Bringing the Railway to Daming

Chapter 165: Lao Zhu's Mission, Machinery Manufacturing Bureau [Please Subscribe]

A few days after Liu Kuan took office as a doctor in the Science and Technology Department, he was summoned by Zhu Yuanzhang to Fengxian Hall to make a report.

Zhu Biao was also there.

After Liu Kuan saluted, Zhu Yuanzhang got straight to the point: "We plan to send troops to Liaodong in late spring next year to attack Nahachu."

Liu Kuan was not surprised to hear this, as Zhu Biao had mentioned this matter to him several times.

Zhu Yuanzhang then asked, "Do you remember when in the history of the Ming Dynasty we attacked Nahachu? And how many times did we defeat him? Do you know the course of the battle?"

Liu Kuan recalled and said, "Your Majesty, if I remember correctly, in later history, the Ming Dynasty sent troops in the 20th year of the Hongwu reign, with Duke of Song Feng Sheng as the general, leading Fu Youde, Lan Yu and many other generals to attack Nahachu."

"As for the period between the 14th and 20th years of the Hongwu reign, there should have been no large-scale military deployment against Liaodong, but rather the deployment was ongoing."

"For example, they established garrisons to garrison troops, transported grain to western Liaoning by land and sea, and stored it for war preparations. They also sent envoys several times to persuade Nahachu to surrender."

"As for the specific course of this great battle, I do not know—the Ming Dynasty should have achieved a great victory that year, and Nahachu eventually surrendered to the Ming Dynasty and was even granted the title of Marquis of Haixi by Your Majesty."

Zhu Yuanzhang was slightly surprised when he heard this. "We even conferred the title of Marquis on Nahachu?"

Liu Kuan remembered this very clearly and nodded, "Indeed."

Zhu Yuanzhang drummed his fingers rhythmically on the imperial desk and said, "Nahachu's ancestor was Mu Huali, a famous general under Genghis Khan. According to the Yuan court's secret records, during the Mongol Empire, Mu Huali was granted the title of Grand Tutor and King, in charge of a 10,000-household unit and governing a vast area of ​​land around the Xing'an Mountains."

"After that, Mu Huali's descendants inherited the title of king and soon became a powerful noble in Liaodong."

"Nahachu once served as a captain in Taiping Road. He was defeated and captured by us. We considered him a descendant of a prominent Mongol family and had connections and influence within the Yuan court, so we released him back north, hoping he would be of use in the future."

"After returning to Liaodong, he relied on his family's influence to recruit soldiers and horses to suppress the Red Turban Rebellion in Liaodong. He was then appointed by the Yuan court as the Minister of Liaoyang Province."

"Later, when the Yuan Emperor fled north, Nahachu met with him at Jiming Mountain and was appointed Left Prime Minister of Liaoyang Province. A few days later, he was further promoted to Grand Marshal and Prince of Kaiyuan."

"After that, Nahachu continued to accept Yuan Dynasty officials, generals, and soldiers who had fled from the interior, and his army grew rapidly, eventually commanding hundreds of thousands of followers. In name, he was the Grand Marshal guarding Liaodong for the Yuan court, but in reality, he was a local tyrant."

"We thought that since we had previously allowed him to return north, we could persuade him to surrender, so we repeatedly sent envoys to persuade him to come over."

"Although he didn't kill our envoys like Prince Yuanliang did, he was just pretending to be compliant. In the past ten years or so, he has led his troops south several times, destroyed garrisons, and killed many Ming soldiers."

"If he had not led so many of his people to surrender, even if we were willing to spend a fortune to destroy the Northern Yuan Dynasty, we would not have granted him a title."

Liu Kuan knew nothing about Nahachu, and didn't know how to respond after hearing what Lao Zhu said.

At this time, Zhu Biao said: "Father, in my opinion, Nahachu is not loyal to the Yuan court, and he is also a coward. Seeing that things are hopeless, he is very likely to lead his troops to surrender."

Zhu Yuanzhang shook his head. "We sent envoys to persuade him to surrender again this year, but we didn't even see Nahachu. This doesn't mean he'll surrender in a few years."

"However, Nahachu thought that we had sent envoys to persuade him to surrender several times because we had let him return north that year, and he was determined to persuade him to surrender."

"Little did they know that we had our envoys cooperating with Liaodong spies to secretly bribe and recruit his generals. Since the establishment of the Bright Guard last year, this matter has made considerable progress."

