Bringing the Railway to Daming

The group soon arrived at the city of Xuanxi Qianhu Suo.

The city's pavement was paved with blue bricks, and the houses were mostly brick and wood. Most of the people walking on the streets were Han Chinese, with a small number of brown-skinned indigenous women whose features bore a resemblance to the Mongols or Jurchens.

As for native men, they are almost never seen in the city.

Several people sat down in the official hall of the Qianhu Office. After a pretty native maid served tea and left, they started talking about business.

Zhu Tan spoke first, "I saw in the information provided by the court that the Xuanguan Guard built an official road from the west coast to the east coast a few years ago. But it looks like it's going to rain today. If it rains, what will the condition of this official road be like?"

In order to restrain the overseas military governors, Zhu Yuanzhang did not allow them to possess the technology to manufacture cement.

Although nearly ten years after Liu Kuan promoted scientific methods, anyone with a little knowledge of cement could have experimented with a method to make it, but without the court's permission, no one dared to produce cement privately - at least not openly.

Therefore, overseas garrisons such as Xuanguanwei never used cement in building cities, ports, or roads.

In recent years, Zhu Biao had twice advised Zhu Yuanzhang to allow overseas departments to manufacture cement, but Zhu Yuanzhang did not accept it.

Zhu Tan couldn't imagine how difficult it would be to walk on it in rainy weather if the official road built by Xuanguanwei was the old rammed earth road.

It should be noted that they went to Xuandong Port to transfer to a ship not only to bring the immigrants, but also to bring many supplies carried on the ship.

These supplies included some small items as well as bulky items such as machine tools, steam engines, and large textile machines.

If the road conditions are bad, it will be many times more difficult to transport these supplies.

Commander Li Dun said, "Your Highness Prince Lu, rest assured. The official road at Xuanguanwei has now reached the highest standards before the Ming Dynasty used cement."

"The central section of the official road is three zhang wide, enough to accommodate four four-wheeled carriages. It is first paved with gravel and sand, then compacted with earth, and finally covered with a layer of cement (lime clay and sand)."

"In swamps or areas that are particularly muddy and close to swamps during the rainy season, wooden boardwalks of the same width are built."

"Although the official road is still muddy during the rainy season, it does not have much impact on the movement of vehicles and horses."

This was indeed the highest standard of official roads before the Ming Dynasty, close to the legendary Qin Chi Road. The most important feature of the Qin Chi Road was its width, which was said to be 23 meters wide, but it is not known whether this is true or not.

However, Zhu Tan was still dissatisfied when he thought about the convenience of the cement official road in the Ming Dynasty.

He frowned and said, "I saw on the map that there are many rivers around Xuanguanwei, and there's even a huge lake to the east. Is it not possible to take the water route?"

Li Dun was speechless when he saw Zhu Tan being so picky.

Considering that the other party was a vassal king after all, he patiently explained, "Your Highness, Xuanguanwei has many rivers and lakes, but most of them have never been repaired. To use the words in "Overseas Scenery", they are all pristine rivers."

"These rivers are extremely wide and deep in some places, but very narrow and shallow in others. The same is true for the lakes, which are suitable for large ships and fleets."

"Considering the hassle of changing boats and trains along the way, it would be better to take the official road. This road is only a little over 150 miles long, with a 100-household station every 10 miles and a 1,000-household station every 50 miles. Even if the Lu vassal has tens of thousands of people and a lot of supplies, it will be easy to walk."

Zhu Tan still frowned and said, "I want to take advantage of the fact that the immigrants are resting in Xuanguanwei to take a trip along this road first."

Li Dun said, "If Your Highness Prince Lu is not afraid of the humidity and heat of the rain forest, then if you are sick, you can go."

Now even Zhu Tan was a little annoyed by Li Dun's attitude, thinking: This Li Dun is clearly disrespectful to me and my second brother, and he may have some ambitions. After leaving Xuanguanwei, I will definitely report this to my father by telegram.

