Bringing the Railway to Daming

Liu Kuan did not comment on the remarks made by Zhu De and his two sons regarding political parties, as it was not a matter he could comment on.

After all three had finished speaking, he gave a concluding account of the Tianqi Dynasty.

"When Zhu Youxiao was on the throne for about six or seven years, the Jianzhou Jurchens successively captured Shenyang and Liaoyang, and almost occupied most of the Liaodong region."

"In addition, the southwestern chieftains She Chongming and An Bangyan rebelled one after another, which was later known as the She-An Rebellion. It broke out in the first year of the Tianqi reign and ended in the second year of the Chongzhen reign."

"Although it was eventually quelled, during those ten years, the Ming Dynasty mobilized hundreds of thousands of troops and countless amounts of money and grain. Many places in Guizhou were almost completely destroyed, and Sichuan, Huguang, and Yunnan were also greatly affected."

"Some believe that the reason why the Ming Dynasty repeatedly failed to deal with the Jianzhou Jurchens was that too many of its forces were involved in the She'an Rebellion."

"Furthermore, the She'an Rebellion exacerbated the financial problems of the Ming Dynasty. The people also faced increasing difficulties in life due to the heavier taxes, to the point that they could no longer survive and thus rose up in rebellion."

"Therefore, the White Lotus Rebellion (uprising) broke out in Shandong and Henan during the Tianqi era."

"By the first year of Chongzhen's reign, the people of Shaanxi, unable to survive, rose up in rebellion, igniting a frenzy of peasant uprisings at the end of the Ming Dynasty."

"Besides this, a strange event, or rather a mystery, occurred during the Tianqi era..."

Another mystery?

Although Zhu Biao and Zhu Di found the bizarre events of the late Ming Dynasty somewhat unbearable, they were still inevitably curious.

Zhu Yuanzhang remained much calmer, waiting for Liu Kuan to continue.

"In the sixth year of the Tianqi reign, a massive explosion occurred at the Wanggongchang gunpowder depot in Beijing, which was extremely terrifying for the time. It is known to later generations as the 'Wanggongchang Explosion' or the 'Tianqi Explosion'."

"According to later estimates, its explosive power was equivalent to the simultaneous explosion of 219 million catties of black powder, affecting several streets, three or four miles long, and destroying buildings in the surrounding area (circumference) of more than ten miles."

"Based on data compiled from various sources, it is estimated that approximately tens of thousands of houses were destroyed, and the number of dead and injured reached tens of thousands..."

Before Liu Kuan could finish speaking, Zhu Biao and Zhu Di were already shocked.

The explosive power was equivalent to more than two million kilograms of black powder.
It’s scary to think about it!
The extent of the damage to buildings and the number of casualties mentioned by Liu Kuan undoubtedly prove this point.

What they want to know most now is how this explosion happened.
Logically speaking, people in the late Yuan and early Ming dynasties knew to store gunpowder separately, rather than concentrating it all in one warehouse or even one area.

Therefore, even if a warehouse of gunpowder exploded accidentally or was deliberately detonated, it is unlikely to cause such a terrifying explosion.

Unless a team simultaneously infiltrates the gunpowder warehouse in that area of ​​Beijing and most of them detonate it at the same time.

Or perhaps someone abused their power to secretly transport so much gunpowder together and then have it detonated?
For a moment, the three of them, including Lao Zhu, couldn't help but speculate and felt that the Tianqi Dynasty was also strangely mysterious.

Zhu Yuanzhang, unable to contain himself, snapped out of his daze and asked directly, "Liu Kuan, was this explosion man-made?"

Liu Kuan shook his head. "The cause of the Tianqi Explosion remains a mystery to future generations. However, some experts and scholars in later generations, based on a comprehensive review of historical materials, believe that it was more likely caused by a coincidence of natural phenomena than by human intervention."

Is it caused by the superposition of natural phenomena?
Zhu Yuanzhang frowned. "Why do you say that?"

