The Ming Dynasty did not revolutionize

Chapter 308 Special Tianjin Port
The conversation between the sixteenth prince Zhu Jingjian and his emperor father Zhu Jianxuan made the other brothers' scalps tingle.

Zhu Jianxuan took the initiative to request to go to Europe to be king, which almost meant that he had to give up his right to inherit the throne.

Of course, the other princes didn't understand what their younger brother was thinking.

Their father forbade Zhu Jingjian to become king. Although the reason he gave was that he was afraid that Zhu Jingjian would cause trouble, he was also asking Zhu Jingjian to continue to participate in the competition.

Does this actual "retention" mean that the emperor favors him?

To the extent that the other princes also subconsciously wanted to give it a try and took the initiative to ask to become king to see if their father would refuse.

But after thinking about it, I still don’t dare. What if my father agrees directly?
The other princes had mixed feelings, but in the end none of them dared to speak again.

Seeing that they didn't say anything, Zhu Jianxuan sent them back to pack their things, say goodbye to their mother, and then wait for notice to leave.

These princes of Zhu Jianxuan would often visit the farms of military garrisons, canal and reservoir construction sites, mines, and factory workshops and warehouses in accordance with Zhu Jianxuan's orders.

They will also be involved in some of the most basic work locally to let them know how these specific tasks are completed.

So the princes were not unfamiliar with traveling, but the place they were going to this time was particularly far away, and it was a place where European barbarians gathered.

As soon as a group of princes left the palace, someone couldn't help but ask Zhu Jingjian:
"Sixteenth brother, do you really want to go to Europe and be the king?"

Zhu Jingjian said without hesitation:
"Of course, we studied and trained every day, had to get up before dawn, and went up the mountains and down the rivers to the factory every few days.

"Our current life is already very tiring. According to the emperor's request, we have to go out and become officials in the future, starting from the grassroots level.

“Brother and his friends are coming back from Europe, so I guess they’ll start going down there soon.

“When I think about living like this for the next few decades, I really don’t want to continue.

"If I go overseas and become the king of a vassal state right now, I can not only finish my current studies and training immediately, but also escape from my future work...

"You can still do whatever you want in a place where your father doesn't bother to take care of it..."

Zhu Jingjian spoke with great enthusiasm, and it was obvious that he really wanted to go out and become a king so as to escape the training arranged by his father, the emperor.

Some people instinctively want to ask Zhu Jingjian, if you want to go out and be a king, don’t you want to be an emperor anymore?

But there was no way to ask this question out loud, so I had to hold it in.

This simple question ended just like that. The princes left the palace with mixed feelings, took a special motor coach back to their residence, and packed their things for the trip.

July 1807, the 8th year of Tiangong, August 19, in the Western calendar.

The princes of the Ming Dynasty got up early, bid farewell to their father and mother, and took the royal bus to Tianjin Port.

According to Zhu Jianxuan's plan, no large cities will be built around Tianjin in the short term.

Because the urban area of ​​Tianjin is low-lying, many places are lower than the tide level of the Bohai Sea, so it is naturally very easy to form waterlogging.

The key issue is the backflow of seawater. The water of the Haihe River in the city is bitter and salty and is not suitable for drinking at all.

However, this does not mean that Zhu Jianxuan has completely given up on Tianjin. Instead, he is planning to make long-term adjustments to Tianjin's overall geographical conditions before developing a modern city here.

This instruction is currently being implemented very well, and the urban area of ​​Tianjin and the surrounding low-lying areas have been included in the scope of the royal hunting grounds.

At present, private and civilian facilities are still completely prohibited from gathering and staying here.

However, the cities, ports and engineering facilities around Tianjin have continued to increase in number over the past decade, and the scale of the built-up areas has also become larger and larger.

Because Tianjin’s geographical advantages are so great.

Currently, there are four industrial center areas in the Ming Dynasty, namely Liaodong region, Hebei and Shandong regions, Nanzhili and Zhejiang regions, and the Pearl River Basin in Guangdong.

Two of them are concentrated around the Bohai Sea. The abundant resources and manpower in the surrounding area can be connected through the natural waterway of the Bohai Sea to form a larger industrial zone.

Tianjin is located right in the middle of the Bohai Rim Industrial Zone, making it convenient to concentrate resources here.

