Zhu Yuanzhang in the cellar

Chapter 260 Modern Construction and the Selection of Concubines
The following day, military vehicles drove to Lansha Town and stationed themselves at Zhujiaping, Shangfeng Mountain.

This area was quickly designated as a military restricted zone.

The local authorities also received instructions from above and began to organize the relocation of Zhujiaping.

Zhu Yunfeng actually built a residential area and a villa complex in the town.

Because Lansha Town is where the Yunfeng Group headquarters is located, there are also many factories in the town.

Therefore, in order to take care of employees, they are provided with housing, kindergartens, schools, hospitals and other benefits at very low internal prices.

The town used to have the Sixth County Hospital, which has now been upgraded to a top-tier tertiary hospital by Yunfeng Group.

Lansha Town originally had a registered population of 70,000, but only 20,000 to 30,000 were permanent residents. Now, not only have a large number of migrant workers returned, but it has also attracted a large number of people from other parts of the county.

At this time, the total number of workers in the factories, quarries, steel plants, processing plants, and smelters had reached 40,000 to 50,000, and the permanent population of Lansha Town had increased from 20,000 to 30,000 to more than 110,000.

In this situation, almost 70-80% of the residents are employees or family members of Yunfeng Group, and 100% of the residents of Lansha Town have interests and life connections with Yunfeng Group.

It can be said that Yunfeng Group's influence on Lansha Town is comparable to Samsung's influence on South Korea. Every household has intricate connections with Yunfeng Group.

With Yunfeng Group's involvement, the relocation of Zhujiaping proceeded quickly. This was because Yunfeng Group not only provided each household with a villa in the town's villa complex but also subsidized them, ensuring that every family was satisfied.

The Zhu family can't really be considered a clan, since the clan power in Hunan is far less than that in Fujian and Guangdong. But as long as the interests are aligned, everything is negotiable.

In particular, Zhujiaping used to be a poor and remote area, and in the past, there would have been no such thing as demolition compensation.

Now, if Yunfeng Group offers money and houses, I'd be a million times willing.

With money paving the way, the work of demarcating the military restricted area progressed rapidly. Almost all personnel had been moved out by the third day, and a regiment had moved into Zhujiaping to begin constructing military facilities.

Two days later, more than ten black cars stopped in front of Zhu Yunfeng's manor. Who got out of the cars and what they talked about at the Hongwu court is unknown.

However, it is known that during this period, Zhu Yuanzhang was in a very good mood, and he was much more amiable towards all the civil and military officials.

Zhu Yunfeng, however, knew the top secret.

In fact, it boils down to just one thing.

Seek common ground while reserving differences.

The existence of the Ming Dynasty is an objective fact. Our country is not a country that pursues hegemony. We advocate peaceful coexistence and pursue development and the interests that are closely related to the people.

If we can establish a comprehensive strategic partnership with the Ming Dynasty, it will bring immeasurable benefits to modern my country.

The world, and even more than one world, has inexhaustible resources, enough for over a billion people to live happy and fulfilling lives. There is absolutely no need to deliberately pursue invasion and occupation.

Therefore, based on the principles of mutual respect and mutual understanding, the two sides quickly reached many cooperative agreements in various aspects, and even had very few disagreements.

After all, both sides know what the other's requirements are, and by taking the best from each other and compensating for each other's weaknesses, there will naturally be fewer differences.

The authorities even invited Zhu De to personally travel to the modern capital for detailed discussions.

In mid-January, Zhu boarded a special plane bound for the capital. Of course, he wasn't wearing a dragon robe; instead, he wore a sharp Zhongshan suit, looking dignified and imposing.

The entourage included more than 20 people, including Xu Da, Li Wenzhong, Zhu Di, and Zhu Yunfeng, who met with the person at the very top.

The two sides engaged in friendly conversation, further solidifying the foundation for their cooperation.

The details of the collaboration have been largely agreed upon.

The next step is implementation.

The government acted swiftly in this regard.

The key personnel of major state-owned enterprises were quickly mobilized to settle in Daming.

By February, the first group of several hundred modern people had already appeared in the Ming Dynasty.

The palace guards were dumbfounded.

Where did all these people come from?

Modern people are just as dumbfounded.

They've really come to the Ming Dynasty?
Many people look around curiously when they first arrive, showing great interest in the Hongwu period of the Ming Dynasty.

When I saw those simple and elegant ancient Chinese buildings, I couldn't help but praise them.

Because it's really beautiful.

