Bringing the Railway to Daming

“Since Your Highness has made East Java the center of your territory, but feels that there are too many natives there, then relocate the natives to Borneo, or even to the Australian continent.”

"The Javanese also possessed excellent agricultural skills and could have become pioneers for the Chu Kingdom in developing Borneo and the Australian continent."

"As the indigenous population of East Java decreased and the number of dependent immigrants increased, the Han Chinese population, which formed the core of the population, also increased after several decades. The education of the indigenous people also yielded certain results, and the rule of the Chu Kingdom in East Java naturally became more stable."

Liu Kuan then gave his full advice.

Zhu Zhen nodded with great pleasure at first, then, as if remembering something, he looked at Zhu Di beside him and said, "Fourth Brother, can I exchange Javanese natives for Indian natives?"

"I heard what my brother-in-law said earlier. Adding an adjoining immigrant between the Ming immigrants and the local natives can help buffer the conflicts between them."

"In addition, the Javanese have excellent farming techniques, in some aspects even comparable to those of the people of our Ming Dynasty. They are quite rare farmers."

Zhu Di did not actually think that the Yan vassal state needed any dependent immigrants as a buffer.

However, he had high hopes for Zhu Zhen and Chu Fan and wanted to befriend them for the long term, so he smiled and said, "We can exchange a batch, but not too many. Also, for the same number of people, could you offer some compensation?"

“We’re all human, and Javanese are skilled in farming. How could Fourth Brother ask me for compensation?” Zhu Zhen was a little unhappy to hear this.

You don't know how difficult it is to be the ruler of a country until you establish your own fiefdom. You need money and grain for this, and manpower for that. You can never have too much money, grain, manpower, and resources.

Zhu Di was equally unwilling to suffer a loss, saying, "If Sixth Brother is unwilling, then so be it. Anyway, our Yan Kingdom doesn't need any dependent immigrants."

"No way," Zhu Zhen conceded. "Compensation is fine, but Fourth Brother can't ask for an exorbitant amount."

Zhu Di laughed and said, "Don't worry, I won't let my sixth brother suffer too much. He only needs to compensate me with some spices for each batch of people exchanged..."

And so, Zhu Di and Zhu Zhen actually started discussing business in front of Liu Kuan.

···
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The Yan and Chu vassal states were closer to the Ming Dynasty, so Zhu Di and Zhu Zhen returned earlier. By March, Prince Qi, Zhu Fu, had also returned to the capital.

As for the King of Jin and the King of Dai, who are far away in Africa, and the King of Qin and the King of Lu, who are far away in the Americas, their return will be even later, possibly even in the second half of the year.

After these overseas vassal kings returned to the capital, they would observe a 49-day mourning period for Empress Ma. After all, they were rulers of a country who had established vassal states overseas. Just like Zhu Biao, it was impossible for them to abandon state affairs and observe a three-year mourning period for their parents, let alone a three-month one.

However, their filial piety practices, such as abstaining from alcohol and meat and wearing vegetarian clothes, which do not affect their handling of state affairs, are something they can emulate from the common people.

After observing the mourning period for forty-nine days, Zhu Di and the others did not rush to leave.

Their vassal state was at least ten thousand miles away from the capital of the Ming Dynasty. Since they had finally returned, they naturally wanted to take care of some things as well.

For example, recruiting more talented people willing to go to their vassal state to make contributions, having face-to-face exchanges with the Ming Dynasty "shareholders" who previously invested in their establishment of the vassal state, finding more wealthy merchants to "attract investment" to the vassal state, and even learning about some of the Ming Dynasty's cutting-edge technologies, etc.

The capital city also became more prosperous due to the return of several vassal kings and the influx of wealthy merchants from other regions.

Time flies, and it's already early May.

On this day, after Zhu Di applied to the court for permission to visit the thermal power plant and received it, he arrived at the thermal power plant in the capital with his entourage.

Zhu Di had set sail to establish his fiefdom six years earlier. Upon returning to the capital, besides the increased number of buildings inside and outside the city, the biggest change in the capital was the introduction of electricity. Streetlights had even been installed in the streets and alleys, and the court had completely lifted the curfew, turning the entire capital into a city that never sleeps at night.

Therefore, he was very interested in knowing what a thermal power plant that could supply electricity to the entire capital was like.

Unfortunately, after arriving at the thermal power plant with the official documents from the imperial court, although he was warmly received by the officials, he still only had a superficial understanding of some of the technological issues related to thermal power generation after touring the plant.

After visiting and leaving the thermal power plant, Zhu Di couldn't help but remark to his attendants, "Our Yan Kingdom is currently lacking in all kinds of talents, but what we lack most is a great scientific and technological expert."

"If a great scientist could accompany us on this visit to the thermal power plant, perhaps in a few years our Yan Kingdom could also build our own thermal power plant."

Zhu Neng, the guard officer, scratched his head, unsure how to answer, and could only manage a silly smile.

On the other side, Zhang Fu, who was also a guard officer, had some knowledge of science and technology. Upon hearing this, he couldn't help but say, "Your Majesty, if our Yan Kingdom wants to develop science and technology, we should first try to develop steam engines and build railways. I feel that things like thermal power plants and electric lights are not very useful to the Yan Kingdom."

Zhang Fu was only twenty years old. He was tall and handsome, and had a great talent for military affairs. In addition, his father, Zhang Yu, had achieved the highest military merit among all generals and was a pillar of the Yan army. Therefore, Zhu Di valued Zhang Fu very much and almost raised him as his own nephew.

Of course, in terms of trust, he probably trusted Zhu Neng, who was a "houseborn son" whose father was a guard officer of the Yan vassal state, more.

