In October of the fifteenth year of Chongzhen (1642), the Qing army entered the customs, and the situation in the Ming Dynasty was urgent. Bing Kedu suggested to the emperor: "Build 3,000 ships and send 60,000 troops" to cross the Bohai Bay from the Shandong Peninsula and attack the base camp of the Qing soldiers, and the Qing soldiers will retreat to save themselves. The Emperor was pleased and accepted his suggestion.
3,000 ships were built in a hurry, and this task was a hot potato, and no one was willing to take it. Therefore, the emperor's instructions reached the Ministry of Works, and the Ministry of Works immediately replied: The task of military manufacturing should be jointly undertaken by the Ministry of Works and the Ministry of War according to the custom, and the task of building 3,000 ships hopes to let the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Works each bear half. The Emperor agreed.
Half of the hot potato was given to the military department, but the overall project budget had to be done by the ministry. Each ship cost 2,000 taels of silver, and 3,000 ships needed a total of 6 million taels. The Ministry of Works then made a small calculation, writing in the budget book: The Ministry of Works bears half of the funds, that is, 3 million taels, but because there is no money on the books, it is necessary to claim the funds owed in the past years from the Kaifeng Government. The Emperor agreed again.
Agreeing is agreeing, but the Ministry of Works is very clear: in June, the Yellow River broke, Kaifeng Province is still flooded underwater, and the real hope is still another 3 million taels of the military department. Unexpectedly, the military department is not stupid, and there is also a report submitted: there is no money on the account of the military department, but Fengyang and other governments still owe more than 800,000 taels to the military department, and it is recommended to recover the arrears as a starting fund. Emperor's Instructions: Agree.
At this time, it was already December, and the Qing army had entered Shandong, but the money had not landed and the ship had not made progress. The Ministry of Works is afraid of taking responsibility, so there is a new proposal: Now the world is difficult, raw materials are difficult to buy, it is difficult to hire workers, it is difficult to do things with money, it happens that there is a shipbuilding engineer Zhu Zhengse in the Ministry of Works who wants to go to Huai'an Shipyard, it is better to let him take the task to Huai'an, where the shipyard, raw materials and workers are ready-made, and the completion of the task is just around the corner. The emperor said: Yes, agree.
The hot potato was thrown to Zhu Zhengse in the hope that someone would contribute his head when he was held accountable. But Zhu Zhengse is not a fuel-saving lamp, and he also knows how to write a report: We usually build inland grain ships, not warships on the sea. The construction of sea vessels is completely different from that of inland river vessels, and considering the urgency of the situation, it is recommended to collect raw materials from Fujian and Liangguang, supervise the construction by the inspectors of the two places, and go straight from the sea to the enemy camp in Liaodong after completion. Emperor's Instructions: Agree.
According to the usual practice, Zhu Zhengse's report will take at least one and a half months to continue. In February of the following year, the inspectors of Fujian and Liangguang saw the documents and carefully studied, comprehended, and studied them. After a few more months, the emperor finally saw the report of Fujian and Liangguang. The report praised Zhu Zhengse's suggestion, but said that at present, the funds are tight and the Qing army has been released, and since stability and unity have been restored in the country, the shipbuilding matter will be pulled down! The Emperor's important instructions, as always, were clear: agree.
There are so many instructions. But the art of kicking a ball is so simple and generous, only when the ball hits the sharp object and breaks, there is no way to kick, this game that has been passed down for thousands of years can be stopped. And chongzhen's Ming Dynasty, like the leather ball with the word "agree", finally completely deflated a year later.