Bringing the Railway to Daming

Chapter 43: Siye Dismissed from Office, Tianwen Wangqiao [Seeking Follow-up Reading]

The morning court begins.

After listening for a while, Liu Kuan realized that his idea of ​​just listening and not speaking was right.

Apart from anything else, the language used by ministers in the court when reporting to the emperor is more elegant than their daily conversation, especially for civil servants.

Although Liu Kuan was not completely unable to understand, given his knowledge of classical Chinese, some words and sentences were indeed a bit difficult for him to comprehend.

"It seems that if I want to survive in the Ming Dynasty, my classical Chinese knowledge needs to be improved."

"Or maybe we can wait until the future and launch a Ming Dynasty vernacular movement?"

For a moment, several thoughts ran through Liu Kuan's mind.

The matters reported by officials from various ministries and departments involved all aspects of the Ming Dynasty and were quite complicated. Although some of the reports were lengthy, most of them were concise.

In addition, Zhu Yuanzhang had already read most of the memorials, so the morning court session was just a formality and decisions were made very quickly.

But after listening for a while, Liu Kuan couldn't help feeling a little sleepy - after years of work and rest habits, his brain was not used to working so early.

After an unknown amount of time, Liu Kuan finally heard something important.

However, the Ming Dynasty court was about to send troops to the southwest to conquer the remnants of the Yuan Dynasty, Prince Liang Bazhala Walmi, and subdue the Duan family of Dali.

Bazala Walmi was a descendant of Kublai Khan's fifth son, Hugochi. This line was named King of Liang during the early Yuan Dynasty and ruled Yunnan for generations (Yunnan Province was established in the Yuan Dynasty and roughly equivalent to the original territory of Dali).

In the 23rd year of Zhizheng in the Yuan Dynasty, Ming Yuzhen, who occupied Sichuan and Shu, sent tens of thousands of troops to attack King Liang, but failed because of the help of the Duan family.

After Zhu Yuanzhang established the Ming Dynasty, destroyed the Yuan capital, and drove the Hu Yuan out of the Central Plains, he did not want to use military force against the southwest because of its dangerous mountains and dense forests and complex terrain. He sent envoys several times to persuade King Liang to surrender.

However, the King of Liang pretended to surrender and feigned complicity with the Ming court envoys, but secretly he still regarded the Northern Yuan Dynasty as the legitimate dynasty and at the same time had the ambition to establish his own regime.

In the seventh year of Hongwu, King Liang even held his own imperial examinations in Yunnan to recruit scholars, intending to annex Guizhou and establish a small southwestern court.

Last year, due to the arrival of the Northern Yuan envoys, King Liang even killed the Ming envoys and completely stood in the enemy camp of the Ming Dynasty.

Therefore, this year, after the Ming Dynasty responded to the invasion of the Northern Yuan Dynasty and won a great victory, it prepared to take advantage of the situation to get rid of King Liang and completely pacify the southwest.

Such important military affairs would not be discussed at the regular court with hundreds of court officials. Instead, they had already been decided, and the results were only announced at the regular court.

Fu Youde, Marquis of Yingchuan, was appointed General of the Southern Expedition because he had led troops to pacify Sichuan and Shu and was familiar with southwestern affairs. He became the chief commander of the Ming army this time.

At the same time, Lan Yu, Marquis of Yongchang, was appointed Deputy General of the Left, and Mu Ying, Marquis of Xiping, was appointed Deputy General of the Right.

The plan is to swear to march into battle on September 1st!

"I've witnessed history, haven't I?"

Seeing Zhu Yuanzhang announce the three generals who would pacify the southwest in court, Liu Kuan couldn't help but sigh inwardly.

He remembered that historically, the Ming army had won a great victory in its campaign in the southwest, thus taking over the two major provinces of Guizhou and Yunnan, and eliminating the major threat to the southwest, King Liang.

After announcing the three generals who would lead the troops in the southwest, Zhu Yuanzhang once again emphasized the functions of the cabinet to all civil and military officials, asking them to familiarize themselves with the cabinet's operating rules and methods as soon as possible.

As for the Grand Council, Zhu Yuanzhang did not mention it at all.

This must be because the Grand Council belongs to the emperor's personal assistant team and currently has little interaction with the officials.

Then, Liu Kuan actually heard something related to him.

"Where is Liu Song, the director of the Imperial College?"

"The minister is here."

Liu Song responded and walked out of his seat, feeling a little surprised, wondering why the emperor called his name.

Zhu Yuanzhang said, "I heard that your five internal organs are out of balance, your liver qi is stagnant, and you often argue with others and get angry easily."

"Yesterday, the Ministry of Industry and Technology's Department went to the Imperial College with my imperial edict to handle some matters. You even had an argument with the officials from the Department."

"You're old now. It's not good to get angry all the time. It's harmful to your health."

"Well, you should resign from your position as the Director of the Imperial College for the time being. Return to your hometown to recuperate for a few years. When your liver is healed, you can serve the country again."

After hearing what Zhu Yuanzhang said, many court officials looked at Liu Song with strange expressions.

Because everyone understood that Zhu Yuanzhang's saying that Liu Song was sick was just an excuse. The real reason was that Liu Song had obstructed the work of the Science and Technology Bureau yesterday, so he was "dismissed from office."

