Late Ming Dynasty: Oops, I am surrounded by the Donglin Party

After Zhang Shikang said this, Zhu Cilang and Princess Kunyi immediately became a little excited.

"Master Zhang, can you not go? My father values you so much. If you say you don't want to go, my father will definitely agree." Zhu Cilang said with certainty.

"Well, Royal Brother is right. My father will definitely not make things difficult for you. If my father disagrees, I... I..." Princess Kunyi's eyes were misty with tears in her eyes.

Zhang Shikang shook his head.

"It was the Master who wanted to go. You are still young and don't understand many things.

There are some things that someone has to do, such as institutional reform, suppressing bandits, and the Northern Expedition.

If those who should do things don't do them, the Ming Dynasty will become what it was before.

Do you understand? "

Zhu Cilang and Princess Kunyi nodded as if they understood, but they were still too young.

"While I am still here, Xiao Zhu, you must hurry up and learn how to become a qualified emperor.

Little princess, why don't you give your teacher a leg massage?"

Zhu Cilang responded softly and picked up his book, while Princess Kunyi began to massage Zhang Shikang's legs seriously again.

Children are so easy to fool. Zhang Shikang closed his eyes comfortably.

Early the next morning, Zhang Shikang and his brother and sister boarded the flagship of the Ming Navy, Gousheng.

When Ma Tong learned that Zhang Shikang's two followers were the current crown prince and the eldest princess of the Ming Dynasty, he excitedly introduced the navy to them.

It was the first time for Zhu Cilang to board such a huge warship. He touched here and looked there, especially when he put his hand on the thick gun barrel in the cabin, a strange light flashed in his eyes.

Zhang Shikang told him more than once that if there was truth in this world, it was the cannons in front of him.

Zhu Cilang had been thinking about it all the time, until today when he touched it with his own hands, he felt that he had touched the truth.

"Do you want to have a shot?" Zhang Shikang said with narrowed eyes.

"Ah? Master Zhang, is this... okay?" Zhu Cilang was a little surprised.

"Of course!" Zhang Shikang immediately gave orders to Ma Tong.

Ma Tong was also a little itchy. Since arriving in Tianjin at the end of last year, this fleet has been drifting on the sea for half a year.

As the deputy admiral of the navy, he could only train sailors in a temporary base on land during this period.

The sound of artillery fire had not been heard in the waters of Tianjin for a long, long time.

As soon as the order was given, the flag bearer of the flagship immediately passed the message to all warships. At the same time, Ma Tong also passed the order of the gun test to the workers at military ports, shipyards and other construction sites.

The flagship quickly began to turn the rudder and pointed its guns at the boundless sea on the east side. More than twenty gunners were already in position.

"Please give the order, Your Highness the Crown Prince!" After preparing everything, Ma Tong walked up to Zhu Cilang.

Zhu Cilang looked up at Zhang Shikang, and Zhang Shikang nodded.

"Fire...fire." Zhu Cilang gave the order in a somewhat immature tone.

More than a dozen large and small cannons on one side of the flagship all emitted black smoke at the rear.

Zhang Shikang reminded Zhu Cilang to cover her ears. Princess Kunyi was still leaning on the side of the boat looking out, so Zhang Shikang walked over and covered the little girl's ears with both hands.

But there was a loud bang and the entire ship began to vibrate violently.

Princess Kunyi was hugged by Zhang Shikang on the face. She was very shy at first, but the loud noise made her immediately understand that Zhang Shikang was protecting her. She looked at Zhang Shikang happily with a blushing face.

In a moment, huge waves appeared on the sea three or four miles away from the fleet. These were the noises caused by more than a dozen shells falling into the water.

Zhu Cilang quickly put down his hands that were covering his ears, and with an excited expression he leaned on the side of the boat and looked into the distance.

"How do you feel?" Zhang Shikang also let go of the little girl and said to Zhu Cilang.

Zhu Cilang felt his heart pounding, and replied with a hint of excitement:

"Master Zhang, the voice of truth is so beautiful."

"This is just a twelve-pound cannon. When our Ming Dynasty's warships are equipped with eighteen-pound or even twenty-four-pound cannons in the future, the voice of truth will be even more beautiful." Zhang Shikang said with a smile.

