Bringing the Railway to Daming

Chapter 173: Destroy the Northern Yuan Dynasty in Three Years, Even Though I am in a Low Position, I Still Dare to Worry About My Country! [Subscription Request]

While Liu Kuan was stunned, Qiu Qichi, who knew him well, remained calm, but Zhan Guanting was a little nervous.

After all, his proposal was equivalent to denying the "circular turning method" previously specified by Liu Kuan. Normally speaking, it would undoubtedly damage Liu Kuan's face and prestige.

Therefore, he was worried that Liu Kuan would be angry and even deliberately find reasons to reject this plan.

However, Zhan Guanting's uneasiness did not last long.

Liu Kuan quickly recovered and said happily, "This plan of building a railway spur for passing trains and turning around is a good one, or rather, it should have been done this way from the beginning. I was negligent and didn't think of this method before."

Zhan Guanting was surprised and happy. He didn't expect that Liu Kuan not only approved of his plan to turn the train around, but also did not act like a superior at all.

Qiu Qichi laughed and said, "Doctor Liu, don't blame yourself. Railway transportation is a complex matter. How can you know everything by yourself?"

"Haha, that's true." Liu Kuan smiled and said, "Since there is a better plan, we will follow it after the New Year and build railway switches for crossing and turning at the two railway stations in Jingshi and Xuzhou."

"Then we'll build it at four other train stations, including Dantu. Once these branch lines are completed, five, six, or even more than ten trains can run simultaneously on one railway!"

"By then, the advantages of railway transportation will be able to be fully utilized. Not only can we complete the task of transporting food and other supplies for the Northern Expedition ordered by the imperial court, but we can even open up civilian transportation as soon as possible, thereby truly generating revenue!"

Having said that, Liu Kuan looked at Zhan Guanting as if he was looking at a treasure.

'This is a talent in railway construction,' he thought to himself.

"Deputy Envoy Zhan, you have made a great contribution by presenting this proposal. I will report this to the court and request a reward for you. I hope you can achieve even greater success in railway research and construction in the future!"

Zhan Guanting was young after all, and was very excited when he heard this. He immediately bowed and said, "I will definitely devote myself to railway research and construction, and live up to the doctor's high expectations!"

After Qiu Qianchi and Zhan Guanting left, Liu Kuan sorted out the matter and drafted a memorial.

He asked Zhao Wenyuan to copy the memorial again, and then he took it into the palace.

After meeting Zhu Yuanzhang, Liu Kuan handed over the memorial and recounted the incident.

Old Zhu was overjoyed, even a little incredulous, and asked, "According to what you said, with the current communication conditions and dispatching capabilities of the Ming Dynasty, once all the train stations are built, the Pinghu Railway line can run up to twelve trains simultaneously?"

Liu Kuan said, "Your Majesty, twelve trains is not the limit that a railway can handle at this time. It is just a number I came up with after weighing safety and transportation capacity."

Zhu Yuanzhang said, "What I mean is, can twelve trains really run at the same time?"

Liu Kuan smiled and said, "Of course you can."

"In this case, wouldn't the annual transportation volume of the Pinghu Railway be twelve times the original statement that only one train could run on the line?!"

Liu Kuan said, "Because it takes time to miss trains and turn around, the more trains there are on the railway, the more time it takes to dispatch them. So the actual time is not twelve times, it should be only about ten times."

Zhu Yuanzhang said, "Even if it's only ten times as much, it means the Pinghu Railway can transport about four million dan of grain and other supplies northward every year!"

"With this kind of transportation capacity, after we defeat Nahachu next year, maybe we can destroy the Northern Yuan Dynasty later or the year after!"

Because Zhu Yuanzhang established the Ming Dynasty by overthrowing the Yuan Dynasty's rule, and the Han people had been enslaved by the Mongols for a hundred years, he always regarded the Northern Yuan Dynasty as a major threat and had a strong obsession with destroying it.

