Bringing the Railway to Daming

Chapter 225: Real Imperial Power, Young China Says! [Subscription Request]

Zhu Yuanzhang thought for a while, and then asked, "Have you finished telling me about Zhu Jianshen?"

Liu Kuan said, "I have finished telling you everything I know."

"Then you can go back - prepare the songs, videos, and movies for New Year's Eve these few days. We will have lunch together on New Year's Eve."

Hearing this, Liu Kuan couldn't help but say, "Your Majesty, Huilan is already pregnant, and Caiwei has just given birth. It would be inappropriate for me to bring Huilan to the palace for a gathering on New Year's Eve. Why not go to the movies together on the first day of the new year when I pay my New Year's greetings to Your Majesty?"

Zhu Yuanzhang thought for a moment and nodded, "That's fine, but we have a lot of things to do on New Year's Day, so why not put it off until the second day?"

"Yes." Liu Kuan bowed, "I will take my leave."

After Liu Kuan left Fengxian Hall, Zhu Yuanzhang asked, "What are your thoughts on the four issues Liu Kuan just mentioned regarding the Imperial Hospital?"

Zhu Biao said, "I think that regarding the first two points, we should set an example ourselves and avoid imposing severe punishments on imperial physicians for poor diagnosis and treatment, and then warn future emperors to pay attention to this matter."

"As time goes by, the imperial doctors and common doctors will realize that our family has a kind heart."

Zhu Yuanzhang immediately understood the hidden meaning in Zhu Biao's words and snorted, "What do you mean by 'we'? Aren't you just trying to remind us?"

"Knowing the lessons of future generations, we will not arbitrarily execute the imperial physician and exterminate his family. However, if the imperial physician fails to provide a satisfactory treatment, he must be punished. Otherwise, he will think that our Zhu family is easy to fool."

"It's certainly wrong to be too murderous, but being overly merciful is even more unacceptable. Using both kindness and severity is the right way!"

Zhu Biao sighed softly, "Father, there is still a difference between imperial physicians and civil and military officials."

Zhu Yuanzhang said, "I don't want to argue with you any more. Think about it carefully. Fourth Brother, don't you have any ideas?"

Zhu Di was secretly happy when he heard that Zhu Biao and Zhu Yuanzhang had different opinions and even had a dispute, but he didn't expect to be named.

Fortunately, he had just thought about this matter, so he said, "Regarding the first two points, I support Father's views."

"As for the third point, it all comes down to us being more wary of the gentry. If we can't eliminate the gentry, then it's best to suppress them periodically to prevent them from growing in power."

"If it is discovered that gentry, civil or military officials have extended their influence into the Imperial Medical Bureau or even the palace, they should be severely punished with thunder and lightning. Even if they are from the barbarians, severe punishment is not tolerated. Only by imposing severe penalties can we serve as a warning to others!"

After saying this, a murderous look appeared on Zhu Di's young and handsome face.

Zhu Biao frowned slightly when he heard this, but Zhu Yuanzhang smiled, stroked his beard and nodded.

"Old Four is right. We must be ruthless when targeting the gentry. The more we listen to Liu Kuan's historical and later stories, the more we feel that they are the greatest enemies of our royal family."

Zhu Di was quite encouraged by Old Zhu's praise and continued, "As for the fourth point, we can rectify the administrative system and reorganize the Imperial Hospital from time to time to prevent those who are good at scheming but not good at medicine from usurping power."

"However, now that we have a medical school and a hospital system in the Ming Dynasty, these two are interconnected with the Imperial Hospital. I believe that in the future, it will be difficult for those who are greedy and despicable to enter the Imperial Hospital."

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded again. "Your insights are sound. When you establish your vassal states overseas, you must keep these in mind and leave behind some relevant ancestral teachings to prevent them from repeating the mistakes of the Ming Dynasty. Remember this?"

"Your son will remember this." Zhu Di replied with his head down.

He sighed inwardly: Father is afraid that I will covet the throne because of the praise just now, is it really that serious?

Zhu Biao also saw the intention of Old Zhu's words, and also sighed: It is really not easy for the royal family to have normal human relationships.

