The host of the Feng Shui conference was naturally given to Liu Rixin, the current director of the Imperial Observatory.

Zhu Ying had only one request, which was to completely change the feng shui pattern of the palace, no matter how much it cost.

Nanjing is becoming more and more lively and prosperous.

The gradual transformation of the entire capital is also being continuously expanded and maintained.

Precisely because of the capital's strength, its absorption of the surrounding small counties has become so terrifying.

Industry is a foundation. Zhu Ying has been continuously maintaining various aspects of industry in recent days. No matter what aspect it is, it is developing in the direction of modularization.

To put it simply, there are already hundreds of factories of all sizes around the capital.

Only a small part of them were opened by Zhu Ying, while most of them were run by the private sector.

The population of Nanjing city now exceeds two million. Places like the alleys are crowded with people all day long.

To achieve this, the outer city of Nanjing had to be continuously widened and extended.

The most lively one is naturally Zhengyang Gate. The other city gates that were previously deserted are now also crowded with people.

For Zhu Ying, the 1.8 billion treasure notes would be just white paper and meaningless if he didn't spend them.

When these treasure notes arrived, they were equivalent to today's Ming Dynasty treasure notes, and were truly close to one tael of silver for one treasure note.

In today's capital, the wealthy Zhu Ying has already made such an exchange.

The first thing that came with it was the establishment of the Ming Dynasty Royal Money House.

The Ming Royal Money House is a grand building on the west side of Zhengyangmen Square.

In order to better accommodate more people, the area here is five acres, which is more than three thousand square meters in modern times.

It doesn't sound big, but this is Nanjing.

It is no exaggeration to say that every inch of land is worth its weight in gold.

Only when Zhu Ying was repairing Zhengyang Avenue and carrying out construction could it be said that such a place was left behind.

The Ming Dynasty Royal Bank uses a brick and powder structure instead of the traditional wooden structure.

In terms of decoration, it is naturally Chinese style.

Just the business windows alone, there are as many as forty-nine.

The most important thing is that in the Ming Dynasty Royal Bank, silver and treasure notes are exchanged at a one-to-one ratio.

In other words, if you come here with ten strings of cash, you can directly exchange them for ten taels of silver.

In addition, there is also a trade-in service.

The banknotes will be recycled according to their integrity. Minor damage to the banknotes will not affect the same exchange, as long as the writing on the banknotes is clearly visible.

These two points alone are equivalent to completely stabilizing the value of the Ming Dynasty's treasure notes.

When this news was published in the official gazette, many people did not believe it.

It wasn't until it opened that I couldn't help but believe it.

With the increasing speed of economic development, macro-control of the entire Ming Dynasty's economic status has become a relatively important direction.

With a stable economy, the Ming Dynasty now has the full capabilities and preparations to fight on multiple fronts.

The issue of military pay is no longer a problem for the Ming Dynasty today.

For some small countries that are not conducive to opening up, they now have good investment capital and can slowly recover it over the long term.

For example, Annan today.

After conquering Annan, there must be a return in name only.

But it is entirely possible to achieve demilitarization.

After Annan was demilitarized, there was actually not much difference between it and the current direct jurisdiction of the Ming Dynasty.

The only difference is that the nominal highest leader of Annan is the Annan royal family.

Laws, commerce, construction, public security and other aspects were all taken over by the Ming Dynasty.

And Annan would also be required to bear the war reparations regulations.

It's at this point in time.

The silver mines in Japan have already been mined on a large scale.

The mined silver ore will first be processed locally and then transported to the capital of the Ming Dynasty.

"Our eldest grandson is right. Japan is indeed a country rich in silver. How come we didn't know this before?"

"Grandson, come and have a look. It is said that the first batch of silver shipped here is more than eight million taels."

In the Qianqing Palace, Zhu Yuanzhang called Zhu Ying over to share the good news.

You must know that Japan has not been fully developed yet. This is just the first batch of results. When various facilities are improved in the future, more silver will naturally be transported here.

Eight million taels!

Even for the current Ming Dynasty, this is a wealth that cannot be ignored.

You should know that this does not mean that there is only one batch of shipment every year. According to current standards, there is a shipment every March.

That means four deliveries per year.

According to the lowest estimate, the annual income was more than 30 million taels of silver.