This can be seen from the fact that Zhu Yuanzhang launched five expeditions against the Northern Yuan Dynasty, and later Zhu Di also launched five expeditions against the newly emerged Tatars and Oirat on the prairie after the demise of the Northern Yuan Dynasty.

Therefore, the Ming court must eliminate the threat from the northern prairie before it can free up its hands and do great things in other directions.

Seeing that Zhu was happy, Liu Kuan took the opportunity to commend Zhan Guanting.

Old Zhu waved his hand, promised to promote him to a higher rank, and rewarded him with some banknotes and cloth.

After saying this, Liu Kuan was about to leave, but he heard Zhu Yuanzhang say, "New Year's Eve is coming in a few days. You and Huilan should come to the palace and celebrate the New Year with us."

"Also, we need to prepare some music, videos, and movies. It would be best if we could play some that are meaningful to the Ming Dynasty."

Liu Kuan's face turned bitter when he heard this. He said, "Your Majesty, I don't have much inventory to begin with. I put some away before, and now there are even fewer to choose from. I want to find everything that is of reference value to the Ming Dynasty, but I'm afraid it's impossible."

Zhu Yuanzhang said, "We are just saying that. It's up to you to choose what to put in."

"Wei Chen understands."

Then Liu Kuan took his leave.

···
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A few days passed in a blink of an eye, and it was New Year's Eve.

In the morning, Liu Kuan got up from Su Caiwei's bed.

In early November, Empress Ma granted him the privilege of taking a concubine and specifically named Su Caiwei as his concubine. Only half a month later, Empress Ma had someone arrange a small wedding and made Su Caiwei officially Liu Kuan's concubine.

I don’t know whether the two of them had discussed it or just reached a tacit understanding, but it often took two or three days for Liu Kuan to sleep with Su Caiwei.

If you are a man at this time, you may feel depressed about having to wait passively for sex.

But Liu Kuan didn't have that feeling at all. In his heart, he felt that having two wives was a wonderful thing that he had never dared to imagine before he traveled through time.

Not to mention that both of his wives are natural beauties and are several years younger than him.

So he was very satisfied with this aspect. Assisted by maids such as Su Caiwei and Xia He, Liu Kuan dressed, washed, and tied his hair, and then had breakfast with Zhu Huilan.

Liu Kuan once wanted to invite Su Caiwei to have dinner with him, and even Zhu Huilan was influenced by him and persuaded Su Caiwei.

But Su Caiwei just disagreed.

And the reason was very real - even if Liu Kuan and Su Caiwei agreed to let her, a concubine, sit at the table, outsiders would still criticize her if they knew about it, which would not be good after all.

Therefore, now when people have dinner at the Liu Mansion, there are still only Liu Kuan and Zhu Huilan.

If there were male guests at the banquet, even Zhu Huilan would not be seated at the table.

Liu Kuan had no intention of challenging the main customs of the Ming Dynasty at this time, so he let it go.

After breakfast, Liu Kuan, Zhu Huilan and Su Caiwei directed the servants in the mansion to get busy.

After everything was arranged and busy, it was almost noon when he took Zhu Huilan to the palace to attend Old Zhu's family dinner.

The layout and procedures of this year's New Year's Eve lunch are similar to last year.

Because it was already noon when Liu Kuan and others entered the palace, and Zhu Yuanzhang was hungry after being busy all morning, so after arriving at the Dashan Hall, he waved his hand and started the banquet.

This time, without Lao Zhu telling him anything, Liu Kuan tactfully selected a few songs and brought the tablet to the imperial desk.

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty, I am out of classical music. Therefore, I have selected six classical songs."

song?

As soon as Zhu Yuanzhang and Empress Ma heard this word, they understood its meaning.

Old Zhu said with a smile: "The song is good. The Queen and I can listen to the difference between the songs sung in later generations and now."

Seeing that Lao Zhu was interested, Liu Kuan placed the tablet on the desk and clicked to play a video consisting of six ancient style songs.