Zhu Tan had also experienced a lot in the Ming Dynasty, so he didn't reveal his thoughts. Instead, he took the opportunity to say, "Speaking of illness, I heard that Xuanguanwei has cultivated many cinchona trees, and their specialty is cinchona cream. I imagine there must be quite a lot, right?"

Li Dun said, "Please rest assured, Your Highness Prince Lu. Xuanguanwei has sufficient supplies of quinine, which is definitely enough for the Lu and Yong vassal states to use for their upcoming immigration journeys."

"That's good." Zhu Tan smiled, then added, "If we, the Lu clan, take the official road, I'm afraid we'll need quite a few people to help with transportation. Commander Li, please dispatch the personnel."

"Is five thousand natives enough for hard labor?" Li Dun asked.

Zhu Chong and Zhu Tan were both surprised when they heard this. "How could there be so many native slaves in Xuanguanwei?"

Li Dun said, "There are many native tribes in the north and south of Xuanguanwei who fear our power but not our virtue. We are not too harsh in our hard labor. They have food to eat and can even get medical treatment when they are sick. They won't die easily. Naturally, the accumulated labor over the years will be quite a lot."

"How many native slaves are there in Xuanguanwei now?" Zhu Chong asked curiously.

"More than 13,000 people."

"So many?!" Zhu Chong and Zhu Tan were both surprised when they heard this.

Then the two of them couldn't help but imagine: if the Xuanguan Guard can capture so many natives and make them laborers by conquering the rebellious forces, I can do the same after I establish my vassal state, and then I won't have to worry about the lack of labor.

···
···
Three days later.

Zhu Chong led Yong Fan's fleet and set off from Xuanxi Port, continuing south to South America.

Zhu Tanyi led more than 30,000 people from the Lu clan, more than 600 four-wheeled and two-wheeled carts, and thousands of mules, horses, cattle and other livestock, along Xuanguan Avenue (the name of the official road of Xuanguanwei) to Xuandong Port. He was not very lucky, and it had been raining since the third day of his arrival in Xuandong Port.

The only thing to be thankful for is that the rain is not heavy at the moment, and Xuanguan Avenue is indeed as Li Dun said. Although there is mud and dirt, there are very few bad roads that can cause large carts to get stuck and unable to get out, or even overturn.

Even so, Lu Fan's troops could only advance more than twenty miles a day.

It took seven days to complete the journey along Xuanguan Avenue. Zhu Tan and his family rode in the finest four-wheeled carriage, naturally shielded from the rain and free from fatigue, completing the seven days' journey in comfort. This was due to Zhu Tan's recollection of Zhu Yuanzhang's admonition to "lead by example." Otherwise, he could have easily arrived at Xuandong Port a few days earlier, escorted by his guards.

Although Zhu Tan set an example by traveling with the group, he was one of the few who could ride in a vehicle like him. Although there were many vehicles during the Lu clan's migration, most of them were used to transport supplies, and very few carried people.

Therefore, when the team arrived at Xuandong Port, hundreds of people in the team were sick.

Zhu Tan had no choice but to order the team to rest in Xuandong Port for a few more days.

In this way, a few more days passed, and when the Lu Fan immigrant team boarded the warships and sea ships prepared by Xuanguanwei in Xuandong Port, it was already half a month after Zhu Tan arrived at Xuanguanwei.

On the day when Lu Fan's fleet set sail again at Xuandong Port, Li Dun brought many civil and military officials from Xuanguanwei to see them off.

"This journey is thousands of miles long. I wish Your Highness Prince Lu a safe journey!"

Zhu Tan smiled and said, "I'm sorry to trouble Commander Li and the soldiers and civilians of Xuanguanwei these days."

Li Dun: "We are just following orders."

Zhu Tan thought, it seems that Li Dun is not targeting me, but he really doesn't know how to speak.

He then said, "Xuanguanwei is also the closest garrison to Lu Fan. I hope that we can cooperate more in the future."

Li Dun said, "Once Xingluowei has built the official road to the east coast, Prince Lu's enfeoffment will be much closer to Xingluowei than Xuanguanwei."

