Tiantang Splendid

Chapter 4711 Youthful Ambition
Fang Jun looked at the hope on the chubby little face and said with a smile, "Tell me about it."

Di Renjie hesitated for a moment, looked around, and seeing that no one was around, he whispered, "When I am qualified to serve in the government, could you please give the Ministry of Personnel a heads-up and have me sent to the navy?"

This is a blatant backdoor approach, so naturally they don't want others to hear it.

Fang Jun was surprised and asked, "Why is that? With your grades and performance, once you pass the imperial examination, the three provinces and six ministries will all be vying for you. It is not impossible for you to be appointed as the Secretary of the Central Secretariat or the Minister of the Imperial Court. Why bother going to the navy to eat wind and drink waves, and be exposed to the sun and wind? The waves on the ocean are as strong as mountains. Even the strongest warships may capsize and die. It is not as good as imagined."

As the Tang Dynasty navy roamed the oceans and merchant ships traveled as far as the East and South Seas along the waterways, ship after ship of silk, porcelain, glass and other luxury goods were exchanged for ship after ship of mountains of gold and silver or full cabins of rice. Countless Chinese people turned their eyes to overseas countries that their ancestors had always disdained, and longed for what a vast and fertile land that was.

At first, only merchants were flocking to it, but when more and more merchants spread the myth of the Tang Dynasty Royal Navy's invincibility in the ocean back to their country, the young people with great ambitions and lofty aspirations could no longer sit still.

Expanding territory, ennobling wives and children, this is an imprint engraved deep in the bones of the Chinese people. When the army on land reached the extremely cold land in the north and even included the North Sea in its territory, crossed the Pamir Mountains to the west and bordered the Arab Empire, and attacked Annan, Champa and Zhenla to the south, and the land territory was almost impossible to expand, everyone's eyes were naturally on the navy.

The vast ocean is boundless and foreign countries are scattered all over the world. Isn't this a good place to make achievements?
However, the navy is different from the Sixteen Guards Army. Although it has the "Royal" sign, it is actually controlled by Fang Jun alone. He implements a very strict system for recruiting soldiers. Unless you fully meet the requirements, it is simply impossible to use your family background to get in through the back door.

As a result, the navy became a rather mysterious place, and not everyone could go there...

Di Renjie was very excited, not afraid at all: "A real man is born in this world, how can he be afraid of death and stand still? As long as he is on the road to expanding the territory, what is there to fear even if he is buried in the belly of a fish? Going overseas to see those foreign countries and barbarians, open up routes for the Tang Dynasty, find some suitable land to grow more food, so that the people of the Tang Dynasty will no longer have to worry about hunger. This is much better than the three provinces and six ministries fighting for petty gains!"

Fang Jun smiled, not being fooled by him: "When he returns to the court with his achievements overseas, he will be able to rise to the top by overcoming all difficulties and challenges."

"Uh... you always taught us that we should have ideals, right?"

When his thoughts were revealed, Di Renjie was not shy at all. Instead, he faced it calmly and even used what Fang Jun had said to embellish his own ambitions.

Successful people all have various strengths, which are not all the same, but one thing remains the same from ancient times to the present day: one must have a thick skin.

You will never succeed if you are shy and embarrassed all the time.

Fang Jun smiled and patted Di Renjie on the shoulder, praising him: "Talent alone is not enough, it is the drive that will allow you to strive for excellence and achieve success. Okay, I promise you, as long as you pass the imperial examination, come to me to receive the seal and documents, and I will allow you to be a clerk in the army and join the navy!"

Di Renjie was both happy and worried: "This... I'm afraid that I won't be able to do it."

