The successful navigation of the steam ironclad ship means the successful use of the steam engine.

This is a technology tree that Zhu Ying forcibly raised. In fact, before the steam engine was applied to steam-clad ships, no one realized that it could also be applied to other fields.

In fact, when steam engines became more and more popular, even if Zhu Ying didn't say it, others would have thought of it.

But Zhu Ying can completely shorten this time.

After staying in Shanghai County for one night, the grandfather and grandson returned to the capital on the Dinghai ship.

After returning to the capital, Zhu Ying did not rush to mine coal, but summoned Liu Sanwu.

"Greetings to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince."

Liu Sanwu's face looked somewhat haggard.

Zhu Ying asked with concern: "Recently, you have been too busy preparing for the establishment of the university. There is no need to be so anxious. You can't eat hot tofu in a hurry."

Liu Sanwu bowed and replied, "Thank you for your concern, Your Highness. I have been working with other scholars to compile textbooks recently, so I have wasted some energy."

Zhu Ying nodded, compiling textbooks is indeed troublesome.

After all, what Zhu Ying required was not just the Four Books and Five Classics, but also many textbooks on other subjects.

As the president of a university, Liu Sanwu has to be familiar with all subjects. At his age, it is natural that he would feel a little tired.

"This time, Minister Liu was called here because it is about the steam engine. I think Minister Liu has already known about it."

Zhu Ying asked.

Liu Sanwu now also belongs to the ranks of Shangshu, so his title was changed from Liu Hanlin to Liu Shangshu.

Liu Sanwu nodded and replied, "I heard that your majesty and the grandson went to Shanghai County yesterday and returned to the capital today. The speed of this steam ironclad ship is really evident."

"In the future, our Ming Dynasty will have this steam ironclad ship, and the transportation speed will be faster. The national strength will rise, which is a sign of prosperity."

The news of steam-powered ironclad ships was a hot topic throughout the capital. Although officials in the imperial court did not participate, everyone had heard of it.

In particular, the Imperial Gazette is a must-read publication for all officials.

Now, whether it is Zhu Yuanzhang or Zhu Ying, they have begun to gradually delegate power to the court meetings. It is no longer like before when many things were discussed in the court meetings.

For example, regarding military matters, other officials are no longer free to discuss them, and only the Ministry of War reports to His Majesty or the Crown Prince individually.

The same goes for matters like people's livelihood. Basically, each department handles them on its own. If they were brought to the court as in the past, they would not only be laughed at by other officials, but would also be reprimanded by His Majesty for their poor performance.

Under such a transformation, the emperor became more mysterious to his subjects.

The majesty is actually deepening.

At the same time, there are also fewer opportunities to listen to the divine grace.

Trying to figure out the emperor's intentions is something all ministers who can go to the Fengtian Palace have to do, and the direction of the wind in the capital's gazette undoubtedly represents the latest policy direction.

Zhu Ying said: "The role of the steam engine is not only reflected in ships. You can think of it as a tireless servant. As long as there is a suitable way, it can always help to do things."

"For example, in mining, weaving, spinning, and even in agriculture, it can also play a huge role."

"The current steam engine still has many defects, such as consuming too much coal and emitting too much heat, so I need more talents to improve the steam engine."

"The steam engine not only affects the present era, but also has a great impact and improvement in the next few hundred years."

"So I decided to open a course on steam engines in the university, which is currently a top priority for the university."

"We called Minister Liu here to supervise this matter."

Liu Sanwu is old and his ability to accept new things has declined, but he knows that this is something that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince attaches great importance to and must not be neglected.

He immediately replied: "Please rest assured, Your Highness, I will definitely do my best to supervise this matter."

Zhu Ying nodded, and then said: "You don't have to worry too much. If you take charge of everything, you won't be able to get things done. This is just like the court meeting in the past."

"Minister Liu can set up a working group to specifically deal with issues related to steam engines. Minister Liu will be mainly responsible for grasping the direction and progress."

Zhu Ying gave a few pointers. He was also worried that Liu Sanwu, at his age, might die suddenly from overexertion.

Liu Sanwu naturally understood what he said, and immediately replied, "Thank you for your concern, Your Highness. I understand."

Zhu Ying's heart moved, and he frowned slightly, then he ordered Guo Zhong: "Go and call Concubine Jin."

Concubine Jin is Xu Miaojin.

Guo Zhong immediately took the order and went to the back hall to call for help.

Liu Sanwu was a little confused. He didn't know why the Crown Prince suddenly called Concubine Jin at this time.

Of course, he didn't know that Zhu Ying's calligraphy was not very good, and that in the past, orders were basically issued orally. He just now suddenly realized that this was not a good idea.

