Bringing the Railway to Daming

Chapter 309: Your Majesty is not the Jade Emperor, but the Monkey King [Please Subscribe]

Seeing Liu Kuan coming up with a tablet, Lao Zhu asked, "What do you think of the six songs we prepared today?"

Liu Kuan said, "Your Majesty, these first five songs are all related to famous people before the Ming Dynasty. Of course, some of these people really existed, while others are fictional mythical figures."

"As for the sixth song, it's related to a mythological novel written in the late Ming Dynasty—and it's the theme song for a TV series adapted from the book."

As he spoke, Liu Kuan had already called up the video collection of this song and placed the tablet on the imperial desk.

Then he bowed and retreated.

Lao Zhu knew how to operate it and clicked on the video himself.

Empress Ma, Liu Ping'an and Liu Ruoxue all came over curiously and saw the name of the first song.

"Little Nezha"?
When they saw the name, both Zhu Yuanzhang and Empress Ma were stunned.

Then Empress Ma said, "There's a very important guardian deity in Buddhist scriptures called Prince Nezha. There are many stories about this guardian deity in Buddhist scriptures from the Song and Yuan dynasties. Could it be that Nezha?"

Lao Zhu shook his head, "How would we know? Just listen to the song and watch the video."

The prelude of the song sounded, and at the same time, a mashup video of Song Zuer's version of Nezha from the cartoon "The Legend of Nezha" and the TV series "The Legend of Nezha" began to play.

And before the prelude ends, there are a few more lines and dialogues.

"I am Nezha, the son of Li Jing, the general commander of Chentang Pass!"

“One person does the work and the other takes responsibility!”

"I was the one who killed Ao Bing. I am the one who avenged his death. How could I possibly implicate my parents?"

"Today, I, Nezha, will cut off my flesh to return to my mother and remove my bones to return to my father, so as not to burden my parents!"

"Nezha~!"

At the beginning of the video, the camera kept switching between cartoons and TV dramas with a fast pace, but combined with the lines, it allowed Zhu Yuanzhang and Empress Ma to understand the outline of the story.

Then a man's singing voice, which sounded ordinary but very charming, began to sound.

"Tell me a legend. There was a couple who gave birth to a strange baby..."

In the past, the theme songs of old cartoons were mostly created with a specific purpose, describing the plot outline, such as "Little Nezha".

Coupled with the various shots prepared by the grandmother, the story she tells becomes more and more complete with the singing.

Soon, the song came to the second time.

Probably because the protagonist of the video is a child, Liu Ruoxue couldn't help but hum along -

"She is higher than the sky in the sky, and bigger than the sea in the sea..."

After singing just one line, the four-year-old girl realized that she was not at home, but in front of Zhu Yuanzhang, whom she had to respect and obey (Su Caiwei taught her), so she stopped singing quickly.

Old Zhu said, "Don't be afraid, Ruoxue. Just sing if you want to."

Empress Ma also said, "Ruoxue sings beautifully, grandpa and grandma both love to listen to her."

Encouraged, Liu Ruoxu continued to sing along with the video, which made the other "children" of the Zhu family below very envious.

After a while, the first song was over. Old Zhu paused the video and asked Empress Ma, "Sister, is the story of Nezha in this song mentioned in Buddhist scriptures?"

Empress Ma said, "Some Buddhist scriptures do mention the story of 'an evil dragon stirring up trouble, and Nezha subduing it,' but it's only a few sentences, not much."

Lao Zhu nodded, didn't ask any more questions, and continued to play the second song.

The song title is "Do You Know?"

Empress Ma's eyes lit up and she said, "This seems to be a line from Yi An Jushi's poem 'Ru Meng Ling' - Do you know, do you know? It should be green, fat, and red, thin."

"Oh?" Zhu Yuanzhang, though not well-versed in literature, was intelligent. He smiled and said, "Could it be another song adapted by later generations, like Su Dongpo's 'Song of Water Melody'?"

"Let's see."

