Shanghai County.

Preparations have long been made here to welcome the Holy Envoy.

Officials of all ranks stood in rows respectfully at the dock waiting, and even though half a day had passed, they did not dare to slack off in the slightest.

This is His Majesty, the Crown Prince himself.

Not to mention half a day, even if you have to stand for a whole day, you still have to wait.

"Everyone, brace yourself. Word has been sent from the front that His Majesty's grandson will be here soon."

The one who spoke first among the dozens of officials was the prefect of Songjiang Prefecture.

After hearing the news two days ago, he hurried over to meet the emperor.

And organized a large number of officials.

Although this is Shanghai County, the magistrate can only be considered the lowest among these officials.

Basically all the officials of higher rank nearby came.

About two more incense sticks of time passed.

All I saw was a ship in the distance, flashing metallic light and emitting thick black smoke, traveling towards me at a speed far exceeding that of a normal ship.

"Iron Ship, it's your Majesty's grandson."

"It really is an iron ship. It's rare to see one in this lifetime!"

"No ship in the world can match this speed."

"He's covered in armor. On the sea, no ship dares to engage him."

There is a lot of water in Songjiang Prefecture.

Therefore, the officials here all understand ships.

A large part of the tax revenue also comes from the canal transportation, shipyards and the like here, which are basically related to water transportation.

Therefore, everyone is very clear about the significance of this iron ship.

On the river, when it became clear, the speed of the Dinghai ship gradually slowed down.

Many sailors began to pull at the sails.

This is when the steam engine is turned off and the ship is turned and docked using the power of the sails.

"Your Majesty, your Highness, the Crown Prince."

"Long live His Majesty, and long live His Majesty. Long live His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, and a thousand years, a thousand years, and a thousand thousand years!"

After Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Ying got off the boat, many officials immediately knelt down to kowtow.

"No need to be polite, just stand up." Zhu Yuanzhang said loudly.

"Thank you, Your Majesty."

After the process was completed, other officials naturally had no right to come forward and talk. Only the prefect of Songjiang Prefecture took small steps forward and waited for His Majesty's orders.

"I'm a little tired. Let's go take a rest first."

Zhu Yuanzhang ordered.

When he first got on the ship, Zhu Yuanzhang still felt very novel.

However, after nearly three hours, I no longer had the energy to do anything.

The Dinghai ship was fast, but it was as bumpy as any other ship.

Zhu Yuanzhang was now old, and he still felt a little dizzy after getting off the boat.

Zhu Ying watched carefully and quickly took two steps over to support him.

"Your Majesty, there is a carriage ready in front." The prefect of Songjiang Prefecture said respectfully.

Zhu Yuanzhang waved his hand and said, "Let's take a few steps first."

Zhu Yuanzhang had already been bumpy all the way by the boat, and now he was getting bumpy again by the carriage. He felt like his bones were about to fall apart.

After all, he is already 72 years old this year. Although his body is strong, his recovery ability is much worse.

With Zhu Ying's support, I was just taking a walk.

Outside the officials were a large number of soldiers.

The nearby Songjiang Left Guard and Right Guard had already been waiting in advance to escort His Majesty and the Crown Prince to safety.

There was only one Dinghai ship coming from the capital, so it is impossible that a large number of palace guards followed it.

Firstly, there is not enough space for so many people, and secondly, even if we take a boat, we will not be able to catch up.

The commanders of the Songjiang Left Guard and the Right Guard came over to pay their respects.

Zhu Yuanzhang just waved his hand.

Zhu Ying said, "Your Majesty seems a little tired, you guys just stay with him and protect him."

"Yes, sir."

The two commanders-in-chief are top-ranking officials in Songjiang Prefecture, but in front of His Majesty and the Crown Prince, they are just small minions.

After walking for a while, Zhu Yuanzhang basically recovered.

In fact, when the emperor travels, it is basically impossible for him to see the people's sentiments.

The road that Zhu Yuanzhang took had been blocked by soldiers, and ordinary people could only watch from afar.

As for incognito visits, they are basically extremely rare.

The story about Kangxi's secret visits in later generations is complete nonsense. In history, it is impossible for the emperors of the Qing Dynasty to make secret visits.

After all, from the establishment of the Qing Dynasty to its demise, popular uprisings have never ceased.

Zhu Yuanzhang, on the other hand, liked to make secret visits.

Zhu Yuanzhang was born a peasant, and it was extremely easy for him to blend in with the common people. That was not acting, he was simply appearing in his true character.

However, it is very dangerous for the emperor to go on a secret visit.

Zhu Yuanzhang would not do this easily.

The situation has improved a lot in recent years. In the early Ming Dynasty, there were still many people loyal to the Mongols.

