Rebirth of the Four Seas Emperor

In mid-April, the results of the Battle of Guangzhou were reported back to the Xia court, and the whole country was in an uproar.

Princess Wenjun's popularity among the people reached its peak.

Regarding the merits and demerits of Princess Wenjun, the important officials in the court quarreled.

Some people think that it is a serious crime for the princess to leave the palace without permission and betray the royal dignity. She also recruits soldiers and horses privately and ignores the law. She should be punished by an additional level, and the family members should be sent to capture her and keep her under strict supervision.

Some people also believe that the princess's contribution to protecting her family and country and pacifying the war in Guangzhou was equal to her merits and demerits.

Only a few people think that the princess saved all the people from fire and water, and her merits outweigh her faults, so she deserves a heavy reward.

Ji Honghe didn't have any ideas in mind. He was really old and had long lost the decisiveness of his youth.

All he could think about was how to balance the relationship between the ministers in the DPRK and China. He just wanted to use this matter to make the two factions quarrel more fiercely. Only when the ministers were not united could he, the emperor, sit back and relax.

But he forgot one thing. The person at the center of public opinion this time was his biological daughter, and he also had a mother-in-law who doted on her extremely.

At the beginning of May, the court was still quarreling about Princess Wenjun.

No one cares about the cause of the quarrel anymore. The struggle between the two important ministers Ma Wenwen and Zou Xuehai has reached a fever pitch.

This princess incident has become a battlefield for the power struggle between the two people. As for the fate of the princess, what does it have to do with them?What will happen to the country has nothing to do with them.

Ji Hong and Gao Si, who were on the throne, were also a little impatient with the princess who had been arguing for more than half a month about going out to fight against the thieves, and wanted to settle it.

"Can there be a conclusion about Ma Aiqing's princess today? How to arrange the [-] people temporarily recruited by Bao'an County? We also need to make a plan as soon as possible."

Ma Wenwen saluted and replied:

"Returning to Your Majesty, I believe that although the princess led the troops to rescue Guangzhou City, she has merit, but she also has faults, and it is appropriate to balance the merits and faults. As for the [-] people recruited by Bao'an County, there is currently no money left in the treasury, so they will be dismissed on the spot. Bar."

Ji Honghe nodded, then looked at Zou Xuehai and said:

"Zou Qing thinks Ma Qing's plan is feasible?"

Zou Xuehai replied loudly:

"Your Majesty, I believe that we should immediately send our clan members to Guangzhou to capture Princess Wenjun and take her into custody because she has three crimes:

First, leaving the palace privately would be a loss of royal dignity;

Second, the crime of privately recruiting soldiers and horses is increased;

Thirdly, my dynasty Taizu has ordered that a man should marry at the age of sixteen and a woman at the age of fourteen. The princess has passed the age of breaking a melon, but has not yet married. This violates the ancestral precepts and should be punished.

With these three sins, no amount of great achievements can offset them... "

Before Zou Xuehai finished speaking, a beautiful woman in white clothes burst in from outside the hall. She held a white silk ribbon in both hands and shouted while walking up to the hall:

"When Guangzhou was besieged and the rebels were in full force, no one spoke; when the Nanhai Guards despised the imperial power and refused to send troops, no one spoke; a daughter who was not yet in her prime risked her life in the battle, but no one spoke; now the rebels have been It has been eliminated, and someone has spoken. There are three good crimes, and Mr. Zou Ge really has no human words. Your Majesty, the Emperor, I am going to the palace today to beg Your Majesty to grant death."

After saying that, he knelt down in front of the emperor and raised the Bai Ling in his hand high above his head. This person was Ji Wenjun's biological mother, Concubine Lin.

Ji Honghe was greatly embarrassed and hurriedly asked someone to help him out:

"My dear concubine, why are you doing this? If you have anything else to do, wait until I return to the palace to talk about it. Please step aside first."

Concubine Lin suddenly roared:

"Who dares to touch me today?"

Due to the power, all the eunuchs did not dare to move and could only listen honestly.

Concubine Lin raised her head and stared at Ji Honghe and said:

"Your Majesty the Emperor, when the country was in crisis, no one in the civil or military dynasty cared about your Majesty's worries. It was your daughter who sacrificed her life and charged into battle to stabilize half of the country in the south. She was still a child. She had to endure a lot of hardships to earn this. It’s okay if you don’t reward the victory for this victory. You still think about punishment. Is this what people should say? Your Majesty, have you heard what the people outside are saying? They are building a shrine to Wenjun. , even they know how grateful they are for Wenjun’s kindness, but what about the court?”

Wrinkle Xuehai said:

"What do you fools understand? A merit is a merit, a fault is a fault. The court must make clear rewards and punishments. The princess' faults come first, so she must..."

Concubine Lin shouted angrily:

"Wu Xuehai, you are a despicable villain who seeks personal revenge. It is clearly because my emperor failed to investigate Chen Tonghe's case last time, causing your most proud disciple to destroy the three tribes. You hate my emperor, so you are taking revenge on me. Regarding my daughter, I don’t know how you, a shameless person like you, had the honor to continue to stay in the position of second assistant. First, Chen Tong and his disciples embezzled 20 shi of food in Guangzhou, and then Guangzhou was surrounded without saying a word, etc. My daughter defeated the thief and now she is eloquent. How can you, a corpse-like creature, have the nerve to comment on my daughter's merits and demerits? She has already lived in a dog's belly at such an old age. You shameless old thing..."