Zhu Yuanzhang did not sigh so much, and asked another question, "What do you think about the transfer of officials?"

Zhu Biao said, "I still hold the same view as before - for the long-term benefit of the Ming Dynasty, even if the system of inherited officials continues, it should be strictly restricted to prevent them from being exploited by unfilial descendants and treacherous officials in the future."

Zhu Di thought for a moment and said, "I agree with my elder brother on this matter."

Upon hearing this, Zhu Yuanzhang looked at Zhu Di deeply and thought: Could it be that this fourth brother is deliberately supporting the eldest brother and playing against us just because he has no benefits?
Zhu Yuanzhang thought for a moment and said, "While I am in power, I will definitely not hand over the power to appoint and dismiss officials. If you are interested in this matter, please wait until you ascend the throne."

Zhu Biao smiled bitterly and said, "Don't worry, Your Majesty. I only want to limit this system, not eliminate it directly."

"It's good that you understand this." Zhu Yuanzhang stood up. "You must remember that without any of the following, namely, military power, financial power, and personnel power, the imperial power is not real."

···
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The sound of firecrackers marks the end of another year.

On the second day of the first lunar month in the seventeenth year of Hongwu, Liu Kuan went into the palace alone, letting Zhu Huilan rest at home and taking care of household affairs, as he had already come to pay New Year's greetings to Zhu Yuanzhang and Empress Ma the day before.

After all, Su Caiwei is still in confinement, and household affairs cannot be managed without the mistress looking after them.

The second day of the Chinese New Year is a rare free day for Lao Zhu in the year.

When Liu Kuan was led into the Dashan Hall by the eunuch, he saw that Zhu Yuanzhang and Empress Ma were already waiting there with their entire family.

After Liu Kuan saluted, Lao Zhu smiled and said, "The tables and chairs are already set up. Let's just listen to some music and watch a movie. Liu Kuan, are you ready?"

Liu Kuan said, "I am ready."

Zhu Yuanzhang said no more and took Empress Ma to the self-built "home theater" in the palace.

After Zhu Yuanzhang and Empress Ma took their seats, the concubines, princes, princesses, and grandchildren also took their seats in turn.

Because of the sufficient preparations this time, the seats were arranged quite carefully - a group of specially made chairs were arranged in several rows, with the back row being slightly higher than the front row.

"Isn't this similar to movie theaters in later generations?" Liu Kuan smiled secretly.

Although this seating arrangement is not in line with the etiquette at the time, it is a private gathering of the Zhu family, not a business matter, so it is nothing.

After everyone was seated, Liu Kuan first found the prepared song collection, then placed it on the table and played it on the touch screen.

This time he prepared six new ancient style songs - all edited from a song compilation video downloaded on the third day of August.

After the video started, Zhu Yuanzhang and Empress Ma were fine. After all, every time they got together before, the couple would watch the song video first.

The people behind were quite excited, especially the princes and princesses.

They had watched the song videos before and felt that there was some fun in them, not much different from watching a movie. At this moment, everyone had their eyes wide open and looked expectant.

However, Liu Kuan did not pay much attention to the song selection this time. The first five of the six songs were popular on the Internet in later generations, namely "Half a Pot of Silk", "Red Wish", "Koi Copy", "Shang", and "The Stunning Guest in the World".

If it was the first time for the Zhu family to listen to ancient style songs from later generations, they might feel amazed after getting used to it.

But because I have heard similar songs before, these five songs don’t feel as amazing when I listen to them now.

Of course, compared with the music of that time, the songs that have been modified and processed in various ways in later generations still fascinate the Zhu family.

When it was the sixth song's turn, after just a short while of playing, Lao Zhu and the others were shocked.

At the beginning of the video, some eye-catching large words appear, and at the same time, the children's neat, clear and energetic singing voices can be heard.

“If the youth are wise, the nation will be wise!”

“If the youth are prosperous, the country will be prosperous!”

“A strong youth makes a strong country!”