The former Ming Dynasty suffered losses every year, but now it has huge income every year.

There was so much money that the Ministry of Revenue didn’t know where to spend it.

As for the treasury, there is no need to say more.

It is imperative to build basic civilization.

The first thing that comes to mind is cleanliness and public toilets.

To put it another way, it is a hygienic and civilized city.

This sounds simple, but it actually requires building a sewage treatment system for the entire city of Nanjing.

This means that a large amount of ground needs to be dug up for unified collection and discharge.

This is a big project, especially for Nanjing today.

Previously, public toilets were mainly found in places like inns, restaurants, and teahouses.

The main uses are toilets and urinals.

With a population of two million, it would easily lead to a foul smell if it was not handled properly.

This situation occurred in ancient European castles.

The entire castle was filled with all kinds of foul odors.

Now that you have money, naturally you have to keep up with many aspects.

A Feng Shui conference and large-scale construction were held in the capital of the Ming Dynasty.

In Guangxi, the 300,000-strong army has basically completed its training.

Compared with the army in the capital, Guangxi is mainly composed of garrisons.

Because they usually farm, they are much less familiar with combat readiness, so pre-war drills are of great significance.

"I don't know what's wrong with Annan. He actually wants to go against our Ming Dynasty."

"Don't you even know how strong you are?"

"To deal with a mere Annan, why would we need an army of 300,000? It's like using a butcher knife to kill a chicken."

"Captain, allow me 100,000 troops. I will take him down in one fell swoop."

Puding Marquis Chen Huan spoke carelessly, not taking Annan seriously at all.

Of course, he does have reason to be proud, although he is old now and his health is not as good as before due to the charges and battles in the early years.

But his sights are getting higher and higher.

Especially when it comes to leading troops in combat.

The commander-in-chief he was referring to was naturally Ye Sheng, Marquis of Jingning.

Upon hearing this, Jingning Marquis Ye Sheng laughed and said, "You can't do this. Annan is so small, you have to let your brothers make contributions."

"If I follow you, I won't even have the chance to drink the soup, and my brothers will blame me to death."

When Puding Hou Chen Huan heard this, he naturally knew that there was nothing more to say.

In fact, the two of them didn't care much about the credit for defeating Annan.

Now you are already at the level of Marquis, and the next level up is the rank of Duke.

The Duke didn't say it was so easy to take.

Look at those who were previously granted the title of duke, each of them had made great contributions.

Annan is too small, so its weight is too low.

Three hundred thousand soldiers, this is already most of Annan’s military force.

But for the Ming Dynasty, 300,000 soldiers were nothing.

Just as the two were chatting and laughing, the changes in Annan forced them to take it seriously.

The 50,000 elite Ming troops stationed in Annan were defeated.

It is unknown how many were forced to return to the Ming Dynasty.

The two men knew what they had obtained from the defeated soldiers.

"General Wei Xing has news."

When the defeated soldiers were captured and interrogated, Jingning Hou Ye Sheng asked quickly.

Wei Xing used to follow Ye Sheng and they had a pretty good relationship.

When they heard about the defeat at the front, the first person they were concerned about was Wei Xing.

Puding Marquis Chen Huan frowned and shouted, "You have 50,000 soldiers and horses, how did you suffer such a defeat?"

"What is the reason? Tell me in detail as soon as possible."

Upon hearing this, the defeated soldier burst into tears and said, "General, it is not our fault. It was because Deputy Commander Li suddenly opened the city gate and let all those Annan soldiers in."

"Commander Wei didn't know what was going on. He never thought that Deputy Commander Li would betray Ming."

"Under siege, it is unknown whether General Wei is alive or dead."

Upon hearing this, Puding Marquis Chen Huan stood up and shouted, "It turned out to be this fellow Li Laosi. He dared to betray the Ming Dynasty. He deserves to be cut into pieces."

"How dare he ignore so many of his comrades? I must chop off his head with my own hands!"

Puding Hou Chen Huan originally had a rather hot-tempered temperament. He had calmed down and improved a lot in recent years, but when he heard about this situation, he was still furious.

Annan's 50,000 elite troops are extremely important to their army's expedition to the south.

With the joint efforts from inside and outside, no opponent will be able to resist until the capital of Annan.

