Chapter 189: Being the Great Ming

Zhang Zhang Juzheng had told the little Emperor about the Great Ming's political structure. This kind of political structure has been exactly the same since ancient times. Zhang Zhang Juzheng said this is the inevitability of the county system.

Zhu Zhu Yijun summarized the basic characteristics of the Great Ming's politics as: task assignment by layer-by-layer contracting, fiscal intervention by budget contracting, and result-oriented assessment and supervision. These three dimensions are the most typical and basic political characteristics of the Great Ming.

This is completely opposite and contradictory to the concepts of unification and centralization, yet it also has unity.

Under the design of the Great Ming's imperial system, it cannot function normally without the Emperor, because the Emperor possesses the power of decision-making, veto, interference, and supervision. But at the same time, the local area possesses extremely terrifying discretionary power, or what can be called administrative power.

The Emperor manages the Grand Secretary, the Grand Secretary manages the Assistant Grand Secretary, the Cabinet manages the court officials, the court officials manage the six ministries and capital offices, the capital offices manage the provincial governors, administration commissioners, surveillance commissioners, and regional military commissioners of the world. The provincial and circuit level three commissioners and provincial governors and inspectors manage the prefectures, and the prefectures manage the counties.

This is the most typical Great Ming dynasty, managing one level below, and can only manage one level below. This is the basis for task assignment by layer-by-layer contracting.

And the capital offices possess the power of personnel appointment and removal, and are gradually establishing a result-oriented assessment and supervision system.

If you complete the tasks assigned by the imperial court, you will be promoted. If you don't complete the tasks assigned by the imperial court, the Kao Cheng Fa will give you a low rating. After your name is posted on the list, you will lose your official position, and it is more likely that you will be investigated.

The Kao Cheng Fa is a supplement to the result-oriented assessment and supervision system. Before this, it was called the Jingcha Daji (Capital Inspection and Grand Evaluation), and the six books and one account is fiscal intervention by budget contracting. Before this, the Great Ming implemented a four-sided leaking bookkeeping method where there was a hole.

Taking the Great Wall section of Xuan-Da as an example, the imperial court gave a total of 1.2 million taels of silver. More is yours, less is you think of a way yourself. The imperial court sent the Ministry of War's inspection vice ministers to supervise the Great Wall construction. If you didn't build it, or built it poorly, you would be held accountable, and the responsibility would be assigned to the person.

If you look at the Altan Khan tribute trade according to this basic political characteristic, you will find some very interesting things.

Wang Wang Chonggu reported that he should stop the war and make peace. The imperial court agreed with Wang Wang Chonggu's opinion. Wang Wang Chonggu reported a number of over one million taels of silver. The imperial court felt that this deal was not a loss, so it implemented fiscal intervention by budget contracting, giving Wang Wang Chonggu silver. As long as this matter was handled properly, Wang Wang Chonggu alone would be responsible for how much it cost.

Looking at it this way, Wang Wang Chonggu ate the imperial court's silver and ate the northern captives' horses, which is very consistent with the basic administrative characteristics.

After all, Altan Khan did not disturb the border again, and Wang Wang Chonggu completed the task of pacifying the border assigned to him by the imperial court.

The account can indeed be calculated this way, because the Great Ming really couldn't beat Altan Khan at that time. Regional commanders died one after another, and going out of the border to fight was death. Altan Khan possessed an absolute advantage in offense. So for the imperial court, one million taels to stabilize the border was not unacceptable.

The account cannot be calculated this way either, because the times are changing. Since Li Li Chengliang pulled out Gule Village, the Great Ming is gradually recovering its ability to fight outside the border. If they want to eat the imperial court's silver again, the imperial court will not agree.

When did Wang Wang Chonggu stop moving this silver?

From the moment he was blasted out of the Zhao Wenhua Hall by Zhang Zhang Juzheng and returned to Xuan-Da to fill the holes, he was doing things wholeheartedly. Time is moving forward, and the imperial court is recovering its ability to reward and punish. If he relies on the captives to value himself again, that will kill people.

