Bringing the Railway to Daming

The pageboy immediately picked up a book, turned to the last page, and said, "Please look, sir, the publisher's address is printed here. It's located outside the capital city."

"Thank you."

"You're too kind, sir."

After leaving the bookstore, Zhu Di said, "Zhang Fu, take some men to investigate the sales of this 'Illustrated Gazette of Maritime Kingdoms'. Is it really true, as the book boy said, that it is second only to 'Overseas Customs' in sales among overseas publications?"

"Yes!"

Zhang Fu accepted the order and left with several clever guards.

Zhu Di then led the remaining people to the Imperial University of Peking as originally planned.

When Zhu Di arrived at the Imperial University of Peking, he found that it had changed a lot since he left – there were more tall buildings on campus, the tallest of which was even five stories high!
Fortunately, the Ming Dynasty has changed its policies on building regulations, otherwise there would be many illegal buildings at the Imperial University.

In addition, the school's landscaping style has changed significantly compared to that time—it has become more grand, while also having some of the feel of man-made landscapes from later generations.

Zhu Di strolled around the campus but found no opportunities to discover talent, so he decided to visit the principal directly. However, the principal was not there, so Zhu Di had to settle for visiting the vice-principal in charge of the engineering college.

Upon learning of Zhu Di's purpose, the vice-principal looked troubled and said, "Your Highness, the Prince of Yan may not know this, but as long as students of the science and engineering colleges of the Imperial University of Peking graduate smoothly, the court will arrange positions for them."

"These positions may not be high-ranking, but the salaries are often quite good, and most of them are related to their majors, giving them the opportunity to further their studies and pursue advanced education."

"Therefore, if Your Highness wishes to recruit people from among them to go overseas, in addition to the court's permission, they must also be willing."

Zhu Di smiled and said, "Principal Yuan, since I have entered the Imperial University with official documents, it is naturally permitted by the court to recruit talents here."

"As for whether we can recruit anyone, that's my business. Principal Yuan, just help recommend some outstanding students in science and engineering. Ideally, they should be well-rounded talents with both academic knowledge and research capabilities."

The reason for this is that although Zhu Di requested permission from Zhu Biao to recruit talent for the Imperial University of Peking, he only allowed him to recruit three people.

With limited options, Zhu Di naturally hoped to recruit three well-rounded talents.

Principal Yuan nodded. "Alright, I'll recommend some people."

After saying this, Principal Yuan summoned an official and asked him to inform some senior students to come and meet Zhu Di.

Speaking of which, there is now a research institute within the Imperial University of Peking, which has graduate students. However, the research institute is under the jurisdiction of the imperial court, and the graduate students there are also employed by the imperial court. Naturally, they could not go to Yan State with Zhu Di.

As for Zhu Di secretly learning about the reputation of a certain scientific research talent, spending a lot of money to get him to resign, and then poaching him—theoretically, this was feasible and did not violate the laws of the Ming Dynasty.

However, this kind of undermining of the imperial court would definitely make Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao dissatisfied with Zhu Di, and it was possible that they would reprimand Zhu Di or even suppress the Yan vassal state.

This would be a losing proposition for the Yan vassal state.

Or rather, the Yan vassal state is still very weak and can only act within the rules set by the Ming Dynasty.

After a little over fifteen minutes, the senior students from Peking University, recommended by Principal Yuan, arrived one after another at the office and met with Zhu Di.

Although Zhu Di did not receive education at the Dabentang Academy, since he knew the importance of science and technology, he had naturally studied some related knowledge on his own over the years.

In addition, before coming to the capital of the Ming Dynasty, he had discussed with Zhu Gaochi, Daoyan and others and had ideas about what kind of scientific and technological talents the Yan Kingdom needed. Now he can be more targeted in his "interviews".

However, after spending more than an hour interviewing all the dozen or so people recommended by Principal Yuan, Zhu Di was somewhat disappointed—there were no talents among them that he particularly valued.

For example, a polymath with comprehensive and profound scientific knowledge, capable of doing the work of two or three others. Or, a highly specialized talent with exceptional expertise in a particular field, capable of helping the State of Yan to establish a new industry.

