Bringing the Railway to Daming

Yijiang Gate, Hanzhong Gate, Zhongshan Gate, Wuding Gate, Yifeng Gate, Xuanwu Gate...
Behind the Wuchao Gate, one after another city gate towers constructed from the mottled ancient city walls appear in the video, connecting seamlessly with the asphalt road on the ground, where various modern cars shuttle back and forth.

This gave the Zhu family, who lived in the newly built "Nanjing" city, a sense of disorientation, as if they had traveled through time and arrived in the future.

At the same time, they also noticed the two lines of small text that were always present in the lower left corner of the screen.

"The Nanjing Ming City Wall is the largest brick city wall in the history of Chinese city walls, and the longest, largest and best-preserved ancient city wall in the world."

Upon seeing this, Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't help but smile, revealing a hint of smugness.

After several ancient city gates appeared, other landmarks such as Stone City, Drum Tower, International Youth Cultural Center, Hexi Central Business District, Yuzui Wetland Park, Dashengguan Yangtze River Bridge, Zhongshan Wharf, and Confucius Temple also appeared in the photos.

As daytime gradually turned into night, Nanjing, as seen through the lens, became dazzling with lights.

Then, a scene that shocked Lao Zhu's family appeared in the video.

After the brightly lit Confucius Temple, the world suddenly turned upside down, and a city that never sleeps appeared in the night sky with even more dazzling lights, more and taller skyscrapers, and a style that was clearly different from the buildings of later generations!

At the same time, the background music changed, becoming "strange," but it seemed to match this city that never sleeps better.

Xinjiekou Commercial District, Jinling Hotel, Deji Plaza, Gulou Square, Xiqiao, Zifeng Tower, Hexi Avenue... To the accompaniment of strange and exciting music, these technologically advanced buildings from the future shimmer with various neon lights.

As subsequent buildings such as the New City Science and Technology Park, Nanjing Financial City, Nanjing Olympic Sports Center, Jiangsu Grand Theatre, Golden Eagle World, Yuhuatai Living Room, and Himalayas Center appeared, which also seemed futuristic to later generations, the Zhu family was once again in a daze, wondering if the video being played was still the "capital" of later times.

In their view, these later buildings were even more otherworldly than the bridge spanning the river.

Then, as landmarks such as the Jiangbei New Area Civic Center, Yangtze River Financial Street, Puyun Road Bridge, Beehive Hotel, Happy Harbor, and Hongyang Square appeared one after another, it seemed to confirm their suspicions.

Then, the Jiangsu Radio and Television Tower came into view, and the scenery behind it began to rotate. The sky also changed from night to sunrise as it rotated. In the overhead shot, a thin mist rose above the city.

The fog then quickly thickened, turning into a vast expanse of white "clouds," and parts of the Jiangsu TV Tower and other super-tall buildings emerged from the rolling "clouds."

At the same time, the background music also became incredibly grand and magnificent.

Such a scene makes the city seem even more otherworldly.

Those with weaker judgment, like Zhu Gui, were so shocked they stood up and couldn't help but exclaim, "It really is the City of Heaven!"

Then the other younger princes and princesses couldn't help but gasp in surprise.

"Was the capital city later built into a celestial palace?"

"No, I think it's because the capital city in later generations built houses above the clouds!"

"Beautiful! Absolutely stunning!"

In fact, not only the young people, but even Zhu Yuanzhang himself stared wide-eyed at this moment.

He thought to himself: Is this really the capital city where we live?

Later generations were able to build it up to resemble a celestial realm!

Zhu Biao exclaimed inwardly: How magnificent! How beautiful!

Even Empress Ma seemed much more energetic, staring intently at the tablet screen without even blinking.

The camera in the video thus lingers at a height above the clouds, offering a broader perspective for capturing Nanjing in later generations.

The Yangtze River Guanyin Scenic Area, the Zhou Tou Viewing Platform, Baguazhou, Xuanwu Lake, the Tropical Plant Palace, the Music Terrace... As these later landscapes outside the present-day capital city appear, the visual effect becomes even more beautiful and magnificent. Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't help but stand up, holding Empress Ma's hand.

The others also stood up, all staring wide-eyed and craning their necks, as if trying to imprint every beautiful frame of the future "capital" on the tablet into their minds.

When the nearly 12-minute video finished playing, Zhu Yuanzhang and the others were still waiting for the curtain to fall on the screen, unable to come back to their senses for a moment.

About a minute later, Zhu Yuanzhang exclaimed with great emotion, "It's truly magnificent—Liu Kuan, are the buildings and scenery in this video really from the capital city of later generations?"

Liu Kuan nodded, "Some are inside the city, some are outside the city, but they are all landscapes of the 'capital' in later generations."

Zhu Yuanzhang said, "We know that the technology of later generations is advanced and the level of architecture is superb, but we still did not expect that the capital city could be built like the heavens. It is truly amazing."

Zhu Yuanzhang has only praised later generations a handful of times, which shows how much he was impressed by the video showing the Nanjing landscape.

Empress Ma then looked at Liu Kuan with a kind smile on her face, "Kuan'er, thank you for giving me such a wonderful gift—I have seen the scenery of the capital in later generations, and I am very happy."

Liu Kuan also showed a sincere smile, "As long as Your Majesty the Empress is happy."

At this point, Zhu Xiong Ying asked, "Teacher, will Nanjing be among the first-tier cities you mentioned before?"

Liu Kuan shook his head. "Before I traveled through time, there were six super-first-tier cities in China: Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Hangzhou, and Chengdu. Nanjing was not included—at that time, Nanjing was only a first-tier city."

"So how many people were there in Nanjing at that time?"

Liu Kuan recalled for a moment and said, "About nine million, less than ten million." The capital city in later generations actually had over nine million people?!
Many people were shocked once again.

