Lu Bu: My wife comes from two thousand years later

There is no perfect system or immortal dynasty in the world. Zhang Mo wants to complete unification as soon as possible while improving social productivity, and improve the social system as much as possible so that peace can last longer.

She also knew that the aristocratic families would never be completely eliminated, and new ones would rise as the old ones passed away. If children from humble backgrounds or even common people became officials, could it be guaranteed that they would stand up for the people? Could it be guaranteed that they would not amass wealth or develop their own political connections?

In the later stages of the development of the imperial examination system, the relationship between teachers and students led to the formation of cliques and mutual protection among officials in the officialdom, which led to official corruption. The rulers changed the content of the examinations, which made the imperial examinations a shackle that bound the thoughts of intellectuals, and Confucianism became a tool for the rulers to enslave their subjects. This was the inevitable result of the inhumane development of feudal autocracy.

As for practicing democracy in feudal society, that is even more nonsense, especially in the situation where the aristocratic families have not been completely eliminated and the imperial examination system has just taken shape. If the Tang Palace does not centralize power, implement parliamentary elections and establish people's sovereignty, it is not certain whether it can be implemented. Even if it is really done, it is estimated that the world will not last more than a hundred years and will fall into disunity again.

Life is only a few decades long, and she cannot see or control what will happen in the future. However, while she is still alive, she can only do her best to improve the social system, clean up the social atmosphere, and give the people of the world a bright and clear world.

Zhang Mo said, "We have no one available right now. We can only make an example of someone in Xiu County to scare the monkeys. All officials, both high and low, who are involved in corruption will be severely punished. The county magistrate and the county magistrate will be executed immediately, and their families will be enslaved. The rest of the people and their families will also be enslaved and sent to the shipyard to do hard labor!"

After killing so many people in Jizhou, Zhang Mo really didn't want to kill anymore. Moreover, Tang State had built many factories and needed a large labor force. Unless they were unforgivable crimes, she would not easily use the death penalty. Most criminals and their families were enslaved, or sent to build infrastructure, or given as slaves to meritorious officials, or taken to the official human trafficking market to be sold.

The Tang Dynasty prohibited the buying and selling of people and land, but the government still retained the right to buy and sell people, and the people involved were all criminals and their families.

After dealing with these people, Zhang Mo had the matter spread to other counties in Jizhou, and then observed the reactions of local officials. Some places quietly returned the extra taxes to the people. Zhang Mo did not pursue those people again, but made them the targets of key supervision in the future.

As for the appointment and dismissal of officials in Xiu County, except for the county magistrate who was transferred from Yecheng, the subordinate officials directly selected some literate people from the local area to serve as officials first. This required the county magistrate to work harder.

After resolving the issue in Xiu County, the team did not stay in other places for too long and went straight to the Gulf Naval Base.

In November, the Tang King arrived in Yangxin County. Xu Rong got the news and came to the camp early to greet him. After the master and the minister exchanged greetings, Lu Bu couldn't wait to see the navy warships.

A group of people rode their horses to the port and saw dozens of ships of all sizes docked in the bay from afar. On each ship was a flag with red characters on a black background with the Chinese character "Tang" written on it, which fluttered in the howling sea breeze, showing the power of the Tang army.

Lu Qian yelled excitedly, "Daddy, there are so many boats! So many boats! I've never seen so many boats in my life!"

I haven’t seen it either!

Lu Bu muttered to himself, looking a little excited. He had never fought a naval battle, nor had he seen so many ships, either in his dreams or in reality.

However, after Zhang Mo took a quick glance, her expectant look calmed down. She looked carefully from left to right and found that there was only one tower ship, not many medium-sized ships, and the total number of all ships was only over a hundred, which was far different from what she had expected.

Zhang Mo didn't know exactly how many warships were deployed by both Sun and Cao in the Battle of Chibi, but she knew that the Eastern Wu sent dozens of small warships just to start the fire, not to mention the large ships used for combat.

It took more than a year to build this small number of ships. At this rate, it would take about another ten years to be able to march south to attack Jingzhou and Eastern Wu.

"General Xu, is there insufficient funding for shipbuilding?" Zhang Mo said directly, "If it's not enough, I can find a way to allocate more money."

As soon as she said this, the excited father and son turned to look at her. Lu Qian asked in disbelief, "Mother, aren't these enough boats? Do you want to build more?"

"It's far from enough!"

Xu Rong immediately knew that the princess knew something about naval warfare. He replied, "It's not that we don't have enough money, but we don't have enough shipbuilders and raw materials."

He pointed to several large and medium-sized ships nearby and said, "Building large ships, warships, and vanguards like these is not easy. They can't be made by just one or two shipbuilders. The glue, tung oil, lacquer, and other raw materials needed for shipbuilding are easy to find, but keels are not easy to come by. They require large, hard wood, and the keel and all the planking wood need to be soaked and then left to dry in the shade for two to three years before they can be used. Where can we find the raw materials ready-made right now?"

Zhang Mo originally thought that the wood could be used after a simple treatment, but she didn't expect it to be so troublesome. She frowned and asked, "Where did these boats come from?"

Xu Rong said, "This tower ship and most of the warships and vanguards are originally from Beihai. There were originally more ships at the two docks in Beihai, but after Kong Wenju was defeated, many fled to Liaodong to join Gongsun Du. The ones left behind were either damaged or unable to escape in time. I brought them all here to repair them. There are also several warships and small boats that were intercepted during the suppression of pirates. The remaining small boats are mostly converted from fishing boats and ferries. Our newly built ships are almost all made of raw materials..."

Well, it’s been more than a year, and it turns out that they haven’t built any new ships yet. After hearing this, the expectations of several people instantly plummeted.

"How long will it take to build a ship with the raw materials we have now? How many ships can we build in total?"

Xu Rong bowed and said, "Your Majesty, Princess, please follow me to the shipyard!"

Several people came to the Bay Shipyard and drove their horses directly inside. In the front were dozens of newly built shipbuilders' houses, and further in were warehouses for storing raw cowhide and canvas. They drove all the way to the river estuary and saw a lot of wood piled up there to dry. An eight-meter-long keel frame was stood on the shore. At this time, many craftsmen were busy by the river.

Xu Rong pointed to a nearly completed tower ship not far away and introduced it, "This ship was built with wood readily available at the homes of the North Sea shipbuilders. Five shipbuilders worked together, with the help of civilians, and it took a year to complete. The new ship materials I have prepared cannot be used now. They can only be used for shipbuilding next summer. Even then, they can only build one tower ship, a dozen warships, and vanguards."

After hearing this, Zhang Mo's anticipation dropped again.

Lü Qian asked curiously, "If building a large ship is so difficult, how did Dongwu and Jingzhou get so many ships? Jingzhou is fine, but Liu Jingsheng has been there for so long, but didn't Dongwu only rise in the last two or three years?"