Bringing the Railway to Daming

Chapter 74: Embroidered Spring Knife and the Imperial Guards [Seeking Follow-up Reading]

Liu Kuan said: "The story of 'The Blade of the Assassin' is set in the Ming Dynasty, which makes it easier for people to understand. This way, when watching the next two films, you won't have too many doubts or be frightened by certain scenes."

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded after hearing this.

He wanted to watch all three dramas anyway, so it didn't matter which one came first. So he said, "Then let's watch 'The Blade of the Assassin' first... What exactly is this drama about?"

Liu Kuan felt somewhat helpless after hearing this and said, "Your Majesty, if I reveal this in advance, the show will not be as interesting. If Your Majesty has any questions, why not wait until you finish watching it and then listen to my explanation?"

"Well, let's do as you say. But wouldn't it be inconvenient for such a small thing to be seen by a large group of people?"

Hearing what Zhu Yuanzhang said, the princes and princesses in the hall suddenly became nervous, fearing that Zhu Yuanzhang would drive them away as soon as he opened his mouth.

Fortunately, Empress Ma spoke up at this time and said, "There are only about twenty of you, and you are all from the same family. Let's watch it together."

"We can find a way to put this tablet higher. We elders can sit on it, and the younger ones can stand at the back. Kuan'er, is this arrangement feasible?"

Liu Kuan smiled and said, "The Queen's arrangement is very appropriate."

His tablet was not small to begin with, and no one among them was nearsighted, so although it was not as comfortable as one or two people watching together, it did not have much of an impact. When televisions first appeared in China later, they were not as big as his tablet, and every time it was broadcast, there would be a large group of people watching, which did not affect the audience's enthusiasm at all.

Immediately, Empress Ma ordered the palace servants to bring in a small round mahogany table with three legs that was nearly half a person's height. It was originally used to place flower pots or porcelain and other ornaments, and it was just the right place to place the tablet.

Then he had seven or eight chairs placed two or three steps away - there were two armchairs in the middle for Zhu Yuanzhang and Empress Ma, and the other concubines sat in the back row.

After finishing all this, Liu Kuan personally tilted the tablet computer vertically on the small round table and opened "The Blade of the Assassin". (The previous article was wrong, it's not the second part).

As the movie opened, Liu Kuan reminded, "Your Majesty, to avoid interruptions, everyone must remain as quiet as possible during the movie."

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded, "I heard it, you all heard it too, right?"

"I heard it." The others responded, their tone obviously filled with excitement and anticipation.

Everyone's eyes were glued to the tablet screen and couldn't be moved away.

Apparently, even the opening animation was enjoyable for these first-time moviegoers.

Soon, the main film begins.

The title of "The Sword Identity" floated by and the narration began.

"During the Tianqi reign of the Ming Dynasty, the eunuch Wei Zhongxian took over the post of commander of the Eastern Depot and wreaked havoc on the imperial court for eight years."

"At that time, seven out of ten important officials in the court were Wei Zhongxian's followers, known as the 'eunuch party'."

Just the beginning made many people open their eyes wide.

Several princes who were older, had read a lot of books, and were already sensible, such as Zhu Su, Zhu Zhen, Zhu Gui, etc., were even more surprised and suspicious.

Among these princes, Zhu Su was already twenty years old, and Zhu Zhen and Zhu Gui were also seventeen years old.

Among them, Zhu Su has already decided to become a vassal in Kaifeng and will leave the capital in October.

At their age, it is impossible for them to live in the imperial palace, but rather in the prince's mansion in the capital.

As princes, they also vaguely knew Liu Kuan's origins, and couldn't help but wonder about it.

"Is Tianqi really an emperor of the Ming Dynasty two hundred years later?"

"What is the East Factory?"

"The eunuchs are causing chaos in the government? Could it be that in two hundred years, the Ming Dynasty will be like the Tang Dynasty, with the government controlled by eunuchs?"

Inside the Dashan Hall, Zhao Cheng and several other eunuchs stood in the corners, ready to be used at any time.

Although you can't see the tablet at this time, you can still hear the sound.

But they didn't expect that this first sentence would make them shudder!
"Oh, what's this drama that Prince Consort Liu is putting on? Why does he start by saying that eunuchs are interfering in politics... I hope the emperor won't vent his anger on us later."

Eunuchs such as Zhao Cheng became worried, but they could do nothing.

The only thing they were thankful for now was that Liu Kuan had said before that the movie was fictional.

The voice from the tablet continued to come——

"After Emperor Chongzhen ascended the throne, he dismissed Wei Zhongxian from all his posts and ordered him to guard the mausoleum in Fengyang."

"Wei Zhongxian fell, but the eunuch party remained. Chongzhen immediately ordered the arrest of the eunuch party members."

After the narration, the scene of two soldiers from the Five Cities Military Division searching the streets leads to the plot where the three brothers Lu, Shen, and Jin are ordered to lead the Jinyiwei to Chen Jiaming's mansion to capture Xu Xianchun.

The plot of "Embroidered Spring Knife" also unfolds from this...
Perhaps the film was too exciting for the Ming Dynasty crowd, seeing it for the first time, and with Zhu Yuanzhang present, no one spoke except for the occasional woman's exclamation at the thrilling fight scenes. Nearly an hour passed like this, until the final scene, with Shen Lian and Ding Xiu chasing Zhao Jingzhong, ended, the film ended, and the subtitles appeared. Only then did anyone speak.

