Of course, the Navy's plan to build large warships was impossible to be supported by Emperor Zhu Cilang of the Ming Dynasty. Even though he knew that the warships in the world were in a transitional period, he would probably have to be anchored on the beach to be a museum in thirty or fifty years. How could Zhu Cilang spend a lot of manpower and material resources to build it?

What's more, the only maritime power that could threaten the Ming Dynasty now was the Dutch, and the Dutch would rather compromise on all the military expenses than exchange for trade quota, which undoubtedly shows that they were unwilling to fight against the Ming Dynasty.

Chen Tingyang's strategy of fighting against the west was very effective for You Shiwei. His Majesty the Emperor was so happy that he could not point it out. Following You Shiwei's wishes, he agreed to incorporate the iron-armored ship into the military's key research project.

You Shiwei always felt that he had been cheated and could only comfort himself on the grounds that the army and the navy had the same needs. But this is not wrong. After improving the engine efficiency, both steam rushers and armored ships can be used. Moreover, the improvement of steel formula is not only important for the manufacturing of sea ships, but also for the army.

Everyone needs lighter and stronger armor, as well as sharper hot and cold weapons.

In addition, both the army and the navy also needed more powerful gunpowder and launching drugs other than gunpowder. After Dai Cang invented the bead gun, the military craftsmen of the Ming Dynasty found that to truly solve the problem of gas leakage, it was far from enough to rely on steel bite sealing alone, and a miniature "Franchise" was also needed.

The launch mechanism and structure of the Fran machine cannon can be regarded as a rough bullet. Only by completely closing its interior can the power of the launching drug maximize the push of the projectile and ensure the impact force and range. This launching drug obviously cannot use gunpowder that needs to be ignited by open flames, so what is the way out?

Steel and gunpowder also point to another key point: chemical industry.

Not only does chemistry need to be further developed, but industry also needs to be formed.

Zhu Cixuan knew the importance of the chemical industry, but he also knew his own weight and did not even have the qualifications to encourage growth. He could only use the techniques he was good at: building schools, spending money, and running journals.

In November of the first year of Longjing, Wulin University officially launched a campus on the picturesque Xizi Lake. This new university with the same specifications as Jingshi University covers a vast West Lake scenic area from Qiantang River to the south bank of West Lake, and invited the most famous gardens in Jiangnan to design the campus.

Song Yingxing served as the priest at Wulin University and also served as a professor in the Department of Physics and Chemistry.

Unlike Jingshi University, Wulin University has attracted attention from all parties since its establishment, with many donations from gentry and Zhejiang Province's powerful families. They never thought of making money through the university. It was simply because the name of Wulin University is friendly and the illusion of a local university. At the same time, it was also because the chemistry and medical school of Wulin University had a great impact on their lives.

In their opinion, chemistry is mostly based on the "Craftsmanship" and is to solve the problem after death.

The Medical College brings together many national medical masters in Jiangnan to solve problems during their lifetime.

These two points are much more important than the technicians at Jingshi University.

In fact, the newborn chemistry does not require the researchers' particularly high talent. It is more like a "labor-intensive enterprise" in the kingdom of science. It requires a large number of people to conduct experiments, and then form a theory of the experimental process and results and express it in the form of formulas and equations.

In the Ming Dynasty, Taoists had invented methods to prepare sulfuric acid and used it for drugs. Matteo Ricci and Johnson Tang also brought Western methods to prepare nitric acid, which was different from those of Taoists in the Ming Dynasty, but the result was the same. It can be said that the Ming Dynasty had sufficient laboratory foundation for the preparation of inorganic acids.

After digesting the knowledge base of his predecessors, Song Yingxing finally started a new journey through definition and naming. He led 300 students to study the methods of artificially producing soda ash and caustic soda, and also arranged manpower to study how to improve production capacity.

Because of the progress of chemistry, Zhu Cixuan had to establish the Huangming Name Determination Society. He named various units, elements, and product names.

Confucius said that if the name is not upright, the words will not be smooth, so the name is also the goal pursued by Confucianism, so he has high expectations for this name-based society. Not only did the cabinet join the society with the second auxiliary Sun Chuanting, but he also invited famous scholars from all over the country, such as Huang Daozhou, Liu Zongzhou and others to offer sacrifices. They are all great scholars who are well-educated and well-read. Even new things can find connections with the old things of the three generations, which is suitable for this kind of work.

Zhu Cilang mainly studied. Even if he was the emperor, he could not force the people of the world to change and adapt to himself, otherwise he would become a tyrant. Zhu Cilang did not become a tyrant, so he decided to follow the crowd in the general direction. For example, now, he is also used to using "yang action" to represent oxidation reactions and "yin elimination" to represent reduction reactions.

Of course, this is also related to Zhu Cilang's mediocre chemistry performance back then.

Seven years after Zhu Cilang implemented the "robbery of the rich and helping the poor", the Ming Dynasty's powerful families finally learned to pay taxes and declare property according to the rules. For them, paying taxes is an obligation, and claiming property is self-protection. Only by letting everyone know how much money they have can we avoid unintentional disasters, let alone worry that the "crime of unknown source of huge amounts of property" falls on themselves.