The good news was that Fang Jun really looked up to him and became much closer to him, and directly promised him an official position of the eighth rank. The worry was that although the recorder and military officer was only the eighth rank, he was not a small official. In the navy system, the Grand Admiral, General, Chief Secretary, Sima, Military Officer, Lieutenant, Lieutenant, etc. were arranged in order, among which there was one Grand Admiral, two Generals, one Chief Secretary, and two Sima. The military officers were divided into one recorder and military officer, two warehouse officer, two military officer, one cavalry officer, and one armor officer due to their different affiliations...

Among them, the registrar is not only in charge of the military documents and archives, rosters and military merits, but also has the responsibility to report good and evil and monitor discipline. He is entrusted with such important tasks when he first enters the official career. Naturally, he has a higher starting point than others and has less than ten years of experience, but he also bears corresponding heavy responsibilities. Once a mistake is made, his official career will almost be over.

Fang Jun raised his eyebrows and asked provocatively, "Do you think you are not good enough?"

Young people are full of ambition and want to reach for the moon. How can they be told that they can’t do it? !

Di Renjie straightened his chest and said in a sonorous tone, "Of course I can do it! Sir, rest assured, I will not say any nonsense about whether I have betrayed your trust or not. I will definitely perform my duties conscientiously and fulfill my responsibilities. 'The young man holds a Wu hook in one hand, and his ambition is higher than a hundred-foot building. Who has written history in the past ten thousand years? He will seek a title three thousand miles away'! He will become a general or a prime minister in his dynasty, and he will definitely not embarrass you!"

It is very appropriate to use an inspirational poem written by Fang Jun in the past to express Fang Jun's confidence and determination.

Fang Jun laughed: "You are ambitious! With such high ambition and strong determination, it is worth it for me to open a back door for you!"

Di Renjie was very anxious, looking around furtively, fearing that he might be heard: "Teacher, please keep your voice down. If someone hears me, I will become a laughing stock and be ridiculed by my classmates in the academy."

Taking the backdoor is not only hard to say but also unpleasant to hear!
Fang Jun didn't care: "What's wrong with using the back door? Do you think anyone can use my back door? Uh..."

Halfway through my sentence, I felt something was ambiguity. What the hell was I talking about?

"Pfft! I mean, only if I think highly of you and believe that you have this ability, I will help you at the critical moment so that you don't waste your time just to gain experience. Otherwise, no one will let me open this back door! Just do your job well and have a clear conscience, and don't worry about the noise of envy, jealousy and hatred from others."

……

Compared with the power struggles and intrigues in the court, Fang Jun still prefers the rich learning atmosphere in the academy. No matter whether they are children of aristocratic families or poor people, once they enter the academy, they will be infected by this learning atmosphere, and they will race against time to absorb all kinds of knowledge, unwilling to be left behind by their classmates who usually live in the same dormitory.

Especially when he was standing on the podium teaching, the pairs of eyes eager for knowledge below made him feel incomparable satisfaction.

Only at this time did Fang Jun clearly feel his own existence and integrated into this world, instead of being isolated from the times.

Maybe teaching and educating people is the best thing for him to do?

In my previous life, I was busy in official circles, either doing despicable things or colluding with others. It was a real waste of my time.

*****
Dark clouds covered Luzon.

It rained heavily, and the surging sea water poured into the Pasig River from the bay. The simple dam built along the river bank was crumbling under the raging tide, and the houses behind the dam were in danger.

The warship floated with the waves outside the turbulent bay. Xi Jun bought a pair of big feet and nailed them firmly on the deck. He held a monocular telescope to his eyes and looked out from the cabin. He opened and closed his eyes. Everything was obscured by the heavy rain. The waves in the bay were surging like boiling water. Only the mountains in the distance were vaguely visible, like a dream or reality.

On the table behind him, a small stove was burning brightly, and a copper basin was placed on it. Yang Zhou sat beside the table and scooped up a chopstick of bean sprouts, put them on a plate, dipped them in the sauce and put them into his mouth. He exhaled slightly because it was hot, chewed a few bites and swallowed them, took a sip of wine, glanced at Xi Junmai and said, "You can't see enough of this, could it be that you like this damn place? It's simple, go back and write a letter to the Marshal to ask for the appointment of a governor of Luzon, it's not difficult."

