Bringing the Railway to Daming

Chapter 257: Fifteen Provinces and Seven Major Commands! The King of Chu Views Luzon [Request for Subscription]

Liu Kuan said, "Your Majesty, to manufacture airplanes we must first develop the internal combustion engine and the petrochemical industry. Both of these things are currently unavailable in the Ming Dynasty."

"As for cars, although they can be made with steam engines, they are not very practical. It would be better to wait until the internal combustion engine is developed and then directly build cars using it."

Zhu Yuanzhang frowned and asked, "When do you think the Ming Dynasty will be able to develop an internal combustion engine?"

"Your Majesty, I only have a limited understanding of the principles of the internal combustion engine, and my computer lacks the relevant information. I estimate that the Ming Dynasty will have to develop it on its own. Based on later experience, it will take at least a hundred years."

Zhu Yuanzhang pondered for a moment, then asked, "If that strange fog reappears on the bridge, you might be able to connect to the internet and find this kind of information?"

Hearing this, Zhu Huilan couldn't help but grab Liu Kuan's arm.

She now knew that it was the strange fog that had sent Liu Kuan, the bridge, and the railway to the Ming Dynasty. This meant that if the strange fog appeared again, it would most likely send Liu Kuan back to the afterlife or somewhere else.

Selfishly speaking, she didn't want Liu Kuan to have any contact with the strange fog again.

Liu Kuan first comforted Zhu Huilan, then said, "Your Majesty, when the strange fog appeared for the second time, I tried it. Although I could connect to the future, I couldn't input any information from the Ming Dynasty."

"If you can't input information, you can't conduct targeted searches and can only passively view information on various software and web pages."

"In addition, a lot of useful information in later generations requires payment to view and download, and this is not available in the Ming Dynasty. This means that even if you find some information, you can't download it."

"So, even if we encounter that strange fog again, I can only say that I will try my best to search for this kind of useful information. I can't guarantee that I will find it, let alone download it."

Zhu Yuanzhang probably understood what he said. After thinking for a while, he sighed and said, "Well, just do your best."

Afterwards, he called a group of older princes, as well as Liu Kuan and Zhu Xiongying, to the side hall to discuss matters.

After everyone was seated, Zhu Yuanzhang asked someone to bring over a huge map.

When Liu Kuan took a look, he found that it was a map of the current Ming Dynasty and its surrounding countries, which was probably equivalent to the map of Asia in later generations.

"It is now the eighteenth year of the Hongwu reign." Zhu Yuanzhang looked around at the princes and said in a loud voice, "This year, our Ming Dynasty has three major external priorities: the first is to destroy the Northern Yuan Dynasty, the second is to establish the Luzon Regional Command, and the third is to consolidate the Beiyang Seaway and implement a series of strategies towards Korea and Japan."

"While everyone is here today, let's talk about these three important things..."

···
In the eighteenth year of Hongwu, after the various ministries and agencies opened their offices on the eighth day of the first lunar month, the imperial court soon issued a series of edicts and decrees.

First, the Guizhou Provincial Administration Commission was established.

Second, the Beidu Commandery was established, abbreviated as Beidusi, with its headquarters in Xibo City.

Third, the Luzon Commandery was established, abbreviated as Luzon Commandery, with its headquarters located in the Fortress of Miguel.

Fourth, the "Nurgan" Dusi was changed to the "Jilin" Dusi.

In addition, the name of the province was restored, but the policy of dividing the administration of each province into three departments was still adopted: the Military Commissioner's Office was responsible for military affairs, the Ministry of Civil Affairs was responsible for government affairs, and the Ministry of Justice was responsible for law and punishment.

However, at present, only the fifteen provinces of Zhili, Jiangxi, Zhejiang, Huguang, Henan, Shandong, Hebei, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Yunnan, Guangxi, Guangdong, Fujian, and Liaoning have all three departments.

In addition to these fifteen provinces, there were four dusi (similar to military regions) directly controlled by the Ming court: Gansu, Jilin, Beiyang, and Luzon.

There were also three dusi, namely Dogan, U-Tsang and Beibei, which were nominally under the direct rule of the Ming Dynasty but were actually ruled by local chieftain regimes.

In other words, the territory of the Ming Dynasty in the 18th year of Hongwu included 15 provinces and 7 military governors!

On February , the dragon looked up.

King Zhu Zhen of Chu brought a thousand guards and a fleet of the South China Sea Navy to Mi Jinwei on Luzon Island, responsible for supervising matters such as the establishment of the Luzon Regional Military Commission.

On the deck of the fleet's flagship, Zhu Zhen, who was only 22 years old, in the prime of his life and with a handsome figure, was holding the latest model of telescope from the Mirror Manufacturing Bureau and looking at the Honey Gold Guard in front of him.

Although the Honey Gold Guard was established less than a year ago on the northwest coast of Luzon Island, it has already built a civil structure acropolis.

Of course, this Acropolis is not big. According to the documents that Zhu Zhen saw, the Honey Gold Acropolis is about one mile long and only three hundred steps wide, less than one mile, and is only a temporary Acropolis.

When he looked at the place where the Honey Golden Acropolis was located, he saw a large river running from east to west and entering the sea to the south of the Honey Golden Acropolis.

Years of silt accumulation have formed a large sandbar on the west coast.

Because Zhu Yuanzhang generously gave part of the naming rights to the generals who opened the garrison, the river now has a name, called Mi Jin River. It is not known whether the commander of the Mi Jin Guard was not good at naming or had some concerns, so he simply used the name given to the Mi Jin Guard by Zhu Yuanzhang.

To avoid wind and waves, the Mijin Acropolis is located on the north bank before the Mijin River forks, and the pier it built is also there.