Zhang Zhang Siwen, Wu Dui, Fang Fang Fengshi, and even Wang Wang Chonggu's cousin Wang Wang Chongya were unwilling to give up this money that had come to hand. There is no reason to spit out what has been eaten.

But in the struggle with the Emperor, the clan party was defeated. This has a great deal to do with the clan party handing over the decision-making power entirely to a fool.

The Emperor Wanli Emperor studied in the palace as Crown Prince from the fourth year of Emperor Longqing. The court officials' evaluation was very low, especially Gao Gong's, which was also based on this basic logic: decision-making power cannot be handed over to a fool. Zhang Zhang Juzheng believed that the Emperor Wanli Emperor could be cultivated not to be so stupid.

The Great Ming cleaned up the clan party and ate a half-cooked meal. The best time to clean up the Jin party should have been when Qi Qi Jiguang drove Tuman Khan completely out of the Liaodong region east of the Great Khingan Mountains, letting Tuman Khan and Altan Khan conflict directly. In this way, it would not be a half-cooked meal.

And the burning of the palace led by Zhang Zhang Siwen, which was intended to burn the Emperor, or even if it couldn't burn the Emperor, to burn the matter of the Three Ladies entering the capital for an audience, was a stupid decision. It was the final result of being neither grand nor resolute, and for the clan party, it was also a pot of half-cooked meal.

The clan party was not fully prepared yet. They had not bought off the majority of bureaucrats, bought off generals, or officers, and had not shaped a common cognition that the imperial court was harsh on the clan party and we had to rebel. They hadn't even converted the embezzled silver, grain, and horses into combat power.

Even Wang Wang Chonggu, the uncle, abandoned the clan party.

Because Wang Wang Chonggu knew very clearly that comparing the growth of combat power with the Capital Battalion led by Qi Qi Jiguang under the Emperor's support was itself very stupid.

As for this interest community with privileged economy as the core, would the Northwest clan party be willing to give the soldiers who were trapped by food and pay even a little bit of benefit?

The result was the same as Wang Wang Chonggu expected. Zhang Zhang Siwen didn't achieve anything. Burning the Emperor to death was originally very difficult, and the success rate was far lower than drowning. And the most excessive thing Zhu Zhu Yijun did was to let the Three Ladies have an audience on the foundation.

Zhang Zhang Siwen and the Jin party went down together.

Wang Wang Chonggu looked at the suspicious eyes of Chen Chen Xuehui and the Three Ladies and could only drink tea to ease the atmosphere. He had taken this money. In the fifth and sixth years of Emperor Longqing, and the first year of Emperor Wanli, Zhang Zhang Juzheng presided over the exemption of arrears. "Money and grain arrears were not originally from the common people, but were all from the powerful and crafty, who used shadows to invade and cheat, leading to the loss of regular taxes." This was also Zhang Zhang Juzheng's original words. In fact, in the various collections of the Ming dynasty, few people analyzed the positive and negative roles of the powerful and gentry in the social class. Requesting monthly tickets, Awoo!!!!!!

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 190 =====

"San San Niangzi, since you have entered the court to discuss the horse price silver, then discuss it properly. His Majesty has already pardoned my crimes. Even if you report it to His Majesty, it will be useless. Don't think about using this as a condition for negotiation!" Wang Wang Chonggu declared that he had already been pardoned. According to the basic rule of 'no double jeopardy,' His Majesty would not continue to pursue him.

What some things fear most is reconciling accounts.

Wang Wang Chonggu was essentially a businessman; he liked long-term gains, not a one-time deal. Sure enough, now that the accounts were reconciled, the truth was revealed.

The bargaining began. As a pragmatic official, Wang Wang Chonggu attached great importance to the bargaining part, and he truly did not yield an inch. Finally, a result acceptable to both sides was formed: top-quality horses at six taels and five mace of silver, and medium-quality horses at four taels and seven mace of silver, providing fifty thousand horses annually, with at least twenty thousand top-quality horses.

