Bringing the Railway to Daming

Chapter 317: The King of Qin Becomes the King of Yong, Cavalry Takes the Train [Please Subscribe]

On the eighth day of the first lunar month in the twentieth year of Hongwu, all ministries and government offices of the Ming Dynasty court opened on time and began to handle various state affairs and public business.

On that day, Zhu Yuanzhang issued an imperial edict that attracted considerable attention in the court.

The title of Prince was restored to the second son of the emperor, Zhu Chong. However, because of his mistakes, his title of Prince was changed as a warning to him and he was given the title of Prince Yong.

Although the ministers in the court paid attention to this matter, they were not surprised - any minister who knew Zhu Yuanzhang knew that Zhu Yuanzhang was quite protective of his subordinates, especially his relatives.

Of course, if this relative threatens his throne and the safety of the country, that is another matter.

Therefore, since Zhu Chong's royal title was abolished a few years ago, many people have expected that one day his royal title will be restored.

However, most of the ministers did not expect that Zhu Yuanzhang would actually allow Zhu Chong to be a commoner for several years - all the ministers knew that Zhu Chong was working as a porter at the outer city wharf, and many of them even pretended to pass by the wharf unintentionally and "appreciated" the scene of Zhu Chong working.

Later, when the two princesses were sent to the capital to farm, sell vegetables, and even work in factories, the ministers were surprised again.

Then I adapted.

But he also had greater respect for Zhu Yuanzhang.

Zhu Yuanzhang was so cruel to his son and daughter-in-law. If they committed a crime, even if they were meritorious officials of the Yuan Dynasty, they would probably not be lightly punished.

After the initial novelty wore off, some people even felt that Zhu Chong, Deng Shi, and Guanyin Nu were the three people Zhu Yuanzhang used to warn and intimidate them, so that they would not dare to break the law easily and would not dare to rely on power to oppress the people.

Now that Zhu Yuanzhang has restored Zhu Chong's title, many people have breathed a sigh of relief.

In the locust tree.

In the small courtyard of "Zhu Er"'s house.

After Zhu Chong received the imperial edict from the eunuch who delivered it, he could no longer hold back and cried bitterly with Deng and Guanyin Nu beside him.

Four years, three people from noble families actually lived like ordinary people in the outer city for four years.

In the eyes of ordinary people, Zhu Chong has two beautiful wives, and all three of them are young and strong. They don't need to support their parents in old age, nor do they need to raise children. They just need to support themselves, and their life is so carefree.

But compared with his previous life as a prince, this kind of life was a double torture both physically and mentally.

After four years of torture, Zhu Chong finally got through it!

After the three of them hugged each other and cried bitterly, Deng was the first to recover. She wiped her tears and said, "Husband, no, my king, let's pack up quickly and go to the palace."

Zhu Chong said, "There's just a lot of junk here, what's worth cleaning up? Let's go straight back to the palace!"

Zhu Chong couldn't wait to enjoy his life as a prince again.

As the saying goes, it is difficult to change one's nature, and although the four years of torture allowed him to endure some hardships and no longer dared to wantonly harm his servants, it did not mean that he did not like the luxurious life of being served in the past.

Deng also felt that the belongings in this small courtyard were not worth taking to the palace, and immediately wanted to leave with Zhu Chong.

Only Guanyin Nu felt reluctant to leave the courtyard, so she asked the eunuch who delivered the imperial edict, "Excuse me, eunuch, if we leave, what will happen to this courtyard?"

The eunuch smiled and said, "The Emperor said that this courtyard still belongs to His Royal Highness Prince Yong. His Royal Highness and the Princess can come back and stay for a while at any time."

Zhu Chong snorted, "I'm not going back to live in this shabby place."

After saying that, he was about to pull Deng away.

The eunuch said, "Don't worry, Your Highness Prince Yong. I still have a few words of instruction from the Emperor to convey."

Zhu Chong said impatiently, "Hurry up and tell me, don't delay my return to the palace."

The eunuch said, "The Emperor has instructed His Royal Highness Prince Yong and the two princesses to resign properly at their respective workplaces before returning to the palace. One must see things through to the end."

Fart has a beginning and an end.

Zhu Chong grumbled inwardly, but nodded, saying, "Okay, I understand—let's quit our jobs right away and go straight back to the palace."

Mrs. Deng nodded, "Yes! Let's hurry up and try to have a sumptuous welcoming banquet at the palace at noon!"

In Deng's view, Zhu Chong's demotion to a commoner was almost like an ordinary citizen going to jail. Now that he has been "released", he naturally has to have a welcoming banquet.

She had missed the delicacies of the palace for a long time - in the past few years, she could only eat some delicious food when she participated in family movie parties in the palace, which was not enough to satisfy her craving.

Afterwards, Zhu Chong almost jogged towards the dock. Deng was also in a hurry to leave, but Guanyinnu insisted on locking the door.

Deng's relationship with Guanyinnu is no longer the same as before. It can be said that they are like sisters, even better than her relationship with Zhu Chong.

Although she was impatient, she still waited for Guanyin Nu for a while.

Then the two of them came to Jinling Cotton Mill together. The original Jinling Textile Mill was dismantled into a spinning mill, a cotton mill, and a silk mill more than a year ago, and the scale of each mill was much larger than before.

The original Jinling Textile Factory had only a few hundred workers, but now the cotton mill alone has more than 3,000 employees!
Deng and Guanyinnu were among the first female workers to enter the textile factory. With their strong backgrounds, they have now become middle-level managers and are each in charge of a different part of the cotton mill.

