Rule the Ming Dynasty Alone

The Spring Festival of the seventh year of Hongzhi arrived as scheduled, and the entire capital was filled with the festive atmosphere of the Spring Festival.

The area around the Drum Tower seemed very lively, and the main street was packed to the brim. However, the faces of the people were filled with smiles, especially the families who had bought New Year's goods. They were clearly happy.

In the past, the days were all about "passing through hardship, passing through passing", but now everyone's overall life is prosperous, making the whole capital full of Chinese New Year flavor.

Especially in preparation before the New Year, everyone also prepares new clothes for their children.

"This new style of clothes just looks good!"

"I look at my son's school uniforms, they are really spirited!"

“My child has been thinking about clothes with nylon buttons for a long time. He just put them on today and I’m so happy!”

…

The Spring Festival is a rare leisure time, and now the women who have free time gather together to do household chores. Nowadays, clothes with nylon buttons have become the focus of discussion and are now synonymous with Beijing fashion.

After the emergence of new nylon materials, the original development direction was fishing lines and fishing nets. In fact, considerable achievements have been made in this regard.

However, as the Royal Cloth Company introduced nylon buttons and improved traditional clothing, this type of high-end buttoned clothing quickly became popular in the capital.

In particular, the Imperial College was the first to adopt nylon buttons, and even launched a new style of nylon button uniforms for its colleges.

As soon as this button is buttoned, the whole outfit is put on, and the whole person looks more energetic. Therefore, a new popular trend has appeared since last summer.

"These clothes are neither fish nor fowl!"

“Where does this place the etiquette system?”

"Such unhealthy tendencies must be curbed!"

…

When faced with the new style of clothes with nylon buttons, many conservative scholar-officials jumped out to criticize them.

Although they call it an insult to politeness, there are also people who like novelty. Especially after nylon-button clothes became popular in the Imperial College, the majority of people are very yearning for clothes with nylon buttons.

Once there is market demand, there will naturally be no shortage of people chasing profits.

Even though it is not as fancy as the clothes of later generations, it still has the style of traditional Chinese tunic suit, and the most coveted thing is the colorful nylon buttons.

As for the imperial court under Hongzhi's rule, they would naturally not object to this kind of thing, and even silently pushed for it secretly.

Even an inconspicuous button, as long as it is placed in the right place, can lead the trend and even change today's conservative society.

“It’s nice to look at, but it’s just too expensive!”

"Isn't it? It's almost enough for us to sew two pieces of clothing!"

"This is what I like now. My children also like it. It makes me look more proud when I wear it!"

…

Although there is no problem with people's acceptance, the high price of nylon buckles also makes them feel helpless.

Incidentally, clothes with nylon buttons are the current trend and even represent a status. If you don't wear them, you may even look inferior to others.

Nylon buckles are popular, nylon buckle clothes are popular, and everything is developing in a good direction.

In the seventh year of Hongzhi, there was a great meeting on New Year's Day.

Envoys from North Korea, Beishun, and Japan came here one after another. When they saw the majestic Fengtian Temple in front of them, they silently felt nervous because of the power of the Ming Dynasty.

Civil and military officials also walked in the palace one after another. Although the Ming Dynasty would inevitably face various problems, especially excessive financial expenditure, the now powerful Ming Dynasty made their backs straight.

After Zhu Youtang ascended to the imperial court, he came to the dragon throne and sat down calmly, looking at the ministers kneeling in front of him, and then looked at the envoy who entered the palace.

Nowadays, the whole person has become more mature and stable. Although seven years is not a long time, it has already established the absolute prestige of the Ming Dynasty in all countries.

Especially last year, the Ming Dynasty sent a fleet to attack Baigu from the Indian Ocean, bypassing Malacca. Although Baigu is still a kingdom now, everyone knows that the six-year-old King Baigu is just a puppet supported by Wang Zhi.

The kingdoms as far away as the Indian Ocean were all facing the fate of annihilation easily by the Ming Dynasty. What could they complain about in the Nanyang and the East China Sea around them?

Although the process was familiar, today's envoys felt that Wang Yue and other important ministers were eyeing them, especially the newly promoted Wu Xun Tie Xiangshan who seemed to be cannibalistic.

"Our Asakura family is willing to donate five thousand kilograms of pig iron!"

"We, the country of Manila, are willing to donate 10,000 pig iron!"

"We, Korea, are willing to donate 50,000 jins of pig iron to China!"

…

Faced with the potential threat from the Ming Dynasty, different voices emerged at this court meeting. Envoys from various countries expressed their loyalty to the Ming Dynasty by offering iron.