However, the first batch consisted of key technical personnel, and their first task upon arrival was to receive training.

They were housed in the imperial estate.

Huangzhuang has a large number of modern machines and a certain industrial base. Zhu Biao designated it as an economic park and planned to develop it into a modern city. These modern people will be the first builders.

At this moment, the China Construction Design & Research Institute sent a highly authoritative chief architect who even enjoyed special allowances and had the title of architectural master.

"Gentlemen, as you can see, this is the Great Ming Dynasty."

Inside the imperial estate, Crown Prince Zhu Biao personally participated in the cooperation ceremony. Chief Architect Xue stood on the stage and addressed the hundreds of technical experts below through a microphone: "I don't know why we were able to come to the Ming Dynasty, but that's not important. Explaining all of this is the job of the Academy of Sciences. Our job is to build the Ming Dynasty well and complete the task assigned to us by the country. Do you all have confidence?"

"Have!"

The technical backbone below shouted with great enthusiasm.

Although confidentiality agreements were signed for this trip, the salary and benefits are higher than in Africa, and the Ming Dynasty will even provide many generous benefits.

As key technical personnel, these people are not ordinary bricklayers; they are all PhDs in civil engineering from top universities, and are all in their thirties or forties or above, holding mid-to-senior level technical positions in major state-owned enterprises.

It can be said that their first purpose in coming here was to conduct urban construction and planning assessments. The next step was to directly transport a large number of machines and then send workers over, so that they could directly carry out large-scale renovation projects in Nanjing.

Besides.

Various factories, power plants, manufacturing plants, shipyards, and even aircraft manufacturing were included in the construction treaty. It was not a pipe dream for Emperor Zhu to see airplanes in the Ming Dynasty during his lifetime.

"Alright, then please welcome the Crown Prince Zhu Biao of the Ming Dynasty to speak to us." Chief Architect Xue handed the microphone to Zhu Biao.

Zhu Biao stepped forward and said, “Gentlemen, I thank you for coming for the construction of the Ming Dynasty. It is the Ming Dynasty’s fortune to be connected with future generations. We are all descendants of the Han people, and also descendants of the Yellow Emperor. Today, by building the Ming Dynasty, we will change the humiliating history of the Han people in the future. Whether it was the Manchu Jurchens slaughtering the Central Plains, the Western powers colonizing China, or the Japanese pirates plundering and killing our people, all of this will no longer exist. I ask you all to put in your efforts. The Ming Dynasty will not forget your efforts. From now on, the Ming Dynasty will stand with China forever.”

"Snap, snap, snap, snap!"

A round of enthusiastic applause erupted from below, many people were stirred by the few words spoken and were filled with passion.

Ultimately, the Ming Dynasty was the last dynasty established by the Han people.

Afterwards, the Han people were enslaved by the Manchus, colonized by foreign powers, and invaded by the Japanese invaders. They suffered countless disasters, and the last few centuries of Chinese history were filled with humiliation.

Although we have once again risen to the top of the world, the humiliation of the past has not faded, and many grudges have not been washed away.

Today, we have come to the world of the Ming Dynasty, making it a hundred, a thousand, ten thousand times stronger than before. Although the humiliation of the past still remains, at least the history of the Ming Dynasty will be changed, and they will be able to find some solace.

"Thank you, Your Highness, for speaking to us. I now announce that the Great Ming Construction Plan has officially begun. From today onwards, I will be assigning tasks."

The chief architect said, "We must build up the Great Ming Dynasty in a short period of time. This is not only for the development of our country, but also to change that humiliating history. Perhaps this is a parallel world, or another dimension, and we cannot change the outcome of our world, but with cooperation with the Great Ming Dynasty, our country will once again enter a phase of rapid development. With money, strength, and military power, we can change our international standing, and one day, our people will become richer and our country stronger!"

"Pa pa pa pa pa pa pa!"

Thunderous applause erupted once again.

They are all highly educated intellectuals; everyone can understand this principle.

The international situation is currently in a very tense state.

Because of the severe economic downturn in various countries, many countries have experienced negative economic growth.

There have even been constant changes between the third and tenth places.

It's not about everyone striving to develop their economies and competing with each other, but rather about which country's economy is slowing down the most.

For example, this year I only had a -0.3% growth rate, while you had a -1% growth rate. I had 0.7% less negative growth than you, so my economic ranking was higher.

This would have been almost unimaginable in the past, but now it is so surreal, which shows that the changes in the international community have reached a very tense point.

