Bringing the Railway to Daming

Chapter 245: Zhu Gaoxu was invited to the parents' meeting, and the water transport machinery chime clock! [Please subscribe]

Zhu Yuanzhang said, "You should know that the Mongols have ruled the world for nearly a hundred years, and the Han people have been influenced by foreign customs. Countless people have adopted foreign braids, foreign clothing, and even foreign names."

"The Huization of the north is particularly serious. In some places, Han people no longer speak the Han language, but instead speak Hu language. They have completely forgotten Han clothing and etiquette."

"The main reason we formulate rules for clothing, housing, and transportation is to eliminate barbarian customs and restore Han clothing and etiquette."

"Secondly, influenced by the Mongol nobility and local gentry, the trend of extravagance and comparison was very strong in various places at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, even affecting ordinary people."

"Many people don't even have enough to eat, and famine is a common occurrence in many places, yet people are competing with each other in clothing, housing, and transportation, living in extravagant and wasteful ways. Isn't this a joke?"

Zhu Yuanzhang paused here before continuing, "Finally, it is to regulate clothing, housing, and transportation, so that officials, soldiers, and civilians can each do their part and avoid chaos in the court and the country."

Liu Kuan had anticipated the first and third reasons Zhu Yuanzhang mentioned, but he didn't expect the second one.

At the end of any dynasty, there will be extravagance and serious comparison. The Yuan Dynasty was never simple in its founding, so the extravagance was naturally more serious at the end of the Yuan Dynasty.

At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, there were many things to be done, and it was undoubtedly right for Zhu Yuanzhang to eliminate the extravagance and comparison.

But after hearing what Zhu Yuanzhang said, Liu Kuan was not sure whether he would accept the suggestion to relax restrictions on clothing, housing, transportation, etc. - after the restrictions in these areas were relaxed, the Ming Dynasty would definitely become more extravagant, but it would also promote consumption.

It depends on what Lao Zhu decides.

Zhu Yuanzhang didn't think for long before saying, "The world has been at peace for over a decade now, which is indeed incomparable to when we first established the Ming Dynasty."

"Since we are prioritizing commerce and industry, it is indeed inappropriate to impose excessively strict restrictions on clothing, housing, and transportation. We will have the Cabinet and the Ministry of Rites discuss this matter in detail and relax the restrictions as appropriate."

"However, many of the rules regarding clothing, housing, and transportation involve etiquette, and etiquette cannot be abolished, so don't have too high expectations on this matter."

Liu Kuan was quite pleased to see that Zhu Yuanzhang had reluctantly accepted the suggestion, and immediately said, "Your Majesty is quite right. However, even if the restrictions are slightly relaxed, it will still promote consumption."

Zhu Yuanzhang did not say much about this matter, but asked: "Do you have anything else to report?"

"No." Liu Kuan said, bowing and saying, "I will take my leave."

After Liu Kuan left, Zhu Yuanzhang recalled several things Liu Kuan had said earlier and said to Zhu Di, "Fourth Brother, you must carefully supervise the affairs of Japan and not neglect them."

Zhu Di clasped his fists and said, "Your Highness understands and will live up to your father's trust!"

Zhu Yuanzhang continued, "When it comes to the children's education, while you're away from the palace, tell Miaoyun to take care of it, especially your second and third children. Remember that?"

Zhu Di said helplessly, "I'll remember this."

"Biao'er, you will be in charge of relaxing restrictions on clothing, housing, and transportation. You don't need to be involved in the details, just take charge of the overall situation. If you have to do everything yourself, what's the point of supporting those officials?"

Zhu Biao and Zhu Di were both quite surprised.

Since Zhu Yuanzhang asked Zhu Biao to supervise this matter, it meant that the restrictions on clothing, housing and transportation would be relaxed by more than just a little.

Zhu Biao was pleased with this and immediately bowed and said, "I obey your command!"

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But when Zhu Di returned to the Prince of Yan's Mansion in the capital, he saw Xu Miaoyun spanking Zhu Gaoxu with a ruler.

