Bringing the Railway to Daming

Chapter 359: I died at the age of eight, Zhu Di went to sea! [Please subscribe]

Look high and you will be blessed, and carry a heavy load to support you.

Zhu Xiongying searched his memory for the first ten generation characters of his fourth uncle's lineage and found that the character "Hou" did belong to his fourth uncle's lineage, not his own.

Then he looked at his grandfather and his father, and saw that both of them had calm expressions. Only his father looked at him, and he suddenly realized: they must have known about this for a long time.

"That's right. Since the teacher came from the future and knew Ming history, he must have told Grandfather the Emperor and Father."

"However, how did the throne fall to Fourth Uncle's lineage?"

"Did my line die out for some reason, or did my fourth uncle follow Li Shimin's example and usurp the throne from the eldest legitimate line?"

Thinking of this, Zhu Xiongying looked at Zhu Di again.

It just so happened that Zhu Di also looked at him, with an obviously unnatural expression.

"My fourth uncle wouldn't kill his brother and usurp the throne like Li Shimin did. If that were the case, Grandfather Emperor wouldn't be so kind to him."

With this judgment in his mind, Zhu Xiongying suppressed his other doubts and patiently continued watching the TV series.

Because he understood that since Zhu Yuanzhang asked him to watch this TV series today that would reveal the change of the throne, he would definitely tell him the whole story.

In the play, several cabinet ministers and the eunuch of the Imperial Household Department were calculating and arguing about the deficit in the national treasury. Before a conclusion was reached, the camera turned to Prince Yu's Mansion.

A woman was lying on the bed, sweating profusely and screaming at the top of her lungs, but she was giving birth.

Prince Yu and a man named Tan Lun were waiting in the front hall.

During the conversation between the two, Zhu and the other three understood that Zhou Yunyi, who had advised Jiajing about the weather, was instigated by them, and his purpose seemed to be to overthrow Yan Song's faction.

Prince Yu should be the prince who was supported by the Qingliu faction including Xu Jie, Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng.

Seeing this, the four old Zhus were puzzled again: Why was Prince Yu the leader of the Qingliu group? Where was the Crown Prince? Could it be that the Crown Prince was in cahoots with Yan Song?
The financial problems of the Ming Dynasty were gradually revealed through the quarrels between the cabinet ministers of the Qingliu and Yan factions.

For example, the construction of palaces in the palace cost a huge amount of money but the accounts were unclear. Another example was that the warships used to fight against the Japanese pirates were misappropriated. In order to make up for the financial deficit, the court collected taxes until the 45th year of Jiajing.

Outside, there are the northern barbarians led by Altan Khan in the north, and Japanese pirates in the southeast. Internally, there is a financial deficit and the people are living in dire straits.

It's almost like the end of a dynasty.

Soon, the debate between the young cabinet minister Yan Shifan and Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng in the play became increasingly heated, and almost every sentence contained hidden danger.

Just as the debate between the two sides turned into a quarrel, and the court discussion was developing in an uncontrollable direction, the camera turned to Prince Yu's Mansion, and it was Prince Yu's Concubine Li who finally gave birth to a son.

Prince Yu was overjoyed and immediately sent someone to the palace to report the good news to Emperor Jiajing.

On this side, Emperor Jiajing also walked out from behind the scenes.

"The body has been trained to look like a crane, and two scriptures are written under a thousand pines. When I come to ask, I can't help but say, the clouds are in the blue sky, and the water is in the bottle."

Seeing Jiajing coming out in a loose Taoist robe and reciting such a poem full of Taoist charm, Zhu Yuanzhang frowned into a "川" shape and snorted with a cold face.

Zhu Di's face was full of embarrassment.

I thought to myself: Is this the most intelligent and skillful emperor in my lineage? He really doesn't look like an emperor at all.

It's really embarrassing for me.

Each episode of this drama is nearly fifty minutes long and is played at 1.5 times the speed. The four of them felt like it had only been a short while before they reached the end.

Then a plot occurred that made Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhu Biao and Zhu Di unable to hold back.

