From a son-in-law to a favorite of the empress

Chapter 777

I have to go.

After all, it is May 25th, and the situation in the south has reached the edge of crisis. Everything and everyone is waiting for me to make the decision.

Chaozhou merchants, Kolodiya, Baochuan Factory, island pirates, many things come together, and they are completely inseparable from the situation at sea.

Deng Bochi, this old man, has obvious advantages and disadvantages. He is knowledgeable, understands politics, and can do things, but he is limited to class and pays more attention to the interests of his own class. At the same time, he can also focus on the dignity of the entire Dajin and hate foreigners.

He is simply a microcosm of officials of this era.

But in any case, he did say a few nice words. The people in the trading ports have been bullied, and it is time to go south.

Zhou Yuan first went to the Qinshui Princess's Mansion, hugged the child, said goodbye to Qinshui and Bishui, and warned Baixue Xiaolucha to be obedient.

This made Bai Xue feel very aggrieved. She pouted and said, "Sir, am I not obedient enough? My little body is a big treasure. My body has grown up according to your preference."

Zhou Yuan touched her three heads and said slowly, "When I return from the south, maybe it will be the time for your family to reunite. During this time in Shenjing, please help me take good care of Peixian and Yunxian."

Bai Xue's eyes lit up and she said immediately, "Don't worry, Xue'er will be fine. Everyone knows that I am a smooth talker."

Is this what I am talking about?

Zhou Yuan had a headache, but he still said goodbye to them reluctantly.

After returning to the Duke's Mansion, Zhao Jianjia seemed to have noticed something before she spoke, and smiled: "The group of students in the Imperial Academy are clamoring for my husband to set questions for the exam."

"A gentleman treats others with sincerity, let alone the King of Zhongwu. My husband, you must do what you promised."

Zhou Yuan smiled helplessly and said: "These children are too young. I really don't want to take them south. The sea is not a good place. Losing your life is not a joke."

"But since they asked, let's take a test!"

Zhou Yuan didn't really know much about naval warfare. It was just that the sporadic organizational learning in his previous life allowed him to establish some basic logic.

He could only set some common sense questions, and these common sense questions were actually difficult enough in this era.

For example, how does a sailing warship sail against the wind?

How to load ammunition for a ship-borne falconet?

What are the most deadly positions on a warship? What is the reason?

The navy of the Great Jin Dynasty was originally very strong. Why did it decline?

What are the traditional naval warfare techniques? Analyze their advantages and disadvantages.

Zhou Yuan asked about twenty questions like this.

Zhao Jianjia was watching from the side, and the more she looked, the more headache she had. Finally, she smiled bitterly and said, "I can't answer any of these questions, but I believe that some of those students should be able to answer them. After all, they have found a few missionaries from the West these days and asked them about these questions."

Zhou Yuan smiled and said, "If they can answer more than twelve of them correctly, why not take them with me?"

He really didn't think that these young students could figure out these questions in just a few days. Missionaries may not understand ships.

But it was obvious that Zhou Yuan was too happy too early.

When he woke up the next day, he pushed Ziyuan away from his arms, pulled the beads out of Qingyuan's body, kissed Jianjia, and then slowly got out of bed.

Then he realized that the entrance to the Duke's Mansion was already full of people.

The great scholars, led by Mr. Qiaoshan, shouted and banged on the door, while arguing with Mingrui behind the door.

When Zhou Yuan heard the report, he was confused. I just asked a question, how could I irritate Mr. Qiaoshan?

After opening the vermilion door, a group of old scholars were about to curse, but they saw Zhou Yuan was there, so they quickly covered their mouths and became honest one by one.

Zhou Yuan said: "Mr. Qiaoshan, gentlemen from the Imperial Academy, you came to my Duke's Mansion... Oh no, the plaque has been changed, what are you doing in my Zhongwu Prince's Mansion?"

Many old scholars swallowed their saliva, looked at each other, and said nothing.

They seemed to be honest in an instant.

Shen Qiaoshan opened his mouth and advised earnestly: "That... Ziyi, you want to go south to do great things, we scholars have no objection, but you must not take our students with you!"

"You can take others, but not Bai Yu, he is a top scholar, comparable to Kong Cunzhen in the past!"

Zhou Yuan smiled and said: "Mr. Qiaoshan misunderstood, I don't want to take anyone with me, their affairs should be decided by themselves, if you want to keep him, you should go to him to discuss it, not to me."

"Of course, if you want to stay in the Duke's Mansion for dinner, I am also very welcome."

"Mingrui, go to ZhongchengCall the military officers to prepare food for the old gentlemen! "

Hearing this, many old Confucian scholars hurriedly bowed, saying polite words while running away in shame.

Shen Qiaoshan's face was full of sweat, and he didn't dare to say anything more, but shouted: "Ziyi, your father-in-law will soon come to Beijing, don't mess around!"

He didn't dare to stay for long, for fear that Zhou Yuan would turn against him and ignore his dignity.

Sure enough, not long after, Bai Yu and others came to visit.

Dozens of people gave their answers and asked Zhou Yuan to review and rate them.

Zhou Yuan took them to the study and looked at their answers carefully, but he was more and more shocked.

It's impossible, it shouldn't be, how can these young people know so much about sailing warships? How can they know traditional naval techniques such as boarding, ramming, and boarding, and even know the processes of loading, firing, and cleaning the falconets clearly.

Even some answers were obviously not made up on the spot, but were the result of long-term thinking, because they were mixed with various private goods, including but not limited to brand-new naval warfare techniques, and expounded on the redundancy and drawbacks of today's naval warfare.

Especially Bai Yu, he even analyzed at length how the Jin navy declined and how powerful the Western navy was.

"Since Emperor Taizu succeeded to the throne, he created a peaceful and prosperous era. He sent fleets to cruise to the South Seas many times, reaching the countries in the South Seas to promote the prestige of our Celestial Empire. The shipbuilding industry has developed, with dozens of large ships and thousands of small boats."

"After Emperor Shun ascended the throne, he implemented a maritime ban policy, and the demand for ships in the Jin Dynasty dropped sharply, and the shipbuilding industry declined. For a hundred years, our Jin Dynasty has no large ships except for the navy in the north and south."

"And the warships of the countries outside the sky have become larger and larger due to the needs of maritime trade and world exploration, and the shipbuilding industry has developed rapidly. Today, the level has far exceeded that of the Jin Dynasty. "

With hundreds of words, it seems that the magnificent maritime situation has been described. The logic is clear and the writing is not pretentious, which makes people admire it.

Even Zhou Yuan couldn't help asking: "Where did you learn this knowledge?"

Bai Yu scratched his head and smiled: "After the defeat in the Battle of Guangdong Sea, some of us began to study these things. We consulted many senior officers of the navy and some foreign missionaries, and accumulated them slowly."

Zhou Yuan took a deep breath and felt a lot in his heart.

So people, don't be arrogant.

Many people you look down on are also silently paying attention to the situation in the world, making their own efforts, and gradually keeping up with the pace of the times.

There are always more than one smart people in the world.

I, Zhou Yuan, claim to shoulder the fate of the country, but in fact, the fate of the country is not just on me.

It is also on them.