Although Xu Miaoyun came from a military family, she loved reading since childhood and had the ability to remember everything she saw. After reading a lot of books, her knowledge was no less than that of some old scholars, and she was known as a "female scholar".

Originally, she would not spank her son like other women. At most, she would hit his hands a few times with a ruler.

But Zhu Gaoxu was really too irritating and too naughty.

Although Zhu Gaoxu was only five years old, his height was almost the same as that of an ordinary six or seven-year-old child. In addition, he was relatively strong, so people would believe that he was eight years old.

In September, Zhu Gaoxu was sent to study at Dabentang. As a result, his grades in both Confucianism and mathematics were not good, so his grades were barely passing.

Not only did he have poor academic performance, but Zhu Gaoxu also fought in the main hall and bullied several younger uncles!

"what!"

"It hurts, please stop hitting me, Mom!"

"If you spank my son again, his bottom will rot!"

When Zhu Gaoxu saw Zhu Di coming in, he screamed even louder, pretending to be pitiful and calling out, "Father, please save me!"

Zhu Di actually liked Zhu Gaoxu very much. Seeing this, he felt a little distressed, but he did not stop Xu Miaoyun. Instead, he said, "You must have done something wrong, otherwise why would your mother beat you so hard? When she beat you, it hurts you physically, but it also hurts her heart, do you know?"

Zhu Gaoxu cried and said, "Xu'er knows she is wrong. Mother, please stop."

"Do you admit your mistakes?" Xu Miaoyun asked angrily, "You said you did last time, but a few days later you beat up your Nineteenth Uncle Zhu Tan. If you truly knew you were wrong, why would you keep making the same mistake, forcing me to go to the main hall tomorrow to receive criticism and education with you?"

Xu Miaoyun gets angry when talking about this.

The teaching methods of Dabentang are now greatly influenced by Liu Kuan. Since when, as long as students' grades are too poor or they get into trouble in Dabentang, the teachers will invite their parents.

Even if the prince made a mistake, Zhu Yuanzhang's concubines would go there to receive criticism and education. Xu Miaoyun was just a princess, so naturally she could not escape.

Zhu Gaoxu had been in school for less than two months when his parents were called to school seven times!

Xu Miaoyun was originally a person of high and aloof character, and thin-skinned. However, she was criticized and educated seven times by the three teachers of the Omotodo Hall, which made her thick-skinned and she could no longer be high and aloof. How could she not be angry?

She dropped another foot, and seeing Zhu Gaoxu's buttocks were beaten red, she couldn't bear it anymore and stopped.

"This child is not mine alone. Since the king is back, he should go to the main hall tomorrow and receive criticism and education from the teacher with Gao Xu." After saying that, she stuffed the ruler into Zhu Di's hand and left.

Zhu Di held the ruler in his hand, thinking that he would be very embarrassed tomorrow, so he held Zhu Gaoxu down and spanked him again.

"Ah, why did father hit me? Don't you love Xu'er anymore?"

Zhu Gaoxu shouted, but it was of no use.

After teaching his son a lesson, Zhu Di came to the side courtyard where Monk Daoyan lived and selectively told him what he had heard and discussed in Fengxian Hall today - mainly concealing the Ming Dynasty history that Liu Kuan had told him.

Daoyan frowned after hearing this.

Seeing this, Zhu Di asked, "Is there something wrong with my response in Fengxian Hall today?"

Daoyan said, "Your Majesty's response was not inappropriate, but I did not expect that Your Majesty would ask Your Majesty to supervise the Japanese 'conversion from rice to mulberry' and 'immigration' - this is not an easy task."

"In fact, with your military achievements, you only need to join the South China Sea Navy and make some more military achievements to accumulate the merits of a commander-in-chief and then be qualified to become a vassal."

"Although supervising the affairs of Japan is a great achievement, Your Majesty does not actually need it. Moreover, the 'conversion of rice to mulberry' and 'immigration' are ultimately evil schemes. If Your Majesty supervises this matter, I am afraid it will only damage your reputation."

Having said this, Daoyan stopped.