The court did not want low-quality horses.

The Ming court's expenditure for horse price silver was twenty-seven thousand taels of silver. For the Ming, this saved over seven hundred thousand taels of silver annually. For San San Niangzi, this trip to the capital had gained her more silver.

The twenty-plus thousand taels of silver San San Niangzi mentioned included border trade profits. For Altan Khan's income, the horse price silver had increased.

The price the Ming paid for wool was also quite fair. Every year, Altan Khan could exchange horses and wool for goods worth over five hundred thousand taels of silver from the Ming.

These agricultural products had important significance for enriching the Ming's agricultural structure. 'Guoxingye' had seen the 'Baoqi' Office cultivating good seeds in the capital, and had also seen the positive role of the Ming's constant land reclamation and planting of sweet potatoes.

There is also another aspect: Antonio brings a large amount of silver to the Great Ming every year, injecting power into the Great Ming's Single Whip Law and solving part of the Great Ming's money shortage problem.

San San Niangzi only took back a few bottles of 'Guojiao' (National Cellar) liquor, which were bestowed by the Emperor.

San San Niangzi did not answer immediately, taking an abacus and calculating the gains and losses of this trip to the capital with a clatter.

"I actually like it, but if I take it back, the grassland people won't be able to survive this winter. Those night scouts of yours burn the wasteland every year, making it impossible for the grassland to survive the winter! How can people inside the pass imagine the severity of the 'white hair wind' beyond the border?" San San Niangzi closed her account book. The Ming made a lot of money, and the grassland didn't lose too much.

The Northern Hu liked to loot south, and the Ming liked to burn the wasteland beyond the border. One burn would last an entire autumn. This mutual harm was extremely fatal.

Altan Khan had won, but the burning of the wasteland had never stopped, and the grassland had suffered heavy losses. In the fifth year of Emperor Longqing, the conflict ended with Altan's tribute, and the war entered a lull.

The Northern Hu no longer went south, and the Ming no longer burned the wasteland; both sides were considered stable.

San San Niangzi leaned back in her chair and said helplessly: "When the 'white hair wind' blows, heaven and earth are overturned, and everything is white. People and livestock are the same under the anger of Eternal Heaven. Every year, many tribes disappear on the grassland. The southern desert is slightly better, but north of the desert, in the Oirat and Lin regions, when winter comes, everyone huddles together to survive."

"The outermost are the elderly, then the women, then the children, and the innermost are the able-bodied men."

San San Niangzi was talking about surviving the winter on the grassland. Her tone was not intense, but very calm, as if she were stating a common occurrence. This was the way grassland people survived the winter: first, the elderly were frozen or starved to death, then the women and children, and finally, the able-bodied men were also frozen or starved to death, and the tribe was wiped out.

On the grassland, many tribes disappeared every year, becoming nutrients for the grassland.

San San Niangzi was an envoy of the Ming's 'Jin Kingdom.' The Ming didn't actually know much about what was beyond the border. She spoke of these painful things, tearing open the wounds to look at them, to gain sympathy and also to explain her firm stance on peace.

This rhetoric of San San Niangzi could win the Ming's sympathy, and such sympathy would bring tangible benefits. The Ming, or rather, the unified dynasties of the Central Plains throughout history, had always had a disadvantage—a high moral disadvantage.

The Ming, from the monarch to the common people, in the current world, had moral integrity far exceeding any barbarian.

High morality is a disadvantage, but also an advantage.

"Can't you build cities? Cities are much better at resisting wind and cold than felt tents," Chen Chen Xuehui asked with some curiosity.

It wasn't that the grassland didn't have places suitable for building cities. The Northern Yuan built cities on both sides of the Greater Khingan Range and near the Yin Mountains. In the seventh year of Zhiyuan, the Han warlord Chen Wolu, the Ten-Thousand-Household Officer, submitted a memorial to Yuan Shizu Kublai Khan to build the city of Song Yingchang to live in. Later, building cities on the grassland was also very common.

