Bringing the Railway to Daming

"In the eyes of Emperor Wu of Han, Buyeo in the northeast was the real threat to the Han Dynasty. Therefore, Emperor Wu of Han wisely established the tribe as Goguryeo County under Xuantu Commandery to support Goguryeo in its fight against Buyeo."

"Well, as long as they don't shed Han blood, they can fight as much as they want."

After hearing this, Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao understood what "Daying" meant - it was probably a strategy to support one ethnic minority against another ethnic minority?
This is indeed a method that our ancestors of the Han Dynasty knew. Now the Ming Dynasty is also using similar policies in the Indochina Peninsula and Myanmar. It will only wait until the time is right to deal with those who are jumping around happily.

The latter part of the video talks about the development history of Goguryeo under the support of the Han Dynasty.

They acquired the advanced farming, iron smelting and other skills of the Han people. While fighting with Buyeo, they also gradually annexed small tribes in the northeast and continued to grow and develop.

At the end of the Western Han Dynasty, Goguryeo saw that the Han Dynasty was in civil strife and wanted to break away from the control of the Han Dynasty and establish its own country. However, it was beaten severely by the troops sent by Wang Mang and became obedient. As a result, it left few records in the history of the late Western Han Dynasty.

By the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Goguryeo felt that its opportunity had come and its ambition to establish a country was rekindled. However, Cao Cao sent troops to severely defeat it and it became obedient again.

In historical books, they became a minor character who was dependent on the Han dynasty like the Wuhuan and other ethnic minorities in the northeast.

It was not until the Five Barbarians' Invasion that Goguryeo had the opportunity to truly establish its own nation and develop and grow comprehensively.

A map appeared in the video. Goguryeo, represented in green, originally occupied only a few counties in the northeast. However, during the Five Barbarians Invasion of China, it sent troops to the east, north and south, and its territory continued to expand.

"While the giant of the Central Plains was enjoying the performance art (dismemberment) invented by Shang Yang, Goguryeo not only took the opportunity to annex large tracts of land in what would later become the Three Northeastern Provinces, but also moved southward to occupy the northern part of the Korean Peninsula, forming a Northeast Asian power comparable to the Later Jin."

"Furthermore, this regime not only understood nomadic pastoralism and fishing and hunting, but also mastered advanced farming and iron smelting technologies, and was a highly sinicized regime that used Chinese characters!"

"Just as Carthage was to Rome, Canada was to America, a regional power modeled after the Chinese dynasties."

"They often drove out or enslaved the locals after conquering a place, and then moved in Goguryeo people to assimilate and consolidate the territory."

"In fact, if you've seen the restored map of the Goguryeo royal city in Pyongyang, you'll know how deeply it has been sinicized—its palaces are almost as large as those of the Han Dynasty, making it look like a miniature Han dynasty in East Asia..."

After talking about the expansion history of Goguryeo during the Five Barbarians Invasion Period, the video finally talked about the reasons why the ancient Northeast region produced strong troops.

Firstly, the Northeast region is rich in iron ore resources. As long as the ethnic minorities master the iron smelting technology, their weapons and armor are often quite sophisticated and their armor coverage rate is very high.

Secondly, the Northeast region is rich in giant hamsters (bears) and golden hamsters (tigers), and the ethnic minorities in the Northeast have the habit of fishing and hunting regardless of whether they farm or not, so they can train batch after batch of brave warriors.

If the above two reasons were what Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao could think of, then the third reason mentioned in the video was completely beyond their expectations.

"In addition to its abundant fishing and hunting resources, which provide a source of protein for people, the Northeast region also has fertile black soil, and some of this is not just ordinary black soil."

"Because a lot of the land there was formed after a volcanic eruption, the bottom layer is volcanic rock, and the upper layer is fertile black soil formed by plant humus and volcanic ash. The minerals and trace elements contained in it are far beyond what ordinary black soil can compare to."

"The rice grown there in later generations was not called Northeast rice or Wuchang rice, but slate rice."

