The 26th year of Hongwu, the 16th day of the first lunar month.

There were thousands of boats bustling along the river, and the dock was no longer crowded with people as before, only a large number of soldiers gathering.

Because the main operation is to transport troops, the ships are mainly cargo ships, supplemented by a small number of warships for escort.

"How long will it take to set off?"

Lan Yu asked Cao Zhen beside him.

This time he led ten guards, plus logistics, a total of more than 60,000 people.

It may seem that there are not many people, but those who can participate in this rehabilitation are all elites.

According to current intelligence, even if the rebels are powerful, their number will not exceed 30,000 at most. After the redress army arrives, they can also recruit troops from surrounding garrisons.

Cao Zhen naturally followed along this time.

"Reporting to the general, we will be able to set off in about half an hour. We are carrying a lot of firearms from the Gunpowder Bureau this time, so the transportation will be slower." Cao Zhen replied.

Lan Yu nodded, looked towards the Zhengyang city gate, and said, "Notify the brothers to move quickly. His Majesty and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince will be here soon. Don't let anything go wrong at this time."

Cao Zhen nodded and went to convey the message immediately.

After Lan Yu finished explaining, he went towards Zhu Quan.

At this moment, Zhu Quan was at the dock, watching various warships, with more than a dozen personal guards around him.

"Your Highness Prince Ning, we are about to go to war, but I am not used to it." Lan Yu came over, clasped his fists, bowed, and asked with a smile.

Lan Yu was very polite towards Prince Ning. Now Prince Ning was also a member of the Crown Prince's line, so naturally he wanted to be closer to him.

Zhu Quan clasped his fists in return and said, "I am somewhat nervous."

Lan Yu laughed and said, "You get used to this after doing it many times. I've heard that Prince Ning is good at strategy, so we need to communicate more this time."

Zhu Quan also smiled and said, "Of course, of course."

Although Zhu Quan was the King of Ning, he was still inferior to Lan Yu, the Duke of Liang.

After all, Zhu Quan is only fifteen years old this year, and it is his first time to command a military force. He is far from grown up. If it were not for his good relationship with the Crown Prince, Lan Yu would probably not pay much attention to him.

There was no special instructions from the Crown Prince, but Lan Yu knew that not only did he have to protect Prince Ning's safety, but he also had to guide him around and familiarize himself with the battlefield.

Especially in terms of military merit.

Lan Yu himself no longer has any room for advancement. His Majesty has so many sons, and it is taboo to even think of having a king of the opposite sex.

Maintaining the current power and preserving the inheritance of the title is the best situation for Lan Yu at this time of royal inheritance.

After one stick of incense.

On the Zhengyang Gate Tower, Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Ying appeared.

"Long live His Majesty!!!"

"Long live His Royal Highness the Crown Prince!!!"

Hearing the loud shouts from below, Zhu Ying's mouth twitched slightly.

This way of calling him "Thousand Years Old" was not popular. For later generations, the most famous one was the one called "Nine Thousand Years Old".

But who is that Nine Thousand Year Old? He is a eunuch, just a servant of the royal family.

The key point is that only Zhu Ying knows about this embarrassment.

Zhu Yuanzhang's face was full of smiles, and he was very satisfied with the title of "Thousand Years Old" given to his eldest grandson.

Long live myself and a thousand years of grandson's life, how worthy.

Zhu Ying easily understood the meaning in the old man's eyes, and the corners of his mouth continued to twitch.

At Zhu Yuanzhang's signal, the shouting soon stopped.

But that's all.

In the days when there were no loudspeakers, at such a long distance, if your voice became hoarse you wouldn’t be able to hear clearly.

Relying on eunuchs to pass on messages can only be done one sentence at a time, which is awkward.

"Your Majesty is watching us. This time, we must defeat the rebels in one fell swoop!!!"

Lan Yu roared and shouted.

He is worthy of being a famous general. The whole dock is cheering.

The soldiers also roared along.

"Great Ming will win!!!"

The momentum was so deafening that it seemed as if the clouds in the sky were shattered, revealing the clear blue sky.

Zhu Yuanzhang smiled with satisfaction and said, "It seems that our Ming soldiers are still very good."

Zhu Ying nodded in agreement.

Looking from afar at Zhu Quan and Lan Yu who were standing at the dock.

To a large extent, the purpose of this rehabilitation was to gild Zhu Quan's reputation and familiarize him with the battlefield.

Zhu Ying once discussed military affairs with Zhu Quan. During this period, Zhu Quan also studied under the Xuanjia Guard.

In terms of personal bravery, he naturally cannot be said to be very strong. Perhaps he cannot even beat a soldier of the Black Armor Guard.