Although my country has been in a growth phase, the pace has slowed considerably. Under the influence of the international environment, anyone within the global industrial chain cannot avoid this situation.

Especially since my country is still the world's largest industrial country, by 2032, what was once the crown jewel of world industry will have become commonplace.

Even the chip industry, which used to be the most troublesome, has caught up and reached the 2-nanometer level. It is only slightly behind the most advanced 1-nanometer technology in the world and will soon be able to keep pace with it and pluck the last industrial jewel.

However, the international environment is getting worse and worse, and no matter how good the industry is, there is nothing that can be done if the products cannot be sold.

With access to emerging markets and global resources, the country can continue to develop steadily, industrial products will be sold rapidly, and there will naturally be no problem of economic downturn.

Under these favorable conditions, while other countries continue to experience economic downturns, my country is the only one experiencing growth against the trend. This demonstrates our strong strategic resolve and confidence. No matter how fierce the fighting is outside, it doesn't concern us. We can sit back and reap the benefits.

Therefore, the appearance of the stone tablet was tantamount to putting the country in an invincible position, and as the first group of people sent to the Ming Dynasty to participate in the construction, they would also receive generous treatment, which naturally made them very happy.

Currently, the Academy of Sciences has officially begun its research on the stone tablet over the next two months.

For the sake of convenience, they did not go to the cellar of Zhu Yunfeng's house, but instead went to the underground palaces of the Yongle, Hongxi, and Xuande dynasties to conduct a systematic analysis of the stone tablets there.

Emperor Zhu personally traveled to these dynasties, instructing the emperors there to provide scientists with a stable research environment. He also renovated and expanded the underground palace, moved in a large number of scientific instruments, and dispatched construction teams to build some research laboratories in a very short time.

The most pressing issue at present is not the existence of space jump technology or parallel universes, but rather how to expand the energy storage of the stone tablet and how to increase the amount of space-time transmission of objects.

It's still the same problem.

The stone tablet's limit is that it can only transmit about ten tons at a time, and the more and larger the object being transmitted, the faster the energy is consumed.

The output over a month is so small, it's not even enough to fill a gap in my country's industrial production.

If we could expand this scale by a hundred or a thousand times, it would truly meet the needs of industrial development.

Scientists have a good solution to this.

Because they discovered that since the stone tablet could be connected to an external power source, it meant that it could also be connected to an external energy storage source.

They directly transformed Zhu Yunfeng's manor into a huge nuclear energy storage station, transmitting the energy safely onto the stone tablet, thus providing a continuous source of energy for the journey.

However, the transmission limit still exists.

Scientists studied this for over a month. One team, based in the Xuande period, explored and conducted particle collision experiments on the substances extracted from the stone tablet, producing some scientific results and successfully increasing the upper limit of the stone tablet's transport capacity.

Afterwards, many large scientific instruments were moved into Zhu Yunfeng's cellar. After the modifications, the transport of the stone tablet was indeed greatly improved, increasing more than tenfold from the original ten tons.

This made Zhu Yunfeng glad that his choice was right. Compared to the power of an individual, the power of the country was simply too great. In just two or three months, the problems of the stone tablet's energy and transportation limits that he had been helpless to solve before were resolved.

Only after these two core issues were resolved did the research team begin to formally analyze and explore space technology.

But that's a matter for scientists.

Now that the energy and transportation limits for the stone tablet have been increased, large-scale excavation can officially begin.

During this period, the country had been continuously transporting people and machinery over. By May of the 20th year of the Hongwu reign, the number of modern people in the Ming Dynasty had reached as many as 40,000 to 50,000.

Almost all of them are highly skilled professionals. Anyone you pick out has a master's degree or above from a top-tier university in any field, and there are also many PhDs, associate professors, and professors.

They began a comprehensive assessment of the Ming Dynasty, using modern technology as a blueprint to explore new technologies.

Even with modernity as a reference, and by learning from modernity, many mistakes and detours made in the past could be avoided, bringing unprecedented changes to the Ming Dynasty.

However, none of this will have much to do with Zhu Yunfeng in the short term.

Because Yunfeng Group also officially moved in and took over Zhu Yunfeng's own industries in the Ming Dynasty, namely the earliest Diannongwei, and began to get involved in the agricultural and construction fields of the Ming Dynasty.

But these matters are handled by Ji He and Zou Ting, while he himself is currently preoccupied with another matter—selecting a concubine.

(End of this chapter)