The weather was getting colder, but Li Jie took a boat south and walked warmer. When the fleet was about to reach the estuary of the Yangtze River, Li Jie had to change into single clothes. You should know that cotton clothes are already on this season in the north.

"Li Bandu, further forward is Suzhou, we will be separated by then!" At this moment, a man walked to Li Jie and spoke, it was Gu Xuewen, a businessman who went on a war with the army.

"Aren't you going to the capital?" Li Jie also showed a look of surprise when he heard this. This time he came back from Japan, and many businessmen such as Gu Xuewen came back with his ship. After all, Li Jie brought several warships, which guaranteed safety.

Speaking of which, Gu Xuewen and others also made money in Goryeo and Japan. They not only bought Zhang Dingbian and others' trophy at a low price, but also traded privately with Goryeo and Japan. Each ship was full of goods, which occupied a large amount of funds and needed to be taken as soon as possible, so they came back with Li Jie.

"I won't go, but I will send a manager to the capital with some goods. After all, although the capital is prosperous, I can't eat so much goods, so I decided to stay in Suzhou and transfer these goods to the south in batches." Gu Xuewen replied again.

At that time, Gu Xuewen's father-in-law Shen Wansan was in Suzhou and transported goods from all over the country overseas, becoming the leading maritime merchant on the southern coast. The Shen family also became the richest man in Jiangnan through sea trade. Even though he had suffered several blows, the Shen family still stood firm. These were the solid foundation laid by Shen Wansan back then.

Li Jie nodded after hearing this and said, "Suzhou is a good place, located in the Yangtze River waterway and can be connected to overseas. However, I suggest you develop a little further east, such as Songjiang Prefecture. Although it is a small place, it is both near the river and the sea. In the future, marine trade will surely be a commercial center!"

Shanghai is the economic center of China in later generations. Li Jie had long wanted to develop Songjiang Prefecture, but the time is not yet ripe, so he could only ask businessmen like Gu Xuewen to think about it first. As long as Songjiang's business can flourish, it will naturally come naturally in the future.

But what Li Jie didn't expect was that as soon as he finished speaking, Gu Xuewen looked at him in surprise and said, "Li Bandu, you think so too!"

"Where are others who have such ideas?" Li Jie asked curiously when he heard Gu Xuewen use the word "ye".

"It is precisely, when my father-in-law was alive, he told us many times that although Suzhou is a good place, Songjiang's potential is far superior to Suzhou. My father-in-law even bought a lot of land in Songjiang. Unfortunately, a lot of land was sold due to an accident at home. But now we still have thousands of hectares of fertile land in Songjiang." Gu Xuewen nodded again, and his eyes were full of admiration when he looked at Li Jie.

Li Jie was stunned when he heard this, and then praised Shen Wansan's vision. He was worthy of being the richest man in the world. Shen Wansan actually saw Songjiang's potential early and even bought land. Unfortunately, he only considered the economy but not politics. He did not expect that the Ming Dynasty would meet the maritime ban. It was not until the great powers invaded China that they had to open the maritime ban, which made Shanghai finally become China's economic center.

"I wish I could meet Mr. Shen!" Li Jie also sighed at this time. He traveled a little late, and many legendary characters were not seen, such as Chang Yuchun, Xu Da, Shen Wansan, etc.

When talking about Chen Wansan, Gu Xuewen also showed nostalgia. He even felt that if his father-in-law could survive until now, he would definitely be friends with Li Jie.

In the afternoon, Li Jie and his fleet finally entered the Yangtze River. Because of the previous conversation, Li Jie also ordered people to take a long way to enter the Yangtze River from the south side of Chongming Island, so that they could see the situation in Songjiang Prefecture.

However, compared with the prosperity of later generations, Songjiang Prefecture is now just a small place rich in silk. Not to mention that compared with Jinling, Suzhou next to it is countless times stronger than it. For Suzhou people today, Songjiang Prefecture is the real countryside.

At night, the fleet was mooring at the port of Suzhou. Gu Xuewen also invited Li Jie to go ashore and go to the old house of Shen's family to rest for a few days, and also to have fun and relax.

Although Li Jie also wanted to see what Zhouzhuang looked like during the Ming Dynasty, he also visited Chen Wansan’s former residence in Zhouzhuang in later generations, and I don’t know if there were any changes in the hundreds of rooms?

However, Li Jie considered that there were still a lot of things in the capital, especially Zhu Biao, which made him very worried, so he didn't want to waste time in Suzhou. In the end, he declined Gu Xuewen's kindness, and then rested for a night before continuing to rush to Jinling.

In the East Warehouse Pavilion of Jinling Palace, Zhu Yuanzhang reviewed the memorials as usual. Zhu Biao sat aside, and the table was also filled with memorials. Zhu Yuanzhang was in control of everything in the Ming Dynasty. The affairs he handled every day were extremely amazing. Even if Zhu Yuanzhang was capable, he needed to ask Zhu Biao to help him share some of the matters.