Liu Kuan said, "Your Majesty will understand after hearing what I have to say—first of all, according to various historical records, this explosion was not a simple gunpowder explosion."

"Although a considerable number of people suspect that spies from the Later Jin or the White Lotus sect in Shandong entered Beijing and detonated the explosives depot, upon closer examination, these suspicions do not seem to align with the facts."

"The power of this explosion was equivalent to more than two million kilograms of black powder, but black powder is made from sulfur, charcoal, and saltpeter. Although Wanggong Factory was responsible for preparing the gunpowder at the time, it was impossible for them to prepare so much gunpowder and store it in nearby warehouses."

Zhu Biao and Zhu Di nodded upon hearing this.

Zhu Biao had been in charge of military factories, and Zhu Di had led troops in battle for many years; both were quite knowledgeable about gunpowder. For safety reasons, they generally wouldn't store large quantities of prepared gunpowder together.

Even in the midst of chaos during the Tianqi era, it was unlikely that the court would make any major mistakes in this matter—after all, Wang Gongchang was located in the capital, not elsewhere, and if something happened there, many civil and military officials would likely be implicated.

"In addition, according to various historical records, many incredible phenomena occurred before, during, and after the explosion, which is definitely not like an ordinary gunpowder explosion."

"For example, the official gazette at the time recorded that on the night before the explosion, hundreds of fireflies were seen floating in the air, and when they gathered together, they were as large as a cartwheel."

"Before the explosion that day, some people heard strange noises coming from underground, and a large fireball rose into the air and shot out, followed by the massive explosion."

"Moreover, the earth shook violently when the explosion occurred, and the sky suddenly darkened as if it were night. The tremor was felt hundreds of miles away."

"What's even stranger is that most people within the area affected by the explosion were killed instantly, bleeding from all seven orifices but with their bodies intact. Moreover, regardless of age or gender, all of them were completely naked!"

So strange?
Upon hearing this, Zhu Biao, Zhu Di, and Zhu Lao Zhu were overcome by curiosity, because none of them had ever seen a million catties of gunpowder explode, so they naturally did not know whether the scenes described by Liu Kuan were reasonable.

"Later, experts compared it with the Tunguska event that occurred in the northwest of Beihai in modern times and concluded that the Tianqi Explosion was very likely a 'large-scale space plasma explosive coincidence accompanied by the release of energy by plasma coincidence in the earth' event." The three of them, including Lao Zhu, were stunned.

They understood each word of Liu Kuan's last sentence individually, but they really didn't understand its meaning when put together.

Liu Kuan wasn't surprised—in fact, he didn't quite understand either.

So he said, “Your Majesty can understand it as a complex explosion caused by the combined effects of 'combustible gas,' 'earthquake,' and gunpowder explosion—it’s okay if you don’t understand it, just know that it is a natural phenomenon.”

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded slightly, then asked, "How often do these complex explosions occur? Is it possible to predict them in advance?"

Liu Kuan said: "These kinds of natural explosions are almost always sporadic, with extremely harsh conditions, and naturally very few in number. As far as I know, the only recorded ones in the last thousand years seem to be the 'Tianqi Explosion' and the Tunguska event."

"As for whether it can be predicted in advance, it depends on whether the local officials and people are vigilant. Generally speaking, some natural disasters have signs, and some do not—it depends on luck."

Zhu Yuanzhang frowned, not satisfied with Liu Kuan's answer.

He then asked directly, "Has the capital city ever experienced such a natural disaster in history?"

Liu Kuan understood that the "capital" Zhu Yuanzhang referred to was Nanjing, so he shook his head and said, "I've never heard of it—Nanjing has suffered from man-made disasters several times in history, but there's really no record of it experiencing any severe natural disasters."

"That's good." Zhu Yuanzhang breathed a sigh of relief.

The same is true for Zhu Biao.

Zhu Di thought to himself: It seems that after returning to Yan, I should establish an institution similar to the Imperial Observatory to observe and study natural phenomena. Even if we cannot predict natural disasters in advance, we cannot be ignorant when disaster strikes.