Taking Zheng He's voyages to the West during the Yongle period as an example, Zhang Juzheng suggested opening the sea after solving the problem of Japanese pirates, using the huge profits from maritime trade to make up for the fiscal deficit and solve the financial problem.

Before he could finish his words, Yan Song suddenly interrupted him and said that the most important commodity in maritime trade was silk, and suggested that the policy of "changing rice for mulberry" be implemented in Jiangsu and Zhejiang to increase silk production.

During this time and space, the Ming Dynasty had used the policy of "changing rice to mulberry" to cause famine in Japan for years. Many Japanese lords had almost completely become vassals of the Ming Dynasty because they could only rely on Ming Dynasty merchants to survive - their food needed to be transported by merchants, and the raw silk they produced could only be sold to Ming Dynasty merchants.

The tragic situation of Japan's "replacing rice with mulberry" is right before their eyes. How can Lao Zhu and the other two bear it when they see Yan Song's proposal in the play to replace rice with mulberry in Jiangsu and Zhejiang?
"Traitor!" Zhu Yuanzhang was so angry that he slammed the armrest of his chair. "Yan Song is truly a traitor. He actually proposed such a policy that harms the country! He deserves to be killed!"

What made Zhu Yuanzhang even more angry was that the seemingly smart Jiajing in the play seemed to be blinded by money and was actually fooled by Yan Song and his party into agreeing to implement the policy of replacing rice with mulberry in Jiangsu and Zhejiang.

Qingliu did not seem to realize the dangers of this strategy and did not object.

The episode is over.

Zhu Yuanzhang turned to Zhu Di and scolded him, "Fourth Brother, look at your good descendant—he's said to be the smartest and the first, but he doesn't know what's important. He's switching from rice to mulberry trees. Is he thinking the Ming Dynasty isn't falling fast enough?!"

Although he was about to go overseas to be a vassal, Zhu Di still did not dare to refute Zhu Yuanzhang.

He could only stand up, bow and say: "It's all my fault."

Zhu Biao also stood up and advised, "Father, please calm down. After all, these are historical events from another time and space, and have nothing to do with Fourth Brother. Furthermore, many parts of this drama are illogical and do not fit the circumstances of the time. It's questionable how much of the plot actually fits into historical facts."

Zhu Yuanzhang ignored Zhu Biao and Zhu Di, but patted Zhu Xiongying on the shoulder and asked, "Xiongying, do you have anything you want to ask?" Seeing this, Zhu Xiongying knew that Zhu Yuanzhang was about to tell him the ins and outs of the change of the throne.

He was not afraid and asked directly: "Grandpa Emperor, how did the throne pass to Fourth Uncle's lineage?"

Zhu Yuanzhang sighed, "In the original history before Liu Kuan came, you died at the age of eight, and your father also died young, so your grandfather only passed the throne to Yunwen."

"Unfortunately, Zhu Yunwen was not up to the task. He hastily reduced the power of the feudal lords right after ascending the throne. He didn't even manage it well and even forced one of your uncles to death."

"Later, your fourth uncle led an army to quell the rebellion, and in just four years, he conquered the world and became the Yongle Emperor in history."

When speaking of the four words "Emperor Yongle", Zhu Yuanzhang deliberately emphasized his luck, which made Zhu Di even more embarrassed and even a little panicked. He thought to himself: My father told Xiongying about this before I went to the vassal state. Could it be that he regretted it and wanted to put me under house arrest in the high walls of Fengyang?

Zhu Xiongying was stunned after hearing this.

After a long while, he couldn't help but mutter, "In the original history, I only lived to be eight years old. No wonder, no wonder my grandmother and father were so nervous every time I was sick..."

Zhu Xiongying suddenly understood many of the doubts he had in the previous years.

After coming to his senses, he bowed to Zhu Yuanzhang and said, "It is my grandson who has failed to live up to his expectations and has made the Emperor sad."

Zhu Yuanzhang patted Zhu Xiongying's head and said, "Now our Ming Dynasty has long since diverged from its original historical trajectory. Your fate has also changed. Don't take this matter to heart."