Tianjin is also the closest seaport to the capital, and most of the personnel and materials entering or leaving the capital by sea have to be transferred here.

It is also the place where most of the rivers in northern North China converge into the sea, and the potential water transportation conditions are the best in the north.

There are also the earliest mature modern port facilities in the north, as well as the earliest mature railway in the north, which is responsible for connecting the port area with Shuntian Prefecture City.

But the most critical factors that continue to expand Tianjin City are the other two.

First, the planned new Yellow River channel estuary is here, and second, the Beijing drainage estuary associated with the North-to-South Water Diversion Project is also here.

This means that the imperial court took the initiative to gather a large number of personnel and engineering facilities here.

At the same time, in order to adjust and improve the natural geographical defects of Tianjin, Zhu Jianxuan asked the Academy of Engineering to make an overall urban waterproofing plan.

First, sluice gates are built at the mouths of major rivers to prevent further intrusion of seawater.

At the same time, dams are built on the coastline to block the sea and store water, ensuring that the top of the dam is at least five meters above sea level.

On the one hand, the dam prevents seawater from flowing back into the urban area, and on the other hand, it is used to build reservoirs to regulate river water.

In the future, all silt brought by rivers, including the Yellow River, will remain on the ground instead of continuing to rush into the sea. We may even have to dredge sand from the sea to dredge waterways.

At the same time, it is required that all buildings in Tianjin must raise their foundations, and the ground elevation of the buildings must be at least five meters.

The soil used to raise the foundation can be transported from the Yellow River Estuary Project and the Beijing Drainage Project construction sites.

Under such overall requirements and planning restrictions, the building distribution in Tianjin’s urban area has now become a “丁” shape.

One is the horizontal dam on the coastline, and the other is the dam on both sides of the Yellow River's entrance to the sea and the Beijing drainage project.

Most of the buildings are on top of these three embankments, and the concrete frame inside the embankment itself serves as the foundation of the buildings.

The spaces on both sides of the T-shape are reservoirs used to store water and sediment, which settles the sediment on both sides, allowing clean water to flow into the drainage channel in the middle through the reserved channels.

After the Yellow River changes its course, the silt that is continuously deposited here will cause the depressions around the dam to gradually rise, and eventually will basically reach the same level as the three dams that block the sea and store water.

But now, the official buildings of the court have reserved five meters of foundation, so they will not be flooded even if there is a flood or high tide.

The areas outside the three dikes will directly turn into ponds and swamps when it rains, so civilians will not be allowed to move around here in the short term.

The old city of Tianjin has been abandoned, and the new city is located directly at the corner of the sea-blocking water storage dam and the Yellow River embankment dam. It is a specially raised platform that is level with the dam.

At this time in Tianjin Port, other travel personnel and the escort fleet were ready.

Officials and noble sons who are about to go to Europe to become vassal monarchs, Joseph and Charles, the two sons of Louis XVI, and their entourage.

There were also officials arranged by the Cabinet, the Ministry of Rites, and the Honglu Temple who went to Europe with a batch of imperial edicts drafted by the court to cooperate with Wang Tingzhen and Yang Yuchun in dealing with the aftermath of the war in Europe.

Now with the intercontinental telegraph system, Zhu Jianxuan can contact European officials directly at any time and send back the report information within just ten minutes.

The diplomats sent by the imperial court no longer needed to evaluate overseas whether their emperor could accept the other party's conditions.

It is no longer particularly important to arrange diplomats who are sufficiently professional and familiar with the emperor's intentions.

Coupled with Zhu Jianxuan's governing tendency to rebuild and expand the Ming Dynasty's vassal system, the Ming Dynasty's attitude toward European countries has also undergone tremendous changes.

When the European war was about to end, the Ming Dynasty did not hold a meeting with European countries to discuss signing an armistice agreement.

Instead, it was to adjust the overall situation in Europe after the war according to Zhu Jianxuan's will.

Zhu Jianxuan handed the matter over to Wang Tingzhen and Yang Yuchun, who were now most familiar with the situation in western Europe.

In addition to the nobles and officials, there were also 100,000 militiamen.

Since the Ming Dynasty intervened in the European war, it has been continuously sending troops to Europe, following the vanguard main force and being responsible for controlling the local areas.

At around 11 o'clock in the morning, the princes arrived at Tianjin Port.

