Bringing the Railway to Daming

Zhu Chong was a little depressed when he heard Liu Kuan say that South America lacked coal and that the iron and copper mines were all deep in the mountains.

But when he saw Zhu Tan standing next to him looking dumbfounded, he suddenly stopped being depressed and even laughed secretly.

"This Old Ten, relying on his father's favor, used Xuanguanwei to go to the southern part of North America. When I wanted to go to North America, he tried every means to stop me."

"I never imagined that I would end up choosing a place with frequent natural disasters and a poor supply of copper and iron. Isn't this just setting myself up for failure? Hahaha..."

If Zhu Biao had not been seated at the top, Zhu Chong would have laughed out loud.

After Zhu Tan came to his senses, he looked at Zhu Biao with a sad face and said, "Brother, can you help me ask the Emperor to change the place where I can establish my vassalage?"

Zhu Biao hadn't expected the situation in North America to be so dire. He couldn't bear to see Zhu Tan go to a place that was almost a curse for establishing a vassal state, so he said, "Explain the situation to the emperor. I'm sure he will allow you to change the location of your vassal state."

"But if you don't choose North America, where should you choose? You have to make up your mind this time."

Zhu Tan immediately stood up and began to search among the maps in the hall.

Liu Kuan saw that Zhu Tan was looking around on the map and obviously had no idea, and he couldn't bear to see his student choose the wrong place again.

He then said, "If Your Highness Prince Lu still wants to go to America, Venezuela in the future is actually a good choice."

Venezuela?

Zhu Tan had a very good brain and had almost memorized the map of America from later generations. Upon hearing this, his eyes were fixed on the northern part of South America on the map in front of him.

Seeing that this place was in the tropics in terms of latitude and not far from the equator, he couldn't help but frown - he hated hot weather the most.

Thinking that if he made the wrong choice again, he might not have the chance to change it, Zhu Tan no longer hid his feelings and asked, "Teacher, is it too hot here? I remember you said in class that plagues are very common in the tropics."

Liu Kuan's eyes twitched slightly when he heard this.

I thought: This Zhu Tan is really smart, but his character is a little bit lacking - Zhu Zhen can go to Southeast Asia, so what's wrong with you going to Venezuela?
But thinking of the teacher-student relationship, he finally looked at the map again and said, "If Your Highness Prince Lu finds Venezuela too hot, you can consider the islands of Cuba and other future generations to the north."

"Oh, right. I remember the local mineral resources were quite rich, with plenty of iron ore. The natives were also quite civilized, and later developed into a powerful military nation in Central America."

"Besides, islands like Cuba are not far from Florida in North America. Once Your Highness has brought all the islands under his rule, you can then enter North America."

"If Your Highness still feels that the climate here is not good, you can consider the area between the North American and Central American Dusi I mentioned earlier. There is ample land there, and His Majesty will certainly allow you to establish a vassal state."

Zhu Tan didn't even look at the West Coast - the reason why he chose southern North America was actually because he had the same idea as Zhu Chong: to stay away from Zhu Yuanzhang's control and become a real king that no one could control.

So he asked, "If we choose Cuba, what suggestions do you have for a landing site?"

"Naturally, I'd choose Havana, the capital of Cuba in later generations." Liu Kuan walked over and pointed to a spot on the north coast of Cuba on the map. "This place controls the entrance to the Gulf of Mexico from the Atlantic Ocean. Its strategic location is extremely important."

"Furthermore, this place is the northernmost part of the island, with the best climate and closest to the North American continent. There are also rivers connecting to the island, and the primitive transportation conditions are excellent, making it the perfect place to start the establishment of the island's vassal state."

After hearing Liu Kuan's praise for Havana, Zhu Tan finally made up his mind and said, "Okay, then I'll choose this place!"

Liu Kuanze reminded: "America has been geographically isolated from us for many years, so some of the viruses we carry are very deadly to the locals, especially the smallpox virus."

"If your Highnesses wish to recruit the Native Americans for your own use, you must also be prepared to vaccinate them against smallpox."

Zhu Tan smiled and said, "Don't worry, teacher, we know about this matter."

Afterwards, the four continued their banquet and chatted about some things related to the establishment of the vassal state in America.

After eating and drinking, Zhu Chong and Zhu Tan said goodbye and left Chunhe Palace.

Liu Kuan was about to leave, but was kept by Zhu Biao.

Zhu Biao said bluntly, "Nowadays, all the princes who have gone overseas to establish fiefdoms are thinking about how much territory they can occupy. If this continues, I am afraid that in ten or twenty years, there will be no more suitable places for establishing fiefdoms overseas."

"At that time, the policy of enfeoffment of vassals overseas could no longer be maintained, but we did not know how to settle the vassals."

When Liu Kuan heard this, he knew that Zhu Biao was worried that his son and Zhu Xiongying's son would not be able to find a suitable place to establish a fiefdom overseas in the future.

He smiled and said, "Your Highness, you're worrying too much. I think it would have been even more difficult for the vassal kings to accumulate enough military merit to establish overseas fiefdoms. There wouldn't have been as many wars to fight in the world as there are today."

"Besides, isn't Your Majesty limited to a 5,000-mile radius within twenty years? I'm sure there won't be any place overseas to establish a vassal state within twenty years."

"Furthermore, Your Highness the Crown Prince can impose more restrictions on overseas vassal states in the future. If there are any vassal states that are poorly governed, the imperial court may abolish their vassal states."

Zhu Biao shook his head. "If the imperial court attempts to abolish a certain vassal state, I'm afraid it will only lead to a war between the vassal states a hundred years from now. I would rather my descendants not establish vassal states overseas than sow the seeds of such disaster."