When the video started, Zhu Yuanzhang and Empress Ma looked at it curiously.

Everyone else in the hall also tried to remain quiet, hoping to hear the song coming from above more clearly.

The first song was "Chi Ling" sung by national team member Tan Jing, but the video was a mix-up by an old lady on a certain website. With the skills of a millionaire editor, she edited out the general plot behind "Chi Ling" and also inserted a lot of drama and dance scenes in the middle.

The video begins with a close-up of a recording microphone, and the name "Chi Ling" appears, while Tan Jing's singing voice can be heard.

Although it is an ancient style song, the singing technique is actually completely different from the singing style of the early Ming Dynasty.

Prince Zhu and Empress Ma had never seen anything like this before, and they got goosebumps when they heard the chanting at the beginning.

The concubines and princes who were closer to the north also leaned towards the north and pricked up their ears.

Zhu Ying, in particular, almost moved his chair to the side of Zhu Biao's desk, looking as if he couldn't wait to run to the emperor's throne.

"Love comes from nowhere, but it's so deep~"

A line of operatic recitation gave Zhu Yuanzhang and Empress Ma goosebumps again.

Then the scene changed, and a woman with long hair wearing a white shirt and half of her shoulders exposed appeared.

Empress Ma frowned in surprise, then looked at Zhu Yuanzhang, who was leaning forward, and said, "Look at you, your eyes are almost drooping. How can you be an emperor?"

Zhu Yuanzhang chuckled, "Isn't this just a curious observation? The songs of later generations are quite different from ours. Mm, they sound good!"

Lao Zhu actually wanted to think of an elegant word to describe the feeling of goose bumps, but he lacked literary talent, so he could only come up with "nice".

Soon, when the climax of "Chi Ling" was reached and a line of lyrics was heard, the expressions of Zhu Yuanzhang and Empress Ma suddenly became serious.

"I hide all my joys, sorrows, anger, and happiness in my makeup. What does it matter if I sing out my old words? The bones and ashes are all mine. In troubled times, I can't bear to watch the flames of war burn the mountains and rivers. Although I am humble, I dare not forget my worries for the country, even if no one knows me~"

The video shows a group of Hu Lu cavalry rushing into a small town. Then the scene changes to show that these Hu Lu generals and soldiers are listening to music, eating and drinking in a theater, and then suddenly they are poisoned and fall to the ground.

Then, many barbarian soldiers started killing people in the theater, and finally the theater caught fire, and even the heroine in the video was buried in the sea of ​​fire...
Prince Zhu and Empress Ma were so engrossed in the video that they were more entranced than watching a movie, and it was not until the end of the video that they came to their senses.

Then Lao Zhu paused the video himself and began to sigh.

"Looking at Yanyun, looking at Bianliang, dreaming for a while... When I first heard this song, I thought it was a decadent piece of music. Only after listening to it did I realize that the lyrics are very profound. It seems to describe the Jingkang Incident, when all the actors sacrificed themselves to resist the Jin invaders, but the Zhao Song emperor and his ministers unjustly killed Yue Fei and lived in peace in the south of the Yangtze River, living a life of drunkenness and dreams."

"I really wish I could be like Liu Kuan, lead an army of 100,000 and travel back to that time to kill all the tyrant emperors and treacherous ministers of the Zhao and Song dynasties, as well as the Jin invaders!"

Empress Ma also sighed and said, "I never thought that there are loyal and righteous people among these actors. They know that when the nest is overturned, no eggs will remain intact."

"In troubled times, life is already extremely difficult for women, and it is even more difficult for actors. Yet, they are able to bravely sacrifice themselves for their country's misfortune. If what is described in this video is true, it is truly admirable."

Zhu Yuanzhang expressed his emotions (murderous intent) and felt a little better. He smiled and said, "Sister, if you want to know the truth of the background of this song, just ask Liu Kuan to ask and you will know."

　Second update.

　　Good night~
　　
　
(End of this chapter)