Please ask me to be the emperor

The sea is vast and the water is rippling.

Suddenly, a group of seagulls flew by, making a crisp and loud cooing sound.

Zhang Shun looked at the scene in front of him in amazement, feeling like he was playing the game "Navigation" back then.

If it weren't for his extraordinary status now, he would have loved to travel around the world by boat and enjoy the thrill of opening a new era.

It's a pity that this new era may be started by him, but he may never have the chance to participate in it in this life.

In fact, let alone riding the wind and waves and traveling all over the world.

Even his feat of taking a sea ship this time was opposed by many people.

It turns out that in this era, going to sea, even offshore sailing, is an act of narrow escape.

There were no weather forecasts in this era, and there were no echo detection instruments either.

If one is unlucky and encounters a storm or a reef, it is common for the ship to be destroyed and people to be killed.

As the leader of the three armies, Zhang Shun is at risk for the safety of the world. Who dares to let him take this risk?

Not to mention Zhao Lizi, Huang Shoucai, Sun Kewang, Li Zicheng and others, even Zheng Zhilong, Dong Xiaowan, Gu Qiji, Bian Yujing and Bian Min also strongly opposed it.

However, Sun Ke hoped to go to Japan for trade as soon as possible, and Li Zicheng had to preside over the task of confiscating the family and seizing Jiangxi. Neither of them could oppose it to the end.

However, Huang Shoucai and the four women were very gentle, which allowed Zhang Shun to "succeed" easily.

"Your Highness, the wind is strong on the bow of the ship. You should quickly go back to the cabin and take shelter!" At this moment, a crisp shout sounded.

Zhang Shun turned around and saw Dong Xiaowan, whose face was a little pale.

"Ha, what's so scary about this?" Zhang Shun walked over and rubbed her head with a smile, and asked with a smile on his face.

"Don't touch my head!" Dong Xiaowan opened Zhang Shun's big hand in dissatisfaction, puffed out his cheeks and bared his little tiger teeth and said, "Otherwise, don't expect me to cook dinner for you!"

"Haha!" Zhang Shun laughed twice when he heard this. He didn't know whether he was admitting defeat or dismissing the threat.

"Your Highness, this time you are really Meng Lang!" At this moment, Gu Qiji walked over cautiously and addressed Zhang Shun seriously.

"Meng Lang? Maybe!" Zhang Shun shook his head and pointed out, "Some things, if you can't experience them yourself, you won't know the depth of them!"

"Bah, bah, bah, what are you talking about!" Gu Qiji was still upright at first, but after hearing these words, she couldn't help but blushed, turned around and ran away.

"Hey, I'm talking about business, where did you think you were?" Zhang Shun couldn't help crying or laughing when he saw this.

"Shameless, shameless!" Unexpectedly, before Zhang Shun finished speaking, Dong Xiaowan shaved his face cutely and ran away.

"A group of little witches!" Zhang Shun shook his head helplessly and couldn't help but look outside the boat.

The ship he was traveling on was the newly built "Fengzhou-class" sailing battleship, which he lazily named "Tianjin".

This battleship is large in size and has a U-shaped hull, making it very suitable for ocean voyages.

However, because the hull is too deep, it is actually not suitable for sailing in the waters north of the Yangtze River.

The last time Zhao Lizi led the fleet south, he almost hit a reef in the sea.

It is precisely because of this that in fact, in the entire "Beiyang" sea area, the ship type more suitable for navigation is the flat sand boat.

And behemoths like the "Fengzhou-class" are actually more suitable for sailing in the "Nanyang" south of the Yangtze River.

Of course, there are no absolutes.

In fact, when Zhao Lizi and others headed south, they took the East China Sea coastal current, while Zhang Shun took the Yellow Sea warm current on their way back.

The former is strongest between November and February of the following year, and begins to weaken from March to May.

In the months of June, July and August, due to the influence of the monsoon, the coastal currents of the East China Sea will become extremely weak, while the warm current of the Yellow Sea from south to north will strengthen.

Since the warm current of the Yellow Sea is not close to the coast, Zhang Shun's fleet avoided the reefs in the sea as much as possible.

As for the storm, due to the superior performance of the "Fengzhou-class" sail battleship, it has been able to cope with most severe weather. This is the fundamental reason why Zhao Lizi, Zheng Zhilong and others did not object to the end.

While Zhang Shun was looking around at the sea, he suddenly saw a fleet of ships appearing in front of him from a distance.

He couldn't help but asked quickly: "Ask the lookout, what's going on ahead?"