Even Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao were no exception—knowing that the capital city would have a large population in later generations was one thing, but actually knowing the number of over nine million was a completely different experience.

As far as Zhu Biao knew, the total population of the capital city and its surrounding areas was only a little over 800,000.

Even including the population of other prefectures and counties in Yingtian Prefecture, the total number was only about one million, which was only one-ninth of the population of the later "capital".

At this point, Liu Kuan added: "In later generations, the definition of a super first-tier city will not be based on the size of its population, but rather on comprehensive indicators such as the city's economic scale, international influence, and innovation."

"For example, Chongqing, in later generations, had a population of more than 30 million and its economic strength ranked around eighth in the country, but it failed to be included in the list of first-tier cities."

"As for Nanjing, at that time its economic scale seemed to be tenth, and in other aspects it was not as good as the cities ranked higher, so it was naturally difficult to enter the ranks of the first-tier cities."

"I see." Zhu Xiong Ying nodded.

Afterwards, everyone discussed the various scenes in the video for a while. Seeing that Empress Ma looked tired again, Zhu Yuanzhang said, "Alright, that's enough for today's movie viewing banquet. It's getting late, so everyone should go back and rest."

"Yes."

Immediately, everyone bowed to Zhu Yuanzhang and Empress Ma, watching as the two, hand in hand—or rather, Zhu Yuanzhang supporting Empress Ma—left through the back door of the Dashan Hall…
A few days later.

Liu Kuan received good news from Zhu Biao: Guo Ying led a fleet that had searched for more than a year in the Caribbean Sea in what would later become known as the Sea of ​​the Rising Sun, and finally found Prince Zhu Tan of Lu.

According to Zhu Biao, Zhu Tan was doing quite well as the local king on the island he named Xuanwu Island. He had two children, one born to a woman surnamed Tang and the other to a local woman—who was even made a concubine by Zhu Tan.

In addition, Zhu Tan also took five local beauties as concubines without official titles.

When Guo Ying saw Zhu Tan, she almost didn't recognize her, because Zhu Tan's appearance had changed so much.

Compared to before, Zhu Tan has not only become darker and thinner, but also looks noticeably "older"—one can imagine how hard he worked day and night on Xuanwu Island back then.

Fortunately, no one was hurt.

When this news reached the capital, it finally put Zhu Yuanzhang and Empress Ma at ease. His mother, Consort Guo Ning, stopped crying so easily, but she pleaded with Zhu Yuanzhang to see Zhu Tan.

Zhu Yuanzhang was in a dilemma. He could only appease Consort Guo Ning by telling her that Zhu Tan would be able to return in a few years. Now that Zhu Tan had just been found, he was bound to go to the State of Lu, which he had abandoned two or three years ago.

Apart from Zhu Tan being found, most of the events that followed in the 26th year of the Hongwu reign were within expectations or plans.

For example, Zhu Yuanzhang sent envoys to the Western Chagatai Khanate to "advise" Timur, the lame man, to expand westward and stop trying to conquer the east.

For example, Zhu Bai, the Prince of Xiang, passed the civil service examination for establishing a vassal state overseas and was allowed to officially establish his own government. He recruited civil officials for his staff, military officers for his army, and five thousand households of people who voluntarily migrated to his vassal state.

As for Prince Zhu Gui, his military achievements were still insufficient, so he led three thousand naval troops to North Africa with a fleet of the South China Sea Fleet, intending to serve in the Western Sea Commandery, continue to accumulate military merits, and learn about and become familiar with things in Europe.

Besides handling the daily affairs of the Tiangong Academy and giving lectures at the Dabentang regularly, Liu Kuan was mainly busy with two things.

The first thing was to remotely direct the relevant officials and craftsmen of the Imperial Workshop via telegram to build a thermal power plant in Beiping, so that Beiping could also be connected to electricity next year.

The second task was to select a suitable small river within the territory of Yingtian Prefecture and lead relevant officials and craftsmen from the Imperial Workshop to attempt to build the first hydroelectric power station in the Ming Dynasty.

In the midst of our busy lives, time slips away unnoticed, and it seems like only yesterday that we were in the depths of winter.

It had snowed for two days in the past few days, and the wind was particularly strong. Liu Kuan was worried about the hydroelectric power station project in Jurong County, so he took his entourage to inspect it for half a day.

After the inspection, on the way back to the capital, three fast horses galloped from the direction of the capital along the cement road through the snow.

Upon seeing his entourage, the three imperial guards on horseback immediately reined in their horses and stopped.

The lead knight pulled out a red-tipped token and asked, "Is the Marquis of Jiangning in the caravan?"

The captain of the Yiluan Division, responsible for protecting Liu Kuan, said, "With the Marquis of Jiangning here, what business do you have with us?"

Liu Kuan glimpsed through the window that the person had a red-tipped token, so he got out of the carriage and looked over.

The knight spurred his horse closer, clasped his hands in a salute, and said, "His Highness the Crown Prince requests that Marquis Jiangning return to the city and enter the palace immediately, as he has urgent business to discuss."

Is there something urgent I need to ask?

Liu Kuan was puzzled. He thought back on the various events that had recently occurred in and around the Ming Dynasty, but he couldn't think of anything that Zhu Biao would be so eager to ask.

Unless, this was merely an excuse Zhu Biao gave to the messenger, and there was actually something else going on.

Thinking of this, Liu Kuan immediately thought of Empress Ma, whose illness had suddenly relapsed and worsened since the beginning of winter, and a bad feeling suddenly arose in his mind.

He did not question the three imperial guards, but said, "I understand—order the troops to return to the city at a faster pace!"

"Yes!" (End of this chapter)