Zhu Yuanzhang in the cellar

Chapter 318 Heading to Jiajing
For the Ming Dynasty, this was a brand new era. Everywhere was brimming with vitality, full of progress and development.

For the modern era, it is also filled with anticipation and opportunities.

By 2033, the international situation is turbulent, wars are raging abroad, and economies are on the verge of collapse.

What many people don’t know is.

While conflicts were one aspect of the causes of World War I and World War II, the fundamental reason was the poor economic conditions of the countries involved.

The expansion of imperialism and colonialism during World War I, coupled with trade barriers, plunged the global economy into the Great Depression, and the Sarajevo assassination became the trigger for the war.

During World War II, a loaf of bread in Germany cost more than 500,000 marks; at its most extreme, it could cost hundreds of billions of marks, which shows how devastated the German economy was at the time.

While Japan, having undergone the Meiji Restoration and received reparations from the Qing Dynasty, had become a powerful nation, the global economic crisis of the early 20th century still affected it.

Coupled with their scarcity of national resources and constant natural disasters, these countries have an innate sense of crisis, leading them to launch aggression in order to alleviate increasingly acute domestic contradictions.

Therefore, the reasons for war are actually just excuses; the real issues are economics and interests.

In the first half of the 21st century, as the global economy continues to decline, the situation is becoming increasingly tense.

Only my country has remained steadfast, achieving explosive economic growth against the trend.

In 2032, it achieved an astonishing 14% growth rate, surpassing the United States and becoming the world's largest economy, shocking the world.

In fact, since 2025, although my country's economy has been growing, the growth rate has slowed down and has remained at around 4-5%. The growth rate in the United States is also very slow, at only around 2%.

Because of the continuous decline in the growth rate and economic downturn in recent years, economic research institutions around the world predict that the US will surpass the US by 2035.

This is indeed the case.

By 2031, my country's GDP will have reached 31.6 trillion US dollars, making it the second country to enter the 30 billion US dollar GDP club.

The US figure is 34.7 trillion, which is still higher than ours, but the gap is visibly narrowing.

Unexpectedly, my country's growth in 2033 alone was close to the sum of the previous three years, with a total GDP of 36.024 trillion US dollars, while the US GDP at that time was 35.394 trillion US dollars.

The figure of 36 trillion makes us the country that surpassed the US GDP total of 35 trillion in the same year, and even surpasses the previous world number one, reaching a new height.

This astonishing feat was naturally inseparable from the close cooperation between modern times and the Ming Dynasty.

In fact, the Ming Dynasty and Modern China officially began their cooperation in the early 20th year of the Hongwu reign. In the first phase alone, Modern China sent more than 300,000 highly skilled technical personnel and dozens of state-owned enterprises to settle in.

By the second half of the 20th year of the Hongwu reign, the cooperation had entered its second phase, with over a million people sent to the Ming Dynasty and over a thousand cooperative agreements reached.

It is now the middle of the twenty-first year of the Hongwu reign, and the two sides are in the third stage of cooperation.

The number of highly skilled technical personnel dispatched alone reached over a million, covering engineers in various fields such as bridges, railways, highways, electrical engineering, construction, machinery, electronics, chemical engineering, water conservancy, and textiles.

None of the graduates are undergraduates from 985, 211, or Double First-Class universities; all are master's or doctoral degree holders, and there are also a large number of associate professors, professors, and even academicians.

In contrast, when Russia provided aid to my country for more than 100 projects, only 10,000 to 20,000 people came.

Moreover, these more than one million highly skilled professionals are solving more than just employment issues.

With the massive influx of resources, coupled with the quantum battery technology innovated through research on stone tablets, the development of new energy has taken off.

Electric vehicles can now achieve a range of 2,000 kilometers with just 3 minutes of charging.

And this is not the limit of quantum batteries. Theoretically, a 10-second charge can provide a range of tens of thousands of kilometers.

There is no shortage of raw materials. The abundant supply of rare earth resources, coupled with the maturity of most technologies, makes it virtually impossible to break through the barriers to car manufacturing.

However, for car manufacturers, sudden technological innovation is not a good thing.

Before breakthroughs in quantum battery technology, new energy vehicles in 2030 will have already achieved a range of 1500 kilometers with just 5 minutes of charging.

Car manufacturers have received a large number of orders, and many cars are being manufactured overtime. All domestic new energy vehicle companies produce more than 1 million vehicles per month and more than 10 million vehicles per year.

If a technological revolution suddenly occurs, and it is a leapfrog technological revolution, it means that more than 10 million new energy vehicles will be scrapped directly every year.

All vehicles previously sold will be phased out.

