My father is Jiajing

After arranging the officials to stay behind in the capital, Zhu Zaigui and Emperor Jiajing, with a large ceremonial procession, headed southward towards Baoding along the newly built hardened road.

Prince Jing Zhu Zaizhen, the chief minister of the cabinet Xu Jie, and some important officials such as the ministers of the six ministries also accompanied the emperor.

Their carriages followed behind the royal carriage in an orderly manner.

Xu Jie reached out and slightly lifted a corner of the car curtain to look at the scenery outside, feeling the different experience brought by the hardened road surface.

Xu Jie was also shocked. He knew how much manpower and material resources the capital and local governments had invested in building this hardened road over the years.

At the beginning, he was neither in favor nor against it, but now that he had finally enjoyed a long journey, Xu Jie truly felt what difference meant.

Xu Jie's old eyes looked to the far distance again. He saw another team that was suspected to be working on a road construction site. He couldn't help but ask about the Minister of Rites Guo Pu who was riding in the same car with him.

"Zhifu, what are you doing over there?"

Guo Pu followed Xu Jie's gaze and looked towards the place where Xu Jie asked the question.

Guo Pu didn't know what he was doing for a moment, but since Xu Jie asked him, he had to answer.

Guo Pu replied: "It looks like they are repairing a dike or a road."

Upon hearing this answer, Xu Jie couldn't help but become curious. If there were to be dikes and roads built near the capital, the cabinet should have known about it. Even if they hadn't paid attention to it, they should have had some impression of it.

But now, when Xu Jie and Guo Pu looked at the construction site in the distance, they were a little confused.

Xu Jie said: "If they are repairing dikes and roads, shouldn't the cabinet know about it?"

Guo Pu looked at the puzzled Xu Jie and said, "Maybe the cabinet already knew about it?"

Xu Jie was even more confused, "What do you mean?"

Guo Pu said: "Lord, have you forgotten that Zishi is still serving as the Minister of Works? He may have known about this a long time ago."

Zishi is Li Chunfang's pen name. Li Chunfang is now the second-in-command of the cabinet after Xu Jie. Sometimes he does not report to Xu Jie on the affairs of the ministry he is in charge of, which is something Xu Jie can't do anything about.

After all, if the Ministry of Industry wants to carry out any major projects now, it will not be as shameless as before to ask the cabinet for budget approval.

The Ministry of Works only needs to report the purpose of the project to Wenhua Palace. After obtaining Prince Yu's approval, it can then contact the Ministry of Revenue or the Northern Construction Bank to get the money first by way of grants or loan mortgages, and then construction can begin.

Therefore, the Ministry of Works is now like Li Chunfang's own private land in the cabinet. Except for Prince Yu and Emperor Jiajing, no one can interfere.

Even Xu Jie, the chief minister of the cabinet, could not interfere in the affairs of the Ministry of Works as long as he could not restrict the Ministry of Works in terms of financial power and approval power.

Therefore, it makes sense that when Xu Jie and Guo Pu saw the construction site in the distance, they were a little confused.

And at this moment, the imperial sedan chair carrying Emperor Jiajing and Zhu Zaigui appeared.

The spacious interior of the imperial sedan chair was like a small house of twenty square meters. Zhu Zaigui and Emperor Jiajing did not feel crowded in the spacious sedan chair even with a small table in the middle to place various objects.

Emperor Jiajing tilted his head and looked at the construction team in the distance, with a very proud smile on his face, "Zhan Watt has some skills, and Li Chunfang has some courage. The Beijing-Baoding railway line was built as soon as it was said."

The "Beijing-Baoding Railway" that Emperor Jiajing referred to was actually a section of experimental steam locomotive track from the capital to Baoding.

According to Zhu Zaigui's original idea, the first railway of the Ming Dynasty should be built from Xishan to the capital, or from the capital to Zhangjiakou outside the Great Wall.

But after some careful calculations, whether taking into account the power problems of today's steam locomotives, or the construction problems from Xishan to Beijing, and from Beijing to Zhangjiakou.

It would be better to build a plain railway first to test the saltiness of the railway.

After all, the road from Xishan to the capital is full of rugged hills and mountains. For the Ming Dynasty, which had no heavy machinery, the construction difficulty was no less difficult than building a huge section of the Great Wall.