"After the Tang Dynasty conquered Goguryeo, one of the things they did was to use the local slate rice as a tribute to the emperor. Why? Because in ancient times, the physical fitness of soldiers played a very important role in warfare. Eating well meant having a better body..."

Upon hearing this, both Zhu and Zhu Biao were a little skeptical, wondering: Is there really such a thing as slate rice in the Northeast? Is it really more nutritious?
If that is the case, we must ask the garrisons in the northeast to cultivate more fields on the volcanic rocks and grow tribute rice for the royal family.

When Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao came to their senses, they found that the video included content about the Sui and Tang dynasties' several expeditions to Goguryeo.

They all knew some of this content from history books. Although the video was explained in an interesting and humorous way with various editing scenes, Lao Zhu still found it a bit boring.

Because this part of the content has no value to him.

On the contrary, the concubines, princes, princesses, and grandchildren of the emperor who did not know this part of history, or did not understand it clearly, read it with great fascination. Although the princes and grandchildren of the emperor also studied history, most of the people who taught history books were Confucian scholars, and few of them could make history so interesting.

It was not until the end, when it came to the part about the Tang Dynasty's conquest of Goguryeo, that Zhu Yuanzhang began to read more seriously.

After the nearly 20-minute video finished playing, Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't help but sigh, "The Tang Dynasty was able to defeat Goguryeo in several major battles and ultimately destroy it, unlike Emperor Yang of Sui, who wasted money and supplies on numerous futile campaigns against Goguryeo and even suffered the loss of troops and humiliation. In addition to its national strength and military power, the strategy of crossing the sea to attack Goguryeo's rear was also a significant contribution."

Liu Kuan said, "Your Majesty is right—in fact, in later history, when the Ming Dynasty dealt with the Later Jin, it also adopted the strategy of harassing the Later Jin's rear from the sea, and even attacking the Later Jin."

Old Zhu, Zhu Biao, Zhu Xiongying and others all showed curiosity after hearing this.

"Since this strategy was adopted, why was it not possible to destroy the Later Jin?"

Liu Kuan smiled bitterly. "Of course, it was because the Ming court was too corrupt at the time and had too many internal problems. Chongzhen himself had no military talent or insight, and the ministers who held high positions in the court were all mediocre and selfish. Therefore, the court did not truly attach importance to this strategy."

"Furthermore, the birth of this strategy was accidental. After the Ming army suffered a crushing defeat in a major battle with the Later Jin, a guerrilla general named Mao Wenlong fled to islands like Pi Island in the Bohai Sea, along with some defeated soldiers and Han people fleeing from Liaodong."

"Afterwards, he used these islands as a foothold and launched several raids against the Later Jin, achieving considerable gains and gaining military merit. This brought him to the attention of the imperial court. Ultimately, with the support of Yuan Keli, then the Denglai Governor, he established the Dongjiang Town and was promoted to Commander-in-Chief."

"Unfortunately, due to the reasons I've described, even though Mao Wenlong's maritime raids on the Jin rear were effective, the imperial court still ignored his efforts, providing minimal financial support and allowing Dongjiang Town to be controlled by both Liaodong and Denglai." "Finally, in the early years of the Chongzhen Emperor, Yuan Chonghuan, the commander of Liaodong, believed Mao Wenlong was overbearing and suspected of becoming a warlord. So, without imperial order, he was lured to his death."

"Dongjiang Town became alienated from the imperial court and lost its role. Later, people like Kong Youde, Geng Jingzhong, and Shang Kexi defected to the Qing Dynasty."

"Among them, Kong Youde and his two companions brought numerous red-haired cannons, bird guns, and even trained gunners, riflemen, and artillery craftsmen from Denglai to the Qing Dynasty, instantly filling the gap in the Qing Dynasty's firearms."

Having said that, Liu Kuan shook his head with emotion and said no more.

Zhu Yuanzhang could certainly imagine how much the Qing army's combat effectiveness would be improved after it obtained advanced firearms and related talents.