Although the twenty or so people he interviewed were quite outstanding, they still fell short of Zhu Di's expectations.

Thinking of this, Zhu Di couldn't help but ask, "Principal Yuan, could it be that you didn't recommend any of your school's truly outstanding students?"

“How could that be?” Although Principal Yuan was not afraid of Zhu Di, a prince, he did not want to offend him for no reason. He explained, “They are indeed not the most outstanding ones in this year’s class, but those others have already entered various research institutes for further study. I have no authority to summon them to meet His Highness.”

Upon hearing this, Zhu Di had no choice but to ponder for a while. After careful consideration, he selected three students from the dozen or so students he had just interviewed and asked for their information.

He planned to send someone back to try and persuade them to sail to the Yan Kingdom...

Back at the Prince of Yan's residence, Liu Jun, who stayed to handle affairs for him, said: "Your Majesty, among those who came to the residence today to deliver visiting cards, there was a very capable man named Yang Rong, a native of Jian'an, Fujian. He is quick-witted and insightful, quite good at observing people's expressions and making decisions."

"Although he mainly studied Confucianism, he also had a great deal of knowledge about science and even some unique insights."

Seeing Liu Jun praising Yang Rong so highly, Zhu Di became interested and asked, "How old is this man, and what is he doing now?"

"Your Majesty, this person was born in the tenth year of the Hongwu reign and is twenty-four years old this year. Eight years ago, he became a student but failed the imperial examinations repeatedly. Later, he participated in the school examinations but failed to advance beyond the junior high school level."

Scholarly degree?
Stopped at junior high school?
Although Zhu Di knew that most of the people who came to the princes to present their petitions and seek a way out were not doing very well, he still couldn't help but twitch his eye after learning about Yang Rong's "diploma".

Although he felt that Yang Rong's "education" was too low, Zhu Di still said, "Then arrange a time for me to meet him, based on my trust in Liu Jun's judgment."

"Yes."

After Zhu Di finished lunch and took a nap, Zhang Fu, who had been ordered to investigate the actual sales of the "Illustrated Gazette of the Maritime Kingdoms," finally returned. "Your Majesty," Zhang Fu said, "according to my investigation, although the 'Illustrated Gazette of the Maritime Kingdoms' is not as popular as the book boy claims, second only to 'Overseas Customs,' it has consistently ranked among the top five in sales among similar publications. In fact, it did rank second in sales among similar publications in the capital for one month."

Zhu Di was not surprised and asked, "Have you inquired about the details of that publishing house?"

Zhang Fu said, "Nominally, the Tianhai Publishing House was founded by Zhang Mao, the illegitimate son of the Marquis of Navigation, but in reality, it was established and operated by two wealthy merchants. Zhang Mao only took shares and dealt with some official matters."

A publishing house protected by the illegitimate son of a naval marquis?

Zhu Di frowned and began to ponder.

Zhang He, the Marquis of Hanghai, was one of the generals who followed Zhu Yuanzhang in raising an army in his early years. Moreover, he was the kind of general who brought troops with him. Before crossing the Yangtze River, he was promoted to the rank of Wanhu (a military officer) for his merits.

However, after crossing the river, Zhang He's performance was relatively mediocre. Therefore, during the wave of rewards and honors bestowed upon him at the founding of the Ming Dynasty, Zhang He only received the position of Deputy Commander of the Fuzhou Garrison.

Afterwards, Zhang He first trained the navy along the coast of Fujian and Zhejiang to suppress Japanese pirates and other pirates. Later, he was responsible for opening up the sea transport route from the south to Liaodong. Several years later, he was granted the title of Marquis of Navigation in the tenth year of Hongwu's reign for his meritorious service.

Originally, Zhang He, as a marquis, was not particularly prominent among the many military merits established during the founding of the Ming Dynasty; in fact, he could be said to be ranked quite low.

However, since the Ming Dynasty opened up the seas and began to value navigation and maritime trade, Zhang He's status in the military rose rapidly, and he later became one of the most influential naval admirals of the Ming Dynasty under Li Wenzhong.

Although Zhang He resigned from his post a few years ago due to serious illness and stayed at home to recuperate, he still wields considerable influence within the South China Sea Fleet.

