"Huang, do you think His Majesty the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty will meet me?" William Adams asked with three points of excitement and seven points of anxiety on the ship from Ningbo to Nanjing.

I have been with Huang Luzhuang for three months. William said his official words very well. If it weren't for some syllables and a slight accent, he would almost hear it with his eyes closed and he was almost the same as ordinary Ming people in Beijing. Moreover, during these March, the two sides also formed a deep friendship, and the name between them became much more intimate.

For example, William directly called Huang Luzhuang Huang, and as for Huang Luzhuang, he would not call him Mr. William. Huang Luzhuang had a good language talent and soon learned English and Latin. He could basically understand French. Understand the mistakes in his previous titles, Huang Luzhuang also called the other party William in Western ways.

"Don't worry, the emperor sent me an order to go to Beijing this time, and he also specially asked you to accompany you. He will definitely summon you." Huang Luzhuang replied confidently.

Although there are still many unfinished work in Ningbo workshops, the overall situation has been almost done. Moreover, according to Zhu Yicheng's plan, the technical department of Ningbo workshops will be divested and merged into the Royal Institute, which will be established soon. During the days when Huangluzhuang left, the Royal Institute, located in the western suburbs of Nanjing, has been completed and the preliminary personnel have been in place. He, a key figure in the Royal Institute, must preside over the formal establishment of the Institute at this time.

In addition, it was William's visit to the Far East. These days, William has greatly helped Huang Luzhuang. With William's help, Huang Luzhuang absorbed the advanced knowledge of Europe like a thirsty sponge, greatly improving his theoretical shortcomings, and also greatly broadening his vision for science.

It was William's role that made Ningbo's work go smoothly. In addition, William also assisted Huang Luzhuang in a series of craft improvement and mechanical research in Ningbo. It can be said that Huang Luzhuang now owes William a great favor and is deeply grateful to him. This is also the main reason why Huang Luzhuang specifically mentioned William in his report to Zhu Yicheng. He wanted to use this method to help him, a Western friend, so that he could complete the tasks he shouldered.

This time, when Zhu Yicheng ordered Huang Luzhuang to return to Beijing and specifically told him to bring William into the capital, Huang Luzhuang knew in his heart that there was basically no big problem with what William had asked him, so when Huang Luzhuang was inquired, Huang Luzhuang was very confident.

Huang Luzhuang roughly talked to William on the road about how to meet Zhu Yicheng. Although the etiquette of the Ming Dynasty was equally complicated on some special occasions, it was much more casual in the ordinary summons of the monarch and his ministers.

Some officials in the court usually only need to bow and bow when they see Zhu Yicheng, and do not need to bow three times and nine times. They also speak casually. Compared with the Qing court, the kind that you have to pay tribute to everyone and have to kowtow when you meet your master is much simpler.

However, there should be etiquettes that should be needed. In fact, when Westerners see the etiquette of the monarch is no different from that of the East. When they meet the kings, popes, etc. in Europe, they also have to kneel down and kowtow. What Westerners have boasted in history is nothing but one knee salute, which is simply nonsense. They are obviously bullying the Chinese at that time. You should know that not to mention ordinary subjects, even some big figures like kings and dukes, not to mention kneeling on the ground when they meet big figures like the Pope, they are even proud of being able to lie on the ground and kiss the other person's shoes. Not to mention the highest countries like the Ottoman Empire that spans the East and West continents, so in this case, William has no psychological burden at all.

Huang Luzhuang and the others did not take a merchant ship this time, and they happened to follow a warship from the East China Sea Fleet to enter the Yangtze River directly from the Yangtze River estuary to Nanjing. Therefore, the itinerary is relatively faster, and it only takes two and a half days to return to Nanjing from Ningbo.

When the warship entered the Yangtze River and looked at the faint green on both sides, the breath of spring had covered the earth. As we got closer and closer to Nanjing, Huang Luzhuang was in a very comfortable mood. As for William, since he had never passed by Nanjing, he only heard of the description of the city of Nanjing. When Nanjing finally appeared in front of him, he looked at the city of such a majestic and magnificent, William couldn't help but exclaim.

"My God, what an amazing city!"

Nanjing, the ancient capital of the Six Dynasties. After the Ming Dynasty recovered Nanjing, it has never stopped the construction and improvement of Nanjing. Today, Nanjing City is not only without traces of war, but also more majestic than Nanjing before.

In addition to the main city, there are also small towns connected in Nanjing, forming a huge area around Nanjing. There are now more than one million people inside and outside Nanjing. When Huang Luzhuang proudly told William this number, William was so shocked that he couldn't even say anything.

