Bringing the Railway to Daming

Zhu Yuanzhang first assigned Zhu Xiongying a task, and then talked about other things.

"This year, the Ming Dynasty's primary military focus will be on conquering the Western Regions. Secondly, we will continue to implement the policy of reclaiming wasteland and cultivating crops in Southeast Asia through our garrisons, further expanding the territories of the Luzon and Hailong military governors."

The Luzon Regional Military Commission had been established for several years, and now its garrisons had been set up along the west coast of Luzon Island to the south of the later Verde Island. The actual territory was limited to the Luzon Kingdom around Manila Bay in later times, which had long been annexed by the Ming Dynasty.

As for the Hailongdusi, it was established last autumn based on the Hailongwei.

The main range includes the hundreds of miles of coastline from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur in the southwest of the Malay Peninsula in later generations, as well as some islands across the Malacca Strait.

To the north, it borders the spheres of influence of Siam and Champa - the actual territories are not adjacent, because there are many indigenous tribes in the rainforests of the middle peninsula that are only nominally subject to Siam or Champa.

To the south, it borders the Srivijaya Kingdom, whose land area is still shrinking.

This is equivalent to firmly controlling the Malacca Strait.

Now, the Ming Dynasty's rulers and ministers have understood that the main opponent of the Ming Dynasty's rule and expansion in Southeast Asia is not the Southeast Asian countries, but the local environment and climate. If they want to achieve stable and long-term rule, they must let the Ming Dynasty's garrisons do their best to overcome the various problems brought about by the local environment and climate, or at least make the garrisons self-sufficient.

To achieve this, the only way was to use the garrison troops and immigrants to reclaim wasteland and establish military villages similar to the Tunbu in Guizhou.

This is by no means something that can be accomplished in a short period of time. It is destined to take ten or even dozens of years to see significant results.

In addition, there was no country in Southeast Asia that could threaten the rule of the Ming Dynasty, so neither Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhu Biao, nor Liu Kuan were in a hurry about the progress of the Ming Dynasty's rule in Southeast Asia.

"We have a lot of domestic affairs to do this year, one of which is to completely complete the land survey and land tax distribution in the seventeen provinces."

"Secondly, we will promote the planting of new crops such as sweet potatoes, corn, and potatoes to provinces other than Zhili, Shandong, Henan, Hebei, and Liaoning."

"Also, we must keep a close eye on rubber plantations in Qiongzhou, Dongfan, Luzon, and other places, and expand them as quickly as possible. We all know how important rubber is to the industrial development of our Ming Dynasty."

"The third is the issue of educational reform. Liu Kuan, do you think the school system can be extended from Zhili to other provinces this year?"

In fact, Zhu Yuanzhang should have asked Li Shuzheng, the Minister of Rites who was in charge of this matter.

But since Liu Kuan was in charge of co-organizing this matter, and it was just a "casual chat" after the party, it wouldn't hurt to talk about it.

Therefore, he pondered for a moment, then said, "Education is a matter of great importance. I think it is better to be cautious."

"We can try it out in Zhili for another year to see what problems emerge. Once the Ministry of Rites and Education has accumulated sufficient experience, it will be much easier to promote it to other provinces."

Zhu Biao immediately stated, "Father, I also think that a more stable education reform is better."

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded and said, "In that case, let's try it out in Zhili for another year, and then see how it goes next year before expanding it to other provinces."

After a pause, Zhu Yuanzhang continued, "We are also planning to establish a naval school in each of the three prefectures of Dengzhou, Songjiang, and Quanzhou; and an army school in each of Peking, Xi'an, Kunming, and Guangzhou."

"We will also establish a 'Great Ming Military Academy' in the capital. The personnel arrangements for the seven naval and army schools will be easy to arrange. This Great Ming Military Academy will be dedicated to training high-ranking generals."

"Liu Kuan, who do you think should be the principal of the Daming Military Academy?"

Liu Kuan thought to himself: You should have the answer to this kind of thing in your heart, why do you still need to ask me?

But he answered honestly, "I think that since the purpose is to train high-ranking generals, it would be most appropriate for Your Majesty or the Crown Prince to take on the role of Chief."

"Hahaha," Zhu Yuanzhang laughed happily, "You really think the same as me - Biao'er, you will be the first principal of the Daming Military Academy."

"Yes." Zhu Biao also knew the importance of this position, so he did not refuse and accepted it directly.

Zhu Yuanzhang added, "However, the seven military academies and the Daming Military Academy have yet to be established, so you will be in charge of this matter. If any of your brothers are suitable to help, please feel free to call on them."

"My son understands."

Perhaps having sat for too long, Zhu Yuanzhang stood up and walked around the hall twice before standing in front of a map of the Ming Dynasty. He said to Liu Kuan and the other two, "There's one more thing. This spring, we plan to establish a Xuanjiao Department under the Tongzhengyuan, specifically responsible for promoting policies and educating the people."

"The Ministry of Education and Propaganda has temporarily set up the News Bureau, the Book Review Bureau, the Literature and Art Bureau and other subordinate departments to manage newspaper and periodical publishing, book review, literature and art review, and publicity."

"Also, this spring we will have someone establish a 'Da Ming Monthly'. After a few years, when we've accumulated enough experience and the time is right, we'll launch a 'Da Ming Weekly'."

At this point, Zhu Yuanzhang looked at Liu Kuan and said, "According to what you said, the review of newspapers and books is closely related to copyright law."

"It's fine that you haven't finalized the patent law yet, but you must help the Dali Temple, the Ministry of Justice, and other departments to finalize the publishing law as soon as possible. If there are any issues later, you can revise it later. There's no need to wait until everything is ready before doing it."