Liu Kuan smiled and said, "Your Highness, you have made a choice in your mind."

Zhu Biao was stunned for a moment, then he realized that Liu Kuan's last suggestion was a test for him, and he couldn't help laughing and said, "Brother-in-law, you."

···
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In a blink of an eye, the last month of the 23rd year of Hongwu passed, and the time came to the second day of the first lunar month of the 24th year of Hongwu. At noon that day, Liu Kuan brought his family to the Dashan Hall of the Imperial Palace to attend the movie viewing banquet of the Zhu family.

Compared with last year's movie viewing banquet, there were fewer people and more people.

The families of Zhu Zhen and Zhu Gui are no longer with us, but the families of Zhu Chun and Zhu Bai have new members, who gave birth to grandsons and granddaughters for the old Zhu; the sixteen-year-old Prince of Dai, Zhu Gui, also got married, and married Xu Da's second daughter, becoming Zhu Di's brother-in-law.

Because strange fog appeared on the bridge several times before, Liu Kuan mainly downloaded various technology-related videos and other materials, and downloaded very few songs.

In addition, the strange fog had not appeared in the past three years, so this time Liu Kuan prepared six "old songs" for Zhu Yuanzhang and Empress Ma, which were songs that the two had heard before.

Prince Zhu and Empress Ma didn't care and ate happily to the tune of the song video.

About forty minutes later, the banquet ended.

Empress Ma asked the palace maids to clear away the dishes and set up the tables and chairs, and then Zhu Yuanzhang and his whole family took their seats.

Before playing the video, Liu Kuan introduced, "Your Majesty, this time I have only prepared four videos of more than ten minutes each, covering four different aspects."

Liu Kuan's words sound nice, but in reality the contents of the four videos are unrelated to each other.

Zhu Yuanzhang said, "Don't worry about the content, as long as it is helpful to our Ming Dynasty or has some reference value."

Liu Kuan smiled and said, "These four videos were carefully selected by me. They are naturally valuable to the Ming Dynasty."

"Then play it."

Liu Kuan nodded, carefully put the tablet away, and touched the screen to play the first video.

The title appeared - "Why must the powerful forces born in the Northeast be eliminated?"

Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhu Biao, and even Zhu Xiongying, who had returned from Tsushima Island for the New Year, were instantly alerted when they saw this title. Because they knew that a major reason for the fall of the Ming Dynasty in history was the rise of the Jianzhou Jurchens in the northeast.

The video begins with a clip of various battle scenes between northern ethnic minorities and Han troops, accompanied by a man's commentary.

"The Five Barbarians' Invasion of China, the Jin army's southward advance, the Mongol conquest of the Jin, and the Qing army's entry into the Central Plains all used the Northeast as their base, nurturing a powerful army that then moved southward into the Central Plains."

"So, have you ever wondered why the Zong clan, a powerful minority regime, emerged in ancient Northeast China?"

"Why was the Central Plains dynasty so obsessed with taking control of the Northeast and even the Greater Khingan Range?"

"Also, why is it that in ancient times, the Northeast region was dominated by ethnic minorities whose civilizations lagged behind those of the Central Plains, yet they were always able to succeed in starting businesses and participate in the Battle of Zhuolu in the Central Plains?"

After hearing this opening, Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao initially felt that what the old lady said was a bit far-fetched.

For example, the Hu people in the Five Barbarians Invasion of China did not all come from the northeast region; as for the Mongols, although they originally originated in the northeastern grassland area, they became strong by relying on the entire grassland.

The two rises of the Jurchens in the Northeast are representative.

Even so, it also shows that the Northeast is indeed more likely to nurture minority regimes capable of seizing the Central Plains. For example, minority groups in the Northwest and Southwest have never seized the Central Plains and become the orthodox rule of the world.

"To answer these questions, I will use the example of Goguryeo, the first troublemaker to rise in the Northeast, to explain how the first Northeastern regime to challenge the Central Plains regime rose and how it was destroyed."

Goguryeo?
Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao were both stunned - they had actually forgotten about this northeastern regime during the Sui and Tang dynasties.

Looking back now, both the Sui Dynasty and the later Tang Dynasty had very strong military strength, which forced the barbarians in all directions to surrender.

Under such circumstances, Goguryeo dared to challenge the Central Plains dynasty and even made Emperor Yang of Sui and Li Shimin suffer setbacks. It was indeed powerful enough.

If it were during the period of decline of the Central Plains dynasty, perhaps Goguryeo would have been able to rule the Central Plains like the Jin people did in history.

This video is nearly twenty minutes long, which is quite long.

Because Apozhu started the story from Buyeo, the predecessor of Goguryeo, he should have pushed the history of the Northeast region back to the Western Han Dynasty.

The host also divided the video into different small segments, each with a small title.

The title of this first paragraph is called: "The whip of Han is too long to reach."

Before modern times, the imperial court did not delve into the history of previous dynasties, especially those separated by several generations, as it did later generations. Therefore, even though Zhu Yuanzhang was an emperor, his knowledge of Goguryeo was limited to a few mainstream historical texts.

Now I am quite interested in listening to my grandmother talking mainly about the origin of Goguryeo.

What was played next in the video was the plot of Emperor Wu of Han in the later TV series "The Emperor of Han Dynasty".

"Since Emperor Wu of Han did not trust the wisdom of later generations, he ordered the Han army to attack everywhere to expand the territory for the Han people and gain more living space."

"One of the Han armies destroyed the Weiman Joseon, which was usurped by the descendants of the Yan State during the Warring States Period, and occupied present-day Liaoning, Jilin, and North Korea. They discovered a small, runaway group of Buyeo people in the area of ​​Fushun, Liaoning, who called themselves the Goguryeo tribe..." (End of this chapter)