The total population of the entire British Isles is now nine million, of which the population of London as the capital and surrounding areas are only less than seven hundred thousand. This number is already proud of Britain. In William's view, only Paris in Europe can have such a huge population base, but he did not expect that there would be a huge city with a population of more than one million in the Far East.

When William was in Ningbo and Shanghai, although he felt the prosperity of the Far East, he was still quite proud. But when facing the huge Nanjing city, this pride disappeared, and only amazement was replaced.

After getting on the pier and entering the city, Nanjing's prosperity is different from Ningbo and Shanghai. As the capital, Nanjing has a unique charm that deeply attracts William.

On that day, Huang Luzhuang first settled William at Ying Hotel. In fact, William's semi-official status was not suitable for staying in such an official foreign-related place. However, after Huang Luzhuang showed Zhu Yicheng's decree to the officials of Ying Hotel, everything was much simpler.

After settling down, Huang Luzhuang first went to the Ministry of Works to submit official documents, and had already handed over the work as a registration for his return to Beijing. Then, he handed over a letter to the palace and told Zhu Yicheng that he had returned.

After learning the news, Zhu Yicheng soon sent a message asking Huang Luzhuang to enter the palace to meet him tomorrow. As for William's side, he would make arrangements after he had met Huang Luzhuang for the time being.

The next day, he changed into neat official uniforms, entered the palace by Huangluzhuang, and was always in Zhu Yicheng's side hall.

When Huang Luzhuang finished the ceremony, Zhu Yicheng, who was in a good mood, asked him to sit down with a smile, and the small yellow door beside him had already brought tea.

“It’s been a hard journey.”

"It's not hard to do a job for the Emperor and the Ming Dynasty." Huang Luzhuang, a science and engineering man, was straightforward and answered directly.

After communicating with Huangluzhuang several times before, Zhu Yicheng knew his straightforward temper, and laughed directly: "I have done a good job in Ningbo these days. I am very pleased, but some of the reports I sent are not very clear. Let's do this. Today, you can explain to me carefully what happened in Ningbo these days."

"Respect the order!" Huang Luzhuang bowed his hand and immediately talked about his specific work in Ningbo. In addition to what he wrote in the report he sent back, Huang Luzhuang also specifically talked about some other aspects.

In Ningbo, Huangluzhuang did a lot of things. In addition to the previous ones, he also achieved results in metallurgy. In addition to increasing the steelmaking process and output, he also successfully developed steels with different carbon contents, and also tried to add some other substances to metallurgy to develop preliminary alloys.

Not to mention the others, Huangluzhuang had done research on this area in the early years, relying on simple equipment to develop high-carbon steel used in tool processing and spring steel for making machinery. The former is a necessary raw material for machine tools. High-carbon steel can make hard cutting tools and move in other fields. As for spring steel, it is even more amazing. This steel is already a type of alloy. Although compared with later spring steel, the one developed by Huangluzhuang is not too mature, it has a greater role. It will not only be widely used in many mechanical equipment, but more importantly, its importance in military industry.

Speaking of this, Huang Luzhuang couldn't help but say to Zhu Yicheng, thanks to Zhu Yicheng's previous reminder, because when he first summoned Huang Luzhuang, Zhu Yicheng once told him that he could use the heat and cold tester he had developed before in all aspects, one of which was about smelting. After arriving in Ningbo, Huang Luzhuang had a significant effect after trial, which was one of the reasons why it could make progress in such a short time. In addition, Huang Luzhuang also improved and improved his inventions, and at the same time achieved quite good results in other fields.

"I am grateful for the advice of the emperor. I have always thought I was smart and always complacent about the tricks he made. In fact, I am just working behind closed doors. If the emperor had not woken up the emperor, how could I do this again?" Huang Luzhuang said sincerely in the face of Zhu Yicheng. These words did not sound as pleasant and comfortable as the ministers in the court, but they were really in the words, which made Zhu Yicheng very happy.

"How is the military industry now?" Compared with others, military industry is something that Zhu Yicheng attaches great importance to. After all, China has not yet been fully recovered, and the power of the Qing Dynasty is still quite powerful.

Huang Luzhuang told Zhu Yicheng that due to the initial successful development of steel production and different types of steel, the military industry has not only no worries about raw materials for the time being, but also has begun to develop new muskets and cannons.

In terms of muskets, due to the emergence of tool steel and spring steel, standard rifling and tunnel gun applications have become possible, and it will not take long to replace the current muskets and become standard weapons. As for the rear-loading gun, the breakthrough in chemical industry is also being developed, but it is not clear when it will be effective.
Chapter completed!