"If nothing unexpected happens, next year we only need to send a large army to attack, advance steadily, and continuously put pressure on Nahachu's forces, and we will be able to make the generals under Nahachu's command alienate us."

"If any of Nahachu's generals surrender to the Ming Dynasty, even if Nahachu wants to resist, he will be powerless and will ultimately have no choice but to surrender."

"If my speculation is correct, in later history, when Nahachu led his troops to surrender, the process would most likely be similar."

Liu Kuan, who knew a little about military affairs, was secretly shocked when he heard this.

As the saying goes, "The best military operation is to attack the enemy's plans, the next best is to attack their alliances, the next best is to attack their attacks, and the worst is to attack their cities."

In other words, winning by strategy is the best strategy, followed by using diplomatic means to divide and disintegrate the enemy.

As early as 10 or 20 years ago, Zhu Yuanzhang realized the importance of Nahachu's identity and let him return to Liaodong in the north. This was a long-term and astonishing strategy.

Now, on the one hand, he used diplomatic means to persuade Nahachu to surrender, on the other hand, he secretly bribed and recruited the generals under Nahachu's command, and at the same time actively prepared to destroy Nahachu by force. It can be said that he integrated strategy, diplomacy and military means into one.

It is no wonder that teachers later commented that Zhu Yuanzhang's military ability was second only to Li Shimin, and he was the second most powerful military strategist in ancient times.

Some people in later generations said that Zhu Yuanzhang was able to rise from a humble beginning to become the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty because of his good fortune.

But when Liu Kuan was in the early Ming Dynasty and had a more detailed understanding of Zhu Yuanzhang's founding of the country, he realized that although Zhu Yuanzhang was able to establish the Ming Dynasty due to some good luck, it was by no means the main reason.

The most fundamental reason is that Zhu Yuanzhang himself had extremely strong military and political talents, which enabled him to grow rapidly and become powerful at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, and eventually stand out from a group of potential dragons such as Chen Youliang, Zhang Shicheng, Ming Yu, Fang Guozhen, and Chen Youding, and become a real dragon!
"Liu Kuan."

Hearing Old Zhu calling his name, Liu Kuan came back to his senses and quickly responded, "I'm here."

Zhu Yuanzhang said: "Whether it is the spies secretly bribing and persuading Nahachu's generals to surrender, or finally forcing Nahachu to surrender, sending a large army to Liaodong to oppress him is the key to victory."

"And to send enough soldiers, we must have enough food and fodder. Although we have been preparing for years, we just defeated the Northern Yuan Dynasty two years ago, so the food and fodder stored in places like Beiping is not much."

"If we rely solely on the existing canal and sea routes to stockpile enough food and fodder, we'll probably have to wait another two or three years before we can send troops to attack Nahachu."

"However, now that we have railway transportation, we don't have to wait that long. Therefore, your Science and Technology Department will have a lot of work to do in the coming days." "The first priority is to ensure the operation of the Xu-Dan section of the railway, so that food and other supplies from the capital and Zhenjiang can be transported to Xuzhou continuously."

"The second priority is to urge the Locomotive Manufacturing Bureau to build more trains as soon as possible, so that six trains can be running on the railway by next summer."

"Third priority—didn't you previously assess the repairability of several damaged sections of the railway in the north? Then urge the Railway Bureau to repair the Xuzhou-Beijing railway as soon as possible!"

"Once the railway from the capital to Peking is completed, troops and supplies from Jiangnan can be transported to Peking in a few days. By then, not to mention the tiny Nahachu, even the Northern Yuan Dynasty can be defeated within three to five years!"

Upon hearing this, Liu Kuan immediately stated, "I will urge the Science and Technology Department to complete these three important tasks!"

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After Liu Kuan received the task from Lao Zhu, he urged all the subordinate departments of the Science and Technology Bureau to get busy.

The Railway Bureau had two important tasks here, and it was naturally the most important department. Liu Kuan asked Deputy Lang Qiu Qichi to take charge of the Railway Bureau.

Perhaps due to a bit of luck, the section of the railway from Xuzhou to Peking had not been severely damaged by the changes in the river course over the past few centuries. Although there were some damages, they were not serious and could be repaired with the technology currently available to the Railway Bureau.

When Qiu Qichi was in charge of the carriage project team, he began to train craftsmen who could repair and build railways. Now the important task of repairing the Xuzhou to Beiping railway naturally fell on him.

