Bringing the Railway to Daming

After listening to Liu Kuan reciting Yang Shen's "Linjiangxian", Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao couldn't help but savor it repeatedly in their hearts.

After a while, Zhu Biao said with emotion: "This poem 'Linjiangxian' is indeed a masterpiece that can be called a masterpiece handed down from generation to generation, and it is almost as good as the works of several great poets of the Song Dynasty."

Zhu Yuanzhang said, "This poem uses the rise and fall of dynasties as a topic of conversation. It is both heroic and tragic, yet also full of aftertaste. It shows that Yang Shen is truly a man of exceptional talent in this field."

"But, to be able to write words like this, he must have experienced a lot, right?"

Liu Kuan said, "Your Majesty, as the son of then-Prime Minister Yang Tinghe, Yang Shen's success in the imperial examination was controversial. It was only thanks to his exceptional talent that he was able to retain his honor."

"During the Zhengde reign, he served mostly in the Hanlin Academy. During the Jiajing reign, he first participated in the compilation of the 'Veritable Records of Emperor Wuzong'."

"Later, during the 'Great Ceremony Debate,' he angered Emperor Jiajing and was exiled to Yongchang Guard in Yunnan. Over the next few decades, although he traveled back and forth between Sichuan and Yunnan, he ultimately died in Yongchang Guard."

"It seems he died before the Jiajing Emperor, and lived to be 72. He was posthumously honored twice during the Longqing and Tianqi reigns, which was considered to be a vindication."

"As expected." Zhu Yuanzhang smiled after hearing this. "Look at the great poets in history. Most of them spent most of their lives, or even their entire lives, depressed and frustrated."

"It is precisely because of their ups and downs that they have a deep enough understanding of the mountains, rivers and life, and then wrote poems that have been passed down through the ages."

Liu Kuan thought: That may not be the case.

Experiencing hardships and having a deep understanding of the mountains, rivers, and life are indeed necessary for writing poems that are passed down through the ages, but it does not necessarily lead to frustration - the great librarian of later generations is an example.

Perhaps Zhu Yuanzhang was not interested in Yang Shen, a great talent whose legacy was limited to literature, so he asked, "Could Xu Wei also be a literary talent like Xie Jin and Yang Shen?"

Liu Kuan said, "Your Majesty, Xu Wei is indeed as knowledgeable and talented as Xie Jin and Yang Shen, but in comparison, he should be described as strange, bizarre, and crazy."

Weird, odd, crazy?

After hearing what Liu Kuan said, Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao became more interested.

"Xu Wei was born in the late Zhengde period and lived through the Jiajing, Longqing, and Wanli reigns. He also showed intelligence at a young age and was known locally as a child prodigy."

"However, due to his difficult life experience, arrogant personality, and the vast amount of knowledge he had, he didn't pass the imperial examination until he was twenty. After that, he took the exam eight times until he was forty-one, but he failed every time."

"During this period, he also experienced the hardship of his family property being seized by wealthy tycoons, his wife's early death, and being left homeless and helpless."

"In the 30th year of the Jiajing reign, Japanese pirates became a major problem along the southeastern coast. He joined the staff of Hu Zongxian, the then governor of Zhejiang Province, and only then did he step onto the stage of the world as an aide."

"Xu Wei was knowledgeable in military affairs and had a keen eye for strategy. He devised many strategies to quell the Japanese invasion and was trusted by Hu Zongxian, becoming his chief advisor."

"Later, he even offered advice on recruiting Wang Zhi, the then pirate king of the East China Sea. Unfortunately, the local government went back on their word and had Wang Zhi executed, bringing his plan to ruin."

"Later, Hu Zongxian was imprisoned due to disputes at court, and Xu Wei was also implicated. He already had an extreme personality and had experienced a lot of hardships before. This imprisonment caused mental problems. He would often go crazy and hurt himself, and even committed suicide. It is said that he attempted suicide as many as nine times, but unfortunately he failed to survive."

"Only after Emperor Wanli ascended the throne and issued a general amnesty was Xu Wei released. He was already in his fifties. Although he no longer participated in court affairs, he maintained close friendships with famous generals of the Wanli era, such as Qi Jiguang and Li Chengliang."

"However, because Xu Wei did not manage his business, disdained etiquette, and had an arrogant and aloof personality, he lived a miserable life in his later years, relying on selling calligraphy and paintings and even writing novels to make a living."

"In fact, there is another novel in the late Ming Dynasty that is as famous as the Four Great Classics. It was even originally listed among the Four Great Classics. It is called "Plum Vase Gold" (self-correction). It is the best in terms of writing about secular life. The author's pen name is Lanling Xiaoxiaosheng."

"The identity of this person has remained a mystery in later generations. Many people speculate that this person is Xu Wei."

"As for Xu Wei's other works, I can't remember them all. Apart from literature, he was probably quite accomplished in calligraphy, painting, and opera."

After listening to Liu Kuan's brief account of Xu Wei's life, Zhu Yuanzhang said, "From his knowledge of military affairs and his keen eye for strategy, this man seems to be more useful to the court than the two great men mentioned above."