As for the road from the capital to Zhangjiakou, it goes without saying that not only was it built along the foot of the mountains outside the capital, but it also had to pass through important passes such as Badaling and Juyongguan in the north, and then through Shacheng, Xuanhua and other places before reaching Zhangjiakou.

The difficulty of road construction is not only extremely high, but the investment is also very scary!
According to the late Qing Dynasty, Zhan Tianyou spent 790 million taels of silver to build this road with the assistance of certain modern technologies.

If calculated based on the current industrial capacity of the Ming Dynasty, the investment in road construction would have to at least double!
Just imagine that the imperial court spent more than a year's national revenue to build a railway of more than 400 miles. It makes me crazy just thinking about it.

Moreover, the current trade income of the imperial court with Mobei is not as huge as imagined. The unified large market with the Mobei grassland is only to maintain the long-term peace between the imperial court and the grassland, as well as the tranquility and happiness of the people on both sides.

Therefore, even if the imperial court could make money in Mobei, the profits would only be meager.

If we rely on the meager profits we have now and impulsively invest tens of millions of silver dollars to build a railway that we don't even know if it can be used, this would simply be making a joke of the Ming Dynasty's vital interests.

Therefore, after some evaluation, the Ministry of Works and the Beijing Special District jointly submitted a memorial requesting the construction of the Beijing-Baoding railway, with a budget of 1.5 million taels of silver.

As the mastermind behind this matter, Zhu Zaigui certainly had no reason to reject this proposal.

Therefore, Zhu Zaigui quickly gave approval to the Ministry of Works and the Beijing Special District, allowing the construction of the Beijing-Baoding railway, thereby strengthening the close connection between Baoding and the capital, and enhancing the land transportation capacity from Baoding to an unprecedented level.

After all, the capital city does not rely solely on the Grand Canal, a major artery from the south. Baoding, as the nearest plain prefecture to the capital city, also plays an important role in gathering and distributing materials from most of the northern regions to the capital city.

If the Beijing-Baoding railway can be built, northern goods gathered in Baoding can reach the capital faster and more easily. This will not only create huge returns for people's livelihood, but also provide strong support for the economic development of the north and the taxation of the court.

So after some comparison, Zhu Zaigui chose the railway from the capital to Baoding, which was built on a flat plain.

The investment in this road not only has greater economic benefits than the more difficult Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway, but also the investment cost is about ten times lower. How could Zhu Zaigui not choose this model of starting with the easy and then moving on to the difficult?

Zhu Zaigui poured a cup of tea for Emperor Jiajing and said with a smile, "Father is right. If this road can really play the role of the Grand Canal, I think it would be okay to confer a title on Jan Watt."

Emperor Jiajing took the tea poured by Zhu Zaigui, took a sip, and said with a smile: "That's right. If he succeeds in this matter, it will benefit the present and future generations. Naturally, I can't be stingy."

Emperor Jiajing also laughed at this scene, and was in a very good mood. This was much better than when he took this road to visit Anlu in the south thirty years ago.

Compared with any previous dynasty, this kind of change can almost be said to be unprecedented.

No matter how rich and powerful other dynasties were, they definitely did not have the paved roads that were as smooth as the present one and were not afraid of wind and rain, nor did they have the railways being built in the distance.

These are all miracles of his Jiajing era!

With such a miracle happening to us, who in the future would dare not say that the Jiajing Era was the most prosperous era in ancient and modern times?

Thinking of this, Emperor Jiajing felt even more refreshed.

After drinking the tea, Emperor Jiajing happily put down the teacup in his hand.

Emperor Jiajing said, "Will there be any problems if Chen Hong is left in the capital?"

Zhu Zaigui chuckled, "Father is extremely wise. Since he allowed Chen Hong to stay in the capital, he must have a far-reaching plan. And I also believe that Chen Hong will definitely live up to your expectations in Beijing and will achieve satisfactory results."

Emperor Jiajing couldn't help but laugh when he heard Zhu Zaigui's words. "Yes, yes, that's true. But this time, Yijun was upset. I heard that he cried several times in the palace because you didn't take him with you on the southern tour."

Zhu Zaigui also shook his head and smiled when he heard this, "Father, don't feel sorry for this kid. He is different from Yi. He will have greater responsibilities in the future. I let him stay in the capital to temper his character. Besides, the future Ming Dynasty will have hardened roads extending in all directions, and railways are also being built. There will always be places for him to go. There is no need to rush for now."