For example, the Danning Guard had the saying of 'ninety cities beyond the border' during the Emperor Hongwu and Yongle periods.

But as time passed, the Northern Hu lived more and more backward.

"Once a city is built, the Ming army comes," San San Niangzi shook her head and said: "The Tumet Khan liked the Danning Guard very much, staying there all year round. Wasn't he caught by Qi Qi Jiguang and driven to the Quanning Guard?"

San San Niangzi was stating a universal fact. In the confrontation between the grassland and the Ming, the grassland had no right to build cities, because once a city was built, the Ming would know where the grassland tribes gathered and would definitely pull it out, just like the Gule Fortress.

If the Ming could catch where Altan Khan's golden tent was staying, the northwest wouldn't have been fighting for so many years, and even if they fought, they wouldn't be able to win.

"Eternal Heaven gave us the ability to survive on horseback, letting us control bows and arrows, but Eternal Heaven didn't give us life, leaving us lacking pots, cloth, salt, and tea. That's why I am here." San San Niangzi's supporters were the staunch peace faction, and their number was definitely not small.

"Actually, we also have a more extreme voice. Some people in the tribe envy the garrison troops of Xuanfu and Datong. The masters indeed treat the soldiers like livestock, but Xuanfu and Datong don't need to take fifty thousand horses and sixty thousand bags of wool every year to exchange for over two million in military pay from the court." San San Niangzi didn't finish her sentence. That 'watchdog' remark wasn't something she made up, but a universal understanding.

The concept of the 'Ming Jin Kingdom' itself was given by the Ming, so the subjects of the Ming Jin Kingdom naturally developed a suspicion about their own identity: was the Ming Jin Kingdom the Ming's Jin Kingdom, or the Ming's enemy?

The second half of this extreme voice was: why not directly attach to the Ming and turn the Ming Jin Kingdom into the Ming's border region? Wouldn't that mean they wouldn't have to work hard raising sheep and horses and could still get the court's grain and pay? This would also be profitable for the Ming, and the northwest border wouldn't need to maintain itself with two million five hundred thousand taels of silver and three hundred and eighty thousand shi of grain every year.

And Altan Khan, for the glory of the Golden Family, refused to advance this process!

Wang Wang Chonggu knew this topic couldn't be discussed any further, so he flicked his sleeves and left.

San San Niangzi's question was very good.

The Ming Jin Kingdom had to use horses and wool to exchange for five hundred thousand silver, while the northwest Xuanfu and Datong were constantly losing battles and could still get over two million taels of silver. The Ming's total military expenditure was six million four hundred thousand, and Xuanfu and Datong took away over two million directly. Even if it was cut to one million silver, there was still over one million left!

Since Xuanfu was a border town of the Ming, then if my Ming Jin Kingdom became a border town of the Ming, a watchdog, wouldn't I also be able to eat bones?

San San Niangzi received an invitation. This invitation was not from the Jin Party, Chu Party, or Zhejiang Party, but from Sun Sun Jigao, one of the 'Nine Elders of Donglin.'

San San Niangzi saw this invitation but ultimately did not attend. This Sun Sun Jigao was the top scholar of the second year of Emperor Wanli, but he was called to the front by the little Emperor to debate the classics and was ruthlessly defeated. A top scholar debating a child and failing to win—such a strange story was known even to San San Niangzi beyond the border.

The story of Sun Sun Jigao, a top scholar, failing to win a debate against a child was also brought to the West. Even Philip II heard Gao Zhu Qiyu talk about this interesting story. Gao Zhu Qiyu used this story as a footnote to show that his own Emperor was a wise ruler.

Gao Zhu Qiyu's grand tour of Germany, France, the Netherlands, and England was mostly to bring this story to those places.