All countries have pig iron production capacity. Now that they know that the Ming Dynasty can build the Beijing-Tianjin Railway, officials from the Ministry of Rites communicate with them one by one, so they increase the tribute in a very righteous manner.

Of course, the Ryukyu envoys were sweating profusely at this time, because their pig iron had always relied on Fujian.

Zhu Youtang was not a pedantic emperor. Now the empire was facing financial difficulties and the Beijing-Tianjin Railway needed a lot of pig iron, so he naturally accepted the sincerity of these people who only wanted to benefit from the Ming Dynasty's cheap vassal states.

All countries have iron ore resources to a greater or lesser extent. They don't actually need to transport the iron ore to the Ming Dynasty. They only need to slave their people to mine iron ore and smelt iron, and then transport the pig iron to the dock.

The reason why he did not choose to expand by force was actually based on national interests. After all, slavery was often done by his own people more easily.

Facing these sensible foreign envoys, Zhu Youtang couldn't help but nodded with satisfaction, and then gave Guo Yong a wink next to him.

"North Korea will grant an additional three thousand silver dollars!"

"The Kingdom of Mani will give you an additional six hundred silver dollars!"

"Beishun Kingdom will give you an additional three thousand and five silver coins!"

…

Guo Yong nodded to Zhu Youtang and gave coins to the envoys from various countries.

Nowadays, the Ming Dynasty's return gifts seem simple and rude. They used to give Ming's flagship products in return, but now they directly give silver coins and let them squander it as they please.

The envoys from various countries were originally worried about iron mining and iron smelting, but after hearing these gifts, their eyes couldn't help but light up.

In the blink of an eye, the Spring Festival is over and everything seems to have returned to peace.

Hebei Village is a small village located in the northern suburbs of Beijing.

Originally, this village was not well-known. Since Yu Ming, who was desperate due to loan sharking, made a legendary journey to the capital, Hebei Village has also become popular with Yu Ming.

Yu Ming was fortunate enough to meet the current emperor Hongzhi, and became a typical case of the court's abolition of loan sharking, so that he, a debtor of loan sharks, could successfully escape from the sea of ​​misery.

Several years have passed, and Yu Ming is standing on the grain drying field at the edge of the village.

Now he no longer looks like a man who has been driven into a state of despair by loan sharks. Although a man in his forties still looks like he is in his fifties, he is obviously more energetic.

Because he was the first person in Hebei Village who had the honor to meet the emperor in thousands of years, now he became the village head of Hebei Village as expected.

After Yu Ming became the village chief, he also strongly encouraged everyone to grow cotton and encouraged the women in the village to weave. As a result, the life of the entire village became better and better.

Originally, many people thought that cotton prices would plummet. However, after so many years, Ming's overseas market has continued to expand, and the economic benefits of cotton have been very high.

As for textiles, there is no need to worry about sales. Now the living standards of the people of Ming Dynasty are constantly improving. Many people are no longer limited to food and clothing, but also start chasing nylon button clothes, resulting in a huge market demand for fabrics.

Yu Ming looked at the changes in the village, especially when most of the villagers were wearing new clothes, and he was filled with thoughts.

Originally, he promoted cotton and textiles in the village, but in fact he had a sense of gratitude in his heart, adding meager help to the emperor who gave him a new life.

The results of it? Whether he helped the emperor is another matter. Instead, the direction pointed by the emperor made him successful and made him a good village leader respected by the villagers.

"Village Chief, is this really possible?"

"Village chief, we have killed many people before when we dug wells!"

"Village Chief, why don't you think about it again? It's really hard to explain the loss of life!"

…

When the villagers learned that the village chief Yu Ming was going to dig a new well, they were very excited at first, but soon they expressed their concerns.

Although the fields in Hebei Village are irrigated by natural rivers, the soil here is very soft, so there are no wells until now. The villagers' daily water supply all year round is spring water two miles away or not very clean river water.

"Well digging is encouraged by the imperial court. I also believe in the strength of the royal well digging team. Let's explain the situation to them and then give them more money!" Yu Ming has become more courageous as a leader in these years, showing his strength. Against all odds.

Now the villagers have seen Yu Ming's leadership, and when they saw the village chief's insistence on inviting a well-digging team, they all agreed.

A few days later, the well-digging team affiliated with the royal building entered the village with their meal guys, and the atmosphere in the village became lively.

"Don't worry, nothing will happen to our people, and you don't need to give us any extra money! We are professionals in digging wells!" The leader of the team, a middle-aged man with dark skin, heard about the situation and immediately patted his chest to assure him. road.

