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On one side of Zhongshan Mountain, there are large areas of lacquer trees, tung trees, and palm trees arranged in rows, lush and verdant, with a total of tens of thousands of trees.
Each of these trees has its own use. Lacquer trees are used to harvest raw lacquer, tung trees are used to extract tung nuts and tung oil, and palm trees are used to extract palm hair to make palm ropes. Raw lacquer, tung oil, and palm ropes are all essential items for shipbuilding.
In addition, a large number of fir trees, pine trees, pomelo trees, eucalyptus trees, sal trees, cone trees, cup-cracked incense trees, persimmon trees, etc. were planted in the Zhongshan area. They were all planted for the shipbuilding of Longjiang Shipyard in those days.
Since the Jiajing period, the Longjiang Shipyard has been basically abandoned. The trees planted for the shipyard have not been cut down for more than a hundred years. Some of them are even two hundred years old, towering into the sky and blocking out the sun.
Qin Mu estimated that this was the first time that humans had planted trees on such a large scale in such a planned way. He was very happy to see it. He immediately said to Han Zanzhou: "Since these trees have always been under the management of the Nanjing Internal Supervision Department, let's keep everything as it is. Starting next year, we must continue to expand the scale of tree planting and plant all the foothills of Zhongshan Mountain and within three miles of the foot of the mountain with fir, pine, and euphorbia to prepare for the needs of the shipyard."
When Han Zan heard this, he immediately smiled and agreed: "I obey your command."
Anyway, he doesn't have to plant the trees himself. As long as he can please Qin Mu, that is his ultimate goal. Han Zanzhou is worried about having nothing to do. Could it be that the King of Qin intends to put the Longjiang Shipyard under the management of the eunuchs? This is a lucrative job.
Qin Mu laughed and said, "You won't plant them in vain. These trees will be the property of the Internal Supervision Department in the future. If we sell them to the shipyard in the future, we can always get a lot of money."
"Sell it for money?"
Han Zanzhou was confused. These trees were originally planted for the shipyard, so how could they be sold? Not only Han Zanzhou couldn't figure it out, but even Gu Jun'en, Du Yinxi, Tan Qiubai and others who were accompanying him were also puzzled.
Qin Mu rode his horse slowly along the foot of the mountain. He said to the ministers who followed him, "Let's go back to the city and talk about it later."
After walking around outside Jinling City, Qin Mu finally decided to go into the city.
Fortunately, it was only the Forbidden City that was burned down a few days ago. The central government offices on both sides of the Qianbu Corridor on the Imperial Street outside Chengtian Gate were still intact. The officials of the six ministries who moved from Wuchang had already moved into these offices.
Qin Mu entered the city in a low profile and saw that the Thousand-Step Corridor on the Imperial Street was already a busy scene. Military reports from various places and memorials from officials from various regions were flying in like snowflakes, and horses were galloping non-stop.
Especially in front of the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Revenue, there was a jam of carriages and horses outside.
Wars were still going on everywhere, and cities in Jiangsu and Zhejiang urgently needed to send troops and officials to take over garrison and governance. It was thanks to the efficient operation of the six ministries and the cabinet that Qin Mu was able to spare the time to go to Jiangyin and Yangzhou under such circumstances.
When Qin Munei returned to Prince Zhongshan's Palace, Yang Zhi came out to greet him with her son and Li Xiangjun and several other girls. They had just arrived in Jinling the day before yesterday, and after not seeing each other for several months, everyone's face was filled with joy.
Seeing his son could actually walk unsteadily, Qin Mu couldn't help but be overjoyed. He picked him up, stroked his pigtails and said with a smile, "Son, good job. Come here. Let daddy kiss you."
The father and son were rarely together, and the son was a little unfamiliar with him. He was very embarrassed and burst into tears, twisting his little body to find his mother. This made Qin Mu, the father, quite embarrassed.
Yang Zhi was wearing a palace dress embroidered with madder and red and purple magnolia, and a double-knotted Ruyi hairpin with white jade and red coral beads in her hair. She looked noble and elegant. When her son started crying, she hurried over to comfort him, saying, "Be good, Ye'er, don't cry, let daddy hold you."
But it was no use coaxing him, the boy kept crying, and he kept trying to get into his mother's arms. Qin Mu had no choice but to hand his son to her.
Then it was Li Xiangjun and Dong Xiaowan's turn to come forward and bow. They were both extremely beautiful and graceful, and they bowed gracefully, with a fragrant aroma that filled the air.
Unfortunately, the cabinet was very annoying. The family had just reunited when a large basket of memorials was sent to him for review. Qin Mu wanted to curse, but thinking that the country was still unsettled and there was a lot of work to be done, he had to have the basket of memorials carried back to the study. After hurriedly eating some snacks, he began to review the memorials.
