Bringing the Railway to Daming

Chapter 24 High Technology, divided into six parts [Seeking follow-up reading]

After hearing what Zhao Cheng said, Liu Kuan breathed a sigh of relief.

He really didn't want to rush to the palace on an empty stomach.

Historical records say that Zhu Yuanzhang was quite harsh on officials, but he felt that Zhu Yuanzhang was quite considerate to him.

Or is it because of his special background that he was given special treatment?

With these thoughts in mind, Liu Kuan said, "I haven't eaten yet. Would Zhongguan Zhao like to eat something with me?"

Liu Kuan didn't know the etiquette and customs of the Ming Dynasty, so he could only follow those of later generations. After all, it was still China, and even though there had been a gap of six hundred years, the overall difference would not be too big.

Zhao Cheng smiled and waved his hand, "I've already used it before, so I won't eat it."

He then reminded, "Although the Emperor is not in a hurry, Master Liu had better not delay too much, as it is already early in the morning."

It was the beginning of the Si hour, and I didn’t know what time it was.

His cell phone was turned off. Liu Kuan got up, washed up, and went to see Zhao Cheng, so he didn't know the exact time.

He nodded and said, "I'll try to be as quick as possible - then please wait for a moment, Lieutenant Zhao."

Zhao Cheng nodded and said, "Young Master Liu, please go and have your meal."

Liu Kuan took Xia He back to the middle courtyard and saw Chunlan and the other two had already set up breakfast in the side hall.

A bowl of millet porridge, a basket of meat buns, and two side dishes, one meat and one vegetable.

Liu Kuan ate all the food on the table in just a few minutes at the same speed as he did in the school cafeteria when he was in middle school.

Dongmei, who was standing next to him, was stunned and thought to herself: Young Master eats so fast, faster than me and eats more than me.

Afterwards, Liu Kuan rinsed his mouth with the tea handed to him by Xia He, and wiped his mouth with the towel handed to him by Qiu Yue. Then he returned to the bedroom, put on his backpack, and went to find Zhao Cheng to enter the palace.

The reason for bringing the bag was the same - the things were too important and he felt uneasy without them.

Zhao Cheng and others came on horseback, and Liu Kuan also wanted to ride over on horseback.

Although his residence was not far from the Forbidden City, riding a horse was always faster than walking.

It was also at this time that Liu Kuan realized that the black horse he rode yesterday was the imperial horse given to him by Zhu Yuanzhang as a reward.

Because the horse was covered in black hair except for a circle of white hair on its four hooves, it was given the nice name "Dark Clouds Stepping on Snow".

After entering the Forbidden City and entering the Fengxian Hall, Liu Kuan subconsciously took a look around.

I saw that the red-painted wooden pillars of the main hall of Fengxian Temple were standing upright and quite broad.

Zhu Yuanzhang sat high on the dragon throne in the hall.

Zhu Biao was sitting between a table and chairs to the left of the prince. There were many memorials, pens, ink, paper, and inkstone on the table.

An old eunuch stood beside a pillar not far from the imperial throne, appearing to have no presence at all.

In addition, there were two officials in the hall, each of whom was given a table and chair, sitting at the end on the left and right sides respectively.

There are also pens, ink, paper and inkstone on the table, which seems to indicate that he works in Fengxian Hall just like Zhu Biao.

Liu Kuan was watching when he heard the middle-aged official sitting to his right shout, "You don't kneel before His Majesty, but dare to look around? Do you know the etiquette?"

Liu Kuan was a little confused, and then looked at Zhu Yuanzhang sitting on the dragon throne.

Zhu Yuanzhang said calmly, "I have granted Liu Kuan the right not to kneel... Wu Shen, Wang Li, there is no business for you here for the time being, so please go to the side hall and wait."

The middle-aged official who scolded Liu Kuan frowned and looked at Liu Kuan deeply, then left Fengxian Hall with another official.

Liu Kuan then bowed to Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao, "Greetings to Your Majesty, and to Your Highness the Crown Prince."

Zhu Biao smiled and nodded.

