The Ming Dynasty did not revolutionize

Chapter 14 The Crown Prince's Anxiety
The experimental tasks arranged by Zhu Jianxuan all directly gave the correct direction.

The experimental results are basically predictable.

The craftsmen's task is simply to make the correct design.

The craftsmen that Zhu Jianxuan's father, the emperor, selected for his beloved youngest son were all capable.

The only thing left is a matter of time and cost.

So in the next year or so, various major achievements were developed one after another.

The first to be completed was vulcanized rubber.

The first authorized customer of this patent was the imperial merchant of the Ming Dynasty.

The imperial merchants after the Chongzhen Dynasty were factories and businesses directly invested in by the emperor and the royal family, and the emperor might directly interfere in their operations.

No longer a traditional civilian agent of the royal family.

Emperor Zhu Zhonglin left a group of East Factory personnel in the laboratory to report the laboratory situation to him regularly.

After the emperor learned about the properties of vulcanized rubber, he directly ordered investment to set up a special factory to develop and design practical rubber products.

Because Emperor Chongzhen had foresight, he obtained rubber trees and cinchona trees through European merchants who came to the Ming Dynasty to trade more than a hundred years ago.

These two South American trees had not attracted the attention of Europeans at the time, so it was not difficult to pay merchants to bring them to the Ming Dynasty.

Then they all became important tools for the Ming Dynasty to develop Southeast Asia.

Cinchona is used to treat malaria, and rubber is used to make raincoats and various waterproof materials.

Quinine is used as a herbal medicine, and no one has yet extracted its active ingredients.

Rubber has not attracted much attention in the past because the uses of natural rubber before the vulcanization process were limited.

Emperor Chongzhen didn’t know about vulcanized rubber, but he knew that natural rubber would be of great use in the future.

Therefore, in the mountains and forests of Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan and Nanyang, a lot of land was enclosed in the name of royal forest farms, and a large number of rubber trees were planted.

Mountainous areas, especially rainforest areas, are not suitable for agricultural development and most of them are used as forest farms.

If the emperor wanted to enclose some wasteland and plant some trees overseas, no one would say anything.

What's more, these trees have some practical uses.

After more than a hundred years of growth, the Ming Dynasty had an abundant supply of natural rubber, and because of its limited uses, it was very cheap.

Now with the technology to vulcanize rubber, the value of these rubber plantations is sure to soar rapidly.

The emperor would also directly earn a lot of money.

So the emperor was very happy.

I secretly made up my mind to reward my precious son well.

As rubber-made sealing rubber rings, inflatable tires, soft oil and water pipes, and soft waterproof materials were rapidly developed, the vulcanized rubber industry invested in by Huangshang quickly began to make profits.

A foreseeable new industry is taking shape, and investment expectations for vulcanized rubber are rapidly becoming a reality.

Moreover, the dominance and pricing power were completely in the hands of the emperor.

As the hot blast furnace ironmaking process, the air converter steelmaking process, the reciprocating steam engine, and steam engine-driven industrial machine tools were successively developed, Emperor Zhu Zhonglin's admiration for Zhu Jianxuan had reached an all-time high.

Zhu Zhonglin had no idea how capable his beloved son was, or how many promising things he could create.

I was so shocked and delighted that I didn't know how to reward him.

But there are also some people who become increasingly anxious and panicked because they keep hearing similar news.

For example, Zhu Zhonglin’s eldest son, Zhu Jiancan, the current crown prince of the Ming Dynasty.

The only palace with green tiles in the Forbidden City in Nanjing is the Chunhe Hall, which was specially built for the prince to live in.

On March 15th of the 30th year of Emperor Xianning's reign in the Ming Dynasty, Crown Prince Zhu Jiancan of the Ming Dynasty and his subordinates were reading and discussing matters in a side hall of the Chunhe Palace.

Discuss the suddenly hot rubber plantation industry.

The Crown Prince of the Ming Dynasty is different from ordinary princes and dukes. He has his own open, exclusive and legal "factions".

In the court, there are the Prince's Junior Tutor, Junior Preceptor, and Junior Protector, who serve as titles and provide protection, and around him are a series of direct subordinates from the Zhanshi Mansion.