"···"

The first four sentences of "On Youthful China" were recited twice in succession before the song title appeared on the screen. At the same time, the scene of the later Tiananmen Square military parade appeared, and the voice of the lead singer also sounded.

"The red sun rises, and its path shines brightly."

"The river flows out and flows into the ocean."

"The hidden dragon soars into the abyss, its scales and claws fly."

"A young tiger roars in the valley, and all the beasts are terrified~"

In the video, after the grand military parade, a series of shots of China's future super projects and achievements that have attracted worldwide attention are connected, interspersed with the beautiful mountains and rivers of the motherland, and a majestic atmosphere emerges!

"Young men are naturally wild and arrogant, their bodies are like mountains and rivers with straight spines. I dare to measure the sun and the moon again, today I am a young man!"

"I dare to ask the heaven and earth to test my sharpness. Who can stop me from breaking through the thorns? The world laughs at me, but I am self-reliant and live up to my youth~!"

Halfway through the song, Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't help but slap his thigh and praised, "Great song!"

The second half of the video made Zhu's family, especially the princes, even more excited and fascinated.

First, a severe flood broke out in the Yangtze River Basin in 1998. Later, the soldiers and hundreds of millions of people united to fight the flood. The soldiers formed a human wall, standing firm in the flood, and did not retreat despite the torrent!

The 2008 Wenchuan earthquake devastated the earth, leaving victims trapped in ruins. Yet, when one region is in trouble, support comes from all sides! Countless volunteers and countless supplies, like a torrent of humanitarian aid, flowed into Sichuan!
Soldiers bravely risked their lives, and volunteers tirelessly labored to assist in disaster relief efforts. Many victims, through their tenacious will, managed to survive the wreckage. Stories of heroic selflessness were discovered and reported one after another.
Then, during the epidemic, the whole country was united and overcame the difficulties together!

Countless medical workers, without fear of danger, worked day and night on the front line of the fight against the epidemic. Countless volunteers also worked hard for this and finally successfully survived the epidemic!
Then came the grand military parade of the 21st century, with all kinds of new weapons making their debut, but the soldiers’ high-spirited postures remained the same!

The national flag is raised, fighter jets are dispatched, soldiers patrol the border, and armed police suppress bandits!
Warships patrolled over the ocean, and then in the desert, the ocean, and the sparsely populated valleys, missiles soared into the sky with repeated shouts of "Fire!"

They are like dragons breaking through the air, blasting their targets into pieces!
Then the picture almost seamlessly connects to scenes of space rockets launching into space, then to satellites arriving in orbit, and finally to astronauts overlooking the earth from the Tiangong space station.

The camera then pulls down, and it seems as if the astronauts are looking at China at night—a dazzling display of lights from thousands of homes...

It took several breaths after the video was over for the Zhu family to come back to their senses.

To be honest, there are some scenes in the video that Lao Zhu and others don't quite understand. For example, the anti-epidemic scenes, the rocket launch scenes at the end, and the scenes of China winning awards in various international competitions, etc.

However, they all felt what the video wanted to express: "China is like the rising sun, full of vitality and high national strength."

After coming back to his senses, Lao Zhu couldn't help but sigh with emotion: "Even at my age, this song makes my blood boil and my heart surge. It's really a good song - it's much better than the five decadent songs before!"

Empress Ma smiled and said, "This song 'On Young China' is indeed a good song, but the first five songs are not all decadent songs, they are also very good, but they are of a different style from this last song."

Zhu Yuanzhang did not argue with Empress Ma. Instead, he looked at Liu Kuan and said, "The video of this song is quite interesting, but there are some parts that I don't quite understand."

"For example, the image of so many soldiers holding hands and standing firm in the midst of a torrent—let's look at the words next to it, it seems to be '1998 Flood Control'. Could this actually be a true story from the Xin Dynasty in later times?"

Liu Kuan sighed, "Of course it's true—in 1998, there were no megaprojects like the Three Gorges Dam in the upper and middle reaches of the Yangtze River. So after several days of heavy rain, a massive flood broke out in the Yangtze River basin..."

　Second update.

　　Good night~
　　
　
(End of this chapter)