Chapter 1382 The Emperor’s Praise!
After hearing what Chen Changgui said, Ye Mingsheng seemed to have thought of something and asked:

"Now that the steam engine has been developed, the focus of your next work should be on the practical application of the steam engine, such as steam textile machines, or using steam engines to power warships. These are the directions you need to explore!"

Chen Changgui hesitated for a moment and said:
"Your Majesty, we already have some ideas about the steam loom. Give us some time and it shouldn't be a big problem. But we currently have no idea about using the steam engine to power the warships!"

Hearing him say this, Ye Mingsheng immediately asked:

"Are you having any trouble with this?"

"Your Majesty, this is the case. Although we have craftsmen who know how to build ships in the First Manufacturing Bureau, since it is a warship, it has combat requirements. However, no one in our First Manufacturing Bureau knows about naval warfare. We have also asked the General Staff to arrange a few people to come and explain to us how to fight naval battles!"

Chen Changgui paused for a moment, looking as if he wanted to say something but hesitated. Seeing this, Ye Mingsheng immediately asked:
"What's going on? Chen Changgui, don't be so hesitant with me!"

"Your Majesty, we do have few people in Daqian who are proficient in naval warfare. The few people assigned by the General Staff Department only have a limited understanding of naval warfare. Therefore, our Manufacturing Bureau does not have a full understanding of the needs of naval warfare, and some work is difficult to carry out."

"After all, our manufacturing bureau has very limited human and material resources. If we invest blindly, I'm afraid it will cause some unnecessary losses and waste..."

Ye Mingsheng hesitated for a moment and said:
"I understand your idea. I will find some people who are proficient in naval warfare to introduce to you. You must not let down your guard when building the ironclad ship!"

"Your Majesty, rest assured that our First Manufacturing Bureau will definitely treat this matter as a top priority!"

Ye Mingsheng nodded slightly when he heard this, and then encouraged Su Junjie beside him. Although this steam engine was nominally jointly developed by the First Manufacturing Bureau and the Second Manufacturing Bureau, due to some historical reasons, the research and development capabilities of the First Manufacturing Bureau were much higher than those of the Second Manufacturing Bureau, but the Second Manufacturing Bureau was the richer one.

So it is a joint research and development, but in fact the First Manufacturing Bureau is responsible for more research and development work, while the Second Manufacturing Bureau provides money and some materials. Therefore, during today's inspection, Su Junjie from the Second Manufacturing Bureau looks like a passerby.

After finishing all the work, Ye Mingsheng also got on the carriage back to the palace. After an incense stick of time, when Ye Mingsheng returned to the imperial study to continue other work for the day, Ye Cheng reported to him:
"Your Majesty! Minister Gu from the Ministry of Personnel sent a message saying that he had contracted a minor illness and needed to rest for a few days!"

Ye Mingsheng frowned slightly after hearing this. He had just dismissed Zhang Xiong from the position of Minister of Personnel and replaced him with Cui Hang yesterday. Now Gu Sansi asked for leave. Could it be that Gu Sansi had objections to his appointment, so he was upset and on strike?
Thinking of this, Ye Mingsheng also asked:
"Is this because of Zhang Xiong's dismissal?"

Ye Cheng hesitated for a moment and said:
"Your Majesty, in my humble opinion, it should not be because of this matter. When I drafted this decree and sent it out last night, it was already 12 o'clock last night. At that time, Minister Gu had already returned home. He should not have known about this last night..."

Ye Mingsheng nodded slightly, and then Ye Cheng continued to speak:

"Your Majesty, the inner guards just reported that something happened in the ancient mansion last night!"

Hearing this, Ye Mingsheng became interested and asked:
"What happened? Is it something serious?"

"Your Majesty, this is Minister Gu's family affair, but it may not be a small matter for Minister Gu. Last night, Minister Gu's concubine Chen Wanting was injured by Minister Gu's eldest daughter Gu Qianqian with a slingshot!"

"After the truth was revealed, Gu Qianqian not only did not repent, but also said in front of Minister Gu that her mother Wang went crazy because of Chen Wanting's interference, so she wanted to avenge her mother and kill Chen Wanting and her young son. It is said that Minister Gu was so angry that he was shaking all over and couldn't speak after hearing this!"