Xingluo Guard was a guard added by the imperial court in Central America a few years ago, and was affiliated with the Central American Military Commission.

It is located in a large bay on the west coast of Honduras in later generations. Because there are many islands scattered there, it is named "Xingluowei".

If Xingluowei can also build an official road from the west coast to the east coast, then in the future Lu State will be estimated to be only about a thousand miles away from its east coast port by sea, which is indeed much closer than Xuanguanwei to Lu State (the ancient capital) - Xuanguanwei is more than five thousand miles away from the starting point of Zhu Tan's vassalage.

Although what Li Dun said was true, it was indeed unpleasant to the ear, as if he didn't want to have any more dealings with Lu Fan.

This made it difficult for Zhu Tan to maintain the smile on his face.

"Hmph, a mere commander, I don't know how many years he can stay in Xuanguanwei, why should I bother to stick to him?"

Thinking this in his heart, Zhu Tan was too lazy to say anything more. He bowed and said, "We will talk about the future later. I will set off now."

After saying that, he turned around and boarded the ship.

Lu Fan's fleet left Xuandong Port and, for safety reasons and to replenish fresh water in time, sailed north along the east coast of Central America.

However, this is safe, as you can reach the shore in time when encountering stormy days. However, the journey is also extended a lot - from the map, if you leave Xuandong Port and cross the bay to reach the northern part of the Cuban Islands in later generations, you only need to travel 3,000 miles by sea.

Now, having to walk nearly twice as far is the price of safety.

In this way, four warships and more than one hundred large and small ships sailed for nearly a month before arriving at Cancun on the eastern coast of southern Mexico in later generations.

After Lu Fan rested here for another two days, Qi Sanshun, the Lu Fan naval commander recruited by Zhu Tan, came to the flagship Zou Yi to discuss matters with Zhu Tan.

"Your Majesty, all we have to do now is cross this strait and we will reach the vassal state."

Zhu Tan looked at the map and asked, "Commander Qi, how long do you estimate it will take us to cross this strait at our speed?"

Qi Sanshun said, "According to the information provided by the court, it's about 500 miles by sea from here to the large island opposite. However, I've observed that the winds in this area are mostly southeasterly, so if everything goes well, it will take us about two or three days to arrive."

Zhu Tan nodded. "You are an expert in navigation. You have a plan in mind. Just command the fleet according to it."

Qi Sanshun hesitated for a moment and said, "I've read the information provided by the court. There are many storms at sea in this area. I hope Your Majesty will prioritize your safety when crossing the strait this time."

Zhu Tan smiled, "I'm afraid - if something really happens, we have two telegraph machines and can still contact each other."

Next, Qi Sanshun talked with Zhu Tan about some specific matters of crossing the strait, and then left and returned to another warship he was commanding.

The first day of Lu Fan's fleet's crossing of the strait went smoothly, but late that night, they suddenly encountered a storm!

In the cabin of the Zouyi, Zhu Tan was sleeping soundly with Princess Tang Xiuzhen (Tang He's second daughter) in his arms, but was awakened by the violent shaking.

Tang Xiuzhen also woke up and nervously hugged Zhu Tan's arm, asking, "My lord, why is the boat shaking so violently?"

Zhu Tan was also very nervous, but he hadn't lost his composure yet. He struggled to get up from the violent shaking and shouted, "Help! Help!"

A eunuch on night watch rushed in, his face filled with panic, and said, "My lord, this is bad! We seem to be in a storm!"

storm?!
Zhu Tan's face turned pale.

Having been at sea for nearly half a year, he had seen storms at sea before, but this was the first time he had experienced a storm that shook his Zouyi so violently.

The most important thing is that in the past, fleets all sailed along the coast, and when they encountered a storm, they could immediately dock and find a place to take shelter.

But now the ship has reached the center of the strait, how can we avoid this storm?
Thinking of this, Zhu Tan's face turned even paler, and he hurriedly shouted, "Hurry up and have the communications team send a message to Commander Qi and ask him what to do!" (End of this chapter)