Bringing the Railway to Daming

Chapter 148: History of Japan, America [Please Subscribe]

Institutions similar to the Imperial Observatory in ancient Chinese dynasties have a long history, dating back to the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties.

The regulations of the court in the early Ming Dynasty were mostly imitated from the Song and Yuan Dynasties, with the Song Dynasty as the main focus. It was initially named the Sitianjian of the early Song Dynasty, and was renamed the Qintianjian in the third year of Hongwu.

The main functions of the Imperial Astronomical Observatory were to observe celestial phenomena, calculate solar terms, and formulate calendars. However, the celestial phenomena here mostly referred to large celestial phenomena such as the stars, rather than small celestial phenomena such as changes in clouds.

Even so, the Imperial Astronomical Observatory is the most suitable department to be responsible for researching weather forecasts.

Zhu Yuanzhang just regretted it after he put the new department of weather forecast research under the Science and Technology Department on a whim.

Unexpectedly, Liu Kuan was quite sensible and pushed it to the Imperial Observatory.

He then said, "You're right. Then we'll set up a weather department under the Imperial Observatory."

In the early Ming Dynasty, the Imperial Astronomical Observatory was divided into four departments: astronomy, clepsydra, Huihui, and calendar.

Add one more subject, and there will be five subjects in total.

Liu Kuan had no intention of interfering in the affairs of the Ming Dynasty's Imperial Astronomical Observatory for the time being. He would even try his best to postpone the publication of astronomical knowledge in the "Natural Science" magazine, and try to release it after Zhu Yuanzhang passed away.

After Zhu Yuanzhang finished speaking, he signaled Liu Kuan to continue playing the video.

"Although Japan won two wars thanks to incredible luck, because they were both homeland defense battles, the Kamakura shogunate, which did not profit from them, had no money to pay everyone's salaries. Many samurai groups' own military expenses were wasted."

"At this time, Emperor Go-Daigo saw everyone's discontent and his thoughts suddenly became active. He fled Kyoto with the three sacred artifacts passed down from his ancestors and called on everyone to overthrow the rule of the Kamakura shogunate..."

The video begins by introducing the end of the Kamakura shogunate, the establishment of the Muromachi shogunate, and Japan's century-long north-south confrontation.

When the video talked about the third Muromachi shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu unifying Japan's Northern and Southern Dynasties, Liu Kuan took the initiative to pause the video.

"Your Majesty, based on the timeline, it's highly likely that the third Shogun of the Muromachi shogunate, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, is in power in Japan right now, but he probably hasn't yet conquered the Southern Dynasty and unified Japan."

"In other words, if the Ming Dynasty could have sent troops to conquer Japan before Ashikaga Yoshimitsu unified the north and south, it wouldn't have had to face resistance from the entire country like the Mongols did."

"We could even support the weak Southern Dynasty to fight against the Northern Dynasty controlled by the Muromachi shogunate, thereby weakening the war potential of both sides and gaining benefits for the Ming Dynasty."

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded. "The news you mentioned is very important. It would save us a lot of effort if we conquer Japan before the two Koreas are unified."

"However, Emperor Go-Daigo was able to escape the control of powerful ministers several times and eventually establish the Southern Dynasty of Japan. He truly had some ability and luck."

"And Ashikaga Yoshimitsu was able to unify the North and the South after a century of confrontation, and he can be called a great man of his time."

"From this, we can see that although Japan is an island nation, it is by no means an ordinary small country. Even though our Ming Dynasty is far superior in national strength and military equipment, we must proceed with caution and make careful plans before taking action in the future."

"If we allow Japan's outstanding people to grow up and mobilize the whole country to fight, and let us be bogged down in the quagmire of war against Japan, even if we can win in the end, it will delay the subsequent operations of the great voyages."

Zhu Yuanzhang's words fully reflect his cautious and meticulous character, and his willingness to think three steps ahead before taking one step.

Liu Kuan immediately flattered him, "Your Majesty is absolutely right."