The convoy first drove eastward along the long river embankment, all the way to the sea-blocking water-retaining embankment on the coastline.

Then we continued driving forward for ten kilometers along the pier deep in the sea.

The biggest drawback of Tianjin Port is that the water around the port is too shallow and the geological conditions of the port itself are too poor.

It requires artificially built docks deep in the sea, and the use of suction dredgers to dredge the sea channel, so that ships of more than 10,000 tons can dock.

In order to ensure the living conditions and safety of the princes, nobles, and officials of the Ming Dynasty, the Ming Immigration Company prepared four large luxury passenger ships of 20,000 tons.

The Navy also prepared four 15,000-ton artillery battleships, two 15,000-ton aircraft carriers, and twenty-four medium cruisers.

There were also more large transport ships responsible for carrying the 100,000 militiamen who were traveling with them.

The risk of sea voyages is now very low, and the probability of passengers dying in shipwrecks on large fleets is even lower.

Because the ships in a large fleet can rescue each other. Dozens or even hundreds of ships act together, even if a few ships sink, the people on the ships can be transferred to other ships.

The sinking of the Titanic in history, with the death of two-thirds of the people on board, was mainly due to the fact that it was traveling alone and there were no other ships around to offer rescue.

Every time the Ming court organized a long voyage, it was a large fleet, and the proportion of losses suffered was always much lower than that of small-scale European expeditions.

However, even so, the most important personnel on this trip were divided into four groups, including the sixteen princes, who were also divided into groups of four and boarded four large passenger ships.
After the princes boarded the ship, the fleet admiral confirmed that everything was correct and ordered the fleet to officially set sail from the port.

Zhu Jingjian asked his servants to pack up, and he went to the deck of the passenger ship first to see the scenery and observe this very special port of Tianjin from the sea.

Zhu Jingjian soon discovered that the two French princes were on the same ship as him and were also on the deck at this time.

However, the only people around them were the servants from France who had been following them, and a few accompanying personnel from the Honglu Temple arranged by the Ming Dynasty.

The other princes, officials, and nobles on the deck obviously kept their distance from the two of them on purpose.

It seemed as if he was being disliked and isolated, but Zhu Jingjian understood after a little thought that this situation had its reasons.

Joseph is now an overseas vassal king appointed by the Ming Dynasty.

Whether it is the princes of the Ming Dynasty or the officials of the central court, dealing with them is extremely sensitive.

If there are competitors and political enemies, and they are accused of having private relations with foreign vassals, they will definitely be frightened for a long time even if they are not punished.

At the same time, the sons of nobles who went overseas to serve as monarchs of vassal states would become vassals of the Ming Dynasty in the future.

There are also differences between the inner and outer vassal states. Unless there is a direct order and permission from the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, it is best for them not to communicate with each other on their own.

Zhu Jingjian thought about it for a moment, then strode towards the Joseph brothers.

The eldest prince Zhu Jingkun, who was not far away, saw his troublesome younger brother coming out and paid a little more attention to him.

Now I noticed that he seemed to be going to join the two Frenchmen, so I quickly came over to stop him:
"Sixteenth brother, where are you going——"

Zhu Jingjian said subconsciously:

"Hello, my royal brother. I will go and have a chat with the two Frenchmen and tell them to do what they should do."

Zhu Jingkun didn't expect his brother to say it so bluntly:
"You are a prince, and he is a foreign monarch. How can you take the initiative to deal with them? What if the emperor hears about this?"

Zhu Jingjian immediately said:

“Your Majesty, you are exaggerating. Father put them on the same ship, which means he doesn’t care whether we will have any dealings with each other or not.

"Otherwise, even if everyone seems to be clean, who knows if someone is secretly colluding?"

Zhu Jingkun was very helpless. Although he was nominally the eldest prince, the eldest son of the emperor, and the big brother of all the princes.

But in reality there is no special status or treatment.

After all, his father was a baby-making machine. He had four brothers who were born in the same year as him, and the second prince was only half a month younger than him.

The key point is that my father has already made it clear that he will not directly appoint a crown prince based on seniority, and that all children must compete based on their learning abilities.

The emperor's will resulted in the other brothers having little respect for their eldest brother.

However, the disrespect shown by others is slightly different from Zhu Jingjian’s disrespect.