Looking at all the dynasties throughout history, the number of literati who committed suicide for their country when the country was destroyed was the largest during the Yuan Dynasty.

During the Yuan Dynasty, 60% of the Han Chinese Jinshi died for their country.

There is also a group of people who choose to retire to the countryside and never work for the Ming Dynasty for the rest of their lives.

You must know that when the Ming Dynasty was first established, officials at all levels were re-appointed, and Zhu Yuanzhang did not have many talents at his disposal. He urgently needed assistance from scholars or Yuan Dynasty officials with management experience.

They could transform themselves from Mongols into officials of the Ming Dynasty.

But many people refused and even quit their careers.

For example, Zhang Chang, the Minister of Revenue in the late Yuan Dynasty, was a talented person whom Zhu Yuanzhang wanted to keep by his side.

Although Zhang Chang was valued and employed by Zhu Yuanzhang and given many rewards, he was not happy in his heart.

He originally came to persuade Zhu Yuanzhang to surrender, but now he is working for him.

Later, Zhu Yuanzhang captured Hangzhou and arrested a group of Mongolian officials.

In order to show his magnanimity, Zhu Yuanzhang gave some money and food to let them go to the Northern Yuan Dynasty.

Zhang Chang first commissioned these officials to investigate whether his son in the desert was still alive, and secondly, he wrote a memorial and asked them to help pass it to the Emperor of the Northern Yuan Dynasty.

Zhu Yuanzhang never relaxed his surveillance on these Mongol ministers. Although there was no Jinyiwei at that time, the prototype of the original team had already been formed.

The memorial was naturally intercepted.

There was one sentence in the memorial that really hurt Zhu Yuanzhang's heart.

That is what is written: I am in the south of the Yangtze River, but my mind is in the north of the Yangtze River.

This is Zhang Chang claiming to be Guan Yu, who was in Cao's camp but his heart was with Han, expressing his loyalty to the Northern Yuan Dynasty.

However, Zhang Chang is not Guan Yu, and Zhu Yuanzhang is not Cao Cao.

After intercepting the memorial, Zhu Yuanzhang immediately ordered the emperor's body to be cut into pieces and thrown into the water to feed the fish.

In addition to Zhang Chang, there were many such talents who committed suicide to preserve their loyalty after the change of rulers in the Central Plains and the establishment of the Ming Dynasty.

This seems a little strange.

What happened to the promise to expel the Tartars and restore China?

In fact, it is not surprising, because the joys and sorrows of each person are different.

For many literati and aristocratic families, they have no concept of the Han nationality, but only care about their own class.

In their view, loyalty to the emperor means being loyal to the monarch of their class.

If the monarch is gone, the country will naturally be destroyed and the family will be ruined.

The Yuan Dynasty was a period in which a minority of Mongols ruled over the majority of Han people. The Mongols themselves were a nomadic people, and after occupying the vast Central Plains, they did not form a very complete system, so their management was loose.

This gave the lower classes of landlords and gentry great autonomy.

For many county magistrates and landlords, they are the local emperors. No matter how they exploit the people, the higher-ups will never investigate their corruption.

During the nearly 100 years of the Mongol Yuan Dynasty, many affiliated interest groups emerged, and from top to bottom, they had become accustomed to freedom without any constraints.

This is the sense of superiority that all the noble families, landlords, and gentry have never had in any dynasty in history, as well as the coveted power.

They truly have the power of life and death, and the common people at the bottom have no place to seek justice.

As long as you complete the most basic taxes arranged by the Mongol Yuan Dynasty court, you can do whatever you want locally and the Mongol Yuan Dynasty court will not care at all.

This was an era when landlords were in charge.

It can be imagined that originally everyone followed the Mongolian nobles to bully the people, oppress the people, act tyrannically and without any scruples.

At this time, a man named Zhu Yuanzhang suddenly appeared, and he was born a beggar.

He led a group of refugees to revolt, aiming to overthrow the Mongolian court and disrupt this rare period of peace.

No landlord would be willing to do this. This must be suppressed, severely suppressed.

At the end of the Yuan Dynasty, it was not the Mongolian court that dealt the most intense and bloody blows to the various rebel forces, but rather the local landlords and Han officials.

These people spontaneously organized money, food, and manpower to fight against the rebels. They were much more concerned than the Mongolian masters.

This behavior is similar to what happened after the Qing Dynasty entered the Central Plains in later generations.

Those who supported the nomadic peoples' unification of the Central Plains, whether in the Yuan Dynasty or the Qing Dynasty, were the so-called scholars and the landlord class.

In fact, this also has a lot to do with Confucianism.