Xi Junmai put down the telescope, closed the window, sat back at the table, drank a sip of wine, and shook his head, saying, "The Marshal has long had plans for Luzon, Java and other places. He only wants to take the land and not move any people. Although the Tang Dynasty is vast, it is extremely short of flat and fertile land. It will take decades or even hundreds of years for the development of Liaodong and the two lakes to be completed. Now we must expand outward and occupy arable land as much as possible to obtain enough food to supply the population growth. However, Luzon is too far away from the mainland and the route is long. If we want support, it will take a month to arrive. Therefore, we do not plan to immigrate to Luzon, and there is naturally no talk of the so-called governor."

Although the Tang Dynasty seemed to have vast territory and abundant resources, it was actually mostly mountainous and had few plains. The land suitable for growing crops was pitifully small compared to the tens of millions of people. Otherwise, every natural disaster would not have resulted in countless people being displaced and the fields filled with starving people.

At first, according to Fang Jun's plan, he spent money to buy grain in Dongyang and Nanyang, and transported it back to Datang by sea. But after three or two years, this plan became passive, because both Dongyang and Nanyang, although there was abundant rain, fertile soil, and large plains, the local natives were too lazy.

When describing fertile soil, people usually say "just drop the seeds and you'll get three crops a year without taking care of them", but the natives in Champa, Luzon, and Java really do that...

The natives were lazy and did not engage in farming, which resulted in extremely unstable grain production and frequent gaps in the Tang Dynasty's grain supply.

In this case, the only way is to find ways to occupy the land, either by immigrating or hiring local indigenous people to cultivate the land.

However, these policies were adapted to local conditions and were not set in stone. For example, Champa and Annan transferred disaster victims from China to plant rice, while Luzon and Java hired more local natives to prevent the greedy natives from slaughtering the people of the Tang Dynasty...

Yang Zhou scooped out the bean sprouts from the copper basin, drained the wine from the glass, burped comfortably, and asked casually, "How many people do you plan to kill and how much land do you plan to take over this time?"

The fact that their two deputy admirals of the navy were able to lead dozens of ships and thousands of soldiers across the ocean to reach Luzon was obviously not a small-scale operation.

Luzon is mountainous, but the narrow strip from Manila to Lingayen Gulf in the north is flat and fertile, with dense rivers and a lot of fertile land, which is most suitable for growing rice. However, the local natives hired are still lazy and lazy, relying on their large numbers, and they often make trouble and slack off, which seriously affects the rice production. This cannot be tolerated, and a group of them must be killed to make an example of them.

Xi Junmai put his chopsticks into the copper basin and found that all the meat, vegetables and bean sprouts had been scooped out. He put down his chopsticks in anger and said, "The purpose this time is not the land. Our exploration team has discovered gold mines in the mountains northeast of Lingayen Gulf. The reserves are not small. So this mission is to create a conflict and land directly in Manila to force the Luzon chief to allow us to build a port in Lingayen Gulf and lease the surrounding mountains."

"Another gold mine discovered?"

Yang Zhou's eyes were bright.

He knew that the navy had an "exploration team" which was directly under Su Dingfang but in fact completely under the command of Fang Jun. This group of people were running around the world, prospecting for minerals everywhere. Once discovered, the navy would follow suit and take action, using any means necessary to occupy or lease the land, in order to take the mineral deposits for themselves and then mine on a large scale.

According to common sense, most of those mineral deposits are buried deep underground and are extremely difficult to explore, otherwise how could the local indigenous people just leave them alone to mine?
However, the amazing thing is that gold, silver or copper mines are discovered every now and then, and these mines are distributed all over the East and Southeast Asia. It is as if they have a "heavenly book" in their hands, which records the locations of those mines in detail, and they can find them as long as they go there...