San San Niangzi was in the capital to negotiate peace, and her every move was under the court's gaze. Reckless actions at this time would affect the grand plan of peace negotiations. Moreover, San San Niangzi knew the style of Ming scholars—they were impractical and specialized in empty talk. Talking to them wouldn't yield any results, so it was better not to go.

The only pragmatic people in the Ming were Zhang Zhang Juzheng's group. People like Wang Wang Chonggu were more like officials who talked about profit and accumulation, which could also be considered a kind of pragmatism.

Only these impractical people were truly difficult to communicate with. Their way of thinking was too strange. For example, people like Wu Dui, Fang Fang Fengshi, Zhang Zhang Siwen, and Wang Wang Chongya were all like this. San San Niangzi had dealt with such people before; a very simple matter could be made extremely complicated by this group of people.

Talking to 'cheap scholars' wouldn't yield results.

The most typical characteristic of impractical 'cheap scholars' was that they talked for the sake of talking, but never talked about anything practical. Empty words and clichés—it seemed that as long as they were in the same camp, any conflict of interest could be glossed over with 'the moonlight is beautiful tonight.'

However, money, grain, iron pots, salt, cloth, and tea were all interests.

And the smelting furnace for copper was soon fired. This smelting furnace is very interesting, with two holes, high and low. After the copper pu melts in the smelting furnace, the copper will flow out from the small hole at the bottom, and the lead will flow out from the small hole at the top. Copper and zinc make brass, and copper and tin make bronze.

When Zhu Zhu Yijun received San San Niangzi, it was not on the foundation. If he had received her on the foundation, the new Minister of Rites, Ma Ma Ziqiang, would have had to commit suicide to apologize. The place of reception was in the side hall of the Zhao Wenhua Hall.

Zhu Zhu Yijun held a steel long tube in his hand, with a rear sight and a front sight on it.

The eye, the rear sight, and the front sight were aligned to form a straight line for aiming.

Three points forming a line was also the result of 'degree-by-degree' understanding; three points could only determine a straight line.

Added to the gun stock and the gun mechanism, this was a bird-gun.

This was a newly cast Ming fire-gun barrel. Zhu Zhu Yijun was very satisfied with this pipe material. It wasn't a seamless steel pipe, just the application of the internal cooling technology used for casting cannons to casting pipes. It was a semi-finished product, which was then forged with a cold bone of iron rod as thick as a chopstick, and then forged with carburizing. After forging was completed, it was pierced and turned with a four-edged steel awl as thick as a chopstick to make it extremely bright and clean, so that the gunpowder would not be blocked. Then it was reamed with a steel awl to create rifling, allowing the lead bullet to rotate and be more precise.

Qi Qi Jiguang had explained it very clearly: the appearance of rifling was mainly designed to facilitate the cleaning of the inner wall of the fire-gun, but later it was discovered that this thing had wonderful uses.

"I pay my respects to Your Majesty. May Your Majesty be at peace." San San Niangzi performed a grand salute, looking at the various objects placed in the side hall of the Zhao Wenhua Hall, her brows furrowed, especially the pile of books placed in the seven display cases.

Many of these objects here had traces of being used. Obviously, these were not put out for people to see, but were things the little Emperor was truly using.

"No need for formalities." Zhu Zhu Yijun signaled Zhang Hong to hand a fire-gun barrel to San San Niangzi and said: "A good thing just made by General Qi. Previously, the Ming could only forge ten thousand fire-guns a year, but now the Ming can forge fifty thousand."

San San Niangzi got the fire-gun barrel and clearly knew what it was!

She also had fire-guns, a very exquisite one she had swiped from Wu Dui's private residence. This thing was crudely made, but it was a embryo that only needed forging to become a powerful fire-gun.

"Your Majesty, a benevolent ruler can rule the world. To be a king, one must only strengthen benevolence! Today, I see that those around Your Majesty are all people who accumulate wealth and love war. Mencius said: 'If one does not aim for benevolence, one will be worried and humiliated for life, falling into death!'"