Most of the other brothers are competitive and regard each other as competitors.

But this sixteenth brother seemed to have no interest in fighting. He just talked big and carelessly all day long and didn't take anyone seriously.

Zhu Jingkun sighed in his heart. As the saying goes, a dragon gives birth to nine sons, each one is different. His father has dozens of sons, so it is completely normal for a few of them to be weird:

"Whatever you want, don't blame me for not reminding you next time you get scolded by the Emperor..."

After hearing this, Zhu Jingjian bowed to his elder brother:

"Thank you for your kindness, my brother."

Then Zhu Jingjian walked up to Brother Joseph.

Joseph and Charles have lived in Ming Dynasty for a long time, and now they understand why others don't approach them.

I know that they don't simply dislike me, but are more trying to avoid suspicion.

Before he became king, most officials and noble sons, whether they were interested in him or disliked him, would not deliberately stay so far away from him.

So when Prince Zhu Jingjian came over, the Joseph brothers were obviously stunned.

When the two of them recovered from their shock, they immediately began to worry about how they should deal with Zhu Jingjian.

Given the sensitive identities of both parties, there shouldn't be any direct contact between them, but since the other party has taken the initiative to come forward, I can't just avoid him.

When they found that Zhu Jingjian was stopped by Zhu Jingkun, they both breathed a sigh of relief.

It turned out that Zhu Jingkun did not stop Zhu Jingjian, and the two immediately became nervous and confused again, not knowing what this prince of the Ming Dynasty was going to do.

I can only wait for the other party to get closer, then take the initiative to bow and greet him with great doubt:

"The King of France greets His Royal Highness the Sixteenth Prince."

Zhu Jingjian casually bowed in return, but did not say anything to greet him. Instead, he said in a lecturing tone:
"You are the future King of France. Do you know what my father's attitude is towards the royal families and people of European countries, including France?"

Joseph and Charles really didn't know that they felt that the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty both valued and despised Europe.

Because the Ming Emperor obviously spent a lot of effort to build the Ming City in Europe, attracted the children of European nobles, and even brought his two brothers back to the Ming Dynasty to raise them.

The Ming Emperor also gave himself a good enough status and treatment, which obviously had some intentions for himself and France.

However, compared with Africa and America, the Ming Emperor did not show much interest in the land and population of mainland Europe, and even showed some disdain.

Joseph hesitated for a while, bowed to Zhu Jingjian again, and said something irrelevant:

"I dare not speculate on the will of the emperor, I can only defend the land and herd the people for the emperor."

Zhu Jingjian waved his hand and said:

“It’s no use talking such nonsense.

"You don't know what the emperor wants. If you mess around in Europe, I don't know how long you can be king.

“My father mainly dislikes the fact that there are too many Europeans.

"You have limited land in France, and if there are too many people, there won't be enough food. The key is that everyone will become poor, and if a natural disaster occurs, there will be chaos.

“That’s why there’s been so much turmoil over the past decade or so.

"The population of the Ming Dynasty itself is large enough. There are floods and droughts that require rescue almost every year, so there is no energy to provide disaster relief to Europe.

“According to my suggestion, just kill half of the Europeans and the problem will be solved immediately.

“But my father is kind-hearted and doesn’t want to do that.

“So when you arrive in Paris and become king again, remember to think of ways to prevent the French population from increasing.

"Otherwise, maybe Father will take my advice someday."

Zhu Jingjian's nonchalant words made the Joseph brothers tremble.

Although it is impossible to judge whether what Zhu Jingjian said is true or false, I dare not take it as false.

If this is true, the French and even the Europeans may face a devastating disaster at any time.

For things like this, you can only believe that they exist, not that they don't.

Unless France is preparing to accumulate strength to challenge the authority and will of the Ming Emperor.

Joseph, who had lived in the Ming Dynasty for more than ten years, felt that such a thing was no different from seeking death.

In shock and fear, Joseph was stunned and silent for several seconds. After he came to his senses, he quickly bowed and saluted again:

"Thank you for your reminder, Your Highness the Sixteenth. I will keep it in mind and will never disobey you."

Zhu Jingjian's real purpose was to get Joseph to cooperate in verifying methods of population control, and scaring him was just a way to achieve his goal.

Zhu Jingjian knew that his father would never issue an order for a massacre.

(End of this chapter)