Zhu Yuanzhang got straight to the point and said, "Master Liu, I heard from Biao'er that you have a device called a mobile phone that can transmit messages over thousands of miles and can also reflect everything in the world into a painting."

Liu Kuan was well prepared for questions about cell phones and computers. Upon hearing this, he said, "Your Majesty, I did bring a cell phone with me, but it's no longer useful for communication or internet access in the Ming Dynasty. I can only use it to take pictures, play music, or watch videos."

Zhu Yuanzhang didn't understand for a moment, so he simply said, "Can you show it to us?"

"of course can."

Liu Kuan took off his backpack and took out his cell phone.

The eunuch beside the emperor came over and took it carefully, checked it briefly, and then placed it on Zhu Yuanzhang's dragon table.

Zhu Yuanzhang took the phone and looked at it, and found that he had no idea what this thing was used for, and he couldn't even tell what it was made of - part of it looked like gold, iron, or crystal, but the rest was unclear.

"How do I use this mobile phone?" Zhu Yuanzhang asked.

Without waiting for Liu Kuan to answer, Zhu Biao said, "Father, this phone belongs to Young Master Liu. He has been recognized as the owner. We need his fingerprint and password to open it."

"Mr. Liu, is that so?"

Liu Kuan originally wanted to bring up the statement that "the mobile phone has recognized its owner" himself to avoid being forcibly taken away by Zhu Yuanzhang, but he didn't expect Zhu Biao to say it for him.

When Lao Zhu asked, he said, "Yes."

"Then you open it and let me see."

Liu Kuan glanced at the high imperial steps and the dragon throne and said, "I dare not go up."

Zhu Yuanzhang laughed heartily and said, "Then let's get down."

After saying that, Zhu Yuanzhang came to Liu Kuan with his cell phone.

The only two eunuchs in the hall were secretly surprised, and Liu Kuan's status in Zhu Yuanzhang's heart was raised to a higher level.

In front of Zhu Yuanzhang, Liu Kuan unlocked the screen with his fingerprint and handed it back.

Zhu Yuanzhang was amazed when he saw the phone's screen glowing, with some strange yet delicate patterns on it. After finally coming to his senses, even with his courage, he didn't dare to move, so he asked, "Is this also made by later generations?"

Liu Kuan nodded, "Yes, but it's a high-tech item. I'm afraid the Ming Dynasty won't be able to produce it in two or three hundred years."

"High-tech..." Zhu Yuanzhang pondered as he looked at his phone. "How high-tech?"

Liu Kuan thought for a moment and said, "If the technological level of building trains and railways is as high as a two- or three-story building, then building a cross-river bridge is as high as a five- or six-story building."

"And making a mobile phone is at least as tall as a thirty-three-story building."

Liu Kuan's explanation was so vivid that it left Zhu Yuanzhang speechless for a moment.

Coming back to his senses, he continued, "Biao'er said you used this phone to take a photo yesterday? How did you do it? Teach us."

When the two eunuchs in the hall heard Zhu Yuanzhang speaking to Liu Kuan in a negotiating tone, they were even more surprised.

However, even if one of them has only touched the phone and the other has only watched it from afar, they can both know how magical this thing is.

Since Liu Kuan came from later generations and possessed such a magical thing, it was reasonable for Zhu Yuanzhang to treat him specially.

Liu Kuan smiled and taught Lao Zhu how to take pictures with his mobile phone.

It turned out that Lao Zhu was similar to Zhu Biao yesterday. After learning how to take pictures with his mobile phone, he immediately had a lot of fun.

First, he took photos with Zhu Biao, Liu Kuan and even two eunuchs, then took photos of Fengxian Hall, and even went outside to take photos of other buildings.

But his high time was much shorter than Zhu Biao's, and he returned the phone without waiting for Liu Kuan to remind him.

He didn't ask about "listening to music and watching videos", probably because he didn't understand.

"This mobile phone is good, but it's a pity that my Ming Dynasty can't make it now." After sighing like this, Zhu Yuanzhang returned to sit on the dragon throne.