"Heaven has the virtue of loving life! Diligently carry out benevolent government to love and nurture the living people, and then the hearts of the people can be won, and the kingly cause can be achieved!" San San Niangzi looked at the fire-gun barrel in her hand, urging the little Emperor to practice benevolent government and not go astray, walking further and further on the wrong path. Turn back before it's too late!

"No... if the censors said this to me, that would be one thing, but the Lady Lady Zhongshun is a person from beyond the border, so let's not talk about this." Zhu Zhu Yijun was directly amused.

San San Niangzi said that those around the Emperor were all people who accumulated wealth and loved war, meaning he didn't practice benevolent government and should hold high the banner of benevolent government, rest and recuperate, win the hearts of the people, and maintain his rule.

San San Niangzi also knew the flavor was wrong, but she really had no other tricks, so she had to bring out that set of impractical talk, but the Emperor didn't buy it at all.

She thought for a moment, her brows furrowed, and said: "Your Majesty, the Ming relies on the advantage of firearms, but little do you know that these firearms cannot be used on rainy days."

Zhu Zhu Yijun waved his hands repeatedly and said: "I practice martial arts; bows and arrows cannot be used on rainy days either. You Northern Hu invade in summer and autumn, and we Ming attack in winter and spring. It's the same for both sides; everyone will choose the weather that is favorable to them."

San San Niangzi discovered that this little Emperor was not easy to fool.

"Lady Lady Zhongshun, I let you see this fire-gun barrel to tell you, and to let you tell the people beyond the border, that the Ming's determination to strengthen its military is not just Zhang Zhang Juzheng or General Qi—I myself support them. This is also a kind of support. Do not deceive yourself." Zhu Zhu Yijun's tone was calm, but every word was a threat.

For Altan Khan, the dispute over the Danning Guard could be a case of 'sitting on the mountain and watching the tigers fight,' but for the upcoming wars, Altan Khan should be sitting on pins and needles.

The Ming aimed to completely drive the Tumet Khan out of Liaodong in the next few years. Whether the left and right wings joined forces or took the opportunity to go south to threaten the court, that was not what Zhu Zhu Yijun wanted to see.

Zhu Zhu Yijun hoped that the conflict and intensification of contradictions between the Ming and Altan Khan could be ignited when the court reclaimed the Ordos Loop.

However, he had already eaten one bowl of half-cooked rice. If Altan Khan insisted on making the little Emperor eat a second bowl of half-cooked rice, then Zhu Zhu Yijun wouldn't mind.

The Beijing Garrison expanded by one hundred and twenty thousand troops, all to prevent the half-cooked rice from not being eaten.

"This subject obeys the decree." San San Niangzi no longer engaged in verbal sparring, her face looking solemn.

"Lady Lady Zhongshun has traveled many times, and the border disturbances are gradually ceasing. The Holy Mother is benevolent and says that Lady Lady Zhongshun has not had it easy. Today, I bestow a pair of ruyi, a large cloak, and I bestow upon you one fire-gun. Take care of yourself." Zhu Zhu Yijun signaled Feng Bao to bestow the rewards. The people below had already finished talking, and Zhu Zhu Yijun was just going through the motions, a routine reward.

"Your Majesty, if the Prince of Prince Shunyi is willing to attach to the Ming, can he exchange it for the stability of the people beyond the border?" After thanking him for the reward, San San Niangzi suddenly asked.

"I heard from General Qi that Lady Lady Zhongshun has read 'On Contradictions'?" Zhu Zhu Yijun did not answer this question directly, but asked a question in return.

"I have read it," San San Niangzi nodded and said.

Zhu Zhu Yijun smiled and said: "We haven't fought enough yet. We need to fight a few more times until one side completely admits defeat to reach a state of harmony."

"Your Majesty is wise." San San Niangzi sighed. The court was expanding its military and waging war; battles would still happen.