Because in Confucianism, there is only small loyalty, but no great righteousness.

What national justice is not as important as one's own interests?

The literati of any dynasty never cared about how the monarch treated the people, good or bad. What they cared about was only how much power the monarch had over them.

"Edict to the Central Plains" drafted by Song Lian for Zhu Yuanzhang.

The article says: "Ancient times said: 'The barbarians will not last a hundred years'. It is true today!"

However, in history, the Ming and Qing dynasties lasted basically 276 years. Even if there are some differences in calculations, the deviation is only about ten years.

In fact, when the Qing Dynasty came to rule the Central Plains, it never considered itself an invader like the Mongols.

They never thought that they were the ones who destroyed the Ming Dynasty.

Because the Ming Dynasty was overthrown by Li Zicheng, they went to the Central Plains to obey the will of the people and restore order.

This is a bit nonsense, but the reason why the Qing Dynasty was able to rule the Central Plains for so long was that its system was almost completely inherited from that of the Ming Dynasty.

Whether it was Qianlong or Kangxi, what they did as monarchs was completely contrary to the characteristics of nomadic peoples. Instead, they actively integrated into Han culture and learned to cherish their people like Han emperors of all dynasties.

For example, distributing land tax according to land area, punishing corruption, building rivers, etc.

After the Mongols entered the Central Plains, they treated the people as cattle and sheep and regarded themselves as the masters.

After the Manchus came to power, they considered themselves Han Chinese.

In fact, from the perspective of feudal dynasties, what the Qing emperors did was basically the same as what the emperors of other dynasties did.

Especially in terms of system, it can be seen as a continuation of the Ming Dynasty.

The corruption at the end of the Qing Dynasty was about the same as that at the end of the Ming Dynasty.

Of course, starting from Zhu Ying, the Ming Dynasty would undergo tremendous changes.

The affairs of the nomadic peoples will come to an end in Zhu Ying's hands.

On the way, Zhu Yuanzhang, who had basically recovered, said to Zhu Ying: "This Dinghai warship is fast, which is good, but it has too many limitations."

"Without coal, the steam engine won't work, and the ship will be no different from any other ship."

"The ship's cabin can only hold enough coal for a few days, so it can't sail on the ocean."

Thinking of what he had said before about expanding the territory, Zhu Yuanzhang sighed.

What he lamented was not that steam-powered ironclad ships would not be able to reach such a level in the future, but that it would probably be difficult to see it in his lifetime.

After all, something like steam engine reform cannot be improved in just three to five years.

He asked his eldest grandson, even if the expeditionary force brought back the weeping tree, it would not be able to bring about major changes to the steam engine in a short period of time.

When Zhu Ying heard this, he felt the sigh in the old man's tone.

After thinking for a while, Zhu Ying replied: "Actually, there is a way to supplement it."

"First, we can set up many transfer stations on the Daming waterways, just like post stations, to store large amounts of coal. When the coal in the steam ironclad ships is almost used up, we can replenish it at these transfer stations."

Hearing this, Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes flashed, and he added: "Not only domestic waterways, but even overseas, as long as the coal loaded by steam ironclad ships can reach the place, the navy can first set up a transfer station."

"This time, the installation will also enable steam ironclad ships to reach the ocean faster."

“Seconds, seconds!”

Zhu Ying smiled slightly.

He just needs a little guidance and the old man will naturally know.

Hearing these words coming from the old man's mouth, he naturally felt much more relieved.

In fact, this is similar to gas stations in later generations.

This will avoid the defects of steam ironclad ships to the greatest extent.

"The biggest problem in completing this transfer station is the collection of coal. From now on, we have to vigorously exploit coal deposits."

"This steam engine is not just for ships, it can be used in other places."

"It is foreseeable that coal and steel will be urgently needed by our Ming Dynasty in the future."

Zhu Ying analyzed and said.

This is an inevitable result of industrial reform. The demand for steel and coal will far exceed imagination.

For example, in the case of coal, if we only rely on official sources, the collection efforts will inevitably be reduced.

As for steel, it now requires the entire nation’s strength to manufacture it.

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded: "Since it concerns the fate of our Ming Dynasty, it is worth it no matter how much it costs."

"After we return, we will think carefully about how to make more coal and steel."

Zhu Ying echoed.

From now on, Ming Dynasty truly entered the first industrial revolution.

The foundation laid in the previous few years will now help Ming Dynasty to climb to a higher level.

This was more than three hundred years ahead of Europe.

It will truly determine the changes in the pattern of Ming Dynasty's leadership of the world.

In addition to industrial reform, ideological reform is also very important.

After all, technology is the primary productive force.