Ye Mingsheng was also a little surprised when he heard this. He had heard before that things were not very peaceful in Gu Sansi's inner house, but he didn't expect it to escalate to the point of murder. This was indeed a bit exaggerated.

"How is Gu Sansi's condition? Has the imperial physician from the medical school visited him?"

"I've already checked it out. They said that Gu Sansi doesn't have any serious problems, but he's still upset and needs to rest for a few days!"

Ye Mingsheng nodded slightly when he heard this:
"In this case, let Gu Sansi have a good rest at home, and let the Left Assistant Minister Shen Changhong temporarily take charge of the daily work of the Ministry of Personnel!"

"Yes!"

After finishing talking about Gu Sansi, Ye Cheng also brought a stack of memorials to Ye Mingsheng and said:
"Your Majesty, among the memorials that need to be processed today, the two placed above are the most important. The first one was sent by Commander Zhang Meng from Jiangnan, and the second one was sent by Governor Zhao Wanxian. It is a report on his plan to repair the road from Yujing to Yecheng..."

Ye Mingsheng nodded slightly and started to work on reviewing the memorials. Things have different priorities. Since Ye Cheng said that these two memorials are the most important, Ye Mingsheng will start with these two.

After the last staff meeting, Ye Mingsheng also felt that what Feng Cheng said made sense. Although he had never been to Yunqian and Baiyue, he had heard that the terrain in these places was rugged and complex, and that poisonous miasma was rampant. Because of this, in the past, the Great Zhou had only nominal control over this place, and its actual control was very poor, and most of the local power belonged to the local chieftains.

According to the investigation report of the Coordination Office, these chieftains have a lot of soldiers, some of them are tens of thousands, some are thousands, and all of them may be close to 100,000. But these soldiers are all a mob, lacking training, equipment, and fighting will. They can rush forward when the wind is in their favor, but once they fall into a disadvantageous situation, they will lack resilience and scatter.

If the decisive battle was to take place on the plains, even if the other side could put aside all their internal conflicts and prejudices and unite, Ye Mingsheng fully believed that the First Army would completely defeat the other side.

But this battle took place on the enemy's territory, so Ye Mingsheng felt that what Feng Cheng said made sense. It was necessary to consider the topography, local culture and customs, climate conditions and other factors, and make full preparations before starting military operations...

Because of this, Ye Mingsheng later gave Zhang Meng a military order, asking Zhang Meng to conduct a more detailed investigation of Baiyue, Yunqian and other places.

Now Zhang Meng has also sent a report to Ye Mingsheng. To be honest, Ye Mingsheng was a little surprised that Zhang Meng sent him a new report so quickly. After all, it has only been about two months since he sent the order to Zhang Meng. Excluding some time on the road, the time left for Zhang Meng to collect intelligence again can be said to be very little!
Thinking of this, Ye Mingsheng also opened the memorial and began to read. After half a cup of tea, Ye Mingsheng couldn't help but frowned. Although Zhang Meng's report on Yunqian, Baiyue and other regions this time was indeed more detailed than the last time, with about fifty pages, to be honest, it still could not make Ye Mingsheng completely satisfied.

Ye Mingsheng also found out why Zhang Meng sent the memorial again so quickly. Zhang Meng still did not want to give up his previous battle plan.

This fierce general of the Fengwu Army begged Ye Mingsheng to approve his battle plan and start military operations in September. Zhang Meng was willing to sign a military order to sweep across Yunnan and Qian within two months, rest for a month, and conquer the Baiyue in Lingnan in the first half of next year. If he failed, he was willing to be punished by military law.

Seeing this, Ye Mingsheng was a little conflicted. If possible, he still hoped that Zhang Meng would make more thorough preparations before starting military operations...

But seeing Zhang Meng's confidence, Ye Mingsheng was somewhat tempted. After all, the imperial court had already spent a lot of money and food and made a lot of preliminary preparations for the attack on Baiyue and Yunqian, and the goal of the preparations was to launch an offensive in the autumn.

Therefore, every day of delay would consume supplies worth hundreds or even thousands of taels of silver. Thinking of this, Ye Mingsheng decided to let professionals do professional things and let Chief of Staff Zhao Han and other staff members of the General Staff, both big and small, to evaluate whether Zhang Meng should launch an offensive in the autumn.

Now that the decision had been made, Ye Mingsheng immediately asked Ye Cheng to forward the memorial to the General Staff, and asked Zhao Han and the staff members of the General Staff to conduct simulation and evaluation overnight.

