My Pen Pal Zhu Yuanzhang

Chapter 256 Railway!
After taking the thing out, Li Han held it in his hand and looked at it carefully.

This thing is about the same size as a pressure cooker, with a cylinder, a flywheel, and a crank. He slapped his thigh and thought, isn't this a model of a steam engine?
A closer look reveals that the model of the steam engine is extremely finely crafted, with every component meticulously detailed. The connecting gears are made of copper, the cylinder is made of fine steel, and the base and some non-critical parts are made of gold.

However, this steam engine doesn’t look like the one that was sent to Lao Zhu and the others. Could it be that they improved it themselves?
Wow, that’s great, Li Han praised from the bottom of his heart, it is better to teach a man to fish than to give him a fish, Daming has finally begun to lay its own scientific research foundation.

There is a saying that goes, this is a small step for the Ming Dynasty, but a big step for China!
Li Han looked at the new steam engine model, feeling quite surprised, like a teacher watching his carefully taught students finally achieve results.

Then he discovered that on the base of the model, there was an exquisite nameplate with five powerful characters engraved on it - Dragon Controlling Tianji Furnace.

Dragon Controlling Heavenly Secret Furnace?
The name is given, and the fantasy steampunk flavor comes out all at once. Could it be that Lao Zhu nominated him?
I moved the steam engine model to the bedroom, decided to use it to sleep with me from now on, and then opened the envelope.

Suddenly, he had a strange feeling and took out Zhu Yijin's letter again, comparing his handwriting with Zhu Yuanzhang's.

I found that the words "ancestor" and "great-great-great-grandson" are quite similar. They are all written in beautiful regular script.

Could it be that this writing style can be inherited? Li Han smiled, put away Zhu Yijin's letter, and then read it carefully.

After reading the letter, Li Han lay on the bed, but his mind became active. Annan had been successfully taken. From the perspective of land power, the power of the Ming Dynasty could smoothly enter Annan through Guangdong, Guangxi and Yunnan, and then strengthen its influence on the Indochina Peninsula.

From the perspective of sea power, the excellent ports in Indochina, such as Cam Ranh Bay, Saigon, Vung Tau Port and Haiphong Port, are mainly concentrated in South Vietnam, namely Champa during the Hongwu period, also known as Champapula.

If these excellent seaports can be occupied, the Ming Dynasty's rule over the South China Sea will be further strengthened.

However, from the perspective of historical evolution, although Champa was once a part of the Han Dynasty, after several divisions and wars, by the time of the Ming Dynasty, Champa had long lost its sense of identity with China and was not deeply influenced by Chinese civilization.

On the contrary, the influence of Indian Brahmanism was deeply rooted. Although it joined the Ming Dynasty's tribute system, it did not accept the Ming Dynasty's enthronement, so in essence it did not become a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty.

Although Li Han’s first thought was to continue to conquer Champa by force, he changed his mind and thought that conquering by force was not the best strategy, and there might be a better way.

What the Ming Dynasty needs is Champa’s geographical advantage, not its rule!
Champa and Annan are different. Annan identifies with the Ming Dynasty, but Champa does not. Moreover, in a country that practices Brahmanism, the caste system is so strict that it is outrageous. Once the Ming Dynasty conquers Champa and rules it, it will break the inherent Brahman hierarchy. The large number of Shudras, a untouchable class at the bottom of the society, will become a powerful force that cannot be eliminated.

After all, the Ming Dynasty went there to trade, not to alleviate poverty.

Oh, yes, trade, comprador!
A common problem in Brahmanic countries is that the tolerance of the lower-class people is beyond the limits of ordinary people's understanding. So in fact, the Ming Dynasty only needs to use economic interests to bind the ruling class of Champa and make them compradors, right?
The Ming Dynasty can cultivate compradors among the Brahmins and Kshatriyas and make them the beneficiaries of trade, thereby achieving the Ming Dynasty's geopolitical goals.

Although the investment time may be a little longer, once the goal is achieved, the benefits brought to Ming Dynasty will be extremely considerable.

After all, trade is more profitable than looting!
As for long-distance transportation, this problem is really difficult to solve.

Li Han's brain was working rapidly. Modern China was able to establish an extremely efficient and convenient logistics system because it had the world's largest road network, the second largest railway network, and a highly developed air transport network.

What did the Ming Dynasty have? Official roads, escort agencies, caravans, official transportation, and grain transport. Haha, these were the livelihoods of millions of grain workers.

No matter which mode of transportation is used, it is inseparable from horse teams and boat teams. To put it bluntly, it is human and animal power transportation. It would be a miracle if the efficiency can be improved.

Sea transportation is easy, as long as you have a ship, but what about land transportation?

If you want to get rich, build roads first. Building roads is easy, but how to improve efficiency?
Suddenly, Li Han saw the steam engine model on the desk. A light bulb went off in his mind. He immediately jumped up from the bed and couldn't help snapping his fingers.

If you want to be rich, build roads first. If you want to be extremely rich, build railways! Now that we have improved steam engines, how far can steam locomotives be?
Railway transportation is divided into two major parts: the laying of rails and the manufacturing of locomotives. These two things really involve Li Han's blind spots in knowledge.

This is not like building a steam engine, but it is a large-scale systematic project involving the entire country and cannot be handled carelessly.

When in doubt, look for Xu Nian. With this in mind, Li Han hurriedly dialed Xu Nian's number.

"Hey, Lao Xu, can you build a motorcycle?"

As soon as the phone was connected, Li Han went straight to the point.

Then the other side fell silent.

"..."

"Hey, hey, Lao Xu, say something!"

After a long time, Li Han heard Xu Nian's angry voice coming from the other end of the phone.

"You are the one who is a scoundrel, your whole family is a scoundrel!"

Li Han was stunned, then he realized that he spoke too fast and caused misunderstanding to Xu Nian.

"I mean, can you build a steam locomotive?"

It would have been fine if he hadn't explained it, but once he had, Xu Nian became even more irritable.

"Brother, no, you are my real brother. No, foster father, please spare me. I am not omnipotent! There are thousands of engineering men in the world. You can't always pick on me alone!"

"Stop talking nonsense. I only know you. If I don't grab you, who else should I grab? You have half an hour to get here. I have something good to show you!"

"Okay, okay, just wait!" After saying that, Xu Nian hung up the phone.

After a while, Xu Nian rushed over in a hurry. When he saw Li Han, he yelled, "Brother, you are really my eighty-second difficulty. I finally got through the big head. What's the matter? Tell me quickly. I'm anxious to go back and fight Guangzhi!"

"Let's put Guangzhi aside for now. He won't run away anyway. Let me show you something first."

Li Han expressed his complete understanding of Xu Nian's anxious mood. He had been completely obsessed with playing Black Monkey in the past two days. Judging from the dark circles under his eyes, he had probably been playing all night for several days in a row.

But it took me so long to hit the big head. My technique is really poor.

After a while, Li Han took out the model of the steam engine and said to Xu Nian, "Take a look at this first."

Xu Nian's eyes lit up and he immediately became excited. He moved forward, touched it here and there, turned the flywheel with his hands, felt the unique texture of the model, and exclaimed in amazement:
"Where did you buy this model? It's so exquisitely made!"

(End of this chapter)