Zhu Zhu Yijun also bestowed upon San San Niangzi a Nuremberg egg-shaped watch, which could keep time accurately, considered an extra reward.

The Ming's 'Guoxingye' (Lord of the Imperial Surname), the Earl of Marquis Sishui, Yin Yin Zhengmao, appeared in the port of Manila with his troops on a five-masted ocean-crossing ship.

When this large ship arrived at the port, it attracted everyone's attention and caused people to run and tell each other. Everyone in Manila gathered at the port. When they saw the large ship anchored and Yin Yin Zhengmao standing at the bow, everyone erupted into huge cheers, the sound of people reaching the heavens.

Yin Yin Zhengmao had left Manila, and everyone knew Yin Yin Zhengmao had gone to fetch a ship. Whether he could fetch one or not, everyone was drumming in their hearts.

He had fetched it.

Zhang Zhang Yuanxun had been moved by the Viceroy of Liangguang, Ling Ling Yunyi, to serve as reinforcements, so it was Deng Deng Zilong who received the ship.

Deng Deng Zilong finished reading the court's imperial decree and was confused for a long time before saying: "Sure enough, it's the same as our guess. Minister Yin is indeed a member of the Zhu family who has been wandering outside—this is truly a 'Guoxingye'!"

"Stop talking nonsense!" Yin Yin Zhengmao held his forehead; this meme was never going to go away.

"Have the large sailing ships of the red-haired barbarians arrived at the port?" Yin Yin Zhengmao was more concerned about this issue. This year's large sailing ships had arrived later than in previous years.

"They have arrived, and they haven't. Antonio has already arrived; we'll talk when we meet," Deng Deng Zilong glanced at Luo Jin Lian and sighed.

Antonio's expression was lonely, and he reeked of alcohol. After Deng Deng Zilong's retelling, Yin Yin Zhengmao learned the sequence of events.

Antonio had five large sailing ships. Three came last year, and two almost got lost. This time, three came, and two completely disappeared into the boundless ocean.

One ship was directly cut in half by a giant wave that suddenly protruded from the water, and some sailors were rescued. The other ship had lost its way, and a ship lacking a navigator, lost at sea, was equivalent to announcing its death.

'Strange waves,' in Western culture, were water columns sprayed by sea monsters. They were a kind of strange, ten-zhang-high giant wave that appeared suddenly and for no reason in calm seas. They came fast and went fast.

Antonio's mood had not been high. When he saw the Ming's five-masted, twenty-one-sail ocean-crossing ship, Antonio finally regained his clarity.

"This ship was still in the shipyard of Songjiang Prefecture last year, and this year it has arrived in the hands of Viceroy Yin?" Antonio looked at the five-masted ocean-crossing ship in shock. He remembered that last year he had presented a large pile of agricultural products, and the Ming Emperor was very happy, ultimately agreeing to invest in and support Antonio.

And this ship, the Ming Emperor had promised to sell to Antonio.

Yin Yin Zhengmao stood on the pier, looking at the five-masted ocean-crossing ship, and said with a full smile: "Yes, if you want to buy one, you have to go to the capital and seek the Emperor's edict. The Ming shipyard is building twelve five-masted ocean-crossing ships."

"Really? This truly solves my urgent need—what is that word? Oh, 'burning eyebrows' emergency." Antonio was too fortunate to have entered the capital last year to present treasures. Being able to buy a ship from the Ming was a lucky thing.

Long-distance sailing ships inevitably required multiple ships to share the risk. Most importantly, the silver was kept on his flagship. He had money but no ships—this was the thing that had troubled him most during this period.

When he saw the five-masted ocean-crossing ship, Antonio's mood became extremely pleasant.

A long-distance ship more advanced than the large sailing ship.

Yesterday, someone posted a screenshot in the group, saying that the merchants of the Ming Jin Kingdom called themselves the Ming's watchdogs. Please vote for me, Awoo!!!!!!

End of chapter.