However, for some of the advanced military theories provided by Zhu Ying, he understood and absorbed them very quickly. Although he could not apply them to other situations at once, he was able to quickly apply them in military simulations.

For Zhu Quan, what he lacks most now is real experience on the battlefield.

Although Zhu Ying had traveled all over the country for many years, he actually had no experience in large-scale battles. Even if there were battles in the grasslands of the Western Regions, they were mainly small-scale battles involving dozens of people, and there were very few battles involving more than a hundred people.

In the process of interacting with Zhu Quan, Zhu Ying realized that this was a true talent.

After returning to the palace, the old man went to handle government affairs.

And the news was quickly conveyed to Zhu Ying by Ye Yueqing.

"You mean, the cement formula has been tested and is ready to use?" Zhu Ying asked with some surprise.

He also knew in his heart that it was almost impossible to achieve the cement standards of later generations.

Because social development requires a huge productivity as a foundation, a breakthrough at a single point is extremely unrealistic.

The most important factor at present is the use of coal.

The production of quicklime requires high-temperature calcination, but wood cannot meet the requirement. Therefore, the use of large amounts of coal makes the production of quicklime possible.

There are naturally many more proportions to come. Ever since the craftsmen from Obaro came here, they have been constantly experimenting.

Because it is winter, the trial process will be relatively longer.

Now there is finally a formula that can achieve better results.

"Your Highness, we have used this cement to pave a ten-foot path at the residence of the Obaro craftsmen. It has been in shape for twelve days. Carriages and horses have been tested on it every day, and there are no signs of damage so far."

Ye Yueqing replied.

She would investigate such matters first, and only come to the palace to report to Zhu Ying after confirming that everything was correct.

Zhu Ying nodded and said, "Tell the carriage to leave for the outskirts of the city immediately. I want to check it out myself."

"Yes, sir."

An hour later, Zhu Ying arrived at the residence of the Obaro craftsmen.

"Long live His Royal Highness the Crown Prince!!!"

As soon as the enemy arrived, the soldiers on duty knelt on one knee and shouted excitedly.

The chill from the cold wind while standing guard was instantly dispelled, and everyone became full of energy.

This shows how high Zhu Ying’s reputation is in the military.

Zhu Ying raised his hand and followed him to the backyard.

There are more than a dozen winding paths there, all paved with experiments.

Among them, a clean road surface is very eye-catching in contrast to other dilapidated roads.

Seeing this road surface, Zhu Ying felt a little dazed, as if he had returned to the road in his memories from his previous life.

"Yes, that's it."

Coming back to his senses, Zhu Ying said affirmatively.

Naturally, most of the responsible officials had already gathered around him.

Upon hearing the approval of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, everyone's faces were filled with joy. After days of hard work, they finally achieved results.

You know, because of the plan for the construction of Zhengyang Avenue, the craftsmen and officials here were under tremendous pressure. They were studying the proportions almost day and night to figure out the best cement.

"All meritorious personnel will be rewarded with 100 strings of banknotes, and the first meritorious personnel will be rewarded with 1,000 strings of banknotes. For the meritorious workers of Obaro, the banknotes will be reduced by half, and they will be granted household registration in the Ming Dynasty."

Zhu Ying decided the reward directly.

For the Obaro craftsmen, the Ming Dynasty household registration is the foundation of their livelihood here.

And a hundred strings of precious coins was a huge reward for those officials who worked day and night on research.

"Thank you, Your Highness, for your gift!"

Before the Obaro craftsmen understood what was said, the officials and craftsmen had already knelt in a row and shouted enthusiastically.

However, the craftsman Obaro naturally had his own intelligence. No matter whether he could understand it or not, since the official of the Ming Dynasty in front of him knelt down, he just knelt down too.

Zhu Ying waved his hand and ordered, "Call a few strong men over, bring sledgehammers, and let me test how hard this cement road is."

After hearing the order from His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, six strong men armed with sledgehammers came over a moment later.

Under Zhu Ying's guidance, he smashed the concrete floor hard.

The rubble was flying everywhere, and several smart eunuchs immediately stood in front of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, forming a human wall to prevent themselves from being splashed by the rubble.

After a lot of random smashing, the originally intact road surface was turned into potholes.

Zhu Ying signaled to stop and then walked forward to check.

I am very satisfied with the current cement effect, which is comparable to the rural roads of later generations.

"Send a message to the Chamber of Commerce to immediately stockpile cement-related raw materials. No matter how much, buy them at the bottom."

"Also, pack the treasures stored in the shops on both sides of Zhengyang Avenue into wooden boxes and keep them ready for use. Wait for my instructions."