Many people's brand-new cars have become scrap metal in the blink of an eye, causing losses to countless people. The people are certainly not happy about this.

Therefore, all domestic car companies tacitly concealed this technological revolution, and the country only used it for military purposes. In the field of new energy, they continued to proceed step by step.

比如去年还是充电5分钟，续航1500公里。今年就推出充电3分钟，续航2000公里。明年再推出充电1分钟，续航2500公里。

If we proceed gradually over a period of five or six years, the interests of car manufacturers will not be harmed, the public will accept it, and everyone will be happy.

On the contrary, Hongwu's side became a testing ground for new technologies.

Many car companies are building factories and training skilled workers directly in Hongwu. Although they haven't started manufacturing cars yet, they are actually waiting for the roads to be completed and the market to be developed so that they can directly produce the best-performing cars.

In this way, modern times have created a large number of jobs and exported millions of talents. At the same time, there are also vacancies in senior talent positions in China, which are constantly being filled by people at different levels.

Both sides have strengthened trade and economic exchanges, achieving complementary conditions through high value-added products. Various mineral and oil resources can even be directly processed and produced in Hongwu, compressed, and then sent to Xiandai.

The result of this was that many people on both sides had jobs. The unemployment rate on the modern side dropped significantly, prices fell as supplies became more abundant, and wages rose as resources became plentiful.

Goods can be sold, there is no shortage of productivity, and there is a new market that fully accepts your industrial products and has a population of up to 8000 million. It would be strange if GDP did not experience explosive growth.

For Hongwu, the price for having a large number of technical personnel to help build modern industry was the inability to utilize crude oil, rare earth elements, and ores.

Even these crude oil and rare earth minerals aren't their own. The rare earth minerals were obtained by attacking the Mongolian steppes, occupying Mongolia, and from Vietnam and Myanmar. The crude oil was obtained by stationing troops in the Middle East, where they could simply dig it up with a shovel.

It's a completely freebie, and both parties are happy.

The result was that both sides got what they needed in industrial development. Old Zhu no longer needed to rack his brains over the issue of national development, and Zhu Biao only needed to grasp the general direction, so he naturally had more free time.

After returning from the Southern Ming, Zhu Yuanzhang initially focused on governing the country for a while, but after some time, he could no longer sit still.

There's not much to see in the government affairs section.

Politically, Zhu De had already completed the institutional transformation and greatly strengthened central authority.

The cabinet governs all government affairs, and the ownership of power depends on who controls the cabinet. Zhu Yuanzhang and his son firmly controlled the cabinet's power to approve documents.

Economically, it has already achieved complementarity with the modern world. The Ming Dynasty has also officially established a modern industrial system. The economic curve changes not once a year, but once a month, or even once a day.

The Ming Dynasty under Hongwu Emperor also issued paper money, with a face value of one hundred yuan bearing the images of Emperor Zhu and Empress Ma, indicating that the commodity economy was rapidly circulating.

In terms of public security, there is direct coverage by surveillance cameras.

Power facilities have been established in Nanjing and the surrounding Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions, and most other provincial capitals also have power supply capabilities.

It can be said that Hyundai plans to lay out the power grid across the country within the next five years or so, thus completely solving the energy problem.

With electricity, cameras can be installed, and public security will be greatly improved.

Militarily, Hongwu carried out a large-scale reduction in the army. Zhu established the garrison system, which at the time had more than 100 garrisons and a theoretical troop strength of more than 700,000.

However, the garrisons were often understaffed, with the actual number of troops around 600,000.

As early as the seventeenth year of the Hongwu reign (1389), bolt-action rifles were equipped throughout the army. However, after contact with modern technology in the twentieth year of the Hongwu reign (1381), a military overhaul began. With the surge in military strength, the need for a large standing army was reduced, resulting in the reduction of approximately 200,000 troops.

Most of these people were old and weak soldiers, but they had all followed Zhu Yuanzhang in the early years of fighting for the country. Therefore, after retiring from the army, they were all assigned to work in another place to continue to receive government pay.

The remaining army of approximately 300,000 men is equipped with automatic rifles, tanks, rockets, and even fighter jets.

They are taught by modern military instructors who provide rigorous military training.

Thus, the fighting power of the Hongwu army was off the charts.

At least during the Hongwu era of the Ming Dynasty, unless aliens attacked.

Otherwise, even if the space nodes are transferred to the US, a full-scale US invasion would result in everyone being killed.

Other aspects such as culture, education, science and technology, and ideas have also developed to varying degrees.

of course.

Besides diplomacy.

After all, the Ming Dynasty's diplomacy currently seems to be based on military diplomacy.

Regardless, the entire Ming Dynasty was thriving, reaching the vibrant and flourishing state that Zhu Yunfeng had promised Zhu Yuanzhang.

