also knew very well that it was because he had the most powerful navy in Ming Dynasty, and Emperor Chongzhen happened to need it very much, so he had this kind of courtesy.

Otherwise, he, Zheng Zhilong, would probably not be looked down upon by today's emperor!

After meeting Zheng Hongkui and learning about the affairs in the north, Zheng Zhilong had already guessed that the emperor summoned him today not just for the purchase of yamen in the south of the Yangtze River, but probably related to the Denglai Navy.

Because Zheng Hongkui had already told him that, as the vice-admiral of the Denglai Navy, he had almost nothing to do with warships in his hands.If Dongjiang Town is to be rebuilt, the navy has a very big enemy, the North Korean Navy, which must be killed or subdued before Dongjiang Town will be safe.

The destruction of Dongjiang Town at the beginning was precisely because Jianlu had the help of the Korean navy to attack Phi Island and wipe out the soldiers and civilians on the island.

And now, North Korea has even recognized Jianlu as the suzerain state. If Dongjiang Town is rebuilt, then at Jianlu's request, the possibility of dispatching naval forces is very high!

Knowing this, Zheng Zhilong couldn't help but feel a little headache.

Although, the navy under his command is indeed the strongest along the coast of Daming.

However, if he is asked to bring the navy to the north, and go to North Korea to find a decisive battle for the North Korean navy, it is impossible to get much benefit. This kind of laborious and unprofitable thing is really difficult to do!

Don't look at the future to collect money, it is only on the southeast coast of Daming, and there are many ships under hand, so the cost of supporting them is also high.

If he went to North Korea to find a decisive battle with the North Korean navy, he wouldn't worry about winning or not.He was worried that it would take a year to go back and forth, so it would be a bit mysterious to maintain his dominance in the southeast coast, and some people might not be willing to buy the command flag.

A very prominent example is that Hong Yi, who occupies the top ranks, was forced to buy the command flag because of the fear of his sailors.Once he knew that the main force of his navy had left the coast of Fujian, he probably wouldn't pay the money.

Of course, Zheng Zhilong is a smart person, and he didn't just see this.Otherwise, maybe he understood the situation in Tianjin and immediately turned around and went back to Fujian.

Knowing what Emperor Chongzhen probably wanted him for, he naturally also knew the news of Ningyuan's great victory. The imperial court had another great victory against Jianlu, and also captured a higher-level slave chieftain, who was just cut to pieces in the capital.In addition, the leader of Jianluzhong surrendered to the imperial court. These things are enough to show that the affairs of Liaodong began to be under the control of the imperial court.The military power of the imperial court is getting stronger and stronger!
Once the court is strong and he doesn't cooperate, as long as he is not stupid, he can definitely guess what will happen next.

If the world had been in chaos before, then he would have made a fortune in Fujian without any problem!

But now, today's emperor not only knows that he is making a fortune, but also that the military power of the imperial court has become stronger, and the rebellion in the Central Plains has been quelled. The two biggest bandits have been oppressed in Jiangxi, southern Huguang, and Guangxi. In a few years, it is estimated that the rebellion will be completely put down, and Liaodong will be restored.

At that time, the imperial court was so strong that it might even catch up with the beginning of the founding of the country.

No matter how arrogant Zheng Zhilong was, he would not dare to be so arrogant as to start a war with such an imperial court.Not to mention, he is not arrogant at all, and he likes dogs!

Of course, he is not without the bottom line of negotiating conditions, that is, on the water, or at sea, at least in the years that can be seen, he is always the strongest.If there is no bottom line, he is driven into a hurry, and occupying the island to rebel is enough for the court.

Based on this, Zheng Zhilong had something in mind, so he went to Beijing to see what the emperor had to say.

When he got on the steam train, because it was the first time he saw it, even though he already knew the existence of the steam train, he was still very surprised.

He, an old fox, is like this, let alone Zheng Sen.Sitting on the train, looking at the scenery that kept flashing by outside the window, and drinking tea, I couldn't help but praise: "Your Majesty is really amazing!"

Zheng Hongkui, who had been in the north for the longest time, nodded his head and said in agreement: "Since Emperor Taizu appeared, His Majesty has become more and more powerful. If you are often in the capital, you will feel more deeply."

Having said that, he looked at Zheng Zhilong who was silent, and said earnestly: "Brother, if you stay in the capital for a few more days, you will feel it. There are some things that you can't know just by talking about them. I have feelings! The imperial court was able to turn from a precarious situation to the current situation, it really depends on His Majesty's own strength."

Hearing what his son and younger brother said, Zheng Zhilong had confidence in his heart, but felt that his confidence was getting weaker and weaker.

The more powerful the emperor, the less confident he is, that's it!
Seeing that he hadn't spoken yet, Zheng Hongkui continued: "Look, brother, the ground outside is a cement road. This cement material was also invented by His Majesty, and it can also be used for water conservancy construction. In this year, since the defeat After the establishment of the captives, the bandits were suppressed in the south again, and I dare say that the people's livelihood in the north will be restored soon!"

He was afraid that Zheng Zhilong would not believe it, so he continued to tell Zheng Zhilong the news he had heard: "This year, the north is not without drought, but natural disasters are also common. However, it did not cause major turmoil like in previous years; there is also plague. , the pimple disease happened again in the place where the Yellow River flooded in the Central Plains, but according to the measures announced by His Majesty, it was quickly eradicated. If this happened in the past, I don’t know how many people would die..."

In previous years, people's livelihood in the north was more difficult, but now according to Zheng Hongkui, this year is much better than previous years.And from the comparison of various things, it can be expected that the coming year will be even better!
In other words, the chaos of the world is coming to an end, and a world of great rule is about to begin.And these all originated from the changes of Emperor Chongzhen.

None of these things seemed to be possible if they were said normally.But now, they are all becoming facts one by one.

After listening to Zheng Hongkui's introduction for a long time, and Zheng Sen's exclamation repeatedly, Zheng Zhilong felt more and more uncertain about this trip to the capital.

He didn't like this feeling. What he had to do was within his expectations and within his grasp. This was the reason why he had grown from an ordinary pirate to the current Pirate King step by step over the years.

In the middle of the night, seeing Zheng Sen sleeping soundly, and hearing Zheng Hongkui's loud snoring, Zheng Zhilong also felt a little sleepy, and sighed in his heart and said, "Forget it, let's take one step at a time, life can't always be happy , anyway, he is the co-lord of the whole world, it's not too much to ask, so let's do it!"

After all, so far, the emperor has treated his Zheng family well.The legendary method of raiding the house did not come to the Zheng family, but it was a blessing.Not only did his son become the commander of Jin Yiwei, but his fourth brother also became a vice-admiral of the navy.

Thinking of this, he also fell asleep vaguely, and when he opened his eyes again, he had already arrived in the capital.

(End of this chapter)