The Majapahit Kingdom was extremely powerful and could be said to be the king of the Southeast Asian islands.

Almost all island countries had to pay tribute to Majapahit.

Paying tribute is different from the Ming Dynasty's tribute trade. The Ming Dynasty's tribute trade was more about supporting and helping small countries.

Paying tribute is like collecting taxes.

For example, Malacca had to pay a certain amount of goods as tribute every year, as well as forty taels of gold to the Ayutthaya Sultanate.

At the same time, they also had to pay tribute to the Majapahit Kingdom.

Now the interests of the Malacca Strait have also been annexed by the Ming Dynasty, and its own development has been greatly restricted.

Parameswara naturally did not want to submit to the three kingdoms at the same time, so he hoped to submit to the Ming Dynasty and get rid of Majapahit and Ayutthaya to pay tribute.

However, these things were not a big deal for Zhu Ying in the Ming Dynasty.

Because the Ming Dynasty’s navy and naval forces were too powerful.

It is far from comparable to the early Yuan Dynasty.

In fact, the strength of the Ming Dynasty’s navy had an important relationship with the Mongols.

Before the Mongols occupied the Southern Song Dynasty, they suffered a lot because they had no navy.

In the second year of Jiaxixi in the Southern Song Dynasty, the Mongols came to Hubei to fight. The Mongolian general Jie Cheng, who was good at naval warfare, designed a plan and seized a thousand warships of the Song army.

The Mongolian army then built its first navy with these thousand warships as the core.

This was the beginning of the Mongol navy.

Although the former Song Dynasty was corrupt.

However, the strength in the navy cannot be ignored. Mongolia has just started to use its navy, so how can it compare with the Song Dynasty?

At this time, Kublai Khan, who had not yet ascended the throne of Khan, was personally participating in the war against the Song Dynasty.

The Song army was weak and was well-known throughout the world. Kublai Khan thought he could end the battle quickly, but he suffered a lot at the hands of the Song army's navy, artillery, and strong cities.

Kublai Khan, who had experienced the war personally, was very clear about why it was difficult to conquer the Southern Song Dynasty.

Therefore, after Kublai Khan ascended the throne of the Great Khan, he paid more attention to the construction of the navy. The Mongolian navy, which had been developing rapidly, entered the fast lane from then on.

The Mongolian navy began a phase of crazy and inhumane construction.

First, Liu Zheng, a surrendered general who was good at naval warfare, was ordered to build a navy, requiring the construction of 5,000 warships and 70,000 sailors who were proficient in naval warfare.

Two years later, Kublai Khan gathered people to build 2,000 warships in the Han River Basin and train 50,000 naval forces.

Kublai Khan still felt that this was not enough and continued to build ships like crazy.

At this time, the Mongolian navy gathered on the front line of Xiangyang had reached 160,000 people, and the number of warships exceeded 10,000.

The Mongolian army that annexed the Southern Song Dynasty also captured a large number of warships.

By this time, the Mongol navy had become invincible.

This led to the subsequent attacks on a series of coastal and island countries including Japan, Annan, Champa, Java, etc.

The most interesting thing is that although Kublai Khan’s navy was so powerful, it failed to capture a single city in the end. Instead, a large number of Mongolian elite troops suffered heavy casualties, laying the foundation for the decline and demise of the Yuan Dynasty.

If we attack Japan, we will have bad luck. If we attack the land and island countries in Southeast Asia, we will not be able to adapt to the climate and soil there.

Japan really had no choice. The two divine wind attacks caused heavy losses to Mongolia, and they did not dare to come for the third time.

Compared with these small countries in Southeast Asia, Japan is obviously much stronger. After all, they have been learning from the Central Plains since the Tang Dynasty, and they also have a unified and complete political system.

But why did the Mongolian army, which was so powerful on paper, still fail to connect with these small countries in Southeast Asia?

The biggest reason for this, of course, is that the Mongolian army is not good at fighting in the tropics.

The Mongols are a nomadic people who originated from the Mongolian Plateau in northeastern Asia.

The climate types of the Mongolian Plateau in later generations were mainly temperate desert climate, temperate grassland climate and subarctic coniferous forest climate, but the earth was in a cold period during the Mongol Empire.

Most of the Mongolian Plateau has a subarctic coniferous forest climate.

The Mongols from the subarctic region could rely on the advantage of cavalry to conquer the Siberian region, which also had a cold climate, but they could not adapt to the hot climate of the tropical region.