The workers of the well-digging team wore uniform work clothes with nylon buttons and nylon shoes on their feet. They seemed to be solemnly burning money and firecrackers to hold the well-digging groundbreaking ceremony.

They skillfully erected a derrick in a wide open space they selected, and then set up a canvas tent and prepared to start work.

The excavation began, and the workers took turns wielding shovels to dig out the soft soil one shovel after another. Their movements were skillful and they cooperated tacitly, and they soon dug a deep hole.

As the excavation progressed, water began to seep from the four walls.

The workers dug a few more feet and found that not only water was seeping through the four walls, but the soil was already showing signs of collapse.

"You can't dig any more, otherwise there will be landslides and people buried!" Yu Ming had been staring from above, but now he stood up to stop him in panic.

"Village Chief Yu, don't worry, we are professionals in digging wells!" The team leader patted Yu Ming's shoulder very confidently, and then said to his men: "Let's start!"

As the words fell, the man digging the well below was hoisted up.

Yu Ming was even more confused when he saw that the person was hung up.

Ordinarily, this move meant giving up, but from the team leader's words just now, it didn't sound like he was giving up.

The answer was soon revealed, as workers brought in the cement circle.

These cement circles, which were originally very scattered outside, actually formed a cement well wall as they skillfully placed them in the newly dug well.

This process requires a high degree of patience and precision, because a slight negligence may cause the well wall to collapse and all efforts will be wasted.

"Village Chief Yu, the upcoming drill cannot be announced to the public, so please avoid it first. Give us another day and we will ensure that we give you a new well. We are professionals in digging wells!" The middle-aged man patted Yu Ming's face. Shoulders, looking confident and authentic.

Although Yu Ming was very curious about the operation of digging a well, he still nodded happily and agreed to avoid it.

One day later, in the hope of the villagers, the new well was completed.

The new well was much deeper than they expected, and the water in the well was clear and slightly sweet, making all the villagers very satisfied.

"This is the money you paid for digging the well. If it is less, we can actually add more!" Yu Ming held up the silver coins and said sincerely.

The middle-aged man took the money bag and said very boldly: "We charge reasonable fees, and your well is not laborious! If nearby villages need to dig wells, please introduce them to our well digging team! To dig wells, we It’s professional!”

"Okay, I will definitely introduce it to you!" Yu Ming has now completely won the support and love of the villagers, and he said in a good mood.

In fact, Hebei Village is not the first to use cement wells, but this emerging building material has entered the North Zhili area. Many villages in need of deep wells have asked them to dig wells.

Of course, in fact, it was originally the wealthy families in Beijing who had a stronger need for high-quality cement wells, so cement wells have already become a relatively mature service industry.

The Ming Dynasty was like a sailing fleet, starting from the textile industry and now extending to all walks of life step by step, heading towards a bright future.

In the blink of an eye, it was already three months later.

After years of hard work by the Tianjin Shipyard, the Mingyuan Treasure Ship not only added iron sheets, but also underwent continuous improvements, becoming the well-deserved world's number one battleship.

The Ming Dynasty's third fleet to the American continent has set off from Tianjin Port. With the experience of the previous two voyages, this time it is obviously more organized, especially the navigation charts are more detailed.

This fleet went all the way south, and after completing its last supply in Luzon City, it used Guam as a springboard and sailed towards the vast Pacific Ocean.

Since I have an idea of ​​speed and time, when I know that I will be drifting in the ocean for dozens of days, I already know the situation in advance, so it is no longer so difficult.

It is worth mentioning that the leader this time was the American governor, but the American governor was no longer selected from the civil service group, but a eunuch.

Wang Zhi became the governor of the Indian Ocean and launched a surprise attack on the Baigu Kingdom, which made the world no longer look at eunuchs through colored glasses, but instead saw the military talents of eunuchs.

The Governor of the Americas this time is quite surprising. He is Zhang Yong from the Military Aircraft Department.

Zhang Yong can be said to be in a high position now, but this time he wanted to eliminate people's doubts about his entry into the military aircraft department, so he took the initiative to apply to go to the American continent.

He wanted the world to see that the Chenghua Dynasty had Wang Zhi, and that the Hongzhi Dynasty also had Zhang Yong, who was no weaker than Wang Zhi. Nowadays, the more accurate name is Zheng Yong.

This voyage was finally approved by the emperor. The surname Zhang he had followed his godfather had been removed, and he received the surname Zheng given by the emperor Hongzhi. (End of chapter)