Zhang Rong, the eldest son of Zhang He, was the commander of a fleet in the South China Sea Navy and was awarded the title of Earl for his merits, making him one of the high-ranking officers in the Ming Navy.

Zhang He also had many nephews and relatives serving in various naval units, making him a true "military family" in the Ming Dynasty's navy.

However, Zhu Di had never heard of Zhang Mao, this son born out of wedlock, before, so he probably did not hold a position in the army.

Thinking of this, Zhu Di said, "Go and invite Zhang Mao and the two wealthy merchants. I will treat them to dinner at Deyunlou this afternoon."

"Yes!"

Zhang Fu responded and went off to handle the matter again.

After Zhang Fu left, Liu Jun asked, "Does Your Majesty intend to use Tianhai Publishing House for strategic purposes? Or does Your Majesty want to use Zhang Mao to cultivate good relations with the Marquis of Hanghai family?"

Zhu Di said, "As an overseas vassal king, wouldn't it displease my father if I befriended the families of high-ranking generals in the court? I sought out Tianhai Publishing House simply to ask them to help promote the Yan Kingdom and see if they could attract some talented people to the Yan Kingdom from the Ming Dynasty."

After saying this, Zhu Di took out a copy of "Illustrated Catalogue of Maritime Kingdoms" and handed it to Liu Jun to look at.

Liu Jun flipped through it briefly and couldn't help but smile. "Your Majesty, this 'Illustrated Catalogue of Maritime Kingdoms' seems to imitate 'Overseas Customs,' but its content is full of absurd and untrue elements."

"If someone actually thinks of going to the State of Yan to seek wealth and status just because they saw this picture book, the possibility of them being a talented person is extremely small."

Zhu Di sighed helplessly, "I know—even if it can attract some ordinary people to Yan, it would be good. There are still too few Han people in our Yan, and most of them are military households."

"The imperial court has forbidden overseas vassal states from carrying out a second large-scale migration, so I can only make use of these newspapers—if someone reads the newspapers and voluntarily goes to sea to join the Yan state, the imperial court won't blame me, will it?"

In the end, Zhu Di smiled again, thinking that his idea was quite good.

Liu Jun nodded, "If that's the case, Your Majesty might as well find a few more newspapers and magazines to help promote the Yan Kingdom and attract talent."

“That’s exactly what I was thinking, but I can’t look for them all in the capital. I also need to go to Zhejiang, Fujian, Guangdong, and Guangxi to find one or two places each.”

Liu Jun bowed and said, "Your Majesty, please entrust this matter to your humble servant."

"Then I'll have to trouble Mr. Liu to make the trip."

in the afternoon.

Zhu Di met Zhang Mao and two other owners of Tianhai Publishing House in a private room on the third floor of Deyunlou. They drank tea, listened to storytelling, and discussed business.

After a conversation, Zhu Di realized that Zhang Mao was a mediocre person, and also somewhat greedy and lustful.

He was not surprised. In fact, there were only a few outstanding second and third generation descendants among the founding families of the Ming Dynasty. Most of them were mediocre, lacking the glory of their fathers. It would be good if they did not become spoiled brats who bullied the good and broke the law.

After finishing their small talk, Zhu Di said, "To be honest, I want to ask Young Master Zhang for a favor."

Zhang Mao was merely an unimportant illegitimate son in the Zhang family, and he was very excited to befriend a powerful prince like Zhu Di. Upon hearing this, he immediately said with a fawning tone, "I wonder how I can help Your Highness?"

On the contrary, the two merchants next to him were more vigilant. Upon hearing this, they looked worried, clearly concerned that Zhu Di was asking them to do something treasonous.

It should be noted that throughout history, most people who have been involved in royal power struggles have met with bad ends, let alone two ordinary wealthy merchants.

Unfortunately, they had no say in the matter at that time.

Zhu Di took a sip of tea, listened to the storyteller recount a scene from "The Return of the Condor Heroes" where Guo Fu severed Yang Guo's arm, and then slowly said, "I hope that the 'Illustrated Catalogue of Maritime Kingdoms' can publish several articles specifically about the Indian subcontinent, especially the Yan Kingdom." (End of Chapter)