Genghis Khan returned from his western expedition to India when he reached the Indus River Basin because he could not stand the scorching heat. Mongke Khan's defeat in Sichuan was largely due to the extremely hot climate in the Sichuan Basin in summer, which seriously reduced the combat effectiveness of the Mongolian cavalry.

The summer in Sichuan is like a furnace. The Mongolian army was so hot that their tongues were sticking out. There was no air conditioning at that time, so how could they fight?

During the Mongol Khanate period, as a nomadic regime, the Mongol Khanate had very low war costs. The cavalry relied on carrying dry food to fight, and supplies were basically dependent on plundering.

But after gradually completing the unification of the Central Plains, Kublai Khan, the ruler of the Mongol Empire, had to consider the bearing capacity of the people of the Central Plains. At that time, the Mongols were a minority with a very small population, and the number of Mongols who entered the Central Plains may not even be less than one million.

They were facing a Han ethnic group with a population of more than 70 million, so the methods they had used in the grasslands would definitely not work.

In fact, during the Mongol Yuan Dynasty, most of the people who were actually in charge of administration were Han people.

Even in the Mongol Yuan Dynasty, there were a large number of Han officials.

Kublai Khan fought wars everywhere at sea and suffered failures everywhere. This made him reflect deeply on his past and when he recalled the time when he fought against the Southern Song Dynasty, he became even more obsessed with the navy.

Where you fall, there you get up.

Even after Kublai Khan's death, the Mongols continued to follow his policies and provided strong support to the navy.

The fact that the Ming Dynasty was able to have the world's best navy today has a lot to do with the Mongols' vigorous development of the navy over the past hundred years.

However, after Kublai Khan's death, the Mongols became corrupt internally, with uprisings breaking out in various places. The entire Central Plains region was in chaos. Even though they had been developing their navy, they did not launch another external conquest.

But after a hundred years of development, the strength of the navy is unquestionable.

Of course, this doesn’t mean much to Southeast Asian countries.

Whether in the early Yuan Dynasty or in the current Ming Dynasty, they have never won any wars on the sea and have always been crushed.

In the Ming Palace.

Huang Guan is reporting to Zhu Ying.

"Your Highness, I have already selected a list of 108 people. These students are often troublemakers in the academy."

"Colleges in various places have already issued notices to expel them. We have kept the news within a small circle. Students are relatively open-minded about this matter. Most of them are the second sons in their families."

Zhu Ying nodded and said, "Let the academy and the government help spread their reputation. Don't send them directly to Champa. It would be better if they join the Ming Dynasty and then be sent there by the gang."

Huang Guan bowed slightly: "I understand."

There are so many Champa gangs that it feels like the Young and Dangerous gangs of later generations.

In the future, Champa will inevitably be brought under the direct rule of the Ming Dynasty and become the granary of the Ming Dynasty.

Only in this way can we better deal with the disasters brought by the Little Ice Age and allow more Ming people to survive.

Although this has little to do with Zhu Ying now, it must also be considered for the future of the Ming Dynasty.

The undercover plan was thus launched.

"It seems that Mr. Huang is very fond of Water Margin." After finishing the business, Zhu Ying said with a smile.

Now that the economy of the Ming Dynasty is prosperous, the spiritual entertainment culture of the people has also improved. Water Margin is very popular in the market, and basically most teahouses will invite storytellers to tell this story.

Huang Guan replied: "Not only do I like it, but the students also like it very much."

For undercover agents, belief is also a very crucial part.

Next, Zhu Ying and Huang Guan talked about some things related to the six ministries.

Huang Guan was very intelligent and had a good character. Zhu Ying would often chat with Huang Guan and pass on policies, methods and strategies from later generations.

Compared with Zhu Ying, Huang Guan is actually more familiar with the officialdom of the Ming Dynasty. Zhu Ying's position is too high, and it is difficult for him to see many things with his own eyes. He has never been in officialdom in his previous life, so he needs someone to help improve some detailed institutional rules.

The main responsibility of the Zhanshi Mansion is to assist, which is also Huang Guan’s job.

And now Huang Guan has also served as Donggong's tutor, that is, Xiao Wencheng's teacher.

Zhu Ying has a lot of experience in public speaking and brainwashing, but he is a little lacking in teaching and educating people.

Anyway, Huang Guan is a hexagonal warrior, so if you have any troubles, just give them to him and he can basically find a solution to the problem.

After talking about the six films, we moved on to today’s steam engines and the design of flintlock rifles.

Flintlock rifles can now be made by hand. The short-barreled flintlock rifle in Zhu Ying's hand is the best example.

It was just too expensive, took too long, and the flint was too scarce and unstable.