After Zhu Yuanzhang had been in contact with Liu Kuan for a long time, he really felt that Liu Kuan was a bit bookish in his approach to things - he often liked to be fully prepared before doing anything.

In his opinion, some extremely important things really need to be fully prepared before doing; but some things can be corrected while being done.

Liu Kuan is too afraid of making mistakes and lacks courage.

Liu Kuan also knew his shortcomings. He smiled helplessly and replied, "Yes, I will do my best."
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On the eighth day of the first lunar month in the twenty-second year of Hongwu (1389), all the ministries and offices of the Ming Dynasty court opened their offices. After a short nap during the Spring Festival, the vast Ming Empire resumed its work with full energy.

Imperial edicts, imperial decrees, and documents were transmitted to the seventeen provinces and ten military commissions through water and land post stations.

Last year, telegrams were also transmitted from the Telegraph Office in the capital to the provincial capitals and the headquarters of the military governors in various provinces.

Amidst the busy affairs of the court and the country, Prince Jin Zhu Ying also sailed westward with his vassalage team that had been preparing in Guangzhou for a year.

Although Zhu Ying did not have as much preparation time as Zhu Di, he was able to gather 5,000 immigrant households, plus 3,000 families of the guards, and the vassal state also had a base of 8,000 Ming Dynasty citizens.

Unlike the Yan vassal state who went to India alone two years ago, the Jin vassal state this time also had a South China Sea navy squadron and the elite Xihai Guard troops formed by the court.

The Jin vassal fleet had fewer warships than the Yan vassal fleet, only four: an ironclad ship of more than 3,000 tons, and three ordinary sailing warships of about 2,000 tons.

Therefore, Zhu Ying rented hundreds of large and small ships to transport immigrants and supplies.

In addition, there are ten warships of the South China Sea Fleet - one 5,800-ton ironclad steam-sail hybrid main battleship and nine 3,000-ton ironclad sailing battleships.

In addition, there are dozens of military large sea vessels that transport military dependents and supplies to Xihaiwei.

Therefore, in the eyes of those who do not know the truth, the scale of Zhu Xing's fleet that went out to sea to be enfeoffed was much larger than that of Zhu Di.

In addition, people are now more concerned about overseas affairs. On the day Zhu Ying went out to sea, many people gathered near the Guangzhou wharf to watch.

Zhu Ying stood on his flagship, the "Jinyang", and took another look at the scenery at the dock through the telescope. He then put it away and waved his hand to give orders with great confidence.

"Pass on the king's order, raise the anchor and set sail!"

"The king has ordered us to raise the anchor and set sail!"

With the shouts of the messengers and the flag signals of the warships, Zhu Ying's orders were transmitted to each warship and large ship.

With the sails raised, it looked from a distance as if a cloud had appeared over the sea surface at the dock, covering the sea surface.

At the dock, Zhu Bo, who came to see Zhu Ying off, was watching the fleet with a telescope - he came this time to actually inspect the immigration camp sites left by Zhu Di and Zhu Ying, to see which one to use, and seeing Zhu Ying off was just a coincidence.

Although he has not yet passed the literary examination for establishing a fiefdom overseas, he believes that he will pass this time, so he naturally has to make preparations for establishing a fiefdom overseas early.

When it became difficult to see the people on the Jinyang even with a telescope, Zhu Bo put away the telescope he was carrying and asked the staff beside him, "How long is the sea distance from Guangzhou to Egypt?"

The aides, accustomed to the King of Qi's ignorance, responded, "Your Majesty, the fleet is enormous, and for safety's sake, they've chosen a coastal route. Therefore, they'll need to travel over 30,000 miles by sea."

Zhu Bo shook his head. "Over 30,000 miles by sea, that's how far it's going to get to North America, right? I don't know what Third Brother was thinking. He insisted on going to Egypt."

"Not to mention how far it is from the Ming Dynasty, I heard that the area is mostly desert, and with the Xihai Guard blocking the northeast, the vassal state can only expand westward and southward in the future, which is really a bit frustrating."

Hearing this, the staff couldn't help but feel upset.

"Your Majesty, Egypt is very close to Europe via the Mediterranean Sea. It is also located at the junction of Asia, Europe, and Africa. Its importance is self-evident."

Zhu Bo snorted, "No matter how important that place is, with the Xihai Guards deployed by my father there, how can the Jin Clan have any say in it?"

The staff member said: "It's not his turn now, but it's hard to say a hundred years from now."

"A hundred years from now?" Zhu Bo laughed. "Who will still be alive, me or my third brother? Besides, who can predict what will happen a hundred years from now?"

After finishing his speech, Zhu Bo turned around, mounted his horse and returned to the city.

The staff smiled bitterly, rode on horseback and followed with the entourage - they still had a lot of things to do today.

···
···
Capital.

At the military dock outside Yifeng Gate, Zhu Biao was also seeing off Zhu Chong, Zhu Tan and Zhu Xiongying.

"Xiongying, remember, although your purpose in going to Shaanxi and Gansu is to observe the troops and hone your skills, your own safety is always the most important. Do not act recklessly."

Zhu Biao, with his full beard, gave Zhu Xiongying earnest instructions at this time, like an old mother.

Zhu Xiongying smiled bitterly.

He had heard Zhu Biao's instructions for the umpteenth time, and now he said, "Don't worry, father. I know the seriousness of the matter. Besides, I'm in good health now and won't get sick that easily."

Seeing this, Zhu Chong couldn't help but say, "Brother, Xiongying is only going to Shaanxi and Gansu to take care of logistics. He's not going to the Western Regions to fight on the battlefield like me and my tenth brother. There's no need to worry so much."

Zhu Tan also said, "Brother, Xiongying is already sixteen years old and is about to get married. It's time for him to leave the capital for some training. Father has already assigned him a medical team, so what is there to worry about?" (End of this chapter)