Now it means that the southern expedition army has to act alone.

"Deputy Commander Chen, I promise you 70,000 troops. Can you capture a city for me first to dampen the spirit of Annan and enhance the prestige of the Ming Dynasty?"

Ye Sheng's voice was relatively calm, but he was already very angry in his heart.

"Please rest assured, Commander-in-Chief, we will capture the city ahead one day."

Puding Marquis Chen Huan replied confidently.

Among Annan’s 50,000 elite Ming troops, there are a large number of armored soldiers.

Armor plays a very important role in warfare.

This is equivalent to depriving Annan of its increased combat power for nothing.

The next day.

After Chen Huan, Marquis of Puding, assembled his troops, he led his team to set off first.

Guangyuan Prefecture.

This is the place where Ming Dynasty and Annan are adjacent, and was later called Cao Bang Province.

There have been constant turmoil here since ancient times, and the political power has changed hands several times.

Guangyuan Prefecture originally belonged to the Central Plains Dynasty.

During the Song Dynasty, the local chieftain Nong Zhigao of Guangyuan Prefecture rebelled, but was suppressed by the Song Dynasty.

Annan proposed the territorial claim of Guangyuan Prefecture to the Song Dynasty. The emperor of the Song Dynasty gave Guangyuan Prefecture to Annan because it was remote and difficult to defend.

Guangyuan Prefecture is a mountainous and forested area, with most mountains being over 400 meters high. Except for the earth mountains near the towns of Gaoping, Fuhe, Dongxi, and Qixi, the rest are mostly rock mountains.

The mountain is high and steep, with dangerous terrain, many natural caves and rock cracks, dense jungle and few roads.

The battle was particularly difficult.

But who is Puding Hou Chen Huan? He is a well-known mountain warfare expert. This problem is not a difficult one for him.

This is especially true with the help of artillery.

"I will try today to see how powerful the matchlock gun made by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is."

Chen Huan, Marquis of Puding, smiled and led his army to charge forward.

These are just a few earth hills, not stone hills.

Just one round of artillery fire was enough to blow the earthen hill into pieces on all sides.

This simple city wall was like paper in front of the Ming army.

After three rounds of artillery fire, the musket battalion in the front row began to press forward.

Today's matchlock rifles are simply a nightmare on the battlefield.

Even though Annan had the advantage of geographical location and could use bows and crossbows to shoot projectiles, they were not as effective as matchlock muskets.

The improved accuracy of the matchlock rifle made it easy to hit the Annan soldiers occupying strategic areas.

After just a few waves of volleys, the advantage of the high ground was greatly weakened.

It is no wonder that the Mongol cavalry was defeated in Annan. In such a geographical environment, the cavalry could not play a big role and encountered many obstacles.

But the infantry doesn't have to worry about this at all.

Just move forward slowly.

There was continuous artillery fire and gunfire.

Marquis Puding Chen Huan did not have to worry about the supply of gunpowder at all. The current supply of firearms in the Ming Dynasty was already very sufficient.

"Tsk tsk, this is much easier than the time when a certain family rushed forward with a big knife."

"This matchlock gun that His Royal Highness made is really a good thing."

Marquis Puding Chen Huan looked at the one-sided situation leisurely.

As the frontline area of ​​Annan, the number of soldiers and personnel had been continuously increased when the Ming Dynasty was gathering its forces.

Even though it is such a small place, Annan has a sufficient force of 20,000 troops.

In Hu Jima's opinion, it is entirely possible to stop the Ming army for a considerable period of time, and the geographical advantage can also cause more casualties to the Ming.

What a pity.

The only thing he didn't expect was the matchlock gun.

In just two hours, this area was completely taken over.

After breaking through the broken city wall, the Annan soldiers had already completely collapsed and were completely at the mercy of others.

After leaving behind 10,000 elite soldiers to guard the place, Chen Huan, Marquis of Puding, could not wait to head to the next place.

He had to take over the four towns of Gaoping, Fuhe, Dongxi and Qixi before dark.

After defeating Gaoping, the rest was much easier.

After three rounds of artillery fire, the musketeers directly pressed forward, leaving the Annan soldiers with no ability to defend themselves at all.

As sunset approached, these four towns had all fallen into the hands of the Ming Dynasty.