"And in order to compensate him, didn't father also order him to serve as the governor of the capital, making him the nominal master of the capital now?"

When Emperor Jiajing heard this, he couldn't help laughing again.

How old is Zhu Yijun?

Even if he was ordered to stay in the capital, he was just a child of a few years old and could not make any decisions.

The only people in the capital who can really get things done and make decisions are Li Chunfang and a group of other ministers who stayed behind.

Zhu Yijun's role in the capital was just that of a mascot.

Emperor Jiajing said: "What about Yi's future? Since you have chosen Yijun, you can't ignore Yi's future."

Speaking of Zhu Zaigui's eldest son, Zhu Zaigui was actually very conflicted and reluctant.

If he had died at a young age as happened in history, Zhu Zaigui might have been sad for a while, but he would never have been as unable to make a decision as he is now.

But Zhu Yi is still alive and well, and there has been no evidence of any problems with his maternal inheritance.

But Zhu Zaigui could not gamble, nor could he let the future Ming Dynasty emperors gamble with him.

Therefore, Zhu Zaigui had to make a choice when it came to Zhu Yi.

Zhu Zaigui said: "Now the Ming Dynasty attaches great importance to the sea borders, and I also plan to strive for more overseas interests for the Ming Dynasty in this new era of great contention."

"If Yi can successfully grow up, get married, and have children, I plan to grant him a vast territory in the future that is no less vast than the current territory of the Ming Dynasty, as my final compensation to him."

After listening to Zhu Zaigui's words, Emperor Jiajing nodded in agreement.

It seems that this is the only solution for now.

Moreover, with the development of the Japanese navy in recent years and the Ming intelligence agencies' overseas reconnaissance and understanding, Emperor Jiajing also had a generally new understanding of the world.

He also knew that thousands of miles away from the Ming Dynasty, there was a region of Western civilization that was no less civilized than the Ming Dynasty.

Although the countries there are similar to the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period before the Qin Dynasty, their strength should not be underestimated.

Moreover, there is a "Pope" above their heads, who is similar to the common ruler, the Emperor of Zhou. Although this "Pope" is a religious leader, he can influence the culture and will of the Western Kingdom.

Therefore, Emperor Jiajing was also quite interested in this Western Pope who claimed to be a servant of God.

Moreover, in the Jiajing Emperor’s simple understanding, he is the Son of Heaven and the Pope is the servant of God, so doesn’t this mean that the Pope is his servant?

Therefore, sometimes Emperor Jiajing was so arrogant that he thought he was still the only master of the world!
Even though there are still many places in this world that are beyond his control and influence, this does not hinder his imagination and good self-image!
Emperor Jiajing asked, "So you plan to use that overseas land as Yi's future fiefdom?"

Zhu Zaigui said: "Dongzhou (North America)! It is naturally independent and rich in resources. It does not border other powerful enemy countries. Moreover, the indigenous people there are similar to our people in terms of skin color and appearance."

"At that time, with the support of the imperial court, if Yi can promote the way of kingship there for several decades, it might be possible to create another Ming Dynasty!"

"If Yi's line dies out in Dongzhou in the future, I can also appoint a governor-general to completely incorporate it into the territory of the Ming Dynasty, and open an overseas list in the imperial examination to select new scholars and jinshi according to the regional ratio."

"So that local scholars can also serve as officials in the Ming Dynasty, and local scholars in the Ming Dynasty can also go there to serve as officials with lofty ideals."

"In this way, in the future, even if there is a vast ocean thousands of miles between Dongzhou and Ming, it still cannot block the fact that the two are one family."

When Emperor Jiajing listened to Zhu Zaigui's vision for the future, he couldn't help but gasp!
If someone else said this, Emperor Jiajing would think that person was crazy and could not believe it at all.

But when Zhu Zaigui said these words, Emperor Jiajing actually thought that this could actually be accomplished!
After all, Zhu Zaigui has given him so many surprises and miracles over the years.

If in the future the Ming Dynasty can really have railways everywhere, and invincible warships like the Yongle Treasure Ship can use steam power to travel freely in the ocean, then the obstacles and natural barriers of the past will naturally no longer be obstacles preventing the Ming Dynasty from striding forward.

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