Wrinkle Xuehai's face turned blue and white as he was scolded by Concubine Lin, but due to the other party's identity, he could not scold him back. After being stunned for a moment, he finally felt that he could not bear it, so he knelt down and said:

"Your Majesty, I am old and frail. Please allow me to retire and return to my hometown."

Just as Ji Honghe was about to speak, Concubine Lin became angry first, and she was so angry that she rushed up and scratched Wuxuehai a lot on the face:

"You damn treacherous minister, you still want to force me into the palace. I will fight with you today to Qingjun..."

When Ji Honghe saw this farce, he finally became furious:

"It's nonsense. Concubine Lin disturbed the court. She was immediately taken into custody by the Zongren Mansion for self-examination. She violated the etiquette in front of the Xuehai Palace. She will be executed immediately with twenty sticks. Retreat from the court."

……

In early May, Hou Yao finally returned to Bao'an County with the Bao'an Army.

The first thing I did when I came back was to go to the shipyard to see the "Manila Galleon" that the one-eyed dragon talked about so miraculously.

Of course, the one who was more impatient than him was Wei Daxing, the insignificant shipyard master craftsman.

In a war, the role of personal force is not very big, so Wei Daxing and Hou Yao actually did nothing during their expedition.

He had wanted to come back alone earlier, but Hou Yao had always suppressed him. The reason was that everyone had to follow the army.

Wei Daxing could only suppress his curiosity and endure it.

Finally able to return to the shipyard, Wei Daxing ran to see the ship without even returning home.

Hou Yao also followed him towards the dock.There are still more than ten Manila galleons parked at the pier, which looks spectacular.

But Hou Yao didn't know much about boats. He just saw that the boat was big enough and it felt pretty good, but it was naturally a little short of what he wanted.

"Master Wei, what do you think of these ships? I've looked at them and they're fine. I just don't know how the power is."

Hou Yao was walking around on the boat without noticing Wei Daxing behind him, who was full of doubts about the boat in front of him.

Although these ships are slightly different, the general design ideas and concepts are the same as the largest transport ship in his "Shipbuilding Notes". I don't know if it is a coincidence.

Hou Yao walked around the boat and came back. Seeing that Wei Daxing was still there, he asked:

"What's wrong? Is there something wrong with this ship?"

Only then did Wei Daxing come back to his senses:

"Ah? Your Excellency, there is nothing wrong with the ship. It is a really good ship. However, I have a question. Your Excellency said before that Ambassador Wu was killed by the leader of the Haima Gang. Can this be confirmed?"

Hou Yao thought for a moment, how could this be confirmed?It was all Jiang Hong said, and he didn't see it at all.Even Jiang Hong didn't see it with his own eyes.

"I can't seem to confirm it."

"Sir, if it is not a coincidence, I think this ship was probably built by Mr. Wu. The design of this ship cannot be said to be very similar to the 'Talking on the Waves and Pinghai Cargo Ship' that Mr. Wu and I designed together. It is exactly the same. There is no one in the world who can build such a ship, except Master Wu and I, I really can’t think of anyone who has the ability to build such a large transport ship.”

"If this is the case, Ambassador Wu should not have been killed by Bai Bo, but escaped. It is very likely that he fled to Luzon Island, and then was requisitioned by the Spanish. As it happens, I plan to let that Ravi Za Reese took us to Manila, where this ship was built, and if Ambassador Wu is still alive, he should be there."

Wei Daxing said excitedly:

"Really? That's great. When do we leave?"

Hou Yao looked dumbfounded and said:

"Master Wei, we have just returned. We need to rest for a while, otherwise the soldiers will not be able to bear it."

Wei Daxing scratched his head in embarrassment:

"Hug... I'm sorry, I just forgot that Manila is a city of barbarians. Let's go there and we have to fight."

Hou Yao also smiled, Wei Daxing was indeed idle and confused.

"Okay, you go ahead and do your work, I'm going back to the Yamen."

As soon as Hou Yao turned around, he heard Wei Daxing shouting from behind:

"Sir, wait, um... I originally planned to build a few of these large sailing ships to solve the problem of transporting ore from Nanhai Mansion, but now there are forty ships, do I still want to build them?"

Hou Yao turned around and thought about it. One of these ships requires 300 people, and forty ships means more than 1 people. Now the Cuttlefish Gang only has more than 1 people in total. These forty ships can't be built, and they can't build any more. For human use.

"Don't make it anymore."

Wei Daxing said with a disappointed look:

"If it doesn't build, then what can the shipyard do? It can't just be a repair job, right?"

Hou Yao thought about it for a while. Such a large shipyard must do something, and said:

"Build a flagship. You can look at the arrangements yourself and try to build it as big as possible. The key point is that the firepower must be strong enough..."

Wei Daxing said excitedly:

"Sir, let's build a treasure ship. The largest treasure ship can carry soldiers and [-] cannons. It is not far behind the legendary Kunpeng flagship."

"Okay, let's build a treasure ship..."

……

In the yamen, Jiang Qi was respectfully reporting to Hou Yao the situation in the county during this period.

Although Hou Yao has not been in the county for a long time, his power has not diminished but increased. Most of the officers in the yamen respect him as a god, and no one dares to disobey him.

"Sir, the main cement roads in several major areas in the county have been completed, and the road to Hong Kong has also been repaired. As for the problem of the bridge, the Engineering Department has never had a feasible plan. This repair At present, no one dares to contract the cement bridge project. I have failed my duty, and I ask your lord to punish me."