"Third sister, is this play over?" Zhu Xuanle was the first to speak. "I don't know if Shen Lian has gone to Suzhou to find Zhou Miaotong and Zhang Yan."

Zhu Huilan said, "The movie is indeed over. As for what you said, just assume that Shen Lian found them."

The others couldn't help but whisper among themselves.

The three princes who had already left the palace and lived separately automatically gathered into a small group, while the remaining princes in their teens crowded outside to join in the fun.

Prince Zhu Gui of Qi, who had the most eccentric personality, said, "My two royal brothers, this play is so realistic, could it be true?"

"Two hundred years from now, will the eunuchs of the Ming Dynasty really be so deceitful and lawless?"

Prince Zhu Zhen of Chu said, "It's not just the eunuchs who are deceiving the emperor in this play. The civil officials, military generals, and even the nobles are all like this. According to my father's temper, they all deserve to be killed, even Shen Lian!"

Zhu Yu said, "Shen Lian secretly accepted bribes from Wei Yan without telling his brothers and released him, which led to the death of two brothers. This is indeed a lack of loyalty."

After he finished speaking, seeing that Zhu Su was silent, he asked, "What are you thinking about, Fifth Brother?"

Zhu Su said, "I was thinking, the name Jinyiwei sounds like a branch of the emperor's personal army, but now there is no such thing."

Zhu Yu laughed and said, "Then there's nothing from the East Factory either? It's probably done by the Crown Prince's descendants."

Although the three of them vaguely knew Liu Kuan's origins, they had not listened to Liu Kuan talk about many things in later generations like Zhu and Zhu Biao did. Therefore, at this time, they could only make random guesses about the tip of the iceberg of the late Ming Dynasty revealed in "The Sword of the Assassin".

On the other side, after watching the movie, Zhu Yuanzhang said to Empress Ma, "It's getting late. Sister, have someone clean up. Let's have dinner first and then watch the other two plays."

Queen Ma nodded, "Okay."

Zhu Yuanzhang immediately stood up and said, "Biao'er, Kuan'er, come with me outside to talk."

Liu Kuan knew that Zhu Yuanzhang must have accumulated a lot of questions while watching "The Sword of the Assassin".

He was not surprised, and followed Zhu Yuanzhang out of the hall together with Zhu Biao.

Zhu Yuanzhang asked everyone around him to step back several dozen steps before he spoke.

"Did Wei Zhongxian really exist in history?"

Liu Kuan nodded, "There is indeed such a person—he castrated himself and entered the palace after adulthood. Later, by chance, he became close to Ke Shi, the wet nurse of the Tianqi Emperor. Furthermore, he was quite intelligent, so he was highly valued by the Tianqi Emperor."

"At the height of his power, this man was very much like what's depicted in the movies. As the Minister of Internal Affairs, he practically controlled the entire government, second only to the emperor. His followers and cronies privately called him the 'Nine Thousand Years Old'."

"Nine thousand years old? Haha." Zhu Yuanzhang sneered, his murderous intent cold, "A slave without balls, how dare you dream of that."

Seeing this, Liu Kuan was really worried that Zhu Yuanzhang would vent his anger on the eunuchs of today.

Not to mention that these eunuchs are all innocent, if he makes them all hate him because of this, then he would be wronged.

So he said, "Your Majesty, although there have been several incidents of eunuchs causing trouble in the Ming Dynasty, for the emperor, the eunuchs have never been truly out of control. They have always been the royal slaves."

"Just like in the movie, even a powerful person like Wei Zhongxian had to flee because the new emperor Chongzhen wanted to get rid of him."

"Later generations believed that Wei Zhongxian's great power was partly due to his collusion with Keshi and his ability to curry favor with the emperor, but the main reason was that the Tianqi Emperor deliberately indulged him and used him to fight with civil officials."

"However, once the factional strife began, it was beyond the control of the Tianqi Emperor. Even Wei Zhongxian's power might have slightly exceeded the Tianqi Emperor's expectations."

"There's another theory - that the Donglin Party, which was opposed to the eunuch party at the time, was unable to defeat the eunuch party, so they resorted to other means to cause the Tianqi Emperor to drown or die of illness, and to support the Chongzhen Emperor, who was close to Confucian scholars, to ascend the throne."

"As to whether this is really the case, I don't know."

Zhu Yuanzhang was silent for a moment after hearing this.

He realized that the events of the late Ming Dynasty were indeed more than just eunuchs meddling in politics. The underlying situation was so complex and treacherous that it would have been difficult for him, over 200 years ago, or for Liu Kuan and other future generations hundreds of years later, to grasp the truth.

The events of the late Ming Dynasty are certainly of some reference value to the current Ming Dynasty, but there is no need to get too hung up on them.

After thinking this, Zhu Yuanzhang changed the subject and asked, "What about the Jinyiwei and the Dongchang?"

Since Liu Kuan released "The Sword of the Assassin", he naturally did not intend to conceal the affairs of the Embroidered Uniform Guard and the Eastern Depot.

Hearing this, he said, "The Imperial Guard was established by your Majesty, and it will be established next year."

Zhu Yuanzhang laughed when he heard this. "I was wondering why the Jinyiwei's functions are somewhat similar to those of the Yiluansi. It turns out that we established it."

"But the Jinyiwei in this play are called the emperor's personal guards, but in reality they are the henchmen of the eunuch in charge of the Eastern Depot. What's going on?"

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(End of this chapter)