Bringing the Railway to Daming

Chapter 282: The True Splendor of the Ming Dynasty, the Three Pillars of the Southern Ming Dynasty! [Subscription Request]

When the Ming army rushed into the native village, the remaining battle was over in less than half an hour.

Pangze stood in front of a house made of stone and mud with some additives, looking at the entire aboriginal village - because this was the highest place in the village.

The ground around the building was paved with stone. Not far away was a round altar-shaped building, about a man's height and divided into three levels. Next to it were nine stacked stone pillars, each with a series of skulls hanging on them.

Dou Mingyi, the deputy commander, said, "This stone altar must have been used by the natives for sacrifices. The dark brown color of these stones must have been soaked in blood. And with so many skulls hanging on the stone pillars, it's no surprise that these natives must have used living people for sacrifice."

"As for the native woman we captured from this stone house earlier, she must be their shaman or witch."

Pang Ze thought the same thing. Thinking of the resentful look in the eyes of the native wizard with strange symbols painted all over his body and black lips before he left, he felt uneasy. So he said, "Send someone to take the wizard away and execute him. Remember, try to avoid those natives."

"As ordered!"

Dou Mingyi clasped his fists in response and went to do the job.

After a while, the commander Gan Fengxiang came over.

"Commander-in-Chief, the casualties have been counted. Our soldiers have one killed, two seriously wounded, and thirty-eight slightly wounded."

"One hundred and forty-seven native men and five women were killed in battle; four hundred and seventy-six native men, six hundred and eighty-nine women, and two hundred and three children less than four feet tall were captured."

"As for the loot, it was only three pounds and seven ounces of gold, thirty-eight gemstones of varying value, and some sweet potatoes and wild fruits."

Having said this, Gan Fengxiang paused before saying, "Although this native tribe has a lot of things, most of them are useless to us."

Pang Ze nodded, not surprised.

The weather here is even hotter than in Guangxi, and the locals mainly rely on fishing and gathering. Fish and wild fruits are not easy to preserve, so most of them are eaten on the same day they are caught.

Finding a few kilograms of gold and dozens of gems was already a pleasant surprise.

Of course, for Xuanguanwei, the biggest gain of this battle was the captives - the native men could be driven to open up wasteland, and the women could also be asked to do some work. Once the native women were tamed, they could be given as wives to meritorious soldiers to calm people's hearts.

However, Pang Ze felt sad when he thought about the loss of three regular soldiers in this battle - their Xuanguan Guard now has only more than 800 regular soldiers, but one less death is one less.

"We can't rely solely on the imperial court for additional troops. Once the stockade is built, we must quickly expand the influence of Xuanguanwei and strive to get some small tribes to accede to the Ming Dynasty, or even make them submit to the Ming."

"In this way, when the time is right, we can recruit young men from the native tribes that have surrendered to the empire as military households..."

Considering that carrying prisoners would be very slow, Pangze ordered them to spend the night in the tribal village.

The next day, the Ming army drove more than a thousand natives with their hands tied and connected to each other, back to the Xuanguanwei headquarters along the road they had opened up during the march yesterday.

With the addition of this group of native captives, the construction of the Xuanguanwei administration center (village) and the development of the surrounding jungles were accelerated.

In a blink of an eye, a month passed, and before the New Year, Xuanguanwei finally built the village.

This day.

Pang Ze was directing his personal soldiers to set up the official office when Dou Mingyi, the assistant official, arrived.

"Reporting to the commander, we have captured two more soldiers who infiltrated the female prisoner camp."

Pang Ze was not surprised to hear this. He waved his hand and said, "Do you really need to report such a small matter to me? According to the rules, you will be flogged twenty times and punished by being sent to reclaim wasteland for five days."

Dou Mingyi hesitated for a moment, then said, "Commander-in-Chief, there are complaints within the army about the female prisoner camp. There are even rumors that the imperial court's plan to send women as captives is a lie."

"Furthermore, the number of soldiers who have infiltrated the female prisoner camp and acted recklessly has increased recently. If this continues, I'm afraid it will undermine military discipline and morale."

"I think it's time to give wives to the meritorious soldiers."