Oral instructions are prone to errors and can also be easily misinterpreted by others.

The correct procedure should be to write it down in black and white and stamp it.

However, the palace maids and eunuchs, including Guo Zhong, were basically illiterate. Even if some of them knew a little bit, their handwriting was probably not as good as Zhu Ying's.

This is the Crown Prince's order, how can you be so casual?

So Zhu Ying thought of asking Xu Miaojin to write for him.

When it comes to calligraphy and painting, even Ye Yueqing can't write as beautifully as Xu Miaojin.

Not long after, Xu Miaojin came over.

"Your Highness."

When Xu Miaojin saw that there were outsiders present, she bowed and greeted them.

"Come here and help me write an order. Guo Zhong, please prepare the writing brush and ink."

Guo Zhong hurried to get the silk.

There are special dark patterns on the silk, which is a special anti-counterfeiting mark in this era. There are also such anti-counterfeiting marks on the Ming Dynasty treasure notes.

"Appoint Liu Sanwu, the Minister of Education, to oversee all matters related to the steam engine discipline at the university."

"The 32nd year of Hongwu, June 17th."

Zhu Ying dictated and Xu Miaojin wrote it down immediately in regular script.

The regular script has a square shape and straight strokes, and when written by Xu Miaojin, it has a more beautiful look.

"Well written." Zhu Ying praised.

"Thank you for the compliment, Your Highness." Xu Miaojin replied with a smile.

Liu Sanwu took a look and remained silent.

He is a true master of calligraphy, and in his eyes, this font certainly still has many flaws.

But he wouldn't be stupid enough to engage in teaching and educating people at this time.

That's not teaching, that's seeking death.

Even though his head was about to be buried in the ground, Liu Sanwu still wanted to live for two more years.

Liu Sanwu took the imperial edict and left.

Zhu Ying smiled and said to Xu Miaojin, "You will stay by my side from now on. Please write an order for me."

Xu Miaojin was very happy to hear this: "Okay."

Suddenly, I thought, "But will the other sisters think that I am taking up His Highness' time?"

Zhu Ying smiled and said, "What does it matter? You just wrote me an order, not guarding me every day. Besides, this is a daytime matter, not a nighttime matter."

Then he ordered Guo Zhong: "All of you get out."

Guo Zhong bowed and obeyed the order, then went out with the palace maids and eunuchs.

Seeing that everyone had left, Xu Miaojin didn't hide and went straight to Zhu Ying.

“Very comfortable.”

Xu Miaojin couldn't help but whispered.

Everyone knows that the prince's body is warm in winter and cool in summer, which is the most comfortable.

Holding Xu Miaojin in his arms, Zhu Ying asked, "What gossip is going on in the harem recently? Tell me about it."

Xu Miaojin thought for a moment and said, "Most of them are trivial matters, but recently everyone has said that His Majesty and the Crown Prince are not managing the government affairs very well. I wonder if this will affect the majesty of the royal family."

Zhu Ying shook his head and said, "They don't understand. In the hands of the emperor, military power is the key. Now that the military and politics are separated, the civil officials no longer have the ability to interfere with military power. This is different from before."

"But speaking of this, we do need to strengthen our control over military power recently."

Zhu Ying thought as he spoke.

He had previously planned to organize a conference of commanders of all the Ming Dynasty's garrisons.

This is mainly an education and training for existing generals, and is also the key to ideological construction.

The army of the Ming Dynasty was mainly composed of two parts: the Beijing Army and the local army.

Under the reforms over the past few years, the soldiers in the capital have basically evolved into a professional army. Their salaries are paid by the national treasury, and they only need to train continuously and do not need to engage in farming.

This is also the most elite army of the Ming Dynasty.

Especially after the implementation of the retirement system, many elderly soldiers in the Beijing Army went to various regional security bureaus and security stations.

For example, among the retired soldiers of the Beijing Army, more than 90% have been well resettled. Even for some who cannot be resettled due to personal circumstances, the allowances are quite generous.

After all, most of those who could serve as the Beijing Army had made contributions to the founding of the country in the past, or their fathers had made contributions and were related to the imperial family.

At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, there were 48 guards in the Beijing Army. In recent years, as the national treasury has become abundant, the army has been continuously expanded and now has 72 guards.

There are 5,600 soldiers in each guard, and the capital has 400,000 soldiers to guard it.

But in reality, there are no more than 400,000.

Forty thousand went to the overseas vassal kings, fifty thousand went to Tibet, nearly thirty thousand went to Annan, and more than ten thousand went to the ocean-going fleet.

When the capital is short of people, it will naturally recruit soldiers. Together with those currently being recruited and trained, there are now about 300,000 soldiers in the capital.