After reading it, Zhu Ying thought about it and gave instructions.

"Yes, sir." Ye Yueqing replied.

The next day at noon, Waiwulong Square.

The appearance of hundreds of Jinyiwei attracted a lot of attention, and the Public Security Bureau was there to maintain order.

A large number of people gathered and were not dispersed, and the more than ten wooden boxes of the Jinyiwei in the front row made people look over involuntarily.

“Unboxing!”

With a loud shout, more than ten boxes were opened at once.

People looked closely and saw that each box was filled with precious banknotes.

"So many banknotes, my God, this is the first time I have seen so many banknotes."

"What are the Jinyiwei doing? Did they just come here to confiscate a house from somewhere?"

"If I could have this much, no, even half of it, I would be rich."

"What do you mean by half? Half of the box is all rich. I don't know what the Jinyiwei is going to do with so much treasure money."

Baochao was very common in the Ming Dynasty.

There are also many denominations, such as one hundred wen, five hundred wen, and one guan.

In the early Ming Dynasty when the economy was not very prosperous, a lot of treasure notes were issued. Some large families could afford millions of treasure notes. But for ordinary people, the millions of treasure notes piled together were a visual impact they had never experienced before.

This feeling was just like the impact of millions of cash that Zhu Ying received in his previous life.

In a bank, it is just a number, but when it is turned into cash, everyone will be shocked.

Yesterday, Zhu Ying was preparing to use a large amount of banknotes to shock the people of the capital.

Amidst the onlookers of more than 100,000 people, the Jinyiwei were seen slowly moving forward with a wooden box containing precious banknotes in their hands.

In front of this, there were a few officials, holding books, walking to the first shop on Zhengyang Avenue.

"Wenxuan Pavilion, according to the order of His Royal Highness the Grandson, the first floor is charged two strings of cash per square, and the second floor and above are charged one string of cash per square, a total of 176 strings of cash, do you have any doubts?"

The official from the Ministry of Revenue said seriously.

The shopkeeper bowed respectfully and replied, "Of course I have no doubts."

The official from the Ministry of Revenue nodded, handed over a pen and said, "Just sign here."

Under the watchful eyes of hundreds of Jinyiwei and several officials, the shopkeeper dared not be negligent. Under the guidance of the officials, he wrote "Wenxuan Pavilion" and his own name with trembling hands.

At the same time, the house deed was also handed over.

After receiving the house deed, the official from the Ministry of Revenue nodded, and then another official counted 176 strings of cash from the Embroidered Uniform Guard and handed them to the shopkeeper.

"Thank you, sir. Thank you, sir." The shopkeeper tightly grasped the banknotes in his hand and bowed with excitement.

"No need to thank me. If you want to thank someone, thank His Royal Highness the Crown Prince." The official from the Ministry of Revenue waved his hand and left.

We have to take care of all these shops today, so we have a lot of work to do.

Of course, it was not just him. There were more than ten officials acting together. Behind each official, there was a Jinyiwei carrying a wooden box of precious banknotes.

There were also two teams of Jinyiwei guards.

boom!

The crowd exploded instantly.

After a brief explanation, the people finally understood that the precious banknotes in these wooden boxes were actually prepared for the shops on both sides of Zhengyang Avenue.

One hundred and seventy-six strings of cash, oh my goodness.

It will take many years to earn this much.

Wenxuan Pavilion is not very big, and it mainly sells pens, ink, paper and inkstones. The business is not bad, but as for how much profit it makes, that’s just about it.

After all, there are only so many readers.

According to the current market price, a shop like Wenxuan Pavilion would cost about 120 strings of cash in a pawnshop.

Now there is such a huge premium.

In everyone's opinion, this is free money.

The most important thing is that this is a royal levy.

In the Ming Dynasty, everyone belonged to the royal family. Even if you didn't give money, you would just consider yourself unlucky.

Not to mention the royal family, local government, nobles, and even landlords and gentry basically received no subsidies when there was government collection.

Many people have long been accustomed to this.

But today's scene almost broke their cognition.

"Your Highness the Crown Prince is kind and righteous!!!"

Suddenly, a loud shout came from the crowd.

After a moment's pause, a large number of people were mobilized and started shouting.

Everyone has a blind obedience mentality, both in ancient and modern times. Suddenly, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince's shouts were like a continuous wave.

Just as the crowd was cheering, in a corner.

"Damn it, why did something like this suddenly happen at this time? It's obvious that he has already gained a reputation as a tyrant."

"Arresting and killing Shanxi merchants, involving innocent people, and wantonly confiscating their homes and money, the news will soon spread outside the capital. If this gets out, the previous business will be ruined. How hateful!!!"