"Also, as your father said before, the Jingnan Rebellion is, after all, a historical event, and your fourth uncle was actually forced into it. I hope you won't hold a grudge against him for something that didn't happen."

"Grandson understands." Zhu Xiongying said, looking at Zhu Di, "If I hadn't died young, I believe Fourth Uncle would never have done such a treasonous thing."

Zhu Di's right eyelid twitched when he heard this.

I thought to myself: Xiongying's words seem tolerant and generous, but he regards my Jingnan as a heinous crime - he is indeed much more difficult to deal with than my elder brother.

Fortunately, I really want to develop overseas and no longer have any thoughts about the throne. Let him think whatever he wants.

Zhu Yuanzhang also understood the meaning of Zhu Xiongying's words. He smiled and patted his shoulder again, saying, "Alright, there are more than 40 episodes in this series. Although there are many unreasonable plot points, it also reveals some of the problems of the Jiajing Dynasty. Let's continue watching."

"Watch ten episodes a day, and try to finish watching the show before the government offices open on the eighth day of the Lunar New Year."

After saying that, Zhu Yuanzhang picked up the tablet and clicked on the second episode, continuing to play it at 1.5 times the speed...

···
After the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, Zhu Di stayed in the capital for another two or three days, met with several big businessmen who had invested in him, and then went south to Guangzhou with his family and guards.

It was early February when Zhu Di arrived in Guangzhou.

At this time, Daoyan, Chen Ying, Tan Heng and others had already made all preparations for the large army to set sail, so Zhu Di only stayed in Guangzhou for a few days to make sure that all preparations for the voyage were correct, and then set sail at the planned time.

This day, the wind is sunny and sunny.

Guangzhou in mid-spring is no longer very cold, only the fishy and salty sea breeze from the dock brings some coolness.

When Zhu Di left Beijing, Zhu Yuanzhang, Empress Ma, Zhu Biao and others saw him off.

Therefore, when he set sail in Guangzhou this time, there was only one member of the Zhu family who came to the dock to see him off, and that was Prince Zhou Zhu Su, who had gone to Guangdong to supervise matters such as clearing land.

Zhu Di and Zhu Su had always been close friends, so they were reluctant to say goodbye to each other.

"Fourth brother, you are going thousands of miles away from the Ming Dynasty. Please take care of yourself!"

Zhu Di smiled and clasped his fists, "I will. Fifth brother, please take care of yourself in the Ming Dynasty. If the establishment of the vassal state goes smoothly, I may come back in a few years and have a drink with you then!"

Zhu Di's heroic spirit infected Zhu Su, and the sadness of separation dissipated a lot. Zhu Su also smiled and nodded, "Then I will wait for my fourth brother to come back."

The two men said nothing more, and clasped their fists to each other. Zhu Di then turned and walked up the bridge and boarded his flagship, the Jizhou.

In order to ensure the safety of his family during the voyage, Zhu Di spent a large sum of money to order this warship weighing more than 5,000 tons.

Normally, money alone would not be enough to buy this battleship, but Zhu Yuanzhang valued him very much, and Zhu Biao was also good to him, so he asked the Baochuan Factory to build this ironclad battleship according to Zhu Di's needs.

It has two and a half decks, a steam paddle wheel as auxiliary power, forty-two naval guns, and is covered with iron armor. Even among the various naval forces of the Ming Dynasty, it is considered a first-class warship.

What made Zhu Di feel sorry was that Zhu Yuanzhang only agreed to sell him one such warship.

For example, the other five warships he owned were all wooden sailing ships of about 3,000 tons. Together with the Haiyan, which the advance team took last year, these were all the warships (seven) he had accumulated for his vassalage.

As for the other ships that carried him, his guards, immigrants and supplies to India, they were rented by him.

The days of sailing on the sea are very fresh at the beginning, and the ocean scenery even seems infinitely magnificent, but after a while, it just feels dull and boring.

An active child like Zhu Gaoxu soon became bored and itchy all over on the boat, and asked to be beaten every day.

Fortunately, more than half a month later, the vassal fleet arrived at Hailongwei.

　First update.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)