Sure enough, after hearing this, whether it was Old Zhu, Zhu Biao, or Zhu Xiongying, their expressions did not look good.

Because he did not understand the specific situation, Zhu Yuanzhang did not comment on whether Yuan Chonghuan was right or wrong.

In his view, the root cause of this incident was not Yuan Chonghuan, but, as Liu Kuan said, because the Ming court at the time was too corrupt - otherwise, how could Mao Wenlong have the ambition to become a warlord? How could the commander-in-chief Yuan Chonghuan privately execute Mao Wenlong?
Thinking of this, he sighed and said, "It is obvious that maintaining a clean government and having a wise ruler and virtuous ministers are the foundation of a strong country."

“Otherwise, even if there are policies to solve the problem, no one may think of them or propose them. Even if someone proposes them, they may not be implemented well.”

"If you can't do anything well, you can't do anything well!"

Zhu Biao nodded after hearing this, and Zhu Xiongying seemed to be thinking about something.

After saying this, Zhu Yuanzhang remembered something and asked, "By the way, can slate rice really be grown in the Northeast? Is that rice really more nutritious than rice from other places?"

Liu Kuan pondered and said, "Your Majesty, slate rice is probably real, and it's also true that it's more nutritious than regular rice, but the effect is definitely not as significant as described in the video."

"I believe that the reason why the Northeast can raise strong soldiers is mainly due to the local harsh and cold environment and the habit of fishing and hunting."

Zhu Yuanzhang did not fully believe Liu Kuan's words, so he decided to go back and ask the Jilin Regional Administration to grow slate rice so that he could try to eat it.

In historical records, most emperors after Zhu Di died young, which he believed was due to poor health.

Zhu Biao died in his prime, while Zhu Xiongying died young. Their physical condition was clearly not as good as Zhu Di's. Perhaps eating slate rice regularly could improve the health of Zhu Biao's lineage.

After collecting his thoughts, Zhu Yuanzhang signaled Liu Kuan to put down a video.

This time, after seeing the title of the video, everyone couldn't help but look at Zhu Tan.

Zhu Tan showed a look of joy.

“What kind of people were the early North American colonists?”

Looking at the title, it's obviously related to North America.

Although he planned to establish a vassal state in Cuba, he still wanted to expand to North America in the future. If nothing unexpected happened, this video should be of great value to him.

Zhu Yuanzhang ordered, "Xiongying, write down the key points of this video and send a telegram to the North American Commander."

"Yes."

Zhu Xiongying had already brought a shorthand notebook and pen with him when watching the video, so he didn't need to get them specifically.

The video begins by showing clips of some European factory production, merchant transactions, etc., and the host begins his explanation by starting with the term "mercantilism".

Mercantilism was a popular ideology in Europe from the 16th to the 18th century. It believed that the total amount of world wealth was constant and that if a person or country wanted to become rich, they could only do so by taking the wealth of others.

After hearing this opening, Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao could not help but shake their heads slightly, thinking: This is not mercantilism at all, it is clearly banditry.

The video then introduces European colonialism from the idea of ​​mercantilism, and then tells the story of the repeated colonial actions of Western European countries such as Spain, Britain, and France in North America.

"With the support of the English crown, Gilbert arrived in Newfoundland in 1583 and took possession of the island in the name of the Queen of England."

"Raleigh explored the east coast of North America in 1585 and named the island and the adjacent land, which the natives called 'Roanoke', 'Virginia' in the Queen's honor, meaning 'Virgin Land...'"

Zhu Yuanzhang was not surprised to see British explorers naming places in the New World after the Queen. The soldiers sent by the Ming Dynasty to America would often name places in the name of the court.

Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't help curling his lips when he saw the name "Virgin Land". He thought that the name given by the British was too vulgar.

The video then goes on to tell the story of the strange events that occurred in Roanoke, causing Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhu Biao, and Zhu Tan to listen intently. (End of this chapter)