At this moment, Zhu Yuanzhang suddenly remembered something.

"By the way, how did Emperor Tianqi, Zhu Youxiao, die? He ascended the throne at the age of fifteen or sixteen and reigned for six or seven years. Wasn't he only twenty-two or twenty-three when he passed away?"

Liu Kuan said, “Your Majesty, the cause of the Tianqi Emperor’s death was similar to that of the Zhengde Emperor—around the fifth year of the Tianqi reign, after Zhu Youxiao finished his sacrificial ceremony, he went boating and playing on Xiyuan Lake, accompanied by Madam Ke, Wei Zhongxian and others.”

"It is said that after drinking on the large boat, he took Wei Zhongxian and two eunuchs to play in a small boat in the middle of the lake, but the boat was overturned by a strong wind and they fell into the water."

"Although he was rescued, he was frightened by the fall into the water and developed a chronic illness. Despite various treatments, his health has been deteriorating."

"Later, Huo Weihua, the Minister of War from the eunuch faction, presented Zhu Youxiao with a kind of elixir called 'Linglu Drink'. Because of its sweet and delicious taste, Zhu Youxiao used it every day, which gradually caused him to have edema all over his body and become bedridden."

"In August of the seventh year of the Tianqi reign, Zhu Youxiao felt that his days were numbered and that he had no son. So he summoned his ministers and issued an edict to establish Zhu Youjian as the crown prince. He died ten days later."

Although Zhu Yuanzhang guessed that the reason why Zhu Youxiao died at the age of twenty-two must not be simple, he did not expect that it would be another bizarre way of dying, or even that he would die by his own hand.

He said angrily, "That Zhu Changluo was addicted to women and had no self-control, which led to a serious illness. He was also misled by a villain and took the so-called magic pill, which ultimately killed him."

"This Zhu Youxiao didn't learn from this lesson. As the emperor, he risked his life by boating on the lake and even believed in some kind of magic medicine, thus losing his life at a young age—this father and son are both incredibly foolish!"

"Furthermore, in the deaths of Zhu Changluo and Zhu Youxiao, the imperial physicians seemed utterly helpless? They even allowed the emperor to pin his hopes on some kind of miraculous medicine offered by treacherous officials. They were truly incompetent!"

"No wonder Xiong Ying submitted a memorial saying that the medicine of our Great Ming Dynasty still needs reform, or even a revolutionary overhaul—how disappointing it is that doctors are so incompetent!"

Upon hearing this, Liu Kuan worried that Zhu Yuanzhang might develop too much prejudice against doctors or traditional medicine, so he wanted to offer some words of advice.

Zhu Biao spoke up before him, saying, "Father, there are many illnesses in this world that doctors cannot cure—and this is likely still the case in later generations with advanced medicine, let alone now."

Liu Kuan quickly said, "Your Majesty, the development of medicine does indeed require a long time, and it needs to be based on the development of industries such as chemistry and biology. It can only proceed step by step and cannot be rushed."

Zhu Yuanzhang also realized that his demands on doctors were somewhat harsh and critical.

However, the thought of Empress Ma's passing pained him.

With a sigh, Zhu Yuanzhang said, "From the Jiajing, Wanli, Taichang, and Tianqi emperors, many of their deaths were related to so-called elixirs. Even the Longqing Emperor may have engaged in such practices."

"Therefore, it can be seen that if a disease that even a proper doctor cannot cure is treated with so-called 'miracle drugs,' especially those 'miracle drugs' offered by sycophants and flatterers, not only will they not benefit the body, but they will also hasten death."

“Biao’er, you must record this matter in the ‘Imperial Ancestral Instructions’ (Secret Book) so that future generations will take it as a warning and never believe in so-called ‘miracle drugs’!”

"Yes!" Zhu Biao replied.

Zhu Di and Liu Kuan reacted differently upon hearing this. (End of Chapter)