Bringing the Railway to Daming

Chapter 364: Zhu Di sends a telegram to show off, and then asks about education [Please subscribe]

The ninth day of April.

Zhu Di returned to Dhaka with the army that had attacked Galle and more than 3,000 large and small boats confiscated from Galle.

"Hahaha!" Zhu Di had been in a state of happiness, even excitement, these past few days, often bursting into laughter. "I never thought that the Meng Kingdom, which has only been established for sixty years, would be so wealthy!"

Watching the guards unloading boxes of gold, silver and jewelry from the warship, Zhu Di couldn't stop smiling.

This time, he seized more than 3,000 boxes of various gems and jewelry from Galle, of which more than 1,000 boxes were contributed by the royal family of Meng alone, and the remaining 2,000 boxes were contributed by the Meng nobles living in Galle.

In addition, he also seized 1.39 million taels of gold, 5.78 million taels of silver, and more than 300,000 pieces of various silks and cloths!

He also seized more than 600,000 dan of various grains - this was because he was a little "merciful" at the suggestion of several of his staff members and did not seize the grain stored in the homes of ordinary Meng people (in fact, he did not have the time, the efficiency was too low, and it was not worth it). Otherwise, the grain obtained from Gaoer would have been at least doubled!
Then, more than 3,000 war horses, 25 war elephants, and more than 70,000 cattle, horses, pigs, sheep and other livestock were seized!
Tens of thousands of armors, weapons and other items were seized!

Now, everyone in the Yan vassal state, from Zhu Di to the soldiers, felt that the surprise attack on Gao Er was the right move. Even Qin Heng, who had repeatedly advised Zhu Di to be cautious before, couldn't help grinning when he saw the endless boats and all kinds of supplies on these boats.

Because he knew very well that with the huge amount of money, grain and supplies seized from Gaoer, Yan's foothold in India was as solid as a big bowl of rice cakes - it was stable.

After Zhu Di watched the guards unload the most valuable jewels and gold and silver from the ship and transport them to the City Lord's Mansion, he handed over the rest of the matters to his ministers and returned to the City Lord's Mansion first.

After arriving at the mansion, Zhu Di chatted with Xu Miaoyun and others for a while, then brought his guards to the courtyard where the telegraph office was located.

When Zhu Di went to sea to be a vassal, the Ming Dynasty was already producing wireless telegraph machines, so Zhu Yuanzhang rewarded Zhu Di with two (one as a spare).

Zhu Di thus established the Yanfan Telegraph Office.

Because he attached great importance to the telegraph office, after he moved into the Dhaka City Lord's Palace, he placed the telegraph office next to his residence, so it didn't take long to get there.

"See you, Your Majesty!"

The eunuch in charge of the telegraph office immediately saluted Zhu Di.

That's right, although Zhu Di knew from Liu Kuan's narration of Ming history that the Ming Dynasty's heavy use of eunuchs originated from him, he still couldn't help but hand over some tasks to the eunuchs - there was no other way, eunuchs made him feel more at ease than normal people.

In an important institution like the Telegraph Office, everyone from the supervisor to the telegraph operators were eunuchs who grew up in the Prince of Yan's Mansion.

Zhu Di, in a good mood, smiled warmly and raised his hand, motioning the eunuchs at the telegraph office to stand up. Then he said, "Send me a telegram to the capital of the Ming Dynasty."

"Yes!"

The eunuch responded and immediately stood in front of the desk, ready to record the telegram dictated by Zhu Di. On the day of the capture of Dhaka, Zhu Di had already sent a telegram to the capital, which was dictated and asked him to record.

Zhu Di put his hands behind his back, paced twice, and then began to recite aloud.

"Father, Your Majesty, I, your son Di, extend my regards to you, Your Majesty, Your Majesty, and your elder brother. We have conquered Mengdu, captured the King of Meng, and seized countless loot. The vassal state is now secure, so please do not worry."

After the eunuch finished recording, he immediately asked the telegraph operator to start sending the message.

Zhu Di was waiting at the telegraph office for Zhu Yuanzhang's reply.

He sent this telegram not only to report his safety to Zhu Yuanzhang, but also to show off a bit - isn't the throne not mine? Look, I've made a good start in my overseas vassalage, and I'm going to build my own kingdom. Who knows, I might even be better off than my eldest brother's family in the future!

···
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Capital of the Ming Dynasty.

Forbidden City, Fengxian Hall.

Zhu Yuanzhang was discussing something with Zhu Biao and Liu Kuan.

"Liu Kuan, it's been over two years since you took charge of the Tiangong Academy and took charge of the reform of the craftsman system."

"Now, the technical schools have been extended to all nineteen provinces and nine major military prefectures of the Ming Dynasty. The redefinition of the artisan grades has also been successfully implemented in several major provinces and is being rolled out to other provinces in an orderly manner."