Guanyinnu became the manager of a production plant, and Deng became the manager of the canteen.

Speaking of which, Deng had finally secured the canteen manager position after much difficulty. While the factory's strict management made it difficult and impossible for her to embezzle, she could still use her position to get a good meal. This was probably why she was a bit heavier than she was three years ago.

As they approached the factory gate, Guanyinnu suddenly grabbed Deng's sleeve and asked, "Are we really going to quit our jobs like this?"

Mrs. Deng also stopped and said with her hands on her hips, "It's a shame to resign from this job that I had worked so hard to get. However, the head of the family has been restored to the title of prince, and we have become princesses again. It is really inappropriate for us to stay in the factory any longer."

Guanyinnu looked at the large building where the cotton mill was located and sighed, "I really feel reluctant to leave."

Deng's emotions came and went quickly. Upon hearing this, she said, "What's there to be reluctant about? If you really want to do something, wait until the future head of the family is established overseas and have him assign you some work to do."

"Besides, if you're reluctant to give up your job at the factory, are you willing to be separated from Ji Fang and only see her once a month?"

Ji Fang is the daughter born to Zhu Chong by Guanyin Nu. She is two years old and is currently being raised in the palace by people arranged by Empress Ma.

After hearing Mrs. Deng mention her daughter, Guanyinnu finally stopped worrying and went to the factory with Mrs. Deng to find the clerk in charge of personnel and resign.

···
Time flies and the fifteenth day of the first lunar month has passed.

Princes Zhu Chong, Zhu Xing, Zhu Di and others left the capital one after another and rushed to the northern border to prepare for the Ming Dynasty's northern expedition against the remnants of the Yuan Dynasty this spring.

The entire Ming Dynasty court also started to work on this matter.

According to the transfer orders, the garrison troops went to the northern border, and various food, fodder, military equipment and other supplies continued to be transported to several major cities in the northern border.

Chuzhou Railway Station.

Captain Chen Xingyou was waiting patiently with his cavalry and horses, along with the other cavalrymen from the same thousand-household unit. He frowned, a hint of worry between his brows, and was clearly in a bad mood.

Ma Xiang, the general flag-bearer under his command, was also complaining in a low voice.

"I really don't know what those civil servants in the Imperial Ministry of War were thinking. They insisted on making us come here and take this damn train north."

"We are cavalry. The area from Luzhou to Peking is flat. Even if we have thousands of cavalry, we can still reach Peking in half a month. Isn't that fast enough?"

"If all else fails, why not take a boat to Yangzhou? Wouldn't that be much safer than taking that damn train?"

Chen Xingyou felt that what Ma Xiang said was quite right - the reason why he frowned and was worried was that he was worried that something might happen if he took the warhorse on the train.

Although the train was an extremely novel thing that had appeared a few years ago and people talked about it almost every day, it was the first time for him, his soldiers, and their horses to ride on one.

If a person feels uneasy on a train, he can be restrained; but if a horse gets frightened on a train, what should we do?
However, as a centurion, he could not lead his soldiers to question the court's decision, as this would affect the military's morale.

So he scolded in a low voice, "Just say a few words, don't go on and on. The court has its reasons for doing this, and we should just obey the military order."

"I just feel uneasy." Ma Xiang muttered again, and finally stopped talking.

"Woo——"

About half an hour later, with a long whistle, a train rumbled into Chuzhou Railway Station from the south.

Soon, a thousand-household messenger came on horseback to convey the military order.

"The thousand households have ordered that all hundred households, general flags, and small flags go to the train station to observe how to drive and mount horses, and how to properly place horses on the train!"

"All officers must study this carefully, then return to instruct the soldiers. As soon as possible, transport all the soldiers and horses of this thousand households onto the train. No mistakes!"

Like Chen Xingyou and Ma Xiang, most of the officers and generals of this cavalry unit, which came from a garrison near Luzhou Horse Farm, were somewhat reluctant to bring their horses on the train. However, since the order had been issued, they had to obey, even if it meant walking on a dangerous path.

So each captain brought his main flag and small flags into the train station.

Some cavalrymen from the emperor's personal army were already waiting here, divided into several groups to teach these cavalry officers of the garrison.

Although Chen Xingyou was a centurion, this was the first time he had observed a train so closely since the Ming Dynasty had it.

I saw that most of the trains in front of me were made of fine iron, especially the chassis of the carriages, which seemed to be made of fine iron.

Perhaps because it was used to transport horses, the carriage windows in front of him were not glass windows as rumored, but wooden lattice windows - the glass seemed to have been removed.

When he entered the carriage with the instructors of the emperor's personal army, he found that there were no seats inside, but it had been converted into individual horse stalls.

Although this horse pen is made of wood, it looks very sturdy. It has feeding troughs and water troughs for feeding horses. It is also covered with straw, and there is a small room for each horse.

In this situation, even if one horse is frightened, it will hardly affect other horses, let alone escape from the carriage.

But in this case, this carriage can probably only transport dozens of horses.

Although Chen Xingyou still didn't understand why the court went to such great lengths to transport the cavalry north by train, he felt much more at ease - with this arrangement on the train, he didn't have to worry about the horses getting frightened.

After learning the process of driving the horses onto the carts and placing them there, Chen Xingyou returned to the troops with his generals and taught the cavalry soldiers everything he had seen and learned.

　First update.

　　
　　
　
(End of this chapter)