The prelude of the song begins with a large courtyard. From the architectural layout and style to the interior decoration and furnishings, as well as utensils and food, they are obviously all in the Zhao Song style. The end of the Song Dynasty was only a hundred years ago, and there are still many buildings and utensils from the Zhao Song period.

When the camera starts to focus on the characters, the main song also begins.

"One morning, flowers bloomed beside the willows, and I sought the fragrance by mistake and found the pavilion. Even if the morning glow shined for half a day, the wind and rain could not penetrate..."

Listening to the song and watching the video, Zhu Yuanzhang and Empress Ma quickly realized that the video was about the love story between a lady from a wealthy family in the Song Dynasty and two young men.

Unfortunately, the video was too fragmented and they found it difficult to see the storyline.

Soon, the song reached its climax.

"Last night the rain was light and the wind was strong, and I couldn't sleep off the hangover. I asked the person who rolled up the curtains, but he said the crabapple tree was still the same. Do you know? It should be green and fat, red and thin~"

Although there are many Song Dynasty poems, Li Qingzhao, as an extremely outstanding female poet, is still quite famous for her and her works. Even after a hundred years of the Hu Feng era, many scholars still know her name.

Therefore, as soon as these words came out, the concubines, princes, princesses, etc. who could not see the video below became more curious about the video of this song.

'It's actually a song adapted from the poem by Yi An Jushi, but I don't know if the video is about Yi An Jushi's life?'

"The song is sung by a man and a woman. Could it be referring to Yi An Jushi and her late husband Zhao Mingcheng?"

'The singing is really unique and charming. This poem has been adapted well by later generations!'

'Be sure to watch this video later...'

After the song ended, Lao Zhu paused the video and said with a smile, "This adaptation of 'Ru Meng Ling' is good, but to be honest, I prefer the poem by Yi An Jushi - Live as a hero, die as a ghost hero. I still miss Xiang Yu, who refused to cross the Yangtze River." "Even a weak woman could be as brave as Xiang Yu. It's ridiculous that the Zhao Song court was weak and incompetent, and only lived in peace in the south of the Yangtze River, so that the Han people were eventually enslaved by the Hu people for a hundred years."

At the end of his speech, Zhu Yuanzhang shook his head.

Empress Ma wanted to retort, "In the history of the Ming Dynasty, we couldn't even defend Jiangnan," but she finally held back and shook her head, saying, "Let's put down the song."

The video continues and the third song comes, it’s called “Wukong”.

Both Zhu Yuanzhang and Empress Ma had heard Liu Kuan introduce "Journey to the West" and understood it at a glance.

Old Zhu laughed and said, "It seems to be the song about Sun Wukong from Journey to the West."

The video was edited from TV series "Journey to the West", animations "The Monkey King" and "Havoc in Heaven" and other film and television works.

At the beginning, before the prelude of the song even started, there were lines of dialogue -

"Hold the hair between your ring fingers and just walk. If someone chases you, clench your fist and shout 'Great Sage Equaling Heaven', and I will come to rescue you!"

"Go back and tell the Jade Emperor to grant me the title of Great Sage Equaling Heaven and to refrain from violence. Otherwise, I will attack the High Heaven Palace and make him unable to sit peacefully on the dragon bed!"

"If the evil ones are not eliminated, they will bring disaster to the good ones."

"Aren't you afraid of punishment from the Buddha?"

"···"

"As the saying goes, the throne changes, and next year it will be my turn..."

Seeing this, Zhu Yuanzhang suddenly felt a sense of empathy, but not with the Monkey King, Sun Wukong, but with the Jade Emperor. At the same time, he also began to understand why this book was later (probably) banned by the court.

After more than a minute of dialogue, the song began.

"The moon splashes on the starry sky, the road is long. The wind and smoke are gone, and the lonely shadow is fading..."

A few minutes later, the song ended, and the Zhu family was still reminiscing about it.