"The lookout has just reported that there is a merchant fleet ahead." Zhao Lizi quickly reported, "It is said that they are Chongming merchants transporting sugar, silk, tea, porcelain, paper and other items to Dengzhou."

"Oh? Is there a shortage of such goods in Dengzhou?" Zhang Shun was stunned when he heard this, and couldn't help asking strangely.

These items are indeed specialties of the South, but it would definitely not be justified to say that they are not produced in the North.

"How about we catch up in a while and ask the captain to come up and ask?" Zhao Lizi didn't know much about this, so he couldn't help but suggest.

"That's fine, just don't disturb the people!" Zhang Shun hesitated and nodded.

Due to the excellent navigation ability of the "Tianjin", it quickly caught up with the slower sand ship in front.

After some negotiations, a ship owner in his forties or fifties came to the "Tianjin" in a small boat.

Seeing that he was a little scared, Zhang Shun couldn't help but comfort him: "Don't be afraid, I'm not a pirate. I just saw you doing business and wanted to ask you about something."

"Your Majesty, just ask, I guarantee that everything is true!" The man responded quickly without hesitation.

"Where do you live, sir? How do you make such a living? I wonder how the business is this year?" Zhang Shun didn't care about his title and asked directly.

"Oh, I am from Chongming. I have made a living by transporting people since I was a child." Seeing that Zhang Shun had no ill intentions, the man calmed down and replied.

"My family keeps three or two sand boats. They take advantage of the trade winds to go north every year to transport cotton, silk, tea, porcelain and other items. Then, they take advantage of the trade winds to transport back soybeans, grains, rice, cotton and other items."

"Earn some hard-earned money to support your family."

"Oh? Didn't you say that Jiangnan is a land of fish and rice? Why do you need to transport food back?" Zhang Shun was quite surprised when he heard this.

"Land of fish and rice? Your Majesty is joking, how old is this?" The boat owner couldn't help laughing when he heard this, "In recent years, Jiangnan's cloth has been selling well at home and abroad, and how many people have made a fortune because of it. Where is there any free land to grow rice? "

"Now that the north is hit by another disaster, and food prices are rising three times a day, some people are willing to switch to one or two crops."

"But generally speaking, we are still unable to make ends meet and have difficulty making ends meet."

"Oh?" After hearing what the ship owner said, Zhang Shun suddenly had a deeper understanding of the economic problems of the late Ming Dynasty.

It turns out that due to the development of the commodity economy in Jiangnan, food mainly depends on the input of Shandong, Henan and Huguang.

Therefore, once the agriculture in the north collapses, it will naturally trigger the collapse of the Jiangnan economy. This is what happened in the first place.

It was the captain's reminder that made Zhang Shun suddenly realize.

In this era, in addition to foreign trade, internal trade also has great potential.

"Why don't you go north via the Grand Canal?" Zhang Shun frowned and asked again.

Since the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal was opened by Emperor Chengzu of the Ming Dynasty, the Grand Canal has actually been the main route for north-south trade.

"Grand Canal?" The ship owner couldn't help but smile bitterly after hearing this, "To put it bluntly, there are ten steps for each check, and seven steps for each check. I don't know how much it costs to transport this small amount of goods to Shandong, how can it compare with me on the sea? easy?"

"Not to mention, one of my sand ships is worth more than several, or even dozens of other guard ships."

"The time spent on this journey is only half, which is better than wasting time in that river."

"Oh?" Zhang Shun suddenly thought deeply when he heard the captain's words.

In fact, no matter in the previous life or in this life, there are calls to change river transportation to sea transportation.

However, in the original history, river transport always outweighed sea transport. It was not until the Xianfeng period of the Qing Dynasty that sea transport replaced river transport.

Of course there are reasons for this due to technological progress, but also due to obstruction by "interest groups".

In fact, during the Ming and Qing Dynasties, in order to maintain this north-south "main artery", the Huaibei area, which was extremely prosperous during the Tang and Song Dynasties, became the so-called "Huaihai Province" in later generations.

If inland water transportation is replaced by sea transportation, how much food can be grown in the plain area with Xuzhou as the core?

Thinking of this, Zhang Shun quickly asked about the route. The scenery and customs along the way seemed quite harmonious for a while.

However, amidst this harmony, Zhang Shun's mind was already far away.

At the beginning of the founding of a country, one must complete the cleanup of the old forces, and the other must make a reasonable blueprint for future development.

Although Zhang Shun did not do a very good job in cleaning up the old forces, he gradually started to do so with the support of the rebels.

However, he only has a rough idea of ​​his plans for the near future.

Now that he heard the captain's words, he suddenly had a flash of inspiration, and he immediately connected all the fragmentary ideas together and completely integrated them.