Yang Zhi was considerate and asked Li Xiangjun and Dong Xiaowan to come, one to burn incense and serve tea, and the other to grind ink and spread paper. With beautiful women by her side, reviewing memorials was not boring at all, and she worked very efficiently. After two hours of hard work, she finished reviewing all the urgent memorials.
He also sent someone to summon Sima An and Xu Yingjie to discuss matters. While the two were not there, he spent some time with the two beauties, Li Xiangjun and Dong Xiaowan.
When a maid came outside the door to report that Sima An and Xu Yingjie had arrived, the two beauties retreated with blushing faces.
Sima An looked calm, but Xu Yingjie was a little nervous. Although Qin Mu did not blame him for causing such a big mess, he was still afraid that Qin Mu might have some grudge in his heart.
"Mr. Sima, Xu Qing, please sit down." Qin Mu said in a gentle voice.
"Thank you, King Qin, for letting me sit down."
After the two of them sat down halfway, Sima An spoke first and asked, "The King of Qin just returned to the capital. I wonder what he wants from you?"
It would have been better if he hadn't said that. After hearing this, Qin Mu couldn't help but feel angry. I just returned to the capital and haven't even caught my breath yet, and you guys sent me a large basket of memorials. Now you know that I just returned to the capital
"Ahem!" Qin Mu coughed twice calmly and said, "I asked you to come here mainly to discuss the matter of Longjiang Treasure Shipyard."
Qin Mu ran around outside the city, went to see the shipyard, and walked around the woods. Sima An had actually guessed that he might be talking about the shipyard, and he had a plan in mind, so he immediately said: "King Qin, the palace city has not been built yet, the war in Jiangbei has started again, and the Bolo in Jiangnan is still fleeing. All places urgently need to send personnel to govern, and the mines in Ma'anshan need to be mined. At this time, everything is complicated. I think it is too hasty to rebuild the Longjiang Treasure Shipyard on a large scale. For shipbuilding, the Yuezhou Shipyard is enough."
"I know all of this, so I came to discuss it with you."
"Does the King of Qin have other plans?"
"Yes, I have other ideas. Zheng Zhilong is still eyeing Chongming Island, but my Great Qin Navy can do nothing about it. If we want to pacify Fujian, a strong navy is indispensable. In addition, in the future Northern Expedition, if we have a strong navy, we can lead the Tartar troops to the Central Plains, and then use the navy to transport troops directly to Yanjing or Shanhaiguan. In short, we will have the upper hand in strategy. The construction of the navy is not a one-day job, so we can't delay it any longer. Longjiang Treasure Shipyard must be rebuilt as soon as possible."
Sima An also thought that what Qin Mu said made sense, but now was not the right time, so he began to frown.
Qin Mu did not wait for him to refute, and continued: "The court does not have the spare capacity to rebuild the shipyard now. This is clear to me, so I plan to find another way and let the Longjiang Shipyard be built by wealthy merchants."
Sima An and Xu Yingjie were both stunned when they heard this. Throughout the dynasties, it was the imperial court that set up the shipbuilding business, and the ships used by the imperial court were all built by official shipyards. They had never heard of handing over the shipping business to merchants.
"I have thought about it. It is not only very expensive for the court to build a shipyard, but also easy to breed corruption after a large amount of money is invested in the shipyard, and the efficiency is extremely low. It is better to hand over the shipyard to merchants to operate. The court only needs to place shipbuilding orders to the shipyard. In this way, it will not only save trouble and effort, but also save a lot of expenses. Not only Longjiang Shipyard, but also Yueyang Shipyard, I am also willing to sell it to merchants to operate."
This happened too suddenly. Sima An's mind was full of thoughts. He pondered for a while and said, "King Qin, this may not be appropriate. Merchants pursue profits. Shipbuilding is a major national event. How can we leave it to merchants..."
"Hahaha..." Qin Mu interrupted Sima An and said, "Don't use this nonsense. There is no such thing as nothing without profit. It's not just businessmen who pursue profit. Who in this world doesn't pursue profit? The government-run shipyards have many drawbacks. I'm sure you all know that. I'm too lazy to say more. Let the businessmen run it, and many drawbacks can be avoided.
Well, you can think about this matter first, but Longjiang Treasure Shipyard must be rebuilt as soon as possible. If you can't find sufficient reasons to object, I will implement it.
Xu Qing, spread the word first to see if there are any wealthy merchants willing to run a shipyard. Tell them that they don't have to worry about not having ships to build. Once the Longjiang Shipyard is handed over to private operation, the court will no longer have an official shipyard, and all the ships needed by the court will be ordered from them."
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Please give me a monthly ticket!
Please give me a monthly ticket!
Please give me a monthly ticket! (To be continued...)
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