"Li Jie should be back soon, right?" Zhu Yuanzhang stretched after reviewing a memorial, and then asked Zhu Biao.

"Last time he wrote to Yun Yu, saying that he would be able to come back this month, so it should be soon." Zhu Biao looked up and replied. After Li Jie walked for several months, only occasionally letters were sent back, but because the sea was long, it was a long time since the letters were delivered.

"That should be soon. This kid is not here, and the capital seems to have lost a lot of things at once. I feel a little uncomfortable." Zhu Yuanzhang raised his head and looked out the window. After Li Jie has been away for so long, he missed him a little, because as long as there is Li Jie, he would bring some surprises to Lao Zhu from time to time.

"Even if he is not here, there are still many things in the capital that are related to him. For example, the Academy of Jue Zhen established by the Imperial Heaven Supervision has caused a lot of sensation among scholars. Many great scholars said that they are rebellious, and some people agree with some theories in the academy, that is, Li Jie is not in the capital. If he is in the capital, some people might have to burn the fire on him." Zhu Biao shook his head helplessly.

The so-called Xu Zhen Academy is actually the small class that Li Jie opened in a hot air balloon workshop. The contents of the lectures are very complicated. At first, they only talked about astronomy and geography, but later they began to involve physics, chemistry, biology, etc., which also attracted many people to attend classes, such as Xie Jin, a bachelor of Hanlin.

Even after Li Jie left, this small classroom was still in operation. As the scale expanded, the Imperial Academy simply set up a college, named Query Truth, which means seeking the truth of the world. Some subjects have even begun to be differentiated in the academy, such as the physics mentioned by Xie Jin, which is a very famous subject in the academy.

However, the emergence of the Academy of Juezhen has also caused some controversy among scholars. In the past, the academy only spread to a small scale and only attracted some interested scholars. It was nothing. However, since the academy was established, some theories of the academy began to be officially spread to the outside world, which had some impact on the Confucian system. Therefore, many people opposed it and even began to attack the Academy of Juezhen.

"Let them do the affairs of scholars. As the saying goes, scholars rebelled for three years. No matter how many scholars fight, they will have no effect on the court!" Zhu Yuanzhang said generously. He didn't read much, but he was very tolerant of scholars. In his opinion, no matter what theories were, as long as they had no impact on the court, it didn't matter.

Zhu Di knew that his father would not care about the facts of the Academy of Truth Huo Zhen, so he smiled again: "The Tie Ce Army is also related to Li Jie. Now Mu Sheng has trained the Tie Ce Army in a good manner, and has also used muskets, abandoning swords, guns, bows and arrows. Is this really feasible on the battlefield?"

Hearing the Tie Cejun, Lao Zhu immediately showed a solemn expression. After a moment, he said, "I have considered the pure firearm army for a long time. Judging from the power of the firearm, it can indeed become an independent army. However, in a war, only by pulling it to the battlefield with real swords and guns to try it can you know whether it is possible, so I can't say this."

The first time in the history of the Tiele Army, although Lao Zhu was a genius commander and knew the power of firearms, he was also a little confused about this new type of army.

However, Old Zhu quickly laughed again: "Originally, the Tie Ce Army was just used to accommodate the princes of the Duke and Hou family, and I didn't plan to let them go to the battlefield. Unexpectedly, Li Jie gave me a surprise and actually asked Mu Sheng to create such a strange army. If you have the chance, you can let them go to the battlefield to try it!"

"Now there is a chance!" Zhu Biao suddenly thought of something, and immediately stood up and said again, "The fourth brother wrote me a letter from Goryeo. I don't know where he heard about the Tie Ce Army, so he also wanted to build an army of pure firearms in his own army. After all, he only has a few thousand people in Goryeo, so it is not easy for such a person to suppress Goryeo."

Zhu Yuanzhang also showed a thoughtful look when he heard this, and his fingers gently tapped on the table. After a while, he spoke: "It's really not easy for the fourth brother. When Li Jie proposed the plan for Goryeo, I didn't think much of it, but it was okay to give it a try, but I didn't expect that he and the fourth brother were really successful."

"Then my father agreed. I will ask someone to mobilize a batch of muskets for him now!" Zhu Biao was overjoyed when he heard Zhu Yuanzhang's words. Zhu Biao had never been wary of Zhu Di and his brothers, and he was not worried about them becoming older, because he was the eldest brother and the prince of the Ming Dynasty. He had this confidence and strength.

"No, it's too late to build a firearm unit now. I think Mu Sheng has trained the Tie Ce Army well, so I'd just let them go to Goryeo to see some blood, so I'd better know the power of this new army!" Old Zhu interrupted Zhu Biao and said. Although he believed in his son and Zhu Biao's strength, he still had to guard against some things. It's not a good thing that Zhu Di has too many troops in his hands.
Chapter completed!