Bringing the Railway to Daming

Liu Kuan said, "There are two other things that have been widely circulated, both of which slander Your Majesty for indiscriminately killing meritorious officials."

Although Liu Kuan decided to speak out, he was somewhat worried about being affected by Zhu's anger, so he used the word "slander" in advance.

But Zhu Yuanzhang still frowned and said, "Tell me, which two things?"

Liu Kuan said, "The first thing is the death of Duke Wei. Rumor has it that His Majesty became suspicious of Duke Wei after the generals celebrated their victory."

"It so happened that the Duke of Wei contracted a back abscess while leading a war in the north. He had been treated by a doctor and was feeling better, but he needed to abstain from irritating foods."

"After returning victorious, the Duke of Wei avoided court, citing the need to maintain military support. Upon learning of this, His Majesty sent a palace maid to deliver a roasted goose, along with a letter containing only eight words: 'Peerless Divine Goose, Miraculous Elixir.'"

"When the Duke of Wei saw this, he burst into tears. He ate the roast goose and soon after, he died of a back abscess."

"Thus, there is a folk legend that says that Your Majesty deliberately killed the Duke of Wei with roast goose."

Perhaps it was because Xu Da was still alive, and it was because of Liu Kuan's reminder and Zhu Yuanzhang's personal instructions to take care of his health that Xu Da was able to live to this day, so Zhu Yuanzhang was not as angry as before.

But he was still so angry that he slammed the table and shouted, "Ridiculous! Xu Da is our good brother, and together with Tang He, we regard him as our right-hand man. We are too busy trying to save his life, so how could we harm him?!"

Zhu Biao also shook his head and said, "The Qing Dynasty is truly shameless."

Liu Kuan shook his head and said, "Your Highness, as far as I know, this is also rumored to have been created during the Hongzhi period. It was first written in 'Jiansheng Yeying' by Xu Zhenqing, one of the Four Talented Scholars of Wuzhong, along with Tang Bohu."

"Later, during the Jiajing reign, Jiangnan gentry Wang Wenlu wrote a book called 'Longxing Ciji', in which he recorded this rumor. The Qing Dynasty later spread and amplified it, leading ordinary people to believe it was true."

Zhu Biao said, "These two books sound like unofficial histories. I never thought that the officials of the Ming Dynasty would slander my father in this way."

Zhu Yuanzhang snorted, "These two are Jiangnan gentry. Most likely, they bear grudges against us because of what happened during the Hongwu reign. It's also the fault of the two unfilial descendants of Hongzhi and Jiajing who did nothing and were too lenient with the gentry. That's why they dare to smear us like this."

Empress Ma didn't want the conversation to turn to court affairs or politics, so she interrupted and asked, "What's the second rumor?"

"Burn down the celebration building." Liu Kuan said concisely.

"Burning down the celebration building?"

Zhu Yuanzhang and his sons and Empress Ma looked at each other and thought that it sounded like the title of an opera. After listening to Liu Kuan's explanation, they found that it was indeed the case.

"At the end of the Ming Dynasty, there was a book called 'Records of Heroes of the Imperial Ming Dynasty,' which mainly recounted the deeds of loyal and heroic civil and military officials who made contributions to the Ming Dynasty."

"Later, in order to discredit the Ming Dynasty, the Qing government ordered the collection of 'Records of Imperial Ming Heroes' and burned them. They then adapted them into novels such as 'Heroes of the Great Ming' and 'Chronicles of Ming Heroes', and then specifically commissioned people to widely disseminate them through storytelling and opera."

"One of the most famous stories is called 'Burning the Celebration Tower.' It tells the story of how, after His Majesty established the Ming Dynasty, he became suspicious of the founding heroes, fearing they might rebel or seize power by abusing their achievements. So he ordered the construction of a Celebration Tower, claiming it was for the purpose of celebrating the generals' achievements."

"After the Celebration Tower was completed, His Majesty held a banquet upstairs, inviting all the founding heroes to attend. Secretly, he had a large amount of gunpowder and dry firewood buried downstairs, preparing to burn the Celebration Tower to eliminate future trouble."

"Although the deed was done secretly, Liu Bowen saw through it. So on the day of the celebration banquet, Liu Bowen deliberately sat next to the emperor and even pressed down the corner of the emperor's robe with his buttocks."

"So, when the founding generals were all drunk and His Majesty secretly left, Liu Bowen noticed it because of the movement of his clothes, so he followed him downstairs."

"Not long after Your Majesty and Liu Bowen left the building, the celebration building was engulfed in flames. Thousands of officials, guards, and palace maids who had attended the banquet perished in the flames."

After Liu Kuan finished talking about the "Burning of the Celebration Building", he found that Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao were both staring at each other - Zhu Biao would have been fine, but Zhu Yuanzhang was rarely angry.

Empress Ma then burst out laughing, seemingly unable to contain herself, and patted her thigh with one hand. "Chongba, it seems that the people who helped the Qing Dynasty fabricate this story understand the common people's preferences very well. That's why they made up such an outrageous yet dramatic story and put it on you."

Zhu Yuanzhang also laughed.

I wasn't laughing out of anger, I just thought it was ridiculous.

He laughed and said, "We built a building just to burn many founding heroes to death? And Liu Bowen found out about it. He still sat with us and dared to sit on the corner of our clothes?"

"Isn't this illogical? Just making it up like that? An ignorant person might believe it. But anyone who has read a little and knows a little about history would never believe it."

"We don't know whether the scholar who rewrote the 'Record of Ming Heroes' under the order of the Qing court really wanted to discredit us, or was secretly helping the Ming Dynasty."