"I recently observed the manufacturing of the Scientific Research Department and designed a steam engine. It is much better than the previous one, but it still cannot reach the level that Your Highness said."

"I have calculated that it can be used as a steam ironclad ship, but the sailing distance is too short and the amount of coal consumed is too large. If it sails to Shanghai, even if it is fully loaded with coal, it will only take less than ten days to sail. In fact, it may be even shorter."

Speaking of the Scientific Research Department, Huang Guan talked about his recent achievements.

Zhu Ying hadn't reacted yet, and said, "This is a condensation problem. If there is..."

Zhu Ying was suddenly stunned. He turned to look at Huang Guan and asked, "You mean, you have already made the steam engine?"

"Why didn't the Research Department report such an important matter?"

Huang Guan looked a little puzzled: "I made it according to the plan described by His Highness."

Zhu Ying suddenly understood.

Huang Guan was in the Scientific Research Department, so he must have said that he made the design drawing himself. The Scientific Research Department thought they already knew about it, so they did not report it.

"Hurry, take me to see it." Zhu Ying was no longer as calm as before. He looked rather excited and stood up and urged Huang Guan.

Huang Guan obviously did not realize how epoch-making the emergence of the steam engine was.

He just understood what His Highness said, integrated it, and then improved the steam engine according to what His Highness said.

In a sense, this was all taught by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince.

I am responsible for implementing your Highness's orders. Isn't this what an official should do?

Zhu Ying was also confused.

What did he tell?

He did talk about the steam engine, but he did so in a fragmented and half-hearted way based on his own shallow understanding of later generations.

What about heat dissipation, heat preservation, and the reciprocating piston movement of the cylinder.

Then drive the gear.

Then we talked about the air valve.

In short, after the coal burns, boil water to keep the steam warm, and the pipes also need to be insulated to maximize the steam's strength and reduce heat loss.

Relying on these fragmentary stories, Huang Guan built the steam engine?

In theory, it can also drive ironclad ships to sail?

In fact, it might be less than ten days?

Zhu Ying couldn't believe it at this moment.

"Guo Zhong, prepare the dragon chariot and set off to the Research Department!"

Zhu Ying couldn't wait any longer this time, so he rode his dragon chariot to lead the way.

Soon, the dragon chariot arrived at the gate of the Qianqing Palace, and Zhu Ying went directly in from the back door of the Qianqing Palace.

At this time, the old man was reviewing a batch of memorials in the Huagai Hall. According to etiquette, when Zhu Yuanzhang was not around, his grandson could not enter the Qianqing Palace privately.

But the grandfather and grandson never seemed to care about these things.

When the eunuchs and palace maids in the Qianqing Palace saw the Crown Prince break in, they were not surprised at all and bowed respectfully.

"Come on, get on." Zhu Ying stepped onto the dragon chariot and urged Huang Guan.

"This...I cannot go up."

This is the dragon chariot. How can Huang Guan get on it? Wouldn't it be an act of usurpation if he did?

"Stop talking nonsense and hurry up." Zhu Ying said unhappily.

Seeing this, Huang Guan had no choice but to muster up the courage to go forward.

"Did you really build a steam engine?"

After getting on the dragon chariot, Zhu Ying calmed down and confirmed with Huang Guan again and again.

Huang Guan did not expect the Crown Prince to attach so much importance to it, and replied: "If it is the kind that Your Highness said, it should have been made."

Zhu Ying turned to the guard driving in front and ordered, "Hurry up, tell the guards to clear the way, I want to go to the Research Department immediately."

The guard driving the car immediately shouted: "Grandson's order, the guards will clear the way and head to the Research Department!"

As the guards shouted, the guards in the distance also passed on the message loudly.

Sound is naturally faster than a carriage.

The guard at Fengtian Gate saw the dragon chariot coming from afar, quickly opened the city gate, and then shouted to convey the crown prince's order.

There were always imperial guards ready on both sides of the Meridian Gate.

Hearing the shout, the guards immediately mounted their horses and cleared the way for the dragon chariot.

The Scientific Research Department is next to the military camp on the outskirts of the city.

Therefore, if Zhu Ying wanted to go there, the fastest way would of course be to take Zhengyang Avenue.

Zhengyang Avenue has undergone a lot of changes since its inception.

Thirty feet is divided into three paths in total.

The one in the middle is called the Imperial Road.

As the name suggests, it is the place where the emperor walks.

Its width, divided by the center line, totals six zhang, and the ground is paved with stone bricks.