This small fleet came from the Zheng family. The artillery they used was not only of ordinary caliber, but most of them were iron cannons, which not only had a short range and small power, but were also not as accurate as the Portuguese's latest copper cannons.

After visiting the fleet, Zhang Shikang told Ma Tong to recruit more sailors and gunners within half a year.

Although the Dutch are also profit-driven, their business reputation has always been good. Once the 30 galleons are successfully obtained by the end of the year, the Ming Navy will truly have the confidence to deal with naval battles.

After lunch, Zhang Shikang started his journey back.

Zhu Cilang and his sister were very happy on this journey. Zhu Cilang saw and even touched the truth, and now his mind was full of warships and artillery.

They even started asking about stories about pirates. Zhang Shikang could see that Xiao Zhu even envied the pirates' business of making no capital.

In the stories about the ocean that Zhang Shikang told Zhu Cilang and his sister, he would occasionally talk about various overseas mineral deposits. Zhu Cilang even wished he could grow up immediately so that he could lead a powerful fleet to dig for gold overseas.

On the afternoon of April 25th, Zhang Shikang brought the brother and sister back to the palace again.

The three went to the Qianqing Palace to pay their respects to Emperor Chongzhen, but came up empty-handed.

Zhang Shikang immediately guessed where Chongzhen's brother was, and immediately took the brother and sister to Emperor Chongzhen's secret base - the Small Garden.

When the three men arrived at the small garden, Emperor Chongzhen was wearing casual clothes, sticking out his butt and loosening the soil for the tender sprouts that had just broken through the ground.

The entire nursery is about half an acre in size. Emperor Chongzhen did all the work himself except for asking eunuchs such as Wang Chengen to help him with land preparation.

"Your Majesty! You are not doing your job again!" Zhang Shikang joked as soon as they met.

Zhu Cilang and Princess Kunyi immediately bowed to their father.

Emperor Chongzhen turned around and saw the three people coming. He then put down the work in his hands and said:

"You three are back. How was your trip to Tianjin?"

"The naval port and the shipyard are both under intense construction, and the progress is acceptable. Perhaps by the end of the year, our Ming Dynasty will have a decent naval port.

Oh, by the way, Your Majesty, I have bought another thirty warships. Your Majesty, please don’t forget to inform the Ministry of Revenue and ask them to send the silver to Tianjin as soon as possible.”

As Zhang Shikang spoke, he picked up a hoe and waved it around, feeling very unfamiliar with it.

Emperor Chongzhen frowned when he heard this.

"Why buy another ship? The ships ordered by the Zheng family and the small French country haven't been found yet!"

From last year to this year, the court has spent more than 20 million taels of silver on maritime affairs, and is approaching 30 million taels.

If anyone else wanted to spend money like this, Emperor Chongzhen would have played a nine-clan elimination game on them long ago.

After all, if more than 20 million taels of silver were used for domestic people's livelihood, I don't know how many people's lives would be improved.

Even though Emperor Chongzhen trusted Zhang Shikang very much, he couldn't help but feel that this guy was spending money like water, as if his son was selling his father's land without any regret.

“Your Majesty, you have to buy it. Although the galleon is not the best warship nowadays, it is the best quality ship in Nanyang, including the Zheng family.

Our shipyard is not yet completed. Even if we start building ships after it is completed, we will have to wait until the end of next year or the year after to start mass production. It’s too late!”

The Zheng family is well-informed. Once the Zheng family learns about Zhang Shikang's private transactions with the Dutch and Guoguoya, the Ming Dynasty's coastal defense will face a great crisis.

In addition, the nobles have been making intensive preparations for maritime trade, and the porcelain workshop will be able to start production in a few months.

Sailors and even merchant leaders began to be recruited steadily. Taining Hou and his men had even begun to raise funds to buy a poorly performing textile workshop in Jiangnan.

Both the Ming Dynasty’s coastal defense and future maritime trade are imminent.

Zhang Shikang didn't want to wait another three years. The Ming Dynasty needed a strong navy to support any conflicts that might occur in the future.

"Father, I think what Master Zhang said is right.

The truth is not in the books of sages, but within the range of the artillery of our Ming Dynasty!" Zhu Cilang chimed in.

……