After hearing what Zhu Yuanzhang said, Liu Kuan also felt that this matter was not simple, so he said: "Perhaps the person in charge of compiling the book did not dare to disobey the Qing court's order, but also did not want to go too far, so he made up such an extremely absurd story."

Zhu Yuanzhang, however, looked towards the northeast and hummed, "Manchu Qing... I've already made up my mind. Although the current situation in the Ming Dynasty is very different from that in history, we can't ignore the Jianzhou Jurchens."

"We have left behind ancestral teachings that the Ming Dynasty will gradually relocate Han people there, and then relocate some Jurchens to Andong Province, and in the future, relocate some to Japan."

"In short, we must disperse them as much as possible, and then gradually assimilate them through Confucian education. We must also teach future Ming emperors to be wary of the minority forces in the Northeast and the generals who have their own troops."

Liu Kuan felt that Zhu Yuanzhang's actions might not be effective. Historically, the Northeast was indeed a region with natural conditions suitable for the birth of separatist factions, and these were relatively powerful ones. Even after World War I, Marshal Zhang relied on the Northeast to dominate the region.

But Liu Kuan didn't say this.

He felt that Zhu Yuanzhang should know that if a dynasty wanted to last long, the most important thing was to cultivate its internal strength, or to have a system that was stable enough and could constantly adapt to the changes of the times.

As for what this system should look like, Liu Kuan didn't know either.

Perhaps only time can give the answer.

Afterwards, several people talked about some things in "The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber".

For example, Zhu Yuanzhang said that if there really were martial arts and a martial arts world in the world, he would definitely collect the world's top martial arts such as the Nine Yin and Nine Yang and let the royal children practice them.

They would even establish a "Martial Arts Academy" to train martial arts masters and soldiers for the Ming Dynasty court in large numbers.

Finally, a system will be designed to restrain the so-called martial arts sects, just like restraining monks and Taoists - anyone who does not obey the orders of the court will be regarded as an evil sect and will be eliminated; even if they obey the orders of the court but violate the law, they must accept punishment from the court officials.

After listening to this, Liu Kuan thought to himself, if there really were martial arts and a martial arts world, wouldn’t you, Old Zhu, want to establish a martial arts dynasty?
However, everyone knew that there were no martial arts in reality as powerful as those in novels, so they were just joking for fun.

After the chat, seeing that the sun was setting, Liu Kuan said goodbye.

Before leaving, Zhu Yuanzhang specifically instructed: "It's less than half a month away from the Chinese New Year, and we have to go to the cinema on the second day of the New Year. You better be prepared and don't mess around."

Liu Kuan smiled helplessly, "Yes."

Empress Ma advised Zhu Huilan, "Although you have already given birth to three children and have experience, pregnancy is a big deal after all. You still need to be careful and take good care of yourself on a daily basis."

Zhu Huilan nodded, "My daughter will remember this. Please take care of yourself, mother."

Zhu Yuanzhang and Empress Ma chatted with Liu Changan and Liu Ruoyue for a while before letting the family return home.

Inside the Dashan Hall.

Empress Ma sighed again, "It's almost Chinese New Year, but there's still no news from Tan'er. The other day, Ning Fei (Guo) came to see me with red and swollen eyes, saying she was about to cry just thinking about Tan'er."

"She only has one child, Zhu Tan. She was already upset after going overseas, and now she's been in a shipwreck. She doesn't know if he's alive or dead. She can't even live."

Zhu Yuanzhang also sighed and said, "In a few days, Guo Xing (Marquis of Gongchang) and Guo Ying (Marquis of Wuding) will arrive in the capital to report on their work. When that time comes, let's let them visit Concubine Ning and talk to her."

"After the beginning of next spring, if there is no news from Old Ten, I will have Guo Ying lead a fleet to look for him there."

Empress Ma nodded, "This will also give Concubine Ning some peace of mind."

Zhu Biao returned to Chunhe Palace and had dinner with Lu and his children in the evening.

Today, Zhu Biao, just like in history, has five sons and four daughters.

The oldest was naturally Zhu Xiongying, who was already eighteen years old. However, Zhu Xiongying had just left Tsushima Island a few days ago, so it would take several days for him to return to the capital.

The second is the eldest daughter, who is fifteen years old. She has already arranged a marriage with Geng Bingwen’s son Geng Xuan and will get married next year.

The next is the second son Zhu Yunwen, who is also fifteen years old.

The current rule for eating in Chunhe Palace is that each courtyard eats by itself; if they eat together, they sit at two separate tables. Zhu Biao, Lu and their sons eat at one table, while the other concubines sit at another table with their daughters, but the dishes are the same.

After dinner, palace maids served the health-preserving tea specially prepared by the Imperial Hospital.

Zhu Biao chatted with his sons while drinking tea - mainly asking about their studies and "work".

Zhu Biao was naturally moved by Liu Kuan's account of the deeds of so many unworthy descendants of Zhu Di. He was also worried that some of his descendants would become even more unreliable, so unless he was too busy, he would take some time out after dinner every day to chat with his sons.

As for his daughters, they were raised by Lu and several concubines, so he didn't have to worry about them.

The youngest son, Zhu Yunxi, was born this year and was still in his infancy. He was not here. Therefore, the only three brothers who could be with Zhu Biao at this time were Zhu Yunwen, Zhu Yunhuan, and Zhu Yunhuan.

Perhaps because he knew the original history, Zhu Biao attached the most importance to Zhu Yunwen's education among the three.

"Yun Wen, the military factory has been very busy these days, right? Are you able to adapt?"

Zhu Yunwen graduated from the Great Hall last year. This year, in addition to participating in greenhouse cultivation research, he also took on a part-time job at the Beijing Military Factory. (End of this chapter)