Pang Ze knew everything Dou Mingyi said. After a moment's thought, he asked, "It's only been a month. Are those native women tamed enough?"

Dou Mingyi said, "It's true that native women are difficult to tame, but there are some who are naturally docile. Therefore, I think we can first select a group and assign them to meritorious soldiers so that the others can wait in peace."

Pang Ze nodded. "Alright, let's do this. First, select 100 and assign them to meritorious soldiers based on their merits, military ranks, and age. Then, hold a collective wedding for them. You'll be in charge of this."

"The last general takes command!"

After Dou Mingyi left, Pang Ze sent someone to call the commander-in-chief Gan Fengxiang.

"Gan Tongzhi, the New Year is just a few days away. The soldiers have just come with us to this foreign and wild land of America, so they must be missing their homeland."

"You should take good care of it and make sure everyone has a good New Year. It would be best if it's lively and lively to ease everyone's homesickness."

Gan Fengxiang nodded first, then clasped his fists and said, "I understand."

···
···
Capital.

Amidst heavy snow and the sound of firecrackers, the eighteenth year of Hongwu ended and the nineteenth year of Hongwu began.

On the second day of the New Year, Liu Kuan was ordered to bring his family to the palace to watch a movie with Zhu's family.

The place is still in the Dashan Hall.

After Liu Kuan saluted, Zhu Yuanzhang said impatiently, "Liu Kuan, have you prepared a song for today? Come up quickly and play it for me and the Queen."

Liu Kuan was a little embarrassed, but he still said truthfully: "Your Majesty, I have not prepared any songs this time."

Although Zhu Yuanzhang was a little surprised, he didn't get angry. After thinking for a moment, he said, "There must be some old song videos on the tablet, right? Let's play them. We can listen to them while drinking or eating."

"Yes."

Liu Kuan responded and immediately went up to retrieve the song video collection that he had edited for last year's Mid-Autumn Festival and played it for Lao Zhu.

He went downstairs to eat with Zhu Huilan, Su Caiwei, and their two children. In the dead of winter, the food would get cold quickly if not eaten early. Perhaps because they were watching videos and movies, the Zhu family ate quickly. With so many delicious dishes, they finished in just over half an hour.

Liu Kuan's family was the last to finish eating. Even so, because Zhu Zhi, Zhu Liang, Zhu Yunwen and other children were staring at them intently, Liu Kuan's family had to eat faster.

Otherwise, Liu Kuan's family would have to spend at least an hour to finish this meal.

After the meal, Empress Ma had someone clean up the dishes, tables and chairs, while Zhu Yuanzhang personally came to find Liu Kuan with a tablet computer.

After handing the tablet to Liu Kuan, he asked, "How many videos have you prepared today?"

Liu Kuan bowed and said, "I have prepared two short video collections and a movie."

"A collection of two short videos?" Zhu Yuanzhang wondered.

Liu Kuan explained, "Both videos are composed of three videos of several minutes each. They are from a famous video series about the history of the Ming Dynasty, 'The Splendor of the Ming Dynasty'."

A video collection about the history of Ming Dynasty?
"The Glory of the Ming Dynasty"?
After hearing this, not only Zhu Yuanzhang, but even Zhu Biao, Zhu Di and others became more interested in the video that was about to be played.

Liu Kuan noticed the expressions of several main members of Lao Zhu's family, but couldn't help thinking in his heart: I hope you will still be so happy after watching the video later.

Speaking of which, although the video series that Liu Kuan is going to play is called "The Glory of the Ming Dynasty", it has nothing to do with the TV series in later generations. Instead, it uses the name of the TV series to briefly describe the stories of many brilliant figures in the history of the Ming Dynasty.

Some people say that this host deliberately used "The Ming Dynasty" to attract traffic.

But the old lady said that she felt that the TV series "The Glory of the Ming Dynasty" was not worthy of the name at all, because it tells the story of the three or four generations of Ming emperors after Zhu Di.

However, what really makes the history of Ming Dynasty wonderful and worthy of the word "glorious" are the many heroes and outstanding people who have shone brightly in its more than two hundred years of history!
Liu Kuan agreed with what the old lady said, so he downloaded this series of videos last time and played them for Lao Zhu.