Upon hearing Zhang Fu's speech, Zhu Di couldn't help but slap Zhang Fu on the back of the head and said, "You little brat, what do you know? You think power plants aren't important? That's because you don't know how many amazing applications electricity will have in the future."

"Furthermore, our Yan state is already 'developing' the steam engine, and we believe it will be manufactured within the next two years. Railways will also be built." "But we Yan state do not have the technology for power plants and electric lights. Even if we invest a lot of money, food, and manpower, we may not be able to make a breakthrough."

"This is a rare opportunity in the capital. We must recruit a highly talented person with profound knowledge in science and technology to take back with us."

"Even if we can't recruit top talents in science, we should still try to recruit more college graduates from the science and engineering departments of Peking University."

Zhang Fu listened thoughtfully and asked, "Your Majesty, shall we go and visit the Imperial University of Peking next?"

Zhu Di opened his folding fan and said, "You've been smart this time, kid. Let's go."

Nowadays, many streets in the capital are crowded with people, and there are many more bicycles and horse-drawn carriages. Therefore, the Traffic Management Division was added under the Police Department, and new traffic regulations were formulated.

When Zhu Di and his entourage first returned to the capital, they made some embarrassing mistakes by violating traffic rules, but now they have gotten used to it.

Because Zhu Di wanted to take the opportunity to browse the shops and sights on the street, his entourage of several dozen people walked instead of riding in a carriage.

Upon arriving at a crossroads, Zhu Di and his entourage saw a "traffic policeman" standing on a round platform in the middle of the intersection raising a small red flag in their direction. They quickly stopped before stepping onto the pedestrian crossing.

One of the jokes Zhu Di made when he first returned to the capital was "breaking through the red flag"—when he saw people on the road suddenly stop walking, he thought they recognized his important status and were deliberately making way for him. However, when he walked onto the road with his entourage, he was harassed by several traffic policemen for a long time, who insisted that he pay a fine.

Fines are one thing, but the Prince of Yan fought in India for six years and is not short of money.

But the junior traffic officer insisted on checking his badge and gave him a demerit!
He was also warned that if he received five major demerits, ten medium demerits, or fifteen minor demerits, he would not be allowed to enter the city and would have to go to the Traffic Management Bureau to study traffic regulations and pass the relevant exams before he could regain the right to walk normally in the capital.

At the time, Zhu Di thought he was being targeted, so he angrily revealed his identity and refused to cooperate. In the end, he was picked up from the Traffic Management Office by a palace eunuch and realized that he had made a fool of himself. He felt too ashamed to enter the palace.

Zhu Di now knew that the Traffic Management Department was a department that dared to punish even princes and grandsons of the emperor, so he paid close attention to obeying traffic rules when touring the capital.

"Red flag, stop; green flag, proceed; gray flag, wait a moment," became a traffic rule that Zhu Di and his entourage would memorize.

As for traffic rules such as pedestrians walking on the side of the road and vehicles driving on the right, some of them were already in place, which Zhu Di and others were aware of, and some were added later, which they also understood.

Fortunately, there aren't many areas in the capital with strict traffic control, so it won't affect people's travel or normal life.

After crossing the road, Zhu Di walked along the street for a while and came to the vicinity of a bookstore. Suddenly, he was attracted by a hawker's cry.

"The latest issue of 'Haiguo Tukan' is out! It's the second best-selling overseas publication after 'Haiwai Fengwu'. If you want to learn about overseas geography, customs, and news, hurry up and buy it, it'll be sold out in no time!"

"Come and buy it! It's only two strings of cash a book, with exquisite color illustrations and beautiful foreign women inside. It's an absolute bargain!"

Zhu Di immediately stopped and walked towards the bookstore.

Zhu Neng and Zhang Fu exchanged a glance, thinking to themselves: Could it be that the King is looking for those beautiful foreign women in the newspapers? Is the King tired of the beauties in India and wants to find new ones?
The king is not a lecherous man.

The two followed him to the bookstore, puzzled. Zhu Di said, "Book boy (a term of address for a bookstore clerk), find all the issues of 'Illustrated Maritime Kingdoms' that you have here. If the content is good, I will buy a set."

Zhu Di was dressed in extraordinary clothes, and his aura was even more extraordinary. In addition, he was accompanied by attendants. The page boy could tell at a glance that he was a big customer, so he immediately responded enthusiastically and went to find more than a dozen copies of "Illustrated Catalogue of Maritime Kingdoms" that the store had.

Zhu Di read through it one by one and found that the content of "Illustrated Catalogue of Maritime Kingdoms" was basically imitating "Overseas Customs and Products", but it was obviously lacking in professionalism in introducing overseas geography and customs, and was mainly based on hearsay.

However, the "Illustrated Journal of the Maritime Kingdoms" has two advantages: First, just as the pageboy shouted, it has many exquisite illustrations, and even each issue has a portrait illustration, mainly featuring exotic beauties.

In Zhu Di's view, some of the paintings of beautiful women even had a hint of erotic art.

As a man, Zhu Di could imagine that the publication would sell well just based on the illustrations of these exotic beauties.

Secondly, although the publication mainly features rumors about overseas events, it is more story-driven and interesting.

For example, someone discovers a treasure overseas and becomes a millionaire in a month from a poor boy; or a man who has been single for thirty years goes abroad to make his way in the world, and after surviving many near-death experiences, he is noticed by a princess of a certain country and becomes her consort!

The painting also features a stunningly beautiful portrait of the princess of that country.

Although Zhu Di remained unmoved, he knew that ordinary people would definitely yearn to venture overseas after reading this.

Therefore, after flipping through several issues of the publication, he said, "I'll buy this entire set. Also, I have another question—do you know where the publisher of this *Maritime Kingdoms Pictorial* is?" (End of Chapter)