"Isn't it time you put the issue of 'enforcing patent law' on your agenda?"

Liu Kuan said, "Your Majesty, the implementation of patent law requires a certain social foundation. Although the Ming Dynasty has been promoting science and technology for several years since my arrival, and has encouraged the public to delve into various technologies and be bold in inventions and creations, the time is ultimately too short."

"Implementing the Patent Law and setting up relevant government offices now would be of little use. Therefore, I would like to wait two or three years until the social foundation is better before promulgating the Patent Law," Zhu Yuanzhang said. "Wait another two or three years? You're not planning on spending the next two or three years slacking off in the Tiangong Academy, are you?"

Zhu Yuanzhang learned the term "moyu" from Liu Kuan and videos of later generations. Now he seriously suspected that Liu Kuan wanted to moyu for a few years.

As more and more changes were made to the Ming Dynasty, there was less and less that Liu Kuan could do, and now he did have some thoughts of slacking off.

But he didn't really want to just sit there as the dean of Tiangong Academy and do nothing.

"Your Majesty, although all affairs of the Institute of Technology are now on track, there are still some matters that I must keep an eye on. In addition, I would like to take care of two other important matters for the Ming Dynasty in the next two to three years."

"Oh?" Zhu Yuanzhang became interested. "Which two things?"

"Establish the first university in the Ming Dynasty and the Ming Academy of Natural Sciences," Liu Kuan said. "Now, the official schools at all levels in the Ming Dynasty can be said to have taken on the task of teaching mathematics and natural sciences at the basic and intermediate levels. However, they still lack a true institution of higher learning and a department that can bring together scientists from all over the world."

Zhu Yuanzhang asked, "Let's not talk about the Academy of Natural Sciences for now. What's the difference between a university and the various official schools and the Imperial Academy currently in place in the Ming Dynasty?"

Zhu Biao standing by also showed curiosity.

Seeing this, Liu Kuan knew that he had to explain to Old Zhu the education system of later generations.

He then said, "How about I explain the educational systems of later generations so Your Majesty can compare them yourself?"

Zhu Yuanzhang became more interested and said with a smile, "Okay, tell me."

Zhu Biao also laughed and said, "My brother-in-law should have told me about this a long time ago."

Liu Kuan said: "The education of the later Xin Dynasty was greatly influenced by the West, but it was also influenced by some traditional culture, so it is quite unique."

"In later generations, both boys and girls had to go to school. At the age of four or five, they would be sent to kindergarten or preschool to receive enlightenment education. Of course, the real enlightenment education actually began when the children were even younger."

"After one or two years of kindergarten, most children will start primary school at the age of six. Early primary school is divided into junior primary school and senior primary school, each lasting three years."

"Later, education reforms abolished the distinction between lower and upper primary schools, and the primary school system was changed to five years, and later increased to six years."

"After elementary school, there's junior high and high school, each lasting three years. Then, all high school seniors across the country need to take the Gaokao (National College Entrance Examination) to enter university – the higher the Gaokao score, the better the university you can choose."

"As for universities, in addition to shouldering the responsibility of higher education, they also undertake some national scientific research tasks, which means they are institutions that integrate teaching and research."

"Universities are also divided into three categories. For example, junior colleges are three years long, while undergraduate programs are four to five years long, and are divided into first, second, and third tiers."

"After graduating from university, you will receive a bachelor's degree. If you want to continue your studies, you can take the postgraduate entrance examination and become a graduate student. Graduate students also study at university for three years and receive a master's degree upon graduation."

"If a master's degree holder wants to continue his or her studies, he or she will need to become a doctoral student under a professor, studying and conducting research with him or her."

"PhD students generally need to study for four to six years and meet certain requirements before they can graduate, at which point they receive their doctorate."

"A PhD is basically the highest degree in a systematic education. If you want to continue your studies and research, you can choose to teach at a university or work in various research institutions."

"Afterwards, I obtained titles and honors such as associate professor, professor, associate academician, and academician through these universities and research institutions."

After hearing what Liu Kuan said, both Zhu and Zhu Biao were surprised and secretly shocked.

After coming to his senses, Zhu Biao couldn't help but say, "Brother-in-law, isn't the education system in later generations too complicated?"

Liu Kuan couldn't help but laugh after hearing this. "Complicated? Your Highness, I haven't finished yet."

Not finished yet?!
Old Zhu and Zhu Biao couldn't help but stare.

Liu Kuan said: "What I just said is only the mainstream path of the college entrance examination. In fact, it is somewhat similar to the Ming Dynasty's mainstream imperial examination. However, in addition to the college entrance examination, there are also some other educational institutions that serve as supplements to the college entrance examination."

　Second update.

　　Good night~
　　
　
(End of this chapter)