Zhu Yuanzhang smiled and signaled Liu Kuan to continue playing the video.

He was thinking that since he had decided to start the Ming Dynasty's great voyage by conquering Goryeo and conquering Japan, he must send the Guangming Guards to Goryeo and Japan as soon as possible to establish an intelligence network.

Only in this way can we obtain more detailed intelligence on the two countries. The video then goes on to describe the fall of the Muromachi shogunate, Japan's "Warring States Period" of more than 150 years, and the process of the three heroes Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and Tokugawa Ieyasu taking turns to unify Japan.

It is also mentioned here that many exiled samurai emerged during the Warring States Period in Japan, which was one of the sources of the Japanese invasion in the middle period of the Ming Dynasty.

When Li Wenzhong saw this, he became more and more aware that Japan should be fought.

As the saying goes, "I will not allow others to sleep soundly beside my bed." If you don't beat him when you have the ability, he will beat you when he grows up.

Of course, before this, the northern, western and southern borders of the Ming Dynasty were not pacified, and there were many internal issues that needed to be resolved. In addition, there was no guarantee that it could avoid hurricanes at sea, so it was indeed not suitable to attack Japan.

The appearance of Liu Kuan changed everything. The Ming Dynasty's conquest of Japan had become the only way to become the world's hegemon!

Soon, Li Wenzhong collected his thoughts and focused on the subsequent content of the video.

First, Japan closed its doors to the outside world like the Qing Dynasty after the Ming Dynasty, and then the United States opened its doors to the outside world, which led to the Meiji Restoration...
It can be said that although the video on modern Japanese history was only two or three minutes long and many things flashed by in a flash, it still made Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhu Biao, Li Wenzhong and others watch it intently and be secretly shocked.

After the video finished playing and turned into a still picture, everyone came back to their senses.

Old Zhu narrowed his eyes and spoke first, "Little Japan tried to invade the Korean Peninsula twice, first during the Tang Dynasty and then during the Wanli reign of the Ming Dynasty."

"Later generations, leveraging the so-called Meiji Restoration and Western technology to strengthen their power, even attempted to swallow up China. Their ambitions were truly ruthless."

"With such a hungry wolf-like neighbor lying beside us, how can we safely hand over the Ming Dynasty to our descendants if we don't destroy it?"

Zhu Biao recalled the last few minutes of Japan's invasion of China and the murder of its people. His usually gentle eyes turned cold and said, "Japan can be said to be incorrigible. Now that the Ming Dynasty has the ability to destroy it, it is indeed time to eliminate this scourge for future generations."

Li Wenzhong said, "Given Japan's position, as long as its national strength is strong, it will definitely covet China. And if we want to cross the East China Sea and enter the Greater East Ocean, we have no choice but to crush Japan!"

When the others heard these three people express their opinions, they knew that the Ming Dynasty's invasion of Japan was a final decision and there was no possibility of any reversal.

After talking about the big things, Lao Zhu asked about some small things revealed in the video.

"This video says that American black ships crossed the Atlantic Ocean and arrived, knocking on Japan's door and forcing it to trade."

"If I'm not mistaken, this America should be the country established by the Western Barbarians in the Americas, right?"

"That's right." Liu Kuan nodded. "America, due to its unique geographical location, developed rapidly during the two world wars. Before I traveled through time, it had been the global hegemon for about sixty years."

Zhu Yuanzhang continued, "When you were discussing the international situation behind Operation Mekong on New Year's Eve, you said that the imperial court at the time was restraining its actions towards the smaller neighboring countries because powerful enemies were eyeing it covetously. And it was America that was eyeing our Shenzhou covetously, wasn't it?"

Liu Kuan nodded again, "Yes."

Old Zhu snorted and said, "Now that we know this, America will never become part of the Western Barbarians, and there will be no America!"

Hearing this, Liu Kuan silently gave Lao Zhu a thumbs up.

Then, at Lao Zhu's instruction, the second video was played.

　Second update.

　　Good night~
　　
　　
　
(End of this chapter)