Zhu Di frowned and fell into deep thought.

Although Daoyan did not say it explicitly, Zhu Di understood that Zhu Yuanzhang asked him to supervise Japanese affairs. Not only did he want to train him, but he also wanted to delay his overseas enfeoffment.

Considering that supervising Japanese affairs would damage his reputation, Zhu Di had to think more about it.

"It seems that the emperor is still a little worried about me. I am afraid that after he leaves, I will lead troops from the vassal state back to the Ming Dynasty and threaten the throne of my eldest brother's lineage."

With the wisdom of Monk Daoyan, he would not provoke the father-son relationship between Zhu Di and Zhu Yuanzhang at this time.

He said, "Perhaps His Majesty simply feels that Your Highness needs more experience, or perhaps he is reluctant to let Your Highness go overseas too soon."

Zhu Di did not continue to speculate on Zhu Yuanzhang's intentions, but clenched his fist and said, "For now, I have no choice but to supervise the Japanese 'conversion of rice to mulberry' and 'immigration' as soon as possible before I can take up my fiefdom."

"To complete both of these tasks, it will take at least ten years, perhaps even twenty or thirty."

"Even if the Emperor is reluctant to let me go overseas, he won't keep me for ten years. Therefore, we should just deploy these two strategies in Japan and see initial results."

Daoyan nodded with a smile, "Your Highness is intelligent, His Majesty should think so."

"Then I will need the Master's advice on the affairs of the Japanese nation."

“This is what I should do.”

Then, the two of them discussed in a low voice in the room...

A few days later.

Guo Tianwen, the head of the Ministry of Industry, invited Liu Kuan to the Machinery Manufacturing Bureau to introduce to him a latest research achievement of the Automatic Machinery Research Institute within the bureau.

"Please look, Doctor! This is the water-powered mechanical chime clock we developed based on your description. As long as the water in the pool stays dry, it will continue to run and will chime every hour!"

Guo Tianwen stood in front of a mechanical creation as big as a house and introduced it proudly.

Liu Kuan looked at the mechanical creation and saw that it was more than ten feet high, more than thirty feet long and wide, and was made up of many gears, levers and other mechanical parts.

The most eye-catching thing is the huge brass dial in the front with a diameter of more than nine feet.

The dial is inlaid with the twelve numbers from 1 to 12, and there are four scales between each number, which adds up to five small grids - this is no different from the dial of the later self-sounding clock in Liu Kuan's impression.

Although the idea was given by Liu Kuan, he was still shocked when he stood in front of the mechanical clock as big as a house.

After coming to his senses, he asked, "Can this clock be shrunk? And how small can it be?"

Guo Tian asked, "If it only has metal parts like gears and levers, it can be shrunk to a size of one foot. But if it wants to continue to operate with water power, I estimate that the maximum it can be reduced to is about six or seven feet."

Liu Kuan said, "Then you should try to develop a mechanical spring, or improve the water-powered system of the chime clock. If the chime clock is too large, it will not be popular among the public and will be much less useful."

Guo Tianwen nodded, "Don't worry, Doctor. We are researching both of these areas, and we may be able to make a breakthrough in less than two years."

"Then I will wait for your good news."

After leaving the Machinery Manufacturing Bureau, Liu Kuan went to the palace.

He came to Fengxian Hall to pay his respects to Zhu Yuanzhang, and then reported to the Machinery Manufacturing Bureau that the "water-powered mechanical self-ringing clock" had been developed.

Finally, he said, "Your Majesty, now that the mechanical chime clock has been successfully developed, I believe the 24-hour system can be promoted."

In fact, the concept of hours has existed in ancient China. One hour is equal to two hours, but people rarely use hours to tell time. People in rural areas don't even use the twelve hours. They only use rougher timekeeping methods such as dawn, dusk, and several o'clock in the morning.

Zhu Yuanzhang did not immediately accept Liu Kuan's suggestion, but said: "Tell me your reasons."

　Second update
　　Good night~
　　Correct the typo later

　　
　
(End of this chapter)