Queen Ma felt that although the song was slightly inconsistent with the previous dialogue, it was indeed memorable, as if there was another story behind it.

Zhu Yuanzhang was still thinking about the dialogue at the beginning and felt that he could not bear it any longer, so he waved his hand and said, "Liu Kuan, come up, I have a few questions for you."

Liu Kuan was gnawing on a braised pig's trotter. Upon hearing this, he had to wipe his mouth and hands with a silk scarf and came to the side of the imperial desk.

"What does your majesty want to ask?"

Lao Zhu asked, "Have you seen the 'Wukong' video? Are those lines in the opening dialogue actually from the book 'Journey to the West'?"

"Uh..." Liu Kuan paused for a moment, then said, "To be honest with you, Your Majesty, I haven't read the entire Journey to the West. Even if I did read a few chapters, I've forgotten them all. I only remember some of the content from movies, TV series, and animations."

"As for these lines, they may have been in the original novel, or they may have been added by later generations when they were adapted into films or TV series."

After hearing this, Old Zhu snorted softly and said, "It actually talks about the emperor taking turns to sit on the throne, and Sun Wukong is trying to drive the Jade Emperor off the throne. It spreads such rebellious ideas, no wonder it was banned by later emperors."

After hearing what Lao Zhu said, Liu Kuan couldn't help it.

He said, "Your Majesty, it is unclear whether Journey to the West was ever banned. Furthermore, Your Majesty's simplistic characterization of Journey to the West and the ideas spread by the character Sun Wukong as 'rebellious' is also inaccurate."

Since Liu Kuan dared to show this video to Lao Zhu, he naturally anticipated Lao Zhu's reaction and had already prepared a response to today's situation.

"Your Majesty, please watch the beginning of this video. The Great Sage punishes evildoers and kills the bad for the good. The Jade Emperor treated him unfairly and deceived him, so he rebelled against the Heavenly Court and proclaimed himself the Great Sage Equaling Heaven."

"Your Majesty, don't you think you are the Monkey King? As for the Jade Emperor, he is nothing more than a foolish Yuan Dynasty emperor."

Old Zhu was slightly stunned at first, then he stared at the Monkey King who was paused in the video, with a thoughtful look on his face.

At this time, Liu Kuan added, "The fictional mythological figure of Sun Wukong, the Great Sage Equaling Heaven, has been increasingly heroized in later generations, even representing a spirit of pleading for the people and upholding justice."

"Later, the Xin Dynasty's Taizu even wrote a poem using the Monkey King as an element."

Zhu Yuanzhang was still full of curiosity about the Taizu who was able to establish such a powerful dynasty as the Xin Dynasty. This was the first time he heard Liu Kuan mention this person, so he couldn't help asking, "What poem?"

Liu Kuan said with a slight embarrassment, "I only remember the second half of this poem now."

Lao Zhu said, "Then recite the second half to me."

"The golden monkey rises with great strength, and the jade cloud clears the air. Today I cheer for the great sage Sun, only because the evil mist has returned."

After hearing this, Old Zhu's eyes sparkled, and then he couldn't help but recite it over and over again, "The Golden Monkey raised his thousand-pound stick..."

The more he read, the more he felt that this half of the poem was full of power and profound meaning, and it was definitely not something that ordinary people could create.

Unfortunately, he did not know when the Xin Dynasty Taizu created this poem, and it was difficult to guess his mood when he wrote this poem, or what inspired him to write this poem.

After coming to his senses, Old Zhu said, "It seems that the Taizu of the Xin Dynasty in the future has excellent literary talent, much better than us."

Liu Kuan laughed secretly after hearing this. The guy with better literary talent is not just much better than you, but ten times better.

At the same time, he also remembered a poem by Lao Zhu that was passed down to later generations:

"Having slain millions of soldiers south of the Yangtze River, the sword at his waist is still stained with blood! This old monk does not recognize this hero, so he only asks for his name."

It is not certain whether this poem was written by Lao Zhu, and it may be a rumor.

　First update.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)