As the fleet entered the river, Zhu Zhen discovered that both the banks and the sandbanks were covered with dense green jungle.

He put away his telescope, wiped his sweat-soaked undershirt, and couldn't help muttering, "It's only the beginning of February, and it's already so hot here. What will it be like in the summer?"

Zhu Zhen felt that the weather at this time was almost the same as midsummer in Nanjing.

Now he could understand why there were dense jungles everywhere. After the fleet docked at the Mi Jinwei dock, Zhu Zhen was greeted by Chen Yan, the former commander of the Mi Jinwei and now the deputy commander of the Mi Jinwei.

"General Chen Yan pays homage to His Majesty the King of Chu!"

Zhu Zhenxu helped Chen Yan up and said, "Chen Dutong, there's no need to be so polite. Actually, my rank in the army is lower than yours."

Chen Yan said, "Your Highness the Prince of Chu is a prince. How dare I treat him according to his rank? A welcoming banquet has been prepared in the city. Please follow me into the city."

Zhu Zhen said, "There's no need to rush into the city. I've noticed that a lot of farmland has been reclaimed around the Acropolis, and the wheat is growing well. How about Chen Dutong take me on a tour of the fields reclaimed by the Mijin Guard last year to get a feel for the situation before heading to the Acropolis? What do you think?"

Chen Yan was quite surprised that Zhu Zhen would go to inspect the military farms right after coming down.

"There are rumors in the army that His Majesty intends to train the princes and grant them overseas fiefdoms based on their merits. The greater their achievements, the better the fiefdom will be."

"Now the King of Chu has arrived and he's not even eating, but he's already investigating the military and setting up farmlands. He's really too dedicated. Has the competition among the princes become so intense?"

With this in mind, Chen Yan did not dare to delay and immediately took Zhu Zhen to inspect the military farms.

Watch and explain at the same time.

"Your Highness, the King of Chu, please look, these dry lands where wheat is growing well were all cultivated before November last year."

"The farming seasons on Luzon Island are very different from those in the Central Plains. According to local Han Chinese farmers, it's hot year-round, with no distinct spring, summer, autumn, or winter seasons. Therefore, farming depends on the availability of rainfall."

"Given the climate in northwest Luzon, rainfall is relatively scarce from November to April, making it suitable for growing wheat."

"From May to October, there is abundant rain and the climate is hotter, which is suitable for growing rice."

"So last year, after we established Honey Gold Guard, we reclaimed some dry land and planted wheat at the suggestion of a local farmer."

"As for these paddy fields along the river, they were cultivated after the wheat was planted. Your Highness, you may not know that although Luzon Island has fertile soil and abundant water resources, the forests are too dense and the weather is too hot, making reclamation difficult."

"It's also fortunate that after we arrived, several native tribes were tactless and came to harass us. We wiped them out and captured a large number of prisoners to serve as forced labor. Otherwise, I'm afraid many soldiers would have died while reclaiming the wasteland."

Zhu Zhen was greatly surprised when he saw the lush green wheat fields and the natives working hard in the paddy fields by the river.

He found that for some things, one really had to go there to understand the truth.

His previous impression of Luzon was that two or even three rice crops could be grown in a year, but when he arrived in Mijinwei, he found that this was not the case.

The difficulties of reclaiming wasteland and farming here are even more difficult and arduous than what is described in the documents.

After coming to his senses, Zhu Zhen asked, "I heard that Luzon can grow two or even three rice crops a year. Is that just a rumor?"

Chen Yan shook his head. "Of course it's not a rumor. It's just in southern Luzon—it's hotter there than here, and the rain is more abundant."

"I see."

Zhu Zhen understood.

He remembered what Zhu Yuanzhang said when they were discussing the establishment of the Luzon Regional Command in a side hall on the second day of junior high school.

Because there were no hostile forces in the Luzon Islands that could resist the Ming Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty's development of Luzon could proceed in an orderly manner.

The imperial court planned to first establish several garrisons along the northwest coast of Luzon, form the Luzon Regional Military Commission, and reclaim wasteland for farming.

After a few years, the Luzon Regional Military Commission's garrison troops had truly adapted to the climate here and had stockpiled enough food. They then moved south along the coast or deep into the interior of Luzon Island to open up new garrisons.

That is, with the cooperation of the South China Sea Navy, first take over the coastal areas of Luzon Island, and then slowly erode the inland areas of the big island in the future.

After inspecting the fields, Zhu Zhen went into the city to attend a welcoming banquet.

At the banquet, Chen Yan further explained, "In fact, the Mi Jin Wei farming doesn't bring much revenue to the court. The real money comes from mining gold and beeswax—that's why His Majesty named this place Mi Jin Wei."

"Your Highness, did you see the large island at the mouth of the Honey Gold River when you came here? There's an easily mined gold mine and plenty of beeswax on that island."

Zhu Zhen actually knew all of this from the documents, but he still listened with great interest and said with a smile, "If that's the case, Luzon is indeed a wealthy place."

After a while, the banquet ended and Chen Yan asked someone to serve tea.

He and several generals of the garrison continued to "chat" with Zhu Zhen over tea, but in fact they were reporting on the work of the garrison.

After chatting for a while, Zhu Zhen suddenly asked, "I heard that there is a well-known Fujian businessman in Luzon named Xu Chai Lao. Is it true?"

Chen Yan was surprised to hear this and said, "I have indeed heard of Xu Chai Lao's name. It is said that he followed his father to Southeast Asia at the end of the Yuan Dynasty and spent more than 20 years there to build up a huge fortune. Therefore, he is somewhat famous among the Han Chinese community in Luzon and even the entire Southeast Asian community."

"But I never thought that this person's name would reach His Highness's ears."

　Second update
　　Good night~
　　
　　
　
(End of this chapter)