When there was no crown prince in the Ming Dynasty court, the official positions in the Zhanshi Mansion would be used to add titles and make transition to Hanlin.

But when there was a crown prince, the officials of the Zhanshifu were the crown prince's teachers and subordinates. Their tasks were to give lectures to the crown prince and assist him in handling the affairs assigned to him by the emperor.

Zhu Jiancan is already thirty-six years old this year and has been the crown prince for thirty years.

In this state, the prince's mentality is still quite sensitive and complicated.

At this time, a eunuch suddenly came to Chunhe Hall and announced the Emperor Zhu Zhonglin's oral order to the Crown Prince.

Let Zhu Jiancan go to Zhu Jianxuan's laboratory in the west of the Forbidden City to observe and accept the important industrial machinery designed by Zhu Jianxuan with him.

When Zhu Jiancan and his subordinates received the imperial edict, his expression was calm and natural, and he told the eunuch who delivered the letter that he would be there right away.

But after watching the eunuch leave, Zhu Jiancan stood there for a long time without moving.

The officials around Zhu Jiancan looked at their prince's reaction and could probably guess how he felt at the moment.

Over the past year or so, the legend that the emperor's newly-born little prince was a genius has been circulating more and more inside and outside the palace.

The key is that the emperor himself has publicly and proactively praised it countless times.

The key is that more and more information and evidence continue to verify that this little prince is indeed an unparalleled genius.

When Crown Prince Zhu Jiancan faced this news, he not only felt uncomfortable, but began to worry and even anxious.

Qi Xu, the crown prince's secretary, pretended to be relaxed and stepped forward and whispered:

“Your Highness, there is no need to worry too much. Since the reign of Taizu, our Ming Dynasty has never had the case of deposing the eldest son and enthroning the youngest son.

"Even if His Majesty has such thoughts, the important officials in the court will certainly advise you based on your reasoning.

"The master of the temple (Wanli) liked His Royal Highness Prince Fu, but in the end he only expressed his love for him and never really thought of deposing the eldest son and enthroning the youngest.

"Your Highness is both the eldest and the legitimate son, and is as stable as a rock. Your Highness the Sixteenth is merely the Prince of Fu.

"Your Highness, just do your job well. Don't interfere in matters that His Majesty has not arranged. Just bide your time."

Zhu Jiancan knew in his heart that Qi Xu was telling the truth.

The Ming Dynasty adopted a very typical system of primogeniture, and it was almost the best implemented among all feudal dynasties.

The emperors of the Ming Dynasty were basically the eldest among all brothers.

Either he is the eldest legitimate son, or if the emperor has no legitimate son, the eldest illegitimate son will succeed to the throne.

Even when Zhu Yuanzhang died, Zhu Di was already the de facto eldest son, as his three older brothers had already died.

Even the royal family of the Ming Dynasty actually implemented the implicit rule of "waiting for the legitimate heir".

The emperor would not take concubines before his wedding. He would only start taking concubines after the empress had been childless for several years.

As long as the emperor of the Ming Dynasty has a legitimate son, he is basically also the eldest son.

There is usually no illegitimate son older than the eldest son.

At the same time, there had never been a case of deposing the eldest son and enthroning the youngest son before the Ming Dynasty.

Even Wanli did not mention the appointment of Prince Fu as the crown prince, he just doted on Prince Fu.

All the factional struggles among the princes of the Ming Dynasty were essentially conflicts between the emperor and the crown prince, rather than conflicts between the crown prince and other princes.

Because when the crown prince gets older, he can openly and legally share power from the emperor.

But the emperor hated decentralization.

Therefore, as long as the emperor lives long enough, the so-called drama of the struggle for the throne among his sons will occur.

This is essentially the emperor suppressing the prince's power.

Therefore, for the prince, the safest approach is actually "conservative".

Don't take the initiative to "help" the emperor with work.

He was a loyal and filial son, and at the same time, he showed infinite tolerance to his younger brothers.

Then just watch my younger brothers behave in various ways in front of their father.

Don't go down and fight with them.

(End of this chapter)