Liu Kuan didn't respond.

Seeing this, Zhu Yuanzhang moved on to the next topic.

"We're planning to establish a cabinet and a council of ministers to help Biaoer and I share the responsibilities of state affairs. Do you have any suggestions?"

Liu Kuan thought about it and decided to follow his idea from yesterday and help Zhu Yuanzhang to establish a mature court system as soon as possible to make it easier for him to do things later.

So he said, "Your Majesty can indeed refer to later generations and directly establish a mature cabinet and military council system."

"In addition, since Your Majesty, the six ministries of the Ming Dynasty have restored the system of a Shangshu."

"The Qing Dynasty was similar, but because they were wary of the Han people, they created the position of Manchu Shangshu, which was exclusively held by Manchus."

"Since Your Majesty wants to establish a cabinet and a Grand Council, why not reform the six ministries together to make the court system more rational?"

After hearing Liu Kuan's words, Zhu Yuanzhang could not help but say expressionlessly, "Are you saying that it is unreasonable for us to have four or five Shangshu?"

Liu Kuan remained silent, but thought to himself: Don’t you know whether it is reasonable or not?

Just as Zhu Biao and the two eunuchs felt the atmosphere in the hall grow tense, Zhu Yuanzhang suddenly smiled and said, "How dare you say that—do you know why we have several Shangshu?"

Liu Kuan asked, "Your Majesty, do you think the position of Shangshu has too much power?"

Zhu Yuanzhang said, "That's indeed a major reason. Another reason is that among the current Shangshu, we may not even be able to pick two who can manage a department well."

Liu Kuan felt that Zhu Yuanzhang's words did not necessarily mean that the civil officials in the early Ming Dynasty were incompetent.

It is very likely that Zhu Yuanzhang's personal abilities were too strong, which is why he was not satisfied with the abilities shown by his ministers.

Just as he himself was extremely energetic and could handle state affairs day after day, he thought Zhu Biao should be able to do the same.

While Liu Kuan was thinking, Zhu Yuanzhang continued, "If you can help us solve these two problems, we can consider having only one Shangshu."

Hearing this, Liu Kuan suddenly had an idea and said, "These two problems are actually very easy to solve. Your Majesty, instead of having multiple ministers in each ministry, why not split the six ministries?"

Split into six parts?

Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes lit up when he heard this.

The same is true for Zhu Biao.

Liu Kuan added, "In fact, if the Ming Dynasty continues to promote science, develop technology, and embark on the great voyages of exploration, it will soon enter what we later generations call the Industrial Revolution and then the Industrial Age."

"The Six Ministries is a system developed by several feudal dynasties during the agricultural era and is not very suitable for the industrial age."

"In the industrial age, the affairs that the court needs to manage will become more complex. Therefore, even in preparation for the rapid development of the Ming Dynasty, the six ministries should be split up."

"If the six ministries were to become eight, ten, or even twelve, the power of one minister would naturally be smaller, and the affairs to be managed would also be fewer."

"And in the early days, the requirements for Shangshu's ability were naturally lowered."

Having said that, Liu Kuan paused to give Lao Zhu and Xiao Zhu time to think.

Although his remarks were made in plain language, firstly, they were spoken in the Mandarin of later generations, and secondly, they used many new words. Old Zhu and Little Zhu certainly could not understand them at once.

At least you have to digest and think about it for a while.

After a while, Zhu Yuanzhang asked, "In your opinion, how many departments should the six ministries be divided into, and how should their responsibilities be divided?"

　A new week, the first update will be earlier.

　　Please collect, read and vote.

　　[As a side note, the protagonist in this story is an ordinary person in later life, an amateur history enthusiast. His knowledge of the early Ming dynasty primarily comes from online novels and forums, so his words may not necessarily be accurate (just like most of us who enjoy historical fiction). I hope readers can distinguish between the protagonist's words and the real situation, and distinguish them from the author's perspective.]

　　[Well, the author is actually just a storyteller, so please treat this as a pure story.]

　　【Thank you! 】

　　
　
(End of this chapter)