Then Ye Mingsheng began to read the memorial sent by Zhao Wanxian.

Although this was the first time that Zhao Wanxian mentioned the road construction to Ye Mingsheng, Ye Mingsheng had heard Ye Cheng mention this matter before and had some understanding of it.

However, Zhao Wanxian's memorial at this time was more detailed than Ye Cheng's. In the memorial, Zhao Wanxian demonstrated to Ye Mingsheng from all aspects the importance of rebuilding the roads between Yecheng and Yujing.

The governor of Hebei and Henan believed that many sections of the road from Yecheng to Yujing had fallen into disrepair. Once it rained or snowed, the entire road would become very muddy, which would not only be detrimental to the travel of the people and merchants, but also to the economic development of Hebei and Henan.

He believed that with the economic scale of Yecheng and Yujing, once this road was successfully repaired, it would become a new economic artery for the entire Hebei and Henan regions, greatly promoting the economic development of Hebei and Henan.
After arguing the importance of building this road and envisioning the beautiful scene after the road is successfully repaired, Zhao Wanxian also introduced his road construction plan to Ye Mingsheng.

The plan to repair the road from Yecheng to Yijing will last for three years, with a total investment of approximately 380,000 taels of silver. The Hebei-Henan Provincial Government will contribute 180,000 taels of silver, and the remaining 200,000 taels of silver will be raised through bonds.

Zhao Wanxian has already found investors. The Hu family in Jiangnan invested 50,000 taels of silver, Jiang Yuyan invested 30,000 taels of silver, Wanfu Ticket Shop owner Sun Wenheng invested 20,000 taels of silver, and a businessman named Zhang Xing in Jiangnan invested 15,000 taels of silver. These taels of silver are enough to start the entire plan.
As for the subsequent 85,000 taels of silver, Zhao Wanxian planned to sell it through public sale. Zhao Wanxian was confident that the gentry and local tyrants of all sizes in Hebei and Henan would take out 85,000 taels of silver to buy bonds to support his plan to repair the road and the economic development of Hebei and Henan.

Therefore, according to Zhao Wanxian's plan, the court did not need to spend any money to repair the road from Yecheng to Yujing. All it needed was Ye Mingsheng to approve Zhao Wanxian's plan, and then the construction could begin.

Although Ye Mingsheng was skeptical about the Hu family's motives for investing 50,000 taels of silver in this venture, he also knew that Zhao Wanxian was already a rare talent.

In fact, Ye Mingsheng knew the importance of this road without Zhao Wanxian's introduction in the memorial. When he went to inspect Hebei and Henan before, Murong Yuliang, the then governor of Hebei and Henan, mentioned this idea to Ye Mingsheng...

However, Murong Yuliang's first thought at that time was not to repair the road. Murong Yuliang believed that the previous road had many unreasonable aspects for some reasons. Therefore, as time went by, rebuilding a road from Yecheng to Yujing was a more reasonable choice.

However, Murong Yuliang later calculated the cost of rebuilding the road and found that the cost of building the road might not only take eight to ten years, but would also require at least 800,000 taels of silver. So Murong Yuliang gave up the idea of ​​building a new road and instead chose to repair the old road.

However, many sections of the old road have been in disrepair for many years, and it is difficult to repair them and requires a lot of money. As a traditional official, Murong Yuliang's mind is not as open and bold as Zhao Wanxian's. He wants to issue bonds to raise funds. His idea is still conservative. He wants to wait for the Fengwu Army to unify the country, and then the court will use the money to repair the road after peace is restored.

But unfortunately, Murong Yuliang did not wait for that day. Under Ye Mingsheng's order, he resigned from the post of Governor of Jiyu and became the Governor of Huainan!

And now that Zhao Wanxian is the governor, he has once again proposed the idea of ​​repairing the road, which is enough to show the necessity of this matter!
At this moment, Ye Mingsheng recalled the feeling of the carriage bumping on the road when he inspected Hebei and Henan. Thinking of this, Ye Mingsheng finally wrote a "approval" on Zhao Wanxian's memorial and withdrew his own seal.

Ye Mingsheng admired Zhao Wanxian's style of solving his own problems and not being bound by rules and regulations at work.

In Ye Mingsheng's view, as long as it is beneficial to the country and the people, any method can be tried...