As for Zhang Jinrao, the head of the Railway Bureau, he is mainly responsible for the operation of the Xudan section of the railway.

The third priority ordered by Lao Zhu fell on the Locomotive Manufacturing Bureau.

The Locomotive Manufacturing Bureau was established specifically to manufacture trains, improve train performance, and develop steam locomotives and even internal combustion engines in the future. It is also a very important department in Liu Kuan's mind.

Previously, Fan Qinyin, a clerk in the Science and Technology Department, was in charge of the executive affairs of the power project team. He was the de facto second-in-command of the project team and handled all matters other than research and development of the power project team in an orderly manner.

Therefore, Liu Kuan ranked him at the top in the commendation report, and he was promoted to the director of the Ministry of Works, in charge of the affairs of the Locomotive Manufacturing Bureau.

Ma Mengyang and Qi Damu, who had assisted Guo Tianwen in the development of trains, were both promoted from clerks and appointed as the Power Research Ambassador and the Locomotive Research Institute Ambassador (ninth rank) under the Locomotive Manufacturing Bureau respectively.

These two people are considered to be Liu Kuan's key training targets, and he plans to train them to become future engineers in the fields of power and locomotives in the Ming Dynasty.

However, now that Lao Zhu has given them a task and the Science and Technology Department is short of talent, they cannot be allowed to conduct research. They have to build the remaining five trains first.

In addition to the three important tasks assigned by Lao Zhu, Liu Kuan also did not forget to visit the Machinery Manufacturing Bureau that Guo Tianwen was in charge of.

Because in Liu Kuan's envisioned development of the Ming Dynasty in the next five or even ten years, the Machinery Manufacturing Bureau is the most critical department.

In order to show his importance to the Machinery Manufacturing Bureau, Liu Kuan specially invited Zhu Biao to inspect it after learning that it had been established...

Northwest region of Beijing.

At the foot of the lime mountain, a simple wooden sign was hung outside a large compound, with the words: Machinery Manufacturing Bureau.

When Liu Kuan and Zhu Biao arrived, Guo Tianwen, Liu Yan and Xu Zhen, who had been notified in advance, were already waiting outside the gate with a group of officials and craftsmen to greet them.

Among these three people, Liu Yan was promoted from clerk a long time ago and now serves as the supervisor of the Machinery Manufacturing Bureau (eighth rank); Xu Zhen was promoted from clerk in the grand commendation ceremony and serves as the deputy supervisor (ninth rank).

Liu Kuan had experienced Guo Tianwen's ignorance of worldly affairs many times, so he put him in charge of the research affairs of the Machinery Manufacturing Bureau and definitely assigned him officials to handle routine and miscellaneous matters.

Liu Yan is diligent and meticulous, while Xu Zhen is smooth but capable. The combination of the two is enough to allow Guo Tianwen to concentrate on his research without being disturbed.

For example, the preparations for welcoming Zhu Biao's inspection were handled by Liu Yan and Xu Zhen, and Guo Tianwen only needed to come and wait for the welcome.

Seeing Zhu Biao and Liu Kuan dismount, Guo Tianwen and the others immediately bowed and greeted them, "Greetings, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince!"

"Flat body."

"Thank you, Your Highness the Crown Prince!"

Zhu Biao glanced around at Guo Tianwen and the others, then smiled and said, "I heard from Doctor Liu that the Machinery Manufacturing Bureau is a crucial department of the Science and Technology Department, even more important than the Locomotive Manufacturing Bureau."

"I came here today mainly to understand the situation of the Machinery Manufacturing Bureau and see if there are any difficulties in the bureau."

"If there are any, please feel free to raise them during the inspection. As long as the court can resolve them, we will definitely do our best to resolve them."

After hearing what Zhu Biao said, not only Liu Yan, Xu Zhen and others, but even Guo Tianwen looked happy.

Since the prince has said so, the court will certainly strongly support the work of their Machinery Manufacturing Bureau.

Afterwards, Zhu Biao chatted with Guo Tianwen and others for a few meaningless words, and then took Liu Kuan and others into the compound of the Machinery Manufacturing Bureau.

This compound is even larger than the current locomotive manufacturing bureau of the original power project group, and consists of more than a dozen small compounds.

Liu Kuan was worried that Guo Tianwen might say something wrong and cause Zhu Biao to misunderstand him, so he personally introduced the situation of the Machinery Manufacturing Bureau.

　Second update.

　　Good night~
　　
　
(End of this chapter)