"However, according to what you said, this person's character is probably even more difficult to accept than Xie Jin and Yang Shen."

"Having ability and an aloof personality is nothing to worry about. Liu Bowen was also aloof, yet he still became the Earl of Chengyi in the Ming Dynasty." "But disrespecting etiquette and laws is a bit unacceptable."

Hearing this, Liu Kuan couldn't help but say, "Your Majesty, perhaps the etiquette and laws of the late Ming Dynasty were very different from those of today? Most of them were formulated by vested interests such as the gentry. Perhaps if you were to return to the late Ming Dynasty, you would also disdain etiquette and laws."

Zhu Yuanzhang was stunned for a moment, then burst into laughter. "Hahaha, you're right, kid. If we went to the late Ming Dynasty or the end of the Ming Dynasty as you mentioned, I'm afraid we would have to rise up and overthrow the tables of those corrupt officials and powerful gentry."

This was not the first time Zhu Yuanzhang had said this, and Liu Kuan was not surprised to hear it.

At this point, the first four of the five people Liu Kuan wanted have been mentioned. Yang Shiqi was mentioned a few years ago, and now the second of the three great talents involved by Xie Jin will also be mentioned.

Liu Kuan looked at Zhu Yuanzhang eagerly, waiting for Zhu Yuanzhang to agree to give it to the person.

Unexpectedly, after a moment's hesitation, Zhu Yuanzhang said, "We can transfer Jian Yi, Huang Huai, and Yang Shiqi to you, but not Xia Yuanji and Xie Jin."

"You should know that the Ming Dynasty is currently vigorously developing its economy. Since we know that Xia Yuanji has economic talent and financial management skills, we should naturally transfer him to the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Finance."

"As for Xie Jin, given his personality, if he were to be transferred to the Tiangong Academy, I'm afraid he wouldn't be of much help and would even cause you trouble. In my opinion, the Metropolitan Censorate would be a better fit for him."

Liu Kuan thought about it and had to admit that Zhu Yuanzhang's arrangement was more appropriate.

After all, Zhu Yuanzhang was the emperor for more than 20 years, so it was normal that someone was better at identifying and employing people than him.

After figuring it out, Liu Kuan bowed and said, "Thank you, Your Majesty."

Seeing that there was nothing else, Liu Kuan was about to leave, but he heard a eunuch outside the hall reporting loudly.

"Your Majesty, His Royal Highness the Prince of Xiang has sent a telegram from Hening!"

Speaking of which, although Zhu Yuanzhang had many sons, except for Zhu Biao, he did not treat his other sons completely equally, but he did not have any obvious preference or prejudice.

This can be seen from the fact that in history, all of his twenty or so sons were granted the title of prince and given fiefdoms. If an emperor was really prejudiced and indifferent to his sons, he would not have granted them all fiefdoms.

Prince Xiang Zhu Bo was considered to be of good character and quite talented among the other princes, so Zhu Yuanzhang immediately ordered: "Send him in."

Li Gui immediately went over, took the telegram, and placed it on the imperial desk.

This telegram contained quite a lot of content, and there were actually several pages of translation. It should be noted that the translations of this telegram were all written in small calligraphy by the telegraph translators in the Beijing Telegraph Bureau. They were not the kind of big-character posters with only a hundred or so words on a piece of paper.

Zhu Yuanzhang took several minutes to finish reading it, then he couldn't help but pat the table lightly and said with a smile: "Old Twelve has done a good job on this mission. He has seen so many things from the local situation. He is no worse than the Jinyiwei, and in some aspects he is even more useful than the Jinyiwei."

Upon hearing this, Zhu Biao immediately smiled and said, "That's right—even though the Jinyiwei nowadays are literate and able to calculate, and even have civilian personnel specializing in intelligence analysis, their cultural level is far inferior to that of my twelfth brother."

"Twelfth brother is my sister-in-law's student, and his academic performance is relatively high in the main hall."

After hearing what the old Zhu and his son said, Liu Kuan became a little curious about the telegram sent by Zhu Bo.

Zhu Yuanzhang seemed to see what Liu Kuan was thinking.

He first asked Li Gui to hand the telegram to Zhu Biao, and then he began to explain the contents of the telegram with a warm smile on his face, just like an old father showing off his son's achievements.

"This guy mentioned real estate to us in a telegram first—he said that the real estate near the Peking Railway Station was 30,000 guan per mu, which is not much less than that in the capital, and that the real estate in the city was as high as over 20,000 guan per mu."

"He said that while the Peking government would make money, if real estate prices continued to rise, or even inflated, it would cause merchants who purchased real estate to lose money, which would be detrimental to the sustainable development of the real estate industry."

"In addition to Peking, he also listed the average real estate prices in Chuzhou, Fengyang, Xuzhou, Jinan, and other places we passed through along the way as a reference. His insightful understanding of local affairs was truly a pleasant surprise to us!" (End of this chapter)