Many things then proceeded in an orderly manner, with a plan and direction for development, so naturally those in power didn't need to manage or concern themselves with everything.

With Zhu Biao helping to share the burden, Old Zhu naturally had some free time.

After dealing with government affairs for a while, by mid-May he couldn't stand the loneliness and wanted to go to another world.

Ultimately, Lao Zhu is a restless person with boundless energy.

On May 16th, Old Zhu and his men had only returned from the Southern Ming Dynasty about a month prior.

For the past month, Emperor Zhu has been relatively well-behaved, checking on the country's development progress, spending time with Empress Ma, and indulging in the company of his concubines. His life has returned to normal.

But people tend to overthink when they have free time, especially someone like Lao Zhu. Despite being 61 years old, he has more energy than Zhu Yunfeng.

When I get bored, I think about finding something to do.

What are you doing?
Of course, we should still explore the world behind the stone tablet.

Therefore, he ordered a military transport aircraft from Hyundai.

Blue Whale-10.

This tiltrotor transport aircraft, which was initiated in 16, was not formally developed until 2028.

It can take off and land vertically, does not require an airport runway, is suitable for complex and ever-changing environments, and has a maximum load capacity of 30 tons, which is more than enough to carry a Type 62 light tank.

At this moment, inside the underground palace outside the Qianqing Palace, there is a transport plane that is more than 30 meters long. Its wings are equipped with propellers, somewhat similar to the American Osprey 22. However, its overall shape does not appear bulky, and its lines are very smooth.

"good."

Old Zhu stood beside the plane, looking it up and down, his eyes full of joy.

This aircraft can be considered a major national asset. Worldwide, even the Osprey-22, which is of the same type, can only carry a payload of 9 tons.

The performance of the Blue Whale 10 is unparalleled, making it truly exceptional.

"Are you going to drive this to Beijing?"

Zhu Yunfeng scratched his head and said, "Wouldn't that scare people to death?"

"We need to give these younger generations a scare."

Old Zhu laughed and said, "If there were no miracles, how could they be convinced?"

"So where are we going this time? During the Chenghua era?"

Zhu Yunfeng was curious.

"Not urgent."

Old Zhu shook his head, then a hint of anger flashed in his eyes: "Go to Jiajing, I want to see what kind of immortality that fellow cultivates."

Emperor Jiajing spent decades practicing Taoism. Although he did control the court, the power in the court was actually held by Yan Song and his son, which not only created chaos but also failed to improve the lives of the people. This prompted Hai Rui to submit a memorial to the throne.

If it weren't for Zhang Juzheng's efforts to turn the tide, the Ming Dynasty might not have survived until the Chongzhen era, and would have been nearing its end by the Tianqi era.

However, Emperor Wanli was no good either.

Not only did he neglect state affairs for decades, but amidst internal and external troubles, Zhang Juzheng finally managed to complete the reforms, only to have them end with his death, leaving the Ming Dynasty back to square one.

The rampant land annexation, the proliferation of corrupt officials, and the frequent external invasions can be largely attributed to the evils sown by the grandfather and grandson, the Jiajing and Wanli emperors.

Old Zhu naturally wanted to go and see whether Jiajing's immortal cultivation was more powerful, or his ancestral family laws were more powerful.

"Is that the Zhengde era or the Jiajing era?"

Zhu Yunfeng asked.

Based on past experience, the places we go to are usually in the late stages.

For example, if you go to the Chongzhen era, you'll arrive at the end of the Chongzhen era, not the beginning of it.

So when they went to Zhu Di's place, what they saw was not the Yongle era, but the scene at the end of the Jianwen era.

"The Jiajing era, I suppose."

Old Zhu said.

After saying that, he looked around and waved his hand, saying, "Let's go!"

Without much hesitation.

Since they weren't going to war, they didn't bring any soldiers, just a few dozen guards.

Furthermore, the stone tablet is now located at the Prince Ji's Mansion in Changsha; you can simply go there.

As for the transport plane, let's go check out the situation there first. If the stone tablet is placed inside a house, then the house will have to be demolished.

After all, although scientists have expanded the space passage to carry larger things, the transport planes are still too big to fit in ordinary houses.

This time, Zhu Di was not brought along. In fact, Zhu Di had originally planned to go by himself. It was Zhu Yunfeng who was bored and wanted to go along for some fun.

The group traveled light, with only Mao Xiang and Jiang Huan leading three small bannermen, totaling thirty people. They swaggered into the modern era and then pressed themselves against the sphere in the position of Jiajing.

moment.

Under the watchful eyes of many scientists, the group vanished and went to another world.

(End of this chapter)