Some officials initially disagreed with the newly established Science and Technology Department, believing that it was established by Zhu Yuanzhang on a whim and would not last long and would not have much presence.

But judging from what happened today, Zhu Yuanzhang obviously attached great importance to the Science and Technology Bureau.

"It seems that from now on, when I encounter the Science and Technology Department doing things, I must not obstruct them."

"Not only must we not obstruct them, we must also cooperate fully."

"And Su Quan. I originally thought he'd be sidelined after being appointed as a doctor in the Department of Science and Technology, but now it seems he's being given a valuable role. If I get the chance in the future, I could cultivate a closer relationship with him."

For a time, many people changed their attitudes towards the Science and Technology Bureau and corrected their mindsets towards matters related to the Science and Technology Bureau.

After Liu Song accepted the decree and expressed his gratitude, he immediately left Wuying Hall. As he walked out under the gaze of his ministers, his back seemed to hunch a little.

However, when passing by the train of officials from the Ministry of Works, Liu Song suddenly turned his head and glared at Liu Kuan angrily.

Liu Kuan felt very innocent.

What does this have to do with him?
He didn't complain to Lao Zhu.

Suddenly, he noticed that Su Quan in front of him seemed to be smiling - although Su Quan had a smile on his face most of the time, his smile at this time inevitably made people think of something.

"Could it be that Lao Su and Lao Zhu filed a complaint?"

With this speculation, Liu Kuan continued to listen to the court meeting.

Then he heard something that made him overjoyed.

It was Old Zhu who announced that from tomorrow onwards, the regular court session would be changed to one every three days, and the start time of the morning court session would be postponed to the beginning of the Chenshi period, which is 7 o'clock in the morning.

"Old Zhu finally listened to my advice. It wasn't easy!"

"No, it must be Zhu Biao's words that day that really touched him. After all, I told him that Zhu Biao died of overwork."

"He established the cabinet and the Grand Council to reduce the burden on Zhu Biao and later Ming emperors, and the same is true of changing the regular court hours."

"Zhu Biao has a good father."

After expressing his feelings like this, Liu Kuan couldn't help but yawn, and then wanted to complain.

If Zhu Yuanzhang wanted to change the regular court time, he should have done it earlier. Why did he have to wait until he attended a morning court?
Could it be that he just wanted him to experience the sour feeling of getting up at four in the morning to attend the morning court?

While Liu Kuan was secretly complaining, the morning court session ended.

After he and Su Quan left Wuying Palace, he heard many officials whispering, their tone full of joy.

"Your Majesty has actually changed the regular court session to one every three days, opening at noon. This is truly not easy."

"That's right. Starting tomorrow, we finally won't have to get up before the hour of Yin to attend court."

"I was originally planning to retire and return home in two years. My old bones can't stand it anymore. But now I feel like I can stay in the capital for a few more years, haha."

"Brother Cai, since this is such a happy occasion, how about we go to Lai Feng Lou for a drink after work today?"

"Right on my mind."

"···"

Hearing these whispered discussions, Liu Kuan couldn't help but smile - the officials of the Hongwu Dynasty had indeed suffered from the morning court for a long time. If they knew that it was his suggestion, they should thank him, right?
···
The capital, northwest suburbs.

Guo Tianwen climbed onto a tree branch on a small hill and secretly looked towards the river.

This place is only a few hundred steps away from the cross-river bridge, and the terrain is relatively high, so the majestic figure of the bridge can be seen quite clearly.

"My God, this bridge doesn't look like something from this world. I wonder how it was built."

"It would be nice if I could go to the bridge and take a closer look and touch it."

Guo Tianwen shook his head slightly, his face full of regret.

A few days ago, he heard in Suzhou that a strange road appeared in the north. After confirming the news again and again, he went north to check it out.

When they arrived at the place, they found that there was a guard team composed of garrison troops who were specifically protecting this strange road. They strictly prohibited the people from stealing fine iron, wood and other items on the railway, and even prohibited the people from getting close to it.

He also learned that this strange road was called "railway".

The name came from the capital.

This railway is also suspected to extend from the capital to here, going eastward until it disappears in Shanghai County, Songjiang Prefecture.

In addition, a bridge across the Yangtze River appeared outside the capital city!
When Guo Tianwen first heard about the bridge across the Yangtze River, his first reaction was that it was a rumor.

He knew how to build bridges, and because of this, he knew very well how difficult, even impossible, it would be to build a bridge across the Yangtze River, which was several miles wide and had a turbulent flow!

However, the railway that appeared along with the "rumor" of the cross-river bridge was right in front of him at the time.

He once took the risk of taking advantage of a break in the guards' patrol to go to the railway for a thorough inspection. He found out that there was not only fine iron and good wood on the railway, but also several kinds of strange screw nails.

In his opinion, this railway seemed simple, but it did not seem like something that the Ming Dynasty could have.

Therefore, the appearance of the cross-river bridge may not be just a rumor.

So he came to the capital, wanting to see the cross-river bridge with his own eyes, and even go up on the bridge to take a closer look.

Unexpectedly, the imperial court sent its own troops to guard the bridge and designated the area within several hundred steps of the bridgehead as a restricted area.

The common people could only watch from afar, and no matter how curious he was, he could only find a closer place and climb up a tree branch to watch.

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　　Thanks to [Chu Yuyou 12138] for the reward of 100 Qidian coins!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)