Except for those traveling 600 miles or 800 miles in an expedited manner, or those who have been granted special permission by the emperor, it would be a crime of great disrespect for anyone else to walk on the Imperial Road.

Then there is the Imperial Guard Road.

This road is only 15 feet wide, and the guards on duty patrol it.

Its key role is to protect the imperial road.

On the outside of the Forbidden Road, there are rows of stone pillars connected by bright red hemp ropes. Anyone who crosses the line will be sent to jail.

Outside are the carriage roads, each of which is three meters wide, and goods are transported along these roads.

The rest is the pedestrian path, which is 75 feet wide on each side.

There are also stone pillars connecting the inner side of the pedestrian road near the carriage road to prevent people from being accidentally hit by carriages and horses.

In fact, this is very difficult, because even on the carriage road, once you enter the Zhengyang Gate, you still have to drive at a speed limit. Speeding on Zhengyang Avenue is an illegal act and you will at least spend several months in jail.

Therefore, it was impossible for common people to cross the carriage road and the guard road and get to the imperial road.

If there are such people, it is not unintentional, but deliberate provocation of the majesty of imperial power.

Such a thing has never happened since the establishment of Zhengyang Avenue.

Of course, this is also because there are people guarding the Forbidden Road for twelve hours.

Nanjing is known as the city that never sleeps, so the guards on the Imperial Guard Road also work in three shifts.

Each shift lasts four hours, which is eight hours in later times.

From Zhengyang Square in front of Chengtian Gate to Zhengyang Gate, the total distance is three miles, so it is naturally impossible to be completely disconnected in the middle.

Therefore Zhu Ying set up a crossroads.

Every three hundred meters, the imperial guards were responsible for leaving a two-zhang wide road for the common people to pass through.

This is the same as the traffic lights in later generations, except that the traffic lights here are manually operated.

"Pass the order, strict prohibition!"

Before Zhu Ying came out, loud shouts kept ringing out.

Martial law was imposed on Zhengyang Avenue. According to the rules, all vehicles on the carriageway were prohibited from driving and had to wait in place.

Heralds all have loud voices. If they don’t speak louder, they won’t be able to do this job.

The people who were originally walking also stopped and subconsciously looked in the direction of Chengtian Gate.

The bustling Zhengyang Avenue on both sides suddenly became quiet at this moment. Even when pedestrians were talking, they whispered in low voices, as if they were afraid of disturbing others.

"What's going on? Why is there martial law all of a sudden? Is there something big happening?"

Many foreign merchants and common people were confused and had no idea what was going on. They could only ask people around them in a low voice.

After all, most of the time, martial law rarely occurs.

Ordinary members of the royal family were not qualified to walk on the Imperial Road, and when Zhu Yuanzhang and his grandson Zhu Ying left the palace, they normally wore casual clothes instead of making a big fuss.

"Hush, silence. The Imperial Road is under martial law. Naturally, it will only happen when Your Majesty or the Crown Prince is traveling."

The people who understood what was said said, and then they looked forward to Chengtian Gate.

At this time, people living near Zhengyang Square saw the main gate of Chengtian Gate slowly opening.

The first to appear were rows of Tiqi, the imperial cavalry responsible for protection.

Then a luxurious carriage appeared.

Appearing in front were eight snow-white horses and two figures on the carriage, which were too far to be seen clearly. One of them was wearing a bright red robe, and those who had seen it would know that this was the standard outfit for His Majesty and the Crown Prince.

The people did not need to guess who was on the dragon chariot, because all the soldiers in Zhengyang Square knelt on one knee and shouted loudly: "Welcome His Royal Highness the Crown Prince to come!!!"

From the top of Zhengyang Avenue, one could see the people kneeling on the ground one after another, shouting along with the soldiers: "Welcome His Royal Highness the Crown Prince to come!!!"

The cheers spread in waves, forming a huge echo.

Oh, this damn sense of ritual.

Zhu Ying felt a little regretful at this moment. He should have traveled in casual clothes. This way, it would make too much noise every time.

The number of people walking on Zhengyang Avenue should be at least hundreds of thousands.

Even many shop owners and restaurant customers came out to watch and then knelt down together.

Huang Guan was sitting in the carriage and felt the huge sound, which was truly deafening.

His mind was a little blank at this moment, his five fingers were clenched tightly, and he was shaking slightly.

You know, it is a great honor to step onto the dragon chariot and feel the cheers of the people.

Only those who have made great contributions to the country can enjoy such treatment.

The last time a minister was treated like this was when Lan Yu won the Battle of Buirhai and was awarded the title of Duke of Liang.