Although it’s a bit inappropriate to do it on the second day of the Chinese New Year, it’s not a big deal.

Soon, the palace servants cleaned up the Dashan Hall and set up a "home theater" with tables and chairs.

Old Zhu immediately took his family over and sat down in a row according to the rules, ready to watch the movie.

After everyone was seated, Liu Kuan called up the first video collection.

Before the video was played, Lao Zhu and others saw the title - Three Pillars of the Southern Ming Dynasty!

Southern Ming?

Three pillars?
This title made Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhu Biao and Zhu Di look strange. They had all listened to Liu Kuan's talks about the history of the Ming Dynasty many times. Although Liu Kuan had not yet talked about the Southern Ming Dynasty in detail, they also knew that in later history, the Southern Ming Dynasty did not last many years before it perished.

Among the three, Zhu Di looked particularly unnatural, even a little annoyed.

"What's wrong with Liu Kuan? I haven't offended him, why do I always feel like he's targeting me when he plays videos recently?"

"Also, this video clearly talks about Ming Dynasty history. Isn't he afraid that the video will reveal the Jingnan Rebellion?"

"Could it be that the Emperor has instructed him not to keep this secret any longer?"

For a time, Zhu Di became suspicious.

Liu Kuan didn't care about anything else and played the video directly.

When the first video came out, the subtitle appeared on the screen again, attracting the attention of Lao Zhu and others.

"A lone minister upholds his loyalty, his noble spirit will live on through the ages; a righteous man upholds righteousness, and heroes are not judged by their success or failure! [Koxinga - Zheng Chenggong!]

Just by looking at this couplet, Lao Zhu, Zhu Biao and others could feel the lonely, cold and tragic atmosphere.

Then a strange yet inexplicably touching piece of music sounded (Xuan Ni), and the video content appeared one shot at a time.

The person in the camera is Zheng Chenggong played by Zhao Wenzhuo.

"As a subject, you must be loyal to your monarch and your country."

"Today I grant you the surname of our country, 'Chenggong,' with the intention of recovering our lost territory and achieving success in one fell swoop!"

"You and I are deeply blessed by the Emperor, and we must serve our country with unwavering loyalty!"

With the coordination of lines and various shots, the image of a young general who is loyal to the emperor and serves the country and is upright and awe-inspiring appears in the minds of Lao Zhu and others.

This video is only five or six minutes long and has a fast pace, so it is almost Zheng Chenggong who expresses his loyalty to the emperor and his country. Then comes the news of various Ming army defeats and various advices from relatives and friends after they surrendered to the Qing Dynasty.

"You probably don't know, but Hunan and Jiangxi have already been conquered by the Qing army! Your teacher, Qian Qianyi, has even surrendered to the Qing! The Ming Dynasty's demise is inevitable, so what's the point of your loyalty to it?!"

"Since ancient times, fathers have taught their sons to be loyal to the emperor. I have never heard of anyone teaching their sons to betray their country!"

After seeing this, the Zhu family realized that Zheng Chenggong’s teacher and father had surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, but he remained loyal to the Ming Dynasty!

For a moment, even though they knew that Zheng Chenggong lived more than two hundred years later, Zhu Biao and others were quite moved.

The video quickly moved to the second half, the background music changed to "Borrow Another Five Hundred Years from Heaven", and paragraphs of text began to emerge, telling the life story of Zheng Chenggong.

"Zheng Zhilong never returned to Fujian after surrendering to the Qing Dynasty and was beheaded by the Qing government in 1662."

"In 1646, the Qing army successively captured the cities of Fuzhou and Anping, and Zheng Chenggong's mother tragically died. Soon after, Emperor Longwu was captured in Tingzhou and taken to Fuzhou by the Qing army, where he died of starvation."

"After the fall of the Longwu regime, Zheng Chenggong fled to Nan'ao, recruited soldiers along the coast, incorporated Zheng Zhilong's former subordinates, and resolutely resisted the Qing."

"···"

　Second update.

　　Good night~
　　
　　
　
(End of this chapter)