Whenever there is a war, the Beijing army usually sends out a small number of elite troops, while the local troops provide the bulk.

For example, when Xu Huizu went there, the capital arranged 50,000 elite troops to go ahead, and he himself brought thousands of personal guards and officers, and then the local army gathered more than 200,000 soldiers, forming a team like this.

The situation for Zhu Di and the other four princes was similar, with the capital army being equipped with 10,000 men and the local army being equipped with tens of thousands of men.

The local army is mainly divided into three parts: guards, border troops, and militia.

The guards were mainly stationed in important military locations in the inland of the Ming Dynasty. Most of them were soldiers stationed in farms, participating in battles during wartime and busy with farming during farming seasons.

Generally, when war breaks out, the guards are the main troops mobilized.

Border troops refer to the soldiers stationed at various border checkpoints of the Ming Dynasty. They can be said to be the elite among the garrison troops.

The garrison troops that defended against the Mongolian cavalry in the north were deployed in nine military towns stretching from the Yalu River in the east to Jiayuguan in the west. They were the border troops known in history as the "Nine Frontiers".

This is quite famous and is also the most important border force of the Ming Dynasty.

Other provinces such as U-Tsang, Guangxi, and Yunnan also have border troops in their border areas.

The rest are the militia.

Most of these are unconventional troops legally established by local forces.

Later generations called it the militia, and now it is called the Volunteer Army.

There are local soldiers in the northwest region, Miao soldiers, wolf soldiers and other local soldiers in Yunnan region, as well as monk soldiers from the Shaolin Temple, miners, and salt soldiers from the Salt Bureau.

They are not in the military household system, but can be recruited in case of war. They pay for their own training and do not receive military pay, but they can still be rewarded for their military achievements.

There are also navy officers.

This area is similar to the garrisons. The imperial court did not pay much attention to it before, but now with the development of maritime trade, it has gradually expanded and has surpassed the local military in terms of momentum.

The total strength of the navy is currently around 200,000, and Zhu Ying is preparing to expand it to 500,000.

That is more than double what it is now.

The reason why so many people are needed is naturally related to Ming Dynasty's control over the sea.

The navy is different from the army. Many land forces cannot be directly regarded as navy, otherwise the situation like the Mongolian invasion of Japan would occur again.

At that time, the Mongols simply forced soldiers who could not swim and were seasick onto the boats and forced the conquest.

In this way, the soldiers' combat effectiveness will be seriously reduced when they arrive at their destination.

Therefore, the navy that Zhu Ying wanted to assemble had to first understand water and cultivate certain maritime emergency knowledge, such as emergency response drills when encountering storms, boarding combat exercises, etc.

Zhu Ying's military reform was mainly focused on the Beijing Army.

Although the local army is currently undergoing many reforms, there is no way to solve the problem of military farming.

The issue of food is also a problem that the Ming Dynasty needs to consider at present.

Only a fool would do to directly abolish the Wei Suo system. You have to know that in the Wei Suo, in addition to soldiers, there are also a large number of military households.

At present, the Ming Dynasty has a total of over 300 to 500 external guards and over 2,500 thousand households.

Of course, not all garrisons were fully staffed with 5,600 people, but this was still a total of nearly two million people. Together with the military households, the total number exceeded seven million.

Their lives all depended on the Wei Suo system, and any rash major reforms would most likely cause turmoil throughout the Ming Dynasty.

This is not something that can be achieved overnight.

At least for now, with Zhu Ying's constant intervention, corruption is no longer rampant in the garrison as it was before, and the lives of the military households have improved a lot.

"Why is Your Highness frowning? Is there something troubling you?" Xu Miaojin, who was accompanying Zhu Ying, asked softly.

He saw Zhu Ying was a little absent-minded, and then frowned slightly.

Zhu Ying said somewhat depressedly: "I plan to convene all the thousand households of the Ming Dynasty to hold a military meeting, but there are at least a thousand people participating in this."

"When the meeting starts, I will have to shout at the top of my lungs, and it will be too troublesome to ask someone to pass on the message, which will delay things a lot."

This is the pain of having no speakers.

Xu Miaojin said, "I have some ideas here. Before I entered the palace, I often went to the theater to listen to operas. Because of the female relatives, I could only listen to operas in the private rooms upstairs, which were quite far away."

"In a large theater, there are hundreds of people at each show, sometimes over a thousand. The actors don't shout at the top of their lungs, but I can hear them clearly."

“Maybe you can refer to it.”

Zhu Ying's eyes lit up when he heard this and he said, "What a good idea! I will go and take a look tomorrow. If it is feasible, I will renovate the East Palace."