As for evading taxes through clan donations, it happened frequently in the Ming Dynasty. However, after seeing the imperial court's "exile of the clan", this behavior has been quite restrained. In the end, the family's wealth is the family, and there are still a large number of "innocent tribes". They are unwilling to be exiled by the government to places thousands of miles away by the government for this matter.

When expanding the use of "the crime of unknown origin of huge amounts of property", Zhu Cilang was still a little cautious, but after he tasted the sweetness of exile of the clan, he completely threw away the "modern rule of law idea" and ignored the cry of innocent people. He only focused on the proportion of Han and Mongolian population in the Hetao area, as well as the population growth rate of Australia and Haixi.

The reform of the legal and tax system allowed the Ming Dynasty's treasury to support the country's various expenses, but the military spending and scientific research expenses of millions of taels still made the Ming Dynasty's helmsman live in a terrifying manner.

"Your Majesty, if the number of officials continues to be expanded and administrative expenses are not controlled, the national treasury will be in short supply only in the next two years." Yao Tao finally straightened the position of the Ministry of Revenue and became the first female minister in Chinese history.

When Zhu Cilang heard Yao Tao say this, he knew that the female minister was still on her side. Otherwise, she would not have directly asked for funds from the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Personnel, without mentioning military expenditure. This loyalty is the pillar of Zhu Cilang's reform and the resistance of civil servants to form an overall bureaucratic group again.

"Where is open source? What other ways to open source can you think?" Zhu Cixuan asked.

Yao Tao showed confusion, slowed down her speech, and whispered: "Your Majesty, if you say it is open source, you may try it with war."

She also said: "I read that some people in the newspapers have proposed that the 'Southwest War and the Northwest War' may be carried out. Now, purchasing grain overseas is the largest foreign trade expense for our dynasty, and the rice prices in Annan and Siam are growing. If Siam and Annan can be conquered and reduce the cost of grain harvesting, it will be of great benefit to the country."

Zhu Cilang grinned and secretly lamented the inertia of agricultural civilization's thinking. Europeans colonized the world and wanted markets, specialties, precious metals and labor, while the Ming Dynasty still valued land more.

"It is easy to fight the southwest, but it is not easy to cultivate and cultivate. If you want long-term stability, it will be even more difficult." Zhu Cixuan said: "What can North Korea help relieve the pressure?"

"North Korea's ginseng and mink are already under our control. If we want to find a way from the North Korean side, we can only increase the mining of North Korean silver mines and impose regular taxes on North Korea." Yao Tao said.

"Your department submitted this matter to the cabinet to see what the cabinet masters mean." Zhu Cilang nodded: "I think Chen De can control several grain-producing areas in North Korea before the king's country next year."

"Your Majesty, there is also Hetao's land reclamation and cultivation. Can labor be introduced from North Korea?" Yao Tao said again: "The irrigated land available for reclamation is still at least millions of acres, which can greatly alleviate the national food needs."

Zhu Cilang nodded: "You can submit this matter to the cabinet together to see the cabinet's opinions."

Yao Tao remembered it in his mind and said, "Your Majesty, there is also the issue of Yunnan copper mining, which is quite obstructed by local mountain residents. Can we increase our troops in Yunnan?"

Southern provinces such as Yun, Guizhou, Sichuan, Lake, Fujian, and Guangdong have not achieved complete and thorough Chineseization until the thirty years after the reform and opening up. Even if they have entered the industrial age completely, this problem may not be solved, not to mention that the Ming Dynasty has not even touched the door to industrialization.

"It's a bit too much to use the army to suppress this matter." Zhu Cixuan said: "Instruct the ministry and report it to the cabinet to know."

Yao Tao looked at the important questions in her hands and had already received the answers, saying that she had retreated. When she returned to the ministry, she convened the chief officers to meet, formed a resolution, and arranged for personnel to communicate with the ministries. Although it seemed that His Majesty the Emperor had not made any decisions, his attitude was already very obvious.

Regarding the issue of the southwest conquest of Annan and Siam, the emperor did not support it; from the issue of North Korea's taxation, the emperor supported it very much, so as long as the cabinet had some cabinet masters agree, this matter could be implemented; however, the emperor was cautious in introducing the issue of North Korea's labor force, and the overall opinion of the cabinet was needed.

As for the army's suppression of the mountain people in Yunnan, the emperor opposed it very much and could not mention it any more.

This is the influence of status, and often there is no need to make a clear statement at all. This is also the reason why Emperor Shenzong was unable to attend court for decades and was able to firmly control the government.

Now Zhu Ciyang does not need to rely on the army to maintain his rule, because in the land of Ming Dynasty, as long as the crown of "emperor" is crowned, he has supreme authority. This greatly satisfies Zhu Ciyang's desire for power, but the ensuing crisis also makes the young emperor alert. He communicates with the cabinet much more on major issues than when he was the crown prince. (To be continued...)
Chapter completed!